Hello, everyone! I'm not gonna type much today since I'm in a bad mood. Takaya Natsuki owns the original characters. Shiara Ramone owns Hikari, Luna, Dawn, Cole, and Kairi. I own Jade.
Chapter 8: Eraser Wars and Doubts
Momiji watched his students take their open-book English tests (AN: yes, he teaches English). Getting quite bored, he yawned noticeably. One of the students raised his hand. "What?" Momiji asked.
"What do we do when we're done?"
Momiji motioned for him to come over. As the high school student came, Momiji asked, "Is English supposed to be this boring?"
The students, all of them, sweatdropped at the sudden question. "You're the teacher, though! How can you be bored?"
Momiji sighed. "Maybe I'm just anxious. Oh and also, I'm just a student teacher… Where the heck is the real teacher, anyway?" Momiji picked up an eraser and stared at it, boredom clearly getting the better of him. He sat back in his seat and looked at the class, finally noticing everybody's staring. "Do I amuse you, class?" he said, throwing the eraser up and letting it land on his head. A few students dared to laugh quietly, bringing a smile to their teacher's face. "Now maybe this would be fun." He walked to a girl's desk and handed her a pass. "Go to the supply room and get some chalk, erasers, and chalky erasers."
"O-okay," said the blushing student. Although his teaching methods were sometimes questionable when he was bored, his looks somehow charmed his female students.
"I'm starting to get popular like my older cousin," he said to himself. "Oh well, at least she's coming back."
"I'm back, Mr. Sohma!" the girl exclaimed. (AN: any anime image: falling down, sweatdropping, whatever you want the students to do)
"Thank you, uh…"
"Sakura Minamoto!"
"Oh right… Hey, Kale," Momiji called to a student while taking up a chalky eraser in his hand.
"What sir?" he asked before getting smacked in the face by an eraser.
Momiji laughed and laughed and threw erasers. The whole room didn't even hear the end of the day bell, but instead continued their crazy eraser war. The teacher didn't even notice the visitor who came in.
Hatori stood in the doorway, having been called by the principal to come pick up the insane blond. "Momiji," he said loudly, anger in his voice. His younger relative smiled at him. "Do you want detention?"
"Oh come on!" the happy blond chirped as he hopped to his former guardian. "We were extremely bored in here. It was like getting a lecture from you."
"Sohma-san!" cheered a group of girls, running toward him.
"S-STOP!!!" he shouted, but was too late. (POOF!) The girls fell on a pile of clothes. Hatori told them to get off as he began searching for a little furry creature. "Ouch," said a rabbit as it climbed out of the soft pile. "Oops."
The class stared at him. What happened to their teacher? And where did this rabbit come from? Then another poof sound and smoke and Momiji gathered his clothes and ran into his rather large closest, remodeled just in case of such an emergency. After quickly changing, he came out to find his entire class on the floor and unconscious. "You should learn to be more careful, Momiji."
"I tried… I mean I know I should try harder to be more careful. It's just… I've been so restless lately. Sitting still drives me crazy, I can't concentrate when I'm teaching…"
"This all has to do with the letter, right?" Hatori asked, smiling as he watched Momiji blush. "If that's the case, then you're fine. Otherwise, I would be worried."
The blond had to smile. Of course it was because of the letter, but still… "Hey, Hatori?"
"What?"
"I was thinking… I mean… uh… man, this is hard."
"What's wrong?"
"Never mind, I'll ask you later. Besides," he grinned foolishly, "I trust you to give me a better answer than Shigure or Aya. I'd rather not have to listen to them."
"When would you like to talk then?" Hatori still had no clue what Momiji needed so much help with. Whatever it was, though, it must be something serious.
Momiji thought for a few minutes unsure of what to say. "I'll let you know," he replied finally. Hatori nodded, and left the room. He still couldn't believe how much Momiji had changed. He used to be such a cheerful boy, always acting so childish, but now… He had really grown up. There were times when his childish ways would reappear, but that was only when complete and absolute boredom had overcome him. Ever since Jade left, Momiji had become more serious and mature, like his other relatives. This had worried them, especially Tohru. She tried everything she could to get the old Momiji back, but nothing worked. So, they gave up.
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Jade was holding her rabbit close to her heart when William found her. "You've had that statue since before I met you," he said quietly. "Must be special."
"It is special. It came from my beloved rabbit friend back in Japan." She smiled at William, but her eyes were sad. "This last month of school will probably be the last time I see you."
"You're going back, aren't you?"
"I'm sorry, but yes. I want to see him again. Maybe get married and try to start a family of our own, but that won't be easy."
"Why not?"
"You wouldn't understand. Only Luna, Hikari, and… Mother… know what I'm going through."
"Something you can't tell me?"
Jade thought for a moment. Would he even believe her if she told him the truth? "Well… I know I shouldn't tell you about this, but if you promise… not to tell anyone at all…"
"I promise," William said, yet wondering how big a secret this was.
"Well, alright then. My family, or at least certain members, is cursed." William's eyes widened, shock coursing through him. "Momiji, the one I love, he is one of the cursed Sohmas. Whenever we hug or something like that, he… he becomes an animal."
"A rabbit?" asked William, remembering her statue.
"I guess that's obvious," Jade said, tears filling her eyes. "And well… that's why I said 'try' before."
William nodded, feeling a bit sorry for her. Then Jade just let the tears flow down her face, not caring if people saw her crying. "When we were kids together it didn't matter. I thought his rabbit form was really cute. Only now do I have doubts… We haven't even seen each other in eight years. What if he has forgotten me?!"
William held his friend close, trying to comfort her in her time of need. This Momiji must be really special for her to start crying like this. "Don't worry, Jade," he whispered. "No one could ever forget about you."
Sorry it took a while to post this one. Every time I tried to type it up, I was in a bad mood. Also, I want to know if I should explain what happened between William and his father. Should I or not?
