"...What a nightmare," he groaned to Haku at their next class- math, taught by one Mr. Riddle.
Naruto didn't know what the teacher was like, except that he was seated at the desk with a ferocious growl on his face.
Only six other students were there so far: Sakura, who had refused to let Naruto walk her to class; a pretty girl who introduced herself as Lilith Servino; Ino, who seemed to involved in a glaring battle with Sakura; the dark and mysterious Gaara; and two black-haired, pointy-eared girls who sat huddled in the corner, speaking with one another.
The door burst open, and Harry Potter stumbled in. "Sorry I'm la-" he began, then caught sight of this teacher and promptly fainted. Riddle's eyes glittered, and he kicked Potter to the side.
"Pretty rough," Lilith whispered, staring down at Potter with a sudden nervousness. Naruto couldn't help but agree.
A second later, the door was flung open, and a redheaded boy whose eyes glittered with mischief barged in. He offered no apologies for being late, though Riddle asked for none.
"Who are you?" Naruto demanded.
He crossed his arms and proclaimed proudly, "I am Majeh of the Next World!" Naruto's eyes widened. That kid… sounded like him! Majeh looked back at him. "And you are…?"
"I," Naruto said, in usual form, "am Uzumaki Naruto! And I think I like you!"
"Whatever," Majeh said dismissively. "You seem okay, too."
The door clanged open, and a boy who, like Haku, seemed to have female characteristics, jogged in. "Long walk," he panted to Riddle, who merely nodded and twiddled his fingers. The boy/girl looked around the room, and spotting the two chattering girls, headed over to them. "Hey Selar! Looking good! You too, Soleta, he added as an afterthought.
"Hey, Burgy," the second girl, who seemed to be Soleta, said. Selar just rolled her eyes and nodded.
After Burgy, a host of interesting and unknown students strolled in in ones and twos. Zaku and Kankurou, seemingly inseparable friends. Hyur'ah, who made Majeh shudder. Two snobby good-looking kids, Amelia and Duncan, closely followed by a friendly girl named Tate. Viqi, who tried to sweet-talk Naruto into switching seats with her. Cassie, who seemed way insecure when she stumbled into the room. And B'Elanna, who spoke to none but scowled at all.
Harry Potter finally came to, only to be smashed in the face by the door as it slammed open. A short, husky guy stormed in. "Did we miss anything?"
Legolas, who was standing right behind him laughed softly. "Gimli, you miss everything- it passes over your head!"
Gimli spun around. "If anyone less than one of my closest friends had said that, he would die by my hand by nightfall!"
"Or mine," Legolas observed wryly.
"Or mine," added a boy behind them. He had ruggedly handsome features, and a frown that seemed only too natural on his dark face.
The trio walked past Naruto, Majeh, and Haku, and Majeh apparently couldn't resist sticking out a foot to trip the midget, Gimli. The little guy toppled head over heels in a truly comical performance. That is, until it ended.
Naruto only saw a flash of blond hair and long legs pass by him before Majeh let out a strangled shout. His entire head jerked backwards, and when everything slowed down enough to see, Majeh sported a very bloodied nose, and Legolas was calmly cleaning his knuckles with some Kleenex.
"You…you…!" Naruto gasped, searching for words. He turned to where Riddle's desk was, with the latter's feet resting comfortably on it. "Mr. Riddle! Blondie just mutilated my buddy! Riddle rolled his eyes, bored.
"Haku, you may take the kid to the nurse's office. Legolas, if you're going to beat the nuisance up, then save it for after class. I'm teaching now."
Haku jumped up and helped Majeh out of the room, and everyone else straightened up. Math was a double period, so in this class, they'd actually have time to learn something.
But all they learned was that Riddle was a sadist.
He called on his first volunteer- poor, poor Abumi Zaku. Even though Zaku had seemed pretty nasty, Naruto felt sorry for his classmate when Riddle stuck two nails between Zaku's finger's and started hammering.
When Riddle finished nailing Zaku to the bulletin board, he turned to the rest of the class. "Do you understand? The left hand is coordinates (-8, 2). The right hand is at (8, 2). The nose is the midpoint, about (0,2)." The whole class nodded nervously, trying not to think about what would happen if they didn't understand.
His next problem also required a volunteer, and as no one, not even Naruto, was offering to come up, Riddle chose Lilith. "For this problem, we're going to use the 'y axis'." He hung Lilith from the top of the board, drew a dot on her forehead in red ink, and was about to mark her shoes when someone slammed into him.
"Hey! Sorry we're late," the guy started. He was wearing a coat about six sized too big, and it cloaked him completely from the light. All Naruto could see were shiny white teeth that were bared at Mr. Riddle. "Get your filthy hands off of Lilith!" he roared!
Riddle's eyes narrowed, and the tall boy who came in after the hooded guy saw this. "Desh," he started quietly, "it's fine. Right, Lilith?" he said pointedly to the girl.
"Y-yeah, Desh," Lilith said, lying through her teeth. "I'm fine. Mr. Riddle is just doing a math problem."
"And maybe for the next one, we'll play division with you, Deshwitat." Riddle's lips curled.
Deshwitat growled low in his throat, but sat down beside his friend, glaring at Riddle.
The bell rang for lunch, and Riddle held up a hand. "Time for detention!" He grinned evilly…
Next up:
Naruto: I can't believe it! It's finally lunch, and I have to spend half of it in detention!
Siri: And we would've been happier if you'd stayed in detention…
Naruto: What are you? Lee's girlfriend or something?
Siri: You're so annoying!
Naruto: Well, at least Mr. Riddle likes me now… almost makes up for having to hang around you…