Shikamaru sighed as he watched the girls split up and disappear into the crowd. He should've stayed in bed.
"Hey." Said a voice on his right. Shikamaru turned his head to see Neji approach them.
"Hey." He replied.
"You don't happen to know where my cousin is?" He asked and stood beside him.
"Yeah, she vanished into that crazy mob." Sasuke growled. Neji looked at him a little funny. What was wrong with the guy? He hadn't been in such a bad mood the day before, had he?
"Crazy mob?"
"He's angry at Ino." Shikamaru told him.
"The blonde?"
"Yep." Naruto nodded. To his surprise, Neji chuckled.
"I can imagine that, she's a hand full." He grinned.
"Yeah, she is." Shikamaru joined his grinning.
"I don't know what you mean, but I think she's awesome!" Naruto grinned along with them stupidly.
Shikamaru and Neji looked at him weirldy.
They stood there for a while, chatting lightly, not really in the mood to join the 'crazy mob'.
"Oh well, I'm going to go find Hinata." Neji sighed after a few minutes. "And I'd look for your girls, too. There are some weird guys here, that I wouldn't want them to meet."
"What kind of weird?" Sasuke asked.
"Meh, let's say I wouldn't let them go anywhere alone with them... or go at all... or even talk to them... ah well. I'll see you later." He waved and walked off.
Shikamaru furrowed his brows and looked at the other three. They looked back at him with the same slightly worried look on his face. To his surprise it was Sasuke who stormed after Neji first, the others following only a step behind.
Sakura looked around as she fought her way through the many students of Konoha Institution. Which group should she approach? Who looked nice enough to not scare her off immediately?
Eventually she settled on a brown haired girl with bright brown eyes and purple stripes on her face. She reminded her of Kiba. That thought made Sakura chuckle to herself as she approached the girl.
"Hi, I'm Sakura. Nice to meet you." She introduced herself as she stood in front of her.
The girl smiled at her happily. "Hey Sakura, I'm Rin. Nice to meet you, too."
"Welcome, oh welcome, youthful Sakura!" A voice to Sakura's right said and she could feel an arm clasp aroud her shoulders rather tightly that swung her around. "I'm Rock Lee, best pupil of Gai-sensei!" The boy yelled into her ear. "How about we celebrate our faithful encounter with a kiss?"
Sakura's eyes widened at that. Fortunately for the pinkette, Rin reacted immediately. She grasped Sakura's hand and with a quick pull she freed her from Rock Lee.
"Shut up, Lee. Let the poor girl live! You can't shock every girl you meet like that! How will you find a nice girl if you scare them off first time you meet them?!"
"But Rin-chan! I can't just hold myself back when a pretty girl walks by!" Lee complained to her.
"So you mean you're a pervert?" she teased him.
"What?! NO! I'm just full of youthful hormones!" He yelled at her, his face getting redder by the second.
Sakura used their debate to look at the boy. He wore a frog green jumpsuit and orange gaiters. His eyes were round like balls and his hair was... well... terrible. What a weird guy.
"I'm Karin." A redhead said next to Lee and extended her hand for Sakura to shake, to break the other's bantering.
"Hey." Sakura said and shook it gratefully.
"And that's Gaara. And no, we're not related. We just met." Karin introduced the redhaired boy next to her dismissively.
"Hello." Gaara said simply and nodded. Sakura returned it shyly.
"I'm Kankuro. I am related to him." The last boy of the group smiled at her.
"Hi." Sakura said and shot him a shy smile back.
"So, which classes are you in? I actually just know the frogman here, I'm dying to have some normal people in my class." Rin sighed. She had obviously stopped scolding the "frogman".
"1-E." Kankuro and Gaara said simultaneously.
"How-?" Sakura was confused. They didn't look like twins. So were they cousins just like the Hyuugas?
"I'm his older brother. But you ca only start this school for first year of high school, so I'm repeating." Kankuro explained and rubbed the back of his head, he seemed a little embarrassed.
"Ah." Sakura smiled at him and giggled a little.
"I'm in 1-F." Karin said simply, then added proudly. "I was almost picked for Athletics."
Sakura gulped. Would she be excluded again if she was the only one that attended the Athletics? Would Karin be angry at her? Or jealous?
"Awww!" Rin whined next to her. "Sakura, tell me that you're in 1-B! I can't take nobody nice in my class!"
"What about Lee?" Kankuro asked with raised eyebrows.
"I will attend the Athletics! I will truly become Gai-sensei's first and best disciple!" Fire was burning in the frogman's eyes as he said that and Sakura's palm slammed against her forehead.
"What was that about?" Karin asked and eyed her curiously.
"I'm in the Athletics as well." Sakura mumbled quietly, hoping against hope, that Lee wouldn't hear what she said.
She had no such luck. Immediately she was back in Lee's green embrace and he yelled in her ear happily.
"OH Sakura! We're in the same class! We'll see each other every day and become great friends! You can be Gai-sensei's second best disciple! We will eat together, train together, study together, train together, hang out together, train together, have a great time together and - the best of all - TRAIN TOGETHER!"
He had got to be kidding her. What was wrong with this guy?! Was he mad or something?
Her eyes sought for the help of Rin or Kankuro - or even Karin -, but again, she had no such luck.
She was about to sigh and succumb to her fate, when, surprisingly, a voice from behind her sounded and she was wrenched out of his grasp.
"Hey!"
Tenten too had found herself a little group of boys.
"Hey." She smiled brightly as she stepped into their conversation. "I'm Tenten. I'm in first year of high school. And you?"
The boys just stared at her dumbfoundedly.
"Hellooo?" She waved a hand in front of their faces. "Is anyone there?"
"Err, sorry." A rather chubby boy answered her. "We were just a little surprised."
"I'm Nagasuka Isaka." Said a blonde boy to her left and grinned cheekily at her.
"Akimichi Chouji." Said the chubby boy and pulled out a bag of chips.
"Nagasuka Yahiro." The last boy - who had blue eyes and black hair, she noticed - introduced himself.
"Nagasuka and Nagasuka?" Tenten raised an eyebrow at them.
"We're twins." They said immediately.
Tenten's eyebrows rose even higher. "Twins."
"Yeah, we know. Blonde and raven." Yahiro sighed.
"You should see us wearing matching heads, we look identical." Isaka grinned.
"I'd love to see that." Tenten chuckled.
"Well, I just asked which classes the boys were in." Chouji filled her in. "I'm still waiting on an answer."
"1-E." Isaka and Yahiro said simultaneously.
"If you keep on doing this, I will not only put you in matching hats, but a hydra-costume." Tenten told them dryly.
"Now that I would love to see." Chouji grinned at her.
"So which class are you in, Chouji?" Yahiro asked.
"Athletics."
Three pairs of eyes stared at the chubby boy that happily munched on.
"A-Athletics?" Isaka asked weakly, expecting Chouji to laugh and tell them it was a joke.
"Yep." He said and swallowed. "I'm a wrestler."
"Ahh." Comprehension dawned on the others' faces.
"I'm in Athletics, too." Tenten smiled at the boy.
Chouji smiled back.
"You're in one house with Hyuuga Neji, aren't you?"
"Yes, do you know him?" Chouji asked curiously.
"Yeah, kinda..." Tenten chuckled. "We could go grab lunch sometime, don't you think? I mean if we're in the same class and all. We could get to know everyone sooner!"
"As long as food's involved, I'm in!" Chouji yelled. His mouth already started to water and Tenten assumed he was already imagining what he could eat.
She chuckled at him.
Tenten turned to Isaka and Yahiro and opened her mouth to invite them along, too, when a hand slid into hers.
Confused, she turned around.
Hinata carefully stepped through the crowd. Who should she talk to? Who looked nice enough to not be annoyed by her presence? She bit her lip and scanned the people around her. Many of them didn't look particularly nice... High school really seemed to be a harsh place.
After a few more minutes skimming through the crowd, she discovered a little group on the "outskirts" of the assembly.
A boy stood there with two girls, chatting rather quietly.
Carefully, the bluenette approached them.
"H-Hey." She said quietly and shuddered silently as all eyes turned on her. "I'm H-Hyuuga Hinata. N-N-Nice to meet you."
To her surprise, she was met with the same stuttering and shyness as her own.
"S-Soharu I-Ikimy. Nice to meet you, too." The blonde, very thin boy said.
"Sa-Sakai Miharu. Nice to m-meet you." A brunette opposite her said.
The remaining girl giggled at their behavior. "Kurosaki Mayu. Nice to meet you, too, Hinata."
Hinata looked at Mayu. She had blonde hair, brown eyes and tiny freckles on her cheeks. She looked rather confident.
"I'm in class 1-B." She smiled at her. "Ikimy and Miharu are, too."
"Oh." Hinata said a little sad. "I'm in the A-A-Athletics..."
"What do you mean 'oh'? That's great! How did you get in?!" Mayu smiled at her broadly.
"My cousin's in second year in Athletics... So my father applied for me to go in, too." She explained.
"I-I'm a little jealous." Miharu said quietly and smiled at her, too. "I think it would be great to be part of such a s-special class."
"Oh. Err, I don't really know that yet... We haven't met anyone a-and school hasn't even started..."
Ikimy smiled. "Maybe we have some classes together?"
"Maybe." Hinata smiled.
"We'll know sunday, won't we." Mayu said.
"Yes. I-I really hope we'll meet again."
"Pah." Said a voice behind Hinata and she turned around.
There was another boy that she had never seen before - not very surprising, she thought.
He was taller than all of them and wore a furry coat around his shoulders.
"Pah?" Mayu asked and furrowed her brows at the boy.
"If I were you, girl, I wouldn't spend my time with those trashes." He eyed Mayu, Miharu and Ikimy arrogantly.
"What?" Hinata was so perplexed, she even forgot to stutter.
"If you're an Athletic, you're special. You shouldn't have to hang around with those people." He shrugged.
"May I asked who the heck you are, talking about us like that?" Mayu growled at him. She reminded Hinata of Ino in that moment.
"Ajirame Dozu, second year Athletic. I-" He was about to say something, when suddenly, he narrowed his eyes at something or someone behind their group and started to growl audibly at it.
Hinata and the others turned around with furrowed brows.
"Hey, I'm Yamanaka Ino, first year of High School, part of the Athletics class. And who are you?" Ino babbled as she stepped into a chatting group of three girls.
They looked back at her a little perplex.
"I'm Temari." A blonde girl recovered first.
"I'm in class 1-E. And damn you! I wanted to get into the Athletics, too!" She said after that, but delivered the rather harsh words with a teasing smile.
"Haha. Sorry." Ino rubbed the back of her head. "I didn't even know that my parents applied until yesterday."
"I'm Kin." A blackhaired girl said without looking at them.
"Erm... hi." Ino said a little confused and looked back at Temari who shrugged. They seemed to be of the same opinion - Kin was a rather weird girl.
"Oh that's okay. I didn't want to go, so I'll save you from Temari." The last girl grinned at them.
Ino turned her attention to her only now. The first thing she saw was her flaming red hair. It was a little longer than to her shoulders and seemed to burn even more in the sun. The second thing Ino noticed were her eyes. Sparkling purple pools looked back at her and - to her surprise - they looked absolutely perfect in combination with her hair! She looked kind of familiar though... The blonde wondered. She would have remembered if she had ever seen such a pretty girl before, wouldn't she? Of course she would, so how could she look so familiar?!
"My name is Sukashira. Suka's sufficient." The redhead snapped Ino back inot reality. "If you're an Athletic, you should get to know my cousin pretty soon..."
The redhead started lookig around the crowd for him.
"Ah! There!" She said after a moment and a demonic grin spread across her face.