Sasuke didn't return to school until next week.

By now, all the scratches and aches I gave him are fully bruised and swollen, turning a sickly green-yellow combo. All the fangirls are swarming him in 'compassion' at his bandaged appearance. But I can see that even while his best friend Naruto teases him about getting beat up, he's worried. Sasuke stays satisfyingly silent on the matter, not even glancing my way.

If I thought asking him to stay away would work, I would have.

Sasuke's, and more widely, the Uchiha's, reputation precedes himself. Uchiha are stubborn, hard-headed, and persistent. They ignore what people say, but are forced to accept what people can do. Even his older brother, Itachi, with his cool-headed, amicable-for-an-Uchiha self is known for doing what he wants with a smile. That's just how the Uchiha are.

Sasuke is no different.

Unlike his elder brother, though, Sasuke doesn't have the skills or disposition to fight back against someone who can ignore his usual intimidation. In other words, he's all bark and no bite right now.

Which turns out fine for me. If he really used the Uchiha resources, I'd be a goner.

Another trait of the Uchiha is their pride. Hopefully, Sasuke would want to get even with me on his own, so he wouldn't even consider using the resources at his disposal.

For now...

Looking over at the pouting boy, I don't think he can consider anything much farther than his wounded pride. I can easily overpower him right now, and I'm sure that he would be too embarrassed to confess what actually happened. I guess, for now, everything is alright again.

"Alright class," Hatake says, clapping his book shut, "homeroom is about to be over. This is the fourth week of class, so everyone should be comfortable by now. Remember your assigned duties, ja ne."

With that, he leaves the class.

"It really seems like Hatake-sensei doesn't like our class." Ino sighs, "He doesn't say anything until it's time to leave."

"If you say so, Ino-chan." I reply, although I also think he does seem to be agitated in this class.

"I know so!" She exclaims, turning in her seat to face me, "I have some childhood friends in the other first year class, the one with Nohara-sensei as their homeroom teacher. They have Hatake-sensei as their first period and he actually jokes around!"

I raise an eyebrow, unable to believe that the erotica-reading-gravity-defying-hair-avoid-children-as-much-as-he-can sensei would joke around with 'snot-nosed brats.'

Ino sheepishly looks away, before amending, "Well, he teases the hell out of them, okay? He's not a boring grouch like he is in this class. I wonder why we get special treatment."

Like a sixth sense, Ino's sky blue eyes lock onto her frenemy Sakura when she's about to make a move.

"Sasuke-kun!" The familiar fake simpering voice of the pinkette calls out, "Did you finish your language arts homework? If not you can copy off mine."

"Like he'd want to look at your chicken scratch handwriting!" Ino intervenes.

"Shut up, Ino-Pig!"

"Hey!" Another girl joins in, "I have better handwriting, I should be the one Sasuke copies off from!"

"No way—"

Maybe Hatake-sensei has the right idea with his special treatment.

—

While Umino-sensei can be loud, at least he uses it for the betterment of mankind.

"Everyone," He says, deceptively calm, "Shut up!"

Silence ensues.

Then a panic to get to their seats.

Umino-sensei is a kind, patient teacher, but he does have a little temper. Especially in a class with Naruto and Sasuke in it.

"Alright, today we're going to start a group project." A discord of excited chatter and groans are released with this revelation, "You all are in junior high now, so I'll allow everyone to choose who they want to partner up with. If it gets out of hand," a stern look in Sasuke's vicinity and the females of class, "then I will be assigning partners. Partners, that is two people, no more. Any questions?"

Sasuke lazily raises his hand, "Can we do this individually?"

The shocked gasp of nearly every girl in the room follows this question. Umino-sensei just smiles pityingly, "No Sasuke-kun. This is to work on cooperation as well as education."

A single sigh of irritation is drowned out by the excited squeals of the many.

"Hey," Naruto stage-whispers, "hey teme! Let's partner up!"

"No." An immediate reply.

Naruto shocked gasp rivals any of Sasuke's fangirls, "What, why not?! Do you have someone you want to partner up with?"

"No." A hesitant beat of silence, "You'd be a worse partner than the fangirls in anything related to language, Naruto. Find someone else."

"That's why I need you!"

Inevitably, the civil conversation of who gets to be 'Sasuke-kun's' partner turns into heated arguments, then shouting matches, and finally, rounds of playground insults and hair tugging. It was not surprising to see Umino-sensei pulling apart best frenemies Ino and Sakura from one another.

"Stand outside and think of what you've done wrong!" He commands, "I'll be right out, don't say another word to each other!"

The remaining girls scuttle to the side, whispering on what to do among themselves. Umino-sensei turns to me, a disgustingly hopeful look in his eyes.

"Katsumi-cha—" He stops, probably feeling my reluctant attention, "Um, Katsumi-kun, why don't you partner up with Sasuke-kun."

That's a whole can of worms I would rather avoid.

Gathering up my resolve, I give a practiced smile, "Sorry Umino-sensei, I have a partner already."

His face obviously says you-didn't-even-leave-your-seat-I-dont-believe-you.

He smiles back at me, "And whom might they be?"

My smile becomes brighter, "Why, Hinata-Chan of course!"

We share a moment of light laughter and smiles before Sensei whips around and stalks towards Hinata. The poor girl is shivering as all the eyes watching our exchange turns to her.

"Are you partners with Katsumi-kun," Umino-sensei asks, smiling down at the girl, "Hinata-Chan?"

The nervous girl connects eyes with me, I shrug back at her. Whether she wants to partner up with me is up to her.

"A-ano, y-yes I am," she decides, "sensei." She squeaks.

The teacher sighs, but kindly says, "Very well. Good luck with your project then. Everyone else," he addresses, turning to the class, "you have five more minutes to find a partner. After that, I'm assigning you one."

I smile my thanks to her and Hinata shyly returns it. It kind of feels like an accomplishment when she does.

—

"I've handed out the project details." Umino-sensei announces, "Everyone should move to sit next to your partners. This will also be the class seating for the rest of the week."

Figuring that I would be able to reach Hinata faster, I gathered my stuff together. Finding her is pretty easy when mostly everyone is a head shorter than me. The girl assigned next to Hinata's seat is still dawdling, but I set my bag on the desk anyways.

"I'm Hinata-Chan's partner," I explain with a smile, "do you mind if I take this seat? Ami-chan, was it?"

"Um, sure, I guess." She replies.

She goes to push her seat back, but I take the initiative and drag it backwards. She looks up surprised, I offer her my hand and another smile, "May I?"

"O-of course." She stutters, blushing slightly, "Thank you, Matsuzaki-San."

"Please, just Katsumi."

She nods shyly, "Thank you, Katsumi-kun."

Another winning smile, "Allow me to carry your bag for you, you're partners with Miyuki-Chan?"

"That's right." She verifies, startled.

"I was admiring your headband and I happened to overhear." I explain, faux-sheepish.

Everything settled, I plop down into the empty seat and I look over to Hinata, who appears a little dumbstruck.

"W-why did you do that?" She finally asks.

I consider her question, a little surprised she would speak her mind. "Ami-chan is the type that wouldn't want to move." I explain quietly "If I do something like that," I shrug, "then she would move faster. Otherwise, she'd probably take her sweet time moving her stuff."

"I-I see." Hinata murmurs.

"What do you see?" I ask, curious.

"You're kind of..." She starts, I give an encouraging smile, "kind of, manipulative, Katsumi-San."

I blink once, surprised, and an unexpected chuckle escapes me, "I guess so, Hinata-Chan. But!" I place a finger in front of my grinning lips, "That'll be our little secret for now."

Surprised at her own blunt words, Hinata blushes and looks down. She does nod in agreement though.

"I'll be going over the directions, giving guidance and examples." Umino-sensei says, drawing the class's attention, "for this week we'll be working on the project. Every group will be assigned one of the short stories we read so far and will have to provide interpretations, themes, and relate it to our lives now."

Yawning, I catch Hinata's attention, "I've read over the directions already. I'll do the interpretations and relating it to us, you can do the themes. For the poster, if you don't mind making it, I can type up each section on a document and design the decorations to be printed."

"A-ano, it seems you'll be doing a lot, Katsumi-San." She remarks.

"I don't really have time to do arts and crafty things," I shrug, "and that'll take a good amount of time. So I think, since I'm leaving it all up to you, it's pretty even."

"Not even during class together?" She inquires further.

I shake my head with a sigh, "Not even then, I'll be doing my part of the project during class, you see, and I can't meet up after school. But if you're having trouble, don't be afraid to let me know, okay?"

"Same to you, Katsumi-san."

I nod in acknowledgment, "Let's exchange contact info in case anything happens."

The rest of class is a light snoozefest for me. The bell signaling the end of class rings, and I get up to sit in my usual seat, waving my goodbye to Hinata.

"Have a good nap, sleeping beauty?" Naruto snickers as I walk past his desk.

Making sure Umino-sensei is already walking out the door, I slap the blond on the back of the head. "Whoops, my hand slipped."

"That's not a hand slip!"

"Naruto!" Sakura screams, "You're being too loud!"

"B-but Sakura-chan..."

Safely back at my seat, I lay my head on my desk.

Why did I do that? I can't let myself react carelessly again. Luckily, Sakura was able to take the attention away.

Another yawn escapes me.

"Never seen you this tired." Ino observes, "Late night?"

I nod, rubbing my eyes and glancing up, "Yeah, I was kept up by a new thing."

"Lay off the mobile games or whatever." Ino advises, "It'll ruin your good-looks."

That makes me chuckle, "Thanks for the compliment, I guess."

"Not like you don't know it." Ino huffs.

I grin in return, "Right back at ya'."

I see her cheeks heat up as she turns away to avoid me. Peering to my right, I see the look of disgust on Sasuke's face over the top of my arms. Which isn't much of a surprise, Sasuke doesn't do flirting, or joking, or laughing, or anything positive for that matter. For the last three weeks of school, it seems that Sasuke can be angry, haughty, disgusted, annoyed, and done.

Oh yeah... and terrified.

After putting a stop to his obsessive behavior surrounding me, it seems I've been put on his avoid-when-possible list, right up there with Ino and Sakura. Which is perfectly fine with me, since he no longer creepily stalks after me.

I wonder if all Uchiha are this weird.

"Alrighty kiddos," Shiranui-sensei grins as he enters the class, "your favorite time of the day, math is here."

A harmony of groans follow.

"Yeah, yeah," he dismisses, toothpick bouncing as he spoke, "pass up your homework and we'll get started."

Genma Shiranui was a relaxed yet knowledgeable teacher. He must find some type of satisfaction teaching middle schoolers because he could easily be a college professor if he felt like it.

Although, the patterned bandannas he wears everyday are kinda strange. Today is a pop art neapolitan ice cream cone pattern. Fashion aside, he's pretty straightforward in his teaching style. His syllabus outlines every lecture topic, exam, quiz, and homework assignment for the school year. Thanks to that, I am able to read ahead when I have the time and finish the homework early.

Which means I can take a nap now. He doesn't call on students anyway.

A/N

Ah, the start of drama~

People aren't perfect, hopefully this will show that my OC can make reckless decisions despite her responsible attitude and actions. She's always on her own and doesn't really trust adult figures. I'm exploring how this will impact what actions she makes and how she'll react to those consequences.