Chapter o1

One should not fear death, but that one will never begin to live.
(Marcus Aurelius)

"Don't hang your head, Saku."

The voice of a pretty, blond girl broke the silence in the stuffy car, and she patted her friend on the shoulder in encouragement. “I'll come with you.” The addressed sighed heavily and looked into the big eyes of her best friend Ino. "I don't know ... We don't even know anyone there.", She expressed her concern and looked out the window. "We'll get to know everyone. Don't worry!" Ino only replied and smiled sympathetically at Sakura. Her mother simply deported her after she found a new lover. So now the two young girls were on their way to boarding school. Of course, Ino didn't mind the fact that she didn't know anyone there, because it had been her own wish to go to exactly this school. And this opportunity came at just the right time for Miyako, Sakura's mother, of course.

Flashback

"Sakura my darling! I've been thinking about something, come down!" Her mother's soft voice echoed down the stairwell, and Sakura looked up from her book and came down. “What is it, Mum?” Miyako and her new friend Hakuma sat at the dining room table and looked at the pink-haired woman seriously. She immediately got a queasy feeling at the sight and hesitantly sat down to it. Miyako clasped her hands on the table and began to speak. "You will go to this boarding school with Ino," was the only thing she said. Sakura's eyes widened. "B-but Mum! I don't want to go there! I have my friends here!" Hakuma shook his head and gave Sakura a small smile. "You make new friends. Be glad that you can stay with Ino!" Sakura sucked in a sharp breath to get a clear thought. She was about to say something when her mother cut her off."Listen, Sakura. This is a really excellent school and as I know you you will quickly make friends there! Besides, we have already registered you, so you can protest as much as you like." In the eyes of young Haruno tears. How could her mother? That was definitely Hakuma's idea! The two apparently wanted to get rid of her as quickly as possible. She swallowed hard to get the big lump out of her throat. And without another word she disappeared back into her room and remained silent for the next few days.

Flashback end

"We are here!", Ino's mother shouted happily, and opened the door. Sakura had gone with the Yamanakas because her mother "didn't have time" to drop them off in person. Yes, Ino's family was now more of Sakura's family than her own. On the one hand, this had to do with the fact that Ino's parents were really wonderful people and accepted everyone as they were, and on the other hand, with the fact that since her mum's decision, Sakura was almost only with Ino and howled there. “I'll let the secretary know that you've arrived.” With these words, Ino's dad had disappeared and her mum helped the girls to load the many suitcases and bags from the spacious trunk. In other words, most of the things were actually from Ino. Sakura only had a rucksack and a suitcase with her, just the bare essentials, as she wasn't planning to stay here for a long time anyway. "Wow, it looks really great here, doesn't it, Saku?" Ino tore the pale pink-haired woman out of her thoughts. "Hm ...? Uh, yes, really great.", Was her only answer, and she didn't even sound particularly enthusiastic.

The school building wasn't all that terrible, at least from the outside. It looked like a castle, as it had two tall towers, but it looked much more modern, with the light stone and the clean, beautiful park in front of it. "Well then, let's go." Ino ordered and dragged her things behind her to the entrance.As already mentioned, Sakura had it much easier because her suitcase was only half full. (In her rucksack she only had books and the usual school supplies!) When the three of them entered the large entrance hall, even Ino had become speechless. In the "room", if you could call it that, there was a huge, dark staircase with a metal railing, and there were a lot of artistic paintings on the wall. Then there was a huge door across from them, on which "dining room" was written in gold letters. To their left was a glass door that led to a corridor, one wall of which was made entirely of glass and on which "Secretariat" could be read. When Sakura glanced up, she saw that the building had more than two floors, which one could have guessed from the outside. Involuntarily her mouth fell open and she stared at everything with big eyes. "Well, you see, Sakura, you're starting to like it, huh?" Ino's mother put an arm around her shoulder and looked around for a teacher, but the entrance hall was deserted. "Hm.", Sakura mumbled very quietly, but nobody would have paid any attention anyway. Suddenly Ino's father was standing in front of them again, holding a silver key in his hand. "Guess who shares a room!", He said with a grin and Ino fell around Sakura's neck. "We'll share a room, Saku! Did you hear that?" Sakura just stopped and took the key. Then they went to the office of Rector Tsunade together. This - quite cool looking - woman looked at Sakura and Ino very carefully from top to bottom, until she then spoke. "I am happy to see you at our school. You are both in class 9a, your classroom is on the timetable. I will choose two classmates who will show you the building, they will contact you later. You can go now. "Oh man, thought Sakura, but she's short.Nevertheless, the four left the room and Sakura and Ino said goodbye to the Yamanakas and then looked for their room. "So, according to the building plan, we have to go to wing B on the first floor ..." Ino mumbled while she studied the map of the school. "We're the last girl's room in the hallway, after that the boys come!", She added with a giggle and pointed to the last pink room, then only the blue ones came. Sakura groaned. She wasn't particularly interested in boys, mostly because there was no way she wanted to be like her best friend when they met boys. As soon as they were just a little bit pretty, Ino freaked out and threw himself on their necks. Well that could be cheerful, thought the young Haruno.

After they had found their room, Ino quickly unlocked the door and the two of them couldn't even shut their mouths. The room, while not particularly large, wasn't as cool and dated as they expected. The walls were painted a soft orange, and the light-colored laminate on the floor harmonized perfectly with the spacious closet and table that stood in one corner of the room. Then there were two metal beds with a white canopy over them. Indeed, there was a television in the room. The two really hadn't expected that. Tsunade had to be a very generous woman to have furniture like this brought into every room. There was a little piece of paper on the table that said, in block letters, "I hope you like your room. You can decorate it any way you want. But when you hang up posters, use sticky tape, otherwise we'll have a lot of holes in the walls afterwards. ;-) "stood. "Wow, I knew that I had chosen a cool school, but so great?" Ino whispered, stroking the mint green curtains that hung in front of the two large windows.And finally Sakura smiled too. "Right, it's really great here," she agreed with the blonde. Ino looked at her touched, but then they started unpacking.

After about an hour everything was in the right place and the room didn't look that empty anymore. Ino looked again at the building plan, which she had stuck to the door to be on the safe side, and then said: "Listen, Saku, it says here:

Breakfast: 7:15 am
Lunch: 2.30 p.m.
Dinner: 6.30 p.m.

And classes start at 8:00 a.m. That means there will be lunch in ten minutes. "Sakura, who had just been reading, (she finished unpacking much faster) now stood next to the blonde and stared at the plan." Okay, should we go downstairs then? "Ino nodded in response, took the key and pulled Sakura out with her. While she was still locking, Sakura listened to a few boys whose noises came from the room next door." You are such an idiot, Naruto! ", one of them hissed angrily and quite loudly." You have to say that! You let me write it off! "That was a different voice. Sakura frowned." Yeah, and because you got caught we both got a 6 on the test! "That was the voice of the first one again. Sakura couldn't explain it, but for some reason she looked familiar. Suddenly the door next to the room from which the noises were coming from was thrown open and a boy with long, black hair stormed furious to the door of the quarreling and tore it open. "Now be quiet at last, you idiots! I try to learn! ", he yelled. Sakura involuntarily winced at his loud voice, and to her amazement Ino didn't even look up." Now stay on the carpet, Neji! ", the second boy laughed and stepped out of the room. Sakura assumed that this was Naruto. The boy had extremely blonde, tousled hair and grinned stupidly.He crossed his arms behind his head and turned to Sakura and Ino. "Well, who are you?" He asked, still smiling exaggeratedly. This Neji stood behind him and looked at the two girls carefully, so that Sakura shivered coldly. Ino, who had finally managed to lock it, put her hands on her hips and smiled sweetly. “I'm Ino Yamanaka, and this is my best friend Sakura Haruno, who is not that talkative at the moment.” Sakura punched Ino in the side as a punishment, and Naruto responded with a laugh. "So you're the new guys Tsunade was talking about ... My name is Naruto Uzumaki. By the way, his name is Neji Hyuuga, and he's quite a bit of a curmudgeon." Naruto put an arm around the boy with the white eyes, but Neji shook it off annoyed and disappeared back into his room. "Well, that's the way it is. You must never take it personally at this school." "Naruto, who are you talking to?" Suddenly came the voice again from Naruto's room, and the door was opened again. A