Chapter One

First Day

Yuki woke up, curled into a ball under her covers. Stretching, she poked one arm out from the warmth of her blanket. As goosebumps ran up her arm, she pulled it back in, away from the chill of the morning.

A quiet knock on her bedroom door alerted her to her sister's presence. The door slowly opened, letting the bright light shine on Yuki's face. Pulling the covers back over her head, she attempted to fall asleep again. Her sister, Mai, was the only early riser in the entire house.

"C'mon, get up already. You won't want to be late for your first day, will you?" Mai commanded. Yuki pulled the covers back just enough to glare at the cheerful girl.

"No, I'm antisocial. I don't even see why I have to go to school, when I can learn so much more on the internet," Yuki replied. She had never been comfortable around other people, always the loner. She had two friends which she trusted more than anything, but that was it. "I'm going back to sleep."

"But Yuki!" she whined. "Mom will kill me if I don't get you to school on time." It was their first day in the new school, and they weren't allowed to skip it, under any circumstances.

"I don't care. I'm staying here," Yuki replied.

"Fine, then I'll get the cold water. I have to get you up one way or another!"

"Wait! I reconsidered!" Yuki called, but it was too late. She jumped out of bed and got her clothes on, so Mai wouldn't have an excuse to dump the water on her. Their new school required its students to wear uniforms, but they were allowed to make changes, as long as they wore the tops and bottoms.

Yuki pulled on her grey pleated skirt over a pair of baggy black jeans, tucking the bottoms into her favorite pair of leather boots. The shirt she was required to wear was a white blouse, so she put a neon green long sleeve shirt underneath, adding a scarlet scarf worn loose.

Finally, it came time to do her hair and makeup. She never did much, because she didn't feel a need to. Just brush the long turquoise hair and pull it back into a high ponytail, put in her special red contacts, and add a little silver eyeshadow.

Her contact lenses were enchanted, and gave her the ability to see spirits. Yuki had done some work exorcising spirits over her free time, slowly earning the money necessary to create a dorm for her friends to share with her.

The school she had gone to taught the students magic, and a bit of swordplay. She had enjoyed learning both things. The previous school had also tutored her, improving the ability she had to communicate with and shapeshift into animals. Her favorite form had been a fox.

Mai walked in, holding a big bucket of water. There was a disappointed look on her face when she noticed that her sister was dressed and packing up her school bag. The bucket of water vanished into thin air, and she walked over to her sister.

Mai had been born with the power of astral and mental projection, being able to make illusions seem real and leave her body behind. She had accidently done that once in a normal school, and freaked out all of her classmates.

"Aw, I wanted to scare you. At least you're ready now," she said.

"Well, illusion or not, I wasn't taking any chances. Not with you, anyways," Yuki replied, frowning. "Well, I'm up. Is there any breakfast ready?"

"Yeah, I warmed up some bagels and spread cream cheese on 'em. Want any?"

"Sure." Yuki ran downstairs, her sister following closely. After a quick breakfast, Yuki grabbed the black trench coat she had on the hook, and left the house, her sister still tying her shoes. When Mai caught up, she was pissed off.

"Hey! Don't just leave me behind," she said. "I don't care if you turn into some random animal or whatever, but if you leave me behind, I will dump water on you!" Once she was done with her rant, Mai grabbed Yuki's hand, dragging her forward.

Once they arrived at the gates of school, they encountered a large, silver, shimmery bubble covering the school grounds. Yuki guessed that it was a barrier to keep the normal humans out, but she didn't know if it had any other functions.

Every person going to their school had a special or supernatural power, some unusual talent they either learned or were born with. Yuki had made a point of studying all the various powers she had seen over the course of her life so far. It interested her greatly.

Yuki, having been born with special abilities, was introduced to the supernatural community early on. When she was five, she made her first permanent friend. Ema, who was from the U.S, had the ability to control shadows, and used this for her amusement, mostly. She was, however, very kind-hearted, and would always help someone in need. Her favorite thing to do was to listen to her favorite band, Dark Masked Devils. She was a fun, energetic person with many crazy ideas, similar to Yuki.

Her other friend, who she met in Japan when she was eight, was a pyromaniac named Kimura Mizuki. Mizuki was the kind of quiet person most people wouldn't notice, until someone mentioned fire or anime. She would get into a big long rant about how a person should read this or that, or how wonderful fire was. Her pyromania came mostly from her talent to create silver flames. Mizuki had learned how to create other flames, too, but she had been able to create silver fire from as far back as she could remember. Not having any parents, she relied on the members of the magical community to provide her with food and board.

Yuki had spent most of her life with those two crazy and fun friends, enjoying her studies and travel, learning all sorts of things with them. It had made their bond stronger, and the three of them considered themselves sisters.

Yuki's actual sister, Mai, had spent a lot of her life with their parents, living in Japan, so it had become a home to her, but not Yuki, who didn't have a home. Yuki's home was with her friends, wherever they were, she was happy.

Yuki had convinced them to go with her to their new school. It was called Kiri High, and all the students were special in some way. She and her friends were no different, not including the types of powers they had.

Once they passed the gate, all traces of the silvery bubble vanished. It was the early morning, yet torches lit the foggy walkway, which was made of cobblestones. It gave the feel of an eerie estate in England, one whose history goes back generations. Classic idea of the normal people, which those of magical blood or teaching referred to as "norms".

Norms weren't allowed on the school grounds, be they parents, friends, or enemies. It was generally accepted that they shouldn't be introduced into the magical society. The higher-ups of the "special" world were afraid of them, because it was something the norms didn't understand, and it scared most of them.

As they approached the first school building, they were surprised to see an actual castle, similar to the one in the Harry Potter series by J.K Rowling, though not nearly as large. It still loomed over them like a citadel, though.

Yuki, who had learned a bit of masonry, was captivated by the swirling, delicate designs carved into the stone blocks that formed the building. They all depicted scenes from history, magical and non-magical alike. They were so detailed, she swore they could move around if they had wanted to.

While he and her sister were taking in the gorgeous sight before them, a loud crash came from a path off to the left of the place where they were standing. Yuki, broken out of the captivating beauty, ran to see what had happened, and possibly caused damage to the beautiful, old building.

As she rounded the corner, a horrific sight came into view. One of the statues which was situated around the walkway had been toppled over and broken, a result of the scuffle two boys her age were in. She stormed up to them, angry as hell.

"What do you think you're doing?! How dare you destroy such a beautiful piece of artwork! I shall make quite sure you two repair it! What're you names, anyways?" she yelled angrily, holding them an arm's length apart. They stared in amazement.

"How are you so strong...?" the bow with the straw hat asked, clearly in awe.

"Yeah," the blonde one said. He tossed a kunai at the other one, and Yuki dropped him, catching it in mid-flight. This seemed to impress the blonde one even more.

"I won't tolerate any fighting on the first day, got it? My sister came here to have fun, and if you guys ruin that for her, you'll have hell to pay," Yuki said, offering no explanation about her strength. She could call on the physical attributes of any animal at any time, changing her form only slightly.

"Okay, fine. I'll stop," Strawhat said. "By the way, I'm Luffy!"

"Yeah, yeah. I won't fight him today..." Blondie agreed. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki, and don't forget it!"

The scuffle had brought a crowd of onlookers, some of which were probably her classmates. One with an orange hat and freckles pushed his way to the front, clearly worried about something.

"Damn you, did you hurt Luffy?" he asked. Yuki shook her head and crossed her arms, disappointed.

"No, but I won't let anyone fight any more. Those two already broke a statue in their little brawl. I won't stand for it. Your name is...?"

"Oh, I'm Ace. Glad to hear you stopped 'em. Luffy can get really worked up, you know? He doesn't pay attention to his surroundings, either," Ace said, apologizing. "I'm Luffy's older brother, and sometimes he worries me, being as scatterbrained as he is..."

"Okay, try to keep him out of trouble, will you?" Yuki said, thankful that someone was on her side. Her sister Mai had just arrived, putting a hand on her sister's shoulder.

"Hey, you kids, get to the entrance- whoa, what happened here? You do know duels are allowed, as long as they're set up with a teacher?" a tall, silver-haired adult said, walking up to them.

"Kakashi-sensei?! I didn't know you taught here!" Naruto exclaimed, speaking up.

"Naruto, I came here just to keep an eye on you. Now stop getting into trouble, it tires me out..." Kakashi said, letting out a big sigh. "Guess I'll have to babysit you this year, huh?"

"Kakashi-sensei, c'mon! I don't need any babysitting!" Naruto protested.

"Then why're you making so much trouble for the other students? The rest of you, get going. Oh, and good job stopping them, girl. What's your name?" Kakashi asked.

"Oh, it's Ichinose Yuki," she responded. Mai dragged her to the auditorium, keeping her from pausing to inspect the other masonry. It was one thing she loved. Art.