"So, uh..I'm sorry about my outburst earlier," Sakura said as quietly as she could as she walked behind her "tour guide" in the school hallways. Her classmate was noticeably angry, or rather, angrier, when she told him off at the dormitory. He didn't even bother to walk to her dorm room with her, saying "it was a girl's dormitory."

Sasuke's scowl deepened as they walked into a classroom. Sakura looked at her schedule and saw Calculus as her first subject.

"So this must be the new student!" The teacher was Sarutobi Asuma, a bearded man who had kind eyes and a sprightly smile. "Sasuke, wipe that scowl off your face. It's rude to the new student, whose name is Sakura I believe?" He grinned.

A voice came out from the back of the room. "Thank God. We've been waiting here for like 30 minutes with NOTHING to do." Sakura shifted her attention to where the voice was and saw a blonde, blue-eyed girl with striking features, stretching her arms out. She slapped the head of the sleeping boy next to her whose hair was in a spiked up ponytail. The boy woke up and groggily mumbled some incoherent words.

"Ino, you're way too annoying. Yo, Asuma. Can I switch seats?" The boy yawned and glared at the blonde girl. So this is Ino..Sakura thought. Ino scoffed at the boy, stood up, and walked towards Sakura.

"Hey! I'm Ino Yamanaka!" She smiled genuinely and stared at Sakura's attire. "Hmm..We are going to the mall after school on Friday."

Sakura forced a smile. "I'm Sakura Haruno. And from what I've been told, you are going to be one of my roommates..I hope that doesn't bother you…"

"Bother me?" Ino let out a laugh. "I—"

"—will sit down." Asuma commanded Ino to sit back down. "As for you, Sakura, you will be sitting right over there, next to Sasuke. He's the only one that doesn't have a partner in this class. And I should say, he's probably going to be your partner in EVERY class, considering his anti-social tendencies. " Asuma raised his eyebrow at the boy. "This school's seating arrangements have to be partnerships in order to make the students improve their groupwork skills, which I should say is completely pathetic in other schools. There will be times when you have to work by yourself too. But I hope you can bring out Sasuke's inner willingness to work with others." Asuma chuckled merrily.

Sakura mentally groaned and walked over to her seat. God damn it, she thought.

In each class before lunch, Sakura had made an attempt to be friends with Sasuke, partly to make up for the scene she had caused earlier. But the guy was pretty much rude and unbelievably withdrawn, whose vocabulary was limited to about 30 words. For example:

"So, Sasuke, what kind of music do you like?"

"None of your concern."

"Well, what's your favorite band?"

"None of your business."

"Well, have you listened to the radio at all in your life?"

"That – is none of your concern, too."

"You look pretty good, Sasuke."

"Hn."

"Do you have a girlfriend?"

"Mind your own business."

"Sasuke, you don't talk much."

"…"

"Can I borrow your pencil?"

"You'll get it dirty."

"Is this the right answer? What'd you get for number four?"

"An answer."

"Sasuke, do you like waffles"

"…"

"Who are your roommates Sasuke?"

"People."

"What time is breakfast again in this school?"

"An hour of the day."

Even with people who knew (and seemed to be friends with him), Sasuke acted no differently. He was exceptionally quiet and was completely unwilling to work together with Sakura, let alone talk to her. He practically wasn't even assisting her in anything, as Tsunade had said he would be doing. Instead, Sakura had to figure everything out by herself. Sasuke was merely someone walking along with her.

The lunch bell rang after Sakura's fourth period History class, taught by a short elderly man with extreme back problems, Mr. Onoki. Sakura walked with Sasuke towards the lunchroom, noticing Sasuke was looking more uncomfortable than ever. The second the two entered the cafeteria, Sakura's jaw dropped once more. It was huge. Sakura wondered whether it was larger than the school itself. It had more than a hundred round marble tables, and even more outside, which Sakura could see through the school's glass windows.

"Do you ever find it weird that this school is like the size of a small country?" Sakura asked Sasuke in a more than impressed tone.

"No," Sasuke scoffed. "The smallest country in the world is virtually the Vatican City, which is 110 acres. The school's only 108."

Sakura was rather shocked that Sasuke's reply consisted more than one word, but she glared at the young man anyway. "Whatever."

"SAAAASUKEEEE!" A loud voice cried throughout the whole cafeteria, immediately followed by groans from the students. A boy about Sakura and Sasuke's age ran towards the duo. He had blonde spiky hair and ridiculously very blue eyes. He was wearing an orange T-Shirt and khaki shorts, and he was waving and grinning rather happily – TOO happily – at Sasuke. Sakura thought he was adorable; he looked like a cat.

"Sasuke! I heard you got a girlfriend! Is this her?" The boy questioned breathlessly (and happily) once he was in front of Sasuke and Sakura. "Word on the street, yo, " The blond winked. Sasuke's eyes twitched and narrowed.

"What? No, no, I'm not his girlfriend! He's just assisting me for the next three days since I'm a new student!"

"Oh, that's good! You should go tell that to those chicks over there at that table. They're Sasuke's biggest fans. If you really were his girlfriend, they would probably pummel you! Wait actually, I'm pretty sure they're more than ready to pummel you right now..." The boy grinned and held out his hand. "You're really pretty! Have Ino change your wardrobe and all the boys here would hop on th-"

"Naruto," Sasuke sighed and gave the boy an angry look. The boy stuck out his tongue in retaliation.

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki, otherwise known as the school heartthrob!" The boy excitedly introduced himself to Sakura. "My dorm room number is 44, so feel free to confess your admiration for me anytime!"

Sakura found Naruto as a ball of energy and instantly liked him. She took his hand and shook it. "Nice to meet you, Naruto! You're pretty awesome!" Sakura laughed as the blonde bragged about how "everyone likes him."

"Tch, idiot, not everyone likes you. I don't like you." Sasuke said, folding his arms. Naruto gave Sasuke a face, and held a fist to his chest.

"You're just jealous because somebody looks better than you, and that's me!" Naruto let out an obnoxious laugh and Sakura couldn't help but laugh at his obnoxious laugh (and his statement) Naruto was really cute, but next to Sasuke...well let's just say it would have been rude to point that out in front of him. Sakura gave Naruto a fist pound and the boy suggested she should sit with them.

Naruto yapped as the three walked together towards the food counters."Sasuke doesn't even talk or eat –"

"I do eat. You're just too much of an idiot to notice."

Sakura gasped, and to show Naruto she could be a little funny too, said "Sasuke, your sentence consisted of —" She paused and counted. "of eleven words!" Sakura patted Sasuke on the back. Naruto giggled and gave her a high five.

"Ooooh, burn, Sasuke!" Naruto hollered. "Sasuke's a LITTLE more talkative when he's with us. See how influential I am?"

"Don't touch me." Sasuke murmured. "Why do you have pink hair?"

"What was that? You're asking me about the color of my hair?" Sakura said as she grabbed her lunch tray. "Born that way, son."

Sasuke rolled his eyes and called Naruto, his tone displaying aggravation. "Hey, dumbass, hurry the hell up and —" Sasuke stared at the food on Naruto's tray and shook his head. "Missed breakfast today? Told you not to go back to sleep." Naruto had taken two of everything on the food counter: Two roasted chickens, two bowls of rice, two apples, two pizza slices, two cartons of juice…

The trio proceeded to sit on a table with other people that Sakura was familiar with. There was Ino, the boy with the lazy eyes and spiky ponytail, the loud, brown-haired boy in her History and PE class; Tenten, a pretty tomboyish girl with buns, whom Sakura had conversed with a little in History while sharpening her pencil, a firm looking boy with long black hair that was in Sakura's PE, and his sibling, (or Sakura thought), who was in Sakura's Calculus class.

"Sa-ku-raah!" Ino exclaimed happily. "Hey, you should sit with us! Hey, you ARE sitting with us!" She turned to Naruto and gave him a thumbs up. "Good job Naruto!" She turned to the rest of the table! "You guys know Sakura?" The rest nodded and grinned with "Hi's."

"Ino, holy shit, you're too loud. It's only eleven thirty." The lazy-eyed boy drawled, and turned to Sakura. "Hi Sakura. I'm Shikamaru. First day going all right so far? Sasuke hasn't beaten you up yet right?" He smirked.

"Yeah, it's going okay," Sakura answered. "Sasuke's been...well he's been Sasuke it seems." She grinned. Sasuke, as usual, glared at her in return. Sakura looked around the table and smiled. "Mind if I know all of you guys' names?"

"I'll introduce them for you!" Naruto exclaimed eagerly. "That one over there next to Shikamaru is Kiba! Then that's Tenten, Neji, and Hinata. I'll also introduce you to Chouji who isn't here right now, he's probably at the garden taking care of his little butterflies."

Tenten grinned sheepishly at Sakura. "Sakura! Hi! I hear from Ino you are going to be our roommate! You could've told me that in History class..Oh wait, That old fart Onoki cut us off didn't he..Oh well! So, have you seen our room?"

Sakura placed her tray and sat down. "The room is huge!"

Sasuke impassively set his tray and sat down next to Sakura.

"Hmm, what's this?" Kiba put on a sly smile on his face. "The great Uchiha Sasuke is sitting next to a woman!" Kiba and Naruto laughed noisily and did a ridiculous handshake. "Sakura, you miracle worker!"

"Shut up." Sasuke growled.

"WHAT IS THIS?" Naruto yelled. "Sasuke is telling us to 'Shut Up?' instead of telling us to 'Go, die?'" Kiba backed him up. "The world is going coming to a new beginning!" The two laughed, spitting out a few bits of food here and there.

"Stop laughing, you guys, you're turning this table into a pigsty," Ino said harshly. "So Sakura, what do you have next?"

Sakura opened her mouth to answer, only to be cut off by Sasuke. "She has Science," he said. Naruto and Kiba gasped. "Oooh? What is this now? Uchiha Sasuke knows the new student's next subject? THIS IS DEFINITELY FRONT PAGE MATERIAL FOR THE SCHOOL NEWSPAPER! THE MAN...CARES!" The two boys laughed even more.

The rest of the table looked at Sasuke weirdly. "Yeah, Sasuke, why do you know Sakura's next hour?" Tenten asked.

"I saw her schedule. She was practically holding it out for the whole world to see." Sasuke said, annoyed.

"I was not!" Sakura retorted. "You just don't want to look at me so you'd look down on whatever was on my desk instead!"

"Mhmh" Ino giggled. "So, Sakura, why did you transfer to this school?"

Sakura was caught off guard by this question and looked throughout the whole lunchroom, observing the other students. "I just wanted to! Heard it had a good reputation and a good system, so..." Sakura replied, forcing an incredibly uncomfortable laugh.

"Tch, you're lying." Sasuke said, smirking until he realized what he just said. He shot a glare at Naruto and Kiba, who had devious looks on their faces. "Say something, and you're both sleeping standing up."

Sakura stared wide eyed at Sasuke. "You know what I did?"

"Hn, no." Sasuke took a small bite of his pizza. "Well now we know you were lying. So tell us the real reason why you're here."

Sakura chuckled nervously. "Heheh, your sentence consisted of about –"

"Tell us." Sasuke snarled. Sakura looked around the table and sighed.

Sakura put her chin on the table. "Fine," She settled her forehead on the table and grumbled, "Well..don't think badly of me, but I sent a couple girls to the hospital. Beat 'em up, kinda."

Naruto and Ino gasped. "That's awful! Why?"

"They annoyed me, gossip and stuff. You know, normal girl drama. I got expelled, apparently it was too serious for a simple suspension. Even if I was one of the smartest students." She turned to Sasuke. "There, Dr. I-Know-Everything. Happy?"

Sasuke smirked. "Oh? You beat two girls up?" He said, amused. "Well, then..I need you to do something for me." He turned to Naruto and Kiba. "Don't you dare."

"Yeah right. You haven't even done anything nice for me since I got here," Sakura barked. "Besides, what would that task be anyway?"

"Beat up the girls who practically stalk me, and I'll never bore you in any class again."

"Hell no! There's no way I'm getting expelled again. This is my fifth school transfer since I started high school. And what do you mean by that anyway? " Sakura questioned suspiciously.

"Fine. Just so, you're gonna have to be stuck with me all semester."

Naruto answered Sakura's question. "Well, you know Sasuke's the second most good looking boy here right, so naturally he has all these little admirers. It's like his fanbase practically." Naruto leaned over the table towards Sakura and lowered his voice. "I'd be careful if I were you. It's true about what I said about the word on the street. They think you and Sasuke are a thing, or you're hitting on him. Look around."

Sakura followed his order and turned her head. True enough there were a considerable number of girls staring at their table. Or rather, at her. These girls looked away once they noticed Sakura was looking. "See?" Naruto said.

"I got you. Thanks, Naruto." Sakura turned to Sasuke. "I'm not beating anyone up. That's kinda harsh don't you think?"

Sasuke stared at her, showing a slight hint of disbelief in his face. "Says the girl who sent to girls to the hospital?"

Sakura's face reddened. "That was different. I've changed since then."

"Sasuke?" Sakura walked with Sasuke towards her next class, which was Literature with Hatake Kakashi. Sasuke grunted as a reply. She felt it more comfortable to talk to Sasuke now after the lunch period. "Why exactly do you want me to beat up those girls? They just have crushes on you, you can't blame them for that."

"They're annoying." Sasuke answered.

"Why do they annoy you?"

Sasuke looked at the girl walking beside him and sighed. "You'll see."

Sakura raised her eyebrows in curiousity. "Are they really that into you?"

Sasuke sighed once more. "Just watch, I have a couple of these little bitches in this class." The two sat down in their seats by the window. "Kakashi's late every day, by the way."

"Wh-" Sakura began but Sasuke shot a look at her and mouthed a word: Listen.

Two voices from the back of the room chatted in hushed tones. "That's Sakura. Apparently she's hitting on Sasuke. What gives her the right, I mean do you see those clothes?"

The second voice muttered a tone in agreement. "Mhm. Don't worry, Sasuke doesn't like her."

Sasuke put a hand in his forehead and looked at Sakura from under it. "They all think I'm actually gonna gain some interest in them." He was quick to add, "Not that I'm interested in you either."

Sakura giggled a little and murmured, "Come on, I'd feel the same if my crush was suddenly hanging around a girl. Who can blame them? You have the face of a boyband member, be thankful!"

"I'll thank you, I guess," Sasuke said looking away, a tiny blush forming on his face. "For not being all over me, that is."

Sakura's face contorted slightly. "What! You self-centered little-"

"Why aren't you?" Sasuke blushed even more. "I mean..whatever. Just leave it. Hn."

Sakura, taking advantage of Sasuke's little change in character since before lunch, decided to not drop the subject. "Why am I not being all over you? Don't you think that would be rather rude?" Sakura gave Sasuke a look which said common sense, duh. "And also because nearly all pretty boys are douchebags. Might as well not get my heart broken right?" She grinned to a frowning Sasuke. "I'm kidding. How am I gonna get to know you if I'm all over you like you claim these girls are?"

Sasuke stared at Sakura. Her eyes were incredibly green, too green, and they were kind and bright. Her pink hair fitted her perfectly, and he decided no one else could pull of hair of such bizarre color like that. He looked away once he realized what he was doing and muttered, abashed, "Yeah." He opened his textbook to a certain page and turned his attention from Sakura to the book to read it.

The two sat in silence until a silver-haired man came into the classroom, reading a little orange book. The man smiled at Sakura, like all the previous teachers Sakura had, and told the class to read Chapter 23 of their textbook.

"He's early. It's only been 27 minutes. It's probably because you're here" Sasuke muttered to Sakura.