A young woman returns to her old high school as a newly installed English teacher. She is warmly received by familiar places and cheery memories and unexpectedly by another, uh, more lifelike thing: her ex-beau. Old flames are rekindled and forgotten memories remembered as she reminisces the time when the school was not so welcoming and ten girls were drafted like soldiers to see if the all-boys school known for its rough characters and violence could become coed in hopes mellowing down the students.

Author's Note: Before you read I would like to note that this is a fanfiction for the Japanese drama Gokusen; a story about a female teacher creating bonds with her unruly students and eventually gaining their trust and respect. This takes place uafter/u the three seasons. I would also like to say that there are translations for the small use of Japanese text I used. There isn't much of it and you'd probably get the gist of it just by reading the surrounding words but there are translations if you need them. Thank you so much and I hope you enjoy the story.

CHAPTER 1: NOSTALGIA

A silver car turned a corner in the road and pulled up in a small lot beside a park. It was still early and only a few people were walking the grounds surrounding the green. An old man turned a page in his newspaper. Two young women continued jogging. A boy chased after a dog that had gotten loose from its leash and a group of older girls watched in merriment as the little furry beast kept eluding its master. None of these people turned to look at the automobile that had driven by them, though the driver had noticed them all.

A young woman with long black hair and glasses smiled a secret smiled and bent her head bashfully as she put the car park. The keychain jingled merrily as she pulled the key out of the ignition. The woman stepped out of the car and closed the door as it beeped twice when she locked it. All these normal everyday events wouldn't have made anyone look twice. To the world the woman was just another woman, the car was just another car parked in just another lot; but to the young woman this was no ordinary lot and parking in the lot was no ordinary event.

She had never driven a car down that street before, though she had walked it many, many times. She had never parked in that lot though she had watched countless numbers of people do the same. The nearby park was a familiar place to her though the people she saw in it now were not familiar in the least.

The road she had just driven down didn't stop at the park or even at the lot. The road kept going, passing dozens of neighborhoods and little shops until finally it wound past a school. To anyone else who knew of the school wouldn't have seen any significance in that fact that the road near the park lead to it, much less someone who didn't know of the school but to the young woman who drove a silver car and saw a special significance in parking in a certain lot beside a certain park that was located beside a certain road that school was more than just another school. It was her old high school; the one she had graduated from, the one that she had so many memories of and the one she was now going to teach at. No, these were no ordinary happenings though they may seem like "just another" to anyone else.

Her heels clicked on the pavement and her bag swung at her side. She was doing her best to look like the sophisticated school teacher she swore she would be today but a silly smile played on her lips nonetheless. Her eyes laughed and soon enough her voice joined in the merriment. She was finally coming back, and not only that but she was going to teach there. She was really going to do what she had said she would all those years ago on graduation day.

Graduation, she thought wistfully. It seemed so close now. How many years had it been? Four? Five? And yet now that she was returning and walking down the same road she did then with the same sun overhead it seemed like it was only yesterday. It felt like she was eighteen again in pigtails and a skirt, laughing with her friends and teasing the boy she liked.

Time seemed infinite in those days, only when you grew up and moved away did you realize how limited it really was. Every day was only one day, you could only live it once. Still, there wasn't a single day the young woman wished she could do over. Though they hadn't considered that they wouldn't be able to relive those moments, she felt that her friends and herself really had lived life to the fullest that year.

There hadn't been a single dull moment that she could recall. Even though she remembered days where she swore there wasn't a person on earth more bored than herself the woman felt that she could have never been happier. All the things she had experienced, all the people she had known, everything she had learned in high school really had helped her in life she lead after graduation.

The woman chuckled lightly as she skipped a little down the road. She hadn't believed teachers were right about that. How could quadratic equations really help her in life outside the school's walls? It wasn't until after she graduated that it hadn't been math and physics the teachers had been talking about. Sure those could come in handy, but they weren't things people learned from and grew and matured by knowing.

Life experiences, those were how people really learned; those were what high school had been about. It wasn't popularity or the best grades or winning the championship game or even being able to rule the school, those were part of high school but they weren't the heart of it. At the very heart were your friends, your enemies, your teachers, your successes and your failures. Those were what helped you grow, those were what teachers talked about when they said high school prepared you for your future and those were the reasons the young woman had become teacher.

She stopped when she reached the school gates. She smiled and shielded her eyes from the sun as she looked up at the sign that proudly pronounced: Shirokin Gauken Koko. There was a time when the sign made her groan. It was funny to think of how she would have reacted then to the way she was acting now. Saying you were happy to come to school had been the same thing as saying it felt good to get beaten to a pulp (and essentially that's what it earned you). Now, it almost seemed natural. How much had she really changed since that time?

"Misaki-sensei?"

The young woman turned around to see another woman about her own age with a hesitant smile on her face. Misaki returned the smile with just as much hesitation.

"Hai."

The woman's smile broadened and warmed immediately. Her brown eyes sparkled as she laughed pleasantly. The school teacher couldn't help but take a liking to the pleasant looking young woman in front of her.

"Tsutakimoto Miname desu. Douzo yoroshiku," the young woman said, bowing happily. "I'm the school nurse at Shirokin."

"Oh!" Misaki exclaimed with enthusiasm. "Misaki Kimiko desu. Douzo yoroshiku," she replied happily. "I'm the new English teacher."

"Yes I know," Miname laughed. "The principle has been talking about you constantly. He's been telling us for weeks that 'everything must be perfect' for your arrival."

Kimiko blushed. "The principle? Noda-sama?" She asked, confused. Why would the principal be so concerned about the new English teacher? They had never even met before. All their dealings had been through correspondence or via board members and the Head Teacher. Miname seemed to notice Kimiko's confusion because she laughed again. Kimiko was beginning to get the feeling that she did that a lot.

"'-sama?' Don't you know him?"

"Iie. I've never met him in my life."

"Eh? Really? The way he talks about you makes it seem like you to are very well acquainted."

"Well I can assure you we're not."

"Well alright, if you say so, but I've never heard him give anyone else a nickname so I just assumed—"

"Hmm? Nickname?"

"Huh? Oh, yes. He calls you 'Kimyoo-chan' –"

Miname continued to speak but Kimiko was no longer listening. There was only one person who called her "Kimyoo", but that was impossible. How could he, of all people become a principle? The notion was simply laughable, but it seemed that he was. Noda was his surname. He fussed about everything where she was concerned to the point of making her a hindrance to others and called her Kimyoo-chan without caring who his audience was. Kimiko interrupted Miname hesitantly.

"Ano…" she said. "Is he, I mean the principle. Is his name Noda Kenji?"

"Hai!" Miname said happily, laughing again. "So you do know him!"

"Hai," Kimiko said, biting her lips. She felt her cheeks grow warm. Her fingers twisted together in front of her and her feet took on a life of their own, constantly shifting weight and fidgeting on the ground nervously. "I know him…"

Oh she really knew him. Kimiko had thought coming back to Shirokin had been surreal. Seeing all the old places and coming down the road just as she use to had felt so nostalgic. Everything had been just as she remembered it. It had felt like she had literally gone back in time. Now, it seemed there would be more things similar to the old days than Kimiko had bargained for.

Kenji… she thought. How long had it been? Almost as long as it had been since graduation. They had spent the summer together then Kimiko had gone off to university. Neither of them had been good at keeping in touch and eventually all communication stopped altogether. They had gone their separate ways and now suddenly they were being thrust back together almost as roughly as they had been thrust together the first time they met.

Maybe not every day had been so perfect that Kimiko would never redo it if she was given the chance. Maybe there were a few days that could have been more pleasant. Maybe half a year could have been spent in a more proficient manner than doing one's best to make another's life, literally, "hell on earth", but then, without those days would the others have come? If Kimiko and Kenji hadn't have made themselves so familiar with one another would they have… Kimiko's face flushed again as she remembered that summer. Surely, even those hellish days before were worth the end result.

Miname noticed Kimiko blush and like any other normal female was immediately interested in the relationship between the principle and new English teacher. Her eyes twinkled mischievously and watched Kimiko suspiciously.

"If you don't mind me asking," she said. "How exactly do you and the principle know eachother?"

Kimiko smiled her secret smile again. "We're old classmates," she said simply. Graduation had seemed like yesterday a moment ago. Now the very first day at Shirokin seemed like today. The sun had been just as bright and Kimiko had been just as nervous and a little smiling girl had been just as persistent. Miname could take what she wanted from Kimiko's silence. She could create any story she wanted to be rumored around the staff. Whatever the girl imagined wouldn't be nearly as completely, totally, insanely impossible as what had really happened that year. How had the song gone again? Oh, that's right:

Ten little soldiers marching in a line, one tripped and fell and then there were nine…

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Translations:

Shirokin Gauken Koko- Shirokin Gauken High

Sensei- teacher

Hai- yes

Tsutakimoto _ desu. Douzo yoroshiku- I am _. It's nice to meet you/I'm in your care/ect.

Sama- Mister

Iie- no

Kimyoo-chan- strange/quaint with the suffix –chan used for female friends

Disclaimer:

I do not own Gokusen. If I did you could bet that Sawada and Yankumi would have gotten together. I also do not own the children's rhyme "Ten Little Soldiers/Ten Little Indians". All original characters are, however, mine.

Author's Note: Hi, this is my first attempt at a full-length humor fic so I hope it goes well. I know this chapter is a little short, maybe confusing and rather uneventful…okay, so maybe it was down-right boring, but I've never liked introductions so cut me a little slack please. Next chapter I get to add my wise-cracking, sarcastic humor in there so it should at least be entertaining. I hope you liked this first chapter enough to at least continue reading, if not, well, I fail but let's be optimistic, shall we. Anywhoo…please review and tell me what you think of it so far! ANYTHING is acceptable. A "you suck at writing you should stop" I'd even accept. I just want to know what you think. Thank you for reading this far! Now I'll stop so you can get on with your life.