Love Me or Leave Me
Apologize

"Whoa, what happened to your hair?" Eiji's co-worker, Hisaki, asked the moment he walked into the staff room Tuesday morning.

"I decided to go back to my natural color," Eiji replied as he sat at his desk. "I thought it'd be a nice but it's turned out to be kind of annoying."

"How so?" She dragged her chair over and sat next to him. "It looks nice, if that helps any."

"I pretty much look exactly like my oldest brother," Eiji said with a sigh. "Just about every time I catch my reflection, I start asking Kei what he's doing and my sister's called me by his name a couple of times too."

"Well, you may want to watch yourself," Hisaki warned, "because honestly, I get the feeling your fanclub's going to grow."

Eiji became a shade paler, something that made her laugh. "I have a fanclub?" He asked, sounding half-horrified.

"There are days when I swear, all I hear the girls talking about is Kikumaru-sensei." She set a hand on his desk. "What happened to your cheek?"

Eiji reached up, automatically covering the bruise with his hand. "Nothing." His voice came out sharp and her eyes narrowed.

"What aren't you telling me?" She had that teacher stare fixed upon him. Eiji squirmed uncomfortably, not at all enjoying being on the receiving end of it. It was fine and wonderful when he used it on his own students. Not too fine right now though.

Eiji sighed softly and lowered his voice, not wanting all the staff to hear. "Remember a few days ago, when I told you about Chiroh?"

She nodded. "Something happened."

"Yeah. A lot of things."

Hisaki looked at him for a moment, her eyes seeming to break him down. "Did you break up?"

"...yes?"

"What's with the hesitation?"

Eiji ran a hand through his hair, pushing his bangs out of his face. "We decided to take a break, to just be friends for the next month."

"Ouch. How's that going for you?"

"I'm not sure. It was just decided yesterday."

Hisaki patted his hand. "Well, I'm busy this week but how about dinner some time next week? We can make it a staff event. It's been a while since we've all gone out."

"It's fine," Eiji assured, shaking his head, "you don't need to do this."

"Nonsense." She reached over and grabbed his planner. "It looks like you're free." She set the planner down and stood up. "Hey everyone, how about dinner next Tuesday? Kikumaru-sensei's going through a tough time and could use some cheering up."

"Hisaki-san," Eiji tried protesting before he was cut off by the other second year teachers. Within minutes, the matter was settled. Dinner at 7 in a week and Hisaki was going to pick the place. It had to be somewhere close and affordable with the possibility of serving alcohol. Honestly, Eiji thought shaking his head, his coworkers were so easy please.

"Hey, Kikumaru-sensei, can I talk to you for a minute?" Tadamachi Daiichi asked after Eiji had gone through the day's announcements.

"Of course," Eiji agreed. He followed the boy out into the hallway. "Is this about Tanemura-san?" The kid nodded and faint pink splotches appeared on his cheeks. Eiji decided it was adorable. "How did that go?"

"I took your advice and told her."

"And?"

"We're going out," the kid mumbled, it all sounding like one word. If Eiji hadn't been waiting for it, there was no way he would have caught it at all.

The man smiled. "So, I'm not going to be hearing you two constantly complaining about each other?"

"No, Sensei," the kid promised.

"I'm glad to hear that." Eiji meant it too. He'd been getting really sick of their constant bickering and if it came to it, he would have gone through with his threat of finding replacements for the two representatives. That being said, it was nice that the two had worked things out. Unwanted, the thought of his own situation with Oishi popped into his head.

Fudomine had rules set in place about students dating, mainly that they weren't supposed to. In reality, as Eiji had learned, the school turned a blind eye towards relationships as long as the students were fairly discrete and it didn't interfere with their work. So far, there'd only been one incident where the school had stepped in and that had been because the students in question were seen kissing in a park while in uniform. After that fiasco, things had stepped up for a little while and the rules were stricter. Since the students seemed to have learned from that mistake, things had definitely relaxed.

"Now, don't let it interfere with your schoolwork or your duties."

"So you and Eiji are officially taking a break?" Taka asked as he watched Oishi put on an apron.

"For the next month," Oishi agreed. "Thanks for not asking about it yesterday, by the way."

"You looked like you wanted to be left alone."

"Calling Tezuka does not qualify in leaving me alone."

"It was the only thing I could think of doing. I know you guys are good friends." Taka waved to some customers that entered. "I take it he left already?"

"Yeah, he took the first train back to Niigata. He said something about needing to get back to work."

"Sorry these are such crap jobs," Taka later apologized as Oishi took some dishes to the kitchen.

"It's fine." Oishi gave his friend a reassuring smile. "It kind of sucks to have to work on top of school but you guys are giving me so much, doing this is the least I can do to try and repay the kindnesses."

"Oh hush," Jijo's voice came from where she was getting drinks. "You're part of our family now."

Taka nodded. "You'd probably do best to listen to the woman. She speaks the truth."

"Does that mean you'll actually listen when I say I'm not made of glass and am perfectly capable of doing just about anything?" She asked, sounding hopeful.

Oishi chuckled as he disappeared into the kitchen to wash the dishes. Jijo's pregnancy was obviously making Taka a very happy man but it came at the price of him treating his wife like she was the most delicate thing in the world. He kept trying to do things for her and it was annoying Jijo to no end. She was a nice woman but that didn't mean she was a pushover.

A/N: As always, no ownership. Man, I don't wanna go back to work. The daily updates are coming to a close unless I can find time to write. I hope I can find some time. I have a feeling I'll be taking my little netbook everywhere so I can work on this. You guys have no idea how much of an obsession this story has become. I have to keep writing it and it's taken over my thoughts.