A/N: I've found time to update with my four-day weekend, which is pretty cool. I spent the first four chapters with basically nothing but basic introductions and just a tiny bit of character development, so I'm sorry for anybody who thinks it's moving rather slowly. I had half a mind to combine the chapters together into one giant chapter, but then I'd have to replace everything, and then I'd probably have to re-submit the story to merge the other chapters with the first one. I planned to make this chapter a lot longer, to finally get some of the plot moving and actually START their schooling...*laugh*. Anybody who has no idea what the plot of the story is, that'll be revealed along the way.
Disclaimer: Naruto. I don't own it.
LAST CHAPTER
"It is almost midnight. The dorm building mail should be arriving with the students' schedules at about this time. I am going to retrieve mine and Kiba's. Would you like me to get yours as well?" Hinata shook her head, quietly hopping off of the bed she had seated herself on.
"I'll g-go with you."
Chapter Five: The Plot Unfolds…Maybe.
"So…Temari." The aforementioned girl sharply swiveled her head at her brother, who only caught his mistake after having already let it out. He quickly snapped his hand over his mouth and mumbled his now inaudible apology to the glaring girl. "Sorry, I meant Temaru. You know, you remind me an awful lot of my sister, who definitely doesn't attend this schoo—"
"Oh shush it, Kankurou. You're lucky there isn't anyone in the hallway, and if there was, they wouldn't believe that excuse anyway." The siblings stopped right outside the elevator, waiting for it to descend, or ascend, to their floor. "What do you want?"
"Ah, well, I just wanted to tell you something important. It's about this school, and I think it's really, really important that you, and your friends, know about i—"
"Kankurou. This might not be a good time," Gaara stated firmly. The elevator doors made a small dingy noise, and its doors slowly parted to reveal a near full compartment, the inhabitants of which slightly surprised the siblings. Crammed into the rickety elevator—"crammed" being a bad word, since that spelled certain doom for anybody in the elevator hoping to make it out alive with that many people in such a poor excuse for an elevator—were Neji, Tenten, and Lee; Shikamaru, Ino, and Sakura; and Shino and Hinata, all of which were looking slightly uncomfortable and nothing less than slightly apprehensive when the elevator gave a loud, creaky groan. Everyone looked at everyone else, and they came to some sort of silent agreement that, maybe, it was a good idea not to add more people to the already filled box.
"Um, maybe some of you should get out of the elevator. It looks like it's gonna collapse any minute now," Temari suggested, which was met with another silent agreement.
"Your brothers can get on the elevator and get to the bottom floor; Hin—Hiashi, Tenshi, Inoichi and I will get off and wait with you for the next ride down," Sakura offered the large group, and, without any confirmation from the rest, proceeded to get out of the Box of Doom along with her friends.
"It's cool, we can wait here with you guys," Kankurou said, waving a short goodbye to the rest of the elevator's occupants as the door slid closed before him. The group of girls and Temari's brothers stood in silence until they heard the elevator moving. Gaara pressed on the button for the elevator to return once more. There was a short, uncomfortable silence before Kankurou, in a serious voice, decided to break the ice.
"So, since they're all here, can we tell them now?"
"No. It's too soon. The headmistress told us not to inform them about that until just the right moment. Now is not that moment," Gaara responded, his face still staring stonily at where the elevator would arrive sooner or later. Temari blinked.
"Wait. You didn't even know we were coming, and you haven't left our room since we got here. How in the world did you get in contact with the headmistress?" Temari asked her youngest brother, who chose not to look at her, and, wisely, chose not to answer.
"You shouldn't worry about that. Not yet, at least. Just chill, it'll be explained eventually," Kankurou interjected, grinning as he lost his seriousness. The four other girls, who were standing by and had heard the exchange, wondered exactly what it was they were going on about. Apparently, Temari didn't know either, so it wasn't just them.
"Uh, what exactly are you guys talking about?" Ino asked, her curiosity getting the best of her. Kankurou opened his mouth to respond, but Gaara beat him to it.
"It is none of your concern just yet. Don't question it any further." His cold voice sent chills down Ino's spine, and she wisely chose to keep further questions to herself. The elevator, which had arrived once more while they were conversing, dinged as it slid open once more, this time revealing only two other people, both of whom the girls didn't recognize. The first one had black hair, the back spiked in various directions and the front neat and framing his face slightly. He wore a short-sleeved button-up collar shirt with a pair of black pants and a plain belt with a silver belt buckle. Unlike his attire, his shoes were dirty beyond recognition, and the original white they had been in the recent past was now almost black. His cobalt eyes held almost no expression, and his face was a stony that could have rivaled Gaara's current face.
The other boy, on the other hand, was almost the complete opposite of the first one, his spiky blonde hair, blue school sweatband, and orange track suit causing him to stand out like a sore thumb next to his companion. His eyes were a shocking blue, his face had strange lines at the edges, and his mouth was slowly making its way into a large, face-splitting grin. His whole person radiated something akin to cheer, and his choices in clothing colors did nothing to mute it.
"Hiya, Gaara! Those your new friends?" The blonde boy asked, obstructing the elevator doors from closing by standing between the building's floor and the box they called an elevator. He gave Gaara a familiar pat on the shoulder and shot him some thousand watt smile, stretching the whisker-like markings on his cheeks back. Gaara peered over his shoulder for a second, deciding on the best way to word his answer. Gaara knew that with this one Naruto Uzumaki, any answer could lead to unpredictable circumstances. Most of those circumstances would have been rather bad, considering the fact that the four new ones, plus his sister, were all girls. He looked back at his cheerful friend.
"…You could say that."
"Ehh…" Naruto looked over Gaara's shoulder to look at the five students he didn't recognize. Quickly making up his mind, he dropped a quick word to his companion to hold the elevator door open as he marched around his red-headed friend towards the new students. His open hand shot out for a handshake, and his face sending them a blinding smile. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki! You guys must be new, 'cause I've never seen any of you before. That moody looking guy over there is Sasuke," he said, pointing his thumb back at Sasuke while introducing him. Sasuke frowned.
"Naruto...what happened to my last name?" He didn't sound offended, but based on the question, he must have been.
"Tche! I don't need to introduce your last name! You and your brother do that for everyone. Actually, everyone talks about you guys with your last names. It's getting old, teme!" Sasuke just scoffed at him.
"I'm the one holding the elevator for you, idiot. And it's only natural to include the Uchiha surname; it's just that important." Naruto pouted, but decided to stop arguing with him. At least, for the sake of the new students. Said new students looked on the conversation with interest and slight amusement. Sakura eagerly, but cautiously, brought her hand up to meet his in a firm handshake, one she didn't expect from the rather ditzy boy.
"I'm Saku Haruno. It's nice to meet you, Naruto! The gi—guys behind me are Hiashi Hyuuga, Tenshi, and Inoichi Yamanaka. We're new here, like you guessed," Sakura added at the end, looking sheepish. Temari made a disgruntled sound and coughed into her fist, causing Sakura to realize she had forgotten to mention her. "Oh! Sorry, and that's Temaru over there." Temari did a two-finger salute in his general direction, but was otherwise not too interested. Her focus was more on the dark looking boy standing by the elevator, analyzing them with his piercing cobalt eyes. He's pretty hot, she thought to herself, though she hadn't realized how odd that was until a moment later.
"Nice ta meet'cha, too! We're gonna be awesome friends!" Naruto shouted joyously. "Ya hear that, Sasuke? They're my new friends, so you better be civil to them! Or I'll beat your ass!"
"Hn." Naruto's frown deepened at him as he sent him a small glare and a pout. Sakura grinned at the kiddish high schooler, and considered going back to her assigned room. If she was going to be around someone this cheerful, it would lift her spirits. Sasuke, on the other hand…
"He doesn't say much, does he?" Tenten asked, though she would mentally admit to herself that he didn't look all that bad. It was just too bad that he was probably socially inept…or a total jerkface.
"Yeah, the Sasuke-teme's dictionary doesn't have too many entries. It's five hundred pages of 'Hn'!" This got some of them chuckling at Sasuke's expense, who took one resounding step away from the elevator door into the compartment, jamming his finger on a button as he stared at them with little expression. The elevator doors suddenly rumbled as they swiftly slid closed, causing Naruto to panic.
"Oi, teme! Wait!" Naruto made a dash for the doors, but just as he was about to throw his hand between them to keep them from closing, they slammed together with a loud bang, causing Naruto's face to make the same sound as it reached a collision course with the doors. "That bastard…" He mumbled angrily to himself, rubbing his sore and slightly red nose. Hinata, who had some medical ointment in her pocket (she had forgotten to put it back into her backpack because she had used it on the way to the academy), ran up to him to offer it.
"A-are you okay? I h-have some ointment…i-if you need it…" Hinata shyly thrust her hand, holding the ointment, out to his slightly confused face. He looked at her oddly for a second before grabbing the small jar from her. He popped the lid and quickly lathered some of the ointment onto his sore nose, instantly feeling a sense of relief.
"Wow, that stuff's great! Thanks, err…Hiashi, right?" She nodded deftly. "You sure stutter a lot. You okay?"
"She's like that almost all the time, even to us," Ino said suddenly, not noticing her mistake. The others froze up, hoping that Naruto didn't catch the slip-up. He tilted his head and scratched it.
"She?" Apparently, her mistake did not go unnoticed. Sakura jumped to her rescue before any more mistakes could be made, and the whole situation became awkward.
"What Inoichi meant was 'he'! It's just that, with Hiashi being so shy and stutter-y all the time, we've gotten to calling he—him, 'she' instead of 'he'! Heh…"
"Oh! I get'cha! I guess you're right, you do look kinda like a girl…" Naruto looked Hinata over, nodding his head when he confirmed it. "Hiashi doesn't really fit you, but whatever!" They all inwardly sighed in relief, glad that he was so oblivious. The elevator suddenly slid open once more from behind them, revealing a deathly pale boy with pitch black hair, and the eyes to match. At some point during all of the commotion, Gaara had taken the liberty of trying once more for the elevator, hoping against hope that they would actually get to the first floor to collect their schedules. It wasn't that he wanted to sleep—he never did anyway—but it was better than standing in the middle of a hallway like idiots. He stepped into the elevator, and the others followed suit. The pale boy in the corner of the box stared at them openly, causing discomfort all around.
"Saii~! It's rude to stare!" Naruto said to the mysterious boy, whose name was Sai. The boy looked only slightly taken aback, but recovered with a plastic smile that sent chills down the girls' spines.
"My apologies, Naruto-kun. I'll remember that next time." Sai turned back to facing the button panel on the side of the elevator, ignoring the rest of them completely. He isn't even going to ask about us? was running through the girl's minds as they took subtle glances towards the boy with the chilling smile. The elevator rumbled down the floors, reaching the first floor a lot quicker than their ride up to the dorm floors. They allowed Sai to exit first, an opportunity he accepted graciously, and filed out one by one to avoid getting stuck. Out in the lobby hallway, they saw only a few doors lining the walls—dorm rooms for the bottomfeeders—and then the building branched out into a large room complete with mailboxes for all of the dorm rooms and a few couches, spaced out to make it seem less empty. By the mailboxes, small clusters of boys stood around, tearing open their schedules and comparing with their friends.
"I dunno if you guys know, but the mailboxes have these locks on them, so nobody steals your mail and stuff. Did Tsunade-no-baachan give you the combination or the key to your mailboxes?" Naruto was met with many shakes of the head.
"Well, we have the key and the lock combo for our mailbox, so Temaru's fine," Kankurou answered, waving a small bronze key he had retrieved from his pocket.
"Shikamaru has our key, right Saku?" Ino asked, looking over at her. Sakura was about to confirm the statement, but Naruto made a disapproving sound.
"Eh, that lazy bum? He probably forgot the key AND the combo." Both girls grumbled, hoping that he actually remembered the key and the combo so they wouldn't need to make another trip. The first attempt at getting to the bottom floor from their room had taken three elevator calls (although technically, the whole reason it took so many was because the compartment was either full, or somebody was being an idiot and caused them to miss the elevator).
"Well, I'm sure my roomies have the key and the combo, so I think I'm okay," Tenten called as she walked towards the crowded mailboxes, wondering if her roommates had already gotten hers. Lee might've.
"Sh-Shino has my r-room's," Hinata added in, trying to spy said roommate from where she was standing. Considering the fact that he was probably the only person in the building that looked somewhat shady, it shouldn't have been that difficult to find him. Naruto hummed at that.
"You're rooming with Shino?" Hinata nodded. "Ahh…he's a creepy guy. I don't really know that much about him! If you're with Shino, then you should be with Kiba, too. Be careful! That Kiba's a loudmouthed idiot!" Naruto warned, cautiously whipping his head from side to side to make sure that Kiba wasn't around to catch him. The remaining girls deadpanned, except Hinata, who was most likely too nice to deadpan, at the irony.
"I-I'll remember that…" Naruto grinned at them before leading them towards the mailboxes. Tenten had already found her dormmates and was currently ripping her letter open, Lee standing anxiously beside her to see what classes she had. Neji was standing a little ways off, drumming his finger at his side as he waited for them. Almost instantly, Hinata noticed her cousin, and by the same token, Neji sharply turned his head in her direction, noticing her as well. She attempted to shield her face by looking away, feinting in her search for her silent roommate as she took all of her opportunities to raise her hand up to block any views of her face. Neji was not fooled.
"Hinata-sama?" Hinata jumped, then turned to see her cousin towering over her. Fear set in as she surveyed the area around her, hoping that nobody had heard him use her real name. Neji clasped reassuring hands on her shoulders to calm her. "It's fine, there's nobody around listening." She relaxed only slightly. Ino and Sakura, as well as Temari, her siblings, and Naruto had gone off to find their own respective mailboxes, hoping to get back to their rooms and get at least a wink of sleep in before the start of classes. In the time she had panicked, Neji had found his way over and somehow moved her to a more private location in the lobby, away from the commotion.
"N-Neji-nii-san?"
"Hinata-sama, what in the world are you doing here?" His voice was only slightly critical, but that was overcome by worry, some surprise, and—to Hinata's surprise—fear. She gasped a little. Her cousin had never allowed fear to find its way into his voice, ever.
"I-I…" Hinata braced herself. Neji knew of her situation, she knew, better than anyone else besides herself. If she explained exactly why she was there, she was sure he would understand. She would need to gather her courage and tell him without stuttering, to show him exactly how strongly she felt about doing this. "Neji-nii-san, I'm doing this b-because of Father." The look of evident surprise in Neji's face quickly died down as an overwhelming sense of worry and disapproval washed over him. A frown came over him.
"Hinata-sama, I understand how you must feel, but this is not the way to do it. This school…you shouldn't be here. It's much too dangerous." He let go of her and turned his back on her, not allowing her any time to refute whatever he was saying. "You and your friends need to leave immediately." Hinata knew that her cousin knew about the others now. He must've noticed how Tenten wasn't a boy. Or perhaps he had seen them exit the elevator, and recognized her along with the other unfamiliar faces. Hinata found herself frowning. After all they had been through together, her cousin still didn't believe in her?
"N-Neji-nii-san. I…I'm not leaving." Neji swiveled around to meet her gaze, noticing her obvious attempt at putting up resistance. His critical gaze met her own resilient one, and she tried her best not to falter. "I…I came here for an i-important reason. I will not leave without fulfilling it." They stared each other down, though Neji was inwardly astonished. She had hardly stuttered once, even under his eyes, and deep down, he could really grasp just how much she wanted to do this. But his mind told him not to allow her the privilege. Not if she discovered the real reason he would not let her stay.
"I do not wish to discuss the matter any further. If you wish to stay, I cannot stop you." Hinata silently cheered at her victory. "However…I must warn you. Just because I am no longer arguing with you about this, that does not mean I approve. This school…it holds a dark secret. I do not wish for you, and your friends, to be mixed in the middle of it. That is all." Dark secret? Hinata thought to herself, a great feeling of doubt and foreboding coming over her, but she simply squashed all of it in favor of continuing on with her self-appointed mission. If fulfilling that mission required her to face this school and its secrets, then she would not quit.
"Th-thank you, Neji-nii-san." Neji just nodded, turning his back on her once more to go retrieve his two roommates. Just before walking away, he stopped.
"Also, Hinata-sama, I would like to see your schedule. If you are to be attending this school, then I will need to make sure you have solid protection in all of your classes. I would not be able to forgive myself if I allowed something to happen to you." Hinata had to smile at his worry. Although their relationship had begun rocky, Neji had been appointed her guardian at a very young age. He was the closest thing she could count as family, at least in the supportive department. They were blood-related, but distantly. Lost in her reverie, she had almost missed him begin talking again. "…I will also need to know your alias. It would not do if the ruffians in this school knew about your true self."
"Ah, I-I'm going as H-Hiashi Hyuuga," Hinata admitted quietly, not at all surprised when she heard a bitter laugh erupt from Neji's mouth. He walked away from her, his cold laugh the last thing she heard from him. She was about to go off and find Shino when she felt a strong grip on her shoulder, scaring her out of her wits.
"Hinata?" The girl's eyes widened. Based on the deep voice, it wasn't one of her friends, and her panic was keeping her mind from fully processing whether or not she recognized the voice. The only thing running through her head was that, whoever it was, they knew her real name, and this immediately put her on the defensive. She found herself unable to pull away from the firm grasp, and resolved to just turning her head slightly to catch a glimpse of her capturer. From her peripheral, she noticed the familiar green hood and glinting sunglasses.
"Sh-Shino-kun! Y-you scared me…" She placed a hand over her heart, feeling the erratic beating as she let out a sigh of relief. From what she could tell, Shino had raised his eyebrow.
"Is that your real name?" Unconsciously, the girl nodded.
"H-how did you know?"
"I was nearby when you were talking to Neji." Hinata looked shocked. He had been there? How had neither of them noticed his presence? Suddenly, she felt a wave of guilt wash over her at having not noticed him. Did he feel bad? Offended? She had never ignored someone's presence before, especially since most people liked to ignore her own.
"O-oh. I'm s-sorry, I-I didn't notice," she replied guiltily. She felt bad, but she would need to be honest. Maybe he would forgive her on the off chance that it didn't bother him. It sure didn't look like he had been perturbed at all, but then again, he didn't really express all that much to begin with. He only shrugged noncommittally.
"It is a nice name." Hinata's head shot up to look at his face. It took her a split second to realize what he was referring to, and it made her blush.
"Th-thank you. D-did you g-get your schedule…?" Immediately following her question, Shino produced two envelopes from his jacket pocket, handing her one of them. He said nothing, but she could assume the obvious that this was hers. Sending him a silent thanks, she gently and neatly tore open the letter. From it, she found a half sheet of paper with her classes lined up neatly in chronological order. Scanning over it, she tried to memorize the teachers and room numbers. As she was glancing over the paper, she felt a hardened, and somewhat curious, stare directed at her, and found it to belong to her stoic roommate. Giggling slightly, she moved closer to him and tilted the paper so he could see what was on it as well.
"History with Asuma, Literature and Composition with Jiraiya, AP Biology with Shibi, Pre-Calculus with Kurenai, PE with Gai, and Free Period with Kakashi," Hinata ticked off, reading through the schedule. Shino glanced at her.
"You did not stutter." Startled out of her reading, Hinata only flushed and twiddled her free fingers.
"Wh-when I r-read, I d-don't stutter." He said nothing, only nodded, and filed this information away for later. He quietly ripped open his own envelope to show the slightly anxious girl beside him. Handing it over to her, she took this as being given the honor of reading it out loud. "AP Biology with Shibi, History with Asuma, Free Period with Kakashi, Literature and Composition with Jiraiya, PE with Gai, and Calculus AB with Yamato. W-we share one c-class together." Her companion simply nodded, and silently notified her of her friends, all of whom were making their way towards her with their own schedules. Neji was among their group, trailing behind them. She handed him back his schedule, which he pocketed.
"Hey Hiashi, what's your schedule like?" Temari called, waving her own above her head. Even from afar, Hinata noticed Neji flinch at her alias. The group of girls found themselves at Hinata's location, and they all held out their schedules so that they could all see them at the same time.
"Hmm…you have History, Lit and Comp, AP Bio, Pre-Calc, PE, and Free. I got History, Lit and Comp, Stats, Physics, PE, and Free. Guess I get to share four periods with you, huh?" Tenten said, grinning. Hinata sent her a shy smile of her own.
"Hey, I got AP Physics, History, Calc, Lit and Comp, PE, and Free. I'm only sharing two classes with you," Sakura said, though she pouted slightly. She wouldn't really get to see Hinata until the final periods of the day, and lunch hadn't been specified on their schedules. Ino groaned from her corner of their mini-shape.
"I only got PE with you guys. I get Algebra II first, then English III, History, Free, PE, and Physics. Man, that sucks!"
"I don't really share anything with you guys except PE and Free, since I'm in an upper class. I've got AP Chem, Calc, AP History, English IV, PE, and Free, but I've got Free with a different teach," Temari said. The girls all sighed, a bit saddened by the fact that they'd be separated for most of the day. Neji, having mentally recorded down Hinata's schedule, produced his own from his pocket and handed it to her. Comparing schedules, Hinata found that she only shared PE with him, just as she did with everyone else.
"It isn't a surprise that everyone has the same PE class. Gai-sensei only has one period of PE, and it encompasses the entire campus all at once," Neji explained, earning him some lightbulbs from the girls. He retrieved his schedule from Hinata, giving her one final look before turning to find Lee. Tenten decided to follow after him in favor of not getting locked out of their room later on. Temari left soon after, telling them that her brothers were waiting. One by one, they dispersed, and Shino and Hinata decided it would be smart to return back to their dorm as well.
"Hey, Neji…" Tenten began, catching the boy's attention. He didn't turn to face her, but he was listening. Lee, too, was listening. "Exactly where am I supposed to sleep? Your room has Lee's futon and your bed, but that's about it."
"You may use my futon!" Lee offered, smiling and giving her a nice guy pose. Tenten sent him a small grin back. He had no fashion sense, but Tenten had to admit that his attitude was rather endearing.
"It's okay, Lee. Do you guys have an extra futon somewhere?"
"No, we don't. You may use the bed for now, I may not need it tonight," Neji stated, and Tenten could hear Lee gasp beside her. He looked absolutely appalled.
"Neji! Do not tell me…that you are…! THAT IS WHOLLY UNYOUTHFUL!" Neji gritted his teeth at Lee's loud exclamation. Luckily, they were in the abandoned hallway of their own floor. Unluckily, if someone woke up, they'd be storming their door. Neji resorted to thinking happy thoughts…if he could think of any. Lee toning down might have been one of them.
"That's a dirty thought, Lee," Tenten reprimanded. She was against the idea of Neji doing anything of that nature in the same room as her, although she didn't think he'd be the type to do that anyway. Lee was still slightly flabbergasted at the thought, and it took some more reassuring from both of his roommates to calm him down.
"That is not what I meant. I will be up thinking about something tonight, so chances are I won't be sleeping. Later today, we will figure out the sleeping arrangements more comfortably." Lee and Tenten agreed with his reasoning, and they got into the makeshift sleeping arrangements once they entered the room.
Hinata-sama better know what she's doing…
"So…how're we gonna sleep in a room with practically no furniture?" Ino asked, the sleeping arrangements for their room only starting to become apparent to her. Shikamaru and Sakura both turned to her, both aware of this.
"Well, I think I'll be joining my former roommates tonight. They don't seem like such bad people, and that Sasuke guy's not that bad looking," Sakura admitted. Ino did a miniature squealing fit at the mention of Sasuke, startling both of her companions.
"Not bad looking? He's hot." Ino went off on a long fangirlish rant as Sakura tried to make sense of what she was saying. Shikamaru only sighed. Leave it to his own bad luck to be stuck with a raging fangirl.
"You two, we haven't figured out how we're going to be staying in the same room yet."
"How about we split the bunk bed?" Ino suggested, recovering from her fangirling moment. "You know, I can take the top bunk, you take the bottom bunk, and the other guy can share with you." Shikamaru stared at her, though his expression left no impact as he was much too lazy.
"That's ridiculous…and very troublesome in more ways than one. You can take the top bunk, Chouji can have the bottom bunk, and I'll take the couch. Sound fair?" Thinking it over, Ino finally agreed, finding the arrangements reasonable enough. Then, something occurred to her.
"Do you really need to include 'troublesome' somewhere in all of your sentences?" He shrugged noncommittally.
"No. That'd be too troublesome also." Ino let out a loud groan as Sakura giggled, bidding them farewell as she hopped back into the elevator to reach the seventh floor.
"So, Kanky, Gaara. Where will I be sleeping anyway?" Kankurou and Gaara both turned to her, one with a sour look from his nickname, the other expressionless.
"I dunno, you could probably sleep on the laundry. It's definitely cushion-y enough," Kankurou suggested offhandedly, causing both of his siblings to glare at him. "What?"
"Don't be an idiot. I'd rather sleep outside than on your dirty clothes. God knows where you've been," Temari huffed. Even Gaara had to inwardly shiver at the idea of where Kankurou's clothes might have been. Kankurou pouted.
"That's not cool. I'm not that bad, am I?" He was met with eerie silence from both of his siblings. "…You guys suck."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. But still, how are we doing this? I mean, do you guys have beds in there? I wasn't really paying attention."
"Kankurou and I each have a single bed," Gaara responded, his room key twisting along with the doorknob. Temari grinned. Kankurou began to open his mouth, but…
"I call Kanky's bed!"
"Damn it!"
Shino and Hinata returned to their room to find Kiba still sound asleep, his soft snoring from before turning into a full blown snoring fest. Akamaru was lying beside the bed, also asleep, but twitched slightly when the other two dorm dwellers entered. Shino made his way over to the bed, peeling off his jacket so he could sleep comfortably. He noticed that Hinata hadn't moved from her spot, and turned to face her. She noticed his staring, and just twiddled her fingers.
"Um…if I t-take off my h-hat, Kiba-kun w-will notice that I-I'm not a boy…" Shino said nothing for a moment, only removing his own school hat to reveal his dark brown hair. He laid it down on the desk on top of his neatly folded jacket.
"Kiba is not an early riser. If you wake before him, he will not find out." Hinata nodded, and hoped that she would wake up early enough to avoid being found out by her wilder roommate. She figured that having both of her roommates know about her wouldn't be bad since she would be able to remove her disguise within the room, but based on his personality, she couldn't predict whether or not it would end well for her. She removed her own baseball cap, but was hesitant in removing her baggy jacket. Her only awake roommate noticed her discomfort and simply faced away from her as he laid down on his end of the bed. He had removed his sunglasses, but he kept both of his eyes firmly shut. With a few rustles from her large clothing, she removed her disguise and found her own spot on the same bed, but on the farthest end of the opposite side of the barrier. Trying to ease her mind and her heart at the idea of sharing the same bed with someone of the opposite sex, even if there was a barrier, she closed her eyes and hoped for sleep.
"Eh? Saku? What're you doin' here?" Naruto said groggily, rubbing his eyes. Sakura guessed that he had been sleeping. Glancing inside of the room, she noticed that Sasuke was also sleeping, but he had not awoken from her sudden intrusion. That, or he was awake, but he chose not to respond.
"Well, I'm supposed to be your new roommate." Almost instantly, the boy's eyes and voice lost all traces of sleepiness, and he dragged Sakura roughly by the arm into the room. He was now grinning from ear to ear, sleep forgotten.
"That's awesome! You'll be a much better roommate than that conceited bastard over there!" Naruto sent a look at the Uchiha's sleeping form, gaining no response. With lightning speed, Naruto cleared the floor of some dirty laundry and hauled a small, deflated airbed from the closet. In a few gasps of breath, he managed to inflate the bed to a reasonable size. "You can sleep here. When we got this room, that airbed was already in there, so we get to use it now!" Sakura had to smile back at the one greeting her.
"Thanks Naruto. Sorry to wake you, by the way." Naruto patted her on the shoulder in reassurance.
"Aw, it's cool! I can just go back to sleep, so you can go ahead. We'll compare schedules tomorrow, 'kay?" With a final nod from Sakura, Naruto flopped back onto his bed, closed his eyes, and began snoring almost right away. Sakura sighed, removing parts of her disguise so she could sleep more comfortably. She would need to get up before both of them in order to not raise any suspicions.
The next morning had Sakura hurriedly getting dressed, having woken up later than she had been hoping for. The academy building was only a short walk away from the dorm building—they were on the same campus—but she had hoped that she would be able to wake up at least an hour early, just to make sure nobody else caught her in the middle. She found herself waking up only fifteen minutes earlier than the time she expected the others to be up, and was using every ounce of her luck to wish for both of them to sleep in. Luckily, she didn't need to change out in the open, as there was a bathroom connected to the room. Her usual shower time was cut down to about a tenth of the time she normally took, and she still looked as though she had just jumped out of bed in her school clothes. It didn't matter, as long as she hid her feminine features, nobody would catch her. She inspected herself one more time in the mirror, making sure everything was in place, just as she heard a loud yawn erupt from the bedroom, followed by several muscle cracks.
"G'morning, Sasuke…," a voice mumbled from behind the bathroom door, one that Sakura could easily identify, and assume, to be Naruto's. "Saku, you in there?" Sakura smoothed out her outfit and pulled the doorknob to reveal a very disheveled looking Naruto.
"Yeah, I'm just about finished. Good morning, by the way," Sakura said as she passed him on her way out. He murmured a similar greeting before loudly slamming the bathroom door behind him, running the sink just as the door clicked. Sakura, sure that she had everything settled for the day, waited patiently on her makeshift bed, which she had already tidied up when she had awoken. Sasuke sat quietly on his bed, his clothes for the day already laid out and ready to be worn after a nice hot shower—granted there was still hot water left—and a good teeth scrubbing. Only then did Sakura notice that his sleeping attire consisted of nothing but a pair of dark blue boxers and a worn out T-shirt. She blushed and looked in another direction, her unfamiliarity with the live male anatomy being exposed to her to blame. She could only wonder how well the others were faring. Beside her, Sasuke yawned widely, his face scrunching up somewhat daintily. Like a princess, Sakura thought to herself, giggling. Her inner thoughts were interrupted when the bathroom door slammed open twice as loudly as it had been before, an energetic blonde emerging from the steam.
"Hurry up, teme! We're gonna be late! You always take the longest time to get ready!"
"Hn." Sasuke got off of his bed and strode across the room towards the now steamy bathroom area, closing the door behind him and running the shower. Naruto joined Sakura on her airbed and tossed her his schedule.
"What'cha have first, Saku? I have History with Asuma first!" Sakura glanced at her own schedule, all the while trying to keep it memorized so she wouldn't need to consult it all day long.
"I have AP Physics first with Izumo." Naruto gaped beside her.
"AP Physics? Wow, you're smart! What about second?"
"Well, since you already have History first, you aren't going to have History again with me in second period. I have Calculus AB with Yamato in third period, then Literature and Composition with Jiraiya fourth." Naruto frowned.
"Aww, why'd you have to be so smart? I don't share anything with you until the end of the day! We can spend lunch together, though!" Sakura sent him a questioning look, unsure of when lunch was supposed to occur. "It's not on the schedule, but lunch is right before PE, which is fifth period for everyone this year." Understanding crossed Sakura's face, and she took a gander at the rest of Naruto's schedule, wondering if he shared it with anybody else. After History, he had AP Biology, then English III, followed by Algebra II. PE and Free Period were a given at that point. She couldn't quite remember the others' schedules, so she would just ask later, when they all met for lunch.
"Man, what is taking that Sasuke so damn long?" Naruto yelled, his frustration apparent. Sakura, too, was getting a bit restless with how long the boy was taking, something she hadn't really expected. She was used to learning that boys took the least amount of time on these types of things, unlike girls. Naruto's pacing was soon joined by a short rant on the injustices of taking so damn long in the bathroom right before school began, which was interrupted when the bathroom door flew open to reveal a prim and proper looking Uchiha Sasuke, ready to take on the world in all of his dark glory.
"About damn time! Let's go!" Before anybody could do anything, Naruto grabbed them both by the arm and practically dragged them out of the room to a now more crowded hallway. The empty hallway from the night before was now teeming with other students, all of whom didn't really pay attention to Naruto and his friends. Jamming his finger on the elevator call button, Naruto tapped his fingers impatiently on his arm, grumbling about how slow the elevator was being. Sakura had to wonder how the boy was so excited for school.
"Naruto, I didn't know you were the type who liked school," Sakura commented, earning her a lopsided look from Naruto. Sasuke scoffed.
"He doesn't. He's one of the worst students in this school." Now it was Sakura's turn to give an odd look.
"Then why're you in such a hurry?"
"'Cause we're ditching school today to go to that camp across the lake! Aren't you excited, too, Saku? Don't tell me nobody told'ja about it!" Sakura had to laugh at herself for even thinking that this boy liked school. She guessed that tomorrow, Naruto would be begging them to give him a few more minutes in bed so he wouldn't need to go.
"No, Kiba told me about it yesterday. I guess I forgot." Naruto gasped, appalled as he opened his mouth to begin talking. However, the elevator beat him to it, and the doors opened to reveal a mildly full compartment, one that would have a large chance of making it safely to the first floor. Sasuke and Sakura found themselves being pulled into the elevator, Naruto's fingers finding solace in crushing the button for the lobby. It took both Sasuke and Sakura to keep him from destroying it completely in his excitement. The ride down was agonizingly slow for Naruto, and he grew antsy. Several times, the people in the elevator had to calm him down or threaten him to keep to himself. When the elevator finally did reach its destination, the blonde boy practically bounded out of the box, jumping around as if he were high on sugar.
"This is gonna awesome! We're all sneaking out at the first passing period, and we're gonna meet up near the water fountain. You know where that is, right Saku?" Naruto turned to the girl, who scratched her check nervously and nodded.
"Is it alright if I don't go? I mean, I kinda wanna be there for class and everything…" Naruto looked even more aghast than before, taking a step back away from her.
"You—you're actually gonna skip this for school? Are you crazy? This is the only chance we have to get over there, and you wanna skip it?" Sakura shrugged.
"Well, I just think that we should be there for our teachers, you know? They did go out of their way to teach all of us, the least we could do is be in class…" Naruto pfft'd at her, waving his hand dismissively.
"Tche, the teachers already know about this tradition. They don't care. After first period, they all go to the teacher's lounge and just hang out. They pretend to be angry at us the next day, but they're really not." Sakura thought about it. She truly didn't want to miss school, but if all of the teachers weren't going to be there anyway, then…
"Well…I guess I could join you guys." The hyperactive blonde boy jumped for joy as he captured Sakura in a death hug, squeezing the life out of her poor soul.
"I knew you'd see it my way! Don't worry, you'll have an awesome time there! And you might even get lucky, if ya know what I mean…" He waggled his eyebrows suggestively, causing Sakura to lightly push him out of her personal bubble. At that moment, both noticed the absence or their broodier roommate, who had not uttered a single "hn" since they'd gotten off the elevator. Both peered around them, looking out for the boy's haircut—it was quite unique, nobody else could capture such an exquisite chicken's butt, Naruto had told her—which was nowhere to be seen.
"That teme! He left without us! Let's GO!"
A/N: Okay, I'm sorry for the abrupt end. I guess the ending was mostly to make up for the lack of Naruto and Sasuke in the first four chapters, but it got things moving…I hope. Next chapter will be about them attending, and then ditching, school. This chapter honestly wasn't that much longer than the others, only by about a thousand or so words. Anyway, until next time!