Want a Pineapple, Sensei?
Chapter Eight

Lunch...

Fran waited outside for a couple moments, then walked into the classroom the second he heard shouting. He stared at the scene before him. Mukuro had his hands on the desk, leaned over Lancia, who was shaking and shielding himself. Lancia glanced over at Fran, and Mukuro did so as well, before standing upright.

"Yes, Fran?" he asked in a sweet voice.

"Sensei, can we talk outside?" Fran asked. Mukuro gave Lancia a quick glare, then followed Fran out of the classroom.

"What is it?" he questioned.

"Sensei... what are you saying to Lancia?"

"I'm telling him to respect me. He made some smart remarks about my past, and I don't appreciate it," Mukuro said. "Why are you here?"

Fran shook his head. "Stay out here for a moment." The illusionist walked into the classroom, and knelt down beside Lancia's desk, then asked in a soft voice, "Lancia, did you say something mean to sensei?"

Lancia shook his head, his eyes watery, and said, "No, no, nothing, I didn't say anything mean!"

Fran hushed him, and whispered, "What was he saying?"

Lancia looked down. "I shouldn't tell you," he said, "I can't tell you. If I do anything, I'll be punished for it. Fran, all I want is to get out of here."

"Lancia," Mukuro snapped, walking in, "Tell Fran what you told me. About your father."

"I didn't say anything about my father!" Lancia wailed, "I don't even KNOW my father...!"

"Liar!" Mukuro shouted, "You're ADOPTED father, who was he?"

"Fran, help!" Lancia pleaded.

"Sensei, stop-"

"Stay out of it," Mukuro snapped, walking over to Lancia. "What did you say to me?"

"... I said that my adopted father, Mr. Hibari, was going to hurt you again," Lancia said, hanging his head. "But I didn't mean it, Rokudo-sensei, I promise!"

Mukuro looked proudly at Fran. "You see?"

"I see that you're being a real jerk to Lancia, sensei," Fran murmured. The teacher blinked.

"I am?" he whispered.

"Yeah, and you should let him go."

"I should?"

"Sensei... it's not good to hurt students," Fran said in a small voice.

Mukuro looked at Lancia, and anger flared in his eyes, then back to Fran, and he calmed down immediately. Fran understood the situation to an extent, and he took Lancia's arm. "You need to get out of here," Fran told him, "Go straight to the principal. Get a class change."

The boy took off running, and Fran looked back at Mukuro. "Sensei, are you all right?"

"Yes... I believe so," Mukuro said, sitting down at his desk. "God, something about that child just... pisses me off," he sighed, "I don't know what."

Fran groaned. "Sensei, I can't believe I'm saying this, but you should go home sick. You're really pale. Like... uhh... man, I can't think of a fruit as pale as you right now."

Mukuro gave a weak chuckle, and picked up the phone. "I'll have to call in a substitute."

"Go ahead," Fran replied, a hand on the man's shoulder as he called someone.

"... Hello? Is this Mrs. Superbia? Yes, I'm sorry, but I got word from the principal that you were available as a substitute? ... Yes, I feel very ill. ... That would be wonderful. ... Thank you very much. Hm? Oh, I'll send a student to show you to the classroom, we're on lunch break now. You don't have to worry about grading anything. I'll write a list of what we were going to do the rest of the day. ... Thanks again. Goodbye."

Mukuro reached for Fran's hand, and held it. "I'll miss you, my star pupil," he said. Fran smiled.

"Aw, don't act like you don't hate me, sensei," he sighed, before hugging his teacher. "Do you think you'll feel better tomorrow?"

"I do hope so," Mukuro answered. "Go wait outside for Mrs. Superbia, okay?"

"... Okay, sensei," Fran replied.

Once Fran was outside, it wasn't long before Mrs. Superbia showed up. She was easy to identify, with her long, silver hair and her kind, blue eyes. She always had a gentle air about her. It was almost impossible to tell that she was Squalo's mother. "Why hello, Fran," she greeted with a small bow. "Are you here to show me to the classroom?"

"Yeah," Fran said, "follow me."

"All right."

Fran led the woman through the halls and back into Mukuro's room, and Mukuro smiled as they entered. "Thank you, Fran, and I'm sorry to ask this of you, but would you please explain to Mrs. Superbia about the class procedures?"

"Yeah. You should head home, though, sensei, I can handle this," Fran said, placing his hand on Mukuro's shoulder. "Later."

"See you, Fran," Mukuro said with a smile, "Thanks again."

"Bye."

Fran watched the man leave, then picked up the notes from the desk. "Hmm...," he hummed, "Oh, there's a mini assignment in the usual drawer, he says, I know where that is..." Fran opened a drawer on Mukuro's desk and took out the twenty-question test, then handed it to Squalo's mother. "And it looks like after that we're done with that, we're going to grade- the grading sheet is on the bottom of the assignment stack- and turn in the tests. Afterwords, silent reading until the end of the day, and detention is postponed until Thursday," the teal-haired boy finished. "'Kay?"

"Hehe~ All right, Fran, you're such a sweet boy, helping me out like this," she said, patting Fran's head. "No wonder Mukuro is so fond of you."

Fran blushed lightly. "I'm really not that great," he said.

"Ah, but I wish my son were so friendly, but he's just like his father," she sighed, "An arrogant, mean, obnoxious child."

"Squalo's not so bad either," Fran said, "he just needs an extremely firm hand."

"Heh, maybe you're right. Now go and head out to lunch, I'm sure your friends miss you," she said kindly, and Fran nodded.

"Then, I'll see you after lunch," he sang in his monotone voice, walking out of the class to head to lunch.

After lunch...

The class arose in chatterings as they students flowed into the classroom to see their substitute. Squalo was the most suprised. "VRAI, MOM, WHY THE HELL ARE YOU HERE?" he screamed.

"Shh, honey, take your seat, I'm substituting for Mukuro," she whispered. Squalo rolled his eyes and went to do so.

"Why hello, Mrs. Superbia," Byakuran said with a grin, "I got something for you."

He handed her a dethorned, white rose, and she smiled. "Thank you very much, Byakuran."

"Hehe~ You're welcome," Byakuran giggled, going back to his seat. Lancia peeked into the classroom.

"Excuse me? Uhm, may I talk to Fran?" he asked. Mrs. Superbia smiled at him.

"Of course you may," she said, before turning to Fran. "Go ahead, Fran."

Fran stood up and walked outside to talk to Lancia. "Well?" he asked. Lancia closed the door.

"My adopted father's name is Hibari Kyoya," the student said, "From what I've heard, sensei used to have a huge crush on him. But he was turned down."

"Wow," Fran said, "I didn't know that he was your father..."

"That's not all. Uhm, Fran, don't tell anyone this, but my parents are gay," Lancia said in a hushed voice. "And my OTHER father, he and Rokudo-sensei just... don't get along. There's one more thing for you to know... my other father... he's Mukuro's father."

Fran was shocked.

Being told that Lancia had adopted parents was suprising. Being told they were gay, that was also suprising. Hearing that one of them was Mukuro's high school crush, that was a small suprise, too.

But that Mukuro's father had taken that crush as his own?

It was just too wrong.

"What's his name?" Fran asked.

"Daemon," Lancia whispered, "but that's aside the point. Fran, I didn't really want to tell you any of that, but you must know, sensei scares me. A lot. He's driven by his anger for his father and he doesn't even know it. Fran, I think Daemon controls me sometimes. Sometimes I say things I don't mean. Cruel things. I love my fathers, Fran, but I'm not safe around Mukuro."

"Did you get the class change?" Fran asked.

"Sort of," Lancia sighed, his body trembling slightly. "I want to be put in Ms. Miura's class," he sighed. "I don't think I can."

"Hmm... you should explain things to the principal," Fran said, "and I'll get Mukuro to talk to him, too."

"Okay," the other said, looking defeated. "Then, I guess for now... I'll be in class with you guys."

"Come on, we're not so crummy," said Fran, opening the door. "Mrs. Superbia?" he called, "Lancia's hanging here."

"Shh, all right. We're doing the pre-assessment, so here," she said, handing Fran and Lancia test slips. Fran patted Lancia on the shoulder and went to take his seat where, to his minor suprise, there was a note. He opened it.

'Good work capturing sensei's heart, Fran~! -Lussuria.'

Fran, ready to chuck back the note- and a rock- at Lussuria, sent a glare across the room into the side of the other's head.

"Fran," Byakuran whispered, "could you get my pencil? I dropped it."

'How the hell do you just randomly drop a pencil?' Fran wondered, reaching under his desk to grab it, before throwing it back into Byakuran's arm. The albino took it with a smile.

"Thanks, Fran!"

A few in the class laughed quietly as Byakuran made the unneccessarily loud remark, and burst into rumbles of chuckling with Byakuran simply threw the pencil at Chrome. Chrome squeaked as she was hit with the pencil, and looked over her shoulder. Byakuran started making gestures that Fran thought no one would understand, but then the girl nodded.

... Okay, that was awkward.

Back to class.

-End Chapter

Phew. See you next week~!