Card Captor Sakura Fan Fiction ❯ Shadow of the Dragon ❯ Sakura and the School Inquisition ( Chapter 31 )
[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
By: Lord Archive 
The school searches to uncover the truth of the students' misbehaviors.
Anime/Manga: Card Captor Sakura Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Supernatural / Romance / Drama | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 01.31.2014 | Pages: 7 | Words: 8.4K | Visits: 318 | Status: Completed
The school searches to uncover the truth of the students' misbehaviors.
Anime/Manga: Card Captor Sakura Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Supernatural / Romance / Drama | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 01.31.2014 | Pages: 7 | Words: 8.4K | Visits: 318 | Status: Completed
It had come to no surprise to Chiharu that she was among the students asked not to return to school until 'all matters were settled.' In her case that would require her to neither be pregnant nor a mother, which wouldn't happen unless Sakura was correct and she really wasn't going to have a baby soon. She would be meeting up with Naoko in an hour who was similarly suspended, but Yanagisawa was more likely to return to school before long.
The girl combed her hair, trying to stay out of her husband's way as he prepared for school as being late to meet up with her friend was far less of an issue. She then grimaced as she felt another cramp, and wondered if it was another symptom of morning sickness. The pain wasn't much different than when she about to have a period, but it was more intense.
"Chiharu, are you okay?" Takashi questioned walking up behind her.
"I'm fine..." the girl emitted before all strength left her body.
Takashi barely managed to catch the suddenly unconscious girl. "Chiharu?! What's wrong? Chiharu?" he called to her desperately and go no reply. He gently laid her down, grabbing a couple towels to use as a makeshift pillow.
The teenaged boy rushed to grab the phone and called 119 in a panic. "I need help. My... girlfriend just passed out." He pulled the cord as far as he could to get back to where Chiharu laid. He touched her forehead. "No fever. She just collapse... I don't know why she might've..." His heart froze as he suddenly thought that both Sakura and Chiharu could have been right. His hand shook as reached down her body and lifted her skirt. "Oh, no... Oh, no. No. No."
The emergency operator pressed him to talk.
"Her... her underwear is soaked in blood," Takashi croaked out. "Yes... she was pregnant. Please send help. I don't want to lose her too."
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Card Captor Sakura: Shadow of the Dragon
Chapter 31: Sakura and the School Inquisition
By: Lord Archive
Card Captor Sakura belongs to the fine ladies of CLAMP. Used without consent, all rights reserved.
Author's Warnings:
This contains mature themes not intended for children under thirteen.
This series contains:
Adult situations.
Sexual situations withOUT detailed description of sex nor the naked human body.
Brief moments of violence, some cases involving people getting severely injured and possibly death.
Occasional use of vulgar language.
Japanese humor: which include bathroom jokes, panty fetish and shocking situations.
Depictions of criminal activity committed by fictional characters.
References of homosexuality.
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Yuuka never did like visiting the school disciplinarian. Though this was the first time meeting him for something Rika had done. When she was a student she had been made to see the teacher appointed to enforce the rules several times. She could not help but feel nervous knocking on the office door.
"Enter," the school disciplinarian called out. "Greetings Sasaki-san, I'm Teikei. And this is Principal Kiriha."
"Hello," Kiriha added. "Now you may be wondering why we called for you to be here before your daughter."
Yuuka shook her head. "I understand why. You want to know if I support my daughter's relationship. I assure you I do not. She's too young to be dating. She doesn't understand what she is doing."
"Then you will help us to convince your daughter to tell us who is violating everything that teachers are supposed to uphold?" Teikei asked seriously.
"Of course," Yuuka agreed. "This can't go on."
"Now will your daughter listen to you?" Kiriha wondered.
"Of course she will. I'm here mother," Yuuka insisted.
A soft knock echoed from the door to which Teikei once again called out, "Enter."
Rika was almost shaking in nervousness as she entered the room. "Hello."
"Now Sasaki," Teikei addressed the girl. "I don't believe you realize how much trouble you are in."
"I assume you mean as a supposed victim of abuse." Rika folded her arms defiantly. "I can assure you I'm not being abused. I am still a virgin at HIS insistence. What little we've done has all been initiated by me."
"You understand we can't take your word for that," Teikei intoned. "An adult who would take advantage of a child would groom her to believe that she wants the relationship, to be willing to submit herself to his desires."
"Is there a point to this, then?" Rika questioned seriously. "You won't believe the relationship I have is honest, and I won't tell you who he is."
"Rika, for your own good, you have to tell us," Yuuka pleaded.
"'My own good?'" Rika repeated. "How would betraying the man I love be for my own good?"
"You're too young to understand!" Yuuka protested. "He's either out for your body, only to discard you once you get too old for him or he will make good on his promise to marry you only to take your dowry and run off! We only want to help you!"
The door was kicked open by a woman in a business suit. "What bullshit is this? Using my own words to Nadeshiko-chan against your daughter."
"S-Sonomi-chan?!" Yuuka squeaked out. "What are you doing here?"
"Daidouji-san, I presume, you'll need to wait for your appointment," Teikei intoned.
Sonomi ignored him. "How dare you? You protected Kinomoto-sensei as he stole Nadeshiko-chan from my family, and now that it's your daughter you claim she can't be in love?"
"This is different!" Yuuka shot back. "Rika doesn't understand what she's getting into. She's not old enough to understand!"
Sonomi folded her arms. "I said the same about Nadeshiko-chan, and where did she end up? Where?"
"That has nothing to do with this!" Yuuka retorted.
"Don't make me slap you," Sonomi hissed. "Have you even listened to a word your daughter has said or have you truly become your own mother?"
"Of course I listen. I'm NOTHING like my mother," Yuuka yelled back.
"When did my beloved give me my engagement ring?" Rika squeaked out.
"Huh? What are you talking about?" Yuuka shot at her.
"I told you when he gave me a ring. It had made me so happy I couldn't keep it a secret from you," Rika explained. "When did he give it to me?"
"That never happened!" Yuuka retorted.
Rika pulled out her necklace to show the ring in question. "He gave me the ring and I did tell you."
"No, you didn't tell me any such thing," Yuuka insisted.
"This isn't helping the situation at all!" Teikei called out. "Daidouji-san, please wait your turn."
"Tomoyo-chan, do you know who her beloved is?" Sonomi questioned.
"Excuse the intrusion," Tomoyo bowed politely. "I do know who her beloved is. And no I will not betray her or her beloved any more than Sasaki-san went against Aunt Nadeshiko."
Teikei slapped his hands down on the desk. "Enough! This isn't helping at all! We must help Sasaki."
Sonomi folded her arms. "Excuse me Disciplinarian-san, but as someone who has lost family over a teacher marrying his student, I know better than you do what is really at stake here."
"Then you should be helping us find out who the teacher is," Teikei retorted.
"I trust that if this teacher was hurting Yuuka-chan's daughter, Tomoyo-chan would be the first to come forward with the proof on tape," Sonomi countered.
"Would she truly risk losing her friendship even if it's to help?" Teikei returned. "She mentioned nothing to any of her friends about that tape she made even after it was stolen."
"If Rika-chan was being abused, would she not withdraw from her friends? I would rather be hated for protecting her, than lose her because I did nothing," Tomoyo replied seriously.
"And Yuuka-chan, what's this garbage about her being too young? Weren't you twelve when you first decided Sasaki was the love of your life? Didn't you first try to bed him at fourteen? And just when did Masami-chan become Yanagisawa's lover?" Sonomi shook her head. "How is being fifteen 'too young' to understand when you and our friends believed you all knew what love was when you were even younger than she is now? Do you think you were mistaken now? That even though you're still married to Sasaki that you didn't understand love then. Do you regret being married to him?"
"Of course I don't! I love Jyou more now than I ever have," Yuuka insisted. "But it's BECAUSE I've been through young love, seen what it did to Nadeshiko-chan that I can honestly say she doesn't understand! She doesn't know how hard things will be. Even if everything is kept legal, the teacher will find it difficult to find work as his character will be put into question."
"That may be so, but to pursue this would also ruin the teacher's career and in the process alienate your daughter. The biggest regret Grandfather and I have was that we pushed Nadeshiko away from us. We could've helped her, done more for her, yet we turned our backs on her. Don't repeat the same mistake with your daughter," Sonomi almost pleaded.
"Teikei-sensei," Tomoyo began. "I know you only want to help. And you know about my... hobby. I can certainly attest that while a teacher dating a student is not appropriate, it has not progressed beyond that. If it had...."
Teikei gritted his teeth. "The police would already be involved."
Tomoyo nodded. "As such, the only thing at risk isn't Rika-chan, but the career of a teacher who has done all he can to affirm the relationship is built on love."
Yuuka stood up. "This is getting us no where. Rika we will talk about this after school. Come straight home."
"Talk or telling her only what you want and not listening to anything she has to say," Sonomi shot at her. "That's what you hated most about your mother, and here you are doing the same thing to her."
Yuuka clenched her fists and stormed out the room.
Rika stood up and bowed politely. "I assume we are done for the moment."
"You may go," Kiriha replied with a shake of his head.
Sonomi then glared at the school disciplinarian. "As for Tomoyo-chan's so-called job. You know how she enjoys creating clothing. While she is not under contract, nor does she have any need for money, she has sold some of her designs to one of my companies. She is not under any obligation to have to design any outfits nor is she under any contract. She is merely contributing to her family business. Which, if I'm not mistaken, exempts her from needing to acquire a worker's permit."
Tomoyo pulled some papers from her school bag. "These are the receipts for payment of my designs."
Teikei snatched the papers from her. "So you're saying that to support your friend you functionally admitted to nothing?"
"I admitted to using my hobby to make money for myself," Tomoyo retorted. "Just as Naoko-chan has turned her hobby into a method for making money. The only difference is she's expected to have ten pages written every month and it's not for her family."
"You've undoubtedly assigned more work than that in any given month. And how does cleaning toilets aid with learning?" Sonomi shot at him.
"We need to instill discipline," Teikei insisted.
"And doesn't Yanagisawa-chan's little job help to do just that?" Sonomi returned. "To keep her dream job she has to not only make sure she has new material ready on time, done well enough to be printed, and in the process maintain her grades at school in case she has a one-hit wonder on her hands. It's everything you should be encouraging your students to do."
"We will take your statements under advisement," Kiriha told her. "Will you be at the parent-teacher meeting tonight?"
Sonomi smirked at how uncomfortable the school disciplinarian looked. "So long as no major problems occur at work I should be here."
Tomoyo smiled as well. If Teikei thought that her mother would be an issue, wait until he finds out Sakura's father would be at the meeting as well.
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Sakura wondered why does everything seem to happen at the same time. Why couldn't she just have one problem at a time to deal? Rika's mother may have been put in her place for the moment, but there was still the issue of the school pursuing the issue of a teacher dating a student. Tomoyo's freelance clothes designing was a non-issue, but the school had yet to discuss what to do with Naoko's job. And then there was...
"Chiharu-chan?!" Rika called out before rushing the girl standing at the gate. "What happened?"
Chiharu looked small and fragile standing in front of her husband. "I... I'm not pregnant anymore."
"She miscarried this morning," Takashi added sadly.
"Oh, Chiharu-chan..." Rika approached with arms spread and ready to hug, but stopped when the married girl held out her arm.
"She's still in pain as if she's feeling the worst period of her life," Takashi explained.
"I'm so sorry, Chiharu-chan..." Sakura bemoaned. "I wish I had been wrong."
"Don't be," Chiharu replied quietly. "I'm at risk of this happening again." She clenched her tiny fists. "Where my body just decides to have a damn period regardless of whether I'm pregnant or not."
"It does NOT mean that she won't be able to have children, just that it may take a few tries before one will be a keeper," Takashi explained.
Sakura grabbed the girl by the hand. "I'll be sure to let you know when that happens!"
Rika riffled through her school bag and handed some papers to Takashi. "I've got your homework for today."
"I'll be absent tomorrow as well while I recover," Chiharu tiredly informed.
The girls nodded in understanding.
"With luck we'll all be here at school Monday!" Sakura cheered.
"What a pleasant thought," Takashi sarcastically commented. "We wanted to let you know what happened. We'll be going home so she can get some rest."
"Take care," Sakura prayed. She then let out a sigh watching the young married couple walk off. "Sometimes I hate my powers." She wanted to tell Syaoran, who had classroom duty, and Tomoyo, who was in a choir rehearsal, but helping Rika was more important. She'd tell them later.
Rika led her friend, hoping Sakura's presence would temper her mother's reactions and be a living reminder just as Tomoyo had suggested. Nervously both girls enter her house. "I'm home."
"I'm in the kitchen," Yuuka called out.
"Hello. Excuse the intrusion," Sakura said with a bow as she entered the kitchen with her friend.
Yuuka frowned. "I'm sorry, but I need to talk to my daughter privately."
Sakura pouted. "I know what it's about. Rika-chan has a forbidden relationship with a teacher, much as my mother did with my father."
"And do you know how bad things were for your parents?" Yuuka countered.
"Wasn't the problem that my mother's family rejected what my mother told them? That my Mom really did love my Father. That they married even knowing that without my Great-Grandfather's approval they would get nothing of her dowry because it wasn't about money or anything else," Sakura insisted.
"Even though your mother was living with your father as his wife, they kept their relationship a secret for months. When Nadeshiko-chan's pregnancy became known, not only was she expelled, but Kinomoto-sensei was fired. Your father wanted to teach grade schools, but after getting involved with his student the only schools that would look at his resume were colleges," Yuuka explained.
Sakura nodded. "I know, and a college did give him a chance. And allowed him to foster his other passion, archeology! He's rather happy with the career he has."
Yuuka shook her head, knowing that there had been days Kinomoto and Nadeshiko had worried about money, spending days eating little more than ramen despite her pregnancy at the time. Though the girl was right that it wouldn't have been as bad had Nadeshiko's family listened and accepted the relationship as being true.
"My beloved does know the risks, and has set up plans for what to do if he loses his job," Rika added. "It's because of Sakura-chan's parents and what happened with them I do know what may happen. And it's the rejection from her mother's family is why I had not tried to tell you more about it before."
Yuuka could almost hear 'not that you would've listened' attached to that statement, though sounding as if came from her own voice rather than her daughter's or Sonomi's. "Dear, do you understand why we're trying to interfere?"
"Yes. Because you're afraid he's using me. That I'm going to be hurt by him," Rika replied seriously. "But is that not a risk of any guy I might date regardless of his age? Naoko-chan's ex-boyfriend wanted her for sex and to get closer to the writer, Konagi Noa. He got both, but selfishly lost it all for something meaningless."
"But there is a difference with this. Being so much older than you, he would understand the rules of dating far more. It would take less effort to convince you to make bad decisions," Yuuka insisted.
"You mean like having sex?" Rika returned. "If _I_ had my way, I wouldn't be a virgin. He is the one to insist we wait as he doesn't watch our relationship tainted by lust, and, well, he really doesn't want to risk ending up in jail for statutory rape."
"What do you expect me to do about this?" Yuuka demanded.
"Ignore it," Rika answered with some nervousness. "As much as I want to introduce him to you and Father, I'm afraid you'd reject him."
Yuuka folded her arms. "We will have to meet him at some point."
Rika nodded. "I know. After this school year is over..."
"With your sixteenth birthday only months away," Yuuka observed. "When you plan to marry him with or without our consent."
"Yes," Rika affirmed shakily.
Sakura shifted nervously. "If it helps... my Dad knows who it is. They've talked about the situation before. He, um, said he sees so much of himself and Mom with them."
Yuuka folded her arms. "That's not as reassuring as you'd hope. Now, Sakura-chan, you really should be getting home. Rika-chan, consider yourself grounded for now. Diner will be early as I will be attending the Parent Teacher Meeting tonight."
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Principal Kiriha shook his head at the gathered parents. Any other meeting of the Parent Teachers Association had a dozen parents at most. Today there was more than sixty. Not even the announcement of two junior high students being married or that the school had hosted a serial rapist had garnered this much attention. If Satome hadn't redeemed himself through suicide, maybe the meeting following his arrest might have seen more attention.
Yukiko walked up to him. "Principal, I need to talk to you about my daughter."
Kiriha nodded. She was hardly the first, but in the other cases he felt it better to deal with them as a group. Mihara's daughter was a different matter.
"She's no longer pregnant," Yukiko informed sadly. "She miscarried yesterday."
"Yamazaki-kun already informed the school," Principal Kiriha informed. "She'll be listed as absent due to illness. She'll be allowed back at school once she recovers."
"Thank you," Yukiko bowed.
Kiriha then moved to greet the newest arrival. "Ah, Sasaki-san, it's good that you're here."
Yuuka frowned, not at the principal, but at some of the other parents that were present. She knew very well how some of them were likely to argue. "I would like to talk to the parents in regards to my daughter."
"Of course," Kiriha agreed.
"Um..." The young beautiful mother that was the elected leader for the parents shifted uneasily. "Um... perhaps we should start this meeting with an explanation from the principal."
Principal Kiriha gave her a slight nod. Most years the role she held had little impact and was more a position of popularity than ability to lead. He then straightened himself. "Now you might expect I'd want to explain the situation from the beginning, however the problem with that is which situation and which beginning." Kiriha began to pace before the gathered parents. "Teachers are not deaf. We hear many rumors over the course of our years. Rumors that have been true, overblown, or completely false. The problems with rumors is that they are hearsay and do not represent proof of wrong doing. Had we taken every rumor seriously we risk punishing innocent students, especially as some rumors are lies from the very beginning meant to hurt the student in question."
"What does this have to do with suspending an entire class!" one parent cried out.
"The class was dismissed for the day, not suspended. It will not appear on their records," Kiriha corrected. "And at the heart of the issues we face, are those rumors. We knew there were issues with our students, that things were getting out of hand. We needed to send a message that we were not going to take flaunting of school rules lightly. Then it came to light one of our students had a job without a workers permit. With other rumored misbehavior on her part, she was to be the example. In the process of confronting her about her job, her classroom stood up and confessed to wrong doings on their parts, many of which were saying the rumors about them were true. In order to lessen the risk of the entire school following suit we let her classroom leave."
"Um... That explains the background, but what are we to do about situations raised?" the young leader asked.
"Well, due to the number of cases of inappropriate sexual relations, we will leave that to the parents to decide, especially as we can not say for certain if some of those students weren't lying in order to not look bad in front of other classmates," the Principal answered. "We must pick our battles more carefully. The only case of that type we need to confront as a school is that one of our students indicated her boyfriend is a teacher, though she did not say as to who he is. The girl in question insists that her relationship is not sexual, but we cannot be certain in such cases. The main reason we're taking her claims seriously is that she has been rumored to have an older boyfriend for some time now. I will give the floor to the girl's mother."
Yuuka had failed to sit down on the provided folding chairs, in fear of not being able to get back up. She waddled her way to the front of the gathered parents. "The situation with my daughter has forced me to remember the events of two decades ago. At that time I latched onto a guy as my true love because he gave me what my parents never did: his undivided attention. My father was always at work and my mother never seemed to listen to me. I feel my daughter may have fallen for a teacher for the very same reason."
Yuuka let out a sigh. "The teacher shouldn't have returned her feelings. But apparently he has. However, that also brings back events of two decades ago, when I stood with my friend as she fought to be able to marry her beloved. She was just a first year senior high school student and he was our history teacher. I knew they were truly in love. I pleaded with her family to accept him. And while my friend did face hard times as his young bride, their problems came from the absolute rejection of her family. And now I find my daughter's friends repeating my own words in defense of this teacher truly being in love with my daughter. I find myself understanding her family a lot more than I ever did. I can't trust their words completely. More than that, I've seen the troubles that such a relationship can cause."
Principal Kiriha frowned at her words. "What are you saying?" he requested with concern.
"I'm not really sure, myself," Yuuka admitted. "I don't want to repeat what happened to my friend when she married her beloved and reject my daughter. But I also don't want her to be hurt by the man she loves."
"I have a private investigation firm under my employ. I've already requested them to keep an eye on your daughter. If this teacher does hurt her, you'll have his head on platter," Sonomi vowed.
Yuuka smirked uneasily. "With you, that might be a literal statement."
Principal Kiriha frowned for more reason than the threat against a teacher. "Are you really suggesting we leave this situation to your family? Despite the illegal activity of a teacher?"
Yuuka shook her head. "We have no proof anything _illegal_ is going on. My daughter insists she is still a virgin. It would be a matter of violation of ethics on the teacher's part. Who this teacher is will become known next year when my daughter turns sixteen. Either with her marriage or proof that he has been using and lying to her."
"What should we do if your daughter isn't the only one he's involved with?" Kiriha insisted.
"My private investigator will be keeping an eye out just for that," Sonomi insisted.
"And I'm sure you will be keeping an eye on my daughter and will warn me if her behavior changes or her grades drop," Yuuka added.
"They're dealing with their situation, but what are you doing about your students having sex?" one of the few fathers demanded. "They're too young to be doing such things!"
Kiriha shook his head. "As I said, we'll leave that to the families to take care of."
"So you're going to do NOTHING about a bunch of boys who have bragged about having sex with more than one girl? You're going to let them potentially mess up the futures of our daughters?" the father pressed.
"Yes, what are you going to do about this?" a mother insisted and was echoed by several other parents.
"Um... something should be done, shouldn't there?" the young head of the PTA questioned.
Yanagisawa Misami stood up. "Have you forgotten when you all were in junior high? How many of you honestly were still virgins when you started senior high? Are you forgetting how popular compensation dating was back then? Do you honestly think your kids are somehow 'younger' than you were in junior high, that things are really different now? As far as I can tell, our kids aren't prostituting themselves off as much as some of my classmates did at their ages."
Kiriha coughed loudly to bring attention back to himself. "First, I'd like to remind you all about the issues of rumors. Yes, several boys bragged about being with two specific girls. One died in a car accident and can't defend herself, while the other girl denies being with any of them. It is possible they lied to appear to be more manly, especially as the first boy to confess wrong doing admitted to having been with two girls who did not deny it. This boy would have been seen as the least likely to have a girlfriend. So if he was able to have been with two girls, they'd have to be with at least that many as well."
"And what if these boys aren't lying?" demanded a parent.
"At the same point do you want us to punish students based on rumors?" Kiriha returned.
Teikei stood up. "While rumor and hearsay is not enough to punish students, as the Principal has told me when this started, we can use this situation to help the students. I suggest that we require all students to write a report about why having sex is a bad idea. We can use those reports to spot troubled students who don't realize how damaging their actions can be. And try to help them see the issues."
"Is that agreeable?" Kiriha questioned. "Or should we suspend half of our third year students, some of whom deny being the sexual partner of a confessor?"
"I don't want some slut trying to claim my son fathered her child and mess up his life!" a mother argued.
"How would you suggest we do that?" Kiriha returned. "You're in the best position to guide your sons and daughters. We will do what we can to help the students understand what is at stake, but as much as we may want to, we can't watch all the students all the time."
"And if the teachers did watch our kids every second, giving them no privacy, we would be complaining about that," Misami accused.
"Does anyone have any other ideas to help our students understand why having sex is a bad idea?" Kiriha questioned he gave them a moment to give any suggestions. "If you come up with any thoughts later, the school will entertain them. If you want us to help mediate situations between your children's relationships on individual basis, we will be available to help. Now to talk about the trigger of this situation: suspending a girl for having a job without a workers permit."
Misami remained standing. "My daughter had the opportunity to achieve her dream at a young age. To be a professional writer, which as her guidance councilor was so kind to point out is one of the hardest careers to obtain, she accepted the offer to write for Dragon Magazine as Konagi Noa. This is the type of job the school should encourage their students to have, to show as a badge of honor. Not punish her for being successful."
Teikei folded his arms. "If your daughter was a shining example of a student, we might've been so inclined. However, assault and one of the few confirmed cases of inappropriate sexual relations which she, herself, wrote about for the world to see."
"She was already facing detention for the issues with her ex-boyfriend," Misami retorted. "I can understand an additional punishment for failing to inform the school of her job, but forcing her to decide between an education or destroying her future career as a professional writer isn't something the school should be doing."
"And what should we say to all the students we denied worker's permits?" Teikei retorted.
"Use some common sense. This isn't a request to work as a waitress. And that job would get one if her family owned the restaurant. This is about a girl achieving her goals to get a career and securing her future, and you're denying her that," Misami retorted.
"And what do you have to say about this Daidouji-san. Your daughter was denied a permit to make her own fashion label," Kiriha questioned, despite knowing her views.
"I argued the point then, and I do now, the school needs to help foster success in more than just test scores. If a student has an opportunity to make steps towards their future working a job that will help them succeed as an adult, they should be allowed to do it," Sonomi replied firmly.
"And damage their ability to get an education in the process," Teikei argued.
"Would there be a reason the junior high would not enforce the same rules as the senior high school? That certain grades must be maintained in order to keep the permit? If the student can't handle both, then and only then should the school force a choice," Sonomi countered.
"And is having a job a bigger crime than what got a girl suspended for only two weeks?" Misami added harshly. "And what about sports? You've got students spending hours a day practicing sports instead of studying. And yet that is acceptable because they're not being paid for it. Sure you have grade restrictions on them playing, but that doesn't apply to other hobbies. Playing video games all weekend long certainly won't help their grades."
Principal Kiriha clapped his hands. "If we are to make changes to school rules to allow Yanagisawa Naoko to continue to be a student and write as Konagi Noa, we would have to change the rules for all students. Something the PTA insisted on years ago when a number of working students brought the average grades down."
"If the PTA made changes then, um, can't we do that now?" the young PTA leader questioned.
"We can," Kiriha replied with a slight smirk. "But how will we change it?"
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Being a receptionist at Dragon Magazine, there were a lot of people who would walk in with their stories in hopes of it being published. The only reason these people weren't dismissed out of hand was that sometimes a writer with talent did walk in. Though the truth was the vast majority walked out with complete rejection. When a bespectacled girl wearing a simple white and tan dress approached her desk, she suspected the wannabe writer would be sent out within five minutes. "Welcome to Dragon Magazine. How can I help you?"
"I would like to speak to Kanzaki-san," Naoko greeted.
"What is the nature of this visit?" the receptionist questioned not surprised the girl already knew the name of an editor, as new writers often did research to seem like they were more important than they really were.
"I'm Konagi Noa and would like to finally meet him face-to-face," Naoko replied.
This was not the first time someone walked in claiming to be the elusive writer and the receptionist was very skeptical this young girl could be one of their authors. "Do you have any proof that you are Konagi Noa?" She blinked as the girl did not name a character as being Black Wolf as most of the pretenders had tried. Instead a woman in a business suit step forward and handed the girl some papers. These papers were then placed on her desk.
"Is this sufficient?" Naoko questioned.
The receptionist reached for her phone. "Hello, Kanzaki-san. Konagi Noa is here to see you. Yes, I'm sure this is her. She has a copy of her signed contract. Hello? Hello, Kanzaki-san?"
A door burst open and an extremely thin man wildly looked over the room.
"Kanzaki-san, I presume," Naoko greeted with a bow.
The man blinked at the girl. "You're...?"
"Konagi Noa," Naoko replied. "Though my real name is Yanagisawa Naoko. I believe you have already met Ishida-san."
"Ah, yes. It has been a while Ishida-san." The man straightened. "Please excuse me. You're not exactly who I imagined Konagi-san to be."
"Had I not disclosed personal information in my recent chapters, I might've remained in hiding a bit longer. However, now that my school knows about my job, there's no point in keeping my identity a secret." Naoko smirked wryly. "Having a job of any type that was not family related was against school rules. They've changed the rules to allow for exceptions, but for keeping it from the school I've been suspended for a week."
Kanzaki ushered the girl towards the offices. "I understand. It certainly explains the reason for secrecy. It's still amazing that one so young could write a story like Bloody Sword Detective."
Naoko giggled a little. "You could say I'm a bibliophile. I was always reading books. They would get into so much more detail of a world than television or movies ever could."
"And is that the issue you've had with having your story animated?" Kanzaki wondered.
Naoko shook her head. "It's more the reason why I turned away from the television as a baby sitter to books: the horrible fillers. The rush to animate a popular series that is no where near completion and having second or third rate writers try to fill in screen time with canon screwing garbage."
Kanzaki gazed down at the girl in wonder. "You really are Konagi-san. We've had a few pretenders try to pass themselves off as you, but none mentioned your distaste for fillers."
"And talking about animating my story, I will have a few stipulations for the production company. The most important one is that I will want to approve all scripts. I don't care if that means saying 'no' to the twelve billion yen contract. I don't want to see a mockery of my story made by so-called professionals," Naoko insisted. "And we can write off a certain production company. Their underhanded methods to find me nearly caused me to be expelled from junior high completely."
Kanzaki nodded. Being able to name the amount that she would've received from the most recent bid certainly helped to put aside any doubts who this girl was. "I understand. We will work to make sure your vision remains intact."
------------------------
"I wish Naoko-chan was here," Sakura bemoaned as she pulled out a pair of wrapped bento lunches, which she handed one of them to Syaoran.
"She'll be back in a couple days," Syaoran assured her.
"Then we'll all be together again," Rika added with a slight cheer.
"What is your verdict?" Chiharu wondered, who also had a pair of lunches for herself and her husband.
"Well, I'm functionally grounded, not that I'd risk meeting my beloved right now considering how much attention is on me," Rika replied before taking the first few bites of her meal.
"How are you feeling?" Tomoyo questioned cautiously.
Chiharu frowned. "Still a bit tender, I guess. Though if I was still pregnant I wouldn't be here."
Tomoyo pouted. "And you don't mean because of the school rules, do you?"
Chiharu merely nodded.
Sakura blinked. "Hoe?"
"Too much risk that your enemy might hurt the baby," Chiharu admitted.
"Oh." Sakura seemed to deflate.
"At least we can be sure he had nothing to do with this," Tomoyo commented. "It would have been in his best interest to keep us separated."
"Using the video has been his greatest success yet," Syaoran agreed.
"Except that if you're right, it forced Kinomoto to be closer to you," Meiling retorted.
"His failure was not in exploiting Sakura-chan's loss of support from her friends," Tomoyo observed. "Whether he attacked her life or her relationship, she would not have our support to help see her through it."
Sakura blushed a little. "We figured that much out, which was why I spent a lot of time with Syaoran-kun and Meiling-chan these past few weeks."
"So we can expect an attack the first opening Kinomoto gives," Takashi observed. "That's wonderful."
Sakura shrugged weakly.
Tomoyo then leaned closer to her beloved cousin. "Anything of note happen between you and Li-kun?"
Sakura shifted uneasily. "Um... not really..."
"You DID do something WITH him, didn't you?" Tomoyo pressed.
Sakura's face turned deep red and she looked ready to find a hole and jump into it.
"Now you've got me curious. Out with it. We've told you about us. Did you two final have sex?" Chiharu pressed.
Sakura shook her head. "No... Not that."
Takashi elbowed Syaoran. "You're going to let her sit on the hot seat alone?"
The Chinese boy's blush also deepened. "We really shouldn't be talking about such things at school, especially with the recent issues."
"We already know the school won't do anything about it," Rika noted.
Sakura looked away, her red face ready to explode blood. "He... um... doesn't really have much... taste..."
Meiling blinked. "Taste?"
The other girls began to giggle insanely.
"A while a few of us discussed how their boyfriends tasted, when they, you know..." Tomoyo trailed off with a blush.
Meiling scowled. "Sucked dick?"
Takashi shifted uneasily. "You girls talk too much."
Rika tilted her head. "Perhaps you could answer their question: Do boys taste different or is it something to do with girls."
Meiling looked mildly disgusted. "You know boys pee with those. I have no intention of putting my mouth any where near a guy's dick."
"I guess we can leave that debate for another time," Tomoyo shrugged cluelessly.
"Or ask a legitimate school slut," Meiling returned.
------------------------
Author's Notes:
Coming Next:
Chapter 32 - Sakura and the Trouble with Relationships
Reforging friendships is one thing, dealing with love can be even more difficult.
Sakura's friends are back together, but not all has been forgiven and their friendship is weaker that it was before. Tomoyo will find herself last to be called or informed of any group plans, and sometimes forgotten to be called at all.
'119' is not a typo, rather that is the emergency number in Japan.
------------------------
Syaoran burst out into his backyard where he found Feimei in the clutches of a monstrous creature known as a hollow and Fanren laid on the ground near the gazebo unconscious. Without thinking he rushed toward the creature, only to be sent flying back into his house through the open door.
The soul reaper twirled a pink wand in her hand. "Sword RELEASE!" The wand shimmered into and shifted it's shape into a sword, which she then used to cut off the beast's arm that held onto Feimei, freeing the girl.
The hollow howled in pain before viciously punching the soul reaper into the ground. It raised it's remaining arm, ready to punch her again.
"Leave her alone!" Syaoran spat out, now armed with his family sword that rested above the mantel.
The hollow glared at the boy and then charged at him. The boy was prepared to counter a punch but he did not expect the creature to lead in with it's face and bite him.
"No!" the soul reaper cried as she helplessly watched the boy writhe in the hollow's mouth. She leapt at it with her sword and landed a solid slash along it's back. The boy tumbled from it's mouth as the hollow whipped around with it's fist and began to pound on her.
The soul reaper felt her strength ebbing away. She had known she was not ready for such missions. It did not matter that she had the power to be of a higher rank, she just wasn't much of a fighter. Here she was trying to protect the living, but she had failed. The boy was dead, his spirit now standing above his corpse.
Syaoran didn't need to be told what happened. He had failed to protect his sisters and the strange girl. He glanced at his family sword, and figured he still had a chance. He picked it up and felt something rush through his body.
The hollow turned around quickly as if sensing some sort of new threat. It took an unsteady step back before licking it's boney teeth and stepped forward hungrily.
Syaoran jumped at the hollow, seemingly defying gravity as he planted the sword into the creature's face. Words came to his mind and he let them fall from his lips, "God of Thunder, RELEASE!"
Electricity arced all over the hollow as it writhed in pain, then a thunderclap resounded as the creature's boney mask shattered and the beast evaporated from existence. He then glanced around, surprised at how little damage the battle had actually done. His sisters were out cold, but otherwise seemed unhurt. He then blinked. "What are you doing?"
The soul reaper had crawled over to his body. "I can't let my failure hurt you."
"I'm already dead," Syaoran pointed out.
"I... I might be able to fix that." The soul reaper swallowed hard. "My name is Kinomoto Sakura... Please remember me."
"WHAT?!" Syaoran cried out.
A bright light erupted, blinding Syaoran. It seemed only a moment later when he blinked his eyes clear, yet the morning sun was casting shadows of all four of his sisters. "Wha?"
"Well, Syaoran, who's your girlfriend?" Shiefa wondered.
Syaoran tired mind now registered there was a weight on his chest. He didn't understand anything beyond Meiling was going to be upset that he somehow slept on the back porch with a girl. He certainly didn't know what to say to his sisters about the soul reaper who was somehow now warm and alive.
* The storyline and Hollows are from Bleach and belongs to Tite Kubo and Shounen Jump, all rights reserved.
The girl combed her hair, trying to stay out of her husband's way as he prepared for school as being late to meet up with her friend was far less of an issue. She then grimaced as she felt another cramp, and wondered if it was another symptom of morning sickness. The pain wasn't much different than when she about to have a period, but it was more intense.
"Chiharu, are you okay?" Takashi questioned walking up behind her.
"I'm fine..." the girl emitted before all strength left her body.
Takashi barely managed to catch the suddenly unconscious girl. "Chiharu?! What's wrong? Chiharu?" he called to her desperately and go no reply. He gently laid her down, grabbing a couple towels to use as a makeshift pillow.
The teenaged boy rushed to grab the phone and called 119 in a panic. "I need help. My... girlfriend just passed out." He pulled the cord as far as he could to get back to where Chiharu laid. He touched her forehead. "No fever. She just collapse... I don't know why she might've..." His heart froze as he suddenly thought that both Sakura and Chiharu could have been right. His hand shook as reached down her body and lifted her skirt. "Oh, no... Oh, no. No. No."
The emergency operator pressed him to talk.
"Her... her underwear is soaked in blood," Takashi croaked out. "Yes... she was pregnant. Please send help. I don't want to lose her too."
------------------------
Card Captor Sakura: Shadow of the Dragon
Chapter 31: Sakura and the School Inquisition
By: Lord Archive
Card Captor Sakura belongs to the fine ladies of CLAMP. Used without consent, all rights reserved.
Author's Warnings:
This contains mature themes not intended for children under thirteen.
This series contains:
Adult situations.
Sexual situations withOUT detailed description of sex nor the naked human body.
Brief moments of violence, some cases involving people getting severely injured and possibly death.
Occasional use of vulgar language.
Japanese humor: which include bathroom jokes, panty fetish and shocking situations.
Depictions of criminal activity committed by fictional characters.
References of homosexuality.
------------------------
Yuuka never did like visiting the school disciplinarian. Though this was the first time meeting him for something Rika had done. When she was a student she had been made to see the teacher appointed to enforce the rules several times. She could not help but feel nervous knocking on the office door.
"Enter," the school disciplinarian called out. "Greetings Sasaki-san, I'm Teikei. And this is Principal Kiriha."
"Hello," Kiriha added. "Now you may be wondering why we called for you to be here before your daughter."
Yuuka shook her head. "I understand why. You want to know if I support my daughter's relationship. I assure you I do not. She's too young to be dating. She doesn't understand what she is doing."
"Then you will help us to convince your daughter to tell us who is violating everything that teachers are supposed to uphold?" Teikei asked seriously.
"Of course," Yuuka agreed. "This can't go on."
"Now will your daughter listen to you?" Kiriha wondered.
"Of course she will. I'm here mother," Yuuka insisted.
A soft knock echoed from the door to which Teikei once again called out, "Enter."
Rika was almost shaking in nervousness as she entered the room. "Hello."
"Now Sasaki," Teikei addressed the girl. "I don't believe you realize how much trouble you are in."
"I assume you mean as a supposed victim of abuse." Rika folded her arms defiantly. "I can assure you I'm not being abused. I am still a virgin at HIS insistence. What little we've done has all been initiated by me."
"You understand we can't take your word for that," Teikei intoned. "An adult who would take advantage of a child would groom her to believe that she wants the relationship, to be willing to submit herself to his desires."
"Is there a point to this, then?" Rika questioned seriously. "You won't believe the relationship I have is honest, and I won't tell you who he is."
"Rika, for your own good, you have to tell us," Yuuka pleaded.
"'My own good?'" Rika repeated. "How would betraying the man I love be for my own good?"
"You're too young to understand!" Yuuka protested. "He's either out for your body, only to discard you once you get too old for him or he will make good on his promise to marry you only to take your dowry and run off! We only want to help you!"
The door was kicked open by a woman in a business suit. "What bullshit is this? Using my own words to Nadeshiko-chan against your daughter."
"S-Sonomi-chan?!" Yuuka squeaked out. "What are you doing here?"
"Daidouji-san, I presume, you'll need to wait for your appointment," Teikei intoned.
Sonomi ignored him. "How dare you? You protected Kinomoto-sensei as he stole Nadeshiko-chan from my family, and now that it's your daughter you claim she can't be in love?"
"This is different!" Yuuka shot back. "Rika doesn't understand what she's getting into. She's not old enough to understand!"
Sonomi folded her arms. "I said the same about Nadeshiko-chan, and where did she end up? Where?"
"That has nothing to do with this!" Yuuka retorted.
"Don't make me slap you," Sonomi hissed. "Have you even listened to a word your daughter has said or have you truly become your own mother?"
"Of course I listen. I'm NOTHING like my mother," Yuuka yelled back.
"When did my beloved give me my engagement ring?" Rika squeaked out.
"Huh? What are you talking about?" Yuuka shot at her.
"I told you when he gave me a ring. It had made me so happy I couldn't keep it a secret from you," Rika explained. "When did he give it to me?"
"That never happened!" Yuuka retorted.
Rika pulled out her necklace to show the ring in question. "He gave me the ring and I did tell you."
"No, you didn't tell me any such thing," Yuuka insisted.
"This isn't helping the situation at all!" Teikei called out. "Daidouji-san, please wait your turn."
"Tomoyo-chan, do you know who her beloved is?" Sonomi questioned.
"Excuse the intrusion," Tomoyo bowed politely. "I do know who her beloved is. And no I will not betray her or her beloved any more than Sasaki-san went against Aunt Nadeshiko."
Teikei slapped his hands down on the desk. "Enough! This isn't helping at all! We must help Sasaki."
Sonomi folded her arms. "Excuse me Disciplinarian-san, but as someone who has lost family over a teacher marrying his student, I know better than you do what is really at stake here."
"Then you should be helping us find out who the teacher is," Teikei retorted.
"I trust that if this teacher was hurting Yuuka-chan's daughter, Tomoyo-chan would be the first to come forward with the proof on tape," Sonomi countered.
"Would she truly risk losing her friendship even if it's to help?" Teikei returned. "She mentioned nothing to any of her friends about that tape she made even after it was stolen."
"If Rika-chan was being abused, would she not withdraw from her friends? I would rather be hated for protecting her, than lose her because I did nothing," Tomoyo replied seriously.
"And Yuuka-chan, what's this garbage about her being too young? Weren't you twelve when you first decided Sasaki was the love of your life? Didn't you first try to bed him at fourteen? And just when did Masami-chan become Yanagisawa's lover?" Sonomi shook her head. "How is being fifteen 'too young' to understand when you and our friends believed you all knew what love was when you were even younger than she is now? Do you think you were mistaken now? That even though you're still married to Sasaki that you didn't understand love then. Do you regret being married to him?"
"Of course I don't! I love Jyou more now than I ever have," Yuuka insisted. "But it's BECAUSE I've been through young love, seen what it did to Nadeshiko-chan that I can honestly say she doesn't understand! She doesn't know how hard things will be. Even if everything is kept legal, the teacher will find it difficult to find work as his character will be put into question."
"That may be so, but to pursue this would also ruin the teacher's career and in the process alienate your daughter. The biggest regret Grandfather and I have was that we pushed Nadeshiko away from us. We could've helped her, done more for her, yet we turned our backs on her. Don't repeat the same mistake with your daughter," Sonomi almost pleaded.
"Teikei-sensei," Tomoyo began. "I know you only want to help. And you know about my... hobby. I can certainly attest that while a teacher dating a student is not appropriate, it has not progressed beyond that. If it had...."
Teikei gritted his teeth. "The police would already be involved."
Tomoyo nodded. "As such, the only thing at risk isn't Rika-chan, but the career of a teacher who has done all he can to affirm the relationship is built on love."
Yuuka stood up. "This is getting us no where. Rika we will talk about this after school. Come straight home."
"Talk or telling her only what you want and not listening to anything she has to say," Sonomi shot at her. "That's what you hated most about your mother, and here you are doing the same thing to her."
Yuuka clenched her fists and stormed out the room.
Rika stood up and bowed politely. "I assume we are done for the moment."
"You may go," Kiriha replied with a shake of his head.
Sonomi then glared at the school disciplinarian. "As for Tomoyo-chan's so-called job. You know how she enjoys creating clothing. While she is not under contract, nor does she have any need for money, she has sold some of her designs to one of my companies. She is not under any obligation to have to design any outfits nor is she under any contract. She is merely contributing to her family business. Which, if I'm not mistaken, exempts her from needing to acquire a worker's permit."
Tomoyo pulled some papers from her school bag. "These are the receipts for payment of my designs."
Teikei snatched the papers from her. "So you're saying that to support your friend you functionally admitted to nothing?"
"I admitted to using my hobby to make money for myself," Tomoyo retorted. "Just as Naoko-chan has turned her hobby into a method for making money. The only difference is she's expected to have ten pages written every month and it's not for her family."
"You've undoubtedly assigned more work than that in any given month. And how does cleaning toilets aid with learning?" Sonomi shot at him.
"We need to instill discipline," Teikei insisted.
"And doesn't Yanagisawa-chan's little job help to do just that?" Sonomi returned. "To keep her dream job she has to not only make sure she has new material ready on time, done well enough to be printed, and in the process maintain her grades at school in case she has a one-hit wonder on her hands. It's everything you should be encouraging your students to do."
"We will take your statements under advisement," Kiriha told her. "Will you be at the parent-teacher meeting tonight?"
Sonomi smirked at how uncomfortable the school disciplinarian looked. "So long as no major problems occur at work I should be here."
Tomoyo smiled as well. If Teikei thought that her mother would be an issue, wait until he finds out Sakura's father would be at the meeting as well.
------------------------
Sakura wondered why does everything seem to happen at the same time. Why couldn't she just have one problem at a time to deal? Rika's mother may have been put in her place for the moment, but there was still the issue of the school pursuing the issue of a teacher dating a student. Tomoyo's freelance clothes designing was a non-issue, but the school had yet to discuss what to do with Naoko's job. And then there was...
"Chiharu-chan?!" Rika called out before rushing the girl standing at the gate. "What happened?"
Chiharu looked small and fragile standing in front of her husband. "I... I'm not pregnant anymore."
"She miscarried this morning," Takashi added sadly.
"Oh, Chiharu-chan..." Rika approached with arms spread and ready to hug, but stopped when the married girl held out her arm.
"She's still in pain as if she's feeling the worst period of her life," Takashi explained.
"I'm so sorry, Chiharu-chan..." Sakura bemoaned. "I wish I had been wrong."
"Don't be," Chiharu replied quietly. "I'm at risk of this happening again." She clenched her tiny fists. "Where my body just decides to have a damn period regardless of whether I'm pregnant or not."
"It does NOT mean that she won't be able to have children, just that it may take a few tries before one will be a keeper," Takashi explained.
Sakura grabbed the girl by the hand. "I'll be sure to let you know when that happens!"
Rika riffled through her school bag and handed some papers to Takashi. "I've got your homework for today."
"I'll be absent tomorrow as well while I recover," Chiharu tiredly informed.
The girls nodded in understanding.
"With luck we'll all be here at school Monday!" Sakura cheered.
"What a pleasant thought," Takashi sarcastically commented. "We wanted to let you know what happened. We'll be going home so she can get some rest."
"Take care," Sakura prayed. She then let out a sigh watching the young married couple walk off. "Sometimes I hate my powers." She wanted to tell Syaoran, who had classroom duty, and Tomoyo, who was in a choir rehearsal, but helping Rika was more important. She'd tell them later.
Rika led her friend, hoping Sakura's presence would temper her mother's reactions and be a living reminder just as Tomoyo had suggested. Nervously both girls enter her house. "I'm home."
"I'm in the kitchen," Yuuka called out.
"Hello. Excuse the intrusion," Sakura said with a bow as she entered the kitchen with her friend.
Yuuka frowned. "I'm sorry, but I need to talk to my daughter privately."
Sakura pouted. "I know what it's about. Rika-chan has a forbidden relationship with a teacher, much as my mother did with my father."
"And do you know how bad things were for your parents?" Yuuka countered.
"Wasn't the problem that my mother's family rejected what my mother told them? That my Mom really did love my Father. That they married even knowing that without my Great-Grandfather's approval they would get nothing of her dowry because it wasn't about money or anything else," Sakura insisted.
"Even though your mother was living with your father as his wife, they kept their relationship a secret for months. When Nadeshiko-chan's pregnancy became known, not only was she expelled, but Kinomoto-sensei was fired. Your father wanted to teach grade schools, but after getting involved with his student the only schools that would look at his resume were colleges," Yuuka explained.
Sakura nodded. "I know, and a college did give him a chance. And allowed him to foster his other passion, archeology! He's rather happy with the career he has."
Yuuka shook her head, knowing that there had been days Kinomoto and Nadeshiko had worried about money, spending days eating little more than ramen despite her pregnancy at the time. Though the girl was right that it wouldn't have been as bad had Nadeshiko's family listened and accepted the relationship as being true.
"My beloved does know the risks, and has set up plans for what to do if he loses his job," Rika added. "It's because of Sakura-chan's parents and what happened with them I do know what may happen. And it's the rejection from her mother's family is why I had not tried to tell you more about it before."
Yuuka could almost hear 'not that you would've listened' attached to that statement, though sounding as if came from her own voice rather than her daughter's or Sonomi's. "Dear, do you understand why we're trying to interfere?"
"Yes. Because you're afraid he's using me. That I'm going to be hurt by him," Rika replied seriously. "But is that not a risk of any guy I might date regardless of his age? Naoko-chan's ex-boyfriend wanted her for sex and to get closer to the writer, Konagi Noa. He got both, but selfishly lost it all for something meaningless."
"But there is a difference with this. Being so much older than you, he would understand the rules of dating far more. It would take less effort to convince you to make bad decisions," Yuuka insisted.
"You mean like having sex?" Rika returned. "If _I_ had my way, I wouldn't be a virgin. He is the one to insist we wait as he doesn't watch our relationship tainted by lust, and, well, he really doesn't want to risk ending up in jail for statutory rape."
"What do you expect me to do about this?" Yuuka demanded.
"Ignore it," Rika answered with some nervousness. "As much as I want to introduce him to you and Father, I'm afraid you'd reject him."
Yuuka folded her arms. "We will have to meet him at some point."
Rika nodded. "I know. After this school year is over..."
"With your sixteenth birthday only months away," Yuuka observed. "When you plan to marry him with or without our consent."
"Yes," Rika affirmed shakily.
Sakura shifted nervously. "If it helps... my Dad knows who it is. They've talked about the situation before. He, um, said he sees so much of himself and Mom with them."
Yuuka folded her arms. "That's not as reassuring as you'd hope. Now, Sakura-chan, you really should be getting home. Rika-chan, consider yourself grounded for now. Diner will be early as I will be attending the Parent Teacher Meeting tonight."
------------------------
Principal Kiriha shook his head at the gathered parents. Any other meeting of the Parent Teachers Association had a dozen parents at most. Today there was more than sixty. Not even the announcement of two junior high students being married or that the school had hosted a serial rapist had garnered this much attention. If Satome hadn't redeemed himself through suicide, maybe the meeting following his arrest might have seen more attention.
Yukiko walked up to him. "Principal, I need to talk to you about my daughter."
Kiriha nodded. She was hardly the first, but in the other cases he felt it better to deal with them as a group. Mihara's daughter was a different matter.
"She's no longer pregnant," Yukiko informed sadly. "She miscarried yesterday."
"Yamazaki-kun already informed the school," Principal Kiriha informed. "She'll be listed as absent due to illness. She'll be allowed back at school once she recovers."
"Thank you," Yukiko bowed.
Kiriha then moved to greet the newest arrival. "Ah, Sasaki-san, it's good that you're here."
Yuuka frowned, not at the principal, but at some of the other parents that were present. She knew very well how some of them were likely to argue. "I would like to talk to the parents in regards to my daughter."
"Of course," Kiriha agreed.
"Um..." The young beautiful mother that was the elected leader for the parents shifted uneasily. "Um... perhaps we should start this meeting with an explanation from the principal."
Principal Kiriha gave her a slight nod. Most years the role she held had little impact and was more a position of popularity than ability to lead. He then straightened himself. "Now you might expect I'd want to explain the situation from the beginning, however the problem with that is which situation and which beginning." Kiriha began to pace before the gathered parents. "Teachers are not deaf. We hear many rumors over the course of our years. Rumors that have been true, overblown, or completely false. The problems with rumors is that they are hearsay and do not represent proof of wrong doing. Had we taken every rumor seriously we risk punishing innocent students, especially as some rumors are lies from the very beginning meant to hurt the student in question."
"What does this have to do with suspending an entire class!" one parent cried out.
"The class was dismissed for the day, not suspended. It will not appear on their records," Kiriha corrected. "And at the heart of the issues we face, are those rumors. We knew there were issues with our students, that things were getting out of hand. We needed to send a message that we were not going to take flaunting of school rules lightly. Then it came to light one of our students had a job without a workers permit. With other rumored misbehavior on her part, she was to be the example. In the process of confronting her about her job, her classroom stood up and confessed to wrong doings on their parts, many of which were saying the rumors about them were true. In order to lessen the risk of the entire school following suit we let her classroom leave."
"Um... That explains the background, but what are we to do about situations raised?" the young leader asked.
"Well, due to the number of cases of inappropriate sexual relations, we will leave that to the parents to decide, especially as we can not say for certain if some of those students weren't lying in order to not look bad in front of other classmates," the Principal answered. "We must pick our battles more carefully. The only case of that type we need to confront as a school is that one of our students indicated her boyfriend is a teacher, though she did not say as to who he is. The girl in question insists that her relationship is not sexual, but we cannot be certain in such cases. The main reason we're taking her claims seriously is that she has been rumored to have an older boyfriend for some time now. I will give the floor to the girl's mother."
Yuuka had failed to sit down on the provided folding chairs, in fear of not being able to get back up. She waddled her way to the front of the gathered parents. "The situation with my daughter has forced me to remember the events of two decades ago. At that time I latched onto a guy as my true love because he gave me what my parents never did: his undivided attention. My father was always at work and my mother never seemed to listen to me. I feel my daughter may have fallen for a teacher for the very same reason."
Yuuka let out a sigh. "The teacher shouldn't have returned her feelings. But apparently he has. However, that also brings back events of two decades ago, when I stood with my friend as she fought to be able to marry her beloved. She was just a first year senior high school student and he was our history teacher. I knew they were truly in love. I pleaded with her family to accept him. And while my friend did face hard times as his young bride, their problems came from the absolute rejection of her family. And now I find my daughter's friends repeating my own words in defense of this teacher truly being in love with my daughter. I find myself understanding her family a lot more than I ever did. I can't trust their words completely. More than that, I've seen the troubles that such a relationship can cause."
Principal Kiriha frowned at her words. "What are you saying?" he requested with concern.
"I'm not really sure, myself," Yuuka admitted. "I don't want to repeat what happened to my friend when she married her beloved and reject my daughter. But I also don't want her to be hurt by the man she loves."
"I have a private investigation firm under my employ. I've already requested them to keep an eye on your daughter. If this teacher does hurt her, you'll have his head on platter," Sonomi vowed.
Yuuka smirked uneasily. "With you, that might be a literal statement."
Principal Kiriha frowned for more reason than the threat against a teacher. "Are you really suggesting we leave this situation to your family? Despite the illegal activity of a teacher?"
Yuuka shook her head. "We have no proof anything _illegal_ is going on. My daughter insists she is still a virgin. It would be a matter of violation of ethics on the teacher's part. Who this teacher is will become known next year when my daughter turns sixteen. Either with her marriage or proof that he has been using and lying to her."
"What should we do if your daughter isn't the only one he's involved with?" Kiriha insisted.
"My private investigator will be keeping an eye out just for that," Sonomi insisted.
"And I'm sure you will be keeping an eye on my daughter and will warn me if her behavior changes or her grades drop," Yuuka added.
"They're dealing with their situation, but what are you doing about your students having sex?" one of the few fathers demanded. "They're too young to be doing such things!"
Kiriha shook his head. "As I said, we'll leave that to the families to take care of."
"So you're going to do NOTHING about a bunch of boys who have bragged about having sex with more than one girl? You're going to let them potentially mess up the futures of our daughters?" the father pressed.
"Yes, what are you going to do about this?" a mother insisted and was echoed by several other parents.
"Um... something should be done, shouldn't there?" the young head of the PTA questioned.
Yanagisawa Misami stood up. "Have you forgotten when you all were in junior high? How many of you honestly were still virgins when you started senior high? Are you forgetting how popular compensation dating was back then? Do you honestly think your kids are somehow 'younger' than you were in junior high, that things are really different now? As far as I can tell, our kids aren't prostituting themselves off as much as some of my classmates did at their ages."
Kiriha coughed loudly to bring attention back to himself. "First, I'd like to remind you all about the issues of rumors. Yes, several boys bragged about being with two specific girls. One died in a car accident and can't defend herself, while the other girl denies being with any of them. It is possible they lied to appear to be more manly, especially as the first boy to confess wrong doing admitted to having been with two girls who did not deny it. This boy would have been seen as the least likely to have a girlfriend. So if he was able to have been with two girls, they'd have to be with at least that many as well."
"And what if these boys aren't lying?" demanded a parent.
"At the same point do you want us to punish students based on rumors?" Kiriha returned.
Teikei stood up. "While rumor and hearsay is not enough to punish students, as the Principal has told me when this started, we can use this situation to help the students. I suggest that we require all students to write a report about why having sex is a bad idea. We can use those reports to spot troubled students who don't realize how damaging their actions can be. And try to help them see the issues."
"Is that agreeable?" Kiriha questioned. "Or should we suspend half of our third year students, some of whom deny being the sexual partner of a confessor?"
"I don't want some slut trying to claim my son fathered her child and mess up his life!" a mother argued.
"How would you suggest we do that?" Kiriha returned. "You're in the best position to guide your sons and daughters. We will do what we can to help the students understand what is at stake, but as much as we may want to, we can't watch all the students all the time."
"And if the teachers did watch our kids every second, giving them no privacy, we would be complaining about that," Misami accused.
"Does anyone have any other ideas to help our students understand why having sex is a bad idea?" Kiriha questioned he gave them a moment to give any suggestions. "If you come up with any thoughts later, the school will entertain them. If you want us to help mediate situations between your children's relationships on individual basis, we will be available to help. Now to talk about the trigger of this situation: suspending a girl for having a job without a workers permit."
Misami remained standing. "My daughter had the opportunity to achieve her dream at a young age. To be a professional writer, which as her guidance councilor was so kind to point out is one of the hardest careers to obtain, she accepted the offer to write for Dragon Magazine as Konagi Noa. This is the type of job the school should encourage their students to have, to show as a badge of honor. Not punish her for being successful."
Teikei folded his arms. "If your daughter was a shining example of a student, we might've been so inclined. However, assault and one of the few confirmed cases of inappropriate sexual relations which she, herself, wrote about for the world to see."
"She was already facing detention for the issues with her ex-boyfriend," Misami retorted. "I can understand an additional punishment for failing to inform the school of her job, but forcing her to decide between an education or destroying her future career as a professional writer isn't something the school should be doing."
"And what should we say to all the students we denied worker's permits?" Teikei retorted.
"Use some common sense. This isn't a request to work as a waitress. And that job would get one if her family owned the restaurant. This is about a girl achieving her goals to get a career and securing her future, and you're denying her that," Misami retorted.
"And what do you have to say about this Daidouji-san. Your daughter was denied a permit to make her own fashion label," Kiriha questioned, despite knowing her views.
"I argued the point then, and I do now, the school needs to help foster success in more than just test scores. If a student has an opportunity to make steps towards their future working a job that will help them succeed as an adult, they should be allowed to do it," Sonomi replied firmly.
"And damage their ability to get an education in the process," Teikei argued.
"Would there be a reason the junior high would not enforce the same rules as the senior high school? That certain grades must be maintained in order to keep the permit? If the student can't handle both, then and only then should the school force a choice," Sonomi countered.
"And is having a job a bigger crime than what got a girl suspended for only two weeks?" Misami added harshly. "And what about sports? You've got students spending hours a day practicing sports instead of studying. And yet that is acceptable because they're not being paid for it. Sure you have grade restrictions on them playing, but that doesn't apply to other hobbies. Playing video games all weekend long certainly won't help their grades."
Principal Kiriha clapped his hands. "If we are to make changes to school rules to allow Yanagisawa Naoko to continue to be a student and write as Konagi Noa, we would have to change the rules for all students. Something the PTA insisted on years ago when a number of working students brought the average grades down."
"If the PTA made changes then, um, can't we do that now?" the young PTA leader questioned.
"We can," Kiriha replied with a slight smirk. "But how will we change it?"
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Being a receptionist at Dragon Magazine, there were a lot of people who would walk in with their stories in hopes of it being published. The only reason these people weren't dismissed out of hand was that sometimes a writer with talent did walk in. Though the truth was the vast majority walked out with complete rejection. When a bespectacled girl wearing a simple white and tan dress approached her desk, she suspected the wannabe writer would be sent out within five minutes. "Welcome to Dragon Magazine. How can I help you?"
"I would like to speak to Kanzaki-san," Naoko greeted.
"What is the nature of this visit?" the receptionist questioned not surprised the girl already knew the name of an editor, as new writers often did research to seem like they were more important than they really were.
"I'm Konagi Noa and would like to finally meet him face-to-face," Naoko replied.
This was not the first time someone walked in claiming to be the elusive writer and the receptionist was very skeptical this young girl could be one of their authors. "Do you have any proof that you are Konagi Noa?" She blinked as the girl did not name a character as being Black Wolf as most of the pretenders had tried. Instead a woman in a business suit step forward and handed the girl some papers. These papers were then placed on her desk.
"Is this sufficient?" Naoko questioned.
The receptionist reached for her phone. "Hello, Kanzaki-san. Konagi Noa is here to see you. Yes, I'm sure this is her. She has a copy of her signed contract. Hello? Hello, Kanzaki-san?"
A door burst open and an extremely thin man wildly looked over the room.
"Kanzaki-san, I presume," Naoko greeted with a bow.
The man blinked at the girl. "You're...?"
"Konagi Noa," Naoko replied. "Though my real name is Yanagisawa Naoko. I believe you have already met Ishida-san."
"Ah, yes. It has been a while Ishida-san." The man straightened. "Please excuse me. You're not exactly who I imagined Konagi-san to be."
"Had I not disclosed personal information in my recent chapters, I might've remained in hiding a bit longer. However, now that my school knows about my job, there's no point in keeping my identity a secret." Naoko smirked wryly. "Having a job of any type that was not family related was against school rules. They've changed the rules to allow for exceptions, but for keeping it from the school I've been suspended for a week."
Kanzaki ushered the girl towards the offices. "I understand. It certainly explains the reason for secrecy. It's still amazing that one so young could write a story like Bloody Sword Detective."
Naoko giggled a little. "You could say I'm a bibliophile. I was always reading books. They would get into so much more detail of a world than television or movies ever could."
"And is that the issue you've had with having your story animated?" Kanzaki wondered.
Naoko shook her head. "It's more the reason why I turned away from the television as a baby sitter to books: the horrible fillers. The rush to animate a popular series that is no where near completion and having second or third rate writers try to fill in screen time with canon screwing garbage."
Kanzaki gazed down at the girl in wonder. "You really are Konagi-san. We've had a few pretenders try to pass themselves off as you, but none mentioned your distaste for fillers."
"And talking about animating my story, I will have a few stipulations for the production company. The most important one is that I will want to approve all scripts. I don't care if that means saying 'no' to the twelve billion yen contract. I don't want to see a mockery of my story made by so-called professionals," Naoko insisted. "And we can write off a certain production company. Their underhanded methods to find me nearly caused me to be expelled from junior high completely."
Kanzaki nodded. Being able to name the amount that she would've received from the most recent bid certainly helped to put aside any doubts who this girl was. "I understand. We will work to make sure your vision remains intact."
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"I wish Naoko-chan was here," Sakura bemoaned as she pulled out a pair of wrapped bento lunches, which she handed one of them to Syaoran.
"She'll be back in a couple days," Syaoran assured her.
"Then we'll all be together again," Rika added with a slight cheer.
"What is your verdict?" Chiharu wondered, who also had a pair of lunches for herself and her husband.
"Well, I'm functionally grounded, not that I'd risk meeting my beloved right now considering how much attention is on me," Rika replied before taking the first few bites of her meal.
"How are you feeling?" Tomoyo questioned cautiously.
Chiharu frowned. "Still a bit tender, I guess. Though if I was still pregnant I wouldn't be here."
Tomoyo pouted. "And you don't mean because of the school rules, do you?"
Chiharu merely nodded.
Sakura blinked. "Hoe?"
"Too much risk that your enemy might hurt the baby," Chiharu admitted.
"Oh." Sakura seemed to deflate.
"At least we can be sure he had nothing to do with this," Tomoyo commented. "It would have been in his best interest to keep us separated."
"Using the video has been his greatest success yet," Syaoran agreed.
"Except that if you're right, it forced Kinomoto to be closer to you," Meiling retorted.
"His failure was not in exploiting Sakura-chan's loss of support from her friends," Tomoyo observed. "Whether he attacked her life or her relationship, she would not have our support to help see her through it."
Sakura blushed a little. "We figured that much out, which was why I spent a lot of time with Syaoran-kun and Meiling-chan these past few weeks."
"So we can expect an attack the first opening Kinomoto gives," Takashi observed. "That's wonderful."
Sakura shrugged weakly.
Tomoyo then leaned closer to her beloved cousin. "Anything of note happen between you and Li-kun?"
Sakura shifted uneasily. "Um... not really..."
"You DID do something WITH him, didn't you?" Tomoyo pressed.
Sakura's face turned deep red and she looked ready to find a hole and jump into it.
"Now you've got me curious. Out with it. We've told you about us. Did you two final have sex?" Chiharu pressed.
Sakura shook her head. "No... Not that."
Takashi elbowed Syaoran. "You're going to let her sit on the hot seat alone?"
The Chinese boy's blush also deepened. "We really shouldn't be talking about such things at school, especially with the recent issues."
"We already know the school won't do anything about it," Rika noted.
Sakura looked away, her red face ready to explode blood. "He... um... doesn't really have much... taste..."
Meiling blinked. "Taste?"
The other girls began to giggle insanely.
"A while a few of us discussed how their boyfriends tasted, when they, you know..." Tomoyo trailed off with a blush.
Meiling scowled. "Sucked dick?"
Takashi shifted uneasily. "You girls talk too much."
Rika tilted her head. "Perhaps you could answer their question: Do boys taste different or is it something to do with girls."
Meiling looked mildly disgusted. "You know boys pee with those. I have no intention of putting my mouth any where near a guy's dick."
"I guess we can leave that debate for another time," Tomoyo shrugged cluelessly.
"Or ask a legitimate school slut," Meiling returned.
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Author's Notes:
Coming Next:
Chapter 32 - Sakura and the Trouble with Relationships
Reforging friendships is one thing, dealing with love can be even more difficult.
Sakura's friends are back together, but not all has been forgiven and their friendship is weaker that it was before. Tomoyo will find herself last to be called or informed of any group plans, and sometimes forgotten to be called at all.
'119' is not a typo, rather that is the emergency number in Japan.
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Syaoran burst out into his backyard where he found Feimei in the clutches of a monstrous creature known as a hollow and Fanren laid on the ground near the gazebo unconscious. Without thinking he rushed toward the creature, only to be sent flying back into his house through the open door.
The soul reaper twirled a pink wand in her hand. "Sword RELEASE!" The wand shimmered into and shifted it's shape into a sword, which she then used to cut off the beast's arm that held onto Feimei, freeing the girl.
The hollow howled in pain before viciously punching the soul reaper into the ground. It raised it's remaining arm, ready to punch her again.
"Leave her alone!" Syaoran spat out, now armed with his family sword that rested above the mantel.
The hollow glared at the boy and then charged at him. The boy was prepared to counter a punch but he did not expect the creature to lead in with it's face and bite him.
"No!" the soul reaper cried as she helplessly watched the boy writhe in the hollow's mouth. She leapt at it with her sword and landed a solid slash along it's back. The boy tumbled from it's mouth as the hollow whipped around with it's fist and began to pound on her.
The soul reaper felt her strength ebbing away. She had known she was not ready for such missions. It did not matter that she had the power to be of a higher rank, she just wasn't much of a fighter. Here she was trying to protect the living, but she had failed. The boy was dead, his spirit now standing above his corpse.
Syaoran didn't need to be told what happened. He had failed to protect his sisters and the strange girl. He glanced at his family sword, and figured he still had a chance. He picked it up and felt something rush through his body.
The hollow turned around quickly as if sensing some sort of new threat. It took an unsteady step back before licking it's boney teeth and stepped forward hungrily.
Syaoran jumped at the hollow, seemingly defying gravity as he planted the sword into the creature's face. Words came to his mind and he let them fall from his lips, "God of Thunder, RELEASE!"
Electricity arced all over the hollow as it writhed in pain, then a thunderclap resounded as the creature's boney mask shattered and the beast evaporated from existence. He then glanced around, surprised at how little damage the battle had actually done. His sisters were out cold, but otherwise seemed unhurt. He then blinked. "What are you doing?"
The soul reaper had crawled over to his body. "I can't let my failure hurt you."
"I'm already dead," Syaoran pointed out.
"I... I might be able to fix that." The soul reaper swallowed hard. "My name is Kinomoto Sakura... Please remember me."
"WHAT?!" Syaoran cried out.
A bright light erupted, blinding Syaoran. It seemed only a moment later when he blinked his eyes clear, yet the morning sun was casting shadows of all four of his sisters. "Wha?"
"Well, Syaoran, who's your girlfriend?" Shiefa wondered.
Syaoran tired mind now registered there was a weight on his chest. He didn't understand anything beyond Meiling was going to be upset that he somehow slept on the back porch with a girl. He certainly didn't know what to say to his sisters about the soul reaper who was somehow now warm and alive.
* The storyline and Hollows are from Bleach and belongs to Tite Kubo and Shounen Jump, all rights reserved.