Sixteen

ICHI

"You sure you're ready for this?" Kakashi asks for the tenth time since pulling into the school parking lot.

His face is a perfect picture of concern, and Sakura appreciates it. She tucks a loose strand of hair behind her ear and nods.

"My hair is so short that Kurenai-chan is going to kill me the next time she sees me, I have lied to my parents about my whereabouts and am living with a perverted old man!" she chirps, quickly checking in her reflection for anything between her teeth. She claps her hands together and grins. "So, if that's anything to go by, then absolutely not! But it's too late to turn back now, I want to be a normal girl."

"For a few months," adds the Hatake pointedly.

She rolls her eyes and steps out of the vehicle, swinging her bag over her shoulder. "Sure," she agrees. "Any tips for my high school debut, Kakashi?"

He pushes a button to lock his car and walks around to the front where Sakura meets him. She's boisterous. Too boisterous, and much too excited.

Kakashi supposes he feels sorry for her, an eighteen-year-old who has never once stepped foot inside a high school - let alone any school, for that matter - unless it had been for some television troupe.

He pinches the skin between his eyes and sighs.

He doesn't know how he got dragged into her mess. Haruno Sakura is a famous actress and model, beloved and known by all for her many hit roles in popular TV dramas. She has been in the industry since she was only a little girl, and pitifully so.

The only reason he knew her is because of his previous position as a producer, and sometimes promotional manager. He had been on board with her manager - her father - and often helped her agent find her perfect roles to launch her career from a young age.

It's a work he detested and despised, and if it hadn't been for a deal he made with her agent - a powerful, influential man - he may not have made it out alive, and with so little to do with the industry now.

Kakashi is glad to be rid of the one community he hates most, but laying as low as he is, it seems he's still able to be found if looked for in the right places.

He glances over at Sakura, a girl - no, woman who has grown into her own. She's taller, curvier, lost the baby fat in her face. Her skin has cleared up considerably, her posture straighter, hips wider and filled out in all the right places a woman should fill out in.

The Sakura he knew - the one who had been still battling acne and hormonal changes in her body, the one with an alarming princess-like complex and a love for games, the one who was insanely innocent and still gushed over Kakashi, claiming she'd become a more worthy wife than Rin if he'd just give her a chance (merely impossible and most definitely illegal considering he was 14 years her senior) - would never pull a stunt like this.

It's dangerous and reckless, and could go wrong in all the right ways. It's almost a scandal, one that can ruin her image. She's lying and faking a persona - though, it's what she does for a living.

Kakashi wonders how such an innocent girl turned out to be so wicked and deceiving, but he's only being a dramatic old man.

She isn't that Sakura anymore. She is no longer a pubescent thirteen-year-old. The growth in her appearance and maturity in her speech is certainly proof of that, if nothing else.

And - Kakashi hates to admit - he's won over, not by money (he has plenty of that), but by the completed signed series of Icha Icha.

Embarrassed by how easy he is, Kakashi clears his throat and looks away from her.

"Don't call me so familiarly," he says nonchalantly, making a start for the school. "In school grounds, I'm your teacher. Lay low. Don't cause a scene and don't draw any unnecessary attention to yourself, alright? And don't trust anyone. You might just regret it."

The Haruno's lips stretch into a wide shark-like grin and tears flee to her eyes as she lunges at the man.

"Uwaaaaaa, Kakashi! Thank you!"

He shakes her off quickly.

"I promise I won't cause any commotion," she insists.

And she's wrong.

_______

The Hatake heaves a heavy exhale through his teeth as they walk through the clustered hallway of the school's main block. He supposes he should've seen this coming.

The attention, he means.

Sakura, even without her fame and status attached to her head, isn't someone who easily blends with the crowd. Her hair is vibrant and sticks out like a sore thumb. She isn't exactly average looking either and the way she walks is like she has just come right off the run way. As ironic as that sounds.

The moment the doors open, heads turn. The Hatake feels like he's in one of her romance sitcoms as everything slows down.

Sparkles appear around her head as the breeze picks up her short hair and brushes it back off of her heart-shaped face. She's the only one wearing the school vest and red bow-tie, and she looks straight out of a high school slice of life shoujo manga.

Kakashi internally burns because whywhywhy.

"Wow, this school is humongous!"

"Yeah, yeah. Administration is this way."

The further in they walk the more whispers seem to pick up in the air. They whisper about Kakashi and then about Sakura, and then they start to come up with potential identities of their relation and just who she is. A popular conspiracy is that she's Kakashi's illegitimate child. How scandalous.

Inside Admin, the Hatake greets a woman named Shizune behind the reception desk. Sakura marvels at everything, and a pin board catches her eye.

On it are flyers and notices about clubs that are held on campus, and one in particular steals her attention. She yanks the flyer down, folds it and pockets it for safe keeping.

"Aizawa Sakura," introduces Kakashi. "We're here to pick up her timetable for the year."

"Hai, hai," says Shizune, opening a large cabinet drawer. She searches for a file and then withdraws a piece of A5 paper. "Here you go, Hatake-san. Aizawa-san."

"Thank you," Sakura smiles, receiving the schedule.

"I hope you enjoy it here. If you need anything or have any questions, feel free to come back any time."

The Haruno nods and jumps when she realises Kakashi is already out the door. She chases quickly behind him as she opens her timetable. It's reads all her subjects, and what classrooms they're in.

"Homeroom," she reads aloud. A gleam sparkles in her eye. "Hey, Ka— erm, Hatake-sensei! Looks like you're my homeroom teacher."

His feet halt immediately and Sakura crashes into his back. He cranes his head to peer at the paper and sure enough, there's his name.

He looks up at her, and then back at the paper. And then up at her again, and he scowls.

Damn. He's stuck with her.