^-^ ok everyone, here is chapter 1. Keep in mind that each chapter has a space of time in between them; just look at the date at the top of the chapter and you'll be fine! Just a note, this fic's prologue takes place in the future, and the whole story is sort of a flashback.

I don't own the characters, I don't own the summary quote, etc.

Enjoy!

Chapter 1: Look Away

September 3, 2001

Fall Semester, day 1


The white board marker I was attempting to write with wouldn't cooperate with me. It was old and dried out; there was absolutely no way I could use it anymore. I made a mental note to myself to invest in buying more of these markers. I used an old cloth to wipe my whiteboard completely clean and erase the undecipherable blobs made by my horrid marker. I put the cloth away and I couldn't help but to pace around my classroom a bit. My nerves were really getting to me, but I finally forced myself to take a seat at my desk. I put my head down on the cheap wood and tried to calm myself. It wasn't like I was about to meet the President of the United States, or anything. I was just about to meet my first class.

The first bell of the day (and of the school year) rang in a languid, unhurried manner. Riiing, riiiing, riiiing. I didn't move from my seat at my tiny wooden desk. I was really quite nervous. But I suppose it was acceptable-it was my first day actually teaching, after all. I didn't know what to expect.

A minute passed and students still had not begun to trickle their way into his classroom. He tried not to think about it too much. He took in a few deep breaths, and looked at the clock again. There was only two more minutes left before the bell for the start of class would ring, and his classroom was still empty. Maybe he had gotten himself situated into the wrong room, he thought. Or maybe he arrived one day too early, or maybe no one wanted to come to class, or maybe...

The door of the room burst open with a startling shove. I looked up to study my first student. He was a thin, lanky boy with impossibly pale skin and jet-black hair. He paid me absolutely no attention, and simply made his way to the desk farthest from the front of the room. He slouched into the seat and stared off into space. I debated whether or not I should greet him. What if he got annoyed? Do teachers normally greet their students every time they see them? I didn't know. In the end, my desire to be kind won out and looked up and threw a simple 'good morning' at him. The boy didn't respond.

Disheartened, I looked back down at the papers I had spread over my desk. My class syllabus-I'd titled it Sophomore Year English (and now that I thought about it, that was a really uncreative title!). I'd put so much thought into the rules I would have in my classroom, my grading system, and my punishments. I had spent the entire night prior to today writing these syllabi out; but now it became clear to me that maybe I'd put too much effort into them. More likely than not, none of my students would read them. No! I stopped myself. I was already beginning to think like all the other teachers...

The boy spoke.

"Everyone is waiting outside," he said. "They don't want to waste their precious time sitting in a classroom and being quiet, so they usually come in after the bell rings."

Ah, so that was it. I felt better already. "Thank you for telling me," I said to the boy. He didn't acknowledge me, but I decided not to pursue it anymore. He seemed to be the quiet type; I was surprised that he had actually spoken to me at all.

The second bell rang and its effect was instantaneous. The door once again burst open, but this time teenagers poured in by the handfuls. They were all chatting with one another, and their moods seemed to be light and carefree, as if they were still on summer break. I grabbed the pile of syllabi and the roll sheet and made my way to the front of the room. As I patiently waited for my students to get themselves situated in their seats, I surveyed the classroom as a whole.

One of the first things my instructors had told me at the mandatory workshops I had taken was that the success of a classroom involved the dynamic between the students in a class. If there were any big rifts between cliques, if there was some sort of tension within a normally friendly group-these were all things I'd been told to look for.

As of now, there were three things about this group that I could immediately pick out.

First of all was that this was going to be a very noisy class.

The second thing was that a certain black haired boy seemed to be ignored and ostracized by everyone else, but he seemed to not pay them much attention anyways.

And the third thing I noticed was that my students refused to pay me any attention and that they had absolutely no respect for me. I was a new teacher, after all.

This was just great. I had a very, very long year ahead of me.

I cleared my throat.

"May I please have your attention?" I asked of the class, though it was really more of a demand.

Some of the girls finally quieted down, but at the same time someone snickered from the left side of the room.

"Yes, you may have my attention," a boy said smugly, and some of his classmates broke out into giggles. I realized my mistake in wording too late-the boy's response made it seem as if I'd literally been begging for the cooperation of my class. Despite my better intentions, I couldn't help but to give the smart aleck a glare. He just smirked at me.

I took in a breath and shifted my attention away from the boy.

"Hello everyone," I said, "My name is Kakashi Hatake, and I will be your English teacher for your sophomore year."

A decidedly loud snicker made its way to my ears, followed by a comment regarding how my name's initials were the same as some video game (Kingdom Hearts, or something?). I ignored it.

I glanced at the roll sheet-I had a total of 34 students in this class. And, of course, the list wasn't in alphabetical order. More work for me.

"Please remain quiet while I take roll," I said, and this time mister smart-aleck had nothing to say. Good.

"Inuzuka, Kiba?"

A boy with red tattoos on his cheeks and dog-themed clothing gave me a little wave.

"Yamanaka, Ino?"

A chatty blonde girl chewing a pink wad of gum winked at me.

"Aburame, Shino?"

A boy wearing peculiar sunglasses raised his hand.

"Hyuuga, Hinata?"

A very shy, white-eyed girl bowed her head in acknowledgement.

"Uzumaki, Naruto?"

A slew of remarks emerged from the left side of the classroom. Ah, so the smart aleck is Naruto...

"Uchiha, Sasuke?"

For a second, no one moved. Just as I was about to mark down an 'absent', a familiar face turned and made eye contact with me. It was the brooding, pale-skinned boy from this morning.

"Here," he said, but he didn't look away.

How was it? Drop a review, people! They make me indefinitely happy :).