Meeting Kiba turns out to be the best part of Sakura's day. Apologetically, he'd insisted on carrying her bag and led her straight to the office for registration. It had the ambience of a hotel lobby, with elegant drapery, cream colored area rugs and parquet style floors. There were a couple plush sofas across from a tall reception desk.
The person there had welcomed Sakura with an amiable smile—the principal's assistant, a young woman by the name of Shizune. Every one of her short black hairs was coiffed perfectly into place. Her purple silk blouse and sleek black pencil skirt were professional, yet sexy. She cut the kind of sophisticated figure that Sakura would expect to find in a place like this, and she got the distinct impression that young boys looked forward to disciplinary action, the way Kiba couldn't quite look her in the eyes.
Shizune passes Sakura a manila file with a manicured hand. She accepts the file gratefully and curiously examines its contents. There is a schedule, a school map and paperwork for her teachers. On a handwritten post-it note, she also finds the combination for her locker, which Kiba takes her to easily.
"This is it," he confirms, gently rapping his knuckles on the gleaming red metal. "I'm down the hall, locker 336 if you need a friend. Honestly couldn't hurt, new kid." His tone is frivolous and he punctuates his offer with a playful grin, but Sakura senses he's being sincere.
She looks at him, slightly amused. "You must be quite the resident expert," she remarks, quickly dialing in her locker combination. She takes her bag from Kiba and begins to unload her things.
He looks uncomfortable as he leans against the neighboring locker. He has his hands shoved in his pockets to hide the fact that he is fidgeting. "I wouldn't say I'm an expert," he says humbly. "But I've made it this far. I'd be happy to show you the ropes… You know, if you want me to…."
Sakura pretends that she doesn't hear him nervously trail off. Even she can be merciful, sometimes, and he couldn't have sensed how much it would mean to her to receive his offer of friendship, especially after the trepidation she'd been feeling that morning. "I'd like that, Kiba," she says, trying not to sound too hopeful, but she doesn't miss the way his cheeks warm in reply.
"Cool," he says, covering up his diffidence by pushing a hand through his tousled locks. He scratches timorously at his neck, avoiding her gaze, but he knows he can't do that for long, so he looks at her hair.
"I'm a junior, by the way," Sakura says, mercifully changing the subject.
Kiba looks relieved (and grateful) as he nods. "Senior," he replies, hooking a thumb at himself. This piques Sakura's interest greatly. "I thought you seemed a little too old to be a freshman. You missed the first day by a few weeks, though…." He trails off again, and Sakura detects the unspoken question that he badly wants to ask her.
She doesn't feel like answering him but attempts to, anyway. "My parents just split up," she explains, choosing her words carefully, making light of the painful divorce. She thought if she did, he wouldn't notice how much it still bothered her. "I moved here with my mom. She got some great new job at Konoha Hospital, I guess."
Kiba waits for her to shrug on her backpack before he politely shuts her locker door. His expression is abashed but sympathetic. "Sorry to hear that," he says, and just for a second, for the first time since coming here, Sakura feels a little bit better about it. Kiba hooks his finger through the handle of her backpack and begins to steer her down the hall. "You know…I guess if I had to choose, I'd rather come into my third year than any other year," he attempts to reason, and Sakura feels herself smile. He doesn't need to do that—try to make her feel better—but he does anyway. "You'll have to get used to some of your more eccentric classmates, though."
Sakura raises a brow questioningly, and Kiba points discreetly into the crowd. Another group of designer girls has formed a gaggle at the end of the hallway, among them a girl in a red and white windbreaker talking animatedly on her iPhone. Her platinum blonde hair falls down to her waist, even pulled into a high ponytail, and red ribbons are curled into quivering springs atop her head. She is blathering so fast that her lips are a mere blur of bubblegum-tinted lip gloss. The bold red letters on her jacket declare that she is a cheerleader, and the captain, no less.
"Exhibit A," Kiba says, mock-ominously. "Ino Yamanaka. Class president. Head cheerleader. Kind of a diva, but you didn't hear it from me."
Sakura rolls her eyes and drags an imaginary zipper across her lips. She isn't afraid of cheerleaders, after all.
Kiba guides her through the school with more purpose after that, helping her interpret her new schedule. They part ways outside of her first period classroom, where Kiba tells, rather than invites her, to meet up with him later for lunch.
He advises her to "brace herself" for the force that is Mr. Gai. He could be intimidating to new students like Sakura. She doesn't know what to make of that exactly, but Kiba has no time to explain. He gives her a mock-apologetic look and disappears into the crowd at the sound of the first period warning bell.
After that, Sakura spends some time nervously idling by the door, waiting for more students to peter in before she enters. The classroom is a small auditorium, with tiered rows of tables and chairs. Sakura enters from the bottom, where many pairs of curious eyes bear down on her like sunrays through a magnifying glass, incinerating her under their curious stares. She approaches the teacher's desk—no one is there. This is good news, she thinks, as she pulls out Shizune's paperwork and hastily arranges it on the desk. She makes out to dash for an empty table when the first bell suddenly rings.
Without warning, a tall, coltish man comes jogging into the room, huffing like he'd just run a marathon. He pumps his fist and jogs in place, still floating from his runner's high. He looks out into the sea of students. "Good morning, class!" he yells, his shiny black hair bouncing up and down on his forehead. Sakura takes in Mr. Gai's green tracksuit and the orange stopwatch that hangs around his neck, looking every bit like a P.E. teacher rather than…whatever it is he was.
"I was running behind on my morning jog. I only had time for twenty laps around the school today!" he exclaims, and Sakura can't decide if he's joking or not. She is the only one who laughs, and the silence in the room feels stifling when Mr. Gai turns to look at her. Sakura freezes. She doesn't know why. He just gives the distinct impression of no sudden movements, eyeing her carefully from head to toe. The silence drags on, and Sakura begins to wonder if she's in some kind of trouble… Had she violated a dress code? Did she have to explain one more time that pink was her natural hair color?
"Welcome to my class, Ms. Haruno!" Mr. Gai suddenly exclaims. He's obviously been expecting her. "I've been looking forward to this day!"
"Oh," Sakura breathes. "Nice to meet you." She kicks the floor awkwardly when Mr. Gai doesn't say anything else. "I…like this school, so far," she tries.
Mr. Gai seems satisfied by this answer, for he flashes Sakura a sparkly, toothy grin and gives her an emphatic thumbs-up. "Excellent! That's the spirit!" he thunders, still smiling. "Have a seat!"
Class begins the moment Sakura finds an empty chair. Even given the small space of the room, there aren't that many students. She chooses the front row so that she doesn't have to mingle, but she goes with the seat that is farthest from Mr. Gai—a table near the door.
As she sits down, Sakura can't help but notice the girl with the windbreaker is in her class. The blonde sits in the middle row, surrounded by girls in matching jackets and haute couture. No slouches in Cheer Club, she thinks, and gets the feeling that Ino wouldn't like her very much or approve of her penchant for sweatpants.
Sakura shakes her head and pulls out her journal, an unmarked spiral notebook. She flips to the next blank page and muses thoughtfully before deciding what to write.
Kiba is the rare and elusive Awkward Jock. Despite his senior status and apparent popularity, he is indiscriminately sociable. Remarkably friendly. Cute and charming. Seems refreshingly Normal. First friend and ally.
Sakura makes a couple more friends that day, courtesy of Kiba.
Hinata Hyuuga is a shy girl from her class, just turned sixteen and much too generous. During their lunch period, she'd shared her food with Sakura, put her number in her phone and proposed they meet up to review the material she'd missed that semester. She was the kind of nice that Sakura knew people took advantage of, but she gravitated towards her for all the things they had in common. Hinata was a homebody, after all; her idea of a good time was a book or a Netflix marathon. She had good study habits and the grades to show for it. She was a classical violinist. Later, Sakura learned from Kiba that Hinata was considered something of an outcast by her peers, because she was shy and studious. Past her chariness and her occasional nervous stutter, Sakura couldn't find a fault in the pixie-haired girl.
By contrast, their friend Shino had worked hard to earn his outcast status—the same boy with the dark sunglasses who had knocked into Sakura that morning. His obsession with bugs was truly next-level, and it frankly unnerved Sakura. However, past his unconscionable fascination with all things creepy-crawly, the antisocial weevil-lover was sort of likeable, despite his quirks, and that made Sakura realize something.
Really, what the rest of the school thought about Shino and Hinata spoke greater volumes about the kind of person that Kiba was. It only confirmed what Sakura already knew—that he was a really good guy. Totally popular, good-looking, but not superficial. An open mind, she thinks…the kind of guy her father would approve of. Especially because it seemed to matter to him so much to be friends with someone like Sakura.
She tells him this in the hallway as he is walking her to class, and he looks at her a little sideways. "'People like you?'" he repeats, mouth tugging up at one corner. "Sakura, you're a person. When I look at you—at anyone—I don't see an outcast or a jock or whatever the hell this clique shit is that you keep going on about…."
Sakura blushes, averting her gaze. What Kiba has said makes her realize that she has been the superficial one. She can't help the heat that spreads across the bridge of her nose. She feels awful for admitting all this to Kiba—she'd prejudged him, along with everyone else. "I really don't mean to be so judgmental… It's just a coping mechanism, I guess."
Kiba laughs, startling her. "I get it," he says. "It's a lot to process." She looks at him then, her jade eyes confused. She doesn't expect him to be so understanding, initially, but then Kiba is full of surprises. "You're not wrong anyway. It's definitely cliquey here. But that stuff just doesn't matter to me. Actually, I think I like you better because you're something different from everybody else. You're so sarcastic. You're funny. You're…cute. And you're probably the coolest girl I've ever met…just saying."
Sakura bites the inside of her cheek when she feels a stupid grin threaten to take root, but there is no hiding her faint blush.
Kiba lifts a hand, hesitating a fraction of a second before moving to push a lock of hair from Sakura's face. This is the second time he's touched her hair, but this time Sakura doesn't flinch or balk. She feels a budding warmth in her stomach at the sensation of his rough knuckle brushing her creamy skin. "Trust me, there are a lot of people who are gonna judge you," Kiba says. "But I won't be one of them."
A/N: I appreciate your patience as I work my way through the slow-moving exposition! I hate filler more than anyone, but that's why I've been trying to pepper each chapter with something a little fluffy. Even if you're not a KibaSaku fan, I hope you can understand. This isn't really meant to be a love triangle, either. As said before, it's a SasuSaku fic, but Sakura hasn't met Sasuke yet, so that's where we currently stand. Anyway, Sasuke should be making an appearance in the next chapter, so thanks again!