A.N. I am so sorry for not updating sooner! But I got sick after midterms and then spent time catching up all the work. My math class assigns a test nearly every week. Sometimes twice. I feel so tired most of the time. But enough of feeling sorry for me.
I was hit with inspiration for Hibari's viewpoint. So I wrote about him, tell me if he's believable, but this is how I feel Hibari would make the most sense in this story. I had a hard time remembering that he was three though. Really. I have to move on from this time frame and out of preschool because I have next to no idea how preschool works anymore.
And so this is chapter three, a look at all the chapters so far from Hibari's viewpoint. (Yes that means I've technically not furthered the plot directly. I just made Hibari more human? I think?) At any rate. On with chapter three.
Disclaimer: I in no way shape or form own KHR. I own only Emiko, her family, and Hibari Akiko who doesn't even show up this chapter except as Kaa-san.
The first thought Hibari Kyoya had when he met Kurowa Emiko was weak. The girl was diminutive, tiny, and he could almost feel her fear. What was she fearful of anyway? He had nearly written her off as a hopeless case, someone who would never be anyone and move on into the school building.
He had been most surprised when she squared her shoulders, looked him in the eye, and said Ohayo. It was a flash of something brave. And he had been so surprised that he hadn't stopped himself from 'Hn'-ing a reply.
It had been most strange. In a way he almost liked it, even though she started the same time as he did, towards the door of the school building. He had paused, wondering if she would be brave enough to walk in front of him. She wasn't, and he was almost disappointed. He had started to move into the building, and he noticed that she had moved at the same time, as if she had also wanted to walk through the door.
Strange. He stopped and examined this phenomenon. In doing so she stopped again and he still didn't know what she was doing. With an inward huff, he simply walked on even though she had also began walking in. It didn't matter. There were other people to meet anyway. Surely there was someone more interesting.
The sounds that hit his ears the moment he walked into the classroom nearly made him reconsider. There was a brown haired girl crying in the corner. In fact nearly everyone was crying.
He was not used to the sound. The very weakness in the room disgusted him and he nearly walked back out again to search for Okaa-san and tell her he didn't want to go to school after all. The girl that had came in with him though, wasn't crying. And he watched as she pulled a pad of paper out of the standard sized school bag and began to draw.
She didn't seem to notice that the other children were crying or if she did she was not engaging in their weakness. It made her almost seem strong when seen next to them. With a yawn-he had gotten up too early this morning because he had wanted to come here of all places-he made his way to his own desk with his name card on it, and sat down.
He watched as the teacher-she introduced herself as Masu-sensei- came into the classroom and calmed the crying students. She then proceeded to have each student introduce themselves by giving their names and something they liked to do. He listened curiously as each student said something.
"Watanabe Saori, I like to sing." The girl who had been crying in the corner responded. How could she like to sing when she cried so horribly loudly? Wasn't music supposed to be soothing? He really didn't understand these people. These strange humans didn't even seem like people.
"Nakamura Razu, I like to play soccer." A boy in the back said. He was loud. He was not worthy of much, although perhaps he would be a worthy adversary. Kyoya considered that for a moment. No, he may not do very well academically.
He had been so busy thinking about whether an adversary was supposed to do well academically that he had nearly missed the introduction, although it was very soft, so nearly no one caught it all anyway.
"Kurowa Emiko, I like to draw." He looked back at the girl that he had walked in with. Oh, her name was Emiko. The only other one who had not cried.
From where he was sitting, to her left, he could see the death grip she had on her desk. In fact, she had whispered her introduction through a thick curtain of hair. She was afraid again. He sighed internally. It seemed as though she wasn't brave all the time after all, but she was interesting. He would spend at least some portion of his day watching her, because when she was brave again it was interesting.
With that thought to wrap up his analysis of his classmates for the day, he turned back to look at the teacher, Masu-sensei, he reminded himself, who was talking at the front of the room.
***\-~v~-/***
By the time Masu-sensei announced playtime he was ready to pummel a tree in frustration. They had learned how to count. How to count. To ten. He knew how to count to infinity. It was really very simple. He had been counting to infinity, having just reached 1,341 when they finally had playtime. During the morning, he realized something about his classmates: they were all very, very uneducated. He could read, simple words. He could speak Japanese just about fluently, and he could count very adeptly as well as do simple calculations.
He did not believe he was a genius to have managed all of that at age three. He merely thought that his other classmates were very uneducated. By the time playtime was announced he no longer had any wish to associate with any of his classmates. It was all he could do to not rage and break things. He secluded himself in the side of the play area that no one seemed to head near.
His head hurt. The classroom had been so very loud and even now he could hear the shrieks of the other children and their loud laughter. It was all too loud and he felt very thoroughly miserable. Perhaps he would say that he wasn't feeling very well tomorrow and not come here to this loud place.
***\-~v~-/***
He arrived there the next morning anyway. His mother had felt his forehead, took his temperature and told him he was fine. So he had come back, hoping against hope that there was some way that the loud building had been transformed into a quiet place with people who knew things overnight. He had been so caught up in his thoughts that he unknowingly 'Hn-ed' again in recognition.
At least Kurowa didn't make any unnecessary noise. He wasn't paying enough attention to see the extremely discouraged look on Emiko's face before it disappeared.
It was another day of frustration, and again he sought comfort in sitting on the grass in the play area nursing a pounding headache. He longed to go home. There was no one here anyway that one could have a decent conversation with, and at home was quieter, calmer than all this hustle and bustle. He went through the information he had learned the day anyway.
Watanabe had an older brother in 3rd grade about 9-10 years old. Nakamura had a mother who was a high up manager at a company. Masu-sensei had a boyfriend. He wasn't quite sure what this "Boyfriend-san" was about, but it had made Masu-sensei happy so it might have been important. He kept the information in the back of his head.
***\-~v~-/***
Three months later he had felt very resigned. There was no way to get out of coming to the loud building where they still didn't teach many useful things at all. And ironically he learned the most during play time. Kurowa still went out of her way to say Ohayo to him every morning, but he no longer found it very interesting. He barely 'Hn-ed' at all when she did so.
He had made few friends, none really, and he wasn't keen on chattering, so people left him to himself mostly. It was a little dull just sitting there in the play area alone, but he had many things to think about. The time would have been better spent in extra tonfa practice, except the fact that it was against the school rules to bring weapons.
That morning they took a break from learning numbers. They painted instead and he had watched in fascination as Kurowa took out her own paint set after quietly and politely declining Masu-sensei's. It was even more interesting as a skylark has appeared on the sheet of paper amid a very blue and perfect sky broken only by a few clouds.
It was an act of painting that shouldn't have been done so well. His own painting was a little crude around the edges. And he was again interested in watching Kurowa. Now that he thought about it, she didn't speak much to anyone. He cast his mind back, he had no idea where she was during playtime either. He felt certain she hadn't been among the rest of the classmates waiting for a turn on the swing.
That was interesting, a person that had escaped his notice when he turned to examining his classmates in his boredom. And even though he didn't have headaches anymore and his ears had almost gotten used to the loudness of the classroom he still didn't want to approach his peers. They thought he was strange and didn't like to talk to him.
He didn't care about it either way. So he headed out to his normal place in the play area and sat down to think. And he was again very surprised when Kurowa had come over to his area and spoke to him.
"Hibari when did you meet Kaa-san?" The voice as soft as it was jarred him out of his thoughts. He was just about to say something sarcastic when he realized that she too called her mother Kaa-san. So it must be when he met her mother. He quite honestly didn't remember but it would be very rude of him to say so, and so he just 'Hn-ed' again, and hoped that she wouldn't press it.
She didn't, just asked another question.
"Do you mind if I sit here?" He honestly didn't know. Did he, when she so rarely talked? He was really at loss at what to say and it didn't matter terribly much anyway.
"Hn." She stood there for a moment, and then sat down and so they stayed until the end of playtime.
A.N. Send me your thoughts. I love all of my three reviews so much. Ah yes, pity me and review I have one review per chapter. Woe is me...
I greatly appreciate your constructive criticism. Tell me if I made Hibari OOC and if Emiko is a Mary Sue...(shudders. I hope not.)
Well, Have a Good Day.
Leaf
