Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ Off to School ❯ Trouble at School ( Chapter 1 )

[ A - All Readers ]

September, 1885
Tokyo, The temple school

At age six, Himura Kenji thought himself quite a big boy. He had graduated to the second level of Kamiya Kasshin Ryu. In a few months, he would be a big brother. And today he would be starting first grade at the local temple school, or terakoya. The terakoya was one of several old regime schools still functioning in Tokyo, as there were few new government schools built yet.

Both parents saw Kenji off to school in the morning. Kenshin had many secret misgivings. He knew that those who differed from the status quo in the slightest way were often shunned. He remembered back to his own starved childhood. Even before he'd been torn from his family by disease, he'd been solitary, rejected by the other village children for his exotic complexion, small stature and strange quiet temperament. Kenji was a very willful and spirited child. How would he get along with the other children? Would he make friends with them, or would he be rejected for his looks and wilfullness?

"You be good and mind the teacher Kenji-chan," admonished Kaoru.

"Yes Mom," said Kenji, wanting to represent his family well on his first day of school.

"Remember that if you're friendly to the other children, they'll probably be friendly back to you," offered Kenshin.

"Yes Dad," said Kenji, getting a bit anxious to break away from his parents and walk to the schoolhouse.

"Off you go," said both parents together.

"Bye," said Kenji as he started off.

As he walked toward the school, Kenji saw a lot of other young children, some with their parents, some walking alone as he was. Kenji cast out his ki to try and sense theirs the way Dad had taught him. Most of the other children were excited, nervous, etc. A few clung to their parents and wailed because they were frightened.

As Kenji neared the temple, he was hit by a rather hostile ki. His eyes panned the crowd and locked with the gaze of a little boy with curly black hair and impudent brown eyes. The two sized each other up. Kenji sensed he would have trouble with this boy.
Other boy's POV

Hiyoshi Takuma watched in disgust as the red-haired, blue-eyed, fair-skinned boy approached the terakoya from the distance. What was that gaijin doing here? Japan was for the Japanese! Revere the Emperor and expel the barbarians! That was what his father, a swordsmith for the anti-foreigner royalists during the Bakumatsu no Douran in Tokyo had taught him since he was little.

It made Takuma's blood boil to see this little gaijin just walking down the street as if he had the right to be there. Takuma resolved to make this redheaded gaijin's life a living hell.
As Kenji's eyes roved the crowd, they came to rest on a little girl, a beautiful little girl in a sky-blue kimono with a white butterfly print on it. She had long, silky black hair and huge brown eyes. Kenji couldn't stop staring at her. As if feeling his stare, she looked up and smiled at him. Kenji felt his lips curl up in a smile.

The temple door opened and the bell rang to call the children to line up. The teacher, a woman looking to be in her mid-20s stood in the doorway and called for the children to quiet down.

As Kenji entered the class room with the other children, he was impressed by how large it was. The room was furnished with desks low to the ground because everyone sat on the floor. The teacher had everyone stand in a group and proceeded to introduce herself.

"Good morning, children. My name is Fukushita-sensei. I will call out your names and have you sit in alphabetical order. Please raise your hand when I call your name," said Fukushita-sensei.

One by one, she called out the children's names. Each child that raised their hand was then assigned to a desk.

"Himura Kenji," she called out.

Kenji raised his right hand. Fukushita-sensei pointed him to a middle row seat which, much to his delight, was right next to a window.

As the rest of the children were sent to their seats, Kenji watched them with great curiosity. As each child was named off, he attached their name to their face instantly. He had a steel-trap memory and would never forget the name of a person once he saw their face.

"Uchina Touru," Fukushita-sensei called out.

The little girl who had smiled at Kenji came forth and was directed to sit at a desk on almost the opposite end of the room. Touru demurely took her seat, arranged her stuff, then looked right up at Kenji and smiled again. Once again, Kenji smiled quickly before turning away. His delight was short-lived however when the teacher called out the name of the next student.

"Hiyoshi Takuma," called out Fukushita-sensei.

Kenji turned to look and sure enough, the brat with the impudent brown eyes raised his hand and was directed to sit right behind him. Of all the rotten luck. Takuma sat down behind Kenji and fixed him with a malicious gaze. Kenji scowled right back at him. He wouldn't be subdued by this Takuma kid!

"What are you lookin' at, you dirty gaijin?" said Takuma. "My dad says gaijin have no right to live in Japan and no right to send their kids to school here."

"I'm not a gaijin. I'm Japanese," growled Kenji.

"You sure don't look like it, Copper Top," said Takuma.

Kenji, who had a rather short fuse when it came to his hair color, was just about to reach over the desk and straddle Takuma for that remark when Fukushita-sensei clapped the bat against the desk and ordered quiet in the room, which had become quite a din since all the children were now sitting down. Kenji and Takuma glared at each other, then turned to face Fukushita-sensei.
Kenshin approached the front room of the house and looked all around. The coast was clear! The last time he had seen Kaoru, she was taking a nap in their bedroom. He started to head for the front door. He wanted to run over to the school and make sure Kenji was OK. Just as Kenshin was about to slide the door open...

"Freeze!" came his wife's imperious voice.

"Oro!" went Kenshin, going all swirly eyed at being startled. How was the greatest warrior of the Bakumatsu no Douran so easily snuck up on by his wife?

"And where are you off to, Himura Kenshin?" asked Kaoru, knowing full well what her red-headed husband intended to do.

"Would you believe me if I said I was going shopping for tofu?" Kenshin offered lamely.

"Without this?" said Kaoru, holding up the yoke.

"Ooooh, so you had it. No wonder I couldn't find it," said Kenshin, knowing his ship was already sunk.

"Uh-huh, if you're going to lie, at least try not to be so lame about it. Now, the logs aren't going to chop themselves. And don't even think of sneaking out the back gate," said Kaoru, pointing to the backyard

"Oroooooo," said Kenshin as he hung his head and went out back to chop logs.
The morning lessons proceeded smoothly. The children got right into learning how to write out their names in kanji. Kenji had a grand time stroking the black brush over the paper and seeing the symbols for his name appear on the paper. This was something that he'd made with his own two hands. He couldn't wait to show Mom and Dad!

During math class, things started to go downhill. Kenji was concentrating on writing out numbers and was oblivious to everything around him. Takuma decided to have some fun with the red-haired boy sitting in front of him. He picked up Kenji's long red ponytail and dipped it in his inkwell.

Kenji was startled by the feeling of his hair being touched and whipped around to Takuma, who was solemnly concentrating on his numbers. Kenji turned around to continue his numbers and saw ink splotches on the paper where his ponytail had brushed it. Reaching to the back of his head, Kenji felt wet ink. His fingers came away with ink all over them.

The sound of Takuma's snickering made Kenji turn and glare at him. Kenji was too angry to speak, his tiny body shaking with rage.

"Well the tip of your ponytail looks Japanese. Maybe you should pour ink all over your head so you don't look like a gaijin anymore," said Takuma, grinning maliciously.

Kenji snapped. With a battle cry worthy of Battousai himself, Kenji lept over the desk at Takuma, scratching and biting for all the world like the great cat for which he was named.

"Aaaaa! Get him off me! Get him off me!" cried Takuma.

Kenji felt himself being pulled off Takuma by the collar of his kimono. He looked into the angry eyes of Fukushita-sensei.

"Himura, what is going on here?" she said.

It was asking too much of Kenji's pride for him to explain what had just happened, so he remained silent and glared at his tormentor.

"I didn't do anything to him and he just jumped on me," lied Takuma.

Kenji snarled at him.

"Such outrageous behavior on your first day, Himura. You go and stand at the blackboard for the rest of the morning," said Fukushita-sensei.

Kenji whose blue eyes were dancing with rage, went to the blackboard silently, never once looking at Takuma or the teacher. As he stood there, he could feel all eyes on him. He burned with rage and humiliation, but never once lowered his head.
As he swung his ax into the logs, Kenshin kept thinking of Kenji. He had a bad feeling about today. Something in his gut told him that things weren't going well for the boy. As a father, he wanted to intervene and make anyone who messed with his son regret it. However, he knew that Kenji would never forgive him for such a transgression.

Ever since Kenji could walk, he wanted to do everything himself. If he wanted something that was out of his reach, he would climb on top of something else to get to it. Kenshin vividly remembered when Kenji was four and fell into the well one night because he refused to ask Kenshin or Kaoru to get him water when he was thirsty.

School would be no different. If Kenji thought that Kenshin was interfering and protecting him, his pride would be hurt and this would make the boy resent him. Kenshin still remembered when Kenji disliked him as a baby and didn't want to risk losing the boy's affection by insulting his pride.

Still though, when Kenshin recalled his own harsh treatment back in his village, his heart yearned over his son. He hoped against hope that Kenji would fare better with the other children than he had at that age. With a sigh, Kenshin continued to chop. Only four more hours and Kenji would be home safe and sound. Maybe then he could relax.
Kenji was kept at the blackboard till lunch time. When Fukushita-sensei dismissed him from the board, he turned stiffly around without even acknowledging her, grabbed his bento box and went outside. Kenji found himself a secluded spot under a tree away from the other children. He wasn't exactly in a social mood after what had transpired this morning.

As Kenji sat eating the lunch his dad had packed, he felt a ki approaching him. He looked up, ready to fight if it was Takuma. Instead he saw the girl. What was her name? Touru! That was it!

"Hello, Himura-kun. My name is Uchina Touru," she said with a bow.

"Himura Kenji," he returned quietly.

"I saw what that boy did to you. That was really unfair. Maybe if I told Fukushita-sensei what I saw, she could punish him too," said Touru.

"Nah. It's in the past, so it's not worth thinking about anymore. I just want to forget it happened," said Kenji.

"That's very kind of you. Most boys would want revenge. Would you like a riceball?" said Touru, holding one out to Kenji.

Kenji took the proffered riceball with a smile and in return, held out a piece of sushi, which Touru took in trade. The two ate their lunches together in companionable silence. After they finished eating, they played a game of hide and seek.