Author's Note: Chapter 4 already, wow, this is probably the farthest I've ever gone on any story…Hooray for me! School is almost over and I got the results back for all my major exams back, and I did pretty kick ass, so that is a big weight lifted from my shoulders! Anyway, enough of my personal life, on with the story!
Warnings: the usual…with a dash of action.
Normal disclaimers…blah, blah, blah…
-----oOo-----
Detention: Fighting & Flying…Daggers?
Okina sat behind his mahogany desk observing the man across from him.
"So, tell me, Hajime, how has my granddaughter been treating you? Well, I hope."
Saitou had to refrain from rolling his eyes; the man was his employer after all. He looked around the room, noting the various plaques of achievement and the few photographs of family members.
"As well as expected..."-Which wasn't exactly the truth but wasn't a lie either.
Okina smiled, "Wonderful, now, to the business at hand. You see-"
Saitou nodded and continued to survey his surroundings, stopping abruptly when a particular picture caught his eye.
"-Seijurou has called in sick today; unfortunately, he is the kendo club's coach and their first tournament is this Saturday-"
She looked to be about seven or eight at the time. She was smiling and waving while her pale blue summer dress fluttered in the wind.
"-and with your experience in the art of swordsmanship-"
He found it ironic that something with such an innocent face could be a total demon. She was the epitome of the phrase "a wolf in sheep's clothing".
"-if you could play Substitute for the week, that would be perfect…Hajime, are listening?"
Saitou nodded once more and tore his gaze away from the cherubic face.
"In between lesson planning and babysitting your granddaughter, I'm afraid I'll have to decline. Excuse me…" He stood to leave.
"I forgot to mention that you'd be getting paid a bit extra for the after school service in addition to what you're already getting for watching my Misao."
He paused in mid-stride.
"What about the girl?"
Okina grinned, knowing he'd gotten his way.
"Feel free to take her along with you, you can have her sit out and watch or have her participate, it matters little to me. Her friend, the Kamiya girl, is captain of the team, so she shouldn't be lonely; but it is detention after all, so limit the amount of time she spends with the others."
Saitou thought about it and sighed.
"Very well..."
"Oh, and Hajime…"
Saitou had shut the door before Okina could finish. The old man shrugged, guess Hajime would just have to find out the hard way.
-----oOo-----
Misao splayed out across the roof that happened to be the very scene of the crime that had landed her ass in detention. She sucked on a pink-lemonade lollipop as she stared at the sky.
"Hey there, Weasel, what brings you up here this fine afternoon?"
She averted her eyes from the clouds and over to the very person with whom the crime had been committed with.
"I thought I'd told you never to call me that, stupid Rooster."
With his signature crooked grin in place, he walked over and plopped himself next to the girl.
"I heard they threw you in detention with the Wolf."
"Why is it that everyone we associate with is comparable to some species of animal?"
"It's best we don't question the higher powers, it could be dangerous." He said jokingly and patted her head.
She glared at him and swatted his hand away.
"Shouldn't you be in class?"
"Shouldn't you?" He countered.
"Touché; so what was your punishment?"
Sano stretched out languidly, and tucked his hands behind his head.
"They have me working over at the community club watching all the little ones and cleaning up after them. It isn't all that bad and there is one major perk. The fox lady is volunteering over there as an assistant nurse."
Misao laughed, "Those poor children."
"Hey now, I'm not all that bad; the rascals love me."
"Oh, I wasn't talking about you, I meant Megumi."
Sano chuckled, "Yeah, poor kids."
The both laughed together at that.
"How are you doing?"
Misao had anticipated the very question since his arrival.
"Well, I get to drive the man insane for an hour, so, pretty damn decent."
"Sounds great..." Sano smirked.
She nodded and the two just sat there in silence for a while.
"It's hard to believe that after this year it's all over."
To Sano, high school was all that he had known and to imagine anything beyond it was unthinkable. It was a touchy subject that he preferred not to acknowledge.
"Yeah, I know." He answered.
The bell rang signaling the end of yet another school day and Misao pushed herself up. Grabbing her things, she turned to Sano.
"I'll see you around."
He smiled and threw her a small salute.
She made her way down from the rooftop and walked across the vast courtyard to the History & Government building.
When she finally got to his classroom, she was more than surprised to find a sign taped to the door.
"Meet in gym. Dress-out in P.E. attire." She read out loud to herself.
Crumpling the paper up, she tossed it in the nearest trash bin and headed toward the southern exit.
"To the gym it is."
-----oOo-----
Saitou waited while the students changed into their hakama and regular tank tops, as opposed to the traditional keikogi, and he had them file into a line. He sized them all up; a bunch of children who thought it was fun to play with swords.
"According to Okina, your coach called in 'sick' today, but we all know the truth is that he's suffering from another one if his infamous hangovers."
A few kids smiled knowingly.
"Since there is a tournament on Saturday, I have the immense pleasure of coaching you this week." He said, sarcastically. "I am no Hiko Seijurou, therefore my expectations are higher."
A loud bang on the other side of the gym startled them and they all looked toward the source of the noise.
Misao staggered in while tugging on one of her shoes, as she hopped over.
"Sorry I'm late...oh, hi Kaoru!"
The group, mostly the boys, were whispering amongst themselves and smiling.
"Hi, Misao..." Kaoru greeted in return.
"Why weren't you in class today?" Saitou asked her, even though he already knew the answer.
"I didn't feel up to going and it was such a lovely day outside, so I skipped."
"At least you are honest."
Misao just shrugged, "So what'll you have me do?"
"It's Monday, so we usually just break off into pairs and practice sparring or hand-to-hand combat." Kaoru said while looking at Saitou.
"Have you already been assigned partners?"
"Yes sir."
"Kamiya, you take care of your team, and I'll deal with this one."
Kaoru nodded and gave Misao a sympathetic look.
"Alright, Weasel girl-"
"Don't call me that!"
"Be silent and listen for once. You have two choices. Sit out and watch, or participate."
It had been a while since she had last practiced, it wouldn't hurt to let lose for a while.
"Participate."
"Fine...Kamiya!" He called.
Kaoru ran over, "Yes, Mr. Saitou."
"You are captain; find a partner for the girl."
"I'm sorry sir; everyone has already been paired off, unless you'd be willing."
"You're barking up the wrong tree, Kaoru. Besides, grandpa, here, would probably break something if he went up against me."
"Is that a challenge, girl?"
Misao smiled, "Not at all, unless you want it to be."
Kaoru thought it best to let the two be, she could practically see the sparks flying. She whistled to her teammates.
"Everyone out to in the practice gym...now! Soujiro, help Kimichi with the equipment."
"So, hand-to-hand, or would you rather we play swordfight?"
"Hand-to-hand is fine with me. Just try to keep up, old man." Misao remarked.
The two circled each other around the fight mat.
Misao rushed at him while he simply side-stepped, dodging her. She dropped to the floor and swiped at his feet, catching him off guard, but he jumped just in time.
He backed off from her as she picked herself off the ground, panting.
"You have been trained in ninjutsu."
"Hmm, I knew you were a smart one."
He rewarded her with a rare smile, "That means I don't have to take it easy on you after all."
Her eyes widened when she noticed a foreign glint within his amber depths. There was something predatory about it, but she refused to allow him the satisfaction of seeing her intimidated, then he disappeared.
"What the-?"
He reappeared before her, smirking, "What was that you were saying about keeping up?"
She stomped her foot angrily, "Hey, you have an unfair advantage! I can't do the teleport thingy."
"You play with fire; you are going to get burned." With that said he flicked her on the nose.
"Why you-!" She snarled and threw a punch at him which he easily caught.
Snatching her hand back, she glared at him.
"Fine, if you don't want to play by the rules then neither do I."
She kicked him in the shin, and he grunted while she went for a pressure point. He grabbed her wrist quickly and twisted her arm around her back.
"Ow! That hurts!" She shrieked and threw her weight against him, the force toppling them both over.
The impact knocked the air out of him; taking advantage of this, Misao tugged her wrist free, and scrambled to get away from him when she felt a hand wrap around her ankle.
"Damn, you're persistent! Just give up already!"
"Those words don't exist in my vocabulary."
He pulled and she fell to the floor again moaning. He crawled over to her form, and straddled her waist.
"Pin." He said, crossing his arms smugly while glancing down at the girl.
"I don't think so..." She swiped at his face and out of the corner of his eye he saw a small dagger-like weapon fly through the air to hit the gym wall behind him with a light clang.
He narrowed his eyes at her.
"Hand over the kunai."
"You'll have to pry them from my cold dead fingers!"
He sighed, calmly.
"I'm not moving from this spot until you give them to me."
"Prepare to be here for a while then..."
-----oOo-----
30 minutes later...
"I'm so filing sexual harassment charges when I get out of here."
"What makes you think you'll be doing that?"
"Who's going to stop me?"
"I believe assault with a deadly weapon is far worse then any claims of harassment, as far as I'm concerned, this is self-defense."
"Oh, so you're a police-man now? Do you have multiple-personality-disorder?"
"Former police-man, actually..."
"That's wonderful; mind getting off of me now?"
"Not until you hand over the kunai."
"I can't breath." She gasped out.
"Too bad..." He shifted his weight a bit.
"Ugh, you're heartless. Here, but I better get those back, they were a sixteenth birthday present." She tugged lose the strap around her upper arm.
"That will be another two months of detention, for you."
"What; why?"
"Bringing weapons on campus is against school policy and I could do far worse then assign you more detention if that's what you want."
"Two more months of you; hell, I'd take whatever else I could get."
"I'm sure I could arrange for you to skip the trial and head directly to a jail cell."
She sighed exasperatedly, "Two months? Sounds absolutely fantastic..."
-----oOo-----
Hmm, looking back, this chapter was a bit more dramatic, but you still had your humor thrown in at the end there. Who else besides me was happy to see the Mibu Wolf back in fighting action?
Misao wasn't too bad there herself, hehe.
So, I guess this round goes to Saitou.
Hope you enjoyed it; let me know what you think!
Review please!
