Chapter 2

~X~

I woke up to the feel of someone shaking me.

"Come on, Kaoru! We're going to be late if you don't get up now!" I heard Sakura say in exasperation.

Blearily, I rubbed my eyes and slowly sat up.

"Finally," Sakura said with a roll of her eyes.

"Now, come on, or else I'm leaving you," she said before walking out of the room.

I stuck my tongue out at her back before standing up out of bed. I calmly walked out of my room and to the bathroom a few doors down from me. I made sure to brush my teeth, take a shower, etc. etc. When I was done, I walked back to my room with a bath robe wrapped around me and a blow dryer in my hand. I went to my vanity set and plugged in the blow dryer before using it to dry my hair with one hand and using my other hand to brush it through with a brush. When my hair was dry and fluffy, I grabbed two red ribbons and used them to tie my hair into two low pigtails.

After that, I walked to my closet and opened it up. I don't exactly have "ninja" clothing, but I guess I can find something that will make do. Rifling through my closet, I found a pair of sandals that were sort of like the ones I've seen Mebuki and Kizashi wear. I was just about to give up looking and go ask Sakura for some clothes to wear when something caught my eye.

It was a short, strapless kimono that I had worn once last year for the end of the summer festival. It was a dark, dusty shade of red that I adored the moment I saw it. As mentioned before, it was strapless and had a small black corset wrapped around the waist which was tied together with strings.

It had sleeves to go with it, though they weren't attached. The sleeves started a couple inches above the middle of my upper arm and from there down to the elbow it fit nicely until it flowed out into wide sleeves. The skirt of the kimono, as thin as it was, stopped a little bit below mid-thigh for me, so I decided to wear some spandex shorts with it.

'Don't really wanna go around flashing my peers, now do I?' I thought to myself.

Glancing at myself in the full length body mirror on my wall, I deemed myself presentable enough to show up at school. I decided not to keep Sakura waiting any longer and quickly ran downstairs to see Sakura waiting impatiently by the font door.

"It's about time, now come on! I want to get a seat next to Sasuke-kun!" Sakura exclaimed as she grabbed my arm and proceeded in dragging me out the door.

At that moment in time, I was literally a doll flapping through the air as Sakura ran all the way to the academy at top speed. By the time we got to our classroom, not a single hair was out of place for her and she hadn't even broken a sweat. Where as I was desperately clawing at the door frame in a way to stay upright and not tip over. Not to mention my hair was practically a bird's nest. When I regained control over my body, I hurriedly fixed my hair back to the way it was before.

Looking around, I noticed the classroom was full of kids my age. I didn't get any time to properly look them over, though I did see one boy playing with an incredibly cute dog, before I was immediately pulled along by Sakura up the stairs and towards a boy with dark black hair.

"Hi, Sasuke-kun!" Sakura exclaimed in a happy tone that was accompanied by a slight squeal.

The boy didn't answer her back, he only stayed in his position with his elbows on his desk and his head lying on top of his interlocked fingers and continued glaring ahead at the chalkboard.

"Sasuke-kun, this is my cousin, Kaoru-chan! I'm showing her around just like the good cousin I am!" Sakura said pushing me forward toward the boy before giving me a very tight side hug.

Sasuke didn't even bother giving me a glance, let alone make any sign of acknowledging what Sakura just said. Before I could ask whether he was mute or deaf, I was cut off by an angry voice.

"Stay away from my Sasuke-kun, Forehead!"

I raised my eyebrow at the nickname and turned my head to see a pretty blonde girl at the bottom of the stairs with an angry look on her face. Before I could even blink, she was right in front of us.

"Who says he's yours, Ino-pig?!" Sakura asked harshly as she released me and took a step toward the blonde girl.

"It's Ino to you! And just who is she?" The new girl, Ino, asked pointing an accusing finger in my direction.

By this point, we had drawn a lot of attention, though most people had looks that gave off the idea that this most likely happened everyday. But because of what Ino said, a lot of people had turned their attention away from the duo to look at me.

"None of your business! Besides your name still means the same thing doesn't it? What difference would it make if I called you a pig?! It certainly does suit you," Sakura said ending her sentence with a smug flip of her hair.

'Damn, an insult like that is going to be hard to top.'

Apparently, Ino had the same thought in mind. So instead of retorting back, she prepared herself to lunge at Sakura. Before she could though, a man walked through the door and called the class to attention. I breathed a sigh of relief. That would've been ugly. I watched as everyone immediately went to their respected seats and both Ino and Sakura took the seats on either side of Sasuke. Whilst I just stood there awkwardly standing next to a seated Sakura.

"Class, we have a new addition. Would you please come to the front and introduce yourself?" The man asked me, immediately recognizing me as a new student.

I consented and slowly walked down the stairs to the front of the room and stood next to the man.

Turning around to face the class, I said in a monotonous voice, "My name's Kaoru Haruno and Sakura is my cousin. I took up the offer that the Hokage gave me to join the academy."

I noticed the kids giving me interested looks. Some of the boys wore love struck looks and some (okay all) of the girls wore looks of envy. I couldn't help but mentally smile at this. It meant that most things wouldn't change for me, perhaps I would still have a chance at living my princess life.

I made sure to keep a blank face on the outside though. I saw Sakura give me a confused look at my sudden behavior. I couldn't blame her. After all, I was suddenly acting less bubbly then I was back at home. But I didn't bother giving her any kind of signal to reassure her that I was fine.

"Thank you, Kaoru. My name is Iruka Umino, but please call me Iruka-sensei," Iruka-sensei instructed me.

I gave him a silent nod.

"You may go sit by Chouji. Chouji, raise your hand," Iruka commanded.

I looked over the crowd of students to see one boy raise his hand. He was a little on the heavy side and had weird markings on his cheeks. If I squinted, I could see the top of a potato chip bag that was sitting in his lap. Without any complaints, I walked up the stairs towards him and sat next to him.

"Hi," Chouji greeted me before stuffing chips into his mouth.

"Hi," I greeted back.

From here, I could smell the chips and damn did they smell good. They smelled like barbeque. And I haven't eaten breakfast this morning. Should I ask him if I could have some? Or would that be too impolite?

"U-um," I stuttered out.

"Huh? What is it?" Chouji asked taking his attention away from the lecture that Iruka-sensei had begun.

"Well..." I trailed off as I stared at the bag of chips.

'I've always been taught never to take food unless offered to you. So what do I do?!'

"Nevermind," I said at last as I shook my head and sighed.

Chouji's next reply was interrupted by the sound of my stomach growling. Loudly. I immediately wrapped my arms around my midsection and blushed furiously.

'How embarrassing!'

Chouji laughed quietly at this and held the bag of chips out to me.

"You were going to ask for some food, right?" He asked.

I nodded sheepishly, but otherwise kept my head down.

"I have some other snacks too. What would you like?" He asked again figuring I would probably want something else.

"Barbeque chips and chocolate pocky, please," I mumbled out quietly.

'Well, he did ask me if I wanted anything to eat so no harm done!'

Chouji quickly dug through his bag and pulled out a bag of barbeque chips and a box of chocolate pocky. Getting out another bag of chips, though I couldn't tell what flavor, he closed the bag back up before giving me my food. I sent him a small grateful smile, before quickly devouring the food. In a lady like manor, of course.

I made sure to listen to the lectures Iruka-sensei talked about and jotted down short notes of what he said. Sadly, I had to ask Chouji for some paper and a pencil seeing as I had neglected to bring any supplies with me. He didn't seem to mind though which made me feel less embarrassed. By the time lunch came around, my hand was throbbing from all the writing I had done and my head was practically spinning with all of the new information I had yet to process.

I sighed heavily and laid my head on top of my desk. All I wanted to do was sleep. But alas, that wasn't my fate.

"Hey, Kaoru!" Sakura greeted me as she walked over to my desk.

I lifted myself up and sat up straight before saying, "Hey, Sakura."

"Want to help me find Sasuke?" She asked with a small sigh when she said his name.

"Um, no thanks," I declined, shaking my head.

"Ok, I'll see you later then!" She exclaimed before joining the crowd of kids that were leaving the classroom to find some place else to eat their lunch.

'Hey, wait a sec. I don't have a lunch!'

I groaned and allowed my head to drop onto the desk. I sighed before sitting up and walking out the door. Maybe I can find somebody who will share their food. God, I feel like a peasant. I kept on walking until I found myself outside of the school in what I would call a courtyard. There were tons of kids running around and playing games while some other kids were just sitting calmly by the trees and eating their lunches with friends.

Looking around once more, I spotted Chouji. He must have some spare food for me. Walking over to Chouji, I noticed he was accompanied by two other boys. One of them had a pineapple shaped ponytail sitting atop of his head and the other was the kid I had seen earlier who had the dog. I tried to ignore the stares all three of them gave me as I approached them.

"Um, hi Chouji," I said nervously with a small wave.

"Hi, Kaoru. What'd you need?" Chouji asked.

"I was wondering.. Do you have any spare food? I sort of forgot to pack a lunch this morning," I mumbled as I felt a small blush form on my cheeks.

"Sure, Kaoru! Have a seat," Chouji said before rumaging through his bag.

I hesitantly did as told and tried not to fidget under the other boys' scrutinizing gazes. Mainly the gaze of the boy with the dog. Chouji gave me some food consisting of another bag of chips (sour cream and onions this time), two cookies, a mini bag of beef jerky, and a bottle of water. I accepted the food from him with a small smile before I proceeded to dig in.

The guy with pineapple hair had stopped staring at me at me long ago, for which I was grateful for, but the dog boy didn't stop. Not to mention even his dog was staring at me. It was kind of getting on my nerves so I decided to point it out.

"Didn't your mother ever say that it was impolite to stare?!" I snapped.

Chouji looked up from his second bag of chips and pineapple head opened his previously closed eyes to look at me and dog boy.

Dog boy squinted his eyes at me before replying, "You smell funny."

...

...

...

"Ex. Cuse. Me?!" I screeched as I stood up and glared down at me.

Dog boy's dog jumped at my screeching and moved to hide behind his owner.

"Troublesome idiot," I heard pineapple head mutter before releasing a sigh.

"Well?!" I demanded an answer as I placed my hands on my hips.

"Geez, calm down! You didn't let me finish. I had meant that in a good way," dog boy tried reasoning with me.

His dog barked a few times from behind him, as if agreeing with him. Which was sort of weird for a dog.

"How is me smelling funny a good thing?" I hissed out between my teeth.

Luckily for us, mainly for me, we were far enough away from the other kids that they couldn't hear our argument.

"Because it's natural. Most of the time, girls smell like perfume. It's always making me sneeze, so I hate it. You don't wear perfume so I wasn't used to it. That's why I said that you smell funny," dog boy concluded.

I blanked.

'I feel so stupid now!'

"Oh..." I breathed out quietly as I let my hands fall from their place on my hips.

"Yea," dog boy replied awkwardly.

I quietly sat back down. Dog boy's dog seemed to think that the coast was clear and so he came out. Nobody said a word and the silence was becoming unbearably awkward.

"So... What do I smell like?" I asked curiously.

Dog boy leaned toward me, not enough to be in my personal bubble, and sniffed the air. I had to resist the automatic urge to lean away as I raised an eyebrow at this.

After a couple moments he said, "Raspberries and pomegranate."

I blinked surprised before taking a discreet sniff of my hair. I couldn't really smell anything, but I'd take his word for it.

"By the way, what are your names?" I asked upon realization that they had yet to introduce themselves.

"I'm Kiba and this is Akamaru," dog boy, Kiba, replied with a toothy grin as he pointed to himself before picking up his dog and holding him up to me.

The newly proclaimed Akamaru barked happily before allowing his tongue to hang out of his mouth.

'D'aaawwww.' I mentally cooed.

"Shikamaru," pineapple head replied with a small nod in my direction.

"Nice to meet you, Kiba, Akamaru, Shikamaru. I'm Kaoru," I gave a small smile to them as I introduced myself.

After that, we continued to eat our lunch with a little bit of conversation here and there. They were a nice bunch and didn't seem infatuated with me, which I greatly appreciated. Though I was just a tiny bit depressed by it.