Title: Test of Strength [An Interlude?]
Author: MK
Pairing: Sawada Shin x Yamaguchi Kumiko
Fandom: Gokusen
Theme: #12, In a Good Mood
Disclaimer: I don't own Gokusen, but Shin would really appreciate it if I did. 
Most of the time.

[This part is short. It's supposed to be kind of a halfway point, except that it's not 
the halfway point. It just kind of is.]

	Examination day should have begun with some early-morning stretches 
and relaxation before giving her class a good, solid "Faito! O!".  Instead, she faced 
down Kyo, who was incredibly hung over.

	"Why did you drink so much?! I can't believe you kept one of my cute little 
students out so late the day before his exams!"  Kyo was red-eyed, wincing and 
ingesting a little hair of the dog to, according to him, "Speed his recovery".  Shin 
was thankfully still adamant about not drinking before he was legal (at least, he 
had been since the night he saved Kyo's life), but did look very tired.

	"Ojou, pleaseÉ" Kyo's voice was rough, "It was in celebration of his 
graduation!"  he took another gulp of beer.
	
	"He has to pass his exams first, dumbass! Today!"  Her shoulders sagged.  
"Sawada Ð shower, eat; we're leaving as soon as you're ready."  He was quiet, but 
he was always like that this early.  Like her, mornings were not his strong suit.  
	
	They made his hair look awfully cute, though.


	Gathered before her was 3-D in its entirety, solemn, serious and staring at 
her, unblinking.  They were probably tired.  "If you pass this, you will graduate 
highschool," she began. "You've all done your best, and proved a lot of people 
wrong!  Show that stupid Kyoto-sensei just what 3-D is capable of!" She paused, 
raising her fist. "Faito!"

	And they responded with a resounding "O!" 

	It was excellent. They would pass.


	Yankumi didn't trust Kyoto-sensei with the exams, but then, neither did 
Fujiyama or Nakashima, who stayed with her: two of them feeding score cards 
through the scantron machine and the other recording marks in the school's 
computer system.  The head teacher had glared and huffed and stomped his feet 
for a while, but as a trio they had smiled wanly at him until he left.  

	"Sawada really is smart!" Nakashima commented.  "Actually, Noda's 
English marks aren't bad either!"

	Yankumi laughed.  "He had inspiration, ne, Fujiyama-sen-sei~?"  She 
drawled the name, teasing, and the other woman actually looked a bit 
embarrassed.  
	
	"But look at their math marks Ð I've never seen them do that well! Before 
this year, most of them scored in the single digits."  

	"They really just needed work on the basics, and then other things became 
a lot easierÉ" Yankumi trailed off for a moment.  The basics of course, included 
someone who would listen to them, and who actually cared.  

	"The basicsÉ?"  Nakashima was looking at her a little strangely, and she 
shook her head.  "Never mind, let's finish these up so we can go get a drink!"