Disclaimer: I do not own Mai-Hime
The bell rang signifying that school was ended for the day. Students' heads looked up expectantly at me as they all waited for my permission. "All right, get out of here before I get upset." I stated which caused the kids to laugh before leaving. I went back to my desk to gather all of their homework to shove into my briefcase. "Kuga-Sensei.' A brunette boy with hazel eyes approached my desk, "I have a question concerning our lesson." I looked him directly in the eyes and folded my hands under my chin.
"What seems to be the problem, Yori." Out of all my students, this one was the brightest I've ever encountered within my entire career as a teacher. He may only be ten, but he acts more like an old man sometimes. Considering his family, I wasn't too surprised. He comes from one of the richest families in the world. In fact, all my students are from high society. I somehow lucked out getting my first job here as a teacher. I had to go through a lot of red tape to properly be enrolled in the school because of the background checks and interviews through so many channels of security. Anyway, the kid was exceptionally bright for his age. There wasn't a day he never approached me without some sort of question about today's lesson. I once asked him why he didn't just ask during class; he merely stated that he didn't want to interrupt because I might answer his question throughout the lecture. He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and his face serious.
"We were going over math concerning algebra. You told us that this was essential to our future. I must disagree with you, Kuga-Sensei. I have never heard my mother or father mention this throughout their work nor have I bare witnessed to algebra in any life situations."
"Yori, I once asked my own sensei the very same question, and do you know what they told me?" It was the first time I have ever heard such answer from a sensei in my entire life and had stuck with me throughout my life.
"What did they tell you?" He leaned in, his face contorted into a hungry expression for new information to absorb. What a strange kid! He seemed to greatly enjoy talking to me and seemed highly interested in my responses. Despite being a teacher, I never understood why kids are the way they are.
"She told me that that algebra is one of the most important lessons in life we are ever taught. The variables are the unknowns that are presented with the knowns. Every day in life, we are presented with bumps that are unexpected and algebra teaches us how to manipulate those unknown factors to come up with an easier solution to get the results we desire." His face told me understood what I said, and his eyes held an unknown emotion within him that I see every time we have a conversation. I never bothered to understand more than that. He was a very strange kid. During class, he remained quiet and restricted, but once school was over, it was like a switch flipped inside of him and he loved to talk. He would ask all sorts of questions about lessons and sometimes throw in things that had nothing to do with academics. The conversations didn't last long because his ride would always show up. It was then that I witnessed as he reverted back to the boy I was used to during class. I glanced at the clock and knew that his ride would be coming soon. Like clockwork, his chauffeur arrived and escorted him out. Whatever emotion he held left him instantly as soon as the ride gathered him. I turned my attention to my laptop and snapped it shut. I slid it into my leather briefcase. It was time to head home.
The drive wasn't too bad. I had to deal with traffic at the school because of limos and other flashy cars were either entering or leaving the premises. I pushed the button to open my garage door just a few houses away before pulling in. Closing the door behind me after I backed in, I got out of my car and entered my home. I dropped my keys on a lone wooden table heading straight to the bedroom. I had to walk through the hallway before encountering another door. My house was interestingly built by the past couple of owners. They made the house shaped like a staple |_|. On each side of the house, the bedrooms were placed with their own private bathrooms and in-between them was the garage. A hallway connected to the garage entrance door leading into the house for a good several feet before another door blocks the way. Once you enter the house, you're greeted with a wide spacious room from one end of the house to the other. The only room you could see from the doorway was the kitchen on your left resting against the far wall. The kitchen had an island in the center with counters bordering the walls of the entire room. Between the kitchen and the spare bedroom was my office. I placed an entertainment center on the far right of the room and a comfortable sofa a few feet away. A small end table stood between the two.
I loved the design of the house and at the asking price; I immediately grabbed it. I occupied the room behind the sofa and kept the other one with the bare necessities. I barely even used my kitchen. I changed clothes to get ready for my other job. I had a few more hours before my shift so I grabbed my briefcase and went straight into my office. I started covering my desk with students' papers and set my watch to notify me when it was almost time to leave. It felt like a mere matter of minutes before a sharp, piercing sound alerted me that it was time. I turned off the alarm and headed for the car garage. I stopped at the closet in the hallway to grab a coat. I ran a hand over my exhausted face as I got into the car and drove to my other job. Half an hour later, I pulled into the back of the building and parked. I quickly got out and headed for the back way entrance. I used my I.D. card to enter by sliding the thin plastic through the card reader. The red light temporarily turned green allowing me access. I took a deep breath then entered for a tiresome shift.
When the hour of nine-thirty rolled around, I dismissed my evening class. Usually, people would consider it strange to work at two different schools, but I only thought of the money and the time. For my second job, I work three days of the week at a university teaching calculus and trigonometry. It paid fairly. The sound of wooden chairs scooting against the bare floor and the hum of voices talking filled my ears. I sat at the desk as students walked by one-by-one placing their tests face down in a pile. It took a good fifteen minutes until all the students left did I gather the tests papers and placed them inside a binder. A yawn escaped the barriers of my lips; I rubbed my eyes to help massage away the tiredness. I was grateful there were no meetings to attend, I wanted to sleep. I stood up and exited the room with my material under an arm. I went straight to my car and drove home.
After throwing my keys on the table, I went straight to my office to dump my work on the desk before heading to the kitchen. I really should consider getting a coffee machine in my office so I didn't have to keep coming here. Thankfully, the weekend was tomorrow. I could sleep in a little before my third job started, which was tutoring. Every Saturday, I hold a tutoring class for various students at the university around noon. We would meet at the campus library and discuss the problems the students have. I, of course, get paid a healthy amount for my tutoring by the students. We spend a good three to four hours of tutoring before breaking up for the day, and I assign homework for them to turn in next weekend. I headed straight for my office once again after making me a nice mug of coffee and turned on the desk lamp. A sip coffee and classical music playing softly in the background, I was focused on my work. My mug empty and my vision getting blurred, I stopped for a moment to rub my eyes once more. I looked at the clock hanging on the wall to find it was almost two in the morning. I finished grading the paper before turning in. I headed straight for the bathroom to shower then went straight to bed on my wonderful extra large king sized bed, my pride and joy. The moment my head hit the pillow, I was out.
Morning always seemed to come too soon for my taste, but my trusty alarm clock notified me it was another day in the work force. I took a shower then dressed myself. My stomach complained about how I abandoned it nearly all day yesterday and was determined for me not to forget it this morning. When I looked through my kitchen, I realized I had nothing but an empty pizza box in the fridge. I really needed to do my grocery shopping soon, but I hated the task. In fact, I always seem to hold off on it as long as possible and usually get delivery or take out. I was always on the run so there was no time for me to boil water for instant noodles.
'Great. 'I thought as I grabbed a cup from the shelf and started drinking water to fill up my empty stomach. Glancing at the clock, I saw that I had some time before it I needed to meet my tutoring class. After draining my third cup, I felt the uncomfortable effect of water sloshing in my stretched belly. I headed straight for my office to finish up some more desk work. It was at times like this that I wished I had cable, but I dismissed it immediately. There was no point in an unnecessary luxury I'll rarely use. Instead, I turned on the radio and allowed myself to concentrate on the load of papers resting on my desk.
Once again, I dismissed my class as the handful of students stood up to gather their things. Their murmurings were a familiar sound I usually hear. I had a few students come and ask me some questions about the Pythagorean Theorem, which I explained. Understanding dawning in their eyes as they left and words of thanks greeted my ears. My stomach was grumbling awfully fearsome that it caused me to wince slightly at the pain. I guess it was not going to be happy with just water. I packed up my things and left the library. Putting my stuff in the passenger's seat, I looked around to find any place to eat. My eyes landed on McDonalds, but I quickly dismissed it. Usually, I prefer getting either take-out or drive-thru, but I felt like dining in. I needed a place with a good table so I could do some work. I got into my car and started driving around for anything that would catch my eye. Eventually, I discovered a small restaurant that served Mexican.
After being seated and my order taken, I spread out my workload and begun working. To help me concentrate, I plugged my ear buds into my ears and turned on my mp3 player. Some hard rock was always a welcome sound compared to the elevator music you hear in restaurants. My food arrived and drink refilled as I worked furiously. I would take a bite every so often without really looking or tasting the food. My red pen was dancing gloriously over the various papers. I had my music up as loud as necessary to drown out the outside noise, my mind working overtime. I always found this type of work so relaxing and soothing. I often hear fellow teachers gripe and complain, but I found myself unsympathetic to their cause. Why become a teacher if you found the work so distasteful? If you're students are having so much trouble understanding the material, apparently, the teacher is the one to blame for failing to explain the material properly. My eyes drank in the paper before me and realized my red pen had not made a single red mark once I reached the bottom. My mind automatically knew whose the paper belonged to before I glanced at the name. Yori.
I wrote a small message on the top of the paper before straightening the entire stack of papers for my morning job. I wrapped them with a thick rubber band with a sticky note on the cover sheet labeling what they were. The waitress entered my line of vision to ask if I wanted dessert as I was finished with my meal. I shook my head then agreed to some more water. She came back to fill my glass and handed me my bill. I already had my card ready and she disappeared again. I packed everything away by the time she came back with my receipt. I gave her a proper tip before leaving. For the first time today, I paid attention to the weather. It was perfect sweater weather, my favorite type. I wrapped my jacket closer to me and decided to just walk around the city. I returned to my car and placed my briefcase inside the trunk then faced a direction and walked forward.
One of the great things about sweater weather was that not too many people are happy being outside. They much prefer the warmer climates. I never understood that since I always found cool weather to be more comfortable. There were never any bugs, mowing, and the heat to worry about. Face it, with cooler weather, you never have to run your utilities up to an extorted amount nor would you have to worry about getting too hot. With the colder weather, you could bundle up enough to remain warm but with hot weather, one can only take off so much. My cheeks are probably a nice rosy color by now as a gust of wind blew past me. "Down with the Sickness" pumped loudly in my ears as I released a cloud of breath into the air. I wasn't really paying any attention to the direction my feet were taking me. I looked up in the sky to notice that the sun was much higher than I thought. 'How much time had passed?' I looked at my watch and was a little surprised to see that it was nearing five.
I had been walking for over an hour and not realized. I looked at my surroundings to discover I was in a really nice neighborhood, the kind that screamed out "Filthy Rich". The mansions were enormous! Each one appeared to house an entire block. The lawns were so meticulous that I feared even touching the perfect green stalks. I could not go further than the driveway of the neighborhood because of the high gated fences and a security outpost where security guards checked everyone entering and leaving. I wouldn't doubt for one second that almost all to all of my students lived in such colossal structures. Despite being their teacher, I could not make house calls about the students to the parents. I had to make months and sometimes years in advance schedules to fit myself in. It was annoying and very tiresome. There were moments when I needed to speak with the parents but unable to because they were out of the country or in an important meeting and such.
Thankfully, my students were so bad that I needed to call an emergency meeting. Those usually resulted in com-links. I guessed I paused too long outside because one of the security guards approached me. He was grilling me on why I looking. I simply ignored him and kept looking. Thankfully, my ear buds drowned out most of what he said and because my hair was down, they were kept hidden. I knew some of what he said from the way his mouth worded things, but I easily grew bored and kept looking. I guess he grew annoyed that I was ignoring him that he placed his hand on my shoulder, a terrible mistake on his part. I hated being touched especially by strangers. My reflexes usually moved faster than my mind does and before I knew it, I had him on the ground with his arm pinned behind his back and my knee digging between his shoulder blades. The sudden action caused one of my earbuds to fall out, that was when I heard distant yelling. With a bit more twist, I incapacitated the man beneath me to look up. Two more security guards were running toward us, one of them was yelling in his walkie for back up. 'Crap!' I thought. All I wanted to do was just admire the block and these Want-A-Be Cops were overreacting as if I was some type of terrorist. Because I didn't want to stir up anymore trouble, I instantly released the guy and held up my hands in surrender.
The officer that was brought down by me was not happy one bit. I bet more than anything, he was humiliated in front of his buddies because he was beaten so easily by a girl. His face was tomato –red as he rose up from his position on the ground and faced me. A scrape was shone on his chin with a hint of blood and his eyes were burning with fury. He instantly reached for his baton as his two buddies finally arrived. "You Fucking Bitch! You WILL know your place, Little Girl!" He screamed as he charged for me with his baton raised. I knew that despite him being a Want-A-Be Cop, he had to have been trained in basic combat.
My eyes never left that baton as it swung toward me. I had two options. One: I could have dodged the baton and hoped to God I could grab it. Or two: I could allow the baton to hit me. Since I didn't relish either choice, I chose option three: Get the Hell out! I was never more grateful that I was in track. I was complimented on how fast I ran in whatever sporting events I partook. Track was my favorite. I was once told that I ran like a cheetah. I instantly side-stepped just as the force of air from the baton rushed mere centimeters passed my body and took off at a dead sprint, I could hear the gasp of surprise before the slapping of rubber soles hitting the pavement behind me, but I knew I would be too far out of reach before their shock melted away. I turned a corner, widely, so I would not run into anyone by accident and kept up my pace for a mile.
My rapid beating heart reminded me how much I have abandoned my exercising needs. Something, I decided to remedy tomorrow. I looked behind me and heard no pursuing rants or running. Of course, I was not as fast as I used to be, I was still pretty quick on my feet. Even if they knew all the turns and cuts I've made during my trek, they would have a hard time catching up. I looked ahead of me to see that I wasn't too far from my parking spot. Only half way there and I would be there. I was tempted to run the rest of the way, but the stitch forming in my side warned me it would have been a bad idea. So, I just started to slowly walk in circles to catch my breath before doing a speed walk. My music was screaming in my ears as "Bodies" was playing. I felt the adrenaline fading from my body. I was calming down. I took deep slow heavy breaths to calm my heart. The pounding of the blood slowed in my temples. I could feel the aftermath of the adrenaline slowly disappear. A mild headache was left at its wake.
I spotted the restaurant where I ate, and my eyes landed on my car. I felt something akin to relief at seeing it. I simply wanted to just go home and shower. I honestly never understood why those guards were so wound up, but I wasn't going to stick around and play "Twenty Questions" with them. I jogged to my car and got inside. The burning in my legs told me I was going to pay for the sudden race later, but I did not care at the moment. All I wanted to do was just go home and forget about the earlier incident. I turned on the motor. I checked to see if the traffic was clear before exiting my parking spot. As I was about to increase my speed, I was in for a jarring moment. Like for anyone, who had ever been in a car accident, your first thought is blank before realization of the horrific truth floods your mind. 'You got to be fucking kidding me!' I instantly turned off my car and quickly got out. I slammed my door to emphasize my mood to the idiot, who ran into me. Before I could even open my mouth to let out my protests I was greeted with the freakiest and most captivating color of eyes I've ever seen.
"Ara! I am so sorry; are you all right?" I heard the question, but my mind couldn't stop thinking, 'What kind of person wears red colored contacts when it wasn't even Halloween?'
AN: All right, I would like to extend a high Thank You to everyone, who had reviewed and read this story. I would also like to say something in regards to "Romance of Different Proportions. I will more than likely say the same in the AN of the next chapter of that story, but I would like to write to my own defense. I was very surprised on how many reviews I've gotten for it and highly pleased with the response. I knew there would be some people against the story idea, which I respect, but I also would like to say a HUGE Thank You for those, who supported the story. I found it very funny to those upset by the story idea. Many people wrote how it was offensive or how Natsuki's name was female, or most of all, how Natsuki is female and nothing more. In my defense, I do enjoy testing and trying new things. As a reader, I love new material that hasn't been written fifty million times because it creates a more unpredictable setting. I love being taken by surprise! I know that there are fans, who abhor the idea of Natsuki being a man, but I never really seen much protest if she was a Futari. My main conclusive to that is, as long as there are two girls having hot, steamy sex, those fans don't care if Natsuki and Shizuru pairing are fantasy creatures, Futari, one a beast and the other human (bestiality ), siblings, parent/child relationship, jail-bait, Natsuki being overly masculine, or even if one is a computer/animation character while the other is a human being. I've read so many different types of pairings concerning these two that it stretches the mind to the extreme. I love it! But, I noticed that there were never any stories about them just having a heterosexual relationship. Now, I have no problem with the original pairings as I have mentioned before, but I always wanted to read one where the couple was just plain heterosexual for each other. And since no one had, I figured I might as well try. I think it is also a bit hypocritical of those fans to rage about how I ruined the couple because I made one of them male. I know Natsuki is a cannon female character. These are the fans that scream and whine about how closed-minded some people are about homosexuality, which I also agree, but these are the same fans, who seem to get offended just because I tried a heterosexual story. Why is it okay to write all those other types of stories for them but one heterosexual story should cause such strife? Now, I don't want anyone to get the wrong idea. I'm not offended or upset. I thought the arguments were interesting to read, but I do believe that these people are being a bit closed-minded themselves if they can't seem to wrap their minds that the world of fanfiction can do the impossible. I am sorry if it offended some people, but the reason why I never warned people in the description was because the story was made specifically to surprise. As for Natsuki's name remaining the same in the story, I didn't want to stray from Natsuki other than her gender. I would like to believe that Natsuki can be a mono-gender name. As for the conclusion, I would like to state that I believe the reason why Natsuki and Shizuru work so well is not because of gender but because they were meant to be soul-mates. Considering all the wide-ranged stories concerning the two, I think that they would have gotten together because it was who they are as a character that attracted them to each other and not the outside skin and gender they possess, hence, the reason why so many of us fans believe the two to be perfect soul-mates. Like I said, I felt I should write this just to explain my reasoning to the readers. I will more than likely post the AN concerning that story in the next chapter. Thank you so very much for reading and to those taking the time to review. I greatly enjoy reading your responses.
As for this story, I hope you have enjoyed it. In fact, I'm surprised you're still reading this but impressed! I hope to receive more support from you all.
