It was the job of the male ballerina (that sounds awkward) to make the females graceful and elegant. To normal eyes, the female dancers held and carried the grace and beauty of ballet. While that was true on some level, it was the male that brought out that essence.
A ballerina might not be too good but with a good partner, she would shine brightly on the stage. Kakashi was just that. He was a very excellent dancer and had the ability to make his partners shine. Not only in ballet but in other dances as well. It didn't help that he was a heartthrob even though that made no sense at all.
Kakashi, silver hair and onyx eyes, had never revealed his face to anybody. He always had a surgical mask covering half his facial features so nobody could see Kakashi in a crowd without his mask and say 'hey, there's Kakashi!'
Like all geniuses and talented people in shonen mangas and anime, Kakashi also had a dumb (read: very dumb) self proclaimed rival. Uchiha Obito was his name. How he detested that clumsy creature.
The Uchiha stuck out like a sore thumb amongst other Uchihas. For one, he was buoyant and energetic in contrast to the normal cool and calm demeanor that most Uchihas exuded. For two, the boy was utterly talentless in an extreme contrast to the other Uchihas. Obito had the grace of a swan high on cocaine.
The main reason Obito did ballet was because of Nohara Rin. Rin was Obito's childhood friend and love interest and despite what Kakashi might say, the three of them were best friends.
Obito tried his best to beat Kakashi at dancing (mostly because he wanted to use it as courting dance) so he worked hard. Where his talent failed, his determination and persistence made up for it.
Kakashi had a teacher that cared for him just like a father would. Minato was a very kind man with a scary but caring wife, Kushina and a little boy named Naruto. He considered the tiny Minato as his little brother.
For once Kakashi felt the semblance of happiness in his life. That was until everything came burning down.
It first started with the night Minato and Kushina were murdered. They were both stabbed to death in their house and all evidence led to Naruto, their son. Kakashi and his friends knew that this was not possible but what could they do when Naruto's fingerprints were all over the knife?
Naruto was put in a juvenile center as he was still a minor. Everything that concerned Naruto was strangely cut off so nobody knew of the boy's whereabouts after he was released from the juvenile center.
It was around that time that Kakashi decided that he loved teaching dance while Obito and Rin got into the Fire nation's biggest opera house. The silveret started his career with dance studios. He applied to KSA (mostly because Sarutobi forced...compelled him) and that was where he met his colleagues and friends.
Asuma taught music. The poor man had to put up with horribly loud voices every day so he quickly earned Kakashi's respect. Kurenai was the ballet instructor. She was a pretty and soft spoken woman when she wasn't torturing her students with fast whipped turns. Anko...unfortunately for Kakashi he had to put up with her. The woman had an incredible sweet tooth and a way of forcing others into doing her will. Other than her spontaneity (and mental issues), Anko was cool.
Genma taught literature. He was a chill person to talk to. Shizune the nurse was an oddball but since Kakashi considered practically everybody he met as weird, let's forget about the first part of the sentence. Yamato taught mathematics. The brunet and Kakashi were once acquainted as Yamato used to use the same studio Kakashi used when he was still doing ballet.
Iruka came later into the show as the new English teacher. The scarred man quickly became friends with both teachers and students as if teaching was made for him. There were others like the old school chef and a few strange teachers like Orochimaru and Jiraiya that Kakashi seldom talked to. Various other academic staff were there too.
And then there was Gai.
Whoever employed him as the drama teacher was definitely high on the day of the interview. Gai did better as a gym teacher (but then students would die due to overdrive. Well, not like they don't already with Anko as the teacher). The green man declared loudly on the first day of his work at KSA that he was his eternal rival, whatever that meant.
Kakashi would be a lot happier if Gai stopped challenging him for every breath he took.
The day Kakashi gave up on dancing was the day of the incident at the Fire Nation's Grand Opera House. Obito and Rin had a performance that night and the spotlights had fallen upon them brutally. The scene was still fresh in Kakashi's mind and the silver haired man could not help but think that he killed his friends.
Prior to the incident, there had been a fight between Obito and Kakashi with Rin caught up in their banter. Kakashi could not remember why they fought but he could remember the raw emotions from that day. He could remember his words...his last words to them.
In his annoyance, Kakashi had told Obito to crawl into a hole and die. Rin's words had died on her tongue that day when Kakashi rudely slammed his door shut on her face.
If only he knew...
A week later, the breaking news announced Rin and Obito's deaths. The spotlights had been dislocated and fell upon the duo on their solo performance. Obito was crushed by the heavy metal contraption that held the lights while Rin was impaled by falling shards. The masked man races to the scene fast enough to see his friends' bodies being carried out from the destroyed stage.
They were killed on the spot.
It happened during the long vacation so it was easy to escape his colleagues, which is why nobody knew the reason for his resignation. Kakashi was devastated at the news that he could not bear seeing people dance anymore. It wasn't that Kakashi stopped dancing and teaching it, the main problem was that he could not just bear it.
The mental images of the scene, the words exchanged between them before Rin and Obito died, their crushed bodies, everything.
Kakashi could not bring himself to dance again.
The man shut himself out (meaning he went all Elsa) from the world and broke his ties with people. Not even Gai and his unrelenting determination could bring him back to the school. Itachi (his low key favorite student) as well as his other students tried but Kakashi politely refused them. Tsunade was willing to accept him should he revoke his resignation but it didn't happen.
The one mistake Kakashi made was not moving out of town sooner and that was how Iruka became his own personal stalker. It was infuriating at first since all the brunet did was talk about the school and talk Iruka did. While the caramel coloured man was quiet some times, when given the chance he was one of the most garrulous persons ever.
When Iruka suddenly stopped talking about the school in favour of just friendly chatting, Kakashi was confused beyond anything. Somewhere at the back of his mind he knew that it was part of the teacher's ploy to get him to talk but he still played along because honestly, Kakashi needed a friend.
He was at the crematorium once again, gazing absentmindedly at Minato and Kushina's ashes when Iruka suddenly appeared like he usually did wherever he went. The man claimed that it was purely coincidental and Kakashi believed him. They sat down to talk after they both paid their respects to the dead.
Iruka was able to piece two and two together and pinpoint the reason for Kakashi's reluctance towards dancing and teaching it. How the man did that, Kakashi knew not but he was more perceptive than he looked. Iruka was Naruto's kindergarten teacher and baby sitter so the man knew Kakashi fairly well enough to know who Rin and Obito were to him.
He appreciated that was Iruka discussed the topic no further and chose to reveal something wonderful instead. Naruto had been found and was in Iruka's custody. It was sad that the blond had no recalling of his childhood and sadly not the night of his parents' deaths but it was relieving to hear that he was alive and well.
Kakashi was unsurprised that Naruto was a dancer but Iruka had mentioned to him that he looked just like his father, which was why Kakashi was back again at KSA. He wanted to see how much Naruto had grown and hopefully catch him dancing.
The school seemed different when he arrived. It was in a way, livelier than it used to be before. Was it because of the new system? Anyway Kakashi liked it. He found his way to the dance studio to wait for Naruto's dance period only to find out that he did not need to wait anymore.
Naruto was doing a dance battle with his classmates, Kakashi presumed. His movements, while still rusty, were fluid and steady. His body control just needed a little more polishing and Naruto would be another dance god like Minato. Iruka was right, he was just like his father.
His onyx eyes swept across the studio to see the others in the room. Each was doing their own thing except the three street dancers who were engaged in a battle. The girl among them held a lot of promise. She held the stage like she owned it. The other boy with the triangle tribal tattoos was a surprisingly soft treader despite how wild he looked. Kakashi could see where this team could lead them, they were so promising.
The masked man bristled slightly when he realized his own train of thoughts. He had just analyzed dance steps without as much as a horrible flashback from Obito and Rin's death. Maybe, Kakashi stepped back and started leaving before he could be spotted, just maybe he could start teaching again.
Xxx symphony xxX
"MOVE IT MAGGOTS! MY GREAT GRANDMOTHER CAN RUN FASTER THAN YOU ALL AND SHE'S CRIPPLE! STOP WALKING LIKE YOU HAVE RICKETS, COME ON SOLDIERS!" Anko sensei screamed through the megaphone at the herd of tired students running around the field track.
That was a lie, they were not tired just lazy. Like, who the hell would willingly run twenty laps around an Olympic sized field track?! Gym class was one of the classes that the recuperative class and the genius class had together and neither of the classes were happy about it.
The genius class deemed those of the recuperative class as dumb people who got into the school with sheer luck while the recuperative class deigned the genius class as snobby rich brats with overrated talents. In short words, the classes detested each other.
Sakura, Karin and Ino gallivanted down the track while they used the silhouettes of actual serious people to camouflage themselves. Haku, Shino and Juugo jogged like every normal person would around the field track while Suigetsu trailed behind them in a lazy sprint. Hinata really wanted to run but she could not afford more than a sprint because her bra's strap chose the moment to come loose.
Shikamaru was on the bleachers. Whatever jutsu he used on Anko to get her to consent to him staying on the bleachers while the rest of the world suffered, Tenten was willing to learn as she jogged round the field. Choji was surprisingly jogging but as you have probably guessed, he had a pack of chips in hand.
Karui and Omoi were racing each other while Tamaki, Matsuri and Yukata sprinted alongside each other. Gaara was nowhere to be found but that was expected because he was serving a punishment as a janitor for two weeks.
Lavender met onyx and electric sparks flew from both and met in the middle. It needed not be said that this was a race between the Hyuga and Uchiha for the fastest between the two. It was creepy the way Neji and Sasuke did a telepathic countdown and took off at the same time.
Before long, they were both at the front of the line and were racing to the end of the track. Now you can't expect a race without a disaster, can you? And so my folks, disaster manifested itself as the bright (read: dumb) and energetic (read: sugar high) Rock Lee.
As you have figured, there can be no Rock Lee in a race without a challenging Naruto and an equally challenging Kiba. A sweet recipe for disaster but Neji didn't know this.
One moment, Lee appeared next to him proclaiming he wanted to join in their 'quest for youthful manliness', next Kiba and Naruto came barreling in with their own loud proclamations. Sasuke had been annoyed but he was not the one on the receiving end of the idiotic trio's antics. The next thing Neji knew, Lee was trying to strike a pose that just had to involve him giving a thumbs up, only, the thumb decided to elope with his eye.
Neji yelped and stopped abruptly to treat his irritated eye but the other two bozos were running too fast to stop. They just had to be behind the long haired male. Naruto stopped but that was because he collided with Neji's back. Kiba on the other hand lost his footing and in a desperate need to find something to hold himself up with, he pulled Neji's hair harshly.
Needless to say, the scream that left Neji's mouth was not manly at all. They all (Sasuke excluded) landed in a dog pile on the floor with Neji sandwiched with his face dangerously close to Lee's groin and Naruto's butt dangerously close to Neji's face.
Gym class is now one of Neji's most hated classes and three people made it to the top of his hate list.
That was three weeks ago.
"Today we would be playing good ol' dodgeball!" Anko announced in her usual chirpy tone. The groan that everybody collectively released came out in a long drawl that Anko ignored. "The team pickers would be Neji and Sasuke."
Both boys stepped out and Sasuke got to pick first. The dark haired boy tried so hard to ignore Naruto's crazy gestures to choose him but the way he was waving like a starving man stranded and looking for a hitch ride was so distracting. "Naruto." Sasuke sighed in defeat.
"Yeah!" The blond cheered and skipped over to Sasuke's side.
Neji felt a bead of sweat trickling down his temple at the look Hinata pegged him with. It was very clear that she wanted to be on Naruto's team by the way her big eyes slightly watered pleadingly. Neji would do anything for his baby sister but setting her up with Namikaze was not one of them.
"Hinata." The way the girl's eyes narrowed into slits assured Neji of the silent treatment he was going to receive from her for the next two months and he found himself gulping. There was no going back though, because Sasuke had picked his next team member.
Gaara was surprised to hear his name called but his outward appearance looked stony as usual. Naruto cheered and forced him into doing an unwilling high five that got the redhead wondering why he didn't want to kill the blond for touching him.
Neji looked around and blatantly ignored Lee's 'ETERNAL RIVAL!' yelling in favour of calling Haku instead. As slim and fragile looking Haku was, he was very good at projectiles and had a lot of power behind his throws. Lee visibly deflated but perked up again a little too fast for Neji's liking.
"Suigetsu." Sasuke called.
"Lee." Neji succumbed not by choice.
"Kiba."
"Juugo."
"Karui." Sasuke called because he had seen the dark girl throw a rock at Naruto from a distance and it landed square on his head. The rock was as large as a human's head so Sasuke kept wondering till date how Naruto survived that hit (It was a cluster of sand Karui threw but Sasuke did not know that).
"Tenten." Neji called because he knew that the girl was a spit fire.
"Shino."
"Sakura."
"Omoi."
"Matsuri."
"Ino."
"Tamaki."
"Yukata."
"Choji."
Only two people were left and that was Shikamaru and Karin who was the referee. Neither team leaders wanted to choose the lazy boy because it was obvious that he would allow himself to get hit just so that he could sleep at the nurse's office.
"What a drag, I'm the ball boy?!" Pineapple head complained but took the ball cart from Anko anyway. Everybody got into position and Karin blew the starting whistle. Neji was the first to throw. He looked at Sasuke's team for an unguarded person and zeroed in on Yukata.
The brunette landed with an 'oof' on the floor as the ball bounced away. Shikamaru grumbled all the way to fetch the ball while Sasuke got his turn to throw. Hinata eeped when the ball met her shoulder and Neji's eyes narrowed at the subtle war declaration.
It was Haku's throw next. The androgynous looking boy grinned widely and flung the ball at Ino. The ball bounced off the blond's head and she glared. "Haku!" Ino yelled angrily at her messed up hair.
"Sorry Ino-chan." Haku gave a very handsome and fake apologetic smile as Ino stomped outside the court. The game continued with nobody losing for a while until Karui knocked Choji off the court with a war cry. Sakura retributed by making Omoi lose.
Kiba dodged a ball from Tamaki and was very glad he did so because of the hot breeze that the blew through his hair when the ball whizzed past him. Lee threw the ball at Suigetsu but it somehow landed on Shikamaru's face. Either way, pineapple achieved his goal of going to the nurse's office despite the mad horse ride on Lee's back.
Juugo lost, Karui lost too. Sakura lost, Shino lost too. The game continued until the teams were reduced to three members each. On Neji's team was Neji, Haku and Tenten while on Sasuke's team, Sasuke, Naruto and Gaara remained.
Sasuke threw the ball at Tenten but she caught it and threw it towards Naruto who caught it and threw at Haku. The long haired boy caught it and flung it at Gaara who, like everyone else, caught it and threw it at Neji.
The rally continued with the others cheering at the background to knock Haku out because he was the one responsible for most head bumps on his classmates' heads. The brunet's vein pulsed at their constant disappointed groans when Haku caught or dodged the ball and cheers when it seemed like the ball was going to collide with his face.
"What is your problem?!" Haku's dam finally burst but he regretted his action when various snapping voices (Ino's being the loudest) yapped at him in return. The shout that erupted from the rowdy gym could rival a football stadium during the world cup tournament when a ball finally hit Haku square on the head.
Sasuke's team won the match in the end. Everyone trudged to the locker rooms for a well needed shower and to change their clothes. Neji had to stop a sausage fest from happening because ew, comparing lengths was just gross and he really did not want to see other boys' 'sausages'. Of course boys would be boys and so from a sausage feat, they switched to towel slapping instead.
Sasuke got into the game (read: fight) when a rolled towel thwacked his bum courtesy of Naruto (the mischief maker). Neji's mouth got stuffed with a towel when he tried to stop the fight so it was palpable that he joined in too. Haku, Kiba, Lee and Suigetsu were in for the fun while Shikamaru was forced in after one too many hits across his back by Omoi.
Choji, Juugo and Shino were defending themselves with their towels but it was proving impossible. Gaara did not know how the hell he stumbled outside the locker room in only his black boxer briefs but he swore to burn all of his boxer briefs that day when some of the girls were passing by and saw him pounding on the closed door (again, he knew not how the door closed) for entrance.
The fight stopped when Shino (bless his soul) realized that Gaara was nowhere to be found. The door opened to a fuming Sabaku and everybody instantly paled. The redhead huffed and went to his locker to wear his uniform. Strange silence ensued in the place as Gaara changed until Naruto broke it by laughing.
Haku joined in along with Kiba and Suigetsu and soon, everyone was laughing. Even Gaara gave a small snort and Shino chuckled softly. They all looked stupid and the room was a mess but this was the first time both classes had fun together.
Thanks for reading! I hope you're enjoying the book so far.