Mild chapter warnings for Hidan's mouth.
"I would announce the results of the class committee election."
Sasuke and Neji took soft sharp breaths as Asuma fumbled with the results of their ballot.
"The class president of grade 10 class 1 is... Hyuga Neji and his vice by default is Uchiha Sasuke."
Sasuke's fingers dug into his palms till they almost bled. Once again he lost to Hyuga.
The class applauded the new elects but Sasuke 's scowl remained. He was always second. No matter how hard he read and how much he tried he always ended up second place. The smug smile on Hyuga's face was aggravating and irritating.
Uchiha Itachi won as the president of the student union.
Sasuke gritted his teeth. Once again his brother showed that he was far ahead of Sasuke. When he was younger, Sasuke used to admire Itachi and his intelligence but everything changed as time passed. He hated being showed up. He hated the fact that there were people better than he was.
He hated it.
Xxx symphony xxX
The first committee meeting of the student union held place after closing hours that day. It was held mainly for introductions and explanation of roles and assignment of duties.
Everyone was seated at the round table (no kidding) with Uchiha Itachi at the starting point of the circle. Every seat was occupied except one seat.
"Well since one of us is absent, let us begin." Itachi started the conference. "We shall begin with self introductions. One by one we would state our names and the roles we take. I will go first. I am Uchiha Itachi, the president, it's nice to meet you all."
Everyone in the room applauded. Next to him was Uzumaki Nagato who was the vice president of the student union by default. After Nagato was Yahiko who was the committee in charge of social activities and Konan, his vice.
Kakuzu was the treasurer and committee in charge of financial contributions (no surprise there). Deidara and Sasori were the committees of arts. There was no vice or leader amongst them because neither of them refused to be beneath the other.
Hidan was the moderator of events. His job was to type down everything that happens in meetings and he is has the final say if there is a debate or contemplation.
"How in the world did Hidan end up with such an important job?!" Kisame asked incredulously. He was the sports and club activity committee. Among them, the silver head was the most violent and definitely not the most level headed person so how he got the job of a moderator was a surprise to all.
"What do you fucking mean?! I can hold a job fucking well too!" Hidan huffed indignantly.
"I am Sabaku no Temari, committee in charge of school discipline." Temari introduced herself.
"Oh, so you are the sister of that little trouble maker." Kakuzu drawled lazily. His cheek rested on his palm which was supported by his elbow on the table. Temari did not reply as other members had to introduce themselves.
"I am Darui, class president of grade eleven class one...this is so dull." Darui was Omoi and Karui's older brother. He had the same skin shade as Omoi and his bleach blond hair, something they both inherited from their mother.
"It is a meeting, there is nothing to fucking expect. Where the hell is the food?!" Hidan cursed, throwing his hands up in exasperation.
"Like you said Hidan, it is a meeting and your mouth needs bleach, forget soap." Kakuzu countered.
"Let there be order please." Itachi moderated (Hidan's job) and gestured for the next person to introduce themselves.
The self introductions ended at Neji's turn and the meeting began in full. Hidan did his job as a typist but Kisame (poor guy chose to sit next to him) had to proof read everything and remove all the swearwords, text speech and grammar errors. It was decided that an assistant moderator was needed pronto.
"Thank you all for attending today's meeting-!" As Itachi was rounding off his closing speech, the doors to the conference room suddenly slammed open and in came a peculiar sight.
It was a girl whose cinnamon hair was tied in two space buns. She wore the school's sleeveless sweater on her shirt and her blazer was tied around her waist. The red sweat pants of the school's gym uniform was worn underneath her skirt and her shoes didn't match.
"I found it!" She yelled triumphantly only for her smile to break when she saw the unimpressed looks on everyone's faces.
"You're late." Itachi deadpanned.
"Oh." Tenten's hands dropped to her sides. "That's good!" She yelled in glee and was about to turn around to leave when Itachi's voice froze her in place.
"Hold it right there. What position do you hold?"
"Oh right! I'm Tenten No Last Name because last names suck..."
"Preach sister!" Hidan yelled from the background.
"...and I was chosen as the class rep of grade ten recuperation class by a conspiracy." Tenten finished.
"I see." Itachi nodded thoughtfully. "What do we do? You missed the entire meeting."
"I suggest she gets briefed by Hyuga of the meeting since they are in the same grade." Nagato suggested.
"That is a good idea. Hyuga-kun, I trust that you would take care of this matter. With this I bring this meeting to a close."
Everybody left the room other than Neji and Tenten. Neither parties wanted to be in the room but because of a certain late comer they had to wait an extra half hour.
"You should work on your time." Neji scowled distastefully.
"It's not my fault this school is so big. Hey, I recognise you from art class!" Tenten suddenly exclaimed. "You're that blind Rapunzel."
The pulse on Neji's forehead twitched at the assumption. "I am not blind, nitwit, neither am I a 'Rapunzel'." He snapped.
"Sheesh, no need to be salty." Tenten pulled back a chair and plumped down on it mannerlessly. Neji scowled as she placed one of her legs on the the table and the other across the armrest. "So, watcha talk about in the meeting of nerds?" She just needed a bubblegum to complete her look, Neji thought distastefully.
The look of horror that crossed his features when Tenten pulled out a piece of chewed gum from her pocket to eat didn't go unnoticed.
"What? Want it?" Tenten asked, oblivious to the irritated look on the boy's features.
"No thank you." Neji tried not to focus on the noisy way she chewed her gum but that was easier imagined than done. "You are to assist the class teachers, make duty rosters, be in the school first to prepare for the day and be last to leave the school to organize the class..." Neji noticed that Tenten's focus was elsewhere. "Focus!"
"Uh?" Tenten started at his bark. "Oh." She said coming to her senses and stopped playing with the gum bubble in her mouth. The thing popped tough, and glued itself to her mouth and chin.
Neji's brow twitched. He could see why she was in the recuperative class. Wait, she got into KSA by talent?! What talent did she have anyway?
"Are we done with this briefing whatever? I have to leave now. Ciao!" The girl did not even wait to hear what Neji had to say before leaving with the doors swinging back and forth.
"How mannerless." Neji shook his head disdainfully. Unlike his counterpart, he tucked his chair back into its position under the table and did the same for Tenten's displaced chair. He was happy that somebody like Tenten was not his subordinate, that would be a disaster.
Sasuke was getting angrier by the minute. It was evident in the way he glared at the ground and curled his toes on the futon he sat on in front of his father. Itachi sat across him receiving kudos as usual.
Fugaku, Sasuke's father, had not liked his role as a vice class rep as expected but it was nothing Sasuke was not used to. "Take a page from your brother's book and learn from him Sasuke. He, after all, was the class representative for all of his classes."
Sasuke grit his teeth. "Yes sir." He gritted out. This was why he hated people exceeding him. He was always compared to another person and not recognized for his own abilities.
Fugaku dismissed the brothers after a few more admonishments and Sasuke stormed up the stairs to his room.
"Sasuke." Itachi's voice made him stop and turn around.
"What?"
"I..." Itachi seemed to be at loss for words for a moment but then he got an idea. "I can help you with your geometry problem." He spoke. Itachi had noticed Sasuke struggling with some math problems on occasions so he decided to point it out.
Sasuke considered his offer for a moment. It had been a while since Itachi had offered to spend time, even study, with him and although he hated admitting it, he missed those times. He caught himself before a smile could stretch his lips but Itachi saw the beginnings of it and smiled too. To an outsider it was just a small stretch of their lips but to them it was practically a grin. Such was the way of the Uchiha.
"Okay." Sasuke agreed and went to get his materials.
Xxx symphony xxX
He was seeing it once again.
This repeated scene.
The words exchanged between them.
He was seeing it again.
Kakashi turned on his bed, panting slightly and sweating heavily. The same recurring dream was haunting him once again.
"Stop it you two!" A woman yelled but her voice did nothing to break up their argument. "Kakashi! Obito!"
The woman's voice echoed in his head, making the silver haired man twist in his bedsheets.
Hot with annoyance and anger, the silver haired one among the two arguing men spat. "Sometimes I wish you'd just crawl into a hole and die, the whole world would celebrate it!"
The other man, a brunet, shot back with equal animosity. "You think I don't wish you the same?! You're worse than scum, Hatake!"
Hatake!
Hatake!
The world spun. Time changed. A news flash. Breaking news.
Technical accident at Fire Country Grand Opera House; two dead.
Breath constricting. Heart clenching. Eyes widening as he took in the names of the victims.
Uchiha Obito
Nohara Rin
His last words to them came crashing into his head. He had told them to die. He told his family to die...and they did.
Hatake!
Hatake!
Kakashi's eyes shot open to darkness. The only source of light in his bare room was the moonlight streaming from the open window. The man sat upright on his bed and hugged his knees. He was worse than scum.
Kakashi was once again at the crematorium, flowers in hand and looking absentmindedly at the headstones of the couple that was laid side by side each other. He does this almost everyday for hours and hours that the keepers of the crematorium knew him already.
A figure moving beside him brought Kakashi out of his wandering thoughts. He glanced sideways to look at the person in his space and scowled when he saw that it was Iruka. Said man raised his hands, flowers and all, in a surrender gesture to show that their meeting was a pure coincidence this time.
"You're not the only one that visits them, you know." Iruka said once he was done with paying his respects to the dead. He offered his silver haired ex-colleague a can of iced soda because the heat was on the increase, an effect of climate change, even though he knew that Kakashi would not drink it because of his mask.
"Thank you." The silver haired man appreciated.
"Is that the reason you quit? The accident at the Grand Opera House?" Iruka asked. "I don't mean anything by this, I was just wondering what would move you to stop teaching."
Kakashi sighed at the man's words. "Yes." He admitted.
"Oh." There was silence between the two of them. Iruka knee that Kakashi probably did not want the subject to progress so he decided to change it. "In case you were wondering, I found Naruto."
Kakashi sat at alert at this bit of information. "You did?!" Iruka was not the only one searching for the blond after he was released from the juvenile center.
"I did. I found him at a local dance studio, homeless. I could not believe that the boy I have been searching for was right under my nose." Iruka remembered how he met Naruto again. The blond was curled up on a makeshift mat using a worn out jacket for a blanket. It broke Iruka to see a child so helpless and it broke him even more when he realized that it was Naruto. "He has no recollection of his childhood though."
"Ah. That is bad. He is the only one that saw the perpetrator's face after all." Kakashi muttered. He and Iruka were one of the only people that did not believe that Naruto murdered his parents. The blond had been so numb, blood stained and petrified when he was found. His whole life was stripped away from him in an instant and now his memories too? "Does lady Tsunade know that you found him?"
"Yes she does. She's working on the legal stuff before she reveals herself to the fish cake. I doubt he'd recognize her though. You should see him dance, Kakashi-sensei, he's just like his father." Iruka smiled wistfully at the thought. "You should see the students dance one day. Ah, I have to go before Naruto does something stupid. Good bye, Kakashi-sensei."
Kakashi sighed. The brunet would never stop calling him a sensei even if it rained cats and dogs. He thought about Iruka's last words though. Maybe he could stop by to see the students dance as Iruka mentioned.
Xxx symphony xxX
Ino held a trembling Yota by his hand. It was closing hours and this was not the first time Yota trembled at the sight of his guardian's car. There was something about Yota's guardian that was suspicious and...dangerous.
"Yota, let's go home." The man, his guardian, said kindly with a smile but the autistic boy shook his head and cowered behind Ino.
"Ino...no. Scared. Scared." Yota mumbled into the platinum blonde's skirt.
"Yota?!" Ino flushed in embarrassment at the way Yota clutched her skirt tightly. "You need to go home. You can't stay with me forever." She tried to persuade the small boy.
"No! Yota does not want to go home. Does not want to go home!" Yota insisted with a firm shake of his head. He buried his head in between Ino's thighs adamantly. "No."
His guardian however was not having any of his nonsense.
"Yota."
Even Ino shuddered at the intensity of his voice. If Yota was trembling before, that was nothing compared to the shivering he was doing right now. Despite how shaky he was, Yota let Ino's skirt go and humbly stepped into his guardian's car.
The man smiled at Ino before walking to the driver's seat and entering. As they drove off, Ino could not help but feel uneasiness swirling up in her stomach. The feeling didn't disappear even after the car had faded into the horizon.
"Ino!"
Ino turned around to see Sakura coming towards her. The pinkie was held back by Mrs Kurenai so she could not send Yota off with her today.
"Hey Sakura." Ino greeted her best friend. They were going home together in Sakura's car.
"What's wrong with you?" Sakura asked her friend, worry lacing her facial features as she did so.
"Uh? Oh it's just Yota. He gets so scared of going home every time. I wonder why that is." Ino muttered thoughtfully.
"Perhaps he just does not want to leave you." Sakura provided. They got to the parking lot where the chauffeur was waiting for the girls beside a rich car. Both girls curtsied to the middle aged man as they entered.
"I wish it were so. Do you suppose...there is something he does not like at home? After all you also see the new bruises he gets everyday." Ino theorized.
"You are right about the bruises. What do you suppose we do? Should we inform the boys from the recuperative class about this?" Sakura asked.
"Perhaps later. For now we shall keep this bit of information to ourselves. After all it is only an hypothesis."
As they rounded the fountain at the front of the school, they came across the Hyugas and nodded in acknowledgement to the cousins.
Ino could not get rid of the nasty thought in her head about Yota. There was a very high possibility of him being physically abused by his guardian but Ino had no proof of that yet. So she decided to find out as much as she could and save Yota from a possibly abusive guardian.
Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed the chapter. As you can tell, the character introductions are over and the real story is starting to set in. I plan to pick the characters one by one and narrate what's going on underneath the underneath for them.
There would be angsty feels to some of their stories but definitely shipping. I hope you're ready for it!
I do not own Naruto or its characters. I am doing this for my entertainment and for others to enjoy also.
Please favorite and review. Thank you.
-Star.