Chapter 2: New Teacher
The next morning the usual walk to school was back to normal, with me chatting about mostly biology related things and Gaara chipping in with his own opinions every once and a while. I did mention last night to everyone at the breakfast table but none of them seemed to remember, for the better I think.
We reach school at 8:30am, the usual time we get in for and half an hour before the school bell rings to start the day. We walk into our form room which is always open and sit down. The others arrive all together about ten minutes later and the bliss of normalcy settles over our group.
The normal atmosphere of contempt continues throughout the day. That is until we reach our biology classroom. There is a tense aura inside and as myself; Gaara and Arisu take our usual seat we take not of the unusual mist of quiet over the chatter, as if someone had turned down the volume on everyone in the room.
The bell rings and everyone takes their seats. Our old biology teacher left last year and is probably about to go into labour sometime soon, so this will be our first class with our new teacher. The teacher is new to the school as well, but apparently is supposed to be one of the best.
After a moment the door opens and a man carrying a large, black briefcase and a black leather ring-binder takes his seat at the teacher's desk. He is as pale as Sasuke with just as black hair which falls mid-way down his back in a cascade of spikes. His eyes are coal pits and I feel a cold wind blow up my spine as he scans the class. When his eyes fall on me they seem to widen slightly, there is a small flicker of something before he moves on.
"Hello class. As of today I shall be your knew biology teacher." He says standing and writes his name on the board. "I don't like last names, so please just call me Madara."
The sensation of spiders crawling over my back begins as he smirks across the room at the class, but specifically it appears, at me. Arisu shoots a look at me and it seems she is thinking the same thing. She sits on my right while Gaara sits on my left. I look to see Gaara glairing intently at our new teacher, his hands balled up into fists.
I glance back at Arisu to see she has also taken to glaring at our teacher, but keeps her palms flat on the table. I frown, sure the guy is creepy, but I don't understand why they are both getting so agitated over it? Is there something I'm missing?
The lesson then starts and we pick up where we left off in the module. I already went over what we are doing, so the theory comes easy to me. I notice some on the girls in our class blushing whenever our teacher asks them a question and sigh mentally at how fickle girls can be. Sometimes I get really embarrassed just being female because of girls like them.
"Right then, in glycolysis what is glucose converted into?" he asks and his eyes fall on me. He then glances down to the register then back up at me. "Nicola am I correct."
"Yes. And it produced two pyruvate molecules." I say, not liking the way he slurred out my name, how it dripped off his tongue.
"Correct." He says in a light, happy tone that his eyes don't reflect. "At least I know one person who knows what they are doing."
He flashes me a smirk before going back to the board. The sensations of spiders crawling over me comes back and I physical cross my arms, gripping them with my hands to try and quench the disgusting sensation. I stare down at my notes and will myself to breath. Fuck that guy is creepy.
The spiders seem to vanish as a warm, comforting hand touches my arm and I turn to see Gaara looking at me with worry. I smile back, thanking him and finally being able to move my arms, I get back down to taking notes.
The class drags on for what seems like eternity and throughout the hour I was picked on to answer questions every five minutes, or so it seemed like I was. Each time he would use that smile that made my skin crawl and by the last question I had subconsciously grasped onto Gaara's knee with my one hand, while clinging onto my pen with the other.
The bell sounded like a gift from heaven when it finally came. The girls swarmed the teacher with questions as the three of us packed up our things as fast as we could. I apologised to Gaara, for gripping hold of his knee, well I didn't say what I was apologising for exactly, but he said he didn't mind so he must have known what I was on about. We then rushed to the door but as we reached it I froze at the sound of Madara's eerie voice.
"Nicola." He said, my name dripping off his tongue. "Great work today."
I do not turn round but mutter a thanks before walking as calmly as I could out the door, the sound of his chuckle making me want to run, but I hold down the temptation to along with the bile that builds up in the back of my throat. I think I'm going to be sick.
"Nick you've gone green!" Arisu squeaks.
She grabs my arm and rushes me to the nearest bathroom. Gaara follows and waits outside the door while Arisu pushes me into a toilet cubicle and tells me to aim for the bowl. Another time I would have laughed but as the door to the stall shuts I fall to my knees and empty my stomach's contents into the awaiting toilet. I wipe my mouth with tissue before flushing the evidence down the draink.
I pull myself back on to my feet and step out. Arisu thrusts a packet of mints in my hand which I gladly take, popping several in my mouth before pocketing the rest. After washing my hands we step outside where Gaara stands, leaning against the wall waiting for us, but Hinata, Naruto and Sasuke stand next to him as well.
"We need to talk." He states.
Everyone nods in agreement and we all move outside and find a quiet spot behind the school gym to talk. It seems Gaara must have told them about the singling out of me in class and my reaction to it as when we sit down to talk Hinata immediately examines me, bombarding me with personal questions like, was there blood in your sick? Do you feel hot? Is your chest tight?
"What happened exactly?" Sasuke asks Arisu.
"Well the guy just sort of saw Nicola and turned creepy." She says shrugging. "I have never known a shifter to take such an interest in a human before, not in the way he has at least."
My best friend calling me human hurts, but that is buried beneath the feeling of shock as the realisation hits me. He is a shifter. How did I not notice? How could I not tell? I guess I really have fallen to the human level after all.
"He is a shifter?" Naruto asks, not having met or seen him of course he would not know. "What species?"
"Cat." Gaara spits out, glairing down at the dirt as he leans against the wall.
"Watch it." Sasuke warns before moving on. "Well what do we do then?"
"Kill the bastard. I volunteer myself to be the one to end that life of his."Gaara states looking up. He is serious.
"How about we save that as maybe a back-up plan." Hinata says smiling nervously.
"Yeah." Naruto says. "But for now we should just concentrate on seeing how much he knows."
"I agree." Sasuke says. "And then we might be able to see a reason for his sudden interest in Nicola."
"Agreed." Gaara says reluctantly.
I stare at the grass I'm sitting on; picking strands and watching them fall back down to the ground. Soon the grass will frost over when the cold weather comes. I love winter, it is my favourite season and I have a feeling that this year will be especially cold, and white. Snow is what I love most; it is so white and pure. It falls silently and accumulates without you even noticing it. It also gives everything a sparkling white glow to it, the forests especially.
The bell rings signalling the end of break and we all walk off to I respected classes. The rest of the day is tense, but nothing unusual happens and the last bell is followed by a greater-than-usual sigh of relief as we pack up our things.
I smile as I finish putting my things back in my bag. The fact that I have had to spend the day with a very tightly sprung vampire should be over once we leave the school. He is still in all my classes, even after all this time. I look up as I feel a cold chill enter the room. Gaara is frozen still, a snarl on his face in the direction of the door behind me. The class is empty apart from us and the sensation of spiders crawling on me comes back with vengeance.
"Nicola, fancy seeing you here." I hear Madara's voice drip out and I supress the urge to shiver. "Well it is a good thing considering I wished to talk to you."
I turn round to see him leaning on our English teacher's desk, smirking up at me. Gaara moves slightly closer to me and I mentally thank him for it. I don't like the knowing look on our biology teacher's face.
"About what sir?" I ask, still trying to act normal.
"Well," he says chuckling. "I have been doing a little reading up on you. A grade student that lives alone. With only two living relatives, your cousins, a Sasuke Uchiha and a Naruto Uzumaki correct?"
I swallow down the bile that rises in my throat. I keep silent though. He knows too much, does he know what they are? By the smug look on his face I would say so. Gaara moves slightly in front of me, a small hiss coming from between his clenched teeth.
"I will take that as a yes." Madara says chuckling. "I also know that both come from long lines of shifters. The Uchiha are notorious cats while the Uzumaki a powerful line of foxes. And so, what does that make you then, Miss Luna?"
He stands up properly and walks slowly towards us. Gaara tenses and shifts so that his is directly in front of me, blocking Madara from my view. But I can still feel him getting closer, the chilling feeling grows and I see Gaara clenching his fists ready for a fight. As the footsteps stop just in front of Gaara I reach out and take one of Gaara's fists in my hand. It uncurls at my touch and I take his hand in mine properly.
"My my, you pet is the scary one." Madara says.
I glair in his direction and pull on Gaara's hand, moving his next to me. He looks down at me disapprovingly, but it seems the glare I'm sporting is enough to prevent him from acting against me. I lock eyes with Madara then.
"Sir, I think you may have mistaken me for someone else. Naruto and Sasuke are not related to me. Shifters are not real and Gaara is not my pet." I snap out, causing the teacher to chuckle.
"Well only the pet part was a lie, the rest I assure you is the truth. Shifters are very real." He says eyes turning red and Gaara's grip on my hand becomes vice-like. "I myself happen to be a shifter, with the form of a cat of course. And you Nicola, are very, very special."
"Enough." Gaara snaps. "We are leaving now."
He then pulls me a bit too fast around the table away from Madara, managing to pick up our bags simultaneously and reach the door before Madara has a change to turn. But when he does we both pause at his words.
"You have the potential to become whatever shifter breed you wish to be." He says and I turn to look at him.
"What?" I say frowning at the smiling man.
"You are a clean slate of fresh genes that can be given to any gene pool. You are neither cat, nor fox because the Shifter within you has not got the code to adapt into a form as of yet." He says smirking. "So Nicola, what creature would you like to become."
I blink at him. Could what he is saying really be true? That would explain why I used to be super-sensitive and now am at the equivalent to human. The genes left behind by my mother's blood have worn off, so now my body is waiting for fresh DNA to absorb. When I was born, my mother died after due to blood loss, containing her DNA which I must have absorbed.
I feel a tug on my hand and look up to see Gaara staring down at me with worry and anxiety plastered across his face. I squeeze his hand back then turn back to Madara, my mind firmly set. The guy may creep me out, but he seems to know what he is talking about.
"Good bye Sir." I say and we both leave to the sound of sinister chuckling following us out of the school.
The walk home is quiet. No one really speaks apart from Naruto and Arisu who try to lift the mood by mindlessly chatting to each other. I look down the whole way, my mind wondering over countless possibilities that I never knew that I had. If what Madara said was true, I could have never had to experience this feeling of weakness ever in my life. I would become a full bread shifter, and I even get to choose of what species I can be.
Gaara has also been ominously quiet. As soon as we left the classroom I rushed into the nearest girl's toilets and threw up again. Now that I look back, we must have appeared really like a couple back in the classroom, holding hands like that. But I only did that to stop him from jumping our teacher, having to clean up afterward would be a real pain in the ass, not to mention we would have detective Kakashi on our backs again.
We reach the mortuary and say our goodbyes before Gaara and I step inside. I have only been in the house but a few seconds before Gaara mutters 'we need to talk.' under his breath as he passes me. I gulp and follow him. I know he will have questions; I have questions for him as well. Why did he get so agitated? Would he really have killed him? Why is he being so over-protective of me for?
We reach the bedroom, dump our stuff and sit down next to each other on the bed. The awkward atmosphere exudes from both of us. It seems neither one of use wants to be the first one to start. I hear Gaara sigh, I guess he is.
"So, to get right to the point, you aren't actually considering becoming a shifter are you?" he asks with a serious expression plastered on his face.
I look down at my hand in my lap. Damn him. He read my thoughts so easily; I really am practically human right now. How could the thought of becoming more like my family not appeal to me? Well, the fact that a creepy cat creature told me about it does take pause for thought. But that doesn't matter, all I need is DNA and I can be whatever I want to be. What kind of person wouldn't consider it at the least?
"I will take that as a yes." He says and sighs.
I look up at him to see he is rubbing his temples with his fingers. I have no reason to feel guilty about anything, but seeing that it may be causing him pain does hit me a little bit, causing a guilt leak to start to drip out. Damn him. He stops and then looks at me again.
"So, what creature do you wish to become?" he asks, cocking his head to the side curiously.
"I don't know yet." I say honestly sighing in defeat.
"Are you going to tell the others?" he asks seriously, refearing to my family.
"Not yet." I say shaking my head. "And I plan on avoiding Madara like the bubonic plague."
"That's a given." He says chuckling. "But I will tell you now; I don't like the idea of you changing."
"Why?" I say blinking in confusion.
"I just don't." he says.
He looks away out of the window at the darkening sky outside. The sun is only just setting and so the sky is splashed with reds, pinks and oranges across a canvas of blue. He seems slightly embarrassed and his cheeks are stained a light pink.
I find myself wondering about that. Whenever I ask him about his opinion on me, or anyone else asks about his opinion on me, now that I think about it, he always seems to go a little pink. I wonder why that is? I know that blushing can mean you like someone, but this is Gaara we are on about here. The guy who is as cool as ice, with has the fury like fire.
But what if it is more than that? Could he really like me? He did say that 'there can only be one' a few years ago when I learned more about vampires. That means that he will only ever like one girl. He is saving himself only for her, not taking another to fulfil his own needs, refusing the advances of everyone else. It must be ruff.
I find my mood dropping as I imagine a beautiful vampire girl under the moonlight, dancing in its glow and outstretching her arms to him. She is breath taking and my imagination runs while with the scenario that I have unfolding. He goes to her, my heart wrenches in my chest as he enfolds his arms around her. They look like a perfect couple, a match made in heaven (not that I am religious) and I feel my heart break to see them.
"Nicola?" Gaara asks in worry.
I snap my eyes open, realising that my imagination had run away from me and I had ended up sitting with my eyes shut the entire time. I blush in embarrassment at his concerned face and laugh nerviously.
"Sorry, I spaced out." I say, rubbing the back of my neck.
"I said we should probably be going downstairs for dinner, and to make sure your boss doesn't wind up his lover into trying to kill me again." He says and we both stand.
"That was only once," I say. "And I didn't think cyanide worked on vampires anyway."
"It's a bloody good job it doesn't" he says, glaring at the floor as we walk down the stairs into the dining room. "He put enough in that curry to kill ten elephants."
"Be thankful it wasn't the whole bottle." I say jokingly.
"Well, I am thankful for that. Stupid cat." He snaps and sits.
"Cat?" I ask frowning at me.
He gives me a shocked look and blinks at me. I sit down next to him and look at him expectantly. He shakes his head and sighs. What? Am I supposed to know about this little nickname? But by cat could he mean…..
"You can't tell?" he asks. "He is a shifter, with a cat form like Sasuke and Arisu."
"Really?" I say sadly. I had never noticed. Then my eyes widen as a thought hits me. "And Orochimaru? He is one to?"
"Yes, can you guess what type?" he says in an amused tone, leaning his chin on his hand as he looka at me.
"Snake." I state.
"Bingo." He chuckles. "Freaky shit or what? Not only are they gay, which is uncommon in shifters, but they are also completely different species. Well, the two together are okay I guess."
"Yeah," I say. "There is no inbreeding when you can't breed with your partner."
"I suppose." Gaara says shaking his head. "It goes against nature, but what can you do?"
We talk for a few more minutes before said couple walk in, arm in arm. Orochimaru beams as he drags the poor little kitty by the arm, much to his protest displayed by the scowl plastered across his face.
"Hello my lovely lodgers!" he says enthusiastically, the smell of alcohol wafting over to my nose as he speaks.
"Sorry." Kabuto says sighing. "We went out and he dragged me into a gay bar and got drunk. Again."
He pushes his lover into a chair and walks into the kitchen and brings back some water along with some chocolate which he forces the man-snake to eat and drink. It seems to work because he soon sobers up.
"I hear you have a new biology teacher." He says, taking a sip of the coffee Kabuto just made of him, a rare expression of seriousness on his face.
"Yeah." Gaara says venomously, glaring at the table.
"Now I want the two fo you to be extremely careful around him alright?" he says putting down his coffee. "Especially you Nicola, Madara will have a keen interest in you, I'm sure he has already displayed this."
I nod.
"Okay, tonight onwards neither of you are to go out past 6.00pm got it?" he says sternly.
Gaara and I both look at each other, then back to Orochimaru and nod. He lets out a sigh of relief and takes another sip of his coffee. Kabuto stands leaning against the wall looking down at the floor with a sad expression on his crest-fallen face.
A sinister feeling creeps into my stomach making me feel a bit sick. The unusual serious atmosphere is starting to scare me. It seems everyone knows more about what is going on than me, and I can't do anything about it. What is going on? What does Madara want with me anyway? How are Orochimaru and Kabuto involved in all of this?
How the fuck am I going to get any peace around these freaked out, overprotective men? Suggestions on a postcard please!
Okay shorter chapter now but the plot is now unfolding
Any suggestions or requests? I would love to try to work some in!
Thanks for reading!
Rate and review please!