Disclaimer: The characters from Naruto belong to Misashi Kishimoto.
Hello there! Konoha Private Academy is both the prequel to Rock Angel and its own story so hopefully you can read it without having to read the other one first. One note I'll have to make is that Tobi in this universe is his own character (because he was written in in Rock Angel before we found out about Obito/Madara/etc). I hope you enjoy and please do review - I do love hearing from you!
Konoha Private Academy
Chapter 1
'Konoha Private Academy: school and home to the world's smartest or most affluent students between the ages of eleven and twenty four. The academy caters to all levels of study from secondary education through college to university and sits on a campus of twenty acres of land.
As well as the academic building, the students can find a number of other facilities such as on-site accommodation, shops, a gym, running tracks, an Olympic size swimming pool, theatres, a restaurant run by the students and much, much more.
If you or your child would be interested in enrolling at Konoha Private Academy, fees start at only 90,000 Ryo per academic year, or you may apply for a scholarship.
For further details, please enquire on-site.
We hope to see you in the future,
Headmaster Orochimaru.'
oOo
In uptown Konoha, where the rich spend money on risky investments and the paparazzi skulk in the shadows, a moving van rolled up in front of the city's pride of academics, Konoha Private Academy. A person emerged, bouncing about like his excitement could not be contained, and stared up at the grand school. Almost crying with joy, the young teenager shouted,
"Tobi's finally made it!"
After this he stopped and looked about, hoping that someone would join in his celebrations but found himself disappointed. A moment passed silently. Then, at the front of the school building some distance away, the spectacularly arched doorway swung open and a girl with bright red hair appeared, clipboard in hand. She seemed to be one of those people whom the world pissed off just for turning.
"Are you the new guy, then?" she shouted, noticing him. She fumbled with her clipboard, flicking the papers back and forth in hopes of spotting his name. The next moment she was quite literally kicked aside by a man much older than she whom Tobi thought resembled a snake all too much for his liking. He backed away to hide behind his luggage.
"Karin, you naughty girl," said the man, his voice delicately soft. "That's no way to talk to someone, particularly if they are a student."
He slithered his way towards the van at an alarming pace. Tobi shook in fright, the hairs along his arms prickling as he caught a glimpse of the man's face. Those couldn't be his natural eyes, surely. Either way, Tobi decided that his pink flowery suitcase was far more interesting than the scary snake-man and averted his gaze. He only looked up when a skeletal white hand was thrust into his vision and had no choice but to meet the gorgon. When he saw the face that came with the hand he had enough sense to wail in terror internally. Common sense dictated the man had an important position at the academy so wailing in his face would probably get Tobi expelled before he had actually started.
Trying not to be rude, Tobi took the man's hand and shook it, hoping that the terror he felt had not crept onto his face.
"Hello. Tobi's name it Tobi. Tobi is happy to be here."
The man forced his hand free, feeling his arm jiggling wildly in its socket as Tobi greeted him. Holding his hand aloft so as not to invite him into a second handshake that might actually jiggle it completely out of place, he looked at Tobi in a way one does when viewing a piece of abstract art, trying to figure out what it's meant to be.
"The pleasure is all mine, Tobi…" he said in a drawn out voice, contemplating the boy as he spoke, "are you feeling well? You look rather pale."
Tobi was unsure what he meant until the man reached forward and closed Tobi's mouth for him. It was then that he realised his face was stuck in a state of petrified horror. That face was going to haunt him. Nevertheless he looked down, trying to adjust his composure. Unable to see the man, Tobi's expression quickly relaxed as if waking from a nightmare. He gave a small sigh of relief then looked up but terror crawled back into his face, worse than before. He did not have to see his reflection to know that his eyes were as wide as saucers and his jaw was trembling. The man who had come to greet him was a monster. Tobi knew he had to get away from him, and fast.
"My name's Orochimaru. I'm the headmaster and I should be your first port-of-call should anything be troubling you, my dear boy. Do not hesitate to ask me anything."
Tobi, thankfully, held in his response. He wanted to ask if Orochimaru would be willing to undergo a facial transplant as his current face was far too terrifying, only he knew it would give off a very bad first impression.
Orochimaru was used to pupils gawking in awe when they first met him, only Tobi was definitely having the worst time adjusting. The boy looked about ready to drop dead. Realising the best course of action was to get him settled, he clicked his fingers. A number of burly-looking students came running through the academy's front door. As they approached, Orochimaru said,
"I realise joining during the middle of term may be hard, but I'm sure you'll pick it up soon enough." The students took Tobi's luggage between them and waited, poised to take action when Orochimaru ordered them to. "The other students are on their lunch break so if you settle in fast enough, please make your way to the afternoon lesson."
Tobi nodded rapidly, eager to learn but also eager to escape the devil's gaze. He had had a lot of questions for the headmaster, but now that he was in front of him any thoughts had been drowned out by the piercing glare of the man. Orochimaru clicked his fingers, sending the students on their way and they ran, carrying flowery, cute, sometimes boyish but mostly adorable luggage inside the school building.
"Do enjoy your time here, dear Tobi, and don't be a stranger."
Tobi was only briefly relieved when Orochimaru turned and slithered back inside until he realised that he had no idea where his sleeping quarters were, or his lessons, or how to find anyone who could help him. He caught a glimpse of his pink flowery suitcase in the arms of a student not too far away so he shouted "wait for Tobi!" and disappeared inside the walls of Konoha Private Academy.
oOo
Tobi stood on one of the higher levels of the academy, waiting outside the door to his room with the legion of students carrying his luggage. He had been warned prior to arriving that he would be sharing with a roommate who, at this very moment in time, was ignoring Tobi's persistent knocking.
"Knock, knock! Your new roommate is here!" Tobi said in a cheerful voice, hammering his knuckles against the door a little louder, thinking that maybe his roommate was asleep. He did this for a few minutes more until he realised that perhaps the person was out for lunch. His whole body sagged woefully. This would have gone a lot smoother had Tobi picked up his room key, but no, he had been too much of a coward to ask Headmaster Orochimaru for it.
As the other students around him began to wilt under the weight of his luggage, Tobi suddenly had the great idea of barging down the door. He was sure his roommate would understand and perhaps later he would even show Tobi where to get his own key.
Tobi began to hurl himself at the door, shoulder first, causing a loud cracking sound as he collided with the wood. The other students looked at one another, some amused and some concerned. It was on Tobi's third crash against the door that it suddenly opened and a boy glared out into the corridor. Tobi, mid-charge for his fourth attempt at the door, had no chance to stop and instead hurled himself heavily into the boy's stomach, sending both of them toppling to the floor. The other students, sensing that things could turn ugly, deserted Tobi's luggage and ran as fast as their feet would carry them away.
Tobi was the first to pick himself up from the floor, dusting himself down, then when he realised just what had happened, began wailing loudly, shame etched across his face.
"Tobi's sorry! Tobi couldn't stop!" He held out a hand for the boy to take, though he seemed rather too dazed to notice it. "Tobi's name is Tobi. It's nice to meet you."
The boy only came around when he saw a hand wiggling in front of his face and, although he was annoyed that he had been lugged with a loud, childish idiot, he accepted the help. When he was up on his feet, the boy towered over Tobi in a way that an inch's difference in height could only do when it was paired with a fair amount of anger.
"Where's your key?"
Tobi shook his head and clenched his eyes shut, deciding that everyone at the academy was far too terrifying to look at. He would keep his eyes closed forever, and was sure that he would get along just fine in his audio-only world. Not that he knew his way around yet, or knew practically anything about his classrooms, and he had not begun to fathom how difficult it would make using the Bunsen burners in chemistry.
"Tobi didn't get one."
"Did you ask Orochimaru for one when he met you?"
When Tobi realised that the voice was now coming from a fair distance away, he cracked open an eyelid. The boy was sitting crossed-legged on one of the two large four-poster beds, leaning over a small Venus flytrap on his bedside table.
"No, Tobi was too scared."
The boy let out a loud laugh then broke into a genuine grin.
"Fair play then." He pointed to the door and, in particular, the freshly made crack in the wood. "To save our door, I'll get your key once I'm done with Lady here," he pointed to the Venus flytrap then picked up a small black thing that buzzed occasionally between his fingertips, dangling it over the plant in a teasing manor. Tobi, realising he was no longer the focus of any attention, stepped over his mound of luggage and into the room.
It was a fairly big room with soft cream carpet and large oak panelled walls that were coated with, presumably, his roommate's biology posters, notes, and towards the boy's bed there were more posters of wildlife and expensive looking cars and bikes. The room also held two wardrobes, a writing desk, two comfortable looking armchairs, the door to the en-suite and a couple of tall arching windows that, when Tobi skipped over to peer out of, overlooked a pair of running tracks in the middle of the school grounds.
Tobi looked back at his roommate, who was still feeding flies to his plant, and realised that – when he was not angry – he seemed like quite a calm, ordinary sort of guy. Genuinely happy that the only thing about him that seemed creepy was his head of spiky green hair, Tobi figured that perhaps he would be able to go about the school without having to blind himself. Though, on the other hand, he hoped he would avoid the headmaster as much as possible. That face was going to haunt his nightmares.
Just then, a loud bell began to ring out in the corridor, causing Tobi's roommate to finally leave his plant alone. He got up from the bed and pointed to the large mass of luggage on the floor.
"That'd better be gone when I get back."
As he reached into one of the wardrobes, pulling out a school bag, Tobi looked about frantically. He knew he had a lesson now, but he had no idea where, and no idea what lesson it was.
"Please help Tobi!" shouted the brunette, diving on the unsuspecting green-haired boy in desperation.
"What's your problem?!" he hissed, pushing his hand into Tobi's face as the pair of them crashed into the side of the wardrobe. "Get off me!"
Tobi whined loudly, knowing after many years that this was the most effective way of getting what he wanted. "Tobi wants to go to lessons but Tobi doesn't know where to go!"
When the boy realised he was unable to escape Tobi's freakishly strong hold – no matter how much he pushed, shoved or tried to maim him – he relaxed and gave in.
"Have you got your timetable?" The vacant look on Tobi's face caused a small vein to pulse on his forehead. "Right…" He wanted a new roommate. "Grab a pen and some paper and I'll show you where to get one."
Taking him for his word, Tobi stopped screeching and let go, giving the boy time to readjust himself. "Thank you! Tobi's appreciates it."
Knowing fine well he had had no choice anyway, the boy just waved his hand. "No problem."
It took a few minutes of Tobi rummaging through his belongings to find a pen and a notebook, then the pair set off to find Tobi's timetable, leaving the room cluttered and piled high with the never-ending mess of luggage.
oOo
It turned out that Tobi's first lesson after lunch was music. There could not have been a better way for Tobi to start his studies at Konoha Private Academy. Music was his life. At an early age he had picked up a pair of drum sticks and beat his way through grades one to eight, taking just under a decade. Over the years he had played in a number of bands although he had never stayed with one for too long. No one could stand Tobi for too long.
Arriving outside the right classroom, Tobi pushed the door open with a grin, hoping it would be as magical as he had imaged in his head. A number of bored faces turned to look at him from the rows of lecture seats. This made his heart sink a little – he had been hoping for the kind of music lesson where people jammed together and had play-offs. Never the less, he took the closest seat to him and pulled out his notebook eagerly, looking up at the chalkboard. Little did he realise that the lesson had come to a halt the moment he had walked in.
"And you are…?" asked the bewildered teacher at the front of the room. Tobi paused, looked at the blond boy next to him, thinking the teacher was perhaps talking to him instead, but when he found that the blond was also looking at him with a confused expression, he gave a nervous laugh.
"Tobi's name is Tobi. Tobi started today."
A number of the students started to snicker but it seemed that Tobi was oblivious. The teacher on the other hand seemed far more relaxed when he heard this.
"Ah, so you're Tobi. You're on the register; it's nice to put a name to a face," he pointed to himself, grinning quite alarmingly, "My name's Mister Fuma, though everyone in here calls me Arashi. Take your pick, I don't mind."
Tobi gave him a cheerful smile so the man tapped on the chalkboard, "We're looking at early classical influences on modern rock music. Do you have your book?" Tobi looked down at his notepad, ready to say yes, but then he noticed the heavy looking textbooks in front of the other students and shook his head sheepishly. "Don't worry, you can pick the textbook up in the school shop later. Deidara, will you share with him for today?"
Tobi turned to the person next to him, who was still staring back with a weirded out expression. Never taking his eyes from Tobi, the blond said, "yeah, yeah."
He slid the heavy book across the desk so that it was between the two of them, then when Arashi had started to write notes on the chalkboard again, he whispered,
"Why do you talk like that, yeah?"
Tobi gave him a puzzled look. "How does Tobi speak?"
The blond frowned at him. "Tobi says Tobi says."
"Tobi says what?" There was a brief pause where, unbeknown to Tobi, the blond weighed up the option of knocking him out to save him the headache, then Deidara decided it best to ignore him and started copying notes from the book. Tobi on the other hand never knew when to let things drop. "Tobi says what?"
"Nothing, yeah."
"Nothing yeah?"
"Yeah, yeah."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah?"
Deidara shot a deathly glare towards Tobi which caused him to cower and turn to stare at the textbook, suddenly becoming far more engrossed in it. Deidara gave a small but triumphant smirk until he heard the whispered chanting from Tobi as he made notes.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah-yi-yeah yeah, yeah yeah…"
"Oi, cut it out, yeah."
Tobi, feeling he was being picked on for absolutely no reason, let out a loud wail. "But Tobi's not doing anything!"
Deidara sank into his seat when the majority of eyes fell on him. Arashi raised an eyebrow. "Is everything alright?"
Deidara nodded his head rapidly and Tobi gave a wide grin. Arashi watched the pair for a moment more, waiting for some sort of explosion, then turned to the class as a whole. "Finish copying the notes on page two-seven-four then we'll get on with the paired performances. Remember, you will be graded on these."
Deidara's hand shot into the air, his face horrified. "But Sasori swapped subjects! I haven't got a partner, yeah!"
An eerie silence fell over the room as Arashi's eyes flickered to look at the person next to Deidara. No, Deidara could not look. He did not want to. He was hoping that by some miracle Tobi had moved seats and there was someone calm, quiet but with a great sense of rhythm sat next to him.
"Tobi, will you be his partner? We're only a couple of weeks into the project so you can start from scratch, can't you Deidara?"
"But sir—"
"We both know you've got the talent to do it. And you can show Tobi the ropes too."
Deidara watched in despair as Arashi scribbled in his register, knowing fine well that he had just drawn an arrow that pointed between his and Tobi's names. That meant it was final. If he had not been surrounded by his classmates and had some form of reputation to uphold, he would have burst into tears. Instead, he passed another glare to Tobi who, in contrast, was staring at him in awe.
"Tobi and Deidara get to perform together? What does Deidara play?"
"I play guitar," mumbled Deidara, sulking about his predicament. He would be having words with Sasori later for leaving him to such a dreadful fate. Until then, he knew he had to suck it up and hope this Tobi person did not drag his grade below a Pass with Merit.
There was a sudden knock at the door; a very distinct rhythmic knock that caused everyone to sit upright in their seats, Deidara very much included. He even straightened his school tie. Tobi, the only one completely bewildered by everyone's actions, looked to the door curiously. Arashi called loudly, in quite a more strict-sounding voice than previously, "enter."
The door swung open slowly, but for the briefest moment no one seemed to be stood in the doorway. Then a skeletal white hand reached around the doorframe, followed by an arm dressed in black, followed by the serpent-like face of the Headmaster. As no one else dared to make eye contact with him, Orochimaru's eyes fell upon Tobi who unfortunately found himself pulling that same terrified expression from when they had first met.
"Ah, Tobi. I'm glad you are settling in so well, dear boy. I thought the top-set music class would be best, given your qualifications." Deidara eyed Tobi suspiciously, wondering what qualifications Orochimaru was referring to, only Orochimaru continued, this time turning to Arashi. "Mister Fuma, may I have a word with you outside?"
Arashi quickly straightened the paperwork on his desk then walked towards Orochimaru, following him out into the corridor. When the pair were gone and the door was closed, everyone relaxed. Deidara tried to question Tobi about his qualifications, only he decided it was best not to bother, noticing the contorted look of terror on the boy's face.
"He doesn't scare you that much, does he, yeah?"
"Y-y-yes…" Tobi managed to say before latching onto Deidara's arm for comfort. The blond made a half-bothered attempt to prise Tobi off, knowing it would only cause more moaning and crying, and he really did not want to have to deal with that if he had to spend the next hour in a confined space with him.
In an attempt to distract Tobi, Deidara asked, "what do you play then, yeah? If you're in top-set."
Tobi let go of Deidara so that he could puff his chest out proudly, forgetting his fright. "Grade eight drums."
Deidara's heart sank. A headache was imminent. Residing on this, he decided to jot down the last few notes and told Tobi to do the same so that they could get on with the project as soon as Arashi was back. On one of those very odd occasions, Tobi listened and did as he was told. He wanted to start playing some music.
A short while later Arashi reappeared looking upset. No one dared to ask what the matter was. No one needed to. If Orochimaru had to speak to a teacher in private it almost always meant bad news. However, knowing the entire class knew about this, Arashi quickly slapped a smile onto his face and told everyone to get on with their projects. So the class split off into pairs and disappeared into the various soundproof practice rooms – something that made Tobi giddy with excitement. Deidara begrudgingly took Tobi over to Practice Room F, one of the few equipped with a drum kit, then set to work scratching out all of the project notes he had made so far. Tobi, noticing, yelled.
"No, wait!" Pens, paper and drum sticks flew into the air as Tobi collided with Deidara, halting him from scribbling out a set of lyrics. "We can use them!"
"No we can't, yeah. My old partner was the singer. And keyboardist. You don't sing."
This caused Tobi a great deal of confusion. "Tobi does sing?"
Deidara raised an eyebrow.
"You can?" Tobi nodded quickly to which Deidara gave a small smile. Well, he was feeling slightly better about his chances now. He passed the lyrics to Tobi then strummed the chords out on his guitar. "Have you got the tune?"
Tobi nodded vigorously. Deidara counted them in then began to play his guitar for Tobi to sing along to. However, as soon as Tobi began to sing, Deidara was only glad that the room was soundproof enough to save the other students from the atrocity. He let go of his guitar to clamp his hands over his ears before deciding it would be better to clamp his hands over Tobi's mouth instead. Now with a more muffled sound, Deidara had a chance to take the lyrics away. Tobi stopped singing abruptly, looking shocked.
Deidara said, "I thought you said you could sing, yeah?"
He pulled his hand away so Tobi said defiantly, crossing his hands over his chest with a scowl on his face, "Tobi can sing!"
"I meant sing well!"
"…Oh."
Well, at least he knew he was bad. Deidara ran a hand up through his hair, sighing. "An instrumental it is then, yeah."
Tobi suddenly plucked the lyrics from the blond's hand then presented them to him as if it were his first time seeing them. "You can sing them."
Deidara frowned, snatching the paper from Tobi before crumpling it into a small ball. "No, yeah. I don't sing."
As if he had been listening in at the door, finding that one tiny gap in the door's woodwork where it was not soundproof, Arashi entered with a smile on his face, "How are you boys getting on?"
Tobi, never one to hold anything back, said, "Deidara won't sing but Deidara needs to sing or his partner's lyrics will go to waste and he probably spent hours and hours and hours and hours and—" Tobi didn't notice the vein appear on Deidara's forehead as he carried on talking about all this effort that Sasori had supposedly put in – all of two minutes, probably copying it from some blog, "—and hours and hours on it."
As he had been a student longer, Deidara assumed Arashi would take his side. Instead, he was greeted by folded arms and a frown from his teacher. "Why aren't you singing?"
Suddenly feeling like a mouse trapped in a corner, he raised his arms up defensively and tried to laugh it off. "Sasori was the singer, sir, yeah. You know I can't."
Arashi wagged his finger dismissively. "You can't fool me. To reach grade eight in any instrument you have to take an oral exam at least once and pass."
Deidara passed Tobi another suspicious glance. He was pretty certain he had not passed any oral exams. Before he was given time to protest, Arashi put his foot down. "One of you has to sing. You won't get a high mark if it's instruments alone."
Deidara groaned loudly. Tobi cheered. "Yaaaaay! Deidara can sing~! Deidara can sing~! Deidara can—"
The boiling-anger-pot that was Deidara waited just long enough for Arashi to leave the room and shut the door behind him before pouncing on an unsuspecting Tobi.
"Deidara, no! DON'T HURT TOBI! TOBI'S A GOOD BOY—AUGH!"
oOo
That evening Tobi returned to his room giddily and as happy as he had been in a long time – ignoring the large bruise from where Deidara had attacked him, of course. Now that he had his own key, he unlocked the door and stepped inside only to be greeted by the smell of pizza. Well, a room could smell of worse.
Tobi's roommate was sat cross-legged on his bed, a piece of pizza held over his head in the same way that Rafiki the baboon held a Simba over his, glancing sideways at his laptop. Tobi, feeling awkward for intruding on what was obviously a special moment between his roommate and the pizza, decided he would leave him to it, unpacking his luggage instead. However, as he began to shift the first suitcase towards the spare wardrobe, his roommate called,
"Didn't see you there. You're as quiet as a ninja!" Tobi looked back at him and noticed the majority of the slice of pizza dangling from his mouth. "How was your first day?"
As Tobi began to hang his clothes up in the wardrobe, he told him all about his day and how much fun he had had. However, as he finished his tale his stomach let out a rumble, suddenly reminding him that he had not eaten since his breakfast back at home. The boy on the bed laughed.
"Sounds like you had too much fun."
Tobi fell to the floor, clutching at his stomach dramatically. "Tobi can't go on. Tobi needs to eat! Tobi's wasting away."
He crawled across the floor, looking as pathetic as humanly possible, until he was between the two beds with his roommate looking down at him. Tobi reached up to him desperately, his eyes flickering to the pizza box then to the boy. Noticing, the boy cocked an eyebrow.
"Oh right," he said, amused. "So I drive off campus to go get myself a pizza and you're going to eat it for me?"
Tobi flopped over onto his back, "Tobi needs to eaaaaaat."
Knowing from this afternoon that arguing with Tobi was practically pointless, the boy at least decided he would have some good come of losing his pizza. He pointed to the large pile of suitcases, carrier bags and rucksacks that had been littering his room all day.
"Move your shit, then I'll feed you."
Dropping the façade almost instantly, Tobi leapt up from the floor and hurled himself at his belongings. The boy on the bed smirked. Tobi seemed easy enough to handle as long as he had something Tobi wanted. He made a mental note to stock up on pizza. As he watched the brunette darting about the room, hurling clothes into the wardrobe, sticking posters on the walls, tucking teddy bears under the duvet – TEDDY BEARS?! That was it, there would be no more visitors in this room. That, or perhaps he would just throw the bears out the window when Tobi was out – either way, as he watched Tobi tidying his stuff up, his laptop lit up as an email filled the screen. As he read through it, his face suddenly dropped.
"Tobi," he said, causing the brunette to pause mid-fling of clothing. "We're getting up early tomorrow. Orochimaru's called an assembly and says it's urgent."
Tobi crashed to the floor. Seeing the Headmaster three times in two days had not been on his to-do list. But, if it was urgent, he supposed he had no choice. Feeling that the only good thing happening in the near future was the pizza, Tobi fell into double-time and before he knew it, the whole horde was cleaned away. He crawled up onto his bed and returned to his weak, grovelling state. "Piiizzaaaaa."
The other boy chuckled and passed the box over, leaving Tobi to devour the remains. At the same time, he returned to his laptop which had just finished downloading a film. "Care to join me?"
Tobi, stuffing two pieces of pizza into his mouth at once, looked at him in surprise then nodded rapidly. The boy moved over so that Tobi could sit next to him, bringing the pizza box with him, then the two settled down to watch a film that would later give Tobi nightmares for months. Before that happened however, Tobi handed the pizza box back to his roommate. The green haired boy grinned and took a slice.
"The name's Zetsu, by the way."
Tobi grinned, settling down to rest his head on the pillow. "Tobi's name is Tobi."
The boy laughed. "Yeah, I know."
He leaned forward and pressed play, sealing any hope of Tobi having a good night's sleep away for weeks.
Stay tuned for chapter two! Hopefully I will have it out this time next week. Please leave me a review - I don't mind if it's flames and hate (or helpful criticism) but I would love to hear if you enjoyed it more.
Until next time,
WhenSarahSmiles