Chapter 1: Back to School

"Kai! Wake up!" My sister called.

I groaned. "What is it?"

She barged into my room. "Look!"

I rubbed the sleep away from my eyes. Nya was holding a plain envelope with fancy green ink saying her name and address. Suddenly, I was wide-awake. "Nya, you got your letter!" I hoped she would, but I had no idea how these things worked. "That's awesome!" I gushed.

Nya smiled proudly. "I can't wait."

Wizarding school was starting up again in April. Last year, it was lonely without my sister, even with my friends. I felt so much better knowing my little sister was going to come with me this time.

"I'll help you buy your supplies."

She made a face. "I can do it myself."

I frowned at her. "Come on, we can go together. Besides, I have to get my supplies too."

"Alright," she agreed.

That afternoon was spent going to a special store, called Steep Wisdom, indicated on the map in the letter. There, we bought everything from a wand to schoolbooks. Nya wanted to buy an owl, but I told her we didn't have enough money. All of this was coming out of my own limited pockets and I still had to buy new books for my second year.

After we were done shopping, we ate at next door at Omakase. I was unsure about it at first, because the chief chose the meal, but the sushi was delicious. Nya and I talked about school and what to expect. She had heard about my adventures with the Celestial Clock, but she had so many other questions about things like the dormitories and teachers and classwork.

"What house do you think I'll be placed in?" Nya asked.

"That's easy," I replied. "Fire, like me."

She frowned. "You never know. I could be put somewhere else."

I folded my arms. "Don't you want to be in the Fire house?"

She leaned on the table. "I don't know. Fire just doesn't appeal to me, you know?"

No I didn't, but that's okay. Nya is my sister and I was going to support her. "Sure. You ready to go home?"

She pushed her plate away. "Yeah."

We came home arms full and ready for the new school year. April couldn't come soon enough for us. I filled the time by writing letters to Jay, Cole, and Zane. Jay wrote back the most. Nya would sit and watch me, occasionally pointing out some of my mistakes.

At long last, it was April first. Nya and I packed our bags. I also changed into my red fire kimono.

"We're off," I told Karin.

"Goodbye, kids," Karin replied from the kitchen.

I let the door swing shut behind me and joined Nya at the curb. "Let's go." She nodded. I paid for bus fair and we made it to the edge of the city. I thought about the last time we went to the Mountain of a Million Steps together. I told Nya about the veil, so the bare peak didn't surprise her.

We walked to the base of the mountain. I looked for my friends, while Nya sat on her suitcase. She packed way too much stuff in my opinion. It was hard to find three people in a sea of blue, sliver, white, red, and black.

A bit of orange caught my eye. I knew that scarf anywhere. "Jay!" I called while waving my arm wildly. "Over here!"

He spotted me and waved back. Soon he was sitting next to Nya on the suitcase.

"Hello, I'm Jay. Nice to meet you," he said.

"Nya," she replied. Soon, they had a nice conversation going. I couldn't really pay attention, because I had to keep looking for Zane and Cole, but I heard Nya laughing. Before long, I had flagged down Cole.

"How are you doing?" I asked him.

"Fine," he shrugged.

I hesitated a moment before adding. "And your father?"

He grinned. "The secret's still safe. Although," Cole paused while he reached into the folds of his kimono and pulled out a camera. "He wants me to take pictures."

I frowned. "How are you going to make that work?"

Cole sighed. "I have no idea."

I put my hand on his shoulder. "We'll help you."

"Thanks," he replied.

We looked for Zane together. I put my hand over my eyes to try to see better, but I couldn't spot his flat top of pale hair. Cole wasn't having much luck either.

"Hello, friends," Zane said from behind us.

I started for the umpteenth time. He always had to show up out of nowhere. It also didn't help that his approach was pretty much silent.

"Don't do that, Zane!" Cole snapped.

He blinked, but didn't respond. "I sense that school will be starting soon."

I turned back toward the mountain. Sure enough, Mistaké was descending down the staircase.

"Come with me," she called. All the students began to flock to the narrow staircase.

"Let's go, Nya," I called.

She abruptly ended her conversation with Jay and stood up. He looked disappointed. Jay slid off the suitcase and picked it up for Nya.

"Thanks," she said awkwardly.

"Come on, you two," Cole called over his shoulder. Nya took the suitcase and scrambled to catch up with me, leaving Jay in the dust. We began the long ascent up the steps.

After an hour, we passed through the veil and wooden doors greeted us.

Nya stopped beside me. "Whoa."

"Pretty cool, right?" I asked her.

She nodded silently. I chuckled as I remembered the first time I came to school. It seemed so big and impressive. I smiled as we walked through a courtyard filled with cherry blossoms.

When we got to the dining hall, the five of us parted ways. I felt bad leaving Nya on her own in the crowd of first years, but rules are rules. I sat at my house table far away from Chen, who was talking obnoxiously about his expensive vacation.

I tuned out the noise around me and focused on my sister. She saw me watching and straightened her back. I gave her an encouraging smile. The sorting should start soon. Nya nodded to acknowledge me.

Mistaké gave her first year speech and the people with last names starting with 'A' came forward. I propped my head in my hand and waited. And waited. And waited some more. I groaned. We were only in the L's. This could take forever. Were we going to have to go through this every year?

I mindlessly clapped as another student joined the Fire House. I just wished we could get to the U's and be done with it.

"Nya Umas," Mistaké read.

Yes! I watched as she made her was up to the sorting hat. Nya put it on. I held my breath. Please say fire. Please say fire, I chanted in my mind.

"Water!" The hat announced.

I sighed. I guess Nya and I were going to be in different houses after all. Nya sent me a sympathetic glance as she sat down with her table. I wondered why everyone I cared about was in a different house than me, and the people who annoyed me the most—I looked over at Chen—were in Fire instead.

Once everyone was sorted, Wu gave his annual reminder. We weren't to go swimming in the koi pond and Mr. Dareth wanted to make sure that people didn't litter in the courtyards, as it made his job harder. After that, the feast began.

I finished eating before everyone else. I didn't have a huge appetite. I wanted to be with my sister. Or laugh with my friends about the koi pond reminder. I'm sure Cole was cringing during that part. Last year, the fish had nearly killed him. I sighed.

"Hey, you there," Chen called. I glanced up tiredly. Chen was standing in front of me with a smug look on his face. I couldn't believe he walked to the other end of the long table just to make fun of me.

"Not now, Chen, I'm not in the mood."

Chen laughed. "Not in the mood? Well, too bad, because I am. Was that little runt with that ugly black bob your sister?"

My hands balled into fists. No one made fun of Nya. "Leave her out of this."

Chen smirked. "That worthless thing? Don't worry, now that's she's in the repulsive Water House, she'll be far away from this," he mocked.

I gritted my teeth together. "Don't you say another word about my sister," I warned.

"Or else what?" Chen leaned forward.

I wished I could punch his smug face. Instead I pulled out my wand.

His eyes widened. "You wouldn't dare,"

"Insult my sister again," I tapped his chest with my wand, "and I will."

"Not in front of the teachers," Chen replied smugly.

I glared at him. "Try me."

"Fire House, follow me. The Feast is over now. Time to head back to the common room," the fire prefect said.

I reluctantly put my wand away. Chen grinned triumphantly, but said nothing. I trailed at the end of the line to avoid him. One of these days, I was going to make Chen pay for the things he said about Nya.

I climbed the stairs of the boys' dormitory and set my stuff down. I looked around. My room hadn't changed since last year. I unpacked my things and got ready for bed. Even though I wasn't that tired, I had a big day tomorrow, since classes would start up, and I wanted to be ready. I was going to out do Chen, not for myself, but for my sister.

AN: Hope you enjoy this next installment! It will be about 12 chapters.