Chapter Seventeen

Welcome back for more ShinKumi goodness! This is technically the end, though I have an idea for a small ficlet that I might add on here, or submit as a new story. It's been a great journey, and thank you all for being part of it. =)

Be sure to review if you have questions or ideas, or just want to say hi!

Enjoy!

"Why?"

Shin blinked. "Excuse me?"

"You're asking for my blessing. Why should I give it to you?" Kuroda-san raised his eyebrow.

"Umm…" Shin was confused. This wasn't how he planned it going at all.

"You love her, don't you?"

"Yes." After a thought, he added, "Sir."

"Why?" Kuroda-san repeated, and his brows furrowed even more.

Shin's mind raced. C'mon, you do love her. It should be easy to come up with reasons, His inner voice commented unhelpfully.

But for the life of him, he couldn't come up with anything that didn't sound like an insult.

She's unbelievably gullible.

She believes in the good in people to the point of stupidity.

She's ridiculously simple-minded.

She lives in her own weird version of reality.

She has an enthusiastically clueless one-track way of thinking.

She latches on to causes she knows nothing about.

She sticks her nose into everyone's business.

She cares too much about everything.

And yet… as insulting as they sounded, those were the reasons he loved her. If she wasn't clueless and gullible and nosy and enthusiastic and caring… she wouldn't be Yankumi.

As he thought of these things, his expression slowly turned from panic to a slow, soft smile. When Kuroda-san saw that unconscious, oddly tender smile, he grinned and decided to stop giving Shin a hard time.

"Alright. I suppose that answers my question."

Shin looked up in confusion. "But sir, I haven't – just give me a moment and-"

"I've made my decision." He announced in a firm voice, just to watch Shin's face combine both fear and challenge. His voice gentled as he finished, "You have my blessing, Sawada Shin. Now go."

With an expression of hope that became ecstatic, Shin bowed deeply, then headed for the door.

"Shin."

The young man looked back.

"You treat her right."

He grinned. "All my life, sir. All my life."

.

.

.

"Where are we going?"

"I told you, it's a secret."

"But I can't see!"

Sigh. "That's the point of a blindfold, Yankumi."

"Are we there yet?"

"Almost."

"Achoo! Where are we? It smells like dust… and boy."

"That's… oddly accurate. Ok, there are six steps here."

"One, two, three, four, five – Ow!"

"I said six. Not five and then walk forward."

"If I could see, we wouldn't have this problem."

"You need your eyes to count? What kind of math teacher are you?"

"The kind that kills people when they blindfold her and don't say where they're going."

"Alright, alright, we're here. Hold still."

The blindfold came off with a flourish, and Shin waited for Yankumi to look around.

"We're… in a gym." She sounded less than enthused. He waited some more.

"Wait… this is… this is Shirokin's old gym! I thought it closed down!"

"It did. But their security is horribly lax."

"Shin…" She turned to him, not understanding. "Why are we in Shirokin's gym?"

"Well, there's a lot of memories here. For instances right… hang on, a little more to the left… there is where you were standing the first time I saw you."

Yankumi stared.

"Right down there is where you saved Kuma's ass from getting expelled. Up here is where you declared that you would get all of us to graduate."

He looked at her with a small grin. "I thought you were lying, just like all the other adults in my life. But the way you said it, the way you looked at me, made me think that maybe, just maybe, you were different."

She tilted her head at him, touched, but still confused.

"This is also where a boy who had been picked on and bullied every day for a year, came to face his fears. Because you taught him how."

He couldn't help a small chuckle at the next one. "You also stood right about there in that ridiculous cheerleader outfit and did a choreographed cheer in front of everyone."

Yankumi immediately blushed and started to protest. "N-now, I was just trying to help-"

Shin put up a hand to forestall her and moved on. "And right through those doors is where we all came to fight for your job. Because we realized that we couldn't lose you. And because I realized… that I loved you."

Her eyes widened. No matter how many times he said it, she still seemed surprised – even more so with discovering when he first realized it.

He moved to the center of the stage. "And I stood right here for my graduation speech and announced to several hundred people," Here he looked over to meet her eyes, "that you were the only person I could trust with my whole heart."

Walking back over to where she stood, blinking back tears, Shin took a deep breath and felt around his pocket.

"I also brought you here to make a new memory." Trying to ignore the fact that his heart was attempting to escape by pounding its way out of his chest, he knelt down on one knee. "And to ask you a question."

And because she was Yankumi, instead the tearful, surprised look Shin was expecting, she simply looked puzzled. "Why do you need to kneel to ask me a question?"

He sighed. "Because it's a specific question."

"What kind of specific question requires you to- oh. Oooh. OOOOHHHH."

Taking advantage of the fact that she was now in shock and likely to be quiet for a few minutes, Shin started his speech. "Yamaguchi Kumiko – knowing you has changed my life. You've taught me so many things – not as my teacher, but as a person. You taught me to value friendships, to protect others, and to never, ever give up on someone. You were the first person I ever really trusted, even before I knew I loved you. You make me happy just to be around you, and I want to be with you always. For my whole life."

There was a small squeak, which Shin took as a sign that his time was nearly up. "So, Yamaguchi Kumiko, will you marry me?"

He held open the small box, which contained a gold ring with a delicate diamond. He didn't think it was possible, but her eyes got even wider.

"W-w-w… why?" She finally got out.

Shin sighed. He was sure that he was the only man in the world who got 'why?' as an answer to 'will you marry me?'. To be fair, he was the only man in the world proposing to Yankumi, so he might have expected it.

"Why do I want to marry you?" She nodded. "Did you not just hear my wonderful speech? It's because I love you. Why do you think I've been dating you?"

"I… I don't know…" She mumbled at the floor.

Standing, he moved closer. "Are you saying no?" He asked, very softly.

"No! No, no, no. It's not that… it's just…"

"You don't think that I should be throwing away my future by marrying into a yakuza clan?"

She looked up with the startled expression that meant he had read her mind. Knowing her as he did, it wasn't nearly as impressive as it sounded. "I've told you. My future is mine, and I can do what I want with it. Like spend the rest of it with you."

When she glanced down, still unsure, he stifled a sigh and changed tack. "Alright, let me ask a different question. Do you love me?"

She nodded at the floor. He coughed significantly, which caused her to raise her head a bit. "Yes." She said quietly.

"Then marry me. We can argue about details later."

Yankumi looked up to point out that they were going to argue about the 'details' of his future right now, then saw that look in his eyes. The look that told her in no uncertain terms how much he loved her, wanted her. She fixed her eyes elsewhere, trying to get her heart to beat normally. That look made it very hard for her to think rationally, and he knew it too, the jerk.

"So… will you?"

When she cautiously glanced back, his eyes were softer, almost pleading. Even though she thought it was crazy, he really did want to marry her.

Dammit. "Yes." She told him.

She would never forget the size of the smile that appeared on his face. He slipped the ring on her finger and kissed her for a good, long while.

Breaking off the kiss suddenly, leaving Yankumi dazed and rather breathless, Shin looked at his watch. "We have time. Let's walk around a bit."

So they wandered the dusty, abandoned halls of Shirokin together. Eventually, they made their way to 3-D's classroom. He motioned for her to enter first, then followed.

It had been repainted since Shin's day, but had been decorated with new graffiti, with some of the older art peeking through the peeling paint. The desks had been pushed to the edges, instead of the rows she was used to, but she still smiled at all the memories this classroom held.

"SURPRISE!"

She screamed and leapt back, taking cover behind Shin. As she watched, boys emerged from lockers, from the front and back doors, and from the upper level.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" All her original students shouted, revealing banners and signs, as well as showering them both with steamers and confetti.

"Oh, and happy birthday by the way," Shin said, smiling at her flabbergasted look.

Everyone was there. Noda, Minami, Kuma, Uchi, Oishi, Hazama, Matsudaira, every student from her first class. While Yankumi blinked in shock, the boys' eyes not-so-subtly glanced at Shin, who bit back a grin and nodded.

"AND HAPPY ENGAGEMENT!" They bellowed, pulling out more signs and rolling down the second part of the banner.

"What?" She shouted, then glared at Shin.

"Don't blame him, Yankumi," Kuma said, bringing her some potstickers while others laid out plates of food.

"Yeah," Uchi added. "He specifically told us that this was this was a birthday party, and no one was supposed to mention the fact that he proposed."

"So that's what we told everyone." Minami concluded with a grin.

"How the hell did you know I would say yes?" She hissed at the man in question.

He shrugged. "Just lucky, I guess. Hey Oda, save some of the cake for me."

As he left and was surrounded by old classmates, Yankumi stared after him, mouth opening and closing without words.

"Don't be too mad at him. It was his idea for us all to get together for your birthday. We only found out about the engagement thing today." Noda informed her, bringing over a piece of cake. "I'd never seen him so nervous – well, except when he went to ask you out. He was absurdly nervous then."

"H-how did he know about…" She gestured helplessly at the whole gathering.

Noda laughed. "He's knows you better than anyone, Yankumi. Apparently even you." He flashed a grin, then said, "Oh, be right back. Hey Ami-chan! I've been meaning to ask – do you have sisters?"

If Noda had stayed a few moments longer, he would have seen that his words had shocked Yankumi into paralysis.

"He knows you better than anyone. Even you."

Suddenly everything clicked into place. He was right. He was right. Setting aside the fact that Noda had picked up on a rather sharp insight, which was a minor miracle, he had realized something Yankumi hadn't. Shin knew her better than anyone.

He knew her moods.

While they may have thought they were being sneaky, she noticed that every time she was angry or upset, the members of her household either covertly texted Shin for help, or (since he was nearly always over) shot him pleading looks as Yankumi attempted to strangle them. Shin would sigh, same her name in that tone of voice – and suddenly, she didn't feel as murderous. Whenever she was frustrated or disheartened about her new students, he would come sit with her. Sometimes he wouldn't say anything, sometimes he would start talking about how he had gradually come to see that she was different from all the other adults, even if he didn't show it, but either way, just his presence made her feel better.

He teased her.

No one else ever teased her. Her grandfather would make a gentle joke here and there, but the yakuza members respected/feared her too much, the other teachers didn't know her that well, and her students often were just being mean. However, Shin had no such problems. When she had muttered something about what was the point of Shin having his own apartment if he practically lived there, he leaned over his law school homework and asked if that was an invitation to move in. She nearly choked on her tea and could feel her face turn bright lobster red as she attempted to clarify what she meant.

He knew what she was thinking.

That was one of the more infuriating traits Shin had. He always seemed to be able to read her, no matter what. This party, for instance. She hadn't ever told him that she wished she knew how her original students were doing. But somehow he knew. She tried to think back. Months ago, she had been worrying about her current students' futures, and had said something about being sure all her other students had done well. But then, she had wondered if they really were doing alright, if they had found jobs, found love, found their own paths. And just from that, he had known what she was thinking, he had planned all of this months ahead, and had done all this to make her happy.

"Oi." She turned and got poked in the cheek. "Baka." Shin smiled at her. "Stop thinking so much. It's your party, after all."

When she simply looked at him, still absorbing her revelation, he tilted his head and asked, "Are you still worrying about that?" He motioned towards her finger.

"No, it's just…"

"Aren't you even a little happy?"

"Of course I am!"

"Even though you're planning on arguing with me later?" He teased her. When she couldn't come up with an answer to that, he smiled and said, "Well, I'm planning on winning all those arguments, so imagine how happy I am." His smile grew wider.

She started to gesture at him, then saw her ring catch the sunlight. As she stared at it, she realized that he had proposed to her, knowing she would argue, and instead of being hurt or offended, he took it in stride and still loved her for it. He had planned a party for her, fulfilling an unspoken wish, at the risk of being humiliated if she had said no, because it would make her happy.

Suprising both herself and Shin, she reached up and pecked him on the lips.

"I don't deserve you," she mumbled quietly, then left to grab some cake. Or tried to, anyway.

His surprise quickly transformed into a very pleased, very masculine smile, and he swooped his arm around her waist and grabbed a nearby drink.

"To Yankumi!" He toasted, and everyone else joined in.

"To Yankumi!"

"For making all of our lives better." He took a sip, then leaned down and kissed her.

As catcalls and sounds of disgust echoed around the room, Yankumi decided that maybe she would let him win those arguments. After all, they could argue about other things later. Much later. For forever.

At that thought, she smiled, and kissed him back.