Want a Pineapple, Sensei?
Chapter Two

Fran stepped into his class, calling out, "Senseeeei? I'm heeeere."

"Where were you at lunch?" Mukuro asked, his arms folded, his glasses glinting dangerously.

"With Bel?" Fran replied uncertainly, before blinking. "Oh yeah. Sorry, sensei. I had lunch detention but I forgot."

'Damn,' the student thought, 'I could've had lunch with sensei!'

"Ugh," Mukuro grunted, "Lunch detention tomorrow."

Fran took a moment to just stare at his sensei, then, holding back his smile, muttered, "You're just a stupid pineapple and I hate you to the ends of Saturn's rings."

Mukuro rolled his eyes, and jabbed his pen at the seat next to his desk. "Please, take a seat, Fran."

Fran slid into the seat, and looked up at the board. 'Students who must be present in after school detention: Fran, Squalo, Xanxus, M.M., Lancia, Byakuran, Zakuro.'

The teal-haired boy looked about the room. M.M. was already in the classroom, looking up at Mukuro with sparkling eyes, as usual. Lancia was seated in the back, trembling like he had received a death sentence, and Zakuro, seated to Fran's right, had his feet up on his desk, a bored expression on his face as he watched the ceiling lights flicker and kill flies.

A few minutes later, Byakuran skipped into the classroom, giving Mukuro a clear wink as he greeted him. "Just take your seat," Mukuro muttered, scratching 'PRESENT' under the student's name. Byakuran took the seat beside Fran, sending the teal-haired boy a grin.

"Hey, you're the weirdo that Kikyo-chan was tellin' me about."

Fran rolled his eyes. "Freaky albino," he mumbled, turning away. Byakuran giggled.
"How mean."

"Hey, psst, Byakuran," Zakuro said, leaning over. "What'd you do?"

"Hmm?" Byakuran hummed. "Oh. I threw a tomato at Bluebell."

Zakuro laughed gruffly, and said, "Ah, I was just caught smoking again."

"Heehee, you're so bad," Byakuran laughed.

Fran felt a headache coming on. 'Must... not... kill... idiots...,' he tried to concentrate on Mukuro instead of the giggling 'bad boys' behind him, and looked around, wondering if Squalo or Xanxus would show.

Probably not. They tended to ditch.

"Alright, you little stinkers," Mukuro sighed, ignoring the hoots of laughter from Byakuran and Zakuro. "I'm going to have the lot of you writing sentences."

"Stupid pineapple!" Fran shouted. M.M. glared at him, but he didn't care. Lancia breathed a sigh of relief.

"Alright, Byakuran, I want you to write 'I will not chuck tomatoes' one hundred times on this paper," Mukuro said, placing a paper on Byakuran's desk. The albino grinned and got to work.

"I will not chuck to-ma-toes... I will not chuck to-ma-toes...," he said under his breath.

"Zakuro, write 'I will not smoke in or near the school building' fifty times."

"Whatever," Zakuro grunted.

"M.M., you get to write, 'I will not bully classmates' one hundred times."

"Yessir~."

"Lancia," Mukuro began again, approaching the quivering boy. "... Write 'I will follow all orders' a hundred times, please." Lancia nodded, taking the paper as though he believed it to be acidic.

Finally, the man approached Fran. "Fran, write 'I will respect teachers' a hundred and fifty times."

"Sensei," Fran spoke up, "Aren't you bullying me?"

"It's a short sentence. Just deal with it," Mukuro said, walking back to his desk and sitting down. The teacher yelped, standing back up, as Byakuran burst into a fit of laughs. He picked up the thumbtack on his seat and blushed lightly. "Byakuran. Do you have anything to say for yourself?" he asked, glaring at the albino.

"Yeah. That was the best, Mukuro, you're face was hilarious!" Byakuran laughed. Mukuro slammed the thumbtack into Byakuran's desk.

"You will address me as Rokudo-sensei," he snarled. "I'm going to be calling your pa- er..."

Byakuran grinned crookedly. "That's what I thought. Hehe! Mukuro is too nice to trouble an orphanage with bad news, now isn't he!"

"You shut up!" Fran yelled at Byakuran, standing. "Sensei is a kind pineapple, and you better apologize to him before I stab that thumbtack into your nostril!"

The classroom fell quiet for a moment. Fran's emotionless stare was intimidating enough when he wasn't shouting. "Fran, sit down," Mukuro said in a quiet voice. Byakuran blinked, and looked back to his paper, then started writing again. Only tension remained. Fran continued to laser the side of Byakuran's head with his eyes, making it painfully clear that he meant business.

After a few moments, the albino gave in, and raised his hand.

"Yes, Byakuran?"

"I'm sorry, sensei," he apologized, hanging his head.

"That's okay, Byakuran."

Fran turned and got back to his work, victory fireworks going off in his head. He began to write, occasionally glancing up at his teacher, who was looking at him as well. 'I will respect teachers... I will respect teachers... I will respect sensei... I will behave for sensei... I will love sensei... I love sensei... I love sensei...'

Fran finally caught himself, and, mentally blushing, erased his past five lines. He glanced back up at Mukuro. The blue-haired man was still gazing at him with that intruiging, mismatched gaze. "Fran," the teacher said, "Come here." The teal-haired boy stood, and walked over to the desk. Mukuro mouthed a thank you to the student, then said, "I'll let you off with a hundred, okay?"

Fran gave a small hint of a smile, and nodded, mouthing, 'You're welcome, stupid sensei.' He was relieved that Mukuro couldn't read his lips very well, and went to take his seat once more. Byakuran was talking quietly to Zakuro about how creepy Fran had acted, while his friend nodded in agreement. Lancia was writing with a trembling hand, his eyes darting around the room. M.M. ignored her assignment and continued to gaze at Mukuro.

The teal-haired student sat down, and began writing again. He managed to focus on his assignment until the end.

"Alright, everyone. Turn in your papers. If you didn't finish your sentences, come in before school to keep working. And Fran, Xanxus and Squalo live near your place, right?"

"Yeah," Fran said, "but they're never home. Grandma sometimes makes them cookies- don't ask why, I don't know, but they're always out doing something. That's just how they are."

"Hmm. I'll call, I suppose," Mukuro sighed, "Xanxus's parents always seem so nice, I wonder what HIS deal is..."

"He was adopted, sensei," Fran told him, rubbing his right shoulder. All that writing sure had a price. "Who knows what screwed him up."

"And Squalo's mother is the sweetest. I just don't get it," Mukuro sighed.

"She's taking anti-depressants and she's seeing a therapist. I never hear the end of it from Grandma. She says that bad kids like Squalo ought to go get themselves killed so that their parents can stop suffering."

Mukuro looked into Fran's eyes. "It sounds like your Grandma is a strong woman, Fran."

"She's scary sometimes," Fran agreed, walking away. "Later, sensei."

The other students turned in their papers, and things were settled for school matters.

Fran headed home, taking the popular forest route that crossed the creek. As he approached the little river, he couldn't help looking over the edge of the bridge into the pond. Almost as soon as he did this, a frog leapt into the water from a rock. Fran smiled and kept walking, enjoying the fresh air. It was such a peaceful place. Fran walked up to his house and knocked before he entered. "I'm home," he called.

"Welcome home, Fran," said his grandmother, sitting on the couch. Fran strode over there and sat down beside her.

"Sorry I'm late, Grandma, you see-"

"I know," she cut him off, "Mukuro-kun contacted me."

Fran rolled his eyes. His grandmother was also rather swayed by the teacher- just another sign that they were related. "Sorry about the detention."

"Honestly, Fran, when are you going to learn to respect your elders? I haven't taught you well enough. If there were a man in the house, things would be twice as easy."

"I think you have that backwards, Grandma," Fran sighed, leaning back in the dark green cushion. "Who's making dinner tonight?"

"You ought to make dinner, since you've been such a troublemaker lately," the woman told him. Fran nodded.

"Okay. I'll go out to the river for a bit then, okay?"

"Be back before I go hungry."

"I will."

Fran stood back up, leaving his book bag beside the chair, and left to go out to the river. The creek that he'd crossed to get to his house widened to become a river, and then, a little further down, a pond. It was one of the only places he found solitude.

-End Chapter