I was amused with some of the reviews you've given me. I like to answer and clarify some of them.
First of all, this story is not a mpreg. Though I love yaoi and all, I can only write shounen-ai so no soul-searing bed scenes and stuff like that.
Second, about Ryoma's age in this story, he is either 18 or 19. It was indicated in Golden Typhoon's version of the story. I simply followed hers.
Third, I got the name Haine from Shinsei Doumei Cross, which I have been reading for some time now. Although in Love Monster, there's also a Haine there.
I won't let you wait any longer. Here's the second chapter.
By the way, I like to thank my beta-reader, Rain-san for this chapter.
Disclaimer: It would have been nice if I own the series but I don't so... beat it.
Warning: Characters might go OOC.
This means someone speaking English.
This means thoughts.
This means flashback.
CHAPTER TWO
Next day...
The sun was already up when Haine woke up from the chair with a blanket covering her. Noticing that her father was already gone, she was about to look for him when she saw an old woman coming in.
"Ah, Haine-hime. I'm glad that you're awake. Your father is already at the table, eating his breakfast. He's waiting for you there. By the way—" She was interrupted when Haine hugged her.
"Suzuki-san! I didn't know that you came here as well." She released the old woman. "When did you arrive?"
"I came here few years ago with my family. Ryoma-dono asked me to stay here, wanting me to act as the caretaker of his house. By the way, this is his mother's house."
"I know." Haine smiled timidly, thinking about him. "Father told me. This is his only memory of her."
"If only Mayura-sama didn't die, Ryoma-domo wouldn't be suffering like this." Suzuki glanced at Haine. "Maa, Haine-hime. You don't want your father to wait all day long, do you?"
Haine nodded as they went upstairs.
Minutes later, Haine, all dressed up, walked towards the dining room with Suzuki. As they came in, Ryoma was sipping his coffee, reading a newspaper.
Suzuki bowed. "Ryoma-dono, Haine-hime is here."
"Thank you, Suzuki-san." His eyes were still on the paper. "You may go now." Suzuki quietly left the room.
"Mou, you don't have to be that cold to Suzuki-san." She sat at his left, starting to eat her food.
"Good morning, Haine."
She sighed in resignation. He hasn't changed quite a bit "So, are you going to see Mitsuki-sama?"
He folded his paper. "I have no choice but to see him. That guy would bawl out if I don't visit him immediately." He turned on his cell phone and opened his inbox. "He even sent me a text message."
Haine read the message. "Wow. He even knows that I'm here too."
"He used that infamous mirror of his. No doubt about that," he muttered, placing his phone back in his pocket. "Are you done eating, Haine?" He glanced at his daughter, who was toying with her food. "Haine?"
"Oh!" Her spoon and fork clattered against her plate. "I'm sorry, Father. I was thinking about Avonlea."
"I see." He stood from his chair. "Shall we go then? Mitsuki doesn't want us to be late."
Haine also stood up. "Of course."
They immediately left the room and went outside the house where their car was already parked. Then, they drove off.
Hours later, Ryoma and Haine were standing in front of Tokyo University.
"I didn't know that Mitsuki-sama was a professor in this school," she said in a disbelieving tone as they walked around the university. "He doesn't look like a teacher to me."
Ryoma merely shrugged. "There are some things that are better left unexplained, Haine." He looked around. "Now where the hell is his office?"
She blinked at him. "You don't know?!"
"I only remember that he's the chairman of the Languages Department," he said in a nonchalant tone.
She sighed. "Maybe we should ask someone."
They were about to go when someone cleared his throat behind them. "Um, excuse me." They turned around and saw a student carrying books in his arms. "Are you looking for Mitsuki Kaitou-sensei?"
She smiled. "Yes. My father and I are looking for his office. Will you be so kind as to show us the way to his office?"
The student smiled back at her. "Of course. I was going that way too. Sensei wants these books for his classes. Please follow me." He walked ahead of them.
"Thank you very much." She glanced at her father. "He's a nice man. Don't you think so?"
"Che!" He frowned slightly at her as they followed the student until they reached the office.
The student opened the door for them. "Matsuyama-san, here are the books that were requested by Mitsuki-sensei." He placed them on the table nearby. "By the way, these two are looking for sen—"
Matsuyama Aiko, Mitsuki's secretary, cut him off. "You may leave now, Hideki-kun. I'll tell Mitsuki-san about the books." The student immediately left.
"Still strict as ever, Aiko," Ryoma remarked at her. "Serving Mitsuki must be tiring for you."
Aiko merely ignored his remark, opening the door. "Mitsuki-sama is waiting for you, Echizen-sama. Haine-hime can stay here."
Ryoma walked in and found himself surrounded with roses; he sighed. "This is nonsense, Mitsuki. What's with these roses?"
"Mou, Ryoma." Mitsuki Kaitou hugged him from behind. "You should be thanking me. These roses are supposed to be your welcome gift."
"Will you get off me?" Mitsuki quickly released him. "You know that I don't like to be hugged. Most of all, I don't like roses."
"Hai, hai." Mitsuki snapped his fingers and the roses just disappeared in a blink. "You haven't changed a bit ever since you abruptly left this world." He sat down in his chair; Ryoma followed suit, sitting across from him. "I was expecting you to be staying at Avonlea for good. After all, you managed to defeat your stepbrothers and stepmother during the war. Who's taking care of Avonlea? Your father?"
"I merely made him the regent of Avonlea," Ryoma nonchalantly replied. "I gave him a chance to rule over Avonlea after years of being controlled by that witch of a stepmother and her dim-witted sons."
"In other words, you're not planning to go back to Avonlea." Mitsuki peered at him, but Ryoma didn't answer. "So what are you planning to do now?"
He shrugged. "I guess that I'll take a sabbatical or something."
Mitsuki frowned at him. "Why would you be on a sabbatical when you didn't play those tournaments? It was only an illusion of yours."
"Heh. So you immediately knew that wasn't me."
Mitsuki pretended to be shocked. "You took me for a fool, Ryoma. I, the Gatekeeper of this World called Earth, can't be easily deceived by mere illusions or dolls or mannequins. I knew you since you were an infant. I know—"
Ryoma snorted. "Whatever. So what do you want me to do? Accept those awful modeling offers that I received from my manager?" He glared at Mitsuki. "Over my dead body."
"Hmm…" Mitsuki's thoughts were interrupted when his telephone rang. "Excuse me for a while." He picked up the phone. "Yes, this is Mitsuki… Oh, it's you, Ayakawa. What is it?" He frowned when he heard Ayakawa's reply. "I see. You're resigning." He glanced at Ryoma, who was absentmindedly tapping his index finger on the table. "Oh, don't worry about that. I've already found him. Okay? Bye." He placed the phone back.
"Who was that?"
"Just a colleague of mine. He's going to give his resignation letter today." Mitsuki eyed Ryoma closely.
"What?" Ryoma looked suspiciously at him. "Is there something on my face?"
"Ryoma, I have an offer for you." Mitsuki smiled deviously at him. "Interested?"
Ryoma could only sigh in resignation, knowing that he couldn't say no to his uncle's request when he saw that smile.
A week later…
"Will you be all right, Father?" Haine looked worriedly at her father as he dropped her off at Seigaku. "You didn't have to accept Mitsuki-sama's offer."
"I'll be fine, Haine. Just go to Mitsuki's office after school, okay?" She nodded. "Good. See you later." He ruffled his daughter's hair and drove off.
I hope he's going to be okay. Then, she entered the school building.
A few hours later, Ryoma parked his car in the university parking lot when he saw a limousine stop in front of the building. I wonder who owns that limo. Some spoiled rich brat, no doubt. He went inside the building, not seeing the person coming out of the limo.
As soon as he reached the faculty room, he immediately looked over the schedule which was placed on his table, ignoring the flowers beside it.
"Let's see. I'll be handling six classes. Mitsuki told me I'll be teaching Creative Writing, Business Correspondence, English Pronunciation, and English Literature Appreciation." He sighed, thinking about his conversation with his uncle a week ago.
"You want me to what?" He looked disbelievingly at Mitsuki. "No way."
"But you are more qualified for this position. After all, you've already graduated college. I heard that you graduated top of the class." Mitsuki smirked at him.
Ryoma retorted irritably, "That's not the point. And how did you know about me graduating?"
"Oh. I do have my own ways in knowing my beloved nephew's secrets without asking the nephew himself. So will you accept my offer? Hm?"
Ryoma muttered grudgingly. "Fine. I'll accept it." He folded his arms.
Mitsuki patted his head. "Good boy."
"Echizen-san?"
Ryoma snapped back from his thoughts when a bespectacled man tapped on his shoulder. "I'm sorry if I made you worried—"
"I'm Haibara Akito, but call me Akito. Mitsuki-sensei has already informed us about your arrival. You must have impressed him a lot, seeing as he immediately accepted you into this department." He reached out his hand for a handshake.
Ryoma smiled weakly, accepting the offered hand and shaking it. More like he blackmailed me to teach here… "Please call me Ryoma then."
"I heard from sensei that you'll be teaching here for a while. I hope you're still here until the end of the semester, especially since you'll be substituting for Ayakawa."
"Why?" Ryoma raised a brow at him. "Is there something wrong with Ayakawa-san's classes, Akito-san?"
"Most of the students in Ayakawa's classes were former tennis rivals or teammates of some schools here in the Kantou region. Ayakawa-sensei always manages to land in the infirmary due to sheer exhaustion and severe stress."
"I see." The school bell rang, and Ryoma stood up, gathering his things. "I'll see you later, Akito-san."
He left the room, and climbed up the stairs to the third floor until he reached his first class. As soon as he entered the room, he stiffened when he saw Tezuka, who was sitting beside Fuji, reading a thick book. He also saw some of his former rivals sitting near Tezuka and Fuji.
Fuji-senpai, Oshitari-san, Kajimoto-san, Yukimura-san, Sanada-san, Mizuki-san and…Tezuka-buchou. He discreetly gazed at them. Why is this happening to me? He sighed inwardly as he placed his things on the table. You're totally screwed, Mitsuki, for not telling me about this. He cleared his throat before he greeted the class. "Good morning, class."
"Good morning, sensei."
"I'll be substituting Ayakawa-sensei for this whole semester," he said in a stern tone. "Now, I've heard from my co-professors that some of you are always giving him a hard time. If you think that I am like him because of my small stature, you're totally wrong. I won't hesitate in giving you the lowest grade even though you'll be graduating this semester. Are we clear?" He stared down his class.
"Um, excuse me, sensei—" A student raised a hand.
"In English, please. This is an English class so ask your question in English."
The student bowed his head, stuttering when he heard Ryoma's stern voice. "I'm…. sawrry sensei, b…but sam off our classmeets was cuerious to knaw yore neem. Weel yew till us yore neem?" (A/N # 1: Will be translated at the end of the chapter.)
Wincing at mispronounced words and wrong grammar, Ryoma eyed at him for a while before he replied. "I'll reveal my name after class. So, Mitsuki-sensei told me that all of you were asked by Ayakawa-sensei to write an essay about Mother Nature." He looked at the student sitting near his table. "Will you collect all their papers?" He gave a bundle of questionnaires to him. "Also can you give this to your classmates after taking their essays?"
The student merely nodded at him and started collecting the essays and later, giving out their questionnaire. "Thank you," Ryoma said to the student before turning to the class. "I assume that all of you are experts in English grammar since you've been terrorizing Ayakawa-sensei with your nonsensical questions and incessant corrections. So on your desks right now is an examination on English grammar. I shall give you 45 minutes to answer the questions. After 45 minutes, finished or not finished, you must turn in the questionnaire. Do you understand?" They nodded. "Begin."
The class scribbled their answers furiously for the questionnaire was five-page long; Ryoma was observing them amusingly. Let's see if all of you can manage to pass this examination…
45 minutes later…
"Time's up. Pass up your papers." The class muttered their irritations and about the exam as they passed their papers.
"What was with that exam? My English 1 teacher didn't teach some parts of that exam."
"Yeah. Ayakawa-sensei was less strict than him."
"Maybe we shouldn't have terrorized Ayakawa-sensei in the first place."
"Where did he get the questions? From outer space?"
Fuji nudged Tezuka. "Ne, Tezuka? What do you think of the exam? I admit that the test was difficult."
"It was fine, actually." Tezuka was observing their English teacher. Are my eyes playing tricks on me or does our teacher really look like Echizen?
"He really does look like that freshman brat from your school, Tezuka." He looked at Sanada, who was sitting behind him.
"Although I haven't met him personally, he does look like him." Yukimura piped in. "Anyway, that exam was wicked. Lucky for me, I skimmed over my notes yesterday."
Mizuki also joined them, his finger twirling a lock of his hair. "I agree with Yukimura-san about the exam being difficult. But, I, the one who can defeat Fuji Syusuke, will—" But he was interrupted when the school bell rang.
"Class dismissed. The results will be posted at the office tomorrow morning on the bulletin board." Ryoma stood from his chair, gathering the papers.
"Sensei, you haven't told us your name," Oshitari remarked when he saw Ryoma starting to leave the room.
"Of course, how could I forget?" Ryoma mockingly looked at him. "My name is Echizen Ryoma. It is a great pleasure to teach all of you." The class was speechless.
"Mada mada dane." He smirked at them, leaving the still stunned class behind.
Mitsuki was enjoying his tea, glancing at the picture on his table.
"Time really flies, Mayura." He smiled to himself. "Your son is looking more like you. I wonder if he has your strength and pureness of heart."
Suddenly, his door flew open, followed by an infuriated Ryoma. "Ah, Ryoma. I'm glad that you're here—"
"What are you trying to pull, Mitsuki?" Ryoma glared furiously at him. "Why didn't you inform me that my former teammates were studying here?"
He merely ignored Ryoma's furious glare, sipping his tea. "I was about to tell you, but you know...many things happened." He poured himself another cup. "Want some tea, Ryoma? You look like you need one."
"Listen here, Mitsuki Kaitou." Ryoma slammed his things against the table. "If you do this again, I'll personally—" He suddenly became silent when he saw a door behind Mitsuki. "The door..."
Mitsuki turned around to look at it. "Oh. It's been there for a while." He shrugged. "I'm just waiting for him to come."
"Him?" Ryoma goggled at him.
"A representative from Avonlea is coming here. Something must have happened in there." Then, the door fell open as a man in golden robes came out.
"Ah! You're my father's prime minister. What are you doing here?"
The prime minister bowed to Ryoma. "Ryoma-dono, Mitsuki-sama. I came here because I have something distressing to tell to both of you, especially to Ryoma-dono."
Ryoma suddenly felt discomfited when he saw the prime minister's despondent eyes. He faltered. "Please don't tell me..."
"Yes, your father was murdered yesterday inside his room. No one knows who did it..."
Ryoma didn't listen to him anymore for his mind was suddenly gone blank.
A/N # 1: Sorry about that. It was written on purpose. For the translation, here: I'm sorry, sensei, but some of our classmates were curious to know your name. Will you tell us your name?
Reviews from you will be much appreciated. Thank you. (bows)