Title: Stumble and Fall
Author: Avelynn Tame
Disclaimer: I do not own Gokusen.
Summary: A new teacher has arrived at Shirokin, and he's not bothering to hide his attraction to the homeroom teacher of a certain delinquent class. 3-D greet him with their usual kindness and warmth, but Yankumi is far more interested in the reaction of one Sawada Shin…
Author's Notes: I wanted to post this so much sooner, I promise! But circumstances have conspired against me (as they are wont to do). Thank you all so much for your reviews – they give me warm and fuzzy feelings. Keep 'em coming! And happy reading!
Chapter Two
Finally, that afternoon rolled around, and it was with mixed feelings that Kumiko led Maruyama to Class 3-D. She'd already introduced him to her, "Fight-oh! Oh!" ritual, and he had taken to it with gusto. The downside of this was that he liked to say it at a much louder volume than she was used to, and she nearly jumped out of her skin when he bellowed, "FIGHT-OH! OH!" and slapped his hand on top of hers.
He laughed at her expression. "Was that too much? Sorry, I'm just nervous…"
"Ah, don't be silly," she chastised him. "They're great, really. Come on, let's go."
Once again, he stuck close to her as she pushed open the door. It wasn't something that she was used to, exactly, but he didn't make her feel uncomfortable, and she didn't get the impression that he was doing it for perverted reasons.
"Good afternoon, class," she greeted them – taking a brief moment to scan the room and feeling relieved when she saw Sawada there. "You met Maruyama-sensei this morning – he's going to be helping out today."
She was hoping for them to make an effort to greet Maruyama, but the predominant reaction seemed to be a collection of scowls and grunts. Still, it was better than nothing.
She handed a stack of papers to Maruyama. "Can you hand these back for me? They're the class's assignments from last week. It'll be a good way for you to get to know the students' names."
"Sure." He picked up the top-most sheet. "Uh… Sainei Ryuuji?"
No-one replied.
Kumiko cleared her throat loudly and glared.
A short boy with scruffy hair flicked his hand casually. "Over here."
"Sainei…" Kumiko growled.
Sainei sighed painfully. "Overherepleasesensei."
She grinned widely and gave him a thumbs-up. While Maruyama continued handing back the homework, she flipped open a heavy textbook and started writing a selection of problems on the board.
"Ah." Maruyama's voice made her half-turn to look at him. He held up someone's sheet. "You still write your threes with a loopy tail." He raised an eyebrow. "Even though I'm sure that someone said you shouldn't do that because it was too confusing."
Her lips curved slightly. "Well, someone should have known that I'm very reluctant to change my habits." She turned back to the board, reaching up to write the second problem. "Besides, I think it looks cute."
"Oh, I see," he teased. "It's part of your 'Be Cute For Romantic Success' initiative. How's that going?"
Her mouth dropped open and she rotated very swiftly on the spot to stare at him. "You – that – How do you remember that?" She grabbed her very heavy textbook with both hands and lifted it up. "Actually, never mind, just stand still while I beat you for tarnishing my good image in front of my students."
He laughed and pretended to shield himself with the remaining papers. "Your good image? How did you get one of those?"
"I'll have you know that I have a very good image, unlike some people I could talk about –"
"Oh, are you bringing that up again? It was all a misunderstanding, and no-one ever pressed charges in the end –"
The sound of a chair scraping loudly against the floor made Maruyama break off. Uchi stood up, slouching with an annoyed expression over to where Maruyama stood. He rudely yanked the papers from the teacher's hands and started to hand them out himself.
"Hey –" Maruyama began, looking irritated.
But Kumiko interrupted. "No, sensei, Uchiyama is right – we should be getting on with the lesson." She turned to gesture at the board. "All right, we went over this material all of last week so it should still be fresh in your mind. I'm going to be asking people to come up and work through these problems. Don't get stressed about being able to solve them the first time – tell me if you're stuck and we'll go through them together. Then I'll set some classwork."
She scanned the room, trying to decide on a victim. Uchi was still standing up, so she pointed at him. He rolled his eyes and groaned while she grinned at him. "Come on, I know you can do these – I marked your work last night and you got most of them right." She gestured for him to come up.
She had to admit, she was a little surprised. They were all cooperative today – sure, they all seemed to be in some kind of dark mood, but it wasn't stopping them participating in class.
Uchiyama sidled up to her and reluctantly accepted the chalk. "Ok," she told him. "Do your best."
He gave her a strange little smile and began his attempt to solve the problem. Several times she noticed that he was going astray, so she drew his attention back to the original numbers. "And don't forget what happens when you integrate an integer."
"Add the x, right." He finished it, stepping back to examine the mess he'd made of the board.
"That's great, Uchiyama," she praised, startled to find that he was grinning as well.
She noticed that Maruyama was standing off to one side, looking a little left out. "Okay, sensei, your turn." She held out the chalk to him. "Pick your student and help them out. Good work, Uchiyama," she said again as Uchi returned to his seat.
Maruyama took his time deliberating, and eventually made a decision. "Sawada Shin!"
Kumiko watched Sawada scowl, his expression more fierce than she had ever seen it before. At first he did not move from his seat, and Kumiko began to feel nervous. Sawada was remarkably cool and calm most of the time, but if he was pushed he was very capable of lashing out both verbally and physically. She really hoped that this would not be one of those days.
Sawada glanced at her; she sent him a pleading look, as subtle as she could possibly make it. He seemed to sigh, and at last got up, dragging his feet all the way to the front of the classroom.
Maruyama handed him the chalk. "Now," he said, "with this problem, it's best to start –"
"I know what to do," Sawada cut him off. He worked through the problem faster than any other student Kumiko knew, the chalk hitting the board hard, his writing coming out in short, impatient strokes. When he finished he turned to her, ignoring Maruyama. "Is that right?"
She rolled her eyes and smiled at him. "You already know it is, you clever idiot."
He smirked. "That's an oxymoron, moron."
She smacked him lightly on the side of his head. "Don't call your wonderful teacher a moron."
As he passed the chalk back, his hand lingered on hers and she had one brief second to notice that she liked the feeling of his cool fingers against her warmer ones. But it was a fleeting moment, and one which no-one bar the two of them could have noticed. Then he was gone, already moving back to his seat. She gave herself a mental shake. What was that about?
"All right," she said loudly, brushing it off. "Imagawa!"
The rest of the lesson was far from a smooth ride – by the end of the day she decided that it was just a matter of building the trust between Maruyama and the rest of the class. He was new; they weren't used to him yet. That was okay, she'd been there before herself. She knew that just as they had slowly grown to accept her, so they would accept Maruyama as well in time.
As it was the last period of the day, she usually did the attendance register a little early so that they could leave early. The class seemed particularly relieved, which she could understand – it was Monday. Everyone felt that way on Monday.
"Hey," Maruyama leaned next to her against the podium. "Do you want to get dinner after this?"
Was it her imagination or had everyone in the room suddenly stilled? She glanced up; no-one was looking at her, they all seemed to be deeply preoccupied with their bags or lockers.
She turned back to Maruyama. "Uh, I can't – I have a family thing to attend. Sorry." It wasn't a lie, exactly; her grandfather had planned a special dinner to congratulate Tetsu and Minoru for their recent hard work and discuss increasing their responsibilities, and she wanted to be there. Plus, Nagayama-san had promised her a large fish and she intended to stop by the stall and pick it up on her way back.
He wasn't put off. "Ah, it's ok. Maybe sometime this week, then?"
"Sure." She stuffed her papers into her bag. "So where are you living these days, anyway? I don't remember you having relatives in this area."
"I'm renting a place nearby," he told her as they followed the flow of students out of the classroom. "It's… basic." He laughed. "Actually, I just have a sofa and a table – it's all kind of in the same room."
This scenario sounded so familiar that Kumiko automatically looked for – and found – Sawada Shin, who was nearby in the crowd. They shared a small, complicit smile.
"But that's what a bachelor pad is supposed to be like, right?" she said to Maruyama.
"Ah, I see," he murmured thoughtfully. "And then when I meet a woman, she brings her feminine influence and makes it into a home – is that how it works?"
"I think – maybe," she replied. Living in a house of men, she wouldn't really know.
They parted ways at the school gate with a wave. Kumiko had been walking for a while, lost in thought, when a familiar voice said, "Got that Maruyama guy on the brain?"
Sawada. Of course it was Sawada – wasn't it always he who knew exactly what she was thinking, and doing, and where he could find her? She gave him a stern look. "Not that it's any of your business, but yes, I was thinking how strange it's been to meet him again after all this time."
He was walking at a slower, more relaxed pace than her, and she automatically slowed down her own footsteps. The afternoon was nicely mild in temperature, and she swung her arms by her sides as she walked. "He was your senpai," Sawada said eventually. "That's what Fujiyama said."
"Yeah, that's right," she confirmed. "We went to Tokyo Met together. He used to tutor me sometimes, but we were good friends as well."
"Did you…" he seemed to be picking his words carefully, and he certainly wasn't looking at her, "did you ever date him?"
She stared at him. "Date him? N-No, I didn't... Why do you ask?"
He still wouldn't meet her eyes. "Because… the way he looks at you makes me think that he wants to date you."
Her heart was pounding. She couldn't understand why. Was it because of what Sawada was saying, or because he was the one saying it? "I think you're wrong," she managed. "I mean, we only just met again today. And I'm sure he didn't feel that way when we were at university together."
But he persisted. "He could have felt that way. He said that he applied here because of you, right?"
"Probably because he wanted to be around a familiar face." She felt confused, not really sure why she was trying so hard to find answers that she just didn't have. "Sawada – why is this important? Does any of it really matter?"
"Yes," he bit out forcefully. "It does matter. Because… Because Kuma is worried."
She blinked. "Kuma is worried? Worried about what?"
"He said that maybe if you get married, you won't carry on teaching."
She was trying to work out what that small pang was in her stomach. It felt like disappointment. She shook her head. None of it made any sense. "Of course I won't stop teaching if I get married, idiot." She elbowed him none too softly in his side. "But I'm not getting married anyway, so it's not really an issue."
"Yeah, you're right." Sawada seemed to be in a slightly better mood. "After all, who'd want to marry a weird person like you?"
"Hey!" She thumped him, hard, in the shoulder. "Treat your teachers with more respect. Aren't I teaching you guys anything?"
"You're teaching us how to fight, how to get into trouble, and how to get all puffed up and annoyed with authority figures." He smirked at her. "What? Don't you do all of those things?"
She glared at him. "And to think, I was considering asking if you wanted to come over for dinner." She could hardly miss the brief flicker of hope in his eyes before he carefully schooled his features. She let a few moments pass before she said, "Well – do you?"
He sounded unenthusiastic. "Got nothing better to do, I guess."
This time when she aimed her palm for the back of his head, he ducked, and she missed.
For the last week, Shin had been vaguely aware of rumours of a new teacher. He hadn't paid much attention because, truthfully, he just didn't care. There was one teacher he cared about far too much, so he felt that his indifference to the rest of them helped to achieve a natural balance.
In this case, that had obviously been a mistake.
He'd never felt sicker in his life than when he watched that asshole walk up to her and insinuate himself into her personal space.
Shin was pretty good at handling surprises – even unpleasant ones. It was the main reason that the others respected him so much. Two and a half years ago he had walked into the classroom on the first day of term, dropped his bag carelessly at the side of his desk as he sat down, and gone to sleep. By the time he woke up, his fate as class leader had already been decided.
"It's because you're so unflappable," Kuma had told him later. "Someone needs to be."
Kuma was pretty sharp when he wanted to be, Shin thought.
But Kuma probably hadn't felt the urge to smash his desk to pieces when a new teacher arrived. Kuma's knuckles hadn't turned white as his fingers curled into fists. Kuma hadn't struggled to keep a lid on his hot-blooded rage until Yankumi's back was turned, and then slipped out of the room unnoticed, heading for the roof where he could be as furious as he liked.
School was supposed to be safe, he thought clumsily. Outside, she belonged to her family, to that world – and previously, to Shinohara as well – but at school she spent her time with him. At school, he shared her only as a teacher, but the woman, the real Yamaguchi Kumiko – the one who swore violently and drank men twice her size under the table – he shared with no-one.
And now, apparently, all that was going to change.
Interestingly, the others hadn't reacted well to the intruder either. He'd gone back to the classroom after lunch and found them all grumbling about 'the new guy'.
"His voice is annoying," Houjou muttered.
"Isn't he too smooth to be a high school teacher?" Uchi's nose wrinkled. "He could be a perv."
"Great, a perv in a high school," Matsudaira complained. "That's all we need."
Minami leaned back in his chair, his feet resting on the edge of the desk. "I don't think we're the ones he's interested in."
Shin sat down so forcefully he almost knocked his desk over. He was trying to keep the scowl off his face, but it didn't seem to be working.
Kuma twisted in his seat to look at him. "Shin, what do you think –"
But at that moment the door opened and Ando, who taught social studies and annoyed them all with his thin, reedy voice, edged into the room. "Good afternoon, class."
The start of a new lesson didn't normally stop anyone in 3-D carrying on with what they were doing, but Kuma held a particular hatred for Ando, who often confiscated his snacks. He turned away from Shin and glared suspiciously at Ando, completely forgetting what he'd been about to say.
And so Shin had survived the day without having to give his opinion on Maruyama.
When Yankumi had invited him over for dinner – and he'd allowed himself a few moments of smug satisfaction at the idea that while Maruyama had been rejected, he was readily asked into her home – Shin had been worried that they would spend the entire evening talking about Maruyama.
To his surprise (and relief), the subject never even came up.
Instead, they celebrated the semi-promotion of Tetsu and Minoru, who spent most of the evening in tears, knocking back far too much sake and ultimately falling asleep at the table with Minoru's elbow smushed into Tetsu's cheek.
Yankumi, also pleasantly inebriated, instructed him to stay over and insisted on showing him to the guest room. Unfortunately, halfway along the corridor, the alcohol finally got the better of her and Shin ended up with her arm around his shoulder, his hand resting firmly on her waist. They went past the guest room and turned the corner, shuffling carefully up the stairs to Yankumi's room. "Sorry," she muttered as she stepped on his foot. "Shouldn'a had that last cup."
He laughed. "Yeah, I don't think you should have had those last eight cups. But who's counting?"
"I can hold my alcohol just fine, thank you," she declared.
"Uh-huh." He aimed a gentle kick at her bedroom door, letting it swing open before he nudged her across the threshold. "Of course you can."
"Sawada," she muttered, "I think you're patronising me."
He kept a strong grip on her waist and detached her arm from his shoulders. "Can you stand on your own?"
"Of course!" she said indignantly. "I'm not that drunk."
Skeptical, he raised an eyebrow. "All right," he replied, and reluctantly let her go.
To his surprise, she remained upright, her arms folded across her chest. "See?"
"Okay, I believe you." He kept an eye on her as he moved towards the door, waiting to see if she would topple over – but she merely tossed a smug look over her shoulder as she shuffled over to the bed. "Night," he murmured, slipping out of the door.
"Night, Sawada," he heard as he closed it behind him. "And don't you dare go back down there and let them give you any alcohol."
He grinned. Last he'd seen, Kyou and the others had been in a worse state than Yankumi. There was a good chance they'd passed out on the living room floor. He waited outside her room for a few moments, listening for the thump which would surely accompany her drunken collapse… but it never came.
He had to admit, he was a little disappointed. A sober Yankumi would almost certainly object to him wrapping his arms around her as he had done earlier.
The side of his body still felt warm where she'd been leaning against him. He stared down at his hand, remembering the way it had rested comfortably in the curve of her waist.
He'd decided a long time ago that he wanted Yankumi's attention. Then, not much later, he'd realised he wanted a lot more than that. The only thing that had changed today was that he now had a little competition.
Nothing he wasn't used to, after all.
The corner of his mouth twisted up as he heard Yankumi snoring softly. "You'd better show that guy the door soon," he murmured quietly. "Or I'll do it for you."
Author's Notes: Yes, Shin finally gets a chance to air his thoughts. Originally this wasn't going to happen for quite a while, but I realised that I needed to bring it forward a bit. Hope you're all enjoying what's left of the summer, and good luck to any British readers who are due to get their exam results tomorrow!