Petty Rivalry + A Secret To Keep

      Mikuru stared up at the huge group of buildings in front of her. At the school gates, more and more students all wearing the same drab uniform passed through them, chatting animatedly with their pals. Some stopped and stared at her, but others just ignored her. It was almost as if they were used to seeing a new kid standing in front of Konoha Academy with lots of baggage.

    Mikuru sighed and starting wheeling her many huge suitcases to the biggest building, which she was assuming was the main building.

    She entered the building. All around her were medals and trophies won by previous students. She peeked at a few of them and was surprised that the same names were always repeated: Hyuuga Neji and Uchiha Sasuke had the most medals and trophies for the last two years.

    'Dayum, this school has smartasses,' Mikuru thought, shuddering.

    She was pretty smart herself, is she could say so. She was top of her whole school before her parents sent her to Tokyo for an even better education.

    She entered a room labelled "Attendance office" and ran straight into two girls. One had long, black hair and shy pale eyes. The other had long, blonde hair tied in a ponytail and blue eyes. She was telling the black-haired girl, "Honestly, Hina, you've got to stop having a nose-bleed or fainting in front of Naruto. It kinda gives it away."

    "Sorry, Ino-chan- oh, sorry!" Hinata cried as she bumped into Mikaru. "I'm so sorry, are you all right?"

    "I'm fine," Mikuru smiled. "I'm Shirotani Mikuru. I just transferred here today."

    "I'm Hyuuga Hinata, and this is Yamanaka Ino. Do you know what your dorm room is?" Hinata asked.

    "Er-"

    "Course she doesn't, Hina," Ino sighed, "that's why she's here- to find out. Right, Mikuru-chan?"

    "Uh... yeah," Mikuru said, shrugging.

    Ino led her to a desk. A lady sat there, deeply engrossed in some documents, and Ino just ran her hands through a pile of documents on the desk in front of her.

    "Here it is! Shirotani Mikuru!" she said triumphantly, handing over a few papers to her. "Just sign here, here, and here."

    Mikuru pulled a pen out from her pocket and signed at the places indicated. Then she glanced at one paper which told her that she was in room 203.

    "Yay!" Ino cheered. "That's mine, Hina's, Sakura's, and Tenten's room! Course, we have a joint room with the guys Neji, Sasuke, Naruto, Kiba, and Shikamaru, but they can't come in unless we unlock the door."

    Mikuru flinched at the first two names, and Hinata noticed.

    "So you've seen the trophies?" she asked, smiling.

    Mikuru nodded sheepishly as the girls left the office and even outside the main building. They walked towards a blue building with a domed building.

    "So is the work here hard?" she asked as they entered the building and went up a staircase on the right.

    "It's difficult at the beginning," Ino explained, "but then it gets a lot easier. The only problem are the exams, 'cause we have no hope to get first or second place, thanks to both Neji and Sasuke. I swear, those guys don't even try but they score over one hundred percent. It's kinda aggravating."

    Those names again. Mikuru couldn't help but wonder if they were anything other than smart geniuses.

    "Oh, and I should warn you: both are surprisingly good-looking," Ino grinned. "Neji a little less, but still pretty darn hot!"

    Mikuru blinked.

    "She's right," Hinata admitted, blushing.

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