Author's Notes

Here is the first chapter of Never Losing the Way and my first story into the Kill La Kill Fandom.

I just finished watching Kill La Kill a couple of days ago and fell in love with the series. The characters, battles, and the sheer intensity of the show made me want write some fanfiction for it and well here I am. I have read a couple of great stories on this site for Kill La Kill and special shout outs to "Before My Body is Dry" and "Splitting Seams" for getting me pumped about writing some Kill La Kill fiction. Also thank you to GirthJohnson and TheWill95 for helping me brainstorm for this story.

This story does have an OC character that is going to be a main character but I am trying to do something different with this one. I notice that Kill La Kill unlike most fighting anime lack a "Team Mom/worrywart" type of character and I decided to see what would happen if Ryūko had one as a friend.

Anyways I hope you enjoy the story!


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A young teenager hummed quietly to himself as he cheerfully walked out his home. He smiled at the rising sun over Honnō City's slums. Most people would not be excited about living in the slums much or be happy to wake up in such a poor location. But to the boy it was home for the last six months and he was gratefully about it.

After all he would rather sleep in a shack then on the ground.

He quickly checked his mailbox that had seen better days for any new mail. The only thing in the battered aluminum box was a notice about the upcoming exams at Honnōji Academy. He sighed in annoyance once he finished reading the note.

To most of his fellow people in the slums and his comrades in the No-Star ranks, the name of the academy alone would send shivers down their spines.

For good reason of course, Honnōji Academy was infamous for its totalitarian rule over the man-made island and the sheer ruthless the ruling elite were known for. It wasn't uncommon to hear families go homeless or students to receive beatings.

Honestly it made the young man sick to his stomach watching his fellow classmates being treated as animals but it wasn't his fight.

His job was simply to go to school and try to live another day.

With such attitude towards the school of his choice, it was odd that the he could even smile in the first place. However what brought him joy was in fact the slums that he dwelled in.

As he walked down the road he could see shops and stores of all kinds lining the streets. They were all packed to the brim with people trying to start their days or simply hanging out at their favorite haunts before school time. Laughter flowed out of the ramshackle huts and children ran into the busy streets playing tag with their friends.

Even in such a desolate living environment the people of Honnō City's slums lived in, they still found happiness in their life. Most people would fall in despair in living in such a location or give up on life.

The No-Star populations of the slums were made out of meaner stuff than that. Even with living with poverty they had the will to enjoy life no matter what and have hope in a better tomorrow.

Honnō City may have been forsaken by God, but its slums dogs were not forgotten. It's one of the reasons why he stayed as a No-Star student and refused the promotion he was offered a while back.

He has seen the living conditions of the One-Star students, they were much better than his worn down wooden shack…yet the people that lived in the condos were devoid of purpose. To them life was about going to school and trying to get another star down on their belt, they didn't care about the simpler things in life nor were they grateful with the wealth they lived in.

No it wasn't enough for their greed or their ambitions to stay as a One-Star student.

Plus the look on the One-Star's face that offered him the uniform was classic.

He breathed deeply into the air as the smell of fresh bread fill his nostrils. His body was soaking in the measure of content that now filled his body as he looked up at the wooden sign proclaiming that he has reached his destination.

It was a little bakery that he found during his first week at Honnōji Academy and he was thankful for this little treasure. The bakery wasn't really a building, more like a stall that had a rickety tin roof and cardboard thin walls that barely keep any heat in. The large brick oven sat in the back of the stall. He could see the bread being cooked and the smell it gave well.

Let's say that fresh bread always smells grand when it came fresh out of the oven.

He always did enjoy a good sourdough loaf in the morning.

"Good Morning Katsuki." The teen snapped out of thoughts in an instance and glanced down at the old baker with a couple of missing teeth.

"Good Morning Mrs. Aoyama, may I have the usual?"

The old lady nodded at the average height teen. She always wondered why her favorite and most constant customer was always wearing a large red cloak that reached to his knees. It was made out of a strange felt like material and seemed to be very hot to wear.

However, Aoyama knew better than ask questions about people personal lives. They may have the comradely of living in the slums but you could never trust people truly in the slums.

Stuff like that would get you stabbed in the back and robbed of all your earthly processions.

Iori Katsuki simply scratched his rather pale cheeks as he was thinking about something.

"Actually can I have a small blueberry muffin with the usual order?"

Aoyama reached to her left and gently put the right muffin in a small paper bag.

"For your teacher Katsuki?"

The raven-haired teen nodded in reply. His raven locks where styled in a rather simple ponytail and no one could actually tell how long it was. However, people could agree that it was obviously dyed in color.

"You know how much Mr. Mikisugi like his blueberries." The teen chuckle as he remembered the first time he gave a muffin to Mikisugi. The man was so excited that he started to strip himself in the middle of class.

Thankfully Mankanshoku want on her regular rants that normally happen outside the classroom.

Iori still wonders where all the rabbits came from and how she could hold so many.

He had a weird classroom but Second Year Class-K was much better than most of the other No-Star classrooms. Especially if the rumors about Class-F were right and the people shapes in the classroom walls were real too.

Who starts a classroom brawl over extra credit homework of all things?

"That would be fifteen thousand Yen." Aoyama said as she handed the baked goodies over to the (not) drooling Iori. He glance around to make sure that no one was watching him and bent down on his knees and reached into his brown hiking boots and pulled out his wallet.

It was in the shape of a rather pudgy owl.

"Here you go Mrs. Aoyama!" He cheerfully stated as he handed over the money. With a sharp turn he grabbed the bag and started walking towards Honnōji Academy.

He didn't forget to wave good-bye to his favorite baker.

After all there no need to be rude to nice old ladies.

Iori smiled as he ripped off a piece of sourdough bread and started to munch on it.

He had a gut feeling that today was going to be a good day.


Iori decided that he was never going to trust a gut feeling every again. Right now he was sitting in his homeroom class watching his teacher Mr. Mikisugi drone on and on about Hitler rise to power.

Now it was interesting…for the first month.

Iori was surprised that no one really noticed that every month Mr. Mikisugi would end the topic with Hitler's death and start over the whole subject the upcoming day.

Now he wasn't the most brilliant person in the world, but Mr. Mikisugi was definitely comparing Hitler and his rise to power to the Kiryuin family and the Totalist stronghold that Satsuki Kiryuin held over Honnōji Academy.

Well that is what he thought anyways. Over five months of the same lesson will cause a man to think about his life and why he has to go through the torture. However, Mr. Mikisugi was held by high esteem from the ponytail teen. At least someone was trying to protest though civil disobedience rather though violence.

The last thing that Honnōji Academy needed was more bloodshed. Only if that Osaka spy that was caught last semester didn't sell Jakuzure panties.

Why was the male population of this academy perverted to the bone?

Anyways on the bright side he was excused from homework for the class due to him acing the material the first time around. It was also the reason he was offer a One-Star Goku Uniform.

His refuse in front of the whole class made him Mr. Mikisugi favorite student. It's not like he bribe his teacher with muffins or anything.

A small yawn escaped Iori mouth as he counted minutes till the lunch bell. It was only abo-

BANG!

Iori twisted his neck to stare at the military style door of his classroom. The door was being warped from some sort force and the scary thing was that the door was made of solid steel.

Thick enough to stop a bullet type of steel.

Iori lazily flicked his hood on and closed his eyes. Maybe joining Mankanshoku in sleep would be a wise idea for once? Then again would he actually be able to sleep in the racket that was about to erupt?

No, he didn't even have a chance.

"I hope however decided to mess with the Disciplinary Committee is okay in the end."

Apparently Iori's mumbling was heard by whole class as everyone of Class-K did their best to bunker down in their cheap desks. The last time that Disciplinary Committee decided to burst into the classroom everyone in the front row was sent to the hospital for a week. The boy that was "desk buddy" with Mankanshoku suddenly tried to get as small as possible.

Well at least everyone now knows who brought the Disciplinary Committee's hammer on them. It was always the new kids that got in trouble.

Glass fragments rained upon Iori's head as the poor door flew into the window and sending most of the front row students into the air.

A giant of a man walked into the classroom followed by a horde of One-Star students. His Three-Star Goku Uniform was clean and very orderly; the sharp spikes on his shoulders and his spiked steel gauntlets were as big as a man's body. This was the drill sergeant from hell and the 'living shield' of Satsuki Kiryuin.

Ira Gamagoori the 'toad' of the Elite Four and the head of the Disciplinary Committee.

It looks like Mankanshoku is going to get a new "desk buddy". It would be the third one this week.

"Excuse me; we're in the middle of a lesson." Iori simply looked at his teacher wondering why he's trying to bring the "toad hammer" down on him.

It was probability the muffin from earlier.

Gamagoori just turn and glared at Mr. Mikisugi, it was a look that promised to unleash untold amount of pain for disobedience against the Kiryuin's ruler.

"I'm on official business!" the giant roared at the helpless history teacher.

Mr. Mikisugi quickly went into bow asking for forgiveness. The cloak wearing teen behind Mankanshoku simply shock his head at the scare tactics used by Kiryuin's dogs.

Gamagoori soon started to pace back in and forth in front of the surviving students of Class-K. He was going on some speech about protecting Honnōji Academy from spies and something like that.

Iori stopped paying any sort of attention the moment Gamagoori opened his mouth. As a survivor of Honnōji Academy for six months he had already heard Gamagoori speech multiple times. It didn't help that No-Stars where constant target for the Disciplinary Committee.

It was when Mankanshoku "desk buddy" stood up and actually threw something at the living shield of the Satsuki Kiryuin.

That caught his attention and did the boy actually have to use a smoke pallet?

He sighed at the poor weapon of choice of the new boy; no rule-breaker could actually escape the intensity that is Ira Gamagoori without help.

Too bad that he couldn't really do anything to help the poor student, then again it was the boy's fault that Gamagoori was on him now. All that Iori can do now was to watch.

Iori hoped he brought enough medical equipment with him today to fix any broken bones the boy was surely going to get.

He discretely checked his school bag to see if he had enough equipment with him.

Only homework for his math class met his sight.

It looks like it a trip back home during lunch was now necessary.

Another window shattered into pieces sending hundreds of fragments of glass over the poor students of Class-K.

It seemed that the toad wanted to fly today.

"Gamagoori has to be pissed today." Couple of students behind the cloak teen whispered to each other. Mentally nodding in his head in agreement, Iori didn't physical showed his support. After all the whisperers in the back were already being tackled down to the ground by One-Star enforcers.

No one in the room noticed the sound of cracking wood as the grumbles between One-Star enforcers and No-Star students got louder.

After all it was a regular day at Honnōji Academy.


The night loomed menacingly over Honnōji Academy the night completely quick expect for the small noises of insects and the whimpering of the so called 'traitor' of Honnōji Academy.

He was hanging up in front of the entrance of Honnōji Academy in the nude. Bruises covered his entire body and pus was leaking out of the injured wounds. It was obvious that once the 'traitor' was taken down from his public embarrassment he would require serious medical assistance.

Or he would be dead from the various wounds that ravaged his body.

This was a fate of a One-Star trying to foolish take on a Three-Star Goku uniform.

A figure formed out of the shadows and walked towards the "naked pig who dared to defy Honnōji Academy". Normally security would be extremely tight at the entrance of Honnōji Academy but due to the example that was now hanging up as some sort of twisted warning sign. Security was lax enough that you could simply walk through the entrance.

"You are greedy enough to deserve this fate…but I can't fault you for wanting to be strong." The figure whispered to the barely conscious pig. The figure reached into their pocket and pulled out a small container.

"This is a balm that should help you with the pain a little bit. I'm sorry that I can't do more." They applied the cream to the darkest bruises and placed a small rag over the boy jewels.

It didn't cover much but at least the injured traitor had some sort of decency now.

"Hey you! Step away from the traitor and beg for Lady Satsuki mercy!" A shout broke the figure out of their train of thought.

The figured turned to see a couple of One-Star guards rushing towards their position.

"I don't want to fight you" Was their reply to the guards.

The closest one snorted and threw a sloppy punch at the cloak figure. They simply side-stepped the blow and use the momentum of the guard to throw him over their shoulder.

The other One-Stars keep their charge up.

"I guess I have no choice then. I'm sorry if this hurts too much." The figure brought up their fist and blocked a punch to their stomach.

The screams of the One-Star night watch filled the once quiet Honnōji Academy night.


Aikuro Mikisugi was annoyed. One of the reasons why he was teaching at Honnōji Academy was not in the safety of his home.

The history teacher sighed as he stood near the doorway of Katsuki's "house". Calling it a house would be a stretch, then again every single building in the slums looked like they were going to fall apart any day.

It was a good thing that help Katsuki repair the walls the other day.

Speaking of the devil...

"I was just checking up on my favorite student to notice that he was out late on a school night."

A figure stepped into the light of one of the functioning streetlights in the slums and waved lazily at the concern teacher.

"Mr. Mikisugi it's nice to see you again. What do I own the pleasure of you checking up on me?"

Mikisugi walked over and handed his student a brown briefcase. Katsuki took the briefcase and started to walk towards his locked door.

"Thank you for bring me the extra reading materials I was asking about." The teen looked over to his teacher to smile at him.

"Well it's my duty as an educator to promote learning outside of the classrooms."

"It's still really kind of you Mr. Mikisugi, so thank you. Now I can finally finish that reading assignment you gave me way back then."

Mikisugi folded his arms in front of himself. It seemed that Katsuki didn't want to talk about where he's been. Sometimes teenagers can be such...teenagers.

Well let's see if he can dig for some information.

"Went out to help out that student from earlier today?"

Katsuki paused as he opened the door. Was it really that surprising to Katsuki that Mikisugi already knew where he was? Then again it was Mikisugi's job to watch over his more adventurous students. Katsuki was also known to be a person that helps others even when they did not ask for help. It was one of the reasons why he was so like in his neighborhood and why no one dared to mess with him. Then again he was on decent terms with the Mankanshoku family due to him helping out at the so called "Back-alley Doctor" clinic once in a while.

No one messes with friendly acquaintances of the Mankanshoku family, especially due to the fact that Mr. Mankanshoku was the best doctor in the slums.

Even if he killed more patients than actually saving them, but no one sweats the small details.

"Shouldn't a classmate help out his fellow students?" With that Iori Katsuki closed the door behind him.

Mikisugi sighed at his student behavior. It was a bad habit of his but Katsuki was known for his bleeding heart.

The history teacher sent out one more look at the home of his favorite student and sighed again.

He was going to be troublesome.

Mikisugi turned around and started to walk back home, it was getting late and he really needed the sleep.

After all he had a transfer student to deal with tomorrow.


Author's Note

Well here is the first glimpse of Iori Katsuki and his character. He might seem a little cold at first but once he gets some friends he's going to let his inner worrywart shine. This chapter is also going to smaller than normal chapters that I am going to be writing for this story. I am planning to aim for about 5,000 words for the future chapter of this story and this was kind of a test chapter to see how everything goes.

Next Chapter: "Hot-Blooded Devil" New Kid in Town

I hope you enjoyed this chapter and see you again soon!