I'm not good at drawing or painting, but I tried doing this on my phone, the current appearance of Kenshin, without the Lichtenberg figure because I forgot.
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Kuroda Jimei POV
Hoshino Kenshin was weird. No joke, I've never met anyone like him. He was six years old but already operating on his own unique brand of bizarre.
The first time I saw him at the orphanage, my first thought was: Crybaby. I mean, I get it—he'd just lost his parents, but man, he was always crying. And those glasses he clung to like they were the last treasure on earth? What was that about?
I've been in the orphanage forever, so the idea of having parents was... strange, to say the least.
The second time I noticed him, I upgraded him from "crybaby" to "certifiably nuts." It was raining, the kind of rain that feels like it's trying to drown the world, and some older kids told him they'd tossed his precious glasses into the top of a tree. Total lie—they'd just hidden them in the house while he was out cold.
But did Kenshin sit and pout about it? Nope. He decided climbing a tree in a literal storm was the way to go. Who even does that?
The third time I saw him, he'd just gotten back from the hospital. And honestly, he looked like a different person. Getting struck by lightning does that, I guess? Before, he was all "glasses this" and "glasses that." After? He acted like they didn't even exist. Oh, and suddenly he wanted to be a ninja. Yeah, that happened.
He was suddenly all hyped about becoming a ninja. Before the lightning thing, the word "ninja" probably made him cry. Now? He was practically buzzing with excitement.
We didn't actually talk until we started at the academy. I remember it vividly because what a day. This guy, after talking to the Hokage (yeah, the Hokage!) about becoming Hokage (when did this even become his goal?!), stood in front of our classroom looking... well, pathetic. Like a sad, wet puppy left out in the rain.
So I, being the incredibly kind person I am, decided to help him out. Adopted him as my personal project. He needed it. Badly.
Before his whole lightning adventure, Kenshin's handwriting was top-tier. Now? It looked like a chicken with a marker had a seizure.
Bekkou-sensei deserved a medal just for trying to read that mess. And Kenshin? Not exactly fun to hang out with at first. He was jumpy, like a stray cat that doesn't know if you're going to pet it or kick it. For a while, I thought, Maybe this friendship isn't worth it.
Then came shuriken practice day.
Some Hyuuga jerk thought it'd be fun to mess with me, but Kenshin? He stood up for me. That was the moment I decided, Yep, this guy's my friend for life. I even made us friendship bracelets out of random string I found on the street.
Ken-kun called them "silly" and told me to work on my aim instead, but guess who was wearing the bracelet the very next day? Yep. Ken-kun.
Fast forward to taijutsu practice. I got obliterated by this guy Hige, and when I saw Kenshin paired up against Tokuma, I figured, Well, time to prep for emotional support duty after Ken-kun gets his butt kicked.
But oh, boy, was I wrong.
Ken-kun might be terrible at reading and writing, but when it comes to kicking? The kid's a beast. He destroyed that Hyuuga without breaking a sweat. I don't think I've ever cheered so loud in my life.
Weird thing was, Kenshin wasn't happy about it. First thing he says? "I need to train more."
I don't know what possessed me, but I said, "I'll train with you." Biggest regret of my life.
Next morning, 5 a.m., there he is at my door. Grinning. Holding a bag of onigiri. Who even wakes up at 5 a.m.? I thought I was hallucinating.
The onigiri was amazing, though. I hadn't had anything but instant noodles in forever, so I stuck with his so-called "training." Worst. Decision. Ever.
Kenshin's routine was straight-up torture. I could barely do half of what he did, and when we got to the kicking drills? Forget it. No way I could move like that.
After two weeks of me trying (and failing) to copy his moves, Ken-kun finally said, "You're better off focusing on punches. They suit you more."
What does that even mean?!
But whatever, I threw a punch. He caught it like it was nothing, adjusted my stance, and started rambling about speed, angles, and twisting your wrist. Half of it went over my head.
Then he walked up to a tree, kicked it so leaves started falling, and...
Boom.
Kenshin punched five times so fast I could barely see it, then opened his hand. Five leaves. In one hand.
I was speechless.
He told me to practice the jab (that's how that was called) until I could do the same. Sounded simple enough. Spoiler: It wasn't. By the midyear exams, my record was four leaves with my right hand and three with my left.
And then Kenshin aced the exams and topped the class rankings.
When the results came out, he acted like he didn't care, but you could tell he was secretly thrilled. He even got this little swagger in his step, like, Yeah, I'm Kenshin, the new king of the academy. I thought it was cute.
But a few months later, the excitement wore off, and Kenshin started getting... weird. He'd stare off into space during lessons, mutter things like "I need to train harder" and once, I caught him sketching a training montage in his notebook. (Yes, with dramatic lightning bolts and all. Dude's got flair.) I figured he was just being Ken-kun, but nope—he was planning.
Then, one day, we were having lunch on the roof. By "we" I mean I was devouring my food like it was the last meal of my life, and Kenshin was just... sitting there. Staring into space like he was auditioning for a drama about sad ninjas.
"Ken-kun." I said, my mouth half-full of his amazing lasagna, "if you don't eat that, I'm gonna take it. Your food's gonna get cold."
He didn't even blink. Then, out of nowhere, he hit me with:
"Jimei, why didn't Bekkou-sensei tell me I could skip years or graduate early?"
I froze mid-bite. "Huh?"
He turned to me, dead serious, like he was about to drop the most groundbreaking revelation in ninja history.
"I'm the top student! I should be able to graduate early, right?"
I couldn't help it—I laughed. Like, a full-on, food-almost-coming-out-of-my-nose kind of laugh. Kenshin? Graduate early? The boy who struggled to write "chakra" correctly on his first try? Please.
"Ken-kun..." I said, still trying not to choke. "To skip a year, you've got to dominate everything. And I mean everything. Yeah, you're great at throwing punches and kicking Hyuuga jerks in the face, but your theory grades? They're, uh... not exactly stellar."
The look on his face was priceless. It was like I'd just told him Orochimaru had decided to retire from evil and open a yoga studio for snakes.
"And another thing." I added, because why stop there? "You're only top in our class. Across all the classes, you're third. THIRD, Kenshin. That's still awesome, but you'd need to be the best of the best to skip years."
"But—"
"And if you want to graduate early," I interrupted. "you'd need to pull off something insane, like that Uchiha kid with his fancy advanced clone jutsu. You know, the one that made all the teachers lose their minds."
That seemed to shut him up. I felt pretty proud of myself, honestly—like I'd just saved him from years of disappointment. I went back to devouring my lasagna, thinking I'd done my duty as a responsible, caring friend.
And then—
"WHAT?!"
It wasn't just a yell; it was a full-on, top-of-his-lungs scream. Birds flew away like they'd just survived a natural disaster, and I'm pretty sure a couple of kids practicing shuriken throws down below nearly stabbed each other out of pure shock.
"Ken-kun, chill!" I yelped, nearly choking on my food. "It's not that big of a deal!"
"Not that big of a deal?!" he shot back, eyes wide like I'd just told him the Hokage was being replaced by a talking rock. "I'M THIRD?! I'M JUST—THIRD?!"
"Yes, third!" I said, trying to calm him down. "And that's great! Third out of a hundred of kids! You're amazing!"
"Not good enough." he muttered, his hands clenching into fists. "I need to be first. No, not just first—I need to crush everyone."
He had this fire in his eyes that honestly scared me a little. I mean, I'm all for ambition, but this was something else.
"Kenshin," I said, trying to bring him back to reality. "you're already doing great. You're gonna be a fantastic ninja someday. You don't need to—"
"Jimei," he interrupted, and his voice was so calm it actually made me nervous. "Starting tomorrow, we're training harder. No—insanely harder."
"Wait, hold up!" I said, my hashi halfway to my mouth. "We? What's this 'we' nonsense?"
"You said you would train with me." he replied, dead serious, like he was about to give me a lecture on the sacred art of ninja discipline.
"Yeah, but I didn't think I'd be dragged into ninja boot camp!"
"Five a.m." he said, ignoring my protests. "Be ready." And with that, he picked up his chopsticks and started eating like nothing had happened.
I just sat there, staring at him in disbelief. Five a.m.? Was he insane? Who wakes up that early on purpose?
I flopped back against the tiles, staring at the sky and questioning every life decision that led me to this moment. Why, oh why, did I agree to be friends with this lunatic? And more importantly, why was his lasagna so good that it almost made me consider going along with his plan? Almost.
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Yeah, sorry for the delay, I had a terrible hangover again and lost track of time. As always, comment away, I tried doing something new with this Jimei POV. I ended up getting more attached to the character than I should have, and now I'm having trouble figuring out how to rewrite the upcoming chapters. Well, it will depend on you guys, do you want this friendship to continue beyond the academy?