Hetze
* * *
Lesson nr. IV
He turned around a little to get another look at the girl that he had just passed by and got a glimpse of dark blue hair before she disappeared out of his sight completely. The blonde asked himself why he had even bothered to turn his head, but he already knew the answer to his own question.
It had been her smile.
Her smile had intrigued him.
And as quickly as he had been caught by it, it had faded with a sigh. He saw it happening and just like that the air around them had seemed to darken a little.
It probably had been one of those mood swings or something… He sighed, annoyed with himself. Why was he even thinking about this? Maybe she was going to become one of his students, for God's sake. More importantly; he had other things to deal with.
Snapping out of his daze he noticed the building that came to eyesight. He halted, staring up a little.
The building was huge. Kind oflike the rest of the city. Multi-story, he guessed that was because they had wanted to save space. It was beginning to become a common sight in a metropolis like Tokyo.
Letting his gaze fall back on the entrance again, Deidara continued his stroll and walked through the large iron gates that were still open. He took the few stairs, almost tripping over a small girl who was sitting there quite lonesome, and pushed one of the large doors open, casually walking inside as if he was a regular. The few students that were still there, talking animatedly to each other as lessons and most club activities had ended and heading towards the doors, looked up at the stranger coming in.
Deidara stared back uninterestedly and soon the curious gazes were quickly shifted back again, hushed whispers echoing through the hallways.
The blonde sighed. Nothing had changed since his high school days.
Looking around, he saw an empty desk. The secretary had probably gone home already, since it was getting late. Lifting his hand up, he stopped a boy who looked like he had a giant pineapple on his head and was about to pass him by. "Hey, could you tell me where the principal's office is?"
The boy looked a bit surprised, but answered nonetheless. "Uhmm, yeah. Troublesome, but I guess… You see the large hallway over there, on your right side?" He languidly gestured to an aisle that seemed to finish in a larger site. After a nod from the other, he continued, still in a lazy manner as if he thought that the talk was boring as hell. "You just take the stairs over there, continue walking straight ahead, and after a while it's on your left. You can't miss it..."
He sighed loudly. "Anything else? 'Cause I have to get going, my girlfriend is waiting and she doesn't like that, y'know… She gets really annoying if she thinks that I'm taking too long."
Deidara was irritated by the way the rude punk spoke to him, but he shook his head. "I think I can manage, hmm. Thanks, kid." He smirked a little. "I guess you should be going too. Wouldn't want to keep you girlfriend waiting, would we?"
The other sighed loudly again. "God, she's so troublesome. Well, see you later, I guess… You're the substitute teacher for Chemistry, right?"
Deidara looked a bit surprised. Maybe this kid was smarter than he seemed. "If everything goes well… Yes."
The other waved. "Thought so." He turned around, walking a bit slouched, and strolled towards the exit doors.
Deidara shifted his gaze towards the right and walked down the aisle, already seeing the stairs from there. Most lights were out already, the semi-darkness gave its surroundings a bit of a lost radiation.
Halfway up he looked down; the hallway was empty save for the few students that had cleaning shift. He saw a few boys laughing and joking with each other, one shoving his mope in the face of another. As he continued walking up the stairs he could hear the laughter and shouting ringing through the corridors right before a teacher came and scolded them.
Once upstairs Deidara looked around; even more classrooms were situated here, and in one of them he would walk around tomorrow, chalking some formulas on the board, explaining a few things, maybe even throwing a piece of chalk towards a student that refused to keep his mouth shut.
Teaching.
He was beginning to look forward to it.
Lifting his hand to knock on the door with a nametag that screamed 'Principal' to him, Deidara wondered what kind of woman this principal had to be. Probably one of those workaholics, considering that it was not very easy for a woman to get a position like this. He let his hand come down on the wooden surface and didn't need to wait long for an answer.
"Come in."
* * *
She rummaged through her bag, slim fingers sliding past the books and papers that were in it in search for the door keys. Her eyes fell upon the crumpled note that seemed to call out to her wherever she looked and her hands froze, trembling a little as she immediately pulled them away as if she had burned herself.
The girl calmed herself; it was alright, he wasn't there and he wouldn't come, either. It was all right. All right.
Shaking fingers delved down the leather once again, finally feeling the keys and pulling them out. She searched for the right one among the many options and pushed it in the door lock. The door swayed open with a little push and darkness welcomed her.
Kurenai-sensei was probably at the hospital again, Hinata mused as she walked inside. Tossing the keys onto the kitchen table and letting her bag fall onto the ground she turned some of the lights on, her right hand fisted around a small piece of paper.
She sat down, her hands in front of her on the glass surface of the table. She stared at them for a while in utter silence, the noises of outside and cars honking at each other sounding far away. Time seemed to have been frozen. She felt frozen.
Finally her right hand opened. The piece of paper stuck onto her clammy skin before fluttering onto the table, the words slightly faded but still screaming towards her from the kitchen table.
"Don't forget, Hina."
* * *
She quickly walked ahead, trench coat slightly fluttering behind her, trying to shut her mind off the surroundings in order to keep her goal right in front of her. She breathed irregularly; the smell around here always made her feel sick, which was pretty ironic considering that this was a hospital, after all.
A new wave of nausea suddenly overcame her; she halted before grasping tightly onto one of the handlings on the side, free hand clutching her stomach as she fought the disgusting feeling of burning acid rising up her throat. She gulped several times, shivering as the sudden coldness hit her that was immediately followed by a uncomfortable and sweaty warmth.
The feeling died down bit by bit. She coughed as she wiped the sweat off her forehead and thought by herself that this had to be the third time that day that she experienced the strange nausea. Maybe she was getting sick? It was true that she was a little overworked lately; it probably had to do something with that.
After she was sure that she wouldn't puke her insides out, at least not for now, she continued her walk, eyes focused once again.
Checking her cell phone for any messages, she was just in time at the elevator and quickly stepped inside, smiling friendly at the couple that was also standing there, while shoving the phone back in her pocket.
The vague background music somehow calmed her chaotic senses. This had to be the first time that she found it useful for something. Usually she would wish for mere silence while waiting, but this time it was not really annoying.
The ding-dong sound signifying that they were at the third floor interrupted her thoughts and once the elevator doors slid open in one languid movement she stepped outside, looking around a little before spotting the right hall. She heard the doors behind her close again. The scent of antibiotics and hospital food seemed stronger than ever.
Suddenly she wanted to go back to the elevator, locking herself in and just listening to that stupid background music. But she willed that thought away, she had something important to do right now.
Something that would be difficult for her, but so important for the person in question. She had to do it for him. She had to see him. She wanted to see him.
Room 3004.
Just knock.
Standing in front of the door in silence, she could hear him trying to hold in his sudden upcoming coughs, she could hear the bed creak slightly under the weight of a body that was trying to sit up right, leaning forward in order to prepare for the coughing fit. She could hear his lungs burn under the violence that was raking through them at that very moment. She knocked softly.
"-cough- C-Come i-cough cough- in."
It seemed as if her hand took forever to reach out for the knob to twist it in order to get the door open. Her fingers had started to tremble a little again.
She squeezed her eyes a little when they were suddenly hit with the light that streamed through the window opposite from her. She looked to her right and smiled. The reluctant thoughts from before had disappeared.
"Hello, Asuma..."
The other smiled back at her, his dark eyes laughing widely once they saw her standing there in the doorway, although his face sometimes twisted a little from the pain and the coughs that he tried to hold in. "I already –cough- began to wonder where you w-w-chough-were, Kurenai."
* * *
He stared in slight astonishment at the woman in front of him, who was glancing up at him from her paperwork with a questioning look in her hazel eyes. He didn't miss the bottle of sake standing on the desk.
This wasn't really what he had expected.
"Yes? How may I help you?"
Deidara blinked once. "Errr… Yeah. I'm the substitute teacher for Chemistry."
She clapped her hands once. "Ah, perfect! Iwa no Deidara, am I right?"
A nod. "Hmm. But I prefer just Deidara, if you don't mind."
She laughed shortly. "All right, Deidara-san. Well, I am the principal of this school, you may call me Tsunade-san." She stood up from behind her desk and held out her hand. The blonde shook it quickly."My secretary Shizune-san has been sick for the last couple of days, but I take it that one of the students has showed you directions?" The blonde nodded again, thinking back at the rude kid with the pineapple hair.
"It's a good thing you came today, I can hand you over some papers so that you don't have to look through all of them tomorrow morning." She rummaged through the many papers that lay on her desk and pulled a few out of the staple. She looked them through once, fingers sliding past the number of papers, before handing them over.
Deidara took them from her and glanced at the one on that was on top, then shifted his attention back to Tsunade, who cleared her throat and sat down again.
"I cannot say how happy I am that you took the offer, Deidara-san." Her hazel eyes seemed to pierce straight through him. This was, without a doubt, a strong-willed woman.
She sighed before continuing. "It was hard to find a replacement so quickly, since our former Chemistry teacher had fallen ill very suddenly. So when we got your application we felt that you were the right one."
The other grinned a little. "You could say that your offer came as a rescue for me, too. That's why I took it. Hm."
Tsunade smiled back. "Alright, then. It seems that we have helped each other out quite well." She gestured to the papers that were in his hands. "Perhaps you could look through them when you get back home? It's just some basic information about our school, a map and your provisional schedule. Also, Asuma-san, our former Chemistry teacher, has left you some notes about the subject-matter that he had yet to attend to."
Her eyes shone with a bit of sadness for a few seconds. "Asuma-san… Well, frankly speaking, as his situation is right now, it isn't likely that he will return."
Deidara felt the heavy atmosphere. "I'm sorry to hear that. Will he be alright?"
Tsunade sighed. "I'm afraid not. It's a severe case of lung cancer. They found out about it way too late. He is in the hospital right now, but they do not know how long he still has." She smiled suddenly. "But he is a strong man."
She looked up again. "Do you have any questions, Deidara-san?"
"Err… How late will I begin?"
The other thought about it for a second. "Is nine fine by you? You can introduce yourself to some of your colleagues if want to, and if I'm right you have your first class fifty minutes later."
Deidara nodded. "Hmm. Class 2-A."
Tsunade nodded as well. "Alright. Well, that is a good start, I suppose. A bit loud they are, but I'm sure you are able to handle those kids well."
She was answered with a smirk. "Don't worry about that, hmm. I know exactly how I have to deal with loud-mouths."
The other smiled. "Then you won't have any problems." She stood up. "I'm sure you will fit in here quite well, Deidara-san. It's good for the students to have a teacher who is closer to their age than most teachers here for a change."
For a second the girl with the dark blue hair flew back to his thoughts. "I think that I'm gonna like it here just fine, Tsunade-san."
End of Lesson nr. IV
* * *
A/N: Well, that wasn't too much of a wait, right? n.n Still not much of DeiXHina, but in the next chapter the long-awaited meeting will finally be there! XD Yay. I have to say that I'm not sure about the suffixes and such, so if there are any mistakes, please tell! I need to improve, so… Same goes for the things about High school, since here in the Netherlands they have a completely different education system than in the US and in Japan. I hope I'm able to pull it off well...
And thank you all for your reviews! C: I really love them. I do have to warn that chapter five isn't going to come anytime soon, since I have exams in April. It sucks, but yeah...