Chapter 26: Graduation

"Jane Bieber."

Ichigo watched from below as his student got up and walked up on stage. A smile came across his face as each of his homeroom students came up to receive their diploma.

Luckily everyone in his class was graduating.

It was probably the first time in Tokyo High School history.

"Jonny Lopez," the principal called out.

Yes, even Jonny passed.

Ichigo clapped along with the rest of the school body and the guests. They were all inside the school gymnasium as the seniors waited for their names to be called to go up on stage.

" Aaron Stewart."

Ichigo let out a sigh of relief when he noticed he was actually wearing his uniform without bedazzling it. In fact all of the students were wearing their school uniforms neatly with their shirts tucked in and their neckties/bows neatly done in front of them (A/N: in Japan, high school students don't wear robes for the graduation. They just wear their school uniform).

"Clara Rodrigo."

Ichigo took a quick glance to the side and smirked when he saw the big smile plastered on Noel's face. And it got noticed by shy fiancée because she was brightly smiling back at him with a huge blush across her face.

"Ivan Wanton."

The baldy, who looked uncomfortable wearing the necktie for the first time, carefully walked up on stage and got his diploma. Ichigo could literally hear Kurt roaring in laughter from the stands as he watched another one of his students graduate for the first time in his kendo club history.

Every thing was going by really smoothly and it was a good thing. Besides, who would want to discipline a misbehaving student on the last day of school? Yes, this place seemed like the perfect school.

"Bia  Santos."

"Woohoo!"

"Sexy Mama!"

"Meeoow!"

A perfect school for perverts.

Ichigo groaned as the busty woman walked across the stage, flipping her long blonde hair back as she received her diploma. And just before walking off, she looked over to the crowd and threw a wink, causing a massive amount of blood to spew out of the majority of the male population there. He should have suspected that would happen.

"Joshua Gaston ."

This time there were cat calls from half the female population in the stands.

"KYA! He's so cute!"

"Make me your girlfriend too!"

The young man merely smiled as he grabbed his diploma from his awkward principal before looking out into the crowd and waving. Nearly all the girls fainted.

But Ichigo still couldn't see what was so great about that kid.

"And finally, our valedictorian: Angel Bushū."

A sense of pride swept over Ichigo as he clapped harder upon seeing Angel slowly walking up on stage with elegance. She was smiling brightly as she walked over to the principal. She bowed as she received her diploma, and grinned even more as the gymnasium filled with a loud cheer. She looked over to the crowd on her way down and caught Ichigo's eyes. A sweet smile was sent his way and Ichigo felt amazing love fill his body at that moment.

The principal returned to the podium and made his last speech. And then… "Congratulations, seniors! You're now all DISMISSED!"

An even greater noise erupted as everyone cheered, especially the students, as they quickly gathered their stuff to leave the gym.

Angel was quickly pulled by her friends and was outside before she knew it.

"It's finally over!" Bia squealed.

"Let's take a class picture!" Clara called out as she dragged Noel with her, who was holding a digital camera.

"Good idea!" Angel was suddenly surrounded by her classmates and everyone readied their pose.

Noel rolled his eyes as he turned on his camera. "Stay still!" he shouted as he got down on one knee to try and get a better angle. Just as he was about to take the picture, a sudden orange caught his eyes and he immediately pulled away. "Ichigo! Come over here and get in this picture!"

Ichigo looked up and was shocked to see his homeroom students shouting at him to join them.

"Hurry up and get over here Walker-sensei!"

"Our last day together!"

"Ichigo! Com'on!"

A smile came on as he walked over. "Alright already," he snickered as he came up to his students.

"Get in the middle," Jane ordered as she pulled him into the center of the picture. And she suddenly pushed him to one side, landing him next to their class rep. "There that looks better," she grinned.

Angel smiled at her friend before looking up at Ichigo. "Let's take a memorable picture together, sensei."

Ichigo smiled as he placed a hand on her shoulder. "Yeah, our last picture as 'student and teacher.'" The two looked back front as Noel got his camera ready again.

"Okay!" he shouted, "Three! Two! One!"

"CHEESE!" Everyone shouted as they suddenly changed their pose into something more mischievous and just them. Most of the girls were holding up the 'V' sign while some of the guys were sticking out their tongues and pushing the tip of their noses upwards to imitate a pig's nose. Some even jumped and made a hilarious pose in the air, while a few others just remained still in their spots with bright smiles.

"Oi! That just ruined the entire picture!" Noel shouted, although he was smiling at their hilarious antics.

"Let's take more!" Bia squealed and the short teacher immediately brought up his camera to take more pictures of the graduating class of 3-2. And in the center of all the pictures were Ichigo and Angel, standing next to each other with huge smiles on their faces.

After another five minutes of taking picture after picture, Ichigo finally got pushed out of the group so the students could take pictures with other teachers. He smirked as he walked off to watch his class from afar.

"It's good to see them all smiling like that."

Ichigo looked over and nodded his greeting when he saw Kyla standing next to him. "Yeah, it really is."

The young woman giggled as several students started to climb up on Chad for another picture. "I can't believe they're already graduating. Kind of reminds me of when we graduated."

"We were as happy as them," he nodded.

"Nope," she shook her head, earning her a look from the man standing next to her, "You're much happier now than back then."

Ichigo stared at her for a second before his smile came back. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

"Treat her well, Walker-kun, or else you'll have Fernandez-kun, Ramos-kun and me to talk to," she half-heartily threatened, "There's a lot more people siding with Bushū-san over you."

Ichigo laughed as he nodded. "I got it. And don't worry; I'm planning on doing something later to make sure she never leaves me again."

Kyla looked at him before smiling again once she got what he was insinuating. "I can't wait to hear the official news. Remember to call us immediately afterwards."

"Promise," he smiled back.

"Reyes-sensei! Come take a picture with us too!" Bia screamed out and Kyla quickly left Ichigo's side to join the 3-2 group picture.

Ichigo just continued to watch as more pictures were taken. But this time, a twitch came on when he noticed who suddenly came to stand next to him. "What do you want?"

"Just want to know what you're planning to do from now on," Andrew smirked as he shoved his hands into his pockets. "School is finally over and you don't have to hide your relationship anymore. But letting it out too soon might bring some problems as well."

Ichigo nodded in understanding. "We're most likely going to keep away from the school for awhile and wait several more months before making it public. Angel is planning on telling the rest of her friends after they start college."

"That reminds me, where is she going?" Andrew asked as he pushed up his glasses.

"Tokyo University. It's only a bus ride away so she doesn't have to move out or anything. We were actually thinking of going to Kyoto and stay at my father's place, but most of her friends are going there so she wanted to stay. It's good for me since I'm still going to be teaching here."

"Too bad. She could have done so much better at Kyoto. But this school isn't that bad."

"It'll help her in pursuing her dream," Ichigo nodded, "And I'm more than happy to support her."

Andrew smirked when Jonny was suddenly being chased by Jane when he tried to wrap his arms around Clara and Angel. The two male teachers laughed at the scene in front of them. "I have to say that I'm going to miss these kids. When I first taught them last year, I remember wanting to strangle them. But now it's a bit sad to let them go."

Ichigo nodded. "Especially for me. These are my first students."

"Well, good luck when her friends find out. They're most likely going to come after you," he chuckled. "By the way, where's her brother?"

"In London," he answered, slightly annoyed at the mentioning of the man. "Angel invited him but he couldn't make it. So instead we're going to go over there to visit him this weekend. It's some sort of present for her."

His friend tried to block out his laughter by grabbing his mouth. "I have a feeling you might not come back alive after this."

"Shut up," he glared.

"Whatever. Anyways, good luck with that guy, and don't forget you still owe us dinner." Andrew slapped him on the back before walking away to enter the picture when the students started to call out for him.

Ichigo smiled as his friend disappeared. His eyes then caught Zander's hidden ones, but instead of coming over to talk to him, Zander was just himself as he gave his good friend a nod of his head. Ichigo nodded back, knowing full well what it implied.

Good luck.

And Ichigo was really going to need it.

Angel breathlessly ran up the stairs and pulled out her copy of the key as she reached the door. With a twist and turn, she finally got it open and swung it open. "Ichigo?" she called out, poking her head out through the door.

"Right here," Ichigo answered from the side.

Angel smiled when her eyes landed on him and passed through the door. It immediately closed and locked behind her as she slowly walked over. "Why did you suddenly call me up here?" she asked, looking over the school roof to see most of the students leaving the grounds to start their break.

Ichigo, who was also looking out, smiled when he caught sight of some of his friends. "I wanted to get away from everyone. And my family is most likely at our place to celebrate your graduation so I just wanted to come up here before all the chaos begins."

Angel stepped closer to him and leaned her head against his shoulder. "It's finally over."

"Nah," Ichigo shook his head, "It's only the beginning."

"That was cheesy," she laughed.

"Yeah, it really was," he snickered.

Angel turned to face him with a bright smile. "So, did you buy me anything for my graduation present?"

"Am I not good enough?" he smirked, earning him a light kick.

"You're really pushing your luck."

Ichigo laughed along with her as he reached down to grab her left hand and started to play with her fingers. "You know, I really hated you back when I first met you."

"The feeling was mutual," she said.

Ichigo smirked as he laced their fingers together. "But somehow you squeezed your way into my heart and I couldn't get you out, not that I wanted to though."

Angel smiled.

"I'm nothing without you," Ichigo whispered.

Suddenly the smile slipped away and Angel looked at him skeptically. "What are you trying to pull here, Walker? Is this about that new game station that just came out? Because I'm not falling—"

"Shut up midget! That's not what I'm talking about!" Ichigo snapped, pissed at her for suddenly ruining the moment he was conjuring up.

"Then why are you saying such weird things?!"

Ichigo gawked at her. "'Weird'? I was jut trying to be romantic!"

Angel scoffed. "'Romantic'? More like fucked up."

"Angel," Ichigo growled, "You're not making this any easier!"

"Then just say whatever you need to say and get it over with! Don't go around in circles!"

"Fine!"

"Good!"

The two kept their glares fixed on each other, the once happy and peaceful moment now long gone. Finally pulling away, Ichigo sighed as he slid his free hand into his pocket. "Man, and I had this planned out so much better."

"What are you mumbling about now—"

But Angel's words got cut off when Ichigo suddenly went down on one knee and slipped a diamond ring on her left ring finger. "Will you marry me?" he slightly groaned and slightly whispered, breathlessly, as a small blush crept up his face.

Angel gasped when she saw how the perfect ring slid perfectly to fit around her finger. She could only stare between Ichigo and the ring for several seconds, her mind slowly processing what was happening. And the moment she finally figured it out, her big eyes started to get overwhelmed with tears. Before she knew it, a big grin appeared on her face.

Ichigo smiled when he noticed the change in her expression. "Well?"

"Yes," she nodded before jumping down to wrap her arms around his neck. "Yes!" she shouted this time.

Ichigo laughed as his arms came around her waist and hugged her tightly to him. He stood up and lifted Angel into the air, who squealed at his sudden action.

Angel pulled away to smile down at her fiancée's glowing face. "Yes," she repeated, "Yes, I'll marry you, Ichigo Walker."

"And I love you, Angel Bushu," Ichigo responded.

Angel quickly shook her head as she leaned to lightly brush her lips against his. "You mean, 'soon-to-be' Angel Walker."

A big ass grin appeared on Ichigo's face as he set her down. "I like the sound of that."

"Me too."

Ichigo pulled her closer as Angel tip toed so she could keep her arms around his neck as they leaned in for a kiss to show each other exactly how much they love each other.

They might have started off wrong, cursing each other to hell at every possible second, but now their love was impossible to penetrate through. Now, nobody would look at them as teacher and student but they will be known as husband and wife that not even death could part.