A/N

Horitsuba Gakuen is so wonderful! I can't believe I've never written anything set there before. Anyway, I wanted to do a little series of one-shots set there, so here is the first. I've got quite a few planned so I won't be needing ideas just yet. This was just a little idea that I had. I wanted to do this in Kurogane's point of view, but I figured if I did one in a character's point of view, I'd end up doing them all that way to keep the collection consistant. Meh. I'd probably have to do a lot of training to get into Kurogane's mind too. Regardless, Enjoy!


I Love Mondays !

1 - Chemistry

He had no idea how he always wound up here.

It was always dusk and he'd always have felt so bored before he set out to wherever his footsteps would messily take him. They had a certain flair for leading him up his path and right up to his door. Perhaps it was because they lived so close to each other. Or maybe because he was actually one of the only people that Kurogane knew enough to be, well, partially comfortable in his company, but he always, always, ended up outside Fai's door.

Fai would welcome him with a smug grin, almost as if he'd been expecting him to show up at his doorstep at any second of the evening and then offer him a drink. Fai would then get on with marking papers or planning lessons, an art that was somewhat lost on Kurogane. Sure, physical education had written work, but it wasn't exactly one of the most profound things to be marking.

Fai's homely porch was littered with autumn leaves, a tall rake leaning against the mis-matched bricks. Fai mustn't have had the time to get round to gardening yet. Kurogane kicked some of the leaves aside and reached up for the shiny cat-shaped door-knocker when the door opened slowly in front of his lingering hand.

"Thank you, Fai-san, I'm sure I shouldn't take up so much of your time, but it just flies when we're talking together."

A laugh. A woman's laugh.

And then Fai's laugh. "No, no, no! Don't worry abou- Kuro-rin!"

Finally. Fai's gaze landed upon the confused man on the doorstep.

The woman looked between the two of them in a hesitating manner and then bowed meekly, uttering her goodbye and her thanks and taking off down the path, the leaves clinging to the bottom of her tawny skirt.

Fai lingered a moment and then grinned at Kurogane, who's hand was still hovering in mid-air at the doorway.

Kurogane blinked. "Uh-"

"Come in, come in, Kuro-tap. What do you want to drink?" Fai ushered Kurogane's slouchy sports jacket onto a hook.

Kurogane was silently fuming. Why had there been a random stranger at Fai's house? Since when was Fai seeing somebody? Especially a mumbling little thing who got leaves trapped in her clothes. He didn't like it. Especially the way Fai was acting as though Kurogane had just imagined the whole thing. Laughing and recounting silly anecdotes from the staff room.

Kurogane crossed his arms and Fai poured out the sake, the glasses clinking as the liquid dropped.

"Here you go," Fai said in sing-song, handing Kurogane a glass and falling backwards onto the fluffy couch. "Hey! Kuro-welly! We should rent a movie or something! We haven't watched anything for- what's wrong? Do you want ice?"

"Hey," Kurogane said bluntly, "So how long have you been meeting up with that girl?"

Fai blinked at the sudden change of subject, "Oh, her?" he waved his free hand, "I've only met up with her a couple of times,"

A couple meant more than once. So it wasn't just some chance meeting. Or she'd stopped to sell him Danish cookies or something stupid like that.

Anyway, why did it matter so much? Fai was an adult perfectly capable of making his own decisions and choices. It only made sense that he had relationships with other people besides the people he worked with, right?

If anyone was hearing his thoughts right now, they'd probably think he was jealous. Kurogane laughed to himself. Yeah, right. Jealous of two twittering idiots. Whatever, they deserved each other. And Fai was still talking about her. Why was he still talking about her? Shouldn't he have moved on to what film they were going to watch? Together?

"-chemistry is just right,"

That single phrase snapped Kurogane out of his thoughts. The chemistry was just right? What? How dare-

"What's her name?" Kurogane's voice was much more aggressive than he'd meant it to be.

Fai did that little thing again where he would blink in surprise and tilt his head. "Are you okay?"

Kurogane drained his glass. No. Apparently.

"Yeah." Kurogane grumbled, refusing to meet Fai's eyes, "I'm fine, I mean, what you do is none of my business, right? And, I mean, we shouldn't wait around to long for- well, you know, it's good to meet up and, I mean, we're both adults, right?"

"I guess," Fai raised an eyebrow, "But, Kuro-wink, what are you-"

'Perfect,' Kurogane thought grumpily, 'Why the hell am I round here, again? Why am I feeling so god damn-'

"I'm not jealous!" the words blurted out before they'd even had time to register in his mouth.

Fai was beyond help by now, "Jealous of what exactly?"

'Oh. Shit.'

Kurogane's hand hovered in front of his mouth. What was he supposed to do now?

"Do you mean you're jealous that you don't get any parent-teacher conferences?" Fai said, batting Kurogane on the shoulder, "Because, Kuro-wan, trust me, It's better that you don't! All that talking and-"

"Parent-what?" Kurogane snapped, bringing his glass down on the table in a sense of stupidity and frustration.

Fai raised an eyebrow, "Parent-teacher conference. Honestly, Kuro-t- ooooh."

Fai rounded on Kurogane with a cat-like glint in his eye.

'Oh. Crap. He's figured it out'

'No he hasn't,'

'Hell... of course he has. Who wouldn't have by now?'

"You thought," Fai poked a finger directly at Kurogane's chest, smiling wider than Kurogane thought possible, "You thought I was dating her!"

'Well, what the hell do you think? Of course I thought you were dating the stupid-'

"No I didn't. I thought-"

"And you were jealous! Oh! Kuro-sama! This is all too much!" Fai was positively glowing.

"You said," Kurogane hissed darkly, trying to hide his embarrassment, "You said that you two had a good chemistry!"

"I said he was good at chemistry! Meaning her son! I said his Biology was patchy, but his chemistry was just right! Honestly, Kuro-sensei! You really ought to listen! You're supposed to be a teacher." Fai laughed gleefully, "But you were probably struggling with your thoughts of losing me to some woman who-"

"All right, all right," Kurogane muttered, trying to unlatch Fai from his arm, "Just leave it, will you?"

Fai placed his head on Kurogane's shoulder, still gently laughing, "You should really know by now." he uttered, the words muffled as he buried his face into Kurogane's shoulder, "You're the only one for me, Kuro-tan."

"Yeah, yeah," Kurogane grumbled, "Are we watching a movie or not? School day tomorrow,"

"Kuro-sensei is always so eager to be punctual!" Fai smiled, reaching over for the television guide, "But I, however, don't have a class tomorrow until afternoon! I can just nap in the staff room!"

Kurogane made a vague noise that probably meant he didn't doubt that for a second.

"Let's see," Fai looped his finger across the channel listings, "Oooh! Kuro-petal! There's a double bill of romantic movies on! Maybe we could-"

"No."

Fai pouted, "Fine then. How about 'Merlin'?"

"What?" Kurogane asked, "I'm not watching stupid movies about stupid magicians that-"

"Okay, okay, then how about 'Troll - The sequel'?" Fai asked.

"Oh, because we both know how extremely amazing and compelling the first Troll movie was." Kurogane snorted.

"Kuro-chi is so picky. We will simply have to watch a scientific documentary." Fai said, holding up his arms in mock defeat.

Fai began to slouch off to the video cabinet to pick out something when Kurogane's hand slithered delicately around his waist.

"Hey," Kurogane smirked, "Who says we have to watch anything?"

Fai batted away Kurogane's arm and smiled ever so mischeivously.

"Please, Kuro-pon." Fai said, skipping a little way ahead into the hallway, "I already have a girlfriend."