Chapter 2 -- Substitute teacher from Hell

A/N: Another chapter desu! bow Corrections are also welcome.

"Sakura-san, these are my friends. Shino-kun and Gaara-kun," Sakura waved at the two but they were silent and only nodded as she sat beside Sakura. "They're a little shy at first..." Hinata whispered. "Shino-kun is from a family who are famous biologists who travel the world, that's all I know about him because he never really talks about himself, but he seems to have a fondness for insects. And Gaara-kun's a transferee from another school, although no one knows for sure why he transferred but it's not really important."

"Uh-huh," Sakura nodded as she took a short glance at the two students who were so focused in whatever they were doing. Gaara was sharpening a pencil but he seemed so fixated by it even if it was sharp already he still kept on turning the pencil. Sakura probably had a guess to why he transferred schools. Shino on the other hand had a crawling spider on his hand and he seemed so fascinated by its movement. They were a little strange compared to the students from her previous school but Sakura just had to accept people for the way they are. Strange, but not entirely scary.

When she had sat down with them, students close by were giving her disapproving looks and kept staring back at the four of them making Sakura feel like a criminal on a wanted poster. Suddenly, the door slid open and a man in his late twenties and a face mask stepped inside. As he did, a pail of water came down on his head and sniggers and giggles slowly started getting louder and louder in the classroom.

"Okay, Naruto... Kiba. I know this is your doing..." the sensei said as he slowly removed the pail from his head. "Unlike Iruka-sensei, I'm not as patient as I look." The two boys, who shifted slowly in their seats whispering amongst each other looked slightly pale. "Iruka-sensei's not here today, so I'm the substitute... Good morning class," the sensei said in a drone sing-song like voice that sounded like he forced himself to be polite.

"For those of you who don't normally go to detention, I'm Hatake Kakashi, your substitute Chemistry teacher. I'm here to teach you rich brats a thing or two about this subject." the silver-haired sensei made his way to the front of the class with a small briefcase. "I'll get straight to the point..." he said as he sat on the desk. "I don't like you... and I'm sure you probably don't like me. But we're going to be seeing each other for a loong time, so we're gonna have to cooperate unless some of you have a problem with that...?"

The entire class fell silent.

"Good. No questions. We'll get to the lesson then. Ops, I forgot. We have a new student today..." Kakashi rummaged through his bag and took out a folder. "Hmm... a Haruno Sakura, please get up and stand in front, introduce yourself, make it quick because I have a lesson to start." he said rather impatiently before adding with a smile, "Oh, and welcome to our school."

Sakura slowly got up as all eyes turned to her and she felt her hands go clammy. She couldn't feel her legs as she made her way up front. Hatake Kakashi-sensei was already drumming his fingers on the table, "Today, please?"

"H-hai!" Sakura felt sweat beads trickle down her chin. "O-ohayo gozaimasu minna, watashi wa Haruno Sakura desu. I'm--"

"Okay, that's good enough." Kakashi interrupted her. "You may return to your seat. Relax, Haruno. You're not on a shooting range." then, the sensei took out a chalk piece.

"H-hai..." Sakura lowered her head. Although she felt like all the stares she received from her classmates made her feel like she was so small.

"Today we'll be having a pop quiz." the entire class groaned. "Now, now... I just want to test how far all of you have gone with Iruka-sensei. And depending on your test results...well, I'd like to see who the topnotchers in this class are." he started scribbling on the board.

"You may begin as I go along. I expect you will all be finished once I stop writing so by the time I'm done, I want all of you to submit your papers or else I will give those zero marks."

The class atmosphere suddenly became tense. Even Sakura was wondering how Kakashi was going to test them, it was just to determine how smart they were. When Kakashi had started, Sakura read the first line three times, but it just wouldn't go to her head. She was just way too nervous. 'Calm down, Sakura. You can do this... you studied Chemistry during first year. Just relax...!' She bit her lip and looked at the board only to see that Kakashi had already drifted to the third number.

'Calm down... he's only using this tactic to panic you so you won't be able to answer. Just... think...' she took a deep breath and re-read the first sentence. 'Alright... I know this one...' and she began writing down her answers, shortly glancing at her classmates who were holding their heads, or staring at their paper and some were answering too. 'Next question...'

After a few minutes, Kakashi had already reached the end of his questions. After the last period, Kakashi put down his chalk and declared, "Alright, pass your papers. Late papers are marked zero."

Hinata breathed, "That was tough. How... did you do, Sakura-san?"

"Just okay, I guess..." Sakura hoped. "I was a bit nervous but I think I did alright."

"Okay, no more talking..." Kakashi tapped his his hand on the table and the murmuring amongst the students stopped. He laid out the papers on the table, which wasn't much considering it was a prep school. Only a number of 15 students were in Section A. "Hmm..." he glanced at all their faces. "I have finished checking your papers and I will announce the Top 3 of this class who got the highest marks."

"Top 1, of course, goes to none other than Uchiha Sasuke. No surprise there." Kakashi said without pausing. "Who only came out with one mistake." The class cheered and Sasuke had a smug look on his face.

"Top 2, goes to Hyuuga Hinata with three mistakes. Good try, Hinata," Kakashi passed the papers down to Sasuke and then to Hinata. "And Top 3 goes to... oh!" there was dead silence as he examined the paper again. "I'm sorry, class. I made a mistake." he walked over to where Sakura was seated.

"Our Top 1 for today's class is surprisingly our new student, Haruno Sakura. Perfect marks." Sakura's eyes widened in shock. And again all eyes were on her again, most especially Uchiha Sasuke's. She wanted to sink into the seat and meld into the floor. "Very good!" he patted her on the head and smiled. "You even got the last question that Uchiha Sasuke didn't get to answer. What's interesting is that that test question was for third years, but you were still able to answer it. Good job!"

"A-arigatou..." Sakura said quietly as she took her paper from him. 'It was just one question...' she didn't know why everyone was making such a big fuss over her getting higher marks than Sasuke. She felt someone tap her on from the side and saw a blonde boy giving her the thumbs up, "Nice, Sakura-chan!"

"By the way, my name is Uzumaki Naruto." he added, still smiling. "Man, you shoulda seen that look on Uchiha Sasuke's face. It's been a while since anyone's gotten higher marks than him, I bet he's pissed off! I've been meaning to wipe that smirk off his face ever since Kakashi-sensei started writing the questions!"

"Erm, that wasn't my intention... really..." Sakura felt a chilly feeling coming from her other side and saw Sasuke staring at her again that made her heart jump. When he had seen her look at him, he calmly looked away and took another good look at his paper. "W-why does he keep staring at me?"

"Ah, don't mind him. Sasuke's been on the top list for too long, it's about time someone deflated his over-sized ego. I'd do it myself, but I'm not that good in Chemistry..." Naruto admitted, smiling sheepishly.

After a grueling one and a half hour of Chemistry, the bell rang. Kakashi sighed, "Looks like our lesson for today will have to be continued next meeting. If Iruka-sensei doesn't check back with the office, I'll be your teacher again next week. Oh... before I forget... class..." he ushered them back to their seats. "We will be having pop quizzes in every meeting about the lectures I had on a previous class." more groans filled the room. "You could leave your test paper blank, I don't mind. Zero is easier to record anyway. Class dismissed!"

Students scattered into the hallways. The blonde boy named Naruto approached Sakura's desk, "Hey, if you want you can eat lunch with us? These be my pals-- Shikamaru, Kiba and Chouji." they all grunted in response but she couldn't really make out what they were saying. She smiled however, "I-it's nice to meet you all."

"So how about it?" Naruto asked again.

"I dunno, I was supposed to eat with Hinata and her friends..." Sakura said, turning to the timid-girl who had somehow disappeared. "Eh? Hinata-chan?"

"Maybe next time then. Be seein' ya around, genius-girl!" Naruto flashed her another foxy grin before joining the other students in the hallway. As Sakura turned to pack her things, she came face-to-face with onyx eyes. "U-uchiha-san...?" he was standing there in front of her expectantly. "I-is there something I can help you with?"

"..." he stayed there for a few moments, with his eyes focused on her and she looked around to see if there was someone behind her Sasuke wanted to talk to only to notice that the two of them were the only ones left in the classroom. "Hai?" she asked again, in case he didn't hear her. His mouth opened to speak, "Can I.." there was a long pause.

"..see your paper?"

"Oh." So this is what it was all about. She sighed a breath of relief, "Sure." he took it from her and sure enough, he scanned to the bottom most line where her last answer was scribbled. He squinted at it for a second before handing it back to her with a monotonous, "Thanks." and he walked away.

'He's... so odd." Sakura finally concluded in her head as she walked outside only to find Hinata, Shino and Gaara waiting for her outside the classroom. "Oh, hey guys! I thought you left without me."

"O-of course not, Sakura-san. A-ano, shall we go to the next class?" Hinata asked, Sakura noted that she was slightly flushed and her tone was a little shaky but she decided to let it pass and place a mental note to ask her about it later.