Insomnia outtakes Part 1: Teamwork
Disclaimer: Nope, I don't own Naruto or Rurouni Kenshin.
Summary: Hiko meets his new genin team for the first time.
A/N: Yeps, this is the first, and LET ME WARN YOU: IF YOU HAVEN'T READ INSOMNIA BEFORE READING THIS, IT MEANS YOU DON'T MIND SPOILERS. The second part is already written, and after a few corrections will be posted here too.
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On the first glance, Hiko was not impressed. He had one gloomy black-haired kid with aquamarine eyes and a sulky expression, one boy with long brown hair and red eyes filled with secret desires and a general lack of respect towards other people's lives, and then his own fool of a pupil. Kenshin, the boy he had saved from the slavers and taken under his wing years before, sat there with his regular combination of innocence, determination and oh-why-me expression he always seemed to have when Hiko was around.
These kids… either they would die the moment they stepped out of the village gates, or they would survive and become something great.
Hiko, however, was not going to make either option easy for them.
"Listen up, brats", he started commandingly, "I'm only doing this as a favour to and old friend. I have no intention of teaching all of you my sword techniques: if you want to learn how to use one, go to someone else. I have already a successor and he is the redhead on the left." Kenshin jumped in surprise at this admission, and the other two kids glared heatedly at him.
Group dynamics seemed to be working already. Good, good.
"You – minus the redhead – will call me sensei at any times. I will tolerate no disrespect from you. You will do as I say or face the consequences." He gave them his most impressive look of doom, and was pleased to see all of them looked rather apprehensive – Kenshin the least, of course, but he was quite used to these looks already.
"Now, at this point I was told I should let you introduce yourselves and do some group bonding tishtosh. I don't care about whether you will like me or each other as long as you do exactly what I say, but my friend told me that kids of your age find this bonding stuff important and feel unsafe and unprotected without it... so KENSHIN!" he barked, making the boy in question visibly flinch – "you will start with the introduction."
Kenshin opened his mouth, his oh-why-me expression gaining another level of deepness – Hiko had to admit he was quite impressed. "Um… I'm Himura Kenshin, nice to meet you… " he glanced at Hiko as though asking was this enough, but when Hiko glared at him, his violet eyes widened marginally and he continued quickly: "I'm an orphan… I'm nine… I had a cat but it died… " – another glance at Hiko's direction – " I like flowers and love kenjutsu… and I hate being weak." With that, he shut his mouth and glared at his shishou, telling clearly that that was it for him, no way in HELL was he ever going to open his mouth again.
Hiko dismissed him with a careless nod and pointed at the black-haired kid. "Your turn."
"Shinomori Aoshi", the boy said, staring straight at Hiko with his beautifully coloured eyes, his gaze not giving anything, but not asking for anything either. Another kid with a tough life, Hiko filed in his mind for later use. "I'm seven." The boy hesitated, then glanced at Kenshin and muttered: "An orphan too."
Hiko nodded absently. "The last one, now."
The brown-haired boy straightened his back and gave the other two a look of utter superiority. "I'm Shishio Makoto, and I am ten. You shall call me sempai at all times." As a response to that, Aoshi gave him an indifferent no-way-in-hell glare and Kenshin turned his head away, looking sullen.
Hiko lifted his eyebrow. Normally teachers weren't out to crush their students, but he had never claimed to be a model example. Therefore he felt no remorse whatsoever when he stated: "Oh, so you are ten? In that aspect, you are the oldest and therefore the least prodigious of the lot." He watched in merry fascination as the boy's gleeful expression fell faster than a prisoner thrown from a cliff. Kenshin knew better than to laugh at the expanse of others when Hiko was around, so he just thinned his lips and faked disinterested, while Aoshi, who did not know of this rule, gave the oldest boy a rather uncharacteristic smirk. Hiko was quick to burst his bubble too: he pointed his finger accusingly at Aoshi and said: "And since YOU are the youngest, I'll expect double the effort from you so that you don't fall behind with you tiny little legs."
Aoshi's smirk vanished and his eyes widened, then he glanced at Kenshin, who was as small as he was. Kenshin was still too busy pretending he didn't notice anything to notice the way Aoshi unconsciously tried to get his support. That gave Hiko a reason to bark: "Kenshin, pay attention to your surroundings!"
At this point all three of them were looking rather cross. Hiko smirked at their faces and said: "Of course, this was just an introduction out of necessity – I have no interest in you, and no use for you whatsoever if you fail my test tomorrow."
This piece of information caught their attention. "What?" the brown-haired boy with a superiority complex snapped. Hiko grazed him with a beautiful smile and said: "If you fail tomorrow, I'll send you back to the academy faster than you can say 'no fair'. So be prepared." His tone was pleasant, but the way his eyes filled with sadistic glee gave away his bluff and made the brown-haired boy shut his mouth for good. Hiko glanced at the other too, but neither of them looked like they wanted to push their luck with him.
He nodded approvingly. "Well then, see you tomorrow, at this same place five o'clock in the morning. Don't be late."
He turned and left, his white cloak billowing dramatically behind him, the glares of the kids directed at him making his skin shiver with anticipation. He allowed himself a small, slow smirk.