This first chapter is just a quick introduction. The rest of the story will just be shorts about everyone and their college careers, they won't always include all the characters at once because that's a pain to make it completely entertaining and get into character development. Some will be silly, meaningless stuff, some will be more serious. Thanks for reading :) and reviewing ;)
Naruto was rushing through his shower, knowing he was running late to their first official dorm meeting, but refusing to attend while stinky and sweaty from his run this morning. Most of the freshman athletes had moved in yesterday, and met through the brief chaotic introductions of peering around boxes and bedding and bumping into each other as they all crammed into their assigned dorm rooms. But today the resident assistants, Tenten and Lee, were calling all new athletes to formally meet in the downstairs lobby. His roommates, Sasuke and Sai, had already left by the time he returned from running, and while Naruto hated being late, he hated being smelly even more.
The freshman athletic dorms were nice and prestigious compared to regular student dorms. Though there were three to a dorm, each athlete had their own room, and only shared the common area consisting of a couch, love seat and reclining chair, a television, and a kitchenette holding a bar with three stools, a metal sink, a microwave, a half-size fridge and a small two-burner stove. Leading from the back of the common area was a hall with the three doors to their rooms on the left, and two other doors on the right, one leading to the shower, the other to the toilet. Three sinks were evenly spaced on a high counter between the shower and toilet. Naruto was happy with the arrangement, getting his own room was a relief, but being forced to share the rest of the space with his roommates allowed for at least some social interaction.
Sai and Sasuke were both dark haired, pale, and quiet. Sai was more lanky and lean with shorter hair and a black sweatband around his head to hold his bangs back. Sasuke was taller, wearing a sleeveless, navy basketball jersey over a white t-shirt and jogger sweatpants, with windswept hair that stood out in the back. Naruto felt that if they didn't have to eat and use the bathroom they'd never come out of their rooms. Naruto however, was nosy and definitely not bashful, and after finishing unpacking the few boxes he had, decided to just barge into each of their rooms just to see how they looked. Sasuke's was the middle room. He had scrunched his nose when he realized that Sai had arrived first and already chosen the room at the end of the hall, but didn't say anything.
Sasuke's room was dark. He'd put blackout curtains on the window, and had a black comforter on the bed. The only intimate objects had been a picture on the dresser of a dark-haired family, Naruto guessed his parents and older brother, and a picture of Sasuke, his brother, and another dark haired boy. When Naruto had come stumbling in, greeting the other boy loudly and commenting on his dark and depressing décor, he had been promptly shoved out and made aware of the black duct tape on the floor of Sasuke's doorway. He was not allowed to cross that line. However, Naruto simply shrugged and moved on to Sai's room, Sasuke quietly following.
Sai also had blackout curtains on his window. But his bedspread was green and had the school's logo patterned on it. There were no pictures of his family, but plenty of sketches and paintings taped all over the ceiling and walls.
"Sai are you an art major? These are amazing!" Naruto had exclaimed.
Sai merely replied in the positive with a creepy smile before exiting and leading Naruto and Sasuke down the hall to equally rudely barge into Naruto's own room. The bed had an orange comforter, no curtains, and no pictures of family. The only thing decorating one wall was a large photo of a sunrise he had taken one morning in high school after cross country practice. It was a beautiful picture, oranges, yellows, and golds streaming through the sky over a still grey and blue landscape and a faintly lit oval track. Sasuke had made a rude comment on the bright colors of his room and Sai complimented him on the sunrise picture before insulting his obviously poor photography skills.
Finally ready to go, dressed in his most comfy black warm up pants and post-run slippers, Naruto slipped an orange t-shirt over his head and grabbed a granola bar before rushing down to the lobby to meet everyone else. He barely remembered to lock the dorm door and almost tripped down the stairs. His loud entrance caused everybody to turn and stare at him, and with a sinking heart he realized he was the last one there. He gave a small grin and wave before shuffling over to sit next to Sai.
Naruto's eyes almost popped out of his head when he turned to his resident assistants. The girl, Tenten he recalled, was normal enough, and from her physique he would guess she was on the cross country team, but her sweatshirt was labeled "University of Konoha Archery." But the boy, Lee, was wearing a ridiculous green spandex suit and had a ridiculously thick head of hair styled in a bowl cut. He was fit enough to pull it off, but to parade around in that was…unusual. Sai noticed Naruto's flabbergasted stare and leaned over to mutter quietly, "That's Rock Lee. He's a legendary athlete; on the gymnastics team, swimming team, and quarterback of the American football team."
Naruto almost choked. "How does he have time for all of that?"
Sai shrugged. The University of Konoha was not a large school. Big enough to have most sports available for the students, but small enough that some could join more than one athletic activity if they were hard working and dedicated enough, and didn't mind surviving on three hours of sleep a night. Being a college athlete was already a privilege, but to be in three different sports, especially for one to be football, the most popular sporting event for students and fans of the university? Furthermore, to be a resident assistant and attend classes at the same time? What a guy.
Lee clapped his hands once before smiling and introducing himself. "Good morning, everyone! I am Rock Lee, resident assistant for the freshman athletes. My fellow, lovely resident assistant is Tenten, and we will begin a presentation shortly to teach you about the rules and regulations that must be followed during your stay in the dorm. But first we would like to introduce ourselves and give you all the chance to introduce yourselves! This is a relatively small and special dorm just for freshmen athletes; we will be spending a lot of time together so it's good to get to know everybody quickly!"
Tenten stepped up. "Hi guys! I'm Tenten. Please state your name, major, which athletic club you are a part of and a goal you have for this first semester. I'll go first! I'm a mechanical engineering major, I'm on the cross country team and archer team, and my goal is to get an internship for this summer."
A redhead with long layered hair pushed her glasses up her nose and frowned. "I'm Karen. I'm on the girls' soccer team, archery team, and cheerleading squad. Tenten is my roommate and I'm an environmental science major. My goal is to finally get a boyfriend this year."
Karen pointedly winked at Lee, making Tenten giggle slightly. Lee, oblivious to Karen's wink, took that as a que for him to go next. "I'm a health and exercise science major, I practice gymnastics, swimming, and I'm on the football team. My goal is be able to run fifty laps around the football field on my hands!"
A long haired boy introduced himself as Hyuuga Neji. "I'm unfortunately Lee's roommate. I'm captain of the cross country team. I'm not a resident assistant, but if any of you cause trouble I will be the one to suspend you from your extracurricular activities, including your athletic events. My goal is to make your lives miserable."
Everyone gulped and stared wide eyed at that before a blonde girl with a long ponytail stood up confidently and introduced herself as Yamanaka Ino, a psychology major also on the gymnastics team. She had glittery makeup on, and had a purple top that showed off her stomach. Naruto felt Sai lean forward, and turned to see a spark of interest in is usually flat eyes. He elbowed Sai in teasing, but the other boy just turned and stared at him in confusion before regaining his emotionless façade.
Next was a tall, pink-haired girl, Haruno Sakura. Despite her pink hair, which had a choppy cut, and the red ribbon used as a headband to hold it back, Naruto thought she looked kind of intimidating. She was lanky, but had dark eyeliner around her green eyes and darkly painted nails. She was on the volleyball team and was a pediatrician major. Her goal was to make the most kills out of everyone on the team this year. Naruto thought that sounded violent coming from a volleyball player, but figured it was just some type of weird volleyball lingo.
Akimichi Chouji was a thickly muscled boy on the football team and in the university's culinary school. Naruto gleamed at that, as he was also in the culinary school, and decided to introduce himself next.
"My name is Uzumaki Naruto, also in the culinary school! I run cross country and my goal is to make a lot of friends this year! High-five, Chouji! I can't wait to see you in class!" He clumsily leaned over to smack his hand against Chouji's, who was looking a bit nervous and surprised, but smiled at Naruto nonetheless.
He heard Sasuke snort at his enthusiastic introduction and would have said something, but was distracted by a small dark haired girl giving him a shy smile. Naruto smiled goofily back and sat down in his seat.
The rest of the introductions were heard. Sasuke was a finance major and on the basketball team along with a fierce-looking boy, Inuzuka Kiba, who had red fangs tattooed on his cheeks and clear glass blue eyes that stood out from his tan skin.
Nara Shikamaru had long spiky hair tied into a short ponytail and introduced himself with a lazy drawl. In high school, he and Sai had won the state championships for tennis doubles, and decided to attend Konoha together and continue working as an unbeatable team.
A redheaded boy with a gruff country accent introduced himself as Sabaku no Gaara, on the swim team, and a political science major. He stated that he hated water, but felt that in order to validate his existence he needed to face his fear of it every day in practice and competitions. Aburame Shino was also on the swim team and boys' soccer team. He kept shiny black goggles over his eyes and wore a high-collared black coat that must have been stifling, but he showed no sign of discomfort.
Lastly was the shy dark haired girl, Hyuuga Hinata. Hinata was Neji's younger cousin, on the volleyball team with Sakura, and was a literature major. She spoke softly and carefully, but pleasantly. Naruto beamed at her when she admitted to also hoping to make plenty of friends this year. Her cheeks glowed under her pale eyes, which just made Naruto smile wider. Hinata's blush deepened further and Naruto's smile continued glowing brighter for several long seconds, neither of them looking away. Then, Sakura stood and smacked the back of Naruto's head, ending the moment.
"Stop embarrassing my teammate, idiot!"
Naruto whimpered, staring at the tall, pink-haired girl with watery eyes. She was so violent! He was drawn out of his momentary surprise however by a loud guffaw, and turned to see Sasuke with his hand over his mouth and a regretful look on his face for laughing out loud. Sakura stared at Sasuke before giving a hmph and plopping down next to Ino, smugly studying her dark nails. From behind Sakura's shoulder, Naruto spied another set of pale eyes glaring at him. Oh right, Neji was Hinata's older cousin…and captain of the cross country team. Naruto felt apprehension for the extra set of laps or sprints Neji would have him run at their first team practice.
