Half Demon Swordsman
Chapter Forty Nine: Inuyasha's Presentation

Asagi

Today was the day we'd all been looking forward to: the day Sensei gave his Guest Speaker Week presentation. After yet another weird dream involving Beryl-teme and the moon, I hurried to get ready before scrambling out the door. I was by no means late, but seats were first come first serve, and I wanted to get the best seat for Sensei's presentation.

To none of his trainees' surprise, Sensei was already there when we got there, setting up for what promised to be a demonstration that would no doubt be the most interesting of them all. He just looked at us like "You're only just now getting here? I expected you ages ago." Yeah, that was Sensei alright. The more things changed, the more they stayed the same.

"Hello Sensei." We all greeted, bowing.

He raised an eyebrow. "Brats." He said simply. "I expected you ages ago. You're almost late."

I literally had to bite back a smile. Some things never changed. "Of course Sensei." I agreed instead. "It won't happen again."

He looked as if he knew exactly what I was thinking, but didn't comment as more students came in. Serena and Molly had both made a Shadow Clone from the looks of it and told their friends and Molly's cousin Fakir, the one who had been involved with the gangs so his father was sending him here, to make sure they asked good questions that related to the subject, because they all looked deep in thought and seemed to be muttering under their breaths.

Sensei exited the room for a minute or so before he entered again. Those of us on the left side of the gymnasium stood, bowed and saluted before.

"At ease." Sensei commanded and we settled into parade rest. Then, he gave us the barest of nods and we sat down again.

"Yes Sensei." Those of us who were his students chorused automatically.

What questions they would ask, I was curious to know.

"Alright," Sensei began, not even using the microphone, his voice carrying perfectly over the assembled crowd. "First of all, I'd like to tell all of you that I expect you to ask me a question, and it has to be one that relates to the subject. Should you ask what I consider to be a stupid question, one that has nothing to do with what we're talking about, I will ask your teachers to not give you any points for today. What I'm going to be talking about today is how to be prepared for a monster attack." He looked at the other students, silently daring them with his eyes alone to ask a dumb question. How he did that, I had absolutely no idea. It was just part of what made him Sensei, I guess, and one of those great mysteries in life I'd never figure out.

He then announced we, his students, didn't have to ask a question because anything he could tell us about being prepared we probably already knew. Classic Sensei.

I immediately raised my hand. "Sensei," I began when he called on me. "What can we do to make sure that when, not if, a monster attacks the school, because I've heard rumors that all of the Rangers, or at least most of them, go here even if they haven't been confirmed, to make sure that damages to the school are minimal?"

"Why am I not surprised it was one of you Tsukinos who asked the first question?" He asked rhetorically. "As for what you can do, the best thing would be to evacuate." He left it at that.

Kuri, one of Serena's friends, raised her hand. "I'm afraid I don't understand how simply evacuating would help." She said once Sensei called on her. "What if the monster decided it was going to cause all sorts of destruction and possibly get to the Rangers by destroying the school, even if everyone was already evacuated?"

"The answer to that is simple: the Negaverse, the Rangers' enemy, is after energy. For what, I'm not sure, and though I have heard talk of gathering it for a 'Queen Beryl' and a 'Negaforce' I can't be sure exactly what that means. Furthermore, from what I've observed they're after human energy, the spiritual energy only humans can produce." He explained. "You'll have to figure out what I mean by that on your own because I'm not going to tell you. So while it's possible that they would attack the school even if everyone is evacuated, it's not probable."

The next question, coming from Yumiko, another one of Serena's friends, was how long Sensei had been teaching. She said didn't want to know out of idle curiosity (although she probably did a little), but because if he'd only been teaching for a few years or less, then how the hell was he qualified to talk to us about being prepared for monster attacks? A few more people asked him questions, but they were stupid questions, like why do you have dog ears, or what the hell would you know about being prepared. Sensei's killing intent positively spiked at that last question (he came all this way to tell us about how to be prepared and they're questioning what he knows?), and nearly made everyone who wasn't his student lose control of their bladder function or pass out. The same would have happened to those of us who weren't his students except we were all well used to it by now. How could we not be when he only radiated it at us on a daily basis, or at least every single time we had his own special brand of torture.

Thankfully, Molly's cousin Fakir saved the poor fool (and I maintained that he was a poor fool) by raising his hand to ask a question. "Inuyasha-sama," He began. "I've noticed from the many fights the Rangers have been in since I arrived that the Red Rangers seem to be the ones who take charge. What exactly is the significance of the color red to the Rangers?"

Sensei smiled. "You would be the one to catch onto that." He said. "To answer your question, have you seen Power Rangers, the show?" When Fakir shook his head, Sensei explained. "Ever since the very first generation, the reds have been the leaders of the team. They're the ones to take charge and truly lead the team, not just bark orders."

Almost as soon as he finished, Greg raised his hand. "Sensei, hasn't there been an exception?"

"Yes," Sensei answered. "But as you said, it's an exception, which implies it's not the rule."

Someone then asked if he could be a Ranger. Sensei wanted to know what qualities he had that would make him a good Ranger. He started spouting off all of these good things, but it sounded empty, like he was just telling Sensei what he thought Sensei wanted to hear.

Sensei held up a hand to interrupt him and asked if the kid was just telling him what he wanted to hear, or if he really had those qualities. I looked at Sensei briefly for permission and when he gave the barest of nods, just to have some fun, I cast a truth spell on the kid (Luna had been teaching me magic, and the others too but I was just the best at it, so I knew all sorts of spells).

The kid opened his mouth, and predictably, he answered that he was just telling Sensei what he believed Sensei wanted to hear. I smirked a little. Score!

Inuyasha-sensei shot me a tiny smirk and I smiled triumphantly back.

The questions continued and the ones who formed a sort of border between those who weren't Sensei's students and didn't really have any potential to become so all asked a good question. Sensei had this thoughtful look on his face like he was considering taking them as his students. When they asked two good questions, the look changed from 'I might take them as my students and I'll at least give them a few pointers' to 'I'm definitely going to take them as my students.' Interesting. Was it because they were asking good questions?

Well whatever his reason was didn't matter to me. New teammates were always a good thing.

InuYasha-sensei dismissed us for lunch (and the teachers didn't bother to correct him that it wasn't time yet). Again, those of us on the left side of the room stood, bowed and saluted.

"At ease." He commanded again. We settled into parade rest before he gave us an almost imperceptible nod and we hurried outside for lunch.

One thing was for sure: whatever he had planned for after lunch would be the main focus of his presentation today. And I looked forward to it.