Shikamaru
The week turned out to be very busy, both for me and Temari. I continued with my usual lessons and she helped, trying to gain some experience in preparing everyday tasks for students and also helping me with new ideas. She attended every lesson with me and worked with the children and I have to admit they liked her. She was strict, but never angry, at least not really. She didn't need to be – everybody wanted to be noticed and praised by her, so they did their best to please the new teacher. Seeing this, I kept smiling. I was glad she fits in her new role so well.
We had a conversation with the head of the Academy about the possibility for Temari to teach her own lesson as an elective and he gladly agreed, offering to employ her officially, even if it was only for several months.
So on Thursday I joined her in her first lesson. It took place in one of the bigger training grounds, in hopes of lessening the damage Temari's wind will cause. We welcomed four pupils – two of them were seniors and other two – first years. The kept asking Temari to show them her abilities and techniques with her fan before starting the lesson, so it resulted in a pile of clean cut trees. So much for my intentions to lessen the damage. Afterwards the pupils received a lesson of basic techniques and wind chakra wielding. Temari managed to work with them individually so neither felt left away even though youngsters had some troubles with chakra control. She was, in fact, good in teaching – I could see she was having lots of fun and her students were smiling non-stop, happy with their accomplishments.
After the students said their goodbyes and left, we headed back to the Academy to pick up some papers before heading home. I followed Temari, silently enjoying her happy face and admiring the beauty she has become, not only in a physical way. The more time I spent with her, the more of her gentle side I got to see. I wouldn't say she changed – she was still the same tough scary kunoichi. It was just that she was a little bit different towards me, intentionally or not. I smirked like a fool.