"Pinky swear? What are you five?"

"Didn't anyone ever tell you pinky swears are sacred?"

I woke up with a start and sat upright, I ran a hand through my hair and tried to combat the grogginess in my eyes. It wasn't long after that I felt an arm snake it's way around my waist and a sleepy voice ask, "You okay?"

"Yeah, I was just having a very vivid dream," I replied.

"Nightmare?" the voiced questioned.

"No, it was a memory I guess," I said.

"A memory?"

"Yeah, I dreamt of a night that happened two years ago," I said.

"That's weird, wanna talk about it?"

I frowned slightly, "No."

"You sure?"

I smiled, "Sorry hon, but the events of that night are forever sealed between another person and I by two pinky fingers."

I received a smile for that one, "You're weird, but you're even weirder in the mornings," the person lying next to me said as he buried his head underneath a pillow.

"Well this weirdo needs to get ready for work," I said, getting up.

I walked over to my closet and as I grabbed a shirt and a pair of skinny jeans, I glanced at myself in a mirror. Shirahime Haizawa, now twenty years old, was less of a delinquent, but still looked just as mean in my opinion. Her eyes were hollowed and narrowed from a constant lack of sleep, her mouth turned down into a permanent scowl, and she almost always had her now longer but still as messy hair tied in a loose bun. As of four months ago, she's able to legally purchase alcohol and cigarettes, as if she hadn't done it illegally the previous years when she developed into quite the chainsmoker due to the stress she was under.

I looked away from the mirror and changed my clothes quickly, I was never one to fuss over my appearance and thinking in the third person is creepy. I grabbed my bag and walked into the kitchen to scour my fridge for something substantial to eat. As I looked, a hand draped itself on the refrigerator and a voice asked, "Did you want me to make you something?"

"No, I'm already late," I said, grabbing a leftover sandwich and stuffing it in my mouth.

"You need to take better care of yourself," the voice commented.

"Give me a couple more years and then I'll start," I responded.

A pair of arms wrapped around me, "Why are you in such a rush today? I thought you pretty much set your own hours."

"Usually, but it's the first week of school, my boss gets agitated with all of the freshman running around like chickens with their heads cut off," I said, nuzzling my face into an arm.

"So? You hate your boss anyway, I bet not showing up at all will piss him off, so stay here with me. Maybe we can go out to eat somewhere." the voice suggested.

I laughed, "I'd love to, but I really need to be there today and I don't want to leave Junichi hanging."

There was a pause filled with silence before I heard a voice mumble in my ear, "Are we on or off right now?"

I sighed, "Ask me again when this week is over."

"Sure thing," the voice said.

I smiled, "Now I really do have to go."

"Mmkay," the voice said, but didn't let me go.

I laughed and tore away from his hold and opened my front door, "Zawa."

I looked behind me at the man standing in my kitchen; his hair had fallen to the side of his face over the course of the night and he had only bothered to put on a pair of pants when he got out of bed, but I knew within the hour his jet black hair would be slicked back and his now bare chest would be adorned with a horrendously tacky button down shirt, "Yeah?" I said.

His purple eyes narrowed as he smirked, "See ya later."

"See ya Zami," I said before I walked out the door and made my way to Tokyo University.

Takeda Haizami and I had encountered each other shortly after I had moved to Tokyo. We were both surprised to find out the other had ended up in the same city, albeit for different reasons; Takeda was here to try and establish his gang in the city where criminal connections came around more easily than they did in small towns. It had started with a tentative truce and ended up in a relationship that both our families profusely disapproved of and we loved it. We had only made it six months when our similar personalities got the best of us and we parted ways, only to start a long, complicated, dance that lasted this past year and a half where we were together periodically, never longer than a month or two.

I walked down the street in the cold April morning air in a hurry to get to the university before the onslaught of freshman did. As I walked on campus I was relieved to see a normal amount of students for this hour, with the exception of the few students who were obviously new due to the amount of pacing, confused look, and overall aura of anxiousness that surrounded them.

I made my way to the back of campus where they had placed the history department in the stuffiest corner possible; they probably did it to hide the stuffy preppy professors with bad attitudes and the professors who were anti government and half of what they taught were conspiracy theories, both of which congregated in the subject of history. I would have preferred any stiff upper lip or crazed conspiracy theorist over the professor I was forced to spend most of my time with.

I yawned as I opened a door that I had wandered across my first week of college. Back then it had a paper taped to it that said "Research assistants wanted". Not knowing many people in Tokyo, I thought a part time job would be a great thing to fill my time. Oh, how I wished I had applied at Maji Burger instead.

Upon opening the door, I went into an office that was neither small or large, was piled ceiling high with books, and within it's confines sat two men; one my saint, the other my tormenter. "Good morning Ichi," I said to a boy furiously typing away on his computer.

I passed the other guy, who was lying down on a desk and fanning himself with a paper, without a word. As I sat down at my desk, I cringed slightly as the man on the desk let out a predictable whine, "Shishi, why didn't you you greet meeeeee?"

I flipped through a stack of papers that I had on my desk and said, "Because I hate you, and stop calling me that."

"But whhhyyyy? It's so cute," he whined and then stuck his butt in the air and started to wiggle it, "Shishi shake, Shishi shake."

Junichi (aka Ichi) looked up and asked, "Please stop doing that sensei."

Junichi was a very big and burly guy, who people probably thought was mean and hardcore until they actually got to know him and realized he was a baby hedgehog with a heart of gold and an inhuman calming voice. A voice that saved me many a time from snapping our "sensei's" neck. "Shishi, Junjun's so mean, you know what he wants me to do? He wants me to actually show up to class today," our sensei said.

"You should at least go to introduce yourself to them," Junichi said sternly.

"But I hate new students, they're soooo annoying," sensei whined.

"Don't encourage him Ichi, him going today will just give them the false reality that he cares about them or is actually going to be the one teaching them," I said.

"See? Shishi understands, I only like my advanced students," he said.

Junichi sighed, "That means more of a workload for us."

"Maybe we'll get some sorry soul to apply for a job in the department," I said.

"But my funding only allows enough for two research assistants," I heard from the other side of the room.

I rolled my eyes, "But the personal assistant position is open because Komamura graduated last year."
"Oh that's right, I barely noticed she was gone," he said in response.

"That's because I've been doing everything for your sorry ass," I growled.

He got up and patted my head saying, "And you're very much appreciated Shishi."

"I'm going out for some breakfast, you guys wanna come?" he asked.

"No thank you, we're going to be too busy teaching your classes," I sneered.

"Okay, bye bye," he said before walking out.

Junichi stopped typing and looked up at me, "You know, this is going to be my fourth year working for him and I just realized something."

"What?" I asked.

"Is us teaching his classes even legal?" he asked.

"Neither one of us has any form of a teaching credential, so that would be a no," I said.

"It's too late to do anything now," he said.

"Mhmm," I agreed.

"You think we're gonna find anybody who'll put up with sensei's...eccentricities," Junichi asked.

I laughed, "That's a nice word for it."

"But to answer your question, yes, I have the perfect recruit," I said with a dark smile.

Junichi laughed, "They're going to have to be to put up with Seito sensei."

I turned to my stack of papers I had to grade and said, "Trust me, they will be."

If the name Seito sounds familiar, I would like to bring you back to a certain train ride with a man who had the same name and a mysterious knowledge of history. That mystery was soon cleared up when I stepped into my first history class and saw him sitting on the desk; he unfortunately remembered me and I instantly became his favorite student. Note: He did not become my favorite teacher.

When I had made my way to the door that requested research assistants, I did so because someone told me that a Mr. Takeuchi was the one looking for them. I figured it was Takeuchi sensei's nephew, who was a young professor at the university and had been one of the connections that got me into Tokyo U. And it was, I was just surprised when I walked in the door and saw the teacher that everyone referred to by his first name; Seito Takeuchi. When I saw it was him, I immediately tried to walk out, but was stopped by Seito who excitedly said how happy he was "his favorite student came" and, "how he knew we were going to be great friends when he met me on the train" and, "I knew there was something special about you when Uncle talked so highly about you" and, "how he was overjoyed I liked him as much as he liked me" and so on and so on.

The thing that I learned quickly when I started working for him was that he was an annoying teacher, but an even more annoying boss. He was lazy and only cared about his advanced classes; where he could "teach" in the way he wanted to, which was assigning a reading and then discussing it and whatever he felt like for four hours. I guess his passion for history could be considered endearing to some, but those "some" are definitely not the people who've had to work for him. Even though I was a research assistant, I also taught the classes he didn't want to teach with Junichi and now that there was no personal assistant, I had been forced to be at Seito's beck and call the past couple of months.

It was a horrible job that caused constant stress and exhaustion, so any rational person would ask the question, "Why do you stay?"

The answer is this; while this job restricted my time, my personal freedom was left untouched. I could curse, do whatever I wanted, and any violence didn't affect the status of my job. Seito sensei was too lazy to even care about half his classes, let alone my behavior. It was a big price to pay, but I don't think I could function anywhere else.

"We should probably get going, the first class is about to start," Junichi stated.

"Let's be late and show them what we're really all about," I said smiling.

Junichi laughed, "Come on."


When we got to the classroom, it was right at the time that the class should start and most of the students were already crowded around the door. We had to fight our way through the crowd, mostly because everybody assumed we were just students, which we are, but we're also going to be their teachers for the duration of their stay. Thankfully, Junichi's size was enough for students to part for us as we got to and unlocked the door.

As soon as the door was open, students flooded the lecture hall and found their seats, leaving Junichi and I standing up at the front, "Good morning everyone," Junichi said cheerfully.

The students gave mumbled hellos in response, obviously confused by our presence, "As you many notice, Takeuchi sensei is not with us, I'm Junichi and this is Shira, we'll be your instructors."

"What happened to Takeuchi sensei? Why isn't he here?" a student blurted out.

"He was viciously murdered by one of his research assistants," I deadpanned.

Junichi laughed nervously, "Shira's just kidding, the reason he's not here is he has a busy workload and can't handle all of his classes."

"Lying to the children now?" I said quietly to Junichi.

He leaned in close to me, "It's better than them knowing the real reason he's not here is because he doesn't care enough about them."

"I feel like we're the mother of a couple of kids who has a husband that's gone from home a lot," I said.

"Shira," Junichi said.

"Bill! Seymour! How can you say such a thing? It's not that daddy doesn't like you, you know he has to be gone for his work," I continued.

"Please Shira," Junichi said.

"Okay Ichi, let's get this show on the road," I said.

The class was fairly easy to teach, we had done it the year before and it was the same lectures about the same things; the kids weren't really missing much by Seito not being there. Junichi and I made a good team, he was obsessed with social issues and the cultural side of history while I was into wars, any form of violence, and government.

It was only after the class ended and the last few students were leaving when Seito made his appearance. At least he came with coffee.

"Hi my Shishi and Junjun! How was the first class of the year?" he said happily.

"Good," Junichi replied.

"Uneventful," I said.

I sipped the coffee he had handed me, "So, what are you doing here?"

Seito smiled, "My honors course starts right now."

"Shoulda known," I said.

"I'm so excited! I wonder which student I'll have my first encounter with? Two years ago it was yoouuu," Seito said.

A sip of coffee. A menacing glare sent his way. Another sip of coffee. "Yo," we all heard as a student approached us.

Seito's head whirled around, "Hello! Are you here for my class?"

"Are you Seito Takeuchi?" he asked.

"Yep!" Seito said excitedly.

"Then yeah," the voice said sleepily.

I smiled, "Daiki, you're up early."

Aomine looked at me lazily, "Satsuki made me."

"Did she follow you to college too?" I asked.

"Yeah, her and Tetsu are quite the puppy dogs this year," he said.

"Kuroko?" I asked.

"He followed Kagami here," Aomine said.

"Are you worried you're being replaced?" I teased.

"Tch, whatever," he said.

"It's not surprising, the sports programs here are arguably the best in the country," I said, "I assume you're all here for basketball."
"Kuroko's not," Aomine said.

"Well, it's super competitive here, even with his misdirection I doubt he'd actually see any play time," I said.

"Exactly why he's a puppy dog," Aomine said.

I smiled, "Excuse you, Kuroko has and always will be a sweet panda."

Seito looked back and forth at the two of us, "Do you two know each other?"

"No, we just met and decided to start talking about random people," I said sarcastically.

Seito tried to glare at me, but the last student coming out of the room blocked him and bowed at me saying, "Have a nice day Shira sensei!"
"Yeah, you too," I said, waving him off.

Aomine smirked, "Sensei? What is that, some sort of fetish?"

I smirked back, "You know it butterscotch."

Aomine was quiet for moment, "I thought you should know...Kise's here."

I stiffened and he added, "I just found out yesterday, you know I'd tell you."

"I know," I said.

"You gonna be okay?" he asked.

I smiled softly, "It was a long time ago, I'll be fine, plus, it's a pretty large campus Daiki."

"Heyyyy Daidai, class is about to start," Seito said.

"Daidai?" Aomine questioned as Seito pulled on his arm.

I laughed and waved as they went inside the lecture hall, "Good luck."

"Who's Kise?" Junichi asked beside me.

I jumped at his voice, I had forgotten he was next to me, "No one," I said.

He looked at me doubtfully, "Come on, we've got work to do. As usual," I said, walking back to the office.

I could tell Junichi wasn't buying my whole, "Kise's nobody" thing because he kept shooting looks at me, especially when I left a couple hours later and headed back towards the lecture hall. I stood outside as the students poured out and leaned against the wall as I waited for Aomine. When he came out and saw me he smirked, "Waiting for me outside of class, I'm touched."

I punched his shoulder lightly and said, "You should be, your senpai really pulled through for you."

"Mmmm, and how's that?" Aomine asked.

"I assume that you've simply moved from broke ass high school student to broke ass college student?" I said.

Aomine clucked his tongue, "Maybe."

I smiled, "Well, you're senpai's found a pretty well paying job at the University, you interested?"

Aomine looked at me, "You know it."


Hello! I want to thank the lovely souls who read/favorite/follow this and especially the saints that leave reviews. To Human Marshmallow, yes, RIP to the notion

Shogo's older bro was the goodie goodie he was portrayed as, but Haizaki did have a reason to think he's a douchebag right? I low key ship Aomine and Shira

so be expecting more fluff between the two that will never amount to anything :). To Amethyst, if you had a hard time with the last chapter, I hope you're okay

after reading this one. I hate Kise too at this point in the fic, and I'm rereading it and going, "Why are you being like this?" and then I remember I wrote him to

be like this because I love to torture him and literally wrote a 40 chapter fanfic with an OC that's designed to make fun of him constantly. And I like that you

found the scene between Aomine and Shira cute, they're my brotp, and Aomine seriously needs to win some type of award for being the best guy friend ever. To

amy1945, you won't be waiting long cause Kise makes his appearance next chapter, and I can totally understand how you feel about Haizaki-nii, I don't hate him

either, and I wrote him as the type of character that would stop if Shira told him to, it's just Shira's version of "stop" was slapping him in the face. Unfortunately,

Shira's never going to trust him again, so he might only make one brief appearance in the rest of the fic and it probably won't be a positive one.