Hello to you wonderful people! My name is InnocentGrace and I am reasonably new to the fan fiction world so I ask that you please be gentle with your reviews and critisism.

I know that there are plenty of AU high school fics out there but I just couldn't help myself and I had to write one up

Reviews will be much appreciated!

Chapter 1

Iruka knocked lightly on the door to his new dorm room fidgeting slightly with his old, battered duffel bag slung across his shoulder resting on his right hip. An overly large, equally battered suitcase sat despondently behind him; it was his parent's suitcase as was the duffel bag; the only real things he had left of them. Iruka sighed, now's not the time to think about that.

He was about to raise his fist a second time to knock when he heard a voice yell through the door, almost in a war cry, "Art, is a BANG!" And immediately after, a muffled explosion could be heard making everything shake for a millisecond followed by a small cloud of dust and smoke that billowed from under the door.

Surprisingly the fire alarms didn't go off.

When no further sounds could be heard through the door Iruka became a little worried about whoever was his new roommate and instead of knocking again he reached for the handle and let himself in.

Forget, straight away the fact that Iruka couldn't help but admire the damage done by the blast. He was a bit of a pyro maniac, after all. Forget the fact that the once light blue walls were now almost black. Forget the no longer white ceiling, also almost black. Forget the smoking bits of debris cluttering the room and the two beds lying on their sides, mattresses slightly angled in a way that would have deflected the worst of the blast, clearly placed in such a way by someone. And that someone was lying face down slumped against a wall, conveniently behind the mattresses. His long blond hair was a wild sooty mess and his clothes were blackened and sported smoldering patches.

Iruka raced over to the unconscious boy holding his shirt up to cover his nose against the acrid smell filling the room and quickly checked him over before rolling him on his back. And halted slightly. Under the soot marring the other boys face Iruka could see that he was very good looking, his features almost feminine.

Iruka lightly shook the other boys shoulder.

"Hey? You, ok?"

When no immediate response was forthcoming, Iruka shook the boy a little harder. "Hey! Wake up already will you?"

The other boy muttered something that sounded suspiciously like "don' wanna." And he tried to roll over.

Iruka sighed with relief. "Well you're gonna have to. See, as much as I appreciate the damage done by a good explosion, I don't appreciate that explosion happening in the new room that I am now going to be staying in."

That got the other boy to wake up slightly. Iruka noticed that his angled eyes were a cerulean blue. Which also happened to be his favorite color.

Groaning slightly the blond haired boy sat up groggily eyeing Iruka with a blank stare. Slowly comprehension dawned on his features as he took in just what Iruka had said.

"Oh, yeah! You're my new roommate, un! Iruka, right?"

Iruka nodded smile in place. "Yep, that's me."

"Well cool, un! I was trying out this new recipe for an explosive device I am working on." The boy seemed excited about it, " Anyways, I'm Deidara, un!"

Iruka held out his hand and the other took it. "Well, nice to meet you Deidara. Umm, what are we going to do about our room? And why hasn't anyone come to investigate?" He helped the other up.

The other boy laughed a look of manic glee on his face. "Well, explosions are an almost daily occurrence in this wing of the dorms, un. That's why the fire alarms have been disabled as well. I'm an artist, un," he explained. "And to me true art, is in an explosion!"

Iruka smiled matching the other's look of manic glee, "Well, Deidara. I can always appreciate a good explosion; that's probably why we're roommates."

Looking at the carnage in the room he added. "And I feel that were going to get along just fine."

0-0-0-0

A week went by and during that time Iruka and Deidara settled in well together. Coming from a fairly wealthy family, Deidara was able to cover the costs of getting their room cleaned up and all within a few hours. The acrid burning smell still clung to the air but before too long the two boys just became used to it.

When Deidara found out that Iruka shared his love for making bombs he was ecstatic and said half jokingly, "Well that's good, un. Other wise things would have gotten messy, un."

When Iruka found out that Deidara enjoyed and appreciated a good prank, he looked at the blond haired boy all serious and said, "Deidara, I could marry you."

After which they had a fit of laughter, rolling about their room trying not to spill the alcoholic cider that Iruka managed to smuggle in.

For once Iruka felt like he could fit in; for once someone appreciated and acknowledged him for him.

He felt that this new school, Hidden Leaf High, was a place where he could finally belong.

0-0-0-0

Iruka rushed to get to his next class, damn Ebisu-sensei!

The English teacher, Iruka was quick to learn, was insufferable and had a better-than-thou attitude. He had held Iruka back once class had ended in order to fill him in on what he had missed, since it was midterm.

Now Iruka was 10 minutes late to his next class.

He came up to the open door of his next class, panting heavily from running almost the entire length of the painfully long school building and up two flights of stairs. Getting his breathing under control he stepped into the loud classroom which instantly became quiet upon his arrival.

Iruka ignored the whispers and spoke to his teacher, a bearded scruffy looking man in his early thirties, "Ah, sorry I'm late Asuma-sensei."

Eyebrow raised, Asuma folded his muscled arms across his chest, "Any reason why you are late Umino?"

"I was held back after my last class." Iruka replied nervously rubbing the scar across his nose.

"Hn," the man grunted. "And who was your last teacher?"

"Ebisu-sensei."

Asuma let out a short bark of laughter. "Fair enough. Take a seat then."

Iruka smiled shyly to his teacher before taking a seat in the back row against a wall. Asuma noted it frowning slightly at the behavior but decided not to comment. "Alrighty then, which of you can tell me the formula for the future value of an annuity?" Silence "what? No one knows?"

A hand shot up. "Yes, Iruka?"

The boy blushed as attention was diverted to him. "Umm, could I perhaps write it up on the white board? It's difficult to explain the formula otherwise."

Asuma smiled, "come on out then."

Iruka took the whiteboard marker held out to him and walk up to the board. With his back to the class, Iruka began to write.

0-0-0-0

When the bell rang signaling the end of class Asuma called out "Iruka? Can you stay a minute? I want to have a word."

As the rest of the class filed out Iruka began to fidget, wondering what he had done. Asuma, noticing the boys discomfort smiled reassuringly at him, "Relax you're not in any kind of trouble. I just wanted to have a talk and see how things are going for you."

The tension visibly left Iruka's shoulders at the calm tone, not so much the words. He nodded smiling up at his teacher, "Things are going really good. My roommate, Deidara and I-"

"Wait, you mean Deidara, the blond fur ball Deidara?" Asuma asked, incredulous.

"Um, yes?"

"You've been with him for a week and he hasn't tried to blow you up?"

Confused at the way his teacher was reacting Iruka didn't know how to respond. "Um, w-we get along quite well together, actually. He blew up our room just before I got there."

"And you didn't run even then?"

"Well no. I thought that it was pretty cool how he was able to control the explosion like that."

"So, you like blowing things up too? No wonder he likes you. But we're getting off topic a bit." Asuma turned serious. "Iruka, I couldn't help but notice the way you act around the other students, watching their every movement, as if expecting an attack. I just wanted to know, did something happen at your old school for you to be this way?"

Iruka flinched slightly, and tensed up a bit. Should he tell Asuma-sensei? The man seems nice enough, but can he trust him?

"I-I'm sorry Asuma- sensei. But I don't think I can tell you, it- I… just not yet."

"Fair enough, but when you want to talk to someone, I'll listen."

0-0-0-0

When Iruka went to step out of the classroom he suddenly back peddled to avoid colliding with a tall lean student.

He was quick to apologize, "Oh, shit. I'm sorry, I didn't see-" He cut himself off apology turning into incredulity, "Kakashi? What the hell are you doing here?"

"Maa, Iruka." The silver haired teen replied in a bored tone. "I just got transferred actually, and I have come to speak to my math teacher about the work I need to catch up on. By the way, I am fine, thanks for asking. How are you?"

Iruka's eyes narrowed in suspicion and he brushed past the other boy replying bitterly, "Since when have you ever cared about my well being?"

Turning back to Asuma who had remained silent during this brief exchange, Iruka said in an apologetic tone, "I'll see you tomorrow Asuma-sensei."

As he left he couldn't help but notice the triumphant smirk that crossed Kakashi's face.

So what did you think of the first chapter? Review button is just down there! *points down*