Leaning back in the chair, Katsurou carefully considered the situation, weighing his options once again.

A year into being a Jounin sensei, he figured it was high time he addressed an issue he'd been aware of for quite a while.

Katsurou hadn't exactly planned to ever be a sensei, in any capacity of the word, but here he was. With a team. Three brats and a ninken that all looked to him for guidance and advice in all things shinobi. And in some things that weren't quite related to their profession, too.

Taku was surprisingly the easiest of them to handle; he had a good base of skills to build on, came from a good, stable home, and he was quick and resourceful, so long as he didn't have to read.

Maki was diligent and polite, a bit easily offended at present, but that would get better in time. The civilian upbringing was hampering him slightly, but that, too, was getting better.

And then there was the truly troublesome one.

Not that Kyo made a nuisance of herself; quite the contrary. And most people would think it wasn't an issue at all, the things Katsurou was feeling… concerned about.

Then again, most people either saw her age or her prodigal status and little else.

The only question, Katsurou mused, was how to go about this.

There were several avenues open to him, and just as many approaches, but… whatever he decided, he knew it would be crucial. It would set the tone for the rest of his and the girl's relationship.

Postponing it to a later opportunity was also a possibility, he supposed, but… well. Katsurou couldn't deny he was curious.

Because there were several things about his little poison enthusiast that didn't quite add up.

Humming softly to himself, Katsurou glanced around his plain kitchen, the living room through the open doorway and once again considered his options.

Well. Having his home invaded by a small pack of Genin every now and then was far from the worst fate he could imagine for himself.

The little menaces grew on you.


"What's this about, sensei?" Kyo asked, peering up at him from across the kitchen table. Her face was open and the level of trust she showed towards him was somewhat daunting whenever he stopped to think about it.

"You," he replied, keeping his voice even and calm, still pondering how to best breach the subject.

"Me?" Kyo asked, looking confused. As if she couldn't fathom why anyone would be interested in her.

It almost made him want to smile at the irony.

"You've been my students for a little over a year now," Katsurou said, starting with a simple statement of fact. "I am very good at what I do, and there are some things that just don't quite," he paused, considering his student intently, choosing his words with care, "add up. About you, Kyo."

The look on her face told him many things, none of which were particularly encouraging or positive.

Katsurou idly wondered if he'd have to hurt anyone for having put it there, because someone was clearly responsible.

Full understanding of what it was he was talking about, the girl didn't even attempt to feign ignorance.

Fear.

Apprehension, anxious nervousness. He could list a few more, but they were all in the same vein.

"You're not in trouble, if that's what you're worried about," he continued sedately, bringing his mug to his lips for another sip of tea, doing his best to project calm and reassuring signals. "If that'd been the case, I would've brought you to T&I rather than my house."

The thought of Kyo, small and only seven, in that place threatened to make him scowl.

Now that was not a place for children.

Kyo didn't react much, and kept unnaturally still, as if wanting to avoid any kind of attention. Looking completely frozen.

Instead of pressing her, Katsurou put down his tea and began to talk.

"I'll speak and you'll listen," he said calmly, gaze not leaving the girl in front of him for so much as a second. And he proceeded to list a few of her better qualities; the things she'd been moved up her classes at the Academy for. The reasons why she'd been an early graduate.

Most children would have been pleased at the praise, happy and proud.

Kyo's reaction?

"I'm not a prodigy," she blurted, seemingly without being able to stop herself.

Feeling faintly amused, Katsurou couldn't help but wonder what she'd say if she knew how most people keeping an eye on the new generation spoke of her. The promise she was showing.

"I admit that you're not as intelligent as the Nara heir, for example, but you have something young Shikaku does not," he leaned forward a fraction in his seat, attentively watching for reactions. "You're wise, Kyo. That's very rare for a child your age."

And he had not expected the brief flicker of bitterness across her face.

That was an odd reaction, all things considered.

"Are you sure I'm not in trouble?" she asked, and traces of her earlier fear crept back onto her face.

"You've been my student for a year now, Kyo," he repeated solemnly, meaning every word. "If anyone tries to claim something ridiculous like you're an infiltrated enemy shinobi, they'll have to answer to me, understood?" The girl was an oddity, but she was open and honest in a way that couldn't be faked.

If Katsurou had to break a few limbs and instill an acute fear of death -or worse- in a few idiots to make his Genin feel safe, then so be it.

…Hokage probably should have taken that into consideration before giving him, of all people, a team.

"I figure I died."

The words hang in the air between them a second, and Kyo looked just about as surprised as Katsurou felt.

Then she slapped her hands over her mouth, eyes wide with something like panic.

Katsurou made sure not to shift his posture from the calm, relaxed slump he'd arranged it in, and his expression didn't twitch in the slightest.

He didn't want to frighten her, or make her think he wouldn't hear her out to the end.

"Before I was Kyo," she tentatively added, and the level of trust her actions implicated were staggering.

Katsurou knew for a fact there were people who wouldn't trust him a tenth of a fraction of the amount Kyo was showing without half a dozen contingency plans in place and just as many witnesses present.

"Reincarnation," he said slowly, not letting his thoughts colour his voice. "Very rare, but not entirely unheard of. How much do you remember?" It would certainly explain a lot, if the assumptions Katsurou was making turned out to have even a shred of credibility.

"All of it?" Kyo said, though it sounded more like a question. As if Katsurou's non-reaction had her confused. And then she continued, saying something that made him want to rub at his face, because it complicated things. "Except the last bit; that's still a bit foggy, but I think I know how I died anyway."

This seven year old girl, talking about dying like it was a mere footnote. The implications alone…

"How old were you?" he asked, unable to help himself, because- well, it wasn't every day you came across something like this, even in his line of business. And things were making more and more sense the more he heard.

"Twenty six. Possibly twenty seven," the girl sighed, looking sad.

Katsurou's thoughts stilled.

His seven year old student was mentally older than him.

He almost felt like laughing.

Only is wasn't really funny. Not in the slightest.

He continued to calmly question her, and for every answer, it painted a picture that became more and more clear. Things he'd noticed and noted down making so much sense now it was almost painful.

The more he learned, the more obvious it became that he'd have to try and learn everything he could about this, or it would come back and bite them later. He needed to know what it was he was dealing with, here.

Question was how much he'd have to cajole Kyo into letting him perform a Mind-Walk, entirely of her own volition, because if he fucked this up… his initial assessment would have been a tad off, if he wasn't mistaken.

A child's trust but with an adult's knowledge of what was acceptable and not wasn't anything to take lightly.

And then she went and surprised him by agreeing almost as soon as he asked.

Katsurou stared intently at the girl a long second, but she wasn't afraid anymore. Nervous? Definitely. Frightened? No.

"Let's move this into the living room, then," he said simply, deciding not to question this right now. He could analyze it to bits later, when he was alone, and had gotten a chance to digest things.

"Okay, sensei," Kyo agreed with what felt like far too much ease.

He'd have to talk to her about this, at some point, because if she treated everyone like this, Katsurou didn't want to deal with that headache.


Talking Kyo through the procedure was easy; he'd done it countless times before. Granted, that was usually different. Less trust involved, and more gritty determination and focus.

Kyo made it all easy, and it helped that she was used to meditate.

Katsurou focused on the issue at hand, and learned a whole lot more than he had perhaps bargained for.

There were a lot of memories to go through.

And the things he learned… everything was making perfect sense now, Katsurou mused idly as he retreated out of his student's head, watching her slowly compose herself again.

An entirely civilian life, but with its own hurdles to overcome. Some larger and more daunting that others.

The parents, though…

Taking a slow, deep breath, Katsurou idly wondered what he'd do with that man had he gotten a chance to get involved.

Probably not anything Kyo would thank him for.

There were certain kinds of people Katsurou would gladly pick apart, limb by limb, and the previous father certainly ticked a lot of boxes.

That the target of his attention had been his student just added a certain something.

And then came the realisation that he'd have to brief the Hokage about this, because it changed things.

Kyo was seven years old, that was entirely true, but she wasn't just a seven year old girl.

If nothing else, she certainly had a unique perspective on a lot of things, and that wasn't even contemplating the very different society her previous self had been brought up in.

The fact that Kyo's main reaction to all of this was to seek assurance that he wouldn't treat her differently was… Katsurou would really like to get his hands on the man that had contributed to Kyo's previous body's conception.