Chapter 3: Slow start…

By the time Kurama made it to the field, his first class was sitting in the bleachers waiting. Glancing at the clipboard, he saw that the 7th graders were the first class. Most of the students, the boys that is, didn't seem to care that he was substituting for Jim, but the girls had gotten all giggly when they saw him coming and carrying a bunch of jump-ropes.

He did the protocol for the class, i.e. attendance and asking if there were any injuries that might keep them from participating in the exercise for the day. With that out of the way, he passed out the ropes and began demonstrating techniques on jump-roping. According to Jim's notes, he was suppose to explain the history of the exercise, but Kurama thought these kids could care less, so he instead taught them things like the crisscross, two person jumping (one person holds the rope while another stand in front of them, then they try to jump together) and then double-dutch, which the kids enjoyed greatly. After 45 minutes, the class was over and he dismissed them. Looking at his schedule again, he noticed he had a break before the next class and was to go on hall patrol in the dorm. This turned out to be very boring, the time dragging.

Making it back to the field, he saw the next class waiting, the clipboard showing that this was half of the 8th graders. Apparently the 8th grade was the biggest class this year and had to be divided into two classes.

When he called attendance, he noticed his friends, Jeremy, Ulrich, Odd and Aelita were in this class. They were surprised to see him, though word had spread about his presence, they didn't get to talk however, as class needed to start. Kurama showed them the same things with the jump-rope and as he made his way around to each student, he tried to say a few words to the gang, but every time he got close to them, the girl everyone called Sissi would ask if he would come over and show her how to do one of the techniques. Each time he walked over to her, he would hear comments from the other girls, which he didn't pay attention to, he just told them to get 'jumping.'

At the end of this class, after the students were dismissed, Kurama was gathering the jump-ropes when the gang walked up to him and handed him theirs.

"Mr. Minamino, sir…it is nice to see you again." Jeremy said, looking around as the other students left.

"Thank you Jeremy." Kurama said taking the ropes.

When the other students were out of earshot, they begin to talk.

"What are you doing here?" Ulrich asked.

"I am a teacher Ulrich." Kurama smiled.

"Yeah, but where's Jim and why you?" Odd asked.

"Jim is on jury duty for the week and I was the only one your principal could find on such short notice." Kurama answered.

"Did Hiei come?" Ulrich asked, trying not to show any excitement at the hope that the black cloaked man had come.

"No, sorry…he is on a business trip, of sorts." Kurama smiled. Actually Hiei was in the Makai helping Mukuro, but the kids didn't need to know that.

"We need to get together and talk." Jeremy said.

"Are you having trouble with….?" Kurama was going to say XANA, but was cut off.

"No, not in awhile, but we should still get together and talk sometime before you leave." Jeremy said.

"I will be here the week, if not longer, so I am sure we will find time. You should get going, your next class is about to start." Kurama said.

With a few. "See yeah later." They headed to class.

a)a)a)a)

After a round in the common area, where he developed a fan club, that Principal Delmas

had to run off, he went to the lunch room and ran into Rosa, the lunch lady.

"Oh Mr. Minamino, sir, are you doing all of Jim's duties?" She asked, fluttering her eyelashes.

"Yes, I am. I am substituting for him after all." Kurama stated.

"Well just so you know then, Jim does not eat until after all the students." She purred. "And I will give you his size portion. You need to get some meat on your bones."

"That will be fine." Kurama, always being polite, said. The food at the school was not bad and he'd had a light breakfast

Kurama managed at lunch to talk to Jeremy and ask if they would like to meet tonight in the woods. Jeremy said that they had a big test in Miss Hertz's class the next day and that he was going to help Odd and Ulrich study, so that was not a good time.

Walking back to the field with a bloated stomach, because Rosa made him eat till he was about to bust, he saw his next class. He did the same routine with the other half of the 8th graders and then it was off to hall duty again.

He was so glad by the time the last class came, the 9th grade was a very small class, but he wasn't glad for long. None of the girls, except Yumi, wanted to get sweaty, they only wanted to talk about what hair products he used and if he got manicures. When that class finally ended, he was mentally drained and telling himself he still had four days to go. Letting out a big sigh, he prayed it was only four more days.

a)a)a)a

Back in his 'office', Kurama found an old net and decided to take the evening after dinner to fix it up. He was thinking tomorrow he would let them play volleyball and all he would have to do is referee and watch.

The evening and night were quiet, but things were not going to be quiet for long.

End Chapter 3