The Art of Teaching

Chapter 1

Yuki sighed as he buttoned up his shirt. It was the beginning of his second year at Kaibara High and the school was now requiring that all students be involved in some manner of the arts. He had decided that he would take piano lessons from a private teacher.

"Yuki," Shigure's voice chimed up the stairs, "Ha'ri is here with our ride."

"Oh, that's right! Today is Yuki's first lesson, isn't it?" Tohru suddenly remembered as Yuki came downstairs.

"Indeed it is," Shigure replied.

"Now Miss Honda, are you sure you'll be alright?" Yuki asked.

"I'll be fine, I have Kyo here with me," she answered cheerfully.

"We're off!" Shigure called from the front door.

"Good luck!" Tohru called back.

Yuki leaned his head against the window of the car and started thinking of all the things he would rather be doing. It wasn't that he had something against the teacher or that he didn't like music, it was just that he didn't want to embarrass himself. He had never liked performing and wasn't ready to start now.

"Shigure," Hatori said after a few minutes, "why not just hire a member of the Sohma family?" Shigure sighed.

"Well, I'm afraid that none of the members of our family are musically gifted," he explained. Yuki and Hatori looked at him skeptically. "Besides, it's so much more entertaining to meet new people," he added. After that, the trip was pretty much silent, except for Shigure's pointing out random things on the side of the road, like squirrels and shredded pieces of tires. "Oh, look! There it is!" he exclaimed suddenly.

They pulled into the driveway and got out of the car. When they knocked on the door Yuki was suddenly filled with dread. What if the instructor looked down on him because he had no former musical experience? How could he be expected to learn from somebody like that? All of these questions came to his mind too late. The door opened and what the three of them saw surprised them.

There, standing in the doorway, was a young woman wearing a pair of light blue pants and a long-sleeved red shirt. Her long black hair was pulled into a low pony-tail and her eyes were hued with a dark green, so that they looked almost black.

"Uh, hello, are you Miss Hishida?" Shigure asked after a few awkward moments of silence.

"Yes, I'm Kumiko Hishida, and you must be the Sohmas. Please, come in," she said. They stepped into the small house and looked around. With all of the warm colors like reds and sandy browns and the tasteful decorations, it was obvious that this house belonged to the artistic type. "Well, now that you know me, why don't the three of you introduce yourselves?"

"I'm Shigure, this is Hatori, and this is your new student, Yuki," Shigure explained.

"It's very nice to meet all of you," Kumiko said sweetly. "Can I get you anything to drink?"

"I think we'll be fine," Hatori stated as Shigure opened his mouth to say something.

"Alright, let me know if you need anything. Shall we?" she asked gesturing to the doorway that led into the small music room. Shigure stayed quiet for a moment and heard Kumiko explaining something about 'middle C' to Yuki and smiled to himself.

"So, Hatori, what do you think about Kumiko?" he asked after another moment of silence. Hatori, who had begun reading as soon as the other two had left the room, looked at Shigure over the top of his wire rimmed glasses.

"She seems to be a good teacher for Yuki, seeing as how she's so close to his age," he answered. Shigure looked at him strangely, and that made Hatori worry.

"She is very beautiful, but she's so young. Oh Ha'ri, you have a crush on Kumiko, don't you?!" he asked enthusiastically. Hatori didn't answer, he only sighed. "I knew it!"

"I really wish you would stop setting people up for your stupid tricks and stop acting like an idiot," he said lamely.

"Stop changing the subject! Wait until Aaya hears this!" Shigure said happily.

"Don't you dare," the more mature cousin said threateningly. The young writer giggled nervously as Hatori returned to his reading.

A/N: Well, that was fun. I was posting this on Quizilla, but I wanted to post it here so it would have more veiws and I would get more feed back. So tell me what you think. Reveiws are welcome, but flamers will be hit over the head with a fire extiguisher. See you soon!

-Camie