COTE x Naruto: New Beginnings

Chapter 3: Getting Settled

The dormitories at the Advanced Nurturing Highschool were officially Sakura's favorite thing about the school. She couldn't remember the last time she slept so well.

Today was the day classes were starting and so far, the school was proving to be even more lenient than it'd already seemed before with the point system and all. Despite some of her classmates being on their phones, and one even falling asleep, the teachers ignored them all. It felt strange; even her middle school teachers had been stricter than this. All the teachers here did was smile and continue lecturing.

The lectures themselves, on the other hand, were interesting. Sakura thought they certainly were harder than what she was used to, although still not particularly challenging.

The time went by fast and before she knew it, she and her classmates were heading to the cafeteria.

She did feel a bit sad, though. The majority of her classmates appeared to be getting along well, already settling into pairs and groups and becoming fast friends. If she didn't make a friend soon, she'd become the weird loner kid every class had.

Sakura entered the cafeteria - which was bustling with students - and headed straight towards the front where food could be ordered. Interestingly, there appeared to be multiple dishes available for lunch, most of them costing points but one free.

Once again, she found this weird considering the amount of points they had.

Shrugging it off as a coincidence, she ended up buying Yakitori, which she'd never had before and really wanted to try. Deciding that maybe the extremely loud cafeteria wasn't the place for her, she walked out, eager to find a bench outside at a nice, quiet place.

Humming to herself, Sakura took the moment to lose herself in her thoughts, not paying any attention to her feet. Suddenly, her foot got stuck in the ground because of some rock, and the shock and unexpectedness of it all sent her hurling forward, her lunch flying through the air at another student who'd been making his way to the cafeteria.

"Oomph!" She let out pathetically, her body lying on the rocky path, her knees hurting. She figured she'd scraped them, and almost let out a curse at that. This was unfortunate...

"Oh - I didn't see you there-" she muttered, but as she took a look at the student whom she'd dumped her lunch onto, her body took that exact moment to completely, utterly betray her.

The person in question was completely covered in the sauce from her Yakitori and her stupid, stupid brain decided it was the funniest thing ever. So funny she accidentally started giggling, making the annoyed look in the student's eye turn from annoyed to furious.

"Do you seriously find this funny? What are you, twelve?" He drawled sarcastically, his black Yakitori-covered mask hiding his frown.

Sakura wanted to apologize and die of embarrassment, but her body froze and she only stared at the boy. He was tall, with the most peculiar silver hair and eyes the color of coal. He stuck out like a sore thumb, and she vaguely felt confused about how she hadn't noticed him at the entrance ceremony.

"Did you do that intentionally?" He asked again, and although he sounded very calm and collected, there was boiling anger in his eyes that made her flinch. Before she could apologize, however, her mind registered what he'd just said to her.

"Intentionally? Why the heck would I dump my lunch on you intentionally?" She scowled, feeling her infamous hot-headedness making an appearance.

Who did this guy think he was, thinking she'd dump her lunch on him intentionally? Did he think his life was a k-drama and she intentionally bumped into him to recreate a love scene or something? Was there even a valid reason why anyone would intentionally dump their lunch on someone?

"You tell me, you seem to be having quite the time of your life at my expanse," he shot back, a furrow in his brows.

"You're insane," she spat, getting up and brushing herself off. "It was an accident, that's all," she told him with a glare, feeling bad about her Yakitori being wasted on such a self-centered douche-bag.

"You're from Class D, aren't you?" He asked suddenly, and Sakura felt a vein pop in her forehead, her calmness long gone. "Yeah? How'd you know?" She demanded, wondering why he cared anyway.

"Just a hunch, most of the people at this school from those classes are either dumb, punks, or crazy," the boy said, sounding very serious. "You fit in with them, that's why I assumed."

"You...!" Sakura bristled, but she was interrupted by someone else cutting in.

"Who the heck are you to insult an entire class, huh?!" A girl exclaimed.

Sakura recognized her, she was in class 1-D after all, and quite popular at that. If she recalled correctly, her name was Karuizawa Kei, and she was quickly becoming something of a leader of the girls in class 1-D thanks to her fiery personality, knowledge of all new trends, and ability to talk to anyone.

Then, another person came, this time a blonde boy.

"Hatake-kun, we should go back to the dorms. The princess wants to talk to you, and I don't think you'd rather hang out with this bunch," he dismissively looked over at Sakura and Karuizawa, making both of them bristle.

The idiot named Kakashi looked surprised to see the boy, but then he shot the girls one last annoyed look before nodding at the newcomer and walking off with him.

"Good riddance," Karuizawa huffed. "The nerve of those guys, thinking that the letter of our class defines us or something..." Sakura said back in agreement, a frown on her face as she looked at Kakashi's retreating back.

"You're Haruno-san, right? I think I remember your introduction from yesterday," Karuizawa said conversationally, the two of us walking back towards the cafeteria in an unspoken agreement; Karuizawa to get her lunch and Sakura to get a new one.

"That's right, but you can call me Sakura if you'd like," Sakura said, her anger finally settling down. "And you're Karuizawa-san?"

Karuizawa grinned. "Yep, but call me Kei, we're classmates after all - hey, wanna eat lunch with me? You seem cool,"

And just like that, Sakura found herself making a new friend.

"We totally have to go shopping after school sometimes - there are so many great outfits at the Keyaki mall... I think I know of a style you'd rock!"

Well, Sakura could afford to splurge some points; she still had over 90,000 left, after all.