Chapter 1.

"No daughter of mine will waste her potential in some blue coat school as a mere nurse!"

The memory once again appeared in a young woman's head as she stood at the gates of the Konoha Lyceum. It has been more than two weeks since her father uttered those words right after she made known her desire to apply for a position of a health assistant in a local school. Since then, it hasn't been a day that those words didn't weigh on her mind.

In her ruminations, the woman didn't notice that the person she'd been waiting for had already appeared.

"Ah, miss Hyuga, sorry for not coming out to greet you right away," the man that had come up to her said in greeting. It was none other than the head teacher of the school, Hiruzen Sarutobi.

"It was no problem, sir," smiled the woman, shaking the old principal's proffered hand, "and you can call me Hinata."

In truth, Hinata didn't quite get why the head of the school had the need to apologize for not meeting one of the newly arrived staff in person. He was to be her boss, afterall, he could've just waited for her in his office.

"No problem, Hinata," Hiruzen acknowledged the woman's request of familiarity with a smile of his own. "Shall we? I have quite a tour for you."

With those words, the head teacher proceeded to show Hinata around the school grounds. For an institution funded on charity the territory was well-maintained. It was nothing exquisite – no lush gardens like in her family's estate, no greenhouses like the one in her university; just simple, neatly mowed lawn with equally simple decorative bushes. She remembered her little sister saying that Konoha was a very decent school in terms of academics and had a number of departments that were some of the best in the country. It sure looked decent from the outside.

After seeing the schoolyard and the football pitch, which from the principal's words also dubbed as a playground for any sort of sport, they moved inside the building itself. Konoha Lyceum was a small school, you could see the wall the corridor butted against all the way through from the opposite end. There were three floors, including the basement, and the principal's office was located on the ground floor, right before the physics classroom. Passing by the boisterous students, Hinata couldn't help but notice the friendly and easy atmosphere in the school. Children greeted her and the teachers as if they were friends, and the teachers replied in kind. Upon entering the principal's office, the secretary had also greeted them with a smile. Hinata smiled back, awkwardly waving her hand at the older woman.

"You remember Shizune, don't you," the head teacher said, inviting the bashful woman to his office.

As soon as they sat down, Hiruzen pulled out a printout of Hinata's CV and gave it one final skim.

"Now, I know that we have already agreed to offer you a job, but I want to ask you one more time. Are you sure about this?" the principal asked almost caringly, his dark brown eyes searching her violet ones for any sign of doubt. "Magna cum laude in MD-MBA is a bit, shall we say, overqualification for the kind of position we are able to offer. Any position in this school, if I am being honest," he chuckled.

Hinata didn't waver the first time during her interview and she wasn't about to do it now. She remembered her father's words, her determination flaring up just as hotly as her anger at them.

"Absolutely," she said, as confident as anyone could be. "Tsunade Senju is also working here, and her academic achievements were much superior to mine."

"Tsunade does work here, that is true. She has her reasons, as I'm sure you do too." He sighed, handing her another sheet of paper, which Hinata recognized as her contract. "Alright, we will be overjoyed to have you with us, Hinata."

Giving her boss a grateful nod, she immediately signed the papers, shook his hand, and assumed her position as a healthcare assistant to the school nurse. Glad that she came early enough to start work, Hinata went straight to the nurse's office to report for duty. On her way out from the principal's she caught Shizune's encouraging smile. Hinata knew that they will be having lunch together later.

Thus began her job as a health assistant in the Konoha Lyceum.

Turns out it was quite an eventful job, as not even five minutes in her settling at the workplace a student came in with a badly bruised ankle. Tsunade, the school nurse, let Hinata examine the kid, likely giving her a chance to do her job as well as to establish a relationship with the students.

"That bruise looks serious," the newly assigned health assistant told the young man who was desperately trying to hide the pain from his expression. She then turned to her superior, "I think we should send him to the hospital."

"I agree, that hematoma looks really painful. I doubt you'll be able to walk much, so we'll call you an ambulance."

After the unfortunate student left with the medics to treat his injury, Hinata was meaning to ask a question. Her curiosity was noticed by the older woman.

"I can see you want to say something, good job by the way with the kid," Tsunade praised, urging the girl to speak.

"I was just curious, was there a need to call ambulance? Couldn't we just have his parents take him to the hospital?"

"We could," Tsunade agreed, "if he had one, that is."

Hinata stammered in understanding, making a mental note to look out for the kid. Rock Lee, she thought his name was.

"Don't forget that this is a charity school. There are many students from institutions," the older woman continued. "A lot of them, incidentally, often end up here."

The fondness in the nurse's voice did not escape Hinata's attention. Evidently, there were many troublemakers in this school for whom the older woman had a soft spot. She decided to take extra care and keep an eye on the situation of every patient that comes to their office from now on.

Before lunch time had arrived, Hinata tended to three more students, their problems ranging from a simple headache to an asthma attack for which they had to administer an emergency inhaler. She just finished telling about it to Shizune and Kurenai, who she was having lunch with. The two women had immediately taken a liking to their new colleague, helping her adjust and introducing her to other teachers, for which the young woman was immensely grateful.

"You seem doing great, Hinata."

"I think our Lady Tsunade has also taken a liking to you," agreed Kurenai.

"Thanks, I'm still new here, so I'll be in your care," Hinata replied humbly.

"No need to be so formal, we are all like family here," supplied Shizune, right before the cafeteria doors opened and a severe looking man entered the room.

Hinata noticed that all the talk quieted down upon the older man's entrance. The man briefly looked around, before heading straight towards the principal and taking up a seat beside him.

"That's Danzou Shimura, our vice-principal, not a very friendly guy, but generally harmless."

Hinata nodded, glancing at the head and deputy head teacher quietly conversing with each other over their meal. She had a feeling that the vice-principal was not someone to piss off.

"So, in this family he would be like a grumpy uncle?" she joked, making the two older women laugh.

"More like a very grumpy uncle who also hates kids," Kurenai complained. "Honestly, why did he even become a teacher if he hates children so much."

"Quiet!" whispered Shizune, "He'll hear you."

If Danzou did hear them, then he didn't pay any mind, Hinata concluded. She was about to ask some more about their vice-principal before another person entered the teacher's cafeteria. It was a man, much younger than Danzou or the principal, but not as young as Hinata. In fact, he looked around Kurenai and Shizune's age, but Hinata couldn't tell for sure – the guy's hair was completely grey. He also wore a mask of sorts on his face, making it even harder to decipher his age. Much like Danzou, he looked around the table, but unlike the older man, his impassive gaze had briefly stopped on her. At least he acknowledged her arrival, Hinata noted, waving at him in greeting, which he even responded to with a nod of his head.

Hinata was about to invite the mysterious man over to their side of the table when he passed them over towards the kitchenette. Half a minute later he reappeared with a box sandwich and a glass of water, only to leave the cafeteria altogether.

"That's our black sheep, Hatake," Shizune informed her as soon as the door closed behind said man.

Kurenai huffed, refusing to say anything on the matter. Instead the woman dug in her food, letting Shizune talk.

"He is our art teacher," her friend said, "not the most agreeable of people, but there is no need to be afraid of him. He's all bark and no bite."

Hinata nodded, intrigued.

"Why is he not having lunch with everyone else? I thought our meals were paid for by the school?"

"He's an asshole, that's why."

"Shizune!" Kurenai barked, "We shouldn't gossip about our own colleagues, especially in front of newcomers."

"What? We both know that's true!" the second woman responded, crossing her arms.

Hinata watched her friends argue over the art teacher with interest. If possible, she would like to keep a cordial relationship with every one of her fellow staff members, so she made a mental note to invite that Hatake guy to have lunch with them next time. She didn't want to make her opinion of someone based on rumors. Even if said rumors were told by her friends.

As the lunch time neared its end, the trio decided to separate. Bidding the older women goodbye, the health assistant went straight to the nurse's office. Along the way, Hinata sorted through all the people she had met at lunch. There was Iruka, the kind physics teacher; Danzou, their vice-principal who teaches chemistry; their principal, Hiruzen, who used to be a math teacher; Anko, biology teacher who has a weird fascination with snakes; Asuma, Hiruzen's son who teaches math instead of his father; Gai, their PE guy. Shizune she had already learned was a secretary, while Kurenai was their school accountant. Hinata chuckled at Shizune's joke about Kurenai being an illusionist because she could make numbers come out of nowhere on their school's financial reports.

As her hand was on the doorknob about to enter the nurse's office, the door suddenly swung in, pulling the woman with it. As she lost her balance, she practically bumped into the person inside. Feeling a hand help her steady herself, she looked up to see the familiar masked face. Up close she could see the splotches of paint on the art teacher's mask and sense its scent. He also seemed to have a fine scar going over his left eye.

"Careful," Hatake said, not sounding particularly caring.

Before she could apologize or say anything, the man had already moved past her, leaving her behind in the room. Hinata didn't even get the chance to invite him.

Well, she supposed there were other teachers to whom she hasn't introduced herself yet. She decided that there will be plenty of opportunity to get to know them all.

"I see you've met our Mr. Sunshine," Tsunade joked behind her, in her usual place at her desk.

"He is…" she replied, trying to find a suitable word to describe the man that just left the nurse's office.

"Difficult? Scary? Weird?" Tsunade supplied, smirking knowingly.

"All of that."

The nurse shook her head, chuckling. "Sometimes I really worry about that brat…"

Tsunade's words surprised Hinata a little. Was she so caring towards everyone in this school, student or teacher alike? Or did the art teacher manage to somehow win her affections? She didn't give it much thought, however, just as she didn't really give any thought about the reason for Hatake's visit.


Hinata's first day at work passed quickly enough, and at five o'clock Tsunade was about to close the office.

"Aren't you leaving? The day is over."

Hinata shook her head, telling the older woman that she was going to do some work of her own.

"Well, I cannot let you be in this office unsupervised, as much as I trust you, the law is the law. I suggest you go to the library. It's open till nine from Monday to Friday."

Thus, the woman proceeded downstairs to the basement, where the library was located, as well as some other classrooms. Basement floor was vastly different from the rest of the school. It was darker here, not to mention scarier. She could swear she heard weird sounds echo along the poorly lit corridor, and decided to quicken her step. She hastily passed by all the classrooms and their gym, arriving to the cozy looking library, a haven of comfort in this seemingly intimidating part of the school. Absently, she wondered how the library could be still open so late but didn't pay much mind to it. She had a lot of work to do.

Her father had agreed to let her do as she pleased on one condition. She must go through with his company's graduate programme that she'd started already. Such a scheme entailed a considerable amount of work, including self-study and workshops. Fortunately, she had almost fulfilled that condition anyway since nearly a year passed from her starting the programme. Truth be told, part of the reason for her applying for a job at school with clear overqualifications was to spite her father. But her defiance had a deeper reasoning too. She simply was tired and just wanted to do what she'd enjoy. Moreover, what her father didn't know yet was that her little sister, Hanabi, was planning to enroll in Konoha. The plan was to spend as much time as they could with each other. Being heirs of a multibillion-dollar company is associated with a lot of expectations. Sometimes their weight was just too much for the Hyuga sisters, which led them to this idea of getting into the same school, one as a student and another as a member of staff. Their father, Hiashi Hyuga, had a corporate executive role paved out for them in their family company, Hyuga Pharmaceuticals. Unlike Hanabi, Hinata wasn't necessarily opposed to the idea, but she still wanted to do things at her own pace. Was it a crime to take a little rest?

Hinata sighed, logging into her laptop and finding her assignment at the company's website. Now, instead of taking a gap year she ended up taking two jobs, effectively making her free time nonexistent, at least until the end of her programme at HPharm. Her father wanted her to give up but she'll show him that she could do as she pleased while doing his bidding as well.

"Well, at least you are doing what you wanted," she muttered, rubbing her eyes in tired frustration. The prospect of spending the whole evening working did not excite her at all.

She could always back down and concede to her father, but her pride would not allow such a thing. Equally, she could tell her father to stuff it and that she was going to take a year off, but he'd never let her "laze around" for even a week, much less a whole year, and she was too scared to demand that of him. So, the only thing left for her now was to wait for her sister to get there. Together, they'll think of something…

Four hours passed by quickly as she completed her assignments for the week. If anything, she was always an efficient worker. Maybe these final weeks of her graduate training scheme would not be such a strain on her afterall…

As she was about to submit her work, she heard the library door open. Turning her head towards the sound, she once again met with the masked face of their art teacher. It seemed that he was as shocked as she to see someone else in the library at that hour. Although Hatake was the first to recover.

"We are closing."

He waited for exactly half a second before turning off the lights and leaving the woman in complete darkness.

Blinking owlishly, Hinata hit the submit button, hurriedly packed up and went after the man, afraid he would lock her inside. The door closed shut behind her not a second after she stepped out. Watching the art teacher impatiently lock it, Hinata wondered why he was the one responsible for closing the library. Afterall, the school did have a librarian. She waited until he was done to ask him just that.

"I'm not asking you why you are still here this late," was his response, clearly telling her to mind her own business.

"Well, I don't mind," she said, "I have–"

He didn't bother to listen her finish and went ahead towards the staircase. Undeterred, Hinata quickened her step and caught up to him. She was surprised, however, when he stopped halfway, right before the art classroom.

"What?" he asked when she halted with him, his hand resting impatiently on the doorknob.

"What?" she repeated cheekily.

He sighed, opening the door and slipping in.

"Is that your workshop? Wow. Looks really cool," she said, peeking inside. There was everything one could imagine when they thought about an art class: canvases on easels, brushes, acrylics, oils, watercolors, pencils, dirty palettes, and countless more pieces of equipment Hinata couldn't even name.

As if noticing her interest, her companion stood right in front of her at the door, blocking her from further observing his classroom. Hinata consciously stopped herself from rolling her eyes. Boy, was he really a killjoy. She then remembered something.

"Hey, I'm sorry by the way. Still haven't introduced myself. I'm Hinata," she extended her hand. "Health assistant."

"Kakashi Hatake."

With those words he slammed the door in her face.

All Hinata could do was stare stupidly at the door. The '7' on the door sign that indicated the classroom number stared back at her as if in mocking.

That little…

"Well that was real mature," she huffed, willing herself not to kick the door even though she really wanted to.

Not bothering to hear his response (which there was none), she promptly left the creepy basement floor and headed straight outside. Wishing goodnight to the security guard, she caught a cab to her apartment. On her way home, looking out the car window, she thought about the choices she made so far. She came to the conclusion that while it wasn't the most ambitious thing to do, today was the most fun she had since a very long time. Even that asshole of an art teacher she found intriguing compared to the monotonous men in suits she met over the course of her life.


Hey guys, it's me again. This time with an Alternate Universe story.

I want to keep the characters somewhat comparable to their original counterparts, but some minor things will be changed, like Rock Lee's age for example (he is not the same age as Hinata). I will try to publish on a regular basis, so you should expect this story to end (hopefully well).

As usual, read and review, your feedback is much appreciated whether positive or negative.