A.N.: I'm sorry for the late update! Will upload the next one prolly by next week. :D

WARNING: Some mild pre-smut. And NO, it's not what you think.

The charity night had been quite a successful one by business standards, and the whole of the Ooedo Kumi could not be more happier. Kuroda Ryuuichirou was especially cheerful the morning next, and he shared his happiness to the rest of the household by personally cooking their breakfast.

"Whoa, Oji-chan! This looks delicious!" Yankumi said brightly as she stared at the full table in front of her. The other members of the kumi were in tears at their immense gratitude and respect for their boss, with the exception of Ucchiyama, who still looked quite morose due to the previous night's events.

"I took the liberty of making our breakfast because I am very much impressed by the kumi's efforts to make the charity event a successful one," said Kuroda, smiling. The kumi howled in tears and clung to every bit of their old boss' yukata, almost pulling it off.

"Arigatou gozaimasu, Kumichou!!!"

The boss of the Ooedo kumi just chuckled good-naturedly and told his men to get started with their meal.

After a hearty "Itadakimasu!!!", the group dug in their scrumptious feast. Yankumi shovelled the food in her mouth, eager to fully enjoy her grandfather's cooking. However, her joyful mood wavered when she saw in the corner of her eye the tired movements of her former student, who suffered from a severe case of hangover.

"Ucchiyama," she nudged him softly on the side.

"Aah." Was his only reply. Yankumi could not help but feel a twinge of annoyance at his sudden change of treatment with her. Last night he was practically worshipping her at the ball, but this morning he acted worse than a girl with PMS.

"Are you alright? Isn't grandpa's cooking delicious?"

"Aah."

Incensed, Yankumi slammed her fists on the table and stood up. "What's with all the Aah, aah's?! Answer me properly, Ucchiyama!!!"

The kumi stopped silent in the middle of their loud chatter. Kuroda frowned at the tension building up at the table.

Ucchiyama bowed at the kumi and stood up slowly. "If you'll excuse me…" He muttered and walked out onto the balcony.

Minoru watched him go with sympathetic eyes. "Poor Ucchi, he's still too young to handle hangover," he said, shaking his head. The rest of the men murmured their assent.

Kuroda regarded his fuming granddaughter with concerned eyes. "Are you alright, Kumiko?"

"Stupid brat thinks he can just drink himself hoarse at night and act like a jerk the day next," she said angrily, sitting down.

"Don't let him get to you," said Kuroda. "Try to understand his situation, Kumiko."

Yankumi raised her eyes to look at her grandfather the bowed her head low. "Gomenasai, Ojii-san. I just got carried away. I forgot about the matter with Shin."

"Well, do try and make up with him later on your way to school, alright?"

"I will," said Yankumi, eating her food again. The rest of kumi was relieved that their Ojou finally calmed down, and started chatting over breakfast again.

--

Yankumi made it a point that she and Ucchi went to their workplaces together that morning. She was hoping that maybe her former student would be perkier after taking his bath, but to no avail. Ucchi kept staring right ahead as Yankumi walked beside him, looking determinedly cheery.

"Nice morning, isn't it?" She chirped as they walked along the empty road leading to the Keiko district. "The weather's fine and everything seems good. Don't you think so, Ucchi?"

She glanced at her former student only to see him just staring blankly ahead as he walked.

A vein pulsed in Yankumi's temple. Losing her temper, she stopped and grabbed Ucchi's arm, making him stop, too.

"Look, Ucchiyama, you acting like this isn't helping matters at all," she scolded him, pulling his arm to make him face her, but he refused to meet her eyes. Sighing, she reached out to his face, putting a gentle hand to his cheek and turning his head so she could look up at him directly. Yankumi knew that this gesture was against a teacher's standard policies with her students, and she also knew that she shouldn't be encouraging Ucchiyama's feelings for her with intimate actions, but she could see that it was working. Ucchi's eyes stared down to her determined bespectacled ones, a blush forming on his otherwise pale cheeks.

"You don't have to carry all the burden of trying to understand why he went away, you know," she whispered up at him. "It's alright if you share it with me. I know you're confused, but at least you should acknowledge the fact that you're not alone. You have me, Ucchiyama."

She could see his eyes burning with bitter anguish and some other feeling that she couldn't quite register. His hand came out of nowhere and cupped her cheek, caressing her soft flesh with his thumb. His other hand grabbed her waist and pulled her close to him, his mouth hovering over her ear as he pressed a kiss to her temple.

"I'm sorry for being such a jerk, Yankumi," he murmured, nuzzling her neck. "I shouldn't take it all out on you. I forget myself. I'm sorry."

Yankumi closed her eyes, relishing the intimacy of their situation without quite realizing it. She wondered fleetingly why she was letting him do all these things to her, his former sensei, but she wasn't in the right state of mind to meditate on it. She just let out a happy sigh and Ucchi heard it, not believing his ears. Elation rising up from the pit of his stomach, he left the warm solace of her neck and stared into her blushing face. Unable to control himself any longer, he gave a low growl and captured her lips in a kiss.

Ucchi could not believe it. He could feel Yankumi responding, if a bit clumsily due to complete lack of experience, to the feel of his lips on hers. He deepened the kiss, pulling her closer to him as he continued to press his lips to hers. Yankumi herself had completely forgotten her inhibitions the instant she felt his lips, and sighed happily into the kiss, her arms going around his neck and her feet standing on tiptoes as she tried to level her face with his. Ucchi took this as a sign to continue and proceeded to pry her lips open with his tongue, to which she willing obliged to. He felt he was going to go crazy with the feel of his tongue stroking hers, and he groaned in the ecstasy of it. He was in heaven, he was sure of it, and all anguish about Shin vanished from his mind as his passion for his former sensei was poured into their deep kiss.

"Y-Yamaguchi-sensei?!"

A loud female squeak emitted from somewhere beside them, making them pull apart in complete and utter shock.

The two of them turned to see Fujiyama-sensei and Kawashima-sensei staring at them with wide eyes, mouths hanging open in stupefaction. Yankumi's own eyes widened as she recognized the two women through her post-snog daze.

"Oh. My. God. It is you!" Fujiyama-sensei exclaimed. Her eyes turned to stare at Ucchi, and her eyes grew even wider as she realized who he was, too.

"Ucchiyama Haruhiko?! From 3-D gumi?"

Ucchi did not reply, but just stared somewhere else in the road, a blush placed on his cheeks forever. Kawashima then cleared her throat, realizing the extremely awkward situation they have gotten themselves into.

"Gomenasai Yamaguchi-sensei, Ucchiyama-kun, we didn't mean to run into you," she said, giggling weakly as she grabbed Fujiyama-sensei's arm and proceeded to pull her away to the bus stop just a few blocks ahead. Fujiyama, however, wasn't about to let go of them easily so she jerked her arm away from Kawashima and squealed.

"Oh my god!!! You didn't tell us you two are dating! There's no need to be ashamed of it, Yamaguchi-sensei. We all know it's been four years since Ucchi-kun here graduated, ne?" She grinned at them, and Yankumi grinned back a bit uncertainly, the blush in her cheeks deepening to a dark rouge.

"W-well, I--"

"Yes, yes, it's all fine and well, but I'm afraid we must go catch the bus," said Kawashima, smiling apologetically at the interrupted pair. She was the mature one of the two and she knew how to repress her questions if the situation requires it. "Gomen, Yamaguchi-sensei, Fujiyama-sensei seems to be a bit too inquisitive today."

Yankumi nodded thankfully at Kawashima, but Fujiyama stubbornly refused to be pulled away. "But, Kawashima-sensei, we have to tell Yamaguchi-sensei about the reunion we are planning to hold!"

"Eh?" Yankumi was surprised. A reunion? She didn't know that the two teachers missed the students that much, too.

"Yes, I was thinking of gathering class 3-C together, so I thought of contacting you so we could hold the party together with class 3-D," said Fujiyama. "Wouldn't it be fun, Yamaguchi-sensei? It would be just for a night. You have to get your class 3-D together by Friday, okay? I'm looking forward to having you help me set this up. We don't really have a place to gather in right now so if you have any ideas, call me. Just contact me if you want to discuss the party details. Here's my number." She handed Yankumi a business card and let herself be led away by a perpetually apologetic Kawashima, who mouthed Gomenasai to Yankumi as she dragged her overly-excited colleague away from the pair.

"H-hai…" was the only thing Yankumi could say to the teachers. She stared at the card Fujiyama gave her, and then turned her gaze to Ucchi, who was staring at her with a small smile on his lips.

"So," he began, but Yankumi interrupted him.

"Ucchi, I don't think--"

"Don't." Ucchi stopped her in mid-talk. "Don't ruin it, Yankumi. It was the best few minutes of my life, and I want to enjoy it for at least a couple of days before you start lecturing me about how you think all of this is wrong."

"B-but--!"

Ucchiyama just wrapped an arm around her waist and led her to the school district. Yankumi was surprised at how intimate he was already, as if they were dating. But we're not! Yankumi furiously told herself. This is just a… a…

An affair? said her inner voice.

Ye--NO!!! She stopped that train of thought immediately. She most certainly did not want to even think about having an affair with her former student. The sound of that word just sounded too… illicit.

No, this is not--and will never be--an affair.

"Of course it isn't," Ucchi's amused voice broke into her train of thought. "I'm pretty serious about this, so I plan to make it work."

Dear God, did she say that out loud? Yankumi blushed deeper than beetroot and squirmed under Ucchi's firm one-armed embrace. Her former student--the sheer nerve of him!--chuckled and pulled her closer to him. His laugh sounded just like he used to when he was back in class 3-D with his good old friends--and Yankumi realized this was the first time she ever heard him laugh like that in the past few years.

Was he really that serious about her?

Realizing she couldn't bear blushing any deeper anymore, she took Ucchi off-guard and elbowed him—hard--on the ribs. Ignoring his loud cries of pain and surprise, she took off to the school district.

"Oi, Yankumi! What the hell?!"

"RACE YOU TO THE UNIVERSITY!!!" She yelled, a few octaves louder than anybody would think was proper in an area filled with scholastic buildings, but she didn't actually care. She decided she'd rather be rowdy than blushing like a schoolgirl under her former student's gaze--oh, the horror! "LAST ONE IS A FAGGOT!!!"

"You gotta be joking! There's no way I'd win against you, you madwoman! And stop yelling like that, you're gonna wake up the rest of the city!" But Ucchi ran after her nevertheless, fully aware that Yankumi would beat him shitless any day in a race, or whatever frigging sport his crazy sensei would ever want to engage in. She just guffawed like the gangster that she is and sprinted on, already a good few kilometres far from him.

Ucchi shook his head as he ran, trying to keep the distance between them minimal, but to no avail. Yankumi seemed intent on humiliating his already whipped ass. He realized that he had bagged himself a rather crazy woman instead of a prim and proper former teacher, but then smiled and chuckled, telling himself that being rather insane is just the perfect addition to the wonderfully addictive person that Yankumi really is.

He'll never regret giving in to his desires to kiss her, ever.

--

"Uuuhhh…" Kuma scratched his head as he stared at the list of names printed on the paper that Yankumi handed him. He squinted his eyes and gave a small frown. "You sure you want to invite 'em all, Yankumi?"

"Yeah," Yankumi nodded. "I'm pretty sure."

"But there's too many of them!"

"Well, find a way to contact them anyway!" Yankumi said impatiently as she stuffed her mouth full with ramen. Ucchi watched her stuff her face with an amused expression and turned to Kuma, tapping him at the back. "I'll help you, man. Let's get Minami and Noda to help us too. This woman here is too busy being a pig to do her own damn job, so she's passing on the task to us lowly beings." He jerked his head to their former sensei.

"Well, that's why you guys went to school, anyway," Yankumi mumbled before inhaling another chopstickful of ramen. "And Ucchi, you won't raise your chances with me if you continue calling me a pig when I eat." She added, wagging a finger at the amused blond.

Kuma raised his eyebrows Yankumi's last statement but did not say anything, being the rather unperceptive person that he is. He just snorted and stared back at the list. He sighed and took out his cellphone from his apron pocket.

"Well, let's start calling 'em up, then."

Yankumi turned to Ucchiyama, who was picking up his own phone to help Kuma with his job. She tapped him on the shoulder with her chopsticks.

"I need a location," she told him.

He stared at her contemplatively. "How about we ask round the kumi? They might know a place we can rent for a cheap price."

Yankumi nodded. "Good call, Ucchi. I'll ask Tetsu about it later."

--

"What?! No, Ojii-san! That is definitely not going to happen!"

Yankumi's incredulous voice sounded all throughout the Ooedo mansion that night. Her grandfather, upon hearing her conversation with Tetsu over the meal, had been gracious enough to offer their house—a formal gang headquarters—as the gathering place for the class reunion. Yankumi had promptly spit out the tea that she was drinking in Tetsu's face before turning to her grandpa and voicing out her big NO.

Kuroda only chuckled at her daughter's harried expression. "Oh, do calm down, Kumiko. It was merely a suggestion. Besides, I think it would be nice if I get to meet your precious students. And I'm more than certain that the kumi will love preparing everything for them. That way you and your fellow teachers won't be troubled with anything."

Ucchi's voice piped up from beside her. "I personally think that's a good idea." Kuroda nodded at him in appreciation and turned to his granddaughter again.

"See? Ucchi thinks I'm right."

Yankumi fixed Ucchi with a death glare. "You will not go around agreeing with everything grandpa says."

"I'm not. I only agree when I think someone's right." He returned her glare with a smirk.

"Oooh, I don't believe this," Yankumi gave up and shook her head wearily. "Fine, you guys win. We'll have the thing here. BUT!!!" She fixed every single member of the kumi, including her incredibly amused grandfather and an eternally smirking Ucchi, a threatening glare. "I don't want any funny stuff, okay? The people we're going to have here were my students, and I want everyone to be a good example. Which means no strong alcohol, even if they're not minors anymore. I only allow a bit of sake. Are we clear?"

"Ossu!"

--

Kuma, Ucchi, Minami and Noda's combined efforts were enough to round-up the mass of raucous students of 3-D gumi, except for one guy. Three guesses who.

"We're still missing Shin," Kumi sighed as he handed Yankumi almost crossed-out list two days after. "I don't know his new number, and nobody else does."

"Surprise, surprise," muttered Ucchi darkly from one corner. Yankumi sighed and stood up, grabbing her jacket from a hook in the Ooedo sitting room.

"Where are you going?" Kuma asked her, puzzled.

"Gonna look for Sawada, of course," said Yankumi, tucking a dagger inside her jacket--what the hell did she need that for? Kuma would never know, but knowing Yankumi, she just invited trouble every single place she went, so she probably needed the added assurance. He stood up too, as well as Ucchi.

"We'll come with you," Ucchi said, apparently not inclined to let Yankumi out by herself at night.

"No, thanks," Yankumi waved him off like an annoying fly.

"But why not?!"

"Because I think it would be better if I talk to him first," she rationalized. "And besides, knowing you, you two would get into a fight two seconds into the conversation."

Ucchi flushed at that. Yankumi was spot-on. "W-well, I'll try to be nice."

"No can do, Ucchi, besides, Tetsu probably needs you at the kitchen. Go bother him." She pushed the two out into the hall.

"Go on," Ucchi urged Kuma. "I'll have a bit of talk with Yankumi."

Kuma, being the naïve git that he is, only nodded and followed Ucchi's orders, not reading into the situation much. Ucchi was left in the hall staring unabashedly at a rapidly blushing Yankumi.

"I-I need to go--"

"Nope!" Ucchi chirped, putting his arm out to block her way. "You're staying here!"

"Get the hell outta the way, Ucchiyama. I need to go find that Sawada git."

"Maybe later," Ucchi said, taking a step towards Yankumi, who flushed a deeper shade of red and took a step back. "Talk to me first."

"Go to hell."

"Whoa, touché," said Ucchi with smirk, he leaned over to Yankumi whose breath hitched in her throat.

She gulped. "Why are you suddenly acting so weird?"

"Eh?"

"Weird," Ucchi repeated. "Ever since we kissed in that street, you began acting like it never happened. You wouldn't let me touch you. You wouldn't even let me be a foot near you, for God's sake."

"Wha--Why the hell should I let you touch me anyway?!"

"Well, I dunno, maybe because WE FREAKIN KISSED ALREADY?!"

Yankumi blushed deeper, if that was even possible at her current state. "Don't say it out loud like that," she mumbled. "Someone might hear."

Ucchi raised an eyebrow. "So? Let them."

It was Yankumi's turn to raise an eyebrow. "Oh, really? Do you really want Tetsu running after you with a butcher knife?"

Ucchi gave her a sexy smirk. "I'm willing to take that risk if it means being with you."

"You--Stop that!"

"Stop what?"

"That! This!" Yankumi threw up her hands in the air and waved her hands about like she was flapping a pair of nonexistent wings. "We aren't supposed to be talking about this!"

"Why the hell not?" Ucchi took another step closer at her and she took another step back. "I'm pretty sure a huge kiss like that should not go unnoticed."

"I'm not unnotic-ing it! I just don't think it's proper to talk about it!"

Ucchi sighed. "But I told you I'm serious about this, Yankumi," he whispered. He ran a hand through his hair. "You believe me, right?"

Yankumi's eyes softened. "Of course I believe you. But that doesn't take away the fact that this is not proper."

"Yankumi…" Ucchi surprised the hell out of her by pulling her to him and hugging her close. Definitely not good. Or at least that's what she told herself as she nearly sighed at his warmth. "What am I ever to do with you? You're still so uptight." He kissed the top of her head and inhaled her sweet scent as he held her tight. "I missed you."

She rolled her eyes at his warm shirt, although she found herself leaning against him before she could stop herself. "You see me every day."

"No, I don't mean like that. I mean like this." He moved his mouth to her ear and whispered to her. "Like having you close to me like this. It's not like you let me do this all the time."

Yankumi had to chuckle at that. "As if I'd let you."

"Exactly," said Ucchi. "That's why I'm making the most out of this." He kissed her temple and moved to kiss her neck.

She couldn't help the small moan that slipped out of mouth. Damnit. Now Ucchi would think he's won her over.

True enough, Ucchi had smirked triumphantly into her skin as he heard her little gasp of feeling. Encouraged, he moved lower and sucked on a certain spot above her collarbone which, apparently, was a very, very, very sensitive spot.

Yankumi's moans were now more pronounced.

She trembled in his embrace, so he tightened his hold on her as he sucked and licked at that spot of skin, discreetly marking it with a hickey. Ha! Now she'll remember how she enjoyed this. Finally he had a sudden attack of mercy for her--she was helplessly moaning like a sex craved maniac already, and he knew it was killing her that she couldn't control the sounds she was making--so he let go of her neck with one final kiss and moved on to her mouth, drowning her mewls with his passion.

This time he knew he had driven her close to the edge for she responded almost immediately, wrapping her arms around him tightly and reaching up, pressing her lips to him as much as she could. He gave a low groan of appreciation and lifted her up, letting her wrap her legs around his waist as he carried her to a nearby wall, pressing her against it as he swept her lips with his tongue, seeking entrance. She opened to him willingly and their tongues battled for dominance. Damnit, he thought. She's a pretty good kisser for someone so… inexperienced.

And that made him want her all the more.

She was tracing mad patterns along his back, which felt really, really good, and Ucchi responded by grinding his newfound hardness on her hips. She moaned into his mouth and ground back with ferocity, sending waves of pleasure all over his spine. He could feel her breasts pressing against his chest as she rubbed against him passionately--who knew Yankumi had breasts? Thinking about her having those womanly parts used to be beyond all point of imagination to the students of class 3-D, but now Ucchi realized he cared, because Yankumi was more than her not-hot teacher now. She was a woman he cared about.

Like, cared a WHOLE shitload about. Like, ten times the care he exercised for all the girls he had fancied in his whole lifetime.

So, the discovery that she had a pair of wonderfully soft woman-mounds gave him a nice warm feeling in his chest. He couldn't help it as his hand trailed from her leg to her waist, hitching the fabric of her shirt up until he met bare skin, inching up and up until he reached the skin below her bra.

Yankumi did not give any indication of wanting him to stop. She was still preoccupied with driving him crazy with her tongue and her hands (as if her tongue wasn't enough--he was mad as hell for her already), and her ministrations seemed to point towards the fact that she must like it if he went ahead and did as he wanted. But, for some reason, Ucchi couldn't do it.

Damn it to a frilly hell, he couldn't touch those breasts.

For some reason, they were sacred.

His hands stilled at the skin just below them and moved lower until they were out of her shirt. Yankumi seemed to realize his decision to back off and immediately went rigid as a board, pulling away from his kiss and removing her hands from his back. She unwrapped her legs from his waist and stood in front of him, staring at him with wide, shocked eyes.

"Oh my God. I shouldn't have done that. I shouldn't have!"

"Yankumi--,"

But she was already out of the room, running out into the hallway and out of the house. He went after her, meaning to stop her and make sense of the whole damn situation, but he saw her exit the gates of the Ooedo mansion.

He had this strong feeling he wouldn't be seeing her for the rest of the night.

--

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