"Th-thanks for the e-examination," Kuroko bowed to the adults and shut the door awkwardly, he felt very uncomfortable after that. Sighing, he tugged on the shirt he was given and looked around. Seeing that no one around Kuroko shuffled around, he paced back in forth in his spot. He had no idea where to go.
"Oh, you're done?" Yoshino appeared in the hall with a stack of clean laundry in her arms. "The bath is ready, take one with Shikamaru." She handed Kuroko a towel, put her hand on his back and pushed him gently to the bathroom. Kuroko looked up to Yoshino and was about to refuse the offer—he had a shower recently—but she sent him a very intimidating smile that refused to be defied.
He supposed that he was sneezing quite frequently since the game of tag. Yes, going against Yoshino-san would be terrifying. The bath might also help with his fever.
Kuroko slid the door closed behind him and saw Shikamaru with a towel around his waist, his hair still up in a ponytail.
"She told me that it would save the water's heat for later uses if we went together," Shikamaru drawled with a roll of the eyes.
"O-oh..." Kuroko fidgeted, uncomfortable with undressing.
"I mean just use a fire jutsu... Troublesome." He mumbled and went into the bathroom. He really didn't understand his mother's logic, women logic altogether.
Since the Nara mansion was traditional, like most of the other clan's housing, it followed the rule of the toilet being in a separate room from the bathtub and shower. The room with the bathtub and shower was connected to the entry room which serviced as a laundry room.
Kuroko undressed and wrapped the towel around his waist. He folded his clothes and put them in a basket. He had to keep the bandages around his hand on though since it was a fresh wound. He needed to keep his mask on though, lest Shikamaru see his appendages. Kuroko slid the door open a bit and saw Shikamaru look over to him, he was just entering the bath with its steaming hot water. Kuroko sat down on the stool and started washing. He could feel Shikamaru's eyes staring at him.
Shikamaru was careful to keep his face blank, Kuro's way too skinny. I… I can see his ribs! He frowned in concern, he's got a lot of scars too... Though from what he could see were just lighter lines of scar tissue, most of them were very faded and were hard to notice unless looking closely.
"Do you want me to wash your back?"
"Uh... Um, sure." Kuroko stammered. He heard water sloshing and heard Shika talk from behind him.
"You don't seem used to this." He raised an eyebrow when he saw that Kuroko still had his mask on. His face had been turned away from him and the black band blended in with his hair.
"I'm n-not!" Kuroko squeaked and jolted in surprise, flushing red when he felt the sponge on his back. It was different from when he was just by himself. He shivered as the sponge lathered his back, he bit his lip. Shikamaru smirked a bit when he saw that his ears were red.
"There. All clean," Shikamaru gave him a light pat on the back with a little grin.
"T-thanks." Kuroko needed to wash his hair ears and tail now without Shikamaru seeing. "Can... Can you look away, please?"
Shikamaru smirked at the implication and felt like teasing him now, "What? You got a har—"
"N-no!" Kuro's face burned heatedly, "That's not it! It's just... please..." I don't want you to see me.
"Alright."
Kuroko sighed in relief and looked to see Shikamaru turned to face the wall. He felt bad for making him do this, but he was scared of the consequences when he saw what he was. After he lathered his tail and ears, he washed off with the faucet and put his mask back on.
Kuroko baulked when he stuck his foot in, "It's hot." Really hot, his skin was turning red. He slowly sank into the water and got used to the heat.
Shikamaru moved to face Kuroko and stared at him blandly. "Is it really comfortable to wear that in the bath?"
"N-no. It's hot and hard to breathe," Kuroko said truthfully. It was quite hard to breathe because of the steam.
"Take it off then," Shikamaru offered. "Don't worry I won't look."
"Mmmm... Okay..." He gave in surprisingly quickly, though to make sure Shikamaru didn't look, he got him to face the other way, so they were back to back. He made sure to bring his tail in between his legs. He took the mask off and let it float on the water—it didn't even break the water tension. He looked down through the water to see his tail, moving it back and forth felt weird under the water.
"How did you think you did on the test?" Shikamaru spoke up after a few minutes of silence. "Well I know you passed, but..."
"I think I just barely passed the written test," he placed his hands on top of the water, playing around with the surface tension.
"You weren't feeling well were you?" He remembered to when Kuroko stumbled and hunched over a desk. He was unusually unresponsive and out of it that day—then he recalled Kuroko taking that pill earlier.
"N-not really. I think I had a fever." He still had one, but it was getting better with the medication, I have to take another one soon. There were little splashing noises as Kuroko absently fooled around with the water.
"A fever?!" Shikamaru raised his voice and when he felt Kuroko jolt he made an effort to calm down, "Why didn't you tell Iruka-sensei? He probably could have rescheduled it for another date."
"I didn't..." Kuroko paused and tried to reorient himself, suddenly feeling dizzy and nauseous, "want to inconvenience him..." his breathing became slow and shallow at long intervals.
Shikamaru sighed heavily at his friend. He was too considerate. He really needs to take care of himself. Speaking of which... He's been oddly quiet for a while. "Kuro, are you okay?" No answer. Shikamaru instinctively turned around to check on Kuroko.
"Oh man." His reaction was surprisingly lacklustre, so that's why he's like this...
Shikamaru immediately saw Kuroko's ears when he turned. Kuroko was shifted from the movement and slumped against his back, unconscious since... he didn't know when. Regardless of the shocking discovery, his immediate thought that went through his mind was to get him out of the water. He lifted him and laid him down on the carpet in the laundry room. He covered him with a towel. "Hey, Tou-san!" Shikamaru shouted from the door, poking his head out. He saw his father lean back in a chair down the hall.
Shikaku looked over to his son and got up to walk over to him. It seemed urgent. "Yes, Shika?"
"Kuroko–uh, wait just a second." Shikamaru closed to door and ran to get the mask that his Kuroko's ears and tail. He slipped it over his head and sideways so it wouldn't hinder his breathing. He opened the door again. "Kuro fell unconscious in the bath. The heat got to him I think."
Shikaku entered the bathroom and saw Kuroko lying on the ground. "Did he have his mask on?"
"Yeah, but I made him take it off while in the bath. We were back to back so I didn't notice how long he was out," Shikamaru sighed, he was concerned.
Shikaku blinked, "You made him take it off."
"Yeah?" Shikamaru feigned ignorance, though he saw that his father immediately saw through it.
Shikaku sighed heavily and rubbed his temples, "So you saw."
"Yeah..." Shikamaru looked down. He felt bad that he lied, but he didn't know his father already knew—and because of that, he was wondering for how long this had been known, but now wasn't the time for that.
Shikaku sighed, first things first, take care of Kuroko. Then he could question his son, while the boy could get some answers—even though he didn't really have any. He could see Shikamaru's thought process like a book. Shikaku himself still had questions unanswered.
"Does he have pyjamas anywhere?"
Shikamaru grabbed them from the basket in on the shelf. It was made to hold the fresh clothes to change into after bathing. His clothes consisted of a large black shirt and matching pants, and a scarf for no doubt covering his head. Shikaku would have to handle this part.
Without even a glance, Shikamaru had left the bathroom without his father's instruction, he was also already in his sleeping clothes. When Shikaku finally got the boy decent—with a small amount of difficulty—he carried him to the couch in the living room. Shikamaru was at the coffee table folding a fan out of paper. He'd had heat exhaustion once and it was not fun, hallucinations included in the overheated daze he was in.
Without looking up from the little craft of his, Shikamaru spoke, "I always wondered why he wore that mask."
Shikaku scratched his head, unsure on how to explain the situation. "I don't know all the details, but..." he sighed, "From my theory, he's been wearing it for a long time. The mask, it hides his... appendages."
"I think I gathered that Tou-san," Shikamaru finished the crude paper fan and started to lightly fan Kuroko. His mask was on—just in case Yoshino came along—but not on entirely, the band just had to be around his head for the seal and genjutsu to take effect. This way they could cool Kuroko down while his body temperature regulated.
Shikaku raised an eyebrow at his son's attitude, though he could feel why. He was left out of the loop, not trusted enough to be told. "Shikamaru," Shikaku started, "he considers you his best friend. I doubt he wanted you to start avoiding him because of it."
"Yeah, but—"
"I don't know what he's gone through—I could only guess and assume—but no matter what it was, it had to be a rough time for him." Shikaku would have continued talking but noticed that Kuroko was walking up.
Kuroko was feeling dizzy and disoriented, not to mention he felt cold. He shivered a little and his eyes cracked open. He stared at the ceiling for a moment, trying to gather where exactly he was before moving around. His vision was still a bit blurry and he looked to the side, seeing two blurs of people who were coming into focus.
"Wha... what... happened?" He was slowly regaining his bearings. "Shika... maru?" He blinked and his eyes widened, "Shikaku?" Realization dawned upon him.
All colour drained from his face and he suddenly felt very scared and venerable. He looked away from Shikamaru and bit his lip in habit. It was going to be the same as last time. Scenarios were running through his head as his mind panicked. Ostracism. Extortion. Violence. Tears brimmed his eyes as the most prominent and terrifying thought that shook him to the core.
Shikamarunotacceptingme.
"Kuroko." The boy flinched hard at the voice of his friend. "Why are you so scared?" he asked calmly.
"Be-because, y-you saw. You saw!" He hiccupped as his breath because uneven with his tears, his breathing unstable in his torrent of emotion. He wanted to hide. Cover himself. He reached over to grab a blanket.
But a hand reached out to stop him and bright cyan met with analytical brown, the cyan struggled against the brown and gave way.
"Yes I saw—and I don't care." Shikaku just had to smile at his son's blunt statement. He was right to leave the situation to him and not butt in.
"You..." his cyan eyes blinked owlishly, Kuroko couldn't comprehend his words, "Don't... care?"
"No."
"T-then... you don't mind t-that I'm... different? Weird?"
Shikamaru had to laugh lightly, a chuckle. "You've always been weird. What's adding some more weird into the equation going to do?" he asked rhetorically.
"Oh..."
Shikamaru looked up to his dad when Kuroko froze, "Tou-san, I think he's broken."
"Who's broken?" A voice asked as they turned a corner. Suddenly all of their eyes widened and snapped to Yoshino who walked in without any of them noticing.
"How much did you hear Yoshino?" Shikaku asked cautiously, he wanted to kick himself. He could see Kuroko starting to panic again.
"It wouldn't really matter if I'd known for the whole time now would it?" She walked in with a bright smile. She'd known since about a week prior. Shikamaru and Kuroko sparred and got dirty and while Kuroko was changing she saw. The door wasn't closed all the way—that door tended to pop open by itself sometimes—and she just happened to be walking by.
"You what?" Shikamaru felt very left out of the loop now. Both of his parents knew while he didn't.
"You don't find it weird either?"
"Heck no," she waved a hand dismissively, "It's adorably cute!" No Nara in that household could disagree with that. Though the two male Nara were worried about that sparkling look in her eyes. "Now take that mask off," she sat down beside him on the couch.
"Um... b-but Yoshino-san—"
"No buts," Yoshino cut him off quickly. Despite knowing that she was being unreasonable, she knew that Kuroko needed a push in the right direction. He needed confidence—con-fi-dence—and that meant getting him out of his comfort zone.
"O-okay..." he gave in and took it off. His ears were back and he looked down, away from them. There was a quiet high pitched squeal coming from beside him and arms wrapped around him in a hug. Kuroko's eyes widened.
"You're just so cute!" Yoshino cuddled him.
Shikamaru and Shikaku blinked owlishly. She was being weird.
Kuroko's eyes widened and he reached out to Shikamaru in a silent plea for help. Oh no. He didn't want to get his mother angry and turn her good mood sour. She could flip like a switch, and right now, Kuroko was that switch. He had to smile when Kuroko blushed and pouted a bit when his mother started petting him.
"Your ears are so soft!" She was gently rubbing his ears and Kuroko couldn't help but lean into the affection, his cat side kicking in. Yoshino giggled when he started to relax and yawned. Kuroko was nodding off, he was trying to stay awake but his eyes just wanted to close and stay shut.
"Alright Yoshino, that's enough. Boys get ready for bed."
"Yeah, ok. Come on Kuroko." Shikamaru himself yawned.
Kuroko was brought to the washroom again so they could both brush up. He hadn't thought so far ahead to bring a toothbrush, but it was alright because the Nara's had extras. Yoshino liked to buy things that were on sale in bulk.
When in the bathroom Kuroko became more alert, a wave energy waking him up from his previous sleepy daze. He went to speak to Shikamaru but choked a little when he swallowed the toothpaste. He grimaced. It was horrible to swallow, the minty flavour overwhelming.
"What's wrong?" Shikamaru asked with curiosity. He wasn't quite used to seeing his friend's full face, let alone some of the expressions he was making. The way his ears and tail moved fascinated him, but he was indifferent enough not to stare—he looked out of the corner of his eye sometimes though.
"Bleh," he moved his tongue on the roof of his mouth to try and get the taste off, "I swallowed toothpaste."
"Here," Shikamaru handed him a glass of water, the communal cup to rinse with—though he doesn't need to know that. He was just too lazy to go to the kitchen to grab another glass.
"Thanks," Kuroko quickly took the contents down and was relieved of that minty paste. He wiped his chin of the water that dripped down. "Hmm?" He tilted his head in question when he noticed Shikamaru staring.
"Nothing."
When they got to Shikamaru's bedroom—Kuroko hadn't been in it yet despite his many visits—Kuroko looked around curiously. His ears flicked around with his more playful mood. The room was surprisingly... neat. Nothing out of place. Kuroko didn't really expect anything else but he hoped there would be some personality to the space.
Shikamaru, on the other hand, was a bit flustered. He noticed that there was no futon on the floor. Do we have to share?
"Sorry boys, I didn't get to set up the bed yet," Yoshino said as she opened the door with her foot and came in with a huge comforter and blankets in her arms. Shikaku was behind her holding the pillows. She was too stubborn to let him carry the mountain of blankets she had.
Well, that answers that... Shikamaru mused. He had to stifle a laugh at his father's expression, Shikaku looked annoyed.
"Bed?" Kuroko questioned, tail wafting back and forth slowly, ears perking up.
Shikaku scoffed lightly, "Did you think we'd let you sleep on the floor?" He asked rhetorically, but Kuroko's reaction made Shikaku think that it was exactly that. He decided not to voice anything about it.
"I brought that blanket you like too." Yoshino untucked it from under her arm.
Kuroko's eyes lit up. He really liked that blanket. His tail wafted back and forth happily as he watched Yoshino set up his bed. Kuroko offered to help, but she insisted that she had the magic hands to make a wonderful bed.
"Now get to sleep. We have somewhere to bring you tomorrow Kuroko."
"O-okay?" And with that, the door was shut and the lights were turned off.
Kuroko laid in the futon with a small content smile. It was very comfortable, the fluffy futon cradling him with the duvet, and the soft furry blanket on top. He pet the blanket as he laid down, but he couldn't fall asleep. He had gotten this wave of energy as soon as he tried to fall asleep.
"Shika?" He asked quietly and he got no reply. He sat up and looked over to the lump in the bed. He put his chin on the mattress of Shikamaru's bed. "Shika?" He asked again, "You awake?"
"Trying not to be." Kuroko frowned with a noise that Shikamaru recognized as a whine. Shika's eyebrow rose as he turned to lay the other way to face Kuroko. He didn't expect to see Kuroko right at the edge of his bed. The moonlight coming in through his window illuminated Kuroko's face. His eyes glowed unnaturally in the light. It was haunting, but the pout on his face negated it and made it look cute. "Why, what's up?"
"I can't sleep."
"Well, what do you want to do then?" Shika asked, propping his chin upon his hand.
"I-I don't know... play something? Talk?" He offered. "Questions?"
"How about questions."
Kuroko laid back down looked up at the ceiling, "What's your favourite colour?"
Shikamaru almost laughed at the simplicity of the question. "Green. Yours?"
"Blue."
"Hmm," Shikamaru contemplated his question, "What's your favourite food?"
"S-seafood in general, but not oysters. Blegh." He made a face, they were terrible. His father enjoyed them and he was curious so naturally, he wanted to see why his father liked them so much. It was the first and last time he had it. "I-It's all slimy and gooey." He leaned his head sideways on Shika's bed and wrapped the fluffy blanket around him.
"I like mackerel and kelp."
"Mmmm, fish." Shikamaru chuckled—it was certainly catlike to like fish. Then he saw him yawn, large and long. Kuroko's eyes watered from it. "What do you think people think when they think? Can your thoughts have thoughts?"
"Kuroko," Shikamaru started, "no getting philosophical on me." He's way past tired and going into the crazy phase... "If you really need to know, ask Ino," he humoured Kuroko.
They were in silence for a while and Shikamaru had to wonder if Kuroko had fallen asleep yet. He was still leaning into his bed but nonetheless looked comfortable. "Kuroko?"
"Mm?" Came the high pitched squeak, he was too sleepy to respond properly.
"Can... can I feel your ears?" Kuroko made another noise, but that didn't really tell him anything. Is that a yes or no? Shikamaru slowly reached out a hand to touch it, taking it as a yes. His finger brushed the tip of the ear and it flicked, he smiled a little as Kuroko shifted. His hand came down again and found that his hair was just as soft as his ears.
Soon enough he fell asleep.
• • • • • •
Yoshino Nara has had her share of cuteness for the last few days, but this was making her cute-receptors go haywire. She couldn't stop her giggling as she grabbed the camera. This is album worthy, and he's not going to like it.
Shikamaru woke up to bright flashes—and giggling. He didn't like what those two meant in one scenario.
"Okaa-san... It's too early for this," he groaned and pulled on his arm to shield his eyes. His other arm, he noticed, was really warm, and weighed down by something.
"Nonsense," she chided and took another picture despite her son's displeasure.
Shikamaru looked down to where his mother was looking and found the source of his warm arm. Kuroko was leaning onto it with his arm grasping it. There was another flash and he moved to get up to stop her. She was going to wake Kuroko up with all that flashing. "Kaa-san."
When he got up the arm that had been supporting Kuroko disappeared and made him topple over. Kuroko bumped the floor and jolted awake, almost jumping. "That..." he breathed, shaky from the sudden jump in adrenaline, "is not a fun way to wake up." His heart was racing. He could feel his tail poof up from the scare.
"Sorry." He heard Shika say from behind him.
"I came to wake you two up for breakfast," Yoshino slid the camera into her sleeve, "be at the table in five."
After getting dressed and having breakfast—not without Yoshino teasing them about the pictures and flaunting them to her husband, much to Shikamaru's annoyance—Shikaku had Kuroko follow him to the Akimichi's compound for the start of the meal plan. Since Shikaku was so familiar with the place he just walked in without any approval from the guards. They walked through multiple hallways before entering an office.
"Chouza, Kuroko's here for the details."
"Um, uh... H-hi? Akimichi-sama."
"Hello, again Kuroko-kun. Chouza is fine," he smiled warmly, "I'll give you the details about the plan." The man had a few papers in his hands. Documents. "The plan will include three meals each day. They'll start out small to get your appetite back to normal standards. The meals are balanced and include everything you need. If you get hungry between meals you're free to have a snack, but you must eat all the food you're given."
After the full rundown, Chouza gave Kuroko the papers. "The last sheet has a pass that you can bring to any of our restaurants to get your food there. If you're going out on a longer-term mission we will supply nutritional shakes."
"T-thank you Chouza-sama."
Kuroko went to leave with Shikaku and as the door closed Chouza spoke, "Good luck with tomorrow!"
"What do I need luck for?" Kuroko asked Shikaku with a curious tilt of his head.
"You'll find out," Shikaku couldn't help but smirk and Kuroko suddenly had a foreboding feeling about the next day. "Oh, and Yoshino will want you over for dinner again this week." He chuckled and disappeared in a swirl of leaves.
And he was alone again.
"I-I guess I'll go practice," he mused. I have a bad feeling about tomorrow. Better be prepared and not need it rather than not.
• • • • • •
Kuroko woke up with a start, the falling sensation waking him up. He twisted himself to land upright and looked around in a panic to help remember where he was. He had fallen asleep in the same tree that he had camped out on after he trained. As he fell off the tree and fell to the ground, he adjusted himself to land in a crouch. After finding his blankets in the snow, he sealed them away. He looked to the sun—he was almost late for the assigning of teams. He glanced down from the monument and saw the academy not too far away. There were two options. But before Kuroko could contemplate on which one he had already lunged off the side of it and slid down the face of the monument. Nearing the bottom, he gathered chakra to his feet and palm to slow his descent.
He bolted to the academy.
The first bell rang and he just saw Iruka enter the building. He found his classroom and jumped up to the ledge of the second floor windows and scaled up to the third. He panted from the exertion and looked around the classroom. Some students looked at him with wide eyes. He was lucky that Shikamaru was at the window. He knocked.
"Shika, open the window!" He whisper yelled, his uneven breaths fogging the inside of his mask. Shikamaru raised an eyebrow but decided not to just to bug him.
"Should... should w-we let him in?" Hinata didn't know what to do. This hadn't happened before. Sure there were ridiculous happenings with Naruto and his pranks, but even he hadn't scaled the school building.
"Hahaha! What's he doing at the windowsill?" Kiba laughed as Akamaru barked from his head.
"S-Shika! Please?" He banged on the window lightly and it fogged around his hand. When he just smirked again, Kuroko decided to take action. Shikamaru looked at Kuroko curiously when he started going through hand signs. Oh no, his eyes widened, comprehending what Kuroko was about to do.
"Wait, don—!"
He reaction was too late, and with a poof they swapped places. Shikamaru flailed his arms and grabbed the window ledge in a panic, almost falling off. Iruka entered the room not a moment later. He raised an eyebrow. The more rowdy members of the class were struggling to not laugh.
"Shikamaru-kun, I didn't think you were the type to be late on graduation day." Not to mention putting the effort in to climb the wall... He thought absently and scratched his scar with a sigh, "Someone open the window for him please," Kuroko opened it for him, and he almost burst out in laughter at Shikamaru's expression. What made it funnier was that on top of his ponytail that stuck up into the air was a layer of snow that fell down on him.
Ino made a noise at the back of her throat before laughing and pointing at Shikamaru, "You look like an idiot!"
Shikamaru just sighed and sat next to Kuroko and punched his arm roughly. Kuroko winced but knew he deserved it.
"I so won't be telling you what happened between Sasuke and Naruto."
Kuroko blinked and looked over to the two boys mentioned. They were at the same table and a seat was empty in between them and they were both frowning, looking away from each other with clear disgust.
"Alright, I'll be calling out the teams!" Looking through the clipboard he found that the list wasn't there. He cleared his throat. "Um... just a minute please..." He double checked through the few papers on his clipboard. Then he went through his pedestal, he paused in thought and remembered back to the meeting with the Hokage. When he received the list and went through it with the man, he ended up putting the paper back down and exiting the room. How could I be so stupid? He sighed, "I'll be right back."
• • • • • •
"I was wondering when he would notice." Azuma stroked his goatee. Hiruzen had to chuckle at how Iruka's face changed when he realized what he did.
Hiruzen was in his office with his prized crystal ball on the desk. A few Jounin-sensei have joined him in watching over the children.
"That was some stunt that kid pulled off," another Jounin spoke about Kuroko's showy entrance. It was creative. "He's weird though."
The door slammed open and Iruka stopped and bowed, he didn't think the Hokage would still be in the meeting room that they left off in. "Excuse me." He bowed again and ran out the door. Iruka's hasty entrance and exit was not unexpected to the shinobi in the room. A few laughed at how flustered the man was.
• • • • • •
"Wow, that was fast Iruka-sensei!" Naruto shouted. It had only been three minutes since he left, he must have run pretty quickly.
"Now I'll start calling out the teams." He sighed and filed through the names and teams in order of team number.
"So what team do you think you'll be on?"
"It will be just like my dad's team. Chouji, Ino, and I will be the new InoShikaCho team. I guess they want to keep the tradition going... Troublesome, I'll be stuck with that annoying woman for years."
"Hey! Would it really be that bad?!"
"I wonder who I'll be with..."
"—and Kuroko Nekoma! You are team four!"
Kuroko blinked, he hadn't been paying attention and didn't hear his teammate's names. Oh well, when their Sensei calls on them he will be able to see who they are.
"Team four, please follow me." A man of Jounin rank, known from the type of flak jacket, addressed them. He had black hair so wavy that it bounced with each step, and his stubble made him look older than he probably was. Sharp amber eyes looked over the three of them, he scoffed.
Kuroko stood up and followed the man, two other boys also did. They were two of the civilian students, one shorter than Kuroko with a hat covering brown hair and green eyes, looking excited and bouncing around. The other was taller with long dark blue hair in a ponytail and glasses with hazel eyes, he stared at the Jounin and analyzed him. He didn't know their names since they never talked before. He wouldn't even be surprised if they didn't know his name. He could see them exchanging worried looks with each other.
So they're friends?
They stopped in a training field with a vast amount of trees, a rock face and a stream. That was all they could see from their vantage point in the clearing where they sat down. "Alright, so each of you introduce yourselves."
"Alright! Yo, I'm Shouma Naka!" The boy introduced with energy, "Should we do likes and dislikes? Dreams? Well, I'll do them anyways. I like animals—my favourites are cats—and food. I dislike it when people call me short. And tall people, don't like 'em. When I'm a Jounin or something I want to be known as The Destroyer of Masses." He lowered his voice dramatically to go with the last part.
While cleaning his glasses the other one introduced himself, "Shiki Yuuma. I like winning, and money. I dislike know-it-all's and losing. Dream... I don't really have one."
Lastly, it was Kuroko. He could feel the piercing gaze of his peers and new sensei. "W-well my name is Kuroko Nekoma. I-I like kind people and my friends... I dislike people who t-try to remove my mask, as for my dream... I want to be strong."
"What about you Sensei?" Shiki asked, "What's your name?"
The man smirked, "I'm your new teacher, or rather I might be. There is one more test before I choose to pass you or not. If you pass you'll get my name, and as for the test... The test is to..." He spread his arms, gesturing to the area around them.
"Survive."
• • • • • •
Hey, guys! I haven't been updating much so I figured that I should update what I have done. I was planning to stockpile some chapters, but I have quite the bad habit of procrastinating so that obviously didn't happen. College has been a living hell so far and I haven't had much time to write.
I got some shifts in emotion from ya didn't I? Well, I hope so, I wrote it with that intention. I like having a variety of emotion in my chapters. :D