The first day at the academy (open)

Kouichi had woken up bright and early on his first day of the academy. He had quickly got dressed and was stopped by his mom. Kouichi listened to her advice and didn't interrupt her during their conversation. After she was done talking, Kouichi walked out the front door and headed down the path that lead to the academy. He had finally made it. Things were not going to be easy, he thought with a nervous look on his face. As he passed the entrance, he saw kids talking to one another. They gave Kouichi a look and turned away quickly. He ignored them and walked inside.

All things considered, it was a beautiful morning in the islands that Kirigakure called home. It wasn't raining that hard, the omnipresent veil of mist wasn't that thick, and her alarm clock hadn't been that loud. Yes, by all counts, it should have been a great morning. Yet, it was anything but great for Asami Miyamoto, the only daughter of Ai and Kenchi. Instead of working outside, and enjoying the relative break in the rainy season, she found herself stuck behind a desk in a classroom that she thought she'd left behind long ago.

Remedial lessons...more like resuckable lessons, right? 

Asami had never been the best student, so she shouldn't have been surprised when word came down to her from the higher-ups that she would have to attend remedial lessons. She was, however, both surprised and hurt. After all, she now sat amongst a group of people she technically outranked. It didn't make sense, it wasn't fair! No, she didn't deserve any of this, but orders were orders and she would sit through this stupid lesson because it was what she had to do. 

Sitting at the back of the room, the diminutive genin looked like any other sixteen year old of Kirigakure. She wore a sky-blue sweatshirt with the emblem of Kirigakure emblazoned on the back in crimson, a pair of black leggings reaching midway down her shins, and a pair of worn leather sandals. Yes, save for the still shiny headband hanging around her neck and the disinterested expression she looked much like the other students who had the grave misfortune of having class so early in the morning. Perhaps this was why no one had chosen to sit on either side of her?

She couldn't be sure and, frankly, she didn't care at this point.

TWC: 296

Kouichi, a somewhat taller and skinny 13 year old boy walked nervously into the classroom, with his head faced down. His eyes looked around and then they looked down which caused him to run into a desk. The other kids laughed at Kouichi which made his cheeks turn a redish color. He knew he had already embarrassed himself after 1 second of walking in the room. Not knowing where to sit he stood there silently with a blank expression on his face. He noticed an empty table and walked towards it.
Why is everyone looking at me? He thought. He sat down and put his head face down on the table, avoiding the other classmates.

Technically, Asami didn't laugh; though, she did expel more air from her nostrils than one might have normally. Ok, maybe it was a bit humorous to watch the plight of the spiky-haired youth. The small genin had never been on the receiving end of such ridicule during her time in the academy, so she saw no harm in laughing. Everyone else was laughing, right? It must be the right thing to do—the ability to put herself in another's shoes was a skill the genin had never bothered to hone. 

Oh, here he comes...


The slim smile that had snuck onto the kunoichi's face slipped away as 'the desk walking boy' wove his way to the back of the room. It hadn't occurred to Asami until the boy took a seat next to her, but one of the only two desks left open was to her right while the second sat to her left. Strange how things like that happen, isn't it? What happened next, however, gave the young girl pause for thought; the boy seemed to be attempting to hide from prying eyes by laying his head on the desk in front of him. 

Asami's little heart nearly broke. 

"Hey," she reached out in attempt to lightly touch the boy's shoulder. "Are you alright?"

Luckily the teacher seemed to be running a bit late and soon the classroom busied itself with conversation as the brown haired boy and black haired girl became less interesting than the latest academy gossip.

TWC: 540

Kouichi lifted his head and made eye contact with the black haired girl. He nodded and said, "I think so. It was just a bit embarrassing."
Kouichi noticed that the girl was trying to be nice to him and he smiled back to her. This girl is being nice to me, he thought. He took a deep breath and said, "Are you new to the academy too? It's my first day."

"It's nice to meet you, my name is Kouichi" he replied. He looked up at her head and noticed a ninja headband. His eyes grew. "Is that an actual village headband?" He said with a look of both surprise and excitement. "That's so cool!! I hope I can graduate and get one of my own." Kouichi sat silently for a minute to admire it, then he said, "wait, there's a new teacher?"

"It sure is," she replied, her excitement nearly matching Kouichi's own. "The test isn't actually that hard, if you study for it it's a breeze. I wouldn't worry too much about it."

Naturally, Asami neglected to mention how she had failed the test the first time and only just passed on her second attempt. What Kouichi didn't know wouldn't hurt him, right? Plus, she was a genin now so it didn't matter in the end. What did matter, however, and though the young genin would never admit it, was that she presented the best part of herself to the outside world. If that involved both a bit of self-deception? Well, then so be it. 

"And yeah, he's a new teacher," she continued with her lie—in for a penny, in for a pound and all that. "Apparently he was some big shot back in his military days, but now he's getting into teaching. Hopefully, he's not too harsh..."

At this point, the classroom door swung inwards and in walked a tall figure with bookish glasses and a strong physique. This was clearly the teacher, but the 'he' Asami had been talking about was actually a 'she' and so her poorly spun web of lies began to fall apart. Realizing this, Asami's face flushed once more and she directed her attention to the front of the room where the teacher was getting settled at her desk. Maybe Kouichi wouldn't notice?

[TWC: 1029]

Kouichi also noticed the teacher enter the classroom. His focus turned from Asami, to the teacher. The classroom turned from talking to complete silence. So this is the new teacher, he thought. Then he realized what Asami was saying about a male teacher was a lie. He wanted to say something, but then the teacher took his attention

"Good morning," the teacher's voice was gruff and sounded more like a man's than a woman's. "My name is Yui and today we'll start studying the clone technique."

The older woman turned around and with a few quick movements scribbled both her name and three words, 'Ram -> Snake -> Tiger'. Asami recognized these instantly as the hand seals required for the clone technique. However, judging by the furrowed brows all around her, she doubted many of the students gathered in the classroom knew what they meant. That said, it was probably to be expected as it was the first day, but nonetheless, it bolstered the young girl's ungrounded pride. 

"Now," the teacher faced the class once more with what appeared to be the class list in hand. "Kouichi Nakamura, would you please explain to the class what the clone technique is used for and what these three words have to do with it?"

The teacher thrust her thumb back at the board behind her and at the three hand seals. 

Kouichi, isn't that the desk walker's name? Watching the young boy to her right's movements Asami waited silently for him to speak up. It would seem that the boy was in for a run of bad luck, first, he ran into a desk and now he was picked first by the teacher to explain a concept he might very well not know. Suffice to say, Asami was intrigued to see how the whole thing played out—the same thing had happened to her a few years back and she'd crumpled under the fear of answering a question incorrectly.

TWC: 1296