A/N

Yay! Two other people out there don't think that my idea was weird! (authoress does a crazy dance around her room, before stopping when she hears the floorboards start to creak). Heh…well, anyways, thanks loads for the reviews!

Shenhui: Hehe, thanks loads for the review. I hoped it was funny – then again, its Joker isn't it? How can he not be funny? Hmm…I don't know about the pairing thing. I was thinking about it…and coming up with the advantages and disadvantages of doing it, but I haven't come to any conclusion yet. What do you think about the idea?

Tanuki-chan: Aw, thanks! I totally understand the swooning bit about Joker. Who wouldn't? Isn't he just awesome? Hehehe, I wish there was more of him though…he's just adorable! Um, anyways, hope this chapter's good too, and thanks loads for the review!

anon: Heh, Buddhist guy? Oh! No, no...heh, it's someone totally different! Oh yes, I know her hair's purple in the anime version of 'Flame of Recca' but in the manga her hair's brown...and I kinda felt like using that, since we see much more of the guy I've made into a 'teacher' in the manga, as opposed to the anime. Thanks a lot for the review, and hope you like chapter two...

Chapter Two: First Physics Lesson

"You two know each other?" The strange teacher raised his eyebrows at the comment, although no-one could really see him doing it. He cocked his head to a side as he casually observed the brown-haired girl who was standing at the back of the class, gimlets still in her hands, and looking like she was torn between being surprised and killing someone. Or rather, killing him.

"…Er, I guess you could say that…" he said, at last.

"How?"

"Uh…well, I – " he paused. I was her enemy in the Urabutousatsujin, but then I kind of fought alongside her team-mate while dealing with the whole Tendoujigoku incident. He laughed silently. Like that'll make any sense to them.

"Sensei…?"

"Hai!"

"How do you know Fuuko?" The teacher grinned at the black-haired girl who had spoken, and at the curious expression on her face.

"We were…friends a long time ago…and – "

" – Friends?" This time it was one of the guys; Miyagi Ryosuke, if he remembered correctly. He nodded affirmatively. "But…how? Unless you're young…" The teacher sweat-dropped as he heard the emphasis on the word 'young.'

"Ano ne, Ryosuke…?" The student nodded. "How old do you think I am?"

"28?"

"Ack! No!" Ryosuke couldn't really prevent the grin from forming on his face as he took in the shocked expression on the teacher's face – or rather, of what they could see of the teacher's face. "Do I look that old?"

"No…I actually think you look older," said Hayashi Kyoshi, joining in with a grin. "Hmm…about 35?"

"GYAAAAH! This…this is too much…! I – "

" – I think that sensei is…23," interrupted a smooth, rather sickeningly sweet voice, catching everyone's attention.

"Oh god…" mumbled Kyoshi, rolling his eyes. "Good luck sensei…" If the man heard the comment, he didn't show it.

"As I was saying," said Masako, twirling a strand of her brown hair while gazing intently at the teacher, "He looks 23. I mean, look at him; with that sense of style, he's definitely not over 27…plus, with that body…" her voice trailed off as her eyes observed him from head to toe. The teacher fidgeted uncomfortably for a moment, before scratching the back of his head sheepishly.

"Ano ne, Masako-han…thank-you but – " He was interrupted by a squeal from one of the girl's seated at the long table with Masako.

"He knows your name! Oh you lucky girl!"

Clearing his throat, and pretending not to have heard that, he turned his attention to the two boys he had been talking to earlier. "Moving on…" his voice trailed off as he saw the girl standing at the back of the class. "Fuuko-han…why are you still standing?" The look that she shot him, even though she was rather a long way away from him, made him gulp. He could tell why most men were afraid to approach her…she really did make people's knees go weak. In a totally non-romantic way of course.

"…What are you doi - - " Fuuko stopped herself in time, before she said something she might possibly regret later on. She couldn't question him in front of her classmates; not unless she wanted them to know what she, Recca and the others had been up to for the past couple of months. It wasn't often that she decided to do this, but…she realized that she had no choice, so she bit her tongue and plopped herself down on her stool, not before sending the familiar man a strong glare. What is he doing here? Why isn't he with the rest of his friends?

"Sensei…? I hate to spoil the atmosphere," said an almost sarcastic voice, "But we are supposed to be having a lesson right now…i.e. we're supposed to be learning something…" The teacher watched as everyone turned, as one, to glare at the girl who had spoken. He sniffed as he saw the pointed look she was sending his way. What a spoilsport…she actually wants to learn…?

"Hai…I guess you're right…" he said, as he glanced at the clock on the wall to his left. He winced as he saw the time; he'd wasted 15 minutes of the lesson already. Pulling himself together, he turned his back to the class for a moment, as he scanned the textbooks on the teacher's table. There were four in total – they all looked horribly boring – and they all had, more or less, the same title. Picking out the light-blue one, he opened turned around to face the class. "Right…now, if everyone can take out this…dull, uninteresting blue book – yes, Nerd-han?" The girl put her raised hand down and narrowed her blue eyes at him at the name, while the rest of the class sniggered.

"You're using the wrong textbook. We used that one last year." Muttering under his breath, he whirled around and picked up a light green textbook, looking at it thoughtfully, before holding it out to the girl.

"And how about this one, Nerd-han?" he asked, politely, ignoring the second glare she sent his way.

"That's the right one."

"Oh. That's a relief." He flipped through the first couple of pages of the book, before glancing up at the class again. "Uh…Toru – is that your name?" The blond nodded. "Good, now…can you tell me where you stopped with Ishida-sensei?"

"We just finished the unit on lenses; the whole unit."

"Oh, that's great. Isn't that such a boring unit?" A few students murmured in agreement. "Hmm…so, I should start a new Unit then?" Toru nodded. "I see…" he flipped through a couple of pages again, before stopping. "Found it! Alright minna-han…please turn to page 347…" He watched as some students looked through their bags for the textbook, before hurriedly flicking to the page needed, while carrying on conversations with whoever they were seated next to. He smiled. Children these days...heh, I almost miss my – "Mou, Fuuko-han, you were included in the 'minna-han' bit…"

Sending him another dark look, the former Fuujin-wielder pulled her textbook closer to her and roughly flipped through it. As he watched her patiently, waiting until she got to the page, he noticed that she continued flipping. It struck him only a second later. "Page 347, Fuuko-han…" he reminded. Another dark look later, Fuuko had opened it to the necessary page. "Great. Now, as of today, and for the next two to three weeks, I guess, we'll be – "

"Sensei, we can't do this unit."

"…And why ever not, Nerd-han?"

"It's Unit 6."

"…And?"

"And?"

"…And?"

"We need to finish Units 4 and 5 before starting Unit 6!" There was a short silence in the labs as most people either groaned or took the opportunity to at least catch a few minutes of sleep, or just stared at the teacher who had a small vein ticking on the side of his head.

"We don't need to do any such thing, Nerd-han," said the teacher, cheerfully. "Now put a sock in it, will ya? J-sensei knows what he's doing!"

"J-sensei?" echoed one of the boys.

"Hai."

"What does it stand for?" The teacher grinned.

"What do you think it stands for?"

"Uh…John? James…?"

"…Er, no."

"Junichiro?" J-sensei clutched his heart, looking horrified.

"If that was my name, I think I'd have killed myself a long time ago! Such a boring name…"

"Humph, I bet it stands for something like joker, since that's what you seem to be…"

"Nerd-han! How did you guess?"

"W-what?"

"Joker – the 'J' stands for Joker!" There was a rather stunned silence the room, in which a snort coming from the last table was heard. Joker pouted. "What? Nobody likes my name…?"

"Er…of course we do, sensei…" said Toru, sweat-dropping.

"Hai! I think it's a really sexy name…" added one of the girls seated with Masako. The boy seated behind her snorted.

"Do you think Batman's a 'sexy' name too?" She shot him a foul glare. Realizing that the control of the lesson was slowly being taken away from him, Joker cleared his throat loudly. Sighing heavily as no-one took any notice of him, he leaned heavily against the teacher's table that was behind him. As he did so, his hand accidentally brushed a beaker that the previous teacher had used and left carelessly there. It fell to the ground with a loud crash, startling him enough to make him jump slightly.

More importantly, it got everyone's attention.

"Sensei…you do know that you pay for what you break in the lab, right?"

"I do?"

"Yeah."

"…Hai, hai…" he muttered, before forgetting about the broken beaker and turning his attention back to the now silent class. "So…let's start the lesson, shall we?" No-one, except Nerd-han seemed eager to do so, and to be honest, neither did he, but he had a job to do, right? "The first thing that we need to learn is wave motion. Now, as you can see in the diagram in your books, there are two kinds of wave motion; Transverse and Longitudinal. Transverse waves are… … … "

At the same time:

"Yes, I'd like to speak to Ishida-sensei." The elderly lady smiled ruefully at the tall, long-haired boy standing outside the staffroom.

"Gomen, Mikagami-kun," she said, "But he's not here."

"He's…not?"

"No."

"But…he's supposed to be here. He told me specifically to meet him at this time on Monday."

"Ah, you don't know what happened to him?"

"Something happened to him?" The lady nodded.

"Hai," she said, sighing, "Takao – that is, Ishida-sensei – met with an accident two days ago. He's not in school."

"Is he alright?"

"Well, we're not sure yet, but apparently, he'll be away from school and teaching for at least the next six months." She saw the boy's eyes widen and nodded, mistaking the reason behind it. "I know, it's terrible, isn't it? And Takao never did anything to deserve this…"

"I see…" Sensing the not too pleased note in the 'A' grade student's voice, the elderly teacher shot him a questioning glance.

"Is something wrong, Mikagami-kun?" she asked.

"…I was just wondering who'll be covering his classes…" He didn't take much notice of the teacher's somewhat bright smile.

"Oh, we've just hired a simply wonderful young man for the Physics department. Well, he was supposed to join us next term, but because of Takao's accident, he was hired early." She positively beamed as she spoke. "I don't know much about him since I'm not in the Physics department, but from what I've heard, he's supposed to know his stuff pretty well."

"I see; that's good then." He bowed politely at the teacher. "Thank you for your time." With that, he turned around and walked away briskly, hoping that this new replacement teacher would be just as good as Ishida Takao-sensei. Yes, the old man may be frightfully boring and unenthusiastic about the subject, but he certainly knew his stuff. And that was what counted at the end of the day.

At the end of the lesson:

"And do come back tomorrow! I think I can actually start to enjoy this job!" he called cheerily, as he watched the students stand up while packing their belongings in their bags.

"We have to admit, J-sensei, this lesson was tons more interesting than Ishida-sensei's ones…" said Ryosuke, grinning at him. "I mean, it's not everyday that we actually learn something in class, as opposed to going to some teacher outside of school…"

"Ahahaha…you flatter me, Ryosuke…"

"Plus," said Kyoshi, joining in, "It's not everyday that we get to see Ryoko effectively shut up in class; I mean, she's always going about like she's the next Einstein…or Newton. Or something." He grinned. "And I like the name Nerd-han…"

"See ya, sensei!" called Yuki, as she ran out of class.

"Ja!" Joker watched as the students filed out of the room for a while, before turning his attention to the teacher's desk behind him. He began collecting his own belongings which ranged from textbooks, scrap-paper, pens and pencils to a couple of wrapped chocolates. Eh…why do I have chocolates…? He shrugged as he took one. Who cares…might as well try one. He unwrapped one of the milky chocolates when he sensed a presence behind him and whirled around, only to be met by – he gulped – the Three Gigglers, as he liked to call them. "…Y-yes?"

"Sensei…we girls just wanted to tell you just how much fun today's lesson was," said Masako, smiling at him, "I mean, for a new teacher, it was brilliant; you got along so well with the class. Didn't he, girls?"

"Hai," agreed Etsuko, chewing her bottom lip.

"I'm sure the rest of the year is going to be so much fun…" added Rei, fiddling with the earring on her right ear. As one, the three girls shot him…what he guessed were supposed to be seductive smiles. By this time, of course, he was pushing himself into the teacher's desk so much that he might as well just sit down on it. But that wouldn't work – it would only give the girls…ideas.

"Uh…I…ano…" he broke off as Masako laughed.

"Aw, are you flustered, sensei?"

"M-me? Of course not; what makes you say that?"

"Why do you wear a hat, sensei?"

"What?" He winced as his back finally protested at being pressed too hard onto the table.

"Why do you wear that hat?" repeated Masako. "We'd really like to see your face…and your eyes…so…" she reached out towards his head. He held a hand out, as though defending himself and a smirk made his features more…mysterious.

"Gomen, Masako-han, but I don't think I'm going to let you do that," he said. "The hat is a part of my…nature, so it stays on my head." He cocked his head to a side as he heard the second bell ring, indicating that students going to classes after it would be marked as late. "I think you should all go for your next class, don't you?" He hoped they would leave. He really did.

"But…you'd get us out of trouble, wouldn't you, J-sensei?" asked Etsuko, batting her eyelids at him.

"Me?" Joker laughed. "Sorry hun, but that's not going to happen." He shook his head. "I suggest you girls go. Before something bad happens." The moment he said it, he regretted it.

"Bad?" asked Rei. "Why, what do you plan on doing to us, sensei?" He bit inside, on his lower lip. Why, why did these girls have to take things the wrong way? Calm down…caaaalm down…remember the good old Uruha days...when being calm helped in missions and stuff…He stopped. Aaah…but I never was calm, was I?

"Nothing. I just…uh, have something very important that I need to do," he said, clearing his mind as his eyes scanned the empty lab for any source of help. He found none, except for the figure standing at the back, looking disgusted and amused. Ah, the irony of it all. Should I stick with these three and be tortured, or should I opt for dealing with her…and be tortured anyway?

"What important thing?"

"Fuuko-han." He rephrased what he said almost immediately. "I have something important to talk to her about. So, if you three girls would kindly give me some space…"

"Kirisawa? What could you possibly want to talk to her about?"

"None of your business, Masako," said a cool voice from behind her. The three girls glared at Fuuko, who didn't look the slightest bit affected. "Can we talk here, or is there some place more private, sensei?"

"Oh, there's no need; stay here for all we care," said Masako, as she flipped her hair over her shoulder, whacking Joker's face as she did so. Itai… "It's not like you have anything to offer sensei…or any man…" She shot Joker a sweet smile. "Come on girls." The moment the three left the lab, Joker all but collapsed on the ground in relief.

"Fuuko-han!" he exclaimed, teary-eyed as he grasped her hands in his and held them to him, "Arigato! You have no idea how much I owe you…how much I'm in you debt. If you hadn't come and – ooof." He stepped away from her, clutching his head whilst she rubbed her elbow.

"What is your head made of? Steel?" she asked, darkly. He grinned at her.

"Nope; the finest quality of skin, brain and bones ever to exist in this world," he said, when he noticed the now melting chocolate in his hands.

"What the hell are you doing here? You're supposed to be with everyone else. With Neon, Raiha-kun and the freaking Uruha. Are you here to spy on us? Or to do anything else? If you are, let me tell you this. Even though we don't have our madougu anymore, we're not going to let you guys do whatever you want, OK?" Fuuko stopped. "Well?" she snapped, impatiently.

"…Here, have a chocolate." She stared at the slightly melted chocolate in the hand that was held out to her, before glaring at him. He chuckled. "It's not poisoned, Fuuko-han. It's just chocolate; surely you won't resist chocolate?" Seeing the glare darkening, he hurriedly slipped the chocolate into his own mouth. "Mmm…it's delicious. You sure you don't – "

"Yes, I'm sure," said Fuuko, fighting the urge to knock the man into a bloody pulp. Geez, Kurei, how did you put up with him?

"The same way everyone else put up with me; my personality and I grew on them," said Joker, making Fuuko realize that she had said her thoughts aloud loud. He grinned at the startled expression on her face, before looking around the lab. "Maa…it feels really good, you know? To be doing something normal for a change…"

Fuuko raised her eyebrows. "Normal? Well…I guess…but it's definitely not normal to have you as a…teacher…" She sighed. "C'mon Joker, tell me what's going on; why are you here?"

"Since the Uruha was disbanded, I wanted to try new things; and…well, yeah, that's how I ended up here…"

"You actually want to become a teacher?" Joker shrugged easily.

"I don't know…I thought I'd give it a shot for a while. If I like it, I'll stay; but if I don't – that is, if I get bored quickly, I'll leave…" He shot her another grin. "But its weird isn't it…to be teaching you?" Fuuko bonked him on the head again. "What was that for!"

"Oh god…Recca…he doesn't know about you yet, does he?" Joker looked thoughtful before shaking his head.

"I don't think so. Will I have to teach him?" his eyes widened. "You mean…the whole of the Hokage study here?" Fuuko nodded. "Yanagi-han too?" She nodded again. "Mikagami…? Domon?" His grin widened as she nodded. "Ahahaha…this should be fun! Maybe I won't get easily bored…"

"Maybe I should tell Recca and the others before hand, just in case…"

"Aw, are you worried about me, Fuuko-han?"

"Just in case they end up getting expelled from school for trying to kill you." Still smiling, Joker turned to one of the files he had brought in with him, looking for his timetable. Fuuko watched as he looked over it, wondering if he was teaching the rest of the Hokage.

"AAARGH!" She jumped a foot in the air, startled.

"What? What?" She watched as Joker started gathering up his stuff hurriedly, not caring whether he was squashing any sheets or not. "What!"

"I have a class now; and I'm 10 minutes late!" Sending the desk one last glance, he turned his back to it. "I'll see ya in class tomorrow, Fuuko-han," he said, as he somehow managed to throw something at her. She caught it deftly, a gimlet already in her hands to throw at him – in case – when she saw it was a chocolate.

"What…?"

"Present for you! Ja!" with that, he ran as fast as he could, outside the lab. Fuuko stared after him for a moment before staring at the chocolate in her hands. Well…maybe this whole thing will…makes things more interesting around here…?

Meanwhile:

Mikagami Tokiya, silent and emotionless as he seemed, didn't like being forced to wait. Well, he didn't like a lot of things, but being made to wait for something, or someone had never been something that pleased him. He had been somewhat curious about the new, replacement Physics teacher that he had heard about earlier…had wanted to see how he would teach them, and if it had any effect on his normally stupid class. In truth, he had just been curious to see if the new teacher knew his stuff. From what he had heard, he was supposed to, but he had wanted to see it for himself.

And the stupid idiot was late. Glancing at the clock on the wall, he noticed that he was 10 minutes late. The look on his face would have caused the poor cluck to freeze, and then shatter into numerous shards of ice…but, luckily, it was an inanimate object. It wasn't alive, and wouldn't be affected.

But he could not say the same thing for the replacement teacher, should he decide to turn up.

A/N

Phew, that was way longer than chapter one, wasn't it? Oh well. I included this bit with Mikagami coz he wasn't in the first chapter…and I felt bad about that. Heh, and after this, we'll have the reactions of the rest of the gang!

Hope it was interesting, please review!

Till chapter 3,

Siriusgirl1