Disclaimer : Never has been, never will be mine. (Which means I don't get Ryuu-kun either. Sigh.) Belongs to the genius, Meca Tanaka. (Which means everyone including Ryuu-kun belongs to him. Si..gh.)

It was quite unfortunate for things to turn out they way they did, really.

All Fumino could recall was a fraction feeling of triumph at having broke past 'spartan' Kurosawa-kun's defence and managed to side-step him. After that, only a memory of the floor approaching fast, a couple of shouts and a close-up of Kurosawa-kun remained. Oh right, and a tingly feeling on her lips right before her mind blanked out.

Kurosawa-kun of course on the other hand, had not intended of any of this to happen. Honest. All he remembered was grabbing Fumino by her forearm to prevent her from taking quite the fall but somehow found himself staring right into a pair of very wide honey-brown eyes and the feeling of very, very soft lips against his own - followed shortly by a rough yank on his collar in which he was thrown off Fumino none-too-lightly and a sense of 'what the hell just happened?'.

To everyone else watching (Ojiro-sensei and the return of Hell's Maa-kun included) it went a little something like this:

There to watch the final showdown was Ojiro-sensei (still Class 2-C's plain, glasses homeroom teacher with a shiny gold medal hanging happily from his neck) and… a majority of the student body – this being the last event of Kumaneko's High School Sports Competiton.

The third year's mixed basketball competition was the highlight of whole event; whereby girls and boys from each class played together as a team. Naturally there were separate divisions of the girls and boys to compete in the third year since this was an all-participation event but the classes usually reserved their best for the mixed competition and this year Class 3-C had 'horrible-but-hardworking' Kaji and a few other mentionable names in their team. Needless to say, Class 3-C was aiming high for this year's prize, choice of location for their summer seaside camp.

The only thing standing between them and the grand prize were Class 3-B's Spartan Kurosawa impenetrable defence tactics and ONE POINT. It was down to the last minute and a half when Fumino got hold of the ball and began sprinting towards the hoop with a vengeance when Kurosawa intercepted her before she could enter the 3-point shooting range. She dribbled and guarded the ball anxiously and looked around for someone to pass but they were heavily guarded by the other team.

Taking a chance she attempted a trick side-step move she saw on an anime Ryuu-sensei had lent them and grinned in triumph when Kurosawa-kun fell for it (sports enthusiast he may be, he's still only an expert in volleyball).

Fumino, being the non-coordinated person she was, somehow caught her foot with Kurosawa's in the moment his reflexes allowed him to catch up with Fumino's fake and started her inevitable fall downwards. Kurosawa, having lightning quick reflexes and the best of intentions at heart, grabbed her forearm in an attempt to stop her fall but tugged too hard in his desperation and adrenalin rush from the game. In addition to that, he in turn got his feet entangled with Fumino's already clumsy ones as he tried to stabilize himself while holding on to her.

(It was somewhere along this point Ojiro-sensei was having a hard time containing Hell's Maa-kun from emerging.)

In a world dictated by physics and its laws, the two factors above contributed to the perfect equation for a disaster.

As a last ditch attempt to minimize the damage, he wrapped an arm around Fumino's shoulder to cushion her fall and in doing so, brought his face dangerously close to hers. So, it was inevitable that when he fell, his lips collided with hers.

(It was at this point Ojiro-sensei took a deep breath in order to calm himself so that he wouldn't expose anything.)

Ojiro-sensei, being the over-protective husband he is , took it upon himself to signal the referee to call a time-out, march onto the field and get that punk off from his beloved wife and get her to the infirmary where they could be alone.

That was the reality of the matter but what it probably looked like was that off a teacher on duty, taking it upon himself to signal the referee for a time-out so the game could still be concluded once the drama was over. Then going over to the stunned students involved in the accident to get them back on their feet and take the girl who most likely suffered a shock-induced blackout to the infirmary to get her treated.

And the rest they say is history. Not to mention plenty of gossip for the next few weeks at least.

When Fumino came to, she was slightly disorientated and when her mind finally caught up with her she sat up bolt right from her lying position and fumbled around. 'The game!' she thought urgently. She swung her legs and sprung out of bed. Before she could get past the curtains, her legs gave out beneath her.

'Bad idea' her mind feebly noted as the dizzy spell hit her hard causing her to kneel by the chair for the spinning to stop.

By the time it felt okay to stop clutching her head she looked around and noticed the familiar surroundings of the infirmary and realized she was still in her sports t-shirt and basketball shorts, but her jersey was nowhere to be found.

"Fumino-san!"

Next thing she knew, she was being hauled up by steady arms that guided her to the bed and sat her down.

"Sensei…" she began. "Sensei! The game! What happened?" she asked frantically, taking him by the shoulders shaking him slightly.

In classic Ojiro-sensei style, "Sayo-kun substituted for you and Class 3-C managed to score a 3-point,"

Fumino's smile slowly spread and her once tense shoulder sagged in relief. "That's great," she felt like she was missing something though…didn't 3-B have Kurosawa-kun on defense..?

"But sensei, what about Kurosawa-kun? His defensive skills are really good. How did they score in such a short time, not that I'm not glad but still, when I played against him…against…..him..." she trailed off and brief but vivid images flashed past her mind. With a sudden recollection of what had transpired, her blush grew steadily brighter until her skin colour matched that of a boiled lobster. In her embarrassment, she failed to notice Ojiro-sensei's ominous aura getting stronger until it was too late.

That is, when she was pushed roughly down against the bed and found Ojiro-sensei hovering closely above her. "Kurosawa-kun…" he muttered dangerously.

"Sensei! It was an accident! Really! It wasn't supposed to," she rambled on, her heart beating overtime and her rational train of thought shot. Ojiro-sensei wasn't listening to her though. He had his gaze was focused intently on her.

"W-w-w-what?" Fumino stuttered nervously, and kept her gaze on the curtains. Who knew the curtains had little patterns woven into it? Interesting, let's start counting the patterns...

Just as she made it to the tenth pattern, she was rudely interrupted.

"…why," Ojiro-sensei continued in the same, low dangerous tone.

Fumino dared look him in the eye and found the usually light ash brown clouded with frustration and…jealousy?

"…does he keep leaving injuries on you?" His fingertips lightly brushed her bottom lip and she hissed in pain. She was suddenly aware of a small cut on her lip which was still raw from the…accident. Instinctively, she brought her hand to test her wound.

Ojiro-sensei caught it. "D-don't," she managed but he kissed the fingertips that had touched her lips just moments ago. It was a lingering kiss and she shut her eyes tightly in embarrassment.

"Even though I try my best to protect your innocence and stop myself from kissing you, and even though I know it was an accident,"

Fumino felt the grip on her hand tighten and she couldn't help but look directly into his eyes while he talked to her.

"The jealousy was unbearable," he gritted his teeth and let his bangs shadow his eyes from Fumino's wide-eyed gaze. He knew the turbulent emotions in him would scare her.

"I'm sorry, sensei…it really was an accident, and I," her voice was growing smaller with every word "...if I were to be in a situation like that, I would have preferred sensei…" she trailed off, a whisper fading into oblivion as the courage she mustered to say such a bold line ran out.

Ojiro-sensei couldn't help but stifle a laugh at her antics. "What?" Fumino demanded angrily.

"Baka," he said affectionately. "Even though I couldn't be the one, would it be okay for me to be the one who disinfects it?"

It was a rhetorical question. From the glint in his eyes, Fumino knew there was no escaping this time. But it never hurt to try.

"Geh. Don't be stupid, as if I'd-"

It was more or less a year since they got married and one might think by now, Fumino would have learn a thing or two, if she were to attempt to wiggle out of such a situation. Unfortunately, she was in too much of a confounded state to apply anything either way so, before she could continue her sentence, Ojiro-sensei bent down to catch her bottom lip. She inhaled sharply when she felt his warm tongue gingerly sweep across the wound and eventually (she supposed that it was a lack of control on his part) her entire bottom lip. Fumino barely managed to suppress a moan from the sensation and her imagination ran amok as she imagined what it would feel like when he actually did kiss her properly. She mentally chided herself for being such a pervert.

Suddenly, she felt the cool air on her lips and cracked opened her eyes.

Ojiro-sensei had stopped 'disinfecting' her wound and but was still only a hairsbreadth away from her and she was suddenly aware of his quickened breathing and cloudy eyes. To her surprise she noticed a faint blush spreading on his cheeks too. He was coming closer, slowly, but surely and in her nervousness and naivety, squeezed her eyes shut as she had done countless times in face of such a situation. One part of her wanted it so badly, but the other part of her was afraid.

He picked up her conflicting emotions, and as usual, took the safe route out. He chuckled and got back up. He would wait if she still wasn't ready; after all he had taken his teasing one level up today. Sure, he was pretty much crazy jealous over the fact that Kurosawa had stolen Fumino's first lip-to-lip kiss (albeit it being an accident) but didn't want to force anything on her.

He sat back down on the chair and smiled cryptically when she looked at him questioningly.

Fumino was at a loss for words. She was 99.99% sure he would have kissed her on her lips today!

"Hmm, Ojiro-sensei? Is Kaji-san feeling better?"

Ojiro-sensei had his kind, cheerful, plain sensei mood back. It was a good thing too; the school nurse just came in.

"Yes, I'm feeling much better now, thank you Sensei," she addressed both teachers and bowed politely.

"Come on, it's almost 5 o'clock. You had better return home before it gets too late," he said to her "And I think he wants to lock up the infirmary, no?"

"I think it's obvious considering the time,"

"Well, there you have it. Go get your things and wait for me at the gate," Let's go home together.

"Isn't that too much trouble for you, sensei?" Will it be alright?

"Well it's not safe for a student to walk home alone at this hour," No one will suspect anything; there's nothing to worry about.

Fumino beamed happily before dashing out.

-----

"Teppei, I think we made a pretty good meal, ne?"

"We did!" Teppei grins.

"Alrighty, how about Teppei sets the table while sensei goes to see if Maa-kun and Bun-chan are back yet?"

"Okay!"

Ryuu ruffled the kid's hair with a grin and went to get the stupid couple.

Not even bothering to take off his apron, he walked out the door and headed next door. He turned the knob on the front door and surprise, surprise - he wouldn't have to use the spare key he stole from Maa-kun.

Something about the messy shoes that lay abandoned on the front steps told him he should take the quiet approach instead of the exuberant approach he usually went with. Carefully, he tip-toed into the house and delighted at what he saw. 'Bout time too' he thought to himself smugly.

Bun-chan and Maa-kun looked quite comfortable pressed against each other in a heated kiss he did not care to interrupt. So, he quietly slipped a stray piece of paper from the desk and took out some handy putty and dug out a bright cotton-candy pink crayon from his pocket. He scribbled on the empty side a little message for the not-so-stupid-anymore couple.

'Don't be TOO late for dinner, okay? :) '

He added a couple of hearts and flowers just to annoy Maa-kun and stuck it on the door before leaving quietly. He was quite amazed Maa-kun didn't throw something (notice) him. Either it was that or he simply didn't care. Ryuu reckons it was the latter.

"Are Bun-chan and Maa-kun back yet?" Teppei asked eagerly.

"Well, they're not very hungry yet. Let's eat first, ne?"

"Okay!!"

-END-

T/N : WOW. First fic (sorta). I know. I stole ideas from chapter 3 but it was too tempting. Sorry! Spare me no mercy if you decide to click that pretty green button, a'ight? xD

T/N/P/S: Is anyone sure of the colour of Ojiro-sensei's and Fumino's eye colour cause it seems to keep changing between blue/grey/brown(??) (Ojiro-sensei) and brown/red(Fumino). I'm SO confused!