A/N: So I went back and edited the previous chapters. I also merged chapters two and three together, since they were both relatively short and nothing that significant had occurred in either of them. I know it took me a while to get this chapter written, but inspiration seems to strike at the most unexpected times (the night before the first day of school, in my case). Anyways, I hope you enjoy this, and sorry for the wait!

Forget Me Not
4: Thank The Idiot

Sasuke had never been a morning person. In fact, he was quite the opposite—he preferred the night-time by a long shot. He didn't like the hours that people would generally stay up to party, though. He liked the quiet of 2 AM; the fact that everything around him was sleeping and still. He liked the darkness and the peace that accompanied it.

That said, Sasuke also very much enjoyed sleep. This meant that he almost never experienced the peace he found in the hours of early morning, as he would be amongst those dozing away, dreaming happily. It was a compromise, and Sasuke knew that it would come down to what he liked more: peace or sleep. Ultimately he chose sleep. It was a rational decision since he found a sense of peace during sleep, thus combining the best of both worlds. So after logically reasoning with himself, Sasuke never regretted his decision. In fact, he was perfectly content with it.

As a result, it made perfect sense that he would never have to wake up at early hours anymore, and Sasuke was happy with that fact. So given his unfortunate situation, it made even more sense why he was so furious.

It had been 4:57 AM when Sasuke was jolted awake by a splash of ice cold water. The sudden exposure to reality made him initially feel disoriented and extremely confused, but after that a wave of anger overtook him.

"What the fuck?" he snarled angrily, not knowing who to aim the statement at. It it was dark and his eyes were still adjusting. "Naruto, if that was you, I swear I'm going to fucking kill you."

"Now, there's no need for any hostility Sasuke-san!" a voice unfamiliar to Sasuke said chirpily. How did that person know his name? Was he still dreaming? "We are welcoming a new day and embracing our youth by making the most of our body's potential! Now if you will, Sasuke-san, please awake. There are plenty things we should do before the sun rises!"

It took a while until Sasuke's eyes adjusted to the darkness and when it did, he was able to make out a figure striking a thumbs-up pose. "…What the hell?" he slurred.

"Please get up now, Sasuke-san. There's another bucket of water I have ready in case you decide to succumb to the temptation of your warm bed and reject the power of youth. Our training regimens call out to us!"

Sasuke instantly recalled his punishment with a snarl. 'So this is Gai,' he mused.

'Morning training regimens my ass,' he grumbled inside his head, 'this isn't even morning. The sun isn't even up.'

"If you will, Sasuke-san!" the voice intoned, loud but still polite.

With one final glare to the figure standing beside his bed, Sasuke grudgingly got up while cursing the idiot Naruto one hundred times in his only a few moments, he grabbed whatever clothes were nearby and groggily made his way towards the washroom. Sasuke slammed the door with a bang, not caring if he woke Naruto since the moron practically deserved the punishment that he himself was about to go through.

-x-

"Now class, let's all settle down," Kakashi said in his customary monotone voice. He was currently at the front of the class reading Icha Icha with his legs perched up comfortably on his desk, not caring enough to look up from his book. The class was behaving in an uncharacteristic rowdy manner; crumpled up sheets and paper planes were being thrown around in the air and the incessant noise never quieted down. Kakashi sighed. He didn't have to bat an eye at his classroom to know that all this horseplay was the doing of the Hashirama Senju boys. It was never like this before they came to KPA.

Closing his book with a heavy sigh, Kakashi lifted his feet off the desk and cleared his throat loudly. Suddenly the chatter diminished and every eye watched him. Students never saw Kakashi without his nose blatantly buried in that orange book.

"That's better," the silver haired man drawled out. "I'll take attendance and we'll get the year started by doing a lab. I'm assuming you all have experience with labs, and that you have reviewed the safety worksheets handed out on the first day." The class murmured a 'yes' and Kakashi started to take attendance. The goggles and equipment were at the front of the class and as Kakashi was calling out names, students were lining up to grab what they needed.

"Twenty eight…twenty nine…It seems that everybody is here except for Uchiha Sasuke. Shikamaru, please distribute the outline for the labs to everybody," Kakashi said while handing a spiky haired boy a stack of paper. He could barely hear the boy mutter 'troublesome' as he received the stack.

At the back of the class, Sakura sighed in annoyance. Her lab partner was absent — now she would have to do the entire thing all by herself. What could he possibly be doing on the second day of class anyway?

Grabbing herself a pair of goggles and cursorily examining the lab outline, Sakura seated herself at a station and began to neatly organize the flasks and test tubes. There were enough stations for every pair of partners so nobody had to share their space. The lab itself was very basic since Kakashi wanted to start them off with something easy. Students were asked to determine the reactivity of certain elements when they were immersed in liquids. Sakura had finished writing her hypothesis when she heard Kakashi's voice again, though it was muted since he was on the other side of the classroom.

"Ah, there you are. Your lab partner is over there, by the corner. It looks like she's already gotten started."

Sakura didn't know what Kakashi was talking about until soon enough, Sasuke joined her by the station. As he settled in on the chair, he rolled up his sleeves and put on his goggles.

"Where were you?" Sakura asked casually, attending to the experiment yet again. Sasuke glared in response.

She was about to raise an eyebrow and comment on the perpetual stick up his ass when she noticed the new bruises on his elbows and knees. And the grass stains on his uniform. And the slight sheen of sweat on his skin. Sakura couldn't help it. When she realized why he was in such a state, she burst out laughing.

This made Sasuke's eyes narrow even further, and Sakura's chortles soon dissolved into sporadic giggle fits. "It's not funny," Sasuke said, gritting out every word in the most vindictive tone he could manage. Paying no mind to his tone, Sakura smiled.

"Oh yes, it is," she said with a trace of a laugh behind her voice. "It's absolutely hilarious, in fact."

"It's your fault," he pointed out immaturely. Sasuke cringed as he recalled his morning. Apparently what Gai considered a morning workout was eighty laps around campus, one hundred push ups, two hundred and fifty sit ups, and a one hundred meter dash on the pool to 'cool off'. Better yet, Gai said that they were just warming up.

He was convinced that their spandex-clad teacher was insane. In fact, Sasuke was so traumatized by the entire thing that he was planning to negotiate hours of detention with Tsunade, or maybe some hours of school service at least…

"I guess that I should be sorry, but I'm really not," Sakura admitted with a slight smirk.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "I'm glad you find this amusing."

"Of course I do," she said while smiling. "Now pass me the potassium."

Sasuke passed her the potassium and he took notes as Sakura dropped it into water. The small amount of potassium fizzled on the surface and emitted a small flame until it ran out. Sakura then reached across for the lithium, and casually began speaking again.

"So how'd you end up in Tsunade-sama's office? I mean, you must've done something really bad. She doesn't usually send students to her office. Here, put the lithium in."

"…It was Naruto's fault," Sasuke dredged up reluctantly while dropping the small amount of lithium into the flask of water. "He's kind of an idiot."

Sakura paused from taking her notes to raise an eyebrow at his vague explanation. She remembered seeing Naruto in the office too when she went to deliver Tsunade's photocopies. "Really," she said flatly.

Sasuke sighed before speaking again. "He was expressing his fantasies of having her breast milk in his cereal. After, she came up behind us and he asked how old she was. Then he told her that I thought she was sixty."

"Yep, that's bad," Sakura said, clicking her tongue sympathetically. "Wait, you think she's sixty?"

Sasuke shrugged. "Not really. I mean, who knows."

Sakura smiled and finished writing her observations. She was cleaning up the station while Sasuke gathered their notes and soon enough Kakashi's voice reverberated across the classroom.

"That's all the in-class time you'll have to finish your lab but since all of you are in the process of cleaning up, it doesn't look like you have to drop by at lunch," he drawled out lazily, "I expect to see your finished lab reports by the end of the week."

The bell rang, signalling the end of the class. Sakura hastily grabbed her books and stuffed them in her bag. She left the room, heading toward her next period.

Her other classes pretty much flew by, and lunch time came soon enough. Sakura made her way towards the cafeteria, knowing that she would probably find Ino there. KPA also had a separate dining hall but it was so fancy that it didn't seem appropriate for everyday dining, so none of the students ever ate lunch there. In fact, the school only used it special occasions.

Unlike the dining hall, the cafeteria was lit in bright fluorescent light and the tables and chairs were kept simple. Vending machines and the cafeteria service were found left of the entrance, and Sakura was slightly frustrated when she saw that there was barely anyone there. Kurenai-sensei probably just let her history class out early, she thought with a slight frown.

Sakura walked toward a table, intending to sit alone until Ino came. She was just about to sit when she was tapped gently on the shoulder by a dark haired girl whom she recognized from her previous class.

"Ah….Hinata-san?"

The girl in question began to turn red. "O-oh, you know my name," she stammered. Hinata immediately started to twiddle her thumbs as she averted her gaze from Sakura's. "If it's not t-too much to ask, may I please sit with you this lunch, Sakura-san?"

Sakura, pleasantly surprised, began to pull out a chair for Hinata. "Of course you can," she said while smiling. "Why haven't I seen you before?" she asked casually.

"U-um, I just transferred this year," Hinata answered, still eyeing the floor.

"Oh, I see," Sakura said. That made sense. KPA was a relatively small school when it only housed girls and since Sakura was the student council president, she was familiar with most of the girls' names and all of their faces.

The cafeteria slowly became more populated and noisy as students started to settle in with their friends, and Sakura thought that she saw a head of light blonde hair in the throng. "My friend Ino will probably be joining us soon," she explained to Hinata, who was currently opening her lunch box. The shy girl nodded and started to reach into her bag to grab her utensils.

Soon enough, Ino appeared to join Sakura and Hinata in their lunch table. The blonde sighed dramatically as she sat down. "Gai-sensei is crazy!" she exclaimed. "It's the first day of class and he made us run laps around the school already. Doesn't he know that nobody even takes Phys. Ed seriously? It's just a bird course," she said, blowing a lock of hair out of her view.

Sakura laughed inwardly. Ino's rant made her remember Sasuke's ordeal with Gai. Although he wasn't as much of an asshole as she initially thought, Sakura still felt pretty good about thinking of such an ingenious punishment for him.

"Laps? Oh please, that's just the beginning for Gai-sensei," Sakura said. "I had him sophomore year. It was hell."

"I should've just taken chemistry with you. Kakashi-sensei is so lazy that he'll probably just pass everyone."

Sakura chuckled. "Probably. Oh, this is Hinata," she said, gesturing to the girl beside her. "She's in my history class."

History was always a fun subject for Sakura. She loved learning about how the Five Great Nations and how they used to fight wars with shinobi. The textbook was filled with legendary kunoichi and shinobi and Sakura would spend her spare time reading about how Konoha used to be in the past.

Beside her, Ino smiled brightly and held out her hand. "Nice to meet you! I'm Yamanaka Ino."

The white-eyed girl shyly shook Ino's hand and began to blush again. "H-hello Ino-san. My name is Hyuuga Hinata."

"Hyuuga?" Ino questioned. Hyuuga... The name sounded oddly familiar, Ino thought with a frown. When the realization hit her, her blue eyes widened in shock. "Hey, I think that Sakura used to date your cousin!" she yelled.

At the mention of her ex, Sakura abruptly halted in eating her lunch.

"Ah…Neji-nii?" Hinata asked timidly. He was, after all, the only cousin she had.

"Yeah, him," Sakura said, feeling a bit wary being in the spotlight.

She and Neji started dating when she was in the middle of junior year, and they had gone out for about six months. He had attended Hashirama Senju, and Sakura took an instant liking to him because he didn't fall under the negative stereotypes that the rest of the boys in his school had; he was disciplined, had strict moral scruples and was a gentleman to boot. But about three months into their relationship, Sakura realized that there was something…off between them. They greatly respected and admired each other as people and could talk intelligently about things for hours on end, but when it came down to things like romantic dates and kissing, Sakura felt like there was something missing. She never felt the need to go further, and Neji apparently felt the same way. There was no spark between them. No hunger, no lust.

On their sixth month together, they broke their relationship off on mutual terms and no residual bitterness had arisen since. They were actually on good terms with each other, as far as exes went. Neji was attending university outside of town now, and they had kept in touch with each other through the occasional text or online enquiry. In fact, Sakura was actually aware that he was currently dating a girl named Tenten, and he too, knew about what was going on in her life.

They didn't talk that often, but the fact that they were still able to get along with each other after breaking up further convinced Sakura that she and Neji had never been in love.

"I don't know how you can stay on friendly terms with your exes," Ino remarked, breaking Sakura from her train of thought. "I absolutely hate all of mine."

"That's because you only like jerks. Anyone else would just end up boring you," Sakura remarked.

"Oh whatever," Ino said while waving her hand in a pish-posh fashion. "What about you, Hinata-chan? Do you have any ex-boyfriends? Ooh… or maybe a current boyfriend?"

Hinata blushed ferociously and shook her head mutely.

"No?" Ino asked, confused. "Not even one?"

The dark haired girl continued to shake her head, even faster this time.

"Well that's a shame," Ino sighed. "You're kind of a beauty, you know?" she stated nonchalantly.

Hinata flushed even darker at Ino's compliment and in the casual way she had delivered it. The Hyuuga wasn't used to receiving any praise, especially none about her appearance. It meant even more coming from Ino, whom she personally thought was strikingly beautiful.

"H-how about Sakura-san?" Hinata asked, too flustered to be discussed about any further. "Are you currently looking for a b-boyfriend? Please forgive me if this is too bold to a-ask…"

Sakura laughed light-heartedly and answered her enquiry. "No, it's not too bold. I'm actually not looking for anybody right now. Boys kind of get in the way of more important things, you know?"

"Nope," Ino deadpanned.

Sakura rolled her eyes jokingly and Hinata giggled at the interaction. The white-eyed girl smiled; when she had first come to KPA she was terrified beyond her wits, but now it looked like it was shaping up to be a pretty good year.

-x-

"Okay Sakura, be honest — how do I look?"

It was currently evening and school had ended for the day. The students were back at their dorms and Ino was trying on different dresses while Sakura was at her laptop, trying to conquer the final parts of Shinobi Showdown II.

"Huh?" the pink haired girl mumbled unintelligently, not bothering to look up from her screen.

"Sakura!" Ino exclaimed, annoyed. "Please, I really need your help with this."

Reluctantly pausing her game, Sakura turned around to face Ino. She was wearing a tight, strapless black dress and some red pumps. Sakura set her mouth in a grim line.

"You're wearing my pumps," she pointed out.

Ino dramatically sighed and rolled her eyes. "That's beside the point. Now tell me. How do I look?"

"Kind of like a hooker," Sakura said offhandedly. She span back to play her game, ignoring Ino's glare. "Why does it matter anyway? Where are you going?"

"I have a date with Kiba tonight," Ino said. "I want to look sexy, but I don't want it to come off as if I'm trying too hard. Do you think it looks like I'm trying too hard?" Ino asked nervously.

Sakura turned around again, only this time she was less reluctant. Ino rarely got nervous. the fact that she was told Sakura how anxious her friend really was to impress this guy. Her green eyes thoroughly ran through Ino's head to her feet, thoroughly examining every detail. After a few moments, the pink haired girl smiled. "You look great, Ino. Seriously. You'll turn heads and drop jaws," she said earnestly.

"Really?" the blonde asked anxiously. Sakura nodded, and Ino immediately enveloped her into a rib crushing hug. "Thanks so much. I don't know what I would do without you," she confessed.

Sakura smiled; rarely anyone ever saw this side of Ino. She usually came off as somebody who was perpetually confident, someone who never needed anybody else's approval or good opinion. Most people would never know how often she had to be reassured.

"I hope this night goes well," Ino said as she brushed the tangles out of her hair. "This date was completely spontaneous. I mean, we were supposed to go out for next week, but this morning Kiba just told me that he'd take me out tonight."

"That's nice," Sakura remarked. "When are you guys leaving?"

"In five minutes," Ino said uneasily after she cursorily looked at the digital clock next to Sakura's bed. "Shit, he's probably downstairs. I should really go now."

After hastily grabbing her purse and giving Sakura a thorough hug, Ino hurriedly left the room.

"Have fun!"

"I will!" Ino replied from the hallway.

Left alone, Sakura finished the rest of Shinobi Showdown II within half an hour and spent another half of the hour feeling satisfied. However when the feeling of complacency left her, Sakura was at a loss to what to do. She had finished all her homework and had nothing else that she needed to do.

'I should probably return the game,' she mused. 'What did Naruto say his room was again? 413?' Flashbacking to the time where they walked to Floor D together, Sakura's hazy memory became clear again. 'Yup. Definitely 413.'

Grabbing the game package, Sakura quickly changed into her jeans and a white blouse and left the room.

Naruto's room was actually quite close to hers and Ino's since they were on the same floor. Each of the dorms in KPA was constructed with an L-shaped floor plan, and Sakura knew that she was in the boys' hallway once her path curved. She passed by rooms 407, 409 and 411, and before she knew it she was at room 413.

She rapped patiently on the door and stood there for long moments until the door actually creaked open. To her surprise, it wasn't Naruto that answered the door, but Sasuke.

He was dressed in a plain navy blue shirt and grey flannel pyjama pants, and his hair was mussed. Sasuke was rubbing his eyes tiredly and it looked like he had just gotten up from a nap.

For a while, Sasuke just stood there looking as confused as she did. Sakura actually thought that she remembered Naruto's room number incorrectly, but she supposed that it would make sense that he would be rooming with Sasuke. The Uchiha was just about to ask about the purpose of her visit, but she cleared her throat and began to speak. "So you're Naruto's roommate?" she asked.

He nodded slowly, still trying to determine her intentions.

There was an awkward silence between them and it was only broken when Sakura showed him the game in her hands. "Naruto lent this to me," she explained. "I was just going to return it," she said, handing it over to Sasuke.

"Shinobi Showdown II," he thought aloud, thinking back to that time where they were all at Tsunade's office and Sakura said that she owed Naruto something. "This is what you owe Naruto, big time?" he said amusedly.

Sakura pouted and put her hands on her hips. "What? It's kind of a huge favour, you know."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow and went into his room to put the game down on Naruto's bed. He didn't bother to put it on Naruto's desk. If he did, Naruto wouldn't even be able to find it, considering what a mess his table was.

"Hey, are you doing anything right now?" Sakura suddenly asked him when he came back to the doorway. Sasuke nearly cringed; those familiar words were typically the precursor to some pathetic attempt at asking him for a date.

"Yes," Sasuke lied harshly.

"Oh," Sakura replied, not looking dejected in the least. "Because I thought, since I'm here already, we could start on our lab report and it'll be off our backs for the week. I guess we can just type it out sometime later then."

Sakura was just about to head back to her own dorm until she heard Sasuke's voice again from the doorway. "I am doing something," he began carefully, "but it's not important." There was a hesitant pause before Sasuke spoke the next few words. "…You can come in."

Sakura was mildly surprised at the way his mood shifted after she had explained herself, but thought no more of it as she entered Sasuke and Naruto's room. She nearly laughed out loud when she saw the juxtaposition between their sides, and it was glaringly obvious at first sight which side belonged to Sasuke. The room that she shared with Ino was never split the way Naruto and Sasuke's room was. In fact, the majority of the things in her room were shared possessions between her and Ino.

Sakura was about to voice her observations to Sasuke but as she turned towards him, she caught sight of the stiffness in his posture as he turned on his laptop. "What is it?" she asked, confused. Sasuke merely raised a questioning eyebrow.

"You're all tense," Sakura elaborated matter-of-factly.

At her observation, Sasuke grew even tenser. Hoping to divert her attention, Sasuke handed her his laptop. "Word is on the start menu," he said succinctly as she sat down on the edge of his bed. Sakura immediately opened Word and began answering the first question, while Sasuke inwardly breathed a sigh of relief.

It would be absolutely impossible to tell her about the real reason that he was so tense. Contrary to popular belief, he didn't have many girls pay him visits to his room, and Sakura was in fact the first to had ever done so. He had never really gotten over that subconscious fear of having girls steal his underwear or sheets or towels, so Sakura's presence in his room understandably unsettled him. He knew that she was only there to work on their lab report, but she could still discreetly snatch up something of his…

Sasuke shook his head indiscernibly to clear the ridiculous thoughts that had formed inside his head. 'Not all girls are rabid,' he reminded himself as he took out the notes he had taken earlier during the lab.

"What did you write about potassium?" Sakura asked from the edge of his bed. "I didn't take notes on what happened with that one."

"What does the question ask?"

"It's just asking us to list all the ways that potassium had reacted in water. You know, any temperature change, colour change, anything that would indicate that a new chemical was formed…that kind of thing," Sakura elaborated.

"I'll do that one," Sasuke said, sitting beside her and taking the laptop.

As he typed away Sakura further examined the room, paying close attention to the pictures that adorned the walls. On Naruto's side there were plenty of posters and pictures of him, Sasuke and their other friends. Sasuke, however, only had a single picture frame by his bedside. Since Sakura was already sitting on Sasuke's bed, she could see it very clearly without having to move. The picture seemed to be of his family; there were four faces altogether, two adults and two children. Sasuke seemed to be eight, and there was another boy who looked to be about thirteen.

"You have an older brother?" Sakura asked curiously.

Sasuke, who was currently finishing up his question, briefly stopped typing before resuming again. "Yeah," he confirmed briefly, "Itachi."

Sasuke felt mildly uncomfortable revealing personal details about himself to a stranger, a girl no less, but he decided to ignore that feeling when logic took over. His irrational paranoia when it came to opposite sex was getting absolutely ridiculous. What could Sakura possibly do with that information anyways?

The pink haired girl who was still examining the photograph sighed. "I've always wanted an older brother," she disclosed wistfully.

As an only child, Sakura didn't really have anyone to play or fight with at home when she was a kid. She had an extremely close bond with her parents, though she could admit that sometimes it got lonely without a brother or sister around. She especially wanted an older brother just so she could have that younger-sister-older-brother dynamic where the brother would always protect his little sister from things like boys and whatnot.

Beside her, Sasuke snorted. "You can have mine."

Sakura breathed a laugh. "Where's Naruto?" she asked, stretching her arms over her head.

Sasuke shrugged. "No clue. Probably doing something stupid."

The pink haired girl smiled and was about to continue the conversation, but there were suddenly a few light knocks at the door. She furrowed her brows. "Are you expecting somebody?" she asked.

Sasuke looked just as confused as she. "No," he answered. It couldn't have been Naruto since the boisterous blond wouldn't bother to knock. Besides, if he did, it wouldn't have been as quiet anyway. Sasuke tried to think of anybody who would visit him when Naruto wasn't around but he couldn't conjure up any names. The knocks persisted, still light and patient.

Since Sakura wasn't doing anything and Sasuke was busy finishing his question, she decided to get the door. "I'll go get it," Sakura muttered.

She made her way towards the door and it opened with a click. The sight that greeted her was unexpected—there was a man in front of her. He was a tall, lean and extremely attractive male who closely resembled Sasuke. He had raven hair similar to Sasuke's in texture but different in style; this man wore his hair in a low ponytail. When his penetrating gaze met hers he looked mildly confused, but shortly that expression was replaced by amusement. The man smirked, and Sakura was at a loss to what to do.

"Uh…Sasuke?" she called out.

"Yeah?" Sasuke replied, saving their lab report and making his way towards the doorway. When he caught sight of the figure in front of Sakura, his eyes widened with surprise.

The man's smirk turned even wider.

"Hello, little brother."