I was pretty much surprised by the fact that not even a single soul wrote about Takasugi and his new obsession. So I decided to do it myself. The final version in nothing like my original idea, but it I kind of like it more this way (you see, I was planning to do something dark and sad, but it turned out to be a little funny).

Before you start, I must apologize to all the grammar mistakes that you may face while you read this. English is not my first language, so writing this was kinda... oh. So I appreciate if you could let me know if anything sounds absurdly wrong.

Among human beings there is a big group of people who doesn't accept, under any circumstances, a loss. And just a person from this group is enough to make a whole environment sucks. That was the case of the little boy who was sitting under a tree, with a mad expression adorning his face, as if the entire world had betrayed him.

He couldn't care less about the great smell of grass or the blossoms that were slowly falling from the tree. All he could think was that he lost. And worse: he had a huge bruise in his face, which would remind him for a long time about his failure.

That day, as always, Zura couldn't shut his month and spent the whole morning talking about their training. The new boy wasn't the talkative type, but he was expecting at least a curious response from him. However he received a little chuckle. Just when he was about to ask, the boy finally said something.

"So what?" He asked picking his nose. "I don't get you guys, what is so nice about swinging a piece of wood?"

Zura was surprised by his statement.

"What are you saying? It's really nice to learn! Can you imagine how nice it must be to use a real sword? If we keep practicing sensei will let us use a real one someday!"

The perm head didn't answer. He kept picking his nose as if he was saying yeah, whatever. But Zura wouldn't just give up, Takasugi knew. He started talking all kinds of nonsense, none of them making effect in the new boy. Until the subject was their abilities.

"You know, Takasugi is really good. No one can win against him. But…" he them looked suspiciously at his friend, hoping that he wasn't listening. He then came closer to Gintoki and whispered to him. "I bet he will cry like a baby when someone defeats him."

Gintoki finally seemed interested, he even stopped picking his nose. Takasugi just rolled his eyes, thinking about how dumb his friend was. But he must admit: he was kind of proud of himself.

"Really? What if I teach him a lesson?"

"That would be awesome!"

So the two guys looked away, trying to hide their evil plans from Takasugi. But they never knew that they did a small miscalculation: Takasugi wasn't deaf, so he could hear all the nonsense they were saying.

Takasugi just stared at his notebook, pretending he wasn't listening. He was the one who would teach the new boy a lesson. He was always carrying his sensei's sword whenever they were, but that doesn't meant he knew how to use it. Right? So the boy smirked, totally confident about his own abilities. He wouldn't lose for a fool like that perm head.

Well, at least in his head.

Seconds after the beginning he was staring at the blue sky, wondering why the clouds looked so beautiful, and why he was looking at them. He then recomposed himself, and started thinking straight.

Wait… I lost? But how?

He sat up, looking around. There was a huge mass of boys staring wide-eyed at him, as if they didn't believe in their eyes. Zura was the most shocked among them, Takasugi realized. In front of the crowd was a single boy, looking down at Takasugi with a pathetic smirk on his face.

"Oi Zura… you said this guy was good." Gintoki said picking his nose. Again.

"Yeah, he is but… how did you?" Was the only thing said for a long time. Takasugi didn't fail to realize that the boy didn't complain about his nickname for the first time. And that made him even more pissed.

The perm head then rolled his eyes and went back inside, completely ignoring the incident that just happened. Soon all the boys were gathering around him, asking dumb questions that Takasugi didn't care. They all followed the winner, leaving him behind.

Oh, they would pay. Takasugi decided: he would defeat every single one of they. So next time they will think twice before leaving him behind.

Alone, he started walking around, rubbing his check. He soon found the tree where he was at the moment. And he spent what seemed to be eternity thinking about his loss. Unfortunately for him, he never found answers for his questions. He simply sat down and buried his face on his knees, thinking.

He felt a familiar presence. Someone just sat right beside him. Even being in that pity state, he couldn't avoid a small smile.

"I heard you and Gintoki had a fight today."

Takasugi raised his head, looking at his sensei's eyes.

"I'm sorry sensei. I shouldn't have done it without your permission."

He received a warm smile as an answer, immediately making him feel better. For a second he forgot about the previous incident, just focusing in the person besides him.

"There's no need to be sorry, Shinsuke. I'm not mad."

The boy stared at the blossoms resting in the ground. They were both in silence, enjoying each other company. Takasugi wouldn't mind if they stayed like that, without talking to each other. Just being next to his sensei was enough to make him feel welcomed and secure. But soon the silence was broken.

"Should I suppose that you are here because you are mad at your loss?"

Takasugi immediately looked away, embarrassed. Of all things, this one was the last one he wanted to talk at the moment. And he was really grateful when his sensei started talking again, seeing that he didn't want to say anything about it.

"You must not fool yourself by pretending you will always win. We both know that sooner or later you would have to lose, right?"

"Yes, sensei."

At his response, he chucked.

"Figured. You'll learn that we cannot win every battle in our life. But you can use every loss in your favor since we always learn from our mistakes."

Takasugi noodled, paying attention to everything Shouyou was telling.

"But I can't understand. How can he be so good? He is knew, how could have he learned?"

"Well, he has his own way to learn."

Takasugi didn't extend the subject. The man knew the boy wasn't in the mood to discuss the incident, so he kept quiet.

"Here, take this."

Takasugi stared at the little plastic bottle his sensei was giving to him. He had no idea about what that thing was. He just knew that it was a weird-looking yellow liquid, and that it must taste weird. Because it was a yellow liquid. People shouldn't trust yellow liquids.

"What is it?" He asked with an unpleasant look in his face.

"It's called Yakult. You should try it, the taste is good."

Takasugi grabbed the thing, still staring suspiciously.

"But sensei… it's yellow."

"Actually it's not yellow, it's something like… cream?"

"Yeah, but cream surely is yellow with some white on it."

"Ok, maybe it's yellow," Shouyou said, giving up on trying convincing the boy otherwise.

"Ha, I knew you would give up, sensei. It's impossible to deny that it's yellow!"

He laughed at the little one's statement, opening the small bottle. He was about to drink the content, but a small hand grabbed his arm, stopping him.

"What is wrong, Shinsuke?"

"Don't drink it, sensei! People die when they drink yellow stuff!"

They both stayed in silence for a moment, in a comic pause.

"Shinsuke… why would someone die just by drinking yellow things?"

"I'm serious, sensei! It's just like mayonnaise! Tastes bad AND can kill you if you eat too much!"

Shouyou looked awkwardly at the little boy, hiding his concern for the way the kid saw the world.

"You don't like yellow, do you?"

"It's not like that!"

"Of course it is. Say, do you really think I would give you something that might kill you?"

Hearing this Takasugi looked away, embarrassed. How could he think that his sensei would do something to hurt him?

"Sorry…"

Once again Shouyou laughed, drinking the so-called Yakult. Takasugi waited some seconds, just to check if anything weird was about to happen. Seeing that his sensei wasn't dying or anything, he drank the yellow thing.

He wasn't expecting what happened next. He stared wide-eyed at the empty bottle, in complete silence for a long time. He just enjoyed the sensation of the liquid running through his throat. He stayed immobile for a long time. A really long time.

"Please tell me I'm wrong and you are not actually dying," Shouyou said.

Takasugi just looked at his eyes with a pleased look. Seeing the boy like this was basically the same as seeing a little kid just after they received the best candy in the world.

"Sensei I…" Takasugi then looked at the bottle again. "Can I have another one?"

"Are you serious?"

Takasugi looked at his company with a serious look.

"I'm totally serious, sensei. I don't think I'll find something that tastes as good as Yakult."

He stood up, looking at the kid.

"Unfortunately I had only two with me. But if you leave the tree we can go inside and have another one."

Takasugi stood up as well with a smile in his face and followed him. He talked about how good Yakult tasted the entire way back, and his sensei greeted his naive words with a smile.

That day not even one more word about his fight with Gintoki was said.

And that's it. Hope you enjoyed :)