Lee was a stoic.
Whining and big talk were for wussies. But not for guys like him.
He was tough and silent.
At least, that's how he thought of himself. He played it cool, did his thing, worked hard, didn't complain.
It helped him keep his cool around the girl he was crushing on.
Ugh, girls. Depressing. While he was excellent on written work and tool use and tactics and almost decent with taijutsu... he just could not perform ninjutsu and genjutsu. At all. The best medic-nin money could buy just could not figure it out. It all made him rather insecure about his future. What girl would want to marry him if their offspring might turn out defective like him?
No way! The new school year was starting. Two more years of Ninja Academy to go! Then he could prove himself as a ninja, as a citizen of Konoha, as a man! He'd find a way around or through his disability, just like he ploughed through everything!
...He wondered though, why the other kids always gave him looks like that every time he thought encouraging things to himself...
Before entering the school grounds, he checked his book bag one last time. Directions to the new classroom, OK, notebooks, pens, scrolls, calligraphy brushes, inks, four kunai, twelve shuriken, one coil of thin garrote line, one coil of rated five hundred pound wire, shuko because he still wasn't sure if he'd ever be able to control chakra well enough to plain stick to things like the advanced students with good chakra control already could, third volume of Konoha: A History, first volume of Annotated Excerpts from the Kage Memoirs, second volume of Assassination and Economics, third volume of Espionage and Politics...
"Oops, sorry. Dork."
The impact did not knock him down, but it did jerk the bag in his hands enough to cause half the contents to spill out.
Lee just sighed as three of the moron squad proceeded to dance around him, waving his stuff around and doing the usual taunting.
There was no point in talking to them. Complaining just encouraged thugs. One good thing about being rich - he could care less about whether or not they'd return his stuff after they got bored with it.
He just kept going. He reminded himself to take more care with securing his things next time.
He'd show them all some day. He'd be strong, one of the best in Konoha.
...What was with those snickers again?
God, that stuck-up Neji. Looking down at him with that sneer. And the boss of his hangers-on, that spineless Tenten, copying whatever the so-called best of the Academy did.
Hey, he could defend himself if he wanted! But there was no point getting into detention the first day! He was not a chicken! Anyway, he was wearing new clothes and didn't want to mess them up! He was stoic, a gentleman, he did his best, followed the rules, and he would show them all one day! He was all about stiff-upper lip and composure!
Sitting at the back of the room at the top tier of seats, he got his notebooks out and was grateful that they hadn't gotten Assassination and Economics out of his bag, because that was the first class.
He felt his heart beat a little faster as three cute girls slid into the desks in his row. He wondered why people hassled them so much. They weren't like him - they were pretty good students!
Well... One was great at theoreticals, but sucked at the practicals like him because, while she did not have his problem with manipulating chakra, she was just too young and too small to have the strength and stamina for some of the activities. One was... really random, and on any given day could turn in a brilliant performance or be too distracted to remember to write her name on a test paper. Okay, so the first two were not the best ninja material. The last girl, though, was perfect. Why was she so unpopular? She was so pretty... and strong, and smart. So what if she was older, and had no ninja family? Who cared where she was from?
She was waving at him and he managed to wipe the drool off his mouth quickly enough to wave back.
"Hey Lee-san. Let's have a good year, okay?"
Her eyes were so warm.
"H-h... hi, Sakaki-san. Um. Yeah, let's... do our best..." He was so, so in love.
...Then the little girl with the pigtails was giggling, the middle girl with the accent was communing with an orange in front of her, and Sakaki was blushing. Sometimes he wondered: was everyone else around him a mind-reader? Haha, how horrible and embarrassing that would be. He really could not let his imagination run away like that all the time.
"We have a new teacher. I hope he hates oranges."
"How come, Osaka-chan?"
"If he likes oranges he might steal mine with a ninja trick, then, then I might have to kill him in his sleep or something... I'd take my biggest knife, and I'd... Heh heh heh..."
Her utterly empty eyes and blank grin - it was sometimes really, really terrifying. Okay, he could see how Osaka-chan was unpopular. Sometimes, she was funny and charming, and sometimes, she was creeepy. But he was one to talk.
Must not judge others! That's what everyone did to him! The Out-crowd had to stick together!
The littlest one, brilliant little five-year old Chiyo-chan smiled at him.
"I'm sure he'll be as good as Mizuki-sensei. Anyway, did you study hard during the summer, Lee-kun?"
Umm...
"No? Don't worry 'bout it. I've read all the books for this year already, it's easy stuff," she said, grinning.
Then the front door slammed open, courtesy of a kick that was just short of cracking the thick oak.
A very large man, dressed in cream patent leather shoes, ice-white dress-pants, navy blue shirt and blood-red tie with a blindingly white blazer hanging from his fingers over his shoulder strode in, puffing on a cigarette.
The dull roar of socializing kids was instantly silenced as the big guy stamped his way to the middle blackboard. Even the walk was all 'Mine are bigger than yours.'
His eyes were reddish, and he had on a scowl from the pit of Doom.
Lee glanced at the reactions of his only friends in the class. Osaka was indifferent, Sakaki looked cautiously reserved, and poor little Chiyo-chan was trembling in her seat. He could guess why - the man in white looked very physical and while Chiyo-chan had encyclopedic knowledge, and was brilliant in using both the logical and creative parts of her mind... well, she was five. Great mind, but her body had not caught up yet at all.
Don't worry, Chiyo-chan! Lee promised himself right then and there: he would throw himself in between this beast-looking guy and her any time! Yeah!
"Shut up back there! Shit!"
The man's glare was so powerful, Lee almost fell off his chair. Scary! Actually scarier than psycho-Osaka-chan!
The stranger took a few more puffs, cleared his throat, and rearranged his monstrous face into a transparent attempt at a congenial smile. Like that, it was actually kinda handsome. But the hair was so fake - who had hair such a pale shade of blond?
"Ahem."
He took three big sticks of chalk, crushed them in one hand, then flung the powder at the board.
The other students murmured, surprised and impressed.
"Wow," Chiyo-chan whispered, not at all scared-looking now. "That's amazing chakra control."
The chalk dust, every particle, settled on the board in three gigantic letters. G T O.
"Attention." the man in white said quietly, so quietly, they had to strain to hear him as he raised his fists, "I am Great Teacher Onizuka! Everybody shut the fuck up today. On a normal day I would not care if you listen to me or not or just chat like monkey rats. But today, I am hung-over. So shut up and take your lessons or I'll inflict corporeal punishment on you til you piss blood and vomit up shit. Thank you. On days when I am not hung over, you may call me Iruka-sensei. Today, do not talk. AT ALL."
The last words were not any louder, but his face changed again, and Lee nearly pissed himself as waves of danger seemed to dim his vision, make his heart pound and his belly twist in contractions. Damn that Neji, acting like it didn't affect him at all! But Lee bet this new sensei wouldn't be all accomodating and nice just because Neji was from a big clan! This tough guy wouldn't suck up to the top clans! Yeah!
Lee could feel it, this would be a good year!
"I said silence! You with the eyebrows! Outside, buckets, now!"
What the heck? Why did the teachers always do that? Man, maybe this teacher was just the same...
"You with the snarky look, whispering shit. It's that funny huh? You think Brows-Boy should just quit, eh? You can join your friend out there too, Hyuuga. The both of you consider this a warning - next one who mouths up gets it hard and gets it fast."
Oh, ho, that was better. It wasn't part of the whole gentlemanly stoic thing, but Lee had to savor these rare moments that he could see anger and frustration in the tightness around Hyuuga Neji's eyes, the disdainful curl of the lip. He had not heard it himself, but he supposed this new teacher had great hearing and caught Neji mumbling about fate and Lee inevitably failing, which happened a lot.
Just as they reached the front of the room, that weirdo teacher did something to them both - Lee couldn't tell what. It happened so fast, but he just sensed that for an instant, Iruka-sensei had closed in within striking distance and done something. Well, Lee didn't feel different, but Neji gasped and nearly stumbled.
When Neji turned and looked back at sensei, Lee saw something in those wide, pale eyes and realized it was fear.
Iruka-sensei just smiled at them and said, "No cheating with chakra for you boys, oh no."
"How did you do that? Only Hyuuga can - Onizuka... It's you! The heir to the Sacred Fist - "
"That's right, Mr. Number One. Now get out there and lift your buckets along with your disabled friend."
Disabled? Gosh. Lee had to wonder about that. His head drooped. He supposed it had to get added to his file sooner or later. No, he'd just have to work harder! He wasn't disabled! Just differently-abled! He straightened his head and walked faster. He'd just have to work harder, that's all! He'd grit his teeth and gut it out and wouldn't let out a peep carrying his pails of water while Neji complained silently with that 'This is beneath me scowl!'
"And Hyuuga," Iruka-sensei called as the two students reached the door, "if I hear one word about destiny or fate, I'll seal your tenketsu every single day. Your friend can't help being the way he is, but you can."
Now Lee had to wonder, whatever did that mean?