𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚋𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚔𝚎𝚎 • 𝚜𝚊𝚜𝚞𝚔𝚎 𝚞𝚌𝚑𝚒𝚑𝚊 𝚡 𝙾𝙲

01 - Today's the Day

April, 1992 - Japan

It was the official beginning of Haruka Akiyama's second year at Konoha High School. She would need to start looking at colleges soon, because after this year and the one after, high school would be over. Most students attending KHS took their morning walk slowly, admiring the April cherry blossoms and bidding their vacations a final, bitter goodbye.

But Haruka had a mission. Or rather, there was information that she just needed to know.

Though many had told her it was rather juvenile of her, she skated full speed ahead on her roller blades. She wasn't above any form of transportation that would get her where she needed to go, even if her mother forced her to wear knee pads and a helmet. She needed to get to school as soon as possible, and she paid a dangerously little amount to her surroundings as she travelled.

In record time she had bounded through the suburban streets and found herself staring at her school. Waving haphazard good-mornings to teachers and friends, she burst through the front doors.

"Skates off, Akiyama-san. Can we start this year off on the right foot, please?"

It was poor Iruka-sensei who often had to deal with her scattered brain. She had indeed, not for the first time, forgotten to take off her rollerblades and skated through the main door like it was nobody's business. The girl hopped out of them and continued quickly down the hall.

"Are a regular pair of shoes too much to ask for?" Iruka asked tiredly. Haruka gave the best polite smile she could, shrugged off her backpack, and crammed her flats on her feet at the speed of light. After shoving her things in her locker, she took a moment to recollect herself.

"Okay...you can do this. Just go in there and take it like a man. Or wait, no, a woman. whatever."

She knocked at a well-polished, freshly cleaned door, taking deep breaths.

"Come in."

Haruka gulped, turned the knob, and tried instantly to get a visual grasp on the situation. Her teacher's face was unreadable though, as it often was.

"Good morning, Kakashi-sensei, I hope you've had a nice break," Haruka said hesitantly. He remained poker-faced, and she wiped her sweaty palms on her skirt. Of course, she had told herself not to get her hopes up, but it didn't work too well. "So...uhm, did you get it?"

"Morning, Haruka. Did I get what?"

"Sensei, please!" Some nerve he had!

Kakashi sighed, "Much too impatient for my liking...but if you must know, I got it."

Haruka's throat was tight. "You...got it? Like, actually?"

He nodded. "In the center of town, just where you wanted. Happy?"

"Oh, yes! I am! When can I start working on it?" Haruka was overjoyed.

"Next week. It needs to be finished by the end of the school year, of course. You're under a contract."

"I-! A contract!" Haruka was stunned. "I need to tell everyone! I'll see you in homeroom, sensei!"

She was about to bolt through the door when she remembered that the opportunity would not have presented itself if it hadn't been for Kakashi-sensei. She turned and gave him a deep, respectful bow. If there were any adults in the world that she truly respected, Kakashi-sensei was near the top of the list. "Thank you, Kakashi-sensei. Thank you for believing in me last year. I'll make you proud!"

Once more she ran through the main door and back outside, and as if God was just on her side that day, the two that she wanted to tell the good news to the most had both arrived.