Chapter 18: High School Orientation Arc - Get Used to It
Here's today's installment, everybody! Let the high school saga for the Akatsuki commence!
Disclaimer: Naruto is mine in my dreams, and so are the Akatsuki.
Kaiya's POV
"Get up, you lazy bums!" I shouted into Naoki's room. Banging a small gong that I had bought from a souvenir shop in a museum, I continued screaming my brother and his roommates to awaken, very similar to the way Kagami had the day before. "Get up! It's time for school!"
"Alright!" thundered Deidara, still grumpy from having his oh so beautiful hair bleached. "I'm getting up, un! Can't somebody just get some well-deserved rest once in a while?"
I shook my head, continuing to bang the gong. "Unfortunately, that's the way it works, so get used to it, Deidara!"
"I'm already up," grumbled Sasori, plugging his ears with his fingers. "Must you be so loud about it, brat? We already had enough trouble with being jumped on by your crazy little sister yesterday."
"Like I said," I smirked, "get used to it. I hate getting up at 6:00 AM every morning, but the person who designed the high school schedule wanted us to prepare for getting up at even earlier times when we get our jobs in the future."
Grumbling, Deidara sat up and stretched, while Sasori just stood up and exited the room. My brother was looking at me with annoyed eyes, but he simply nodded and followed Sasori out of the room.
"Hurry up," I muttered impatiently. "Today's your first day as transfer students, so try to make a good impression on everyone, including the teachers. Being tardy will make you very unpopular with the teachers and even more, straight As."
Huffing, he kicked off the sleeping bag and stormed out, sighing to himself. Shaking my head, I quickly exited the room, proceeding to drag Itachi and my other otouto out.
Enjoy your freedom, Kisame, I thought to myself. We've already decided that you can't really attend the school, since it'll be too obvious who you are. Same goes for Kakuzu, Pein, Tobi, and Zetsu.
We had immediately ruled out Kakuzu, since he was ninety-one years old and covered in terrifying stitches. No matter what color he bleached his hair, Pein couldn't get rid of his piercings or Rinnegan, so that was an immediate no as well. Tobi refused to take off his mask, and Zetsu...well, everybody knew why he couldn't go. Besides, I didn't want his dark side to start hunting everybody.
Sasori was thirty-five, and so was Konan. Although they were way too old for high school, Sasori looked like a junior student, as long as he concealed the fact that he was actually a puppet. Since Konan could perform the Henge no Jutsu, she could instantly fit in as a normal junior anytime. Itachi was twenty, so he was perfectly fine, just as long as he didn't attract too many girls. We didn't need to dye his hair, but Kagami and I had to use makeup to remove the lines on his face. In addition, we made him wear blue contacts to disguise he onyx eyes and possibly his Sharingan, if he ended up having to pull it out. Hidan did look a bit like a junior, since he sounded quite young, especially since we had dyed his hair black. However, it took around an hour of convincing to get him to keep his shirt on for the entire school day. In addition, we had to make sure that he didn't spout so much profanity in school, courtesy of Yukio.
Deidara was the youngest member of the Akatsuki, at nineteen. He didn't need to disguise his age, but we just told Kosaki-san that everybody was seventeen years old, in order to make sure that everybody got the same schedule. In case they decided to revert to their conspiracy for world domination in the middle of class, either I or Naoki needed to be present in the classroom in order to hold them down. I felt like the biggest problem was going to be Hidan and his love of murder, but Deidara was close behind. After all, he could blow up any of the clay sculptures if he wanted to.
"Itachi!" I called into the room, yanking the Uchiha awake. "Let's get up!"
I didn't bother banging the gong, especially since Kisame and Yuki were still in the room. Kisame had spent a long period of time as a kitten, blasting anybody who had angered him with water. Although he had appeared to be slightly relieved when I had changed him back to a human, he had still yelled at me for spraying him with something so flowery.
But then again, almost none of the Akatsuki members really liked being covered in the scent of fresh lavender. The only exceptions were Konan, who was a lady, and Tobi, who just enjoyed the scent and jumping around in it.
Itachi said nothing, but followed me out of the door in resignation. However, it was quite obvious that these two wanted to sleep some more. His eyes were flashing red with his Sharingan, although Naoki had warned him not to use it so much. In addition, if he used it in the middle of a public area like school, we could all potentially be caught. Either that, or Itachi would have to deal with another huge wave of fangirls.
We all shuffled downstairs, where Kagami was waiting for us with Hidan, who looked even more ticked off than Deidara did.
"Onee-chan!" squealed Kagami, dragging a cursing Hidan along with her. "Is everybody up yet?"
I nodded, and she let go of Hidan. "Alright," I said, "let's go. Don't forget your backpacks."
Pointing towards a corner where we had also found just enough old traveling backpacks, the Akatsuki members quickly grabbed their backpacks at random, since we were already behind schedule. Then, all of us exited the house, racing to get to school on time.
"Don't tell me we have to do this c*** every morning," mumbled Hidan, and Deidara sadly nodded.
Naoki whacked him in the head. "Idiot. We already warned you not to use that kind of language. Just be glad that my otouto isn't here, since he knows your weak spot."
Hidan grinned in a taunting manner. "What the f*** does that little s*** think he's talking about? I don't have a—"
Naoki shut him up by kicking him in the weak spot.
"F*** you, you even bigger s***!" he roared, and I stifled a laugh. He then proceeded to spout out the most colorful words know to mankind.
"Be glad that I did a softer kick," he growled threateningly. "Because you do not want to know my true power. Trust me, I can kick much harder than my otouto. Luckily, my imouto wasn't here to see or listen to any of that random profanity that you just blurted out."
Hidan scowled, but he did shut up, to everyone's relief. We continued walking to school in silence, making sure that everybody gave off the impressions of typical juniors. Eventually, we all found ourselves at the front of the school.
"Let's hurry to the office," I instructed them, and everybody followed me towards the principal's office in front of the school.
As soon as we entered inside, we were greeted by the principal: a young man with brown hair and glasses. He eyed the Akatsuki members oddly, then looked at me.
"Kaiya-san," he said, "are these the transfer students that Kosaki-san told me about yesterday?"
I nodded, and he continued. "Where did they use to go to school?"
"Japan," I fibbed quickly. "But nevertheless, all of them are seventeen and speak fluent English. I was pretty impressed by their knowledge of it."
"I see," he muttered, and I heaved a sigh of relief that he had bought the lie. "Well, what are their names."
"This is Masaru," I said, pointing to Deidara, then pointed to the other Akatsuki members from left to right. "And that's Akihiko, Eiji, Osaka, and Takumi."
"Such nice names," remarked the principal, who then proceeded to dig through his pocket for some sheets of paper. "I prepared your schedules accordingly, so that you all have the same classes together. Hopefully, none of you mind the fact that you have Art and Performing Arts, right?"
All of the Akatsuki members shook their heads, but I could tell that Deidara was extremely excited.
Don't get any bad ideas, birdbrain, I mentally told him. Like I said, no blowing up anything, or else you'll get us all suspended.
"Perfect," he said. "Well, I'll leave you kids to enjoy your morning, but remember that the bell rings in five minutes. Have fun!"
With that, the principal returned to his office, and we shuffled out the door, breathing sighs of relief.
"Oh, there you are, Kaiya-chan!" shouted an all-too-familiar voice. "I was wondering where you were!"
My cheeks turned pink slightly as I turned around to face Daichi. "S-Sorry, Daichi-kun! I-I was in the office getting their schedules," I stuttered, pointing to the disguised Akatsuki. "They're transfer students that I volunteered to show around, so I wanted to get to the office on time in order to help them figure out their way around Kestrel Heights."
He smiled at me, the sun reflecting off of his shiny brown hair. "That's pretty nice of you. Do you want me to help you show them around the school? What are their first classes?"
"I-I made sure that the principal gave them the same schedule as me," I explained. "Would you...um, like to help me take them to our English class?"
"Of course!" he beamed. "I always like helping new kids out, remember? Sixth graders were absolutely adorable back then!"
"Yeah," I replied, "but these guys are seventeen years old. Our age."
"I see," he responded, then eyed Deidara curiously. "Why is that one dressed like a girl?"
"That's what I was—" Deidara began, but I covered his mouth quickly and chuckled nervously.
"Masaru wanted to save money," I lied. "So he picked the girl's outfit, since he thought he looked good in a skirt. Plus, he wanted to try something new."
Daichi smiled at Deidara, showing me that he was buying it. "Cool! Nice to meet you guys. My name is Daichi Himura, and Kaiya-chan and I are going to show you around."
They all nodded politely, though I could easily tell that Hidan was not enjoying it. He grimaced, but whether Daichi noticed it or not was unclear to me, since he had begun to walk towards the direction of our English class.
"Here's your first class," explained Daichi. "Misako-san is a very nice woman, but don't be mean to her, and try your best not to talk unless she allows it. Her lessons are usually quite easy, so you should be able to stand at the top of the class in no time."
At that moment, the warning bell rang, signaling the start of class. Daichi pushed the door open, allowing the Akatsuki to get their first glance at the interior of the classroom.
"This place actually looks cool," mumbled Sasori, eyeing all of the essays on the wall. Next to him, Konan observed everything about the classroom before deciding to speak up.
"Where is the teacher?" she inquired. "Aren't they usually here already?"
"Misako-san has to drop her own children off before she comes here," I quickly explained to her. "At most, she's about ten minutes late, but she should be here on time. But since you're new, I'm sure that she'll something fun."
At that moment, more students came bursting through the door, with Misako-san entering behind them. She gasped as soon as she saw the Akatsuki members, then made a pleased expression.
"You must be new students!" she exclaimed, just as soon as the final bell rang again. "Please, come to the front of the class and introduce yourselves! Don't be shy, I'm sure everybody will like you!"
Reluctantly, Deidara and the others walked towards the front of the room, and every student's eyes fell upon the Akatsuki, probably. wondering who in the world they were.
"Greetings, everybody," began Konan, "my name is Osaka. I'm seventeen years old, and my main hobby is making various origami items. I also enjoy drawing, being nice, and pressing flowers."
The class clapped, and even I was impressed by the great first impression Konan had managed to make. However, I wasn't sure if she was joking about some of the things she mentioned, such as pressing flowers. She seemed much more like an origami person, but still, a book can't always be judged by its cover.
"My name is Takumi," Itachi introduced. "I don't like talking about myself too much, but I do enjoy getting good grades."
In the back, I swore that I heard a couple of the girls swoon. Shaking my head, I motioned silently for Deidara to introduce himself.
"Hello, everyone," he said. "My name is Masaru, and I love art, watching fireworks, and being downright sassy. I like boiled eggs, but I don't like fried rice in pilaf."
I sighed in relief when Deidara didn't use his verbal tic, since that could have possibly given his identity away. After all, there were a couple of Naruto fans in the school. Next, Sasori stepped forward.
"Akihiko," he muttered plainly. "I enjoy painting and watching puppet shows."
More girls swooned, and I just scoffed to myself. Why was it that the stereotypical silent and mysterious boys always got the attention of the girls right off of the bat, like in typical bad boy stories?
"I'm Eiji," grinned Hidan as soon as it was his turn. "I don't appreciate my name—" he sent a glare towards my direction— "but horror movies and gore are awesome. Though sometimes, I wish they used real blood…"
Almost everyone quickly scooted their desks away from the man, and even Misako-san turned white before passing out papers to everyone. From a single glance at the content, I could tell that it was one of those get-to-know-you worksheets.
"Since we didn't do these at the beginning of school," said Misako-san, "let's fill out these worksheets right now. I'm pretty sure you've all seen these before, but let me explain how they work again, just in case. There are lots of questions, each followed by a blank line. You are to go around the room and ask other classmates these questions, and if they answer positively to any of them, you write their name down on the sheet of paper. Once you've used their name once, you can't use them again, and you must find a different person. Once you've filled up all of your lines, please come see me for a reward if you finish first. Good luck, everybody! You have the entire period!"
And with that, everybody in the class immediately rushed over to one another, leaving a startled Akatsuki. I giggled, then began asking them questions while handing them pens to fill out their worksheets.
"Takumi," I asked Itachi, "do you like dango?"
He blinked, pausing to consider what he was going to tell me, then nodded.
"I just write my name on your paper, right?" he said. "Next to the line by the question you asked?"
"That's right," I confirmed, watching as he wrote his name down by the question. "You can ask me a question as well, too."
"Hn," he muttered, then selected his question. "Kaiya, have you ever watched all the films in this series called Star Wars?"
"Millions of times," I proudly admitted, signing my name next to the question. "We should show it to everybody at some point. It's a great series, no matter how repetitive the plot is."
Itachi nodded, then went off to ask a different person, I then turned to Daichi, who was standing right next to me.
"Kaiya-chan," he asked, "can I write your name down for one of my questions? I know how much you love vanilla ice cream."
"Sure!" I told him. "Can I use yours for the one about being an only child?"
"Of course!" he responded, and we traded papers to write our names by the questions we were asked. "Thank you! Say, is it okay if I ask some of the transfer students?"
I nodded. "They'll be perfectly fine about it, besides Eiji. He does get slightly temperamental and foul-mouthed at times, so I advise that you do him last."
Daichi gave me a nod, then walked towards Sasori to ask the puppeteer a question. As I was about to start talking to another girl, Deidara appeared by my side, looking confused.
" Am I supposed to ask you a question whenever you ask me one, un?" he asked, covering his mouth to make sure that nobody had heard the accidental verbal tic.
"Basically, yeah," I answered. "Dei— er, Masaru, do you love birdwatching?"
"Kind of," he replied. "I mean, I do like birds, since I didn't see them around too much in my home village. That's one of the main reasons why I make so many living sculptures that are shaped like birds, other than the fact that they can also fly. But yeah, I did enjoy birdwatching a little when I was young."
I handed him the paper, but he still gave me a puzzled expression.
"Sign your name by the question I asked you," I instructed. "And make sure you use your fake name, so that nobody gets suspicious."
He nodded, signing his pseudonym by the question.
"So, I just ask you anything?" he inquired.
"Anything," I confirmed. "Just as long as it's on the list."
Deidara nodded, then looked over his sheet. "Let's see...Kaiya, do you like art?"
"You bet!" I responded, signing my name. "Why else would I be taking an art class? It's so interesting, with all that painting, sculpting, coloring, and much more! You wouldn't believe what things you can do with just a sheet of paper and a pencil!"
"Say, Kaiya," Deidara began, "there's been something I've been wanting to ask you, ever since that time I accidentally blew up your clay pot. Not only am I sorry for that, but it sparked my curiosity about something. Although it had potential to become a piece of fleeting art, you chose to let it sit there in the living room as something to last forever."
I nodded. "I always keep my art projects like that, Masaru. That way, every day I can remember the exact date and time I made it, although now that I think about it, explosive art sounds pretty cool."
"I see," muttered Deidara. "And with that being said, it leads me to my next question."
He began to lean in closer in order to whisper his question in my ear.
"Kaiya, what exactly is your opinion about the meaning of true art?"
A/N: Yay! Thank you so much for 2000+ reads! It all means so much to me! Kaiya will explain her answer by...hopefully tomorrow, if projects don't get shoved in my poor face.
Question: Favorite shop? I don't have one...
Peace out, everyone!
— Tenshi —
