Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction / Azumanga Daioh Fan Fiction ❯ Love Reincarnate ❯ Welcome To Class ( Chapter 4 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: Serenitychan13 
Anime/Manga: Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction / Azumanga Daioh Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Supernatural / Romance / Drama | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 07.26.2004 | Updated On: 08.17.2004 | Pages: 3 | Words: 2.4K | Visits: 318 | Status: Completed
Anime/Manga: Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction / Azumanga Daioh Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Supernatural / Romance / Drama | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 07.26.2004 | Updated On: 08.17.2004 | Pages: 3 | Words: 2.4K | Visits: 318 | Status: Completed
Love Reincarnate
A Rurouni Kenshin Alternate Universe Fic
By: Serenity-chan
Chapter 4:
Welcome To Class
Midori and Souzou stumbled into the classroom just as the late bell rang. Everyone stared at them, silence weighing heavily in the room. Souzou slunk off to find a seat in the very back, leaving Midori to deal with the class. It was then she realized that she was alone at the front of the room.
'Oh no... Akino-sensei had to leave...' she groaned inwardly. 'That means I'M TEACHING THE CLASS ON MY OWN!'
She bit her lip hard and set her bags down. More than anything, she wanted to run from the room like a frightened child then go hide someplace and cry. But she resisted the morbidly welcome urge in favor of holding her head high. She would make her mentor proud of her. She was GOING to make this work, even if it KILLED HER.
"You go for it, girl!" cheered Self-Confidence, jumping around in a cheerleader outfit and waving her itty-bitty pompoms.
Midori took a deep breath and prayed her voice wouldn't break.
"Uh, hi everybody..." she said, her voice just loud enough for the first two rows to hear. "I was supposed to be a co-instructor for today, but as you know, Akino-sensei is having her baby... So it looks like I'll be on my own... Just get out what you were working on..."
"Oh come on," groaned Self-Deprecation. "You sound like a substitute teacher in elementary school."
A few snickers rang out and the class did nothing.
"I know you were working on figure drawing, and that happens to be what I've been studying for years," said Midori, trying not to let them know she was getting desperate already. "So let me see how you're doing!"
"Right, now THAT didn't sound like a twelve-year-old airhead," muttered Self-Deprecation.
A few muffled giggles echoed around the room, accompanied by the same previous snickers.
Midori felt like crying. These people wouldn't listen to her, no matter what she did.
"You suck," announced a smart-aleck young man from the back center.
The class burst into uproarious laughter.
"Yeah yeah, laugh it up," said a growling voice from the back row. "You people sound like a bunch of immature high school punks."
Souzou was standing in the back row and his face was dark in anger.
"Just give her a chance at least," he said calmly, sitting back down. "Hasn't even been five minutes and you're already pouncing on her like a pack of starving dogs!"
The smartass in the back center growled and shrank into his seat. Midori gave Souzou a grateful smile, but he was staring determinedly out the window. She shrugged and set all her bags down near an easel. Then she realized something.
"Wasn't there supposed to be a model for today?" she asked a studious-looking girl in the front row. "Akino-sensei told me you would be doing males from the waist up."
The tall, dark-haired girl blushed heavily and shrugged her shoulders. Another girl, who appeared to be the first one's friend, leaned over and tapped Midori on the shoulder. Midori turned her attention on the other girl, who had short hair and a mischievous sparkle in her eyes.
"Get one of the guys to do it," she whispered. "There's gotta be one of them with enough of an ego not to have a problem."
"Tomo!" grumbled a brown-haired girl with glasses. "Could you make more of an ass of yourself on the FIRST DAY!?"
"How can she make an ass of herself?" asked a rather brainless-looking girl beside the brunette in a Southern accent.
"Shut up, Osaka," snapped the short-haired girl who had made the suggestion.
"Maybe we could draw cats instead," murmured the tall girl who had blushed.
"That's a good idea," said Midori, a little frantically, turning back to the rest of the class and trying not to look like she was close to nervous hysterics. "We're drawing cats today. Does anyone have a cat they can run and get?"
"That guy's right," grumbled Self-Deprecation. "You really suck."
"What!?" demanded the same jackass in the back center.
"My roommate has a cat," Souzou said quietly. "He won't mind if I borrow it."
Midori mouthed a silent "thank you" to Souzou and nodded. Souzou nodded in return and had just opened the door when something crashed into him. A short girl with vivid orange pigtails came skidding to a stop in front of Midori. Souzou sat up and his mouth dropped open. What was a little girl doing in this class?
"Uh, little girl are you looking for somebody?" he asked, using an art stool to pull himself to his feet.
The little girl looked up at him, her face pale in intimidation.
"Uh... yes sir..." she said quietly. "I'm looking for Akino-sensei."
"Is she your mother?" asked Souzou.
Tomo fell over laughing.
"NO!" she hollered, still laughing.
Yomi shook her head.
"That's Chiyo-chan," she said, as if that explained everything.
Everyone stared at the brunette.
"I wanted to apologize for being late to class," whispered Chiyo-chan.
Souzou looked totally blown away.
"How old are you!?" he demanded.
"Fifteen!" replied the tiny redhead.
"She's a child prodigy," explained Yomi.
Souzou fell over again. He pulled himself up one more time and staggered out the door to go get Reichi's cat. Hopefully Kuroneko-sama wouldn't put up too much of a fight this time. He looked at the bite mark on his hand and sighed ruefully. This particular mark had been acquired this morning when Kuroneko-sama made it crystal clear that the couch belonged to HIM.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Midori shook her head and directed Chiyo-chan to an empty seat beside the girl Tomo had referred to as Osaka. Osaka was staring around the room and her wide eyes fell on one particular drawing. It was one of Midori's works and Akino-sensei had been exceptionally proud of it, insisting on keeping it for display.
"Is that your boyfriend?" Osaka asked Midori in her slow Southern drawl.
Midori nearly fell over herself when she followed Osaka's gaze. It was a drawing of the man from her dreams, bare to the waist and half-smiling seductively. He looked like he had just gotten out of a bath. Water beaded on his skin and his hair hung in strings. His head was tilted down, wet hair hanging in front of one eye, with the other seeming to smolder in a mixture of love and lust. His chin rested on his knuckles, his elbow resting on his other hand. It was as if he were willing his lover to come to him.
"No..." she said softly.
"Nice going Osaka!" screeched Tomo. "I wanted to know who he was too!"
"I might tell later," Midori cut in quickly. "You guys are freshmen, right?"
The girls, minus Osaka, nodded. Tomo whacked her with a sketchbook and she nodded too, though she really had no clue what she was nodding about. Midori sighed and promised to meet the girls after dinner. She had already turned away and never heard Tomo's emphatic suggestion of going clubbing tonight. Yomi thought she might have to knock herself out.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Within a few minutes, the buzz of chatter silenced when Souzou staggered back into the classroom, looking decidedly worse for the wear. An angry yowl emanated from a battered wicker carrier and two large green eyes glinted menacingly. It was enough to make even Sakaki recoil a little.
"Alright, I got the monster for you," sputtered Souzou, wiping at a set of bleeding scratches on his cheek. "Now what?"
"Let it out?" Midori suggested.
Souzou looked completely poleaxed.
"Let it out?" he repeated faintly.
"Uh-huh," said Midori, nodding as if trying to coax a certain behavior out of one of Akino-sensei's little boys - whom she babysat regularly. "I can't just have them draw that box-thing."
Shaking his head and mumbling about the apocalypse, Souzou reluctantly opened the clasp.
"Mrowr," announced the tiny black cat that strode out of the wicker carrier. "Rowr!"
Everyone face-planted in their desks. That was it? The little thing looked more like a stuffed toy than an actual cat. The same jackass that had given Midori a problem got out of his desk and approached the minuscle feline. It turned lamplike green eyes on him and gave a questioning "mrr?"
"What a runt," commented the smart-aleck. "We have to draw this thing?"
"Yes," answered Midori. "Unless someone wants to volunteer to model."
She gave the young man a challenging glare.
"Whatever," he grunted, stalking back to his desk.
"Raowr!" demanded the cat, looking up at Souzou.
"Don't look at me," he said dismissively.
"What does it want?" asked Midori.
"RAOWR!" demanded the cat again.
"Yeah yeah," muttered Souzou, picking up the cat and dropping it on a stool in the center of the room.
*CHOMP*
The cat sank its teeth into Souzou's hand.
'Maybe it doesn't like men,' thought Sakaki.
Tentatively, Sakaki got out of her desk and approached the small feline.
"Nice kitty," she whispered, reaching her hand out.
"I wouldn't..." warned Souzou, too late.
*CHOMP!*
The cat clamped down on Sakaki's hand, refusing to let go.
"Oh for crying out loud!" grumbled Midori, prying the cat off Sakaki's hand.
It settled down in Midori's arms, purring. It shot a wicked grin at Souzou, exposing teeth that resembled a metal bear trap. Souzou glared at the cat and slunk back to his seat, wiping at his bleeding hand. Sakaki looked puzzled and went back to hers as well.
"Maybe... he's just in a bad mood..." she whispered.
"Oh give it a rest," groused Tomo. "Cats hate you and you know it."
Sakaki went dead silent, her eyes wide and blank. With everyone watching, she got up and left without a word. Tomo frowned and looked down at her outfit, then over at her friend.
"Was it something I said?" she asked Yomi.
The brunette took off her glasses and smacked a hand to her forehead.
"You're an idiot," she told Tomo.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ After class, Midori stayed to clean up as a good instructor does. She had just put the last of the charcoals away when she heard angry yowls. Kuroneko-sama had free reign of the classroom while he was being drawn and was making it clear that he did NOT want to go back to his carrier. Souzou, at this moment, was trying to wrestle the struggling creature into his arms. Midori shook her head.
"You know, you'll never get anywhere scaring the poor thing like that," she remarked, setting her bags aside.
Souzou snarled at her from his precarious position - with Kuroneko-sama pinned beneath a desk. The cat gave an angry growl and sank its teeth into Souzou's hand again. Souzou swore so badly that Midori turned bright red and the cat scuttled away to hide under a cabinet. Round, green orbs glowed menacingly from the darkness.
"Let's see you tame that monster," grumbled Souzou, nursing bleeding teeth marks.
Midori gave no reply. She just went and sat on her knees beside the cabinet, staying still and quiet for a few minutes. After a while the cat came out and jumped up in her lap. Souzou's startled eyes widened as Midori gently eased Kuroneko-sama into his carrier. There wasn't a scratch anywhere on her!
"How did you do that!?" he demanded.
"You just have to be patient and not force him," replied Midori.
She stood up and brushed her jeans off. Souzou picked up the carrier and turned to leave, calling "see ya" over his shoulder. However, Midori wasn't going to let him leave just yet. Souzou stopped in his tracks when he felt a slim hand on his arm.
"You need somethin'?" he asked, his manner flirtatious again.
"I just wanted to thank you, that's all," said Midori, looking at the floor. "I don't think I would have been able to handle all those people giving me a problem..."
Souzou cut her off.
"Don't thank me," he interrupted. "It was just somethin' I felt like doin'. I'd have done the same thing for anybody."
"Oh," said Midori.
Souzou grinned at her.
"I don't like seeing people get pushed around," he told her. "But if the person I'm protecting happens to be a pretty lady, that's more than OK with me!"
Midori blushed to the roots of her hair.
A Rurouni Kenshin Alternate Universe Fic
By: Serenity-chan
Chapter 4:
Welcome To Class
Midori and Souzou stumbled into the classroom just as the late bell rang. Everyone stared at them, silence weighing heavily in the room. Souzou slunk off to find a seat in the very back, leaving Midori to deal with the class. It was then she realized that she was alone at the front of the room.
'Oh no... Akino-sensei had to leave...' she groaned inwardly. 'That means I'M TEACHING THE CLASS ON MY OWN!'
She bit her lip hard and set her bags down. More than anything, she wanted to run from the room like a frightened child then go hide someplace and cry. But she resisted the morbidly welcome urge in favor of holding her head high. She would make her mentor proud of her. She was GOING to make this work, even if it KILLED HER.
"You go for it, girl!" cheered Self-Confidence, jumping around in a cheerleader outfit and waving her itty-bitty pompoms.
Midori took a deep breath and prayed her voice wouldn't break.
"Uh, hi everybody..." she said, her voice just loud enough for the first two rows to hear. "I was supposed to be a co-instructor for today, but as you know, Akino-sensei is having her baby... So it looks like I'll be on my own... Just get out what you were working on..."
"Oh come on," groaned Self-Deprecation. "You sound like a substitute teacher in elementary school."
A few snickers rang out and the class did nothing.
"I know you were working on figure drawing, and that happens to be what I've been studying for years," said Midori, trying not to let them know she was getting desperate already. "So let me see how you're doing!"
"Right, now THAT didn't sound like a twelve-year-old airhead," muttered Self-Deprecation.
A few muffled giggles echoed around the room, accompanied by the same previous snickers.
Midori felt like crying. These people wouldn't listen to her, no matter what she did.
"You suck," announced a smart-aleck young man from the back center.
The class burst into uproarious laughter.
"Yeah yeah, laugh it up," said a growling voice from the back row. "You people sound like a bunch of immature high school punks."
Souzou was standing in the back row and his face was dark in anger.
"Just give her a chance at least," he said calmly, sitting back down. "Hasn't even been five minutes and you're already pouncing on her like a pack of starving dogs!"
The smartass in the back center growled and shrank into his seat. Midori gave Souzou a grateful smile, but he was staring determinedly out the window. She shrugged and set all her bags down near an easel. Then she realized something.
"Wasn't there supposed to be a model for today?" she asked a studious-looking girl in the front row. "Akino-sensei told me you would be doing males from the waist up."
The tall, dark-haired girl blushed heavily and shrugged her shoulders. Another girl, who appeared to be the first one's friend, leaned over and tapped Midori on the shoulder. Midori turned her attention on the other girl, who had short hair and a mischievous sparkle in her eyes.
"Get one of the guys to do it," she whispered. "There's gotta be one of them with enough of an ego not to have a problem."
"Tomo!" grumbled a brown-haired girl with glasses. "Could you make more of an ass of yourself on the FIRST DAY!?"
"How can she make an ass of herself?" asked a rather brainless-looking girl beside the brunette in a Southern accent.
"Shut up, Osaka," snapped the short-haired girl who had made the suggestion.
"Maybe we could draw cats instead," murmured the tall girl who had blushed.
"That's a good idea," said Midori, a little frantically, turning back to the rest of the class and trying not to look like she was close to nervous hysterics. "We're drawing cats today. Does anyone have a cat they can run and get?"
"That guy's right," grumbled Self-Deprecation. "You really suck."
"What!?" demanded the same jackass in the back center.
"My roommate has a cat," Souzou said quietly. "He won't mind if I borrow it."
Midori mouthed a silent "thank you" to Souzou and nodded. Souzou nodded in return and had just opened the door when something crashed into him. A short girl with vivid orange pigtails came skidding to a stop in front of Midori. Souzou sat up and his mouth dropped open. What was a little girl doing in this class?
"Uh, little girl are you looking for somebody?" he asked, using an art stool to pull himself to his feet.
The little girl looked up at him, her face pale in intimidation.
"Uh... yes sir..." she said quietly. "I'm looking for Akino-sensei."
"Is she your mother?" asked Souzou.
Tomo fell over laughing.
"NO!" she hollered, still laughing.
Yomi shook her head.
"That's Chiyo-chan," she said, as if that explained everything.
Everyone stared at the brunette.
"I wanted to apologize for being late to class," whispered Chiyo-chan.
Souzou looked totally blown away.
"How old are you!?" he demanded.
"Fifteen!" replied the tiny redhead.
"She's a child prodigy," explained Yomi.
Souzou fell over again. He pulled himself up one more time and staggered out the door to go get Reichi's cat. Hopefully Kuroneko-sama wouldn't put up too much of a fight this time. He looked at the bite mark on his hand and sighed ruefully. This particular mark had been acquired this morning when Kuroneko-sama made it crystal clear that the couch belonged to HIM.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Midori shook her head and directed Chiyo-chan to an empty seat beside the girl Tomo had referred to as Osaka. Osaka was staring around the room and her wide eyes fell on one particular drawing. It was one of Midori's works and Akino-sensei had been exceptionally proud of it, insisting on keeping it for display.
"Is that your boyfriend?" Osaka asked Midori in her slow Southern drawl.
Midori nearly fell over herself when she followed Osaka's gaze. It was a drawing of the man from her dreams, bare to the waist and half-smiling seductively. He looked like he had just gotten out of a bath. Water beaded on his skin and his hair hung in strings. His head was tilted down, wet hair hanging in front of one eye, with the other seeming to smolder in a mixture of love and lust. His chin rested on his knuckles, his elbow resting on his other hand. It was as if he were willing his lover to come to him.
"No..." she said softly.
"Nice going Osaka!" screeched Tomo. "I wanted to know who he was too!"
"I might tell later," Midori cut in quickly. "You guys are freshmen, right?"
The girls, minus Osaka, nodded. Tomo whacked her with a sketchbook and she nodded too, though she really had no clue what she was nodding about. Midori sighed and promised to meet the girls after dinner. She had already turned away and never heard Tomo's emphatic suggestion of going clubbing tonight. Yomi thought she might have to knock herself out.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Within a few minutes, the buzz of chatter silenced when Souzou staggered back into the classroom, looking decidedly worse for the wear. An angry yowl emanated from a battered wicker carrier and two large green eyes glinted menacingly. It was enough to make even Sakaki recoil a little.
"Alright, I got the monster for you," sputtered Souzou, wiping at a set of bleeding scratches on his cheek. "Now what?"
"Let it out?" Midori suggested.
Souzou looked completely poleaxed.
"Let it out?" he repeated faintly.
"Uh-huh," said Midori, nodding as if trying to coax a certain behavior out of one of Akino-sensei's little boys - whom she babysat regularly. "I can't just have them draw that box-thing."
Shaking his head and mumbling about the apocalypse, Souzou reluctantly opened the clasp.
"Mrowr," announced the tiny black cat that strode out of the wicker carrier. "Rowr!"
Everyone face-planted in their desks. That was it? The little thing looked more like a stuffed toy than an actual cat. The same jackass that had given Midori a problem got out of his desk and approached the minuscle feline. It turned lamplike green eyes on him and gave a questioning "mrr?"
"What a runt," commented the smart-aleck. "We have to draw this thing?"
"Yes," answered Midori. "Unless someone wants to volunteer to model."
She gave the young man a challenging glare.
"Whatever," he grunted, stalking back to his desk.
"Raowr!" demanded the cat, looking up at Souzou.
"Don't look at me," he said dismissively.
"What does it want?" asked Midori.
"RAOWR!" demanded the cat again.
"Yeah yeah," muttered Souzou, picking up the cat and dropping it on a stool in the center of the room.
*CHOMP*
The cat sank its teeth into Souzou's hand.
'Maybe it doesn't like men,' thought Sakaki.
Tentatively, Sakaki got out of her desk and approached the small feline.
"Nice kitty," she whispered, reaching her hand out.
"I wouldn't..." warned Souzou, too late.
*CHOMP!*
The cat clamped down on Sakaki's hand, refusing to let go.
"Oh for crying out loud!" grumbled Midori, prying the cat off Sakaki's hand.
It settled down in Midori's arms, purring. It shot a wicked grin at Souzou, exposing teeth that resembled a metal bear trap. Souzou glared at the cat and slunk back to his seat, wiping at his bleeding hand. Sakaki looked puzzled and went back to hers as well.
"Maybe... he's just in a bad mood..." she whispered.
"Oh give it a rest," groused Tomo. "Cats hate you and you know it."
Sakaki went dead silent, her eyes wide and blank. With everyone watching, she got up and left without a word. Tomo frowned and looked down at her outfit, then over at her friend.
"Was it something I said?" she asked Yomi.
The brunette took off her glasses and smacked a hand to her forehead.
"You're an idiot," she told Tomo.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ After class, Midori stayed to clean up as a good instructor does. She had just put the last of the charcoals away when she heard angry yowls. Kuroneko-sama had free reign of the classroom while he was being drawn and was making it clear that he did NOT want to go back to his carrier. Souzou, at this moment, was trying to wrestle the struggling creature into his arms. Midori shook her head.
"You know, you'll never get anywhere scaring the poor thing like that," she remarked, setting her bags aside.
Souzou snarled at her from his precarious position - with Kuroneko-sama pinned beneath a desk. The cat gave an angry growl and sank its teeth into Souzou's hand again. Souzou swore so badly that Midori turned bright red and the cat scuttled away to hide under a cabinet. Round, green orbs glowed menacingly from the darkness.
"Let's see you tame that monster," grumbled Souzou, nursing bleeding teeth marks.
Midori gave no reply. She just went and sat on her knees beside the cabinet, staying still and quiet for a few minutes. After a while the cat came out and jumped up in her lap. Souzou's startled eyes widened as Midori gently eased Kuroneko-sama into his carrier. There wasn't a scratch anywhere on her!
"How did you do that!?" he demanded.
"You just have to be patient and not force him," replied Midori.
She stood up and brushed her jeans off. Souzou picked up the carrier and turned to leave, calling "see ya" over his shoulder. However, Midori wasn't going to let him leave just yet. Souzou stopped in his tracks when he felt a slim hand on his arm.
"You need somethin'?" he asked, his manner flirtatious again.
"I just wanted to thank you, that's all," said Midori, looking at the floor. "I don't think I would have been able to handle all those people giving me a problem..."
Souzou cut her off.
"Don't thank me," he interrupted. "It was just somethin' I felt like doin'. I'd have done the same thing for anybody."
"Oh," said Midori.
Souzou grinned at her.
"I don't like seeing people get pushed around," he told her. "But if the person I'm protecting happens to be a pretty lady, that's more than OK with me!"
Midori blushed to the roots of her hair.