Clock struck nine, boy gets off work. Has to go to school and get an education; he promised them he would. Hell, maybe he'd even make something of himself. Making more money would help a lot. Never cared for the stuff, but it'd be easier to get by with more of it. Needed to go school for that though.

He didn't hate school. He was hard to sit still, but years of rolled up newspapers and discipline wands helped motivate him. Teachers never really liked him. That was hard at first, but he learned to adapt. Keep quiet, do your work and no problems. He never got along with the other students either. He tried to fit in at first, but that didn't work. They shut him out, ignored him. He was a loud mouth kid and tried to make them see him, but that only made things worse. So he learned to just sit down and shut up; had far fewer enemies that way.

Bullies came and went, but never saw profit in torturing the kid. He used to fight back, after a while just gave up. No fun in that, so they moved on. Eventually he just became an outcast. No more, no less.

He started school later in the morning. Spare class until ten-fifteen. It gave him an hour to do bugger all. Tried to get more work but Teuchi told him he needed rest, so he decided to go to the park.

He found a nice tree to sit under. The leaves were starting to turn. That time of year again huh? The time used to excite him earlier in his life. The leaves changing colour looked so pretty to him and he got to jump in piles he would make. And afterwards winter came. Not that they got much winter here, but as a kid any sign of snow excited him. Still felt a little giddy around the stuff. Now though he lost that childhood sense of wonder. Never knew why the allure left him. He still loved the season, the stronger wind was always welcomed; but it wasn't the same as before.

He drew up his hood so no one would recognize him; took out a pack of cigarettes, lit it, dragged, exhaled and repeat. The warm smoke swirled in his lungs, helping stave off the encroaching cold. Boy shivered a little; the sweater wasn't really enough to keep warm but if he'd added another layer he'd probably overheat… goddammit.

He sat under the tree for a while. People came and went, some scowling ,others herding their children away from him. He didn't really care; in fact he was half asleep. That's one thing he didn't particularly enjoy, how early he had to get up to go to work. But it paid the bills, and it helped old Teuchi out. He liked doing what he could for the man. He'd taken care of him, so he took care back.

Decided he should take out his school books, might as well get some work done right? Coughing fit. Not from the smoking though, he had lungs of steel. Never knew why he wasn't as bad as some people. The smokers at school all hacked and wheezed all day. Good genes maybe? No, he knew what it was. How could he forget? Rest of the world never let him forget… No, the transition from warm air to cold air hurt his lungs; cold enough to see his breath. It was something like minus four Celsius?

It was ten o'clock now. He had to hurry to get on the train that took him to school. He had a car, shockingly enough. Couldn't use it though, too expensive to pay insurance or gas for. He'd thought about selling it, but it was a gift from a deceased mentor; the only person in this world that truly loved him more than Ayame. Like a grandfather. It would feel like betrayal to sell it, so he kept it parked behind his place. No one knew it was his, so it managed to stay in one piece. It was too crappy to want to steal anyways. It had a manual transmission.

Oh good, the train car he picked was empty. Always took the first or last car, least amount of people. He really wished he could drive.

Ten minute train ride was all it took and he was at the front gates. Guard let him in without a word, no real hassle today. Really was a good day wasn't it? He smiled to himself; days like these don't come along too often.

So far so good; her first class she had arrived at late because the principle had wanted to talk to her. Just to make sure she got her schedule and knew where everything was; took real special care of her. This kind of stuff usually happened to her; she was part of the main branch of the world-renowned Hyuuga family; a clan famous for producing immaculate martial artists, gymnasts and other Olympic class league athletes. Their eyes were uncanny and were an instant sign of one's heritage and subliminally demanded a certain level of respect. It's said that a Hyuuga learns to read a person before they learn to read a book.

So it would only be natural that the representative of the institute she'd be attending would want to cater to her and essentially kiss her ass as much as she could. Someone of her prestige could really influence the future of the school. Be it for better, or for worse. Traditionally, Hyuugas sabotaged or supported whimsically.

However, Hinata Hyuuga didn't think like that. She never flaunted her bloodline or abused the power it inherently came with. She was strong in her belief that the colour of your eyes doesn't mandate your class in society; however society often disagreed with her, much to her chagrin.

But as for first impressions, it seemed that she had made it well. She was a very shy and timid girl, but for today she hyped herself up and made sure that that wouldn't be the impression she left. And it worked. She stood up straight, introduced herself clearly and confidently, and made the teacher's acquaintance.

Immediately she was seated next to a group of girls who seemed like the typical high school clique. There was the cliché drama queen blonde, a pink haired –oddly enough- studious type and an athletic brunette girl. Not a bad group. They didn't look like the wrong crowd –sans the blonde- but also didn't look like a group of squares either.

They all hit it off right off the bat. Hinata's shyness reared its ugly head and she didn't make too much conversation –the blonde was really intimidating her, leading the conversation so brashly- but responded enough to make for pleasant chat. She noticed that she got on really well with the pinkette.

"So, where're you from? I haven't seen you around, but this place is full of Hyuugas" the pink haired girl named Sakura asked.

"O-oh, I was born here but raised in the land of lightning, the cloud village. I came back to attend this specific institute" she replied timidly.

"What?! No way, that's so cool. Like in one of those cliché rich-kid fan fictions I've read. So you're like, a foreigner right? I was wondering where that accent came from" the blonde known as Ino spurted out, clapping her hands together excitedly. Total ditz, Hinata thought.

"Oh really? I heard it's a lot colder up there this time of year, they're so far up north" Tenten spoke up. Hinata liked this one a lot too. Well, comparatively to solitude. Not really her type, but she could tell this girl was real.

"Yeah, w-well we get hit by the Jetstream about this time. Our winters yield little snow but are very cold. The altitude does nothing for that" she explained lightheartedly.

"Yeah, but doesn't Kumo have the top rated prep school in the five great nations? Why would you want to come back here?" Sakura inquired. This definitely piqued the girls' interests.

"M-my father wanted to make sure that I learned where the traditional homeland of my people is. He said that there are things I could only learn in Konoha, and that too many secrets could be revealed in Kumo" She said mystically. She enjoyed romanticizing it. The reactions were always funny.

"Get. Out. That's so crazy! That's some illuminati grade conspiracy you got going on" Ino replied ecstatically.

"Haha, yeah it is a bit of a story to tell" Hinata shrugged.

"Oh hey class is over in like, two minutes. Which class do you have next Hinata?" Sakura asked nonchalantly.

"Oh um, medical sciences with Miss Shizune Kato I believe." she responded, idly tapping her chin as she remembered.

"No way! I have that too!" Sakura screeched in that annoying girly manner that had always secretly annoyed Hinata to her core. But she'd let it slide; for the sake of friendship.

"Aha, good you can show me where it is then" Hinata chuckled sheepishly scratching the back of her head.

"No problem, it's just a brisk walk halfway across campus… in building c…" Sakura grimaced. They were in building a. "On the third floor…" smack. Hinata's head hit the desk.

The school they were in was a massive collegiate, vocational and preparatory school designed to cater to a multitude of academic requirements for post-secondary education. It was the largest in the country and the third largest in the five great nations, housing close to around fifteen thousand students in over eighteen different buildings.

The only publically funded private public school in probably all of ever; the first principle wanted to make sure that a high level of education was available to all and not just the rich and the privileged. It even provided housing and food for students whose families' couldn't afford to supply it (in exchange that the student worked part time to earn it in one of a wide variety of jobs).

The institute campus was comprised of fifteen school buildings, one massive recreational facility, three sports fields and two sports team dorms. The school had a major focus on the martial arts, having an entire building dedicated to the programs. The entire place was built with design in mind, but functionality foremost and so looked rather bland in comparison to some of the flashier mega-schools across the great nations.

All in all, not a terrible place to be, but without question a confusing situation for sure.

"Come on, let's get this pilgrimage over with" Sakura sighed, lifting herself up from her desk. Hinata nodded solemnly and followed in the pinkette's footsteps.

He climbed up the stairs of the 'studies in health' building. They were shallow, and steep, and went on forever… Why the hell did he take medical sciences anyway? Sure, he was decent at chemistry, but he couldn't afford to be a doctor. Besides, he was –unfortunately- better suited to be doing the hurting rather than the healing. He was on the judo and karate teams (of which the karate team he worked part time as a student teacher) and sometimes sent people to the hospital. It was another keying in factor to why the bullying stopped.

He got to the door just as the bell rang. Last one to enter the class room, just seconds before the door slammed shut. Shizune was teaching. She was also one of the few people who liked him. Loved him; had known him for years and saw him as a little brother. That factored in a little bit to him choosing the class.

He walked over to his desk robotically and sat down, paying no mind to anything besides his notebook. He was sketching the park scenery; didn't want to forget it. Didn't even notice when the door knocked and two girls rushed in panting and apologizing furiously to the teacher and begging for forgiveness. The teacher was hard on tardy students, hated it worse than cow tongue and green onions.

But the boy was so wrapped up in his activity that he never even noticed who walked in. Or where they were seated…

She and Sakura had raced with everything they'd had to get to class on time. Lord knows the horrors their teacher would bind them with should they arrive but a second late respective to the bell. Busted through crowds of innumerable people (Hinata being the shy and timid girl she was had to apologize to everyone they bumped into) and all across the campus to get to the other side where building c was. And then the stairs… Oh god the stairs… Designed for maximum physical exertion over the longest period of time to keep students in shape, the corridors of the buildings were infamous among students for their soul-sapping tread. Cloud had ramps…

They would have taken twice as long had she not been dragged by the wrist and sprinted. They weaved, dodged, zigzagged –and the Hyuuga even flipped over someone- their way through the crowd.

They were there; they were finally going to reach the class before- the bell… SLAM

"Fuck" Sakura cursed.

"Wh-what now? Will we be in trouble?" she asked worriedly.

"Yup"

"… … … Fuck" Hinata cursed as well. This was definitely not in her plans for a perfect first impression. Sorry future perfect life, maybe next incarnation.

Sakura knocked on the door. No answer. Knocked again, a lot harder. Still no answer. Third time- door opens, Falcon punched the teacher in the face… Well bopped her in the nose; nonetheless…

"Uwaa! I'm so so so so so so so sorry! Sorry sorry sorry-"Sakura apologized frivolously to the teacher's un-amused expression as she rubbed her nose where she'd been 'bopped'.

The teacher saw her standing behind the pink headed girl. Never seen her before, but without a doubt a Hyuuga; purple hair too, rare trait of the main branch family. She decided to let it slide just this once in case she was a prissy one.

"It's okay Sakura, it was just an accident." Shizune said, stifling her annoyance. "But, you are still late. As such, pages 101-158 tonight. I want them read for tomorrow. To answer the questions that will be on the test. That will be in class. That you will not be late to." She actually did let them off light this time. Normally she'd give them ten pages-double sided of course- of biochemistry homework on top of what they were expected to do in class. Plus ten push-ups!

She let them in and Sakura apologized fervently again as well as Hinata who sought to make sure that the woman knew she was sincere and totally not a rebel-delinquent-skipper-anarchist-dropout-terrori st. Any of those things would be terrible for the image she wanted to present.

Afterward the teacher reassured them that all was forgiven so long as they got their work done, and Sakura rushed off to her seat. Hinata just stared blankly at the teacher. Where was she supposed to sit again?

So she did the logical thing and asked the teacher about it. Shizune thought about it for a bit, saw that she was kind hearted and probably new in town. Must mean she hasn't had a chance to hear about Naruto. Maybe they'll make nice with each other and the kid would be less of a depressing sight? Grow close as friends, go out, break up, go back out, be adorable, marry, have like… a hundred kids and- Knew where she'd be sending the girl to sit.

"There's a chair over there" she gestured over to the two empty spots beside Naruto –one on either side of him- nonchalantly. Inwardly she was giddy as hell thinking about how she just totally hooked that dude up.

Hinata had no quarrels with it, the guy looked a little sketchy but nothing really scary. He looked lonely actually.

She walked over to the desk, pulled the chair out and sat down; swung her bag around the back of the seat.

Wait a minute, who was beside her? Had she seen him before? His presence seemed so familiar…

No way-