DISCLAIMER: I do not own Gokusen or any of its characters, least of all, Shin and Kumiko. Believe me, if I did, I'd make sure something happened to the pair in the end (even though the manga did make them official!). So, anyway, I'm a poor fan fiction writer whose only wish in life is to see Shin and Kumiko together. I assure you, I make no money doing this or anything else. That's why I say, please don't sue me. Thank you.


Author's Notes: This fan fic is strictly drama based. I wrote this keeping Jun Matsumoto and Yukie Nakama in mind. Hope you enjoy it!


CHAPTER 1 – THINKING OF YOU

"Ah, Yamaguchi-sensei!" squealed Fujiyama-sensei, "Tell us how your date with Shinohara-san was!!"

"Honestly, I'm so jealous of this woman!!" cried Kawashima-sensei, "I still can't believe how you got that totally perfect man all to yourself!"

"Relax, both of you," smiled Kumiko casually, "It's nothing really. I must say I'm lucky to have Shinohara-san."

"Ok, that's enough," said Shizuka abruptly, "We want to know about your date yesterday."

"It was nothing extraordinary, really," pleaded Kumiko, "It wasn't very different from our other dates so far. We just talked, had some food and then, Shinohara-san dropped me home."

"Has he proposed to you yet?" asked Kikuno.

"Not really," said Kumiko, "But perhaps he will, soon enough."

"Oh my god!" shrieked the nurse and the English teacher, "You're going to get married!!!"

"Stop shouting," said Kumiko looking around to make sure no one had heard them, "He hasn't said a word about marriage yet so I suggest you two wait until he does and then scream."

"Just imagine your wedding," said Shizuka ignoring Kumiko, "It's going to be so great when one of us finally gets married. You'll look really pretty in a kimono, so I suggest you go in for a Shinto ceremony. And you have to let us help you out with the wedding."

"Absolutely," said Kikuno before Kumiko could interrupt, "Let's see, maybe we could handle the guest lists. Apart from your and Shinohara-san's family and us, of course, whom would you want to invite? How about the Head teacher and his wife, Sachiko-san? I know they can be a bit troublesome at times but then they have been here all along. You could also invite the other teachers, you know, only the ones you want to invite, that is. How about your students? From your first class, 3-D?"

"Speaking of 3-D," continued Shizuka, "Have you heard from any of them recently?"

"No, not really. Except for Kuma," said Kumiko, "None of the others have bothered getting in touch. Uchi said he would call and stuff but he must've been busy. Same with the others, I guess."

"Hmmm…Noda did say he would stay in touch with me," said Shizuka.

"Yeah, you're his favorite, that's why, isn't it?" teased Kikuno, "What about Sawada-kun?" she asked Kumiko.


The school bell sounded. All the students left one by one. Kumiko remained behind in the class picking up her belongings. She looked at the last seat, right behind all the others in that classroom. Sawada's old seat. She couldn't help letting out a sigh. Ever since Kawashima-sensei and Fujiyama-sensei had brought up 3-D's topic, she couldn't help missing her favorite student. Although, as a teacher she wasn't supposed to have favorites but it was simply hard not to like Sawada. That boy was decent, sweet, caring, smart and extremely handsome.

'Handsome?' thought Kumiko, "Well, yeah, he definitely was."

Yet, he hadn't bothered to keep in touch. It had been seven whole years since she had last seen him, on graduation day. He had told her about his wish to go to Africa and help the people there. He may be busy but one can think he would bother to call at least onece in a while in all these years. Seven years really was a long time…

As Kumiko walked slowly towards the gate, she remembered the time when Sawada's sister had once come to meet him there. All the boys were eyeing her hungrily but when they all learnt she was Sawada's sister….well that was hilarious. Kumiko smiled to herself and walked on. How could it be that she had never thought of her old class even once before in all these seven years? If she could be forgetful, so could they. Probably, they hadn't thought of her just like she had temporarily forgotten them.

So much had happened in all this time, she thought as she stood at the bus stop and waited for the first bus home. After her class graduated, she had been extremely caught up in her teacher's job. Things went on this way for sometime until two years ago, Shinohara-san had called her out alone where he admitted to being in love with her for the past 5 years. Since then, they had been in a relationship which she was quite content with. After all, this was what she had always wanted.

'Yet,' said a tiny voice at the back of her mind as the bus arrived and she proceeded to mount it, 'You feel like something is missing. Something that you wished for still hasn't come to you.'

It was true. She had felt it quite often. She made way through all the people in the crowded bus and took up a seat near the window. Even though she did pine in the early 5 years, she thought it was because of Shinohara-san never returning her feelings. But even after they started to go out together, it was as if something still wasn't right. As if something still needed fixing. It was like those times when one of her students was in trouble and she couldn't rest until she had settled the matter. Just that this time, it seemed more like she had a problem, not her students. The nagging feeling in her heart, this always came when Shinohara-san tried to get a little intimate with her. She tried hard to convince herself that it was probably because she was shy. But a few encounters were enough to tell her it wasn't anything to do with being bashful. It wasn't like she hadn't kissed Shinohara-san. Of course, she had. However, it was always as if she were obliged to do so. As if she was doing it only to keep him happy. She even felt resentful of herself at times. At times, she felt as if her mind and body were working separately. She didn't even know what she wanted most of the time. It was like she was deeply in love with someone else with just one catch – she didn't know who she was in love with…

In her stupor, Kumiko alighted at the Sakurazakashita bus stop. She strolled at her own pace while still thinking about her feelings and why her heart leaped each time she thought about Sawada. 'No,' she thought, 'these two things are not connected in any way. Sawada has nothing to do with the way I feel about Shinohara-san.'

As she kept walking, preoccupied, Kumiko realized that she had got off at the wrong bus stop. She looked around helplessly but she couldn't remember which place this was. As she was trying to return to the stop, her cell phone rang loudly. She fumbled through her bag to get it. On managing to get it out finally, she snapped it open without looking at the incoming number.

"Hello?" said Kumiko, hoping it was someone who could help her.

"Kumiko-san," said Shinohara-san, "Are you free right now?"

"Yeah, I am," said Kumiko, "Why?"

"I was hoping we could meet up for a movie. Maybe, that new Takakura Ken movie you wanted to watch?"

"Oh, I'd love that. Listen, Shinohara-san, I got off at the Sakurazakashita bus stop," she said reading the sign, "Could you come pick me up from there?"

"Sure. I'll be there faster than you know it. I'm in the neighborhood anyway."

"Thanks."

Kumiko waited for about 5 minutes, keeping herself thoroughly entertained while looking around at all the people who were passing by, until she saw Shinohara's car coming up. She whipped out her phone from her bag and called home.

"Hello?" came Tetsu's voice, "Who's calling?"

"It's me, Tetsu," muttered Kumiko.

"Ojou? What's the matter?"

"Well, I have some plans for now. So, I might be late getting back home. Just tell Ojiichan, all right?"

"Ok. But are you going out with that Shinohara?" asked Tetsu, sounding annoyed.

"Yeah," blushed Kumiko, "Okay, I gotta go. I'll talk to you later. Bye."

"Bye. Watch your back!"

Shinohara stopped his car by the side of the pavement as Kumiko quickly snapped her phone shut and stuffed it into her bag and out of sight. He opened the door for Kumiko and she slid into the passenger seat. After she was seated, Shinohara looked at her, full in the face and said-

"What were you thinking, getting off at Sakurazakashita? You don't even know this place well."

"Yes, I know I was stupid. I was just thinking of my students…" said Kumiko but Shinohara cut her across saying, "You really have to stop being that nice. You'll end up getting lost one day."

"Hmm…yeah!" laughed Kumiko. Shinohara had now started to drive. She turned to him and said, "Mind if I turn on the radio?"

"Oh, not at all," replied Shinohara and drove on.

Kumiko turned on the radio and flipped through the stations. She eventually stopped at the one belting out, 'Sakura sake boku no mune no naka ni mebaneta…'

"Yay!! Sakura Sake!! My favorite song!!" exclaimed Kumiko and started to sing along only to realize that Shinohara was still there.

"I didn't know you liked Arashi," he remarked, "That's a new thing I learnt about you today."

"What?" yelled Kumiko, "You don't like Arashi? I've never heard of anyone who doesn't like them…That's surprising."

"I have nothing against the band. I just don't enjoy their music that much. I think it's rather hyper and loud."

"Well, I still like them and I always will. But if it bothers you so much, I'll change the song."

"No, it's ok. You can listen to it. Don't worry about me."


"Thank you so much for the movie, Shinohara-san," thanked Kumiko, "It was really sweet of you to bear Arashi and Takakura Ken both on the same day!"

"Oh, don't thank me. I only hope you enjoyed yourself."

"Yes, I did. Thank you so much," she said, "Good night, now."

"Good night," he said and leaned forward to kiss her. She just allowed him to give her a little kiss and pulled away saying, "Well, I don't want any of my family watching that. So it'll have to be just this much."

"No problem," smiled Shinohara, "Bye. Take care. And next time, get off at Kyoudaizaka bus stop!"

"Yeah, sure," laughed Kumiko, "Bye now. Drive safe."

Kumiko walked a little and passed the gates of her house. She felt bad for Shinohara. He was such a sweet guy. He definitely deserved to have someone better than her as his girlfriend. She was just one stuck-up woman who didn't know what she wanted in life and was never satisfied with anything. She felt bad about this every time she had to kiss Shinohara or even hold his hand. Somehow, she could never do it freely without being nagged about God alone knew what. As she reached the entrance hall, she said loudly and clearly, "Tadaima!"

"Ojou, o-kaeri!" chorused both Tetsu and Minoru who were waiting out in the hall for her. Tetsu continued, "You won't believe who's inside, talking to Boss. He asked us to keep it a surprise for you. Wait until you see who it is."

Kumiko pushed open the door to find the person she had been yearning to see all day, chatting animatedly with her grandfather and sipping a cup of sake, with that dreamy look in his eyes…


Author's Notes: I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I'll be back with more as soon as I think this one has had enough reviews. So go on, click away and submit a review because that's the only way to satisfy my hungry soul. Keeping the blackmailing aside, I'd love it if you could review because you really don't know how much it would mean to me. All praise and criticism is welcome with open arms. Anonymous reviewers, please leave your e-mail ID's behind as I would love to get in touch with you. Thank you in advance. As for the Arashi thing, I really hope you won't mind it but they might keep appearing again and again throughout Love Actually. That is because MatsuJun is in Arashi and MatsuJun is in Gokusen, so I always thought the two should've gone along together. But since they didn't, never mind, I'm here now, I'll put them together. So if there are any Shinoharas out here, they'll have to bear with a few more Arashi mentions. Thank you and have a good day! Bye!!