(edited for easier reading but still preaty chunky) hello all and welcome to my second (uploaded) story. a word of warning, most of this is in the single POV (later there will be changes in POV but that will be a fair while later) right, well this will be mostly in line with the story line until all the girls are introduced because i have no imagination, later it will become more original (i hope) and be a more interesting read. will have to see how things go in relation to reports so aside from that ENJOY TO THE BEST OF YOUR ABILITIES WHEN THE ONLY THING TO ENJOY HAPPANS TO BE NOT OWNED BY ME (i.e. that was meant to be a disclamer, i don't own Infinite Stratos) so i hope you enjoy the story line when i add my own stuff in and if you have watched the anime then you will probably notice that most of it is copied from there.

key:

"takling"

"thinking"

'air quoted'

(my comments)

time to read on dear readers

XXX

Street wise in a school

Ep.1: introductions

It was all going so well, my life was stable, well as stable as a master thief/hacker's life could be, no big problems, all my debts had been paid, and those I couldn't pay had been dropped after a little 'negotiation'…

Then the open market request came in for a whole IS unit, grand pay for anyone to bring one in. No one I knew or had heard about had ever managed to steal a whole unit before; my own personal best was a pair of legs and an arm. I didn't even need the money, it seemed like it was just some random challenge made as a joke maybe, but I couldn't help myself, "I just had to push it didn't I, just had to go that little bit further." I thought with a grin on my face as I stared down the group of security guards who had me surrounded, blocking me against a wall next to the black IS unit I had been trying to steal. I hesitated slightly when I again tried to work out what the heck had happened when I touched the damn thing. It was all going to plan, sneak in, find the experimental unit, and get out, simple as can be! Yet the second I touched the damn thing…

I don't fully understand what happened, I had looped the cable around it so I could drag it out and I skimmed it with the back of my hand when I was securing the cable and it burned me. So I now have a strange mark on the back of my hand that I didn't even get a chance to examine properly because then the unit had started sparking and shining somehow and setting all the alarms off, and now I find myself in this interesting situation.

I slipped out my knife from behind me and held it before me calling out to them with a cocky grin, "If we're going to do this then how about we do it soon, after all I'm a busy thief, things to steal and the like." I waited for one of them to rise to the bait. My grin faltered when they didn't move but I recovered and started calculating in the way I do when I have trouble with a problem.

"Chances of a charge: low on both sides. Chances of them breaking formation: depending on incentive medium to high. Chances of a fight: low to medium. Chances of me getting away with suit: non-existent. Chances of getting away at all: medium depending on various factors including fight and formation statistics. Operation account: botched job but possibility of escape to try again another day or simply move on." Having run through some of my options I had a plan that had the highest success rate out of them but was still pretty risky, I grinned thinking "but if it wasn't risky then it wouldn't be fun" and so I prepared myself to start.

Taking a deep breath I jumped back and onto one of the IS units wings before pulling out a small smoke bomb I had whipped up before hand from my satchel and threw it down at them. After it went off I jumped down and prepared to rush straight through them but stopped and turned when I heard something moving, I was confused and a little amazed as I saw the unit start moving and just stood there staring at it lumbering to its feet and started reaching, and if I didn't know any better I could have sworn it was reaching, for me.

I stood there until I noticed that the smoke was clearing and I was still just standing there and so I stepped forward and patted the front of the unit and said quickly with a small smile "maybe next time" before turning and dashing out past the dazed guards and out of the building complex that I had found it in and slipped into the many streets and alleys that had been my home for as long as I could remember.

After I was sure that I wasn't being followed I made my way to my little bunker I had made in the terminal for an abandoned train station, calling as I came closer "deactivate security weapons 1 through 5, voice recognition code 666 confirm" and waited for the robotic "voice recognition confirmed, weapons deactivated" before I continued in and called out the required phrases to reactivate the defences I had set up in case anyone was stupid or brave enough to try and sneak in, once I was secured in my little bunker I dropped my bag on the coach I had dragged in and set myself down in front of my 5 screen computer display and checked the goings on of the cyber underworld.

About a half hour later, after checking to see if there were any interesting and high enough paying jobs out and finding none, I had dragged myself over to my bed and collapsed into it for some sleep, but heaven forbid I should be allowed some respite, soon after I collapsed into bed my alarms started going off and I was up instantly checking the monitors that showed all the access routes that could be used to get here and almost had to do a double take at what I saw, judging by what I could see of the fast moving IS that was heading straight for me, I was sure I had seen it before and something made me call out "deactivate all security protocols except sensors, voice recognition code 666 confirm" and after confirmation was made I dashed out to the train line that the IS was coming from and waited, unconsciously scratching at the burn I still hadn't checked properly.

When it showed up any doubt I had that I knew the IS was wiped away as I saw the streamline black colour and the connected legs like a pair of trousers, I grinned and walked up to it and patting it I said "looks like you chose the next time" before turning and walking a few steps away and waiting to see if it would follow, when it just sat there I sighed and rubbing the back of my head I strode back over and said to myself "of course it couldn't find it in itself to move just a bit further" and set to looping some more cables around it before dragging it back to the area reserved for IS parts, but for now would house this strange unit that I didn't think I would be handing over to anyone.

The next morning I went and made sure that all my security protocols were still intact and then checked on my new guest, then I checked to see if any requests had come in and I found none of interest, after seeing everything was in order I sat down and finally took the time to study the strange burn the unit had given me, it was definitely interesting I would say that, yet it had a sort of elegance to it, as I looked at it I started to wonder how a burn had so many curls to it, as I studied it I worked out that it seemed to be a sort of eye with curls of fire spreading out from it, it was more like a snakes eye than a humans, as in the iris and pupil were slitted.

My study of it was cut short when I heard my alarms going off, I rushed over to the screens and I started swearing when I saw men with the same sort of uniform from the complex that had housed the unit that was currently sitting in my workshop, I checked my defences and saw that they had all been dismantled which caused me to start swearing all over again, scanning through all the views I discovered that I was surrounded and quickly shut everything down calling out "emergency data transfer to wireless knife port, after transfer delete all data and shut down for indefinite amount of time, voice recognition code 666 confirm" and after confirmation was made, I pulled out my knife and checked the slowly filling green bar that glowed along the side of the handle and then dashed around memorising every scrap of information I had and then destroying it before I entered the workshop and looked around at all the scrap and parts I would have to leave behind.

When my gaze fell on the IS I got a crazy idea and started working it through my head as fast as I could before thinking the some of the only doubts I had "but only females can pilot IS units, but it did follow me, but who's to say I can use it, I won't know unless I try" I managed to reason with myself until I was agreed and set about unbinding the unit and preparing for possible humiliation.

Climbing up into the IS I grabbed the head piece, a small black ring of metal, setting it on my head I was surprised that it fit and was even more so when I set myself up in it the way I was supposed to and it actually responded, the legs tightened and secured themselves, the arms slid up and hands popped out the ends, the back curled up and out of the waist, sliding over my shoulders and locking me down, the wings lifted and settled themselves on either side of me, as I took my first steps I couldn't hold in an exited cheer when it responded but I quickly remembered that I was doing this for a reason.

Without really thinking I reached around to pull my knife out and was startled when I found I could still reach it, the back of the suit had adjusted to leave room for it to be reached and the hands weren't too big to hold it, pulling it out I checked to see how the data transfer was doing and let out a sigh of relief when I saw that it was complete, thinking of something else I connected the knifes mainframe to the IS' mainframe and almost cheered again when I saw it connecting smoothly but held it in and ran through all my files, making sure I had everything before disconnecting it and sliding it back into its sheath.

Patching into my surveillance network I checked to see how close the men were and almost fainted from shock to see the lot of them hammering on my doors already, I shut the connection and set about learning about the unit, when I found its name I didn't even bother holding in my laughter, its name was Diablo, "a more fitting name I couldn't find" I thought smugly as I read through all it performance and statistics, when I was done I heard the doors falling and I called out over the speaker system I had "if you're looking for the IS unit, sorry but I don't think you will be getting it back any time soon, and if you looking for me, well, let's just say you're in for a big surprise" and shut it off laughing, before taking a deep breath and preparing myself for what I thought would be the most interesting time I had had in a while.

Keeping an eye on the surveillance, I watched them ransack my home, and started getting angry, I snapped when they sent a bunch of techies into my computer station and charged out into the middle of them shouting "I will put up with a lot of shit but I draw the line at messing with my computers you damn bastards!" and dropping my arms I grabbed the handles to the knives that I found on the sides of my legs and drew them, spun them a few times and set to work knocking the men aside and away from my lab, when I reached it I looked in and saw a team of 10 techies trying to puzzle their way through my mine field like security system and shouted at them "leave now or I will kill you where you stand" and I almost started laughing at how fast they ran out, and turning to look at the huge group of people standing in front of me I smiled and called out "you can do whatever you feel like to my place, but if any of you so much as steps a single foot in my lab then I will hunt you down and kill you myself, is this under stood?!" and after I got a couple of hesitant head nods I yelled as an afterthought "and that includes anyone you call for and are connected to in this whole thing"

I dropped my smile and said "I'm leaving now and you can't stop me so why don't you all just move out of my way" and I turned back and set about locking my lab shut with every code and defence I had and when I turned back I walked down the cleared path before me to the train tracks that I knew led to all over the city and mumbled to the suit "let's see what you got" before blasting down the tunnel and away from the only real home I ever knew.

As I darted through the tunnels I opened a comm channel to my home and listened to what they were talking about, I started grinding my teeth when they brought up what they should do about trying to get into my lab and when some of them started worrying about whether I would actually come back and kill them, whoever was in charge stated "you actually think he would hurt any of us? He ran away when he saw how many of us there were and was just trying to act tough" I almost turned around at this but held my course and kept heading for the IS academy, the only place I could learn how to use Diablo properly

"Sure I can move him but I want to be able to use him to his full potential" I reasoned with the part of me that was saying it was a bad idea and that they would never accept a thief "former thief judging by the way things are going" I reasoned "seeing as my home is no longer inhabitable and if I want to get into the academy I will probably not get any real chances to even try and steal anything, not that I would need to steal anything if I was a student there" as I had blanked out for my mental tirade I was out side and zooming along to the academy in no time, when I came into sight of the coast that lead to what I hoped to be my new home, at least until I mastered Diablo, I stopped and started looking around, I saw a large spiral pillar in the middle of the complex and smirked thinking "if you want to get noticed than do something worth noticing" and so I pushed down on the ground and shot into the air, wobbling a bit at first but I got the hang of it and flew over to the island and up to the top of the spire like thing.

Balancing on the needle sharp point at the top on the tip of the suits equally pointy foot was a lot easier than I thought it would be and it wasn't long before people started to notice me and when they did they all started calling out for teachers or trying to get my attention, but I ignored them all and lowered myself until I was sitting on my heel and my other leg was crossed over the one I was balancing on and folded my hands into my lap and waited for someone to come up and get me, I was not going to come down just because they told me to, I would go down when someone came up to me to talk.

After a half hour someone I assumed was a teacher came up, she had green hair and her eyes were green and even her IS was green but the biggest thing to notice however was the large rifle she was holding, pointing it straight at my head she called out in a clear voice "who are you and what do you think you are doing up here?" and she seemed shocked when I called back, as it was obvious that I was a guy "I'm called Stratos, and as to why I am here" and at this I floated up and forward slightly so I could stretch my legs and said with a grin "I was hoping someone here would be willing to teach me how to use Diablo to his full potential"

I kept grinning but just as she was about to respond an alarm went off in my display, I had set an alarm in case they actually tried anything I didn't like back in my place and I called out to her "just hold that thought" and I quickly pulled up the surveillance feed and started swearing when I saw them setting a huge drill up in front of the door to my lab, stopping my swearing run I called out to her "if you want to know more about what the hell is going on then follow me and fast if you also want to save a few lives" and not waiting for her to react I blasted away back to the entrance to the tunnel I had come from and shot down it keeping an eye on them as they continued to set up the drill and shouted into the speaker system "I WARNED YOU YOU DUMB FUCKS! NOW YOU WILL PAY FOR SO MUCH AS THINKING OF TRYING TO BREAK INTO MY LAB! NO ONE TOUCHS MY COMPUTERS!"

I shut it off as I continued to race down the tunnel and as soon as I shot out into the terminal I grabbed the two men who had been sent to see if I was actually coming and slammed them together hard then threw them at the group who had gathered to see if I was coming as well, causing them to scatter and for the slow ones to get bowled over, stepping up to the ones who had dodged the first two I knocked them out of my way or shouted at them "who's in charge!?" and they either pointed toward my lab or tried running, the ones that pointed I knocked out fast and without pain, the ones that tried to run I severed legs, cut open arms or smashed into walls, hard, and all the while I made my way to the drill that was just starting to turn and inch its way to my lab.

I screamed a wordless scream when I saw the drill hit the door and without thinking I dove forward and grabbed the drills point and ignored the pain as I wrenched it away from the door and smashed it to smithereens, once it was scrap metal I turned to the assembled group, that was barely half what it had been and shouted at them "were the hell is the bastard that dared to call me a coward!? The bastard that dared to try and break into my lab!? Well? Where is he!?" I bellowed at them and they slowly started pointing to a man standing with his back straight and staring me in the eye as he stepped forward and I stared down at him and just tightened my grip on my knives until I thought that they would break but simply stated "I will give you one chance to leave. If you don't take it than I will not be held responsible for your life"

I waited still looking at him before calling out to the rest of them "that goes for the rest of you as well" and they slowly started leaving, one or two at first but they all left eventually, the leader stayed until the end and simply said "we won't forget this. You stole from us and we will take back our IS" and I simply grinned in his face and said "I didn't steal him, he came to me" before he turned and I checked to see if they had collected their wounded and called out when I saw the teacher on one screen standing outside the door to the main room where I was standing "if you heard any of that then you should know what's going on, or at least as much as I know anyway" and she stepped out as she said contemplatively "seeing you fight, if you could learn to control yourself better… but aside from that I don't think we have much to teach you, at least on the practical side, but I will certainly try and get you a place in our school" and I smiled at her saying simply "thank you" before following her back out and to the academy, after checking the door was still formidable enough to stand against anything besides a big ass drill and an all-out IS attack of course.

The next few days consisted mostly of me and the teacher, whose name I found out was Maya Yamada, I insisted on calling her Maya-sensei, trying to convince the other teachers and the head instructor, Chifuyu Orimura, to let me attend the academy, after testing my knowledge about IS and my combat ability they were almost ready to put me in the third year but I was adamant that if I was to attend I wanted the whole three years with no privileges, and when this was all settled I was ready to leave and get some sleep, and to do a background check on all my prospective class mates, for my first day of school.

I was stopped in my tracks when I heard Chifuyu shouting at me "were not done yet! We still have to organise your wardrobe because I won't have you walking around dressed like that" and she pointed at my dirty jeans, loose black singlet and probably my grey beanie as well but I just look down at myself and asked, honestly confused "what's wrong with this?" and she just said "follow me" and walked off and I hurried to follow, turning once to wave and call out to Maya sensei "thanks for the help" and she smiled waving back before turning to continue discussing what I could only guess was my placement in the academy but was forced to focus back on Chifuyu when she shouted at me to hurry up and I was forced to jog to keep up with her fast, stiff legged walk.

The next day I was walking along behind Chifuyu, tugging at the tight collar of the white dress jacket that I was supposed to wear, "yea, supposed to" I thought grinning, stopping before I walked into Chifuyu's back, she back turned to me and slapped my hand from my collar before saying "we have placed you in the class with the only other male student here at the academy, we hope you will be more comfortable with him here seeing as you will have only female student companions besides him" and I smirked saying "I'm sure I can adjust to a room full of hormonal teenage girls" but dropped the smirk when she smacked me upside the head before turning calmly to the door to the class and opening it, causing an expectant hush to fall before she stated "I have a new student for you, please make him feel welcome" and there was an instant intake of breath the second she mentioned I was male and when she stepped to the side to let me through, I brushed against her and smirked seeing her shocked expression.

The second she had turned away from me I had unbuttoned the dress jacket and opened it, untucking my black singlet from the white dress pants that I had tucked it into so she wouldn't notice and to hold my grey beanie, as soon as it was untucked I reached around and grabbed the beanie before it fell and slipped it on, making sure to tuck the back of my singlet and jacket behind my knife sheath so I could reach it if need be, and so as I walked in a number of girls almost fainted by the looks of it and this only served to make my smirk bigger and cockier, glancing around my sight came to rest on the only other guy in the room, Ichika Orimura, he had messy black hair, much like mine, dark reddish brown eyes and an altered version of the uniform like I had, as in he had trousers instead of a mini skirt, I sank into my mind and pulled up all the data I had on him and his history, getting a general opinion of him from this.

As I woke up from my self-induced trance I realised that the teacher, who turned out to be none other than Maya-sensei, had been asking me something and I turned to her and asked sheepishly "sorry, what was that?" and she asked again "I was asking if you were alright, your eyes fogged over and I wasn't sure if you were okay" and I paused a second to wonder how she noticed my eyes fogging over when they were already a natural silvery grey.

Nodding my head I said "I'm fine sorry about that" and she sighed openly before saying "would you like to introduce yourself to the class" and I turned to the class room full of girls and one boy and said in a monotone "I'm called Stratos because I was so good at stealing IS parts and because I don't know what my crappy parents named me or even if they bothered naming me seeing as I have no knowledge of them at all. I'm here because I want to learn how to use Diablo to his full potential. I'm a partially reformed thief and I hope you all don't fear me straight away from what I have told you" then I tilted my head slightly and smiled saying "nice to meet you all" with a wave, and waited for a reaction.

I didn't wait long before I had to duck down to avoid getting hit again by Chifuyu and started laughing at all the stunned faces that greeted me when I straightened up, even the Ichika kid looked confused and no one said a word as I calmed myself down and turned to ask Maya-sensei "so where do I sit?" and instantly the whole class looked around them to see if there was an empty seat anywhere near them and three girls at the back whimpered when they saw that the only free seat was the one in the back row, second from the window side of class, Maya-sensei pointed to it hesitantly and just to have a bit more fun before I had to focus on class I wiped my knife out and spun it a few times before throwing it at the seat, making it narrowly miss the blonde girl that I would be sitting behind, and it thudded solidly into the chair as I turned and asked innocently "that one?" and she simply nodded as I sauntered down to the seat, grabbing the chair and my knife I yanked it out and slipped it back into its sheath and sat down, leaning back against the wall and resting my feet on the desk in front of me, folding my hands behind my head and closing my eyes, falling into the subconscious waking state I enter when I have to listen for any long amount of time, and waited for the first bell to signal lunch.

At first it was calm enough, until I started getting pelted with paper ball from different people in class, probably trying to see if I was awake, I ignored them because I was focusing with my ears more than anything else so I almost didn't even feel them, when Maya-sensei called out to me "Stratos, can you tell us what IS stands for?" it was obviously a test to see if I had been listening so I didn't even open my eyes, I simply stated calmly and clearly "everyone knows it stands for Infinite Stratos, if anyone here didn't know that then they don't belong here" and started grinning slightly when I heard the class gasp like they hadn't expected me to even be alive because of how still I had been, but it fell when I sank back into the deep trance I had myself in and I just sat and absorbed the class.

At irregular intervals Maya-sensei asked me something and I responded correctly each time, after a few more questions she stopped, resigned to the fact I was still paying attention without contributing, and continued teaching until the bell went and I was swamped by a group of girl who probably wanted to get to know me even after my little tirade at the start of the day.

I sat still and they waited for me to acknowledge them, without opening my eyes I asked them all in a monotone "what?" and a few meeped and ran off only to have other girls fill their place, at last one of them worked up the courage to speak, asking "we were wondering if you wanted to eat lunch with us" and I smirked saying "it would be kind of hard to say anything other than yes" and some of them gasped while others gave relived sighs and waited for me to stand and come with them, but I stayed down for a few seconds to think the last part to my answer "especially seeing as you have me surrounded and wouldn't let me go if I said anything but" and so I stood up and opened my eyes for the first time since the start of class and examined all the girls that had me backed against the wall, but moved to the side and trailed around me all the way to the cafeteria were we sat in a large circle as I fielded questions from them all.

Paying more attention to my lunch then them I didn't notice who asked what, but the questions were about me and my life, so for the most part I answered them, I was 15 like them, the only hobby I could think of was stealing, I had lived my whole life on the streets because my parents had abandoned me as a child, but some of the things I just ignored were questions like, did I have a girlfriend, had I ever kissed a girl before, things like this, but I got really into the conversation when one of them asked "at the start of class you said you were a partially reformed thief, what did you mean by partially reformed?" and I grinned and simply said while pulling out a wallet that was obviously not mine as it was far to feminine, "if she doesn't work it out before the end of the day then I'll tell you, but if she works it out you should be able to as well"

A few silent minutes later we turned to the door after hearing a rumbling from the hall and I grinned saying "looks like she worked it out" and I slipped the wallet back into my pocket and stood up, slipping past the girls to stand in the middle of the room, waiting for her to barge in.

As soon as the door slammed open I started laughing at the sight of Chifuyu with a large katana and a (only almost in our opinion (me and Stratos')) scary mad look on her face while she was searching for me and as soon as she spotted me she stalked over, almost growling out "where is it!" and I just kept laughing as I pulled out her wallet and she swiped it from me as I struggled to get out "old habits die hard I guess" and I spun on my heel and ran, mostly to avoid getting cut in half by her wild swing, for an open window before jumping out and grabbing the edge, pulling myself up to say to her with a grin "catch me if you can" before I started climbing the outside of the building, when I made it to the roof I sat down and shook with laughter until Ichika and one of the other girls from class, Houki Shinonono, a girl with brown hair pulled back into a pony tail, deep blue eyes and an immaculate uniform, showed up and sat with me to talk, one of the first things I said to Houki was "you know, if you leave your face in a scowl like that it will stick like that" and had to dodge a very anger fuelled swipe from her.

We talked until it was time to head back to class and I made it a point of going in by the windows so as to avoid Chifuyu, ignoring the gasps and one shriek from the girls who had stayed in class to talk, I turned and asked "Maya-sensei, has Chifuyu come through here?" and again ignored the gasps from the class at how I addressed both teachers by their first names, but was slightly confused as to why she was stuttering and blushing but she managed to get out "S-S-Stratos, no s-she hasn't" and I sighed with relief as I made my way back to my seat and plopped down to wait for the start of class as I and the others had made it with at least 15 minutes to spare.

As I sat there the girl who sat in front of me stood up and walked over to Ichika asking "may I have a moment?" with an unmistakably British accent, and all he said back to the long haired blonde with light blue eyes and personalised uniform with the extended skirt was "sure, what's up?" she blinked before slamming her hands down on his desk and stating "what kind of response is that? You should be honoured I'm even talking with you so you should respond in the appropriate manner" she gave a well-practiced disdainful hair flip and waited for a response, but all he did was shrug and say "sorry but I don't even know who you are" this caused her to blink a few times and take time to process it before she gasped and asked "you don't know who I am? You don't know who-" but I popped up behind her and, having taken the time before hand to get all my data straightened out, instantly started my lecture

"Cecilia Alcott, heiress to the large Alcott family fortune, national representative candidate of England, highest score on entrance exam a second time in a row, would have been admitted last year, a year early because she was so good, but had to be pulled out at the last minute by her father because the family treasury had mysteriously emptied recently and they needed her at home… most probable reason for the lost funds is that a lost branch of the family turned up in the form of a wayward drunk and they needed every penny they had to rehabilitate him in secret so that he didn't disgrace their precious family name" and just grinned at the shocked faces I looked at, the grin grew when I looked around the room at the stunned faces of all the girls outside the class who had been staring at Ichika and I who heard my every word.

She was spared further humiliation when Ichika raised his hand and said "I have a question" and she recovered somewhat turning to him and saying imperially "it is the duty of the upper class to educate the lower class'. Go ahead" and he got a serious face before asking "what did he mean by national representative candidate?" causing me to collapse from how hard I was laughing and for Cecilia to start twitching before going on a tirade of her own "unbelievable! Are all Japanese males this idiotic" and I stopped laughing at this obvious ploy to discredit my earlier statements, she stepped back shaking her head and crossing her arms while continuing "it is common knowledge, common knowledge!" I managed to get up for this and said to him, still chuckling slightly "she's right, to an extent at least," I added in an under tone, glaring at her before turning back and saying "even I know this, and I lived on the streets" and he asked, slightly offended "so what is a national representative candidate?" and she got a glint in her eyes as she declared grandly to us both, even though I already knew

"An elite candidate that is chosen to represent her nation, can't you guess that from the term?" and I whispered into his ear while she was taking a breath "she means someone with a ton of money and a personal IS" and he turned confused again before turning back seeing as she had continued "yes! I am an elite candidate! Setting aside all else, it is a blessing to be a class mate of mine" and I whispered again "only in her view" causing him to chuckle slightly but she still noticed it and turned on him saying "could you understand that reality a little more? Both of you?" this last part she addressed to me with a withering look, but I simply smirked and said "I'm from the streets honey, remember? Looks don't frighten me, if you want to threaten someone, you need something like this" and I wiped out my knife and spun it into her face, stopping it a millimetre from her nose.

Ichika, who had turned away to work it through in his head, said distractedly "okay. Yes I guess I'm lucky" and she actually forgot the knife in her face in favour of turning on him and asking in a deadly voice "are you mocking me?" and he shrugged and said "I'm not trying to, if I did I'm sorry" and she just crossed her arms again and said "I'm amazed they let you into the academy" and looking back at me she said in a condescending tone "and I'm amazed that they let you bring that thing in with you" and I grinned saying while spinning my knife back into its sheath "they didn't know I had it, I had to smuggle it, my beanie and this in because Chifuyu didn't like the look of them" I said tugging at my singlet and turning on the girls that gasped again and said "what the hell is it with you people and gasping at me? Seriously!" and plodded back to my seat as class was starting soon but I didn't miss her parting comment "the only two males that can pilot IS' are a street urchin and an idiot, how sad"

I started planning my revenge for me as well as Ichika right away, but still listened to her offering to teach him anything he didn't understand and how she was gloating about how she was the only one to defeat the instructor, I popped back up behind her and said "maybe for the girls, but as far as I know their still busy rebuilding the training unit the instructor was using against me" and she gasped like the rest of the class, before I turned and shut them up with a glare, turning back to her as she asked "you beat the instructor too?" and was even more surprised when Ichika said "I beat her as well" and she gasped again but I beat the class to their gasp with my glare and they remained silent as I turned back while Ichika explained "as I remember it she flew at me, I moved out of the way, she flew into the wall and didn't move"

"That doesn't really count as him doing anything does it?" I thought as Cecilia slammed her hands down again and looking between us stated "I was told that I was the only one to beat the instructor" and Ichika said "like Stratos said, maybe for the girls but…" and he left it hanging with a shrug and she said icily "we'll be talking about this later" and walked back to her seat with me right behind her, the rest of the day went by relatively fast.

On the way to the dorms I was walking and talking to Ichika, making a good friend, when Cecilia came up to us but I cut her off before she could even start, saying "I don't plan on telling you a thing about before, not until I feel good and ready, and you can go to hell for all I care, and about that comment you made as I left the first time, I will get you back for that" and continued walking past her and Ichika who had both frozen at my statements, as I got to the dorms I looked for the room I was to be staying in, when I found it I sat down on the bed that had been left alone, the other bad had an entire canopy arrangement set up on top of it along with what looked like silk bed covers, as I looked at it I got an uneasy feeling that was confirmed when the door opened and Cecilia walked in and froze when she saw me, I stood up and proceeded to use every foul word I knew to try and vent my frustration at the fact that I was going to have to share a room with a girl that hated me, and I wasn't too fond of her either.

After I was done swearing at every deity I could think of, I looked at her and found she was more or less doing the same thing, only with not so vibrant language and sank onto her bed as I had done and just looked at the floor blankly along with me, snapping out of her trance she stood up and started making a schedule for when we were to use the bath room and such, I made no objections but did butt in when she got to toilet breaks "wait, these rooms don't have toilets in them tho" and she smirked and said "being me has its advantages" which I took to mean she had gotten her father to bribe the school into getting her a room with her own toilet, after all this was set up I stretched and said "may as well get some sleep now" and I shrugged off the dress jacket and slipped my singlet over my head draping them both over the banister at the head of my bed but stopped when Cecilia shrieked and hid on the other side of her bed, saying with her back to me "have you no shame!? Undressing in front of a girl like that!"

I just said calmly "I don't really consider you a girl seeing as I have no reason to like you. Besides, why do you care so much anyway? I thought you hated me as well?" and climbed into bed as she turned back with a distinctive blush over her face and I sat there with a smirk and raised one eyebrow as I stared pointedly at her cheeks, when she worked it out she clapped her hands over her face as it started to redden more and turned away mumbling something about having a shower as she picked up some clothes and went into the bathroom, locking the door behind her, I just chuckled and lay down, taking deep breaths I tried to sleep but ended up laying there for the hour that it took her to have her shower and come out and tuck herself into bed.

After a short pause she called softly to me in a hesitant voice "if you don't want to answer than you don't have to, but would you please tell me how you knew all that stuff?" and she gained a bit of her normal bravado saying "In particular how you managed to steal my big introduction" but lost it when she added "minus the drunken family member part" and I gave a sleepy smile as I replied through a yawn "your general mannerisms matched your profile that has been made by a number of admirers over the internet, your accent was from a part of England that the Alcott's effectively own… and I saw a picture of you on the news a few days ago when you made the headlines about getting the highest score for the entrance exam a second time" and I yawned again before turning to look at her sleepily and said with a small smirk "don't think I'm being nice to you or anything, I still plan on getting you back for that street urchin remark, I much prefer being called a thief or a criminal, but never an urchin, that's just an insult" before looking back up at the roof, holding my hand up to see the burning eye again, tracing the curls with my eyes before letting my hand drop and falling calmly asleep.

When I woke I stood up and grabbed my singlet and jacket, putting them on I said over my shoulder to the waking Cecilia "I'll head out so you can get changed" and left for the cafeteria for some breakfast, when I got there I searched for a seat that wasn't next to one of the girls trying to get me to sit with them and found Ichika sitting with Houki and three other girls, one of them in a strange cat costume, sitting down across from them I nodded a greeting, addressing them by name causing Houki to lean forward and try to slap me, but I saw it coming and leant back so she missed and just asked "what was that for?" and she said "you hardly know us, what makes you think you can address us by our first names?" and I shrugged saying "I don't like formalities or titles, they give people misguided senses of superiority or subjectiveness"

Ichika asked "so why do you call Yamada-sensei, Maya-sensei?" and I said with another shrug "she vouched for me to get into the academy and help me argue my point across to the other teachers, including Chifuyu" this last part making him look slightly nervous as he said "you should probably not call her that here" and I asked "why?" and he pointed over my shoulder as I ducked out of my seat to the side to avoid the smack I would have gotten to the back of the head from Chifuyu, who had popped up out of thin air as far as I could tell, growling at me "call me Orimura-sensei when here, or anywhere for that matter" and she stalked off calling as she went "eat faster, class starts in 5 minutes" causing the whole cafeteria to start eating faster and causing me to just say as I looked around at all the suck ups "wow, you people are really sad" but sat down anyway and finished my food as fast as I could along with the rest of them.

When we were all in class and sitting Chifuyu stepped up out font and called out "we will now be electing the class representative for the inter class tournament being held in 2 weeks, not only this but they will act as the class rep for the year, you may elect yourself or someone else" and almost instantly girls were jumping up nominating Ichika, Chifuyu said "does anyone else want to try out? If not he will win by default" and he stood up saying "but I don't even want to-" but was cut over by Cecilia standing and saying "I cannot accept this! I will not have a male represent us in any way, especially one so uneducated! It's bad enough that I have to stay in an undeveloped country but-"

At this I cut in saying "England may have some things that Japan doesn't but that doesn't mean that Japan is undeveloped! Where else in the world could you find a knife with an entire computer mainframe set up in the handle?" and I pulled out me knife, tapped a couple of different places on the handle and the end slid open to allow a mini projector to emerge and a large three screen holographic display to appear, after a few seconds of rapid one handed typing I called out "just to prove how good these things are in the right hands, I just hacked into the schools data base, who wants to know what the teachers think of them?" and half the class was up and trying to read the codded information on the screen, I grinned saying "I've already broken the code but will not show you without teacher permission" and shut the screens down, chuckling at the down faced looks and glares of anger I was getting.

After my little stunt, Cecilia said "so? We are still more advanced than Japan" and Ichika turned to her and said "England doesn't have much to brag about as far as I know" and I grinned at him as he continued with a smirk "how many years running have you won the world's most disgusting food championship?" and she gasped trying to defend herself saying "we have plenty of delicious food! You dare insult my nation?" and I answered her this time saying "no, he's just backing me up while I insult your nation" and kept on grinning as she stared at me with pure hatred burning in her eyes before she pointed at Ichika shouting "I challenge you to a dual!" and when she said this I perked up and said "if there's going to be a fight, then I want in" but Chifuyu said "unless you want to run in the election as well I cannot allow that" and I slumped not really wanting to go through any of that, but already making a plan as I said in a fake defeated tone "fine I won't join, I don't want to go through any extra crap" and sat back saying to Ichika "good luck dude" with a thumbs up and a grin, he nodded to me before turning to Cecilia and saying "you're on!" and it was settled, in 1 week they would fight for the right to represent our class in the tournament and to prove which gender was better with an IS, the rest of the day flew by.

XXX

A/N:hope you liked it (even if it was mostly ripped off) will wait for maybe a month before posting another one, depending on reports of course (and if my internet will let me, it is really soradic and iritating) ...so nothing much more to say here...

farewell dear readers, tornado surfer signing off