Chapter Text
The sound of the classroom door shutting behind the professor made Sakura jump slightly and she lifted her head from the notebook laid open on the desk in front of her. Her eyes went wide at the sight of the white-haired man at the front of the room. His face wasn’t old, not even slightly, but his entire head of hair was as white as the pure driven snow. She followed it down the length of his back where he had pulled it into a loose ponytail at the nape of his neck.
He picked up a marker from the desk and popped the cap off with a snap that echoed through the quiet of the room before writing across the board. His letters were large and all caps and Sakura hurried to grab her pen to jot down what he was writing. ‘INTRODUCTION TO CREATIVE WRITING’
“It’s always so quiet the first day,” he paused and turned to glance over his shoulder to the small class, a lopsided grin tilting his lips. “Don’t be afraid to talk now. It’s going to be hard to get through the semester if you stay quiet as church mice.”
A round of soft, nervous laughter flittered through the class but Sakura remained quiet. She scribbled the words he wrote in her notebook and hoped by picking a seat in the back, she could fly under his radar for the semester. It wasn’t like this was a class she needed or truly cared about. She had picked it at random, needing an extra 3 hours to make a full schedule. If her rapid flip through the course list ended with her taking a class that pushed her out of her comfort zone, she might as well drop it right now. All she was looking for was an easy A.
“Welcome to Creative Writing.” The professor slid a stool out from under his desk and took a seat, propping the soles of his sandals on the rungs beneath him. “I know this class is to fill a slot for the majority of the people who come through, so I like to make it interesting if I can. My name’s Jiraiya. Office hours are posted outside my door which is right there.”
Sakura followed where he pointed toward the hallway and sank a little lower in her seat when he swept his gaze over her. It didn’t linger on hers for long, moving on to get a proper gauge of the rest of the class but she still had to force herself to relax.
“Who all here is taking this class because you want a career out of writing?”
Only a few lifted their hands and Jiraiya chuckled with a nod. “Figured as much. Well, I should hope that most of you want to get something out of this class. I hope you’ll find ways to improve your writing, or even open yourself up to new literary interests. For the rest of you, well—” He scratched his eyebrow with another lopsided grin. “I hope you have fun and want to work for your grade.”
He lifted off the stool and slid a stack of papers from the corner of his desk, holding them in the air so the class could see them. “Here’s your assignment list. Everything you’re going to turn in for a grade is on this sheet. You can rush through them and hand them in the next two weeks if you want but I can’t guarantee you’ll pass doing it that way. Now—” He clapped his hands right when the assignment list was passed back and hit Sakura’s desk. She hid her sigh, pulling the paper toward her to read the dates. “Your first assignment is one of my favorites, which is why I like to start the semester off with it.”
Her eyes lifted back to the top and narrowed on the due date. They were supposed to turn in their first assignment next week? That didn’t give them enough time to even learn anything! Yeah, it was official. She was going to drop this class and try to register late for a different one; something easier.
“I know what you’re thinking. It’s a bit too early to be assigned something worth ten percent of your grade, but I have good reasons. Don’t worry about your techniques or prose. I just want to get a feel for your written voice and I want you to write a two-page short story.” His words faded from her head as she thought to herself.
If she got to the registrar early, maybe they could help her find a class to earn an easy A. Asking her advisor was out of the question. She was the one that assured Sakura this class could be good for her, not just academically but as a person as well. Whatever that meant.
After a collective sigh from the class, Jiraiya found his seat on the stool once more and chuckled. “It’s not as bad as you’re all thinking it is. I just want you to write something out of your comfort zone. If you like rainbows and butterflies, maybe find something a bit darker to write about and vice versa.”
The sound of a soft knock at the door turned everyone’s attention away from the professor. “Ah, what a nice surprise!”
Jiraiya stood from the chair and opened the door, standing back to let a younger, handsome man inside. His hair was just as strangely colored, but his face made Sakura’s eyebrow slowly arch. He was handsome…extremely so and she, as well as most of the class, watched him as he strolled lazily to the opposite side of the room. He leaned against the windowsill and crossed his legs at the ankle as Jiraiya shut the door and returned to the center of the room.
“Most of my classes never get a real glimpse of my elusive assistant, so consider yourselves lucky. This is Kakashi Hatake and he’ll be reading the majority of your assignments this semester.”
The younger man gave a quick nod of his head in a simple, apathetic gesture before pulling the phone out of his pocket. Sakura pursed her lips and ducked her head, staring at the three words she had written at the top of her notebook page to keep her attention away from him. While Jiraiya continued on, giving ideas for what to possibly write about, she doodled in the top corner of her assignment list.
A few people raised their hands to ask questions and Sakura knew she should have been paying attention. Even if she was going to drop this class, it was rude not to give the professor her focus. It wasn’t like he was a bad teacher. He seemed pretty excited for the semester and their assignments and probably loved his job.
She just wasn’t a creative person. Her mind was structured and focused, methodical, and precise. She had a doctor’s mind, though she didn’t even know if that’s what she wanted for herself anymore. It had been her goal since she was 12 and now that she was where she needed to be to make that dream a reality, she was at a loss.
Which is why she had so much trouble deciding what to take this semester. Last year, she had been on a path written in stone, taking her swiftly to the top of her graduating class to secure her a residency at the most exclusive hospitals. It was what she had planned for her entire teenage life and in less than a year, she had burnt out completely and was left feeling empty and lost.
Jiraiya clapped his hands and Sakura jumped once more, blinking herself out of her thoughts. Around her, people were packing up and she quickly closed her notebook. “Don’t forget, I expect those assignments on my desk by Wednesday.”
Sakura stood and draped her purse strap over her shoulder before scooping her notebook and textbook into her arms. She let the others file out of the class ahead of her and as she made her way down the aisle, her eyes moved to where the teaching assistant still leaned against the window sill.
He swiped his thumb up the phone screen but paused, raising his stare to her. Their eyes met and Sakura quickly looked away before her face could burn under his scrutiny. How had he caught her so quickly? She had barely gotten a chance to take a proper look at him, though it didn’t take long to see how good looking he was.
Risking a second glance back to confirm her previous thought, she found his gaze still on her and she quickened her pace toward the door. Even as she slipped out into the hallway, leaving the classroom behind her, she couldn’t shake the feeling of being watched. With a sigh, she situated her books higher on her hip and followed the crowd making their way out of the English department.
She checked the time on her phone and cursed to herself. She didn’t have time to make a pit stop by the registrar’s office before her next class. But at least in Sociology, she’d be with Ino.
It was nearly three by the time she had made it across the campus to where the newly built Administration office stood. The brick exterior, all pristine and looking every bit expensive that it was, was such a stark contrast against the decades-old art department that stood beside it. Sakura hurried up the front steps and ducked inside the lobby, thankful for the air conditioning that blasted from the vents above her.
She checked the letter board displaying the office names on each floor and reaffirmed that the registrar’s office was on the third floor. There was a set of elevators to the left and stairs to the right and she went the easier route. After all, that’s what this semester was going to be; smooth sailing and little to no conflicts so she could have the next few months to figure things out.
Once inside the elevator, Sakura adjusted the books in her arms and wished she had stopped at her dorm long enough to drop them off. But with the way she had been feeling lately, she was sure that once home, she would take one look at her bed and have no choice but to curl up beneath her blankets with some Netflix and popcorn.
And if she wanted to escape from the overzealous creative writing teacher before the due date of her first assignment, she couldn’t afford to be lazy. It was a shame she wouldn’t be seeing that teaching assistant ever again, though. If he was the one teaching the class, she might give sticking around a second thought.
Even if he had seemed a bit intense from the two brief glances they had shared with one another.
The soft chime above her head made her blink herself from her thoughts and Sakura waited for the doors to part before stepping out onto the third-floor hallway. Financial Aid was to the left with the Registrar and Cashier to the right. She followed the arrow to the right and stopped outside the door. There was a typed note stuck to it saying the secretary had to step out and would be back in a few minutes.
Sakura sighed and noticed a narrow, metal paper holder attached to the wall. There were numerous forms, from applications for scholarships to exactly what Sakura was looking for: the withdrawal form. She smiled and bent down to pluck it just as the door to the cashier’s office opened up behind her. As she stood, she felt someone’s presence and sidestepped so she could turn and give them a friendly smile.
Which quickly fell from her face at the sight of silver hair atop a pale face with dark eyes…that were currently staring down at the form she had tucked on top of her notebook held against her chest. Sakura blinked and followed his gaze down to the black letters written across the top of the page.
“Hope that’s not for Creative Writing,” he said, eyes lifting to meet hers. God, even his voice was handsome. It caught her off guard and she could only stare up at him while her brain desperately tried to force words into her mouth.
“Oh, um. Actually, it is. I-I just don’t think it’s the right class for me.”
Instead of turning away and walking off like she expected him to do, his mouth stretched into a sly smile and he crossed his arms over his chest. His forearms, which Sakura couldn’t help glancing down to, were bare beneath the rolled-up sleeves of his shirt and she could see just a few curling, black lines of a tattoo near the bend of his left elbow.
“What are you majoring in?”
Ah, the one question she hated to think about. Pursing her lips, she shrugged a shoulder and turned to look down the hallway, afraid that if she stared at him more, he’d notice. Maybe he already had. “Currently, I’m not sure. I was a Biology major last year.”
“Creative Writing is an awfully long way from Biology.”
She risked a peek back up at him and felt herself smile. “Yeah, I think that was the appeal in the beginning, but I’m just not sure I’m creative enough for it.”
It felt so strange to have him speaking to her, to have him interested in what she was saying. The guy looked like he could walk up to any straight woman on campus and make their panties wet with just a few words. What the hell was he talking to Sakura for? The question brought a touch of pink to her cheeks and she hoped he didn’t see it.
Although, why the hell should she care? She was seeing someone. Sasuke, to be exact, and she was happily dating him. Still, she couldn’t help wishing she had stopped by her dorm to run a brush through her hair.
The man—she could only remember his last name was Hatake—shrugged a shoulder and gave her a look exactly what she would expect to make the straight women feel their panties unravel. It was working on her currently.
“Everyone’s creative. Some people just hold themselves back.” He took a step back and nodded toward the withdrawal form, finally dropping his hands to his side. It was too fast for her to catch a good glimpse of that tattoo. “It’s a shame. I was looking forward to seeing what you could come up with.”
He turned away from her and headed toward the elevators that chimed with the arrival of someone inside. An older woman stepped out and blinked up at him in surprise, ducking around his side with a quick 'excuse me'. Sakura took her eyes away from him for just a split second, enough time for her to catch the look of surprise on the woman’s face and the slight blush on her cheeks, confirming what she had previously thought.
When she lifted her gaze back to him, she clamped her teeth around her bottom lip and braced herself. He glanced back in the seconds before stepping into the elevator and the corner of his lips lifted in a smirk that both irritated Sakura and left her breathless. He was apparently aware of the effect he had on women and more specifically, the effect he had on her.
How the hell had he made her feel so…aroused in less than five minutes?
The woman stepped up to the note taped on the door and tugged it down, pulling Sakura’s attention away from the space he had just occupied near the elevators. She smiled and pointed to the registrar’s office. “Do you need in, dear?”
Sakura blinked and looked from the woman’s kind face down to the sheet still sitting on top of her notebook. There were two logical choices here. She could do exactly what she was planning to do; drop the class and find something that she could coast through easily, which would prove to the smug teaching assistant that just because he was handsome, he couldn’t sway her decision. Or, she could stick it out and prove to herself that she wasn’t afraid of something just because it took her out of her comfort zone.
And even though the latter decision came with the perks of some eye candy, she chose to ignore that little fact.
Her fist closed around the withdrawal form and she forced a friendly smile to the woman. “Actually, I changed my mind.”