When Time Stops
Chapter 5: Running on Fumes
He walked slowly to his next class with the third year students. By the time he had reached his class, his empty metal lunchbox and school bag in tow, the halls were empty and bell had already rung. He stood outside his classroom door for several moments, preparing himself for more bullying since these kids were older than the last and likely to bully him more for his size and age. Rubbing his sleeve across his eyes quickly, he stood up straight and entered the door proudly, eyes hard as he quickly analyzed his new surroundings. He could handle whatever was thrown his way; he was a Hatake – strong – and an Uzumaki – brave.
The class grew quite as he entered, all eyes turning to him, including a brown haired academy teacher with an old battle scar across the bridge of his nose.
Kakashi bowed at the waist to his teacher, "Excuse me, sensei, for being late to class!"
Iruka stumbled on his words, "That's quite alright, Kakashi. I'm sure it's confusing here, being your first day."
Kakashi stood and nodded once, glancing over at his classmates who were still staring and whispering. Iruka followed his gaze, "Ah right, class this is Hatake Kakashi. He will be joining our class every day after lunch."
"Yes, sensei!" the class chorused.
"Now where to seat you…" Iruka mused, scanning the desks for an empty seat.
"Over here Iruka-sensei!" A bright eyed girl squealed, pushing a friend from the chair next to her.
Iruka sighed, shaking his head, but motioned for Kakashi to take that desk.
Kakashi moved quickly to his seat, pulling out paper and his two finely sharpened pencils. He placed them delicately on the desk in front of him.
"Kakashi-chan, how old are you?" the eager girl next to him inquired, smiling brightly. The other nearby girls leaned in curiously too.
"Four," Kakashi replied quietly.
A chorus of 'aww's came from all the girls and his friendly neighbor squeezed his masked cheek. "Kakashi-chan you are just too cute!" she squealed.
"And smart too!" another girl called out.
When the girl finally released his now sore cheek, he grimaced, rubbing the pain away. "I'm Ayame, by the way."
Iruka watched the girls swarm Kakashi and watched, more intensely, Kakashi's reactions to all his surroundings. It was hard to grasp the fact that Kakashi was once again four years old child. No longer was Kakashi the serious, skilled copy ninja and pervert he was used to, but now he was a quiet and ambitious ninja to be. Fond memories clouded his mind of his close friend and now he was the only one to remember them. He smiled a soft, sad smile. "Alright class, let's get back to work."
"Kakashi," Iruka called, grabbing the boys shoulder as he was leaving at the end of class with the rest of the students.
The boy stopped, curious eyes staring up at his teacher, "Yes, sensei?"
Iruka offered the boy a packet of paper. "This is our lesson from the first half of the day. I trust you'll study it and do the homework for tomorrow."
The boy nodded, taking the papers. As he turned to leave, his teacher called him again.
"Kakashi, if you need any help keeping up, don't be shy to ask me, alright?"
"Sure, sensei." Kakashi replied before hurrying out of the academy to meet his brother.
Iruka sighed and sat at his desk to grade the quizzes his class had taken so that he could see how much each of his students knew. Kakashi's was on top; he had been the last one to turn his paper in. He had worried about the boy since it had taken so long for him to finish, but now he understood why. The boy had answered every single question, whereas he had encouraged his students to skip anything they didn't know. Although Kakashi had answered several questions wrong, he was surprised at how advanced little Kakashi was. He shouldn't have been surprised, however. Kakashi was, of course, a prodigy.
"How's the homework coming Kashi?" Naruto asked, setting the two plates of food down on the table.
"Fine," the silver-haired ninja replied, still furiously writing in his assignment book with his messily scrawled handwriting. "Ohta-sensei and Iruka-sensei gave me a lot of work to do since I have to teach myself what the others learned in the half of the class I'm not there…" the boy trailed off.
"I see," Naruto mumbled as he chewed a mouthful of salt-broiled saury. "Eat your food Kashi."
Kakashi gave an audible sigh before closing his book and pushing them to the side. "Thanks for dinner."
"Yup," Naruto replied evenly, "It's one of your favorites, right?"
Kakashi nodded and, after pulling down his mask, took a bite, "Hey, Naruto-nii, I was looking ahead in my textbook and found someone in there like me. His name is Uchiha Itachi. It said he was a prodigy and graduated the academy in one year too."
Naruto hummed softly but kept his eyes on his plate.
"Well," Kakashi continued, ignoring his brother's lack of response, "Neither of my books went into much detail about him, not like any of the other prodigies at least. So I went to the school library but there wasn't any more information on him there either. I was wondering if you knew anything about him?"
Naruto was quiet a moment, "Itachi…was a prodigy in his time, as was his younger brother. The reason he's not in any of the books at school is because Itachi is a traitor. He massacred his entire clan and left the village to join a rouge group called Akatsuki. That's all you need to know, now eat your food."
Kakashi frowned but finished his plate quickly so that he could finish his homework and have time to practice his chakra control before bed. Half an hour later, he thought it strange that his brother brushed the subject off and hadn't been his normal cheery self since. It was a brief thought, however, and he quickly reigned his mind in to focus on his schoolwork.
The bell rang for lunch and Kakashi slowly trailed after his classmates, leaving his metal lunchbox behind. When he arrived outside, he found his enemy in the center of several students. It had been the same for the past several days; Hideaki's fiery red head the center of many of the student's attention. Kakashi watched silently from the top of the three stairs outside the school doors. He observed his prey as he had been since his first day of school, when Hideaki and his friend's had started bullying him. The way Hideaki threw his head back when he laughed and the way his blue eyes sparkled when he was being mischievous Even the subtle way he shifted his feet on the floor while storytelling. Kakashi stepped down the steps and walked towards the group of rowdy, laughing kids. His gait was quick and silent. He pushed his way through the children and they moved, wondering what would happen next. Finally, the silver-haired ninja reached the center of the group. Hideaki stood alone in the center, all eyes on him until Kakashi moved forward. The four year old stopped right in front of the red head, ignoring their height difference. A face of determination was painted over what was left to see of Kakashi's face and a look of amused curiosity washed over Hideaki's.
"Well, well, look what the cat dragged in," Hideaki jeered. He grinned, moving into a relaxed position with his hands on his sides.
"I challenge you to a duel." Kakashi stated bluntly, nearly cutting the older boy off.
Hideaki bellowed with laughter and his crowd followed suit.
Kakashi glared angrily at how the older boy brushed him off. He didn't want to be treated as a lesser being by his classmates and today he knew he was going to prove himself better than everyone who had been laughing at him. He fingered the kunai that were hidden in a pocket in his pants.
"I'm not going to duel you, Shorty, I'm way out of your league!" Hideaki laughed.
Kakashi's steely cool face hid his anger inside well. Inside he was seething. No one was going to belittle his strength without a fight. In an instant, he threw a kunai at Hideaki. Not his wooden practice ones his brother had bought him, no, he had secretly borrowed Naruto's kunai. "Fight me now!"Kakashi yelled, running forward and pulling out another kunai to wield.
Hideaki caught the weapon from the air, eyes wide in surprise and his laughter gone. He was forced to quickly block as Kakashi swung at his side from the right. "What are you doing?" Hideaki demanded seriously, holding the younger boy off in a standstill.
Kakashi locked fierce, determined eyes with Hideaki's shocked ones. "If I win, you stop making fun of me. If you win, you can do whatever you want to me."
Hideaki scowled but Kakashi jumped back again, throwing one, two, three kunai as he ran around the berth of the circle. The other children quickly backed away, not wanting to interrupt or get injured.
Hideaki blocked and dodged out of the way, running toward the silver haired boy. "You don't know what you're getting yourself into, Shorty!" He swung at Kakashi who nimbly ducked out of the way and jumped back. The two ran at each other, holding their kunai ready to strike. As Hideaki swung, Kakashi dove to the ground, sliding under the older –and taller—boy's legs, turning on his back and shoving the red head hard on the backside with his feet.
Hideaki stumbled forward, flailing his arms wildly to regain balance. He caught himself and spun around in time to block an attack as Kakashi ran and jumped at him. Hideaki shoved Kakashi to the ground knocking the kunai out of the young Hatake's hand. Kakashi reached for another weapon, but Hideaki jumped on him before he could pull one out.
"You might be faster, but I'm definitely stronger than you, Shorty!" Hideaki growled. He clenched his hand into a fist and swung, hitting Kakashi solidly on the left side of his face.
Kakashi's head whipped to the right with the force of Hideaki's fist. His cheek was bruised and he had bitten his tongue. Blood pooled in his mouth but he swallowed it so that his mask would not be soiled.
Hideaki grabbed Kakashi's mask, "Hmm, I wonder what's behind here? Is there something you're embarrassed to show us?" The red head shoved the navy blue material down to Kakashi's neck. Kakashi acted in rage without thinking. He collected as much chakra as he could into the palms of his hands and thrust them against Hideaki's chest. He let the collected chakra explode from his hands as he hit the older boy, throwing him up and several feet back.
Hideaki lay on the ground in shock from the burst of chakra. They all had learned about the importance of chakra in grade one but they weren't supposed to learn how to use it until later this year. Hideaki's eyes were wide, staring at Kakashi. "H-how did you…" he trailed off.
Kakashi glared daggers at the older boy as he stood to his feet and shoved his mask back up. He pulled a kunai from his pocket and threw it in an instant towards Hideaki. It landed several inches to the left of his head with a dull thump as it imbedded itself into the ground. "Don't you ever touch my mask again, asshole." Kakashi warned with a deadly voice.
Ohta-sensei ran over then, breaking through the crowd of students (which had grown much larger by now). "Boys! That's enough! You both have detention with me after school today, and I'm calling your parents right now!" She yelled, giving each a stern look and picking up the metal kunai strewn about the ground.
Hideaki picked himself up and dusted himself off."Hai, sensei," He mumbled gravely. Kakashi glared and walked towards the school. His classmates and other second years gave him a wide berth. An overwhelming sense of accomplishment filled him, turning his stomach upside down. He had shown Hideaki, and everyone, that he wasn't some helpless little baby. He was sure no one would pick on him anymore. He gathered his things and went ahead to his next class, a proud smirk hidden beneath his mask.
He hurried to his third year class and sat in his desk even though there were still at least fifteen minutes until class started. It wouldn't hurt, he thought, to preview the text for the upcoming lesson. Eventually the bell rang and students dutifully filed into their assigned seats. No sooner had Iruka collected all the homework a blond ninja burst through the door.
"Naruto-kun…" Iruka stammered, shocked at the abrupt entrance.
Naruto froze, smiling abashedly, "Ah Iruka-sensei!"
"What are you doing here?" The teacher asked, hoping the interruption wouldn't take too long.
Naruto's disposition grew serious, "Kakashi's second year teacher just notified me that he started a fight with a classmate during lunch – with real kunai." Naruto looked pointedly at the silver-haired boy.
Kakashi stood abruptly and slammed his hands on the desk, his chair screeching back. "Nii! It wouldn't have proved anything if I had used training kunai! I had to steal them from you this morning and I was going to put them back as soon as I got home." He stood and folded his arms, "It's not like I hurt him anyways, I made sure to throw my kunai 7 centimeters away from his head like you told me to do when trying to intimidate an opponent!"
Whispers started up all around the classroom.
"I don't care how much control you have, you know the rules. I was in an important meeting with the Hokage when I was called down here, and now you and I have to go speak with your teacher."
Kakashi packed his books and pencils into his bag with a scowl and walked silently to the front of the classroom.
"Sorry for the interruption Iruka-sensei," Naruto called back as Kaakashi walked down the stairs and towards the door.
"Kakashi, what have you got to say to Iruka-sensei?" Naruto demanded, arms crossed.
Kakashi pushed down his emotions and steeled his face as he bowed low, "Sorry for the interruption, Sensei."
The two left, Kakashi walking angrily a few steps in front of his brother. He didn't understand why Naruto had gotten so mad at him.
"Kakashi," Naruto called. The boy ignored him. He jogged a few steps, grabbing the boys shoulder, spinning him around "Kashi…"
Kakashi glared at him.
Naruto sighed and squatted to the boy's level, "Kashi, I think it's really great that you stood up for yourself."
Kakashi raised an eyebrow.
"Look, just trust me, ok?" The blond winked, his blue eyes sparkling with mischief. "I was the number one trouble maker when I went to the academy so I'm also the best at getting out of trouble."
A small smirk crept up on Kakashi's hidden face.
"Common," Naruto stood and began walking, "We've got to go speak with Ohta-san."
Kakashi turned and followed, trotting behind his big brother until they reached his classroom.
"Ohta-san," Naruto started after knocking on the classroom door and she had come out into the hallway, "I'm terribly sorry for the trouble Kakashi caused today. He's normally not like that." Naruto's tone and expression held a sad disappointment.
Kakashi made sure to keep his head down. He didn't want to ruin whatever his brother's plan was.
The woman gave a sympathetic smile, "I'm sure he's had a rough time, starting school and being the youngest in class, right Kakashi?"
Kakashi stared at his feet and fidgeted uneasily.
"Kakashi, answer your teacher when she asks you something." Naruto scolded.
"Yes, ma'am…" Kakashi mumbled.
"However," the woman continued, "starting fights is not allowed in the academy, especially using kunai. Someone could've gotten hurt!"
"But, I made sure—" Kakashi rebutted. He wouldn't be accused of being reckless. No, he had planned and calculated several times.
"Ohta-sensei, I'll make sure Kakashi learns his lesson. Don't you worry about punishing him. What I've got planned for him will be much more effective than detention." Naruto cut in.
Kakashi glanced between his teacher and brother.
"Good," Toshiko nodded, "We've only been in school for five weeks, so I hope we won't have an issue like this again, Kakashi-kun. Now, I've got to get back to my class. If you'll excuse me."
The teacher turned and retreated into her classroom.
"Yes!" Naruto cheered, holding his hand up for a high five, "We did it, Kashi!"
Kakashi smiled and high-fived his brother.
"Just make sure that next time you have to fight someone you don't get caught, ok? That's your newest shinobi rule to live by."
Kakashi laughed and nodded, "Hai, Nii-san."
"Now hurry back to class, kiddo." The blond urged, ruffling the boys hair.
Author's Note:
I've been writing so much this past 1-2 weeks. Maybe because I have so much other things to do (it's called super procrastinate schoolwork). And! since my want to draw is completely filled and more simply from my 3 art classes this semester, i don't really want to do it at home, so I just write instead x)
Anyways...The next chapter is pretty much finished (4000 words written so far, i guess thats a good chap size?) and nearly another chapter of Afraid of the Dark is finished, plus 1-2 chapters of an original story. Its crazy. How I managed to write so much confounds me. I think I'll wait a little while to post the next chapter so that you guys don't skimp out on comments! I like feedback to know if the story is going on the right track :) Again, and ideas/comments/suggestions are appreciated and taken into consideration.