Chapter 2

See you soon, flame head.

See you soon, flame head

See you soon.

Kyojuro couldn't help the shake in his hand as he slowly took the phone back from Tengen's hand.

He'd learnt his lesson from the last time he'd tried to deal with anything Akaza related on his own.

This time he wasn't going to make the same mistake.

Only mere seconds after his eyes had finally trained in on the words that were written on the text message, Kyojuro had thrown his chair back, not caring that it hit against the wall as he hurried his way to the staff room.

Upon arriving, Kyojuro couldn't see Giyu anywhere - he guessed that his Physical Education lesson must have ran over, or he was staying behind to help the students clear up -, though he could see Tengen sitting back straight, talking to the art teacher, Namine, Kyojuro was sure that's what her name was.

Ignoring that though, Kyojuro moved into the room, having to side-step the chemistry teacher, Mr Mckenzie who was in the middle of explaining something to the other science teachers, and made his way to Tengen, tapping him on the shoulder upon reaching him.

Tengen turned round at once, his face quizzical for a moment until he saw who was talking to him and a wide smile burst across his face.

"Kyojuro. Hey, I was just waiting on you. Can you believe that some unflashy Freshmen decided it would be funny to dye the pool pink during Tomioka's lesson? I'm actually rather sad that Miller noticed it before they had a chance to enter the pool. Wouldn't Giyu look incredibly…. hey, what's wrong?"

Tengen evidently seemed to understand his facial features after a few minutes, his dyed white eyebrows coming together in confusion, laying a hand on Kyojuro's shoulder.

Kyojuro couldn't find the words within him to explain the situation, how was he supposed to even tell his best friend what exactly was going on so instead he'd opted to handing his phone over, opened to the latest text, watching Tengen read over the message before his jaw had dropped.

"Kyojuro…."

To which led him to this point as Tengen handed him his phone back, excusing himself from Namine and standing, ushering Kyojuro out into the hall, lips pulled taut with worry.

"Have you changed your number within the last four years?"

Kyojuro couldn't believe what he was hearing, Akaza was threatening him yet Tengen was asking him if he'd changed his number. Wait, had he? He was sure that… No, he knew that he had.

"Yes. I have, but Tengen that's not the important thing right now. Akaza has contacted me for the first time in four years. It was almost like he knew I was getting over what he did to me and now he's back and…."

Kyojuro cut himself off as Tengen held up a hand, giving the other man a look that told him he should shut up right about now.

"Ky. This is very important. You've changed your number, but yet Akaza still somehow managed to get in touch with you. How? There's no way that he would've been easily able to guess your number. Even if he has been trying for four years. It sounds to me like someone supplied him with your number."

Kyojuro frowned, listening to Tengen explain what he thought was going on. Sure, he understood his best friend's point of view, but at the same time, nobody here knew Akaza. Well as far as he was aware at least.

But wait, had someone really betrayed his trust, been lying to him for a year now and given his information to Akaza meaning that the other man would know where to find him, where he lived, everything about him?

"I'm calling the police, Kyojuro. Right now." It would seem Tengen Uzui was thinking exactly the same way he was.

"Okay, that's great. Thank you. And you said that you've not heard from this number in four years. I take it you've done a backdate of your device just to make sure he's not tried to contact you on another number?"

Kyojuro could only stare in confusion as one of the two male Police Officers spoke to him.

Due to the severity of the situation, Xemnas had been gracious enough to allow Kyojuro's last two classes to be cancelled, allowing Tengen to stay with him and even offered up his own office for the visit.

Kyojuro had rejected that last offer though, knowing that he'd feel more comfortable in his own classroom which is where he was currently, sitting on the edge of one of the front desks whilst the policeman stood at the front of the room.

Compared to previous policemen that Kyojuro had encountered, these two couldn't be more different from one another.

The one who'd spoken, asking him about backdating his phone was medium height, very slim and had long purple hair, his long fringe hung over the right hand side of his face, leaving Kyojuro to only be able to see one silver eye. However the eye was currently trained on him with such precision that Kyojuro felt like he was being watched from all over.

The other policeman was a tall man - at first when Kyojuro had first seen him and his fiery red hair, he'd mistaken the man for Axel - however, it turned out that Kyojuro wasn't too far off as the man had introduced himself in an interesting way.

"Yo. I'm not Axel. But he's my little brother. I'm Reno, yo." A clearing of a throat from the other officer had Reno changing his tone right away. "I mean, I'm Officer Lea. Yo." If only for a moment.

Kyojuro could certainly see the similarities between Axel and his older brother, the two both had bright red hair, but whilst Axel's was allowed to stick out every which way, Reno's on the other hand only spiked out at the front whilst the back of his hair had been pulled back into the thinnest ponytail he'd ever seen. And whilst the two had cheek tattoos, Axel's were upside down teardrops, Reno's on the other hand were just symmetrical lines running under his eyes to his cheeks.

And that was where the similarities seemed to end, whilst Axel - as Kyojuro had gotten to know him - eventually knew when to speak his mind and when to shut up, his older brother didn't seem to have the same filter.

"So. Yo, is it true that this dude texting you is an ex of yours? Was he good in the sack at least?"

Kyojuro's face flamed, whilst Tengen took a step forward, pushing his way between Kyojuro and Reno.

"I don't see how that's any of your business. And I'd appreciate you not asking any inappropriate questions like that, Officer Lea." The way Tengen mumbled Officer told Kyojuro exactly what his best friend thought of the loudmouthed redhead.

"I apologise for my colleague. He doesn't have the same understanding of what's professional and what's not that the rest of us do." The purple haired guy, Zexion or Officer Leeds as he'd introduced himself, spoke up again, directing the conversation back to the subject at hand.

"Unfortunately though, he's currently on patrol duty whilst my usual partner is off sick.

"And as I was saying, have you attempted to backdate the phone to see if there were any previous attempts for this individual to contact you?"

Kyojuro shook his head, feeling very confused, backdating the phone? What on earth was that? He'd never heard of anything like it before, and even if it was possible, he'd have no idea where to even begin.

"Not to worry." Officer Leeds let out a small laugh as he pulled on a pair of white latex gloves, holding his hand out for the phone in the next second.

Kyojuro slowly handed over the phone, making sure that the screen was unlocked, watching as Officer Leeds tapped at a few things on his screen for a moment or two before it was handed back.

"Looks like everything is clear, Mr Rengoku." Officer Leeds started to peel the latex gloves off, one at a time as he explained "It doesn't appear that there has been any sign of hacking or anything untoward on your device. However, I would highly recommend since this individual may pose a threat to you to file a Restraining Order against him."

Kyojuro could feel his face flush again, his eyes downcast as he remembered his very first attempt to file a restraining order.

It'd been just under a year ago, not long after he'd started getting help and Tengen had taken him down to the local police station, citing that they wanted to file a restraining order.

Twenty minutes later and Kyojuro had been in tears in a corner as a female member of the public had called him an abomination, told him he was going to hell and that since he participated in sin, he should be dead anyway.

Three police officers had ended up having to hold Tengen back, only letting him go once the women had finally grown bored and stormed out of the station.

Kyojuro could still remember he hadn't been able to sleep that night, his mind swimming with everything the women had said. Did he really deserve what had happened to him? Should he really be dead? What kind of impression was he setting for his little brother?

He'd only finally been able to sleep when Senjuro, having woken up in tears after having had a nightmare had crawled into the bed with him, hugging him tight and whispering he was proud of his Ani.

So no, safe to say, Kyojuro hadn't had the best of luck with restraining orders. He wasn't about to admit this to the officers though. He was sure the two must think him strange already, most people usually did, whether it was his bright blonde hair with red tips, his red and yellow eyes. Or just his overall personality. Sometimes he was a social butterfly, but other times like now, he simply wanted it all to stop.

"Thank you Officers. Let me show you out." Kyojuro was glad that Tengen had taken over as he showed the two Officers to the classroom door, Kyojuro himself finally standing up from the edge of the desk, plonking down into his desk chair, his eyes staring straight down at his desk.

This wasn't really happening was it? It was like it was four years ago all over again. Now that he'd had some time to think about it, Kyojuro couldn't help the seeds of doubt that were starting to appear in his brain.

What if what the officers advised wasn't enough? What if Akaza finally caught up to him? What if?

Kyojuro jumped as he felt a hand land on his shoulder, calming in the next second as he recognised Tengen's signature pat.

"Ky. I see what you're doing to yourself right now. Remember what Riku said to you. The darkness is only strong if you let it take over you."

Kyojuro nodded his head, he knew Tengen was right, not that he'd tell his best friend that; the other man didn't need any more of a big head than he already had.

He could still plainly remember the lessons his therapist, Riku, had taught him during their sessions.

If he was having a bad day, try to think of all the positives in his life and tell himself what made them all so great.

Senjuro, Tengen, Giyu, New Job, Senjuro, Tengen, Giyu, New Job.

That had been his mantra for over a year now, and he knew exactly what made each person so important and brought him happy moments.

"Is that the famous Rengoku smile I'm starting to see there? I think it might be. The god of festivals is never wrong."

Kyojuro couldn't stop the laughter that escaped him as Tengen pulled his best god pose, it never failed to make him laugh and he could tell even now that Tengen had been only moments away from tickling him.

"Yes. Sure. You keep on telling yourself that, God of Festivals." Kyojuro stood up, allowing Tengen to move out of the way as he started to fix his classroom once more.

"I am the god of festivals, Mr Rengoku. Only those less flashy than me would dare to test me."

"Well, maybe I'm just not as flashy as you are."

"You take that back right now. You are so flashy, it could be a crime."

Kyojuro smiled and made to step around Tengen not realising that the other man was going to tickle him, Kyojuro stopping midway as Tengen lost his balance, knocking the two of them to the floor, the two laughing hard at what just happened.

KNOCK. KNOCK.

"Mr Rengoku, sir. I'm sorry to bother you. I was wondering if….. OH MY GOD. I'M SO SORRY. I DIDN'T REALISE YOU WEREN'T ALONE IN HERE. PLEASE DON'T KILL ME SIR. OH MY GOD."

Kyojuro looked up at the doorway, having managed to untangle himself from Tengen's arms and he smiled warmly at the sight in-front of him.

Two males were standing in-front of him, one had blonde hair - though Kyojuro had heard a rumour that the boy was dark haired until he got struck by lightning and decided he wanted a change - and wide brown eyes which were currently filled with tears of fear, but it was the other male that had caused Kyojuro's stomach to flip slightly as he smiled at the two of them.

The second male had brown short hair that was shaggy and looked like it would be soft to the touch and dark red eyes that always looked like they were seeing into your soul. But the biggest stand out for this second male was the scar on his forehead in the shape of a flame.

These two were Zenitsu Agatsuma and Tanjiro Kamado.

"Calm yourself Zenitsu. I apologise if anything looked untoward, but I can assure you that this wasn't the case."

Kyojuro had only been at the school for about a year but yet he already knew what felt like too much about Zenitsu Agatsuma.

Anytime that the boy would get overwhelmed or freaked out, he would resort to speaking in a very high pitched voice, sometimes almost reverting to screaming his words and he'd start crying uncontrollably. Kyojuro could only remember too well on his first day that the blonde haired boy had freaked out when he learned that there was going to be a new lesson plan and it took almost an hour to calm him.

Tanjiro on the other hand was almost an enigma to Kyojuro. The brown haired man had only started at the school about a month ago and spent most of his time at the back of the classroom, catching up on all his missed work.

Not that that hadn't stopped Kyojuro from sometimes wandering all the way to the back of the classroom sometimes just to check on the other male, unable to fight the smile that would come across his face when Tanjiro would smile at him in the first place.

"I didn't see anything, Mr Rengoku. Zenitsu here was just wondering if you had the worksheet you gave us regarding the homework. Zenitsu had to miss the class due to…."

"Ah. Ah. Ah. Tanjiro, Mr Rengoku, sir doesn't need to know that I sat on someone's chocolate pudding during lunch so I had to go home and change so I missed his class…. OH MY GOD."

Kyojuro and Tanjiro both laughed together, Kyojuro seeing that Tanjiro had thrown his head back, his Hanafuda earrings that he wore, glinting in the light from the classroom.

"Of course, Zenitsu. Hang on one moment and I'll go fetch it for you right away."

Kyojuro smiled at the two males, heading back to his desk, ignoring how Tengen joined him right away, standing on the other side of the desk and raising his eyebrows at him.

"Is that your way of fetching this piece of paper right away, Kyojuro? You'd think you were in some sort of eighteenth century book the way you speak around him."

"Shut up. I don't know what you're talking about." Kyojuro glared at his best friend and whacked him hard with the folder of paperwork he'd found on his desk, ignoring his friend's continued smirk.

"Ah. And here it is." With a flourish, Kyojuro pulled the worksheet from his folder, smoothing down the edges as he brought it back to Zenitsu.

"I look forward to seeing you both in class tomorrow."

"Yeah. Me too, Mr Rengoku. Your outlook on the voyage of Christopher Colmbus is the best by far out of all my schools."

Kyojuro smiled again, his heart and stomach flipping slightly at hearing the praise from Tanjiro. He knew that when it came to his classes, he'd always learnt better when the lesson was interactive. That was something he decided to keep up upon becoming a teacher himself and it currently seemed to be working.

"Well I will not keep you boys too much longer. Have a fantastic evening and be prepared for class tomorrow."

And with a final wave, the two were walking away, Kyojuro closing the classroom door behind him, holding up his pointer finger to Tengen.

"Don't you even dare."

"I didn't say anything. Except. Well Mr Rengoku, I hope you have a fantastic evening as well. I'm so jealous that you get to spend so much time with that handsome god in the room with you. I wish it could be me in the room with you."

Kyojuro flushed, feeling his stomach flip again at Tengen's words, trying his hardest to act like it wasn't affecting him that badly as he continued to clean up his classroom.

"Really Ky? You're not going to say anything? That kid is hopelessly infatuated with you. It's kind of sad in a way. I bet all his workbooks say 'Mr and Mr Tanjiro Rengoku.'

Kyojuro shook his head, feeling like his face was on fire, he knew he should've never told Tengen that he might've had an inappropriate crush on one of his students.

Ever since that moment, Tengen had been paying a lot more attention to Tanjiro and keeping him updated whenever the younger male would stare at him for extended points of time or when it looked like there was more there than what there obviously was.

"Tengen. Come on, I know you're trying to help. But Mr Kamado doesn't feel that way about me. Plus, it'd be highly inappropriate if he did feel anything and we were to act upon it.

"For one, he is my student, and not only that, but he's a minor……."

"Ky…."

"No. Let me finish, he's seventeen, I'm twenty-eight. That's eleven years between us. And plus, I'm not even thinking about dating at the moment. I've got more important things to think about."

Tengen shot him a look that seemed to be silently saying "Oh, really?"

Kyojuro ignored him, fixing the folder on his desk for the third time, his hands beginning to shake again whilst he could feel tears beginning to gather in his eyes. No. He wasn't going to cry. He was stronger than this. He was an adult. He wasn't a weakling. Crying was for children.

"Ky." Kyojuro continued to ignore Tengen, taking a deep breath as he started to put away his pens, knowing all too well that his friend's fuchsia coloured eyes were fixed directly onto the top of his head.

He was going to be okay, he just had to clean up his classroom, then he could go pick up Senjuro and the two of them - four if both Tengen and Giyu wanted to join them - would go out somewhere for dinner, have a good night and then he'd go home, crash in his bed and sleep until the next morning when it was time to do it all over again.

"Okay." Patting the last of his pens which were now fixed in their holder, Kyojuro fixed the sleeves of his grey shirt, chuckling to himself as he had to smooth down his collar again. "Okay. I think that's everything sorted now. What about you, Ten?"

Kyojuro finally dared look back up at his best friend, wishing he hadn't in the next second at the look of disappointment on his face.

"I thought we told you to stop doing that. To stop acting like nothing is wrong. You were doing so well and now it's like you're going back five steps again. I can't do this right now, Ky."

And with a flourish that only he could pull off, Tengen spun round on the spot, moving towards the door, pulling the handle down and heading out into the hall letting it slam shut behind him, leaving Kyojuro more alone than he'd been in years.

Only then did he allow the tears to fall.