Sakura rubbed her eyelids close. On one hand, she held a purple slip being accompanied by her bag on the other. She looked at the slip attentively, avoiding the nervous growing bustle of those around her in the freshman hall.

Student I.D #36837
Tora Hall
Room D

This must be my dormitory room. Tora, that means tiger, right? Ugh, tigers are ferocious...and wait, where the heck are any of the hallways here?!

She blinked, looking into a map mural in the wall. Students crowded it around it, curiously pointing their fingers into the plastic covering. She gulped, apprehensively approaching it, and saw no further than the back of a rather large boy in front of her.

"Um, excuse me...I..."

Grunt. The boy, well more like, the monster turned his head, lowering his gaze to the skinny cowering girl at his side. Sakura trembled, raising a weak friendly hand.

"I just need to look at the map too." She whimpered. "I'm new here, and I don't really know anything. Maybe you could..."

The gargantuan boy groaned, ignoring her with a firm push away from him. Sakura was flustered, she wasn't getting anywhere. Somewhere in the back of her head, she would have rolled her sleeves up and picked a fight, much like it was with her older brother. However, well, his size was not something to be taken lightly.

"Please. I'm new here...."

"You and the other 200 of us around here." A mean girl interrupted, sneering at her. "What makes you so special?"

Sakura felt weak in her knees, almost curling herself in the safety of her arms. "I...it's just..." A knot formed in her throat.

"Leave her alone, Chiru. The girl's obviously never even been away from wherever she came from. Hi, I'm Mikasa. Your name?" An older girl had stepped through, giving Sakura a meticulous stare. Dominantly resounding through her face was a pair of strikingly blue eyes behind a light shade of pale skin.

"My name?.." Sakura choked, looking finically to her feet. Goosebumps raised on her arms.

"Yeah," the girl cocked an eyebrow, estranged. "Your name...you do have one, right?"

Why is it so cold around here? They are going overboard with the air conditioning... "Oh!" Sakura smiled faintly. "It's Kinomoto," she rubbed her left arm for warmth.

"Sakura is a pretty name," the girl had taken hold of Sakura's clammy hands unexpectadly, as if checking for marks on her wrists.

"I never said my..." Sakura interrupted, taken aback.

Mikasa ignored her, taking ahold of her purple slip and inspecting it vigorously. "Tora Hall, huh? That's where I'm staying in this year too. Come on, ...I guess I'm obligated to show you around."

Sakura curled a slight smile, feeling relieved at the sound of kindness. Maybe she nededed to lighten up; she would get used to the idea of strangers showing her around. Mikasa was obviously doing her job, at least she thought. Who was this girl, though? How did she happend to show up unexpectedly? And how did she know her name? Unfortunately, she had daydreamed for too long and Mikasa was far ahead in the hallway.

"Wait!" she cried out, trailing behind. She had just noticed how dark her hair was, hung below her beret. She wore an elegant blue top, complimenting her striking gaze. On her hips, a bead belt hung loosely making noise at her confident strut. She grinned her teeth, as pearly white as her skin, looking back.

"Heh, you're a funny girl." She chuckled, looking to a panting Sakura. She blushed. "So you're new around here, where are you from?"

"Yeah, I lived my entire life in Tomoeda before I applied for school here. I'm..." she looked out a window where the sound of a boy screaming had grabbed her attention. "...still getting used to the whole 'new town' thing." She giggled nervously.

"Don't fret." She said practically, turning her eyes towards her bag. "Everyone feels the same way. I have been here for 3 years now, but I can tell you that it was just as hard for me as it is for you. Any friends who ended up here with you?"

Sakura noticed her fascination with the contents in her hand, but quickly shook it off, feeling colder by the minute.

She thought of Tomoyo, hoping that she would be doing fantastically at Warrington, just like she deserved it. She had long waited for a response from her audition to the music school and had passed with flying colors as expected. Sakura had been extremely happy for her but at the same time had dreaded the fact that her best friend had left even farther away from Tomoeda than she did.

"Not that I know of."

"Boyfriend?"

Sakura flushed scarlet. Nobody had asked her that question in years.

'Heh, heh, heh. No."

"Well, I wonder why. You're really pretty." Mikasa remarked cooly.

"Thank you." Something about her companion's tone had warded her off.

They had stopped by a light blue hallway that streched for a few feet across. A detailed lily pond was painted in the center of the ceiling, water streams circulating on the corners. Harmless looking tigers adorned each door. Sakura widened her gaze, this must have been it. Kids were coming in to their respective dormitories, carrying boxes and of the matter.

"Is this..."

"Yes. Welcome to Tora Hall. Know your room?"

"Yeah." She held her paper up. "Room D!"

She pointed to the room on a near right. "Over there. You don't need me to help you with your things, do you?"

Sakura looked down at her belongings, and while gazing back she had caught Misaka's scrutinized stare at her. She gulped, pretending to not be disturbed.

"No. I think I'm fine."