ONE

Sakura brushed a tear from her eye as she hugged her mother goodbye for the hundredth time.

"Remember to have some fun, baby," Haruno Mebuki clutched her daughter fiercely, and Sakura could feel the woman's poorly concealed tears leaking onto her jacket. "Don't study too hard."

Sakura couldn't help but roll her eyes at her well-meaning mother's words. "I'm pretty sure you just gave me the opposite lecture that every other student got from their mothers today."

Mebuki pulled back and eyed her child wisely, "Every other student isn't my overachieving, too-hard working daughter. I just want to make sure that you still enjoy yourself. I know you have goals you want to reach, but you also need to relax and enjoy your college experience!"

"No boys, though," Sakura's father, Kizashi, chimed in, a faux-serious look on his face.

The pink-haired beauty smiled at her father. "I won't have time for boys, Dad, don't worry. I'll be too busy chasing my dreams and enjoying the college experience."

"Okay, okay, I can see where I'm not wanted. Your father and I are going to go home, sweetie. Do you need anything else before we go?" Sakura could see her mother clearly fighting to control her tears, preparing to leave her only child at college.

"No, Mom, you two have done enough," Sakura smiled at her parents, willing herself not to cry anymore. "I love you guys, and I promise to call at least once a week."

Final hugs were exchanged and Sakura's parents departed with a wave, turning to head back to their car and to make the half hour drive back to her childhood home. Sakura turned to head back into her building, drying her eyes for good and letting all of her nerves and excitement come to the surface. She had put on a brave face for her parents, but in truth, she was all jitters.

Sakura used her keycard to get into her dorm building, a beautiful old brown brick building with peaking towers and stained glass. Climbing the spiral staircase instead of taking the elevator, Sakura reveled in the excitement of it all. She had finally made it. She'd been taking college classes in high school at Konoha University for years, but now she was officially a college student. Academics were here strong suit, and so she felt right at home living in a place of learning.

Scanning her keycard yet again to access her hallway, Sakura was met with the sounds of other freshman moving in, mothers crying, and a painfully familiar, raspy voice making some very unpleasant whooping noises.

"Sakura-chan!" Speak of the devil.

"Naruto," Sakura smiled at the blond-haired menace currently running at her, not slowing down as he lifted her off her feet in a spin. "Oomph. Put me down!"

"Sorry, Sakura-chan," Naruto was grinning so wide it looked like his face would split open. "I'm just so excited! I'm freaking out!"

"Well, take it easy!" Sakura scolded him, unable to keep a smile from her lips. "Be excited without smushing me."

Before Sakura had even finished her sentence, Naruto had been distracted by an equally enthusiastic Lee and had gone running down the corridor after him, resuming that horrible whooping noise that would surely earn him a noise complaint or two in the following weeks.

"There you are, Forehead!" Ino's head was poking out a door halfway down the hall. "Get in here and help me organize all this crap!"

"Sorry, Pig, I'm coming," Sakura jogged down to the room she would be sharing with Ino. "Naruto decided it was important he tackle me before I got back in here."

The blonde simply sighed dramatically. "Boys." She opened up the cardboard box on the dresser in front of her. "Ugh, Sakura, this box is yours. It's all books."

Sakura couldn't help but snort at her friend's tone, "You sound like it's a box full of syphilis."

"As far as I'm concerned, that's pretty much what it is," Ino scooted the box away delicately, as though it really was housing sexually transmitted diseases. "I'll let you deal with those, Future Doctor-san."

Using her bizarre strength, Sakura lifted the heavy box of books from the dresser easily and carried them over to the bookshelf situated underneath her lofted bed. She began pulling books out, organizing them by author name, giving her favorites an extra stroke on the spine. She heard Ino mumbling something about books and virginity under her breath, but Sakura tuned her out, continuing to gaze lovingly at her collection.

"There's a welcome party on the quad tonight," Ino offered as she began hanging clothes up in one of the large wooden wardrobes. "Some of the fraternities and sororities and throwing it for the new underclassman. Wanna go?"

Sakura hesitated. "Ah, I don't know, Ino, you know how I feel about parties."

The blonde slammed the door of the wardrobe. "Okay, rephrasing. Your mother has tasked me with ensuring that you get out and have fun this year. As your appointed ambassador of good times, I will be forcibly bringing you to this party tonight. Wear something cute, but that will be comfortable enough to kick and scream in as I drag you by the hair outside."

"Alright, alright, no need to get violent," Sakura held her hands up defensively. "I'll go."

Ino examined her nails, a wicked smile on her perfect face. "Good! Although, I was kind of looking forward to dragging you down the hallway."

Sakura stuck her tongue out at her best friend childishly, turning back to her bookshelf to finish organizing her treasures.

The bass was pumping so loud that Sakura could feel it in her teeth. She had never been big on parties, that was Ino's scene. The loud music and flashing lights made her antsy and annoyed and she just wanted to curl up in her room with a good book and some tea. But Ino had begged her and Naruto had pulled out his best set of soulful, puppy dog eyes and she knew she would lose the argument. And so, Sakura stood at the edge of the crowd awkwardly, feeling silly in her mini skirt and makeup, wondering what the hell she was even doing there in the first place. There were hundreds of students crowded around the fountain in the middle of campus, with speakers and strobe lights set up everywhere.

"Freshman?" a boy to her right asked her, a knowing smirk on his face as he watched Sakura fidget awkwardly at the edge of the party.

"That obvious?" Sakura let out a nervous laugh as her eyes immediately began scanning the crowd for her friends. Where had they gotten off to already?

The guy was still smiling at her with straight, white teeth. He had a mess of curly brown hair and he had nice, deep blue eyes. Sakura couldn't help but think he was cute, so she smiled back. Apparently taking this as an invitation to continue the conversation, he said: "Well, either that or you just really hate parties."

"I am a freshman, but I also hate parties," Sakura looked away from the boy sheepishly, again sweeping the crowd with her eyes looking for any sign of her friends. "Never really could see much of an appeal to them, honestly."

"So, what do you do for fun then – what's your name?" the boy was standing a little closer now, the smell of alcohol wafting from him.

Sakura noticed the smell immediately, but wasn't put off by it. The boy was still standing a respectful distance away and seemed polite enough. "I read a lot," Sakura shrugged, deciding to be honest instead of interesting. "I've been so focused on school for the last several years that I haven't gotten out much. And my name is Sakura."

"Ah, so Sakura-san is a bookworm, how very charming," he was still smiling, but he was beginning to sway a little as though he was getting dizzy. "My name is Keiju."

"Nice to meet you, Keiju," Sakura smiled kindly at him. Even if he was drunk, at least he was being polite to her…unlike her own friends who had apparently decided to drag her to a party and then abandon her.

As though summoned by Satan himself, Ino's voice somehow cut through the din of the party. "Forehead! Where'd you go?"

"Ah," Sakura blushed a bit at the use of her nickname in front of Keiju. "That's my cue. It was really nice talking to you, see you around sometime!"

Sakura turned towards the sound of Ino's voice and jogged over to her, missing the slightly disappointed look on Keiju's face. "Ino-pig! Why'd you ditch me, jerk?"

"First of all, I didn't ditch you, I was getting a drink," the blonde rolled her eyes, and lifted the red cup in her hand a little higher for emphasis. "Secondly, who was the hottie you were talking to? He's still looking over here." Ino gave a little wave in Keiju's direction.

"Shut-up!" Sakura pointedly looked away from the boy she had been talking to. "He was just keeping me company while I was busy being left alone by my friends." Air quotes were heavily implied around the word friends.

"Aw, Sakura-chan, I've been here the whoooooole time!" Naruto's voice startled Sakura as he seemingly appeared from nowhere. "See I'm right heeeeeere!"

"Naruto, you're already drunk," Sakura detested the whine in her tone, but it was there nonetheless.

"God, Sakura, chill," Ino sighed dramatically, thrusting her cup into the pink-haired girl's hands. "Take this. Drink it. I'll go get another one," Ino fixed Sakura with a dead-eyed glare. "If you don't drink it, I swear to God I'm going to scream at you all night."

Taking Ino's threat seriously, Sakura immediately tipped the cup back and took a drink of the spicy liquid, grimacing as she swallowed. This was going to be a long night…

Sakura stumbled back towards her dorm alone a few hours later. She had lost Ino and Naruto yet again, the two of them no doubt off somewhere in search of their crushes…being Sai and Hinata respectively. Sakura knew they hadn't abandoned her purposely, they were drunk and having fun, but she just wasn't in the mood to party anymore. She had spent all of five minutes looking for her two blonde friends before she decided to leave on her own. Naruto would be angry that she had walked back alone, but she would deal with his outburst tomorrow.

Now she was tripping down the cement walkway, rubbing her eyes and cursing herself for finishing the drink Ino had given her. She was a bit of a lightweight and didn't have much experience drinking. She hoped she could find her way back to her dorm in one piece. As she trudged blearily on, she saw the vague outline of a man underneath the arch of the entrance of one of the old, brick buildings. The light from the doorway behind him made him appear as though he was a shadow in the night. He was puffing on a cigarette like it was his life-source.

Sakura scowled. If there was one thing she detested more than anything, it was smoking. Didn't people understand what it did to their health?!

Normally, Sakura would have walked on, would have never said anything, but alcohol was flowing like liquid courage through her veins and as she drew closer to the man she stopped and took him in. He was tall, and though the lighting was low, he seemed incredibly handsome, like some sort of fallen angel standing there in the half-light. His hair was dark and wild, it looked like he had just gotten out of bed but…it looked like he had somehow gotten out of bed elegantly. His eyes were almost as dark as his hair.

"Can I help you?"

Sakura was startled by the man's deep voice. She had become so entranced with staring at him that she hadn't noticed he was looking back at her. Spitting out the first thing that came to mind, she stuttered: "D-don't you know smoking is bad for you?" That alcohol-based courage of hers was quickly waning.

The man frowned at her, and the intensity in his eyes forced Sakura to take a step back unintentionally. He slowly raised the cigarette up to his lips and sucked a slow breath in, blowing the smoke out smoothly towards her. "I know."

Sakura scoffed at the man's clear disregard for common sense. "I'm sorry," Sakura folded her arms across her chest. "Have fun with your trashed lungs." The rudeness of her words shocked her, and a blush immediately colored the bridge of her nose and her high cheekbones. "Ah, that was mean. Forgive me, stranger-san." Sakura cracked a lopsided grin at the man, the alcohol in her system being the only the keeping her from dying of embarrassment as she quickly walked past him.

Grateful he hadn't responded, Sakura quickly walked away until she was several feet past him, cringing deeply and already regretting ever having gone out in the first place. The sound of the man's deep, cold voice stopped her in her tracks.

"A girl like you shouldn't be walking around alone in the dark."

Sakura's temper flared to life and that all-too-familiar heat rose to her cheeks once more. She whirled around to face the man again, who was now leaning against the arch of the doorway, watching her closely. "What do you mean a girl like me? Just because I'm small doesn't mean I'm defenseless."

The dark man actually had the gall to scoff at her. "That's not what I meant."

Sakura frowned, noticing the way the man was slowly inching towards her now. "Then what did you mean?"

The man had advanced close enough that she could see him clearly roll his eyes at her. "I guess it's too much to ask for a girl to be pretty and smart, hm?" There was so much derision in his tone that Sakura nearly took a step away from him on impact of his words alone.

"Damn, harsh," Sakura scowled at the man growing ever closer, and she tried to decide if the smell of alcohol was coming off of her or him. He took one more step and she decided that it was clearly him. Was everyone on campus getting trashed that night?

"Where do you live?" the man asked her casually, never breaking eye contact with her and continuing to smoke his damn cigarette.

"As someone so obviously concerned for my well-being, wouldn't you discourage me from telling a strange man where I live?" Sakura asked the man, not bothering to hide the cold edge to her voice. He'd essentially called her stupid, after all. But he also called you pretty, Sakura's inner-self taunted her.

"I'm not a strange man," the very strange man smirked at her. "I'm a professor here. I live in this building." The man jabbed a thumb towards the building now behind him, and Sakura saw a plaque near the doorway that read 'Faculty Lodging'.

Sakura frowned, not really seeing a reason to hide where she lived as the man could easily watch her walk the short way down the path and into her dorm. "Senju building."

"Alright, let's go," the man brushed past her, knocking her in the shoulder hard enough to make Sakura wince as she was overwhelmed by the smell of cigarette smoke and alcohol.

"What do you mean let's go?" Sakura furrowed her eyebrows, not budging an inch.

"I already told you, you shouldn't be walking around alone in the dark," the wild-haired man was clearly exasperated when he turned to look at her, his eyes dark but hardly dull. His tone softened, but only slightly: "Humor me."

"Fine," Sakura watched him suspiciously as she began to walk behind him, careful not to get too close.

Sakura thanked all the gods that the walk to her dorm wasn't very far from the faculty building, as she didn't think she would've been able to stay in the man's presence for much longer. He made her inexplicably uncomfortable, coldness seemingly coming off of him in waves that gave her goosebumps and made her bones ache. She actually had to pull her jacket more tightly against her as they approached the end of their walk.

Sighing in relief upon reaching the stairs to the entrance of the building, Sakura brushed past the man quickly in order to jog up to the door. Fresh goosebumps prickled up her arm underneath her jacket from where she had briefly rubbed against him. She fished in her pocket for her keycard, eager to get out of the presence of this weird guy who had found it necessary to walk her to her dorm.

"See? Who knows what would've happened if I wasn't around to walk you back," the man's icy voice cut through the silence behind her.

"Thanks," Sakura didn't bother to hide the thick sarcasm in her voice as she slid her card through the reader and opened the door. "How ever shall I repay my savior?"

The dark look on the man's face made Sakura wish she would not have spoken at all. "You can owe me."

Sakura let her eyes linger a moment too long, swallowing down any words she thought to hurl at the man. She quickly turned and let the door swing closed behind her and she hastily made her way into the building, suddenly feeling nauseous and a little lightheaded. Whether the feeling was from the alcohol or her sudden nervousness in the face of Professor Jerk-Wad, Sakura knew she needed to lay down and sleep.

Regardless of the issue, Sakura shook her head violently, pressing the up button for the elevator after deciding that five flights of stairs probably wasn't a good idea for her at the moment.

The rest of Sakura's weekend had gone by uneventfully. She had spent her time getting her dorm room organized, hanging out with her friends, and preparing for classes. Ino had brought up Keiju again and Sakura was shocked to find that she had almost completely forgotten about him. Her interaction with the dark-haired professor had easily been the most memorable part of the evening, and everything that had happened before their meeting had kind of faded in Sakura's memory.

Too early Monday morning, the obnoxious beeping of the alarm woke Sakura from her fitful sleep. She rubbed her eyes groggily, cursing herself for choosing a class taking place at eight in the morning. What was she thinking? Despite her springtime appearance, Sakura was not a morning person.

Sluggishly, the student pulled a simple green t-shirt over her head and slipped on a pair of comfortable but stylish sweatpants, all the while being as quiet as possible to avoid waking her roommate. After brushing her teeth and applying a bit of brown mascara, Sakura grabbed her bag and sneakily slipped out the door.

She was on her way to her very first class as a college student, to say she was nervous was an understatement. She'd left her dorm with plenty of time, but she still wasn't exactly sure where the building her class was in was. She had meant to locate the building over the weekend, but reading and spending time with her friends had caused her to forget her more responsible sensibilities. Double checking her syllabus, Sakura confirmed that she was heading to the medical sciences building.

Upon arriving at the building after some wandering around, Sakura could feel her heart beating wildly in her chest. She couldn't understand why she was so nervous…she had taken many college classes in high school. She just felt like something was about to be different – like something was about to change…and she couldn't begin to explain it.

The room her class, an upper level anatomy and physiology class, was in was a huge lecture hall, with chairs sloping down towards a small platform with a desk on it. A chalkboard hung on the wall behind the desk, and there was a sheet of paper tacked to it that many students had gathered around. Sakura did her best to walk confidently up to the board to see what the paper said.

"Ugh, I hate assigned seating," a blonde girl with four spiky ponytails was sighing as Sakura approached the board. "Now I can't sit with anyone I know."

Sakura simply waited her turn at the back of the group to see where her seat was. All of the other students in the class were juniors or seniors, and so they likely had friends in the class. Sakura, however, knew no one, and didn't care where she sat. She was finally able to see that she would be seated in chair number thirty-seven, which was in the third row. Setting her backpack at her feet and pulling her notebook out of her bag, Sakura took a deep breath and tried to relax until class began.

"I assume you've all been in school long enough that I don't need to waste our first day going over the syllabus."

Sakura's head snapped up, she knew that voice.

A tall man with wild black hair was scrawling something in messy handwriting on the blackboard. It read: Uchiha-sensei. He turned around to face the class.

Spring green met midnight black as Sakura made eye-contact with the strange man who had walked her back to her dorm on Friday night.

AN: Okay, hopefully no one gets mad at me for starting another story before I finish Untitled Affections or When Skies are Grey...I am sorry about that but I'm suffering from real writer's block for both. Sometimes writing something else helps me, and I have several chapters of this story written! I hope you can enjoy this story for awhile if you're currently waiting on updates for the others, I appreciate you :) Let me know what you think of this one!

~ loony