The next few days were quiet around the college campus. Sasuke went to his classes and practices as usual, and no one made mention of the fact that his brother had escaped from prison. If they knew, they were keeping it to themselves.
Naruto was in Sasuke's last class of the day, so after class, they would walk down to the cafeteria together and eat. Sasuke liked it: it was a chance to sit under cover of Naruto's babbling and look busy, but to really have time to think to himself.
As the roommates got their cards swiped and got their trays for lunch, Sasuke bumped headlong into a man coming out of the dining hall. Or rather, the man walked straight into him.
"Sorry," Sasuke said after extricating himself. "Didn't see you."
The man, who was short and looked a lot like a middle school kid, only grunted and continued on his way out the door. Sasuke watched him go.
"Who was that guy?" he asked Naruto as they sat down with fully loaded trays. "He looked like he should still be in school!"
"That's Sasori," Naruto said, chowing down on his ramen. "I'm not surprised you haven't seen him yet: he's one of the Akat Tsu Ki boys."
"The whos?"
"Akat Tsu Ki, come on, Sasuke, even I know who they are," Naruto said in exasperation. "They're the most exclusive frat house on campus. You've got pass all kinds of tests to get in…but they call it 'initiation'." He shuddered.
"Hnn."
Naruto looked up at Sasuke. "They don't have a Greek symbol, like the other frats and sororities do. Instead, they just wear a red cloud. Most of them like to just wear black T-shirts with the red cloud on the back. I'd steer clear of those guys, if I were you."
"How come?" Sasuke asked calmly. Naruto leaned across the table.
"Because your brother, Itachi, was in Akat Tsu Ki once."
"WHAT?!?"
"SSSSH!" Naruto tried to quiet Sasuke down. Sasuke sat back down in his seat, conscious of all the curious eyes that were following him. It was as though he had cast a spell: one table comprised entirely of girls suddenly seemed struck dumb.
"What do you mean, Itachi was part of Akat Tsu Ki?" Sasuke demanded, in a softer tone as the buzz of chatter filled the hall again.
"Just that. Don't blame me, teme, I saw a red cloud on Itachi's jacket in sophomore year," Naruto said firmly. "I remember because he was standing in front of me making me do push-ups, and I saw the red cloud clearly. I wondered what it was, and then we came here, and I found out."
"Great, just great," Sasuke said, covering his face with his hand. "First Itachi breaks out, and then I run into his old fraternity…"
"Itachi broke OUT?!" It was Naruto's turn to yelp. Sasuke jerked his head at the door.
"Come on, I'll show you in the library." The two boys stood up with their trays and left the dining hall. On the way out, Sasuke passed the table lined with girls. He didn't miss the smiling faces or flirtatious gestures that were shot his way. He'd had too much experience with cheerleaders from the other schools' teams to worry about that.
But Sasuke had never been on a team that had its own cheerleaders, and that was his mistake. For Sasuke had just walked by the cheerleaders' table, and they had their eyes fixed on his lithe, handsome form.
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After showing Naruto the article, Sasuke then proceeded to check his email. Naruto wandered off into the shelves, looking for a book to help him on one of his long-term research papers.
From: PinkPointGuard
To: SharinganAvenger
Re: Re: School
Hey, Sasuke-kun! I miss you a lot, but I've made some amazing friends here. There's this one guy that I'm SURE you'd like, if you ever met him. His name's Sai Aizawa, and he reminds me so much of you! Well, sort of, except that he has this strange theory about human emotions, how they're just chemical reactions that we can control, etc. But he's pretty neat!
Ino-chan decided to come here to Sannin Med, too, and now she's my roommate! How coincidental is THAT? And you've got NARUTO!?!?!? Lol I guess the admin ppl have it going for us!
I miss basketball so much. Sannin Med doesn't have a team (duh!), so I guess I'm out of luck. Besides Ino and I, there aren't many girls who like basketball here. That's the one problem with Sai: he dislikes sports in general.
That Suigetsu guy sounds like a handful. But I'm sure you'll do fine. We're all well and happy here. Give my love to your mom!
Love, Sakura
Sasuke ground his teeth until his jaw muscles hurt. So that Sai guy had found his Sakura, eh? Just let him TRY to put a hand near her…
We'll CRUSH him, Inner Sasuke said.
You know, I hate to say this, but we're probably too defensively possessive, Sasuke said mentally.
Who cares? Sakura's OURS!!
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It happened the next day. His lunch was finished, and to beat the crowds coming out of the dining hall, Sasuke had left early. He was passing through the entrance hall to the dining hall when he heard a strange groaning and creaking sound. A shadow suddenly fell across his body. Without even thinking, Sasuke flung himself to one side, rolling away from the danger.
KERSMASH!!
Screams and the tinkle of broken glass filled the high-arched entrance way. Stunned, Sasuke sat up, only to feel the tingle of blood sliding down his face. Something large and sparkly was sitting in the middle of the floor: something heavy had just fallen where Sasuke had been standing only a moment ago.
"What's going on here?" one of the dining hall workers asked angrily. The fury melted from his face like butter as he saw what had happened.
"Call security! The chandelier fell!" he instructed one of his fellow workers.
"Hey, are you OK?" someone asked worriedly. Sasuke stood up groggily, shaking his head.
"I think so. I just got cut on the face by some flying glass, nothing serious."
"Oh, that's good," the girl said in relief. As Sasuke took her in, he noticed that she only came up to his shoulder. She had tomato-red hair, glasses, and VERY short shorts.
"My name's Karin," the girl said, sticking out her hand. "What's yours?"
"I'm Sasuke," Sasuke said slowly, still trying to stop his limbs from shaking. "Sasuke Uchiha."
He shook her hand briefly, but when he tried to let go, she held on all the tighter.
"Don't you want to say thank you?" she pouted.
For what? Sasuke's mind asked.
"Um, thanks, I guess," Sasuke said. He suddenly noticed the small group of girls looking like they wanted to giggle over in the corner. Like Karin, they all wore tight shirts and short skirts.
Cheerleaders, Sasuke's mind said without missing a beat.
"No, I mean, isn't there a way you could express your thanks?" Karin asked slyly, edging closer so that she brushed him. Sasuke suddenly realized what she wanted.
"No, sorry, I've already got a girlfriend," he said firmly, pushing her off. Karin stuck out a lip.
"Aw, who?"
"She doesn't go here," Sasuke said vaguely. Before Karin could protest, he slung his bag over his shoulder and left the dining hall, wiping the smudge of blood from his cheek. Behind him, Karin stomped her foot and put on a pretty-girl pout.
"I'm going to get you, Sasuke Uchiha," she muttered under her breath.
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He'd beaten the defender, and the path to the goal was clear. He felt his muscles move in the way they always had: it was the way of victory. He slid up into the air, his arms moving the ball up. Here came the snap…
Suddenly there was a body in the way. Before Sasuke could do anything, the ball was batted from in between his hands. It landed behind him and bounced away. Landing like a cat, Sasuke turned to see who had blocked his shot. He found himself looking up at a giant of a man: he towered over Sasuke's six feet four.
"Don't be too confident in your abilities," the center said. "It's a problem with your type."
"And who are you to be telling me this?" Sasuke asked, nettled that yet another member of his team found grounds to criticize him.
"I'm Juugo, the starting center," the man said, holding out a hand. Sasuke took it warily.
"Sasuke, point guard."
"Dude, you need to watch out for that guy," a silver-haired boy said as the coach called a water break. "Juugo may seem gentle, but on court, he literally turns into a beast."
Sasuke shot the guy a glance. "Who are you?"
"I'm Kimimaro, high post," Kimimaro said, saluting like he was a soldier. "But honestly, these guys are all here cause they're the best of the best. Natural talent only gets you so far, you have to work the rest of the way."
"Don't you think I'd have figured that out by now?" Sasuke asked testily as the coach blew the whistle, signaling that their water break was over.
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"Hey, Uchiha, can I talk to ya?" the coach asked as the team filed out of the gym. Sasuke stopped, water bottle in hand, sweat towel wrapped around his neck.
"Sure, coach. What is it?"
"Look, Uchiha," the coach said, "we recruited ya because we thought you were a major find. Don't get me wrong, you've got talent, talent indeed. The thing is, you're not playing at the level you were back at that school you were in, Smokerock or whatever it was. Look, kid, no offense, but you're not doing a great job. You need to get back on track, or I'll have to bench ya."
"No!" Sasuke protested. "Look, Coach, I just started college, I'm still adjusting, just give me a chance, PLEASE!"
The Coach looked thoughtful. "I can understand, a lot of our freshmen are that way. Tell you what, Uchiha – I'm expecting a lot out of you, my star point guard was a senior last year, so I need some new talent. I'm going to keep you benched until we play Suna, and then I'll bring you out as my "secret weapon" of sorts."
Sasuke was speechless. "You'd make ME the star of your team?"
"When we play Suna," the coach warned. "It won't be until later into the season. But you'll have to work HARD in order to make the grade that I want to see out of you, understand?"
"Sure, Coach, thanks," Sasuke said, breathing a sigh of relief. The coach held up a hand.
"Not so fast, son. I forgot to tell you: I hired a personal trainer to stay here with you for an hour after practice every Tuesday and Thursday."
"Who?" Sasuke asked suspiciously. The coach smiled.
"I think you'll like him, he tells me he taught you in high school."
"Aah, am I at the right placccce? I ssssee, hello, Ssssasssuke-kun."
Sasuke spun around to see someone he dreaded coming through the doorway: his old Biology teacher turned personal trainer, Orochimaru!
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OK, I finally made my choice, aided by your votes, of course. Sorry about the brief hiatus, I hope to keep working on this one. I will be hampered by school, of course, but will do my best to update this one more frequently. There's not much happening so far, but I'll try to put some exciting stuff in the next chappie.
Thanx for reading, and REVIEW!
-Rhulain
