Iruka Sensei had been really mad when he had come back. So mad, even, that he hadn't even thanked Mizuki Sensei for having stayed with the group when he'd returned. Instead, he had just pulled Kiba in by his ear and thrown him into his chair, giving the wild boy one final glare before he made his way back to his desk.
"I hope you have all completed the work I assigned."
All of the kids had nodded silently without daring to say a word, never having seen the man so angered before.
"Please bring all the completed work here so I can make sure you have done it all. Then we shall take the rest of the day to correct it all."
Chouji had stood up slowly with a lot of hesitation, much like Sakura. He had never seen his teacher so serious... And he'd certainly never heard the man so strained.
Shikamaru had been slow to get up too... But that had been because he had just been getting up from a good ten minutes of sleep.
The man's face had been pulled into a severe frown the whole time he had looked at his students papers. A few of them hadn't finished the assigned work, and he'd given them glares so vicious that they had shrinked away.
But, for some reason, when his eyes met Chouji's own wide ones, the man's features seemed to soften... And, then, when Chouji had shown him that he had finished up all of the work assigned, the man had smiled.
"Good job, Chouji." He had said as he quickly skimmed over the boy's work, keen eyes making sure every question had been answered.
And Chouji hadn't been able to hold in the smile that broke out on his face. Even though Iruka Sensei had been in such a foul mood, he had let Chouji know he had done a good job. And that had made the boy's day!
After this, the man had begun to write the answers for everything they had done on the board, beginning the discussion part of their work. And Chouji had, for once in his life, felt up to raising his arm and answering some of the actions.
Sakura beside him, with her own arm raised, kind of made him feel like he too should be answering. And by the way all of his answers were correct, the Akimichi couldn't help but smile broadly for the rest of the class.
It felt good to do things right!
Sakura knew that Chouji was happy. And because he was happy, she was happy.
Shikamaru's snores were really annoying... But she could deal with them as long as she was able to make friends with Chouji.
They had even talked about going to each other's houses at some point! Sakura's mom made really good miso soup while Chouji's made delicious cookies! They could, maybe, one day go from eating lunch at Sakura's home to eating dessert at Chouji's!
And all this talk of doing things that friends usually did had Sakura ecstatic because had never had a friend to talk to about this before!
"Now, we only have a few minutes left in class. Those that did not complete the work, I have assigned you homework. But for those that did do it have nothing to do for tomorrow other than to continue working on your history projects. Have I been understood?"
"Yes Iruka Sensei."
"Grab your things. Inuzuka, you know that-"
"Yeah, yeah... Detention and shit."
Sakura frowned in the Inuzuka's direction.
Just how were they supposed to complete their project now? Kiba was in detention and she couldn't go out without telling her mother.
She'd talk to Chouji about this once they were out of the classroom.
The scarred chunin had not been lying when he'd said Kiba would be getting in trouble. The boy had forced him to leave his teaching duties and chase after him, all to wind up in one of the most dangerous parts of Konoha and make him worry!
"This is abuse, you bastard!"
"Another hundred repetitions for using such crass language. You are to call me Iruka Sensei."
"Bite me, you son of a-"
"Think about your words before I end up having to stay here even longer with you, Inuzuka."
On a normal day, Iruka wouldn't have been so short with Kiba. He usually was more patient with the hot head. But after having to run around all of Konoha with worry gnawing at him, then having been forced to go to the seedier parts of Konoha with an amused Kakashi, Iruka believed he had more than a right to not take all of the kid's shit.
... Great! Now he was even using cuss words! Even though it was in his own mind, Iruka didn't like using them. This was how far the Inuzuka could push him.
A growl and a sneer were both sent his way by the angered Kiba, but the man merely glared back at the kid.
"If you don't complete those problems, Kiba, I am going to have to tell your parents." Iruka finally threw down the ultimatum, much too tired to continue this back and forth banter with the boy.
He didn't like bringing parents in when it came to behavioral problems. Not when he could work with the children hands on and help them get better without having a second set of opinions and criticism weighing down on the kid. But Kiba had shown that, no matter how stern and understanding Iruka was, he'd never truly listen to him.
The threat of parents being involved immediately stopped the boy from shouting another obscenity. But, because he was such a vocal person, the boy did growl something out. Something that caught Iruka's attention.
"Try it... They won't care anyway."
It was an odd thing to hear from a member of the Inuzuka Clan. Iruka knew that, out of all the clans of Konoha, they seemed to be the warmest. And they always seemed to have a more deep connection between clan and family members when compared to the rest of the other clans.
"Just finish your work."
The retorting 'Bite me' was whispered rather than shouted, though. And it made Iruka begin to wonder just why Kiba seemed to have such low expectations for his family.
Iruka Sensei was quickly becoming the man hated the most by Kiba.
The Old Man, though, was quickly becoming his favorite.
Iruka Sensei was boring and cared about rules. But the Old Man hadn't given any damns when he'd stopped those men from trying to touch him. And when Kiba had offered him some more coins, he had actually begun to tell him the rest of his story!
But then some annoying people had gotten in the way of the storytelling and the Old Man had been preoccupied being awesome and dealing with those people. So, even though Kiba hadn't finished hearing the story for the presentation, he hadn't really minded all that much. And that was because he had been treated to an amazing fight that had left many people groaning in pain and it had been awesome!
Then Iruka Sensei had come in and ruined everything! And the Old Man had left before Kiba could properly tell him how amazing he had been... So he'd have to let the man know he was awesome later.
Not only had Iruka Sensei stolen his cookie and stopped the awesomeness that had been the Old Man defeating all those drunkards, he'd also shouted at Kiba throughout the whole walk back to the Academy. "You shouldn't have run away!" "You're supposed to be learning!" "Are you even listening to me, Inuzuka?!" "Your sister was never this problematic!" "Blah, blah, blah!"
The chunin was so annoying Kiba kind of wanted to just run off once more, just to get away from his voice. But he knew that if he tried to run, the man would stop him, and then the scolding would become even more unbearable.
So the boy had just listened to the man rant with his face pinched in and his arms crossed over his chest. He sure didn't like getting shouted at, especially not by someone that had just cost him the ending of the Old Man's story, but he had no other choice. Well, he had another choice... But it would most probably end up with Iruka dragging him straight to his father with all of his whining. And Kiba really didn't want his father to find out about just how many problems he had caused the teacher.
If his mother was scary whenever she was angry... His father was terrifying.
Looking down at all of the papers on his desk, the boy breathed out and allowed the pencil to fall from his cramped and aching hand. He had just spent a whole hour working nonstop. All because Iruka Sensei had decided to get pissy today.
"I'm done." He muttered as he began to pick up all the papers and organize them.
"Bring them here." Iruka Sensei ordered without a glance up at him.
The Inuzuka groaned in exasperation but still stood up and walked over to the man. Then, once he was at the desk, he handed the papers over to the teacher. Iruka Sensei looked at him for a second but looked down at all the papers without a single word. And, without any words, the man began to correct the papers.
Knowing that it would take the man some time, Kiba sulked his way back to his desk and threw himself at the chair. Then he lifted his arms so they were resting on the desk and cushioned his cheeks against them. And, like that, he closed his eyes and began to doze slightly. He could still hear Iruka Sensei correcting, huffing, and striking things as wrong all the way from his desk.
After what seemed like an eternity of boredom, the man spoke up once more.
"Kiba, would you come here, please?"
He just wanted to leave this evil place! But he knew that if he said that, the man's already short patience may just explode. So the boy merely slid out of his chair and stomped his way over to the man, making sure that his disdain for everything that was going on was clear to him.
"Why did you run out of class today?" Iruka Sensei asked once the Inuzuka stood in front of his desk, his dark eyes boring into the boy's own. "You are very much aware of how trouble you will get into for doing that. Not only that, but you decided to go into a tavern. Do you even know how old you must be to go into that place?" The man asked with a quirked eyebrow, a frown pulling at his lips. "And then you concocted a story about an old man being with you. Kiba, you know I cannot stand being lied to."
This had the boy bristling, "But I'm not lying, Iruka Sensei! The Old Man was there and he-"
But the man raised a hand, signalling Kiba to cease in his arguing. The boy pouted at being treated like a child (he may be one, but that didn't mean he liked to be treated like one!) but remained quiet.
"For running away, heading into a dangerous part of town, and lying, you shall be staying with me here after school for a whole week. If in that week you cause any kind of disruptions to my class, I will hold you back in this grade. Have I been understood?"
"What?! Iruka Sensei, that's not-" Kiba began to fight, but the man interrupted him with a heated glare.
"No, Kiba! What's not fair is me having to stop my class whenever you think it's too boring for you! What's not fair is that you continuously and unrepentantly impair their chances of learning because you're just not interested!" Iruka Sensei shouted, stunning the boy into silence. "Now I have corrected these papers. Take them home, study them, practice. Leave."
He shoved the papers close to the boy. And Kiba didn't need to be told twice.
With tears stinging at his eyes, the boy violently grabbed the papers and ran to his backpack, only to bolt out of the room after he had it.
Sakura and Chouji both stood outside of the Academy, waiting for Kiba to leave his detention. They would need to get together to speak about the project that had been assigned to them, especially now that they both had gotten scolded over not warning their parents before they set off on a wild adventures.
"At least the man's story was interesting..." Chouji muttered softly as Sakura huffed and shook her head.
"Yeah, but I'm grounded, Chouji! For a whole week! All because Kiba couldn't wait for me to tell my mom where we were going!" The pink haired girl argued, then crossed her arms over her chest in annoyance. "And now mom wants to tag along with us wherever we go. She doesn't want us getting kidnapped or something stupid."
Chouji sighed too, but didn't try and fight her. "I know... Dad wants me to at least stop by the house before we do anything."
"You see? Kiba got us both in trouble! He's no good! Just like my mother said!"
Sakura knew the boy was dangerous because of how bad her mother spoke of his clan. They were a bunch of savages that didn't care about how what they did might affect others! They were insensitive, rude, smelly, mean-
"You two waited up?"
Hearing Kiba's voice was a surprise. He wasn't shouting. And he seemed honestly surprised to see that Sakura and Chouji had both waited up for him.
Turning around, the pink haired girl saw that Kiba seemed... Different. She wasn't sure how. But... Maybe it was because the tip of his nose was kind of red.
"Yeah... Listen, Kiba, our parents both scolded us yesterday for getting home so late." Chouji spoke up after a second of Sakura remaining silent.
Her cheeks burned red as soon as she noticed that, for some reason, she couldn't bring up the heated words she had been shouting at Chouji before. She didn't know why. And it bothered her that she felt so uncomfortable around the Inuzuka. But, it would make sense. The boy was a brute. Who knew what he might do to her if she dared speak up against him?
Kiba looked from the girl to the boy, then scoffed and shook his head. "You two are wussies." He commented, but soon sighed and looked at Chouji. "I got a bit more detail out of the Old Man. But I wasn't able to get the whole ending. Listen, just fifteen more minutes of story telling and we'll have our project complete."
It was odd to hear Kiba not yelling. But Sakura just chalked that up to him being weird. Again.
"And he told me that we would be able to find him in this shop real close to the village gates. We go there, get the rest of the story, then we go back to one of your houses so we can set up the whole project. That way your parents won't get angry with you for not being around them."
Sakura immediately looked at Chouji. She couldn't agree to this plan! Her mother would get angry for not going to her first! And she'd get punished even worse!
But, from the way Chouji was looking down at the floor with his eyebrows drawn in, she could tell he was actually thinking about going through with the Inuzuka's words. Then, before she could stop him, he looked up at Kiba with a broad smile.
"Sounds like a solid plan! Let's go!"
Internally, Sakura shouted at Chouji for being an idiot, Kiba for being a jerk, and herself for being a coward. But on the outside she merely followed after the two boys without saying a single word.
Kiba had said that after getting the last of the story from the old man, they could go to either Chouji or Sakura's homes. But he'd never even mentioned his own. And this struck Chouji as odd. Why would he be inviting himself to a house he had never been to before?
Still, he wanted to finish listening to the old man's story. And if they stopped to warn his and Sakura's parents, they would most probably not be allowed to hear it. So, in a moment of uncharacteristic rebelliousness, the young Akimichi decided to go along with Inuzuka's plans and hope for the best. If things happened like Kiba had said, they'd be able to go back to their homes without any difficulties. And if their parents asked why they had taken so long to leave the Academy, the could just say that they had waited for Kiba to leave detention.
They ran all the way to the village gates with Kiba leading them once more. And once they were really close to them, the boy turned left and entered a small shop Chouji had never gone into before.
He barely visited this part of the village after all. But maybe Kiba did because he seemed so relaxed and comfortable with his movements. Sakura, on the other hand, looked like she was about to bolt and go back to her house.
"Come on, Sakura, we're really close." Chouji grabbed her hand with his own as he stepped into the small shop, smiling comfortingly at her. "It's just a few minutes. Then we'll go to my house, tell my dad we'll be working at your house, and everything will be fine!"
She stopped walking then, her eyes widening. "You... You want to go to my house?" She squeaked out and Chouji immediately noticed he had really messed up.
"I'm sorry! That was rude of me! We could go to my house, if you're more comfortable! My mom loves cooking and she'd be happy to give us dinner and..." He drifted off when he noted that she began to giggle softly.
"We can go to my house, Chouji." She whispered, smiling softly up at him. "My mom loves cooking too."
With this, both children smiled at each other. They both rejoiced in having a friend. Especially because they spoke so easily to each other.
"Hey, love birds, are you going to listen or what?"
"Yeah! I already paid the old man the last of my money!"
"Did you seriously waste all your money on story telling?"
"Yup!"
Chouji and Sakura turned around to see that the man and Kiba were sitting by a table at the corner of the small tea shop, a steaming mug in front of the old man. Then, sharing one final look, both friends nodded at each other and moved to the table to listen to the last of the man's tale.
He... Honestly had no idea what he was doing telling kids about one of his greatest most bittersweet victories. Especially snot-nosed kids from a village of idiots that seemed about as stupid as Hidan himself.
But he had never said no to money. No matter how small. And the coins the tattooed idiot had given him had been enough to catch his eyes, no matter how small the true value of them actually was. And then the kid had offered to buy him tea before he left the village and, for some reason, Kakuzu just couldn't pass up on the chance for a free drink. So he had wound up here, with a mug of tea in front of him, the kid sitting excitedly to his right.
These kids parents should really get some advice on parenting or something. He wasn't the one to talk, he was very sure of that, but he was also pretty sure that kids weren't supposed to be allowed to run loose. Especially not to the part of the village that held all the bars and taverns and not to the village gates. Couldn't they easily escape and run off?
This village was filled with idiots, after all. He shouldn't really be all that surprised to learn that they allowed their kids to run free like animals.
He would never really admit to it, but it was kind of refreshing to be surrounded by these stupid kids. Sure, they were idiots. And it wasn't as if Kakuzu would ever see them again. But it was rather amusing to see them terrified of the story he was telling. It brought great joy to his heart to bring great fear to them.
Once the fat one and the pink haired one (Just what kind of hair color was that? Did her parents hate her or something? Did they forcibly dye it for her?) had sat down in the remaining chairs around the table, he had begun to tell them the ending of the tale. The one with the fangs on his face seemed to be about ready to jump for joy at the epic finale that was coming, even though the weaker two seemed a thousand times less excited.
By the time he had finished telling them his story, only a few minutes were left before he had to meet with Hidan on the outskirts of the village.
The pink haired one was crying.
The fat one looked really close to it.
And the one with the too big tattoos on his face was scribbling wildly at his notebook, eyes wide and full of wonder.
Clearly, these three weren't together because they wanted to be. The one with the tattoos was the complete antithesis of the other two. They were just stuck together because of a school assignment. One that had somehow wound up with them meeting and asking for Kakuzu's help.
He didn't particularly enjoy being called an old man at all times... But it was a thousand times better than having to listen to Hidan's incessant blubbering about his nonexistent god.
The thought of the irritating Jashinist brought a frown onto Kakuzu's face. But then he looked down at all three kids and... No. He didn't feel a single thing. His heart didn't warm and his pride didn't swell at being the cause of so much distress in two of those kids.
He didn't feel a single thing. And the advice he gave them didn't come out of kindness. It came out of pity.
"What lessons can be taken out of my tale?" He asked them with a clear of his throat, raising his hand to lower two fingers and leave three up. "Three very important ones."
Bring his index finger down, the man looked directly at the pink haired girl. "No matter what happens to you, never give anyone the satisfaction of tears. Crying in front of an enemy is a form of giving up. It's waving a flag of defeat and curling up to get beaten up. Never cry."
This girl was annoying with her constantly teary eyes. If she really wanted to graduate the academy, she would have to toughen up. If not, she would never be worthy of the title of kunoichi.
Then he looked at the fat one, bringing down his middle finger to leave his thumb standing. "If someone hits you, hit back harder. If they think they're strong enough to take you on, prove them wrong. Prove everyone wrong. I sure did."
This boy wasn't as weak as the girl, but he needed to find his own voice. Along this boy with that dopey tattoos on his face to string him along was a clear sign of a weak will.
And, finally, Kakuzu turned his intense eyes onto the boy that had started all of this, then finally brought down his thumb. "And when someone does something you don't like, don't tolerate it. Do something to make sure they'll never be able to do it again."
This boy was the wrong kind of strong. He was quick to act and brash. But he was also rather easily insulted.
After he left all three kids with the advice, the man stood up and began to walk out. "Thank for the money and drink, kid."
He would never see these kids ever again. Leaving them with this kind of advice couldn't hurt him. Besides, it was kind of amusing to see their stupefied faces after he had told them what they would need to do. Did the truly expect for their deepest secrets to remain secret if they wore them on their sleeves?
Stepping outside of the shop, Kakuzu took one last look at the surprised kids by the corner. Then, without a pang of worry in his chest, the man walked towards the village's gates so he could meet with Hidan.
He would never see these kids again. And he was Kakuzu. He didn't get attached easily. So he could walk away from those three kids without feeling a single thing. Not one thing.
Please review.
