Chapter One

Karma's POV

Even as I grew taller with age, my bedroom window was always big enough for me to escape from with ease. I had to practice in case of a fire, at least, that was my excuse to my parents. That was back when they used to actually live with me anyway. They had praised me for thinking ahead,and I was glad they had told me this, because to this day it was their words that encouraged me to make use of it as a quick route back into the real world whenever my legal guardians were acting up.

So I had gotten into trouble at school? So I had been suspended during not even my first hour back after two weeks of my own absence and another six on break? There was no need to lock me up in my house for such an unhealthy time, so it was only right for me to sneak out. Besides, my punishment was over in approximately four hours - I would no longer be grounded and no longer prohibited from being on school grounds. If things went according to plan, they wouldn't even have to know about this little escapade.

My phone startled as I stuffed a cushion under my bed sheet.

You comin' out with us then?

It was Terasaka. Him and his usual group were out being wild as ever tonight, what better way to celebrate the end of your punishment then to spend it with a crazy boy and his even crazier friends?

Yeah but don't bring the bike around here, it'll be too loud. Meet you there.

With that, I slipped the device into my back pocket, flicking off the lights and opening up the window, bringing it down onto an eraser just enough for it to look inconspicuously shut if someone stepped into my room, but so I could also come back in unnoticed when the time came. I launched myself out into the cold air, lowering myself on the ledge until my feet touched the top of the porch, where I could easily jump down to my freedom.

A single pebble glided across the concrete, rolling under the car where it eventually stilled, but other than that, I was silent. I guess having two legal guardians who were practically fitted with motion detectors in their brains had paid off after a few years of ninja like practices, I smirked back at the house triumphantly and flipped it off while I was at it before throwing my hands into my pockets and heading down the street.

"Here he is! The guy that took out that fucking wretch for us!" Terasaka called out rambunctiously, waving his hand in the air as the others cheered at my arrival. It had been way too long since I'd heard any noise above house level. I gladly grinned back and took a bow like some form of royalty.

"You're the guy who single-handedly ended our old teacher?" A smaller boy looked up. He was about up to my chest with silver hair behind a purple bandanna and gold eyes.

"That's right. You a new member of the E class?"

He only nodded in response, but Takuya came to stand beside him, grinning from ear to ear when he spoke,"Itona's new alright, and maybe the strongest in our class now? What do you say, you think you can take him?"

I looked down at the drastically smaller boy and nearly laughed, but his expression remained still.

"You don't look strong."

"Neither do you." He glanced at my lean frame in a way that made my eyebrows turn down into a frown.

"Hey hey! You guys are both stronger than you look so no need to fight too flamboyantly...last thing we need is some witness calling the cops." Terasaka rubbed the back of his neck as he spoke. A bicker and several hushes later, we decided that instead of breaking out into a fist fight in the middle of the street, we would settle our dispute in a controlled way with a simple arm wrestle.

"This is how it goes alright, the loser has to get beers for all of us." The two tone haired boy declared. "Three, two, one!"

He wasn't lying about what he said before. Immediately after that sound, both of us reacted in time to have our muscles tensed and our hands together pushing at a more or less equal rate. Itona grit his teeth, looking up at me with struggling eyes, I smirked at him despite the pressure I was also under.

"Ha...pretty good kid.."

As I was speaking, he leaned down, tipping my arm to the left only to have me quickly react by pushing down. I had acknowledged this boy at least, but being new to the class, and with my reputation to live up for, I couldn't let myself lose to such a frail looking teen.

Channelling my anger into a sudden burst of strength, pushing him down with my hand clenching around his until his power slowly faded out, he was just an inch away when his resistance gave out completely and I sent his hand down into the concrete.

"That was actually close at first!" Yoshida exclaimed, coming to stand behind Itona, "It's good we got other tough guys in our class, Eh Karma?"

"Now when those A class pricks come for us we can get even more hits in."

I nodded in agreement, the thought of crushing some nerds incredibly tempting, just going to prove that suspension improved nothing about the issue other than hiding it from them for long enough for them to be forgotten about.

"But a deals a deal, so Itona, how are you gonna get us beers when you look like a twelve year old?"

The others just laughed. "That's another cool feat about him, watch this, you wouldn't believe it."

We walked over to the outside of some shop, where Terasaka told me to stay here and watch at how things were done. They all went in, Itona standing at the back. The large glass doors and windows were clear of posters, so I could see the inside from here, the man behind the counter could see out as well, looking at me with narrowed, suspicious eyes. I waved at him conspicuously, making his gaze avert back to the others at the shame of being caught, though now, there were only three of them visible.

The mans mouth moved, and Terasaka responded by saying something inaudible to me, walking over to the counter as the others headed to either the first or middle row, looking over at magazines and pointing at sweets from the pick and mix. From here Itona was no where to be seen, but when Terasaka started pointing at the guarded alcohols behind the men, all my attention was averted to him. He was shouting, and I couldn't help but watch and snicker as Terasaka looked confused at his anger, and Takuya 'accidentally' knocked over some sweets.

A cold finger pressed against my arm, leaving a chill. I turned back to see Itona standing behind me, in his arms, a six pack of beers.

"I get it, you were in the third row while they averted his attention, weren't you?"

He shrugged, handing me a can,"He dropped the sweets the same time as the doorbell chimed so he wouldn't hear."

"Not bad." I couldn't help but grin at him.

We headed down the alleyway beside this shop, not a second later being joined by the others. "Looks like we got some free sweets as well." Takuya chimed.

"No one wants your dusty floor sweets." Itona spoke, crushing the others offer as he retracted his hand.

"Suit yourselves then, more for me anyway. And I don't want any of your beer either as a matter of fact." He scowled.

"Wow, are you that much of a light weight?" Yoshida questioned with a raised eyebrow, making the boy glare and punch him in the arm.

"I simply take Nagisa-Sensei's lessons to heart, that's all."

"Says the boy munching on stolen sweeties." they mocked.

I raised my eyebrow, taking a sip of the cool drink, "Hm. That's who they replaced him with?"

"Shit! You don't know do you?" Terasaka gleamed, as though I was missing out on some massive secret. Naturally, this made me curious as to who they were speaking so dramatically of. I wanted to know if I had to break another teachers jaw or if this when was neutral enough for me to not hate. Not in front of the others, anyway.

They all laughed, and Yoshida put his hands behind his head,"Nagisa-Sensei's... well how an E class teacher should be, slightly over the top at dreaming but other than that the chillest Sensei we've ever had! Seriously Karma, we're taught stuff we can actually understand, we're allowed to wonder about the mountain, we're even allowed to beat the shit out of each other in PE because it's 'healthy development for those who grow up in a tough environment' which is a quote by the way."

I took one glance at the slightly blushing boy and cringed, hoping that it was due to a particularly strong beer. "Seems boring as the others to me, but I'm getting the impression you're a bit of a fan, Yoshida?"

Terasaka wolf whistled, watching as the boy nearly spat out his drink, the other seeming to enjoy the comment a bit too much with boisterous laughter and hollering until the traces light from the lamp outside our narrow alleyway was dimmed. I saw the coldness in Itona's eyes across from me, and and turned to where he was looking, squinting to see five male silhouettes that looked in their early twenties standing towards us and jeering.

They were the kind of guys with unshaven stubble, cigarette stink on the clothes their girlfriends brought them and an overused gym subscription paid for by their mothers. I could insult them as much as I wanted, but the fact was, they were likely people that would make a mess of kids like us just for fun without even pulling the blades they kept in their back pockets.

"Look what we've got here, little brats hanging out past their bed times." The tallest threatened, suddenly losing his bitterly amused leer as he threatened. "Scram."

Itona reached down and grabbed the beers, Takuya's eyes turning down.

"There's no need to go, we were here first." A sly, baiting smile crept onto my face. Itona's eyes widened, and Terasaka urged me to shut my mouth, but I had been cooped up on house arrest for way too long. This is what I had been missing, the thrill of taking down more opponents that you think you can't handle, even if they are bulky adults and even if there are several of them and only one of you.

I couldn't wait to surprise them a little.

"Don't you little shits know it's dangerous at night? Shouldn't you be in bed to get to class on tim-"

"Shouldn't you?" The man look disgusted at my comment, but I took the pause to look over them with a persistent smirk just for the sake of playing games. "Though, I highly doubt a single one of you have a job. That's why you're out here pickin' on us right? You need some way to pay the rent to your mom's, even they don't want you cluttering their basements."

The tallest one held back a guy that took a step forward, teeth gritted as he yelled that we were really pissing him off.

I laughed mockingly and sarcastically called them scary.

Terasaka took this opportunity to grab my by the shoulder and frantically mutter,"What the hell are you thinking? These guys are all twice our size - they look strong even for you!"

"Seriously Karma! Have some common sense, so you're strong in a high school, doesn't make you freaking invincible! We should just surrender."

"You're submitting to someone? Seriously? You guys aren't acting like your old selves. If you're so scared just leave it to me, I can take 'em all" I spoke, loudly enough for them all to hear. They looked up at me with fear in their eyes, like I was crazy, like they were regretting coming out with me.

I couldn't wait to mock them for their fear after I knocked each and every one of these bastards teeth out.

"As I was saying," The same man yelled, as I took a slow few steps dauntingly closer to them, leaving the other behind in the back of the alley where they could cower. I nearly rolled my eyes. "You brats being out so late means it's your damn parents faults not ours that you ended up smacked the fuck up! So I won't be held for it in court!"

Swinging his beefy fist at me slowly enough for me to duck and kick him in the stomach, expecting him to slide back metres, not the surprising skid only a few inches off his feet that caught me off guard allowing the others I hadn't realised had pincered around me to grip down on my shoulders hard from behind, digging into me with strength that actually made my teeth clench, spinning away from the stumbling idiot in the front to hit the one holding me, only to be bear tackled to the floor by a bull like figure that weighed enough to have me groaning out through my tensed jaw.

"You think you're so touch kid!" A fistful of my hair was grabbed. I landed a punch on one guy and a kick on another, but the fourth guy was relentless on my, raising his fist so close to my face I could already see the purple flashes of pain. "I'll teach you a lesson yo-"

"I wouldn't do that if I were you!"

The hand before me faltered with a jolt, the man it belonged to releasing a cry before his body twisted and convulsed, scaring even me.

"What the fuck?"

His body collapsed before me, the weight of his thick muscles making for a satisfying thud.

"Chad?"

It was dark. Other than the shouting, it was silent. I was just as befuddled as them, my mind wandering if one of my other friends had beaten me to it, if it was Terasaka or the new kid. As my eyes adjusted in the absence of the lamp, all I could see was bright blue hair and even brighter crystal blue eyes. Unfamiliar eyes.

The police? Already? There was no way!?

My mind raced, wondering if I should take a few hits and play the student victim or if I should knock them all down and get as far away from a potential taser as I possibly could.

"You sleazy guys think it's fun to pick on kids?" The low voice called out, eyes glaring so brightly I could barely look away. No. Other than the blazing neon eyes, there were no sirens and no other officers. So if not the police, who was the person?

"What the hell did you do to our boss?!" My shoulders were released, me slumping onto the floor, groaning and glaring up as the solid ground greeted me like I had been hit by a truck.

"I'll give you one chance and one chance only. Get out of here or you'll end up like him."

Despite the tension rising in the atmosphere, despite the warning of bloodshed and the threat of hidden weapons concealed by a group of strangers with any potential backstory, that single voice rung out so calmly controlled and confident, I wondered if they really knew what they were getting into.

With distance between us, I glared. This person was not only a woman, but the kind of woman with little pig tails in her hair, a lack of curves or toned muscles in her body and a height smaller than every single one of us here. She must have been crazy.

"Who the fuck do you think you are!?"

I'd had enough time to think. This woman was going to get hurt.

I spun around on the ground, hoisting myself onto my arms as I knocked out the guy behind me's legs, swinging myself up to kick him in the face. He groaned out and gave way, stumbling into the floor behind me as I looked up to help the woman in way over her head.

"Don't you know it's bad manners to curse in front of children?"

My eyes widened. I was the one that was paralysed, but there was no taser, or no weapon of any kind unless you count the body when the woman jabbed the largest man in the chest three times, moving to the other so fast I barely noticed until she had gotten to him, kicking him in the throat, bringing him diagonally down to her height so she could poke two fingers into his neck below his chin, sending him down as well.

Was this woman using pressure points? She elbowed, she kneed, she flicked and even pinched, not throwing a single punch yet in a matter of no time, all of the thugs double her size were down.

I had never seen someone move so quickly before in my life. I had never seen real people just blur into colours like that and grown men stumble at the hands of someone as if they were made of paper.

It was breathtaking. Astonishing. Terrifying.

I was so out of I barely noticed the guy I thought I'd taken out getting back up. Cold rough hands closed around my face, an arm looping around my neck and scooping my up in a headlock, a cold, sharp blade pressing between my two eyes.

I chocked out a gasp, all thrashing and kicking coming to a sudden end at the fear of the weapon pressed so close it blurred. The contrast of burning skin and stinging cold adding to the lethality. I was usually so strong, so ahead of the enemy and reluctant for help, but it this situation, my eyes rapidly blinked over to the woman in fear and hesitation as the blade flickered unstably in the shaking of his tensed, sweating hands.

"Make one fucking move and I'm taking this fucker's eye out!"

She was frozen, her eyes looking at me for a second with a still expression, before turning just to the left of me, where I felt the head of the coward bastard using me as a shield.

"I won't move." She spoke, voice as calm as it had been before.

"Good. Now turn your back and walk the fuck out of here!"

"That's not very clever-"

"Put your hands in the air! Put them up!"

She stopped, raising her hands, one of them clenched into a fist as if something was inside it. The other boys beside me were silent.

"I've seen the faces of you and all of your friends. If you let me walk away, I'll only be going off to the police station." She explained tranquilly, her eyes boring into his.

"Have you ever been to prison before?" She asked, as if she knew fully well what the answer to that was. His palms begun sweating heavily around my throat and forehead. He was getting nervous. What the hell was she hoping to achieve by doing that, weren't cops meant to calm them down? If he got scared he would just fucking stab me! I would lose a fucking eyeball - there would be no covering that up!

It wasn't long before I was the one sweating, sweating so hard it was like the cold meant nothing.

"You wouldn't want to go there again would you? Not to be locked away from your family, maybe forever with all those horrible, horrible men."

"Shut the fuck up!" The man barked, nearly deafening me. Was that the plan, make him shout until others came to get us?

"What's in your hand? Drop it!"

He was trembling now, shaking as if he were the one with a blade (which I felt no more than ever before) against him. But what else should I expect, look at all of his friends. If there faces were any guide, that pressure point attack hurt.

"Don't do anything reckless."

The woman looked over to me, eyes telling me to trust her. Why would I do that? What kind of deranged woman her size took down this many men? What kind of person interrupts a street brawl just for the heck of it? Why would I ever trust her? She blinked at me as if to say stay calm.

For some reason, I blinked back, and when my eyes opened, she was looking back at them man as if she had never looked away.

"Look at my hands," she cooed, voice suddenly so soothing it was chilly,"I'm going to drop my weapon."

"G-Good..!" The man swallowed, sounding not even half of the man he was before.

Then it happened. My eyes followed her hand in tension, wanting to know what malovelent weapon she hid, fearing that it would explode, fearing that it would blind me, fearing the unpredictable. Her fist opened. Out fell a small... rock?

Only then did I realise that she was suddenly so much larger. That the sound of the rock hitting the floor could be heard clearly from here. That she was standing right before us. My heart pounded so hard, she was moving so fast with her hands extending towards us, I knew imminent death was upon us, when her hands slamed together a mere inch beside me.

A clap resounded like a bomb, deafening me, paralysing me, disabling my body as she grabbed my wrist and yanked my into the wall beside me, attacking the man who had stumbled back from me in fear of her approaching figure who was now jut as paralysed as me.

My knees gave out as his did, but unlike him, my gape was untwisted in agony, my eyes unclosed and lacking the growing puddle around his trousers on the floor.

The worst jump-scare I'd ever had was a movie I shouldn't have seen when I was seven. This hurt so many times worse, but I was unable to be reduced to tears, unable to wet myself like the other man, and unable to blink as I breathed heavily.

Blue eyes looked at me in concern, pressing against my forehead and mouthing words drowned out by the whirring in my head. My ears were pulsating with my heartbeat, but I couldn't hear anything behind them, though I could feel that my breathing was erratic.

It wasn't until I saw Terasaka frowning, that I finally heard something.

"Karma!? Snap out of it!"

Breath stabilized, heart rate under control, vision making sense and audio returned, I swallowed hard, finally able to bring my hand to my face and brush the hair off of my forehead.

"I'm okay."

They all sunk down in relief, tensed shoulder closing, as my eyes narrowed at the woman before me, snatching her hand off of me.

"Holy fucking shit I thought you killed him." Yoshida sighed. They seemed to know this woman even though I'd never seen her. I suppose...that would make sense if she knew one of us and wanted to help, but who the hells insane assassin cousin was this? If anyone was to have relative like this, it would be me, but this woman didn't bare a single resemblance to any of us.

"Even out here, you shouldn't swear like that Yoshida-kun." The woman almost scolded, eyes looking concerned, but voice tranquil like a polite plea.

"No! Don't even go there you just beat up like five guys! No way am I not telling the others about this."

She sighed, rubbing her temples, "We have bigger problems right now. Karma-kun, how are you feeling?"

She reached her hand to help me up, I looked at it, looked at what happened to the other who touched her and stood up myself. "Don't speak to me like you know me. Who the fuck are you?!"

The other boys went silent. It seemed her presence had brought them back to life from their momentary death silence during the fight, but now I had gone and destroyed that all.

She didn't look nearly as grievous or offended as I would have liked, instead blinking and laughing, "That's right, I completely forgot. You can call me Nagisa-Sensei, it's a pleasure to meet you Karma, though meeting here really is a...unique experience."

"You..." My voice trailed off. I had been half expecting her to be an exchange student, but our teacher...? No way. What kind of dangerous people where they hiring for us E class students? I know we were considered rough but seriously? Though, she did look pretty innocuous.

I snapped my thoughts out of looking down at the now obvious difference between our heights, at her soft blue hair, nurturing eyes and loose, boyish clothes.

"Did you guys know that your teacher was a ninja?" I stared at them incredulously, and while Itona nodded quietly, Terasake chimed, "I'm just us freaked out as you are!"

Nagisa-Sensei sighed, running a hand through the back of her short hair nervously,"Please don't spread such rumors, come on, these men will be fine when they wake up, but that won't be pretty if we're still around here. What on earth were you boys doing out here this late anyway? Don't you know it's dangerous!? And is that beer I can smell? You may be in high school and think that because you're growing up you're all tough but think about your poor parents, they must be so worried, not to mention the fact that it's a school night!"

We had walked out the alleyway to see the shop we had harassed now shuttered up and abandoned, but when those words left her mouth, we all froze.

"Hey! You're not gonna tell our parents are you?!" Takuya demanded frantically, his eyebrows raising about as high as a humans could go, as he took the minacious woman by the shoulders a little too familarly and shook her.

"How could I no-"

"Nagisa-Sensei!" Yoshida gasped, as if ashsamed. Itona tutted his head.

"We thought you were cooler than this!" Terasaka sighed.

"Hey!" She bit her lip in a sort of pout,"Don't try and emotionally blackmail me like that, your parents have a right to know after such a dangerous stunt-"

"Guess we'll just have to tell the others you're not really all that amazing as well as the fact that you're a secret government spy or whatever. What a shame, they sounded so admiring when they were telling me about you before." I mimicked, quickly catching on.

"Eh! You guys! That's not fair."

"How about this, we promise not to tell the others and you promise not to tell our parents?" Terasaka offered, extending his hand as if to shake. She eyed him skeptically.

"You promise not to do something as stupid as that again and to go straight home after this and it's a deal?" She offered.

Terasaka briefly looked over us and shrugged, shaking her hand,"Deal. Besides, we were just gonna back away, Karma's the one who started a fight."

"That doesn't surprise me." She deadpanned, once again speaking as if she knew me, making my eyes narrow. The others said goodbye and headed off, since Itona live near this woman, he headed off alone with the mysterious, ominous woman.

"Oh and Karma," I had just turned my back and begun to walk off when I heard her voice. "Next time you refer to me, remember it's 'our teacher'"

I remembered referring to her as their's but not mine, but I was still confused until she smiled and tapped her wrist. "It's quarter past twelve, so your suspension is technically over. Welcome back to the E class."

When that small, closed eyed smile lit up her face, I knew it was genuine. Not some deceptive way to earn our trust, to make us think better of her than she really was or to fool herself. I knew that there was no mistaking that unlike our other teachers, this one could look at us and care for us in honesty, no selfishness present.

For some reason, that pretty little expression of hers remained in my mind long after I had walked down my street and back into my home.

This is something new I've had written for a while and wanted to post, but held back since I had so many other things going on at the same time.

Tell me what you think please, reviews, opinions and suggestions are always appreciated

T~h~a~n~k Y~o~u!