Title: Making it Final Author/Artist: MK Pairing: Sawada Shin x Yamaguchi Kumiko Fandom: Gokusen Theme: #30, Kiss Disclaimer: I don't own Gokusen. OMG It's DONE! WAHA! Exam time. Shoot. >_> Yankumi had been freaked out before. The first day she had entered the Ooedo compound she had been upset. On her first day of high school she had been rightly worried about being ostracized. Her first date had gone terribly. Her first day of work at Shirokin she had been terrified that someone would discover her background. This situation was unusual only in that it wasn't the first time she had met his parents. It had the same effect on her that all previous scary moments had been keen on, regardless of the passage of time or the knowledge that what his family thought really didn't matter. It was still scary. This case had all the elements of Classic Kumiko Tragedy. First off, it involved love. All previous relationships had ended because of fraud, fear or the fact that she had driven someone into the arms of another man. (That was really okay. She had Shin. She was sure it was fine now. Really.) Secondly, it involved parents. Naturally, neither she nor Shin was very good when it came to parents, but they did pretty well when it came to Grandparents. There was a huge difference between the two. And lastly, and most dangerously of all, his father was a Senator. A man firmly on one side of the law who had a hand in the police department and the kind of pull that got people like her sent to jail before they had even committed a crime. She was quite literally preparing to step into the lion's den. So she took the time to prepare. She dressed first formally only to find she looked too much like she was from a yakuza family, and had changed into something far too casual. She had eventually found an unhappy medium in something just this side of uncomfortable and just that side of 'not a criminal, I swear'. She had tried her best to look like someone who worked hard as a teacher and who just maybe could make macaroni au gratin for her significant other. It was kind of hard to do, considering her most recent attempt had failed miserably in a large, poufy, sticky black way that had meant she had to buy Shin a new pan. Eventually, she came out of her room and ran into Shin in the hallway, blinked once and then scowled. He had apparently taken the exact opposite approach to her own outfitshirt un-tucked, hair messy, pants wrinkled. Then she thought about it a moment and let it go. After all, Shin had much more experience dealing with these strange and very alien people than she did. He was the expert. Kind of. She had bowed slightly to the police officer outside, who had straightened his back and bowed to her in return. Then she had pretended not to notice how Shin's hand had strayed towards the doorbell before simply reaching for the handle and stepping inside. 'Oh', she realized as they took off their shoes (Shin let her rest one arm on him for balance), Natsumi might be here as well. That much at least, would go well. And thankfully, she was the first person to greet them. "Brother! Oooh, you brought Kumiko? Welcome!" There was some flurry of activity on the younger sister's part, and Kumiko found herself seated next to Shin on a large white couch in a room she had only seen once before while father and son had argued. Kumiko couldn't imagine having white furniture; it was too dangerous. Ah, but here was the woman who could, and did. Shin's mother smiled strangely, giving Kumiko an especially long look, and served finger cookies and tea. Shin didn't touch them, but she ate one or two to be polite. Natsumi came back quickly, flashed them a quick smile and then emptied her face of expression and sat neatly on a nearby chair. Sawada had entered the room. She could hear the deep intake of breath from Shin next to her, felt his hand clench once, twice in her own before he spoke up. "I would like to introduce you to Yamaguchi Kumiko. Her family has approved of us." The mother looked surprised, the father's expression hadn't changed at all. "Aren't you his teacher from that school?" As though Shirokin were barely that. "He was my student last year," she replied, trying to emphasize the past. "Of course I would never date a student, but he has graduated." Next came a long series of questions: Who her parents were, where they were, when had they died, where did she live "Of course with my Grandfather, Kuroda Ryuuichirou." Ah, quite possibly the wrong thing to say, but she was determined to be honest at least. "You are the child of that family?! I refuse! I will not have my name tied to thatthat sort of lawlessness!" "If I had it my way, treating your children like commodities would be against the law and I would refuse to be associated with people who could not see the value of an individual, sir." She scowled at the man across from her and felt Shin's hand twitch again. "That's fine with me, I guess I'll just have to take her last name, instead," he spoke up and his father's face was verging on white it was so red. "You, you--!" "I came here as a courtesy." "You can forget your tuition from now on! I will have nothing to do with you! You are not my son!" "And as far as I can remember, you have never been my father." They walked home in silence, still holding hands, each shaking occasionally, still adjusting to what had happened. Of course Natsumi would still visit, and it was good that Shin would have some family, but something more than his father's vanity and anger bothered Kumiko. His mother's face had barely changed expression. She had sat there, ankles crossed and hands neatly folded and had watched with cool, appraising eyes. It was as though that meeting had been the same as any other meeting she had borne witness to as a Senator's wife, as though it hadn't involved her son being disinherited. It made sense, suddenly, why Shin had looked sad so often when Yuta and Nakashima had struggled over their relationship as mother and son. It made sense, and it hurt her. She didn't say anything, and neither did he. They walked slowly, breath slowing, and took the longest route home. By the park, Shin pulled her out onto the empty sand, across it, and sat each of them down on a swing. "I'm glad," he spoke up suddenly. It wasn't the last thing she had expected him to say, but it wasn't the first thing, either. "I'm glad, too," she replied slowly. In a way, it made things simpler. It wasn't pretty, but it didn't have to be. Their relationship would always have elements like this, things that she supposed the ordinary people wouldn't have to go through, and things that everyone went through. They swung back and forth a little on the swings for a time, eventually putting more force into it, seeing who could swing higher, faster, until finally they both jumped off and landed, laughing on the sand. "Ahh, and I worked so hard to get dressed for this!" She brushed the sand as best she could from her clothes before Shin's hand stopped hers. He grinned. "You were over-dressed anyway." He didn't look nearly so ridiculous as she did, but then, he had been mussed from the start. She grinned back, took down her hair and mussed it up, rubbed more sand on her knees. "There, we match." And he kissed her and they walked home a little faster this time, happy again. It didn't matter what parts of this made sense and what parts didn't; what met up where. What mattered was that they were happy enough as they were, and no one had the power to stop that. NOTE: In yearbook, we had two ways of making layouts. One was on the computer, but the more common way, especially for younger students, was to use these large blue sheets where whatever you wrote transferred through to two copies below. They were "Roughing It" sheets for drafts, and "Making it Final" sheets that you would actually hand in to the printing company. Making it Final was annoying, messy, irritating, a pain in the ass, and somehow, kind of fun. But really, the computers are the best way. PS, I know, you're disappointed. Sorry guys, they're not getting marriedI mean, my god, it's only been a very short time! >< That would just be weird-. I have a notes thing I'll post later this week. ^^; I couldn't answer questions on ff.net and stuff, and there are some things that I have to reference. So...that's it! It's over! The end! BWA HA!
Text file Source (historic): geocities.com/yankumisensei/gokusenfic
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