Full summary:
Temari recently got accepted into the prestigious Konoha University for grad school, with the intent of studying wind systems and wind energy. After an intense fight with her father and his old fashioned views on what women should and shouldn't do, she's ready to leave Suna behind. However, Suna isn't ready to leave her behind–both her younger brothers have just been accepted by Suna University's exchange student program, which means they will be attending the school year at their sister school…Konoha University.
Gaara is reunited with his long-term pen pal, the loudmouthed Naruto, and Kankuro discovers the local crafts club. With all the shenanigans that her brothers and their new friends get up to, Temari has no way of escaping, especially when it comes to Kankuro's really annoying roommate with genius intellect and a rudeness towards girls.
Based on Konoha High, or the One Year of Hell, but set in college.
Hi all. So after closing Konoha High, I was like okay I'll just come up with a draft for Konoha University...and then I started writing and could not stop o.o
For all newcomers, a little bit about my writing: I take forever to update. So uh. Yeah. If this updates fast in the next few weeks, that's because I am on a roll, and that is not indicative of how the rest of the fic will go.
Anyway, thanks for dropping by and reading! Hope you enjoy :)
Chapter 1: An Unpleasant Surprise
Temari had been having a nice summer. She had just arrived home after visiting Konoha University for her graduate school orientation, where she had gotten to meet some of her professors and chat with them about their projects. She had even secured a research position in Professor Asuma's energy lab, where she would focus on wind systems and wind energy.
Lately, her father Rasa, the current Kazekage of their country, had started to get more insufferable than ever, insisting she get a boyfriend and settle down. She suspected it was due to the re-election next year (how he had stayed Kazekage for most of her life, she had no clue), and his intentions on obtaining votes from the elders, who still believed in traditional customs. It didn't help that Temari had graduated two years ago and spent the last year at Suna's wind and solar lab. According to the elders, a woman of her age had to go find a boyfriend sooner rather than later, and a woman of her age definitely did not spend all her time looking at wind turbines.
Temari had dreams though, dreams that didn't involve needing a man by her side. Dreams that involved continuing her education in the wind field. Konoha University had presented an amazing opportunity to do just that, simultaneously letting her get away from Suna (and her father and his council of old men) while letting her attend a prestigious school.
Sure, Suna University, located conveniently in Suna, her hometown and capital of the Land of Wind, was just as prestigious. But the university was more known for its practical applications on the macro level. Subjects like robotics and engineering–mostly civil, industrial, mechanical, and architectural engineering thrived here. It was why Temari had initially gone there, other than the expectation of the current Kazekage's children going to his alma mater. She had proudly gotten her bachelor's in mechanical engineering at Suna University, but there was a limit to how much the school could offer her in terms of her future.
Studies like environmental, electrical, and power systems, on the other hand? She had to go to Konoha for that, where they had a robust electrical grid for studying energy. Suna had its own electrical grid, of course. But being located in a desert country meant that experiments with the electrical grid were frowned on–electricity was a vital resource and disruptions could prove disastrous to their way of life, where harsh weather was always on the horizon.
Konoha, however, was located in mild climates, where extremes rarely existed. In fact, Professor Asuma's energy lab often worked directly with Konoha's Hokage and his office to work on the frontiers of energy systems. Temari was excited to work with him and expand on everything she had learned in Suna. She already had an idea for what she wanted her thesis to be.
As for the location itself, in her brief time there, Temari had quite enjoyed Konoha's high-strung energy–the city was always busy, even at night. Lights would be kept on into the late hours as people worked on various projects. But even then, there was something about Konoha that had been relaxing compared to Suna. Even though the city itself was always alive, its people set their own schedules. In Suna, everyone woke up early to make the most of the sunlight, and then at night, everyone went to bed fairly early–it was the only way to keep up in the desert's harsh world.
In Konoha, she would be able to do whatever she wanted, whenever she wanted–and best of all, her father would not be there. She had even been able to snatch an on campus housing spot that was within walking distance of the lab, and it was even a single room, too. And if walking got tiring, she could always take Konoha's trains. There was much of the city she had not explored yet.
All in all, Temari was very much looking forward to her next two years in Konoha, focusing on her research and the thing she loved the most: wind.
She smiled at the thought and hummed a little tune to herself as she opened a new document on her laptop, which was placed on her lap desk so that she could work while in bed. Beside her laptop was a fresh mug of coffee which she had asked Baki to retrieve for her, and being their loyal butler, he obliged.
Temari took a sip of her coffee, letting its familiar aroma soothe her. She placed her fingers on her keyboard and began to type, working on a rough outline of her research plans for the next two years. Even though it wasn't required, Temari wanted to get a head start and send the outline to Professor Asuma once school started, to see what he thought. Of course, her plans would most definitely change in the two years time, but she still liked to have some sort of finalized starting point. She wasn't Kankuro, after all, who started his robotics homework the day before it was due (or, on more frantic weeks, on the exact day it was due). She had no idea how he was surviving college so far.
Shaking her head amusedly at her younger brother's antics, Temari rid the thought from her mind and shifted her focus to her research. She had bought a couple of books to peruse while in Konoha, and she had some of those books open now beside her. She flipped through one of them–an introductory guide to Konoha's electrical grid–trying to find the information she recalled reading just the other day. Finding it, Temari placed a sticky note bookmark there and went back to her document, half typing and half reading.
.
The peaceful mood was ruined when her brothers decided to burst into her room without knocking, causing her to jump in surprise and spill her coffee onto the bed, the dark stains mashing horribly with her favorite lilac colored blanket. She quickly grabbed at the fallen cup so no more would be spilled.
Kankuro cackled loudly at her reaction and Temari chucked her pillow at him. Leave it to her middle brother to be a menace everywhere he went.
"Kankuro! What have I said about knocking first?" Temari snapped as she got out of bed, making sure to put her laptop on her desk and far away from the coffee spill. Fortunately, none of her books had been close enough to be marked and were still brand new. She moved those onto her desk, too.
"Hm, to do it more often?" Kankuro said, feigning ignorance as he tilted his painted face to the side and put a hand to his chin. Temari kicked him in the leg and he let out a yelp before falling over laughing.
"Kankuro, stop messing with her," Gaara said, ever the voice of reason. He was standing in the hallway, peering at them through the open door, as if awaiting something.
Temari sighed. "You can come in, Gaara."
Gaara smiled, pleased by her permission, and stepped through, stopping next to her.
"Did you two need something?" she asked, the question pointed more towards Gaara than her other brother, who was still trying to compose himself after his laughing fit.
"We have come bearing news," said Gaara.
"Oh, yeah?" Temari gathered up her blanket. Thankfully, the coffee had not gotten deeper than that, and the bed itself was still clean. She rolled the blanket up.
"If it's news to do with Father, I don't want to hear it, not unless he has magically decided to stop nagging me about going to KU. I've already signed on and rejected SU so there's nothing he can do," Temari said, using the abbreviations for Konoha University and Suna University, as locals tended to do.
"Except use his immense mass of wealth and power to convince the college boards to let you in and for KU to last minute reject you," Kankuro said, finally back to normal.
Temari paused in her blanket rolling, horrified. "He wouldn't dare."
"Honestly? He probably would," said Kankuro. "But I'm pretty sure the school board at KU hates him so they probably accepted you to spite him."
Temari frowned. "I don't like the sound of that. I thought I got in on my own merits. I don't want to be a pawn in the middle of their politics."
"I am sure you got in because you are smart, Temari," Gaara reassured her. "One would have to be a fool to not see that."
Temari shot him a grateful look. "Thanks. So, anyway. What was the news?"
Kankuro gave her a mischievous grin.
"Oh, no. Oh, dear, no." Temari swallowed nervously. Kankuro was always up to no good, especially when he had that look on his face. It wasn't his plotting face, which Temari would have preferred since then she could have at least prevented it or tried to talk him out of it. No, it was Kankuro's "I have already done something that you will strongly dislike and there's nothing you can do about it" face.
"What have you done, Kankuro?" Temari asked, about ready to shove her entire blanket into his face just to get the sight of his stupid grin out of her eyes.
"Well…you'll likely recall how SU is sister schools with KU…"
"Yes," said Temari. This was old news. She wished Kankuro would hurry up and get to the point. "What about it?"
"And they have an exchange program every two years…"
Temari felt her stomach drop. "Please don't say what I think you're going to say."
"Heh, it is exactly what you think. Gaara wanted to go this year, because apparently Naruto will be there or whatever, and they missed their chance freshman year so of course Gaara was like, 'I must go this year to see my beloved Naruto or else I shall perish!'"
"I do not speak like that," Gaara said, a little huffily.
"Anyway, then dear old Dad found out that he applied and got in, and forced me to also go with him because God forbid his precious heir do anything on his own."
"I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself," Gaara said, sounding just a smidge grumpy.
Kankuro absentmindedly patted his head. "Yeah, we know. But now I'll also be in the program and spending my 5th year there, even though I wanted to spend the year at Suna learning advanced robotics. But I guess KU does have some cool courses that they don't offer here. Plus, KU's letting me take some grad courses, too."
Temari let out a loud groan. "Please tell me you are joking and that you two aren't actually going to follow me to Konoha."
"I'm afraid that's exactly what we are doing, sis," said Kankuro.
"Great. Just what I needed. I wanted to have the year to myself, you know, without you two in the background."
"Hey! I didn't choose this, you know!" Kankuro said. "Dad said if I didn't go with Gaara, he was going to cut my funding, and I can't have that happen 'cause I've got a brand new robot I'm working on. It's going to be so awesome."
"Hurray," Temari said sarcastically. "You know, you should have just done what I did and graduated in year 4, and then taken a gap year working on your robots. But no, you decided you wanted to chill for another year at school since Dad's paying anyway, and now look what you've gotten yourself into."
"Yeah, okay, duly noted," Kankuro said, rolling his eyes. "I'll be sure to listen to my big sister's wise advice in the future."
"Are you truly that upset?" Gaara asked quietly, speaking up for the first time in a few minutes.
Temari turned to him in surprise, noting the way his light green eyes were filled with guilt and sorrow. She quickly corrected that.
"Oh, no, of course not," she said, not wishing to hurt Gaara's feelings. He had always been unusually perceptive and sensitive to people's reactions to him, even if he acted otherwise (especially during his angsty teenage years which all three siblings had collectively agreed to never speak about).
"I'm not upset by you at all, Gaara," Temari continued. "In fact, I'm happy for you, that you'll be attending the same school as Naruto for a whole year!"
Gaara beamed at that. "Yes, I am very excited, also. Naruto has many plans for us."
"It's Kankuro I'm more worried about," Temari said, giving the middle child the side-eye. "He has a tendency for trouble."
"It's not my fault you can't appreciate my charm," Kankuro said.
Temari rolled her eyes. "Yeah, sure. Whatever. Anyway, I have to give this to Baki to clean now since someone decided to barge in unannounced."
She walked towards the door, the rolled up blanket snug in her arms. "This conversation isn't over though. I need to set some ground rules, so don't you two dare move."
.
Of course, being her brothers, they were both gone by the time Temari came back. She shook her head. Kankuro likely went to work on his personal projects, while Gaara was probably either at his garden tending his carefully cultivated cacti, or he was stuck in a meeting with Father. Temari surmised it was the latter, since Gaara was too polite to just leave without telling her why, especially after she had explicitly told them not to move.
Shrugging to herself, Temari saved and then closed the document she had been working on earlier before the disruption. Shoving her books to one side, she sat down at her desk and opened up the browser, curious for more information about the exchange program, which she had never really been interested in.
The Suna University exchange program website popped up and Temari scrolled through it quickly, gleaning all the information she needed.
Every two years, Suna University and Konoha University held an exchange program, selecting roughly a dozen students each, of varying ages and fields of study. There was even such a program for graduate school, which Temari had also known of prior, but had decided against it, wanting a fresh start in a new country rather than staying in Suna.
The exchange students would live in on-campus apartments, mingling with other students instead of living together, and roommates were chosen based on an application form. This meant that Gaara and Kankuro were likely not living together, Temari suspected, as Gaara hated Kankuro's messy habits and loud music, and Kankuro hated Gaara's strict schedules and many cacti ("Listen, one or two cacti? That's fine. But the guy has like fifty!").
Pulling up a map of the campus, Temari was relieved to see that undergraduate and graduate housing spaces were not that close to each other–still within walking distance, if one was determined, but not so convenient that Kankuro could frequently drop by and ask her to do his laundry or cook meals for him, as he had often did when she had still been an undergrad at SU. Besides, there were plenty of on campus restaurants for Kankuro to pick from–he had better not bother her over food, Temari thought vehemently.
There were no tour guides provided for the exchange students at KU, but they did have to take a mandatory "Konoha Culture" class (Temari snickered at that, thinking of Kankuro sitting through such a lecture. He could barely stand history in high school) and write an essay on their experiences, due at the end of the school year in June (Oh, yeah, Kankuro was going to loathe that one for sure). On the bright side, there were activities only offered to exchange students, and they could waive most of the prerequisites for courses, depending on their experience level. Temari suspected Kankuro would use that to his full advantage, taking an odd assortment of engineering-adjacent classes.
Consulting the map again, Temari squinted at the screen, searching for where her classes would be. Konoha University wasn't even that large of a campus compared to Suna University, whose territory included the wilderness beyond the main campus. Students always had to sprint to make it to their next class if they had them on opposite ends of the campus. Compared to SU's vastness, KU was much smaller by comparison, but more heavily crammed, located in the bustling capital city of the Land of Fire. Buildings were more often constructed vertically than horizontally, and always very close to each other, making it easy to mistake one building for another.
Temari had signed up for four courses during her orientation, with the intention of dropping one. One of them was her research, which was the only one she wasn't going to drop, and would be located at KU's Energy and Power Systems Lab, located on the south side of campus. Near the lab was the engineering college, where most of the engineering classes were located, and where she would most likely encounter Kankuro. Math and the other physical sciences, other subjects that Kankuro was no doubt partaking in, were located nearby, to the right of the engineering college. Still, Temari figured she would be spending the majority of her time in her lab, where Kankuro could not access without a key. At that thought, she grinned to herself.
Gaara, on the other hand, being a political science major, would have his classes in the political science college: the Senju School of Political Science, named after one of Konoha's founders. It was located near the social sciences and humanities part of the university, on the west side of campus.
Satisfied with the information she had learned and reassured that she would likely not see her brothers all that much on campus, Temari closed the tab and decided to start packing. Though she would be buying most of her necessary items in Konoha and having them shipped to her apartment, it never hurt to start preparing early. She had plenty of personal keepsakes and odd little items that she wanted to bring over to keep in her room–like the stuffed weasel her mother had given her when she was young, named Kamatari.
She pulled out her phone, selected a playlist, and began to pack.
.
Later that day, Temari cornered her brothers during dinnertime. They were having lamb chops and couscous, topped with onions, carrots, and corn, with hot green tea to wash it all down. Temari could smell all of it clearly as she made her way downstairs, her stomach rumbling loudly.
Baki was bringing out another round of lamb chops when she arrived at the table, having just finished a shower, her wet hair wrapped in a towel. Kankuro was midway through devouring a lamb chop, with the remains of three others on his plate already. Gaara, on the other hand, was much more dignified, using a knife and fork to cut his lamb chop into smaller pieces before placing them in his mouth.
"Close your mouth, Kankuro, that's disgusting," Temari said, sitting down next to him and shoveling some couscous and vegetables onto her plate.
In response, Kankuro opened his mouth wider, giving her a clean view of the horrendous contents inside.
"Baki! Make him stop!" Temari whined.
"Kankuro-sama, if you keep this up, I may have to refrain from giving you the rest of the lamb chops."
"Okay, fine, yeesh." Kankuro stuck his tongue out petulantly but obeyed.
Temari scooped some food into her mouth. "So, I noticed you two were missing this morning."
"I don't know what you're talking about," Kankuro said, reaching past her to grab another lamb chop. Temari hurriedly put her hand out to grab it first, smirking when Kankuro glared at her.
"Too slow," she said, taking a bite and relishing the flavor.
"Father wished to discuss my education," Gaara said, ignoring the scene before him. He calmly continued to cut his lamb.
"What did he want to talk about?" Kankuro asked.
"Oh, the usual," said Gaara. "He said that I must keep my grades up, that I must uphold the family reputation."
Kankuro scoffed, and bits of meat flew from his mouth.
"Kankuro!" Baki scolded, but Kankuro only grinned.
"Sorry, sorry," he said, sounding not sorry at all. "Anyway, yeah. That's typical Dad for you."
"Honestly, Gaara's always had the best grades out of all of us," Temari said. "I don't know why he chooses to nitpick over your grades."
"Because he's a mean old man," Kankuro said.
Baki frowned at them. "Please watch your tone, Kankuro-sama. Your father is well-respected. He has served as Kazekage for 11 years now, and as governor for even longer."
"Doesn't mean he isn't a shit dad," Kankuro said, shrugging.
Baki sighed at them. "Just make sure he doesn't hear about it."
"Or else it'll ruin his re-election campaign, yeah, I know," Kankuro said. "Seriously, why don't they have limits on how many times someone can run for Kazekage?"
"It is the rule of the desert," Baki said softly. "We must always have our strongest as leaders."
"Even if he's an asshole?" Kankuro asked.
Baki sighed again. "Yes, even if he is, as you put it, 'an asshole'."
"Anyway, do you know who your roommates are yet?" Temari asked, steering the conversation back towards their impending exchange program experience.
Gaara perked up at that, his eyes practically glowing. "Yes. I will be with Naruto and his friends."
"Of course," Kankuro mumbled.
"And what about you?" Temari said.
"I dunno," said Kankuro. He took a gulp of his tea. "Like, yeah, I know their names and I've messaged them a bit to figure out housing stuff like what we're each bringing and sharing but I haven't really talked to them much. I don't think they're much of talkers, honestly. One of them's named Chouji. He's the only one who's been regularly messaging me. Apparently a third year in environmental science. He's, like, best friends with our other roommate, some dude named Shikamaru. That guy only replies in one word sentences. Kinda weird, if you ask me. And the last one is some rude guy named Sai. He's been making awful jokes, which, you know, means I must make friends with him now."
Temari rolled her eyes. "Oh, great. Another one."
"I think it'll probably be fun though," Kankuro said. "I signed up for their arts and crafts themed dorm. Probably easier to find like minded artists, ya know? In fact, Sai paints, so that's one thing we have in common."
"Wasn't there an engineering one?" Gaara asked. "I recall seeing one on the list."
"Yeah, but I don't want to be lumped in with those nerds," Kankuro said, rolling his eyes. "Imagine being an engineer. Gross."
"Hey, I'm an engineer," Temari said, smacking him with her fork.
"Yeah. Exactly my point." Kankuro turned to Baki. "Hey, we have any dessert today?"
"There's lemon panna cotta in the fridge, Kankuro-sama."
"Excellent. Anyone else want one?" Kankuro asked.
"I'll take one," Temari said, finishing the last lamb chop.
"I as well," said Gaara, simping his tea.
"Just one?" At their nods, Kankuro grinned. "Alright. More for me!"
He came back a few minutes later with the aforementioned dessert placed on a tray. He took two down, one for Temari and one for Gaara, and then took the remaining the three to his seat.
Kankuro dug into his first panna cotta cup, scooping a large helping into his mouth. "So, what about you, Temari? Any news on the roommates? You got a single room, right? Just like us? Is it a studio?"
"It's a 2 bedroom apartment," Temari said. "Fortunately, I don't have to share with more than one person."
Kankuro made a face at her. "Yeah but hey, I could have been in the double room. That would have sucked for me. Thankfully, Chouji and Shikamaru got that one, the losers."
"Why are you so mean about people you have not yet met?" Gaara asked. "It is very unbecoming of you."
"Gaara, I'll be frank with you," Kankuro said, already halfway through his cup. "I don't even know what 'unbecoming' means."
Temari shook her head at him while Gaara looked mildly disappointed.
"Anyway, I met my roommate during orientation, coincidentally," Temari said. "Honestly, I think Professor Asuma pulled some strings since when I asked Tenten–my roommate by the way, if that was too hard for you to tell using context clues, Kankuro–when I asked her what she was studying, she said she was also hoping to be in Professor Asuma's wind energy lab. She applied to KU expressing that interest, as did I, and then we both got accepted and then turned out to be roommates living right by the lab. What are the odds of that?"
"Heck if I know," said Kankuro, starting his second cup. "I'm not a math major. But good for you, dude."
"I am excited to meet Naruto's friends," Gaara said. "He has written quite extensively about Sasuke, and I wish to meet him."
Kankuro pulled a face and Temari really wished he would stop doing that in the midst of eating.
"Sasuke? As in from the Uchiha? That Sasuke? Wasn't his older brother caught in some huge scandal recently?"
Gaara pursed his lips at him. "Yes, the same one. Naruto says Sasuke is quite shocked by it all and has been rather down lately. He is hoping I can help distract him in the upcoming year."
"Good luck with that," Kankuro snorted, on his third panna cotta cup. "I don't deal with Uchihas and certainly not some brat like Sasuke. Didn't we meet him at summer camp in the Land of Iron that one time? Where you met Naruto, Gaara? He was such a rude kid."
"As were you," Temari retorted.
"Yeah, but so not the point here," Kankuro said. "Point is, haven't you already met him, Gaara?"
"Unofficially," said Gaara. "We did not properly introduce ourselves to each other back then and certainly did not interact. Sasuke dropped out halfway through, returning home for some kind of family business."
"Oh, yeah, some relative of theirs died or something." Kankuro set his empty cup down. "Well, this has been fun, guys, but I'm stuffed and it is time for T.V. Night, everyone."
Without waiting for a response, Kankuro bolted out of the dining room, headed straight for his room, where he had his own personal television.
"He's going to be fun to deal with during the school year," Temari muttered.
Gaara smiled faintly. "I'm sure we will manage just fine."
I am, in fact, maybe giving Temari all my engineering knowledge and experience.