COTE x Naruto: New Beginnings

Chapter 7: Judo

All was going well, until it wasn't. The girls got to the reception area quickly enough to not have to wait for long in any queue they chose.

Sakura naturally joined the queue for the Judo club, while the girls took that moment to check the area out and speak to some other people; or at least Maya and Kei chose to do that, as they were more extroverted than Chiaki was, who instead went ahead to buy some drinks for the four of them.

It was almost her turn. She was mentally preparing what she was going to say once she got in front of the table where the club representatives were when out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a glimpse of silver.

A scowl appeared on her face as she realized just who she was seeing standing in the queue for the Judo club, his hands in his pockets as he stared into nothing, appearing as if he had no care in the world.

It was Bakashi, and Sakura felt the realization that he was joining the same club she was dawn over her.

Just as she was about to exit the queue and join the swimming club after all, a voice interrupted her.

"Hello there, are you interested in joining the Judo club?" A cheery girl representative spoke to her, forcing Sakura to look at her. Oh no, it was her turn!

"Uhhh..." she said intelligently, making the girl smile reassuringly.

"No need to be nervous! I just need your name and class please."

Feeling extremely awkward and knowing she couldn't back now lest she dies of embarrassment, she nodded tersely and quickly stammered out her name and class.

"Haruno... Haruno Sakura, class 1-D!"

Behind her, she heard a chuckle. "Maa, you're awfully nervous."

How did he get to the front of the queue so fast?! Sakura looked at the queue dumbly, only to see it getting noticeably thinner. Huh, some people had changed their minds about joining the Judo club it seemed.

"Oh, you also want to join the club, correct? This is great, there are so many new members this year," the representative girl said excitedly.

"Mm. Hatake Kakashi, class 1-A," he got straight to the point, not bothering to waste time by chattering.

Sakura took that moment to swiftly leave, walking towards Kei and Mayo who were talking to a gorgeous girl from another class with long blonde hair and bright blue eyes. The only good thing she'd gotten from that interaction was that she now knew Hatake's surname, meaning she no longer had to call him by his first name or nickname in her mind. Calling people by their surname felt much less informal.

"You look a bit glum, Sakura, did something happen?" Maya wondered.

Sort of ignoring the unknown girl standing there still, Sakura went off into a rant.

"Oh, I just saw this asshole I met earlier today joining the same club," she scowled. "I didn't have enough time to leave the line and head for the swimming club instead. Now it's too late," she complained.

Kei also scowled. "You mean that Takashi guy or whats-his-name? I don't envy you, he looked like an arrogant douchebag."

Maya didn't look very comfortable hearing them openly trash-talk some random guy, so she spoke up.

"Ano... Maybe it was all an accident? I mean, Sakura-san, maybe he was just feeling under the weather and took it out on you? I feel like it's too early to judge someone like that..." She said uncertainly. During lunch, Kei had loudly complained to the girls about the guy that trash talked their entire class, so both Maya and Chiaki were somewhat in the picture.

Sakura shrugged. "Eh, that is possible, I guess I did start laughing at him accidentally, which wasn't nice of me... But I really think he is an asshole; I accidentally stuttered a bit while talking to the class representative, and he teased me about it."

Maya still didn't look like she quite agreed with Sakura, while Kei's opinion of Hatake clearly solidified.

Only then did Sakura realize the blonde girl was still standing there awkwardly.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, I completely forgot to introduce myself," Sakura turned to look at her and bowed apologetically.

"I'm Haruno Sakura, from class 1-D," she then quickly added.

Looking embarrassed at being apologized to, the girl tried to wave her off.

"Oh, no, no, don't worry about it! It's no bother at all, Haruno-san. If anything, I should've made my presence known earlier instead of staying quiet and listening to your conversation. I am so sorry about that!" Now she was the one bowing apologetically.

"Hey, no, you didn't do anything-" Sakura started saying, but was interrupted by someone giggling.

"I- hehe, I'm sorry, I just found the situation a little funny," Chiaki said in between giggles, and Sakura could see that Maya was struggling to keep herself from giggling as well, while Kei had an amused smile on her face.

The as of yet unknown girl laughed embarrassedly. "Ah... I suppose it must've been a bit funny to see. Haruno-san, my name is Ichinose Honami from class 1-B, it is so nice to meet you," Ichinose introduced herself at last, a sweet smile on her face.

She looked like the type of girl everyone loved - really, she reminded Sakura of Kushida Kikyou from her class, and she could tell that her friends shared the same sentiment.

"Honami-chaaaan, Honami-chaaaan...huff, there you are!" A girl with short blonde hair and blueish violet eyes came running towards them, or rather, towards Ichinose.

"Oh, Chihiro-chan, I'm so sorry for leaving so abruptly, I just needed to get away from the crowd, I didn't realize you'd come looking for me," Ichinose hurriedly explained herself, looking as if she was on the verge of apologetically bowing again, but luckily for them all, she just looked at the class 1-D girls with a smile.

"Well, I've caused enough trouble already, I should get back to my class! Karuizawa-san, Satou-san, Matsushita-san, Haruno-san, I look forward to meeting with you again soon!"

With that goodbye, she left with Chihiro, who seemed to only have eyes for Ichinose and hadn't spared any of the class 1-D girls a single glance.

"I've heard rumours about class 1-B being really close-knit, all united by Ichinose-san. I guess I can see why now," Kei noted.

"Right! She was really nice, kind of like Kushida-san, don't you think?"

They all agreed to that, the girls filling Sakura in about all they've discussed with Ichinose while she'd been standing in the queue as they drank the smoothies Chiaki had gotten them.

"Oh, I wish our class was as united as Ichinose told us hers was - many of our classmates walked out during the introductions, and we've got weirdos like Sudo and Ike and Kouenji..." Kei complained.

"Kouenji? He seemed cool to me," Maya disagreed, making Chiaki laugh at her. "You only say that because he is rich!"

When Sakura went to sleep that night, she felt even better than she did the prior day, which she hadn't thought was possible.