Kaoru stood in home economics, waiting for her cookies to be done. Tapping her foot impatiently as she stood by the oven, she looked over to Misao Makimachi, who was stirring batter in a bowl next to her and smiling pleasantly to herself as if in some sort of daydream.

Curiously, Kaoru stepped toward her and asked quietly, "Hey, Misao; what are you smiling about?"

"Huh?" Misao looked over at Kaoru and then, remembering the question, laughed sheepishly and replied, "Oh, I was just thinking about how happy I am to be in Mr. Shinomori's class for math this year."

Kaoru grimaced. "But, Misao! Mr. Shinomori's got to be the most boring teacher ever!"

"That's not so," Misao protested. "Most of the students just don't understand him, that's all."

"And you do?"

Misao's face turned slightly pink. "I didn't say that…" Then, she hastily said, "Anyway, he's not as bad as Mr. Shishio."

Kaoru cringed. "No, he definitely isn't," she agreed. "Or Mr. Saitou, for that matter! I'm glad he's only the vice principal and not an actual teacher."

"Yeah, me, too," Misao said. "He's always calling me weasel-girl."

"And me racoon-girl."

"Well, that's not as bad as what he used to call Sanosuke Sagara; rooster head," Misao reminded her and then snickered. "At least that rooster head's long gone from here now. I don't know how much longer him and Mr. Saitou could have taken with each other before they snapped." Kaoru now broke into hysterical laughter. "What's so funny?"

"Haven't you heard?" she asked. "Saitou left him back a year."

"No way!" Misao exclaimed and began laughing herself. "I can't believe that rooster head's still here!" She then inquired, "How did you find out?"

"He was in Mr. Himura's class with me."

"You're in Mr. Himura's class?" Kaoru nodded. "Mr. Himura's a good teacher; not as good as Mr. Shinomori, but…" Misao smiled dreamily and started stirring again. She then looked at Kaoru quizzically and asked, "You like Mr. Himura, don't you?"

Kaoru blushed wildly. "Where'd you get a stupid idea like that from!" she exclaimed.

Misao smiled brazenly. "Isn't it obvious?"

"Well…it's obvious you like Mr. Shinomori!" Kaoru retorted, crossing her arms in a huff.

Misao looked a little embarrassed and set her eyes on her batter. Then she told Kaoru after a moment, "Yeah, I guess I do."

"Hmm?" Kaoru looked to her once more with surprise. "Oh…" She then grinned, finding her own confidence, and said, "Guess what?"

"What?"

"I'm making these cookies for Mr. Himura; I'm going to give them to him at lunch."

"Really?"

Kaoru nodded and exclaimed, "I can't wait to give them to him!"

After a few minutes, Misao suddenly smelt something. She asked, "Hey, Kaoru?"

"Yes?"

"Do you smell something burning?"

"Huh…?" She then looked to her oven, noticing black smoke coming from it. She let out a shrill cry. "Oh, no!" she exclaimed and bent down to the oven, quickly opening it. Smoke billowed out and Kaoru began coughing. "Misao…help me…"

But Misao had hastily begun stirring again, whistling some made-up tune and looking at the ceiling, pretending that she did not notice the disaster that was going on right next to her as to not get in trouble.

"Kamiya!" a voice exclaimed in anger, and Kaoru stood up, still coughing and trying to blow the smoke away with a wave of her hand. She groaned to see her teacher marching toward her, scowl on her face.

"I'm sorry, Miss Gemmei," Kaoru tried to apology, although her voice was still weak from the smoke. "But I…"

"You burnt your food AGAIN, Kamiya," the teacher stated irately. "This is the third time you're taking home economics and already you're failing again!"

"But I really was trying!" Kaoru insisted.

"I don't want your excuses! Now clean this up!" the teacher scolded before marching off, mumbling to herself, "Every time…" and trailing off into what Kaoru assumed to be inaudible profanities.

Kaoru groaned, looking at the mess she had made in the oven and listening to the other students snickering at her expense. "Oh…" She then gave Misao a cold stare. "You know, you could have helped out a little!" Kaoru snapped in a harsh whisper.

Misao frowned and whispered, "Sorry."

Kaoru sighed. "No…it's all right…" Then, she bent down to the oven again and with a frown she thought, I guess I won't be giving Mr. Himura any cookies today."

Kenshin frowned as he stepped into the gym to see Makoto Shishio pacing back and forth across the gym floor as his students were on the floor doing push-ups for what seemed to be a grueling amount of time.

"If you're strong, you live. If you're weak, you die," Shishio declared in a booming voice.

And the students repeated indifferently: "If you're strong, you live. If you're weak, you die."

Kenshin, looking horrified and very much so, bravely walked toward Shishio. "Um, Mr. Shishio?"

Shishio sharply spun about. "Yes, Mr. Himura?"

"Um…I'd just like to speak to one of my students-Sanosuke Sagara. If that's all right with you, that is."

Shishio glared at him for a moment and then, unexpectedly, blew his whistle. Kenshin cringed at the loud shrieking sound, but the students sighed in relief, stopping their push-ups and falling to the floor. "Sagara."

Sanosuke rose to his feet and asked, "Yeah?"

"You're literature teacher wants to talk to you."

"Oh," Sanosuke replied, noticing Kenshin.

As the two made their way to the hall, Shishio blew his whistle. "Fifty more push-ups!"

The entire class groaned in self-pity and Shishio grinned, pleased with himself for inflicting such torture upon them. Except, with the corner of his eye, his suddenly noticed an exception-Soujiro Seta, smiling happily through the grueling workout. Shishio watched him with intrigue and then stated again to the class, "If you're strong, you live. If you're weak, you die."

And as the class repeated it back with little enthusiasm and much annoyance, Shishio's eyes remained locked on Soujiro, who unlike the others, said it as if it were a question he was sincerely wondering about or a thought slowly coming to realization in his head.

"If you're strong…you live… If you're weak…you die…"

And all the while he kept on smiling.

"Does…uh…Mr. Shishio always run class like that, Sano?" Kenshin asked, still rather shocked and horrified as he and Sanosuke stepped into the hall.

Sanosuke shrugged. "Yeah, I guess so…but what did you want to talk to me about, Mr. Himura?"

"Well," Kenshin began, "I suppose I'm just a bit curious about what you're doing back here, that I am. After all, you ought to have graduated."

Sanosuke grumbled a bit and shoved his hands in his pockets. "Yeah, well, tell that to Saitou," he he answered, bitterly repeating what he had said earlier that morning.

"I'm sure Vice Principal Saitou had his reasons…" Kenshin tried to reason. "Did he tell you why he held you back a year?"

"Something about attendance issues…" Sanosuke mumbled and Kenshin frowned.

"Well, you did skip class a lot in the earlier half of the year last year, that you did," he noted.

"Yeah, but that was only for the beginning!" Sanosuke argued, growing frustrated. "I mean, things were tough last year, I guess…and I did really well the second half of the school year. Doesn't that account for anything?"

"It does, Sano, and I know you were having some troubles for awhile," Kenshin started sympathetically, "And I am proud that you made a turn around and started focusing on your schoolwork last year. But you still have to be accountable for your actions and the rules, that you do, Sano, and Vice Principal Saitou is right for holding you back if you didn't fulfill the necessary attendance requirements." Sanosuke didn't seemed to pleased with this answer as he glared away from Kenshin with an annoyed scowl. Kenshin sighed, feeling sorry for Sanosuke, and then asked, "Can you answer another question for me, Sano?"

"Yeah, whatever," Sanosuke muttered in reply.

"How come you're taking such hard classes? You're taking my advanced literary class, and I went to the main office to look over the other courses you're taking…"

"You can ask Saitou that one, too," Sanosuke retorted angrily, although his anger wasn't directed toward Kenshin. "He's the one who made up my schedule."

"Oh," Kenshin replied with a frown.

"I think he's trying to get me to fail out," Sanosuke explained.

"Maybe he's just trying to challenge you…" Kenshin reasoned, although he didn't sound all that convinced himself.

"Yeah, right," Sanosuke said, still scowling, "you know he's trying to fail me out, Mr. Himura. Or keep me here for another year just so he can torture me, that damn wolf."

Kenshin frowned. "Sano, I really don't think you should be so pessimistic…"

"But I'll show him!" Sanosuke declared with a determined glint in his eyes, barely paying attention to Kenshin anymore. "I'm going to ace all my classes! You'll see! And I'm going to have a perfect attendance record, too! And then I'm just going to grin when I see the look on Saitou's face when he has no choice but to hand over my diploma!" He grinned wildly at the thought and Kenshin gave him a smile.

"Now that's the spirit, Sano," he said, "although I'd rather have had your goals be based on self-fulfillment rather than spite…"

"I'm going to do it, Mr. Himura!" Sanosuke then stated resolutely as he turned to his teacher. "Just wait and see! I can't wait to see the look on Saitou's face…"

"I'm sure you will, Sano, that I am," Kenshin replied. "Now you better get back to gym class, Sano. I don't think Mr. Shishio would appreciate me keeping you out here for too long, that I don't…"

"Yeah, I suppose it's back off into hell," Sanosuke agreed turning back toward the gym. Then, he added mockingly, repeating the words of his gym teacher, "If you're strong, you live! If you're weak, you die!" before swinging the doors open and disappearing out of sight. And Kenshin frowned, slightly perplexed and very worried, before heading on his own way.

Okay, let's start with Shishio; why did I make him a gym teacher? Because Shishio is evil and I equate gym with evil the two seem like a perfect match! No offense to those gym-lovers, of course. Besides, I think some of it's funny in a sick sadistic sort of way...hehe...

If you didn't notice the whole parralel thing that I was talking about before at the end of the first chapter is here. If you didn't catch it, I'll explain it to you. You know how Sano wanted to become stronger to prove Saitou wrong? Well, now Sano wants to ace all his classes in order to prove his classes! Make sense? I hope so?

Kaoru's still bad at cooking...hehe...and as for Misao, yes, she has a thing for Aoshi. However, unlike Kenshin and Kaoru, I think they might actually have an affair to differentiate things. Aoshi just seems more likely to have an affair with a student than the moraled Kenshin...in my humble opinion, anyway.

Aoshi is a math teacher. Why? Because I find math boring. Not that I find Aoshi boring, because I don't! But it's the only subject where you don't really have class discussions or anything and Aoshi isn't really the class discussion type...I couldn't think what other subject would work with him

Anything else? I don't think so...don't worry, others will soon come! Particularly Megumi, Yahiko, and Yumi...oh, and Katsu! There will be others, too, though-mostly everyone up to the Kyoto arc that's important, or at least I'm going to try to put them in! I know I want to put Kamatari in as a crossdresser because it'll work well in a slum-like city. So will Yumi as a prostitute.

Oh, yeah; I'm actually planning a third RK fic, although its really a crossover with Cowboy Bebop and focuses on Spike and Faye more than anything else...it's going to be a comedic satire and just really stupid...but it's supposed to be stupid in order to be funny! Well, if you're curious on how this is going to work or why I'm doing this or how I came up with such a weird idea, you can just ask! LOL! Although I still don't know if I'm going to write it-the concept's pretty interesting, though.