Disclaimer: I do not own Gokusen.

Age Matters?

Chapter 10

A New Routine

It was a new day for both Shin and Kumiko. Moreover, it symbolized a new beginning.

Kumiko sat up and blinked as a ray of sunlight hit her eyes. She was fully awake now, mainly because of the light. The other reason was because her alarm clock was ringing.

"Work," she muttered to herself, and proceeded to get out of the covers that shielded her. She was starting to sit up, and shock filled her as she realized she was stark naked.

"What the—," she started to exclaim, half sitting up and using an elbow to support herself, when she felt someone stir beside her. Her head turned sideways abruptly to see Shin mumbling to himself, his eyes still closed.

Kumiko turned red and immediately snatched the covers up to her chin. The color deepened when Shin reached out a hand to her, embracing her and pulling her down to him, all the while murmuring her name. She couldn't react—she was frozen. She let herself be pulled down.

That was then that she realized that Shin was naked too.

She stifled a scream, and while her heart was pounding she began to take in deep breaths, recalling and rationalizing the events that had happened before she discovered herself and her husband in a…compromising situation.

Wait. Husband? She thought. And the events from last night replayed on her mind. That's right! She resisted the urge to slap herself silly and instead settled her head on the said husband's chest, feeling herself fall back into sleep almost immediately.

It was about thirty minutes later when Kumiko woke up again, and she happened to glance at the clock.

"A quarter before eight! Shin we're going to be late!" She exclaimed, shoving him awake, never bothering with the sheets anymore because of panic.

Shin woke up and blinked, then reddened upon seeing Kumiko. "Kumiko," he coughed. "You don't have any clothes on."

"What?" Kumiko looked down then pulled up the sheets and wrapped them around her. "There's no time to blush, we're going to be late!" She exclaimed again, and grabbed her bathrobe and towel and hurriedly went to the bathroom.

Shin scratched his chin and gaped at the sight of—what is that on the sheets? Blood? Shin's eyes widened. Whose blood is that?!

------

With the start of that new day came the start of a new routine. Actually, it was still the old routine, just inserted with a snippet of endearment here and a pinch more of openness there.

With the exception of that disastrous first day where the both of them were awfully late, and thus had to rush everything, the routine went on like this:

Every morning upon waking up they would go down to breakfast together, sometimes looking fresh, sometimes looking sleepy, but obviously happy. The clan members had begun to notice that they walked closer together that their shoulders were touching. They hadn't been that close before. Nobody knew why, and didn't bother to know; they were married anyway so what's the fuss? They were always the last ones to arrive at the table now, and if anyone was later, they would have seen that at Shin's back, the fingers from his right hand, and Kumiko's left were intertwined. But nobody was later in coming to the table than them, so nobody knew.

They would get ready for work, then, and nobody would imagine the fuss that the next clan head would give her husband's work clothes. He would come out of their room with her, both dressed impeccably, even if she was just dressed in a pair of sweats, glasses and pigtails. The trademark that was Kumiko will never be lost, even if she was no longer a Yamaguchi now, but a Sawada.

They would drive to work in his car. Sometimes he would drive, sometimes she would. But she was dropped off first, and no matter what the driving arrangement was, she would always reach across her seat, and peck her husband on the lips before getting out of the car and waving goodbye. The first time she did that, he was surprised. He had never thought that he would get kisses like that again—it was a long time ago when he had them. But he was slowly getting into the habit; so much that he would meet her lips halfway in the car. They didn't care about the smiling and gossiping teachers, or about the students. A lot of the population was surprised and puzzled to see a pigtailed teacher kiss a man in a suit every morning, but the chosen few who were members of Class 3D just smirked, thinking 'Oh how Yankumi has grown up.'

The lunch surprises were also the same, though they went out more.

And Shin always waited for Kumiko outside the school every afternoon, after work.

At night, no one ever slept on the floor anymore.

Life was good for both of them.

------

But they hadn't seen a trace of Kuma, Noda, Minami and Uchi after three days.

That is, until their doorbell rang.

Shin and Kumiko were both seated on the loveseat. He was hunched over, his feet flat on the floor, eyebrows furrowed in concentration while he typed away on his laptop that was placed atop the coffee table in front of the loveseat. Kumiko's whole body was on the seat, her back leaning on Shin's side. She was reading and checking papers, and was occasionally seen shaking her head and scratching her chin. Often, she would mutter some obscenities under her breath in frustration.

"Oh those 3D kids. Can't they write something good for once?" She exclaimed out loud once.

Shin had looked at her in obvious amusement for a few moments before returning to his laptop, still typing.

"Yeah, yeah, 3D kid who is now a Who's Who in his company." Kumiko retorted. Shin just smiled good-naturedly at her, prompting her to turn around and give him a peck on the cheek.

He voiced out his thoughts, his tone amused, "What, not on the lips?"

Kumiko stuck out her tongue at him. "Nope. You're spoiled—you're kissed every weekday."

But Shin held her by her shoulders and kissed her anyway.

His hand was slowly creeping up her shirt when the doorbell rang.

Kumiko patted his head and pulled away. "We'll continue this later. Let's go get the door."

"Later." Shin muttered, and followed her, who was walking towards the door.

They were both surprised to see their four friends at the door, shuffling their feet on the ground. Shin cleared his throat and they looked up.

"Um. Can we talk?" It was Minami who spoke up.

Kumiko and Shin looked at each other before nodding, and stepped away from the door.

Inside,

"Listen, I know we haven't made any move to show you we were sorry, but we are going to. We were just waiting for your heads to cool," Shin began, but Kuma interrupted.

"No, we were the ones on the wrong. We overreacted," he said. Everyone else nodded.

"Yes, we only thought of one thing—that you didn't trust us. We were narrow-minded then and didn't think that there were perhaps a lot of other reasons that urged you to keep your ages a secret from us." Uchiyama continued.

"But we came to our senses, and came to realize that we were narrow-minded. We have come to ask for your forgiveness for doing so," said Noda.

"Guys, you don't have to look so forlorn!" Kumiko exclaimed. "You know we love you!" She stood up and hugged all of them.

------

After a celebration where the best wine in the clan house was opened, Shin and Kumiko retired to their own room.

She was enveloped in his arms, her head resting on his chest. "We forgot to tell them about this wedding fiasco."

"What wedding fiasco? That we were arranged to be married?" Shin asked.

Kumiko nodded.

"Well, everything's okay now right? We're now officially a couple. So I guess there's no more need to tell them that we were just forced."

Kumiko looked up at him to see him smiling at her. She smiled back and settled herself on his chest once more. She began to close her eyes.

"Are you going to sleep?" He asked her.

"Yes," she answered back.

"Don't. I believe you said something about continuing something earlier." He said, his voice low.

Kumiko laughed silently and started to tease, "Could the alcohol consumed earlier be used as an excuse?"

"No. In fact, it can be used as another reason." His voice was getting huskier now, as he slid down and his face was level to hers.

Kumiko started to giggle as his lips descended on hers.

------

The daily, nightly, weekly routine continued on for about more than a month.

One morning, Kumiko woke up earlier than she always did, and ran to the bathroom, clutching her stomach as she went. Shin woke up, too, and was surprised to hear his wife retch her guts out on the bathroom sink.

"Kumiko? What's going on?" He said, rapping his hand on the bathroom door.

"I'm GASP fine." She managed in between gasps and retching.

"No you're not. I'm coming in." He did, and saw Kumiko vomiting on the sink, using her right hand to hold her long hair away, and the left as a support on the sink. Immediately, he took her hair from her right hand so that she could prop both hands on the sink, and began to rub her back using his free hand.

"Do you need to go to the doctor?" He said later, when she was calmed down and was lying down on the bed.

Kumiko shook her head, and smiled faintly at him. "I'm fine." Apparently he doesn't know what I'm going through. She smiled inwardly; I'm going to surprise him with the news if I can confirm it. "But I think I'm going to skip work today and rest." She told him.

He nodded his head, agreeing. "Yeah, you should."

------

When Shin left for work, Kumiko waited for an hour before bundling herself up and heading out the door. She was stopped by Tetsu.

"Boss, you can't go outside." Tetsu said.

"What? Why?" She asked him, bemused at his actions. Tetsu had never stopped her from doing anything before.

"Because Boss Shin said so."

Kumiko raised an eyebrow. "Boss Shin?" Since when did Shin become Boss Shin? And since when did these two become friends? As far as Kumiko had seen, Tetsu wasn't at friendly terms with Shin, and Shin didn't care. Since when did Tetsu follow what Shin said?

She could see Tetsu fighting to say something, and he blurted out, "He said it's for your safety."

Oh.

"Don't worry Tetsu, I'm fine now, I can walk on my own, and besides, I just have to buy something at the drug store." She told him.

"I'll buy it for you, Boss!" Tetsu exclaimed.

This guy's difficult. "Well then, if you really want to." She went back inside a house and emerged with a slip of paper, where the things she wanted were written. She gave it to him, along with the money. "Here. And remember, don't tell anyone that you bought these, and that these are for me. Okay?"

Tetsu looked at her, confused, and just nodded.

A few moments later, he came back, reddening profusely. "Here you go, Boss," he said to Kumiko, who was waiting for him. He handed her a package and muttered, "The girl kept saying to me, 'Congratulations, Sir!' and 'Please tell this to your wife, too!' I wonder what that was all about." He paused, then he looked strangely at Kumiko, "Boss, are you—?"

"Tetsu, remember what you nodded to earlier," was all that Kumiko said.

Tetsu looked shocked and dumbfounded. Then he nodded, and went away, looking awfully sad.

------

At work, Shin kept staring into space so much that his coworker, Souichi, asked him, "Hey, what's the matter?"

Shin snapped from his reverie and asked, "You have a wife too, right?"

"Yes, a happy wife and three happy kids," Souichi answered, puffing up his chest. The guy was obviously proud and happy of his family.

"Well, you see, this morning my wife began to vomit, but when I suggested going to the doctor she said she was just fine. Do you know what medicine I can bring to her?" Shin asked him.

Souichi looked at him strangely before opening his mouth.

But alas, before he could advice Shin on anything the intercom crackled to life, asking for Souichi to report to the company's main office.

Shin wondered why Souichi had glanced at him strangely.

------

"The box said wait for two hours, and so wait I did. Now it's time for the results." Kumiko was so nervous that she started talking to herself.

She went inside the bathroom, took out the thin plastic device and looked up the meaning of the strips shown. Taking a deep breath, she let out a whoop of joy, before whispering out, "I'm pregnant!"

------

When Souichi had left, Shin was alone again, and went back once more to staring into space before an idea entered his mind.

"I'm calling mom!"

------

Kuroda happened to be passing by a certain room in the house. Upon hearing some whispered news, his eyes widened and a grin abruptly grazed his face. He stayed there for a few moments, and after regaining his composure, he walked on, his eyes bright.

------

The General was at home—one of the rarest situations given that there was still daylight. He was just sitting in the living room, watching his wife putter around the house.

The phone rang, and he watched her answer it.

"Shin!" She exclaimed, and General Sawada rolled his eyes, for her eyes had brightened considerably.

"It's been so long! You haven't called; it's such a long time! How are you? How is your wife?...Oh we're fine here, too!...You seem to sound very happy…You are? That's glad to hear!...How is the clan and how is your relationship with them? With the clan head?...Oh I am so glad you are fine there, and that everyone has treated you as a part of their own, my son!...Kuroda treats you well, too?...I am so happy!"

At the later parts, General Sawada's ears pricked up, and a malevolent grin slowly formed in his face. He picked up his own phone and dialed a phone number he was only going to use once—a number that could call the voice mails of all his cohorts and colleagues. "It's time to move," was all that he said.

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AN: I'm sorry if it's short! We're nearing the end! Please review, folks! Oh, and could anyone tell me the schooling system in Japan? For updates and announcements, actually more of my excuses as to why I couldn't update hehe, please check my profile. Thanks everyone! Rhia