Teacher's Pet

[Ruby Sullivan]

Ruby hated college sometimes hated it so much that she wanted to just quit. Of course she wasn't serious about this sudden burst of disliking she did it almost everyday she entered the classroom where she learned her lessons on math and science. How she hated Math, how she wanted to find the man who invented it and kill him. Even if he was already dead she'd dig him up and murder him again.

She sighed out as she glanced around the halls purposely lingering outside so she wouldn't have to walk into that classroom and feel ike the most ignorant being in that room. Math had never been her thing and she was pretty positive it never would be. She hated it with so much passion that she was almost sure Math disliked her back. It was evil, numbers, fractions, decimals, octagons, polygons, square roots, mathematic equations...it could all burn in a fiery pit for all eternity.

She pulled the suave corduroy book bag onto her right shoulder as she stood there glaring into the room through the tiny window seeing a few of her classmates had already grabbed seats in teh back. She didn't want to go into class today, she didn't want to turn in her homework that wasn't even finished due to her ignorance and inability to understand the language it was written in. No human could possibly understand that crap written in the book. I she couldn't understand the text how was she supposed to translate it onto a blank sheet of paper?

No doubt she was going to hear it from the teacher. Since the beginning of the semester she had heard Professor Sato was hard, complicated, and one of the goofiest professors at Coruscant University. So far they had been correct. This man was trying to kill her breain with all those mathematic terms and formulas he had given out. Sure it was only a month into the semester, but she knew there was no hope for passing this class. She was just waiting for the teacher to look at her, laugh, and tell her was stupid. Any day, she was sure, he was going to come up to her and ask her if she could read and if she could add and subtract. She had bombed every test he had given, every pop quiz he had sprung on them, and she as almost positive that the answers on her written assignments he had given them were compltely wrong. How she hated math. How she just wanted to crawl into a hole and die.

Ruby gathered her nerve and quickly walked into the room and made her way to the seat farthest away from the teacher, all the way in the back row where she could hunker down and hide if he were to call on her. Luckily he hadn't called on her all semester and she prayed it wouldn't happen all semester long, but normally she sat in the front, but since she had been doing so horrible she just wanted to stay as far away from the board as possible for it was driving her insane and slowly killing her. She sighed out as she pulled out her book and homework waiting for him to arrive. She glanced around seeing a few people chatting it up and enjoying the day, but the moment seh stepped onto that campus all she could think about was how math was plotting against her.

Hopefully today would be a good day.

[Yukihiro Sato]

Yukihiro Sato strode down the hall towards his first class of the day. Ah, College Algebra. It wasn't horribly difficult, but a share of students had troubles with it. He enjoyed this class immensely, at least these were the students that put forth a bit more effort than some of his other classes. Even if this class had some of the lowest grades, at least they tried to learn the material.

Yukihiro fixed his brown, long coat and secured his satchel over his shoulder as he turned the corner, bidding good morning to one of his coworkers as she went the other direction. He could see his door down the way and glanced at his watch. Good, he was a few moments early. He hoisted his heavy bag onto his shoulder and pushed his glasses up onto his nose. He hated wearing the things, but God knew he couldn't see one of his notes if he did not.

Approaching his door, he backed up against it and tumbled in, grinning around at his room. He waved to everyone as he made his way over to the desk in the front of the class, setting his things on it, and taking off his long coat. He took a breath and fixed his suit jacket and tie. Looking up and around, he leaned on the desk.

"Ohayo gozaimasu and good morning!" he said loudly to the students who looked half asleep. Most of them were spread way out. Some in the front, and some in the very back. He nodded.

"Alrighty, then. As you all know, we had a test yesterday, and as prompt as I am, I am sure it will absolutely suprise you to find that I have not finished looking over them. So," he said, standing straight, and walking around his desk, and stuck one hand in the pocket of his suit pants and looked around at everyone. "I am happy to tell you, however, you are going to be doing something relatively entertaining. Or at least, to me it is entertaining." Walking towards the stands, he looked around again.

"Okay, I want you to divide yourselves up into groups of four, five, or so. I want you to give me logarithmis. Four each for every person, and then exchange papers. Sorry guys, this is just a lot of busy work. But hopefully, I'll have all the tests done by the end of the time we have here. I am grading these though, so you better do them. And just ask me anything, if you don't know how to do something," he said, smiling around at them as he watched a few people busy themselves with getting into groups.

He noticed a couple of his students not moving to get into groups. Two of his quietest students. He pointed to the boy.

"Shosei, get up there with Ruby. Miss Sullivan, I want you to work with Mr. Sakai and Mr. Cagents over here in the front," he instructed. He always had trouble with Ruby, and Shosei getting involved. Hopefully, they would do better together.

[Ruby Sullivan]

Ruby 's stomach twisted in severe knots when she saw him walk into the room and when hespoke she thought she was going to fall into the floor and just die. She didn't dislike Professor Sato, but there was just something about him that made her feel funny. Perhaps it was the way he was always so enthused about math and always wanting people to get involved instead of look half dead with boredom in his class.

She heard his orders to go work with Shosei and again her stomach churned. She had known Shosei since grade school, although they never talked she had always had a little crush on him. Okay, that was a lie, she had a huge crush on him. Ever since she saw his face she was never able to stop writing love letters to him and burning them. Luckily, her fascination with the cute Japanese boy ended right before she started college.

This would be her first time working with Shosei and actually interacting with him, it was a pity that she was going to show him how ignorant she truly was. Slowly she moved out of her chair and walked over towards Shosei and stood next to him as they rearranged desks. She glanced over at Sato and sighed out seeing him rummage through his satchel. She leaned in towards Shosei and bit her lower lip, keeping her glance on the professor as she spoke.

"Shosei," She whispered not wanting to the Professor to hear. "What is a logarithmis?"

[Yukihiro Sato]

Yukihiro glanced up as Ruby moved to sit next Shosei. Yukihiro smiled to himself as he saw her ask him what the heck they were supposed to be doing. Or at least, that was what her race read. Shosei was not a dumb boy. In fact, he and Shosei were quite close friends, and Yukihiro knew that Shosei was too nice not to explain it to her, but too obediant to give out answers, when Ruby should have known what was going on.

The boy however, explained it quickly to her and Yukihiro turned his attention back to his tests.

He remembered his first interactions with Ruby Sullivan. She had been quiet in class, and, like many others before her, seemed to dread coming here. Which very much distressed Yukihiro. He wanted his students to enjoy coming to class, even if they did not enjoy the subject being taught. He thought if you simply enjoyed the class, then you would learn a little bit more. Even if you hated the subject with a passion.

Now, coming to her test--one of the last ones--he could almost predict the outcome. She had not done well on any of his tests, nor his quizzes. She never answered questions in class, and he had not called on her because she seemed horribly terrified of what might happen should he call upon her. He marked her paper, looking over it. Once again she had flunked. Shaking his head and moving onto the next paper, then the next and the next.

It took Yukihiro most of the time period to finish grading, and by the time he had, there was only ten or so minutes left in his time block. Most of the students had not yet finished there work. But it was not a big deal. They could bring it to him on Monday. Standing up and stretching, he waved his hands in the air and cleared his throat, hoping to get thier attentions.

"Alright, guys. The tests are done. If you guys aren't done with the assignment just finish it over the weekend and bring it Monday. We're going to work on lessons four, five and six Monday and Wednesday," he said, leaning back on his desk, holding the tests. He nodded. "Get out of here and enjoy your weekend. Get your tests as you leave."

[Ruby Sullivan]

Ruby sighed out with severe distress yet relief when he said that the tests were graded and that it was time to get out of there. She spent all day dreading the algebra class and she knew know not to ever make math the last class of her day since that was the only thing she thought of. She glanced at the paper she held and shook her head knowing that this was going to be awful, this class was only and hour and fifteen minutes long, but she swore it was more like a year and fifteen minutes.

Slowly she stood up and walked over to her desk and grabbed her bag and slung it over her shoulder. She stuffed the paper inside not caring if she ripped it or crushed it. She was going to flunk it anyway. Ruby moved a piece of her brown hair out of her eyes and behind her ear as she grabbed her heavy math book and stuffed it inside, hearing the paper crunch. No doubt she'd have to redo it. Math messed with her emotions and at this moment she was so mad that she wanted to kick someone in the shin.

Ruby sighed out and locked her bag and walked towards the front, watching the Professor give students their tests. She was contemplating on just telling him to toss it in the garbage and leave, but she knew she had to take it and see what she got wrong. No doubt, it was everything.

She stood last in line to get her test, some people were rejoicing out in the hall at how their grades had improved she wished she was one of those lucky few. She watched the Professor smile as the person before her left, leaving her all alone with him to get the test. She could see the red all the way from the moon and she already knew that he had given her an F. She took it from his hands without him looking at her and she quickly walked towards the door, throwing it away as she passed the trash can, her head hung low as if she were ashamed, which she was. It was an F and she didn't think she could go home and open her bookbag to find it staring up at her, her confidence was already shattered enough.

[Yukihiro Sato]

Yukihiro watched as Ruby's faace fall as she saw her grade. Yukihiro watched her a moment as she began to walk away. For a moment, he considered it then he walked quickly up behind her before she could reach the door and took her shoulder.

"Ruby, come here for a minute," he said, motioning to two desks in the very front of the room. He took his notebook over there and his pen and sat down in one and motioned for her to sit in the other.

"Miss Sullivan. I don't mean to assume, but I have noticed a rather funny turn downwards in your grades," he said indicating his notebook. "I know you're a smart lady, I happen to know you are getting almost all A's without acception. Besides this class." He paused a moment. "I'd like to see you pull your grades up a bit, and I am really willing to help you in any way that I can. I am not going to force you to spend anymore time with me than you absolutely have to. And I am not going to force you to get a tutor either. I would just like to see you do well in my class. And I wanted to just let you know that if you ever need any help, that I am willing to help you any way I can." He smiled.

"I don't want this class to be a pain for you, Ruby."

[Ruby Sullivan]

Ruby's heart skipped beats, as it normally did in this class. To hear him say her name shot a feeling down her spine that she was not used to. She had been scared out of her mind and for no apparent reason, it wasn't like he was going to harm her or yell at her! She was acting as if she had stolen something and her parents were on the verge of scolding her. She turned and looked at him motion to the chair and suddenly she wanted nothing more than to leave.

Ruby hesitated much longer than she had wanted, but after a moment she glanced out into the hall where the door finally closed making her feel enclosed with Professor Sato, unable to escape his mathematic brilliance, his inability to make things easier for her. She swallowed the fear and walked over to the chair and took a seat glancing over at him as he skimmed through his notebook and began telling her how well she was doing in every class except his. Her face grew a bright red, how she wanted to die. Did this man even know how hard it was for her? How much she couldn't understand it? Of course not, he loved it, he actually understood it.

He spoke about how he wanted to help her, not force her to do anything she didn't want to do...suddenly her heart was being tugged on and the only thing she thought of was how nice he was being about her failing. He was adorable, the way his hair slightly fell above his eyes, his eyes that pretty dark brown, his voice that was like chocolate for the ears...and his glasses! How adorable he looked in them! Most people would look nerdy, but not Professor Sato, he looked stylish and sheer handsome! He smiled at her and suddenly she realized he was done talking and that she had completley missed what he had been saying to her considering she was spending more time staring at him than listening, but it came to her quickly.

"It isn't the class..." She sighed out feeling incredibly nervous and uncomfortable, especially when she realized that she had stared at him and found him cute. "it is the work. It is hard. I hate it. I cannot undertand it." Ruby ran a hand through her hair and looked away from the flooring up to his face again, shocked to see he was staring at her through his glasses. She wasn't expecting him to be staring at her even though she was talking to him directly.

"You explain it fine..I just...can't do my homework at home. I forget it." She looked away and bit her lower lip feeling like an idiot. Math wasn't as hard as people made it out to be, it was relatively easy when you understood what you were to and almst all the time Ruby didn't.

[Yukihiro Sato]

Yukihiro watched her a moment, thinking to himself. He got up from the desk and paced a moment, his white sneakers tapping lightly on the floor as he walked. He chewed on his lip a moment and then turned back to her, watching her a moment and then going back over to sit in front of her again. He rested his chin in the palm of his hand and thought a moment, before leaning back in his chair and tapping the desk with his pen.

"Okay, how about this," he said, leaning forward again. "I almost always have free time. If you have an empty block or just time after classes that you'd like for me to work with you, then I will be more than happy to do that for you," he smiled at her warmly, hoping she wasn't too terrfied yet. "I think, if you and I can just work through this stuff at your pace, then it'll be easier to understand for you," he explained. "And if you're a visual learner, then we will make this visual. And if your auditory, we'll make it auditory. This isn't hard stuff, but I know what its like to struggle with a subject." He leaned forward towards her, smiling. "You can't ever tell, but I am totally hopeless with languages. Give me a math problem and you got it, but tell me to diagram a sentance and I'm done for." Yukihiro grinned at her and leaned back in his seat. The last thing he wanted to do was scare Ruby. He remembered his scary college professors. All he wanted to do was to level with her. Truth was, he was very few years her senior, and he wanted her to see eye-to-eye with him.

"You don't have to do any of this. You're a grown woman, and if you think you can handle it, then I'll take my hands off," he said to her. "I just want to help you."

[Ruby Sullivan]

Ruby watched him stand then pace, his face looking like he were in deep thought. She smiled to herself when she noticed his shoes. CUte little sneakers. Professor Sato was giving her much entertainment, he was by far the most interesting teache at Coruscant, even beating out those not of the human race. She heard him talk to her about tutoring and for a moment she was almost skeptical of the idea but began to like the thought. If she could learn it at her own pace then things might be better for her, if he'd allow her to do her work in front of him and ask questions if needed...that was pretty awesome especially since she was looking for an excuse to quit her crap job at the coffee shop.

Ruby listened to him speak to her about sentence structure...now that was something completely off the wall. She was a whiz at english and to know he had trouble made it kinda...cute.

Ruby cracked a smile for the first time that day, a full show all teeth kinda smile. She laughed lightly too when thinking of him trying to put together a proper sentence on paper. If he had a hard time with it she'd totally understand where he was coming from, except in a mathematical sense, and he would understand her pain in his favorite field.

"I'd love that!" The words came out of her mouth sooner than she had wanted. Spending time away from her lonely and boring apartment was what she wanted and she didn't like going to work so this could be another outlet. Although she'd do work she'd at least be able to understand what she was doing in algebra! Hey her grades might even come up, but still in the back of her mind pride didn't want her to.

"I mean, yes. That would be nice." Ruby bit her lower lip to keep the smile off her face as she looked at him. Hopefully he could explain it all over again from the start for God knew she needed to know it all.

[Yukihiro Sato]

Yukihiro grinned at her, pleased that she had in fact taken him up on the offer. He hoped he would be able to help, and if he couldn't he would be sure to find someone who could. At least she wanted to learn this stuff. Hiroyuki knew that the matieral wasn't too hard, but it probably was for her. To him it was simple numbers and figures, to her it would have probably been like her trying to read his native tongue without prior knowledge. He grinned wider and smacked the desk, standing up and going to his desk. He threw his long brown coat on and gathered his things into his bag, turning and looking at her.

"Its settled then," he said, smiling still. He glanced at his watch. "I am afraid that I must run, perhaps literally, to my next class. Thanks for not freaking out on me, its much appreciated," he said with a wink. She would never know how many students had flown off the handle at the mere mention that they might not have control of a subject. He walked over to her and smiled down. "Umm, you know, my little place is on the edge of campus, east way, next to that old art building. Um, if you need to get to me before the weekend is out information can give you my number, or you can just run by. Either way is peachy-keen. But other than that, we ought to be able to set up a time on Monday, if that is good for you?" he said, actually enjoying the fact that he was going to be miserably late for his next class. He didn't like most of those convicts anyway.

"Sorry for keep you so long. You are probably drastically late!"

[Ruby Sullivan]

Ruby laughed at him surprised by his enjoyment for her actually accepting his offer. She was even more surprised when he told her where to find him, how to get his number, and to come by. Monday was a great date as well!

"Monday! It is a date!" She said with a smile as she stood up and pulling her book bag on. She could tell he was in a hurry by hisrushed movments and she knew to just agree to that date and say 'to hell with work' considering she was on duty that day.

"I have no other classes, but it is apparent you do! I will go. Thanks, Mr. Sato!" She walked towards the door and glanced in the trash can and bent down and picked up her test. She held it up to him and smiled. "SO I can learn from my mistakes. See you." She smiled and walked out. Her thoughts on him had changed so drastically that it was surprising her. Once moment he was a math nazi now he was her best friend. At least her outlook on this mathematic semester had taken a turn for the best!

[Yukihiro Sato]

"Aha! Kakoii ne!" Yukihiro cried as his friend's skateboard made a squealing noise as he landed from the jump. Yukihiro had never been one for skateboards, so he was on his trusty black roller blades. He and his friends had been pulling stunts all day in front of his house on a hill that sloped down towards a fountain and paved area around it. It was the best skating area and his friends like to come on saturdays when few people were about.

"Yuki-chan! Go skate around the fountain! Bet you'll fall in!" his friend yelled at him in Japanese as he lounged back on the paved walk road. Yukihiro shook his head, waving a hand in front of his face and then fanning himself.

"I'm hot," he answered in Basic for the benefit of the other two young men who were there that only spke Basic. "You guys dive in. There is enough to go around!" he said, grinning at them. They laughed at him and cat called as they went down the hill towards the fountain. As much as Yukihiro wanted to skate around with them some more, he needed to jump into his outline for his classes the next week. He had only worked through lessons four and five in Algebra and through seven and eight of his Human Anatomy classes. He needed to finish up his outlines so that he would be prepared.

Getting up from the ground ans skating down the paved walk road, he headed towards a water machine glancing up and through two buildings. Here was the best view. He could see all the hover ways, buildings, and in the distance, the Jedi temple. He grinned at it as he fished out some credits and got a water to suck on while he finished skating.

[Ruby Sullivan]

Ruby sighed out a she slammed her math book closed after trying to read the chapters he had assigned. She figured she could get a little head start by at least putting forth the effor to learn, but all it ended up doing was making her mad. She pushed the book away and ran a hand over her forhead, wondering if perhaps she'd even get it when Professor Sato tought her.

She hadn't been able to stop thinking about his offer, how he seemed to be so enthused when she accepted it. She never thought it would be that big of a deal, but since his enjoyment over the issue it gave her a slight sense of happiness and made her want to at least show him she could do some things...but...to her dismay she wasn't able to learn or do anything correctly.

"Hell." She moaned to herself as she looked around her bedroom. Trying to impress the teacher wasn't really the best way to learn, but for some reason she was at least wanting to know something! Perhaps he'd see she was at least trying after all she usually left questions blank without even trying to do something whenever they had tests or such. She wondered if math was going to be any easier? After all he taught it to her in class...what made tutoring so much different?

Ruby sighed out and laid her head on the desk and stared at the books stacked at the end of the table. Suddenly she rememebered she had to read a new chapter in her human anatmy book, another class she was doing poorly in. She was thinking of droppng it, but she remembered that Professor Sato was her teacher. On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays she worried about math and Tuesdays and Thursdays it was Anatomy. Was it Sato or her?

[Yukihiro Sato]

The skating had come to an abrupt halt when Yukihiro's friend fell into the fountain and was laughing so hard he almost drowned. It was quite funny and quite frightening all at the same time. But he and Yukihiro's other friends left laughing which was a good thing.

He skated back up to his small house-more-like-apartment dwelling and hopped up the steps, plopping down on one of the steps and undoing the skates, dumping them away from him and entering the apartment like home. It was straight and fairly clean, though a few of his shirts littered the backs of chairs and his school stuf sat on his desk. He made his way across the common room and into his bedroom, running a comb through his hair before changing into a pair of jeans and a t-shirt and sliding his glasses on and sitting down at his desk to rifle through several papers there. Most of them were math papers, although a couple were Anatomy sheets, and he even saw a doodly page he had draw on.

Straightening all the papers and opening his Algebra book, he turned to the lesson he had not finished. He only had a few problems left to do that shouldn't have been too difficult. He just needed to make a few extra notes for this chapter and then he could move onto anatomy. After that, he should be done.

As he sat, his thoughts strayed to Ruby Sullivan and thier upcoming study sessions. He was glad she had decided to tutor with him. He hoped he could help her, he did want to see a truly good student do poorly in future opportunities because of one stupid Algebra class. In the long run, few things she learned in this class would be of any real use. But nonetheless, he wanted to see her do well in it. He really did.

[Ruby Sullivan]

Ruby heard her cat meowing and her eyes shot wide open. She had fallen asleep with her book opened wide and drool slightly harming the page. She sighed out feeling like a child and sat up quickly looking at the clock nearby. It was still early in the evening and her stomach growled violently and apparently her cats was too!

"Kikyo, hush!" She said to her cat as she stood up and walked out of her bedroom toward the kitchen to feed her. She rubbed her neck feeling the pain shoot through her body, if this still hurt her Monday she was going to smack Professor Sato and tell him it was his fault. She grinned at that thought and leaned down and poured some fresh cat food into the bowl for her tiny white cat. Speaking of Professor Sato...she had dreamt about him.

Ruby shook her head as she walked into the living room to grab her coat and purse. She was wanting to head out an catch something to eat and try to get that sick feeling out of her body by busying her mind with something other than Sato. She had an eventful day with him, all good, and coming home and still having him on her mind bothered her. Especially when the dream she had was nothing one could share with young children.

She laughed as she walked out of her apartment and headed towards the busy streets of Coruscant. Where was she to eat? What did she want? What was inexpensive? She wasn't sure but so far keeping her mind on food and money kept her free of Professor Sato.

[Yukihiro Sato]

Yukihiro sat back in his chair with a yawn as he finished his anatomy planwork. He pulled off his glasses and set them down on the desk, looking down at his watch. Twelve thirty-nine. He wondered why his stomach had been growling. Yukihiro stood up from his chair, closing all his books and notebooks and loading them into his satchel.

He turned and moved into the kitchen, looking around and then getting something to drink. He didn't really have any food around the place. He had learned to live off of the cafeteria and the snack machine near to his house. But he didn't feel like walking to the machine. So he retrieved a bag of oriental some-what's he had bought the day before.

Popping them open and walking out onto his steps, he sat down and gazed out through the buildings on the other side of campus towards the Jedi temple. It was a beautiful sight at this time of day, and Yukihiro enjoyed it immensely. For a few moments, he merely watched it, watched the hoever ways, busy with traffic, watched the few people he could see on the walk ways below. Everyone else was going about thier own business, and Yukihiro could not help but think that he was being left behind.

Of course, everyone said he had one of the greatest professions. Teaching young minds good things so they could go on to be great leaders. But Yukihiro didn't feel like that was what he was doing. Sometimes, as much as he loved his students, he felt like he was teaching juvenile delinquents, who'd rather be shooting up than learning anything, not just what he taught.

There were the select few that seemed to really love thier education, and for that he was glad. But he wondered if maybe just letting them to thier own devices would not just be better for society. Or at least letting be the ones that could never advance beyond where they were now.

But Yukihiro knew that that was not why he had become a professor. He knew it was not why he liked to teach so much. He knew that he had not begun this profession to just give up on them. To pretend like he could not help them. He knew he was simply being cynical, and if even paid the money, he could not not help his students. It just wasn't in him.

[Ruby Sullivan]

Ruby yawned as she walked towards the classroom she always dreaded, but to her surprise she was extremely excited to be heading there. Her classes were done for the day and she was getting to see Professor Sato and be taught what she was doing wrong and being taught how to fix it. She was looking forward to seeing him and hearing what he had to say and what he had to teach and that shocked her. Ruby dreaded school, especially when it came to subjects she hated, such as Math. But learning it on a one-to-one basis...she was rather excited.

She turned the corner and saw the long stretch of hallway where her class was just two doors ahead. She walked a bit faster and quickly stepped into the dark and empty room. She sighed out and glanced at her wrist watch to see that she was on time for their appointment. Had he forgotte? Surely not.

[Yukihiro Sato]

Yukihiro jogged down the hallway from his meeting. Oh, how he was always late for everything. Even his tutoring sessions. He pushed his satchel farther onto his shoulder and wallked a little faster, his high top sneakers making a slight squeaking sound on the tile. He glanced down at his watch and sighed. He was late, there was no helping it now.

He sighed again, slightly annoyed since he was late because he and the other professors had not gotten anything done in thier meeting that had ended up stretching on for two long hours. Yukihiro shook his head as he straightened his tan suit and black tie, approaching his classroom. He got to the door and peered into the window, seeing that Ruby had already arrived. He chewed his lip and sighed one last time.

Opening the door and flipping on the light, he looked at the girl and smiled, closing the door and leaning on it. He chewed his lip.

"I do apologize for my absence, Miss Sullivan...I'm afraid I was busy getting absolutely nothing done with the other professors," he said with a slight tilt of his head. He paused a moment before walking forward and laying his things on his desk. He nodded to one of the chairs in front of him and grinned at her.

"You can find a seat...any seat will do. Closer rather than farther, if you wouldn't mind," he turned and looked at the board behind him. Then he looked back around at her. "And turn to section ninety-two on your datapad. We're going to begin with logarithmis."

[Ruby Sullivan]

Ruby wanted to groan the second he mentioned the 'L' word, she had a hard time even spelling it so how on Coruscant was she going to learn to use it? Whatever "it" was! She had grabbed a desk and scooted it close to desk and board not wanting to miss anything considering she was there to pay attention, not whine. She pulled out her datapad and was prepared to take notes, learn it, use it, and have a love affair with it.

The whole time he spoke to her, as she jotted down notes, did practice problems, did everything he asked she couldn't help but feel relieved that he was taking things slow, making it easy for her to comprehend and understand. Most teachers quickly threw it on the board and spoke in a language she didn't understand, but not Professor Sato he was making this easy without actually giving anything away and she loved it.

An hour into the session they had successfully done a pre-test without bombing, had her do problems on the board, even teach him what lithograms were. She was having fun, more than she should've probably. Ruby hadn't enjoyed math, ever, but today it had changed she was actually feeling as if she could do something! Perhaps she just didn't know it was in her, but she knew for a fact that it was due to Professor Sato and his patience and his ability to stick with her and help her out of the holes she dug for herself.

Ruby yawned as she did some more problems he had given her, tougher ones,m ones that were testing her ability to use what he had juist taught her, then she was free to go. She was on the last problem, not having much trouble, but her mind was slightly focused on her stomach and Professor Sato. He was such a dork, but in a loveable and hugable way. Who in the galaxy would wear a tan suit, black tie, and sneakers? Who? A math dork. But for some reason it worked so well for him it was ridiculous. Ruby knew she should've just finished the last problem ten minutes ago but she was having fun staring at him, seeing his eyes move back and forth as he graded papers from his other classes. His reading glasses on his nose, making him appear even sharper than before. His reddih brown hair long and shaggy, stylish and cool, his deep dark eyes that were so wise and intellectual.

She sighed out and moved her eyes to the paper and quickly finished the quiz and stood up and walked over to the desk and laid it down.

"I think you'll be impressed, or...at least...I hope you will." She laughed nervously. For the first time in her life she was actually nervous to hand in a test! What was the deal with that? She bit her lower lip and nodded and turned walking back to the desk she had sat at and pushed it back into the proper line. She bent down and grabbed her satchel and pulled the long strap on her shoulder as she grabbed her cream colored leather jacket that had been thrown over the back of the seat. She sighed and frowned as she walked towards the door, her keys jingling in her hand. Before she exited she turned and walked back to the desk and gave Professor Sato an inquisitive glare.

"Do you like pizza, Professor Sato?"

[Yukihiro Sato]

Yukihiro had gotten into this whole math tutoring thing. He didn't do too much math tutoring, becausing whenever he mentioned it, most kids ran, scared out of thier minds. Ruby however, was a pleasure to teach. She was giving it all her best shot and doing very well. He had been grading her papers as they slowly advanced in problems. She knew the material, she just had it all clammed up inside of her because numbers scared her and she did not know that she could do them.

He smiled at her as she handed in the last quiz and headed for the door. He had just begun to look over it and mark things when he heard her ask him if he liked pizza. In response--almost as if his body were answering for him--his stomach growled phenomenally. He glanced up at her and considered her for a moment, pushing his glasses back up onto his face.

He did not know if she was asking him to eat pizza with her now or at a later date, but either way, Yukihiro knew it was extremely unprofessional. He should not go anywhere with a student that was not acedemically enhancing, it was written exactly like that in thier teachers manual. But Ruby might as well have just been his friend. No harm done in eating together once, right?

"Yeah," he said with a smile, pushing his glasses up on his head. "Yeah, I do, actually."

[Ruby Sullivan]

Ruby was preparing herself to just say 'That's okay, I thought you might want...' but suddenly he had said yes. She grinned and looked down at the floor sheepishly, as if this were something to be ashamed of. She smiled even brighter and looked up at him surprised to see he was looking at her his glasses on his head.

"Yeah?" She said ignorantly, a bit overwhelmed that he even responded like that. It was actually against school policy to ask a teacher on a date but this was just dinner, casual, friendly, dinner.

"Would you um...would you like to...I was going to go catch a bite to eat at Pizza Plaza, would you like to come with me? My treat?"

[Yukihiro Sato]

Yukihiro looked down at his papers, and his work, then to his satchel and sneakers. He chewed his lip then stood, gathering the papers messily and stuffing them into his satchel. He looked at her and smiled, hoisting the bag over his head.

"Sure, Miss Sullivan. I'll take it as a thanks for tutoring you, eh?" he said with a wink. Then he motioned out the window as he walked towards her. "Mind if I run by my place to drop off this stuff? Its a little bit rude to carry work to dinner...at least in my opinion..." he laughed. "And it would be nice to get out of the tie. If you wouldn't mind, of course. The place is just right over there. I am too much of a geek to live off campus." He smiled and winked again as he reached her and turned off the lights, looking down at her.

[Ruby Sullivan]

Ruby looked at him shuffle his papers together then walk towards the door beside of her telling her how he was to take it as a thanks for the tutoring and how he didn't live off campus. She couldn't help but think it was adorable and sweet.

"That is perfectly fine." Ruby pushed a piece of hair behind her ear and glanced at him grinning at the way he winked. She never saw him do that before, or at least paid enough attention to see he did it a lot. Either way it was cute. Hell, Professor Sato was...for the lack of a better word...adorable!

"I don't drive so...we'll have to catch a hover taxi. I'll pay for that as well, okay?" She felt she was being too bold, that she was actually treating this as a date when all it was was a little friendly dinner. This was going to give her an opportunity to get to know a teacher, be friends with one, have a friend in a good place and background. People these days...it was untelling where they came from and if they were trashy druggies...having a clean, intelligent, and successful friend would be good for one who had little friends to begin with.

[Yukihiro Sato]

Yukihiro nodded, giving her a grin, then motioned for her to head out. She did and he followed and shut the door behind him. He made it a point to walk briskly, it was late enough as it was, he didn't want to make it later.

They arrived quickly at his home and he hopped up the steps, getting out his keycard. He glanced over his shoulder at Ruby and chewed his lip.

"You'll...have to wait out here, I'm afraid..." he said with a sympathetic expression. "You and I could both get in trouble if someone sees you going into my apartment..." he said quietly. Then he motioned to her things. "If you want, I can put your bag and things inside the door here. Unless you live away and it would be out of your way to swing by after eating."

[Ruby Sullivan]

She shouldn’t have felt guilty for asking the professor out to eat, after all it wasn’t in school grounds and one could be friends with whomever they liked. But still Ruby felt like she was doing something against some sort of law and if she were to get caught there would be hell to pay, severe repercussions. But…how come standing outside of Mr. Sato’s apartment knowing that they were going someplace together, someplace to talk and become friends…why did it all feel so right? Feel good? Feel like…there were endless amounts to talk about and enjoy other than mathematics and science?

Ruby twirled her bag around by its strap as she leaned on the railing, waiting on him to come out smelling of freshly sprayed cologne and a bit more put together than he had been a few minutes ago. She enjoyed the thought and even felt herself smile at the thought considering she had enjoyed thinking these things before.

Ruby had always wondered what the nerdy, dorky, absolutely adorable teacher did in the off time. Was he always dressed like that? Did he always have chalk dust on his clothes and hands? Did he always walk around in suits and sneakers? It was an odd thing to think of in her free time, but she wanted to know. Out of all the professors at Coruscant University Mr. Sato was the most interesting and most attractive.

She gasped to herself slightly and suddenly stopped thinking those thoughts of him. There was a line that Ruby Sullivan was willing to cross and flirt with, but finding her professor undeniably attractive was something that she could not think. Ever. Sure people had affairs with older people, co-workers, younger people…but…teachers? She could never ever think that. So why was she so excited that they were going out?

“It isn’t a date.” She growled to herself. “It is a friendly dinner. Hence, the word friendly.” But somehow Ruby was slightly letting herself down. It must’ve been forever ago since she had a date…a real romantic date.

"Too bad." She said barely in a whisper. "It isn't one." She looked around after a moment of having her thoughts rest. Ruby was a cute girl and she was smart and fun a date wasn't that far out of reach. Anyhow, if she were to date someone it definitely wouldn't be professor Sato! He was a teacher! A dorky one at that. Yet...she had technically asked him out. So was this a friendly thing? Or was it meaning more? She wasn't going to ask the stupid questions like 'Do you like me?' or 'Why did you say yes to my dinner date?'. She was going to be happy, friendly, and find out more about him. This was a friendly date, but not limited to something else.

[Yukihiro Sato]

Yukihiro looked at himself in the mirror quickly as he unbuttoned his dress shirt and discarded it on the bed, replacing it with a more casual grey long sleeved t-shirt. No need to be so professional in an unprofessional situation. He put his glasses on his bed and changed into black cargos leaving on his black high tops because they were the most comfortable shoes he owned.

Glancing around and patting his pocket to make sure he had his keys and everything else, he hoisted his small black satchel over his shoulder to rest on the opposite hip. He shut off the lights in his housem running a hand through his hair as he stepped over a boot lying in his floor--whose was that?--and opened the door back up glancing outside to Ruby who was waiting patiently for him. He grinned at her as he locked his door behind him and jumped down the stairs to stand in front of her.

"Sorry about the wait Miss Sullivan. Needed to get out of that suit and everything else. We can be on our way, yes?"

[Ruby Sullivan]

Ruby looked up at the door after she heard low footsteps and the turn of the knob. She stood up straight and ran a hand down her hair to pull it over her shoulder, primping herself suddenly. She glanced at his attire and was quick to notice he had changed. Changed into something very adorable and something that she would never expect to see him wear. Even so, she liked it. Liked it a lot.

She watched him lock the door and then jump the stairs to land in front of her, closely at that. She was about to prop an arm out in case he tilted, but didn't when she saw he had it down. The action took her by surprise and it made her laugh inside. She could only give him a smile for she did not want to come on too strong with the hilarity. His actions stirred a new feeling inside about him. Although it wasn't something she wouldn't ever expect him to do considering he was a dork like that, it just made her feel as if he were able to play. She laughed gently and nodded.

"Great landing. You've got skills." She teased. She liked it. She would want him to do it again if he would for it was cute, funny, and absolutely dorky.

[Yukihiro Sato]

Yukihiro nodded at her, then motioned towards the entrance to campus, smiling a little.

Yukihiro did not know, as they were beginning to walk, if it was his warm t-shirt or the smile that Ruby had given him that was making his cheeks so warm. Yukihiro did not have a problem with socializing with students out of class. In fact, he endorsed all the way. Because the closer the student and teachers were outside in casual situations, then the easier they would work together in the classroom.

However, Yukihiro also knew the risks of being friendly with students outside of class. Especially female students. Especially smart female students. Especially smart, pretty female students. Especially smart, pretty, talented female student. Especially smart, pretty, talented--

Shut up! he told himself. He needed to take a breath and leave the thinking for the classroom. He had been out with pretty femal students before. No harm was ever done, and none would be done this time either. This was just Ruby Sullivan. Just the girl he had in Anatomy and Math. Just the girl he was tutoring. This was just a friend thing and nothing else, and he intended to keep it that way.

"So did you have your tastebuds set on something this night?"

[Ruby Sullivan]

Ruby walked alongside of him feeling the nice cool breeze blow on her face and sting her eyes. The slight curls at the edge of her hair being picked up and strewn, hitting Professor Sato on the shoulder every now and again. She heard him talk and suddenly her heart jumped. he was talking to her. He was standing next to her, talking, going to eat with her....he wasn't her teacher right then.

"Pizza was my intentions, but if you are wanting something else then I am pleased to serve." She smiled and laughed lightly and looked up at him, surprised by his height considering she only saw him from afar. It was nice for a change, it was nice to have him as her friend.

"Might I ask you...might I be abke to call you Yukihiro? At least...outside of class?" She looked up at him after taking a moment to stare at the ground the walked on, her bagbouncing on her left hip and her right arm almost brushing against his own, How stupid she was acting it was just a simple date. No, scratch that! It was just two people hanging out so to speak. But damn, how she couldn't stop thinking of it any other way.

[Yukihiro Sato]

Yukihiro chewed his lip a moment as he considered her question. That was what his good friends called him, not his students, not even Shosei called him by his first name, and he had known Shosei much longer than he had known Ruby. But why did it seem perfectly natural for Ruby to call him by his first name? Why did it seemed not awkward at all for her to have asked that question? Slowly, he shook his head.

"Sorry, Ruby. You better stick to Sato. Behead it and get rid of the Professor, but I have to stick to a teacher's code," he said, looking over apologetically. "Really, if I wasn't concerned about you I would allow you to call me whatever you please. But Sato should be good enough." He paused a moment, looking around thoughtfully, then looked down at her and patted a hand on her shoulder. "And if you think about it, if we were in the NIHONGO District, Sato would be my first name and technically is...so, technically by my and my people's standards, you are calling me by my first name. So, don't feel too bad." He squeezed her shoulder reassuringly and smiled.

For some reason, he felt guilty for denying her the permission to call him Yukihiro. But he was afraid that would slip out in the wrong place around the wrong people and they could both get in trouble, especially if an Elder heard it. They could really be in for it if one of them heard her calling him Yukihiro. He did not want Ruby to get into trouble on account of him...or anyone or anything, really.

[Ruby Sullivan]

Ruby quivered when she felt him touch her, bringing her out of the state of sadness and ejection from being able to call him by his first name. And when he squeezed...it took everything in her body to not just let out a sigh and sadness and whine about it. She wanted to look at his hand, enjoying the feeling he had when he squeezed reassuringly. She nodded liking how he made her feel a bit 'special' by allowing her to drop the Professor and calling him by his last name, which in Japanese culture, was truly his first.

"I understand, Sato." She smiled at him and laughed lightly. He was adorable and seemingly continued getting so the longer she stayed around him and the longer he talked to her without the teacher seriousness. But she had to admit that she felt a bit saddened and shot down by his refusal. Perhaps he could be lying and just didn't want her to call him by his first name...then again....maybe he really did care.

"Okay! Pizza joint or no? Remember, I'm buying so whatever you want I will give to you." The second those words came out she wanted to automatically rephrase, but she left it alone. She was flirting with him and that was going to make things worse she knew, but she was willing to accept a slip of tongue just this once....just to see his reaction.

[Yukihiro Sato]

Yukihiro looked down at her and then stroked an imaginary beard. He made a few indesicion sounds, and held up a finger.

"Well, I want a new pair of skates. And a new skateboard. A new wardrobe would be nice...there are a few other things I want too but..." he paused, then winked at her. "But that's not what you meant is it?" he laughed. "Pizza joint is more than amazing and satisfying."

[Ruby Sullivan]

Ruby laughed at him, louder than she should have. So he had a bit of humor that he was not sharing. Well, he tried to be humurous during class, but they were so corny she laughed in embarassment. He was the sweetest damn thing that ever could've been walking beside her and he was funny, he made her laugh in a way that was natural and happy and she liked that. No, she loved it.

Ruby suddenly felt awkward she hadn't been in his prescense for more than fifteen minutes and she was already observing things about him that she liked and that was scaring her. She glanced at him with that smile that would not go away.

"If you want it then I will buy it, but you must forwarn me considering my money is a bit low!" She looked in front of her and paused a moment before nodding. "If pizza is what you want, then I will supply it! Glad to know that you are a simple man."

[Ryoshiya Le'Gard]

EDIT

[Yukihiro Sato]

Yukihiro stretched and put his arms behind his head, shrugging a little.

"Well, I suppose I can do without the skates and skateboard, but pizza would be nice. I don't think I have been this hungry in..." he paused a moment, thinking. "This morning," he decided with a grin. Then he looked over. "And I can pay for myself. Its not a big thing." He said with another smile.

For a moment, they were both silent as they made thier way towards wherever they were actually going to eat. He was thinking deeply and he wished his mind would stop. For some reason, being around Ruby right now was making his mind work a million miles a minute, going into overtime really badly, and he couldn't figure out why. Then he smiled over at her.

"Yes, I think you'll find I am not difficult to make happy. Got it from my sister, we're both very easily pleased," he chuckled.

[Ruby Sullivan]

Ruby smiled at him and shook her head.

"No. I pay. I told you that before we went out." She shrugged and gave him a crooked glance. "And you are being complicated if you try and disagree with me over paying!" She smiled brightly and shared another moment of silence before bumping his arm playfully.

"As for the skateboard and skates....I'll save that for another day, cutie." She gasped and suddenly shrinked away and cute smiling, quit flirting, and looked away. She had just said something that slipped her mind and was a slip of tongue. Oh god...she thought, she was going to be smacked and then told that this was not such a good idea and they should keep things purely professional. Ruby didn't have a save all she had was to wallow in her ignorance.

[Yukihiro Sato]

Oh...strike one.

Yukihiro knew that if something like that, even if it was a slip of the tongue, happened three times, it was time to cut off such casual ties. It was an awful system, and he hated having to use it. But he knew that by the third time of someone calling him something, or referring to him in a position inappropriate manner, it was becoming a habit, and he needed to curtail it. Especially if his young female student whom he happened to be tutoring after hours was calling him "cutie".

He said nothing about it, it was a simple mistake this time. Second time he would mention it, and the third. He would have to tell her to continue to call him Professor Sato out of class and they could only meet together in tutoring sessions. It was a difficult cycle, but he used it with each and every one of his students, even the male students who got to see him too much of thier buddy. Yukihiro hated that one thing about being a teacher. He could not be as close to his students as he would like to be. The closest he was to any of his students was as close as he was with Shosei Sakai, and that was not exactly close. But then again, Shosei went by all the rules, and did not slip up. Which was good for both of them.

"Alright, then. I suppose the skates will be for my twenty-sixth birthday coming up, and the skateboard will be for Christmas. I'll write this down, Ruby. I have an excellent memory!" he said with a laugh, his first instinct was to bump her back, but he figured that would only encourage certain behaviors he hoped--and somehow dreaded--to quell.

[Ruby Sullivan]

He didn't even say anything.

Ruby smiled inside so relieved that he didn't even mention the slip that had just occurred. Thank God for that as well! She smiled and pretended she didn't even say anything, as he was at the moment, and laughed lightly.

"Twenty six, huh? Whoa I never thought you were that old." She laughed again and shook her head. "Not that I am implying you are old! I mean...yeah....you...six years older than me." She rolled her eyes he must've thought she was stupid as could be for she couldn't talk at all. "But skates it will be!" She sighed out as they walked, enjoying the scenery, one of the prettiest campus' on Coruscant, probably even the galaxy. She loved it there and at that moment she was liking it even better.

"Well you make that list for me and you shall get everything you need, but don't be surprised if you get a list as well, my friend!" She glanced at him with a look that was serious yet humorous. "Watch yourself though...I have sharp eyes and can see what you do! Better not mess up this semester mister or you will be getting a lump of coal."

[Yukihiro Sato]

Yukihiro laughed richly and then looked down at her. Then he smiled and pressed a hand on her shoulder...a little more intimately than he should have.

"Maybe I want a lump of coal. Maybe that is all I want for Christmas," he said, smiling down at her, but the grin was wiped off as he realized he hadn't removed his hand from holding her arm, and that his palm and the skin under it on her arm were warm from his holding it. For a moment, he did not know whether the action was too over the line or not. But to be safe he dropped his hand, and glanced away. And yet, somehow, Yukihiro still dug a bigger hole.

As he dropped his hand, his knuckles caught on her fingers and if Yukihiro--or maybe Ruby--had not had the presence of mind to pull thier hand away, they would have easily been able to hold hands. It was a simple mistake though, and surely she would know that he hadn't meant anything.

Had he?

[Ruby Sullivan]

Ruby felt her eyes move slightly to glance at his side, unsure of whether or not their one second of actually having their hands touch each other happened. She wasn't about to ask, but she did keep the intentions in mind. If he had just not said anything about her calling him cutie then...perhaps....

Nah, it wasn't like that. He was a professional, after all he had even told her to call him by his last name so therefore it was an accident. Right? Ruby wasn't sure what to make of it, but she was enjoying the talking and the laughing and the...touching. That sounded more perverted than it should have been and her cheeks grew warm. She touched her face when it was tickled by a piece of her hair from the sudden burst of wind. She smiled warmly and looked at him.

"My list consists of two A's, one in anatomy the other in math. Think I can get what I want...santa?"

[Yukihiro Sato]

Yukihiro looked over at her and thought a moment, once again stroking his non-existent beard. He considered a moment more before, glancing over at her and then leaning down towards her a little bit, just out of reach of her kissing her ear, and just in the realm of still friendly.

"Well, Santa might need a little persuasion..." he said, leaning back suddenly, and blinking hard a time or two before shaking his head and motioning to the pizza place up ahead. Then he looked back at her. "But right now, Sato-kun is hungry. We can discuss those A's at a later date, hm?" he turned back away from her, a little afraid she would see the blush creeping into his face.

What the hell was he thinking? A few moments ago he had been curtailing this flirting and now he was partaking in it! This was turned around, confused, and yet somehow a rush, a thrill. It made his stomach turn over so that he felt kind of sick, but in a good way. It made the blood rush all over his body. He felt like he was in high school again. And in a way that was good, and in a way...

it was very bad.

[Ruby Sullivan]

Ruby shivered when he looked away to walk towards the door of the pizza joint she had chosen. She was smiling due to his words, blushing due to the closeness, shivering because of the way he had said he needed persuasion. What kind? She wasn't going to dare think on that line, but somehow she was dying to. She was having fun, she was flirting with her teacher, buying him dinner, spending quality time with him, and somehow she couldn't help but think that they were going to be doing it more often.

God! He had been so close to kissing her, she had felt the breath on her skin, the words were clever and perverted, but in a subtle way and she liked it. Far too much she presumed.

"That makes the two of us then!" She pulled the door open and smiled. "Age before beauty!" She winked at him and bit her lower lip flirting again. For something to be against the rules, to be so wrong...it sure felt right.

[Yukihiro Sato]

Yukihiro rolled his eyes playfully. Age before beauty, cute one. He hadn't heard it in a long time, since before his brother had chucked himself into space and not said a word to him. Yukihiro shook his head and walked inside, his stomach roaring as soon as he smelled the food in the place.

He glanced back at Ruby and indicated that she choose where they sit, considering it was an extremely laid back place and they could literally sit anywhere they pleased--the place was almost deserted.

"This place is charming. Haven't been in here since I was...fourteen I think. Look way different back then. Don't know if you came here around that time...you would have been, what? Seven, eight?"

[Ruby Sullivan]

Ruby smiled when she watched him roll his eyes finding her comment humorous. She heard the door close and she glanced up to see that he was waiting for her to pick a spot to sit she walked beside of him, the parlor a lot darker than she remembered, but it was nice and moody to say the least. She felt her shoulder brush against his upper arm and she did not move it as she stood next to him scanning the room for a spot considering she was slightly leaning for a purpose, to look for a seat!

"How about in the back booth?" She pointed to it with her left hand practically leaning against Sato so she could scream over the loud music. It had become a regular hang out spot for college students and teenagers since it was redesigned. Apparently Sato had noticed it since he mentioned the change himself the second he stepped inside and took a long look at it. She looked at him and nodded and walked towards the dark corner at the end of the parlor tossing her shoulder bag inside the booth as well as her jacket and took a seat.

"I used to come here all the time when I was younger. My family and I were regulars. I was usually the one who ran around screaming and wanting attention. I think I even kissed a few strangers!" She laughed lightly and propped her arms on the table and leaned her chin against the palm of her left hand while the other was slightly stretched out on the table.

"I was around eight whenever you came around here. Who knows, I might have even annoyed you at one point in time!" She smiled at him and winked as he sat down. Her stomach was suddenly beginning to hurt and she knew it wasn't from hunger either. She was feeling the pangs of attraction and she knew that it was against the rules, against student-teacher policy with the college. If someone were to get the wrong impression and consider them a "couple" and the board found out about it they'd probably threaten to take away his teaching license and probably fire him on the spot. Perhaps not at first, but if the impression was still being given it was probable to assume his profession and job would be in the can quicker than two shakes of a lambs tail. Ruby still understood this and knew it, but yet she still continued to flirt with disaster considering it felt so natural and it was apparent he wasn't stopping it either.

"Perhaps I even stole a kiss from you." She laughed lightly as she grabbed a menu and opened it up. Yeah, she thought, definitely flirting...definite trouble. But even so...it wasn't going to stop her.

[Yukihiro Sato]

Yukihiro sat down across from her and smiled as she picked up the menu. He watched her read it and considered her words. He wondered if she had, and yet he dreaded ever knowing. Yukihiro knew how dangerous this was, not only for her, but for him and his job. He could be fired, could have his lisence revoked, he could literally be ruined as a teaching professional for the rest of his life. And that scared him. Because teaching was all he wanted to do.

Yukihiro settled down into his seat and laced his fingers together, resting his mouth on his knuckles and watching Ruby for a moment or two. He was dancing with extreme peril and if he didn't pull his act together, he could be staring God himself down in a shorter time than he thought.

"Well, if you did, Miss Sullivan, then I apologize for any long term mental damage I did to you," he said with a grin. "Although I don't remember it, you may have to remind me."

As soon as the words were out of his mouth he regretted saying them. He might as well just hold out his teaching lisence and let her chew it up and get rid of it now, for he was throwing out the welcome mat with that phrase.

[Ruby Sullivan]

"Believe me, Sato, had I kissed you I am sure you'd remember it." Ruby smiled and laughed lightly as she scanned the menu before glancing up at him to grin a little wider. Okay, the flirting needed to stop otherwise things would go in a direction that she really didn't want them to go. Too late, she thought, who even said I didn't want it to go in that direction? Ruby closed the menu and looked up at him smiling for no apparent reason. She thought he was attractive and they were playfully flirting, which is what friends did. They were friends, but she needed to keep in mind that this was no normal friend it was her teacher.

"I knock socks off!" She laughed again and let out a gentle sigh taking the conversation to a place that would be safe and friendly. "So, Sato, you have siblings? What are their names and how old are they?"

[Yukihiro Sato]

Yukihiro sat back in his chair and sighed out through his nose, thinking hard, then nodding.

"Well, yeah, I have a sister, and she is twenty-eight. Her name is Reika, and she follows politics for big business people who care," he chuckled out. He thought a moment, then shook his head, and sighed out sourly. "And then...there is my brother. He would be about...twenty-six now, turning twenty-seven in a day or two. His name is Shou. He's..." he paused, looking out and around the place, laughing grimly. "He's not around anymore. Nobody knows what happened to him."

Thinking about Shou brought back a lot of great memories, but also, a lot of extremely painful ones. Thinking about Shou brought back a lot of ups, but too many downs to notice them. Yukihiro did not like thinking about his elder brother, it broke his heart. He put a smile on and looked back over at Ruby.

"And you? What about your family?"

[Ruby Sullivan]

Ruby nodded at his question, a bit sorry to have asked by his reaction to speaking about his brother. She was to lighten up the mood by speaking of her family...the little one she had.

"Well I have to sisters who are two years older than me named Sirena and Seretta. They are twins so needless to say they are stuck to one another like glue. They are in politics as well. I didn't really have any siblings considering I was the outcast. Still am I guess." She shrugged and smiled looking at his face, studying it, enjoying it. He really was an attractive man, he should have worn clothes that suited him like the kind he was wearing right now. Not suits and sneakers. He was young and apparently very vibrant he just barely showed it when teaching.

"I think I was outcasted because I love Japanese culture and kung fu...stuff that was completely opposite of what my family was like." She sighed out and looked around waiting for someone to come and take their order, but they weren't having much luck catching one considering the place looked dead.

"So...what are your interests? Aside from mathematics and anatomy?" She smiled warmly at him the thought of knowing him suddenly giving her the warm and fuzzies. She felt so happy to be sitting there talking to him, talking to him about things that didn't have anything to do with schooling or his work. It was just she and Yukihiro. God how she wanted to call him by his name!

[Yukihiro Sato]

Yukihiro crossed his legs. His interests. Well, he certainly had plenty, and he was sure they would have something in common if he just started naming them off. He smiled at her.

"Well, as you have probably already guessed, I love to skateboard and rollerblade. Ummm...obviously, because I am, I love anything Japanese. I like to...read, and write...but me and language don't get along very well, so grammar for instance isn't so good. I like to collect and listen to music. Teaching is pretty much my life, and I love it more than anything, so I really don't have much of a life," he said with a laugh, leaning his elbows on the table and glancing around as his stomach purred at him again in protest of its treatment.

"But, yeah...math and anatomy is really...all I do..." he said, as if he just realized how dull he was. Then he laughed. "You really chose the wrong teacher to become freinds with. I do right next to nothing!" he laughed. "What about you?"

[Ruby Sullivan]

Ruby smiled at him as she listened to him speak of his interests, the whole time realizing how much that had in common and how interesting he truly was. He was just getting cooler the more he talked who knew that she could like a professor so much!

"No, I like you just the way you are. I wouldn't want you any other way." Again she crossed the line, but she didn't care. He hadn't said or stopped anything yet and as long as he continued to flirt then it was fair game. She smiled at him and shyed away after she realized she had been staring at him far too long and enjoying his face.

"Me?" She said after a moment too late. "I'm as interesting as a wet rag!" She lightly laughed and looked around seeing a waiter walking their way. "I love the same thigns as you really. I am interesting in Japanese culture and the language...I love rollerblading..something that is interesting is I enjoy growing exotic flowers." And now I enjoy staring at your gorgeous face! she smiled and felt her face grow red, but she didn't care.

"Perhaps we should rollerblade into the Nihongo District sometime."

[Yukihiro Sato]

Yukihiro saw the waitor walk there way and finally discover that they had not been helped. He walked over, and Yukihiro saw he was a young Twi'leck teenager with some shade of blue skin that looked a little green under the frantic lights. Yukihiro sat forward as the man nodded to them, asking if he could get them something.

"Yeah, actually, we are starving. So, um, a large pizza...and I want a water..." he glanced at Ruby and let her order and watched as the young Twi'leck made his way away from thier table, and he looked back over at his student. He smiled at her and then leaned forward on the table.

"That would be interesting," he chuckled. "My friends would probably come along, and some of them don't speak a lick of Basic. I do believe they would try to teach you Japanese."

He grinned at her and for a moment did only that, his mind going over all the ways that they could be punished for being too intimate. But the moments kept getting worse and worse, and Yukihiro was only twenty-five, and had not flirted, nor been flirted with in years. There were things Yukihiro still wanted and sought after and wished he had, and, sadly, someone to like him was still one of them.

[Ruby Sullivan]

Ruby smiled as she mindlessly leaned foward, the space in between them slowly diteriorating as the moments passed, but hey she wasn't complaining! The attraction she had for him was bad, very bad! Worse than she had thought! It was like her entire body was made of metal and he was nothing but a helpless magnet. She didn't care, nor was she going to stop! She liked him she knew t his now more than ever as she sat there t alking to him, learning about him.

"As long as you are there I don't think I'd be paying a bit of attention to your friends, but the more the merrier right?" She winked at him. She knew that this was it, it was over, her mind had been lost, her better judgement had been left behind. She had never winked at anyone, ever in her life, and yet there she was doing so with the one person she should not have been winking at. But it was so much fun! She had never flirted so shamelessly before, but she knew the dangers that lurked, the egg shells she was walking on.

"So...Sato, do you have a girlfriend?" IT was a simple question a question that she honestly wanted to know, perhaps not for her own interests but wanting to know about him. But who wasshe kidding? Ruby wanted to know, wanted to see if he had a lucky girl hidden somewhere.

[Yukihiro Sato]

Yukihiro suddenly felt an uneasy feeling growing in his stomach. That was very personal and on a romantic level. Not that the nearly same question had not been burning on his tongue, but he had not, and was not going to ask it. But she had laid the table open for such intimacy. Had changed the game slightly.

Yukihiro took a deep breath and acted like he was thinking, though there was no thinking involved. He didn't want to tell her had one and lie, but he didn't want to say he didn't and make this worse. He sighed out of his nose.

"No...I supposed I don't..." he gave in finally. "It's been...five years since I had one..." he laughed. "That's...wow...pathetic. I have been too busy with school and then teaching to have worried too much. And past experiances have made it difficult..." he looked up and smiled. "What about you? You and Sho-chan look good together." He said with a wink.

[Ruby Sullivan]

YES! This was the immediate thing she saw flash in front of her eyes. He was single! Sexy! And sweet! God he was everything she could have wanted at that exact moment, but even daring to cross that line was so bold that she didn't even have the strength to even come to terms with her attraction to him. She was in denial she knew she was. She liked him, always had a crush on him, too bad it took her this long to actually realize it and accept it. Was that beacause she had a chance?

Ruby then laughed remembering that he turned the tables and who he had mentioned! Oh god! Shosei! Of all the people in the world to link her up with he had to go and mention him.

"Shosei? Come on, Sato! Had you told me this few years ago I would have gone mad with excitement, but Shosei?" Ruby laughed again and shook her head. "No, I think there was a time when I would have loved that, but Shosei and I don't talk. I don't know if I can even call him a friend." Sure she and Shosei went to school together for as long as she could remember and she despertaly tried to get his attention in high school, but it never happened. Ruby was faced with loneliness for all eternity when she realized this, but somehow being with Sato didn't make it seem so bad.

"Besides I think Shosei has a girlfriend he isn't telling people about. Plus, my eyes are set on someone else." She bit her tongue and looked at him with direct serious eyes. Would he get the drift? Would he understand that he was suddenly in her tunnel vision for a date? She hoped so, yet at the same time she hoped not. Anyway, she was sure Sato wanted someone older, prettier, funnier, more entertaining than a college student who had relationships with plants and flowers.

[Yukihiro Sato]

Yukihiro chuckled slightly, but when he saw that look in her eyes he knew exactly what she meant. He was a single teacher with no life, but he had been born the day before, remembered what a girl looked like when she liked you but didn't want to say. He and his brother had gotten that look a lot in high school. But he had never played into it, never wanted anymore attention than the less than none he got. So when a girl had liked him, he smiled, nodded and went to hide in his Geometry, Algebra, Pre-Calculus, Anatomy books, Earth Sciences, Biology books, and he would not come out until the girl had given up and set her sights on someone else. That was when it was safe to emerge into the daylight again.

He had only not done that once, and the girl had handed him back his heart after running all over it and playing keep away with it. He had insisted she keep it, and she had thrown it as his feet. Yukihiro remembered never thinking he would ever recover. The first time he had let someone in, and cared about them, and they had laughed in his face once they were done with him.

Yukihiro knew that that was why he had always been reluctanct since to get into anything with anybody. And now, out of the blue, one of his students gave him the look he had not seen in a long time and had hoped that he would not see again. But he couldn't hide in his books now that he was face with it without an escape route.

He found himself, smiling, blood rushing to his face in rivers and lakes, probably making his face glow in the cool twilight of thier corner. He was burning alive with the rush of blood to his head, but he tried to fight it back as he looked up at her and let the smile fade away.

"Well, I think Sho would be dissapointed, but you're right. I think he has a girl he doesn't want to share with anyone," he said with a chuckled. "And this other guy? He must be much more of a wallflower than Sho to have gotten you're attention."

[Ruby Sullivan]

Ruby laughed lightly and nodded, not at all finding his red cheeks or sudden need to push up his sleeves a bit out of ordinary. She shook her head and looked down at the table keeping her mind on how she would love to tell him who it was, but perhaps he'd catch the drift sometime, just not anytime in the late future.

"Well, you could say that. The guy...I've liked for quite some time now. I just realized it a few days ago how much I liked him. His jokes are corny, his clothes are....off beat, he is smart, has beautiful eyes, a smile that cannot even been described...he reminds me of a little geeky guy who is actually the coolest person one could ever meet." She sighed out when she realized she was doing Sato no justice by trying to put all the good things about him into words. He just had to look in the mirror and see everything she liked about him.

"I don't think he even notices me though, at least...not in the way I want to be noticed." She squirmed slightly, readjusting her self in the seat, her left hand brushing against his own when she moved to sit on her leg, She couldn't deny the feeling made her heart jump and her body feel a rush and that it made her excited even worse, she wanted to hold his hand. She laughed lightly and glanced up at him.

"Sorry." She said lowly, moving her hands back as to not do it again even though she was aching to.

[Yukihiro Sato]

Yukihiro jumped roughly three feet out of his seat when thier hands touched for the second time that evening on accident. He smiled a little, shaking his head and looking up, seeing that the waitor was on his way to thier table with thier food. The man came quickly and put thier drinks and food down and asked them if they needed anything else. Yukihiro nearly told him that he needed a splash of icy water but he held his tongue and told him they needed nothing else and the man was on his way, once again leaving Ruby and Yukihiro alone together.

Yuki's stomach growled annoyingly, but Yukihiro did not feel like eating. He felt hungry, but also like he might hurl at any minute, due to the adrenaline running through his body. He smiled however and took a peice of pizza, taking a bite and realizing how hungry he actually was. The pizza tasted good and would hopefully help calm his nerves. He looked at Ruby after a moment however.

"How do you know he doesn't notice you? I'm a geek, and I know that geeks always notice the girls they can't ever have. I imagine he thinks you'd never give him a second thought. He probably thinks you're so far out of his league that he can't even see you anymore. He notices, Miss Sullivan, beleive me. He just..." but his words trailed off. He was going to say He just can't date someone who calls him professor. However, he would have been sticking about three feet in his mouth had he said it, so he had silenced. Instead he just nodded and smiled, and repeated himself.

"He notices."

[Ruby Sullivan]

Ruby felt sick, sick with hunger, sick with fear, sick with loneliness, sick with everything because the man she was talking about was sitting not mere inches away from her. She grabbed a slice and began to cut it into tiny pieces and took a bite with her fork. She took a bite and realized how good it was, how beautfiul he was. Two things that were so opposite of each other were rolling in her head, how would he know if that certain someone noticed? Was he telling her he noticed her? Was he saying that he liked her? Was he even talking about the same person?

"Do you notice?" She said to him in such a low voice that it was sickening. She had just said it out loud and she was trying to drain it all away by drinking her soda, she wanted to drown herself for the most ignorant thing had happened, her slip of tongue just gave it all away. Ruby was almost positive the dinner date was over, all friendly ties were gone, the teacher/student friendship was to ensue instead of friend/friend.

She sat the cup down and picked up another piece of pizza ready to choke herself when he actually responded, if he did at all. She was burning alive and she wanted to run away because Professor Sato now knew that she had in fact been talking about him.

[Yukihiro Sato]

Yukihiro scooted back in his seat, putting his pizza down and wiping his hands on a napkin. It had officially gone over the line. Fun flirting in the beginning had been a nice change of pace, but now, she had practically said right out loud that she liked him as much more than just a friend. He swallowed hard and then shook his head. He was the adult here. He needed to start acting like one.

Slowly, though he didn't want, he stood and slid out of the booth, standing next to the table, digging in his pocket and pulling out his wallet and getting the money that would just pay for it. He put it on the table and stuffed the wallet back into his pocket.

"I, ah...I think that's plenty for the night, Miss Sullivan. I ought to be getting home and finishing up plans for classes. School's my priority and I..." he shook his head and smiled a little bit. "I just think it's time I left."

Turning from the table, he walked towards the door, his ears ringing for no apparent reason. If he didn't puke now it was going to be a miracle.

[Ruby Sullivan]

Ruby frowned, her worst dreams coming true. He was leaving because of her ignorance! God! How could she have been so ignorant? So stupid! She was telling him things that he shouldn't have known. He put the money down, apologized and quickly bolted before she even had a moment to save herself.

Ruby stood up, grabbed his money, put her own down and ran after him, stopping half way to grab her coat and satchel. She jogged across the room to where she had heard the door open and slam closed from his departure. She ran out the door and saw it was dark, lights glowing beautifully in the night. She looked around for him and saw nothing but a lonely shadow making its way to the campus that was glowing in a deep low yellow hue from the beautiful garden lights that were set up around the campus.

"Sato!" She yelled as she ran across the way towards the campus where she saw he was walking swiftly. She was being stupid and she realized this now because of his sudden need to leave her alone.

"Hey..." She said in a sigh as she ran next to him and touched his shoulder. "I was going to pay. Here." She grabbed his hand and put his credits inside. "I didn't mean to scare you or act stupid, it was just a question." Ruby leaned on her heels and held her satchel with her hand, her heart racing so fast and the ability to breathe ...she didn't even have at that moment.

"I didn't mean to make it seem like I was insinuating you were the one I liked. You are just...shy and...I wanted to know if you noticed when girls liked you, that is all." She knew it was a lie and she was almost certain he did to. Ruby liked him and didn't want to scare him off, lord no that was the last thing she wanted to do! She just wanted....well...Sato!

"Sorry."

[Yukihiro Sato]

Yukihiro nodded and smiled a little bit, shrugging at her and letting his mind simmer down. That was not the truth, he could tell it. He stuffed the money back into his pocket and watched her a moment. This had never happened to him before. He had never caught the attention of a student and actually wanted to return the sentiment. But now that he was faced with it, he knew that it was wrong, and he could lose everything just because of a little crush.

"Well, I am glad that you have cleared that up for me. I will see you in class, Miss Sullivan, where you will address me as Professor Sato. Good evening," he said shortly. He was keeping it as formal as he possibly could. Now, he turned and made a beline for his home. He shook his head as he walked, rubbing his forehead. That was dangerous territory. He did not know what was going to go down in thier tutoring sessions. He guessed he would just have to cross that bridge when he came to it.

[Ruby Sullivan]

Ruby sighed out as she sat down in the far back, not wanting to see him or even acknowledge his prescense. She wanted to just shrink away and die..and to think she had a tutoring session with him again today.

She looked over at Shosei and sighed. He was laughing at something on the sheik silver technological utensil he had, messaging someone somewhere. He was adorable, he always had been, but there was something that he didn't have that could keep her mind off of Professor Sato. Shosei would be a good catch, would be fun, and funny, and he was so cute it was hard not to look at him. But Professor Sato had it all, had everything that at that moment she liked.

She saw him walk into the room and she hunkered down in the desk, hiding herself in her hoodie, she wanted to pay attention, wanted to do well, but after what had happened last night she just wanted to die.

[Ruby Sullivan]

Ruby sighed out as she sat down in the far back, not wanting to see him or even acknowledge his prescense. She wanted to just shrink away and die..and to think she had a tutoring session with him again today.

She looked over at Shosei and sighed. He was laughing at something on the sheik silver technological utensil he had, messaging someone somewhere. He was adorable, he always had been, but there was something that he didn't have that could keep her mind off of Professor Sato. Shosei would be a good catch, would be fun, and funny, and he was so cute it was hard not to look at him. But Professor Sato had it all, had everything that at that moment she liked.

She saw him walk into the room and she hunkered down in the desk, hiding herself in her hoodie, she wanted to pay attention, wanted to do well, but after what had happened last night she just wanted to die.

[Yukihiro Sato]

Yukihiro walked into the classroom in his normal apparal. Suit, tie, high top sneakers, satchel, glasses on his face. He laid down his things and looked around the class. He had pushed everything that had happened between he and Ruby the night before from his mind. He was ready to start fresh. He spotted her buried in her jacket in the very back row, and he ignored it. This was college, not high school and they were both adults.

"Okay, guys," he announced to let the class know that he was there. He saw Shosei on the computer, not listening at all to what he was saying. "Shosei! Nai kurasu de," he said sharply, but playfully so that he would know that he was not angry. Shosei looked up and turned a funny shade of pink, but gave him thre consecutive "Hai"s and got off the nice new peice of equipment. Yukihiro looked back at the class.

"Alrighty then. Anatomy. Does anybody happen to remember where we were? I haven't done plans for this class," he said scratching the bakc of his head and laughing a little, trying to ignore the fact that he didn't have plans because he had been caught up in Ruby Sullivan the evening previous.

[Ruby Sullivan]

"We were working on the male reproductive system." Ruby mumbled to him as she looked at her book, yeah that was right! She actually knew what they were talking about, actually paid attention. Today she was a student and he was the professor like it would always be until she graduated. Sadly, in her mind, she wished it could've been more.

"You were talking about the prostate gland and how it gets larger as you age, which makes it hard for men to urinate." She sighed out and leaned back, bored already. She didn't want to seem like she was sour about the night before, but she was just so embarassed that she didn't want to be talking about it with this man, but she was going to be tutored about it in less than two hours.

[Yukihiro Sato]

Yukihiro thought a moment, then nodded exaggeratedly. He opened his book and looked through the pages that he had been covering. He squinched his nose up.

"Yes, yes, Miss Sullivan is right. But that is boring, is it not?" he asked, and generally got a nodded yes from the class. "Alright then, that won't be on our test. Let's move to...aging and sex, the next section, why don't we?" he flipped around in the book a moment, picking out things they needed to go over and what they could live without going over. For some reason, he wanted to spend as little time on the male reproductive system as absolutely possible today."

[Ruby Sullivan]

Ruby leaned on her palm easing in and out of sleep as she listened to him speak and talk about things that she did not care for. She wanted it all to die, she wanted to just get out of this class, eat a snack and head to tutoring where seh will feel more horrified than she already did.

An hour or so later she realized that the lesson was over and she could leave. She watched people clear the room, but not Professor Sato he was sitting at the desk probably dreading having her stay for tutoring as much as she did. She stood up and left her things in the back as she walked down the levels towards the door where she walked out and down the hall to the snack machines. She was starving since last night she wasn't able to eat what she had paid for. She could've just sat there and accepted his money, but she didn't feel right she had wanted company. She was tired of eating by herself and after that incident it would have been a lot more lonely.

"Hell." She said as she watched the snack get stuck. She kicked it several times hoping it'd fall, but it didn't. The little money she had had finally been lost in the snack machine and all she wanted was a stupid cinnamon bun and coffee. She leaned her head on the machine and groaned.

"Just fall." She knew staring at it wouldn't do anything. She stood back and ran ah and through her head and groaned. Coffee was going to have to fill her up till later.

[Yukihiro Sato]

Yukihiro sighed out of his nose as he rubbed his eyes under his glasses and pushed away the papers he was grading. They were giving him a headache. Everything was today. Probably because of the sleep he had lost the night before over all the goings on between he and his student. He just hoped they could forget it and continue on like nothing had happened.

Yeah, that was going to happen all over the place.

He felt his pocket buzz and he pulled out his handheld to look down at it. He had a messege from his friend, asking if he wanted to skateboard that evening. He sent a messege back that he had tutoring but that he would be around the house at five or so and to be there around then. He laid the handheld down and then laid his head on his arms, allowing his glasses to scooch up onto his head.

This was going to be fun.

[Ruby Sullivan]

Ruby walked to the room and saw him sitting there with his cute glasses, adorable outfit, stressed out face...the cuteness radiated off of him and it was sad that she couldn't tell him so or show him in some way. She walked to her seat all the way in the back with her coffee sitting idly next to her book. She grabbed the two along with satchel and walked to the front of the room and took a seat right in front of the desk and stared at her coffee, not really wanting to see him just yet, but it was inevitable.

She pulled off the hoodie and ran a hand through her hair and pushed some of it behind her ears and clicked her pen a few times before finally looking up at him and grinning, wondering when he was going to start.

[Yukihiro Sato]

Yukihiro looked up when he heard her come back in and he sighed out of his nose again, standing up and dropping his glasses back down onto his nose, squinting through them. He waved a hand for her to come up.

"Could you sit a wee closer? I'm getting old and my eyesight isn't what it used to be," he said, looking down at his book and flipping to where they needed to be so he could tutor her. He read over the lines a little, then commented offhand, "What did you need me to go over, Miss Sullivan?"

[Ruby Sullivan]

Ruby sighed to herself an moved as he had asked. She opened her book to where she was having trouble, the last chapter. The human body.

"I had a few questions on the human body then the anatomy. Is it true that women have one more rib bone than men?" She glanced up at him and waited for his answer. It was for her own personal interests, but she wasn't sure if they both had the same amount.

[Yukihiro Sato]

Yukihiro shook his head standing up and stretching, shedding his hot suit jacket and waving a hand in front of his face to try to cool himself off. He walked to the climate control to the side of the door and brought the heat down a little before leaning on the door.

"No, men and women have the same number of ribs. That myth stems from the Bible, in Genesis, where God creates Adam from Eve's rib, hence the belief that woman ended up with one less rib. But like I said, just a little myth. Everybody has the same number," he said with a nod, smiling and walking back over to his desk and flopping down.

[Ruby Sullivan]

Ruby nodded and smiled, happy to have been informed of something she never understood. She thought they all had the same number of ribs, but yet she wasn't exactly sure for she had been brought up in the system of reading the bible and taking everything to heart, it was nice to know that she had been right.

"Awesome." She said. She felt like a dork for saying that out loud, he was now going to realize that she was a child compared to him and that she was just a student and never could be anything but. She hated thinking that, but the truth hurt right?

"Okay relating to the subject of last chapter...umm..." Ruby frowned as she scanned the book finding the question that was on the quiz that he warned would be on the test where they would have to label. She sighed out and stood up as she peeled off her hoodie, revealing her black spaghetti strap shirt. It was horribly hot in there and she knew it was probably due to talking about the body with professor Sato.

"How is the Scapula, sternum, and ribcage are all connected. I know you told us that we might have to label it on the test and I wanted to make sure I knew where it all was and how it was all connected."

[Yukihiro Sato]

Yukihiro stood up, rolling up his sleeves. It was getting scorching in there. He started to point to his own shoulder blade, but it was too much of a hastle. He sighed.

"Well...here..." he said and walked around behind her. He laid his hands on her shoulder blades. "Alright, the scapula. Two of them. Now..." he ran his hands to her shoulders and pressed on a small bump there. "This is where each scapula connect to one side of the clavicle, or collar bone. Now, neither side of the collar bone is attached to the other. Instead, they are attached to the sternum, like this..." he traced his hands over her collarbone and to the hollow of her throat, where he pressed a little. "Right there. That dip in your collar bone is actually the start of the sternum. It goes down..." he pressed against her brest bone and traced it downwards.

He didn't realize until it was already too late that he was just short of feeling her up. Her breasts were on each side of where he hand rested on her breast bone, and he had not realized in the spur of the moment desicion that his hand would end up there. He went silent for a moment and took a deep breath, trying to be grown up about this. The heat in the room, however, had just gone up abot eighty-three degrees.

"And...this is where your sternum connects to your rib cage by way of...um...Costal Cartilage...so actually...the ribs are not connected directly to the sternum...and...um, the floating ribs are not connected to the sternum at all...so...the um..." but his words trailed off as he did not know how to nicely remove his hand without touching anything important. This was a fine pickle to be in, especially with this particular student.

[Ruby Sullivan]

Ruby raised her eyebrows as she watched him move over to her and suddenly began to touch her shoulder blades, then her collarbone...then..oh god. The room was on fire, either it was or she was, whichever came first. She bit her lower lip as he began to speak to her and touch her, pausing and causing her wonder if he couldn't remember or he was thinking or...he was...losing his mind! Was he nuts? Here was a professor touching her, to some people inappropriately, in ways that felt good to her and also enabled her to learn, but she didm't hear a dang thing he said all she heard was her heart beating in her ears and causing her to be short of breath.

She looked at his hands and she saw how close he was to touching her...well...oh dear god! If she had only known about this earlier she would have asked this question last night! She was trying to keep her mind busy with humor, not with things that were practically unmentionable at this point in time. She suddenly realized he had stopped talking and he was still standing there his hands on her breast plate. She looked up at him and wondered what to do, if she should push him away, if she should act like she understood everything he said or do what she was dying to.

Ruby didn't care, she honestly didn't. It couldn't have gotten any worse than it already had, their friendship was ruined before it had even started last night, and she could at least get one good thing out of him aside from learning. Ruby looked down at his hands and then up to him.

"Uh...Professor Sato..." She said barely above a whisper, the space so close between them that only he could hear her. "You shouldn't..." She kept peering at his hands then to his face. Ruby leaned in slowly and thought for a moment, but went ahead and did it anyway. There were no more lines to be crossed anyhow! Get your kicks while you're young, isn't that what they say?

Ruby moved in slowly and gave him the tiniest kiss that ever lived on earth. It wasn't on his lips, but rather on the corner so soft and gentle that it would be amazing if he even felt it.

[Yukihiro Sato]

Yukihiro had decided--or rather convinced himself--a long time ago that he no longer had hormones and that the only thing he cared about was math and science. But as if he were no longer Yukihiro Sato, his body's reaction to the barely noticable touch of mouth on mouth was astounding. His heart could not have been going any faster and his body was rapidly overheating. If he did not die of a heat stroke it would be a miracle.

And though his mind was absolutely screaming bloody murder for him to run far away, his hand moved independantly of his mind, and pushed his glasses off of his face, the sound of them clattering to the floor inaudible above the rushing of blood in his ears.

As if this wasn't just about enough, his other hand, no longer preoccupied with trying not to touch her, ran back up her breast bone, and tilted her head back more, so his shot was perfect, and his aim even more so. The consequences would be harsh, but Yukihiro was going to claim temorary insanity should this ever go to court.

He pressed his mouth to hers, a full kiss, not the peck that had spurred it on. He couldn't help but part his mouth to allow some of the flavor inside, and the shiver that ran from his skull to his feet was almost strong enough to knock him away from her. The heat in the room had been building from the moment she walked in there and now, it was a full blown three thousand degrees in there and Yukihiro knew it was all concentrated on the bubble that was locked around them.

Dear god, if he did not pull away soon...

And he did, his whole body finally coming to its senses. He jumped away from her as if she were on fire, his hands shaking like leaves, and his face flushed completely red. He was breathing heavily as if he had been running, but he had only just been standing there.

"Oh my god..." he muttered to himself, swallowing hard past a rock in his throat--his heart, he knew it. "Jesus Christ..." and he said many other things, but they were in Japanese and barely audible anyway. He had turned away from her and put a hand on his forehead. What had he done? This was so wrong that he couldn't even begin to describe the offenses. He could be charged on so many things, and he imagined her career at this college might soon end if this was to be found out.

"Ruby..." he said quietly. "Please tell me I just hallucinated the past twenty minutes and you have just walked in for you tutoring session."

[Ruby Sullivan]

Ruby moved back slightly and tried to breathe, okay she just wanted a kiss and suddenly he was touching her, holding her, cradling her, kissing her deeply. She lifted a hand to her inflamed lips and breathed in deeply and tried to realize what had just happened. She glanced up to Professor Sato seeing he was turned away from her and panting and shaking asking her a question that she barely heard for her heart was beating so fast that it would blow out of her chest at any moment.

"No." She said lowly, looking around and trying to regain her composure. He had just done something she never imagined would happen. Either way, she loved it! She wanted it to happen again.

"I'm sorry, it was my fault." She grabbed her books and began stuffing them into her bag afraid of what he was going to say or do. This was probably going to be the last time she went to tutoring. "I'm sorry. I am really." She had no idea what to do or say.

[Yukihiro Sato]

Yukihiro rubbed his forehead. This was ridiculous. He turned to see her shoving her books hurriedly into her satchel. He moved forward and snatched his glasses up off the floor, peering at them slightly to make sure they had not been scratched, and then dropping them back onto his face.

He reached over and grabbed her arm, not reproachfully or painfully, but just enough to get her to stop stuffing her books away as if she were going to bolt at any moment.

"Ruby..." he said. "It isn't your fault, I am the Professor and your senior, however small of a gap that may be. I am sorry for...I instigated it by teaching you in a less than appropriate manner, and I am sorry for that..."

[Ruby Sullivan]

Ruby felt like her body was on fire even more so by his gentle touch and soft words. Her heart was beating so fast and her mind was a complete blur. She had wanted that to happen more than anything but suddenly she realized how horrible it was. No, she wasn't thinking he was bad at kissing it was just...the situation.

"Professor...I made an idiot of myself last night by letting you in on my secret." She glanced up at him and gave him the slightest of smiles. "I just made another by giving you a tiny kiss, not that I am saying I didn't like it..." She said the comment on the kiss very lowly and smiled at him trying to lighten the seriousness of the matter. Nobody was there, nobody had seen it...so it was their little secret.

"It'll be our little secret, okay?"

[Yukihiro Sato]

Yukihiro watched her a moment, his mind working fast and hard. He could keep a secret. Who couldn't? It wasn't like of the students would care if they found out anyway. Half of them had dated Professors anyway, so just one kiss wasn't going to ruin them. At least, he hoped it wouldn't.

Slowly dropping his hand, he looked down at his feet and pulled his glasses off of his face and stuffed them in his pocket. Then he looked up and studied her another moment. He smiled a little and nodded.

"Our little secret."

[Ruby Sullivan]

Ruby nodded not really knowing what to say or how to react to what had just happened, her first instinct was to leave and not attend anymore sessions, the other was to stick around and talk about it, and the third was to just hop on him and make out with him right on his desk...too bad the latter couldn't have happened.

"I guess..." She sighed out and looked down at her bag and put her pen inside and closed it, pulling it over her shoulder and smiling at him. "I guess I will see you tomorrow for class then. See you." She smiled at him, unable to stop her face from glowing red and her smile to fade. Yeah her feelings for him were just kicked up another notch. Damn genetics, why did he have to be so darn cute?

[Shou Sato]

It was late afternoon before he got anywhere that looked actually promising, and even then he was completely lost. It had been so long since he had been on Coruscant that he barely even remembered where his old home was located. He barely even remembered the campus on which he had attended two years of school and where his little brother now taught...taught math, just like thier father.

Shou Sato had learned to love the old man over the years of being away, but he still remembered how much he had loathed him and the way he had always tried to force academics on he and his sister and brother. It was half the reason he had left without letting Yukihiro know. If it had been up to Shou, Yukihiro would have gone everywhere with him.

Yukihiro. He was the reason Shou had wandered so far from where he was supposed to be. He was only technically here to see that a business transaction went through as planned, but he had unexpectedly caught wind of his brother's whereabouts from an old friend that still spoke with Yukihiro every now and again. That was why Shou was scoping out the campus, not intended to really go find his brother yet, half because he would never be able to find him at night like this, and half because he would probably be banned due to his...exotic wardrobe of a black leather trench coat and pipe pants decked in chains, a black mesh shirt and leather gloves, topping it off with braided hair and eye makeup that would put any prostitute to shame. Shou was almost posotive that he would frighten people on the campus and he wanted to keep the fact that he was here as low key as absolutely possible.

He noticed a younger woman making her way out a building to his near right and he glanced over, wondering how suspicious he looked loitering outside this building.

[Ruby Sullivan]

Ruby sighed out the second she stepped out of the warm building. She had never needed fresh air more than at that moment in time. What had just gone down in that classroom was to be kept in secret, only she and Sato were to know. She knew the problems that could arise if anyone found out about it, althoug she had several friends dating professors openly without shame, but never did the professors actually confess to doing so. She ran a hand through her hair as she pulled her jacket on and looked around seeing a very awkward character loitering around the campus.

"Strange." She said to herself as she checked out his attire considering she saw things like that only in the Nihongo District. Was he a new student? If so she wanted to meet him! She laughed to herself her mind fluctuating due to hormones. The only person she wanted to get to know was the Professor still inside. She nodded at the man when she saw him peer her way. She smiled at him and quickly walked away towards her apartment wondering what was to come for Professor Sato and her.

[Yukihiro Sato]

Shou took a deep breath and then submerged himself completely in the bathtub. He held his breath for a moment as the water drenched his soapy hair and rinsed it through, running across his body. For a moment, he just stayed under the water, keeping submerged until he could no longer hold his breath.

He came up from under the water, smoothing back his hair and rubbing his eyes free of the water. He leaned his back against the back of the tub and stared up at his cieling. He rarely took baths, he only ever took showers. But this evening had been stressful and he felt that if he stood anymore, he would actually fall over and never get back up.

Yukihiro sighed out of his nose as he looked at the steamy mirror, then raised up out of the water, opening the drain and stretching. He grabbed his towel and threw it over his head, drying his face, then rubbing through his hair vigorously, paying attention to his body next.

As he dressed, he thought about all the things that could happen as a result of what he was considering. Ruby Sullivan was his student. Ruby Sullivan also happened to be someone that he had a crush on. Or something like it. It was hard to tell what it was since they had not really been interacting much...well, except for the fact that he had nearly felt her up and had kissed her already. But if he were going to speak honestly, he didn't really know too much about her...so that made a crush, or anything that that encompassed, a little bit difficult.

Tying off his grey excercise pants, and pulling on his red "Sport 45" t-shirt, Yukihiro shook out his still wet hair and then plopped down on his bed, looking out his window at the campus. Yukihiro had gotten himself into a slight pickle, hadn't he? He had kissed a student, and now had feelings for her. This could only end in tears...he knew it, because whenever Yukihiro Sato was involved, it always did.

[Ruby Sullivan]

Ruby bent down and poured the cat food into the tiny bowl for Kikyo hearing the cat meow happily and suddenly purr when she began to chow down. Ruby sat it in the cabinet and walked into the living room that was dark and only lit up by Coruscant's night life. She liked Professor Sato...GOD! How she hated calling him that outside of classroom. He had a name! Yukihiro!

"Yuki-freakin-hiro!" She had to say it outloud for she was so frustrated with everything that had happened she just wanted to do something rebellious, as if kissing him wasn't enough!

"Hell." She moved around over to the window seeing the campus not that far off. It was only 7 in the afternoon, possibly a bit later, a nice cool night where you could see the moon and stars brightly, a great night to go rollerblading. But it was no fun doing it by yourself. Professor Sato said he liked to rollerblade, so would he want to have a late night rendevous with her at the park? As friends? As a way to just get over the awkwardness of what had happened earlier today? She bit her lower lip as she looked over at her door to see her blades sitting there wanting to be put on, aching to be warmed up and worn out.

"Well...should I?" She glanced over at Kikyo who licked her lips as she glared at her before lowering her head and began eating again. Ruby smiled and walked over to the door and picked them up and tossed it over er shoulder and headed out the door. No harm in asking right?

[Yukihiro Sato]

Yukihiro stood in his kitchen, looking down at the food he had made for himself, but had not touched yet. He really wasn't hungry, had not been since those two bites of pizze he had taken when all of this had begun.

He scratched his head and pushed the food away, clipping his longish hair up so that it sprayed out slightly at the back. He walked into his living room and stood in the middle of it a moment, wondering what he should do. He wasn't remotely tired, and even if he was, his brain was simply working to fast for him to have gone to sleep anyway.

He looked at his watch. Seven thirty-three. There wasn't much to do at this time, unless he wanted to call his friends and see if they wanted to skateboard. Although it would have been nice to see them, and speak his language for once, he wasn't much in the mood for them. They were loud and could be a little obnoxious, and he didn't want obnoxious right then, he wanted fun.

[Ruby Sullivan]

Ruby loved the smell of fresh flowers nearby as she skated around on the campus towards his apartment, her shoes tied together and over her left shoulder, the wind blowing in her hair. She didn't care if he didn't want to go with her, but it would have been nice to have some company.

She saw his apartment and smiled as she slowed down to a stop and walked off the sidewalk and onto the grass moving towards the steps. She wanted him to come, that was why she was there, but what if he actually said no? She would be very hurt for she honestly wasn't expecting that answer. But why shouldn't she? They had done something today that was taboo and by having her go and ask him to go do something with her again...it was really going to cause more strife. What if someone saw them rollerblading? What if someone saw them kissing and then rollerblading? It was their life, right? Who cared what everyone else thought?

Ruby walked up the steps to the door and quickly knocked. Hopefully he'd be there.

[Yukihiro Sato]

Yukihiro blew a breath out of his nose as he sat on his couch, staring at his lessons for the next few days but not being able to concentrate on them. His mind kept going back to that kiss, back to the problems that could cause, and back to the girl who had caused him to be so reckless. He couldn't deny that he felt something for her, whether it was an actual crush, or just a simple male attraction because his hormones had been all but dorment for years, Yukihiro did not know.

The knock on his door frightened him and he jumped a foot off of his couch. Who would be coming to see him at this time? He supposed it could have been some of his friends looking to go rollerblading or skateboarding, but he imagined he would have heard them screaming in Japanese all across campus and making a ruckus like none other. And he did not hear that.

"Kuru koto! Coming!" he yelled in Japanese, just in case it was them, and they were being quiet, and then in English in case it was anyone else. He got up off of the couch, sliding into his house shoes and walking towards the door. He peered out of the window near to the door to try and see who it was, but the darkness had concealed them, plus they were looking away from the window.

He pulled the door open, looking out to see who it was, and when he did, his eyebrows popped and his mouth dropped open a little. Ruby Sullivan stood on his door step, her shoes tied together and thrown across her shoulder, and skates on her feet. For a moment, he did not know whether to immdiately turn her away and said they had spent too much time together already, or if he should just see what she wanted before he did so. He decided on the latter, as he did not have the heart to simply turn her away.

"Oh! Hi, Ruby. I see you must have been skating by. What's up?" he asked, lookin down at her skates to see that they were the pair he had considered purchasing not a week ago when he had been looking for a new pair. He had gone with a different brand that suited his purposes better. He looked back up at her and grinned. "Like the skates."

[Ruby Sullivan]

Ruby smiled at him then down to her blades, she loved them that is why she had purchased them, but they were comfortable, versitile, and could take on heavy rocks without causing her to go flying twenty feet in front of her.

"Ah, thank you!" She sighed out and looked around then found his face, he looked hesitant like he didn't even want her at the doorstep and she wondered if she had made a mistake at coming there.

"I was just wanting to get out of the house and I remembered you said you liked rollerblading...um...it isn't as much fun without another person, you know." Ruby was at a loss of words and was having trouble actually asking him to tag along for she felt he was not in the mood. He didn't look like he was wanting to go anywhere either and by the look on his face...he looked like he didn't want to go anywhere with her in particular.

"I was just wondering if perhaps you'd like to join me in a late night run? If you can't that is okay! I just...took a chance by dropping by to see if you were bored and had cabin fever, like I did." She bit her lip feeling as if she had read him a book even though she didn't say much. She didn't really directly come out and say 'Hey! I want you to come rollerblading with me!' she just asked him in a way that wasn't going to make it seem like anything other than friendly.

[Yukihiro Sato]

Yukihiro took a deep breath and sighed it out and grinned. He had never wanted to go rollerblading more than he did at that particular moment. He pointed at his blades that were next to the door then at his rather relaxed wardrobe, then he nodded.

"Yeah, that's be great. Let me just go change into something that isn't this," he said with a smile. He turned and headed for his bedroom leaving the door open, so she wouldn't feel like he was leaving her out on the porch. He pushed his bedroom door to and then went to his chest of drawers, fishing out a pair of his most ripped jeans. They were torn everywhere; both knees, a pocket on the back was missing, there was a big rip on the inside of his right thigh and a smaller one on the back of his left. He loved these, they were the most comfortable pair of jeans that he owned, and he always went rollerblading in them.

Yukihiro pulled off his excercise pants and then replaced them with his jeans, pulling off his t-shirt and replacing it with a white wife beater. He pulled socks on and then went back out into his living room, running hands through his still slightly damp hair, trying to get it to dry. He went to his rollerblades next to the door and grabbed them and his wrist warmers, squeezing past Ruby and onto the steps.

Yukihiro plopped down on the first steps and pulled on the blades, snapping them closed and checking to make sure they were tight enough. Then he pulled on his wrist warmers and stood up on the step, turning to look at Ruby.

"Ready," he said, then he smiled. "And thanks for coming to get me. I was dying in there."

[Ruby Sullivan]

Ruby laughed lightly and nodded.

"A great way to feel free...you can fly without having to leave the ground!" She winked at him and carefully walked down the steps in her blades, happy she made it to solid ground. She rolled ahead slightly and turned around to face him, very slowly skating backwards.

"Any places your prefer to skate? I go anywhere so up to you!" She smiled and skated slowly, glancing at the sudden peepholes to his legs, the very sexy pair in those ripped jeans of his. God, the sexiness he could flaunt without his knowing...Sadly Ruby was the one who always seemed to notice.

[Yukihiro Sato]

Yukihiro thought for a moment as he warmed up in the walk out side his home, doing a couple jumps and skating backwards a moment as he chewed his lip and considered everywhere he and his friends skated. It was later evening, so the College Strip might be fun, with all the clubs and college student oriented places all lit up, and people tooling around everywhere.

Then again, it was also more likely that someone they both mutually knew would see them and get ideas. So, the strip was out. The walkways under the hoverways was always fun. Yukihiro paused in his movement a moment, then pointed off towards the north side of campus.

"Been out towards the NIHONGO District much in skates? Fun places out there at a time like this, lots of Japanese guys for you to look at," he said with a smile, hoping to make this a friendly venture where she could look at the hot guys, he could look at the pretty girls and nothing from earlier would come up. He just hoped it went that way.

[Shou Sato]

Shou had tooled the campus a while before deciding to head back to his hotel. He had looked enough for his brother as it was, and with the gathering dark, he doubted that he would recognize his little brother in it anyway. Shou would have to look for him at another time.

Right now though, he needed to find his way out of campus.

He had stopped younger man than himself a moment before to ask which way he could go to get to the North of the HWANG District, near the NIHONGO District. The man had given him quick--allbeit nervous--directions to the north entrance, or exit, as the case may be. Shou had begun in that general direction, still glancing around the well-lit campus, seeing that activities were not arrested when darkness fell. Several groups of students had been spotted by him, leaving the cafe or heading towards something called The Strip, though Shou could not recall if he had ever been, he remembered that his roomie had often gone there with his friends when Shou had still gone to college here.

As Shou made his way down a walk towards the north entrance, he caught sight of two people in front of a small apartment a few yards away on skates, conversing with one another, the man motioning towards the entrance Shou was walking towards. He was curious for a moment as he watched them, wondering why they would want to go skating at a time like this. Then again, they were college students.

Shou turned his face away and continued to walk, tightening his gloves and pulling his collar up around his face as a breeze caught and blew his trench coat around his legs, picking up the braids in his hair and tossing them about as well. He would be happy to get to his hotel and get the braids down, though it would have been a shame, since it had taken him nearly four hours to finish them all to start with.

[Ruby Sullivan]

Ruby bit her tongue, she wanted to say the only Asian she wanted to look at was right there beside her skating. She shrugged and smiled.

"Anywhere you want to go I am there!" She turned around and skated slowly just taking in the nice cool night glancing around at the soft lights seeing a few people walking around, most notably a man in the darkness. She frowned as she slit her eyes as the wind wrapped around her, tossing hair in her eyes. It was the same man she had seen earlier that evening, the man who looked so out of place it scared her.

She wanted to ask Sato if he knew who it was and if he was a student, but passed when she glanced at Sato and felt warm and fuzzy inside. He was so precious how could he even say for her to look at 'hot guys'? To her, he was enough to look at.

"NIHONGO District sounds fine!"

[Yukihiro Sato]

Yukihiro grinned and began skating behind her, catching sight of a cloaked man in the dark. He obsevered him as they skated, they were all three headed for the same entrance. He squinted a little, his Asian eyes not that good, and considered if he had seen anyone dressed like that before on this campus. But he could not recall.

Watching the man another moment, Yukihiro observed that his gait reminded him of his father's; tall and proud and confident, yet unalarming, and put you at ease. He squinted a moment before patting Ruby's arm, and pointed to the man.

"You know that guy? He looks awfully familiar, but I can't recall a class of mine he was in."

[Ruby Sullivan]

Ruby clenched her jaw when she felt him touch her and she glanced up at him and frowned as he pointed to the man she had just been observing.

"Where? Right over there by the entrance?" She slit her eyes and frowned, studying him a moment before shaking her head not really knowing anyone who dressed like that. "Sorry, I don't. I saw him earlier today after..." She bit her lower lip and silenced herself for a moment before looking at Sato and keeping her glance empathetic.

"After our tutoring." She pushed her hair behind her ears and glanced in front of her and rolled around, looking over to the dark and shadowy figred wondering if he was a new studnet or prospectable student. "Amybe he is new." She looked back at him and turned on her skates wanting to face him wanting to see his hair billow in the wind, the shirt he was wearing form against him more than it did, as well as his jeans.

"So is this your comfort wear, Professor?" She winked at him and skated continuously hopiong to god she didn't run into anything solid.

[Yukihiro Sato]

Yukihiro looked down at himself and grinned. Okay, it wasn't exactly clothes that fit his age, he still acted younger than he was, but he was serious...mostly. He looked back up at her as he plucked at a string on one of the holes in his thigh.

"I guess they could use a little sewing. Or some patches," he said with a shrug. "But I have had these things since I was...a junior in high school, I think. They are the most comfortable pair of pants that I own," he said with another grin as he and Ruby slid out of the entrance, just ahead of the man in black. He was simply waiting for Ruby to slam into something and fall, he knew it would happen, and he was waiting to help her. Though she seemed a good enough skater to look behind her once in awhile.

"I imagine my kids get tired of looking at me in my suit and ties and glasses and teacher get-up. I am sure it gets old, but teachers aren't supposed to be cool, right?" he said, smiling and shrugging a little again.

[Ruby Sullivan]

Ruby laughed lightly as she skated with him. "Oh please, I could get used to you wearing that more than I could suits and ties!" She looked behind her seeing the man and suddenly getting an awkward feeling. He did remind her of someone, barely, but who that someone was...she wasn't sure.

"You should dress your age, it looks good on you. And as far as being cool goes...please! Professor Sato you rock my socks." She winked at him again and gasped when she felt her skate go off of a tiny ledge. She glanced at the ground and saw the tiny ledge and began to laugh lightly, leaning forward to stay balanced, her arms out at her sides. Had she fallen she would have died of embarassment!

[Yukihiro Sato]

Yukihiro could feel his face heat slightly at the comment. He wasn't familiar with the term "you rock my socks" but by the way she said it, he assumed that it was a good thing. When she almost fell, Yukihiro felt himself reach out to her like he could have stopped her, but at the moment, he was not quite close enough.

The man, as he had been dressed in so much black, had been lost to Yukihiro's eyes, though his eyesight was bad to begin with. He tried to shake off the feeling that it was someone he knew and paid attention to Ruby in front of him. He didn't need to be bothered with some stranger dressed in black.

"Ruby, I can just see you falling and breaking something, probably your tailbone, why don't you come back to me and skate beside me!" he said with a chuckle. He really was just that nervous about how she was skating.

[Ruby Sullivan]

Ruby laughed lightly as she stood up and skated a bit faster than before. "Oh? You think I skate badly?" She teased as she looked at him with another wink, dang he needed to stop doing that! He was going to think she had an eye problem here in a while. Before Ruby could do as he had asked she felt something behind her, especially when she ran into it with full throttle! The only thing she could do or say was 'Oomf!' and she knew that it was over. Sato had been right! She was going to hit then break something, but for some reason she didn't remember there being a tree or pole nearby.

"Oh god!" She felt her wheels about to roll out from under her feet and cause her to have a horrible accident.

[Shou Sato]

Now, it wasn't Shou's habit to get in people's way of having fun. In fact, he rarely, if ever protested it at all, unless it was unruly Naboo teenagers messing around in his tattoo shop. So, when he felt the distinct body of what sounded to be a roller blader slam into his back, he was sure that the fault was not his.

However, whosever fault it was did not matter, all that mattered was that thier wheels went out and thier entire weight was thrown onto Shou's back. If he had been looking for it, he probably would have been able to grab the person and keep them from going down. As it was however, they were going down, and the next body the hit themcaused it all to topple.

He heard a strangled "Ruby!" before the sound of skate breaks, a choked cry and another immense force hit whomever was already struggling with Shou. The man went face first to the ground with a yelled "Kusso!" and a futile grasp for something to steady himself. His cheek hit the ground, though not nearly as hard as his knees and the weight of two other people on top of him caused him to groan as they all fell together and landed on him.

For a moment, there was no noise, just muffled noises from behind him, as what sounded to be a man tried to move off of what sounded to be a woman. Of course, Shou could only see pavement, so he had no idea what was going on.

"Good times, eh?!" he exclaimed in a more cheery voice than he felt, though it came off very rough because of the new strain on his chest.

[Ruby Sullivan]

Ruby wasn't exactly how she had gotten herself in this kind of predicament, but one thing she was sure of was that Sato was on top of her and a man was underneath her! Ruby felt a sudden pain course through her body as her head hit the man's shoulder and gave her a serious headache the second it processed through her brain.

"Mother...." She groaned after a moment and held her head and looked at the professor whose face was so close to hers that she could feel him breathing on her, not like she hadn't been in this situation before! She gasped and slowly moved off of the person she had been crushing, the person she and Sato had been crushing! She moved and felt Sato move as well, she refused to stand at this exact moment but instead turned her attention to the pile of bones beside of her, his voice finally making its way to her ears even though he had spoken more than a few minutes ago.

"Oh my god!" She glanced at Sato then the person, the man actually, she had hit. The braids on his head..the colors....it was apparently the same man the two had been gawking at and speaking of a few moments earlier.

"I am so sorry! I wasn't watching where I was going! Are you hurt? Do we need a medivac?" She felt her knee burn and she realized she was injured as well, but not half as bad as the man must've been. Poor Sato! She hadn't even acknowledged his prescense! "You, too! Are you okay?"

Good times...that wasn't even the best description for how humiliated she felt for almost wiping out a man!

[Shou Sato]

Shou pushed himself up slightly on the heels of his hands, then jumped to a crouching position with the ease of a feline, carefully raising to his full height. He looked down at himself, and then shook his head, waving his hand in front of his face.

"No, no, a medivac won't be necessary," he said turning to look down at the woman and man who were still sitting stunned on the ground. He assessed them quickly as he stooped slightly to help her. She was small and of Asian decent. She was young and obviously a college student. Shou took her arm and carefully pulled her up, setting her vertical again. "There you are."

Then he turned his attention to the man. He looked down and reached to help him. The other man turned his face upwards, the lights from the city on the horizon throwing his face into perfect light. Shou looked at him for a split second before he nearly choked.

The man sitting on the ground was a small Asian man, petite, with a slightly dorky air about him. His eyes were large and round and his hair fell into his face in funny strands that all added up to look exactly like the one person Shou had been looking for all evening, and yet the one person he was dreading to find.

Carefully offering his hand, the man accepted it with gratitude and Shou pulled him to his skates. Shou's mouth threatened to drop open as he watched the picture of his little brother unfold in front of him. If this wasn't Yuki, then Shou was going to give up.

"Sorry about that, guys," he said absentmindedly. "Are you alright, man?"

[Yukihiro Sato]

Yukihiro brushed himself off gratefully as he looked over to secure in his mind that Ruby was also alright. He dusted off his shirt and pants before looking back to the man who had helped him. By the way the man had studied him, Yukihiro thought maybe that they had met, but it was impossible to tell with the shadows that kept his face almost completely concealed from his view.

He took a moment to observe the man. He was obviously walking on the more gothic side of life, judging from the black eye make-up, long black trench coat, and braided hair. Not to mention the pink dye that graced the underside of his hair. Yet, he seemed friendly enough. He was taller than Yukihiro by a few inches, but he did not tower.

Yukihiro slid over to stand next to Ruby, looking down at her. He put a hand on her shoulder and looked her up and down.

"You look pretty good for being squashed between he and I," he said with a smile. Then he looked back at thier companion. There was something vaguely familiar about him. But it was like trying to remember a dream he had had years ago. He could not pinpoint why the man looked familiar, but he did. "Sorry for all of that, I am sure it has enriched your life somehow."

[Ruby Sullivan]

Ruby looked over at the man then directed her attention to Sato and smiled when she felt him touch her shoulder and see that she was all right and wasn't injured. On reflex, for fear of falling, she put her hand around his waist as she heard him speak to the man they were forced to meet. She grinned slightly, a bit on edge due to his appearance although she had seen worse and more decorative in the NIHONGO District.

"I am so sorry about that, sir." She was going to skate to him and shake his hand and introduce herself, but there was something about him that made her stick beside of Sato, perhaps it was due to the darkness outside and the sudden safety she felt beside of him.

Looks were deceiving she knew this by heart and she was making judgements about this man due to the way he was dressed, the way his hair was styled, the way he wore makeup. He was quite an attraction and she was very appealed to the things he wore, but it wasn't truly her to wander around meeting people like that at night due to her own miandering experiences of being alone at night in the NIHONGO District. She had been mugged by a few guys that looked and dressed like the man, which is why she barely ever ventured there anymore, but despite the horrible incidents her things were returned to her by officers when their parents had found her belongings.

"I guess I shouldn't be skating backwards at night, especially when I run into perfect strangers."

[Shou Sato]

Shou smiled at her as warmly as he could manage. He could tell his appearance set her on edge just a little, and he was attempting to keep them around as long as possible. That man standing next to her was bothering him. Why did he feel like he this was his brother? Surely it couldn't be. Then again, his brother was who he had come here to find, so it wasn't so unbeleivable.

"Well, I think there are worse perfect strangers to have run over. I am probably least likely to wail on you with something concealed in my jacket," he said, then paused. He reached up to brush some of his hair from his eyes. He stepped towards the other man, extending a hand. This was the way to know for sure. Just three words and he would know whether this was really his brother or not.

"I'm Shou Sato."

[Ruby Sullivan]

Ruby hugged onto Sato as if this were her property and the man was threatening to take him away from her, even though she knew that was not happening. Either way it was nice to touch im in such a way that told everyone he was hers even if he was not. She heard the name the man gave and suddenly her stomach turned. Sato? That was very awkward...then again, in this day and age, there were so many people with the same last names it wouldn't be strange if they had no relations, but sadly there was something familiar about his face.

Ruby kept her mouth shut and didn't insinuate anything out loud just simply looked at Yukihiro, holding his waist as if this were normal for her, and waited for him to respond.

[Yukihiro Sato]

Yukihiro's good feeling was suddenly gone. Shou Sato? Had this man really just said that? Surely Yukihiro was hearing things. But no, when he replayed it in his mind, he had really said Shou Sato. Yukihiro's mouth dropped open slightly as he peered at the hand as if it had poison on it. He glanced down at Ruby, putting a hand on her shoulder, indicating she needed to move away from him.

Yukihiro turned back to the man and took the hand extended to him, squeezing it slightly, but neither of them taking a hard grip on the other. Yukihiro looked up into the man's face and he suddenly he realized why this man had looked so familiar.

"Yukihiro Sato...nice to see you again, Shou," Yukihiro whispered out as he looked down at thier hands. Shou, stepped forward slightly, applyling pressure to Yukihiro's hand and raising thier palms to one another allowing thier hands to relax against one anothers. Yukihiro shook his head as he watched them greet one another as they used to what seemed so long ago. He looked back up at the other man.

"Dear god, Shou..." Yukihiro whispered. "All this time and I meet you after my student crashes into randomly...that is either very ironic or totally pathetic, I haven't figured out which one yet."

[Ruby Sullivan]

Ruby moved away slightly and watched the intimate scene unravel. Did she hear something about seeing him again? She frowned and looked around wondering if perhaps they were family by the awkward greeting, either way she stayed tight lipped wondering if perhaps their late night meet was coming to an end.

Ruby felt slightly cold after he left her, but she stayed still adn continued to watch their odd meeting. She bit her lower lip and waited to see if they were related or long lost friends.

[Shou Sato]

Shou dropped his hand and brushed away some of his pink hair, glancing down at himself. He sighed out of his nose, looking back at Yukihiro.

"I know I must be a disappointment to you. You're a high acedemic and you're older--and supposedly wiser--brother is a goth in leather that hasn't spoken to you in years. I've turned into something else, haven't I? I am surprised you recognize me," shou said, sighing again. Then smiled a little. "But you haven't changed. You are still my Yuki. you've grown though, haven't you..." Shou paused. "I supposed apologizing for everything that happened won't cover it really, could it? So, I am not going to apologize to you. I don't regret leaving, Yukihiro. I just regret losing you," Shou said, watching as Yukihiro watched him, with somewhat of a glare in his eyes.

"I suppose, I should thank your friend, considering I never would have found you without her help."

[Ruby Sullivan]

Ruby hugged her waist as she felt a cold breeze come by. She shivered slightly for the sudden realization that they were brothers made her a bit worried and a bit more on edge. If the man ever found out about her feelings for her teacher she was sure he'd be a bit repulsed, but then again she idn't know that man and he could've been...oh who cares? Who said anyone would ever know about her liking for him? Well, he apparently saw they were skating together, at night, and when they fell and got up she was quick to put her arm around him as if they were a pair. That wasn't such a bad thing to think either! Ruby heard Shou speaking, at least she thinks that was what he said, and looked over at him. He was talking to Yukihiro about thanking her although she wasn't really sure why since she had plowed him down.

"Hmm?" She shook her head and smiled at him, closing the space between them by stepping next to Yukihiro and smiling at him she reached out her hand.

"Sorry! I am Ruby Sullivan. Nice to meet you."