What Luck Brings: Welcome to the Jungle
With her spirits higher than they had been since first assuming her dude mode Sakura waved back to Kakashi as they parted ways. She had been to the campus countless times before she had been accepted so she knew her way around pretty well already.
The beauty of the buildings never ceased to amaze her. Each one looked like a castle out of some fairy tale. The main library was the most ornate building on campus with its high ceilings and intricately carved arches made of expensive woods and hand sculpted plasters.
Standing on the first floor and looking up she could see all the way to the fifth floor as there was a large opening connecting all the levels. A large crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling giving extra light to almost every floor. The building was so large that she hadn't even explored all of the sections and many rooms yet.
Sakura's favorite thing about the library was all its little nooks and hidden areas. The best one she found so far was on the top floor. There was a small cushioned window seat nested in one of the corners hidden behind a slightly dust covered section of bookshelves.
Full of excitement she took two steps at a time as she raced up the stairs for no apparent reason. Her cheeks hurt as she smiled and was on the verge of laughter. 'What's going on with me? I've never been this happy about school before!'
Reaching the fourth floor she was breathing heavily, but she didn't slow until making it to the last step of the top floor. Sakura's smile only grew larger as she paused to catch her breath.
'I must be in shock about actually being here!' Of course she knew a certain silver haired perv had nothing to do with it…
After several calming breaths and quiet laughter she made her way to her secret place, black backpack happily swinging from one shoulder.
Before reaching her destination she heard loud voices coming from somewhere behind her. Curious, she changed course to look for the source of the noise. Sakura turned and walked back past the stairs to the opposite corner of the floor.
The shouting was getting louder and closer to the edge of violence until a strong voice cut through the clamor with nothing more than a quiet word.
It was perfectly silent for a moment. Not knowing why, she stopped in her tracks like a mouse being hunted by a feral cat. After a few heart racing moments the talking continued. Letting out a breath of relief and relaxing slightly she peeked around the edge of a book case.
She found another hidden area, but this one had a large rectangular oak table surrounded by leather cushioned chairs. There were nine strange men sitting at the table now speaking at a level she couldn't hear from her position.
One man sat at the head of the table while the others sat to both his sides. His hair was a bright orange that almost reminded her of Naruto, but not quite.
There were silver piercings through the bridge of his nose, his bottom lip, and through the entirety of his ears the bright silver metal making his expression look severe.
The most striking thing that caught her was his eyes. They were a pale purple with rings circling the pupil like water ripples. His presence exuded authority along with something else, something darker.
Immediately she felt anxiety run up her legs and twist her stomach in a knot just from the sight of him. Not daring to look at the others she contemplated sneaking closer to hear what they were saying.
'What am I doing? If they catch me I'm dead!' Sakura shook her head at her own ridiculousness. These were not men to be messed with, she had to get out of there.
Right before making a hasty retreat she took a quick glance at the table once more and froze.
Pale purple eyes bore into her. Not saying anything or pointing out her presence to the other conversing men he just watched her. The power of his gaze alone was enough to make her body quiver.
His blank expression shifted ever so slightly before he looked away and the shift vanished. Not waiting to find out what happened next Sakura spun and bee-lined for the stairs.
Sakura was the first one to arrive in her chemistry class. She had calmed down but was still lost in thought by the time the professor started his speech about the syllabus. 'Who were those men?'
Her questions continued to run around her head as she enter her Calculus class. 'Maybe I just imagined him seeing me. A guilty conscious for creeping?'
Professor Genma was very odd as he always had a toothpick held in his mouth and insisted they used his first name. Sakura enjoyed his sarcastic personality along with how he had a talent for making mildly inappropriate innuendos from math problems.
His class was blissfully distracting and Sakura almost forgot about her chilling encounter in the library.
Walking into her last class of the day, Anatomy and Physiology, she was happy to see there was already a hand full of students in the room. Not seeing any faces she knew, Sakura moved to a seat in the second level in roughly the middle of the row.
She had a great view of the board and door from her vantage point plus she was close enough to hear the lectures with ease. Not that she really had to worry. Sakura had heard from other students that Professor Jiraiya was sometimes loud enough to be heard from five classrooms over.
Not two minutes after she sat down did her loud mouth best friend come barreling into the room. "Sakuuuu!" Naruto hollered as he tackled Sakura in her seat. The other students just stared or giggled at the display of affection.
"Get off me moron! Stop being such a girl!" She pushed him away and he flopped into the seat next to her.
"Don't be mean Saku" he whined "it's our first day in class together and I'm really excited!"
Sakura sighed, at least he was calling her by the right name now. "God this is going to be a long class." She said to no one in particular.
While bickering with Naruto she hadn't noticed the room fill with students. By the time Sakura looked at the time it was 30 minutes past when the class was scheduled to begin.
"Where is this guy?" she asked. Naruto was leaning back in his chair, feet propped up on the desk in front of him and his hands entwined behind his head.
"Beats me." He said with a noncommittal shrug.
"Thanks, you're a huge help." Sakura's sarcasm was so thick she could have smacked him with it.
Flashing her a bright smile he said, "Happy to help!"
Without much thought Sakura pushed his feet from the desk and sent him toppling backwards over the chair. His terrify squeak and expression was more than enough to send her into a fit of laughter.
Which is why she hadn't noticed when a silent figure entered the room. Her laugh was cut off when Naruto quickly jumped back to his feet and accusingly pointed a finger at the front of the room.
"Hey, what are you doing here hairdo?!" Sakura turned and was surprised to see Kakashi with arms crossed leaning against the front of the teacher's desk.
"Nice to see you too dunce. Anyway I have an announcement for everyone so listen up. Jiraiya has left me in charge of teaching his classes until he returns from his research trip."
He pushed off the desk and sauntered over to the board grabbing a piece of chalk he wrote out his name as he said, "My name is Hatake Kakashi. You can address me as Mr., Sir, Professor, or Doctor. I really don't care which so take your pick."
Facing back towards the class he asked "Any questions?"
Throughout the entirety of class Sakura wrestled with her thoughts. She couldn't decide if this was a positive or a negative turn of her luck.
Well at least she was positive that this class was now going to be 10 times harder to concentrate in. As if to emphasis this point her eyes wandered from writing notes to Kakashi's broad back.
His shirt was just tight enough with his up raised arm to see the muscles in his back contract and sway under the thin material. Images of earlier that morning flashed behind her glazed eyes. Her gaze drifted lower, to just below his belt. 'Dark grey…' she involuntarily thought.
"But of course Saku can answer my question." Sakura's mind abruptly snapped back to the reality in front of her. "Can't you?" Kakashi's light smile held promises of darker intentions.
"Uh…can you repeat the question?" She had completely lost track of what he was saying and had no clue what topic he was on.
"What specific organ system was I just introducing a moment ago?"
Coming up with an answer as quickly as possible she blurted out, "The muscular system?"
"Wrong, we won't be getting to that for a while. Do try not to get distracted so easily." There was a glint in his eyes that told Sakura he had an idea as to what had caused her loss of focus.
Not bothering to reply she simply crossed her arms and looked away in defiance. As if nothing happened Kakashi turned back to the board and continued the lecture.
'This is definitely bad luck!' Sakura decided.
He finished class exactly on time even though he showed up so late. 'Figures. The lazy bum.'
After waking up Naruto from his class time nap and telling him to wipe the drool from his textbook, Sakura gathered her things and was heading towards the door. Kakashi was back to his causally lean on the front of the desk as she passed him.
She keep her eyes glued to the door not wanting to make eye contact. Walking behind Naruto, she was almost to the door when Kakashi called out to her.
"Saku." Not turning around fully she looked back over her shoulder as the blonde continued down the hall not realizing she stopped.
"I would like to talk with you, I'll see you in my office in 20 minutes." His tone was matter of fact which made her worry that her mess up during class was worse than she thought.
"I-I think I have class after this." Sakura said looking back towards the door. She knew that she would have to deal with him sooner rather than later but, she really didn't want to talk with him while her mind was still so uncontrollable.
Kakashi chuckled once not leaving his position on the desk. "Wasn't it just this morning I told you not to lie to me?" Smiling he said, "I'll see you in room 116 in the Bio tech building."
"Fine." Sakura said before stomping away after her oblivious friend. It irritated her how much of an affect Kakshi had on her. The stupidest little things made her heart jump. 'Damn him!'
After so many things happening in one day it wasn't her fault she was having a difficult time thinking clearly.