Author's Note that SHOULD BE READ!
Dammit, people! You've tied down the middle for whether or not you want fluff/shonen-ai. Those who told me their opinions, thank you. Those that did not – please state thy preference! This is the last chapter I'll be counting votes for!
The teaching (if you can really call it that….) finally begins. Welcome to school, children.
Demonstration
Kurama smiled as he looked around Greenhouse 6. When he'd first come, nearly every plant had been abused, drugged, or malnourished, but now they thrived and literally wove around the entire house, seeming to dance. He didn't blame Professor Sprout for the negligence she'd left; she had obviously cared, but hadn't quite known how to handle the more dangerous species.
Well, relatively speaking, of course. The most dangerous plants she had were housed here, and none of them were especially threatening to the demon. However, he'd enlisted Hagrid at the start of term to erect the newest of his projects – Greenhouse 10.
This was where he planned to teach the real lessons. Makai plants lined the walls, all dangerous plants capable of ensnaring a witch or wizard. A blood sucking plant lingered in the corner, the flowers he cultivated the death seed from a few feet away from it. A Janen Ju took up yet another wall, and a Fuyouka Shokubutsu took the third. His Mimosa was planted on the wall nearest the door, and his favorite stood in the middle – a giant Death Tree.
One last pulse of energy was sent out to the thriving plants, checking their health. Smiling, he tucked a few extra seeds into his hair, feeling them send a warm reassurement in return. He'd promised to help Yusuke and Hiei with their first lesson. A demonstration, he'd been told. He pulled on a black kimono embroidered with beautiful rose designs – this would be a light spar, no one getting actually injured – and headed towards the castle.
Yusuke smirked as Harry's sixth year Gryffindor class filed into the classroom, followed by nervous looking Ravenclaws. Looking around, he was rather proud of himself. Originally an unused classroom complete with cobwebs and rats, the walls had been repainted a shocking green shade that made most people wince when they entered. The classroom had been magically expanded, and now resembled a Roman amphitheatre – or the Dark Tournament arena. Two rows of seats circled around the dueling platform, which could change from the Wizarding rectangle to the Makai circle.
Hiei had spent the last three weeks trying to find a means to cover his tattoo before giving up and displaying it full force. The thing obviously didn't want to be hid, and according to Kurama, the little black haired demon thought it added an extra boost of intimidation. Yusuke watched the faces of the kids lining up in front of him, and personally had to agree.
"Alright, shrimps! Sit down, shut up, and put those useless sticks away! We're going to do some questions, and then we've got something everyone's going to enjoy watching." Yusuke paused in his speech for a moment before continuing. "Well, I'll enjoy it, to say the least. First question – how much have you midgets done with dueling?"
Hermione, of course, was the first one with her hand in the air, shortly followed by a rather skeptical Ron.
"You, with the red hair. You remind me of – well, nevermind. What's your name?"
"Ron Weasely. We haven't gotten a chance to do hardly any dueling. We had one session of it in our second year, but the teacher was a complete git – Hermione, that hurt – and we didn't learn much more than what not to do."
Yusuke's smile faltered a bit, and he turned to Hiei, who was sitting on a nearby ledge, a few students ogling at him. "We're gonna have to start with basics? Argh…." He faced the class again. "You're all used to dueling with just your wands, right?"
The sixth years looked confusedly at each other, wondering what other kind of dueling there was. Hiei sighed and spoke in a soft, commanding voice to the class, "Let's try that again. What is the purpose behind learning to duel?"
This time it was Harry's arm that shot into the air, followed, surprisingly, by Neville's. Hiei nodded silently to Harry, and the two locked gazes that were filled with a deep believing behind what they spoke. "The purpose of dueling is to learn how to protect ourselves from an attacker – or defend those being attacked."
Hiei nodded again. "Hn."
"That means that you are correct, Mr. Potter, and that Professor Hiei approves of your answer."
Several students jumped as the red-haired teacher appeared out of nowhere, directly behind Harry, and consequentially, in the middle of a throng of Gryffindors. Like Hiei, he had given up trying to hide his ears and now displayed them proudly, though this just seemed to make the females in the group giggle and whisper more than before.
"Kurama," mocked Yusuke, "No scaring the children. And will you please get me a 'Hiei Speech for Dummies' book or something? I've gotta teach with him the whole year and don't know what he's saying half the time!"
"If you'd listen, then your brain just might process what I'm saying, detective."
Kurama coughed politely, trying to diffuse the situation before the two got into a full-blown argument in front of the whole class. "Yusuke? I believe you wanted to show the students something? If not, I'd really like to see to the Mimosa –"
"Right! Thanks, Kurama. Alright kids, here's how it's gonna work. These two are gonna put on a demo of what they can do without wands. After all, we're teachin' you to protect yourself, right? That means you might not always have a wand. They're going to go in slow motion first, and I want you to shout out anything you see them doing you recognize as useful in a fight. Later, we'll do a full-speed demo – and if you can truly, honestly see them with your eyes, I'll give out house points."
Kurama and Hiei moved to the center dueling arena, currently in circular form, both bowing and stepping back.
"What's the first thing you guys notice?"
Seamus called from the back, "Your arena's wrong!"
Yusuke grinned. "Right. Us three are used to the, uh, tournaments in Japan. There we use dueling arenas that are circular in shape. Anyone to touch the ground outside the arena for more than ten seconds is out. It also allows for more movement than your strips."
Kurama smirked and pulled a rose from his hair, Hiei drawing his katana and both settled into a fighter's crouch. "Remember Hiei – slow. We want them to see what we're doing. Petals and Thorns!"
Thousands of individual petals surrounded Kurama as he closed his eyes in concentration, trying to drown out the squeals of, "They're so pretty!" and, "He's so pretty!" or worst of all, "You're sure that's a guy? Like, really sure?"
"Munchkins! Admire fox-boy some other time! Who knows what he just did?"
"A levitation spell combined with rose petals?"
"Close, but not quite. Kurama, can you send one of those – thanks," called Yusuke as a petal flew in front of his face. Hiei continued to circle around Kurama's attack, looking of an opening. Grabbing the petal out of the air, Yusuke slit it across the top of his hand, letting the blood drip down for effect. "So if each one of these petals can do that, and they're all speeding around Kurama, what has he done?"
"He's created a shield that works defensively as well as offensively," called a girl with short cropped auburn hair and chocolate eyes from the Ravenclaw side of the stadium, who's eyes never so much as moved from Kurama's form.
"Ten points to Ravenclaw," Yusuke said distractedly, wrapping his still-bleeding hand in some spare fabric.
Hiei snorted at the petals encasing Kurama. "Vain fox, that only works so many times." Drawing his katana, he walked steadily towards the vulpine demon.
"Ah, but you forget Hiei. You're not allowed to use speed," taunted Kurama.
Hiei's face twisted into a grimace for a split second before he announced, "I don't need it." He jumped nimbly up into the air, going over the cylinder of petals, and landed directly behind Kurama, sword at the yokai's neck. "I win."
"Rose Whip!"
Hiei found himself pinned on the floor by a large vine, staring up at Kurama's victorious figure. The petals had disappeared, and Kurama smiled, saying, "Not quite, Hiei."
Hiei glared at the fox-demon. "Hn." The rose whip began to writhe, blackening from holding the heat Hiei was emitting. As black flames began to shoot off the fire demon, it finally let go altogether, turning back into a rose that Kurama tucked in his hair.
"Alright, guys. What did Kurama do there for a tactical strategy?"
Harry spoke up this time. "He waited for Professor Hiei to find the flaw in his plan, and put him in a trap by exposing that weakness."
"Right. Ten points to Gryffindor. However, what did Kurama not take into account? Or rather, what is generally a plant's weakness?"
"Professor Hiei could use fire against him?"
"Correct. Another ten points to Ravenclaw."
"Detective."
"What? Oh, sorry, Hiei. Alright guys, remember when I said I'll give points if you can see these two? I don't expect to give out points. You'll see clashes, but otherwise neither will be visible."
Kurama drew the rose from behind his ear yet again. "What do you say we keep this as a fencing match, Hiei? Juryo Yozanken!"
Hiei grinned. "You'll never win that way, baka-fox. Everyone knows I'm the better swordsman."
"No, Yusuke knows you're the better swordsman. Our onlookers do not." In a silent agreement, the two crouched and sprang towards each other, and in the minds of the students, literally disappeared. All eyes were trained on the seemingly empty arena, trying to find some form in it. Hermione seemed to be the most frustrated – for once she couldn't see with her own eyes what she knew was there.
"Where'd they go!"
"There!"
"No, over there!"
"Where'd that gouge in the cement come from?"
"Hiei! Stop wrecking my dueling arena!" shouted Yusuke, seeing the hole the last student had mentioned.
The students heard a voice that seemed to come from everywhere at once, though it was obviously Professor Hiei's. "It's not yours, baka. Besides, you could just fix it. First blood is mine, Kurama, by the way."
"So it is. But first strike and first blow were mine. Care to stop?"
"Hn."
The two appeared to a chorus of gasps from the sixth years. Both were rather battered and looked as if they had been fighting for hours, yet neither was sweating, though their breathing had increased. Kurama sported a rather large gash down the front of his uniform, exposing a well-toned chest and a small amount of blood.
"Hiei, I rather liked this shirt. You didn't have to tear it."
"Your fault for leaving yourself unguarded," quipped Hiei.
Kurama blushed. "I'm a little out of practice."
Hiei nodded, answering the unasked question in a hushed voice only the fox could pick up. "Meet you tonight in the forest. Then we can let loose – away from ningen eyes."
"Class dismissed! And – aw, what the hell, one hundred points to each house for not fainting on me! See ya next week!"
Harry quickly caught up to Ron and Hermione. "Where'd Mokuba disappear to?"
"Hm? Oh, he said he wanted to talk to the teacher before he left. What've we got next?" Hermione seemed rather distracted, playing with her hair as she walked up the steps.
Ron looked at Hermione, surprised she hadn't memorized her schedule. "You've got Muggle Studies. We've gotta head up to Divination – c'mon, Harry. North Tower's not exactly anywhere close to here."
Harry glanced back and saw Mokuba coming out of the room. "Hey, wait for Mokuba. I never got a chance to show him where the North Tower was." They slowed until the black-haired boy reached them.
"Guys, from what Harry's been telling me, this is going to be the most fun you've ever had in Divination." Mokuba nearly bounced up the stairs in delight. "I can't wait to see Bakura try teaching!"
"As long as we can breathe in his room, I've got no complaints."
Reviews
Me – Tallying votes as we speak. I'm glad you like it, though! (And it makes me sound really conceited when I type a review response back to 'Me'...)
Samuraiduck27 – Ah, brotherly love. So cute, ne?
Cheysuli-Night – Tallying votes as we speak. Never thought I'd hear that either – but I'm glad you approve!
Rain Owl – Will do, amiga.
Dreamstar22 – It's Ok! Don't beat yourself up! Sheesh! We all know what it's like to have one too many late nights (or mornings, if you think about it….)
ComputerFreak101 – Here it is! Hope you like (don't kill me!)!
Otempora – One of the nicest things anyone has ever said to me. I love you! And I'm tallying votes right now.
Ciarda – Glad you approve!
Crazy Hyper Lady – (Shudders at the thought of adding more characters) I can't keep track of the ones I have now, girl! And it's entirely possible Kurama will explode at one time or another.
Chelley Angel – You are so sweet. Can I adopt you as a foster sister? Please?
The Raging Flame Moon – Hey, I'm sure the thing has seen people that cause it even more trouble (Imagin it Sorting YOU!). I honestly don't pity it – therefore I had to make fun of it!
DarkRose17 – (Wince) Tallying votes right now, hun. (Grins) I like needles!
Flamethrowerqueen – That's the general idea! Bishies make the world go 'round! And I'm tallying the votes right now.
Rosedark – (Whispers) Me too – they're perfectly matched!