Disclaimer: Borrowing, not owning. Just for fun.

RECAP: Tsuchi surprised Imani at her work and picked her up in front of all her students. For the first time, her students saw her as she normally looks outside of school, but she was bullied as a result. Odagiri asks Imani to help him and tells Tsuchi his future plans. Imani agrees to help him if he comes to her school to deliver her dinner.

Chapter 37: Tutorials

That Monday after Tsuchi's visit started off quite normally. Odagiri called to confirm that he would stop by, and Imani ordered dinner. They talked, ate, Imani tutored Odagiri, and then he left. It was on her way home that she encountered a challenge.

"Hey, gaijin, have you stopped seeing that cool motorcycle guy like we told you to last time?" The leader asked.

"Huh? Oh it's you, my playmates. You know. If we are going to keep meeting like this to play, we really should get to know each other's names. As I tried to say before I'm Harr …" Imani held out her hand, but it was pushed away as the other girl interrupted her.

"And as I've said before, I'm not interested in knowing anything about you." The leader of the group, who was tall, big with a deep voice and shoulder-length hair, responded.

"Oh well, I guess then we don't have anything to say to each other." Imani pushed past them. Two girls with their hair dyed blonde and with tanned skin grabbed Imani's arms to stop her.

"Oh no you don't. Answer the question first." One of the ko-girls told Imani.

"First of all, you didn't tell me to stop seeing him because you couldn't figure out whether or not I could date him if I were a citizen of Japan or if he were ugly, and I wasn't a citizen. Second, if you don't want to know anything about me, then I can't tell you anything about my relationship with him. Now, if you'll excuse me, it has been a long, tiring day, and I'm too tired to play with you any more. I'm going home." Imani gave the two girls holding her such an intense glare that they released her.

The tall leader of the group was upset. "What? Are you looking down on us? Since you asked, then I'll say it. You better leave him alone and stay away from him or else."

"Or else what? Since you don't know or want to know anything about me, how are you going to make sure that I don't see him or email him or text him or IM him or call him, huh?" Imani asked.

"We'll make sure even if we have to follow you or break every bone in your body." The leader got in Imani's face cracking her knuckles.

Imani rolled her eyes and was about to respond when a security car rolled up slowly. "Sensei, are you alright? Is there a problem?" One of the patrolmen asked.

"Sensei?" The five girls questioned, shocked.

Imani shook her head. "No officers, my friends here are just playing with me." She put her arm around the leader's neck. "Isn't that right?"

The girl pulled back at first shocked but then smiled and nervously responded. "Ye – Yes. That's right."

The security officer pulled out his flashlight and flashed it over the five girls. "You don't look familiar. Can I see some I.D.?"

Imani responded. "They are potential students, officers. I was just giving them a tour."

"Are you sure everything's okay Sensei?" The officer asked. Imani nodded. "Well, if that's the case, why don't I escort these young ladies to the entrance? I'll leave you to your people then."

Imani smiled and nodded as the security officer waited for the ladies and escorted them to the front. They looked back at her as Imani smiled and waved at them.

"Empress, we'll bring the car around for you. You seem to be exhausted." One of her bodyguards appeared out of nowhere.

"Yes, thank you, Ken." Imani exhaled. "I take it you asked security to come around?"

"Yes, and you're welcome. Why don't you just let us handle them?" He asked her.

"It's not time yet. When the time is right, I'll take care of it myself." Imani responded.

Thus, for a week, Imani didn't meet up with the bullies, but Odagiri came for tutoring again on Wednesday that week and the following Monday of the next week. Unfortunately, Tuesday the bullies met up with her after class.

"I see you took our advice and left the other guy alone, but you still haven't learned your lesson about leaving our hot guys alone since you got a new one." The leader told her.

Imani arched one eyebrow and smirked. "What are you talking abut? Who are you talking about?" Imani shrugged. "It doesn't matter anyway. Since you don't care to know anything about me, you don't really know if I've given up on the other guy. Although, I still don't know what new guy you are talking about."

"We're talking about the delivery guy who has been coming and staying here on Monday's and Wednesday's." One of the tanned girls with blonde hair mentioned.

Oh, no, Odagiri. So I guess they have been watching me. Out loud Imani told them, "So, I guess you finally figured out what you had a problem with then. It's me and hot guys."

"This is your last warning. Stay away from the hot guys or else." The leader told her.

"Or else what?" Imani asked innocently.

"Or else we'll show you what we do to people who don't listen to us. You were lucky campus security came by last week, or we would have given you a preview." The leader responded

Imani half laughed. "So what if you did do something? Do you think that would make the hot guy like you or leave me alone? He doesn't know you or anything about you. And you don't know him or anything about him. And what about this so-called new guy? Do you think if something happened to me they'd be interested in you? Eh? Don't be ridiculous. Instead of wasting your time trying to keep me away from them by harming me, why don't you work on improving yourselves so that some hot guy will look at you. I have no more time to entertain you. See ya." Imani stepped around them and went to the lab. The girls were all taken aback.

Despite their warning and the fact that she was being watched, Imani met up with Odagiri again on Wednesday. He was exuberant when he came. He set down the food and picked up Imani swinging her around, hugged her, and released her. Imani was shocked because Odagiri was usually subdued. "What was that about?" She asked.

"That's because you are an amazing teacher." Odagiri told her.

Imani smiled. "Thank you, but what's the deal?"

"I got a perfect score on my English test. I even beat out one of the Toudai students who's attending the class to get ready to transfer to Harvard. So you're awesome." Odagiri was still excited.

"Seriously? Can I see it?" Imani asked excited and proud.

Odagiri nodded. "I thought you would want to see it." He pulled it out of his pocket, and showed it to her.

"Odagiri, this is fantastic. This is excellent. Congratulations." She hugged him again and looked at him smiling.

It was at that moment that three of Imani's students opened the door to the scene of them hugging and staring in each other's eyes happily.

"Sensei, we're glad you are here we …" The students broke off when they saw the embrace between the two.

Imani calmly extricated herself from Odagiri, put her glasses back on, and asked Ne chan, Tomo kun, and Aoki chan, "May I help you?"

"Er, uhm, we were hoping you could answer some questions for us, but we see that you are busy so we'll come back later." Ne chan said slowly.

They all bowed. "Sorry for intruding." Tomo kun commented.

"You're not interrupting. I was just about to have dinner. Please, what did you need help with?" Imani said calmly.

"Won't your boyfriend get mad? We're keeping him from eating with you." Ne chan commented. They looked at Odagiri who calmly took out the food and began setting it out for himself and Imani to eat.

Imani ignored the question. "You have questions?"

"Oh, uhm yes, but this isn't the same guy as last time. What happened? Did you two break up?" Aoki chan asked.

Imani smiled. "Whether in class or outside of class, I'm not at liberty to discuss my personal life. Now, let's go over your questions."

Fifteen minutes later, Imani had answered all of their questions easily. They kept eyeing Odagiri the whole time, who simply continued to eat disregarding their looks. After the three left, Odagiri relaxed and exhaled. "You better tell Tsuchi."

"I already texted him while I was answering their questions. He said he's cool, but he is worried that I will have trouble from my students." Imani responded.

"Me too, so let us know if you do." Odagiri looked at her concerned.

"They'll probably just spread rumors for a while, and then let it go." Imani shrugged, knowing it could get worse than that but not wanting to worry the boy.

"Don't be so sure." Odagiri tried to warn her.

"I don't care. I can handle it." Imani shook her head.

"You don't have to by yourself. You know. Let us be there for you since this is really our fault." Odagiri placed his hand over Imani's. That's when one of her lab assistants walked in.

"Sensei …" He sounded urgent and then stopped short when he saw the scene. He partially bowed. "I'm sorry to interrupt you, but we are having problems with calibrating the equipment for the next test run."

Imani was onto the situation without missing a beat. "Is it a computer problem or the equipment itself?"

"We don't know. We're not sure." Her lab assistant answered.

"Okay then, check the settings on the computer. Then take the hand-held and go to the equipment itself. Run a diagnostic. If the settings on the computer and the equipment are different, then there is a problem with the computer reading the settings. Take the computer offline, and then reboot it to see if that works. If the equipment and the hand-held have the same settings, then take the equipment offline and re-calibrate it. Call me, and let me know the results. I'll be busy for the next hour with dinner. Okay?"

"Hai, sorry again." He bowed and left.

Odagiri looked at Imani. She shook her head, shrugged, and motioned for them to continue with the tutoring lesson.

Outside, the other three students asked her lab assistant. "Did you interrupt them doing something?"

He shook his head. "She said she was busy with dinner, and I don't know if they were doing anything, but he was holding her hand."

"I knew it. That must be her new boyfriend." Aoki said.

"I wonder if she dumped the other one." Ne commented. "And if he's available?"

"Maybe she's two-timing both of them." Tomo said. "If so, I wonder if she'll date me, too."

The lab assistant was incensed and spoke. "Look, I don't know what goes on in sensei's personal life, nor do I care. She's a good teacher, an excellent boss, and a great person. She's nice, smart, dedicated, and very hardworking. So unless, she involves me or asks me, I don't need to know anything about her private life. But I'm sure that whatever is going on is probably honest and innocent, and most importantly none of our business. So stay out of it!" Her assistant left in a huff.

"What's his deal?" Tomo wondered.

"I think he may like Sensei." Ne commented

Aoki watched the lab assistant walk away. "Ne chan, I think he may be right. Even if that isn't her boyfriend, it's none of our business. And she is a good teacher. She even delayed eating dinner to answer our questions. That was nice of her. I think we should leave her alone."

"No, even if she is a good teacher, I can't let sensei get away with two-timing our Japanese men or using them and throwing them out like yesterday's newspaper. We should let everyone know about this." Ne determined. Aoki and Tomo agreed.

Sure enough, the next day Imani walked into a buzzing classroom that turned silent as soon as the class saw her. Throughout her lecture, she could hear whispers as she had her back turned, and people were paying less attention than usual. In fact, they were paying more attention to a note that was being passed around than to her. When class was over, she found the note they had been passing around.

It read: "Sensei is a two-timing slut. We shouldn't let her get away with it."

Imani sighed and threw it away. However, in the second class, the note circulated again, which she ignored. On the way to the lab though, she ran into the bullies. Unbeknownst to her, Odagiri had been looking for her since he left something in her office and wanted to retrieve it. When he saw the five girls surround Imani, he hid out of sight where he could see but not be seen.

"Oy, Sensei, you haven't learned your lesson yet. You still seeing that delivery guy? I guess we're just going to have to teach you a lesson." The leader said.

Imani smirked. "So you girls want to teach the sensei something eh? How amusing. As I said before, doing harm to me won't allow you to get any closer to those two guys."

"We don't care as long as you are out of the way. Then we have a chance." One of the ko-girls said.

Imani shook her head. "You five really need to enroll in my classes. Then you'll learn something worthwhile. It appears you are the ones needing lessons."

"Oh, yeah?" The lead girl got into Imani's face.

"Hey, who are you girls, and what do you want with our sensei?" Aoki chan came up to the five girls accompanied by five classmates.

"We don't have any business with you so back off. We wanted to teach your little sensei here a lesson about who she can date and who she can't." One of the girls spoke.

"Yeah, well it looks like you girls need to learn the lesson yourselves about whose school you can come to and sensei you can mess with and whose you can't." Aoki got into the lead girl's face.

"Oh yeah, well who's going to teach it to us?" The lead girl challenged Aoki.

Aoki took out her cell phone. "Campus security. You don't belong here. So, I'll just call them and have them escort you off the premises and ban you from returning." Aoki began to dial just as a patrol car was passing by.

The five bullies began to leave. "Don't think this is over. We'll finish this another time, Sensei, and remember stay away from those hot guys." The leader looked back at them.

Imani exhaled, exasperated. "Thank you Aoki chan. I was afraid that I'd have to deal with those girls in some way, and I didn't want trouble." Not again this year.

"Don't thank me too soon, Sensei. I agree with those girls. You can't keep playing with hot guy after hot guy like that and get away with it. I don't know what it is like in America, but we girls won't let you get away with it in Japan. I don't care if you are a good sensei." Ne chan spoke up.

Imani was surprised and frustrated. "If that's the case, then why did you help me just now? Why not let those girls take care of me?"

"We can't allow strangers to deal with a Keiko University issue. Others would look down on girls at Keiko University. They don't know you. They don't belong here. You're our sensei. So if anyone should deal with you, it should be us." Ne chan continued.

"Okay, so how do you intend to take care of me then?" Imani folded her arms across her chest.

"Oh, don't worry Sensei. We want harm you or anything like those girls would do. We are a better class of people than that. You still have to watch your back because we'll definitely be watching you. You may be the best sensei that we've ever had, but that won't stop us from exposing you as the slut you really are. A picture is worth a thousand words. I wonder how many words your two boyfriends will have to say to you if they see the pictures that we have seen of you two-timing them. So you better leave those, our, hot guys alone." Ne chan rolled her eyes, her neck and then left with the other girls who pushed past Imani.

Imani rolled her eyes, frustrated. She continued toward the lab. Seriously how many warnings am I going to get today? Spoke too soon. She thought as five guys surrounded her. Odagiri was about to approach her when he noticed the five guys so he hid once again. He didn't want to cause her any more trouble than he already had.

Tomo kun approached her first while the other four blocked her path. "Hello Sensei." He said flirtatiously. "I heard a little rumor about you, and I wanted to confirm it." He took off her glasses and took down her hair earning himself a glare from Imani, which turned into a smile.

"So what if it is true? Do you also want to threaten me about not messing around with the hot guys too? Is it because you want the hot guys for yourself?" Imani smirked, and Odagiri had to cover his mouth to keep from laughing out loud and giving away his position.

"What? No." Tomo kun protested. "I heard that you like to date younger hot guys, and I wanted to know if I could be one of your boy toys. In fact, all of us wondered if we could have a turn, or is it we don't have to take turns? Would you like to try all of us at once?"

Imani looked around at all of the boys who were all nodding. She was livid, and so was Odagiri.

Imani slowly sighed as a tall attractive boy with long dark hair put his arm around her shoulder and whispered, "How about me Sensei?" in her ear.

Another one with glasses and an attractive face put his arm around her waist and stroked her back. "What about me, Sensei? Or both of us at once."

Imani exhaled slowly calming herself. "Look, since you are all my students, it is very inappropriate for you to approach me like this and for any of us to have any other relationship than teacher and student. So don't even think about it." Her tone was dangerous. "Also, if we have to have this conversation again or if any of you trouble me again, I will go to the Dean and not only have you withdrawn from my class but also from the school." Imani removed all of their hands from her and left them standing behind her.

"We'll see about that Sensei. You'll play with us whether you want to or not. Just what is so special about a guy with a really cool motorcycle, and a delivery guy? Will they have good careers in the future?" They all nodded in agreement and left.

Odagiri wanted to confront them right then and there but was held back by one of Imani's security team members. Odagiri looked at the hand on his shoulder. "If she didn't want our help, she definitely will not accept yours, at least not in this manner." Odagiri nodded. He was worried and called Tsuchi and told him what had happened.

Tsuchi told him. "I'm on my way now. Stay there, and we'll take care of them all."

"No, that's not the way to handle it. I've already been warned by her security that that would cause too much trouble. Besides, if she found out, she would never tell us what was going on any more." Odagiri informed him.

"That's true. I wonder if her father knows about this, yet." Tsuchi said out loud.

"Doesn't she have to report everything to him now no matter how small?" Odagiri recalled.

"Yes, but since it just happened, I'm sure he doesn't know yet." Tsuchi responded.

"I wish I had his phone number to call him right now." Odagiri mentioned. "Maybe he would know what to do."

"You may have a point. I'll call him. I have him on speed dial. I also have to report to him weekly to let him know what is going on with his daughter. He makes sure that our stories match." Tsuchi told him.

"Seriously?" Odagiri was surprised.

"Yes. Oh yeah, why don't you call Mariko? Since that is her school, she may have ideas on how to deal with things, and she can also watch out for Imani. Meanwhile, I'll call her father." Tsuchi instructed him.

"Good idea. We'll hook up when we get to the restaurant, and I'll let you know how things went." Odagiri told him. Odagiri hung up and called Mariko. "Hey Mariko oneesan, how are you? It's Ryo. What are you up to? Where are you at? Do you have time to meet me for lunch today?"

"Sure I have time. Are you treating today? If so, then what is it you want?" Mariko asked suspiciously.

"Who says something has to be up? But I will treat. Let's meet at Imani's restaurant." Odagiri didn't want to worry her.

"Cheapskate, you know we don't have to pay when we go there." Mariko teased.

"No comment. I'll see you there in 30." Odagiri chuckled.

"Yeah." Mariko confirmed.

Thirty minutes later, they were in the private reserved area in Imani's restaurant. "So what's the occasion?" Mariko asked first.

"Imani." Odagiri replied.

"I figured as much. So what trouble has she gotten herself into this time?" Mariko asked.

"It's not her fault. Actually, it's usually not her fault." Odagiri said thoughtfully and then reported to Mariko what happened.

Mariko sighed. "Does Hikaru know?"

"Yes, I told him before I told you, and he suggested calling you since this is your turf." Odagiri told her. "He called her dad."

Mariko nodded and took out her phone to call. "Hikaru, where are you?"

"I'm at work." Tsuchi replied.

"Well, take off and get your butt over here so that we can discuss Imani's problem properly and figure out how to deal with it." Mariko ordered him.

"I can't. I'm working extra today so that I can take off early tomorrow and have lunch with Imani." Tsuchi told her.

Mariko nodded. "That's good, but do you have any ideas to help her or did her father say anything?"

"He said that he'll leave it to us since it is kind of our fault. He also said that he hopes we come up with something good since Imani will be too afraid of hurting her students to fight. But she also doesn't want security involved because that will tip off people that she has bodyguards. He said if all else fails, call Imani and ask her what to do." Tsuchi explained.

"I agree. We should handle it ourselves, preferably without Imani's involvement. Maybe I should meet with Ryo and Imani when he gets tutored." Mariko tried to think.

"I wish Yankumi was here. She would probably have some idea or come up with some scheme." Odagiri said.

"Wait, that's it." Mariko said. "I got it." She told both Tsuchi and Odagiri the plans, and they agreed to it and thought it was a good idea.

The next day, Imani slightly dreaded going to class. It wasn't that she let things get to her or cared at all about the rumors spreading. She just didn't want anything to distract her students from learning.

As expected, the class treated her the same way as the other classes had the day before with the bustling class becoming silent as she walked into the door and notes being passed and whispers abounding as she taught the class. That was until the last five minutes of the class.

Imani turned around to find that Tsuchi had walked into the class and sat down in the back. Imani paused for but a moment, took off her glasses, pretended to clean them as she winked at Tsuchi and donned them quickly. She turned back around to the board to hide both her shock and pleasure at his presence.

When she turned around again, her eyebrows arched and raised in surprise to find that Odagiri had also walked in to the classroom and sat next to Tsuchi. But she did not miss a beat in giving her lecture. However when Mariko walked into the classroom, Imani finally broke into the smile that had threatened to erupt the minute she saw Tsuchi at first. She finally and quickly dismissed the class as everyone turned to the back of the room shocked to see the three guests. Imani rushed to the back of the room to greet them.

Imani hugged and kissed all three of them on the cheek as her students took out their cell phones to dial their classmates in Imani's other classes and tell them about the three visitors. Imani would not have been at all surprised to find the other 60 students waiting in the hall.

"What are you guys doing here?" Imani smiled and asked. "It's not that I am not glad to see you."

Mariko spoke up loud and clear for everyone to hear her. "We just came to visit the best tutor in the world and treat you to lunch as a way of saying thanks."

Imani gave Mariko a look asking if she knew about the bullying. Mariko gave a slight nod. Imani shrugged as if to ask "how." Mariko tilted her head toward Odagiri. Imani nodded.

As one of the female students was leaving, she greeted Mariko. "Tsuchiya senpai, what are you doing here? Do you know Harrison sensei? Were you in one of her classes?"

"Oh, Harrison sensei is a friend and former tutor of mine. If it hadn't been for her excellent teaching skills, I would have never passed math. My brother and his friend also have to thank her for relying on her excellent teaching skills." She motioned toward Tsuchi and Odagiri.

As the news was passed back to the other students, there were a series of "Oh's, and "Ah's". So as the four left walking arm in arm, with Imani and Mariko in the lead, and Tsuchi and Odagiri on either end, many of her students in her other classes arrived to find out what was going on. They would run up to their classmates and ask after the situation to which they were told that she was the tutor for Tsuchiya sempai, her younger brother, and his friend.

Each would respond with an "Oh" or an "Ah" as they understood the situation. The four also heard various comments of "I knew Sensei wasn't a player," or "I knew Sensei didn't go for the cool type," or I knew it was all a misunderstanding." Imani and Mariko tried not to laugh, but they had to hold Tsuchi from going back when one male student commented. "I bet I could make her change her mind about pretty boys if she dated me."

When they were outside away from all of her student's viewing and hearing, Imani stopped and bowed before all of them. "Thank you all, but how did you know?"

Odagiri spoke up sheepishly. "I left something in your office the other night when I was here so I stopped by yesterday to get it when I saw your three confrontations. I called Tsuchi and Mariko to figure out how we could help you. Tsuchi even called your dad and asked him what he thought you would and wouldn't do. So, Mariko came up with this idea."

Imani turned to Mariko and hugged her again. "Thank you so much. I really appreciate it."

"You're welcome. You know you should depend on us more. We can help you, especially since some us got you into this mess in the first place." Mariko turned to look at the boys.

"See, so far you have had more trouble from us than we have from you." Tsuchi said.

"That's true, but that isn't anything to brag about." Imani laughed. "If anything, that means that I should stay away from you guys so that I don't get into any more trouble." Tsuchi frowned. "I'm just kidding. So, are you guys really treating me to lunch or was that just for my class's benefit. If so, where are we going?"

They all looked at each other having forgotten about that. "Don't tell me we are going to my restaurant where it is free?" Imani teased them.

"No, no, I'll treat." Tsuchi told them. "Let's go to the restaurant where we first ate that time."

On the way to the restaurant, they saw the five bullies. Odagiri pointed them out. "Mariko, you're up."

Tsuchi turned to Imani. "I'm afraid we are going to need you to hide, okay?"

Imani nodded. "Understood," and ran off.

Tsuchi and Odagiri headed back the way they came while Mariko ran ahead a bit and turned back. They all walked toward each other in the direct path of the bullies. Mariko strode up to Odagiri and Tsuchi and yelled. "Ryu, Tora, have you found the people who have been bullying the clan's ojou yet?" (A/N: Ryu means dragon, and Tora means tiger.)

"Sh, not so loud. We're in the presence of the katagi." Tsuchi responded and looked around anxiously. (A/N: katagi apparently is a yakuza word meaning non-yakuza or regular people)

"Oh, oh yes, I forgot. So have you found the bullies that have been messing with our gaijin sensei?" Mariko asked in a lower tone but loud enough for the bullies to hear.

"No, not yet, but we're still looking out for them. We should find them within a week." Odagiri replied.

Mariko slapped both Odagiri and Tsuchi loud enough to make a clapping noise. The boys grabbed their cheeks in pain. "That's not good enough! You've already had enough time. You should have found them by now. We can't have our sensei being bullied."

"I don't understand why she doesn't just deal with those bullies herself." Odagiri said. "She's more than capable."

"Do you expect the clan's ojou to handle it herself? Besides, that's why our American friends sent her over here in the first place under our protection as our ojou." Mariko explained.

"Why? It's not like anyone died last time. So they had to pay some people to keep quiet about what happened and make a few others disappear on cruises to nowhere." Odagiri spoke up.

"Yeah, but it's a lot of trouble. Anyway, you better hurry up and find them before she gets angry. She's calm most of the time but when she's angry, she snaps. Those boys last time were beaten to within an inch of their lives. Fortunately she calmed down. I'm hoping we don't have to do the same here. By the way, what are you planning to do when you find them?"

Tsuchi smiled deviously. "Give them a friendly warning. And if that doesn't work, they'll have to perform an act of contrition." Tsuchi held up his hand and only had four fingers.

Imani had to cover her mouth to keep from laughing out loud, especially when she saw the five girls turn pale.

"Yakuza. Those two hot guys are yakuza?" One of the tanned, bleached blonde girls responded, shivering.

"Yeah, good." Mariko continued. "That's what you get for flirting with her without her permission when you first met her." Mariko smiled.

"Hey, how was I supposed to know that her father and the Kumichou were sworn brothers? I thought that she was a new foreign hostess, and I wanted to get my dibs in." Tsuchi shrugged.

"Baka!" Odagiri hit Tsuchi in the back of the head.

"By the way, who are we looking for anyway?" Mariko asked.

"It's supposed to be five girls. The leader is slightly big and tall, two of the girls are ko girls, and then two more are plain and not really noticeable. I think they go to her school." Odagiri described them.

They looked around, and Mariko pointed to the five girls. "Hey you five, get over here now." The five girls looked around and pointed to themselves. Mariko nodded. "What? Do you need a written invitation? Here. Now." Mariko pointed to a spot in front of her.

The girls looked at each other and rushed nervously over there. Mariko looked over the girls carefully. "You five fit the description. Do you attend Keiko University?"

"N-no." The leader responded nervously.

"Are you sure because you five fit the description of some girls bullying a certain gaijin professor. Do you know any gaijin professor?" Mariko was slightly taller than the leader and looked down and got into her face.

The girl shook her head vigorously. "Uh uh, nope. I don't know no gaijin sensei nor any gaijin not at my school or any other school."

"Are you sure?" Mariko asked again. "Because if you are lying to me, I'll come back to haunt you." The girl nodded. Mariko pat her lightly on the face. "Fine, you better not be lying to me, and I better never catch you bullying anyone or else." Mariko sliced across her throat with her fingers and then snapped her fingers. Imani was surprise to see her own bodyguards come out of nowhere and surround the girls. The five girls' eyes gaped, and they nodded.

"Fine, get going." Mariko snapped her fingers again, and Imani's bodyguards disbanded, allowing the girls to leave.

Tsuchi texted Imani and asked her to come from the direction of the University. When Imani arrived, they all bowed to her and called her "Ojou." Imani acted her role and motioned for them to rise although internally she wanted to burst out laughing. The girls, who had been looking back to see if they had been followed, saw what happened and ran. Imani finally burst out laughing.

"You guys are the best, or should I say the worst? Whose idea was it?" Imani asked.

"Mariko's," Tsuchi responded.

"Nice yakuza slang and accent Mariko. You guys had fun doing that didn't you?" They all nodded. "But where did you get the idea."

"Yankumi, of course." Mariko smiled.

"But did you guys get hurt when Mariko slapped you? I could hear that slap loud and clear." Imani searched Tsuchi's and Odagiri's face.

"No, we took a page from your book and adjusted at the right time to minimize the impact." Odagiri smiled.

"How did you get the Kens involved?" Imani wondered.

"That. They volunteered once Tsuchi informed your dad of our plan." Mariko explained.

"You guys really are the best. I guess I'll treat since I owe you one." Imani smiled as they headed toward the restaurant.

"Nothing doing." Tsuchi spoke up. "We owe you for getting you into this mess in the first place to apologize for the trouble."

Imani nodded. "True, I just hope you have enough money."

Tsuchi smiled. "Oh, don't worry about that. I have plenty since I have a second income."

"Eh?" All three looked at Tsuchi wondering.

(A/N): Okay, one chapter to go, plus an epilogue. There were several places in this story that I thought about ending it, but I felt that I wanted to provide more insight into what happens after they get together. Besides, what is a Gokusen story without an episode on bullying?

Ko-gal is a girl that usually tans their skin, bleaches their hand blonde, and is considered to be loose or easy.

Preview for the next chapter:The first time they argued fiercely, Tsuchi walked out of the house while Imani was still in discussion.