Spread My Wings (Fruits Basket)

Contemplations

Sukochi's POV

As the bell rung and hoards of prematurely packed-up students rushed out of the door, Shigure stretched in his seat besides mine and sighed dramatically. "Ah, sweet, sweet freedom."

"Not quite," I reminded him tiredly. "Test tomorrow?"

He made a strangled noise. "At least give me the luxury of one moment of peace. That's all I ask."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." I sent a stack of textbooks falling neatly into my bag, slinging it over my shoulder and standing up. "Where are we meeting them again?"

"Near the tennis courts," he replied, already halfway out the door. "No cleaning duty for any of us today, so we-"

I felt a tap on my shoulder, turning around to find myself standing face-to-face with our literature teacher, Oshiro-sensei- a petite blonde who spoke Japanese with a thick American accent. "Sorry to bother you, Fujikawa-san."

"Not at all, sensei," I quickly assured her, ignoring Shigure's sharp looks. "Is something up?"

"Oh, nothing really. It's just...Minami-sensei would you like to see you in her office," she said, lowering her voice. "It's urgent."

"Um, okay. I'm on my way. Thanks for the message." I gave her a tight-lipped smile, whisking out of the door to join Shigure out in the hallway.

"What's up?" he asked, lips pursed in a little frown. "Has our Fujikawa-chan finally succumbed to her impending delinquency?

"Don't be smartass. It's nothing, really- just that Minami-sensei wants to see me." I flinched under his piercing scrutiny, his trademark look of doubt. "Okay, okay, fine, it's a pretty big deal. I don't think I've done anything wrong, but...I don't know. Even if I have, no biggie. I can deal with our demon of a homeroom teacher, right?"

Looking unimpressed, Shigure heaved a sigh. "Want me to wait for you?"

"Nah. I don't how long it'll take so...yeah. You guys go ahead." Clapping him on the shoulder, I turned right onto another hallway of classrooms and offices.

"Try not to die!" he shouted, sniggering and and sprinting the other direction, nearly tripping over his slacks and toppling into a gaggle of first-years in the process. I rolled my eyes, grinning to myself as I brushed my fingers against the frosted glass of the teacher's offices. "Yamaguchi, Watanabe, Yukimura, Ueda, Tsukuda, Nakahara...Minami!"

Pausing to take a deep breath, I finally mustered enough courage to knock on the door. "Minami-sensei? It's Fuji-"

It swung open almost immediately, my short, beady-eyed teacher standing with her taloned hand on the doorknob. She nodded sternly, beckoning for me to join her. High heels clacking ominously against the tiled floor, she eased herself down on her swivel chair and shuffled a set of papers around. "How are you today, Fujikawa?"

The way she was eyeing me, you would've thought that I'd desecrated the holy name of the periodic table. "Just fine, ma'am. And you?"

"I appreciate your attempts at small talk but I'm afraid that that is none of our concern today." She bent down and opened a drawer, pulling out a manilla envelope with my name printed on the front. "I called you here to discuss matters regarding you, and only you. Now, I must ask...do you recall a moment when I passed out your annual career forms?"

"Yes, sensei." I pictured the sheet of yellow paper crumpled at the bottom of my backpack. Well, fuck.

"Excellent. It appears that you are not mentally impaired," she said curtly. "Now, do you remember when I said you it was required of you to hand them in on the sixteenth of July?"