Chapter 2.

Hinata was sitting at her desk in the nurse's office and yawned for the umpteenth time. She'd been up all night, chatting with Hanabi over the phone. Apparently, her sister was transferring to Konoha Lyceum soon. Even though they had planned this already, the news still excited her, spurring the woman to spend much more time than usual catching up with her little sister.

"I see somebody had some fun tonight," Tsunade commented her subordinate's fatigued state, pulling her out of her reverie.

"N-no, I just spent a little too long talking with my sister," the health assistant explained, embarrassed. Not only was it unprofessional to come to work looking drained, but the older woman's insinuations didn't help at all.

"It's okay," the nurse said understandingly. "You are young, now is a perfect time to fool around a little. Just make sure it's not one of the students."

"La-lady Tsunade!"

Tsunade burst with laughter. Her colleague was just too easy to tease. She was glad that Hinata accepted her offer of working with her, otherwise the lone nurse would be spending all of her days at work without a decent conversation that didn't consist of one-word answers like a certain someone she knew...

Their conversation was interrupted by a firm knock on the door. A moment later in came two students followed by the now familiar to Hinata art teacher. Tsunade turned to the arrivals with a resigned sigh.

"What did these two do this time?"

Judging from the older woman's unimpressed tone, the pair in question were not first-time visitors. Now that she looked at the boys closer, one of them sported a black eye while the second seemed to be struggling with a nosebleed.

"These idiots decided that fighting in my class is the best way to solve their petty disagreements."

"But Mr. Hatake, Sasuke started it first!" one of the students with blonde hair and a flashy orange jacket protested.

"Shut up, Naruto," the art teacher said, clearly not in the mood for the teen's antics. The second student beside him looked like he also wanted to say something but one preemptive look from Hatake made him immediately reconsider.

As unseemly as the students' actions had been, Hinata was more horrified with the teacher's behavior. Calling his students idiots and shutting them up in such a manner… Even Tsunade looked disapprovingly at the older man, and she wasn't one to keep formalities.

"Well, at least you brought them right here instead of straight to the principal."

"There are rules that must be followed," he shrugged. In case a student gets injured, a teacher's first priority is to ensure their wellbeing before starting investigating and dispensing punishments. "Besides, I'm not going to bring them to Hiruzen."

The young brawlers looked at their teacher and exchanged hopeful looks with each other. The sight of them Hinata found amusing, considering that now of all times they displayed solidarity, when the fight was what brought them there in the first place.

"They are going to the vice-principal."

At those words the two boys' faces blanched. From what she heard about their deputy head teacher, Danzou was a harsh disciplinarian. No doubt he'd dish out a punishment far too disproportionate even for their transgression.

"Are you sure about this, Kakashi?" Tsunade asked, raising a brow while handing the boys each an ice pack. "They might get expelled."

At the mention of expulsion both students' expressions became even more alarmed. Hinata felt the need to help somehow.

"Uhm, maybe you could let them go with a warning or something? Just this once."

The teen boys looked at her in surprise. They didn't dare to hope, but Hinata supposed they'd appreciate any help they could get right now. Hatake clearly didn't share their sentiment.

"I don't tell you how to treat your patients," he said dismissively, his impassive gaze flickering to her for the first time since he entered the room, as if only now he was deigning her with his attention. "I ask you don't tell me how to do my job."

"I'm not," she frowned, trying to remain civil. "It was just a suggestion."

Before Hatake could respond to that, Tsunade, who just finished treating her patients' injuries, too decided to speak.

"Come now, Kakashi, you know better then anyone that boys sometimes can get rowdy. Just punish them yourself. I know you can be much more creative than our dear vice-principal when it comes to things like that." The older woman practically cooed.

The teens looked hopefully at their teacher, awaiting his decision. Hatake sighed, reluctantly accepting the suggestion. Hinata noticed Tsunade giving the troublemakers a wink when their teacher wasn't looking. Hinata smirked, so our grumpy art teacher does have someone he listens to, afterall.

"Alright," he huffed, averting his eyes from the smirking woman. "Naruto, Sasuke, you may hate my subject due to your complete lack of aptitude towards it, but I will not tolerate any disruption to my class. Is that understood?"

While he was speaking with his back to his students, Naruto was making faces, mocking the teacher. Hinata couldn't help but let a snicker out. Noticing this, Hatake finally turned to face his students, who masterfully schooled their expressions to those of remorse.

"Is that understood," he repeated, eyes narrowing threateningly.

"Yes, sir."

Nodding in approval, Hatake turned back towards the nurse to sign a mandatory report that Tsunade had already pulled out of her drawer.

"You two just extended your detention," he drawled as he was filling the form. "Keep it up and I'll myself write a report to the principal asking to get rid of the both of you."

The teens gulped, knowing full well that he wasn't kidding. Hinata felt a little sympathy for the boys. Even she was a little scared of their art teacher. However, in this situation his actions were justified. In fact, he was being quite lenient with the two of them. The young health assistant just hoped that they won't find another way to get themselves in trouble with Hatake.

"See you later, Tsunade," the man threw off his shoulder, leaving the office after his students.

Hinata marveled at hearing the art teacher address the older woman with such familiarity. And he actually listened to her advice! She supposed Tsunade and him really did have a history. Her ponderings were interrupted by the nurse's voice.

"Say, would you mind doing me a little favor?"

"Sure," Hinata immediately replied, waiting for the older woman to make her request.

"That Kakashi brat will be coming here often," she said, glancing briefly at the door, "can I leave you a copy of the office keys so that you can help him out in case I'm not around?"

The young health assistant bit her lip. Technically there were things she couldn't do that a nurse could, but she supposed there will be no harm if she were present in the office – at least she could do things she was allowed to while in there.

"Of course I trust you to close the office once you are done. You could even continue working here after the day is over," Tsunade allowed, dangling the keys in front of her.

"It's okay, I prefer working in the library. But regarding your request, I don't mind."

The older woman smiled gratefully, handing her a copy of the keys. It was the whole bundle, including the office door and keys from medicine cupboards. Making sure Hinata received everything she needed, Tsunade organized her papers and stood from her desk.

"Well, it's almost time for lunch. I'm off for some business with the old man Hiruzen." she told Hinata, stretching.

Hinata nodded in understanding, and the two left for lunch break. There were already some people inside the cafeteria when Hinata arrived. Hinata got to chat with pretty much all of them, finding that she liked her colleagues very much. They were a lively bunch, especially Gai, who so far she'd seen to only wear the same green tracksuit. Apparently, out of all the teachers he was the only one who seemed to get along with Kakashi. The art teacher seemed to tolerate Gai's presence and the PE teacher said that he liked his colleague's cold demeanor, calling it 'hip and cool'. But then again, Hinata couldn't imagine Gai not liking anybody.

"Kakashi and I are rivals of sorts," Gai declared somewhat proudly. "We went to same schools and the same university. So it was fate that brought us together to this school."

Hinata nodded, even though she didn't quite get what the older man meant by calling Hatake his 'rival'.

"Don't say that, man," admonished the bearded math teacher who sat right next to him. Hinata was sure his name was Asuma. "You know how he feels about this all."

A heavy air hung around their group for a few seconds, confusing Hinata. What was so bad about what Gai said? Everyone seemed to know something about the art teacher that they found important enough to not speak about openly. Hinata was curious but knew better than to pry in somebody's life. So, instead, she asked about their school. She knew from Hanabi and Tsunade's words that Konoha Lyceum had a rich history, but couldn't find much information about it in the internet.

"I think this school is more than 70 years old," Asuma answered, scratching his beard. "It was founded by Madara Uchiha and Hashirama Senju. The first one supplied funding for the project while the second managed everything, from what I heard. That's as far as I know from dad's lectures," he explained with a shrug.

Hinata's eyes widened in recognition at the names Asuma mentioned. Uchiha was a very famous name in their country, their family was as blue-blooded as they came, bearing many philanthropists, entrepreneurs, and government officials throughout the years.

"Senju…" could it be who Hinata thought it was?

"Mhm," Kurenai nodded, "that's our dear Lady Tsunade's grandfather."

No wonder such an esteemed name in the field of medical science as Tsunade was working here, Hinata thought. Her own ancestor was the founder of the institution.

"Our school really is an elite one, isn't it?" she commented, looking at her workplace in a slightly different light.

"Oh, our gymnasium is among the best schools in the country," bragged Asuma, clearly still proud of KL despite his insistence that he didn't want to walk in his father's footsteps and devote himself to the school as a principal. "Dad's always going to some ceremony or the other to receive an award for academic excellence or some other shit like that."

"Students from this school often win national competitions," supplied Kurenai. "We have many orphans and students from poor backgrounds, but there is also an equal number of children from rich families. A lot of heirs from big dynasties are KL's alumni."

"Itachi Uchiha, for example."

This time Hinata was sure who her friend was talking about. Not only because Itachi was the youngest billionaire in the country and the founder of a rapidly growing tech company that made world-class medical devices, but also because she had met him in person several times when they were kids. They studied in the same university, but she never knew that he graduated from Konoha.

"I knew that KL was a good school, but I never realized it's that good," Hinata muttered, baffled at how could she not be aware of such a school all this time.

When she asked her friends about this, they looked between themselves and shared a laugh.

"Our school has an ambiguous reputation, you'll know what we mean by that," Anko said, noticing confusion in the younger woman's face. Apparently, even Konoha had its own skeletons in its closet. "Many parents prefer not to send their children here."

"It's also good in some things, but not so good in others. For example, our arts, maths and physics departments are considered to be one of the best in the country," Iruka stated with no little pride, being a physics teacher himself.

"Don't forget about me!" Gai's boisterous voice cut in.

"Yeah, our baseball team competes at national level and almost always gets into the top 3. This is because Gai is a really good coach, he used to compete at nationals himself when he was young."

"What are you talking about, Shizune? I'm still young. The power of youth–"

"Yeah, yeah, the power of youth, we know," Anko waved the man off, a little irritated. Her biology department was decent, but nowhere near the level of other subjects mentioned earlier. "Anyway, because we have only a handful of really good departments and all the others suck, our school's rating is pretty mediocre."

Hinata took a bite of her pizza, absorbing the information that came from multiple directions around her. These people were indeed weird in their own right. Such a friendly and easygoing atmosphere was not something Hinata was very used to. In her own school people were practically at each other's throats due to the fierce competition. Her university was civil enough, but everyone kept to themselves. In Konoha she found very quickly that people considered each other friends, if not family. Hinata watched with slight amusement as Gai kept frustrating Anko without even realizing it. Asuma was flirting with Kurenai while Shizune and Iruka, the two straight people among their group, were quietly chatting between themselves. No teacher in their school was as interesting as this bunch.

Well, maybe there was one… Just as the thought of their grouchy art teacher entered her mind, the doors opened and in came Hatake Kakashi himself. Discreetly, she watched the man, curious, intent to try and invite him over once again.

As it turned out, to no avail.

Just like the last time, Hatake went straight to the kitchenette with barely a nod of acknowledgement towards his colleagues. And just like the last time, he emerged with a sandwich and some drink. As quickly as he came he left the cafeteria.

"I wonder if he eats with Lady Tsunade?" Kurenai spoke after the art teacher disappeared. "She is always the first one to finish here, so maybe she keeps him some company?"

"What are you suggesting, Kurenai? She's in her fifties!" Asuma called her out, exaggerated disgust on his face.

"Shut up, age doesn't matter. Besides, I was talking about their friendship."

"They are friends?" Hinata asked the older woman.

"Apparently, seeing as Tsunade is the only one he ever listens to," Anko snorted.

Hinata noted her colleagues' words. Hatake definitely spent some time in the nurse's office yesterday, and he did seem to listen to Tsunade. As the thought crossed her mind her phone let a sound of notification. Pulling it out she saw a message from Tsunade, telling her that she was going to be late as her meeting with the principal was dragging out. Hinata didn't mind and happily continued to eat with her colleagues. She had a copy of the office keys for situations like this.

After lunch, when she arrived back at the office, there was already someone waiting for her at the door. It was none other than the infamous art teacher himself. Hinata didn't even let that surprise her. They were seeing each other quite often these past two days that she's been working there.

"Where is Tsunade?" he immediately asked, as impatient as ever.

"She's busy. She asked me to come here."

Hatake didn't say anything, just turned his head away from her towards the door, as if telling her that she needed to unlock it for him. The health assistant rolled her eyes, pulling out the keys and opening the office.

"How can I help you?" she asked him as soon as he stepped in after her.

"I need my medication."

Hinata saw the discomfort in the man's eyes. What possibly could he need from their limited range of medicines that it was embarrassing him?

"What do you need it for?" she tried to clarify.

"It's none of your business."

"I cannot help you if you don't tell me what the problem is, I am afraid," she stated, sounding completely nonjudgmental yet firm.

"Didn't Tsunade tell you?" Hatake must've seen the look of confusion on Hinata's face, as he sighed and turned to the seat in front of Tsunade's desk. "Nevermind, I'll just wait here till Tsunade comes back."

"If you are willing to wait and you have no classes to teach, then please," Hinata agreed, taking her seat as well. If he wanted her out of his private information then as a healthcare professional she could only comply.

They sat like that for a few minutes – in complete silence. Hatake seemed distracted with something so he didn't notice Hinata observe him. There was nothing else to do, and she wondered what was it that Tsunade was willing to bend the rules for and allow her to dispense the medication unsupervised. The man a few feet from her looked completely fine…

Or did he?

As she kept watching him, her medically trained eye noticed that the expression of unease had not come off of his face. It seemed to get more and more strained by the minute. In fact, Hatake's breathing started to sound labored and Hinata could swear his right hand was shaking…

"Are you alright? Did something happen?"

"I'm fine," he snapped, and it was all the indication she needed to know that he wasn't fine at all.

"You look like you are about to faint. Would you like some water? Do you feel any pain?"

Hatake attempted to wave her concern away, but almost immediately twitched in pain and grabbed his hand. The woman noted that the hand he was now frantically massaging was the right hand that has been shaking this whole time.

"Please, allow me to help," she pleaded, feeling real fear for her unwilling patient. "I swear I will not tell anyone!"

Hatake looked at her for a long moment before cursing audibly and nodding his head. Hinata ignored the crude language and patiently awaited his explanation.

"Usually, I take a certain medicine from Tsunade… It's for pain. I… my hand's messed up. It's fine most of the time but sometimes… it hurts like hell," he finished, taking a little pause every time he winced from the pain.

"I-Is it because of something that happened with your hand recently?" Hinata asked, trying to remember all the guidelines for the condition the art teacher could possibly have.

"Not recently. Long time ago. Something to do with the nerves."

Hinata's eyes widened. Was it neuropathic pain? If so, then what could she possibly give him apart from the standard painkillers? Their school supply did not – could not – allow for any controlled drugs.

"Hold on," she said, walking up to the medicine cupboard. "I'll give you some paracetamol and–"

"Already tried," he said through gritted teeth, "I only come here when I need something stronger."

Something stronger? Opioids? Or is it, perhaps–

"It's in a bottle."

Hinata didn't know what to make of the situation, but she knew that her colleague was in pain and needed something urgent.

"I have prescription for it, if that's what you are worried about," the man added, still rubbing his hand in a futile attempt to alleviate some pain. "Just don't have it with me…"

The health assistant nodded, already in search for the drug that Hatake childishly refused to name. She looked into every cupboard but couldn't find anything among the rows of accurately stocked medicine packs. Frantically, she began looking around the room – no sign of it. That was when her gaze landed on Tsunade's desk. Without a moment of hesitation, she pulled the first drawer. It was locked. She then remembered that there was one more key in the bundle Tsunade gave her that she didn't know the purpose of. Relief washed over Hinata's whole being as the lock turned with a click, allowing the drawer to slide open. There it was, the bottle of oral morphine solution.

Opioid it is.

Hinata quickly prepared the needed dose and offered the drug to her patient. He took it with a grunt that she liked to think meant gratitude. A few minutes later the visible signs of pain started to subside, and it looked like the art teacher could finally relax somewhat. His posture and expression weren't as strained, and he was silently watching the woman, as if contemplating something. Someone who knew Kakashi would've noticed the curiosity behind those seemingly impassive grey eyes. Alas, the only thing Hinata felt under the man's scrutiny was self-consciousness.

Hinata felt like she needed to say something, but didn't know what. So she reiterated her promise not to disclose anything that happened in that office. Hatake only nodded in acceptance, finally removing his gaze from her. Hinata wanted to ask why he kept his personal medication in the nurse's office instead of on his person, but knew full well that the information could be sensitive. Instead, she offered him to take a rest at the bunk that they had in the room.

"I need to go," he refused her offer, standing up, "Lesson starts soon."

Was that man serious? How could he hope to give a lesson when his hand was in such a state? What if the pain was triggered by his use of the hand in the first place? What if it reoccurs? She couldn't object to his decisions, though, so she only stated her concerns, to which he replied with a shake of his head. He left shortly after. But this time Hinata was surprised to hear a quiet "Thank you" from the man as the door was closing behind him. She shook her head, smiling to herself.

Maybe Gai was right and Hatake wasn't so bad at all.