Title: Movie Night Author: MK Pairing: Sawada Shin x Yamaguchi Kumiko Fandom: Gokusen Theme: #8, Our own World Disclaimer: I don't own Gokusen, but I named my new laptop Yankumi. She loved Thursdays. Thursdays were movie night in the Kuroda household, and that meant Yakuza Movies. Suzuki Seijun was a favourite, but the kumi weren't fond of Fukasaku Kinji. "He's too dry!" they would whine, but when she finally brought out something that truly portrayed that great, chivalrous character of a man on the wrong side of the law, tears would come to their eyes. Well, tears often came to their eyes if she sneezed, or if they were involved in some overly-dramatic antics, but these were the genuine tears of men inspired, men longing to achieve the greatness of character and strength of heart that they could only find in Yakuza movies. It was that kind of love that made Thursday nights special. "Movie night?" Yankumi grinned. "Absolutely. So as the youngest member, it's your job to rent an excellent yakuza movie. It's the spirit of youth!" Shin rolled his eyes. "I'll come with you, so wait for me after." Fujiyama and Nakashima cornered her in the bathroom. "Maa, are you that broken-hearted over Shinohara? You never come out with us anymore!" "I would-" Yankumi tried. "It's okay, we already know. You're sleeping with Sawada, right?" Fujiyama looked excited, Nakashima less so. "What?!" She could feel her whole face go up in flames. "No way! No, nada!" How did they know that-Well no, no, she really wasn't and why was it so, and how could it-Her head was going to explode. "He goes the same way as you a lot lately." "He's being trained by my cousin!" "...He's what?" Nakashima sighed, maybe in relief, maybe in disappointment. Fujiyama snapped her fingers. "Damn." "Why?" "Huh?" She hadn't expected Shin to ask that. "What happened? You look weird." Brat. "Nothing happened! I just want you to go ahead. Pick up a movie, train with Kyo." "Kumiko." He was giving her that look again. The one that said she was a terrible liar and that her decoy costumes sucked. She scowled at him and he gave in. "Fine." Her insides twisted a little. Did he have to make that face? Geez. It wasn't her fault he had started kissing her, or that he'd started training with Kyo. But she could quite possibly do something about Fujiyama and Nakashima thinking she was dating a student, and part of that meant not being seen renting a movie with him. In the end, it might have been a bad idea. She wasn't quite sure, but things were twisting a little, warping a little. She had been accosted by her two friends on the way out the door, "Why're you in such a hurry, Yamaguchi~?" Fujiyama winked in a way that made Yankumi think she had missed something. "Sure you're not meeting Sawada?" But the Kuroda style of fighting also meant holding your ground! "Oji-san is expecting me, and of course I should make sure Kyo-san isn't going too hard on Sawada." Nakashima patted Fujiyama on the shoulder. "I told you she's not like that, so give it a break!" Home, finally, and without the other two following her. Yankumi sent up a silent 'thank you!' to Nakashima, then toed off her shoes and handed a large fish off to Tetsu. "How's the training going?" she asked as he examined the awkward present. "They're still at it, Ojou!" Yankumi nodded and headed off to change first - no one wanted to smell like fish, but especially not on movie night. And Sawada's being there had nothing to do with her taking a shower, she waved aside an imaginary Fujiyama. They were getting to her! Damnit! Out back, the only thing that had changed was Shin's skill, which was quickly improving. Kyo looked happier than he had in awhile too, but it had been a long time since he had found someone worthy of training. She sat and watched them for a while, mind clearing and emptying until the sky dimmed the light of the backyard. "Ou! Get cleaned up!" she called out to them, and headed back inside to make sure everything would be set up for dinner and then the movie of the evening. Tetsu and Minoru were just finishing up dinner, Kyo and Shin were hitting the bath quickly, and there, where she usually did her marking, sat Grandfather. "Kumiko," he gestured for her to sit down, "How was school?" Just sitting there next to him made her feel much calmer, and she relaxed, telling him about her day. He laughed at all the right parts and nodded in agreement with her assessment of the head teacher ("A man with a weak heart, afraid of his own shadow!") and reassured her that all of 3-D would graduate. And then dinner was ready, Minoru told them, the smell wafting invitingly out of the next room. She hadn't thought about it before, but as they sat down she noticed that Shin was always given the seat of Honour, seated at the head between she and Grandfather. Any other newcomer would have likely been at the far end with the lower live-ins, but Shin had automatically been granted this particular seat. Not that she was complaining. The conversations between he and Grandfather alone were strangely captivating, just in seeing two people she would normally not have expected together, casually discussing or debating and then politely passing each other the salt or sake or juice. "I'm under-aged," she remembered he had told them a few times before they had stopped offering him alcohol. Or most of them, anyway. She gave Kyo a quick glare - he shouldn't be corrupting her students! Or did this count as corruption, too? When she had come home bullied and bruised in grade school she had asked Kyo "What's Yakuza? Are Yakuza bad people?" And he had stuttered yes and no and kind of and couldn't seem to make up his mind. It was true that her family business often took place outside the law, and also that their morals were unconventional, but... "So what's the choice pick for tonight, Red Lion?" Shin scowled at Kyo a little, paused to swallow his mouthful and answered, cautiously, "Tokijiro of Kutsukake," which immediately brought tears to some of the kumi's eyes, Kyo included. Yankumi had to admit that was an excellent choice, but an unusual one for his first experience with Movie Night. She may have still been underestimating him. With the promise of a Tai Kato film on the horizon, they all took to clearing as fast as possible- dishes washed and dried, table shifted aside, blankets and snacks produced. Shin dug through his school bag, eventually bringing out a movie that had brought the entire Ooedo clan to the verge of something dangerous on more than one occasion. Kumiko could feel the heady scent of anticipation fill the room, and fell into it willingly. Thursday nights were phenomenal. Minoru and Kyo were right up front as the credits rolled, the others scattered about up there as well to watch, Grandfather off to one side and Yankumi found herself at the back of the room next to Shin. She had a curious sensation of distance, of watching the movie and at the same time somehow being separated from it. Maybe this was how Shin felt in class, always sitting back there; half present, half absent. And then she was brought back to reality a bit when his fingers laced through hers. The room was dark, she couldn't see his expression. Was she a bad person for continuing like this? Not just for bringing him into the Yakuza, for exposing him to Japan's underworld, but for allowing this strangeness between them to continue? As a teacher, it felt wrong, horribly wrong, but part of her argued that he would graduate in a month, that he had always been outside the rules somehow, and that it was really too late to stop anything. She wanted to uphold her ideals as a teacher. She wanted him to continue to run his thumb across her knuckles like that. She wasn't sure where she stood anymore. By the end, the sound of sniffling and choked sobs was all too clear, and when Tetsu finally turned on the lights, most of the men in the room had red eyes and wet cheeks. Yankumi smiled. These men - covered in scars and capable of terrible things - were her family. An unusual family, but hers, and precious regardless. She looked over at Shin who stretched, then rubbed at one shoulder and felt a settling of something. She supposed that he was part of that family too, now, and somehow that made everything okay. "If you're late tomorrow, you'll have to clean the toilets!" She warned him on the way home, more to step away from herself than anything else. He snorted lightly. "Have I been late in the last month?" She thought about it. "No, actually..." "And you saw that I sent in my application for Kikawa?" Business classes at the local college. "Yes..." But what was he trying to say? They were outside his door again. "Then stop running away." His voice had changed, softer now, his eyes serious and fixed on her. "I'm not running away," 'anymore,' she added silently. The look he gave her said that he knew that, too, and she flushed a little. He stepped forward, maybe an inch from her nose and just that much taller than her. And then he waited. Was he thinking about something she wondered, but no, he looked very serious still, and it made her palms itch. So she kissed him. Maybe it was this that he had been waiting for. It was different from the last time, a little awkward on her part at first, and then smoothing, sifting, and he was very warm, that one hand on her back again, the other behind her head. Warm, and a little damp from his bath earlier, a little stiff where training had worn at his shoulders. It wasn't just melting, it was losing her feet. "Good," he said finally when they pulled back. "Don't be late tomorrow," and went inside before she could argue that she was never late for school. But of course it hit her on the way home that maybe he meant after school, and her face was hot the rest of the way home.