Chapter 2: New School

AN: I guess I'm still setting the scene for the story so bear with me.

Konoha was immensely different compared to Suna. It was humid and hot, possibly the worst combination for Temari's frizzy hair. Suna was just arid. Albeit that it wasn't really the ideal conditions for anyone's hair. "If I'm going to live here for the next two years, I may have to change my hairstyle," thought Temari silently.

"Holy shit," mumbled Kankurou. Temari stared at the gates of Konoha International Academy. Back home, the school the three of them went to was relatively huge. Relative to the schools in Suna of course. KIA looked colossal in comparison to that. At the entrance, KONOHA INTERNATIONAL ACADEMY was written in big, blue embellished letters, with a 'This is a NO smoking campus' sign below it. To the far right of gate was a huge football field in the middle of a running track. Spectator stands coloured red, blue, green and yellow were behind the track. Behind those were four diversely coloured buildings, similar to the spectator stands that looked suspiciously like a modern apartment complex, but the siblings recognised them as the boarding houses from the school brochures.

The security guard pointed to a door a little way off which said "General Office". Temari started towards it with Kankurou and Gaara following in suit. Over there, an overly cheerful receptionist who looked around their age greeted them, "Good Morning! How may I help you?" Temari inwardly cringed but put on a smile and glanced at her name-tag. "Hi… Miss Arya. We're new. We need the keys to our room?"

"Oh yes! Could I just see your application form?"

Gaara, ever ready, took out three folders from his backpack and handed it to Arya without a word.

"Temari….… Gaara...Kankurou… Oh! The three of you are the new students from Suna! Welcome to Konoha! We've put you three in apartment-style housing. So each of you will have your own room and there'll be a common living room and a washroom. If there's any issue then just tell one of your house supervisors." She handed Temari the keys and continued, "Your house supervisors are… Sarutobi Asuma and Yuuhi Kurenai! If you have any problem just approach them yeah?" She repeated. "Thank you very much," Gaara nodded. "Just hang on for a minute I'll get someone to show you to your apartment." Arya stated and was about to enter a room that said "FOR STAFF", but Temari interrupted her, "It's okay. The boarding houses are behind the football field right? We'll find our way there."

"Okay! I'll just inform Asuma-san and Kurenai-san that you guys are coming. Just make sure you find the yellow building labelled '2'."

"That would be great, thanks so much for your help," Temari said as started rolling her suitcase. "See you around?" said Kankurou.

"Nope!" Arya said pleasantly.


Their father was a wealthy businessman, who enjoyed the privileges of owning a highly successful oil extraction company. As a result, he often travelled the world, Konoha being one of his most frequented locations. He wanted his children to have the best education they could possibly have; travelling around the world showed him that admission to tertiary institutes was highly competitive, and already-developed nations like the Fire and Lightning countries had well-established and world-renowned education systems and secondary schools. The Wind Country, which had only recently become politically stable, and was still developing. How developed could a country's education system be if they had only recently become politically stable?

"Once you finish 10th Grade, I'll be sending you three to a high school in Konoha," stated Rasa during dinner one day.

"Why?" questioned Temari immediately. She didn't mind shifting, but she had grown up in Suna after all.

"The Konoha International Academy is well-known throughout the world. It has a challenging program that will help you three get into good universities," Rasa stated, quite logically. "The universities in the Wind country aren't that good Temari." Gaara nodded in agreement.

All three siblings had grown to treasure education. The Wind Country did not really have any internationally acknowledged high school programs. As a result, students who graduated 12th Grade from Wind country high schools only went on to study in one of the three universities located in the country. The government was more focused on rebuilding the nation; housing, reducing poverty and establishing international relations.

Despite the wonderful opportunity the three of them were receiving, Temari couldn't help but be slightly weary about the next two years. Gaara wasn't exactly the best at social interaction and Kankurou was too good at it. On top of that, Kankurou didn't really know what he wanted to do in the future.

The three of them passed by a bunch of students playing on the football field. "Did one of them just say dattebayo?" Kankurou asked Gaara incredulously. Gaara pondered over it for a moment and nodded, affirmatively with an "Interesting," thrown in.

"Forget that guys, did you see the pink hair on one of the girls? Do you think it's natural?" said Temari.

"Lol who knows. Looks like this school is full of weirdos." retorted Kankurou. Temari and Gaara nodded in agreement, disregarding Temari's strange four ponytail hairstyle and Gaara's red hair and matching forehead tattoo.

"Hey Kankurou! Are you going to walk around with your face paint in this school as well?" mocked Temari.

"Goddamit Temari! It was for my theatre class!" growled Kankurou while Temari squealed with laughter. "Sure Kanky, sure."

They stopped in front of the building labelled '2' and stared at the entrance. It looked more like a hotel than a boarding house for teenagers. There was a huge front desk with three receptionists. Behind them, on multiple display cabinets were trophies of different shapes, sizes and colours. Above the desk was a gold chandelier that sparkled.

For the second time that day, Kankurou couldn't help himself. "Holy shit." Temari and Gaara nodded in unison. They couldn't believe it. This was crazy compared to Suna.

"Well let's go." Temari said and stepped close to the transparent entrance to find that they couldn't get in because a building card was needed. "Lovely. How secure." she muttered. "I guess that's why Arya said she'll tell the house supervisors that we're coming."

As if on cue, a woman who looked to be in her early thirties appeared on the other side of the door. She tapped her card and the doors opened.

"You must be Temari, Gaara and Kankurou," she nodded to each of them respectively. "I'm Kurenai Yuuhi and I'll be one of your house supervisors. I'm also going to be your English teacher. And your Psychology teacher if you take it. Welcome to Konoha International Academy!"

"Thank you Yuuhi-san." said Gaara politely.

"Oh there's no need for such formalities dear. Over here the students call the teachers by their first name. So Kurenai-sensei or Kurenai-san is alright," she stated while gesturing them towards a room which said "SUPERVISORS". Inside was a man, around the same age as Kurenai, stroking his beard as if he was thinking deeply.

"Asuma. Will you stop playing shogi with Shikamaru for one moment and meet our new students!" Kurenai sweetly stated with accusatory connotations.

"Doesn't matter anyway Kurenai-sensei, because checkmate." said a boy who looked extremely bored. "That's the 264th time I've beaten you Asuma."

Temari's lifted her eyebrow. This kid referred to his house supervisor by only his name? 264 times? Was the kid a smartass or was his teacher just incompetent? Asuma laughed nervously, as if he was embarrassed and got up to shake their hands. "I'm Asuma. And that's Shikamaru," he said motioning towards him.

Shikamaru limply raised his hand in what one would assume was an attempt to gesture 'hi'. His eyes passed over the three siblings and lingered over Temari for a second longer than her brothers. The only thing he said was "Interesting hairstyle," before placing the shogi pieces in their correct starting position.

The comment wasn't derogatory or mocking, but it made the back of Temari's neck burn. "Speak for yourself," she said with a huff. Shikamaru didn't retaliate, but he smirked. She suddenly felt quite self-conscious. "Ignore him Temari. Let's go to your apartment," said Kurenai soothingly.


He continued thinking about her.

Her hair wasn't blonde, instead it looked dry and yellow. The girls in Konoha mainly had flowing, glossy locks of various colours. Her teal eyes had a hint of a twinkle but there was also exhaustion hidden in them. Her nose was pointed and sharp and she walked with this regal type of grace which wasn't really graceful. It was more like she was always at attention, observing and calculating. And the way she stared at him? Bluntly, without a care in the world if her opinion showed on her face. What about that strange hairstyle? Maybe it was a thing where she came from. She definitely looked more mature. He was intrigued as if she was a rare species of flower which could only be found in certain places, which struggled to survive. Like the middlemist camellia, a flower so rare that it's only found in two places in the world.

Yet Shikamaru felt this adrenaline rush. He could've cognitively interpreted it as excitement, but instead he decided to go with his sense of foreboding, as if he was preparing for some sort of upcoming battle. For some reason he thought there was something more to the yellow-haired creature; and this translated to concern for his usually lazy disposition.


The 3rd floor apartment was huge. It was twice as big as their apartment in Suna.

Each of them had their own room. Back in Suna they all shared one room, despite having enough money to buy a bigger house. They never saw the need to do so.

All of them sat down and Asuma began, "So we have some things we need to give you." Kurenai handed them a bag which had some books in it. He continued, "There are three school diaries in there with your timetables attached. I'm your homeroom teacher by the way."

"Most 11th and 12th graders stay on campus because of the long school hours. Some of the local students have already shifted in, like the boy you met downstairs. Since you three are living in this building, you're in the yellow house. Hence the reason Kurenai and I are your 'House Supervisors'."

"You have to go to the school bookshop on the first day of school to collect your books. There are two days till school starts so make yourself at home. Asuma and my phone numbers are on the whiteboard next to the kitchen door. If ANYTHING happens at any time of the day or night, just call one of us. There's a supermarket and a bookshop in every building." Kurenai reassured while smiling. "All these details are in the maps that are there in your school diary. Oh! Our numbers are in your school diary as well."

"We've assigned 'buddies' to each of you who'll be in the same homeroom as you. They'll come pick you up at 8.30 a.m. on Monday, around 45 minutes before classes start. But since it'll be the first day, there will be assemblies and talks so there probably won't be any classes…." Asuma contemplated. "Umm… What time do we go down for breakfast?" asked Kankurou.

"The buffet starts at 6 a.m. and continues till 8.30 a.m. Everyone eats lunch in the school canteen from 12.30 to 1.30. The canteen usually continues selling food till 5.30 really, because so many students have extra classes. Dinner is served in your house halls from 7 p.m. to 9.30 p.m. And if you get hungry at a time when food is not being served you could always use the pantry." said Kurenai.

"Pantry?" asked Temari.

"There's a pantry at the end of every level which has the basics. Food that doesn't spoil fast. Like soups and noodles. You can by vegetables and meat from the supermarket downstairs if needed and store it in your mini fridge."

"That's all we have to tell you. Right?" Kurenai asked Asuma, who smirked and said "I know Temari and Kankurou are legal but Gaara isn't. So no drinking for Gaara and definitely no drinking on campus."

Kankurou sighed.

"Well if you guys don't have any more questions we'll leave you to unpack."

"Thank you very much Kurenai-san, Asuma-san." Gaara said respectfully. Temari and Kankurou got up and nodded.

After they left the apartment, Temari and Kankurou immediately pointed to the same room and said "DIBS!" and proceeded to fight while Gaara quietly entered the room facing the football field. He looked out of the window and stared down at the semblance of a football game going on. Right now the blonde haired boy who screamed "Dattebayo" before was doing what looked like a 'victory dance' with his shirt off. Evidently he had scored a goal.

AN: More character interaction in the next chapter :)