Claraowl: I do not own KWMS! Please enjoy it anyway, though~! :D
It was an ordinary day in the newspaper room of Seika high school. Computers were whirring; pencils were scratching on paper, making notes about what should be edited how. Preparations were being made for that week's edition of the school newspaper. "Hey, Ryuu-kun," one of the members of the newspaper club called out to the head editor, "we've got a little extra space and nothing to put in it. What should we do?"
"What?" Ryuu asked, coming over to look at the problem. "I thought we'd planned it out perfectly, Ayu-san."
"Apparently not," she replied, indicating the skillfully arranged pre-newspaper in front of her. "We've got this space left, and it's not like we can leave it blank. Should we enlarge something?"
"Nah, that'd be too obvious to the readers."
"Then what do you suggest we do, Mr. Smarty pants?"
"I have a suggestion," said a voice from directly behind them, causing both of them to start violently and whirl around.
"Ah-!" Ryuu gasped, upon who seeing who the intruder was.
Ayu stood up and walked over to the visitor. "To what do we owe this pleasure?"
"I've got something I want to put in the paper," the intruder said bluntly, thrusting an envelope at her. "Put it in exactly as it is - it should be the right size. Edit or translate it, and you will regret it." With those parting words, the intruder spun on their heel and left.
"What's in there, Ayu-chan?" another female member of the newspaper club, Nina asked, appearing at her shoulder.
"Eh?" Ayu blinked, upon opening the envelope. "Why is it in English?"
"Is anyone in English class?" Ryuu asked the rest of the club, looking around at them all.
"I do," Reiko whispered from her corner; Umehito nodded to indicate that he, too, attended that class. The two stood up and walked over to the group. Reiko quietly took the paper from Ayu and glanced over it, Umehito reading over her shoulder. Both of their faces flushed after a few moments of reading it.
"Nothing to be worried about," Umehito nodded, walking over to the pre-newspaper and pasting it into place. "Wow, it really does fit perfectly. That's strange."
Reiko nodded as she went back to her preparations for the printing. She smiled to herself as the other female members of the club flitted around her, trying to get her to tell what it said.
"Come on, Reiko-chan!" Nina complained. "Tell us what it says!"
"Oh, you know I can't do that," Reiko smiled. "It loses something when it's translated from its original language, you know?"
"Then at least tell us what type of article it is," Ayu wheedled, pulling major puppy-dog eyes.
Reiko smiled and winked at her friends. "I'll tell you if you promise not to spread it."
"We promise!" the entire club chorused; the boys, it seemed, had been listening as well.
Reiko looked at Umehito. "Do you want to tell them, or should I?"
Umehito bowed slightly and indicated that she should tell them.
"Well," she whispered, one finger on her lips, "okay." She told them, essentially, what it was - and who it was about.
The other members of the club - excluding Umehito, of course - performed a synchronized jaw drop.
A few days later, Ayuzawa Misaki walked out of her front door to find Usui Takumi, her boyfriend, waiting for her by her front gate. She smiled and shook her head slightly at him. "What time do you get up to be here so early, anyway?"
"No time is too early to awaken to see my Misa-chan," Takumi declared grandly, being in an especially good mood.
Rolling her eyes, she shut the front gate behind her and took his offered hand. "Whatever, space alien."
"So, what's on the agenda for the endlessly busy demon prez today?" Takumi grinned at her, swinging their hands to the rhythm of their steps.
"Nothing too exceptional - class, of course, and some paperwork. Plus, I've got work after school," Misaki shrugged, glancing sideways at him. "Are you going to be the chef again today?"
"Aw, does Misaki like hanging out with me in the break room that much?" Takumi teased lightly, grinning at her slight blush.
"Shut up, you idiot," Misaki spat. "I was just wondering how civil I'd have to be today. If you're a customer, I can't hit you when you make your perverted comments."
"I'm deeply wounded," Takumi moaned, placing his free hand over his heart dramatically. "And, to answer your question, I do not yet know if I am working as temp chef again today. Manager has yet to call me; she usually just asks me when I drop you off at work."
"Which, by the way, is completely unnecessary. I am more than capable of getting to work without my personal stalker," she informed him, rubbing her thumb gently along the side of his hand.
"Oh," Takumi said, glancing up in apparent surprise, "we're here already. Time flies when you're walking with your lover, huh?"
Misaki's face flushed as she shot him a glare and dropped his hand. "Don't say things that'll give people the wrong idea," she muttered. Glancing at his face, she added, "And don't make that puppy-dog face. You know that I can't hold your hand in school; it's improper."
Takumi pouted, sticking out his bottom lip, "You're so mean, Misa-chan."
She laughed slightly, "If you keep sticking out your lip like that, a bird's going to come perch there and leave some droppings in your mouth."
Takumi blinked at her for a moment as they walked, then slung an arm around her shoulders and laughed. "You never cease to surprise me, Misaki."
"And here I thought that the perverted space alien could read my mind," she smiled, rolling her eyes. "Kindly remove your arm before I force you to do so."
"Yes, prez," Takumi reluctantly obeyed as they entered the school building. He glanced sideways at her, and then said, "Make sure you read the school newspaper today."
She looked up at him in surprise. "I always do. Why would today be different?"
He grinned at her, and then replied, "No reason in particular."
"Misaki! Misaki! Misaki!" Sakura skidded up to her friend, Shizuko following not far behind. "Good morning!"
"Good morning, Sakura, Shizuko," Misaki smiled at them. "You seem to be in a good mood today."
"Of course I am!" Sakura gushed. "I'm so happy for you! You two looked so cute coming in today!"
"You two really looked like a couple," Shizuko observed. "Even I thought it was kind of sweet."
Misaki sighed. "What did you see?"
"Wow, you've stopped denying that you're a couple," Shizuko smiled, adjusting her glasses. "You two must be really close."
"Close as peanut butter and jelly," Takumi grinned, wrapping his arms around Misaki's waist from behind, pulling her close to him, causing Misaki to blush and all the other people in the hallway to stare.
A muscle in Misaki's jaw twitched slightly. "Kindly restrain yourself you are on the school property," she said coolly, her face on fire as she extracted herself from his grip.
"But Misaki," Takumi whined, "you didn't seem to mind when we played the pocky - mmph!" The rest of his whine was cut off by Misaki's hand covering his mouth.
"I repeat," she glared at him, "kindly restrain yourself when you are on the school property." She spun on her heel and marched to her classroom, leaving Takumi grinning widely and everyone else gaping.
"Hey, Misaki!" Takumi called after her; the other inhabitants of the hallway blinked in surprise at the familiarity he used.
"What, alien?" she asked icily, not turning around, but slowing down enough for him to catch up.
"So I have to restrain myself when I'm on school property?" he asked, grinning.
"Yes," she replied.
"Well, what about when I'm off school property - can I do as I please then?"
"Maybe," she whispered, winking at him before slipping into the classroom, "if we're not in our uniforms."
He grinned after her as the bell rang to begin the day, leaving the witnesses to wonder what her reply had been.
Just before lunch time, an announcement came over the loudspeakers that the week's edition of the school newspaper was available - and that there was a special article from an unusual contributor. This sparked the interest of a few more people than usual, so the pile disappeared very quickly. Misaki, much to her dismay, wound up not getting her copy. By the time lunch was over, she was greatly aggravated - to the point that she did not even notice all the strange looks she was receiving.
At the end of the day, Misaki made her way to the student council room, weirdly exhausted. She had not managed to get her usual copy of the school newspaper all day. It wasn't that she was merely following Takumi's request that she read it; it was also that she always read the newspaper, so as to know what people were thinking and to make sure that nothing inappropriate was put in it. She greeted her fellow student council members somewhat wearily and got to work, using her annoyance at the lack of newspaper to zoom through the paperwork even more quickly than usual. However, due to the sheer amount of things that needed to be done, she finished at the same time as the rest of the student council. She stretched slightly as they all prepared to leave, and then suddenly found a newspaper on her desk. She looked up to see Yukimura standing there.
"You haven't gotten a chance to read the paper yet, have you, president? I'm finished with my copy, so you can have it."
"Thanks, Yukimura," she said, granting him one of her smiles. "I've been trying to find one all day. Any articles I need to look at?"
"Th-there is one in English on the back page that you might find interesting," Yukimura replied, going slightly red. "I thought it was surprisingly well-written." He laughed nervously, and then took his leave as she flipped to the back. Being in the highest English class she could get her hands on, she was able to read it without a problem.
I love the way you are the demon prez
And I love the way you will play with me.
I love the way you'll never surrender
And I love the way you protect the weak.
I love the way you give your full percent
And I love the way you holler at me.
I love the way you followed me across
England's frigid seas and how you only
Ever blush when it's something about me.
I love the way you're different night and day
And how you follow your passions
And keep your loyalty to those you love.
I love the way that you fight for all the
Highest spots in life, and you will never
Cease to surprise me with your reckless acts;
Love the way you don't hide your fears from me.
I love the way you look at me, and I
Love it when we touch; I love the way you
Trust me with your secret now; even more
I love the way you melt in my embrace.
But most of all I love that you are mine
Alone, from now until eternity.
~From Takumi to Misaki
Misaki began blushing violently the moment she was done with the first stanza, and continued to do so throughout her reading. She lifted her eyes from the newspaper; they met, to little surprise from her, those of Takumi Usui. He grinned at her, leaning over her with a piece pocky hanging out of his mouth.
"Want to play?" he asked, lowering the other end of the pocky stick to her mouth.
She made a slight growling sound and took the offered end. "You bet. So that's why you wanted me to read the newspaper today, idiot Takumi."
"Naturally," he grinned, biting his end of the pocky gently, beginning to eat his way towards her. "It took me ages to write that. I just couldn't get it right."
Misaki sucked gently on her end and retaliated, eating her way towards him. "How much time did you spend?"
He gazed at her for a few moments, biting the pocky gently. "You know all those times at the café when I was alternately giving you my special, piercing stare and scribbling something in a notebook?"
"You mean you've been working on it for three months?" she asked, eyes widening as she bit the pocky again.
"Yeah," he replied, eyes lowered to the pocky, "I'd write down stuff about you and try to form it into something coherent later."
"Idiot, wasting so much time," she whispered. She then bit down on the last bit of pocky, grabbed his tie, and pulled him to her for a kiss.
He grinned into the kiss; after a few moments, she pulled back and he burst out laughing. "What's so funny?
"Weren't you the one telling me to restrain myself when on school property?" he chuckled, before he began to guffaw. She rolled her eyes and glanced at the clock.
"I'm heading to work. Is my personal stalker going to walk with me or behind me?" Misaki smiled, watching his guffaws devolve into a series of small snickers.
"I'll walk with you, of course," he grinned widely, taking her hand and following her out of the student council room, making sure to grab her newspaper.
"Takumi…" she smiled at him, her eyes and voice gentler than he had ever seen them, "thank you."
"Anything for my Misaki," he grinned in reply, "and Happy White Day."
"What?" Misaki blinked in surprise. "It's the twenty-eighth, not the fourteenth, Takumi, and you gave me something already, remember? You gave me the penguin and owl plushies."
"Yeah… I'd planned to have it done by then, but it wasn't perfect. I wanted it to be perfect for my Misaki, to thank you for your delicious chocolates and very public confession - even if it was issued more like a letter of challenge."
She stuck her tongue out at him; he took advantage of this and kissed her. She pulled back very quickly, however, as they were in the middle of the hallway. He tucked the newspaper into her bag and escorted her to Maid Latte, where he was - unsurprisingly - asked to fill in as temp chef.
A few hours later, Satsuki grinned as she peeked into the staff break room. Misaki and Takumi were keeping up a light banter while Misaki studied; occasionally, Misaki would become aggravated with him and order him to shut up and let her think. Erika came in for her shift and was changing as quietly as possible, listening to the two of them, her voice fetish going wild. After she had finished changing, she stepped backward to close her locker and begin her shift; however, before she could, she heard paper rustle beneath her heel and bent down to see what it was.
"Hey, Erika-chan, what's taking so long?" Satsuki asked, appearing out of nowhere at her shoulder. "What's that?"
"It - look at this!" Erika brandished Misaki's newspaper in Satsuki's face, pointing at the poem on the back. "Takumi-kun wrote Misa-chan a poem and put it in their school newspaper! It's so sweet!"
Satsuki took the newspaper from her employee and began to decipher the English words. Moments later, an explosion of the flowers of moe flooded the restaurant.
Misaki glanced at the clock. "Oh, break's over. Back to work."
Takumi grinned, kissed her gently, and motioned to the flowers. "I think your newspaper fell out of your bag and was discovered by the manager."
"It's your fault for writing such a love-dovey poem," Misaki mock-scolded, and, smiling, she headed back out to wait on her tables, all the while being bombarded with the moe flowers.
Meanwhile, Sakura and Shizuko were working on putting a video of Misaki and Takumi online - one that Sakura had taken of the two of them through the open window of the student council room. By the next morning, the entire school was abuzz with what had happened.
"Misaki-chan is so cute in love!" one girl squealed to her friend.
"Yet so cool!" her friend gushed.
"Don't deny that you were blushing!" one boy yelled at his friend. "You thought prez looked good like that!"
"I was not! You were the one who got a problem from it!" his friend retaliated.
"You liar! That was you!"
"No, you!"
"You!"
"It doesn't matter," Takumi told them roughly, grabbing them by the collars of their shirts. "Neither of you will ever touch her."
"Hey, Takumi! Put them down! No fighting in the hallways!" Misaki's voice echoed down the halls.
"Yes, prez," he smirked, dropping them so that their head collided.
Somehow, through it all, she had managed to stay the demon president… even if not all the boys wanted to violently rebel against her anymore… even if her softer side had been revealed to the world.
~*END*~
Claraowl: Well, thus endeth my first Maid Sama! fanfic. I hope you enjoyed it! Please review and let me know your thoughts - feel free to complain about things you hated. :)
The poem took me so long to write... :)