Chapter 5.1- And so the Dragons Danced

What does it mean to be strong? Truly strong? That was the question Grandfather had asked me before I left the home for my first semester, and as I prepared myself to return back to the manor, I bothered myself with thinking it through. Was I any stronger than I was six months ago when I’d gotten in here? Well, my body was much stronger, at least. If Hiroshi had any talent, it was in strengthening bodies. I hadn’t even gone above and beyond, just sticking to the regimen he made all of us go through ,and my body had seen steady but consistent change over time.

The first day I was here, I considered jogging around the academy to be a form of cruel and unusual punishment, but now? I was making good time near the top of the class as we made our way across on our third and final lap. Of course, it would look like I was the one in front, but that was nothing but a lie. Yes, I’d gotten so much better, but Toji had started out so far beyond me that with daily workouts, he’d turned into some sort of monster out of a story. Ok, that’s a bit of an exaggeration. His development was nothing beyond possible parameters in this universe.

The problem? Possible didn’t always mean probable. What did that mean? Fourth and fifth years, who were years older than us, often found themselves shamed by Toji’s athletic prowess. It had gotten him, and me by extension a few months ago when the bastard had snuck into one of their own classes and amused himself by proving better than most of them. Toji himself had managed to turn himself into some sort of legend in just a few months of being here. Turns out, he was going to hit the record for most detentions achieved by any student in just his first year at the school.

It was funny to some, and infuriating to others. He was a walking reminder of the inequality in our society. Anyone with a different last name would have found themselves expelled so quickly, they wouldn’t even have had the time to heat up their tea. The whispers among the upperclassmen  had become more and more negative as the days went by and it became clear that Toji Zenin would suffer no consequences more serious than detention for all his antics. Of course, I was not spared the judging eyes. Simply from the fact that Toji refused to leave me be, and I was from the family I was, meant that we were lumped together more often than not. Never mind that beyond us, our families had little in the way of dealings, and I’d been a model student since that very first night. Even Shin hadn’t managed to get me to do anything monumentally stupid with all his snide comments and looks.

One day, I would not be able to calm the fire in my blood. One day, sooner or later, I would fight him. Only when I could win, however. The thought of defeat held me back. If I ever fought Shin it would be in Agni Kai, and whatever thoughts I had about my name sparing me from consequences, challenging a teacher to an Agni Kai and then losing would not end well for me. Even if I wasn’t expelled (unlikely), I’d still suffer serious injuries. Shin might even go ahead and kill me as was well within the rights of those who participated in Agni’s glorious combat.

Because of that, I trained. Day and night. My body got stronger, and my firebending followed. More lung capacity from breathing exercises and increased physical fitness meant my breaths could go even deeper, and I could stoke my flames even more. I’d kept up with every single kata I’d ever learned, keeping a weekly schedule that saw me practising each one at least twice. My body would keep growing over time, and if I didn’t ensure I was familiar with every inch of it doing every possible movement that I’d ever need to, I might find myself caught lacking when the moment of truth came. I wasn’t just studying for grades and classes. I’d be right on the front lines in Eight years as a commissioned officer. It was my duty. I would not fail. Never.

Today’s classes would be our last ones before the break, and nothing was going to affect my mood. The fact that we had a double period with Hiroshi to set things off even made things better. I’d never have taken myself for someone who would enjoy exercising till I could no longer stand, but the feeling was good. Besides, after I’d shown off some of my flexibility in the first class, the Master was keen on helping me get even better. The exercises I knew from my first life had been designed for bodies and around limits inherent to that universe. In this one, those limits were pathetic. Even an unfit adult would probably have run circles around the best olympians of my time. It was just the benefit of living in a world where physics and biology decided to fuck off and take a collective smoke break. Either way, after we finished our run for the warm up, the Master had us splitting up into groups to carry out the personalised exercise regiment he’d made for us.

I was with Toji. I always was. For some reason, everyone seemed to assume we were friends or even worked well together. Our first bit of exercise? Good old fashioned free climbing to get the blood flowing. It exercised most of our body parts at once, and we’d made something of a race of seeing who would be able to scale the academy building the fastest. It was a tall castle, so it usually took us quite a bit, but it was getting easier with every attempt. And the best part was that this was one exercise where Toji didn’t just leave me completely eating his dust. Sure, he won more often than not, but I had better balance than he did and that mattered when we got to the more difficult, unstable areas of the castle’s walls.

“Last one up cleans up the room” The bastard said and ran straight at the wall. I scowled before following right behind him. It wasn’t like I wouldn’t end up cleaning the room either way. Toji spoke a great deal of not being like the rest, but he was a pure spoiled noble through and through. If I ever left him with the duty of cleaning the room, the place would be inhabitable by the time we got back from the break. The first bit of climbing was always the easiest. I couldn’t do what Toji did to start himself off, but I was close. He ran at the wall before jumping and latching on to the first bit of rocks he could reach. He was already up almost a whole floor. More conservatively, I started from the bottom, boosting myself with an initial burst of speed as I moved from platform to platform as surefooted as Sun Wukong himself.

“Slow as ever, Natsu”

“Shut up”

Toji’s lead was beginning to disappear over time. Physical superiority was all well and good, but it couldn’t match up with experience and better balance and flexibility. Experience? Because I came back here every evening and climbed the wall over and over again. My goal was to be able to do it one-handed like Kakashi and Gai could in the Naruto anime. I knew my body would eventually become the limiting factor of my bending skill, so I needed that body to be as strong as it could get. Climbing was one exercise that helped everywhere.

When I was close enough that I knew I could reach out and touch his foot, I spoke out from beneath him, “Getting slower, old man?” I asked, eliciting a scowl and muttered curses as he tried to speed up. I matched his pace, chuckling to myself all the while.

Rumours had begun to spread of Toji being years older than us and being held back because of terrible grades. Far removed as we were from everyone else, Toji and I would never have heard of the rumours if Lee hadn’t actually walked up to us and asked in a display of balls and boldness. Only the fact that Lee was a pseudo-friend made me get in Toji’s way instead of allowing him to suffer the consequences of that particular bit of stupidity.

I was at his knee level now, and we only had two floors to go. I could do this. I just had to focus. Left hand, left leg, right hand, right leg, I recited to myself mentally as I scaled the walls and made my way up. From his knee to his waist, and then his elbow. One floor to go. I was close. Oh so close, and Toji knew it.

The taller boy just turned to me with a smile on his face and said, “Better luck, Natsu. This one is mine” I was confused for a few seconds before the madman actually dug deep on his platform and pulled himself up in a jump that couldn’t be realistic.

I’m not ashamed to say my mouth was wide as I watched him sail through the air, passing over the last bit of the castle and landing right on the roof. What. The. Actual. Fuck. When I got to the roof, it was to a laughing Toji. “You’ll have to explain that stunt to Master Hiroshi, you know that right?” I asked, taking joy in the way he paled and the laughter disappeared.

“Didn’t see that one coming, did you?” I asked the boy, ignoring his expletives as I turned back to the way I came. I stared down at the floor, and felt myself being overcome by an urge. It was stupid. Very fucking stupid. I was over 12 floors high in the air, and the castle was probably over a hundred feet tall. Still, I wanted to do it. To test my capacity. I jogged backwards a bit, ignoring Toji’s screams for me to wait as I ran right to the ledge and took a swan dive down.

The wind in my face. The freedom of being in the sky. When I got good enough at gymnastics to become an olympian, I’d been banned from skydiving by every agent and coach, so I hadn’t gotten this feeling for a long time. It was just as exhilarating as I remembered, if not more so. The lack of a parachute made it all feel better.

When I gauged myself close enough to the ground, I flipped and pointed both my hands and feet at the ground before I shot out jets of flames from all of them, dialling up the explosive power to slow down my descent enough for me to not become paste on the ground. Some small part of me was actually surprised that it worked. I slowed down, almost immediately and glided for a bit before landing on the floor with a roll. The moment I stood up, it was to a backhand from a pissed off teacher. After that? I couldn’t tell you what happened next. I was out before I even hit the ground. I never saw Toji who had run down the stairs jump right at the man after he hit me. I never saw Lee send a bolt of red hot flames at his face. All of that was unknown to me.

A/N; Now its edited, I think. Here’s the first bit of the next chapter. As you can see, I am not dead. Not yet, at least. How do you feel about the direction this story is taking? We’re on schedule so some madness should be coming up in the next few chapters.