Hey guys! This is another story for my mission to write fanfictions on all the Naruto pairings! This request was from RainingSprinklesDownMyThroat who wanted KakashiXKushina. Took a bit of twisting, but I got it! And of course, being me, I just had to add some KakashiXAnko for my other fans.
Enjoy! I really like this story myself, and hope you do too! A bit of a slow beginning, I must admit, but things will change exponentially!
I'm apologizing in advance if the story's too mathy or something (I didn't put too much in there though, besides one lecture and the definition in the whole story). But Kakashi's a calculus teacher and well, there's an instantaneous rate of change going because of one of the variables in his life!
Midori Fujiwara
Derivative-the instantaneous rate of change of a function with respect to one of its variables
Kakashi Hatake stared at the red stoplight above him, and upon it changing to green, he pressed down on the gas pedal and accelerated down the long straight road.
He was already late for his class, which wasn't particularly good because he was the teacher.
But it was his first day teaching at this high school; he had recently moved in from a city more south about five or six miles. He'd be the freshman teacher, and that would be his excuse for being late.
So he didn't bother to increase the speed of his car while driving into the school parking lot. He swerved swiftly into an empty parking space, one of the few ones remaining, and dragged his messenger bag over his shoulder while making his way to his classroom. He climbed three flights, made a right, and walked into the room two doors to the left, where rowdy students awaited him.
Taking a quick glance with the eye of an experienced teacher, he quickly picked out the different personas of his classroom, already figuring out who was suspected to be the smart one, the loud one, or the sleepy one. These were juniors, and many of them knew each other well. It was also the first day of school, and the juniors hadn't seen each other over the whole summer. No doubt they had lots of shit to talk about, but Kakashi noticed a rather quiet and looking depressed kid on the left side against a wall.
Blond spiky hair and blue eyes with rather tan skin.
Kakashi looked over toward the empty large desk that was in front of a whiteboard, apparently for him. He swung his bag over onto the table surface and looped the strap over his head to take the bag off. Then he stepped back and leaned against the whiteboard, arms crossed and eyes surveying the class.
The class had begun to automatically quiet down by this time, which was good because Kakashi hadn't said a word yet.
That was better than the previous high school he had taught at. There he had no control over the students even after yelling his throat dry.
A good change.
Kakashi took a breath and said, "Good morning guys, I am Mr. Hatake and you should be my calculus students."
A few kids nodded, and some majority chirped a greeting back to him.
"That's pretty good that you guys all got into calculus at junior year," Kakashi continued. "Well then, let's have a good school year, and I'll learn all your names later." Kakashi walked back to his bag to produce a stack of papers. "But first, I want you guys to take this diagnostic test so I can see which of you are stupid, smart, or think you're smart. Then we can get to business. Oh, and the test will count for a grade."
Again, only a few kids laughed dryly while the rest were silent, as though demanding why there was so much work already on the first day of school. He heard a few pencils clink against some desks. Some students were whispering to borrow pencils or erasers from others.
"Well what did you guys expect? Some name game or a hula hoop activity?" Kakashi asked, passing down the papers from column to column. "This is calculus. Things won't get any more fun."
He had a few extras and went back to his desk to look at the problems that he had given them. He solved them quickly and wrote the estimated answer down on paper, then looked up at the time. It was only three problems, so he'd offer them about twenty minutes, since each problem had several steps, and because summer rusted students' minds.
Kakashi got bored quickly however, and he walked back to the center front of the classroom.
"Well, I'm bored, and I decided that I might as well distract you guys because I'm not expecting such high grades," he said, watching a few heads pop up, while the others stared down at the menacing problems on the paper. "Like I said, I'm Mr. Hatake, and this is my first year teaching here. I have taught before at another high school a little more south from here. Hm…what else can I say about myself? I guess you'll just find out yourself as the year progresses."
He paused and scanned the classroom once again.
"My classroom policies….I don't really have much. You can do whatever you like in this classroom as long as I don't get fired when my boss walks in randomly. If you want to sleep or talk in this class and not pay attention, go right ahead, but it's completely your grade at the end of the year. I don't have too many pet peeves, but again you'll learn those as the year goes by…"
Kakashi looked around again while trying to think of more things to say.
"My grading is flexible. I might curve or not. Test grades count three times as much as other grades, because I'm following county rules. I check homework for completion…you only need a graphing calculator and a pen or pencil in this class. Whether you take notes or not is entirely up to you. I don't require a binder or whatever, just as long as you have my homework here…"
Kakashi looked up at the time. There were about ten more minutes left.
"We can have a ton of fun here as long as you guys cooperate. I'm a heavy procrastinator myself so if we finish a lesson early, I want to get ahead to the next one even if we're weeks ahead of the schedule. That way we can watch movies or party every class after we finish the lessons. Actually considering this is the morning class, I'll break some rules and not require you guys to come to class toward the end of the year and lie about that on the attendance record—again don't do anything crazy to get me fired…"
Kakashi noted the five minutes remaining. Some students had given up on the problems and were just listening to him, while others were a bit more persistent.
"Ah yes, homework grades again, I forgot to tell you that homework grades are an A or F. I don't accept late grades…but I think that's all for now."
He stepped up a few feet and warned, "Time's running out guys, finish up. "
That statement let a few students put down their pencils, and still more persistent ones scribbled frantically. No student looked particularly happy.
The blond-haired, blue –eyed kid was staring off at the board behind Kakashi.
Kakashi called time and collected the papers, tossing them onto his desk and stating, "You guys are all idiots."
He observed each of their reactions, and then sat on his desk.
"I never said that you couldn't ask me to help you guys on this," he simply said. "You guys could have just asked me to explain each problem through with you. You guys could have asked me for the answer. Now you're all starting with F's for the year only because you didn't think outside the box. You assumed that I wouldn't help you."
Silence from the students.
"I won't be counting this for a grade, but learn the lesson: if you ever need any help or anything, just ask me. And this is for anything, whether it's math, a bully, an idea for an excuse, your pet, your parents, your ex who keeps coming back…or whatever other insane problem you have. Don't feel restrained to ask me. Remember that I'm not only here to get paid but also for you."
Kakashi smiled, and some students returned his smiled. Others were disbelieving. But generally, the class's mood was lighter than during the mock test.
"Okay then class, let's try that diagnostic test again," Kakashi said, picking up the handful of papers once again. "Here's where I learn your names…Hinta Hyuuga?"
A small girl in the front raised her hand, and he took the name and face to memory quickly while calling out name after name.
After several names, he got to Naruto Uzumaki.
And the blond-haired and blue-eyed kid weakly rose his hand.
Kakashi glanced at his paper. It was clear that Naruto knew how to solve the first problem but he was only halfway through when he suddenly stopped. The rest of the problems were left incomplete as well.
Kakashi handed the paper to him, and continued down the rest of the class.
"Okay then, let's start with the first question. Read it for me, someone?" Kakashi asked while turning his back to the class and holding the marker in his hand. He wrote as it was said, and then stepped back to look at the mess of a problem.
"I gave that problem to you? No wonder you guys looked devastated. Damn…that problem's insane," Kakashi admitted.
Some kids laughed and he heard one voice yell, "That's why your hair's growing in, sir."
Kakashi turned around to credit the student for the joke, seeing the rest of the class crack up as well.
But Kakashi noticed that Naruto didn't even smile.