RELATIONSHIP

Nirika entered the classroom, the familiar smell of chalk and pine invading her nostrils, causing her to pause for a moment before stepping fully in. She heaved out a long sigh as she glanced around the room. Everything seemed to be in order- no one seemed to have invaded during the night. Then again, who would? This was just a schoolhouse, after all. Naturally, people would want to stay away from it.

She checked the clock that was hanging directly above the door. 6:13. Shit, she thought. Why does he always want me in so early every morning? It's not like I ever do anything that important to help him out, anyway…She took in the dark and eerily silent room once more before striding over to the teacher's desk and sitting down. She loved the feel of the worn out wood of the desk against her fingers; loved tracing the indentations where several students had carved their names when he hadn't been looking. She, of course, recognized all the names. She just wouldn't be a good teacher if she didn't. The most evident one was an old one; that of Uzumaki Naruto. For one, it was the sloppiest, and two, it was the one most deeply etched in. He must've spent an entire lunch period carving that in…Nirika thought.

She leaned back against the faded wool that covered the chair and sighed. So early…It's too early to do anything but sleep, she thought. She hadn't gotten a decent night's rest in ages because she'd been working to the bone to try and keep up with the intern workload. Outside, it was still dark, but she could see a line of red just barely peeping over the horizon. "He won't mind if I take a quick nap," Nirika muttered to herself. "At least, I hope he won't…"

"Class, today I'm pleased to make a special announcement."

"Are we getting out early again, Sensei?" blurted Konohamaru, his eyes gleaming with anticipation. Maybe he would get to learn some new moves from Naruto!

"As much as I'd like that, Konohamaru, no, we are not getting out early." Iruka answered.

"Aww..." The energetic boy shrugged and sat back down, greatly disappointed.

"However…we do have a sort of…addition, if you will, to this classroom. I have decided to take on an intern to help me teach you all, and…"

There was a quick knock on the door. "Ahh, I think that's her now. If you would all wait just a moment…"A flurry of whispers started up between the students. "It's a girl teacher?...I wonder if she's any good…when are we getting out of here…I'll bet she's not that great…must be just a stupid Genin…"

"Be quiet!" Iruka shushed his restless students with a wave of his hand. "And now, I'd like to introduce you all to your new intern. Please welcome…Nirika Obakoro!"

The students gasped with surprise as a young woman entered the room. Her thick black hair fell just below her shoulders, and her bright blue eyes, which were alive with had immediately begun to take in each students' face. A warm smile fully completed her happy expression. She wore a dark purple outfit that most of the students were familiar with, except now she proudly displayed the traditional green Chuunin vest along with the rest of the outfit. She carried a small stack of notebooks and folders in her arms, and a various assortment of pens and pencils were sticking out of her weapons pouch.

The class was completely silent for another moment, until Moegi abruptly stood up and called, "Nirika-nii-chan!!"

Nirika proudly smiled up at her while the whole class turned their attention on Moegi. "She's your older sister?...wow, she looks so cool…guess she's not just a Genin after all…"

"A-HEM! I said QUIET, class!" Iruka shouted. The whole class abruptly faced the front of the room, eyes focused on the now two teachers that stood before them.

"Hehe…rambunctious bunch, aren't they?" Nirika smiled as she addressed the older Chuunin. "Don't worry, Iruka, I'm sure I'll be able to handle them…"

She walked parallel to the front row of desks, taking in each students face in turn. They in turn were watching her, and wondering. What kind of teacher would she be? How would she act? And was she nice at all? Because teachers were never nice.

She finished her inspection of the students and turned back towards Iruka. "Actually, wait a second…I have an idea. Do you think you'd mind at all if I took over for this next lesson, just to test my abilities as a teacher? If I can't handle them, then I promise I'll walk out of here quietly, and I'll stop being your intern. What do you think?"

The class gasped in unison. Even Iruka hadn't expected Nirika to say something like that. She had been dead serious on becoming his intern, and had spent many long hours training at the school, hoping that he would notice her skills and take her in. Would she really give all that up, just for the sake of a first impression? But…he had made that promise to her. He would keep his word to her, even if it meant losing another intern, and going through that grief again…

"Okay, Nirika." He smiled. "If you can't make them stay interested in the lesson, I'm going to have to let you go…" He winked as he said this, which angered her.

"Iruka-sensei, I'm being serious about this, so you should be too. And class…" She turned her attention upwards and scanned all the young faces. "I don't want you to pay attention just because you like me, or think you like me. Apparently, from what I've been hearing all day, this lesson has been pretty boring…hasn't it?" The whole class nodded in unison, some moaning and complaining simultaneously.

"Well then," Nirika stated, placing her books and weapon pouch on Iruka's desk. "I, for one, frankly don't understand why something so basic yet varied as the Henge no Jutsu should be boring." She was now standing at the center of the classroom, hands on her hips. She turned around to face Iruka, who was now casually leaning against the blackboard, staring out the window. Too casually…Was he daydreaming?

"IRUKA-SENSEI!!" Nirika screamed. The startled Chuunin jumped with surprise, and the whole class burst out laughing. It certainly was a refreshing change to see their sensei get yelled at, and they could only laugh some more as Iruka sheepishly shuffled over to stand beside Nirika.

"Now that I have everyone's attention," she began, glaring at her former teacher, "I want to do a basic demonstration of the many purposes the Henge can serve. I want everyone to be taking notes on this, and I expect you to practice the basics tonight so you'll be prepared to do a demonstration in class tomorrow if you get called on."

She really knows what she's doing, thought Iruka. Stating the consequences before the assignment shows responsibility…He was thinking somewhere along the lines of this, yet in his head he didn't have a clue what he was talking about. Truth be told, there was just something about her…something that made her perfect for the job. She had the right attitude, and the right sort of personality that was perfect for connecting with the students.

"For my first example (here she turned to Iruka), the Henge no Jutsu is known as the disguise jutsu for one reason only. If, during a mission, one of your teammates falls behind or you split up, an enemy shinobi could knock out- or kill- one of your teammates, and disguise himself as them. Watch me very closely now."

Her hands moved through a flurry of symbols, then she cried out, "Henge no Jutsu!" Instantly, an exact replica of Iruka appeared next to the original teacher. He was thoroughly impressed, considering he had never seen anyone able to do an exact replica of the scar that adorned his nose and cheekbones before. He found that she had even managed to copy the voice right when she spoke again. "So…I can make myself into an exact copy of Iruka. Or…if I'm feeling adventurous…"

She smirked and went through the same flurry of hand signals. Only this time, the words that came out of her mouth were, "Hengoke no Jutsu!"

When the cloud of smoke dissipated, the students could only stare at first at the figure in front of them. It had Iruka's scar, and Iruka's hair, and even his skin color…but this was definitely not Iruka's body.

When the class realized what Nirika had done, they started laughing wildly, screaming and pointing. "C…class?" Iruka didn't realize that Nirika had transformed herself into a female version of the sensei, complete with D cup breasts, and was now bent over in a very seductive pose, staring up at him.

"Oh, Iruka-seeeeeensei…"

The class continued to wail as Iruka finally took notice the female version of himself. Th…that's surprisingly accurate…he thought, considering…Wait, what am I thinking?

"Nirika! Stop this at once!" he shouted, breaking out of his stupor. His female form giggled cutely before poofing back into the girl who was supposed to be his responsible intern. She smiled sheepishly at her sensei, whispering a quick "Sorry," to his face, before Konohamaru blurted, "I know that technique! Naruto Uzumaki taught it to me a while ago! It's the best thing in the world to defeat older people!"

"Well…" Nirika retorted, "to tell you the truth, you only know part of this jutsu.. This is a combination of Henge no Jutsu and Orioke no Jutsu, the sexy jutsu. The latter is the one that Naruto taught to you; however with this technique you can disguise yourself and change the gender if you feel like it. It can really freak out your opponent if all of a sudden, a female version of himself appears out of nowhere. Combined with certain genjutsu, this jutsu is actually powerful enough to send someone into shock…AND WHY AREN'T YOU WRITING ANYTHING DOWN?" The class immediately whipped out their notebooks and began writing down what she had just said, taking special note to highlight Konohamaru's views on the "best technique to defeat older people".

She's strict…stricter than even me, Iruka thought, but she's wonderful with getting their attention and keeping them on task. She'll make an excellent teacher someday. He reached out, placing a hand on her shoulder and whispered two words in her ear.

"You pass."

It had been nearly six months since that day, the day their bond had been established as fellow teachers, and Nirika had really bonded with the class since then. She had endured numerous plastic shuriken attacks, had done so much paperwork that she swore she saw everything in black and white sometimes, and had been breaking up all the little bits of mischief the Konohamaru Corps. managed to get themselves into, but it was worth it. She wondered sometimes if her little sister was part of the reason the three of them constantly got into trouble at school. At home, she was sweeter than honey, but in the classroom and especially at recess, it was her and not Konohamaru who initiated the trio's reckless stunts and feats of derring-do. It was probably because she'd rather get yelled at by someone who wasn't her mother…when the one who's yelling is more of a stranger, more of an unknown authority figure, it doesn't hurt as much. And that was the reason Nirika didn't deal with them personally. She would just wave them down to the Academy Office, giving an extra special glare to her younger sibling. Yet she knew that in a few hours they'd be playing together in the backyard, all smiles. Moegi would forget that her older sibling was only adopted and not her real sister, and Nirika would forgive her for anything bad she might have done on the playground that day. Yes, she thought. It was all worth it…

"NIRIKA-SAN! HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN ASLEEP??"

An all-too familiar voice jolted her awake, bringing her back to the present. Morning had broken now, and to Nirika's horror, the sun was up and shining. Although, from the way she was feeling, it looked more like it was glaring at her rather than greeting her for the new day.

"S…sorry, Iruka-sensei," she yawned. God, she was so tired. Why did she have to be so tired all the time? It was that work…all that damn work…

She heard him sigh, his breath exhaling angrily. "And here I thought you were more responsible than that. What am I going to do- tell my students that their intern has become lazy and incoherent, and she has to be let go because of her sloppy ways?" She knew he was exaggerating profusely- in her six months of 'training' she had never been late or absent once, and she always kept up with the workload. Even so, the comment still hurt…and she was trying so hard…

"I'm really sorry, Iruka-san," she said, rubbing her eyes and covering her face with a false smile. She glanced over at the clock again. 7:34.

"That's okay," he answered, striding over to the desk and placing his hand on her shoulder. He stared into her eyes for a minute before saying, "Are you feeling okay? You looked wiped, even for you…"

"N- no…trust me, I'm fine," she blurted, that false smile worming her way onto her face again. Only this time, it was accompanied by a blush.

"Well, alright, if you're sure…" Iruka stood up and began organizing some papers on his desk. "Now, let's get ready…we're sure as hell going to have another busy day ahead of us."


Sorry if this was too long for you...I certainly hope you took the time to read it all! Who is Iruka's old intern...what was the promise he made to her...and Nirika's adopted? Yes, she most certainly is...I will explain all in later chapters, I promise! Aaaand...I will not post the next one until I get at least 5 reviews on what people think of this one. So please take the time to review!