A/N: Welcome to the beginning of the final story in the Stitches series! Oh, God, I can't believe we're this far in. 90 chapters so far, thirty to go. These first four or so chapters are very close together – think a week or two. It begins in early December.
This chapter is dedicated to you, my readers.
"So… this is what we do?"
"It is indeed, kiddo." Spirit replied. Stitches turned to Spirit and sighed.
"Do we actually do anything while the students aren't here?" Stitches asked. Spirit smirked and shook his head.
"Not really. We sit around just in case." Spirit said, standing up and walking over to the counter in the faculty room. He turned to Stitches and sighed.
"I'm sorry it's boring." Spirit said. Stitches smirked.
"I really don't care. It's the experience that counts, and," Stitches said, resting her head on her hands and laying back on the couch, "if that experience entails lying around Shibusen's faculty room, I'm quite okay with it." Stitches ended. Spirit chuckled slightly.
"You're so much like your father was at your age." Spirit said. Stitches opened one eye and glared at Spirit.
"What, lazy?" she asked, and Spirit cocked an eyebrow.
"… No." Spirit said. Stitches rolled her eyes.
"Pssht." Stitches replied.
"And, when you do that, you're like your mother." Spirit ended. Stitches shook her head and closed her eyes once more.
"I've got it worked out. If I want someone to trust me, I'm a Mjolnir. If I want to scare the hell out of someone," Stitches smirked, "I'm a Stein." Spirit smiled, shook his head and picked up the coffee he'd just made.
"And you can't forget, you're Shelley Yumi when your parents are mad at you." Spirit remarked, sitting on one of the chairs across from Stitches, and she smirked.
"Please. My parents are never mad at me." she replied, and Spirit took a sip of coffee and nodded.
"Got it." he replied. Just then, someone else walked into the faculty room.
"Good to see the security forces of Death City hard at work." the voice said.
"Nice to see you too, Papa." Stitches replied, sitting up and scratching her head, sliding her glasses back on. Stein smirked and pulled a rolling chair across from the edge of the room, sitting on it backwards and situating himself between Spirit and Stitches.
"Still nothing?" Stein asked. Spirit sighed and put his coffee down.
"Nope. Vacation time's always quiet. Apparently our enemies need holidays too." Spirit remarked.
"It's kind of cool watching the first years that have come in for early vacation training. They're all bumbling around, dazed and confused." Stitches added.
"You were a first-year bumbling around having no idea what was going on not that long ago." Stein noted. Stitches crossed her arms.
"Come on, Papa. I'm an adult, now. I was thirteen when I started." Stitches said. Spirit smirked as Stein's face contorted in discomfort.
"Please don't remind me." Stein replied. Stitches sighed and Spirit laughed.
"C'mon, Stein, man up. I'm a grandfather, for Death's sake. I've got a grandkid." Spirit crossed his arms.
"Who you love very much and wouldn't give up for the world." Stitches added. Spirit smirked and nodded.
"I know." Spirit smirked, pushing his red hair out of his face.
"Good." Stitches said, crossing her legs and sighing. Spirit glanced over at both of the people in the faculty room with him.
"I tell you what, though, seeing a kid grow up again is a real trip. Especially without…" Spirit's eyes closed as he looked down, realising just what he was about to say. Stitches looked at her father.
"Kami?" she mouthed. Stein simply nodded. Stitches sighed and stood up, resting her hand on Spirit's back. Stitches had been told about Kami in the holidays before her third year at Shibusen.
"It's okay, Uncle Spirit." Stitches said, glancing down at the obviously affected man. It had been so many years, but it still hurt. He didn't know where she was, still.
"Ignore me, Stitches. I'm an idiot." Spirit smirked. Stitches glared at her father before he could even begin replying.
"You're not an idiot. And Junior's got you and Shinigami-sama as grandparents. I think he's going to be fine." Stitches smiled. Spirit crossed his arms and smirked.
"That or totally and utterly messed up." Spirit replied. Stitches sighed and raised an eyebrow.
"Hello? Look at who's going to be my children's only grandfather." Stitches motioned to her father. Stein sighed and rolled his eyes.
"Thank you for that vote of confidence, one and only daughter." Stein huffed. Stitches stood up and rested her elbow on Stein's shoulder.
"No problem, Papa." she smiled, walking out of the faculty room. Stein noticed Spirit's smirk and sighed.
"What?" Stein asked.
"You do know that the comment she made implies she's already chosen the father of her children. Someone without a father. And if I was a betting man, which I am, I'd bet on someone who's blonde and is petrified of you." Spirit said. Stein's eyes narrowed further.
"Don't even." Stein crossed his arms.
"Stein, man, as far as boyfriends go, Stitches has got herself a good one. You don't get to complain until your son-in-law is the kid who's gonna run this town one day." Spirit said to the scientist.
"I don't?" Stein asked. Spirit chuckled.
"Nope." Spirit smirked. Stein sighed and dropped his head backwards.
"Watch me." Stein replied.
"No, keep your arm straight. You'll get a broken bone with a technique like that." the bandaged woman said, before glancing up at Stitches. She gave a small smile before instructing the students to spar. She let them begin, Sid stepping in to umpire the spar. Naigus took Stitches off to the side and smiled at her.
"How are you?" she asked. Stitches smiled.
"Oh, I'm alright. It's a bit boring, hanging around here, but I s'pose that's a good thing. How are the new batch?" Stitches asked, referring to some of the students who had come in for orientation before starting at Shibusen in the new year – the students Mina would hopefully begin teaching. Naigus sighed.
"Some of them have potential. Some of them are only here for the sake of having Shibusen on their resumes." Naigus sighed. Stitches looked at her, a puzzled expression on her face.
"What's the matter, Aunt Mira?" Stitches asked. Naigus looked at her.
"Shibusen's not what it used to be. We need more teachers. People like your parents and I are getting older, we won't be teaching much longer." Naigus said. Stitches nodded and spoke.
"You didn't get many teachers from the E.A.T classes before mine, did you?" Stitches asked. Naigus shook her head.
"They just don't do that anymore." Naigus said. Stitches sighed and crossed her arms.
"Has Mina talked to you about helping with sparring?" Stitches asked. Naigus nodded.
"She should get clearance soon. She'll be invaluable here. We need people that have been taught by Shibusen. She's been taught by your father, and his techniques will be important in teaching the new generation." Naigus said. Stitches nodded.
"Yeah. Well, I'll help if you need me to. There aren't many Deathscythe duties around here, anyway." Stitches said. Naigus smiled and nodded.
"That'd be great, Stitches." Naigus said. Stitches nodded before saying goodbye to Naigus and Sid and walking out of the gymnasium.
Walking down the halls, Stitches found herself becoming reminiscent. She'd only been gone for about a month, and already, there was soon going to be a whole new set of kids in, going through all the same things she and her friends had to go through; the same things her parents went through before her.
She was jolted from her thoughts when she, quite literally, walked into her father.
"Oh, Papa. Hi." Stitches said, looking up at her smirking father.
"What are you smirking about?" Stitches asked, shoving her hands in her pockets and walking slowly alongside Stein.
"Your mother always used to tell me off for that. Still does, as a matter of fact." Stein said. Stitches looked up at him.
"For what?" Stitches asked. Stein chuckled slightly.
"You go off the planet for a while. So, go on, what were you thinking about?" Stein asked. Stitches sighed and looked at the ground.
"I was talking to Aunt Mira. There aren't going to be enough teachers soon and… and I don't want to see my school run to the ground. The Kishin will run wild." Stitches said. Stein chuckled slightly.
"Shinigami-sama won't let that happen. You know that." Stein said.
"Yeah, but… Why doesn't anyone else think about this pointless crap but me?" Stitches asked, laughing exasperatedly. Stein smirked once again, resting his elbow on Stitches' head, much to her discontent.
"Because, no matter how hard you try to deny it, you're my daughter. And I think about futile things all the time." Stein replied. Stitches sighed and slouched.
"Get your elbow off my head, Papa." Stitches growled. Stein smirked and shook his head.
"No." he replied, simply. Stitches smirked widely and half-formed, brandishing the mallet-like end` of her forearm in Stein's face.
"Get your elbow off my head, Papa." she repeated. Needless to say, Stein obliged.
"You are your mother's daughter, aren't you?" Stein asked.
"Well, I'd hope so. Otherwise you took home the wrong silver-haired baby at the hospital." Stitches smiled. Stein shook his head and rolled his eyes.
"You're far too smart for your own good." he said. Stitches smiled widely and walked ahead of her father.
"Learnt from the best, Papa." she replied.
"Clearance? Come on, I went to that school! They know more about me than I do!" Mina exclaimed, resting back on the couch.
"Yeah, well. They don't want just anyone beating up the little kids." Stitches replied, sitting at the end of the couch.
"I bet they'd let you work straightaway." Mina said, exasperatedly.
"Oh, shush, you." Stitches crossed her arms.
"Why can't I have your parents?" Mina asked. Stitches sighed and rolled her eyes.
"Do I really need to be giving a sex ed lesson this late in the afternoon?" Stitches asked. Mina grinned at Stitches, laughing slightly.
"And how is your dad?" Stitches asked. Mina sighed and smiled.
"My dad is wonderful." Mina grinned, squeezing her eyes shut. Stitches sighed and rolled her eyes. She noticed one of Mina's eyes open and a small smirk appear on her face.
"What are you-mmph!" Stitches' voice was muffled when Thomas took her lips with his, pressing her up against the back of the couch.
"Good afternoon to you too, Thomas." Mina said, sitting up and pulling her knees to her chest. Thomas pulled away and grinned at Stitches, who was sufficiently flustered.
"How was your first day?" Thomas asked.
"I… Uh, yeah, first day," Stitches scratched the back of her head, coming back down to Earth, "uh, pretty boring, to be perfectly honest."
"Really?" Thomas asked, taking a seat next to Stitches.
"Pretty much. I spent most of it watching first-years beating each other up and trying to work out how the hell my father gets around that school so damn quickly."Stitches said. Thomas smirked.
"It's the chair." Thomas said.
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure it's the chair." Stitches replied.
A/N: So, there's your first chapter. 29 to go!
First factoid of the last story, wow, yeah.
Factoid #22: It was only when I got to writing this chapter that I realised that I'd kind of lost track of my timeline for this story.
I had to shift all of the timeline back – chapter 29 of the third story was supposed to be Christmas, but a rather major plot-point wouldn't have fit if I'd done that. So it became Thomas' birthday and meant I had to squeeze the first few chapters of this story into about a month. I did tell you that the only things I kept continuity with were fluff and sex, right? A timeline is neither.