"I'm going to miss you," my mom said. We had just finished unpacking the contents of our suitcases into my dorm room. We had only packed the essentials - my mom would ship anything else that I needed during the school year.

"I'll miss you too," I replied. As ready as I had been to go out on my own, I was suddenly a little sad. I wouldn't be going home until Thanksgiving break.

"You're going to be great." She grinned at me, clearly trying to hide the fact that she felt sad too. "After all, your father went here too." She had been bringing Dad up a lot lately.

"Thanks, Mom." I smiled back.

She sighed. "I have to go catch a flight back home now. Are you sure you're going to be okay?" That last part was a joke.

"Yeah, go ahead."

She gave me a hug. "I'll see you in November. That doesn't mean I don't want you to call me at least every week though!"

"I know." I nodded.

I walked her outside, where the taxi she had called was waiting at the curb.

"I love you." She gave me another hug before getting in the cab.

"Love you too, Mom." I watched the taxi drive away, suddenly feeling alone. Ever since my father had died when I was thirteen, my mom and I had gotten closer. We were all we had left.

I made my way back to the dorm room. It was mostly unpacked - my bed was made and all of my clothes had been unpacked and put away. I just had to put out the few wall decorations I had managed to pack and I would be done.

The other half of the room remained blank - my roommate hadn't arrived yet. I wondered if she was ever going to show up, the dorm check-in was about to end in the next few minutes.

She showed up about half an hour later, past check-in time.

"Hey!" A blonde girl entered the room, her long hair pulled back into a ponytail. I noticed she was pulling a huge luggage bag along with two duffels that she was carrying. "You must be my roommate. It's nice to finally meet you, my name's Ino Yamanaka."

"Sakura Haruno." I smiled and stood up from my bed. "Do you need any help?" I looked at her bags.

"I think I'm good." Ino grinned and unceremoniously dropped her bags on the floor. "This is all I have for now, my mom wouldn't let me take more on the plane."

I nodded. "I only brought two suitcases full of stuff."

"Sorry it took me so long to get here." Ino began to zip open her bags and unpack. "I got here about five minutes after check-in, but the RA gave me some trouble. I spent a lot of time arguing with them." She sighed and shook her head. "So, what's your major?"

"Violin performance," I answered.

"No way!" She grinned. "I'm harp performance. Do you have strings orientation tomorrow too?"

I nodded. "Eight o' clock."

As Ino began to make her bed, we continued to talk. I found out that she was taking lessons from Konan, the harp professor at Konoha University, that she was looking for a good balance of having a social life and doing well in classes, and that she loved the color purple.

"So are you seeing anyone right now?" Ino asked. She had just finished making her bed and was now unpacking her clothes. I found myself wondering how she was able to fit so much into one suitcase.

I shook my head. "Currently not..." I trailed off, considering what I was about to say. "I haven't dated anyone since my junior year of high school, actually."

"Tell me all about it," Ino insisted. "Did you break it off?"

"No," I admitted. "He did. We met at a chamber music camp and hit it off immediately. We did the long distance thing for about a year, but it ended up not working out." I sighed.

"Sorry to hear that." Ino looked up from where she was sorting through a stack of t-shirts. "I'm single too, if it makes you feel any better."

I smiled, despite myself. "What about you?" I asked. "When was your last relationship?"

"It ended a few months ago." Her response was very matter-of-fact. "It was boring, so I ended it."

We ended up talking until about one in the morning, when I insisted that we needed to get some sleep.

"Welcome to the music school of Konoha University." I stared up at Tsunade - the woman who was considered one of the greatest violinists of our time - as she talked on stage. I, along with the rest of my peers, were at the orientation in one of the larger recital halls on campus.

"The time you spend here is going to be some of the most challenging years of your life," she continued, "but don't worry. The faculty is here to help you and shape you into world-class musicians."

I took a deep breath, wondering what I had gotten myself into. The girl beside me seemed to have the same idea. She fidgeted nervously with a lock of her black hair. I wondered what instrument she played, and if I would have her as competition.

After a few more words from Tsunade, the rest of the string faculty introduced themselves (we were separated into instrument groups). I gaped at how many there were, and how many faces I recognized. It dawned on me that I was finally in the school of my dreams.

"Thank you for coming to orientation," Tsunade concluded, looking confidentially around the room. "I look forward to seeing the work that you will do this year."

"She's terrifying." The girl who was sitting beside me gave me a stricken look. I realized that she had the most interesting eye color I had ever seen - lavender.

"She's my private lessons teacher," I admitted. I had specifically auditioned to be her student, in fact.

"Good luck," she replied.

"My name's Sakura Haruno," I told her. I might as well try to make some friends on my first day of class.

"Hinata Hyuuga." She smiled. Hinata looked friendly enough, I decided.

"So what's your instrument?" I asked her.

"Cello," Hinata said. "I have Kurenai."

"I love the cello." I grinned.

We filed out of the auditorium and made our way to our nine o' clock classes (those who had them). For the first day, all eight o' clock classes had been cancelled and orientation took its place. Luckily for me, I only had eight am classes on Tuesday and Thursday so I wouldn't have to wake up early normally.

My first class of the day was Ear Training I - something that I was already dreading, especially when I saw Hinata's private lessons teacher, Kurenai, at the front of the room. Hastily, I took a seat next to a boy that had a bored expression.

"It's nice to see all of you," Kurenai smiled at us. "We're going to start today by taking an exam so I know where you are all standing on your ear training skills. The majority of the exam will be listening, with one written question at the bottom. Do your best, this will not be for a grade." I heard a few sighs of relief after she said those words.

She handed out a test to everyone in the class. I took a look at the paper that was in front of me. There were twenty questions, the last one being "Transcribe the tune of 'Happy Birthday' below in C Major."

Kurenai sat at the piano and played a few chords and melodic lines while I, and most of the class, struggled to follow along and write what we heard. While I prided myself on having great tuning on my violin, I realized that those skills did not necessarily relate to what we were doing in this class - at least, not as much as I had thought. I would have to work extra hard to get my skills up.

When I reached the end of the exam, it was mostly guesswork. How was I supposed to write "Happy Birthday" without any music? I noticed that the boy beside me finished the last portion within minutes. Once he was done, he handed his paper to Kurenai and left. I stared blankly at him as he walked out the door. Either he had no idea what he was doing or he was some sort of genius.

I was one of the last to leave the classroom.

My next class before Orchestra was Theory I. I was less worried about this class because I had already taken music theory in high school. Hopefully, I thought, I would have somewhat of an advantage.

I walked inside of the classroom, looking around for any familiar faces. My roommate, Ino Yamanaka, was a music major too - a harpist. We had talked a lot the night before, but I hadn't even thought about asking her about her schedule. To my luck, she was sitting in the classroom.

"Hey Ino!" I greeted my roommate as I took a seat beside her.

"Sakura!" She beamed back at me. "Sorry I didn't get a chance to sit by you at the orientation. I was sort of five minutes late."

"It's fine," I replied. Something told me that Ino wasn't always very punctual, especially after her late arrival the night before.

"So how are your classes so far?" Ino asked. "This is my first of the day."

I shrugged. "I'm not so sure how I did on our assessment in Ear Training." I explained what we had to do.

"Well, that's what the class is for." Ino said. "You'll learn how to do everything... Hey." Her voice was suddenly at a whisper. "Look at that guy. I don't think I've ever seen someone so hot."

I looked up from where I was sitting, only to meet eyes with an attractive boy with dark hair and even darker eyes. Although his features were basically perfect, there was a look of disinterest that was all too familiar to me. When he saw me, his eyes widened for a second. Then, he looked away.

"Do you know him?" Ino stared, noticing the exchange between us.

"Sadly," I replied. It felt like my stomach was sinking through the floor. What was he doing here? "That's my ex-boyfriend."

Ino's eyes widened. "What!? Why didn't you tell me he was going here?"

"I didn't know," I admitted.

"You didn't tell me he was so..." She trailed off. "I want more details," Ino decided.

"Later," I conceded.

I didn't realize that he was near me until I heard his voice.

"Sakura." He was standing beside me now. I wasn't prepared for this.

I looked up at him, trying not to look as startled as I felt. "Hey, Sasuke," I greeted him. "I didn't know you were going here."

He smirked. "It was sort of a last minute change. Family stuff, you know."

Oh, I knew. "Well, it's good to see you," I lied.

He nodded. "We'll have to catch up sometime."

Once he moved to sit by the loud blonde boy in the back of the room - another familiar face from chamber music camp, I realized, a loud blonde boy named Naruto - I gave Ino a look. "I don't know why he's here," I told her. "I thought he was going to Suna for school."

Ino patted me on the back reassuringly. "Maybe this will be the only class you have with him." I could tell she was burning with curiosity.

"Hopefully," I muttered.

The professor walked in then, causing the entire class to fall silent. He was tall and had silver hair - I knew who he was immediately.

"Hello," he said cheerfully. "I'm Kakashi Hatake, the professor of piano here at Konoha University. This semester, I've been coerced by my colleagues into teaching the Theory I class. Although this is the first out of five classes that you may take here, I have to warn you that Music Theory is often one of the hardest classes that you will take at our school. Since it's so challenging, students will often find themselves... weeded out, if you will." His face was pleasant, but the faces of my peers ranged from shock to terror. "You can call me Kakshi, by the way. Unless the Dean is here, then you have to call me Dr. Hatake."

I repressed a shudder. I had heard about how intense the music classes at Konoha University could get. That was part of the reason why I had taken some music theory courses in high school - to prepare for this.

"Study buddies?" Ino whispered, while Kakashi handed out his own exams.

I nodded, watching the stack of exams making their way towards me.

It wasn't as bad as I thought, to my relief. Because I had already taken some music theory, I was able to answer most of it. There were only a few questions that I really had difficulty with. At least I felt comfortable in one of my classes.

Sasuke, I noticed, finished his exam first. He was shortly followed by the same spiky-haired kid who had completed everything so fast in Ear Training. Once I was finished, a few minutes after them, I waited outside of the classroom for Ino.

"This is going to be a pain," Ino complained, once she was out of the room. "I was serious about being study buddies, by the way."

I had an hour break after that, until the class I was most anxious to go to - orchestra. We had auditioned the day before classes started and I wanted to see where I had placed in the ensemble. It was rare for freshman to make it in the university's top orchestra, but somehow I had managed it. To tell the truth, I wasn't too surprised. Playing the violin was what I did - it came natural to me, like breathing.

When it was finally time for class, and I knew I wouldn't look like a huge dork coming in too early, I hurried over to the orchestra rehearsal room. It was the moment I had been waiting for, besides studying violin under Tsunade of course. I had been dying to do something else that didn't involve thinking about Sasuke. I was kind of furious with him for even being here, even though I knew I was being unreasonable.

The room was exactly how I had remembered during all of the tours of the campus I had taken in high school - huge and magnificent. I didn't have to worry about being the earliest person in the room, there were already several students sitting in their chairs and warming up. To my surprise, I saw the boy with spiky hair from before assembling a bassoon. Strange, I wouldn't have guessed that to be his instrument.

Carefully, I made my way to where the violins sat, searching for my name. Someone had painstakingly written everyone's names on sticky notes and attached them to their music stands.

I scanned the stands in the area. When I found my name, I gasped. Although it was in the middle of the section, the note said: Sakura Haruno, First Violin. After glancing at the stand to my right, I realized that I was the last one before the second violins began. Still, I was playing first violin.

Eagerly, I opened the folder of music we would be working on for our next concert that was sitting on my stand. The music looked challenging, but I was ready for it. The works included Tchaikovsky, Brahms, and Haydn.

More students flooded into the room while I warmed up, including Hinata. I gave her a small smile when I saw her enter the room, which she returned. I was glad that there was at least one familiar face in the room with me.

A pale boy with black hair sat down in the chair to my left, regarding me cooly.

I tried not to let the look on his face get to me. "Er, hi," I said. "I'm Sakura, what's your name?"

"Sai," he replied. "First violin."

"You're a freshman, right?" I remembered seeing him at the strings orientation that morning. "That's crazy."

"It was easy, actually." He smirked. "I've always played first violin."

So had I. "Me too," I replied, "but I'm really just happy with making the top orchestra, honestly."

"You do that." He turned his attention to his violin, which looked pretty expensive.

I sighed. I didn't think I was going to end up by the most stuck-up member of the orchestra, but here I was. The girl who sat next to me - an upperclassman who seemed appalled that she was playing second violin - wasn't much better. She basically ignored me.

"Good afternoon!" I heard a booming voice greet us from the front of the room. It was Jiraya, the percussion professor and conductor of the Konoha University Orchestra. He was quirky, but incredible at his job. "I see you've all found your chair placements. Don't get too discouraged if you aren't in a position you like - there's always next year. Or not." He laughed.

We started right in on the music, just like I had wanted. It was better that way, I thought. By the time we were done reading through the Tchaikovsky, I had forgotten all about Sasuke and Sai. Despite the rough start, I knew I was where I needed to be.

"So..." Ino said. "You and Sasuke..." We had just sat down in the dining hall for lunch and she was already hounding me.

"Yeah," I sighed. I still hadn't gotten over our encounter in Music Theory, as much as I had wanted to forget about it. "There's really not much more to say."

"Sorry, Sakura." Ino apologized. "I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable." I guess she noticed the look on my face. "I was just curious about what happened. Sometimes my friends back home tell me I'm too nosey."

"No, it's okay," I responded. "I actually haven't talked about it that much. When we first met, it was like we were perfect for each other. Even though it was long distance, we made it work. In fact, a week before we broke up, everything seemed fine. I still don't know what happened." Admitting everything to Ino only made it feel fresh again.

"Did he say anything?" Ino asked. "I mean... about why he broke it off?"

"Not really." I shook my head. "That's what was so infuriating about it. He said it was the long distance, but he was never bothered by that before so I was sure it was a lie. That, and he never really gave me a straight answer. It took me forever to get over it."

Ino looked like she was about to say something, then she seemed to think better of it. "Well, I hope he realizes what he's missing out on," she said.

I stared down at the salad I had purchased from the dining hall. "I doubt it." I had already seen that Sasuke had admirers, and it was only the first day of class. It was like chamber music camp all over again, but this time he didn't even notice me.

Why did I care so much?

The next day, I was determined to get over everything from the day before. I wasn't going to let my ex-boyfriend ruin going to the school of my dreams. Unfortunately, having Piano Class I at eight o' clock in the morning wasn't the best way to start the day. I had never been very good at the piano and adding that with being sleep deprived from staying up with Ino the night before didn't help.

"I swear," I muttered to Ino when we left the room. "This is going to be the death of me."

"You'll get it," Ino insisted. "It takes a lot of practice." She was one to talk - Ino had gotten most of the concepts right away.

The next class I that I had was Chamber Ensemble - something that I had been looking forward to almost as much as Orchestra. I loved playing in a smaller group with other students my age. From what I had heard, the small ensembles at Konoha University were mainly student led. Faculty would be there for us to give guidance occasionally, but it would allow more artistic freedom than orchestra.

When I got to the class, my classmates and I were separated into various chamber ensembles. Since I was strings, I was told that I would probably end up in a string quartet.

To my surprise, Kurenai and another professor named Asuma (I think he taught viola) were sorting us out into ensembles. "Your ensembles have been pre-determined by the faculty," Kurenai explained. "We have chosen what we believe are the best positions for all of you. That means," she gave us a stern look, "no switching."

I found myself in a string quartet consisting of myself, Hinata, the spiky haired boy from the day before and Sai.

"Oh great," I said under my breath when I found out that Sai was in the ensemble. Better yet, he was first violin. I would be playing second part. Usually, I would be fine with this. Second violin wasn't bad. It was the fact that I would be playing under Sai that bothered me.

"I suppose we should start by introducing ourselves," Sai began offhandedly. "My name is Sai. First violin." What was up with him and saying "first violin" constantly? He said it like it was a status symbol or something. Which, to him, it probably was.

"Hinata Hyuuga," Hinata introduced herself. "I know you already." She nodded at me. "We met at the strings orientation. I play cello," she added as an afterthought.

"Shikamaru Nara." The spiky-haired boy said.

"Don't you play bassoon?" I asked him, curious.

He shrugged. "I play a lot of instruments. Currently, I'm working on bassoon and viola... and piano."

I felt my eyes widen and then realized that they were looking at me expectantly. "Sakura Haruno," I said. "Second violin."

We were given our own practice room to work in, plus our own music folders (given to us by Kurenai). I looked at the pieces we were given to learn for the semester. They included an arrangement of the second movement of Beethoven's "Pathetique" sonata, Schubert's "Death and the Maiden" and Brahms' "String Quartet no. 3". I looked at the music, feeling excited. I loved all of those pieces.

Despite being cocky, I had to admit that Sai was a great violinist. His technique was basically flawless. Shikamaru proved to be just as good on viola as he had been on bassoon and Hinata's sound on the cello was beautiful and rich. All together, we sounded pretty great.

Reading through our music, we figured out what we needed to practice before we met again on Thursday at the same time.

That afternoon, I went to my first violin lesson - another part of college that I had anticipated since my first day. Studying under Tsunade was one of the most exciting and terrifying things that had ever happened to me.

"Come in." Tsunade had opened her door at exactly one o' clock to find me waiting outside. "It's nice to see you, Sakura Haruno."

"Thank you," I replied. I was sort of freaking out. Being this close to someone that I could only describe as a violin celebrity, I suddenly felt very inadequate.

"Your father was Kizashi Haruno, correct?" Tsunade asked, once I was inside her office - a large white room with large windows and tasteful decorations.

I nodded. "Did you know him?"

She smiled. "I went to school with him, actually. I was sad to hear that he passed away. He was a great musician and person."

Out of all of the topics I expected to discuss with Tsunade, this was not one of them. "Th-Thank you," I replied, completely caught off guard. "I always enjoyed hearing my father play."

"He was great," she agreed. "It's nice to see that his daughter decided to take after him."

"Thank you," I said again, flattered this time.

"Now," Tsunade said. "It's time to figure out your repertoire for the semester. I have a few pieces picked out for you already..." She reached for a notebook nearby that looked like it was covered in notes. "Grieg's 'Violin Sonata in C Minor, Op. 45'... just the first movement this semester, Elgar's 'Salut d'amour', and Chopin's 'Etude Op. 10, No. 4 in C Sharp Minor'. The last one is actually a piano piece that was transcribed for piano and violin. I think you'll have fun with it."

"That sounds great," I replied. I had heard of most of the pieces, besides "Salut d'amour".

"Let's see... Ah, yes. This will be good for you. I assume you know about our piano accompanying classes?" Tsunade looked at me from her notes.

"Er, sort of." I shrugged.

"Kakashi has asked me to assign a few of my students to his accompanying students," Tsunade explained. "That means you'll be working with another student out of his studio with both of us. It will be a good opportunity for you to grow musically with another person, plus it will be free of charge for you."

"Works for me," I replied. "Do we know who I'm working with?"

"Sasuke Uchiha."

Author's Note: Thank you everyone for reading and for your kind reviews! I've really appreciated all of the feedback so far! I hope that you enjoy this chapter. :) So a lot of the pieces that I included are some of my favorites. Also, if you've never heard "Salut d'amour" before, I recommend checking it out.

Please let me know what you think! Thanks again!