Artifice

At first, he seems like he knows what he’s doing. That is what he wants people to think--and sometimes he can get so wrapped up in his monologues that he starts to believe his own philosophy. Or does he? He makes stuff up on the spot whether he is devoted to those convictions or not. I don’t know, he’s on some other plane and he tricks me while I am writing sometimes (I start to think he’s smart) when in reality, he’s a fucking nerd who cannot function in society and can barely speak for himself. He’s not actually articulate, but he learned what words prompt people to do, and what actions would bring about which response.

On one hand you have the trope. The leader, the infamous, the smart, the deadly and merciless gang leader. And then you have the truth. The anxious manipulator, constructed as an unwanted child and venomously caught in his mental cycle, who struggles to function day by day without falling back on a coping mechanism. That’s why I think I can’t stop writing about him. He’s neither extreme, but a conglomerate of both experiences.

He’s weak and that’s okay, but he does not think so. He is strong in other ways--not right ways, but it’s why he continues to live and refuses to die. His endgame is not really an end, but the beginning of something bigger because he will eventually choose who he is and escape the biggest constraints on his character: himself. Probably be absolutely horrific when that happens, but yanno. It’s growth in a different way and I like exploring the antagonist side.

Selin and Sungjoon were fighting again.

They blame a teacher for bad students, but Sunggyu’s ability as a ninja has never been doubted even if his methods are what they like to call ‘unorthodox’. Crazy is thrown around so often as a reason to stay away from him, and no one wants to be under the jurisdiction of someone no longer revered for his anbu experience. There is a thin line between fear and recognition that he stands too close to. They all still call him a hero.

But he is choosy about who he teaches. Likes to blame it on being ‘lazy’, which is simple to do after he accepts only half his mission requests when he feels like it. But they are never below an A or B. The hokage always calls his bullshit, anyway.

Before testing his new students as graduates, it is out of habit to learn the most about them. Their files can only reveal so much--grades, classroom exam results, teacher comments. According to that alone, Hyorin was a perfect student, Sungjoon had the most potential but never used it, and Selin wanted the most but remained the worst.

This is what he has learned:

His sister has never been afraid of him. Her ability is natural. She is the most intelligent, but seems to find entertainment in upsetting the natural balance in the group. She is not afraid of her own brother (the only one she finds interesting enough to listen to), and it is hardly a mystery as to why she ended up under Sunggyu’s tutelage.

Hyorin is not the problem (for him).

Selin is too much for everyone else--the wild card. 

No parents. No siblings. No anyone aside from mostly bad influences, and Sunggyu does not have to wonder long why their school record has suffered as a result. What they lacked in technique they made up for in refusal to bow beneath someone else’s opinion. Their skill is obvious, and encouraged by the wrong person, dangerous. 

Selin is still not the one that worries him.

Sungjoon is too much like teacher. Sunggyu had recognized Sungjoon’s potential. An ability that could morph into a power no one could handle. It was not loyalty that drove Sungjoon to pursue the occupation of a ninja. It also was not responsibility. It was personal, and a much darker vendetta they carried in silence.

Sungjoon’s potential could become concrete and an overhwhelming problem.

Only Sunggyu could handle the outcome--at least, the academy all hoped before considering what he thought when they decided to place him with Sunggyu.

He was always too neutral in these decisions. Choosing sides meant accepting responsibility for it, after all. There is no heavier responsibility than the lives of three children and he would never take on more than that.

There is no question to whether his squad can handle themselves--his own little sister he has always known to be particularly skilled in her own way--what bothers him is the history behind each one that will influence their choices. Adult decision in a child’s hands is the unique responsibility of a ninja.

And that attention coupled with the fact Selin and Sungjoon either appreciated or hated each other at any given moment is what results in Sunggyu eavesdropping now.

“He’s nothing to be afraid of.”

Sunggyu’s expression darkens for a moment when he recognizes the lackadaisical tone of his little sister. He had chosen a spot above the stone bridge connecting the school to the infirmary on the roof, crouched on the balls of his feet. A sudoku puzzle book is cracked open in front of him.

“Yeah--an’ how d’ya know that, sweetheart?”

Judging by the accent, he would assume Selin--

“He’s my brother.”

Sunggyu visibly stiffens.

“Yeah right--an’ I’m the next hokage.”

Muscles relax, and his one visible eye closes. He only hopes Hyorin drops the topic.

“Is he coming? If he’s not, I’m outta’ here.” Sniff. Sounds of clothes dragging against stone. “Got things to do.”

Sungjoon.

“Like what? If ya’ leave, I bet he fails you.”

Retreating footsteps pause. A head of black hair pokes out when Sungjoon chooses to lean against the railing, exposing wayward strands of bedhead to Sunggyu’s limited sight from above.

“And I bet he doesn’t even show up.”

There is a lack of commitment to the phrase. A lazy drawl that betrays Sungjoon doesn’t really care that much to be disproved by Selin, or anyone else.

“So what? Ya’ don’t want to get on his bad side. I heard he’s killed a’thousand guys--or somethin’,” Selin adds after a short pause. Sunggyu almost rolls his eyes. “I saw ya’ roll your eyes, Hyorin.”

“I hoped you would.”

“It doesn’t matter who he’s killed if he doesn’t teach.” Sungjoon’s head disappears and he listens to their footfalls. “Hey--let go of me, man.”

“Yer’ absence affects us all, asshole. It wasn’t a suggestion.”

Sunggyu finally fills in the last row, idly scratching below his concealed eye.

“Don’t touch me--I’m warning you, Selin.”

“Or what--ya’ gonna put me in the hospital like the last guy? Yer such a special snowflake.”

It is within a split second he appears between his younger, shorter students. One hand catches Sungjoon’s thrown fist and the other twists Selin’s arm behind their back. Hyorin’s eyes had widened from her sitting position on a bench a yard or so away. She lifts one hand and wiggles her fingers at Sunggyu in greeting as if his sudden appearance is as surprising as a slight shift in temperature.

“Five minutes in, and you two are already fighting.”

“Let go of me, ya’ asshole--” Selin struggles against the hold as Sungjoon just waits for Sunggyu to release his fist.

Hyorin sighs. “Your timing is horrible, Sunggyu. It was getting interesting.”

Sunggyu watches Selin stiffen. Their mouth cracks open in surprise without sound, dark eyes resting on the features of Sunggyu’s face they could see partly obscured by the headband over his left eye.

“Yer the--”

He shifts from his position from between them to ahead of the three students, watching Sungjoon and Selin stumble in opposite directions from the lack of restraint. 

“I suppose now’s a good a time as any…”  He pauses to tuck his puzzle beneath the flap of his jounin vest and stands straight. “I am Kim Sunggyu. Your new instructor.”

His gaze flicks between the three. Hyorin picks at her nails. Sungjoon is leaning against the railing again, observing the ‘intruder’ in silence, while Selin seems prepared to interrupt Sunggyu again.

“I alone decide whether you pass or fail.”

It would be three years before that fragile balance tipped, and no one could have stopped the onslaught of its natural consequences.