"So, you're Hyuuga Akira, then?" Umino Iruka raised his left eyebrow questioningly as he read the name at the top of the sheet Akira offered him. "And you're here to do what now?"
"Tsunade instructed me to spend a portion of my training as an assistant teacher at the academy," Akira replied, smiling. "It should all be there."
"Let's see… training… assistant teacher, demonstrations in healing…" Iruka's eyes scanned the sheet until they reached the signature at the bottom. Undeniably, it was Tsunade's.
Akira stood patiently, hands gathered at her side as she waited for him to finish.
"Anko mentioned something about a potential assistant from Tsunade, but I didn't think this was what quite she meant."
"Am I missing anything?" Akira questioned as Iruka's shuffled through the rest of the paperwork.
It was early in the morning, easily half an hour before classes were scheduled to begin. It was hard to believe that only three days ago her secret had been found out, and, not only that, Itachi's, as well. However, the hokage had promised to do everything in her power to keep Akira and her children safe, and what better place than the academy, which was annexed to the hokage tower, to gain experience with children whilst keeping up her skills?
"Besides," Tsunade had said, "it's one thing to know something. It's another matter entirely to teach it. Call it an internship."
"No, you're good to go," Iruka said, re-stacking the papers on a nearby desk before filing it away in one of the top drawers. "Guess I'll introduce you to the rest of the team, then."
He led her out of the classroom and down the hallway toward a door labeled "staff only."
The faculty room had five other people other than Iruka and her. The room was furnished with a refrigerator, coffee maker, and a tray full of delicious-looking snacks on the table where everyone sat in the middle of the room.
"So this is the new girl I've heard talk about." A robust man with a bandanna style hitiate, short cropped brown hair and a goatee was the first to speak as she entered the room. He was about as intimidating as a box of kittens when he smiled at Akira, brown eyes twinkling. "I'm Funeo Daikoku. I teach village history."
Itachi's memories told her about this man—he had been both Sasuke and Itachi's academy teacher at one point, and was, according to Itachi, nothing but helpful.
"I'm Rock Lee!" A rather strangely dressed boy closer to Naruto's age smiled enthusiastically at her with a simultaneously thumbs up while his other hand held a mug of what Akira prayed was tea and not coffee. With his bombastic personality, clearly, he did not require the caffeine. "Nice to meet you! I'm the new assistant teacher for Iruka-sensei's taijutsu class."
His dark hair was cut in a bowl-shaped style and the green jumpsuit and orange leg warmers he wore eerily reminded her the telltale outfits Neji had described for his sensei and his oddly look-alike-but-not-actually-related student who was Neji's teammate.
"Nice to meet you, too." Akira bowed to them before the next three introduced themselves.
"Suzume." One of two other women in the room, this lady was also far from intimidating, but not quite in the soft way that Daikoku had. With shoulder length wavy black hair, oval-shaped glasses and ruby lips, she donned a light pink kimono and the standard leaf hitiate on her forehead. She bore the air of a self-conscious type. "I teach spy tactics for girls."
"Mitarashi Anko." The next woman was Suzume's complete opposite with wild, dark blue hair drawn back in a messy ponytail and brown pupil-less eyes. Even with her high collared tan overcoat, the woman's light brown miniskirt and otherwise fishnet-comprised outfit gave her a far more confident air than her coworker Suzume. "I teach ninjutsu and specialized weaponry to the older kids."
This was the woman she would be assisting. Akira counted what little luck she had that she would be working with Anko and not Suzume. The latter's personality would likely drive her insane if not taken in small doses. On that thought, Akira turned to the last person she didn't know.
"Fukami Makoto. I'm Daikoku's teaching assistant." Age-wise, he was closest to her, although likely just a bit older. Itachi's memory held no recollection of this man, but from one look Akira knew he was a sweet person who loved where he was and what he did. Just by the soft way he spoke, it was clear he had purposely waited to introduce himself for the sake of being polite. He was not as outwardly friendly as Daikoku and especially not Anko, but his hazel eyes were full of depth and, most of all, kind.
Like two of his other coworkers, his hair was also brown but lighter than Daikoku's and length-wise, it reached past his ears. He fashioned his hitiate as a bandana and, like Kakashi, he wore fingerless gloves with a metal plate bearing the leaf village's symbol. All faculty except the women wore olive green flak jackets and dark blue uniforms with the standard red swirl on either arm.
"I have another assistant coming in for the day named Konohamaru to help with a demonstration, but he's a volunteer and probably won't be here until just before class starts," Iruka added. "If he doesn't show, I may ask you to stick around my class for a bit, but otherwise, you'll be Anko's assistant."
With that, Iruka pulled up two more chairs to the table and first offered one to Akira. "Feel free to have a seat. Classes don't start for another twenty minutes."
Akira obliged, and Anko motioned to the coffee pot. "Feel free to grab a mug and have some."
Akira politely declined the coffee and opted for a stick of dango instead, which Anko openly commended her for.
"See, I'm not the only one!"
"Anko, you eat more dango than anyone else I know," Iruka said, sweat-dropping.
"It's very unhealthy! You should really eat more vegetables!" Suzume added, straightening her glasses.
Shrugging off the entire situation, Akira reached for another dango. She was pregnant and gaining weight, either way. Thankfully, though, Tsunade had not included that detail about her health in the profile Akira had handed to Iruka. The hokage trusted her enough to tell them in her own time, which would hopefully be much later.
As Iruka anticipated, the last shinobi in their party by the name of Konohamaru showed up just in time. He was younger than Akira expected, and, although he had dark hair and brown eyes, the way he talked and moved reminded her greatly of Naruto.
"Sorry, I'm late, Iruka-sensei!" Konohamaru apologized, nervously scratching the back of his head.
"Hmf. If you really want to be the future hokage, you should learn to be on time," Iruka remarked. Whatever he said beyond that, Akira wasn't paying attention. She could not help but notice the odd look Konohamaru gave her.
"Who's the lady?" he asked, pointing at Akira.
Iruka stopped short, not even bothering to finish his sentence. Akira smiled nervously.
"I'm Hyuuga Akira, Anko's new assistant teacher."
"Hyuuga? You're blonde!" Konohamaru retorted, still pointing.
"Er… half Hyuuga, I suppose," Akira added, not taking offense, although Iruka did.
"Konohamaru, it's rude to point. Akira is Tsunade's latest apprentice from the Whirlpool Village. She's only here temporarily. Had you been here when I asked, you would know that already!"
"Hfm." Konohamaru looked away in annoyance, but, ignoring him, Iruka turned back to Akira.
"Anko should be ready for you now. Thanks for waiting with me for Konohamaru to arrive. I have to start class now."
"Wait, you were keeping her here in case I didn't show up?!"
On that note, Akira slipped out of the room to join Anko two classrooms over.
Like the room she had just come from, this place was complete was a teacher's desk in the front of the room, a chalkboard on the front wall and layered desks for the students.
"Ah, so the little twerp showed up after all, huh?" Anko remarked as Akira walked in. The dark-haired teacher twirled a kunai in one hand and held a book in the other. Most of her class, a mass of roughly thirty eleven and twelve year olds, were already here and talking among themselves.
"Guess so."
Turning her attention to the students, Anko clapped her hands to get their attention. One student, a brown-haired boy with a bandage across his nose, continued talking nonetheless, and, without batting an eye, Anko catapulted the kunai she had been twirling perfectly into the space between the boy's fingers.
He stopped talking.
"All right then," Anko began, ushering Akira to the front of the classroom, "let's begin, shall we?"
The students' attention turned to Akira.
"This is Miss Akira. She'll be joining us for a while as my assistant."
"Pleased to meet you all." Akira bowed.
"Sensei," a girl in the front row raised her hand, "isn't she Tsunade-sama's latest apprentice?"
Akira's cheeks flushed slightly at the mention and the children once again began talking amongst themselves.
"Quiet down!" Anko barked, menacingly holding out another kunai. They obeyed.
"Yes, she is under Tsunade tutelage," Anko said, "and now she will be spending her time over here teaching the rest of you brats the basics of healing ninjutsu."
Several excited whispered were exchanged, especially amid the girls.
"Most ninja have to wait at least until they graduate before they get introduced to medical ninjutsu!" she heard one of them say.
"But first," Anko cut in, "as I'm sure all of you were practicing very hard over the weekend, we'll start with a recap from Friday."
Several groans resounded, and the lecture commenced.
Akira watched as Anko lined up the children at the front of the room and observed each one as he or she formed the tiger seal, calling out in high-pitched, squeaky voices, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"
Some succeeded. Although more commonly, others didn't.
The academy was divided into four sections of children ages 5-6, 7-8, 9-10 and 11-12, the last of which Anko worked with. By the time a child was around twelve years old, he or she was expected to have graduated or be graduating the ninja academy. Sometimes, children would excel and graduate early, and others would be either held back or dropped from the program all together, hence the age gaps. Most of the time, though, children graduated within four years.
"Come on, you're going to have to do better than that if you want Iruka-sensei to pass you come exam day!" Anko declared. Struggling was the same brown-haired boy from earlier with the bandage across his nose. The "clone" he produced was nothing more than a corpse-looking thing on the ground.
More shakily than the girl before him, the boy reformed the hand sign.
"K-kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"
He still failed miserably, unable to even produce an illusion of anything this time, save for a useless puff of smoke. As bewilderment and embarrassment overtook him, Akira advanced a few steps toward them while Anko continued her berating.
"Anko, you're scaring him," Akira said without thinking, and, just as the words left her mouth, she covered it with a smile. She turned to the boy. "Try one more time?"
His stared at her in awe, and, much more calmly this time, formed the hand sign.
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"
This time, his shadow clone was actually standing and stared back at them with an expression that didn't look completely dead.
"Fourth time's a charm, I guess." Anko muttered, moving on to the next child.
Akira offered the boy one more smile and retook her place a few steps back.
The day continued on about the same as those first few minutes, and only at the very end of class did Anko seem to recall why Akira had come in the first place.
"Alright now, class, Akira is going to teach you some healing ninjutsu." Completely without transition, all eyes turned to Akira. Mentally forcing herself to stay calm, Akira walked to the front of the classroom where the chalk board was.
"Healing chakra," Akira began, "has everything to do with intent…"
For the first half, she practically parroted everything she remembered Kaede-sensei telling her on her first day. The children listening intently, and every so often one or two would offer her a question. Nothing mind boggling, but Akira could not help but flush at the adoring way some of them looked at her.
So this is why some people become teachers. It was only her first day, and she hoped the students didn't notice her shaking from a distance, but she was already playing a hand in possibly shaping some of their lives for the medical field.
As a visual example, she held up her right hand and activated her regular blue chakra. Then, as her intent changed, it glowed green instead. The children ooed and ahed in amazement, but just before she could line them up to try themselves, her time was up.
"All right kids, class is over. Remember to practice your Shadow Clones!"
And be nice to your parents! Akira wanted to add. But, considering some of the children probably lacked parents, like she had, Akira held her tongue.
"Well, the kids certainly seem to like you," Anko remarked once all of them were gone. She stacked a mass of homework papers she had collected at the beginning of class after the jutsu practice on her desk. "You ever done anything like this before?"
"No. Just typical class and field training."
"Not bad for a newbie." Anko tucked the papers under an arm. "I wonder how Iruka's demonstration went."
On their way to the filing room, Anko and Akira stopped by Iruka's classroom, which was also empty save for him and Konohamaru.
"How went the demonstration?" Anko said with a playful smirk.
Konohamaru grimaced, but Iruka smiled.
"Well enough," he replied. "How was Akira's first day?"
Anko snickered as if she'd forgotten Akira stood behind her. "This whole 'assistant' thing is going to take some getting used to, but overall, I can't complain. The kids seem to like her and she's no pushover when it comes to book knowledge on healing."
"How long until your aunt comes to get you?" Iruka turned back to Konohamaru, who looked away.
"Any minute now. I don't know why my parents insisted on her coming to get me! I'm not a little kid, anymore!"
Ignoring the preteen, Iruka turned back to Akira. "Normally I'd ask Lee to do this, but he's off dislodging weapons from the targets of our last marksmanship practice. Do you mind waiting with Konohamaru until Kurenai comes?"
"Sure." What was one bratty kid compared to a whole classroom? She could handle this much.
She and Konohamaru waited by the entrance and watched as Suzume supervised the other children while their parents came one by one to pick them up. Akira didn't recognize most of the villagers, but a few of them stole not-so-subtle-glances at her and whispered. She prayed their whispers were about her new job and not the ever-so-subtle bump in her tummy.
"I still don't understand why people feel the need to treat me like a kid," Konohamaru finally said, hands folded behind his head. He was clearly still annoyed.
"Maybe they just want to make sure nothing happens to you," Akira offered, to which Konohamaru snorted.
"Right. My parents who barely talk to me when I'm at home—why in the world would they be concerned for my well-being?"
Before Akira could question further, a dark-haired woman in a red dress with subtle makeup and brilliant crimson eyes approached them. Like Akira, she was pregnant, but noticeably much farther along.
"Hey, Auntie Kurenai!" Konohamaru greeted her with a more cheerful tone than he'd used all day.
"Hello." Kurenai's eyes fell on Akira, who smiled nervously and offered the woman a friendly wave. "I'm Hyuuga Akira. I'm a new assistant teacher at the academy."
"Anko mentioned something about a potential new assistant," Kurenai said, and Akira found her tone to be soft and even-tempered. If memory served, this was also Hinata's sensei who, unlike her, was currently on maternal leave. "Pleased to meet you."
The woman's eyes were sad. There was a reason she had come alone. Somehow, Akira just knew.
"Well, see ya later, Akira-san." Konohamaru's voice returned to its usual deadpan. "Hopefully, Iruka-sensei won't ask me in for another demonstration for a while."
Akira watched as the two walked out of sight. Konohamaru chatted idly with his aunt, unlike at the academy where he just complained. Unlike the way Konohamaru described his parents, Kureani smiled softly and paid attention.
Maybe one day that would be her. She would never have a niece or a nephew, but what would her twins be like? What would they look like at Konohamaru's age?
"Akira-san!" A voice broke the Hyuuga girl out of her thoughts. She turned to see Daikoku and Makoto standing in the hallway behind her.
"Shouldn't you be helping Anko?" Daikoku's tone was teasing. In reply, Akira smiled mischeviously, playing along.
"I think she's a little busy ensuring Lee puts back all the kunai properly. Better go check on them just to be sure, though." And with that, she headed back into the academy.
Unsurprisingly, Anko had finished most of her duties, and Lee, as Akira anticipated, was reorganizing the kunai and shuriken into their respective boxes near Iruka's supply closet.
"Ah, Akira-san!" Lee's eyes darted in the Hyuuga girl's direction as soon as she entered the room. The boy was still in his exercise clothes from their last taijutsu class. Anko meanwhile didn't bother looking up. "How was your first day?"
"Went off without any major hitch," she replied. "Anything I can help with?"
"Grade these papers for me." Her words were more of a command than a question as she held up the stack she had previously been organizing. "Kurenai and I are going out later tonight and parents are going to have my head if these don't get in on time. The answer key is attached."
Hm, extortion already. Nonetheless, she said, "Sure," and stepped forward to take the stack from Anko.
"Thanks. Just make sure to grade in red. Green is acceptable, too, but not preferred."
Akira made a mental note to purchase some red pens on her way home. Ten minutes later, upon ensuring that there was absolutely nothing else she could do to help, Akira did just that and headed back to her apartment.
Grading the forty-plus multi-paged homework papers kept her up late, but, honestly, Akira didn't mind. It was refreshing to see the innocent, albeit messy handwriting of a child, even if she didn't know most of them well yet. Not to mention, it allowed a way to occupy her mind throughout the night before she collapsed onto her bed, tired, but not nearly as tired as some of Tsunade's training sessions had made her feel.
As Akira's days at the academy continued, she gradually grew more and more comfortable in her assistant teaching position. As Anko said, the children liked her, and, although she did not possess the same skill and experience as Anko, a special jounin, she was much kinder and far more sensitive, which had its advantages both with the students and their parents.
Her first meeting with Tsunade happened at the end of the week, in which the hokage inquired about her progress and checked that with the report Anko gave her. Although she had never considered teaching her calling, Akira had nothing bad to say about it. Their discussion regarding Akatsuki was brief, but Akira knew this was only the beginning.
By her second week, the other teachers grew to accept her more and, on occasion, would even ask her to run little errands for them when Lee or Makoto wasn't around. Teaching was still extremely nerve-wracking for her, but she grew to enjoy those mornings before classes where the teachers commiserated around the faculty room table and dined on snacks and freshly-made coffee, which Akira always politely refused.
One morning, for whatever reason, while the other teachers were off running errands and copying papers, Anko finally inquired why.
"Coffee?" Anko inquired, as if it were ritual by now.
As always, Akira replied, "No, thank you."
"You must really not like the stuff," Anko remarked, pouring herself a second cup. "Even Ibiki can stomach it with enough sugar and cream."
"It's not that I don't like it."
"What are you, pregnant?"
Akira knew Anko was being facetious, but, simply because she felt it was time, Akira said, "Yes."
Her superior froze, nearly dropping the coffee pot. She turned back to Akira with an odd look on her face.
"Fucking hell. Seriously?"
Akira nodded and took a sip from her water bottle. "Almost four months now. That's why Tsunade-sama moved me to the academy."
"This whole time?"
"Yes."
"And you didn't think to mention that?!"
"You never asked." Akira knew she was sounding extremely difficult, but it was true. Anko had never asked her any overly personal questions, and the baggy clothes had done the rest.
"Have you told anyone else?"
"No one here."
"Wow. Can't believe I missed that," Anko remarked, readjusting her grip on the coffee pot to continue pouring before she retook her seat at the table across from Akira. "And you're four months along?"
"Yes." After her third time saying the word, Akira pulled the material of her shirt taunt so that Anko could clearly see the growing bump. A worried look crossed the Hyuuga girl's face. "Is this a problem?"
"No, just… wow. Some guy back at your village?"
"Not exactly." Akira looked away, not wanting to make eye contact with Anko for fear of her noticing the glassy look in Akira's eyes. "He died." By now, she should be used to this explanation.
"Aa."
The room went silent. Then both of them sensed a familiar presence at the door.
"Daikoku!" Anko snapped, and the chuunin listening in was so startled that he spilled his cup of overly sweetened coffee on himself. Sheepishly, he opened the door and poked his rounded head back into the room.
"Well, I guess that makes two of you who know." Akira laughed nervously.
"Know what?" All three of them jumped as Iruka and Makoto came back in, followed soon by Rock Lee. The three of them looked expectantly at the other three, and this time Anko spoke.
"Akira's pregnant. Has been this whole time."
The jaw drops were priceless, all things considered.
Iruka completely dropped his Styrofoam coffee cup which split upon impact with the floor, spilling the cream-colored liquid all over the tiles. Makoto quickly retrieved a towel to wipe up the coffee, and, while Suzume rushed in to see what all the commotion was about, Rock Lee broke out into a jovial grin.
"That is wonderful, Akira-san!" the boy exclaimed, rushing forward to grab her hands. "What's it going to be, a youthful young boy or a beautiful young lady also filled with YOOOUTH!"
Slightly taken aback, albeit grateful at the boy's reaction, Akira extricated her hands and smiled softly.
"Both. I'm having twins."
"Does Tsunade know?" Iruka inquired, regaining his composure. By now, Suzume had caught on to the situation and glanced at Akira with a raised eyebrow, but said nothing.
"She was the first in Konoha to know." She let them think what they would of that phrase. In the least, it was true. "I'm still fully capable of teaching. I hope your opinion of that has not changed."
"Of course not. You're not the first female academy teacher for this to happen to," Iruka stated, rubbing his temples. "And your due date?"
"November." This whole thing was going a lot more smoothly than she'd anticipated. But, then again, it was much less devastating for the village to find out this way with her in a teaching position. Tsunade-sama had anticipated that much.
"You know what this calls for, right?" Akira looked quizzically at Anko. "A baby shower!"
The rest of Akira's day at the academy felt like a blur beyond that morning in the teacher's lounge. They had all taken it surprisingly well. No one pestered her with questions on who the father was, even. They had just taken her word that he was dead.
She returned home that night tired, but high in spirits. She stopped by the market to do some grocery shopping and ran into Haruno Sakura, which resulted in her staying longer than intended to talk for a bit. By the time she arrived back at the apartment, it was evening.
Half-asleep, Akira carried in her groceries. However, just as she climbed the last flight of stairs and approached her room, she sensed something strange as she turned the key to open the door. Out of habit, Akira set aside her shopping backs and activated her byakugan.
She couldn't believe her eyes. Those chakra…
Akira turned on the light, still not believing it. And just as she did, two familiar voices yelled and whispered the word, "Surprise!"
It was Kaname and Eri.
Happy weekend. Guess two finals down means two more chapters, right? Thank you again for all reviews, favorites, and follows!