Work Text:
Kimetsu Academy history teacher Rengoku Kyojuro never disappointed. His classes were beloved by all, and his methods were unorthodox - he believed learning solely from books alone was tiresome and promised disinterest, especially from the young folk of today. Lessons were as hands-on and physical as the school would allow - having the rowdy and excitable teenagers reenact scenes of war, protest, and other historical events (as safely as possible), so the children could experience firsthand what it could be to live through such times.
And in that spring, with the weather so pleasant, Rengoku often took them out on field trips - like the one they were on at the moment.
A flock of over 20 teenagers trailed behind the sunset-haired teacher like baby ducks, followed by a chaperone - teacher Kanroji. They were making their way to Keizo's dojo, a martial arts school that taught an old, near-dying style of jiu-jitsu.
They were welcomed in by a small, pale young woman who introduced herself as Koyuki, the dojo owner's daughter; she first took them to the lockers, where they all changed into keikogi, including the two teachers. Koyuki led them inside and showed them to the mats on the floor where they could all sit in front of the teacher.
The brunet man sitting in seiza in front of them was far younger than the one Rengoku made all the plans and arrangements with, and he quickly realized he must be the son-in-law master Keizo had mentioned.
"Welcome to Keizo's dojo, we're honored to host you all," the young man spoke, bowing stiffly (Rengoku made notice of Koyuki giggling softly at this). "I'm Hakuji, master Keizo's apprentice and a teacher here. I will be in charge of today's lesson in Master Keizo's stead, since he is bedridden with a minor cold."
At this, Rengoku shouted: "WE SHALL BE IN YOUR CARE!"
His students echoed the sentence, though far less ear-piercingly.
The history of Soryū, the jiu-jitsu style Keizo taught, went back over 400 years in the past, and though Hakuji had began explaining it a little bit choppily and awkwardly, he quickly gained steam and went over the details he knew with a lot of passion - seemingly, this was a subject he was extremely interested in.
The oral introduction to the style wasn't supposed to be long - master Keizo understood Rengoku's methods and agreed for the lesson to be more physical - but the young brunet was so enthralled by the subject that he accidentally spent way too much time going over the style theory vocally. Rengoku felt terrible interrupting, though - and to him, it WAS quite interesting -, so the one to stop him was Koyuki.
"Dear... don't forget the lesson plan!" the young woman reminded him in her soft tone, smiling sympathetically.
"Ah...!" Hakuji flushed and flailed a little. "My apologies! I hope I didn't bore you all..."
One of the students was smacked awake by another. Rengoku tried to distract the teacher from the disheartening sight. "Not at all! It was all so interesting! However, it would certainly be nice to move onward with the actual lessons!"
And, just as he finished saying that, the sound of doors opening and closing was heard from outside, as well as some muffled shouts of, "Keizo!? You there!?" Koyuki mumbled, "Oh, that must be him!", quickly walked to the door and left.
Hakuji grumbled and sighed. "That is... Master Keizo's special guest. Master decided it would be a good idea to have him demonstrate Soryū with me," by the slightly annoyed look on his face, it was obvious the brunet was not happy with this. "Hope that is fine with you, professor Rengoku!"
Rengoku wanted to say yes, but he was interrupted when the sliding door was nearly slammed open and-
A near-identical copy of teacher Hakuji clamorously stormed in.
All the students, Kanroji and Rengoku gasped, oh-ed and WAH?!-ed. Some of his rowdier students even screamed - specifically, Agatsuma and Hashibira. The boy with the boar hat jumped to his feet and pointed excitedly at the stranger.
"IT'S FUCKING AKAZA! MMA LEGEND AKAZA!"
Rengoku had no time to restrain him because the same brown haired boy that had smacked his classmate awake now bonked Hashibira on the head and forced him back on the floor.
The attention was quickly back on the stranger and Hakuji - all eyes boggling back and forth from the two, astonished by the uncanny similarity. Their faces and builds were identical - both pale and very fit, with powerful arms and legs, yet gentle, beautiful faces, highlighted by very long and light-colored eyelashes - and the only things that differentiated them physically were the stranger's ear piercings and hair, which was dyed a soft pink.
Teacher Hakuji, already on his feet the second his pink-haired doppelgänger walked in, was standing next to him with an expression mix of annoyed and apologetic. With a sigh, he spoke:
"...this is Akaza, Keizo's special guest. He and I joined this dojo at the same time, and we have a similar level in Soryū, which-"
"You're just gonna skim over what's boggling their minds, huh?" this Akaza interrupted rudely and turned to the class with a toothy grin. "Hi, I'm his identical twin~ I'll be in your care~ sorry my little brother is such a stick in the mud~"
Hakuji gasped. "I'm not a-! You-! I'm only 5 minutes younger! How-" the brunet grumbled and shook his head, exhaling to try and calm himself down. "Anyway- Akaza and I are going to demonstrate Soryū, and once you all understand it, we can do some rounds with the students like we promised, professor Rengoku."
When Rengoku exclaimed a resounding, "YES!", he noticed Akaza's eyes were trained on him. The pink haired man grinned and made a small gesture of "hello", which the teacher responded to with a small nod.
Akaza left for a minute to change into keikogi to match his brother, and when he came back a few of the students (and Mitsuri, again) OOOOH-ed lowly - now that Akaza was wearing slightly shorter sleeves, the tattoos on both of his arms were visible.
They were dark blue, armband type tattoos, and Rengoku could swear he remembered them from somewhere. The man sporting them smirked at the spectators' reactions, showing them off not-so-subtly by crossing his arms over his meaty chest.
Hakuji tsk-ed and made to kick his twin on the back of his shin, which Akaza quickly avoided, and deflected with his own foot.
Without any introduction or preparations, the men began sparring - though, to Rengoku, it seemed more like a genuine fight.
Both men's movements were fluid and fast, and whether it was because they knew each other well enough, or the genuine talent in their fighting style, they were always one step ahead of each other - almost always predicting their opponent's attacks to shield themselves from a blow.
Hakuji, Rengoku noticed, put more emphasis on his leg and foot attacks, often managing to land kicks to Akaza's back and shins, which the pink-haired man often left unguarded. But despite this, Akaza was still landing more debilitating hits - punching Hakuji on his weaker points with his powerful fists, which seemed like they could punch through concrete.
The session ended when Hakuji fell to the mat floor, pinned by the chest by Akaza's arm after a kick to his legs. The brunet all but growled in frustration at having to tap out and admit defeat, yet he had to show an honorable loss to the students.
Sitting back down in his previous seiza position (albeit a lot more disheveled and out of breath), Hakuji addressed the students and teachers before him.
"That was our demonstration of Soryū,” he panted out, and brushed some sweaty hair out of his face. “Now, with professor Rengoku's help, please partner up in pairs, and I shall teach you some basic moves."
Rengoku shot up to his feet in excitement. "That was amazing! You two are amazing! Thank you for the demonstration!"
Saying this, he urged all his students to pick a friend to spar against, unaware of a certain pair of hazel - near golden - eyes following his moves intently, curiously.
The boar hat boy - Hashibira - was disgruntled. "I don't wanna partner up with these weaklings!" He almost roared. Then, he pointed at Akaza yet again, this time challengingly. "Fight me, Akaza! I only fight against the strongest!"
Mitsuri flailed, trying to apologize to the man while also reeling the student in. "Ino-! My sincerest apologies, Mr. Akaza- You can't just challenge professional fighters like that, Inosuke-!"
Akaza was very visibly having fun, rocking back and forth on his heels slightly and grinning. "I love your spirit, kid!" He praised. "Unfortunately, you're a little bit too small to be challenging me~ I only pick on people my size!"
After hearing this, Hashibira went red in the face - whether out of humiliation or ire, nobody was sure - and his challenging stance turned into more of a little tantrum. Rengoku trotted up to him and Mitsuri to try and reason with him.
"Don't falter, Young Hashibira! Mr. Akaza did say you're almost there in terms of muscle mass and height! You can challenge him again in a couple years!"
As the boar boy slowly - reluctantly - calmed down, the pink haired man hummed in thought, resting his chin on his fist - eyes still watching the history teacher, almost as if scanning him.
"Would the teacher perhaps- Rengoku, was it?- want to go up against me, instead?" Akaza said with a wolfish grin, causing a silence to fall over the dojo. He locked eyes with the man and chuckled. "I would go easy on you, of course."
Rengoku felt a shiver of unknown origin go down his spine.
Hashibira immediately started urging the blond man on, saying, "defend my honor!" and "you're weaker than me, of course, but you've got the build!" A lot of the students were pumped about it, too - seeing their favorite teacher in a "fight" would probably be a topic of conversation for weeks. It would be legendary.
One student though, Tsuyuri, seemed worried, and, though her voice was very quiet, her best friend Kamado wasn't, and his echoing of her concerns reached everyone's ears.
"Professor Rengoku might get hurt? Wait, don't you know, Kanao...?"
Rengoku interrupted everyone when he laughed and proclaimed, "I accept your challenge, Mr. Akaza!"
He looked over at Tsuyuri and smiled; he was extremely lucky to have such sweet and concerned students who worried for his safety. He gave her a small thumbs up to reassure her and turned back around to face Akaza, as passionate as ever.
"And, you don't have to go easy on me! I come from a long line of kendo instructors, and I have taken quite a few judo lessons since I was a child - I'm a second dan black belt!"
This received a chorus of OOOH-s and WAAAH-s from his students. More importantly, though, it got a smirk out of Akaza - one that promised nothing but trouble.
(Despite himself, Rengoku couldn't deny that made him a trouble-seeker).
After grumbling at his brother, berating him for being rude towards guests, Hakuji went to direct the pairs of students towards the center of the room to begin teaching them - and Rengoku approached his challenger.
"I'm Rengoku Kyojuro, it's a pleasure meeting you!" Rengoku exclaimed, bowing quickly. "I'm more of a sumo kind of guy, but I've seen you on TV and in the news once or twice, so meeting you is an honor, Mr. Akaza!"
The pink haired man hummed, also bowing... and scanning the man, yet again. As a fighter, seeing men of Rengoku's physique instinctually made him size them up - and as an opponent, he was definitely worth his attention.
"Kyojuro," he tried the name out on his tongue - it felt a lot more natural than Rengoku. He smiled. "Not much of an MMA guy, huh."
Rengoku was shocked at hearing his first name from a stranger. He probably showed it on his face, judging by the warmth that rushed to his cheeks, but he made no comment about it. Strangely, it didn't feel wrong.
"Now that I know you were trained in Soryū, I will definitely be following your exploits more closely, Mr. Akaza!"
"You can drop the honorifics," the shorter man chimed in, or rather, interrupted. He didn't care for formality - much less with somebody he was interested in- power-wise, that is, of course, he tried to reassure himself.
"...Akaza," the teacher corrected himself sheepishly, flustered slightly at the casualness. "Shall we begin our sparring, Akaza?"
The pink haired man grinned from ear to ear, excited, and got into a lower stance, fists forward in a defense position. He urged the teacher to do the same, to make the first move with a taunting cock of the head, eager to figure out what kind of fighter this man was - and if his instincts were right.
Rengoku didn't go for an attack right away, instead the two men slowly stepped in a circle, calculating; Akaza, the blond’s first move, and the teacher how to get through that air tight defense he witnessed in the brothers’ sparring. The pink haired man’s stance was low and guarded; like a fortress, and Rengoku was looking for an in to break it down.
When the first move finally came, the fight was on and fast like two animals in the wild - instinct, raw strength and experience meshing into one. The teacher first feinted and immediately went for Akaza’s leg, knocking him off balance and gripping him by his robe, attempting a throw to the ground. The professional fighter quickly defended himself, getting the hands off in a swift movement and kicking Rengoku away, directly in the chest.
As the blond caught his breath, Akaza lunged with an assault of punches which Rengoku blocked with his arms, wincing and grunting at every hit.
When Akaza stopped for just a second to redirect the blows to his sides, the teacher immediately seized his opportunity to trap the other man in a headlock; despite his precarious place underneath a heavier man, he nonetheless managed to quickly turn around until he was straddling his back, and still choking him out.
He thought to himself that he had been right to assume the pro seemed to leave his neck and back unguarded most of the time, and a rush of excitement washed over him. Not every day did he get to overpower an MMA champion.
Almost subconsciously, he realized the students had stopped what they were doing to look, in awe at their seemingly goofy teacher managing to put down someone like Akaza. If he looked back, he would've also noticed Hakuji, slack jawed at the sight.
But he was taken out of those thoughts as he flew head first to the matted floor, knocking his face against it roughly and screaming in pain. Akaza had made a quick movement upwards with his entire lower body that he had too distracted to predict. Dazed from the pain and surprise, he couldn't even defend when the other man grabbed his arm and held it against his back. With his other powerful, calloused palm, he was now retaliating and choking him instead.
His initial adrenaline filled pride washed away by an intense feeling of humiliation.
After a couple futile attempts at breaking out of the lock, he growled low in the back of his throat, and slapped the mat with his free hand.
“I give!”
His arm was let go, but the hand around his neck only released the hold after a couple seconds, and he could’ve sworn he heard the pink-haired man chuckle, or maybe even coo, when he finally did.
(That definitely also fed into his humiliation, but, for some reason, for a second, he felt butterflies in the pit of his stomach at it.)
The rest of the class transpired quickly and without any bumps in the road; though he did receive a lot of flack from the Hashibira boy about losing. His other students, though, clamored and congratulated him in putting up such a good fight. Even Hakuji gave him a subtle thumbs up when nobody was watching.
Through it all, he fervently avoided looking Akaza in the eye. He had bowed to him after getting up from the fight, and admitted to his strength. Rengoku was a mature adult, but something about this man, and this fight, had left his entire head and body in disarray.
But, on a subconscious level, he felt as though meeting that golden gaze would make him spontaneously combust.
But even so, when the scheduled time of the classes ran its course, the teachers and students bid Hakuji and Akaza goodbye, and followed Koyuki back to the dressers to change back.
Just as they were opening the doors to leave, they heard loud footsteps making their hurried way towards the entrance/exit area, and a huffing Akaza smacked the door open.
“Just one second! I’ve got… something for the boar hat boy,” the MMA fighter grinned awkwardly at the teacher, then looked back at the kids and Mitsuri behind him. “Y’all can go ahead, I’ll just take a minute.”
Rengoku raised an eyebrow but nonetheless turned to him, looking over at Mitsuri and nodding. When they were gone, he finally looked directly into those golden eyes.
He swallowed down the various feelings that had been smothering him for the past hour. “An autograph, I assume? You could’ve given it to him earlier…!”
“Huh? Oh,” Akaza fumbled in his sweatpant pockets for a piece of paper. “Yeah, of course. Give me a minute.”
The professional fighter thoughtlessly handed him the little piece of paper with his signature while still looking for a pen, grabbing a backpack from the floor. He found a small photograph of himself holding a champion’s belt and began scribbling.
“This one’s for you, though, Kyojuro,” he said, grinning, and gave it to him.
Rengoku dumbly looked down at the two things in his hands. The piece of paper looked like an old receipt. The photo, though, seemed high quality. Recent. When he turned it around, there was a phone number, and a winky face.
“You’re a damn good fighter, Kyojuro. You should think about becoming a pro… Though, if I can’t fight you in the ring,” he purred, leaning down so he could meet the teacher’s downward gaze, and smirked toothily, “I’d gladly do it somewhere else.”
With that, the pink haired man twirled around and left, hands in his pockets.
Rengoku wasn't combusting, but he definitely was somewhere close to it.
He shakily pocketed the picture and made his way outside, ignoring Mitsuri’s questioning gaze when she noticed his burning red cheeks.