Remember Our Melody
Chapter 3
Rank 96

DISCLAIMER: I do not, and never will, own Naruto. Kapeesh?

34

Sakura's eyes ran over the metal numbers upon the oak door that led to her new room for the next nine months. No big deal, right? I mean, my roommate can't be that bad, right? Sakura continued to try and reassure herself as she worked up the courage to grasp the handle to the door.

Nice and easy girl… Yup, that's it, she coaxed as she slowly turned the knob and pushed open the door to feast her eyes on an unexpected sight.

The room was empty.

After all of that freaking anticipation, it was empty.

Scowling, Sakura walked in and looked around. It was fairly large with light blue walls and two beds on either side of the room. There was a window in between the beds that stretched from the floor to the ceiling. There were two closets and a desk too.

Smiling, Sakura plopped herself down on the bed on the left side. The bed was dorm size and cushy, with only a light blue sheet on it. It had specified in the list of things required for the stay that a bed set was needed.

Sakura then produced a comforter, blanket, sheets, and a pillow out of one of her large trunks and began to make her bed. She was just straightening out the pink comforter when the door creaked open.

"Hey!" a girl's voice said as the door shut after her.

Sakura whipped around to see the girl who was standing next to the white eyed boy earlier that day. Giving a nervous smile, Sakura stood up to greet her. "Hi! Is this your dorm too?"

"You bet. I guess we're roommates then, huh?" the cheerful girl said, plopping down on the other bed and taking out her blankets and such.

"Guess so. I'm Sakura." The task of making her bed was soon picked up again as the two lapsed in a more casual conversation. Sakura already knew she was going to enjoy this girl's company.

"Tenten," the other replied. Tenten's bed set was a deep purple in color and had a few vertical stripes on it. Tenten was much quicker at making beds than the perfectionist Sakura, so she finished sooner than her. "I'm a frosh, how 'bout you?" she asked as she started to pull out posters and pictures of bands from her trunk.

Frosh? thought Sakura, then remembered that her mother had called she and her friends that before they had arrived at the school. Oh duh, freshman. "Same here."

"Oh that's cool." The two then lapsed into silence as they continued to unpack. Tenten continued to hang up posters around her bed and Sakura began to set up little trinkets on a shelf near the window. They then moved to each of their closets, silently unpacking their clothing. Halfway through unpacking hers, Sakura decided to break the silence.

"So, where are you from?" she asked kindly as she put a shirt on a hanger.

"Kumogakure," said Tenten quietly.

"Oh, the 'Village Hidden in the Clouds', right?" Sakura asked. She knew she was right; she had an A in geography class at her old school.

"Right. And you're from Konoha." It was a statement, no need for reassurance.

"How'd you know that?" questioned a puzzled Sakura, looking around her room for any hints or traces of Konohagakure.

"There." Tenten was pointing to one of the trinkets on her shelf. It was a little leaf with the symbol of Konoha on it hanging from a string attached to a small ceramic tree.

"Oh wow. You're really observant," Sakura said, eyes wide as she turned back to Tenten.

"I try…" Tenten trailed off somewhat awkwardly, and continued her job at hand.

Nosey Sakura bit her lip and tried to urge her on. "You try to... what, exactly?"

Tenten looked up, her big brown eyes wide in surprise. Sakura realized Tenten had started daydreaming when she trailed off. As soon as Tenten got over her shock, she smiled and began talking easily again.

"Well… there is this boy I am friends with, Neji Hyuuga. He has white eyes and gorgeous hair- just please don't tell him I said that!" She waved her hands in front of her and a faint blush spread across her cheeks. Smiling, she continued. "Well, it's almost like he sees everything. His eyesight is perfect, and beyond. He has great observing skills and well… I admire him for it."

"So you try to be more like him?" Sakura assumed, closing her now full closet.

"Exactly! You know, Sakura, you're really easy to talk to," Tenten offered jovially, and plopped down on her bed.

"Uh… thanks," said Sakura, embarrassed. She followed suit and fell back upon her comforter as well. Looking over at her black alarm clock, she read the time. 9:32 p.m.

"Well, goodnight then, Tenten," Sakura said politely, then flicked the light switch above her bed to turn out the lights.

"'Night Sakura," Tenten replied, then once more, silence lapsed between the new roommates, but this time it was filled with slow, even breathing.


At eight twenty that morning, ten minutes before class started, the two were bustling around in their dorm. Tenten and Sakura had been up for a little less than an hour, primping and priming and getting ready for class (maybe just getting ready for class in Tenten's case).

The two differed greatly in style. Sakura chose to wear her usual preppy pink get-up while Tenten wore cargos and a tank top. Nothing unusual for the both of them.

As they grabbed their backpacks, they grinned at each other and walked out the dorm door to their first classes. Unfortunately, they did not have their first classes together. Tenten had Musical Theory while Sakura had Prep Choir.

Sakura walked quickly across the grounds towards the main building with Tenten. All of the normal classes were in the main building, as they had found out while skimming through the rule book last night. They parted, waving to each other with quick smiles, and Sakura trudged up to the third floor, where the choir room was.

"SAKURA!" Naruto greeted and ran over to her as soon as she had walked through the doors.

"Hi Naruto! How are the dorms?" she asked while walking with him to a pair of desks near the middle of the classroom half of the room.

As they sat down, Naruto smirked a little bit. "Oh, the dorms are fine." He paused, and Sakura smiled wryly, getting the message he was trying to convey.

"Roommate's not Sasuke?"

"Nope."

"Who, then?" she questioned with an innocent blink of her eyes.

"He's weird… So weird," Naruto began, shaking his head. "He's SO obsessed with fate, it's scary! That's the first thing he said to me: 'It was fate that I was roomed with a kid like you'," he mimicked. "And he's mean, too!"

"What's his name?" queried Sakura, drumming her thumb on the desk in thought.

"Neji Hyuuga."

"ARE YOU SERIOUS?" At this outburst, a few heads in the now filling up classroom turned towards the two, but Sakura paid no heed. "That is so cool!"

Naruto appeared confused. "Wait, you don't…. like him or something, right Sakura?"

"No way! I haven't even met the boy yet," she exclaimed, looking scandalized. "He's my roommate, Tenten's, best friend! That is so awesome! It's got to be fa—"

Naruto cut her off quickly. "Don't even say that word. You said your roomie is Tenten? Neji mentioned her once or twice." Naruto chuckled quickly before adding, "And he was mumbling something about Tenten and hair in his sleep."

Sakura gave a giggle before looking around the classroom skeptically, before she remembered something. Oh, that's right. Sasuke isn't in our first class.

As if reading her mind, Naruto commented, "Sasuke's got it worse."

"Oh?"

"Yes, oh! He's got spandex boy," Naruto stated with a grimace. "Bushy Brows. Bowl-cut boy." That last name hit gold with Sakura.

"No way! I think he's friends with Tenten too! She didn't mention him or anything, of course, but he was hanging out with them yesterday…" she pondered, smiling a little. Before she could continue though, two people walked into the room with welcoming smiles on their faces.

"Hello!" boomed the male of the two, with a grin. "I hope you remember me from yesterday." He gave a familiar wink and a look of recognition passed over Sakura's face. "I am Iruka Umino. But you are to address me as Iruka-sensei, got it?" Several students nodded, and a pleased smile passed over Iruka's face. "Good. This—" His partner cut him off.

"I think I should be able to handle a little introduction by myself, Iruka," she said with a tinkling laugh. "Kurenai Yuuhi. You can either address me formally as Kurenai-sensei, or just Kurenai, if you prefer."

I like this one, Sakura decided, smiling to herself.

"Now, I don't think we need to go over anything, just give it your all. Let's move over to the other side of the room, where there are rows of chairs for you to sit and stand at so we may begin," Kurenai commanded softly, and she and Iruka guided the students over to the other part of the room, where there were, indeed, rows of chairs and a baby grand piano in front of it all.

"Boys on the left, girls on the right!" ordered Iruka. As the students followed their order, Sakura found herself standing between a girl with very long blonde hair and one with short cropped dark hair and milky eyes. She recognized them both from her observations yesterday.

"Now repeat after me," Kurenai said, then began a few exercises. "HO!" she shouted towards the students.

"HO!" they chorused back. They repeated this five times before Iruka took over the next one.

"Take a deep breath in, then let it out and make a shh sound, just like this." He then demonstrated what they were supposed to do, and the class quickly followed. They did this three times. "Very good!" he congratulated, grinning.

Kurenai then walked over to the piano and played a scale, asking the students to sing with her. "Do re me fa so la ti do," she sang, her voice like warm honey. Her pupils followed, and once they stopped doing scales, she smiled at Iruka.

"Alright girls! Time for a little friendly competition," Iruka beamed. A few of the girls began to chatter nervously to each other and Iruka hushed them with a wave of his hands. "Nothing to talk about; sing about it! We'll see who can go the highest. Whoever wins gets to help select the pieces we do for the first concert. Ready?"

Kurenai, still at the piano, began to play notes, ascending upwards. They were 'la'-ing as high as they could.

Sakura had to drop out at a high G note, but about five other girls kept going. Soon, after the high B, only two were left. And then, it was one. Sakura was surprised that the girl with the milky eyes next to her could hit a high E and not even break a sweat. Her voice was high and precise and right on key.

It seemed that girl was even surprised, or nervous. Or maybe she didn't realize she was the only one singing, because now, as she looked around the room, her face was pure red and her eyes were wide in shock.

"Ah! It seems we have a winner," Iruka said, walking over to the girl, who just got even redder. "What's your name?"

"H-Hinata H-H-Hyuuga," she stuttered out softly. Sakura smiled at the thought that her singing voice was so different than her normal tone.

"Hinata, well done! Why don't you go get a drink of water," Iruka suggested kindly. Hinata nodded thankfully and walked out of the room.

As Iruka began walking back to the piano, Sakura looked over at Naruto and raised her eyebrows, only to find he was watching the door Hinata had just walked out of.

Smiling to herself, Sakura turned back to the front of the classroom.

I wonder if... Oh I hope so! Sakura thought, her smile growing.

Through the rest of the class, they continued warm ups and scales, and Iruka held a contest to see which boy could go the lowest. A chubby boy with ginger hair and swirls on his cheeks named Chouji won this. Iruka and Kurenai managed to keep this class fun, and soon enough, the hour whizzed by and they had to leave to their next class.

Band… Well, Sasuke will be there! And maybe I can get this whole thing sorted out. Jiraiya did seem nice… despite the creepy factor…


Author's Note: I'm not sure I was too pleased with this chapter, but oh well. Thank you for the past reviews everyone! I know I didn't add in what Naruto and Sasuke were talking about, but it wouldn't fit in right in this chapter. But at lunch time, they'll break the news. And lunch time should be in the next chapter.

Thanks for reading!

THE PURPLE BUTTON LOVES YOU! And so do I. )