Knights and Dragons

"Who was the founder of Sunagakure?"

"Lord Reto, first Kazekage of the Sand."

"Correct. At the first Kage summit, what was the percentage of land he demanded from the Land of Fire?"

"Um... 15%."

"No."

"10%?"

"Incorrect."

Rin shuffled in her chair. "5?"

Snap!

The crack of the bamboo pole came to her desk, sending a wave of surprise down her spine and a nauseous feeling to her stomach.

"Ms. Ito, we just went over this. Honestly. Does anyone else know the answer?"

She looked down when a wave of small hands shot up with various "Oh! Oh!'s".

When Gaara suggested she received personal training on the Sand's history, she leapt at the opportunity, until she realized that training would be sitting in the middle of class with a group of nine-year-olds.

How it was possible for such innocent faces to make her feel so stupid, was incredible.

"Pick me, Mr. Soma!" One aggravating girl said to her right.

"Yes, Chiri. What was the percentage of land our first Kazegage negotiated at the Kage summit?"

"30%, sir."

"Correct. What a clever student! Well done."

Mr. Soma turned back to the board, crafting a precise and detailed timeline.

Rin turned in time to catch Chiri's smug face scanning her up and down.

The child smirked at her victory and laced her fingers together, as if she'd just eaten the world's largest canary.

Rin's thoughts stayed in the back of her mind, though they longed to break free from her tight lips and be known to the world. "If I smacked this kid, would anyone care?"

The teacher's voice called her attention with another question to prove she was grasping the material. "What was the name of the group assembled to protect the village at its founding?"

Rin wracked her brain.

She'd just read about this, but the past week of having information grilled into head was taking its toll. If she could go the rest of her life without cracking another book about battle or arid climates, it would be blessed.

"The Puppet Brigade, sir." Chiri's hand shot up.

"Correct again. I see my lesson is being well-learned. I suppose Sand children are a different breed than some other villages. How interesting."

Rin bit the inside of her cheek, her thoughts bitter and biting. "Okay, make that one annoying kid and one dead adult."

Her chin came to rest in her hand, the tips of her fingernails tapping against the skin of her cheek. This was important. It was important for Gaara. She could handle some embarrassment if it meant spending her life with him.

The image of Kaba's cutting eyes flashed in her mind and suddenly her nails went from tapping to digging, the pain snapping her out of her train of thought.

Mr. Soma finished his timeline on the board and addressed his students. "Copy down the image and be ready to recreate it by this time tomorrow. I expect accurate dates and legible handwriting. Though I'm aware our lessons have gone by quickly, I know some of you are more than capable of rising to that challenge."

His eyes drifted to Rin. "Some of you."

Her gaze matched his, biting her tongue to not speak the words she longed to say. "Forget the kid. This guy is going down."

Instead she smiled as sweetly as she could manage, when he said. "Dismissed," though her thoughts of reaching into his mind and wriggling around in it was a temptation she hadn't had in a while.

What delicious secrets would she find in there? A dirty fantasy about being with a Sound woman? A history of bullied children? Or was he himself picked on as a student?

She studied the pride on his face as his students passed by him and the thinly veiled distain when his eyes drifted to her desk.

Probably nothing more than every day xenophobia, then.

Rin was going to have to get used to that if she were going to stay and possibly assist in leading this village one day. It was too much to ask the stubborn Sand to welcome her right away, no matter how much she wished they would.

Her back popped as she stood from her too small seat and stretched her hands above her head.

These days sitting in a classroom of children made her think back to training at the lab. While annoying, none of these babies deserved the torment she and her siblings went through. She was glad they wouldn't know what actual cruelty was beyond the snap of a bamboo stick.

It rested on Mr. Soma's desk and she longed to sneak it behind her back, but then, what tool would he have to make him feel important anymore?

Rin's petulant thoughts were disrupted when a small voice drew her attention. "E..e..excuse me, M..m..miss?"

Her eyes turned to a boy she hadn't seen before. "Oh, hello. Can I help you?"

Rin waited to see what the child needed, but Mr. Soma's grating voice caught her attention instead. "Class is dismissed, Ms. Ito. It's time for you to leave."

The muscles tightened in her jaw, but she maintained a calm tone. "I'm aware of that, thank you. I believe one of your students wanted to ask me something. Is that alright? I'd hate to keep you in this classroom a moment longer than you'd like."

The teacher's beady eyes traveled from her to the small boy who was studying the floor. "Ah, Koji, I should have known you'd be the one to linger like this. Misery loves company, after all."

Koji's hands came together, folding against his chest, as if there was any way to make himself seem smaller. "I... I... j... just..."

Mr. Soma gave an exaggerated sigh. "Come now, spit it out. You've lived here long enough to speak properly, Koji. That stutter of yours is unseemly."

Rin's eyes were cold on the man, but softened when they returned to the boy. "Would you like to tell me something?"

He nodded.

She smiled. "Why don't we let Mr. Soma get home? You can tell me outside. He's a VERY important man, didn't you know? We can't waste even a moment of his time."

Though it was so small, she could have imagined it, the edges of Koji's mouth turned up.

Rin bowed her head to the teacher, who was gripping the edges of his desk. "Thank you for the lesson today, sir. I'll be sure to study that timeline of yours, if you'll be so kind as to give me the tools to do so."

"The tools?"

She gestured to the other children who just left, paper in hand. "Yes, I've learned that materials like paper are difficult to come by in the Sand. I'll take a sheet and be on my way."

He grunted. "Ms. Ito, I'm bound by the Kazekage to include you in our lessons. That doesn't mean I have to equip you with valuable tools that my actual students need. If you're as clever as he believes you are, you should be able to memorize this board just fine."

Rin's eyes turned cutting. "You really are a thorn, aren't you, Mr. Soma?"

"A thorn that is your one chance of completing your silly mission."

Her mouth opened to give him a piece of her mind, until a small hand tugged at her shirt and the expression on his face stilled her voice in her throat.

She inhaled. "Fine. Good day to you, Mr. Soma. I look forward to another riveting lesson tomorrow."

The teacher said nothing in response, but had the audacity to brush his hand at her, like she was a dog that needed dismissing.

If there wasn't a child present, Rin would have made him regret ever having a hand in the first place.

Lucky for him, she wasn't a believer in exposing children to cruelty.

Rin held her head up high and spoke to Koji. "Come on, I need fresh air. It's too stifling in this room."

The boy dutifully followed her out, not daring to face his teacher, as they passed.

Her steps led her out of the school building, muttering the entire time. "Rude, arrogant, vile man. If he wants to test me, he should sit through one of my nightmares. Then we'll see how brave he is."

"M... miss?"

Her angry rambling quieted and she regarded the boy. "Ah, yes, I'm sorry. You wanted to speak to me, Koji?"

"Y... y... yes, but not h... here."

"Anywhere in particular?"

He nodded and walked ahead of her, gesturing her to follow.

Rin tried to remember seeing the young boy in class, but for the life of her, couldn't remember where he sat.

She stayed a comfortable distance behind, but set to studying him, curious as to where he was taking her and why.

He was a skinny boy, but most children in the Sand were. The harsh climate didn't leave many comforts that spoiled them, like soft grass or rivers to swim in.

It never occurred to her until this moment what they did for fun. She'd remembered her first walk in Gaara's mind and the game of stick ball that seemed to be a favored past time.

Did Koji play like that?

There was something off about him, she couldn't quite place. Something in the way he walked; a quick, shuffling gait. He lacked the easy, casual steps of his peers.

This was a boy who traveled with a purpose and sniffed the wind for danger.

Just like she did in her youth.

Koji led her through two back allies and around the curve of a clay apartment building.

Rin was about to ask how much further, but he beat her to the question, when he stopped at something she hadn't seen since coming to the Sand.

"Oh my."

He turned to study her face and was relieved to see it pleased.

"Koji, is this your garden?"

The small boy nodded and went to sit down beside the small rows of pumpkin and melons.

Scents of harvest sent Rin back home, tugging at her heart strings in a way she hadn't expected.

The sight of green, the smell of living, growing things, the care that went into creating perfect, even rows, all of it made her homesick.

She joined him in sitting beside the gourds and smiled. "You've done a wonderful job. This is the best garden I've seen since coming to the Sand. I didn't know many villagers here knew how to garden like this."

"Th... they don...don't."

"You do, though."

"I'm not from h... here."

Rin's eyes trailed over the boy, studying his face. "You're not of the Sand?"

He shook his head.

That explained why he didn't seem like the other children and why Mr. Soma had no use for him.

"I see. What village are you from?"

"N.... n.... no village. My m... mother and I l... lived in the f... f... forest. By the l... l... land of b... b... bears."

"In the Land of Bears? That's a long way from here. What brought you both to the Sand?"

"F... f... father."

"Your father lives here?"

He nodded.

"What does he do?"

Koji shrugged. "D... don't know. N... n... never met him."

Rin's brow furled. "You never met him, but your mother moved you out to this village?"

He nodded again.

Her eyes turned to the bright blue sky, where the sun was beginning its descent. She guessed it was around three in the afternoon by how hot it burned.

What did this mean and what did Koji want to tell her? She guessed he wasn't a fan of speaking more than he had to, so it had to be something important. Asking the right questions was the best route to take.

"Where is your mother now? Is she inside?"

Koji's knees drew up to his chin. "She d... d... d..."

Rin didn't need him to finish. "It's alright, Koji. I understand."

He closed his eyes, quiet for some time.

It hurt Rin's heart to think of this boy living on his own.

The garden took on a completely different meaning. The careful rows and painstaking care came not from a beloved pastime, but for survival. Who was taking care of this boy if his father was absent and his mother passed?

She cleared her throat. "So, you're a transplant just like me, huh? Is that why you wanted to talk to me away from Mr. Soma? You understand what it feels like to not be one of them?"

Koji nodded. "I h... have p... p... paper. Y... y... you can have s... some."

Rin's heart hurt at his kindness. "No, that's okay. You keep it. Thank you for offering though."

They didn't say anything for a while longer.

It shouldn't have made her feel as good as she did, but knowing there was someone else who understood how she felt, was lovely in its way.

Gaara adored her and she'd made relationships with a few others in the village, but it wasn't the same. Even though the love of her life knew what it was to be hated and ostracized, he was still Sand-born. The streets he walked were the same now as they were when he was small.

She scooted closer to Koji, finding a bizarre sense of camaraderie with the quiet boy. "Who takes care of you? Do you live on your own here?"

He nodded.

"Does anybody help you?"

"S... sometimes. I g... g... go to s... school and v... villagers g... g... give me supplies. Mr. S... Soma says I sh... should be g... g... grateful."

"Mr. Soma can suck eggs for all I care." Rin grunted.

Koji laughed at that and it made her heart warm to hear. She felt like this boy didn't laugh very often.

His smile was missing two teeth in the back and the way his eyes creased captivated her. "You have a bright smile, Koji. It's really cute."

His face flushed red and he hid his forehead into his knees.

Rin laughed. "Sorry, sorry. Boys don't like being called, 'cute' right?"

He shook his head.

She placed a finger to her chin. "Hm, okay then. What should I call you instead?"

He waited, loving the attention he rarely got from adults, let alone a pretty lady.

All Koji wanted, was to let Ms. Ito know that she wasn't alone, that he understood what she was going through.

No one wanted to be his friend when he first arrived in this village. Not that they really wanted to now, but it didn't bother him as much as it did in the past. He was used to the looks people gave him, the cruel things they said.

Even before his mother died, people had no end of things to say. They said she was crazy, that his father wasn't of the Sand and they were just begging from place to place. He was a waste of resources, nothing more.

It was a right to go to school and that meant they couldn't keep him from attending, but that didn't mean they had to be kind to him or give him anything more than the bare minimum. That was fine for him though, he stopped caring what people thought a long time ago.

But he hated to see them do it to someone else.

His eyes turned to Ms. Ito, who was thinking intently. He'd heard lots of things about her.

When people don't think of you as a person, they don't realize you can hear everything they say and they had much to say about her.

He knew all about the Cleansing and her desire to join the Sand as the Kazekage's bride. He knew what she would have to do and that no one would make it easy for her.

And he also knew that he wanted her to succeed, if nothing else than to prove that you didn't have to be born here to be a person to them.

She snapped her fingers. "Ah! I know what I'll call you."

Koji's eyes turned to her.

"How about, Koji the Valiant?"

"I d... d.. don't know wh... wh... what that means."

She smiled, giving him a side glance. "It means strength and determination. Nothing cute about it all. Nope, not even a little cuteness."

Despite himself, Koji felt a stirring in his chest. "D... does it mean b... b... brave? Like a kn... knight?"

"You know what knights are? I thought most Sand children didn't read fairytales."

"M... m... mother told me s... stories. I like kn... knights."

Rin placed a hand to her heart. "Yes, it's something most knights have. Brave, strong, valiant, all things that are important for slaying dragons and saving princesses. So, how about it, Koji? Do you want to be my knight and help me slay Mr. Soma's test?"

He nodded, big smile on his face. "Y... yes."

She stood up and offered him a hand. "Well, Sir Knight, I don't think we can prepare for battle on a hot day like this. Why not come to my home and we can study there?"

Koji's eyes widened. "The Kaze.... kaze..."

Rin's smile was patient. "The Kazekage's home, yes."

"I c... can't. It's n... n... not allowed."

She let out a "pssh" noise. "Who says? I'm sure he'll be happy to meet you and I can't study without grapes. It's just a rule."

"Grapes?" Koji squeaked.

Rin was going to die right then and there. No one was taking this boy out of her sight. "Yes, grapes. What do you say?"

He thought about it for a moment longer and took her hand.