Her Chemistry class went fairly fine. It was taught by Asuma-sensei, and it was clear that Shikamaru was his favorite. The spiky haired boy's naps were easily ignored, and in turn, Shikamaru apparently scored high on tests. It was as if the bearded teacher and the lazy boy had a mutual understanding.

Mai didn't understand most of the things going on, but Naruto promised her that he would share his notebook with her. Somehow, she heard Sasuke scoffing at that and muttering something along the lines of 'idiots stick together'.

Art class was fun, even if she was an utter trash at drawing. Sai had received many praises from Kurenai-sensei. Mai could easily say that Kurenai-sensei had her highest respect, with the patience of a saint and never once criticizing her stick drawings badly. Her mouth had almost hit the floor when Chouji, a kind, big-boned (not fat!) boy that sat next to Shikamaru, informed that Kurenai-sensei and Asuma-sensei were engaged.

The brunette thought her day was going well, until she was partnered up with Sasuke in Biology. Oh no, it wasn't Sasuke that was going to ruin her day. It was the weird ass teacher with a sickly pale complexion and long silky hair (and an incredibly long tongue- Mai shuddered). Orochimaru-sensei, or Orochimaru-sama as he insisted his students call him, was incredibly fixated on Sasuke that Mai could feel tension and need rolling off her teacher in waves.

"Sasuke-kun," the pale teacher said, slithering to the front of the table where Sasuke and Mai were performing dissection of a frog. Somehow, Mai was paired up with Sasuke, the star of the class would get the rookie, as it usually went. "You have a very good grip on the scalpel. I like it." Orochimaru licked his lips.

What. The. Hell.

Sasuke ignored him (a wise choice, in the girl's opinion). Unbothered by Sasuke's silence and as if noticing her for the first time, Orochimaru's unnerving yellow eyes slid to Mai's small form.

"My, my, what do we have here? A new student?" The words rolled off his tongue smoothly, a curious glint in his eyes.

"Yes," Mai squeaked out in a high pitched manner, ignoring the weird look Sasuke sent her way. "I'm Kojima Daichi, nice to meet you, sir!"

"I'll let it pass this time, but," Orochimaru paused, staring at her. "The lighter you're holding is not needed for the dissection. You should know better."

Mai let out an awkward chuckle as the teacher moved away from her desk to others who probably thought she was no longer worthy of notice, and dropped the lighter back onto the table.

"If we don't need the lighter, why is it on the table?" The brunette muttered in a disdainful manner.

Sasuke turned to look at her, and black met green. He raised an eyebrow. "Don't be an idiot."

Mai let out an offended gasp. "I'm no-… actually, well, yes. I am an idiot. Do you have a problem with that?" She snapped.

Sasuke said nothing and continued with his frog dissection. The girl just realized that he had been doing the dissection all alone, despite this being a partner project. When she was about to ask what she was supposed to do, Sasuke's voice surprised her. Oh my, he spoke more than four words. Was he secretly talkative and she didn't know?

"You have a sister, right?"

The brooding boy's question surprised her. How did Sasuke know about Mai? About her? Her palms started to sweat, and she was glad she wasn't holding anything. There was a high chance that Mai would've dropped them.

"Y-Yes. I do." She answered, trying to deepen her voice. If Sasuke noticed the change in tone, he didn't comment.

He didn't continue the question for a while and the silence that stretched across the table was tense. Was Mai supposed to be scared that he was going to find out?

…If she was found out by Sasuke, Shikamaru would have her back… right?

Mai took another scalpel and helped him cut through the flesh.

After a long while, Sasuke's soft voice broke the silence.

"What school does she go to?"

"Who?" Mai turned to him, surprised.

"…Your sister."

Oh right. "Academy High School." She replied succinctly.

When the nervous girl turned to look at her partner, she raised an eyebrow at the slight upturn of his lips.

"What's so funny?" She demanded. What was so funny about her going to Academy High School.

The scowl immediately replaced the barely-a-smirk-and-not-a-smile.

"Nothing."

"Oh no," Mai placed her hands onto the table and leaned closer to him, almost threateningly. "Tell me. What is so funny about my sister attending Academy High School?"

The quiet teenager glanced at the brunette for a brief moment before turning away.

"Isn't that school one of the lowest ranking ones in Japan?"

So that's what it was. "Are you insulting my sister?" Mai drawled, narrowing her eyes. Of course these jerks attending Konoha High would think they're all high and mighty, and students from lower ranking schools were nothing better than a fleck of dust on their jackets.

A flash of surprise appeared Sasuke's dark eyes but it was gone just as quickly.

"No." The boy didn't offer explanation on that, but Mai seemed fairly content with his answer.

Sasuke didn't seem like the type of person to lie. He was quiet, blunt and didn't sugarcoat his words. Perhaps Mai could use some of his presence in addition to all those people sucking up to her and Daichi just to gain the favor of their parents.

The remaining time in Biology between the two partners were quiet, but it wasn't as tense anymore. Both of them got an A+ for the dissection, and Mai wouldn't know if it was because Sasuke and her (mostly Sasuke) did a great job on the dissection, or if Orochimaru was too love-struck to care.

Her Literature class had been interesting. It was taught by a famous author (or so he claims), Jiraiya-sensei. He passed Mai a book that he wrote himself, and leaned in too close for her comfort.

"Would you like to be my inspiration for the next book?" He grinned lecherously.

Mai gave him a flat no, and quickly climbed to her seat, the only free one, next to Sasuke. The brunette turned to her other desk neighbor and extended her hand in polite greeting.

"I'm Kojima Daichi, nice to meet you." How many times was she supposed to repeat this very sentence today?

The teen with blood red hair barely spared her a glance. There were dark circles around his teal eyes, looking as if he hadn't slept in weeks… or perhaps they were eyeliner? Whatever it was, Mai was too scared to ask.

"That's Gaara, an exchange student from Suna High! He's like a teddy bear. A little rough on the edges, but he's actually really nice, 'ttebayo!" Naruto grinned from Gaara's other side, swinging an arm around the said teddy bear.

Gaara gave her a nod.

"What's with that nod?" Mai asked curiously. "Is it to confirm that your name is Gaara, or if you're a teddy bear?"

Naruto grinned at her. "I knew there was a reason I thought we were going to be good friends."

Gaara cracked a small smile, but it was so small she almost had to strain her eyes to see it.

"My name is Gaara." He replied, his voice low and smooth, and the red head didn't say anything when he saw Mai's face turning a light shade of pink.

"Kojima Daichi!" Mai nearly jumped out of her seat at being called by Jiraiya-sensei. "Turn the book to page 148 and read it out loud."

Mai fumbled through the pages and reached page 148.

"Fumiko slowly ran her fingers down her body…" Mai paused, looking up to look at Jiraiya. Was she supposed to be reading this out loud? "Her fingers hooked onto the edge of her skirt. Inch by inch, she slid it down, all the while keeping eye contact wi-"

Mai choked on her own spit and shut the book immediately, her face flaming red.

Her classmates looked bored as if it was a normal occurrence, many were simply sleeping. Shikamaru looked especially amused at her reaction.

"T-This isn't appropriate!" The girl protested from her spot, looking appalled at the way her white haired teacher grinned at her.

"I know."

Her mouth dropped to the floor at the blatant confession. He knew? She looked at the front of the book. The author was… him?

Mai slumped in her seat, dropping her red face into her hands. That was so embarrassing.

Physics and Mathematics went almost without a hitch, except for the fact that she didn't understand a thing that went on in class. Iruka-sensei was a young, handsome teacher, and Mai thought that he looked a little bit funny when he was mad (at Naruto). It was as if his head expanded five-fold the original size, and was red and ready to burst at any given moment.

Ibiki-sensei was scary, for the lack of better word. Not creepy like Orochimaru-sensei, but just plain scary. She would rather not piss this Maths teacher off, and made a mental note to study extra hard for this subject. The giant, scarred teacher looked like he could crush her arm with just one hand if she pissed him off.

Happy thoughts, Mai, happy thoughts.

The brunette cursed her bladder for making her late to maths class. She had to wait to use a stall, and god, it smelled. Fancy school or not, it was still a boy's bathroom, which most likely by definition, means dirty.

"I'll let your tardiness slide this time. Next time, you won't be so lucky." Ibiki-sensei warned.

Mai nodded weakly. She walked up to the seat Naruto had enthusiastically reserved for her, but before she could reach them, a firm hand gripped her wrist and pulled the surprised girl into a seat. Still in shock, the brunette could only stare at the blonde in front of her, with a hair even more yellow than Naruto's but not as bright. His hair is tied up into a high ponytail, leaving the remaining silky bangs to cover his left eye.

"You can sit with us." He said with a grin, and speaking as if it was Mai who asked for his permission and wasn't roughly dragged into the seat. "I'm Deidara, yeah."

Mai quickly recognized him as one of the people on the Akatsuki table (Uh oh… didn't Naruto tell her to stay away from them?). How was she supposed to run away now? She glanced helplessly to Naruto, who looked just as troubled. There was no way she could move in this classroom just to change seats. Somehow, she felt that Ibiki-sensei would throw a hissy fit if she did. And when the girl-disguised-as-boy said hissy fit, she meant a broken rib or two.

"I'm Kojima Daichi." Mai paused. "…yeah." She added for good measure, wondering if it was a greeting or a code in the Akatsuki.

A big hand landed on her small shoulder with a snicker from her right seatmate. "You're funny, shrimp, I'll give you that."

It was reassuring to know that she was funny without trying. But it wasn't reassuring to be called a shrimp from a person who looked like a shark. Sharp teeth, blue skin (how was that possible?), and a tattoo of gills Mai was sure were against the rules.

Perhaps it wasn't a tattoo, but the brunette would rather not think about the other possibilities.

"I thought that grumpy Uchiha over there was a pretty boy, but man, look at you, yeah. You're more of a pretty boy than he is." Deidara observed loudly, and Mai wasn't sure if he meant Sasuke or his brother. He leaned in too close for her comfort, then gave her a million dollar smile. In Akatsuki or not, his smile was contagious, so she- dammit!- grinned back.

"If you ever need help with maths, new kid, you can tell me." Deidara offered, and Mai was instantly cautious. Why was he so nice? Then she reconsidered. If Naruto or Shikamaru, or perhaps even Sasuke, had offered to help her, she would agree immediately, so why was she hesitating with Deidara? So what if he was in the Akatsuki? How bad can they be? Maybe Deidara was just a super friendly guy, just like how the shark man next to her who probably wanted nothing more than cuddles and seafood dinner.

"Sure, thanks." Mai agreed after the debate in her head. "You're a senior, right?" He was probably great with maths if he was.

"Nope, I'm a junior. Although most people think every Akatsuki member is a senior." Deidara replied, pointing to the red cloud pin on his uniform. "Only three members are seniors."

Mai was curious but before she could ask who, a piece of paper on the table appeared in her vision, with a series of numbers. Was this..?

"This is my number, yeah. You can call me if you have questions." Okay, the girl under boy's clothes was starting to think that the blonde next to her was a genuinely nice guy.

So she spent the rest of the class getting to know Deidara, with occasional jabs from Kisame (she learned his name after forty minutes into the class). Honestly, it wasn't as bad as she thought it would be.

Really, it could've been worse.

Physical education was… interesting. Her teacher- Gai-sensei- was a green mess of eccentricity. The brunette commended him for having the guts to wear the jumpsuit in the daylight.

Gai-sensei looked essentially harmless. But oh no, he was a devil at heart. Twenty laps around the field as a warm up.

Mai was fairly athletic, devoting most of her study time to playing outside when she was younger, but even she had trouble and almost collapsed by the tenth lap. Most boys stopped at around the fifteenth lap. She noticed that Shikamaru had stopped somewhere on his sixth lap.

The brunette let out a feeble, proud smile at being one of the few people left standing, but that didn't last long when she collapsed on her seventeenth lap. Only a handful people completed twenty laps, including Naruto, Sasuke, a long haired guy with white eyes (who looked awfully like Hinata-chan) and another guy who was a splitting image of Gai-sensei.

Rock Lee was his name, as evident from the way he screamed it in her face.

"Yosh! You're really good for a new student! For your efforts, I will walk on my hands around the school twenty times!"

"Umm… I really don't think that's necessary, Lee." Mai said tiredly from her place on the ground.

"No! I will do it! For the power of youth!"

"Power of youth!" Echoed Gai-sensei, who had suddenly appeared out of nowhere. The two of them held hands tightly and tears streaked down their faces, and Mai stared blandly at the setting Sun behind them.

"I was hoping we could do basketball today, but all of you are un-youthfully tired! So I will call it a day. I expect you all to do 100 push-ups next week to make up for it!" Exclaimed Gai-sensei, and the whole class promptly groaned. Mai's back hit the ground in an undignified manner.

The bell rang, and all the boys quickly left the field into the indoor shower rooms.

Mai paused. Shower rooms?

An arm slung over her shoulders, and she looked over to see a sweaty Naruto grinning at her. Sasuke was walking beside him, his bangs messily sticking to his face.

"You did great with seventeen laps. Congrats, man." While he was talking, he was steering her to the shower rooms.

Oh, no. No, no, no, no. She was not going into the locker rooms with tons of sweaty guys, and get herself discovered in the process.

"I-I think I'm gonna go back to our dorm!" The green-eyed teen blurted out, trying to shake herself from the blonde's strong grip.

Naruto gave her a confused look. "Why go back?" His face morphed into an understanding smile. "The shower rooms here are clean and good enough, don't worry about the hygiene."

Before she could be dragged into the shower rooms, her savior stood in front of them, his hands in the gym pants' pockets.

"Daichi, I thought you said you forgot your towel in your dorm?" Shikamaru drawled, looking tired despite running only five laps.

Mai quickly nodded, very grateful for spiky haired boy's intervention. Naruto laughed and brought his arm away from the relieved brunette.

"You could've said so, Daichi!"

Mai gave no reply, and immediately bolted away from the guys, not before spotting the amused smile on Shikamaru's face and Sasuke's raised eyebrow.

When Mai reached her room, she quickly ran into the bathroom and showered, cherishing the way her chest binding and wig were no long constricting her.

Mai breathed out contently after finishing her shower, loving this bit of freedom of her day. The teen put her on pants and started on her chest bindings.

The green eyed teen was so focused on her task she didn't hear the bathroom door opening until she heard a sharp intake of breath. Mai let out a scream, and covered herself with her arms, despite not done with her chest bindings.

Sasuke's eyes widened in surprise, and his mouth was opened slightly in shock. Black eyes trailed from her long brown hair that reached the middle of her back, to her exposed neck, and down to the chest bindings.

The brunette quickly came to her senses, and grabbed the nearest thing- which happened to be her lavender scented shampoo- and threw it at him, and Sasuke barely managed to dodge it in his state of shock.

"Get. Out!" She screamed.

The pretty boy immediately slammed the door shut, his hand still on the knob and body frozen in front of the door from the outside. Daichi… was a girl? Sasuke's mouth went dry. It… wasn't possible. What was a girl doing in an all-boys school?

Perhaps… this was Daichi's sister? Was she Kojima Mai?

Sasuke's right hand came up to his face and he ran it through his messy hair. He had thought that he was the first one to finish showering. What he didn't expect, was to come back to his dorm bathroom to find a girl in an almost state of undress.

Believe it or not, Sasuke was a teenager. Quiet, introverted and uncaring, but still a teenager. He was bound to be affected by hormones (and girls who were changing-almost naked!- in his bathroom) too. On the outside, the Uchiha teen looked cool and composed, but if one were to look carefully, they could see that his shoulders were tensed in discomfort and the tips of his ears had turned faint red.

What was he supposed to do now?