Aug. 22nd, 2009 05:43 pm
gokusen drabbles
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partypaprikaI wanted to post this a while ago, but procrastination is a harsh mistress.
Title: Kumiko
Fandom: Gokusen, kumiko/shin
Rating: PG
Summary: The two of them end up crouched against a wall, the peeling paint flaking on their jackets and Shin is sure that there will be dirt all over his pants.
Disclaimer: I own none of these D :
There’s moments when futility overtakes her—when all she can hear in her ears is failure failure you’re a failure your life is a failure failure. She closes her eyes and clenches her fists and just prays the moment passes.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When Kumiko turned eight it was a big year, she was a whole year older Kyou threw a party for her. He didn’t have much to go on—it was barely a month after her parents’ death and she rarely spoke unless spoken to. She never smiled.
Kyou threw the best party that an eight year old could hope to have. There were sweets, ice cream and even a cake. Someone made balloon animals, another made paper hats. While everyone from Kumiko’s class ran around, screaming and chasing each other, Kumiko sat on one of the park benches and watched everyone. When Kyou went to cut the cake for Kumiko, she took the chance to run, ducking into the cool green of the trees.
She remembers running until she couldn’t breathe and the tears wouldn’t stay back any longer. She took refuge behind the largest tree that she could find and curled up against the roots. The thick bark bit through her pants but the sting was nothing to the tears on her face.
Eventually she felt someone settle down next to her, a large warm weight against her left side. Kumiko immediately ruled out Kyou-san—it was too much solid weight to be Kyou-san—it might have been Tanaka-san, but she was certain that he had been sent out on errands that day.
When she finally looked up to see her grandfather sitting next to her, calmly eating a piece of her birthday cake, Kumiko stopped crying. It wouldn’t do for her to cry in front of someone so important.
“Kumiko, would you like some cake?” He asked. She shook her head. “I see.” He slowly ate a few more bites while examining Kumiko. When he finished, he reached for her. Kumiko remembers the grass against her feet, the bark against her legs, but most of all, the one thing she hadn’t felt in a month—someone hugging her close, it’ll be ok, you have us echoing around her shoulders.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kumiko’s met guys like Sawada Shin before. She knows what they’re like—they waste their potential because they’re too lazy. There’s no point for them to try because they already know it all. Guys like Sawada feel justified in using others because they know that they’re better than them.
When Sawada calls her out, using the class as bait, she feels steely anger fill every centimeter of her body. Every millimeter, every last nanometer. It’s not what’s on the outside that counts, it’s what is on the inside and Sawada’s inside is so self-content and assured that he feels justified in starting a fight for no good reason. But even with anger burning her fingers, Kumiko doesn’t think What a waste or This kid needs to be taught a lesson or even I’m going to regret making this kid think he could pick a fight with me.
Instead she thinks I hope that I can teach him to be a true leader.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sometimes Kumiko can remember her mother. She had quick, soft fingers that wiped away the dirt on Kumiko’s face before bringing her in for a hug. There was a certain smell that her mother had—it’s distinct but Kumiko’s never been able to articulate it.
Sometimes she walks down a street and a whiff of it will hit her so hard that she can’t breathe for a moment. She’ll look around but the smell’s gone. Kumiko breaths deeply, the last of the scent fading away into the air before smiling and continuing on her way.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kumiko doesn’t pick favorites, obviously, because that would be wrong and she loves all of her students as if they were her own children. But sometimes, on her walks home from school, she thinks about how great her students are, wonders what their lives will be like in ten or twenty years, and as she watches leaves fall from trees, she half thinks Sawada Shin is destined for great things.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It starts on a rainy Sunday at the end of March. It’s cold outside, so much so that when Tetsu comes back from picking up extra groceries he stands for a minute in the entrance, just enjoying the warmth before taking off his shoes and entering the house.
Kumiko’s been awake for hours, a niggling feeling in the back of her mind.
Tetsu comes into the room and sees Kumiko sitting at the table. “Ojou!” He says. “I didn’t think you were up this early.”
Kumiko just smiles and says “It’s never too early for a teacher to start preparing for her students’ wonderful week!” Tetsu grunts ‘yes’ and nods seriously before heading for the kitchen to prepare breakfast.
Kumiko returns her attention to her paper and goes over what she’s already written. There’s a circle—the inside shaded in, math test on Friday underlined twice, and little baseball bats covering the bottom right corner. She underlines math test one more time and stands up. She walks towards the front door, heads a cheerful “I’m going out for a bit” in Tetsu’s direction, and grabs an umbrella.
She’s not sure what she’s looking for, so she heads over to the market near her house. Kumiko might not be sure what’s bothering her, but she’s confident that she’ll feel a little better after walking through the market. Not surprisingly, the market is all but empty and she’s caught in a seller ambush after they spot her. Kumiko waves off the enthusiastic men and women and just strolls along, smiling to the sellers and checking out their wares.
It isn’t until she’s passed the last of the stalls that she sees Sawada walking towards the combini on the next street over.
“Sawada!” She calls, her hair flying behind her as she jogs across the street. He’s stopped completely, his body still except for his eyes. Kumiko could swear that he looked surprised before he lapses back into his usual I-don’t-give-a-shit demeanor.
“Oi, Yankumi,” he starts. “What are you doing here?”
Kumiko just ignores his question. “Wow! What a great morning! I get to see one of my incredible students. You weren’t going to get breakfast in there, were you?” She doesn’t even wait for a reply, just breezes through Shin, grabbing his arm and steering him towards the market.
“Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.” She proclaims. “Healthy eating leads to healthy, youthful bodies!” She’s about to explain all about why it’s important to eat right when she spots a stall selling takoyaki. It’s impossible to resist such good looking treats, so despite Sawada’s protesting, she buys two orders of takoyaki and goes to find a place out of the drizzle.
The two of them end up crouched against a wall, the peeling paint flaking on their jackets and Shin is sure that there will be dirt all over his pants. Kumiko eats her takoyaki quickly and when she finishes eating she makes a happy, this is so delicious sound.
Shin tries not to laugh and concentrates on monosyllabically answering Kumiko’s questions about his weekend.
“How was your weekend?”
“Ok.”
“Did you do anything fun?”
“I guess.”
“Did you see any movies this weekend?” When Shin answers no this time, Kumiko uses the opportunity to talk about how much she enjoyed the latest Hollywood gangster film. Shin just laughs and says he doesn’t understand how she can like such films. She looks at him, a hidden archness in her eyes, and says “Fine, what kind of films do you like?” And Shin ends up talking about how he really enjoyed a recent samurai film, but that he honestly prefers reading to movies.
Kumiko asks another question, and to her delight, Sawada Shin actually starts talking. It’s not a one word answer, or something questioning her crazy actions, instead, he’s talking about himself. And in that moment, something finally lets loose within herself. She’s not sure what it is, but she can’t help smiling.
After a minute, Shin looks at her suspiciously and asks her what’s going on. Kumiko just shakes her head, and Shin rolls his eyes. “I bet you want the rest of this,” and gestures towards the takoyaki. Well, Kumiko wouldn’t mind it, persay…..
Shin pushes the tray into her lap and Kumiko quickly finishes the rest. But she can’t help but notice the way a smile makes its way onto Shin’s face even as he rolls his eyes again.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sometimes Kumiko likes to think about what her life would be like if she married Shinohara. She imagines them holding hands and laughing on the way to the store. She thinks about them going out for dinner and Shinohara whispering how much he loved her in her ear. She sees them taking their children to the park and Shinohara picking up their children and throwing them in the air.
Kumiko knows that Shinohara will make a great husband one day and so she doesn’t understand why he won’t even think about how great of a wife she would be. But she can’t pretend that Shinohara sees her in any way other than his boss’ daughter.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When Shinohara finally, deliberately, and firmly tells her that he doesn’t feel the same way that she does, Kumiko’s first thought is that she’s going to throw up. She holds it in and exchanges the expected remarks with Shinohara.
--Yes, I’m ok.
--No, I completely understand.
--We can still be friends, this doesn’t change our friendship.
--I promise, I’m fine.
They both know that she’s lying, but there’s nothing else to be done, so Kumiko waits until he leaves and then runs, she runs and runs until she can’t run anymore and the tears can’t be held back. She’s not even aware of her soundings until she feels someone sit next to her.
There’s no sound, no voice, interrupting her thoughts, just the warmth of someone’s body against hers.
She cries until there’s no more tears. She wants to continue but her body just seems to give up. Her body stays folded upon herself, arms hidden in arms, legs folded against herself. Finally a voice speaks, “I’m sorry.” Shin says. “I really am sorry.”
Kumiko wants to pretend that she hasn’t heard but when the warmth pushes against her and asks “Do you want to get some ramen?” She pulls herself together and tries to pretend that her world hasn’t just cracked apart. There’s a difference between knowing something is coming and having it occur.
“Yes, I’d like some ramen.” Kumiko replies. “That sounds like a good idea.”
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kumiko takes Shin out to celebrate his college graduation the day after her family’s graduation party. They go to a barely there yakitori joint, where it’s so loud that they both have to shout to be heard and they order outrageous amounts of food and alcohol. Kumiko can’t stop smiling the entire way through dinner he did it! her student—no Shin—has made it through Tokyo University.
Shin smiles more than Kumiko can ever remember seeing and leans over about every twenty seconds to say something, his hands steadying himself against Kumiko’s arm. He talks about his plans for the future, which Kumiko already knows, but the look of determination on his face makes her even more proud.
They walk back together to Shin’s apartment, the trains have already stopped running, and Shin supports Kumiko, although Kumiko knows quite well that Shin’s the more inebriated of the two. Shin’s quiet but smiling and Kumiko thinks back to the person that he was when she first met him. He’s finally become a man she thinks.
Both Kumiko and Shin are almost sober by the time they get to Shin’s apartment, but Kumiko walks Shin to the door anyways. When they get to the door, Shin stops and smiles softly at Kumiko, she smiles back and he ducks his head to lean in for a kiss.
Kumiko closes her eyes and lets her hands move up from where they rested on Shin’s arm to curl around the back of Shin’s head.
Concrit welcome!
Title: Kumiko
Fandom: Gokusen, kumiko/shin
Rating: PG
Summary: The two of them end up crouched against a wall, the peeling paint flaking on their jackets and Shin is sure that there will be dirt all over his pants.
Disclaimer: I own none of these D :
There’s moments when futility overtakes her—when all she can hear in her ears is failure failure you’re a failure your life is a failure failure. She closes her eyes and clenches her fists and just prays the moment passes.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When Kumiko turned eight it was a big year, she was a whole year older Kyou threw a party for her. He didn’t have much to go on—it was barely a month after her parents’ death and she rarely spoke unless spoken to. She never smiled.
Kyou threw the best party that an eight year old could hope to have. There were sweets, ice cream and even a cake. Someone made balloon animals, another made paper hats. While everyone from Kumiko’s class ran around, screaming and chasing each other, Kumiko sat on one of the park benches and watched everyone. When Kyou went to cut the cake for Kumiko, she took the chance to run, ducking into the cool green of the trees.
She remembers running until she couldn’t breathe and the tears wouldn’t stay back any longer. She took refuge behind the largest tree that she could find and curled up against the roots. The thick bark bit through her pants but the sting was nothing to the tears on her face.
Eventually she felt someone settle down next to her, a large warm weight against her left side. Kumiko immediately ruled out Kyou-san—it was too much solid weight to be Kyou-san—it might have been Tanaka-san, but she was certain that he had been sent out on errands that day.
When she finally looked up to see her grandfather sitting next to her, calmly eating a piece of her birthday cake, Kumiko stopped crying. It wouldn’t do for her to cry in front of someone so important.
“Kumiko, would you like some cake?” He asked. She shook her head. “I see.” He slowly ate a few more bites while examining Kumiko. When he finished, he reached for her. Kumiko remembers the grass against her feet, the bark against her legs, but most of all, the one thing she hadn’t felt in a month—someone hugging her close, it’ll be ok, you have us echoing around her shoulders.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kumiko’s met guys like Sawada Shin before. She knows what they’re like—they waste their potential because they’re too lazy. There’s no point for them to try because they already know it all. Guys like Sawada feel justified in using others because they know that they’re better than them.
When Sawada calls her out, using the class as bait, she feels steely anger fill every centimeter of her body. Every millimeter, every last nanometer. It’s not what’s on the outside that counts, it’s what is on the inside and Sawada’s inside is so self-content and assured that he feels justified in starting a fight for no good reason. But even with anger burning her fingers, Kumiko doesn’t think What a waste or This kid needs to be taught a lesson or even I’m going to regret making this kid think he could pick a fight with me.
Instead she thinks I hope that I can teach him to be a true leader.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sometimes Kumiko can remember her mother. She had quick, soft fingers that wiped away the dirt on Kumiko’s face before bringing her in for a hug. There was a certain smell that her mother had—it’s distinct but Kumiko’s never been able to articulate it.
Sometimes she walks down a street and a whiff of it will hit her so hard that she can’t breathe for a moment. She’ll look around but the smell’s gone. Kumiko breaths deeply, the last of the scent fading away into the air before smiling and continuing on her way.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kumiko doesn’t pick favorites, obviously, because that would be wrong and she loves all of her students as if they were her own children. But sometimes, on her walks home from school, she thinks about how great her students are, wonders what their lives will be like in ten or twenty years, and as she watches leaves fall from trees, she half thinks Sawada Shin is destined for great things.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It starts on a rainy Sunday at the end of March. It’s cold outside, so much so that when Tetsu comes back from picking up extra groceries he stands for a minute in the entrance, just enjoying the warmth before taking off his shoes and entering the house.
Kumiko’s been awake for hours, a niggling feeling in the back of her mind.
Tetsu comes into the room and sees Kumiko sitting at the table. “Ojou!” He says. “I didn’t think you were up this early.”
Kumiko just smiles and says “It’s never too early for a teacher to start preparing for her students’ wonderful week!” Tetsu grunts ‘yes’ and nods seriously before heading for the kitchen to prepare breakfast.
Kumiko returns her attention to her paper and goes over what she’s already written. There’s a circle—the inside shaded in, math test on Friday underlined twice, and little baseball bats covering the bottom right corner. She underlines math test one more time and stands up. She walks towards the front door, heads a cheerful “I’m going out for a bit” in Tetsu’s direction, and grabs an umbrella.
She’s not sure what she’s looking for, so she heads over to the market near her house. Kumiko might not be sure what’s bothering her, but she’s confident that she’ll feel a little better after walking through the market. Not surprisingly, the market is all but empty and she’s caught in a seller ambush after they spot her. Kumiko waves off the enthusiastic men and women and just strolls along, smiling to the sellers and checking out their wares.
It isn’t until she’s passed the last of the stalls that she sees Sawada walking towards the combini on the next street over.
“Sawada!” She calls, her hair flying behind her as she jogs across the street. He’s stopped completely, his body still except for his eyes. Kumiko could swear that he looked surprised before he lapses back into his usual I-don’t-give-a-shit demeanor.
“Oi, Yankumi,” he starts. “What are you doing here?”
Kumiko just ignores his question. “Wow! What a great morning! I get to see one of my incredible students. You weren’t going to get breakfast in there, were you?” She doesn’t even wait for a reply, just breezes through Shin, grabbing his arm and steering him towards the market.
“Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.” She proclaims. “Healthy eating leads to healthy, youthful bodies!” She’s about to explain all about why it’s important to eat right when she spots a stall selling takoyaki. It’s impossible to resist such good looking treats, so despite Sawada’s protesting, she buys two orders of takoyaki and goes to find a place out of the drizzle.
The two of them end up crouched against a wall, the peeling paint flaking on their jackets and Shin is sure that there will be dirt all over his pants. Kumiko eats her takoyaki quickly and when she finishes eating she makes a happy, this is so delicious sound.
Shin tries not to laugh and concentrates on monosyllabically answering Kumiko’s questions about his weekend.
“How was your weekend?”
“Ok.”
“Did you do anything fun?”
“I guess.”
“Did you see any movies this weekend?” When Shin answers no this time, Kumiko uses the opportunity to talk about how much she enjoyed the latest Hollywood gangster film. Shin just laughs and says he doesn’t understand how she can like such films. She looks at him, a hidden archness in her eyes, and says “Fine, what kind of films do you like?” And Shin ends up talking about how he really enjoyed a recent samurai film, but that he honestly prefers reading to movies.
Kumiko asks another question, and to her delight, Sawada Shin actually starts talking. It’s not a one word answer, or something questioning her crazy actions, instead, he’s talking about himself. And in that moment, something finally lets loose within herself. She’s not sure what it is, but she can’t help smiling.
After a minute, Shin looks at her suspiciously and asks her what’s going on. Kumiko just shakes her head, and Shin rolls his eyes. “I bet you want the rest of this,” and gestures towards the takoyaki. Well, Kumiko wouldn’t mind it, persay…..
Shin pushes the tray into her lap and Kumiko quickly finishes the rest. But she can’t help but notice the way a smile makes its way onto Shin’s face even as he rolls his eyes again.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sometimes Kumiko likes to think about what her life would be like if she married Shinohara. She imagines them holding hands and laughing on the way to the store. She thinks about them going out for dinner and Shinohara whispering how much he loved her in her ear. She sees them taking their children to the park and Shinohara picking up their children and throwing them in the air.
Kumiko knows that Shinohara will make a great husband one day and so she doesn’t understand why he won’t even think about how great of a wife she would be. But she can’t pretend that Shinohara sees her in any way other than his boss’ daughter.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When Shinohara finally, deliberately, and firmly tells her that he doesn’t feel the same way that she does, Kumiko’s first thought is that she’s going to throw up. She holds it in and exchanges the expected remarks with Shinohara.
--Yes, I’m ok.
--No, I completely understand.
--We can still be friends, this doesn’t change our friendship.
--I promise, I’m fine.
They both know that she’s lying, but there’s nothing else to be done, so Kumiko waits until he leaves and then runs, she runs and runs until she can’t run anymore and the tears can’t be held back. She’s not even aware of her soundings until she feels someone sit next to her.
There’s no sound, no voice, interrupting her thoughts, just the warmth of someone’s body against hers.
She cries until there’s no more tears. She wants to continue but her body just seems to give up. Her body stays folded upon herself, arms hidden in arms, legs folded against herself. Finally a voice speaks, “I’m sorry.” Shin says. “I really am sorry.”
Kumiko wants to pretend that she hasn’t heard but when the warmth pushes against her and asks “Do you want to get some ramen?” She pulls herself together and tries to pretend that her world hasn’t just cracked apart. There’s a difference between knowing something is coming and having it occur.
“Yes, I’d like some ramen.” Kumiko replies. “That sounds like a good idea.”
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kumiko takes Shin out to celebrate his college graduation the day after her family’s graduation party. They go to a barely there yakitori joint, where it’s so loud that they both have to shout to be heard and they order outrageous amounts of food and alcohol. Kumiko can’t stop smiling the entire way through dinner he did it! her student—no Shin—has made it through Tokyo University.
Shin smiles more than Kumiko can ever remember seeing and leans over about every twenty seconds to say something, his hands steadying himself against Kumiko’s arm. He talks about his plans for the future, which Kumiko already knows, but the look of determination on his face makes her even more proud.
They walk back together to Shin’s apartment, the trains have already stopped running, and Shin supports Kumiko, although Kumiko knows quite well that Shin’s the more inebriated of the two. Shin’s quiet but smiling and Kumiko thinks back to the person that he was when she first met him. He’s finally become a man she thinks.
Both Kumiko and Shin are almost sober by the time they get to Shin’s apartment, but Kumiko walks Shin to the door anyways. When they get to the door, Shin stops and smiles softly at Kumiko, she smiles back and he ducks his head to lean in for a kiss.
Kumiko closes her eyes and lets her hands move up from where they rested on Shin’s arm to curl around the back of Shin’s head.
Concrit welcome!
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