Title: Prince & Prejudice

Summary: There's plenty of pride and prejudice when "princely" Tezuka could be viewed as Mr. Darcy; so is Carlinda his Eliza Bennet? A non-yaoi Tezuka-exclusive story.

Disclaimers/notes/pleas: See Chapter 1


Chapter 2: Wickham at Work

Carlinda looked on indulgently as her students held a mock-debate on the merits of "sense" versus "sensibility," as presented by Jane Austen in her novel. Her favorite pupil, Kurt Davis, was actually making a fair case for "sensibility" through means of his charming smile and passionate remarks... though he left it for the others on his team to point out that appeal through emotion often held more sway than through logic, whether for good or for ill.

In the months since the holiday party, life had been extremely satisfactory for Carlinda. The acquaintances she had made had flourished into friendships—though she had yet to find someone with whom she could connect as a "kindred spirit," something which she had craved all of her life. Yet someone had liked her enough to nominate her to a newly-formed "Program Development Committee," and her perpetual spark of hope had kindled into a small but steady flame for the first time in years.

Best of all, she had managed to complete all of the HR paperwork on-time and hand it to the proper people without too much trouble. It pleased her that she had proven herself capable of handling her own affairs, which also meant she had not needed to bring it to Dr. Tezuka's attention—even obliquely, such as by discussing it in the faculty lounge at a time he might overhear her conversation.

Indeed, her main discontent stemmed from the fact that she had been much thrown into Dr. Tezuka's company by that otherwise gratifying nomination to the Program Development Committee, in which he was deferred to as the unofficial chairperson…even though he did not really exert himself to take charge.

The situation had started off badly when he offered no excuse for his behavior to her at the party (nor the slightest sign of remorse). In addition, during that very same first committee meeting, he thoroughly humiliated her by giving her the coldest set-down she had ever received.

She had been calling everybody by their first names, to promote sociability and teamwork. But when she had used his, he had frowned at her in a silent pause—during which the other committee members seemed to collectively hold their breath—and said to her in a tone that would freeze the center of the sun, "Please do not address me so informally, Ms. Singh. My teaching aide does not take that liberty, and she has worked for me for two years."

For the rest of that meeting she had been too shaken to utter a single word.

Afterward, Bradley Richardson—the coach of the nationally-acclaimed university tennis team—drew her aside and said sympathetically, "Don't take it personally. Ever since he came back from that month of time-off he took last semester, he's been unusually…difficult."

Carlinda was a little mollified, if also a bit surprised, by finally hearing someone express an opinion of Dr. Tezuka that was not complete approbation. "Thank you, Bradley. Though I don't understand why he insists on being different; everyone else has been fine with my calling them by their first names or by nicknames."

"He's from Japan, where it is not the custom, apparently."

"But…this is the United States of America! 'When in Rome …'"

Bradley only shrugged.

That meeting had been the worst, but from then on, her interactions with Dr. Tezuka did not improve significantly, though she tried to take Bradley's advice to heart. Dr. Tezuka continued to remain aloof, and did not respond in the slightest to her efforts to enliven the meetings with joking and banter—unless it was to look even more tired, which was saying something, given how perpetually exhausted he appeared in general. At least he had not decided to put a stop to her liveliness outright, though she felt as if he subtly retaliated by continually taking an opposing viewpoint to hers the few times she did take part in the discussions.

Once her class finished, Kurt lingered to talk to her, which was not unusual (nor were the subsequent looks of envy from the group of girls who usually flocked around Kurt, fluttering after smiles from him like birds after bread crumbs). After the small talk, though, Kurt casually asked her what she thought of Dr. Tezuka.

"Dr. Tezuka? Why do you ask?" Carlinda asked cautiously. Earlier that day she had witnessed an encounter between Kurt and Dr. Tezuka outside of the history faculty offices: Kurt had looked as if he were going to stop Dr. Tezuka to ask him something; Dr. Tezuka, however, had simply given Kurt some kind of stern look and walked away. Kurt turned red in the face and had seemed quite distressed when he turned and saw her standing there down the hall, yet he also left without saying anything further.

To top that off, Dr. Tezuka's TA—the one Carlinda mentally nicknamed "Miss B"—then leaned out from the doorway of Dr. Tezuka's office and regarded Carlinda thoughtfully before saying, "Be careful of allowing prejudices to be formed where Kurt Davis is concerned." Carlinda had hurried away without answering her, thinking her probably loyal to a fault and blindly forming prejudices where Dr. Tezuka was concerned.

Carlinda had been consumed with curiosity ever since, and she had hoped that Kurt would feel he could confide in her at some point. So she was inwardly relieved that he brought up Dr. Tezuka's name, possibly in preparation for explaining the incident.

Kurt's smile seemed a trifle self-conscious as he said, "I had heard you were in some committee together."

"Yes—the Program Development Committee."

Kurt added hesitantly, "I had also heard that something happened at a faculty party—that he had treated you unfairly."

At this, Carlinda sighed: gossip among colleagues was one thing; spreading it to the students was another. However, since the students usually had a specifically personal stake when they cared to listen to it, she said, "Let's just say that he did not overwhelm me with welcome. But you haven't really answered my true question of why you are asking my opinion about him."

Kurt echoed her sigh, shifted in his seat uncomfortably, then finally admitted, "I thought if it was true that he hasn't been nice to you, either, you might be the one person to understand, especially since you saw how he treated me this morning…. Well… basically… he did his best to get me kicked off the tennis team last semester."

"What! How?" Carlinda had been braced for something of import, but this shocked her. Even if they held Kurt in dislike for whatever reason, no professor in their right mind would deliberately jeopardize Kurt's position on the tennis team; Kurt was their star player and on-track to play professionally when he graduated.

"I was taking his introductory history class, and had been going along fine, despite his being one of those professors who gives out homework and essays and reading assignments like his is the only class we're taking. He must pride himself on making it difficult."

Carlinda murmured to herself, "I can imagine," but quietly enough that she did not interrupt.

"Well, I'd had periods of trouble before, when the tennis schedule was especially grueling. But I always managed to pull out OK in the end. So, my guess is that he must not have liked the fact that a 'jock' was doing so well in his class, because suddenly, out-of-the-blue, he starts giving me failing grades—as in no credit at all! Since I'm on a scholarship, not passing a class would completely mess me up. The worst could have been that my financial aid wouldn't be covered, since I'd've been on academic suspension. And even if I were able to continue here, I'd be barred from taking part in the spring matches…"

Since Kurt was still on the team and there had not been even a whisper of something of this magnitude, Carlinda asked, "What happened, then? Didn't you tell someone, like the dean? Or the history department chair? I can understand why you might not go to HR."

"I did—I told Coach Richardson, and he went to the university president on my behalf. There was a closed-door meeting with Dr. Tezuka, Coach, and the President. In the end, though, it was decided that I would 'voluntarily' drop the history class, despite it being past the deadline. Which means I still have to fill my history requirement, and take a heavier load in another semester to make up for dropping a class. But my GPA wasn't affected and I got to stay on the team, as long as I accepted the compromise quietly."

"It still seems rather hard on you for his abuse of his position!" Carlinda said. Kurt's essays in her class were nothing short of brilliant; it was hard to believe that he would so abruptly slack off, especially after the middle of the fall semester when tennis matches would stop being a potential interference. "You haven't said anything to anyone else, either?"

"No one will hear a word against the Prince of Professors, even from their tennis star," Kurt said bitterly. "But I wanted to tell you, so you knew what you were up against."

Carlinda checked herself from protesting, realizing he was right: People had delighted in hearing of her run-in with him at the party because it was a minor social occurrence that illustrated his reclusive habit; neither Dr. Tezuka's impeccable reputation nor the general admiration of him had been touched. This was another situation entirely, and the newest associate professor would hardly be heeded, either, no matter how friendly she had become with various people.

She sighed and patted Kurt's shoulder in sympathy. "Well, I appreciate your coming to me with it, even if it's true that I can't do anything about it. I'll be more on-guard, at least—watching for his veneer of politeness toward me to slip. And if it does, maybe I'll be in a better position to take it to someone trustworthy, and it would put your circumstances in a different light."

"Really? You'd do that for me?" Kurt straightened up quickly and flashed his smile at her, which warmed her unaccountably. With a small frown to suppress the unprofessional emotion as much as to discourage him from false hope, she replied, "Not just for you. But keep in mind that we don't have much chance of success."

His smile remained unaltered, nonetheless, and he left her with misgivings about attending the Program Development Committee meeting that afternoon. She worried that with Kurt's accusations fresh in her mind, it would be hard for her to act normal around Dr. Tezuka. However, she was not one to back down from a potential confrontation, if it came to that.

Thus she found herself sitting next to the accused only a few hours later, being more proactive in keeping up the usual flow of conversation about proposed strategies for the high school seminars. Dr. Tezuka barely said a word the entire time—he was more silent than usual, even for him.

Carlinda waited until everyone else had left to call him on it with a note of challenge in her voice from more than the issue at hand. "Nothing to say, Dr. Tezuka?"

"About what?" he asked, to all appearances completely unconcerned.

"About anything—during the whole meeting!"

Dr. Tezuka ceased gathering his papers together to direct a frown at her. "Your management of the discussion was adequate and incorporated all possible aspects. I had not needed to add anything."

Since he had not only dodged being provoked but also complimented her with an unexpected answer, she was stunned into speechlessness and stared at her image reflected in miniature in the irises of his eyes. Then he resumed his organized preparations for leaving and Carlinda found her voice once more; she said, "That hadn't stopped you before."

"You had not seemed so confident in yourself prior to today," he replied—mildly, she thought at the time.

Later, though, as she trod grimly through her Stairmaster workout, she wondered at his unflappable calm, both then and throughout her acquaintance with him. "No one can be so perfectly even-tempered as he presents himself to be," she muttered aloud, a bit breathlessly. "He must be hiding something, if he holds himself in such rigid self-control."

After another few minutes she mused, "Hiding it by forcing himself to compliment me today? Seems rather absurd …but maybe he's just saying what he thinks I want to hear to cover up what he really thinks." Another pause, and then, "So what does he really think? Why act so cold toward me most of the time, as if he resents me?"

Carlinda suddenly relived the moment she saw herself in his eyes, but from a figurative perspective.

She was an associate professor without even a full first semester of teaching under her belt, yet she had many friends and connections already—she had been nominated for the special committee, after all. In other words, she was a rising star.

As the current star shining brightest, he could be hiding that he felt threatened by her popularity, since it would mean a lessening of his, she reasoned; and if so, then perhaps his compliments today were to throw her off, or even ingratiate himself with her to better prepare himself for the rivalry. These were possible motivations for his contradictory treatment of her.

So what about Kurt's story? Was there any supporting evidence, aside from his word and her interpretation of an incident between them?

Not evidence, per se, but there was the matter of Dr. Tezuka's month of time-off last semester and his being more "difficult" afterward, which Bradley had mentioned—perhaps that had been a polite cover-up for a month's suspension, as disciplinary action. Dr. Tezuka had influence with the university president, indeed, if he could get away with nearly murdering a student's career prospects.

If all of what Kurt had said were true.

The trouble was Dr. Tezuka's stoic façade, she decided, when she could not be certain of her suppositions: if he showed no sensibility, she could not make sense of him one way or another.


Coming up next:
Carlinda confronts Dr. Tezuka…during a date.

Updates will still be slow for the time being, but I am making progress (sigh). Thanks again to my reviewers! I appreciated the boost you gave me very much, since it let me know there was interest out there...