A/N: I am trying to be better at making this note to help with the time skips. This chapter takes place in their first year of high school/9th year. It kind of jumps around and just give little snippets so they range between 14/15 years of age.
The Home Room Teacher
From his first day of school when he was merely five years of age, Sasuke Uchiha cursed the phrase 'assigned seating'. And since that first kerfuffle of how he envisioned school would go, assigned seating had continued to follow him from one year to the next like the rest of his fellow class members. Year after year, he was forced to sit among the same group of people and be partnered with the same idiots for every group project. All because the teachers were lazy and instead of balancing out each group, they went down the list of last names and grouped them in that order.
By the time he was entering his first year of senior high school, he had gotten used to it. And in a stretch, one could say he accepted that this would be his life, stuck on the other side of the room from the one person he wanted to be near.
However, it seemed there was a change in the karmic winds that came with the transition from Konoha Middle Academy, to Konoha Senior Academy. A change that would shape the future so subtly, that it was impossible to distinguish this event as the catalyst that redirected his life path to, in future years, merge into another's life path that up until now, had only run parallel with his.
The class had been a buzz. The second bell indicating the start of class had rung nearly twenty minutes ago yet the expected teacher had yet to arrive or even show his face. Everyone was chattering loudly, some debating of what to do about the absence of their teacher, others taking advantage of no teacher and catching up on summertime gossip, and a few were leaned over their desks as they failed to acclimate from their summer time snoozing in to the early morning school schedule. Students sat on top of desks haphazardly, some naturally taking the position they had sat in since the start of their school days while others meandered around as they took advantage of the current freedom before they were told their assigned seats.
It was not until thirty minutes after the bell had rung that their teacher appeared at the threshold, causing the entire class to fall silent as they all took in the face of their new homeroom teacher. Only there was not much to see except for the several inches of silver hair that stuck up above the edge of the book in front of his face. With his nose in some questionable reading material for school hours, the man walked to the desk in front of the class, took a slouched position in the chair, and propped his long legs up onto the top of the desk.
There was another long silence that followed once he was settled as he turned a page then finally, shut the book with a snap and dropped it onto the table. With a lazy gaze, the teacher took in the paused chaos of his students who all looked back at him with varying degrees and mixtures of confusion and curiosity.
"Yo," he greeted with a crinkly eyed smile that no one saw as it was hidden beneath the mask on his face. He picked up a clipboard on his desk and gave it a long stare before letting out a sigh. "Everyone to the back of the class, when I call your name take a seat in your assigned seating, starting from the front left."
There was an eruption of metal chairs screeching across the tile floor, desks shifting, the rustle of backpacks and personal belongings, and the scurry of sneakers as everyone hurriedly moved to the back of the class. Sasuke settled in beside Sakura who was hugging her text book to her chest and nibbling at her thumb nail.
"Hey," he said, nudging her in the side. She was always like this on the first day of school. "It will be fine."
She gave him a warm smile and nodded, but the tension came right back when the teacher began to call names.
"Choji," Mr. Hatake called, pointing to the front desk of the first row.
Choji pushed forward, his large mass parting the crowded students as he made his way down the aisle. Sasuke let out a long sigh. Choji Akimichi, of course it would be alphabetical order. Every once in a while, Sasuke had a teacher who would switch things up and randomly place students but of course Sasuke had never been lucky enough to get randomly placed next to Sakura. Most of the time it was classes that they didn't share or they ended just as far away from each other as if they had been sorted alphabetically. One fortunate time he was once two seats back in the same row but even then he had not been satisfied. It was close enough to be close, but far enough away to make in all moot. But in all his years, alphabetically was the most popular. Why he had expected something different, he wasn't sure.
"Chojuro."
A kid wearing glasses and a pair of large headphones with a bored expression stepped forward and sat next to Choji."
"Chuji."
A kid wearing a penguin backpack stepped forward and sat behind Choji, then a kid by the name of Danjo sat next him at the shared desk. This continued until the first row was filled then moved back to the front desk of the second row. Sasuke had stopped listening after the second name was called, as he knew his name would not be until the end. The curse of being an Uchiha.
He was busy staring out the window when his eyes slightly moved to look at another student who was standing next to low shelves beneath the large bay windows of the classroom. The kid was watching a bee tap against the window from outside, his transitional glasses darkened from the sunlight coming through the window as his high collared coat covered the lower half of his face. It took Sasuke a minute but then it hit him. It was Shino Aburame. He and Choji always shared a desk...yet he hadn't even been called yet.
Was he in the wrong class? Did the teacher accidentally skip him?
Sasuke's head whipped back to the students seated and began to name them all off. Choji Akakmichi, Chojuro Furuta, Chuji Doi, Danjo Yasuda….they were all out of order. Were they not being seated alphabetically? Was it actually random?
The smallest of hopes sparked within him, half the class was already seated and Sakura was still standing next to him. He looked at her and then he looked around him, taking note of those who were left. Shino, Shikamaru, Rinji, Sato, Sora, Tanzo...and again he was hit with a realization and he went down the line of already seated students. Choji, Chojuro, Chuji, Danjo…
When the idea popped into his head he dared not believe it. He couldn't believe it. But even so, his mind quietly voiced it and his heart anxiously hoped for it. The teacher was seating them alphabetically...but by first name.
"Sakura."
Sasuke watched as he moved forward and took a seat behind Sajin. Sasuke's heart began to beat furiously. It was happening. There was no one else between hers and his name. Not only would he be near her, but he would be sharing the same desk, he was positiv一
"Sato." Sasuke's heart plummeted as something beneath his skin began to bubble up. His eyes first went to the teacher in disbelief then to the girl standing a few feet away from him. He glared at her with venomous accusation as she took a step forward and faltered when she noticed him looking at her. "Wait一 No, I skipped too far," he heard the teacher correct. "Not Sato...Sasuke."
Sasuke's head whipped around as he stared at the teacher.
"Sasuke Uchiha?" The teacher repeated looking around at the group. "Is Sasuke here?" His searching eyes fell onto Sasuke, a scar marked across one of his penetrating eyes as he took Sasuke in. "You," he said nodding to Sasuke. "You look like an Uchiha...are you Sasuke." All Sasuke could do was nod. "Well then, take a seat next to Miss Haruno...Unless you have an issue sitting next to her and I need to make otherㅡ"
"No!" Sasuke all but shouted, causing a quizzical intrigue to come to the teachers face. Sasuke cleared his throat. "I have no problem with the seating arrangement."
"Well then take a seat Mr. Uchiha."
It felt like a dream. A wonderful dream where he was floating along clouds instead of walking on the tiled floor of the room. But as dream-like as it was, it was real. He was really walking towards her and sitting down in the chair at their shared table. Sakura gave him a large smile and it was then that Sasuke decided, no matter how difficult the teacher ran his class, no matter how late he was, no matter what grade Sasuke received, it would be all worth it so long as this arrangement remained.
"Right," the teacher began, standing from his chair once everyone was seated and coming around to the front of the class to lean on the podium. "My name is Kakashi Hatake, I teach literature and writing in this school but for this group, I will also be your homeroom teacher for the next four years. Any questions?"
There was only silence as the class continued to stare, thousands of questions were building in their minds but none of them were willing to voice them. Why was he late? Where did he get his scar? How old was he to already have silvered hair? Why was he wearing a mask? What was beneath his mask?
The unspoken questions were endless and the teacher took their silence as an affirmation that they were ready. "Excellent. Let us begin." Reaching for a stack of papers, he walked to the front row and started handing out papers to be passed back. "We will begin with a test."
There was a congregational groan from the class, each student moaning out their dismay. At least all except for one.
Sasuke sat at his desk, his body suddenly feeling like an electric current was running through him as Sakura's arm brushed against his had she shifted to dig into her bag for a pencil. The contact giving him an energy and jitteriness that left him unconcerned about tests.
There were a lot of things about the home room teacher that made his students unsure of what to make of him. Be it the mystery of what lay behind the mask that covered the majority of his face at all times, his lack of punctuality, the unconventional lessons, the questionable literature in which he had more interest in than his students, or the laid back, almost lazy approach in his teaching.
Yet despite all these flaws and concerns of his students, he somehow earned their respect and managed to get his students learned enough in the subject, that their minds were molded by the curriculum and filled with knowledge. For while he may have been laid back and lazy, he was hard on his students, challenging them to do what was impossible in their eyes yet somehow getting them to accomplish such difficult feats. Between the tests and quizzes that were nearly impossible, and assignments that never seemed to be done fully satisfactory, he taught his students to work hard, work together, and as a class, they developed a driving effort to excel not only in the subject, but in their lives as well.
Kakashi Hatake was an ex-special ops ranger who had been released from active duty, to deal with some PTSD due to a particularly traumatic mission where he lost a comrade. After a few dark years, he was able to recover enough to function. His therapist told him he should do something constructive and his friend told him to earn a degree. He had chosen teaching because the idea of having several months off during the year for breaks sounded perfect. However, he had not realized a couple important things when considering a teaching degree.
The first being that he didn't like kids. It wasn't that he hated them, he just didn't understand them. And now, he spent his entire work day surrounded by them. He had grown up faster than most so he had a difficult time relating to them and their antics often wore him down. So he had chosen to teach high school thinking that there would at least be less crying, complaining, and more independence. But he had been severely wrong.
While certainly no longer crying over scraped knees, complaining about not getting the right color crayon, and needing an adult to do sometimes the simplest of tasks, teenagers were no different than young children. The only difference was instead of crying over scraped knees they were crying over broken hearts of week long relationships and severed friendships. Instead of complaining about the color of crayons, they complained about the length of their papers and reading assignments. And while they no longer needed to hold a hand walk down the hall, they still depended heavily on their teachers for guidance as to what to do with their lives and function as the soon to be adults they were becoming.
The second thing he had not considered when becoming a teacher was that he had no regard for time. And now, his entire day was based off of a structured and rigid schedule. However even after over a decade of teaching he still had no regard for the layout of his day. He was positive the only reason why he hadn't been fired yet was because the high scores his students accomplished each year for exams as well as his, what some would call a friendship with the schools headmaster.
But despite these reasons, and the many other reasons why he was not traditionally suited for the job, Kakashi Hatake had found himself attached to his work in a strange and obscure way. While he enjoyed the breaks, each time he found himself eagerly awaiting the start of a new term. In a way you could almost say that despite his lack of enthusiasm for being around youth and coworkers who obviously enjoyed their positions far more than him, as the time went on and the years passed by, he had found some of his traumatic wounds slowly healed as he developed a grateful appreciation for his work.
Though he would never dare admit that to his coworkers. If the school faculty actually knew he enjoyed his job, they might actually expect him to put effort and excitement into his teaching. And he would be damned if he would start dressing professionally like Iruka of the civics department or energetically teaching with gusto like Guy of the athletics department. The two most dedicated teachers of the entire school.
Despite the many dislikes and oddities of Kakashi Hatake, as well as his determination to seem as impartial and reclusive as he could. There was one thing that Kakashi had a weakness for, one thing that made him break down, show interest, and even possibly interfere.
And that weakness was...he was a sucker for a good romance drama.
And Kakashi had a gift for sniffing out a budding romance between individuals and spotting every sign of sexual tension. He liked to think he had a sixth sense for seeing the red strings that connect others but it was more or less due to the fact that he had his nose nearly constantly shoved into romance novella and he was desperate to see them played out in real life. As a result, he had become obsessed with the art of "shipbuilding", or as he preferred the more sophisticated and professional term, "naval engineering".
And when there was the potential of such a romance, one that seemed practically derived from one of his many romantic novella, Kakashi could not help but do everything in his power to make sure that ship sailed. Because while he was a teacher at the intellectual level, he was a professional matchmaker at heart. And it just so happened that he found such a pairing between two students that were so bluntly ignorant of the others affections, he was tempted to fail them in his class for being so densely ignorant of their feelings. Unfortunately he was only allowed to grade them on their literature skills, not their romances.
It all started the first day of class when he assigned them to sit together at their shared desk located in the fifth row, third desk back, and he had seen the reaction of the Uchiha boy. The moment the boy had so eagerly and quickly refuted the idea of having a different setting arrangement, Kakashi's radar for detecting such potential vessels of romance had gone off. Had Sasuke been any other boy, Kakashi might have dismissed it. But his closest friend just happened to be Obito Uchiha and while the man was certainly not the standard specimen of the traditional Uchiha, Kakashi was familiar enough with the Uchiha family and their stoic genes to know instantly that something was off.
Several years ago Sasuke's older brother had also been a student in his class and he knew this certain branch in the family tree was certainly one of the more stoic and suppressed of the bunch. Yet he had caught something in Sasuke's face, something strong enough and powerful enough, that it broke through the hard exterior learned and perfected from a young age.
It was then that he began to pay closer attention to the pink haired girl that he quickly familiarized himself with as Sakura Haruno. And it was her he surmised was the reason for the odd behavior. Ever since that conclusion, Kakashi could not help but note and observe their interactions as he began to form a theory as to why an Uchiha would act as such...
It did not take long into the school year for Kakashi to note that Sasuke was not for want of fangirls. They were everywhere that he was. They flanked him in the halls, cornered him for confessions, and found any and every excuse to talk to him, some even daring enough to find reasons to make physical contact. A touch of the hand, a brush of a shoulder, or plucking imaginary items that had gotten caught in his spiky hair. However each gesture was quickly swatted away as he dealt them out a cold look of distaste. It was obvious to Kakashi that no one was allowed to touch or get too close to him. However, like many things in life, there was one exception. And that exception came in the form of a dainty pink haired desk mate.
He had given his students a free day to work on assignments and homework under the guise that they were ahead in their curriculum. Because it had nothing to do with the fact that the newest addition to his favorite Icha Icha series had just been released and he was currently taking this time of not needing to teach to read his pre ordered copy of the book.
As he was finishing his chapter, he peeked over the top of his book to check on his students. Most of them were quietly talking amongst their neighbors while a few were actually working on homework and a handful were laid out on their desks fast asleep. As usual, Sakura among the few who were studiously bent over her school work. Next to her, Sasuke leaned over his desk with the hood of his sweatshirt pulled over his head as it rested on his arms. Kakashi watched as Sasuke shifted and crossed over onto Sakura's side of the desk, making her pause in her school work.
Sakura frowned at her friend's invasiveness. Letting out a sigh, she gave his slumbering form a shove. It was the third time now and she was beginning to think he was doing it on purpose.
Sasuke shifted, turning his head to face her as he cracked his eyes open. "What?" he intoned groggily.
"You keep coming over onto my side of the desk," Sakura complained.
Sasuke shut his eyes. "Hn," he grunted unapologetically, making no move to rectify his trespassing.
Sakura gave him a disapproving look before taking a hold of his hoodie and pulling it away from his head. "And you shouldn't be sleeping, you should be working on your homework."
Sasuke's dark eyes snapped open and gave her a look that at first seemed to be annoyed, but the moment she looked down to her paper, his face softened to a mild affection as he stared up at her. This look was lost to everyone else but the sharp eyes of their teacher who had forgotten about his book altogether as he continued to watch his two students.
Sakura was nearly finished with the math equation she was working on when a heavy feeling settled over her. When she wrote down her answer, she looked up and found Sasuke's dark eyes looking up at her. Immediately she felt her face warm and she quickly leaned forward and let her hair fall down to curtain her face.
Ever since she had been indirectly rejected by Sasuke, she had done her best to not let her imagination or emotions run away from her. She took a page from the Uchiha book of genetics and suppressed them. However, when he looked at her with expressions of such intense fixation, it made it very difficult to ignore those feelings. Determinedly she focused on the next question, mentally reading out the equation as she tried to ignore the accelerated pitter patter of her heart.
Suddenly her shroud of protective hair was pushed aside as Sasuke moved her hair. From the corner of her eye she watched as he held a chunk of her hair in his hand. He rubbed it in between his fingers, testing out the texture and causing her to feel a tug at her roots. Which resulted in a tingling sensation that spread down her spine. In an effort to cover up the shiver that ran through her body, she quickly extracted her hair from his fingers by moving it to hang over her other shoulder and out of his reach.
"Stop that," she chastised, "it's distracting."
A smoldering smirk came to his face at that. "So I distract you do I?" he asked in a teasing tone that bordered on flirtation.
She hated this tone, it did things to her insides that made her feel like instead of sturdy bones, she had jello and instead of digestive enzymes, her stomach was full of a flutter of butterflies. The increasing use of that tone was not doing her any favors in her crusade to rid herself of any romantic feelings for her friend.
Doing her best to compose herself, she turned her head and gave him a stern look. "Yes, you do."
His dark eyes shined with a luster of polished obsidian. "And what about me is it that distracts you?"
Everything, her rebellious mind answered. However she silenced that voice before it could take over and cause her body to actually voice it. Quickly, her eyes moved up to his spiky mess of hair. "This," she said, reaching up and giving one of his spikes a soft tug. "Did you even bother to try and comb this mess?"
He propped his head up, leaning in towards her and giving her a smirk. "Well if I did that, even you wouldn't be able to resist my charms." He finished his statement by giving her an uncharacteristic wink.
Sakura hated the jitter such a gesture caused and she frowned, rolling her eyes in an attempt to cover any signs of what such actions really did to her. "Please," she said sarcastically, running a hand over the top of his head. "If you're trying to get me to admit I find you attractive you can forget it, you already have too much ego."
Sasuke did everything he could to suppress the near purr that almost escaped him from her touch. Last year when they kissed, it was like getting a taste of the most delectable thing he could imagine. Now, in more recent times, he had found himself growing hungry for another taste. And he was worried that soon it would be a craving that someday would drive him insane and do something stupid. For the most part he restrained himself, but there were moments like these, little instances of weakness in which he could not ignore.
Her fingers combed over his head, threading through his hair as her nails gently scraped against his scalp. From an outsider it would have been seen as an innocent gesture that maybe bordered on a flare of flirtation. But to him, even the most simple of things felt intimate.
"Failure to admission is just as incriminating, Sakura."
His words had her withdrawing her hand all too soon as Sakura went back to her school work. He knew he shouldn't indulge his hunger by asking for more, he knew it would only make things worse. But he couldn't resist. Reaching up to his head, he mussed up his hair, immediately earning her attention again.
"Sasuke!" she protested, quickly running her fingers over his hair again. A look that indicated he was pleased with himself appeared as she fused over him and she paused. "You know what," she began, "Forget it, if you want to look like the next duck butt leader of F4 then be my guest," she snapped, ruffling up his hair before turning back to her school work.
Sasuke smirked in her direction before settling back down on their desk with his head propped on his arms. He was so far over that he was again encroaching on her side of the desk. It was almost purposeful as her hand brushed up against him each time she turned the page of her work book.
All the while, Kakashi caught every moment of this small exchange from over the top of his book. Behind his mask, his lips smiled. Everything about it was so juvenile. But it was so innocently sweet that it made him as giddy as any school girl watching a drama series.
Kakashi had just finished passing out their latest test results when the bell rang loudly throughout the hallways of the academy, announcing the end of class and dismissing students for a short break period. Most students escaped the room in masses the moment the bell chimed, leaving a few stragglers behind to meander out at their own pace. One particular person seemed to be taking an unusually long time zipping up his bag as his desk mate finished writing down her notes from class before adding the assignment to her calendar.
"You don't have to wait for me, Sasuke," she said, pausing mid note to look up at him.
Sasuke cleared his throat and quickly unzipped his bag. "I'm not, I just forgot to write down the assignment," he hedged as he pulled out a notebook and pen.
From behind the steamy pages of his book, Kakashi subtly peeked over his reading material to watch the two students interacting. Sasuke was digging around in his bag, his face looking nonchalant as Sakura shrugged her shoulders and went back to finishing her notes. Kakashi watched as Sasuke's pen unproductively hovered over his notebook as he watched Sakura from the corner of his eye. The moment Sakura finished writing and started putting her things away, Sasuke flipped his notebook shut with the page still blank and haphazardly threw his things into his bag as he sprung to his feet, zipping his backpack and grabbing his test from his desk as he followed Sakura towards the front of the class.
As they walked down their row and started for the door together, Kakashi silently watched as Sasuke looked out into the busy hallway and quickly grabbed onto Sakura, halting her from progressing towards the busy hall.
"What are you doing after school?" he asked when she gave him a quizzical look.
"I don't know," she said with a shrug. "Nothing I guess, why did you have something in mind?"
Sasuke looked down at his feet and Kakashi noticed as his hair fell forward the tips of his reddening ears and neck became visible. Sasuke looked back up at Sakura, his face surprisingly well composed despite the obvious jitteriness.
"Let's go grab some food at that new tempura shop a couple of blocks from here," he suggested.
"Okay, but you know Naruto's going to throw a fit if we don't go to Ichiraku's so we might as well just plan toㅡ"
"I don't want to invite him," Sasuke quickly cut in.
Sakura gave him a baffled look. "Why?" she asked. Suddenly a look of exasperation came to her face and she planted a hand on her hip. "Don't tell me you guys are fighting again? Honestly, you're worse than if a drama queen and primadonna were best friends," she bemoaned.
"We're not fighting," Sasuke assured. "I just don't want him to come, I just want it to be the two of us."
"Why?"
From behind his book, Kakashi felt like he could practically hear Sasuke's eye roll. Nosily he peeked out from his book only to feign turning a page when Sasuke gave him a hesitant look and glanced back at Sakura. The words on the book page began to blur as Kakashi stared unfocused at the words as he strained to listen in to the conversation, he heard Sasuke's feet squeak against the tiled floor with an obvious step of nervous unease.
"Well...um...I was thinking that maybe..." Kakashi chanced a glance over his book just in time to catch Sasuke rub the back of his neck and ruffle his already unruly spikes of hair. His eyes were darting everyone but at Sakura who was intently looking at Sasuke with a perplexed expression.
"Yes..." Sakura prodded.
"I was thinking you could tutor me," Sasuke quickly blurted lamely. He looked down at his test in his hand that he forgot to put back in his bag in his haste to follow Sakura. "I did really bad on the last chapter and was hoping you could help me."
Sakura gave him a scrutinizing look. "Really?" He nodded in confirmation which only caused her to raise a skeptical brow. "Let me see," she demanded, reaching for his test.
"No!" he protested, holding it high and out of her reach. She let out a vocal protest as she jumped up and down in an attempt to snatch the paper from his hands. Sasuke only held it higher in response as a look of amusement washed over his face. "I can't let you see it," he said when she stopped her hoping and planted her hands on her hips to pout up at him. "It's too embarrassing."
"Since when do you get embarrassed?"
"Just help me after school and promise you won't say anything to Naruto," he said, ignoring her question. "And the food is on me."
The moment the offer of free food was made, Sakura seemed to no longer be concerned with the why of it all. "Fine!" she said, turning towards the door and making her way to the hall. Just before exiting into the busy stream of students she turned back to him. "But next time you need help with school, try asking before the test, not after."
Sasuke grinned at her before she rolled her eyes and disappeared. For a moment Sasuke lingered in the classroom as he savored the happy warmth of his successful accomplishment.
"You know it's easier to arrange a date without a third wheel if she knows it's an actual date and not a study group."
Kakashi watched from over his book as Sasuke, who had seemed to forget he was still sitting at his desk until he had spoken up, turned his head. The dark haired boy gave him a look not usually presented to teachers.
"It's not a date," he quickly corrected, although the tinge of pink in his pale skin seemed to counter such claims. "I just need some help understanding some of the material. If I fail my parents will ground me. And if Naruto came he would just be loud and we wouldn't get anything done."
Sasuke raised a brow. "Well then by all means, study away," Kakashi said in dismissal as he went back to his book. He heard Sasuke start to walk towards the door before speaking again. "By the way, I didn't realize 98 percent was a failing grade, then again you Uchiha's always did hold yourselves to higher standards."
He couldn't help but chuckle to himself as he listened to Sasuke stomp away. But as the hallway began to settle and become quiet as the students went outside to enjoy the last bits of temperate weather before the cold winter temperatures set in, Kakashi found himself snapping his book shut and thinking to himself.
While thus far the budding drama of a romance between his two was entertaining, Kakashi felt that if things continued like this it would soon become stagnant. And while Kakashi certainly was in for a lengthy drama playing out through the next several years while the pair remained his students, he was worried that the relationship might not ever be forged. It truly would be a tragic marring of an ode to star-crossed romances.
"O, Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father and refuse thy name. Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, and I'll no longer be a Capulet."
"Shall I hear more, or shall I speak at this?" Sasuke read in a monotone voice that was drier than the Sahara.
Kakashi all but let out an agonizing groan as he watched the work of one of the greats being disgracefully represented as the dark haired boy, who had been voted into the lead role by unanimous numbers of the female population, unenthusiastically spoke his lines. Not only did his voice lack vivation, but he looked at the twitter pated looking girl with the same passion as he would an eraser.
"Stop, stop, stop," Kakashi interjected before either of them could continue with the scene. He stood from his desk in the corner, his eyes glaring accusingly at Sasuke. "Sasuke, I need more passion from you. Try it again."
Sasuke tilted his head up towards the ceiling letting out an exasperated sigh. This was literature, not drama class, why did it matter how he said the lines. Having already "tried it again" five times with the same lines, Sasuke was done.
Sasuke pulled the renaissance hat, fluffy black feather and all, from his head and looked at his teacher. "Can't you just choose someone else to be Romeo?" Sasuke said. "I obviously lack the ability to meet your criteria."
"Oh me! Me!" shouted Lee. "I will do it. I can give you passion!" He ceased his eager bouncing and waving his hand in the air as he struck a dramatic pose.
The girl playing Juliet looked horror struck, "Mr. Hatake you can't just take Sasuke from the role, he was voted fair and square!" she said quickly as she latched herself onto Sasuke, who immediately pulled himself free of her clutches.
"It's only unfair if I wasn't volunteering!" Sasuke quickly rationalized. "Really, I don't care."
Kakashi looked thoughtful for a moment and stood up. As he walked past a still posing Lee, he told him to take a seat, not bothering to look at the dejected student as he narrowed his eyes at his dark haired lead role.
Kakashi had taught enough Uchiha's to know that failure to accomplish was not for lack of skill when it came to the family. If driven enough to put their minds to it, they could achieve any of their dreams, whatever the feat or consequences. If an Uchiha wanted it, they would have it.
Some would argue this was an erroneous assumption but he had yet to see any proof say otherwise. As his teacher, Kakashi knew that Sasuke was not stupid, neither was he incompetent. His grades were good and he made high scores on the exams. Like his brother, he was naturally talented. But unlike his brother, Sasuke was lazy. Because things came easy to him he half assed most of his work then made up for it in the exams that contributed mostly to his grades.
Normally Kakashi would not hold such things against such a student as he himself had been the same in his school years. However, Kakashi did have an issue when Sasuke's half assed efforts reflected on other priorities of the more romantic nature. Over the course of the school year, Kakashi had watched and observed this boy try and fail to woo the girl he sat next to with primary school level tactics of flirting and failed attempts of dates cloaked as study sessions. Had it been anyone else he would not have cared but this case was special. From the first day of this year he had been watching their interactions, following the gossip of his young pupils, and even resorted to inquiring of his friend Obito of the relationship. Obito had given him so many juicy details of their interactions that he could hardly read his novels which seemed dimmed by the live action drama taking place in his classroom.
Kakashi Hatake had become too invested in the teenage romance between his two students that he would be damned if he would allow his student to sabotage the fated romance with laziness. Between the broody dark haired boy and the colorful blossom of a girl, there was certainly plenty of heat between the two, however in order for the relationship to be forged strongly, they needed some applied force in order to mold together. Therefore, Kakashi had no choice but to nudge them together, because he was a sucker for literary romance and this story was going to be right there with the greats.
"You are right Mr. Uchiha, it is perfectly fair so long as your volunteering to give up the role-" Sasuke let out a sigh and started making for the desks that had been pushed back to clear a stage at the front of the classroom- "However," Kakashi continued, causing Sasuke to freeze halfway off their makeshift stage. "As your teacher, it is unfair for me to let you give up so easily. If I let you all just give up after struggling I would be the failure.
"Therefore I cannot let you do that. You can do it...you just need..." His slate eyes roved across the room and landed on his pink haired Mecrutio who was sporting a fake mustache. His lips curled wickedly behind his mask. "...the right partner," he finished.
"Sakura," he called, causing Sakura to sit up straight at her desk. "Come here," he instructed, waving her up. "Miss Nanami, please take a seat, Sasuke you stay where you are," he warned when the boy made a move to leave too.
"Mr. Hatake?" Sakura inquired when she reached the front of the class looking nervous when she caught the odd glint in her even odder teacher's eyes. He handed her a new script and she looked down at it. "These don't have any of Mecrutio's lines!" she panicked.
"That's because you will be playing Juliet, Miss. Haruno," Kakashi said, steering her in front of Sasuke. "Seems Mr. Uchiha is not comfortable opening up with Miss Nanami so we are going to give him a little more of a familiar face. Since your 'deskmates', he should be perfectly relaxed around you after a year of sitting next to you, you two seem plenty chatty during break times."
Sasuke looked nearly horrified as Sakura was left standing hardly inches away from him and Kakashi returned to his desk where he could better direct the play. "All right, Sasuke, start from the top. I want you to deliver Romeo's first monologue with passion. Let's hear what he is feeling in your voice, show us the passion!"
"Hn."
Sasuke's hum of lacking commitment caused his teacher to turn around abruptly and give his student a warning look. "Oh, and one more thing Mr. Uchiha, your performance will reflect as a shared marking, so please take this seriously, for Miss Haruno's sake."
It was perhaps cruel and unfair, but Kakashi knew he needed to motivate his student and judging by the terrified look on the girl's face as her grade was put on the chopping block, he knew the Uchiha would step up and save the damsel in distress. If not, he deserved losing the poor girl's dedication. Then maybe she would stop looking at her deskmate with those large eyes and longing looks that pulled at Kakashi's heart string every time he looked up at his classroom. It was agonizing to watch.
"Mr. Uchiha," Kakashi prodded, "whenever you're ready."
Sasuke gave his teacher a sour look who responded with an expectant raised brow. Gritting his teeth Sasuke looked back to Sakura who was not looking like the confident young woman she had developed into. She looked practically terrified at the thought of her grade possibly being in jeopardy. Even if Kakashi failed them in this assignment there was no way it would affect her grade by that much of a degree. Unfortunately that was not how Sakura worked. For her, grades were everything as her future relied heavily upon it for scholarships. And Sasuke would never let such a thing be effected. Sakura's future was bright and promising, there was no way he would allow himself to darken it or hold her back.
Closing his eyes for a moment, he reached deep inside of him. Down to the depths of the deepest darkest parts of him where he habitually shoved every emotion and feeling. It was like picking up rocks from a bed of water, if not done carefully enough, one could possibly cause the settled silt and particles to muddy the waters and make things unclear. Carefully, he grasped onto the pieces he needed to spur him with as much ease as he could. If he disrupted the wrong sediments of emotions or grabbed too much at one time, he could find the waters of his life unclear and murky. Dangerous emotions could float up and taint the cool control he worked endlessly to keep reigned in and there was no telling what the result would be.
Opening his eyes, he looked at the wide eyes of Sakura, whose expression had morphed. He took her in and focused solely on her with a gaze of intensity that seemed to lock them into place, not allowing either of them to look away from the other as the rest of the room became a blur. Soon it was as if they were the only two standing there and they had been transported to a place far away from any other soul to witness their exchange. Gently, he released the emotions he had gathered and let them flow through his blood. Allowing them to take over and letting them lead and prompt his actions as he began his lines.
"But, soft! What light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun...
Three years ago Itachi had to memorize the very same monologue for school and Sasuke had heard him recite it so many times, he had found he had not needed to look at his script at all. Which allowed him to put all focus into Sakura and Sakura alone, which fueled his feeling to come through his voice as he let them come to the surface as he gazed back into her vividly bright eyes and took in the shapes of her face with admiration. Even the ridiculous mustache she still wore from her role as Mecrutio that sat above her parted lips could not distract him from the fact that in this moment, she was stunning.
"...That I might touch that cheek!"
As he finished the last line of the monologue, the classroom was left in a stunned silence. Sasuke was still staring deeply into Sakura's face, his hand at one point having lifted to gently cup her cheek as his feet had brought him even closer to her as his free hand gently held onto the tips of her fingers in a gesture of intimacy that seemed to overshadow if he had just fully held her hand. Sakura stared up at him with an enraptured attentiveness that one would think she had been watching the scene being delivered by Shakespeare's very own original performers. She too had not looked away from Sasuke's intense eyes as her mouth parted slightly in an awed expression, a rosy glow having come to her cheeks and making her look very much like a young maiden worth such poetry to be composed from.
The spell was broken as the audible and sharp sound of a clap echoed loudly into the air. Sasuke blinked and suddenly became aware of the situation. Quickly, he let his hand drop down as he took a step away from Sakura who was still staring at him with an awed expression. Another sharp clap had him looking over her head to where Kakashi was slowly standing as the pace of his slow clap increased, along with being accompanied by several others of the class who seemed to slowly awaken from his transfixing performance and show their support.
The applause died down as Kakashi reached them. "Very good Uchiha, I knew you could do it, you just needed to channel some inner feelings. Mind sharing what inspired you so well?"
Sasuke's eyes narrowed as he watched his teacher's head subtly nod towards Sakura, who was dazedly standing next to him. Sasuke folded his arms in front of his chest and gave his teacher a impassive look. "I'm just a really good actor," he replied coolly.
Kakashi raised a brow then let out a dismissive huff. "Well then, I hope to see you in the school drama club's next production. I would hate for your talent to go to waste...Until then congratulations, you both get an A on the assignment," he nodded his head towards their shared desk, dismissing them to take their seats as he moved back to stand at his teachers podium.
Pulling out a textbook, he turned open the book. "Every one open up to page 245. Let's move onto our next section of study, Homer. I think it's time we learn about something called bravery," Kakashi said, his slate eyes moving up to Sasuke in challenge, who leaned forward himself, his own obsidian eyes meeting the challenge.
From behind his mask, Kakashi could not help but grin mirthfully. If this teenage boy thought he was going to sink his own ship he was wrong. Kakashi would see to it personally that would not happen. Be it they spend the rest of their school year studying the great romances of literature or making every single homework assignment a group project with assigned partners, it would be done. One day, Kakashi would see to it that, by the time his students were graduating, Sasuke Uchiha would finally admit his feelings to the girl sitting right beside him.
Not sure how I feel about this chapter. It was a hot mess for the past month and then finally the other day I was struck with a better format and order of events but still feel its a little messy. Hopefully that is just me being critical and it all flowed well and you all liked it. Love to hear your thoughts as always, thank you to those who shared in the past updates!
Take care of yourselves, remember to be kind to others and keep being excellent!
Next Up: The Summer the Sakura Blossomed: It's the end of summer before their junior year. Sakura has been gone to visit her aunt. Over the ears she has slowly budded and grown. But when she comes back she has bloomed into a fully blossomed young woman and more than just a few will notice. (Most likely will be really short but its a set up for the following chapter.)