A Certain Freezing Esper

Prologue:

Summary: A Level 4 Ice Master, Rai Saito. His life takes a turn for the dangerous when he meets a certain Railgun. Life works in strange ways huh?

Disclaimer: I do not own To Aru Majutsu No Index or To Aru Kagaku No Railgun. I only own any original characters that appear in this story.

Author Notes: "HEY!"-Talking. 'WHAT THE!'- thoughts.

Rai Saito, age 14, was walking along the streets. People were scrambling to get home, before it got too dark. His short messy black hair blew, as there was a slight breeze. Rai looked up towards the dark sky with his light blue eyes. A few clouds were floating by.

'I feel like I'm forgetting something…' Rai thought. Rai was on his way back to the dorms of the prestigious, all boys school, Hitohiri Middle School. Rai was wearing the standard Hitohiri uniform, a brown vest, white undershirt, grey pants, and a pair of brown shoes. It was essentially a male version of Tokiwadai's girl uniforms. He had pale skin, and an abnormally thin figure. He was carrying a school bag in his right hand. 'Oh, well, I should head back before curfew.' The nearby lamp posts and store signs automatically switched on, as Academy City prepared for the night. 'Just another block or two and I'll be at Hitohiri…' The Hitohiri Middle School was located just outside the School Garden area, near Tokiwadai Middle School. Hitohiri was a bit like a sister (or brother in this case) school.

"Hey, how about we have a little fun?" Rai looked over to the sound of this voice. Rai observed a brown haired girl in a Tokiwadai uniform being harassed by a group of thugs. There were 5 of them. They all seemed to encircle the girl like a pack of hungry wolves ready to pounce on their prey. The girl was leaning against a wall, not seeming to be bothered.

'Maybe I should help…' Rai thought to himself. The girl, who was looking past the thugs with an uninterested look, slightly moved her eyes in his direction. 'Did she notice me?' Rai, surprised, looked down shyly.

"Did ya hear me?" The thug was very persistent. "I said… would you like to have some fun?" The thug grinned with a lustful expression on his face. Rai decided to intervene at this point.

'All I have to do is put on a tough guy look, and perhaps they'll run away…'

"Um…" All of the thugs look over at him, annoyed by him interrupting their fun. The girl looked over at him, looking bored. Rai was starting to sweat a little. 'That didn't start out too well…' Rai continued to speak. "I-I think that you s-s-should leave this girl alone…I mean… she d-d-doesn't seem interested with y-y-your offer."

"What'd you say punk?" One of the thugs took a threatening step towards him.

"I said to leave her alone. She doesn't seem interested." Rai said quietly, looking away shyly.

"Scram kid we don't need your nose in our business!" One of the other thugs spoke up. The thug that was talking to the girl spoke, turning towards Rai.

"We do whatever we want when we want." The thug smiled menacingly. "Unless you've got a problem with that?" He was obviously the leader. The man had blond hair that was spiked up with gel, a black leather jacket, black pants, and a very strong looking physique. The man was clearly much taller than Rai. Rai suddenly looked at the leader with resolve.

"You l-l-leave me no choice then!" Rai yelled out. He suddenly felt something wet hit his face. 'Rain? Oh, I remember now! That must've been what I had forgotten….' Rai's resolved look slowly disappeared from his face. He opened his school bag and began rummaging through his bag, clearly looking for something. The thugs were surprised by this. Even the girl, who before was uninterested, had a curious look on her face.

"Does he have a gun!" A thug yelled, frightened. The other thugs shared the same expression.

"Ah, found it!" Rai exclaimed, pulling out a black umbrella from the confines of his bag. He then opened it and held it up with his left hand, as it began to downpour.

"An umbrella! Why the hell would you get that out now?" The girl yelled out, angry at Rai's obliviousness to the current situation at hand. Rai was caught off guard by this sudden outburst.

"I-I get sick v-v-very easily. I always c-c-carry an u-u-umbrella with me. J-J-Just in case it rains…" Rai mumbled, looking away frightened by the angry girl. The thugs regained composure their threatening smiles back on their ugly faces.

"Idiot, how are you going to fight us with one hand holding something!" The leader pointed out, opening his arms wide. He gestured to his underlings. "You're even outnumbered! You think you can win!" The leader scoffed. Rai was frightened by the man's actions.

'This guy is scary!' Rai thought, trembling.

"Y-Y-You're right. I-I-I am outnumbered, and I-I can't use one of my hands." Rai stuttered out, his left hand tightening around the umbrella handle.

'But…' Rai regained composure and smirked. "In the rain I'm guaranteed victory." The leader's smile suddenly disappeared off his face. 'I'm the one with power. If I don't do anything! Then who will help this girl?'

"We'll see about that, punk!" The leader roared, angrily pulling out a dagger from his jacket. He quickly lunged at Rai. The leader suddenly fell over, face first onto the ground. "The hell?" The leader grunted out. The leader looked at his left leg. It was encased in ice. The other members looked around. They hadn't seen where it came from. Rai suddenly spoke up, a serious expression on his face.

"I'm an Ice Master." The thugs looked at him alarmed. "The rain is a double edged sword to me. I get sick by getting even slightly wet in the rain, but I can also use my esper powers much more efficiently. I won't have to lift a single finger to defeat you." There was a momentary silence. The thugs let the information sink in. The four thugs abruptly ran away, screaming. They didn't wish to be frozen solid. After all, they were only Level 0's. The leader was the only one left.

"Worthless idiots!" The leader spat out. With an unusually swift strike the leader, with his dagger, hit the ice surrounding his leg, shattering it. Rai sensed something in the air.

'A Level 3? Judging from the way his hand moved he must be a Speed esper.' Rai thought with surprise. 'If he even gets slightly close to me this confrontation will be over. And here I was hoping I wouldn't have to put any strain on myself… Regardless, I have to protect that girl!' A determined look suddenly crossed Rai's face. The leader was already up on his feet. With a quick dash the leader was almost within 3-feet of reaching Rai. Rai, in response, exerted his power to create an ice wall in front of him, using the rain as a base, was able to keep himself from exerting too much stress on his body. The leader was not able to react in time. The Level 3 recoiled off of the barrier, landing on the ground, the barrier shattering on impact. Rai reacted fast and closed his eyes. He concentrated on trying to contain the speedy esper by bounding his arms and legs to the ground with ice. The Level 3 wouldn't give up without a fight. Before Rai knew it, the leader was already off the ground and making a mad dash towards Rai.

"Take this you bastard!" The leader roared, zigzagging towards Rai. He was now within 5-feet of Rai, dagger poised, ready to run him through. If Rai couldn't predict what side he was going to come from then he would have to use something else.

'Perfect! He's within my area of effect.' Rai looked the man straight in the eyes. Rai let loose a small pocket of energy from his body. The energy extended outwards 8 feet. Patches of ice appeared on the ground and walls around Rai. The gang leader, unable to dodge, was enveloped in the energy. The force of the attack threw the leader back, covering his whole body in small patches of ice. The leader landed on his back. The rain, coupled with the coldness of the patches of ice, caused the man's body to go into shock. He was immediately unconscious on impact to the ground. Rai's eyes were slightly blood shot, but other than that, he felt alright. True to his word, Rai had stayed in the same position the entire time, having not lifted one finger. Rai looked over to the girl, who was staring at him with her arms crossed, and eyebrows raised. He immediately looked away.

"Who are you?" The brown haired girl spoke first.

"M-My n-name is R-R-Rai Saito. M-May I inquire what your n-name is?"

"I didn't need your help you know. I could have taken care of myself." The girl seemed to ignore his question. Rai fell silent. It wasn't until a few seconds later when he responded.

"O-Oh…"

"'Oh?' That's all you have to say?"

"I don't regret it if t-t-that's what you're wondering." He noticed that it was still raining and that the girl in front of him was still getting soaked. Rai timidly walked forward, shielding her from the rain with his umbrella. The girl lifted an eyebrow at this action. She then smiled.

"My name's Misaka Mikoto."

'Misaka Mikoto? I've heard that name from somewhere before...' Rai thought to himself. A look of realization suddenly passed his face.

"Wait! You're R-R-Railgun! T-T-Tokiwadai's Ace! L-Level 5 Electromaster! " She nodded her head to each of these questions. 'Then that means… she really didn't need my help…' Rai sighed. 'Oh, well, it doesn't matter. No one was hurt.' Rai was broken from his reverie.

"You're from Hitohiri?"

"Y-Y-Yes…"

"Why are you acting so shy? You were acting really cool a minute ago." Misaka tilted her head to the side in a questioning manner. Rai, surprised by the question, almost dropped the umbrella. He was able to stabilize his body. Not getting a single drop of rain on him or Misaka in the process.

"A-Anyway, you wouldn't h-h-happen to have the t-time would you?" Rai asked in an attempt to change the topic. Misaka pulled out a cell phone from underneath her skirt.

Rai blinked twice. 'Wait… Under her skirt?'

"It's 6:47." Misaka stated. Rai was staring at Misaka, baffled. Misaka, concerned, raised an eyebrow "What?"

"N-N-No, it's n-nothing." Rai looked away with a red face. It took a bit before Rai was able to recompose himself. 'She said 6:47… WAIT! CURFEW IS AT 7:00 PM!' Rai began to panic. Rai was in a predicament. He could either rush off to the Hitohiri dorms, leaving Misaka to walk back to the Tokiwadai Dorms in the rain, without an umbrella. Or he could escort her back to the Tokiwadai dorms with his umbrella, causing him to be late. Tokiwadai is farther ahead of Hitohiri. He would end up around 25-30 minutes late to his dorms. Cupping his chin, Rai began to think about this decision. Misaka noticed he was thinking intensely about something and decided to speak up.

"Is something wrong?" Misaka asked concerned. Rai, after much deliberation, had finally made his decision. Rai quickly handed Misaka the umbrella and slowly began to run to the Hitohiri dorms. Misaka was surprised by this sudden action.

"W-w-wait! Where are you going! You forgot your umbrella! Didn't you say you'd get sick from just being slightly wet!" Misaka yelled from a distance, holding onto the umbrella.

"Sorry… gotta… run! I don't want…to be late… for curfew! You should… probably… head on back… also!" Rai yelled back, gasping for breath as he ran. 'If only I were a bit more physically fit… Too bad that'll never happen.' Rai sweat dropped almost tripping over his feet.

Misaka sighed. She realized what Rai just did. He gave her the umbrella, so that he wouldn't be tardy for curfew, and she wouldn't be forced to walk in the rain. Even knowing that he would probably end up sick from the rain…

"He's definitely interesting…" Misaka whispered to herself. In order to not squander his efforts, she began to run back to her dorms, smiling all the while.

Hitohiri Dorms...

With five minutes to spare, Rai had managed to make it back to the dorms. Exhausted from the running he just wanted to go up to his room and fall asleep. Unfortunately, he has to call Anti-Skill to pick up the Level 3 espers body. If the Speed esper were to stay where he was through the rainy night with all those patches of ice on his body…well… he'd rather not think about it.

One phone call later and Anti-Skill was dispatched to arrest the Level 3 esper. Rai told the Anti-Skills about what had occurred and where Misaka could be found just in case they needed a witness. They probably wouldn't as the gang leader was already wanted on many charges of rape and assault. The 4 underlings were found inside an abandoned warehouse near the site of the incident. 'Academy City should really do something about those empty warehouses…' Rai thought, sighing.

It was already 9:38. He had spent around 2 and a half hours trying to settle the situation. He was sitting on the couch in the downstairs lobby of the dorms finishing up the last of his report to an Anti-Skill officer. While Rai's clothes were being dried he was now in a new change of clothes. A white t-shirt and blue shorts now adorned his features. As he had foretold, he was coming down with a cold. Sitting next to him was what appeared to be a 30 year old man, with slicked back brown hair, and glasses. The man was clothed in a gray suit, with a red tie. He is the dorm supervisor, Tatsuchi.

"Thank you for all the help." The Anti-Skill officer, Yomikawa, said.

"I-I-It w-w-was n-n-no *ACHOO!* problem." Rai stuttered out, sniffling. Yomikawa had assumed the stuttering was from the illness and not from him just being shy.

"Remember to drink plenty of fluids, and stay well rested. If there's anything else please contact me." Yomikawa said, standing up from the chair across the couch.

"I-I-I w-will." Yomikawa nodded, leaving. The dorm supervisor pushing up his glasses, stood up, and looked over at Rai. Tatsuchi spoke in a monotone like voice.

"Not that you'll be going anywhere, but your clothes should be dried by tomorrow. Luckily for you, tomorrow is Sunday. You won't be missing any school."

"Y-Y-Yes sir." Tatsuchi, hearing this, wordlessly walked away. Rai shivered.

'Very quiet man… I'd hate to seem him mad…' *Achoo!* Rai sneezed yet again. 'I should head up to my room…' Rai stood up and proceeded up the stairs. Rai slowly walked down the hall, stopping at room 204. Opening the door with his key he walked into the room. There were two beds, one on the left side of the room, and one on the right side of the room. To the back wall was a window and to the left of the window was a desk. On the desk were a computer, lamp, and digital clock. The right bed seemed to have never been used. The room was made for two people in mind, but Rai didn't have a roommate. Thus he didn't have to worry about someone catching his cold. Rai stumbled on to the left bed, covering himself with the blanket.

'Today was certainly… interesting…' Rai thought. He looked outside the window from his bed. It was still raining. He sighed, realizing that he would have to buy another umbrella. He wasn't sure if Misaka would bother to give it back to him. Or rather, he wasn't sure how soon it would be returned. 'Oh, well. No reason to be sad about it. Umbrella's aren't that expensive anyways.' Listening to the rain patter against the window, Rai fell asleep.

Tokiwadai Dorms...

Misaka was sitting on her bed in her Gekota pajamas, getting ready to go to bed. She was now in her dorm room. The black umbrella that Rai had let her borrow was sitting in the corner to the left of the door. The door itself opened. Walking in was a girl with light brown hair. The hair itself was tied with two red ribbons into twin pig tails. She was wearing the Tokiwadai uniform, except she had an armband pinned on her right sleeve, signifying her as a member of Judgment. Her name was Shirai Kuroko, Misaka's friend and roommate. Since she had some Judgment duties to take care of Kuroko was late coming back to the dorms. A frown was plastered on her face. She didn't seem happy.

"Is it true Onee-sama?" Kuroko questioned.

"What is?" Misaka asked curiously.

"That you were in a fight with some thugs… How many times do I have to tell you? That's a job for Judgment to take care of." Kuroko scolded.

"But I didn't fight anybody…"

"I had just gotten a report from Konori-senpai! It said there was a fight on the street near Hitohiri Middle School, and that you were involved! The reason I was late was to find the 4 other members of the gang!"

"Again, I didn't fight anybody." Misaka reaffirmed.

"Then who beat up the gang leader?" Kuroko was confused.

"A boy named Rai Saito. He's an Ice Master." Kuroko seemed to calm down, knowing that Misaka hadn't beaten anyone up.

"That explains why the gang leader was suffering from hypothermia…" The report didn't go into much detail. They had yet to get more information from Rai at the time. The only information they had were the ones given over the phone. This consisted mostly of the descriptions of the 4 other delinquents. The report was a rough draft of sorts. As unlikely as it was, Kuroko had thought the hypothermia was just caused from the rain. Kuroko noticed the black umbrella next to the door.

"Hmm? Who does this belong to?" Kuroko picked up the umbrella.

"That belongs to Rai… He gave it to me so I wouldn't get wet walking back to the dorms…" Misaka blushed, grumbling under her breath. Kuroko heard something along the lines of 'idiot' and 'getting himself sick'. Kuroko was instantly jealous of this Rai person, who was suddenly getting her beloved Onee-sama's attention.

'Who does this Rai think he is? He must be pining after Onee-sama if he went out of his way to save her. It appears I have another competitor, but I won't lose!' A look of determination crossed Kuroko's face. Kuroko dropped the umbrella and tensed her legs, seeming to ready herself for something. Misaka, noticing this, was already well aware of what was about to occur. Kuroko suddenly jumped towards Misaka, hands twitching. Misaka shot a small bit of electricity towards Kuroko. It wasn't enough to seriously injure Kuroko, but it was enough to knock her out of the air. Misaka stood up from her bed. She maneuvered around Kuroko's twitching body, turning off the lights.

"Good night, pervert." Misaka lied down on the bed, and was soon asleep. Kuroko just continued to lie on the ground.

'Onee-sama, why do you ignore my love for you!' Kuroko thought, as she suddenly became unconscious.

Hitohiri Dorms…

*ACHOO!* Rai had woken himself up with a sneeze. Sleepily, Rai looked over at the digital clock on his desk. It was 10:43 at night. He hadn't been asleep for more than an hour.

'If I didn't know I had a cold I would think someone was talking about me…' Rai immediately brushed it off and went back to sleep.