BROKEN
Disclaimer: I don't own shit.
This is the first part in a trilogy. This part focuses on Gai and his team. The second part focuses on Koko and the actual Academy. The final part focuses on Neji. But they all revolve around the same topic; Gai's visit to the Academy.
And there's potential for a sequel. But that, my lovely readers, you get no information on ;)
There's a smile on the blonde man's face, light as air, as he guides the darker haired man to his classroom.
"So the principal told me that you would be taking a 'peek' in on my class today, right?" he asks in an overly-cheerful way. It makes the dark haired man smile; he was everything he'd been made out to be.
"Of course."
"Well! What fun; I'm sure you'll have nothing but nice things to say about my class, hm?" Of course, he can't help but notice the slight sudden urge to obey the man and slightly evil quirk of the lips as the man speaks. So this is what the ESP had been talking about.
He silently heaves a sigh of relief that he'd had the sense to take Pheromone medicine in advance.
They spend the time spent maneuvering the halls in amiable conversation, mainly focusing on the topic of Alice's-especially focusing on the topic of Narumi's very own Somatic class. But Narumi isn't alarmed by this, oh no. This stranger is from the outside; of course his interest would be piqued by a topic as unfamiliar, as strange, as Alice's.
They halt before a large set of French doors. Narumi spins around to face the man, hands clasped and bright smile still fixed on his face.
"I'm sorry if my class is a bit chaotic; they usually are. And I'll just warn you ahead of time, if things seem a little strange, well…" Narumi laughs slightly, offering a sheepish grin.
But the man holds up a hand. "It's fine. Trust me, I've seen stranger things."
Oddly enough, Narumi believed him, and it unnerved him that it did.
XXX
He's got sad eyes, sad eyes and a face that's meant to smile. That's the first thought to cross Koko's mind when Narumi enters the classroom (late as usual) with the strange man. Koko knows who he is, though, but then again Koko always knows these things. He'd seen this man before-but only through the shards of broken memories.
But he wasn't the same, Koko notes as Narumi introduces the man with the gaudy flourish customary of Narumi. In all those memories, Mighto Gai had been loud, loud, loud…
XXX
It's a little unnerving, Gai notes as he takes a seat at the offered desk positioned in such a way in the back of the room that he has a perfect view of the class, how these children act. He may be a ninja, with training and experience far surpassing his twenty-seven years, but children that can fly, children that bring pictures they draw to life, children that can lift objects far too heavy for them without lifting a finger…
…well, it's a little much, even for him.
Black eyes scan the classroom; he wants to take in as much of his ex-student's life before his time runs out. He's only here temporarily, only here for this day (and he was lucky enough to be here at all, thanks to the strings Tsunade pulled-after all, "normal" people aren't allowed in here).
But that's all beside the point. Black eyes catch fair hair, angelic features, an almost androgynous young boy cradling a rabbit with a stoic expression on his face. Black eyes brighten behind his glasses, although he struggles to keep a straight face (which is a rather arduous task in itself for a man as exuberant as he). Just like he "knew" the teacher, he "knows" this boy. Innocent, sweet little animal loving Ruka Nogi…
You remember that program I told you about last week? Well, today we got our…'protégés' as Tono calls them (I swear though, if he teaches his kids anything perverted I will kill him). One of the boys I've never heard of, but the other one is actually another member of the Somatic class (not only that, but he's pretty popular too, so I've heard the gossip and such).
His name is Ruka Nogi. He's got the Animal Pheromone Alice. I've only spoken with him once or twice, but he seems alright. Just…kind of emotionless at times, kind of like I was/am. But unlike me, he seems rather nice at the same time…
Black eyes drift over the youth. Sure enough, beside him, just like Neji wrote, lounges a boy, cold hatred twisting features hidden under a brightly colored manga. Perched next to him is a bubbly young brunette, hair done up in pigtails and brown eyes positively brimming with innocence as she chatters away, words void of any ill, of any malice. Gai smiles; the young girl, the young boy…Natsume and Mikan…they both remind him of his two wonderful students.
He shakes his head, turns his eyes on the rest of the class. But Neji only mentioned them a few times; in all truth, no matter how similar the two may have acted as his own students, they didn't matter to Neji, they had no effect on Neji, and as such they had no meaning to Gai himself.
Few hold importance, he thinks as he continues to examine the students. The flying fox-eyed blonde…the little lady spinning every invention imaginable out of her skilled fingers…the dark boy able to fling a desk across the room with a lazy glance…
All interesting, yes, but none important.
That is until an odd sensation begins to tug at the edges of his conscious. He turned his head just slightly to the left of the floating blonde to be met with a vacant smile and penetrating brown eyes.
Once more, those black eyes lit up.
I met the other boy today, the one called 'Kokoroyumi'. Scratch that; he told me to call him 'Koko'. In all truth, though, Koko fits him much better. It's short and simple, to the point, but it sounds very...quirky and…silly, I suppose, at the same time. Like him.
I think you'd like him. He's incredibly cheerful and I can tell he's going to be a real handful…
So this is "Koko", Gai muses. Short, simple, to the point, yet quirky, silly even. Yes, that seems to fit this rowdy-looking boy with an eternal smile fixed on his lips, Gai decides.
Gai freezes, though, as he notices the smile widen, become more Cheshire-esque. He'd forgotten the boy was a mind reader. Just how much had he read? The sad smile he's given, the slight shake of the spiky-haired head is enough of an answer for him.
A lot, the silent message reads.
Gai forces back a frown, forces himself to look away; even then he can feel those wide brown pools boring into the back of his head. He wants to get up and ask the young-boy-who-knows-to-much about what he knows from him, what he knows from Neji...
…that is, assuming Neji somehow managed to retain his memories deep, deep down in the black abyss that is his mind.
But Gai has a job to do, he reminds himself; he can't jeopardize himself after all that Tsunade had done for him. If all he can do for now is watch what his student went through as a child in this world, then so be it. If all he could study was the two children his student had taken under his wing, then so be it.
Gai was a loving teacher and Gai cherished all of his students. And with one of them dead but not dead, one of them gone "forever", one of the links in his team broken beyond repair…it hurt Gai, it hurt him oh so much. If all he could do was watch what he had gone through, then so be it. He'd watch and he'd wait and he'd try to ignore the piercing stares the blonde mind reader kept giving him.
And he'd hope that he could see his student just one more time.
XXX
Lee grins in his amicable way, white teeth flashing in the sun and round eyes sparkling with the "power of youth" as he calls it. Tenten listens quietly as he babbles on about everything and nothing, brown eyes gently glowing with amusement. Lee is Lee, that's for sure; a miniature sun even in the darkest of days, a beacon of light, the epitome of life. They're on the porch of Gai's apartment, sitting on the porch swing and wolfing down takeout ramen after a particularly rigorous training session, waiting for Gai to return from his mission so they can continue with a nighttime session.
But Gai's late and his ramen is getting cold.
"At this rate, he'll never show up," Tenten states with a sigh as she stands up, brushing her hands off on her pants. Gathering up their empty plates, carefully balancing Gai's takeout box on top of the stack, she kicks open the front door and enters the apartment, Lee trailing close behind.
"What an unyouthful thing to say, Tenten! Gai must have a perfectly good reason for making us wait. Perhaps he was helping an old lady carry home grocery bags or assisting genin in their training or other such youthful tasks! And if he's not, I'll perform two hundred-no, five hundred-laps around Kohona! Wait! Or perhaps he's trying to be 'fashionably late' like Kakashi-sensei!" One fist is clenched and tears stream dramatically down from those oddly round eyes. "Gai-sensei is so cool!"
Tenten laughs, ruffling up Lee's hair in a familiar way. She's too used to Lee's antics to be annoyed, especially since Neji…
She shakes her head, unceremoniously dumping Gai's food in his fridge for later. No, there's no use in getting herself depressed; if she were to start moping, Lee would notice. Lee doesn't deserve to be sad anymore.
"Oi, Lee, what time is it?"
"Almost eight!" he exclaims. Tenten sighs, shaking her head.
"And he said he wouldn't be long," Another sigh, a sharp displeased click of her tongue against her cheek before she snaps to attention, striding out of the apartment with purpose. "Well if he's going to take forever, we might as well beat him to the grounds, right Lee?"
Lee's grin widens. "Of course! And if we can't beat him, I will do three hundred and fifty pushups on only my hands!"
"You do that," Tenten responds with a chuckle.
They exit the apartment and begin to make their way down the street in the direction of Training Ground 13, otherwise known as Team Gai's training ground. They don't stop on their way, only pausing briefly every now and then to wave hello to a friend. Other than that, they're bent on arriving to the grounds before Gai-just so they can hold it over his head for all of eternity.
But they do find themselves stopping when the run into Kakashi, who's standing before the gates leading up to the Memorial Stone, a silent look of sad contemplation evident in his one uncovered eye. He holds out a hand to stop the duo, then beckons them over and nods his head forward towards the Stone. Tenten and Lee freeze up, a sudden chill creeping up their spines. A look is exchanged between the teammates; whatever it is, it can't be good.
They're right. When the reach the copy nin, Tenten shakily lifts a hand to her mouth, Lee drops his head in a weak attempt to conceal the deep frown etched across his face and tears forming in the corners of his eyes.
Gai is on his knees in front of the Memorial Stone, one tanned hand pressed against that one especially important name carved into the worn stone, the other tightly gripping a piece of paper. Tears drip slowly from the closed eyes, shoulders trembling. He's not wearing his usual green spandex-in fact he hardly looks like the Gai they know.
"You can't just get over these things like that," Kakashi whispers softly from besides Tenten, adding a snap on 'that' for emphasis.
She knows that, Lee knows that, Gai knows that, they all know that.
They can kid themselves as much as they want, pretend as much as they want, wear their damn masks as much as they want, but it doesn't change a thing. It doesn't change that it's all Neji's fault that their team is broken, it's all his fault that he's no longer with them, it's all his fault that their all in so much pain, it's all his fault that they miss him so much, it's all his fault that there's a big, gaping hole in their team that can never and will never be filled…
They can kid themselves as much as they want, but there's no way that they'll be getting over Neji's death anytime soon.
…
…
…
…Well this turned out much differently than it was supposed to.
…
…
…
…It was better in my head.