"Haruno."

"Present."

A hand raised among the cluster of desks, beneath it the bright pink of the girl's hair seemed to shimmer in the bright light coming from the open window to her left. She was almost in the center of the room but the sunlight lit her features well, her emerald eyes focused on the woman who stood at the front of the room as her hand lowered once more.

"Hikari."

The room remained silent for a moment.

"Hikari?"

The woman repeated, looking up from her clipboard to look around the room. Her brow lowered into a frown as she locked onto her target.

"Hikari! Don't ignore me!"

A sneer curled the thin lips of a girl sitting at the back of the room, chestnut eyes glancing from the schoolyard outside to the front of the room where the irritated woman still scowled at her.

"Yeah yeah, I'm here."

A simple dismissive wave of her hand was enough to narrow the woman's eyes as she marked her list.

"Maybe an hour after school will teach you why this is important Miss Hikari."

Now it was the girl's turn to frown, her fist clenching out of sight behind her chair before a scoff turned her head back towards the world outside the window. Tayuya stared through the glass at the area beyond her confined space, the heat of the day meant the windows were open to let some air into the room which in turn caused the thick, red hair that hung in front of her nose to brush against her right cheek in the breeze. The girl sat reclined in her seat with her left arm hung over the back while the other rested on her lap, her legs were raised onto her desk which pushed her chair onto its back legs and slightly rocked herself back and forth. She wore a different outfit to the other girls in her class, the school was co-ed so the students had two different uniforms. The girls uniform consisted of a white sailor style shirt with a plain, grey pleated skirt and plain shoes, the boys wore a white button-up shirt with black pants and a black jacket to go over the shirt along with smart black shoes. Tayuya, for reasons she kept to herself, wore the boys' uniform. Though she wore it somewhat sloppily, with her shirt un-tucked and her jacket's sleeves rolled up to just below her elbows.

"Uzumaki. K."

"Here."

The redhead in the front row raised her hand, adjusting her thick-rimmed glasses once it came back down.

"Uzumaki. N."

"I'm here."

The long twintails of the blonde near the rear of the room shook as she practically waved at the woman up front.

"And Yamanaka."

"Here Ma'am."

The lighter blonde that sat beside the pinkette smiled at her desk neighbor, only raising her hand as high as her head before resting it back atop her other that rested on the papers in front of her. The woman up front marked her list one last time before nodding in approval and setting it on her large wooden desk on her way to the chair set behind it, patting the front of her grey suit's legs with a subtle sigh she sat herself down and looked up to address her class.

"Now." Her deep crimson eyes scanned the girls sat before her as she rested her elbows on the desk and intertwined her fingers before her, her blood red lips forming a more pleasant smile as she spoke. "You may have noticed that we have a new face today." Her left arm rose and held her hand in the direction of the young woman sitting closest to the door on the front row with her eyes closed and a gentle smile on her lips. "I would like to introduce you to our new transfer student, Miss Hinata Hyuuga."

The girl took the cue of the low applause from the room around her to slowly rise from her seat, stepping out to the side of her desk she moved her arm out a little way in front of her and from her loose grip the white cane she was holding extended from her hand to the floor. The applause seemed to dim a little as the clearly blind Hinata made her steady way to the front of the room, as her cane touched the wall under the class board she turned on her heel to face the desks and the somewhat stunned faces of her classmates.

"Hello everyone." Her voice was soft and gentle, almost feeling like a whisper but still clearly spoken. "My name is Hinata, I understand that I'm different from you all but I would like us to be friends. Please don't be afraid to ask me any questions you may have, I will try to answer them as best I can." With that she smiled sweetly and bowed her head politely, her long, dark, straightened blue hair cascading over her shoulders as she did.

"Thank you Hinata." The woman smiled behind her desk. "Do you need help returning to your seat?"

"That's all right Mrs. Yuhi, I can make it back."

As Hinata made her careful way to her desk, Mrs. Yuhi stood once more and rested her palms on the wood table.

"Now while Miss Hyuuga is from the local area, she is new to the school and will need a guide to help her around." Several of the girls in the class seemed to perk up, though nobody said anything. "Would anyone like to volunteer to help our new student learn the building?"

A smirk crept across the lips of the girl sitting three seats to the right of Tayuya, the girl known as Tenten pulled a small metal hair-clip from her brown, twin-bun style; she leaned back in her seat just enough to aim it low and with a flick of her fingers it fired across the room at its target. Feeling a sharp prick at her thigh; Tayuya yelped out loud, which caused the entire room to quickly look at her, and fell backwards off of her chair in an attempt to get up. Several of the girls in the room giggled at the spectacle that presented itself in the corner before the teacher stopped them with a simple motion of her hand, glaring at the redhead as she scrambled back to her feet with a look of blind rage on her face directed at the girl who she knew had made a fool of her.

"Miss Hikari, am I to assume you want to take this role?" Mrs. Yuhi cut Tayuya off prematurely from the rant she knew the girl was about to start shouting, brushing the hair from in front of her face; Tayuya turned to glare right back at her teacher.

"But she-"

"I don't care what anyone else did." The woman cut her off once more. "Since you obviously want the attention all of a sudden, I'll give this job to you shall I?"

It took a few moments to register the situation in her head before Tayuya realized what was being said, looking around at the room of eyes locked on her she widened her own and quickly turned her gaze back to the front where the teacher's red lips were turned up in a strangely sadistic looking smile.

"Wait a sec!" She started as she stood up straight. "You can't put this on me! Why not give it to one of the smart asses?" She frowned at the woman who simply straightened up herself.

"Maybe Miss Hyuuga can teach you a thing or two about manners while you show her around, after homeroom is over you can start the tour for her."

Realizing she'd been beaten, Tayuya grit her teeth and clenched her fists in frustration before she simply fell back into her seat and proceeded to resume staring out of the window beside her. With another sigh Mrs. Yuhi looked to the rest of her class to explain the remaining news of the day, Tayuya turned just enough to spot Tenten snickering a few seats down.

Homeroom ended around ten minutes later and Mrs. Yuhi excused her class, with the exception of Hinata and Tayuya who she called to the front of the room. Standing side by side the pair couldn't look any more different, Hinata stood up straight and proper with her hands together at her front while Tayuya simply slouched in place with her hands in her pockets and a foul look on her face.

"Hikari." The teacher started. "I expect you to take good care of Miss Hyuuga here understand?" Tayuya glanced over at the other girl who was listening intently with her calm expression, she couldn't help but notice that despite the fact she was blind; Hinata hadn't opened her eyes at all. "Am I clear, Miss Hikari?"

She was met with a glare from her unruly student which she shot right back at her, causing the redhead to dip her head to avoid the eyes of her teacher. "Yeah, I got it..."

"Good, then I hope you two can find something to talk about while Miss Hikari shows you around. Miss Hyuuga, are you comfortable with this decision?"

Hinata simply smiled her same cheerful smile and nodded. "Yes Mrs. Yuhi, I hope Miss Hikari and I can become friends in this time we spend together." Tayuya glanced up at the girl again and almost gave her a sickened look at her comment, but the look she was still receiving from her teacher made her turn the other way.

Stepping out of the room with the blind girl in tow, Tayuya crossed her arms behind her head and looked up at the ceiling. Wondering what cruel twist of fate had pushed her into this situation and if there was any way she could pull herself back out of it, she turned to her classmate and touched her arm to gain her attention.

"Look, I don't like this but I don't really have much of a choice. Keep close and we'll get this over with ASAP, okay?"

Almost to her dismay, Hinata simply smiled in response and nodded politely. "Very well Hikari-san, I will follow your lead."

"D-don't give me that 'san' crap." Tayuya practically stumbled on the word as it reached her. "Just call me Tayuya, I hate being called Hikari..."

The pair walked around the campus for nearly an hour on 'Tayuya's crappy tour extravaganza' as she called it, the brash redhead led her quiet counterpart around by the arm and vaguely explained the routes and rooms as they passed them. By the time they reached the front doors of the school Hinata was a little out of breath due to having to keep pace with her guide and leaned against the wall beside the entrance to rest for a moment, Tayuya on the other hand looked around the schoolyard and almost smiled as the sudden thought hit her.

"Well." She said, turning to face her partner in crime. "This has been fun but, I think I'm gonna go meet up with some friends of mine before I come back to bore myself to death. Thanks for helping me get out of here, you can find your way back right?" She didn't even wait for an answer before she started walking away towards the school's sports field, making a beeline for the equipment shed that sat at the corner and made an excellent spot to hide out while skipping classes.

Turning the corner of the rickety old construct Tayuya cracked a smirk as she spotted the people she was hoping would be there, the few individuals she would actually consider friends in the form of a mismatched trio of boys from the wrong side of town. The group turned quickly as she approached, likely suspecting they'd been caught by a teacher which caused the tomboy to cackle at their panicked faces while they scrambled to get up. The silver haired boy who had been leaning against the wall of the shack noticed her smug look first and raised his hand to the others, signaling them to calm down.

"Cool it guys, it's just Red." His already narrow eyes fixated themselves on Tayuya's still grinning face, his own thin, dark lips curling up as he settled himself against the wall once more. "You're late, you get held back by Mrs. Knocked up again?" He snickered along with the other two who had also sat back down on the old school chairs they'd managed to sneak out there the previous semester.

Mrs. Yuhi was married to the gym teacher Mr. Sarutobi, his father was the owner of the campus and was extremely wealthy which had led to a lot of speculation as to whether she had only married him for his money. It wasn't until they had their first child that the rumors had stopped, though the occasional student still had their doubts.

"Nah, I got roped into dragging the new girl around the place. Had to give her the grand tour, even though I could tell Haruno was just itching to get the 'privilege' to do it herself. I swear if she kisses the teachers' asses much more she's gonna get stuck up there." The group chuckled at the comment as the silver haired boy handed Tayuya a lit cigarette, which she promptly took and brought to her lips with a long drag and a sigh of relief.

"Sakura Haruno huh?" The dark skinned boy sat to Tayuya's right spoke up with a smirk on his face. "I'd like to give her an ass kissing, if you know what I mean." He cackled to himself while Tayuya simply rolled her eyes and took another drag of her cigarette.

"Good luck with that one Kidomaru." The silver haired boy spoke up again. "Everyone knows she's a total dyke, her and that Yamanaka slut are totally in each other's 'business' all the time." His own sick grin formed as he slipped another smoke into his mouth from the pack.

"Sakon, you shouldn't speak about women like that." The deep voice of the large boy in the back caused the other two to turn his way with frowns. He was the only one in the group not smoking but instead had a rather large sandwich in one hand and a bottle of drink in the other.

"Piss off fat-ass!" Tayuya snapped from the other end of the conversation. "Nobody asked your opinion."

"Yeah Jirobo, you gotta quit trying to shove your so-called morals down our throats." Sakon added with a scowl, the large boy taking another bite out of his food as he went quiet.

"So..." Kidomaru piped up between drags of his roll-up, of the four of them he was the only one who didn't smoke regular cigarettes but rather brought his own 'blend'. "This new girl you were dragging around, she hot?"

Tayuya scoffed in her throat at him. As much as she appreciated the guys' company and conversation, she couldn't deny that Kidomaru was a creepy son of a bitch.

"She's nothing special." She actually had to take a moment to think about it, she hadn't really paid much attention while leading her about. "Quiet polite type, long hair, pretty average looking body I think." Her mind wandered a little as she thought, Hinata's sweet smile appearing in her head which made her wonder why she was describing the girl to her weird, pervert of a friend. "Those big tits piss me off though..." She finished with a frown.

Sakon laughed at her as she finished. "That's just cause you can't grow your own Red." He managed to get out between chuckles, Tayuya couldn't stop the blush that crossed her face as she looked down at herself.

"Fuck you asshole!" She picked up the nearest object she could find, which happened to be an old tennis ball; and threw it at Sakon's smug face. The boy's laughter dying down into a simple smirk as he caught the ball and idly tossed it aside, he looked as if he was about to make a comment back when both himself and Kidomaru perked up and stared at the space behind their raging companion. Wondering what could have gotten their attention so suddenly Tayuya span around to look, her expression dropped as she watched Hinata rounding the corner of the shed with a look of concern on her face.

"Miss Tayuya, are you alright?" The blind girl called out softly as she neared the group, her cane tapping gently on the grass in front of her as she walked slowly. Tayuya could tell without even looking that the movement she could hear behind her was Kidomaru rising from his seat with that usual creepy grin on his face, it didn't stop her from jumping slightly when he clapped his rough hand on her shoulder and leaned in close to her ear.

"Nice one Red. Hot AND blind, it's like a free meal without the nasty aftertaste."

Tayuya felt her stomach turn.

She wasn't sure if it was the smell of pot on his breath or the messed up stuff he was saying, but just being near the guy was making her feel sick all of a sudden.

"Miss Tayuya? Should I fetch a teacher? I'm sure they could-" Hinata suddenly cupped her hand over her mouth as the combined smell of tobacco and cannabis hit her at once, reeling back quickly she struggled to keep her balance as she tried to distance herself from the foul odors.

"There's no need for teachers sweetheart." Kidomaru stepped past Tayuya and made his way closer to the now coughing girl. "Come and join us. We don't bite, not unless you want us to anyway."

Sakon rolled his eyes and walked up to the redhead's side. "If she's gonna grab a teacher then she shouldn't be leaving anyway Kido, bring her over here so we can talk." Tayuya turned her head just enough to see Sakon's wide grin as he stared at the girl as if she were a fresh piece of meat, she had never seen him look like that before over anything. She could see the fear in Hinata's body, with the way she usually held herself and spoke it was likely she'd never heard cursing before let alone been hit on by a guy a few years older than her.

Hinata held her cane tightly with both hands, swinging it from side to side in hopes to locate the boy that was creeping up on her. Sakon placed his hand on Tayuya's shoulder and snickered.

"He's like an animal when he gets like this, likes to play with his food."

The redhead could see Kidomaru's sick grin from where she stood, he was going to ruin the girl and there would be nothing to stop him once he got his hands on her. Tayuya's chest felt tight, she was no saint but this wasn't right, she had to do something.