Chapter 1: Preparations

Disclaimer: :C I don't own Naruto.. If I did.. The entire Akatsuki would still be aliiiiveeeee T_T

"Good morning, Sensei," Said a fair-haired adolescent. Her flaxen locks were contained in a loose, low ponytail that allowed her slack curls to run gently across her mid-back. Her head was tilted slightly to the side, catching the light of the light rayed sun through the window, and simply emitting a look of utter radiance. The sensei, who went by the name of Iruka Umino, glanced up from his desk, which held mountains of neatly organized paperwork, and returned the half smile she gave. It was hard not to smile along with her, after all. It was as if she radiated a feeling of cheerfulness and optimism that proved to be greatly contagious.

"Good morning, Kiyowa."

The warm tone taken by Iruka sent a small smile to Kiyowa's lips and a faint hue of red-pink over her cheeks. As force of habit, the young girl's hand, which at this point in time was covered by the sleeve of her outsized sweater, lifted up to cover her mouth. She had always enjoyed speaking to her sensei, but she only wished she would have more to say. Kiyowa's timid nature had always been a difficult element of her character for her to adjust to, even though she carried it throughout her entire life to date.

After the brief exchange of words, Kiyowa turned her head to the floor, an action that reversed Iruka's smile into a deep frown that was accompanied by a soft sigh, and she turned toward the nearly empty classroom. Her punctuality was to blame for the lack of people. She believed that showing up early was important, and so she did so whenever she could. Slowly, the blonde haired girl's Jade-green gaze shifted almost unnoticeably so to a dark haired male located to her right.

Sasuke Uchiha.

She remembered him from years ago. Of many shapes, sizes, colors, and personalities, that Uchiha male always had many of girls that chased after him… Unfortunately, Kiyowa was one of them. While she did not do nearly the number of things the other girls did, like argue over him, buy him things, and such, she did have a heavy crush on him, yet could not diagnose just why exactly. Kiyowa also would never do anything about her feelings, so she mentally decreed, for she had not the confidence in herself. Many times, the young girl would debate on speaking with Sasuke; her thoughts of doing so were usually shut down quickly by another female that seemed more raring to go.

Her looking began to become more obvious to any that took time to observe Kiyowa and her thoughts and daze became far deeper. She thought of herself now, not Sasuke, just she and other girls that threw themselves at him. They were all so thin. Their hair was far longer than hers ever was. They had better taste in clothes, that's for sure… not to mention they all had boundless confidence in themselves. She, on the other hand, was thin, but not as much as they. Her hair reached a few inches above the small of her back, and though she always tried to grow it, it seemed that her hair just wasn't letting her have her way. As for her clothes, she always saw a pair of shorts and an oversized hoody was the perfect outfit for any occasion, and as for confidence…well she hardly had any. How could they possibly even acknowledge her, let alone see her as any kind of competition.

Kiyowa finally managed to grasp back onto reality just at the point in time a pair of dark colored eyes met hers. Her heart skipped three beats, her face twisted into the deepest shade of cherry, and her gaze quickly retreated to the floorboards beneath her feet. Shuffling her feet quickly across the floor, she made her way to the back of the room, sitting down in the seat near the window in the absolute last row where she would begin to unnervingly lock, intertwine, shift, and wriggle her fingers together. 'H-He caught me looking…' Thought the young girl in fair dismay. Quickly, her sleeved hands rose up to her face so that she could then proceed to bury herself into them. How embarrassing…

The dusky haired boy had quirked a brow. He wondered what the staring he had received was for, or what it could possibly mean, until his eyes immediately shone with disinterest. Another girl that wanted to throw her heart at him, right? Just another annoyance. Leaning his head onto his intertwined fingers, the Uchiha boy turned his attention back out of the window at his left.

It was still quiet and incredibly peaceful in the classroom with only a few people entering here and there. It was apparently too early in the morning for everyone to be as up and around as they usually were, as most of the entering students returned to slumber with their head placed promptly on the tops of their desks. Taking advantage of this quietness, Iruka slipped out from the classroom. He was likely going to go over a few of the procedures for the assigning of squads today. The assigning of squads. This was also something weighing heavily on young Kiyowa's mind. Students were to be paired up into groups of three, as Iruka said, and assigned to a Jounin sensei to further their training as Genin. It was electrifying to think that so many people from this class were all moving up so quickly, but it was also a sign that anxiety was to be running high for some.

Just as Kiyowa had managed to calm down and rest her head against her arms, a loud hammer accompanied by many shouts of displeasure filled the room as well as the hallway. The blonde haired girl shot up from her chair and whirled around to face the entrance of the classroom. Sakura and Ino had barged in and were currently huffing and puffing in an attempt to catch their breath from what she assumed to be a race to class. "Oh boy…" Murmured the girl softly, almost inaudibly, to herself. These were two of the girls that had always chased after Sasuke, and she found herself horridly uncomfortable around them although there were many others that fit under the category of "Sasuke's fangirls". She kept watching them, being that she wasn't going to be able to sleep with all of the ruckus that just suddenly appeared, and to be honest, she found the two rivals to be incredibly amusing during their little power-struggles. Then she noticed something. A look if you will.

This was not just a simple look that Sakura carried, it was one that was easily recognized by Kiyowa, and one that made her draw her attention away with a feeling of being inadequate. She heard the footsteps thump passed her on the old wood floorboards, and she felt herself shrinking with each step.

"S-Sasuke-kun? I noticed the seat next to you was open…and well...can I sit next to you?"

By now, she felt around three inches tall. Even if the pinkette stumbled and fumbled with her words ever so slightly, Sakura had the amazing courage and pride in herself to ask to sit with him… That was further than she could ever hope to get. It was difficult to not have the inner-strength to do something about feelings that paddled around inside of her then have to deal with listening to and watching attempt after attempt from other girls. To be honest, Kiyowa even thought Sakura to get somewhere with her question. That was until:

"Back off, Sakura! I sit next to Sasuke-kun!" Ino hissed to Sakura under her breath. The two began to mutter and argue to one another in soft yet stern tones, each one appearing to want the vacant spot next to their precious Sasuke-kun. Soon enough almost all of the females in the classroom were in on it, snapping at one another. The snapping soon turned to shouting and the shouting to all out screaming sprees. Burying her head in her arms, Kiyowa cringed. All of this was giving her one massive headache… Suddenly, everything went quiet. She tugged her sleeve down just enough to allow her right eye vision. The sound of coughing, hacking, and….spitting… however finally made her rise up once more. All she could really see was that Naruto had his hands full with a lot of angry girls. What about, she wasn't sure.

"Settle down and return to your seats, class."

Everyone turned up to Iruka, wondering the same thing Kiyowa was likely, which was 'when did Iruka-sensei get back?'

"I'm all set to read off the squads."

A/N: Ohhkay guise! Hope you enjoyed this first chapter! I'm scribbling away at this fanfic, being it's the first one that's really had be interested in a long time, so I hope you'll like it too! :DD Love you guys! Now read & review for meh, babeh.