Title: Teacher's Darling

Rating: PG

Character: Inara

Pairing: Implied Mal/Inara

Word Count: 739

Warning: Not Betaed

Disclaimer: I do not own

Author's Note: Okay here you are Squish, probably not what you wanted, but I tried.

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Inara smoothed the material of her skirt as she looked on at the few girls in her class. They were young, she could hardly remember being that young. Their youth both excited and saddened her. It had been long since she had such laughed as uninhibitedly as they had. Smiles reached their eyes; truthful smiles that made Inara miss the home she had long since abandoned.

“Are we ready to begin?’ Inara asked, a smile gracing her lips, the edges of her eyes crinkling some as the expression brought out the lines her age had endowed her with.

“Yes Ms. Serra,” the girls replied in unison, stuffing something in one of their bags. Inara raised an eyebrow and moved forward. She was conscious of how poised she walked, her back straight. She always walked with the perfect grace of a companion because that was what these girls were learning to become. Learning through example was one of Inara’s best teaching tools.

“What are you hiding Grenadine?” Inara inquired, eyeing the girl suspiciously. The girl turned bright red and looked to her friends who all look just as frightened.

“I uh…”

“Last I understood it, ‘uh’ was not a word, Grenadine,” Inara scolded smoothly.

“Sorry, Ms. Serra,” the young girl gulped, her eyes lowering to the ground.

“What do you have hidden?” Inara asked again, her voice remaining calm. The younger woman pulled up a small novel and handed it to her teacher. Inara looked down at the cover and smiled to herself. “And what’s this? It doesn’t look like your required reading.”

“One of the older girls gave it to me,” Grenadine replied sheepishly.

Inara smiled and opened the book to the first page. She was immediately appalled at the wri