Sitting in his desk during his first class he glared at his schedule. He really didn't want to have to learn all of this stuff. He learned it already. If anything, he could teach the classes.
Block One;rm9Adv History of Fighting;Mr. Saito
Block Two;rm5Adv LiteratureMrs. Ukiyo
Block Three;rm22Adv ChemistryMr. Okina
Block four;rm14GIY ArtDr. Gensei
Block Five;Gym ClubMrs. Hitome
Block Six;GymP.E.Mr. Kuno
"Sit" the teacher spoke. Everybody looked at him before sitting down. The class held twenty or so students in it. All of the desks faced the front where the teacher's desk, a TV, and a dry erase board sat.
Sano sat next to Kenshin in the back of the class, all the way toward the right; next to the window. "Hey Kenshin" Sano smiled.
Kenshin nodded.
"Everybody ready?" Saito looked over the class, lingering on Kenshin for a moment longer before turning around and writing on the board. He wrote in giant letter the words RESPECT and HONOR. "This class is not an easy A. Here you will learn about War, tactics, the fights between two people, and much more." Turning toward the class he looked them over one more time, once again lingering on Kenshin for a moment longer. "The first lesson, one that you will have on every test, in one form or another, is the most important rule in all combat. When you fight against somebody it doesn't mean that you are right and he is wrong or the other way around. You both are fighting for what you believe in; therefore you must have respect for your enemies. They have the strength to fight for what they believe."
Kenshin smiled. He liked this teacher. That was indeed a good lesson to learn.
"Of course there is an exception to every rule. If the man is a rapist for example, and you are trying to protect somebody then there can be no respect. Take out a pen and some paper and right down what the first lesson means to you. If you need me to I will answer questions or repeat it."
Unzipping his backpack Kenshin glanced inside. There were three book, four notebooks, a calculator, and what looked like a planner. Unzipping the smaller pouch in the front he found a pen amongst all of the pen, pencils, eraser, markers, colored pencils, and scissors.
Somewhat curious he pulled out the planner. It was a small very think little book with a single button holding it together. Undoing the button he opened to book to be greeted with a number of things. There were places to write notes, keep phone numbers addresses, and two different kinds of calendars; monthly and daily.
Suddenly a flash of something familiar caught his eye. Looking up toward the dry erase board Kenshin froze. The hairs on his arms and back of his neck were standing up on end. The words Battosai the Man Slayer were written up on the board over a picture that was taped to it. The picture was of a battlefield, littered with bodies. Under the picture Saito had written; 'A true manslayer wished he weren't one. A true manslayer fought for an ideal. Battosai fought to protect us. He should be welcomed not feared'.
"Sir" A hand was raised somewhere in the front of the class.
Kenshin was having trouble breathing. They taught about his is school's? He had just stopped fighting four months ago. How did that happen?
"I assume you want to know why a murderer should be welcomed and not feared?" Saito starred at the student who nodded. The class watched with interest.
There was nothing that he could say that would take away the blood from Kenshin's hands. There was no way to justify what he did. Even though many different emotions were running threw Kenshin he sat at his desk with his mask on, as if he was zoning out. Saito, a trained professional knew better.
"Who here has heard of Battosai the Man Slayer?" Saito asked. The whole class raised their hands, including Kenshin.
Kenshin was shocked. They all knew who he was.
"Can anybody tell me about him. What are a few things you have heard?" Saito asked. A few timid hands rose, including Kenshin's. Pointing toward Kenshin Saito waited for an answer.
"He killed 824 people. 253 were assassinations." Kenshin whispered.
"That's right. He did. Yes Sano,"
"He's killed so many people and you want us to except him, not fear him?" Sano asked.
"I do. Men that kill are often times lost in the battle and crave the blood, but most wish to try and move on in peace, to try and atone for those sins. Their killings haunt their dreams and memories. They will never be the same again, but they did it anyway. Yes Ryoga"
"How do you know the Battosai isn't a man that was lost in the blood shed?"
Saito smirked. "I know because I fought next to him"
The class gasped.
Kenshin cringed, trying to sink down in his chair far enough to hide behind the person in front of him. Hijime right? Saito Hijime, why didn't he recognize him before?
"What was he like?" a random student asked.
"I will tell you after you tell me what you think he was like. How old, his appearance, the cause he fought for, anything you can tell me. Yes Yuki"
"I think he's over six foot, muscular, and really fast. He would have a monstrous sword with dragons carved into it and he would fight to save the woman of his dreams." The girl dazed off into some romantic daydream of her fantasy Battosai.
Kenshin sweat dropped. That's what they thought of him? Where did she get those ideas?
"Nice try girly" Saito leaned against his desk. "Yutaro" Saito called.
The boy stood up determined. "Battosai just wanted to be stronger. That's what he fought for. No samurai would want to be considered week. He would also be a huge man, in his thirties and quiet." He sat down.
Oh dear god, Kenshin just wanted to hit his head against his desk. They couldn't be serious.
"That's was…interesting. Sano, you give it a shot"
"Ok," thinking for a second he sat back and smiled. "I think he would be an ordinary guy. Being that the war just ended he's probably be no younger than somewhere in his late twenties. I would also have to guess that he is the kind of man who would put everybody's problems on his shoulders so they were able to live their lives in peace, which was what he was fighting for."
Saito clapped. "That was very good Sano."
Kenshin smiled toward the proud Sanosuke.
"Write this down, this will be on the first test"
Kenshin didn't need to write this down. He knew Battosai better than anybody after all. He was curious how much this Saito person knew of him.
"Right now the Battosai is only eighteen years old."
"What?!" that class said at once.
"Yes he was fourteen years old when he killed for the first time." Saito responded.
"How could those government officials allow a fourteen year old kill people?" Sano nearly yelled.
"The Battosai went to them. He lived in a part of the country that saw all of the violence and pain. He went into the army to give the week hope. There he was made an assassin immediately due to his speed, agility, and legendary sword style"
"But still he was only a kid. He couldn't possibly handle something like that, and what about his parents? Where were they?" Yuki nearly cried.
"But he did, and he did it well. He is by far the strongest man, and he had no parents. They died when he was six. After a year of assassinating he came out of the shadows for some unknown reason and fought on the front lines. If it weren't for him we would have lost this country to the renegades. He saved us all. Although he has killed hundreds he is still the man responsible for saving our lives and still was able to keep his sanity. He is however severely depressed and has a problem with self loathing."
Kenshin bit back a growl. Was that bastard taking notes on him during the war or something?
A small hand was raised in the back.
"Yes Tsubame"
"Does he feel sorry?" the girl whispered.
"Yes, he feels guilty. He didn't want to kill and even now wish he didn't have to but to my understanding he gave up the way of killing and it trying to get on with his life."
"Was he hot?" A random girl asked. The class giggled.
Saito smiled. It was all girls thought about. "I heard for many girls that he was considered attractive yes, however I always thought he looked like a girl." The girls' giggled. "I have another question for you. What would you do if you saw Battosai at this very moment?"
Kenshin's heart stopped. He wouldn't…would he?
The class went quiet.
Checking the distance between him and the door he prepared himself to run incase the worse was to happen.
Sano stood up. "I would shake his hand and ask him if he wanted to go to a party. I'm sure he never had time to party like a man where he was."
It turned out that Sano only had one Honors class and that was with Mr. Saito. The rest were his normal senior ones, so Kenshin was sitting in the back of the class, next to the window once again, but this time alone.
Being that he was the first student in there he watch the entire class pore in at one time talking with one another like they had known each other for year; which they probably did. He was the only new person there, besides the freshmen. A tall man in black cargo pants and a blue shirt walked in, at the back of the mob. Kenshin eyed the tall man as he made his way to sit in the back row next to Kenshin. It was after all the only seat not taken.
"Aoshi" the man said, looking toward the teacher who had just walked in.
"Kenshin" He replied back. A sense of understanding was reached between the two.
"Good morning class" The teacher broke Kenshin from his train of thought. The woman in front of the room was indeed beautiful and held a certain level of elegance that proved her superiority towards just about everybody in that room. It wasn't as if she was trying to be egotistical, it was confidence. "My name is Ukiyo. Please get out a notebook and a pencil and we will start."
Everybody did so.
The woman's soft hypnotic voice started up once again. "I want you to write your name and a list of ten things about yourself. Be honest. You will be sharing two of the ten things with the person next to you, so try not to make those embarrassing or sexual." The girls giggled. "When you are finished you are to tell the person next you. They are to take the two you choose, put their selves in your shoes and write a story about it. It will be due in two days."
Looking down at his paper he couldn't think of anything to writing that didn't have to do with death or fighting. Looking out the window for inspiration he watched a class running around the track. A student, who obviously wasn't one for running, had fallen on the track. Everybody around her had passed her by, not taking a second glance, until one girl stopped. She had bent down to see if the girl lying on the track crying was ok. After a few minutes and being ignored by both the students and the teacher, the girl picked up the one that fell in a bridal style and headed for the nurses office, or so he assumed. He couldn't see either of the girls. But the one that helped the fallen girl caught his interest. Not only did she stop when no one else did but she was strong enough to carry another girl by herself to the nurse's office.
The other thing that caught his eyes was the silky black hair that shone in the sun. Her hair was held back in a high ponytail by a blue ribbon. It really was something.
He wondered for a split second what it would belike to run his fingers threw her hair until he realized what he had thought.
Smacking himself mentally he reminded himself that a girl like that wouldn't like a boy like him and even if for some unknown reason she did, he didn't deserve her.
The third Class was strange and pointless. He was never going to use chemistry in real life and here he was taking an advanced chemistry class. The only good thing about the class was the lecherous old man. Listening to him and watching the crazy things he does was entertaining. Okina actually got a small laugh out of the quiet Red head, but that was over now. He was on his way to some club. His stupid paper didn't say, which to him meant something bad. This better not be some lame attempt at trying to make him socialize.
Opening the Gym doors he stopped when all ten heads in the room turned toward him. His mask up once again.
"You must be Himura" Mrs. Hitomi smiled. Seeing the distress in Kenshin eyes she smiled brighter. "Don't worry you are not late. Come and join us, we are all here now"
They were all sitting on the floor of the middle of the gym facing the teacher who had a tripod a large pad of paper resting on it. Kenshin sat in the back of the group…that seemed to be all girls with the exception of Sano who was smiling widely at the backside of some girl who was bending over to whisper in the ear to one of her friends.
"Sayo, please pay attention"
Sitting back down Sano frowned.
"It is ok Sayo, just try to remember for next time and Sano, please try to focus on something other than Sayo."
The girls giggled, while Kenshin smiled.
"Now now girls, its time to go over the plans for the year." Lifting up the front sheet of paper a list was written on the sheet below. "As you can see, we have plenty to do this year. We have the homecoming rally, four different dances, including Senior Ball, and many different small things."
A hand rose by a girl that Kenshin couldn't see.
"Do we get discounts on tickets" the voice was sweat and alluring.
Leaning to the side he caught a glimpse of the same blue ribbon from earlier. Trying to lean the other way he wasn't able to see her face, just the ribbon.
"Yes we will Kaoru" the teacher said.
Kaoru, her name was Kaoru. So befitting.
Leaning back and forth, still not managing to see anything he saw the clearest sapphire eyes he had ever seen. Then there was a bright red blush, a turning of the head, the blue ribbon, and then she was gone. Hiding behind a friend no doubt.
"Kenshin what do you think?" the teacher called on him. Kenshin looked up at the teacher not sure of what to say. He wasn't paying any attention. "Its ok Kenshin, this is your first time here. Just raise your hand if you have any ideas."
Kenshin nodded. Ideas? Ideas for what? Looking over at the board he felt the sudden uncontrollable urge to track down Katsura and beat him with the reverse bladed sword. He was on some kind of Homecoming Comity.
Kenshin was sitting at his desk looking in his planner when Sano burst threw the door, throwing his backpack on the bed. "Hey buddy, how's the first day? Not to rough on you huh? Man I'm tired. Mr. Kuno is rough this year. I wonder what climbed up his butt and died." He walked over behind Kenshin and peaked over his shoulder at Kenshin's planner. It was open to the current day where Kenshin had his homework written down. "Man, you have some homework, you must have picked hard classes. Not the greatest idea."
"I did not choose the classes" Kenshin read the assignments one more time before closing the book and reaching for his notebooks. He was not one to fail at anything. Nothing short of perfect will do, besides Hiko would kill him if he got anything less than a B.
"What classes are you taking? Besides the three classes that we have together, I have theatre, physics, and short stories."
Turning around in his computer chair, Kenshin faced Sano. "Advanced Literature, advanced Chemistry, Advanced History of Fighting, GIY art, P.E, and the club."
"Yes the club" Sano became to daydream. "So what homework do you have? Nothing to bad right?"
"A paper on my dreams tonight, A drawing of a person who brings out emotions in me, a chemistry packet, and a list of ideas for homecoming and Senior ball."
"Wow man, that isn't all due tomorrow is it?"
"No, in two days"
Sano smiled evilly. "Then you wouldn't mind hanging out tonight."
Kenshin looked back at his closed planner. Going out? He didn't hang out. He liked the shadows. He wasn't ready. NO, there was no way he was ready just yet. Turning back toward Sano to decline he was cut short.
"Aww you can't say no. The little missy wasn't to meat you"
Kenshin looked at him funny. Apparently he had missed the memo explaining who little missy was.
"I'm not kidding you, she was stealing glances at you during the club thing today and after class she asked me about you. When I told her that you were my roommate she asked me if I needed help studying." Sano laughed. "I tell ya Kenshin, I think she likes ya."
Kenshin didn't care too much. It was some girl having a crush on him. Not the first or last time. Giving Sano the, 'I'm still not going look' Sano pleaded.
"Come on Kenshin. The little missy will be upset if you don't come."
DAMN IT, how the hell did he get himself stuck in these situations?