Hey there, here's the next installment! As promised, the chapters start to get a tad longer from here on out. So here's the ages of the new characters who appear in this chapter!
Tsunade Sannin - 54
Sai Root - 15
Ibiki Morino - 31
Chapter 9. Naru POV
"So, you want me to give the brat another chance."
"Yes, Ma'am." I sit next to Sasuke, his head lowered.
"He will have to re-sit all his exams from last year, you do realise that. And it's pricey. One, we could have maybe let slide. But he'd have to re-sit about ten exams."
"Money is not an issue, Tsunade. We'll sort out something."
"I'll see what I can do. I'll have to contact the board and speak to the other staff."
"Thank you, miss." It's the first time he's spoke in a while.
"You're welcome, Sasuke. Now get out of my office. You're missing first period." He scampers out of the room, I bet he's been scolded in here a lot.
"You won't mention this to his parents or his brother will you?" She looks at me oddly. "They don't know he's flunking, he's too scared to tell them. But he's honestly regretting the decisions he's made." She sighs and leans towards me.
"I told him not to take business up, you know. But he's an Uchiha, and I'm sure you know what they're like too. They listen to no one if their mind is set on something. I'd just became head when Itachi started here, so when I spoke to Sasuke about his GCSE choices I remembered what Itachi chose. Exactly the same as Sasuke was taking on. No wonder the boy finally cracked, but I wasn't expecting him to give up on his education completely."
"I don't think he meant to." I fold my hands on my lap.
"No. Probably not. Anyway," she leans back and pulls out some forms. "You're not here just for the kid so let's get to it." She hands them over to me, and I scan them quickly. "One for you, one for Gai. I need you both to sign them. I believe he needs me to sign something?"
"Yes, I'm meeting him later so I'll get it then for you."
"Good. Why don't you pop back at the end of the day with them, and I'll let you know of any progress I make with Uchiha."
"Thank you, Tsunade." I get up to head out but she stops me.
"How do you imagine he will manage to pay for the re-sits? I can see his parents keeping a close eye on any money he receives from them, so how will he pay for them without them knowing?"
"I'll be paying it, Ma'am." Her eyes wander over my face, as if trying to figure me out.
"But you're just a student Naruko. Where will you get the extra money from?"
"I work most nights, so I'll sort it somehow. Just make sure you invoice me for any of the costs. I'll pop by again later." I leave her office and head out of the school. Well I can say goodbye to the television idea. I'll have to get some more hours from somewhere while I'm not at Kyuubi...
"Naruko, dude. Wait up." Kiba comes running up behind me. I press my knuckles against his. "How come you stayed behind?" I wave the forms in front of his face.
"Forms for placement." He grabs them and has a quick read before handing them back.
"You're actually doing it?" I nod and walk to the car park with him.
"Yeah, I wanna work in a school so it's a good opportunity. Apparently I'm the only one who showed an interest." I lean against his door as he searches for his keys.
"Probably because he frightened everyone with the harsh interviews he promised us." He pulls his keys out and jiggles them at me. "Wanna lift?"
"Sure, but only if you're passing the high school."
"Hop in." I climb in after him. He starts the engine and pulls away. "You at work on Friday then?" I lean back, and play with the forms in my hand.
"Just at the restaurant. Can't work at Kyubbi for the next few weeks." He stops at some traffic lights and looks at me.
"I forgot to ask, what happened the other night? I went to get more drinks and Aya said you had to leave." I've only known Kiba for a year or so, we met during a visit to the Uni. Next to Itachi, I could probably consider him my best friend.
"I almost lost my job." He gapes at me for a while, before getting beeped at for not moving when the lights turned green. He pulls away and gives them the finger.
"What happened?" I run my hand through my hair; I really need to get it cut.
"I didn't tell Asuma that I caught some underage boys drinking."
"Why didn't you?" He pulls into McDonald's drive through and orders us a burger and coke each.
"Because Itachi's brother was one of them." He pulls into the car park so we can eat. I check my watch, it's only half 3.45, so plenty time to get to the school.
"I didn't realise he had a brother. How old?" I watch him take a big bite of his burger.
"Fifteen. I used to help babysit him when I was younger..."
"So you felt responsible for him right?" I nod and take a drink. "Christ, Naru. You nearly lost your job protecting an underage drinker. Surely he can't be worth it." I look away and finish my burger.
"I couldn't help but think, 'what if I didn't move away? Could I have helped him?' You know, that kind of thing."
"He in trouble like?" He chucks his rubbish into the back, it's hard to tell who is the bigger slob out of the two of us.
"He's just in a bad place at the moment." He starts driving again, glancing at me every now and again.
"You can't save everybody, Naru." He stops outside the school, just as the kids start heading home.
"I know. But I can try, right?" He reaches over to ruffle my hair.
"I guess. But don't put your job on the line again." I get out the car, put my papers in my bag and grin at him.
"Sure thing, mommy. Catch ya later, dogbreath." I quickly make sure there's no cars coming, before running across the road, bag on my shoulder. I hear Kiba beep his horn and turn around to give him a wave. Turning back around I bump into someone.
"So is that your boyfriend then?" I grin and grab him, putting him in a headlock and giving him a noogie. I rub my knuckles into his head as he grabs at me, trying to get away. "Gerroff me!" I swiftly let him go and stand proud of the damage I've done to his hair. He tries to smooth it back down, a very faint blush on his face as a few people laugh.
"I didn't think you had a sister, Uchiha." I watch as a very pale boy walks up to him, obviously faking the smile on his face.
"She's not my sister." He straightens himself up and glares at me.
"She can't be your girlfriend surely. I thought you were gay, Sasuke." It's the pale guy's turn to receive a glare. He walks up to me and hold's his hand out. "I'm Sai, Sasuke's friend." Sasuke shakes his head and mouths 'no he's not' to me. I accept the boys hand to shake, but he brings it up to his mouth. Before his lips can touch, I pull my hand away.
"Careful, Sai. Naruko's the devil." I grin at him before giving him the finger. "And she's not my girlfriend." I shiver inwardly as the teenage looks me up and down.
"Shame, that's a fine piece of ass there..." Before I can blink, Sasuke's grabs hold of the pale boy and starts punching him in the face. I faintly hear some kids start shouting 'Fight. Fight' attracting more students. A few words pass between the boys but I don't hear what.
"Stop it." I try to grab Sasuke, but ended up on the end of someone's fist, though I'm not sure who's. "Hey!" Ignoring the pain, I see a few teachers run over. Before they can hit each other again, I put a hand on each of their chests, pushing them away from each other. They try to get a fist in by reaching round me, but I push my fist into both their chests, hard but not enough to do damage. I look between them as they try to catch their breath. "You stop this right now. Someone would think you're ten not fifteen year old! Act your age not your frickin' shoe size!"
"What's going on here?" I look up and gulp at the scary face in front of me. Ibiki Morino. I've seen him in the papers; he's the school's disciplinary officer. Best behave while on my placement.
"Nothing, sir." They both stutter out. I almost laugh but end up jumping slightly when the man's face comes close to my own. A hand takes hold of my chin and moves my face to the side to get a look at my eye which is half closed. He lets go and faces the boys, and I could see them both gulp. I notice Tsunade walking over and there's no other kids around, as if they just disappeared. I find myself smiling at the power he has over the students.
"You wanna beat the shit out of each other? Do it somewhere else. Now apologise to..." He turns his head to me, but before I can answer Tsunade joins in.
"Naruko Uzumaki. She's the placement student. What happened?" The boys keep quiet even though Ibiki stares at them.
"The pale kid said something inappropriate about me and Sasuke retaliated. I'm sorry, I tried to stop them..." Ibiki places a hand on my shoulder.
"And you did, quite well for a youngin'." I smile up at him.
"You really mean girl, don't you?" He laughs before glaring at the boys again.
"My office. Now." Before they can scamper back into school, I stop them all.
"Urmm what's going to happen to them? I don't want them getting into trouble over something to silly..."
"Naruko..." Tsunade gives me a look and I glace away from her.
"I'm just saying, they're kids and had a little fist fight because of something inappropriate. It's nothing. Can't they just get a warning and go home?" Glancing over at the two boys I see confusion in Sasuke's eyes. Oh god, I'm doing it again even though Kiba just told me not to...
"Naruko, one of them hit you. You're about to become a staff member here. We cannot let it slide." I wave my hand slightly.
"I'm fine, I've had worse. It was just a misunderstanding, and I promise it won't happen again." I glare at them, watching Sasuke cower slightly. Creepy, pale kid just looked at me. "And if it does, punish them all you want. Just let it slide this once. Please?" Tsunade looks at me, while Ibiki and the other couple of teachers watch Tsunade for her reaction.
"Fine. This once." She turns to Sai, "You, go home. I'll see you in the morning. First thing." He scampers off, but not before winking at me. Little creep. Tsunade turns to Sasuke. "You, my office. I told you to come see me when school finished." I follow behind as they walk in to school. At least I don't need to try finding her office now.
"Uzumaki." I look up at Ibiki, who's walking beside me. He holds his hand out. I accept it with a smile, shaking it slightly. "Good job back there. Not many teachers would have jumped in front of Uchiha when he's angry."
"He's been in trouble before?" I keep my eye on Tsunade, so I don't lose there. But luckily it seems that Ibiki's going this way too.
"He's only had a couple fights, though it's mainly arguments. You better put an ice bag on that eye when you get home. It's going to bruise. It was nice meeting you. I'll see you around; you'll be helping me quite a bit." He walks into his office and I quicken my steps to catch up to Tsunade and Sasuke. I forgot the papers said Ibiki is also the physical education teacher...
Well there you go! What do you all think? Sorry the fight was a bit crap, I've never wrote a fight scene before XD. There may be one or two more in future chapters, but I've not decided who with yet. I'll have to read a few fight scenes for research haha!