Note: Rayne is back, Neji-hair and all! Well not really. My hair is now the exact same style as Kabuto's. Which is actually pretty cool, since I'm cosplaying him next week. Now all I have to do is get it silver, since all the wigs were sold out...
Anyway, I don't own Naruto, I own myself, and yada-yada-yada. Now I'll try to make it more dramatic/romantic, and I'll see if I can work in a few subplots. If there are any pairings you want to see, tell me and I'll see what I can do. I just can't do yaoi, yuri, or incest.
-:-
"Wake up," Ino said.
I groggily opened my eyes and saw Ino sitting on her bed in a purple bathrobe, with an ugly beige towel wrapped around her hair.
I sat up. "What time is it?"
"Almost time for breakfast," Ino said. "You might have enough time to take a shower if you hurry up."
I jumped out and hopped into the shower so fast that there should have been a video camera present to see if I wasn't in fact flying. As I washed my hair, I relaxed. Ino and I could probably work out the crush thing. Maybe we could just let Sasuke decide who he liked. Or we could both give him up and get new crushes. The possibilities were endless.
Hey...do I smell syrup?
My stomach growled. Syrupy breakfast would be a delicious start to the day. I started zoning out, thinking about what kind of syrup it would be. What would be accompanying the syrup?
Until I realized the smell was coming from my shower stall.
With a shriek, I dropped my shampoo bottle. Sticky brown liquid oozed out. Maple, I thought, my mind still stuck on breakfast. Why was there syrup in my shampoo?
I tried to rinse it all out, and when I was done, I still smelled like maple leaves. Wrapping myself in my bathrobe and a towel, I walked out.
Ino was leaning against the bed casually, dressed in a purple tank top and cream-colored sweatpants.
"Why'd you scream?" she asked, sounding genuinely concerned.
"I found syrup in my shampoo bottle," I muttered through gritted teeth.
"Really? Do you think the guys snuck in and put it there?"
Oh, sure, I thought. What does she think this is, summer camp? We have freaking locks on our doors!
"Probably," I mumbled, forcing myself to sound cheery and believing of her tale. "I guess I'll get dressed."
Getting dressed was a snap (I just pulled on a red t-shirt and black shorts), but dealing with my hair was a big problem. I finally stuck a knitted red cap over my still-sticky locks, frowning at my reflection.
Oi.
-:-
"We're here!" Ino announced, settling down in an empty seat next to Sasuke and across from Shikamaru.
Of course she grabs all the cute guys, I thought bitterly as I took a seat near Tenten and Neji.
"What do you think we're doing in gen jutsu today?" Tenten asked, passing Neji some milk. "Oh, hey Sakura."
"Hi," I smiled, trying to hide the sigh struggling to escape from my lips.
"Do you like this school so far?" Tenten asked, pouring herself a glass of milk and offering me the carton.
"Yeah," I said, pouring myself a drink. "But everything seems so intense!"
Neji snorted. "This isn't for the weak."
But it is for the jerks.
-:-
"I didn't see you at breakfast, Sakura," Ino said in our room, pulling her hair into a sleek ponytail. "Where were you?"
"I was sitting somewhere else," I said sunnily as I examined the mess on my head. How would I get it clean?
"Oh," Ino said, sounding disappointed. Either she was a phenomenal actress or she really was innocent and I was flipping out over a mistake. "Well you missed it. Shikamaru and I were—"
I started tuning her out as I messed around with my hair. Maybe I could wash it before our next class, gen jutsu, which Neji said was all about phantasms.
"Isn't that funny?" Ino asked me.
"Huh? Oh, yeah," I said. "Maybe you should go for Shikamaru instead."
Ino snorted. "Nice try, Sakura, but you know I'm all about Sasuke. And besides, I don't want to get my body ripped up by Temari."
"Is she capable of that?" I asked, raising my eyebrows. Just who was this Temari girl, anyway?
"Duh," Ino scoffed.
"Okay," I said, trying to cover for my awkward moment. "Does my hair look okay like this?" I gestured towards the wide black headband pulling my hair away from my face. Not adorable, but it hid all of the dried clumps of syrup.
"I guess," Ino said. "Come on, Forehead. We're going to be late."
Forehead. Not exactly the new-girl label I was hoping for.
-:-
After a brief tutorial, we were assigned to groups of three to practice gen jutsu with each other. Maybe I would be with Sasuke!
"Group one," our instructor read. "Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara, and Temari."
I chuckled to myself. Ino was with Temari, whom she hated almost as much as she did me. Poor Ino. Well, not really.
"Group two," they continued. "Neji Hyuga, Kankuro, and Tenten."
Kankuro was someone I hadn't yet met. His hat resembled feline ears, and he had weird paint on his face. Not to mention the bandaged bundle he toted around on his back. Weird.
"Group three: Sasuke Uchiha, Gaara, and Sakura Haruno."
Hooray! I was with Sasuke! But just who was this Gaara kid? I walked over to Sasuke, and saw that he was slowly walking towards a red-haired guy with thick black rings framing his narrow eyes. He had a large, peanut-shaped object resting on his back. Not another one.
"Uh...hi..." I mumbled. Wow, I was such an enchantress.
Sasuke nodded in my direction. Gaara ignored both of us.
"So...what are we doing now?" I asked shyly. Obviously I was going to be doing all of the talking in this group.
Predictably enough, Gaara and Sasuke were both silent. I edged towards Ino's group, eager to see if Ino was getting shredded to bits by Temari.
"Of course not," Ino scoffed.
"Well look at you, you obviously know everything," Temari laughed.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Ino asked, leaning towards Temari rather threateningly.
Temari looked shocked (either that, or she was an even better actress than Ino). "What do you mean, you don't know?" Her tone was full of mock surprise. "I thought you were the smartest one here!"
Shikamaru groaned and put his head in his hands.
-:-
After an excruciatingly long hour of nervous chat with Sasuke (who used terse one-word responses) and Gaara (who ignored everything I said), I was finally free from gen jutsu.
"We have free time now," Tenten (who was apparently my tour guide at this school) told me. "As long as we stay on campus, we can do whatever we want."
Free time sounded nice to me. Maybe I could take a shower and finally get all this sticky syrup out of my hair.
"But we have to stay outside."
Of course.
-:-
Oh...my...gosh...I didn't think Ino could stoop that low...
See, since everyone needed to stay outside, we all retreated to a small area where we could all do whatever we wanted, whether it was walk to the nearby field to train or sit down on a bench and talk to our friends. Almost everyone decided to just chat with each other and relax before our next grueling ninja experience.
Oh, but that wasn't enough for Ino. I should've figured that a diva like her wouldn't be content with a little R & R. Oh, no. As soon as she walked onto the field, she practically bellowed:
"Let's play Confessions!"
-:-
Note: Ooh, I wanna see what they've got hidden under their unusual hairdos! And if you do too, review this story!
Until I feel like updating, I'm Rayne and my Kabuto outfit still hasn't gotten here!