“I don’t want to go in there,” Bokuden exclaimed, folding his arms and turning away from Satomi.

“Oh, don’t be such a child. You took this assignment and you are going to complete it!” Satomi responded in an annoyed tone. The duo stood outside one of Bokuden’s old classroom inside the Kumogakure Shinobi Academy awaiting to be called in by the woman who commissioned them for the mission, a teacher at the school named Ms. Vernia. Bokuden was at the Kage’s office reporting in from his last mission when she was applying for this one, which was how he got this assignment. Truth be told the only reason Bokuden took this mission was because he was flirting with Ms. Vermina. Bokuden did not particularly enjoy working with children nor did he have any teaching experience. He wasn’t even that great of a student. He had top scores because the Academy was merely teaching him things his clan had already taught him, he barely even attended class.

“This was a bad idea,” Bokuden argued, his arms still folded and furrowing his brows, “How the hell would I know what kids want to hear? “ Bokuden ran his fingers back through his hair and let out a sigh of frustration. “This is going to be such a hassle,” Bokuden thought to himself, “But hey, if I impress that blonde teacher maybe I can convince her to get a drink with me after class.” A grin widened across Bokuden’s face as he thought of the idea, something that didn’t go unnoticed by Satomi.


“Would you stop daydreaming and focus on the mission!?!?” Satomi growled angrily at Bokuden, slapping him over the back of his head with her tail. Bokuden rubbed the back of his head as he nervously smiled back to Satomi, not wanting to get slapped further. God forbid she ruin his hair or get fur all over his clothes while he is trying to pick up Ms. Vernia.

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Word Count: 333/1000

Suddenly the door opened, with Ms. Vernia poking her head out and scanned the hallway back and forth. “That’s strange. Where could he be? I could have sworn I gave him the right room number,” Ms. Vernia noted to herself in a confused tone. “OH NO,” she continued, placing her hands against her cheeks with a concerned look on her face, “What if he decided not to come? Was it something I said? Did I drive him away? What will I tell the children? They’ll never trust me again! What if vampires got him?” Ms. Vernia began breathing heavily as she started to panic and she soon began to feel dizzy and fainted.

Bokuden, who was leaning against the wall right behind the door (and thus obscured from her vision), witnessed the whole scenario unfold and quickly jumped out from behind the door, catching the falling teacher. She came to as Bokuden caught her, opening her eyes just in time to see Bokuden catching her mid fall, looking down at her with a concerned look. “Are you always this well composed?” Bokuden said jokingly with a smile. It took her a moment to process what exactly happened, but when she realized that Bokuden had seen her panic attack she instantly grew red with embarrassment.

“Th-That was! I-,” Ms. Vernia shouted as she launched herself out of Bokuden’s arms and began waving her arms frantically. Her response hardly dispelled any hint of her embarrassment during the situation, as if her rose colored blush did not give it away.

Bokuden removed the confused look on his face and exchanged it for a smile as he placed a comforting arm on her shoulder. “Don’t worry about it. It was cute. Now, I have a class to speak to don’t I?” Bokuden said before making his way into the classroom. Satomi rolled her eyes at the whole situation and followed suit.

“C-cute? Me?”  Ms. Vernia thought to herself, her eyes wide and her blush now even more pronounced. Upon seeing Bokuden enter the room she shook herself to reality and ran in behind he and Satomi.

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Word Count: 692/1000

Bokuden took his spot at the front of the classroom and leaned against the teacher's desk. As he peered out over the class, Bokuden was surprised to see just how young the students were. The average age of the class could not have been more than seven, he assumed that this must have been a first year class, or at least not far removed from it. He was surprised by this as he expected a “Lecture about shinobi life” was a lesson for students closer to graduation. He was however, slightly happy to see this younger crowd. He would have to toss his entire preconceived speech, but he was more than happy to do so. He did not plan on experiencing any joy in telling a group of kids about the hardships and sacrifice a shinobi must endure. With these kids, he could take a more fun approach.

Ms. Vernia nervously walked out in front of Bokuden and proceeded to introduce him to the class, “I’d like to introduce to you all our guest speaker, Ryuzoji Bokuden. He was gracious enough to take time out of his schedule to come to our class and talk to you about the responsibilities a shinobi has and the discipline it takes to achieve your goals.” The class let out a large groan and Ms. Vernia seemed to shrink before their complaints.

Bokuden wasted no time in stepping forth to interject, “Change of plans class. There are no words that can prepare you for shinobi life.” Ms. Vernia and the entire class stared at him with a look of confusion. “Instead, we will take this class out to the yard and take a more hands on approach.” Upon reaching the school yard Bokuden set up different stations between which he would rotate and demonstrate (as well as allow the children to try) different shinobi disciplines. As they circled around and practiced their skills the class was more excited than Ms. Vernia had ever seen them. Before long Bokuden’s time was up and the class was forced to end. Before he departed Ms. Vernia thanked him over and over again for his work.

The next day Bokuden received a letter from Ms. Vernia. A smile grew on his face as he opened up the message and read its contents, - Dear Bokuden, I can’t thank you enough for coming to help me yesterday. The children have not stopped speaking your praises since and have even begun telling me that I was their new favorite teacher! Me! I hope it is not too much to ask, but the children would love for you to come back and hold another practice session. I wouldn’t mind seeing you again either… perhaps even outside of the school. Hope to hear from you soon, Ms. Vernia <3~

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Word Count: 1163/1000