It was the first full day of Sakura's university experience and she had hardly slept the night before for thinking of Sasuke Uchiha across the hall. In the morning, she went for her first shower, still in her nightgown with an armful of her shampoos and products. As she left her room, Sasuke was walking up the hallway, having already showered. He nodded good morning to her as he passed and she tried to keep a straight face while inside she was fainting with delight. He was dressed in just a towel, the muscles of his broad shoulders glistening with moisture, his black hair wet and unruly. A cloud of steam followed him, smelling of his shower gel and she inhaled it deeply like a drug, letting her knees fall weak.
She recovered enough to take her own shower. Upon leaving, she decided to play Sasuke's trick against him, careful to fix her breasts up underneath her towel to show just enough cleavage in the hope that she would pass him in the hallway and let him see her body. But it wasn't Sasuke who she passed in the hallway.
"Wow! Looking good, Sakura!" Naruto was so annoying, and not only because he had interrupted her private time with Sasuke the day before. He was loud with a stupid laugh, and all evening he hadn't left her alone. He was so tiring.
"Shut it, pervert!" Covering herself better with her towel, she stormed to her room. From now on, she would dress in the bathroom.
The three ate breakfast together and decided to collect their Student ID cards first thing, so that they could get their class registration out of the way as soon as possible. They left Leaf-block and took a route through the other halls of residence down the hill to campus. The Student's Union sat opposite the library on the other side of the courtyard. The space held benches and plant beds, and the far ledge looked out down the hill to the sea. Some students were already collecting here, some of them looking lost and clearly in their first year like these three were. There was a huge map stood by the Union which Sakura recognised from their welcome pamphlets. It showed all of the different university departments and she took a moment to note the location of the Medical Sciences building.
Their class registration took place on the ground floor of the tall library building and there was already a long line of students waiting in front of the desks by the time they arrived. There was a sign set up by the entrance which said "First Year Students – please collect your Student ID cards before registering for your classes."
There had been so much to prepare in the run up to Fresher's week that Sakura had been sure that she had missed out a few of her obligations. As she read the sign, she realised what it was that she had forgotten. "Dammit! I never got around to sending off my forms for my ID card! Do you think they'll still let me register?"
"Sure they will!" Naruto tried to convince her. "They're not gonna send you home because of a stupid form!"
But it wasn't his counsel that she wanted.
"What do you think, Sasuke?" He just shrugged, but she was happy to hear the only words he had said that day.
"I didn't do it either."
When they arrived at the desk, Sakura was full of apologies. The lady behind the desk rolled her eyes at her and pointed her in the direction of the forms she would need to fill in, clearly unimpressed by her lack of preparation for such an important week.
Next it was Sasuke's turn.
"Sasuke Uchiha. Criminal Law." He told the woman behind the desk who had just scorned her. But he knew that they didn't have his card? What game was he playing?
"I'm very sorry sir, but your card doesn't seem to be here!" The woman apologised.
"Are you going to find it? Or do I have to file a complaint before the year has even started?"
The woman apologised again and pointed him in the same direction that she had sent Sakura. But to him, she handed a compensatory voucher for free meals in the Union Café. His gamble had paid off.
"But that was a lie," she told him when he approached her. "They didn't lose anything. You didn't fill in your forms."
He just shrugged again and let a little smile climb up one side of his mouth. He had such an intoxicating rebellious streak.
"Naruto Uzumaki," their other flatmate told the woman at the desk. She flicked through files until she came across his name.
"Environmental Earth Science?"
"That's me!"
"Here is your Student ID card. We also have a few more pieces of information for students in your… situation." She rummaged under the desk and passed him an extra pile of documents. "This is your green card. It will allow you access to the restricted areas of the library. You have also been assigned a scribe, a Mr… Jaraiya. Please take his contact card and familiarise yourself with this pamphlet."
She handed him a booklet entitled "Equal Opportunities for Disadvantaged Students at Konoha University." He smuggled it quickly into his jacket pocket before his new friends could see.
The hall was lined with rows of stalls advertising all of the University's clubs and societies. Older students had decorated their tables – and themselves – giving out free leaflets and pens and cakes and balloons in attempts to advertise musical theatre, rugby, gymnastics, archery, fine artistry, environmental conservation, mountaineering… more activities than Hinata had ever thought to explore. Each table pushed a sign-up sheet, getting as many new members signed up to their club as possible.
She had ventured down to the Freshers' Fayre with her new flatmates. She could not yet venture to call them "friends" but the two boys had been good to her so far and she clung to their company in the sea of strangers. Although he was not a warm character, she had spent most of her evening with Shino on the first night. That was largely because Kiba had been asleep for most of the evening and had only left the flat again when she and Shino were retiring to bed. He had been home that morning though, and she had grown immediately fond of him and the dog. He had been intimidating at first, but she wanted to believe that he was a good person beneath with arrogance.
Kiba was studying Animal Behaviour while Shino pursued the more specific course of Entomology. They were both classed under the animal biology department though, and went to find BioSoc while she went to find a martial arts stand, agreeing to meet up at the main door in twenty minutes time. She had made the boys agree on a specific hour so that there would be no risk of missing them.
She had already ventured to put her name down for the Medical Sciences Society in the hope of meeting someone else on her Optometry course, as well as the Tae Kwon Do Club which was an obvious choice for her seeing as she had practiced the martial art since she was young. She had an armful of free goodies that had been thrust upon her by the different stalls, most of which she had no intention of joining but she had been too polite to refuse.
In a particularly busy corner, she was pushed aside by a pair of Underwater Hockey players, and her new gifts tumbled from her arms. She knelt immediately to pick them up but with students all around her, some were kicked away and she panicked, scrambling after them. Looking up around her, she caught a glimpse of someone she knew. Neji caught her eye, seeing her on her knees on the floor. She wanted to call to him but he flashed her a look of disdain, shaking his head and carrying on his way as though the sight of her made him sick. Hinata's face flushed with embarrassment and she kept her gaze to the ground as she picked up her things to hide her shame.
"Hey, you need a hand?" He crouched down beside her, passing her a keyring that had been kicked under one of the tables. His words came through a smile and as she stuttered her thanks, his expression had already begun to melt away her embarrassment.
"Do you have everything?"
"I- I think so." He stood and offered her a hand to help her up, too. She almost worried about the knees of her jeans being covered in dirt from the ground, but looking up to her helper again made her almost forget. He had scruffy blonde hair and the loveliest smile she had ever seen.
"Hey, you're in Leaf-block, right?"
She couldn't get the words out, but nodded to him.
"I've seen you! You're in the flat above me! I'm Naruto. Naruto Uzumaki." He put a thumb to his chest to point at himself as he introduced himself to her. He smiled again, so broad and vibrant that some of his own confidence seemed to flow into her. She felt her cheeks glowing even redder than before, but found the strength to speak.
"Hi- Hinata."
"Good to meet you, Hinata!" He shook her hand in greeting again before carrying on his way. "See you around!" And as quickly as he had come to her, he was lost in the crowd again.
"I got free cookies from Literature Soc, free cupcakes from Re-enactment, free pretzels from Hockey Soc, and free gummy bears from Interpretive Dance." Choji had unloaded an armful of presents from Freshers' Fayre onto the floor his flatmates room. "They even have a culinary society! They get together to go to a different restaurant every week. Isn't that cool?"
"Sounds like just your thing, Choji." Shikamaru had opted to stay in his room rather than attend the fayre, but always had patience for Choji and was happy to hear of his stories. He lay back on his new bed, his hands behind his head. He would be spending a lot of time with his head against this pillow this year.
"There was a chess club, too," Choji spluttered with a mouthful of LitSoc cookies. "I brought you a leaflet in case you wanted to sign up."
"Chess club? You know I haven't been to a chess club since I was a kid." Although grateful for this friends thoughtfulness, Shikamaru's days as a chess club prodigy had not been his proudest moments and it was not something he wished to remain attached to him into his studentship.
"I know, but you were really good at it back then. They said they go to competitions around the country, competing against other universities. It might even get you out of lectures."
"That part is tempting, but I still don't think so."
His door was open, but their new housemate knocked against the wood to announce her presence regardless. Choji swallowed the last of his cookie and hastily brushed the crumbs from his clothes when he saw her.
"You guys know we have a meeting this afternoon, right?" She informed them. Shikamaru still hadn't decided what she thought of Ino. She seemed to like the sound of her own voice and had been quick to announce herself as the decision-maker of the flat, but maybe that would be a good thing. Shikamaru had so little motivation; maybe it would do him good to have a girl around to give him a good kick up the back side on occasion. Choji seemed very fond of her already.
He rolled his eyes at the thought of the meeting. They had already attended a Fire Safety meeting. This one was something to do with student guidance counselling. Certainly nothing worth leaving his room for. But the time came far too quickly, and the three new students made their way down the Leaf-Block common room on the ground floor.
Most of the other residents were already waiting there when they arrived, but there was no sign of any lecturer. Shikamaru glanced around the flock of people who shared his hall of residence and took a seat near the back of the room.
Ten minutes after the meeting was scheduled to begin, the students were speaking amongst themselves and some of them we growing restless, ready to leave.
When he finally entered the room, the students fell silent. He stood for a moment, his hands in his pockets, surveying his first years. He sauntered to the front of the room and leaned against a table there.
"Sorry I'm late." He addressed the students. "I'm Kakashi Hatake."
He was obviously a figure of some authority, a good deal older than the other students, with an air of confidence. But he didn't look like a lecturer.
"I will be your student guidance councillor, or what the chancellor likes to call your 'buddy'." He began, seemingly as unimpressed by the whole situation as most of the students were. He spoke as though he was reading from a script that had been prepared for him rather than from his own mind.
"Your first year at university can be a daunting time and sometimes you might feel the need to seek advice and guidance. You might look for someone who knows what you're going through better than a member of staff, but also someone who is more responsible than your first year peers. Because of this, each block of first year students has been assigned a buddy.
"I'm contractually obliged to tell you that you can come to me with any of your problems, any time you need someone to talk to. I can tell you of my own free will that the only reason I am here is that agreeing to this role was rewarded by additional funding for my PHD studentship."
He answered a few questions from around the room with the same apathetic tone as the rest of his speech. It proved to be only a short meeting after all, and Kakashi seemed eager to end it and go about his own business once more. He stood up and headed for the door before he had even finished speaking.
"My contact information is displayed on a poster in the front hall, should any of you feel the need to disturb me from my work." He flashed the room a smile and a farewell before leaving "Have a nice day."
Quick and easy, he thought to himself. Hopefully that would be the first and last he would see of the kids this year. He left the block to head towards the library and bumped into a friend along the way. Guy had just come from his own guidance meeting, but knowing him it was probably more along the lines of a motivational speech. He came to meet his friend, with his usual air of self-confidence.
"Do you remember when we were that age, Kakashi? So full of the power of youth!" The two of them walked across campus to the library together. They had been first years together and had both stayed on in education to become PHD candidates.
"I remember. And if I remember correctly, I got better grades than you in first year, didn't I?" Kakashi teased his friend. Guy never did like to be reminded of that little fact, but Kakashi loved to see him squirm.
Guy protested loudly, gesticulating wildly as usual. "It was beginners luck!"
"Come to think of it, I got a First Class degree in my Bachelor's, and you got a Two-One. Isn't that right?"
"You got lucky! I've caught you up now, Kakashi."
He couldn't help but laugh. "That's Doctor Hatake to you." He taunted his friend.
"Not yet it isn't!"
"Race you to the library?" It was a game they had played since their first year. So far, Kakashi had won 114 races, and Guy had won 96.
They both broke into a sprint.
"You won't win again!"