Chapter 4
Kenshin walked back to his home with a slight spring in his step. Most of his tension was washed away because of his conversation with Saitou.
'He can certainly be a good person when he wants to be...' he thought, smiling. 'He gives good advice, too. But still...' He turned the corner and saw Kaoru. She was teaching her kenjutsu classes. 'I solemnly swear, she is not going to do anything over-stressful!'
Which led him into teaching the dojo classes...
"Okay, line up!" Kenshin shouted at all the little children running around the dojo. He sighed. After their marriage, and with Yahiko being such a great turnout and becoming famous (to a certain extent), their dojo became flooded...with little children. At first Kenshin was very happy that Kaoru finally got her wish to have more students. Now looking at two children and watching one almost beat the other over the head with his shinai, he wasn't so sure.
'How does she keep all these kids in order?' Kenshin thought miserably as he broke up the fight that ensued between those kids. It did take some convincing on Kenshin's part persuading Kaoru to let him temporarily take over the classes, but in the end, Kenshin's way with words finally won out. He had to do some training with a practice sword himself for a while, but he knew it was for the best. At the moment, watching the kids in action, he wondered once or twice how he was going to survive this. 'I can already tell that this is going to be a long day...'
"No, don't touch that!"
"Keep away from there! That's Kaoru-sensei's private room!"
"I'm not a babysitter to you children!"
"Oro! NO! Not Kaoru-sensei's..."
CRASH!
"Favorite vase..."
"Okay, children," Kenshin finally got them all to pay attention to what he was saying. They were now all sitting on the tatami mats used for when they sat in seiza. "We are going to have a 'what if' day."
"What's a 'what-if' day?" one student asked without raising his hand.
Kenshin ignored this trivial blemish of discipline. He finally got them to listen to him, so why throw more fuel on the fire? "A 'what-if' day is when you can ask the teacher questions concerning the phrase 'what if?.'"
He got more confused looks with that remark. Kenshin sighed, and tried again, "For example, you could say–" he thought for a second on what an eight year old would ask. "'What if three men came in here right now with weapons and tried to hurt us?' Questions like that." Kenshin nodded to one student who had his hand raised.
"Are three men really out there to get us?" he asked. He was about four years old, and Kaoru accepted him into the dojo only due to the fact that his family really, really wanted him to take kenjutsu lessons. The poor little kid looked like he would burst into tears at any moment after what Kenshin had said.
"No!" Kenshin immediately replied, "I was just using that as an example. There aren't really..."
"Whut a 'example'?" another student jumped in.
"Ehh..." Kenshin began, "An 'example' is an explanation to show us..."
"Whut's a 'explanation'?" asked the same child.
"An 'explanation' is sort of like an illustration..."
"What's 'illustration'?"
"It's like an example of...oro!" Kenshin cried out, squeezing his eyes shut, trying to ignore the pouding beginning to throb inside his head. He opened them again, and that same kid was asking a bunch of questions to no one in particular. Another student had his hand raised.
"I have a 'what-if' question!" the student shouted out, obviously feeling very proud of himself.
"Oh, really?" Kenshin smiled in quiet relief. "What is it?"
"What if one of my hands grew longer than the other?"
"Oro! No, no questions like that! More like..."
Suddenly, the whole class decided to jump in on this little game.
"What if Kaoru-sensei got sick and died?"
"What if Hitokiri Battousai attacked us right now?"
"What if the sky turned pink?"
"What if...?"
"What if...?"
"What if...?"
That was all Kenshin could hear after the first class. Two more to go before the end of the day.
The Second Class...
Kenshin was drained, but not defeated...
'...yet,' his body replied. Kenshin hadn't felt this tired since his last battle with Enishi. 'If having children is this much trouble, I am certainly not wanting to have any more!'
"Okay, class, we are going to do 'technique exchange'," Kenshin glued a smile to his face as he stood in the middle of a ring the students made around him. It took a little (err... more like a lot) doing to make the circle into an actual circle, and not a crooked line, square, or bad version of a hexagon, but he finally got it shaped right.
Kenshin continued. "'Technique exchange' is an exercise used to train your skills as a swordsman in mind and body. As we spar, or 'exchange techniques', you should be developing better strategic reflexes. Now, who would like to be first?"
A couple students raised their hands.
'Oh, sure,' Kenshin thought, picking one student who looked able-bodied enough to be first. 'They can't understand the word 'example', but they can sure understand 'strategic reflexes', and 'training the mind and body'!'
And the exercise began.
The technique exchange was, in point of fact, going well at first. Kenshin brought his skills down to the students' level and everything went fine. They were getting the hang of it and it was becoming...fun! Kenshin was truly starting to get quite relieved. 'Maybe this isn't going to be as bad as I thought it would be...'
Until one of the smaller children stepped up. He looked a little intimidated as he held his little shinai, and Kenshin sensed that fear immediately.
"You really shouldn't be so afraid of me," Kenshin started. "I..."
For some reason, what Kenshin said to that boy about being afraid seemed to enrage him. Without waiting for anyone or anything, the little boy charged forward with his shinai, totally catching Kenshin offguard and in a state of shock.
What woke Kenshin out of that state of shock was a searing bolt of pain forcing him on his knees. He moaned in agony as the little boy rose from his attacking stance, the fire from his eyes dying as he asked innocently, "Shots to the groin count, right?"
As the dojo erupted into bouts of laughter, Kenshin didn't think he could take anymore! How Kaoru commanded such respect from these little monsters was beyond him. He felt like he wanted to do an "Amakakeru Ryuu no Hirameki" to that kid right then and there. Only his soft side was holding him back.
'If Saitou wanted to wrench the Battousai out of me, all he had to do was bring these children to my doorstep!' Kenshin groaned as he stood up, still feeling a little shaky around the lower abdominal area.
He was snapped out of his thoughts, as he heard something he hadn't heard in hours.
The wonderful sound of silence.
It was deathly quiet in the dojo as Kenshin looked at all his "students" in amazement. They were actually lining up straight, with no poking eachother. Their eyes were forward, and they all, down the the littlest child, looked like they wanted to learn kenjustu.
Kenshin couldn't believe it! He was about to commend them on their discipline, when a cutting voice broke in.
"I don't want to see any of you messing around like that again!"
It was Kaoru!
"If I come back here, and see any of you acting like wild animals, there will be a consequence! If you feel like talking, you don't! If you feel like looking somewhere other than where you're supposed to, look straight ahead! Focus! Concentrate! You are here to learn swordsmanship; you can play any other day. But not in this dojo! Discipline! Self-control! Do you understand!"
"Yes, ma'am!" all the students shouted in unison.
"Good!" She immediately changed from her instructor's face to her loving, house-wife face, looked at Kenshin, and smiled as she walked out. "Go on, dear."
All Kenshin could do was stare at her in utter amazement, and then go on with the lesson.
The Third Class...
'Help!' Kenshin sent up a quick prayer to Kami-sama as he broke up a fight between a bunch of kids about who gets to stand where in line. He really did need an assistent instuctor, or he felt like he was going to explode.
"All right, class," Kenshin tried to look as commanding as possible, hoping that the talking and laughing would slowly subside.
It didn't.
It actually just got louder. Kenshin sighed, and felt his patience running quite thin as he knew the students thought they could do whatever they wanted when Kaoru-sensei was away. He could see it in their eyes as they walked in. He could sense it in their movements. He knew very well they were taking full advantage of him.
'Ooh...' they probably thought. 'Kaoru-sensei isn't here. Playtime!'
'I don't think so,' Kenshin mentally countered as he stood at the front of the class. He wasn't going to go down without a fight. 'I am not going to have this class turn out like the first one.'
"Class," Kenshin raised his voice a bit.
They were not even paying attention.
"Class!" Kenshin allowed his voice to become a bit louder.
Still, the students kept on ignoring him.
"Class!" Louder still, with a slightly icy edge of impatience.
One or two students looked to where his voice was coming from, but then totally disregarded what it wanted them to do.
By this time, Kenshin felt his blood boiling. What on earth did these children's parents teach them about respecting their elders!
"CLASS!" the commanding, Battousai-like words sprang out of his mouth before he could shove them back in. "LINE UP, NOW!"
'Did I just say that?' he thought in bewilderment as every single student jumped at least five feet high.
All eyes turned towards the evil, mean man that screamed for no reason at them. Everyone was in complete shock, including Kenshin. He didn't mean to yell, but in the flurry of emotions he was experiencing, it sorta just...slipped out?
It was so quiet in the dojo (again) one could hear the leaves rustle outside...until one of the kids started crying.
And then another.
And then another.
And pretty soon, every child in the dojo was wailing to the heavens.
Kenshin hopelessly looked around at the screaming children standing before him. "I--I'm sorry, I didn't mean..." His words were futile as the children only cried louder.
He was stuck. He couldn't believe on how he let himself lose so much patience over a bunch of children. After all, he only did see them four hours three times every week (with half-hour breaks in between, of course).
'Maybe I am getting to be a grouchy, old man like Sano said,' Kenshin thought sulkily as he watched the pathetic sight before him.
'Hey, when I was their age, if I didn't listen to authority, I would get practically thrown off the mountain where I lived!' he thought defensively as the staring contest continued. 'But then again, those children didn't have a master of Hiten Mitsurugi as a "father"...' he added, meekly. 'Still, they have got to learn to obey, and I'm the one to teach them. I just didn't mean for it to end up like this.'
Finally, when he felt his eardrums were ready to burst, he gave a defeated sigh. "All right. Everyone gets a half an hour break."
That stopped the crying immediatley.
And after the first day, Kenshin was completely exhausted.
But it was worth it.
'Do it for Kaoru...'
'Kaoru.'
Kenshin set a resolved look on his face, and tried not to think about the grueling eight months ahead.
Author Notes: I took this chapter from a real-life incident that happened to me. I am the assistant instructor of a martial arts dojo, and on one occasion, my boss had to leave for personal reasons in the middle of class. I was stuck alone with about thirty children for two hours.
And "seiza" is a term that means "strong seat". It's basically just sitting on your knees all discipline-like.