Shiro sighed as he walked out of his algebra class, completely exhausted. Even with 
Sakura's help every night, it was still a struggle to explain the material in a way the kids 
would understand. He was an English teacher; he wasn't completely incompetent at math, but he 
wasn't particularly good at it either. And despite his best efforts, his lack of understanding 
of the subject was really making it hard for him to teach it.

	"Maybe I just need to do some more work with Sakura," Shiro said to nobody in particular,
walking slowly towards the gates of the school. "It might just be that I'm rusty...it'd make 
sense, since I haven't taken a math class in a few years. All I have to do is put in the effort, 
and I should be able to pull through okay...at least until Principal Kuno decides to muck with 
me again..."

	As if on cue, a voice rang out from the school building behind Shiro. "Shiro! Shiro!"

	Shiro turned to see Miss Hinako, in child form, standing at a window on one of the upper 
floors. "Yes?" Shiro shouted back.

	"Principal Kuno said he wanted to see you before he left. Wanted your opinion on 
something, apparently."

	Shiro groaned softly as he started to slowly trudge back inside. "I'll be right up."

	Grumbling as he walked up the stairs, Shiro eventually made his way to the principal's 
office. Pushing his way through the palm trees outside the door, Shiro knocked softly. "Principal
Kuno? You wanted to see me?"

	"Aloha, come in, brudda!" Principal Kuno through the closed door, his voice cheery.  

	Shiro walked in the door (hacking through the underbrush with the machete conveniently 
placed at the entrance) and made his way to the principal's desk. "Miss Hinako said you wanted 
my opinion on something?" he said quizzically, peering at the Hawaiian shirt-clad administrator.

	"Yes, yes, da Big Kahuna be needin' da perspective of anudder  Hawaiian on sometin'," 
he said, starting to stand up. "You 'tink dis would go over well wit' da hula girls?"

	Shiro reeled back in shock as the principal stood up fully. "Dear God! What are you 
doing to that pineapple?!"

	o/" Then put your little hand in mine, There ain't no hill or mountain we can't climb... 
o/" Principal Kuno started to sing, strumming his ukulele as he rocked back an forth.

	"GAH!" Shiro shouted as he shot awake like a guy out of a really disturbing dream. "What 
the heck was that...I have got to stop eating before I go to sleep..."

	Looking over at the clock, Shiro groaned loudly. "5 AM...I don't know how I'm going to 
make it through he day today...especially algebra...but I gotta go help Mariko get back here, or 
she'll be late and Yamada and Miss Hinako will have her head on a spit..." Stretching his legs, 
Shiro slowly walked towards the bathroom to start getting ready.

	o/" Babe...I got you babe...o/"

**********


	Ranma 1/2: Lack of Common Sensei
	Chapter 14: Terror, Thy Name is Algebra
	LoCS created by Winston Smith
	This chapter by Jesse Ellman
	Sole Member, Insane Cod Productions
	"Because man can not survive on good writing alone."

**********

	Shiro got out of the cab and walked through the doors of the airport, only slightly more 
awake now. After peeing at the flight listing for several minutes, he turned and went over to 
the airline information counter. "Excuse me, can you tell me where flight 8381 is coming in?"

	"Gate 23, straight down to your right, sir," replied the woman, smiling cheerily. 
Thanking her, Shiro started to trek down towards the gate. Idly, he wondered how Mariko could 
have traveled how Mariko could have walked so far that she needed to take a plane back to get to 
school on time. "Where did Ryouga leave her, mainland China?" he muttered to himself, chuckling 
idly at the ridiculousness of the statement.

	A few minutes later, Shiro reached Gate 23. Walking up to the counter, he got the 
attention of the person working there. "Is there where flight 8381 is going to be coming in?"

	The woman nodded. "Yes, flight 8381 from Easter Island is going to be letting off in 
just a moment."

	Shiro blinked. "Wow, I'm more tired than I thought. I could have sworn you said that 
this flight was coming from Easter Island," he laughed nervously.

	"I did say Easter Island."

	Before Shiro could get his brain working again to form a coherent response, the doors 
opened up and Mariko Kawaii stepped out. Spotting Shiro, she rushed up and glomped onto him, 
tears in her eyes. "I was so scared, Shiro-san! That nice boy tried to help me but he didn't 
know where he was going and we just got more and more lost and then I saw these neat giant stone 
heads but then I knew I wasn't in Nerima anymore and then the nice boy disappeared and I was all 
alone and the neat giant heads were staring at me funny and..."

	"Mariko!" Shiro shouted, interrupting Mariko's attempt to break the record for longest 
run-on sentence.

	"What, Shiro-san?"

	"Can you please let go of me? People are staring, and I think a couple of discs in my 
back are about to pop out..."

	"Sorry!" said Mariko hurriedly, letting go of Shiro and jumping back a bit, tears still 
streaming down her face. "Are you okay? I'm so sorry about all this..."

	Shiro smiled as he tried to work the kinks out of his back. "Listen, it's no big deal. 
It's not your fault you didn't know about Ryouga. You're allright, aren't you?"

	Mariko nodded, sniffling slightly. "Yes, but the plane tickets back here cost so much! 
I don't know what I'm going to do..."

	"Just file a claim with the NHRF," offered the ticket agent helpfully.

	"The what?" said Shiro, confused.

	"The Nerima Hibiki Rescue Fund. It was set up a little while back to help people who got 
lost because of that Hibiki kid. My cousin was visiting from Osaka, and she ended up in Swaziland
when she tried to follow him to a bathroom."

	"They set up a fund to handle this? It happens that often?" said Shiro, incredulous.

	"About two or three times a month, usually," said the man. Turning to Mariko, he smiled.
"The NHRF has an office down at city hall. Just go there with your plane tickets and they'll mail
you a refund one to two business days."

	"Wai! Thank you!" Mariko said, her mood brightening considerably. Looking down at her 
watch, she started. "Shiro, we have to hurry, or we'll be late for school!"

	Shiro nodded. "I know...let's get going. I'd rather not have to face Miss Hinako..."

**********

	Shiro checked his watch. Ten minutes early, he thought with a smile. He wouldn't have to 
worry about Miss Hinako's wrath after all. "Maybe this day won't be so bad after all," he 
muttered idly, making his way through a lightly populated hallway.

	At that moment, Tonomi came around the corner and nearly ran right into Shiro.

	"Whoops, sorry about that, Tonomi," Shiro said, chuckling. "My fault, I should been 
paying more attention."

	Tonomi stared Shiro directly in the eyes, then pushed passed him, running away as she 
audibly sobbed.

	Shiro watched her run off, a puzzled look on his face. "What was that all about...I'll 
have to find her later and find out what's going on," he said. Glancing down at his watch again, 
Shiro started to jog off to his class.

	"Well, that was certainly interesting, Daisuke," said Hiroshi, getting up from the floor 
to head to class. "What do you think's going on between those two?"

	Daisuke shrugged. "Probably some kind of silly misunderstanding that's causing 
unnecessary angst, but which will eventually be resolved, at which point they'll go back to as 
if it never happened."

	Hiroshi nodded sagely. "That or she's carrying his love child."

	Daisuke turned to his friend with a smile. "You willing to put money on that?"

	"500 yen sound good?"

	"Easiest money I ever made."

	"In your dreams."

**********

	Shiro walked into his algebra class with his mind preoccupied, still thinking about what 
had happened with Tonomi. Try as he might, he couldn't figure out why she reacted the way she 
did when she saw him.

	With a long sigh, he tried his best to put the incident out of his thoughts. He had to 
concentrate on his lesson if he was going to be able to do a halfway decent job.

	Recalling what Sakura had said, Shiro started to slowly and carefully sketch out a 
function machine on the board. After several minutes, he turned back towards the class, which 
had finally settled into their seats. "Okay everyone, I realize that my teaching might have been 
a bit shaky the past few days, and I apologize for that. I'm supposed to teach English, and... 
well, suffice it to say that math was never my best subject," he said, earning smiles and a few 
chuckles from the class.

	"Nonetheless, I'm going to do the best I can. I was talking with Sakura-sensei, who's 
significantly better at this stuff than I am, and she gave me a good idea of how I can help you 
understand what I've been teaching better." Pausing for a moment, Shiro pointed behind him. "Can 
anyone tell me what that is?"

	The students peered at the drawing, deep in thought.

	After a few moments, Shiro started to get nervous. "Anybody?

	Finally, a boy in the back raised his hand. "It...kinda looks like a soda bottle riding 
a giraffe."

	Shiro sweatdropped as several of the other students muttered in agreement. "Umm...not 
quite..."

	"I know!" cried a girl near the window. "It's the emperor being carried through the sky 
by a fleet of hamsters with beanies!" 

	Shiro's sweatdrop grew larger. "No...anyone else? Please?"

	"No, no!" said another student. "It's the Stay-Puffed Marshmallow Man being attacked by 
a horde of undead ninjas with laser swords!"  
	
	The entire classroom fell silent. "A what?!" said Shiro, the sweatdrop now roughly the 
size of his head. "How could you possibly think that what I drew looks like..." Shiro paused for 
a moment, looking back up at what he had drawn. "Actually, now that you mention it, it actually 
does kind of look like that. Well I'll be a monkey's uncle..."

	The class looked confused as Shiro realized that his students had likely never heard 
that particular American colloquialism. "What that mean is..." he started to say, before on of 
the boys in the class interrupted him.

	"You're a monkey's uncle?"

	Shiro shook his head. "It's not meant to be taken literally..."

	"Is it adopted or something?" asked another student.

	"Listen, I'm not really..."

	"Do you have a monkey sibling who married another monkey? That would explain it..." 
chimed in another.

	"My sister is very much human..."

	"So your sister married a monkey and had a half-primate kid? That's messed up..." said a 
fourth student.

	Shiro clutched his head. It was going to be a long, long day.

**********

	Sakura was in a good mood. Most of her classes had been cancelled due to an attack by 
Akane's tuna casserole, and she was finally able to catch up on some grading she'd been meaning 
to do. On top of that, she had the material for her session with Shiro all planned out. "Damn 
I'm good," she said to herself, giggling. "And I even have time to go home and get cleaned up 
before I have to help Shiro out..."

	Walking out the doors of Furinkan, Sakura stopped for a minute and closed her eyes. 
It was a beautiful day out, cool and crisp just like she liked it, and she wanted to take a 
moment to enjoy the cool breeze, the warm sun, the soft sobbing...

	Sakura paused in mid-thought and opened her eyes. "Soft sobbing?" she said, looking 
around. after a moment, she spotted the source of the sound: Tonomi Kanzaki, sitting under a 
tree in the a good ways away, crying as she clutched her knees to her chest.

	Sakura sighed. If she knew Tonomi, her unhappiness probably had something to do with 
Shiro. Maybe Shiro had finally told her flat out that a relationship between the two wasn't 
going to happen? Sakura shook her head at that; Shiro was, unfortunately, too nice a guy to 
break Tonomi's heart like that.

	Sakura stood behind another tree to keep out of sight as she watched Tonomi sob. Maybe 
she was just upset that Shiro was no longer teaching her English class? Tonomi was certainly 
emotional enough to have this kind of extreme reaction to that, Sakura mused, but something in 
her gut told her otherwise.

	What else did that leave? Sakura finally admitted to herself that she had absolutely no 
clue. "What could Shiro have done to get her to cry like that?" she wondered aloud.

	"I tell you, she's carrying his love child!"

	Sakura blinked. Turning around, she saw Hiroshi and Daisuke walking towards the gates of 
Furinkan, having a heated discussion.

	"That's ridiculous, man!" said Daisuke vehemently. "Shiro-sensei wouldn't do something 
like that!"

	Damn right, thought Sakura.

	"But think about it, Dai!" responded Hiroshi, stopping  and turning towards his friend. 
"It would explain why Tonomi's so upset. We know she's got a crush on Shiro. Tonomi's attractive,
Shiro's young. You're telling me it's impossible?"

	Daisuke shrugged. "Nothing's impossible..."

	"Exactly!" Hiroshi exclaimed. "So they start going out secretly, he gets her pregnant, 
realizes he's in big trouble, then dumps her. He greets her normally in school, trying to act as 
if nothing happened, but she starts crying and runs off as soon as she sees him. And she 
continues crying all day. It all fits!"

	Daisuke shrugged. "Whatever you say, Holmes," he deadpanned, walking off.

	"It explains everything, though," said Hiroshi, running after Daisuke. "It does!"

	It does indeed, thought an enraged Sakura. How dare he! And here she thought he was a 
nice guy, a good person, someone she wanted as a colleague, a friend, and maybe, possibly mo- no,
now was no time to think thought like that, Sakura fumed as she got up and stormed back into the 
building.

	Now was the time to get some answers.

**********

	Shiro, meanwhile, had no clue idea of what was going on. He was just sitting in his 
office, grading papers, checking over his attendance sheets, and trying to work out what 
questions he wanted to ask Sakura tonight.

	And, of course, taking some pills for his algebra-induced headache.

	With a quick gulp of water he downed the medicine and leaned back in his chair. Things 
had steadily gone downhill in algebra class, to the point where it had taken nearly twenty 
minutes to explain the "monkey's uncle" business. Shiro mentally reminded himself to be more 
careful in his choice of phrases.

	Shiro's attempt at relaxation was interrupted by a soft knock on his open door. Looking 
up, he saw Mariko standing in the doorway, an embarrassed smile on her face. "Hi, Mariko," said 
Shiro, getting up slowly and walking towards his fellow teacher. "What's up?"

	Mariko shrugged. "I was working with Yamada-sensei earlier today, and I suddenly 
realized I never thanked you for helping me out this morning."

	Shiro chuckled lightly and rubbed at the back of his neck. "It was nothing, really. Just 
helping out a friend."

	"No really," Mariko said, with a serious look on her face that surprised Shiro. She was 
staring at him intently, which made Shiro somewhat nervous as he once again noted the fact that 
she was a rather attractive woman. "Most people wouldn't have gone to the trouble that you did 
to help out an annoying klutz like me."

	Shiro shook his head. "Stop being so hard on yourself. So you're a little careless at 
times; big deal. You're still a good person, and I think that you can be an excellent teacher if 
you put your mind to it."

	Mariko's eyes twinkled. "You really mean that?"

	Shiro nodded. "Mm-hmm."

	"Thankyou thankyou thankyou!" cried Mariko happily, running up to Shiro and pulling him 
into a tight hug. "You really don't know how much that means to me. You're such a great guy!" 

	"Umm...err...it's really not a big deal," Shiro said nervously, trying not to notice the 
fact that he was in extremely close proximity to a rather good-looking woman.

	Mariko chuckled lightly. "Aww, you're so sweet, Shiro," Mariko said, giving him a quick 
peck on the cheek.

	"AHA!"

	Shiro and Mariko "eep"d in surprise, with Mariko releasing her hold on Shiro and the two 
of them jumping away from one another. Looking towards the doorway, they say Sakura, her face 
red, steam coming out of her ears, shooting death glares at Shiro.

	"Err, hi Sakura," said Shiro, stuttering. "Mariko was just..."

	"I don't want to know what kind of sick sex games you two were playing!"

	Mariko blinked. "We were playing sick sex games?"

	Sakura stalked over to Shiro and grabbed him by the collar. "You have some nerve! First 
Tonomi, now Mariko!"

	"What about me?" Mariko wondered aloud.

	"What about Tonomi?" Shiro managed to choke out.

	"What about Tonomi?!" Sakura repeated, getting even angrier. "After what you did to her, 
you have the gall to ask that question?"

	"What did he do to her?" asked Mariko, confused.

	"What did I do to her?" asked Shiro, even more confused.

	"You know full well, you bastard!"

	"He does?"

	"I do?"

	"You took advantage of her feelings to have your way with her, you sick freak!"

	"He WHAT?" blurted out Mariko, shocked.

	"I WHAT?" gasped Shiro.

	"I mean, for god's sake, you're her teacher! Even if you were going to do something with 
her, how could you get her pregnant!"

	"You got her pregnant?" shouted Mariko, now starting to understand what Sakura was 
saying. "Shiro...it's not true, right?"

	"Of course it's not true!"

	"Still won't admit it, eh?" said Sakura, shaking Shiro by the collar as she spoke. "I 
should have expected that from a person who'd get a high school girl pregnant and then dump her!"

	"Shiro, how could you!" said Mariko, tears welling up. 

	"What are you talking about?!" shouted Shiro.

	"And then, to top it all off, no sooner do you leave poor Tonomi a sobbing wreck, alone 
and forced to fend for herself, then you make a move on Mariko!"

	"I did?"

	"He did?" said Mariko, now confused again.

	Sakura blinked and turned towards Mariko. "He didn't?"

	"He didn't."

	Sakura looked back at Shiro, whose collar she still had a hold of. "You didn't?"

	"NO!" shouted Shiro, tearing himself out of  Sakura's grasp. Rubbing his neck, he looked 
up at the young teacher. "Have you gone completely insane? What the hell gave you the idea..."

	"Well I walked in on something!"

	"Ano, Sakura-san," Mariko interjected, "I was just thanking Shiro for helping me get 
back to Nerima after I got lost."

	Sakura blinked. "Ryouga?"

	Mariko nodded, eliciting an "ah" of understanding from Sakura. "Where'd you end up?"

	"Easter Island."

	"Oh cool!" said Sakura happily. " I won the pool. I knew that 500 yen would pay off 
sometime..."

	"Excuse me!" said Shiro, now very agitated. "But isn't there something else we have to 
discuss?"

	Sakura blinked. "Oh yeah, Tonomi," she said, the anger reappearing instantaneously. 
"How could you do something like that! Tonomi trusted you! I trusted you..."

	"Yeah!" said Mariko. "How could you, Shiro!"

	Shiro just clutched his head and slowly walked to his chair. Pulling out the bottle of 
headache medicine again, he sighed. "Sakura...where did you hear this?" he said, downing three
 more pills.
	
	"I overheard Hiroshi and Daisuke talking about as they were leaving school."

	"In what context?"

	"They were trying to figure out why Tonomi was so upset today. Hiroshi said he thought 
it was because you got her pregnant and dumped her."

	Shiro gave Sakura a flat stare. "So...you're telling me that, based on the idle musings 
of a student talking to his friend, with absolutely no corroborating evidence, you came to the 
conclusion that, despite all evidence and past behavior to the contrary, I was some kind of evil 
sex fiend?"

	Sakura looked thoughtful for a moment. "Well, when you put it that way," she said 
quietly. After a moment, she buried her head in her hands. "I'm an idiot, aren't I?"

	"No, you're not," said Shiro, getting up from his chair. "You just let your emotions 
override your common sense. It happens to everyone at one point or another, I suppose..."

	Shiro was interrupted as Sakura looked up him, tears streaming down her face. 
"Shiro...I'm so sorry. I just saw Tonomi crying, and then I heard them speaking, and it all made 
sense at the time...I just jumped to a conclusion..."

	Shiro gently wrapped Sakura in a light hug, trying to console her. Looking up at Mariko, 
he smiled wanly. "We'll talk tomorrow, okay?"

	Mariko nodded. "Allright...bye, Shiro-san, Sakura-san," she said, walking slowly out the 
door.

	Shiro just stood there for a few moments, with Sakura in his arms, crying into his 
shoulder. Finally, he broke the silence. "Sakura, really, you don't have to feel so bad about 
this..."

	"Yes I do!" shouted Sakura, her head still buried in Shiro's shoulder. "I should feel 
bad! I'm a scientist! I'm a genius, for crying out loud, and I let myself do something stupid 
like this...ignoring my brain and letting my emotions cloud my judgment...just like...just like..."

	"A teenager?" 

	Sakura's head shot up to look at Shiro's face. "What?"

	"You were about to say that you were acting like a teenager, right?" he said. Shiro 
smiled slightly as he stared into Sakura's eyes. "Sakura...you are a teenager. For all your 
intelligence, for all your abilities...you're still eighteen. You may be an extremely mature 
eighteen year-old, but you're still an eighteen year-old. Don't get upset at yourself for acting 
like one."

	"Shiro..."

	"Really, Sakura, it's no big deal," he said, an understanding smile on his face. Looking
into her eyes, he couldn't help he couldn't help noticing that, under that somewhat mousy 
exterior, Sakura really was rather beautiful, something which he had noticed before but was 
still amazed by.  "There was a misunderstanding, it was cleared up, end of story. Let's just 
forget about it, okay?"

	Sakura, still crying, managed to smile slightly. "You're amazing, you know that? I don't 
think I've ever met anyone nicer, sweeter, or more considerate than you," she said, giving him a 
quick squeeze before releasing the hug. "I think I'm okay now. Thanks."

	"Really, no problem...hey, wait a second. What were you saying about Tonomi crying 
before?" 

	Sakura blinked. "Oh crud, I almost forgot...she's outside, sitting by a tree and crying."

	"Damn it," muttered Shiro. "It has to have something to do with that dance recital last 
night."

	"What dance recital?"

	"Tonomi's on the dance team, and I promised I'd go watch her compete. But it ended up 
conflicting with out review session, so I got there late, right before she went on to perform. 
I got a seat in the back and watched her, but I had to leave right after it ended because Mariko 
called. I think she's upset because she thinks I didn't show up...but I don't see how she 
couldn't have seen me."

	Sakura paused before speaking. "So...you got there late, sat in the back of dark theater, 
sat down just as she started and left just as she finished..."

	 Shiro looked thoughtful for a moment. "Well, when you put it that way," he said quietly.
After a moment, he buried her head in his hands. "I'm an idiot, aren't I?"

	"Yup."

	"Hey!" said Shiro defensively. "It was an honest mistake!"

	"It was obvious!" Sakura said. "How could you possibly think she'd be able to see you in 
the back row of a dark theater while she's concentrating on her dancing?"

	Shiro shot Sakura a look. "You know, you're a lot less forgiving than I was..."

	"I have an excuse. I'm a teenager, remember?" said Sakura, sticking her tongue out.

	Shiro chuckled despite himself. "Allright, allright, you got me there." Rubbing at his 
temples, he sighed. "I have to go talk to her."

	"That you do. She needs you more than I do right now."

	"But what about...."

	"We can put that off until later," Sakura said, smiling. "One of your students needs you. Go."

	Shiro nodded. "I'll talk to you later, okay?" he said as he walked out the door.

	"Sure thing," she said. "We'll get to together another time, right?"

	"Right."

	"You promise?" Sakura said teasingly.

	Shiro chuckled. "I promise. Cross my heart," he said looking back as he walked out of the
room. "Bye!"

	"Bye Shiro," Sakura said, smiling. A few moments after he left, the smile faded and 
Sakura was left standing in Shiro's office by herself. Taking a deep breath, she wrapped her 
arms around herself. 

	"Remember, Shiro...you promised..."

**********

	As Shiro walked around the grounds of Furinkan, he regretted not asking Sakura what tree 
Tonomi was sitting by. Zipping up his jacket, he continued to look, wading his way through the 
field of trees, oaks and pines interspersed with palm trees.

	Finally, Shiro spotted Tonomi under a large oak tree,  her knees clutched to her chest. 
Shiro could barely hear it, but he was almost positive that she was crying.

	Idly wondering why every female he had talked to that day had cried at one point or 
another, Shiro slowly walked towards where his student was sitting. "Tonomi?" he called softly.

	Tonomi jerked up with a start at the sound of his voice. Getting to her feet quickly, 
she quickly dabbed the tears away from her eyes and tried to regain her composure. Shiro could 
tell by her tear-streaked face and her ruffled hair that she had been crying for a while, though.

	"Hi, Smith-sensei," she said, only a wisp of a smile on her face. "How are you doing?"
	
	"Tonomi...I'm sorry."

	"What?"

	"I was at your performance. I got there late because I had a study session with 
Sakura-sensei. She's helping me prepare lesson plans for my algebra class...the session was 
supposed to be before your competition, but it got moved at the last minute, and I didn't get a
chance to tell you."

	Tonomi scowled. "I didn't see you..."

	Shiro shook his head. "Again, my fault. I got there just before you went on, and I sat 
in the back. I should have realized you wouldn't have been able to see me back there."

	Tonomi's scowl lightened, but she still looked unconvinced. "But where were you 
afterwards? You could have come up and talked to me..."

	"I got a page from Mariko-sensei right as the performance ended. She accidentally asked 
Ryouga for directions, and ended up on Easter Island."

	Tonomi smile grew a bit larger at that. "So I guess that means Sakura-sensei wins the 
pool..."

	"I suppose so, " said Shiro, a little confused. "Again, I'm sorry about all this..."

	"It's okay, Shiro-sensei. I should have known you wouldn't go back on your promise," 
she said, smiling. 

	A gust of wind suddenly blew by, whipping through Tonomi's hair and leaving her 
shivering.

	"You must be freezing, having been out here all this time," Shiro said worriedly, 
taking of his jacket and putting it over Tonomi's shoulders. "That better?"

	"Yes...thank you, Shiro-sensei," Tonomi said, blushing. "So...how did I do?"

	Shiro smiled warmly. " You were wonderful, Tonomi. Simply amazing. I've never seen 
anything like that."

	Tonomi's face lit up like something really, really bright, and she quickly wrapped a 
surprised Shiro up in a tight hug, burying her head in Shiro's chest. "Thank you, Shiro-sensei! 
That means so much to me..."

	Shiro blushed slightly. Somewhere, deep in his subconscious, Shiro realized that Tonomi 
was an attractive your woman. And naive though he might be, he also knew, deep down, that Tonomi 
was interested in him as more than just her teacher.

	It's just that, at that moment, he was trying desperately not to acknowledge either fact.

	"It's no big deal, Tonomi," Shiro said, smiling. "You did the hard part. You're the 
one that danced incredibly...all I did was point it out."

	Tonomi looked up at Shiro to stare him in the eyes. To Shiro, it looked as if she was 
wrestling with something internally. A moment of panic hit as a flash went through his mind: 
what if she's trying to decide whether or not to confess her true feelings?

	Almost as soon as the idea came to him, Shiro dismissed it as ridiculous. Tonomi had to 
know he was doing this as a teacher and a friend, and that he couldn't, as her teacher, get 
romantically involved. Shiro chuckled to himself; he was just being paranoid.

	"Shiro-sensei...I...I love you."

	Hoo boy.

**********

Authors notes:

This was fun to write.

I've had an interest in this series since the second chapter came out. Something about the 
characters, the way it was written, the way it captures the spirit of the Ranma universe...I 
just like it. A lot. I know this series is kind of considered the runt of the Second Coming 
litter, but I really wish people would give it a chance. If they did, I think they'd find what I 
found: some of the best writing in all of Improfanfic.

This took me a while to get started, mostly because my roommate likes to play Unreal Tournament 
loudly all the time. That, needless to say, did not provide a good writing environment. So I 
basically wrote this whole thing on my last day. I'm not proud of that...but at least I got it 
done, ne? =P

Thanks to Falcon for giving me some good ideas to work off of. He was supposed to pre-read, but 
I didn't get it done in time to send it to him, unfortunately. My apologies to him for that.

As for the ending...well, I thought it was about time Tonomi revealed her feelings. And since 
Falc's part set up a great opportunity for it...well, I ran with it.

This was actually more serious than most stuff I write...as I've said many times, serious 
writing is not my forte, so I'd really appreciate C&C to let me know how I did. Mail to 
je34@cornell.edu with any comments.

Well...that's about it. Just one question for y'all to ponder:

In the final exchange between Shiro and Sakura, what are each of them thinking?

Jesse Ellman