Rating: G!! (omigosh! it's a red letter day! ^O^)
Warning: sami-idiocy! possible kawaii-overload
Notes: sometimes... i really *am* rather mean to little seiji... ^O^;;; sorry!!!

Initial K (for Kindergarten)

Thursday

"Yo, Iketani!" Little Kenji shouted across the playground. "I just saw a *girl*!"

His proclamation was met with silence.

"Not a teacher, but a *real* girl!" He clarified, stamping his foot to get people’s attention.

All the little boys of Dorateku Elementary School looked up in shock. A *real* girl! An honest-to-goodness *girl*! A hubbub of little voices rose as each little boy speculated on the rumour.

Little Kouichirou darted over to where his friend was standing, his favourite toy car forgotten in the sandbox.

"Is it true, Kenji? A girl? Here?"

Girls were an uncommon thing at Dorateku (aside from some of the teachers, and goodness knew *they* didn’t count). Most girls attended Mogiteku on the other side of the city.

Little Kenji nodded vigorously. "*Two*!" he exclaimed.

"*Two* girls?" Little Kouichirou sounded incredulous. "Are you sure you don’t need glasses? Maybe you were looking at Seiji from the back again? Remember that last time with the big kids and the kissing game…"

Little Kenji blushed a BRIGHT red. "I thought we promised never to talk about that!" he screeched.

Little Kouichirou shrugged.

"Anyways, I’m *sure* I saw two girls heading for the principal’s office! I think they’re our age too!" Little Kenji was hopping from foot to foot in excitement.

"Wow… I wonder if they’ll be in my class…" Little Kouichirou looked a little starry-eyed.

Little Kenji gave his friend a hard shove. "Hey! If they’re going to be in anyone’s class, they should be in mine! I saw them first!"

"Maybe we’ll each get one?" Little Kouichirou sounded hopeful.

Little Kenji nodded in agreement.

Further discussion was preempted, however, by the ringing of the first bell. Little Kenji waved a cheerful good-bye to Little Kouichirou and trotted off to join his class’ line.

At the second bell, Miss Mak opened the big red doors and was completely astounded to see her class lined up in a neat and orderly fashion. Even the Vice-Principal was stunned when he realized that, for the first time since she’d started at Dorateku Elementary, Miss Mak would be the first to call her class in.

"Um… Alright… My class—that is, Room 86—let’s get inside. Single-file, mind you…" Miss Mak barely managed to stammer out the instructions.

Thirteen little boys marched past their teacher. Straight into their classroom they went and straight to their desks. When Miss Mak came in behind them, she found her entire class sitting as prim and as proper as you please. Seeing as she didn’t have to spend time breaking up fistfights and mopping up after bloody noses, Miss Mak turned on her laptop and decided to use the spare time before morning announcements to catch up on some fanfiction.

Unfortunately, just as she was getting to a juicy, lemony part, the Principal walked into her classroom…again without knocking. Miss Mak slammed her laptop shut and glared at the sniggering Little Ryoupon (that goody-two-shoes just loved to see people get in trouble).

"Mr. Principal!" Miss Mak stood as she addressed her superior.

"Miss Mak." The Principal arched an eyebrow at the slightly scatterbrained woman. "I have two new pupils for you."

All the little boys sat up eagerly, excitement shining in their eyes.

Miss Mak, however, chewed on her lower lip in nervousness, silently praying that it wouldn’t be two *more* boys.

The Principal stepped fully into the classroom and gestured for the new students to come in out of the hall. "This is Mako-chan, and this is Sayuki-chan. They’re from Usui."

Thirteen pairs of eyes lit up. Real, live, girls, just like Little Kenji said! And both of them were in *their* class! How did they get so lucky?

Miss Mak’s eyes misted over as she gazed at newest members of her class, vowing to get to church more often. This had to be a miracle: her prayers had been answered! Two pretty, perfect, little girls in *her* class! Girls wouldn’t get into fistfights. Girls wouldn’t get into insane competitions. Girls were well-behaved and respectful!

"Welcome to my class, Mako-chan, Sayuki-chan!" Miss Mak beamed at them.

Both girls executed a nice, polite little bow to their teacher and their classmates. The boys were suitably impressed. No one ever bowed to them, and they certainly never bowed to each other!

"Hajime mashite[1], Mako, Sayuki!" they chorused.

"Hajime mashite. Douzo yoroshiku[2]," Little Mako murmured demurely, ducking her head and hiding behind a curtain of dark hair.

Little Sayuki just tossed her head back and grinned.

Miss Mak fairly beamed at her two new students. Already they were proving to be light years ahead of the boys in their behavioural patterns.

"Why don’t you two sit in this row here, by the door. The first two desks in the row are empty."

Little Mako looked a little uncertain at the prospect of being so boxed in by strange boys, but there didn’t appear to be any other choice. The only other empty desk was behind the boy who looked like a carp, and he looked like he might smell funny. Luckily, Little Sayuki came to her aid.

"Mako-chan, you sit in the first desk, I’ll sit behind you," she ordered, pointing out the desks accordingly.

Little Mako nodded and made her way to her seat feeling greatly relieved. Now she only had to sit next to one boy.

Little Sayuki followed suit, striding past Little Shinpon’s desk on her way to her own.

"Shin-chan," she said by way of greeting, giving him a saucy wink in the process.

The poor boy blushed something awful.

"Sa-chan! Stop it!" he hissed.

Little Sayuki just stuck her tongue out at him.

"Do you two know each other?" Miss Mak asked, a bit confused with the use of familiar names.

"Yup! Me an' Shin-chan have the same piano teacher."

Little Takepon snickered at the thought of Little Shinpon "tickling the ivories." It was so girly!

"Well that's nice then, isn't it? Now you have another friend in the class, it won't be so scary." Miss Mak was beaming at her new student.

Little Sayuki gave Little Shinpon a dubious look as if to say, "Friend? Him?" and took her seat with an indifferent little shrug.

Meanwhile, Little Seiji was elated. One of the new girls was sitting RIGHT NEXT TO HIM! He turned to smile at her in welcome, but somehow it turned out more like a leer. Little Sayuki meep-ed in fear and jerked back in her seat.

Little Shingo whipped around in his chair faster than Miss Mak could blink.

"You touch her, Iwaki, and I'll beat you up *so* bad!" he hissed.

Little Takepon turned to support his friend by shaking his fist at Little Seiji.

Miss Mak saw her "perfect" classroom slipping away from her.

"Nonono!" She was almost shouting in her anxiety. "No fighting in the classroom, remember? Let’s show Mako-chan and Sayuki-chan what nice little boys we are, okay?"

Little Takepon took one look at his teacher’s distressed expression and immediately turned back around to sit primly in his seat. He did so hate to see grown women cry.

Little Shinpon snarled at Little Seiji one more time before turning back to face front again.

Little Seiji just blinked in confusion. He couldn’t figure out what was going on. He’d only been trying to be nice.

"Okay! Now that we’re all settled down, let’s start class, shall we?" Miss Mak beamed eagerly at her students.

Little Ryoupon raised his hand. "Today is gym class."

A giant sweatdrop appeared on Miss Mak’s head. Just when they were all being quiet for once…

"Okay. Physical Education, huh?" Miss Mak had to stop and think. Now that she had girls in her class she couldn’t do the "wrestling" (read: free-form brawling) from her original lesson plan. First of all, the girls might not like it, and second of all, the boys might do something inappropriate and Miss Mak might get sued.

Little Daiki raised his hand.

"No, Daiki-chan, I don’t care what your friend, ‘Tomo,’ has to say, nor are we doing anything with soapbox cars," said Miss Mak, anticipating the little boy’s comment.

Little Daiki slouched down in his seat with a pout.

At this point Miss Mak chanced to look out the window and whom should she see but that fabulous Mr. Tse leading his grade 6 gym class outdoors. The proverbial lightbulb went off. From the lawn just outside the kindergarten classrooms one had a perfect, unobstructed view of the playing field where the grade 6-ers were setting up for soccer.

"Since it’s such a lovely day today, we’re going outside to play Duck-duck-goose!"

This announcement was met by a round of cheers from all. Miss Mak gave herself a mental pat on the back for such a brilliant flash of inspiration. (She also gave Mr. Tse a mental pat on the butt for such a brilliant flash—well, perhaps we shouldn’t go there…)

"Okay then, let’s all line up, single-file, at the door." Miss Mak waited with utmost patience for the ensuing chaos to sort itself out. "Everyone have their outdoor shoes on? Yes? Then let’s go!"

Thirty little sneakers (fifteen pairs), in varying stages of decomposition, and one pair of immaculate Kenneth Coles trotted their owners out onto the lawn of Dorateku Elementary.

Miss Mak directed her class to sit in a tight circle on the grass and arranged herself so she could see Mr. Tse. She hoped he’d take his shirt off like he did last week.

"Who doesn’t know the rules of Duck-duck-goose?" she asked her students at they gazed up at her, expectant looks on their round little faces.

A couple pudgy hands went up so Miss Mak decided to explain the game, just to make things fair.

"Okay, here’s the deal. One person is ‘it’," she said, grabbing Little Kenta and pulling him to his feet. "The rest of you sit in a circle. Sit close together because there’s going to be someone running around this circle and you don’t want to make it too big. You guys are the ‘duck pond.’"

After everyone had complied with her seating instructions, Miss Mak turned to Little Kenta.

"Now, Kenta-chan, you’re ‘it’. You’re the ‘goose’ and you want to get into the ‘duck pond.’ In order to do that, you have to get one of these ‘ducks’ to leave their spot so you can take it. You got that?"

Little Kenta nodded solemnly.

"Okay, so what you do is walk around the circle, tap each person GENTLY on the head and say ‘duck’. When you think you’re ready to try for a spot in the ‘duck pond’, say ‘goose’ instead of ‘duck.’ The new ‘goose’ has to get up and both of you race around the circle in opposite directions. The first one back to the empty spot joins the ‘duck pond’ and the other person now becomes ‘it.’ We’ll do a trial run because I can see some of you are confused."

Miss Mak aimed Little Kenta in a counter-clockwise direction around the circle.

"Just walk one round, alright?" She nudged Little Kenta in the appropriate direction.

Little Kenta walked with deliberate slowness, tapping each person on the head as he passed him or her and saying "duck" in a loud, clear voice. He was making sure to only *just* touch (and not smack or punch or pound on) each of his classmates. And if his hand lingered a little longer than necessary on a tousled blond head, that was okay, right?

"Seiji-chan! No biting!" Miss Mak admonished the snarling little boy. "Kenta-chan *has* to tap you on the head. It’s in the rules. If you can’t keep your teeth to yourself, we’re all going inside for quiet reading time. So if you don’t want to ruin gym class for everyone, I’d advise you to behave nicely." Miss Mak cast a stern look over her class. "That goes for all of you too!"

Seeing all the little heads bobble back and forth in acquiesence, Miss Mak motioned for Little Kenta to continue the game.

"Okay, now Kenta-chan, when you feel prepared to run, pick one of your classmates to race around the circle with by calling him, or her, a ‘Goose.’"

Miss Mak watched Little Kenta make his way around the circle a second time…

And then a third…

"Duck. Duck. Duck. Duck. Duck. Duck." Little Kenta intoned.

The other little boys were starting to get restless. Some were sticking their arms out behind them, trying to discreetly trip Little Kenta. Others were openly taunting him.

"Duck. Duck. Duck. Duck—"

"Kenta-chan! Just pick someone! Anyone!" Miss Mak shouted in exasperation.

"Duck. Duck. Duck. DUCK!"

Little Kenta whacked Little Itsuki on the head and took off around the circle.

"STOP!" Miss Mak caught Little Kenta as he hurtled past her and held him still. "First, you apologize to Itsuki-chan," she said, aiming Little Kenta at the weeping Little Itsuki.

"Second," Miss Mak then turned Little Kenta to face herself, "you’re supposed to yell ‘Goose’ when you’re ready to race, not ‘Duck’ again. Understand?"

Little Kenta gave a sheepish little nod.

"Okay, now let’s play for real. And, Kenta-chan, you can’t pick Itsuki-chan again."

"Duck. Duck. Duck. Duck. Duck. GOOSE!" And with that gleeful shout, Little Kenta launched himself around the circle.

Little Takumi, the unfortunate ‘goose,’ scrambled to his feet (after some prompting from Little Ryoupon) and started running in the opposite direction as Little Kenta. However, seeing as Little Takumi had such a slow start, Little Kenta had already made it halfway ’round the circle!

But, in a shocking turn of events (and largely based on environmental circumstance), Little Kenta slipped on the dewy grass just as he was closing in on the gap. And Little Takumi, grabbing a hold of Little Itsuki for leverage, managed to squeeze himself back into his old spot.

Little Kenta immediately burst into tears, citing force majeure[3] and demanding a re-race. But before Miss Mak could even open her mouth to respond, the Little Takahashi brothers jumped to their teacher’s aid.

"Don’t be a sore loser. Nobody likes a crybaby," Little Keipi admonished with a look of exasperation.

Little Kenta stopped crying.

"Either continue to play, according to the rules which say you’re still ‘it’, or go sit quietly in the corner. Just be warned that Miss Mak will lower your grade if you don’t participate," said Little Ryoupon, cutting quite the figure of authority.

Little Kenta looked a little uncertain.

Little Kouichirou, who had been busy congratulating Little Takumi, heard the chastising Little Kenta was getting from the Takahashi brothers and now turned to add his two cents.

"Yah, Crybaby-Kenta," he said with a sneer. "You *lost*, fair and square!"

Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on who you are, I guess), this was the last straw for Little Kenta. Feeling very much put out and picked upon today, the chubby little boy stomped off to sit in the shade of a large poplar tree.

Miss Mak carefully wrote an "F" next to Little Kenta’s name for gym participation.

"Okay," she said, turning her attention back to the rest of her class. "Let’s continue the game, shall we? Who wants to be the ‘goose’?"

Little Seiji’s hand shot up; here was the perfect opportunity to hit people!

Little Wataru’s hand shot up; here was the perfect opportunity to compete with Little Keipi!

"Er…" Miss Mak looked at the two eager beavers, clearly nervous about their sudden zeal. "How about… Shinpon?" she suggested, randomly picking a little boy out of the crowd.

The new "goose" got to his feet very very slowly, showing his reluctance. He hated being ‘it’ in *any* game, and he thought he’d been so clever, avoiding his teacher’s gaze so he wouldn’t get picked. With little fists planted on his hips, Little Shinpon glared at his teacher, almost daring her to commence the game.

"Er…" Miss Mak took an involuntary step backward at the angry-looking child-unit standing in front of her. "Well… um… ‘go’… I guess," she stammered.

Little Shinpon whirled to his right, thumped Little Takepon on the head and yelled: "Goose!"

Miss Mak made a valiant effort not to just hang her head and give up on the boys altogether.

Meanwhile, Little Takepon, who had been expecting exactly this type of tactic from his exasperating friend, had leapt to his feet almost before Little Shinpon had touched him and took off running around the circle. Though slightly taken aback, Little Shinpon nevertheless managed to build up quite a full head of steam as he barreled around the circle.

"Um… Miss Mak…" Little Ryoupon tugged on his teacher’s pants. "Miss Mak, they’re going to—"

But Miss Mak had already seen the fatal flaw to "Duck, Duck, Goose," and it was too late to do anything about it. At some point in time, the two runners had to pass one another (as they were running in opposite directions around the circle with the same start and end point). This meant that one of them would have to give way to the other; swinging wide in order to allow his opponent to pass on the inside. The game assumed that the players would be smarter than to—

With a shocking and resounding SMACK! Little Takepon and Little Shinpon ran straight into each other.

*Everyone* flinched.

Little Keipi tried to stifle a snicker behind his hand.

Miss Mak hurried across the circle to where both boys were lying prone on the grass.

"Takepon? Shinpon? Are you okay?" she asked with no small amount of concern: this was how lawsuits happened.

"Ugh…" said Little Takepon.

"Erg…" said Little Shinpon.

"Oh dear, oh dear," said Miss Mak.

The two little boys managed to get back on their feet, but were alarmingly shaky.

"Oh *dear*," Miss Mak said again. "Maybe I should take you to the school nurse!"

"Ryoupon," she called over her shoulder as she ushered the two wobbly boys back towards the school building, "please take over the class."

Little Ryoupon gave a serious little nod and stood up from his spot in the circle. He surveyed the remainder of the class with a haughty expression on his face.

"Oh my gosh," Little Mako whispered to Little Sayuki as she admired Little Ryoupon’s arrogant profile. "He is *so* cute!"

Little Sayuki gave the boy a skeptical once-over. "Nah, he’s not that special."

"Shh!" Little Mako had the most distressed look on her face. "Not so loud! What if he hears?"

Little Sayuki shrugged and flipped her light brown hair over her shoulder.

"Okay, everyone, I’m going to be the ‘goose’ now so close up the circle!" Little Ryoupon ordered his little classmates around until they’d re-formed into a perfect circle.

"He’s going to touch me, Sa-chan! He’s *got* to!" Little Mako was torn between looking ecstatic and looking absolutely terrified.

Little Sayuki rolled her eyes. "Save the freaking out for if he actually picks you."

Little Mako looked like she was going to throw up, cheeks pale and eyes comically wide. She’d never even entertained the prospect of Little Ryoupon actually picking her to race against.

"Duck, duck, duck, duck…"

"Oh my gosh, he’s going so fast!" Little Mako was starting to hyperventilate.

"Duck, duck…"

"Chill *out*, Mako!" Little Sayuki pinched her friend to try and distract her.

"Goose!" Little Ryoupon crowed as he tapped Little Mako gently on the head.

"Omigoshomigoshomigosh." Little Mako looked distinctly panicked now.

Little Sayuki rolled her eyes. Sometimes Little Mako was such a dork.

"Well, don’t just sit there! Get up!" Little Sayuki urged.

So Little Mako stood up.

Little Sayuki gazed at her friend in disbelief: why wasn’t Little Mako *running*?

"Turn left and *run*, Mako!" said Little Sayuki. "But whatever you do, don’t win! Boys don’t like losing to girls," she hissed under her breath.[4]

So, though a little belated, the dark-haired girl began to sprint around the circle. However, Little Mako was surprisingly fast, and she passed Little Ryoupon just shy of the midpoint. This meant that she stood a very real chance of winning, if only she could put on a burst of speed in the second leg of the race.

"Mako!" Little Sayuki had to force the words through her gritted teeth. "What did I just tell you?"

Little Mako shortened her stride without even blinking; her body reacting on its own to the commanding tone in Little Sayuki’s voice.

Little Ryoupon threw himself into the recently vacated spot next to Little Sayuki, forcing Little Mako to skid to a halt, stopping just shy of running into Little Ryoupon’s back. It had still been quite a close race.

"Sorry. Better luck next time, Mako-chan," said Little Ryoupon with an apologetic smile.

Little Mako blushed to the roots of her hair.

"It’s your turn to be ‘it,’ Mako," Little Sayuki said, hoping to get the game going again. Left to her own devices, Little Mako could stand there, blushing, for hours.

Very, very tentatively, Little Mako made her way around the circle of her peers. Each tap on the head was followed by a quiet "duck." But after making a full round, Little Mako was in quite a quandary: whom was she going to pick? Little Sayuki saw her friend’s dilemma and decided to intervene before Little Mako pulled a Little Kenta and ended up walking the circle three or four times. She didn’t want the boys to pick on Little Mako.

So on Little Mako’s second round, when she looked to Little Sayuki for some direction, Little Sayuki inclined her head towards Little Kouichirou and gave a small nod; he looked like an easy win for Little Mako and Little Sayuki did so want her friend to win at least one round.

"Goose!" Little Mako announced as she tapped Little Kouichirou.

"Now run, Mako!" shouted Little Sayuki.

So Little Mako ran. But she hadn’t forgotten Little Sayuki’s advice about boys, and so she took it slow, just lightly jogging along. Unfortunately, Little Sayuki had forgotten to tell Little Mako that there was an exception to her rule about letting boys win: sure, boys don’t like girls who beat them, but you wouldn’t want Little Kouichirou liking you anyway, so you might as well beat the pants off him.

Little Kouichirou, meanwhile, didn’t feel right about winning against a girl. He got it in his head that it wasn’t chivalrous and he so wanted Little Mako to think of him as a gentleman.

Needless to say the ensuing race wasn’t exactly the most exciting match of the century…

And in the end, both Little Mako and Little Kouichirou were standing a step away from the vacant spot in the circle, both looking quite distressed. Little Mako was inching forward, not wanting her opponent to think she was giving up, but unwilling to win. Little Kouichirou was shuffling from side to side in a strange penguin-like walk with the same intentions. Neither competitor was willing to meet the other’s eye, choosing instead to stare down at the grass or off at the horizon.

"Would you just SIT DOWN, Mako!" Little Sayuki finally screeched in exasperation.

Little Mako scurried forth and plunked down on her bottom. The rest of the class didn’t know whether or clap and cheer for Little Mako or to boo and jeer Little Kouichirou. They settled for remaining silent.

This was the scene that greeted Miss Mak as she wandered back outside. She blinked at the tableau in front of her; the entire class was staring at Little Mako and Little Kouichirou, both of whom looked like tomatoes with legs.

"You know what?" She thought out loud. "I don’t want to know. Class is dismissed."

The twelve remaining students in the duck-duck-goose game dutifully got up and trotted back towards the school. Little Kenta, who was still sulking, sat resolutely under his tree.

Miss Mak gave a frustrated little growl and marched off to grab him.

"Hey, Mako-chan? Good race. You were brilliant," said Little Kouichirou as he sidled up to Little Mako and Little Sayuki.

Little Mako blushed. "I’m sorry I won. I mean, I’m not sorry I *won*, but I’m sorry you lost. Not that you lost—"

Little Sayuki rolled her eyes and pulled Little Mako away. Wonder of wonders, Little Mako had found the one boy who not only didn’t mind being beaten by a girl, but also apparently really liked it. This school was just chock-full of weirdoes.

THE END

[1] standard phrase when meeting someone for the first time. generally translated as "how do you do?" or "nice to meet you"

[2] generally translated as "nice to meet you," lit. "please be kind to me"

[3] lit. "superior force," commonly translated as "act of god" meaning "through no fault of your own, something bad happened, and you shouldn’t be held liable for the consequences."

[4] is this sexist? prolly. is it true? most likely. i recall mako being concerned that no boys would like her if she continued to beat them in races… at least i think that’s what one of her concerns was… >_>;;;