My Sunshine

Haru's First Day - Iruka / Strategic Planning - Haru

They walked through the front door of their apartment, Haru dropping her bag on the floor and flopping face first onto the couch. Iruka couldn't help but laugh.

"How was your first day?"

"Exhausting, but I loved it."

She did a great job; by the end of the day, she was learning where different classes were and where everything was located.

"Want me to run you a warm bath?"

She looked up grinning.

"Okay."

He went to the bathroom, turning on the water as Haru made her way to the doorway.

"Thank you for everything today."

"You did a great job. The way you handled Enkai today was amazing. He's a good kid who has a lot on his shoulders."

"I could tell. I hope he'll be okay."

"He will be. You gave him someone he could relate to. Many of us have lost parents, mostly in the Third Great Ninja War, but it's hard to help a child who has resentment that his you lived and his father died."

"You lost your parents as well?"

He gave her a sad smile.

"Yes, but we can talk about that later. Why don't you get into the bath before it gets cold."

"Okay, I won't be long."

"Take your time."

She smiled at him; he grinned back at her.

Closing the door behind him, he flopped down on his bed and closed his eyes.

"Hey, wake up."

He opened his eyes to find Haru already in her pajamas, hovering over him.

"Did I fall asleep?"

"Yeah, and I fell asleep in the warm bath. It's been a couple of hours."

She sat down next to him.

"Anyway, to continue our conversation, that's enough about me. How was your first day as the Principal?"

"It was good. It's strange running things instead of just teaching one class. But, I'm sure I'll get used to it."

She giggled. She was so cheerful tonight; she must've really had a good day.

"Are you hungry?"

"Nah, I'm still fine from dinner. You?"

"Nah."

She grinned at him, laying down next to him in the bed.

"Why don't you get some sleep? I think I'm going to stay up for a while."

"Too excited to sleep?"

"Kinda? I also got to visit the school library today. I checked a couple of books out; I'm going to start them tonight."

He propped himself up on his elbows.

"What did you pick up?"

He glanced at the cover: Shinobi and Analytics. She was grinning at the cover.

"I love to read, but I haven't felt like it since I've been here. And now, it's strange; I don't have to hide while I'm reading. And there are so many options!"

Iruka slid under the blankets.

"So many options and you chose Shinobi and Analytics?"

"Yeah! I was studying trigonometry and analytics for a few years on the island, but there were only a few books. I didn;t realize that trigonometry and analytics fit so nicely into shinobi training."

Iruka was deeply impressed. She knew analytics. She continued.

"I like numbers because they aren't subjective; they're always the same, the formulas are the same, and you always get the same answer. There's something comforting about that level of familiarity."

"Oh, hold on, before I go to sleep..."

He climbed out of bed, checking the windows and doors are locked before coming back to bed. She smiled at him.

"Thank you. You're so good to me."

"I'm glad your first day went so well. Goodnight, Haru."

"Goodnight, Iruka. I won't stay up too late."

He closed his eyes and smiled to himself. It was comforting, having her next to him, reading before she fell asleep. He opened an eye one more time, gazing up at her. She already looked entrenched in her book, her brow furrowed in concentration. He closed his eyes once more, allowing himself to drift off, knowing that Haru was safe and happy.

***

"Oh, it should be 64 feet. If you tweak the equation like this-"

She took her pencil and corrected a few marks, rewriting the numbers.  iruka watched over Haru's shoulder as Anko sat next to her, dumbfounded.  He had asked Anko to come in and watch Haru solve a tough hypothetical shinobi measurement of distance and force, one that a teacher couldn't solve.

"-then using that algorithm will give you a different answer. You have to compensate for the wind."

Anko looked up at her as if she were a crazy person. She put the pencil down and began to feel hesitant about what she had just done.

"You know how to do Shinobi Algorithms?  Seriously?"

She could feel her face turning red.

"I know how to do algorithms in general. D-Do they not apply here?"

Anko picked up the paper, turning it sideways as if it were in a foreign language.

"No, they absolutely do. Holy shit...  I mean, I guess this is right.  I fucking hate Shinobi Analytics.  I'm more of a jutsu now, ask questions later kinda girl."

Anko looked over at her grinning.

"Who taught you how to do this?  It's very impressive."

She heard her voice come out as a shy squeak.

"I taught myself. I could never sleep at night, I was afraid that someone would come for me, so I would stay up and read. I like numbers because they aren't subjective, even when everything else in life is."

Anko looked over at Iruka.

"I think we've found our new Strategic Planning teacher."

Iruka looked up at her with a wide grin on his face.

"I know it's asking a lot, but do you think you could do this in front of a classroom of kids?"

"I could try."

"Of course, it wouldn't be immediately.  You would continue to be my assistant until you're comfortable being here.  Maybe in a month we could try it?  You would need to look over the materials for the class anyway, to make sure you understand it well enough to teach it.  And if it doesn't work out, at least we tried.  It wouldn't be your fault."

"Wow.  We haven't had a Strategic Planning teacher in years.  Nobody wants to teach it because it's so difficult to teach to kids.  But, if you did it..."

Anko let her voice trail off with a smile on her face.

She didn't mind the kids here, they were pretty nice to her yesterday and were mostly just curious about the new stranger in their school.  She would enjoy learning more about the school and the people here for the next month as she reviewed the class materials.  She grinned at Iruka.

"That would be amazing.  I'll start looking through it tonight."