Author's Note

Welcome to the fourth chapter of "Never Losing the Way"!

This chapter was fun to write and it allowed me to develop Iori more as a character! I really hope that you enjoy this chapter and thank you again for reading my story.

Shout out to GirthJohnson for previewing this chapter and for being an awesome friend! You are awesome!

Remember I do not own Kill La Kill (I do own Iori Katsuki so, no stealing!) and I hope you enjoy this chapter!


Iori Katsuki stepped out from the shadows with a sigh. He really thought that Ryūko got the hint last night about her blood being the key.

It seemed that being mysterious and vague really only work in the realms of fiction.

It was still embarrassing to watch Ryūko talking to the asleep Senketsu and then getting slaughtered by the tennis club president, Omiko Hakodate. At least Hakodate forget to actually chase down the defeated delinquent for her Kamui.

Losing Senketsu at this stage would have spelled certain doom for his friend's quest. His backers would also not be pleased with the Kiryūin getting their blood stained hands on another Kamui.

Taking out his red flip phone, Iori quickly sent out a text to Mr. Mikisugi. The message was about how he was 'sick' and wouldn't be to come in for class today. He didn't have to worry about contacting his boss because he had today and tomorrow off.

It was time to retrieve his friend before the minions of the discipline committee do.

Making sure he wasn't seen the red cloak boy started to walk towards the location of his missing friends.

He was pretty sure he saw them fall into fountain waterline instead of the sewer one.

It was also the least guarded of the two.

"Poor Senketsu and Ryūko they might catch a cold because of this." He mumbled to himself, Kamui were god robes but it didn't mean that their fibers couldn't get wrinkled and Ryūko is human so there was a chance that she might catch a cold.

As he got closer to the fountain pipe, he could have sworn seeing a flash of red.

It was Ryūko Matoi, his rather aggressive new friend. It seemed that she was unconscious and in no danger of drowning. He did wonder how she landed on the guitar case at the right angle. But hey at least he doesn't have worry about performing CPR on her.

The last thing he wanted was to get punched in the eye by his friend thinking that he was trying to make the moves on her or something.

It was lucky that the duo was launched into the fountain pipeline instead of the actually sewer pipeline.

That would have sucked for everyone one involved. Iori wasn't a vain man at heart but the one thing he tried to do was make sure he never had an actually body odor that smelled. It was hard for him to smell in the first place do to his health condition but the smells that do manage to stick on him linger for a bit.

He didn't want Mako or Ryūko suffer though that.

Well maybe Ryūko for a little bit. He was still a little bit muffed about what happen last night.

Then again he did kind of scare the bejeezus out of her.

It wasn't his fault though! He might have just reaction overboard…just a tad bit.

It probability why Mako was glaring at him in the morning, it wouldn't be the first time that he pushed the wrong button in regards to her. They were pretty good friends truthfully, but it seemed that they had the ability to annoyed each other. It was strange seeing the eternally cheerful ball of sunshine, Mako Mankanshoku, actually getting frustrated with someone.

Then again he had a feeling it was due how he refused to call her by her first name till yesterday. It got so bad once that she actually exploded at him in anger.

Iori grasped his cloak for warmth as his body shivered. The one time that Mako got truly mad was enough for him to have a healthy fear of the daughter of a back-alley doctor. There was a reason when Mako got serious; he tries his hardest to get the heck out of dodge.

It was always the nice ones you have to watch out for.

"Even if this is the fountain pipeline this place still smells like a sewer." Iori wrinkled his noise in displeasure. "At least the smell could be much worse."

The fountain pipeline was a waterline that was installed in Honnō City for public use. It was used from watering the expensive parks of the Two Star's villas to the drinking fountains in the slums. The water was treated in over seven water treatment facilities in the multi-level city.

It still disturbed Iori that the public water available for the slums was the same water used for the parks in the upper levels.

Iori sighed to himself as he continued his trek. During his monologue on the city water supply he had completely lost Ryūko as she drifted in the water. Luckily for him the tunnel he went down a while back only went down.

The cloaked boy guessed he should probability buy a blueberry muffin that guy likes so much. If it wasn't for his information, Iori knew for a fact that he would have gotten lost at the last junction.

"Halt in the name of Lady Satsuki and the Discipline Committee!" A rough voiced demanded.

The red loving teen shook himself from his thoughts and looked ahead.

A group of about three One Star students loomed ahead, from the slight difference of the grey in their uniforms it was obvious that this little gang belonged to that murderous toad, Gamagoori.

They also did just shout out who they owned their allegiance to.

Iori barely resisted the urge to smile at the sight.

"Oh my, what is the Discipline Committee doing down under? Don't you have hallways to prowl and trash cans to check?" He lazily drawled out. Underneath the cover of his cloak, Iori's fists tighten in anger at the mere sight of the Discipline Committee.

Iori may not have been the biggest fan of Satsuki Kiryūin's fascist rule over Honnō City; however Gamagoori and his goons were a different story. They were attack dogs that bared their fangs at any one who dared to "think" outside the box. Many No-Star students have scars on various parts of their body due to the "righteous judgement" of the Discipline Committee.

The hypocrisy of that belief drove Iori Katsuki mad.

"Idiotic No-Star do you dare question us? We are the hammer of Lady Satsuki and we answer to no one but the student council and her." The talking pig in human clothing stepped forward. The goons behind him smiled as they crudely started to crack their knuckles.

At least they haven't resorted in throwing their feces at him like they normally do. It didn't seem that these weren't the average pigs of the committee in front of him.

"I was just wondering, I mean it's not like your searching for a black haired girl with the love of red. Then again if you are, how can I fault you? Her outfit yesterday was... unique in design."

"He's after the transfer student!" One of the goons shouted in the back.

The leading member raised his hand to silence his patrol. "So you are searching for the Kamui wearer? Sur-"

"Sorry, I have no idea what you're talking about." Iori politely interrupted. He then took a step towards the group. "I am looking for my friend Ryūko though. Have you seen her?"

"You dare interrupt your be-"The incoming cloaked boy simply closed his eyes and smiled.

"You are annoying. Please move out of my way." The leading committee member took a step back in surprise.

Somehow this No-Star just closed a ten feet distance within the blink of an eye! A sense of dread filled the leader of the patrol group. As he looked at the short No-Star that got in his way, he stopped. The eyes of the student in front of him were dead off all emotions. It was like there wasn't a human being standing in front of him.

The One-Star student bit his lip. How could be spooked of a No-Star? There was a rumor about a "Miracle No-Star" that defeated the track club last semester. But the One-Star student was there when Gamagoori announced during a committee meeting that the club failed to pay their dues.

After all clubs were expensive at Honnōji academy…

Right?

"Wh-"

The boy punched the One-Star student in the gut. The said student slammed into the opposite wall of the tunnel at light speed.

Darkness was all he knew.

"I did ask him to move." Iori stated to the horror of the surviving patrol members.

"W-What the hell was that?! Is he the "Miracle No-Star?"?" The member on Iori's right whimpered. A light stain could be seen on spreading across his crotch.

"You have to be kidding me Satō, that's just an urban myth! We're both One-Star students! He got lucky with Ayato. Let's show him his place!" The one on the left roared.

Iori lazily looked at one of the minion and then to the other. Were they really going to try to fight him still?

How typical for grunts.

"Sorry, but I can't let this be easy for you know. Then again this was kind of my fault." He kicked the One-Star to the left.

He became friends with the ceiling.

Another kicked ended the whole skirmish.

The so called fight lasted about twenty seconds.

"Whelp that was fun! Hmm, maybe I should fix them up a bit? Nah, I hit them hard enough so they'll forget I was even here." Iori mumbled to himself as wiped his hands on his pants. Just touching those dogs made him feel so dirty.

"Now I should find Ryūko down this tunnel. Hmm…" As he stood on the edge of the waterfall, Iori looked down to the lower level of the waterline in front of him. He sighed in happiness when he noticed what was stuck at the end of the large chamber he recently found himself him.

It seemed that Ryūko was hanging off the ledge with Senketsu spenders.

The strength of a Kamui was different than one would expect. It was nice to know that Iori didn't have to climb down twenty feet to the next level.

"I hope it wouldn't be too difficult to get you out of this mess, Ryūko."

With that said Iori got to work.

He had a friend to save.


The trip to Mr. Mikisugi place was a tricky one. Due to his unique style of dress, Iori had to use the fountain waterline and the back alleys of the slums to sneak into his favorite teacher one room apartment.

Fishing the extra key he had for his legal guardian apartment, Iori slowly opened the battered door.

The apartment was empty of any human beings.

It seemed that Mr. Mikisugi wasn't here yet. A quick glance at the clock told him that lunch would be in an hour from now.

The apartment was as cluttered as always, the only space that he could put Ryūko down was a brown sleeper sofa.

He was hesitant to place the sleeping girl on said sofa. He knew that his guardian was a fan of baring it all and he slept in the nude. He wouldn't wish his worse enemies to sit on that sofa.

Iori was afraid that if he touched it, his nipples would glow purple too.

"Sorry Ryūko I guess you have to take one for the team then."

He gently placed her down onto the sofa. Once she was laying on it completely, he took off the guitar case on his back. Walking towards his guardian's almost broken door, he placed the guitar case next to it.

"Right where did Mr. Mikisugi place the towels again?" After a five minutes search, he finally found a towel in the kitchen area. Giving the towel a quick sniff told him that it was freshly washed.

He placed it on the cluttered coffee table.

With the experience of a professional nurse, he stripped Ryūko of her wet clothes and hazardously threw Senketsu onto a hanger. Right now he had to make sure his friend was okay.

Ryūko's body was covered in bruises from her earlier defeat at the hand of the tennis captain. Iori clenched his teeth in anger at the sight. From what he could tell from the brief time he had spent with her, Ryūko was a girl that had to finish what she started.

It seemed that he wasn't going to rip Hakodate a new one today.

Why did Ryūko have to get in a fight so fast? She was still healing from blood loss yesterday! Iori had shamefully run out of his healing crème due to treating Ryūko's wounds from the previous day.

He then noticed how soaked she was.

Silently he used the towel he found to dry off his tomboyish friend.

It was strangely nice drying the fierce girl in front of him. Instead of her hot-headed self when she was awake, her face was peaceful in slumber.

The pressure of her self-appointed quest disappeared from her face and for once she looked like a teenage girl. The constant frown that was always on her face or that challenging smirk was replaced with a small smile of content.

Was this the true Ryūko? Was the rebel that was willing to take on the world just a simple front she used to deal with life? What made this peaceful girl in front of him into the hell bent avenger he had the pleasure of befriending?

"Poor Ryūko what happened to you to make you like this?" He whispered as he traced a scar over her left shoulder. It was circular in shape and Iori's medical knowledge clued him in what the wound was from.

It was a bullet hole; someone actually shot his friend in the past. His frown deepened when he noticed a couple more scars that were very similar to the one he just looked at. As his eye scanned Ryūko's nude body, he noticed the grim collection that scared her.

Ryūko's pale skin was ridden with scars from past battles and events that Iori wanted to know about. Was this collection gained within the last six months or before the death of her father? What childhood did she have to go through to gain some of these scars…what was her father doing during all this?

He looked over to the Kamui and it answered his previous question.

So, her father cared more about his research then his own daughter. How disgusting of him…and yet Ryūko loved her old man dearly. From the anger she shown to Satsuki yesterday indicated that she had at least known her father a bit.

But all these scars…

What type of father allows his daughter to gain such a loathsome collection at a young age? Iori gently ran his finger over a nearly white scar on the back of Ryūko's left brachium (upper arm) his medical knowledge told him that it was at least ten years old and it was the result of a knife wound.

His friend at the age of seven was sliced by a pocket knife.

"…I swear to you now that you wouldn't be alone anymore Ryūko. You got Mako and me watching you're back." He told her solemnly, it was his duty as a friend to support Ryūko in her quest for the truth. He would have to talk to Mako later about this also.

Mako would know what course they should take in helping Ryūko out.

As Iori stood up to cover his friend, he noticed a long scar on the upper thigh of his friend. It was long and fairly new compared to the other scars on her body. But the pattern of the scar looked similar to a whip…

"I'm sorry Gamagoori Sempai! Please stop, I wouldn't do it again!"

Blood started to drip from his fingers as he remembered that day. Last semester where he did nothing as Mako was…

"No, this isn't the place for this. But watch your back toad; I will pay you in full one day for what you did."

Ryūko in her sleep groaned. Iori looked down and saw goosebumps starting to form on his friend skin. Quickly picking up the thick woolen blanket near the sofa, he placed it on her.

Iori slowly turned to the Kamui that he threw on the hanger. It was still draped over the steel wired frame. He noticed that the dresser near the sofa was high enough for him to hang the uniform up. Iori quietly placed the Kamui Senketsu on a dresser facing his human partner. He wanted Senketsu to be visible to Ryūko once she was awake.

He sat on the papered covered ground and took out a small book about sewing to read.

Within twenty minutes the temptation of checking out the so called Senketsu was too much for the curious boy. Placing his small book on sewing back into his cloak's pocket, the teen stood up. Making sure that Ryūko was still asleep he headed over to Senketsu.

With a trembling hand he tenderly felt the fabric of the black and red uniform.

"Amazing, so this is what one hundred percent feels like. I have to admit Ryūko I am kind of jealous of your outfit." Iori muttered as he moved his hand down one of the sleeves of the inactive Kamui. He squashed down the feeling of jealousy at his friend, how could he be jealous of something like this?

He should be grateful his friend wasn't devoured by the Kamui.

But to see an actually Kamui in action yesterday was amazing. The view he had was front row and Ryūko seemed to be wearing it correctly. Yet, the way how she fainted later on told him that she wasn't connecting to it properly, the blood loss was also a clear sign that something went wrong.

It also troubled him that she had no idea about the true nature of her outfit. It was like she had no knowledge about those red fibers in the first place. But that wouldn't make sense; his backers should have told Ryūko something about her father's legacy.

Why would they keep her in the dark?

Didn't they know her life was at risk?

It ticked Iori off a little bit that his friend might be in danger due to the lack of information. However, the Kamui quickly soothed Iori of his anger. He had a specimen to study!

"You know people might get the wrong idea if they see you fondling a sailor fuku (outfit)." A lazy voice reprehended him. Iori sighed in displeasure as his examination of his friend's fuku was cut short.

His guardian did know when to stop his fun.

"But Mr. Mikisugi I am making sure that Ryūko's outfit didn't have any rips in it." Iori finished stretching out Senketsu on the hanger. "After all I have a feeling that this is her only outfit."

Mr. Mikisugi walked closer to his star pupil, his face was rather serious. A far cry from it's' default form of boredom. Even the teacher's signature slow gait was transformed into a very flamboyant stride as he crossed his own room.

"Katsuki, you and I both know you were doing more than checking for rips."

Iori faced his teacher with a frown.

"That may be true…but that's not the true problem at hand."

Mr. Mikisugi eyebrow shoot up. "Oh what is the problem Iori?" The teacher took a step back from his student in caution. Iori may have been a worrywart at heart but the muffin lover knew how strong his ward was. probably

He was probably stronger then Gamagoori of the Elite Four when it came to physical strength without Goku Uniforms entering the equation.

"Tell me why is Ryūko in the dark? Didn't Doctor Matoi craft Senketsu? I find it distributing that she has no knowledge on her father's legacy other than the information I gave her yesterday. "

Backing up, Mikisugi sat on lone window frame of his small flat. The middle aged teacher was wondering why Iori cared so much for the Matoi scion.

It seemed that introducing him to the Mankanshoku family finally backfired.

It seemed that within a day Ryūko had mange to worm her way into the red loving boy's heart. Then again Ryūko's friendly attitude towards Mako really won her favor with Iori and her later rescue of the food loving girl made her a friend in Iori's book.

"We don't think it's necessary to tell her information yet. Plus, you are not a member of our group the last time I checked." He turned away from his student; it seemed that Iori had already spilled some of the beans to Ryūko.

He had to know what information that Iori told Ryūko and if that information would endanger the Mankanshoku family if Satsuki's spies overheard the two.

"What did you tell her? If you endang-"

"I would phrase that in a different way Mikisugi. It might…offend someone in this room."

Iori looked very displeased at what his teacher was about to suggest. Did Mikisugi really doubt his love for his adaptive family? He would never be so careless and paint a target on the Mankanshokus' back.

The said teacher sighed in frustration at his student's interruption. It was like pulling teeth sometimes with his favorite student. Then again he had a feeling why the boy was in such a sour mood.

It seemed that Isshin's brat was already causing him problems and it was only her second day here! Sometimes Mikisugi really hated transfer students, first the boy from Kobe and now the Kanto Vagabond was in his class causing trouble.

Then again he already started the year with Mankanshoku and Iori in his class. Why couldn't he get a class filled with normal students?

A grimace crossed Mikisugi's face. "…Must you act like a teenager at times Iori? It's rather infuriating to deal with you when you're in one of these moods."

A small chuckle filled the room.

"I thought you told me to 'Enjoy my springtime of youth'?"

Mikisugi could tell that Iori was getting rather deep into one of his 'moods'. Then again the mocking chuckle that was erupting from the teen's throat was rather obvious.

"Iori…" Mikisugi warned.

"Fine, I only gave her brief information about Kamui and a hint about how to activate him."

"Him?"

Iori leaned on the stack of papers next to Senketsu. The boy thought how he should answer the question that his teacher asked him.

The boy slowly rubbed his forehead in thought; he didn't want to reveal all his cards to Mikisugi yet. They were kind of friends but to be honest he was much closer to Ryūko then Mikisugi. This was sad when he actually thought about it. He had known Mikisugi for little bit over a year and yet a girl he has only known for twenty four hours was closer to him

He blamed Mako for this situation.

"I believe 'fresh blood' is a very masculine name…"The boy trailed off as Mikisugi stared at him.

Iori folded like a wet tissue paper at the glare.

"Fine, I overheard her telling Mako that Senketsu was a guy. Mako then spotted me and sent me a glare that told me to stay away for a while. I pretty sure that she overheard Ryūko and I…argue yesterday."

"How bad?"

"I threatened to kill her if she touched the Mankanshokus in the wrong way." Iori shrugged. It was a common response for the boy. After all working at a back alley clinic attracts all the wrong sort of attention from his fellow slum members.

They learnt not to mess with him after the first couple of times that his boss got a hold of the punks that tried to extort cash for him.

He could still hear their screams at night.

"The usual then?" Mikisugi's question brought the sour dough loving boy back into reality.

"Correct… "Iori nervously scratched his cheek; he really should be embarrassed that was a "usual" response from him. Then again Iori always knew that he was rather simple in some aspects.

"That's usual for you? Iori maybe you're crazier than I thought." Ryūko chuckled out loud. It was her luck that she always attracted the crazies.

Wait a darn minute!

Iori turned towards the couch to see a now awake Ryūko. The tomboy sent a smirk at the cloaked boy. The boy was happy to see that his friend was awake and yet he was worried.

How much did she hear? Then again why was he worried? It's not like Mikisugi and he talked about anything life threatening.

He glanced over the nude girl and she curiously looked back.

At least she didn't notice the state of her nudity. He really would love to have his hearing for the rest of the day.

"Hello Ryūko are you feeling better?" He asked as he bent down to check her face. It seemed that her bruises were mostly yellow with few specks of green. Honestly the rate that Ryūko was healing astonished Iori. Normally it took about a couple of days for blue and purple bruises to change into the so called "healing bruise colors". But for the bruises to change colors that quickly in about four hours?

That was the realm of superhuman abilities and no regular person could boost such healing capability. Was this the real reason why Ryūko could wear her Kamui partner?

"You know if you take a picture it'll last you longer."

"I was checking the coloring of your bruises. To be honest you shouldn't be healing this fast."

"So what, I have a fast healing rate…" Ryūko fiery blue eyes locked with his tired black ones. Why did he always look tried she wondered. "Got a problem with it?"

"A problem? Not at all, in fact I am rather happy that you're okay. I saw the beating you took from the tennis captain."

Ryūko waved a hand in front of her face, her blanket falling down and give Iori a full blown view on her goods.

"Don't worry mom I'll kick her ass next time."

"If you can get your Kamui to work."

A blush raced across Ryūko face at Iori's rather blunt statement. She never has felt as embarrassed before in her life till today with the underperformance she experienced earlier with Senketsu.

"S-Shut up! It's not my fault that the idiot was asleep on me!"

"Well of course your Kamui would be asleep. You didn't feed him any blood."

"Blood?" Ryūko questioned. "Also where the hell are we?"

Mikisugi glanced over to Iori, his eyes telling the red loving teen to let him handle this.

"This humble place is my home Ryūko Matoi. It's also good to see you back in the land of the living."

Ryūko fixed her homeroom teacher with a scowl. "Aren't you my homeroom teacher?"

Mikisugi focused all his attention to the transfer student. "That's right. I'm your homeroom teacher, Aikuro Mikisugi." He put a hand through his hair as he continued.

"You had a big day, I hope you learnt something after that beating Ryūko."

"Learnt something? I learnt that everyone that goes to my school is nuts." Ryūko moved herself up and felt strangely cold. That is when she saw Senketsu at the corner of her eye.

A fiery blush soon covered her face. "Oh my god! Iori did you fucking undress me again?"

"Yep, I didn't want you to catch a cold."

"Y-You are a pervert!" Ryūko pointed her finger angry at the amused teen in front of her. Why was he always undressing her! She did understand both times were for medical reasons, but still! It wasn't right to the tomboy.

"A pervert? I was just doing my job, I see ton of nude girls before working at the clinic." He titled his head and raised a finger to his lips. "It's nothing special to be honest."

"YOU FUCKING ASS!"

"Ass? I just pretend you're wearing a bikini or something."

"IORI KATSUKI I GOING TO PUN-"

"Now, now you too lovebirds," Ryūko growled in anger at that suggestion and Iori simply looked confused at what Mikisugi was saying. "You guys can flirt later. But now Ryūko it's time to teach you few things about the desirable body of yours."

Launching herself from the sofa, Ryūko threw a mean right hook at her teacher. "ASSHOLE I'M…the hell? What can't I move my body?" Mikisugi dodged the sloppy punch that Ryūko threw at him and launched a wave of needles at her body. The needles entered the tomboy's body without an effort.

"Calm down that hot-blooded body of yours, Ryūko. Those anesthetic acupuncture needles should keep you locked up for a while." Mikisugi walked towards his desk and pulled out a rather large needle.

"Do you mind if I take some of your blood? After all 'seeing is believing.'"

Iori looked on in awe as Ryūko turned pale as a sheet. She trembled at the sight of the needle and her head rapidly switched from looking at Mikisugi, Iori, and the needle. Ryūko's reaction to the incoming needle was rather cute in Iori's opinion. It seemed that the Guitar Case Drifter was afraid of needles.

Who would have thought?

"N-No! G-Get away from me! I hate needles!"

"Cute…" It seemed that Iori released his opinion to the world. The weak glare that Ryūko tried to throw at Iori made the boy coo at her cuteness.

"W-What!" Ryūko was surprised at her friend reaction. She was seriously going to kick his ass later! Now one calls her cute and now he was making fun of her fear!

Needles are freaking scary!

"Well that wasn't so bad was it?" It seemed the little play by play between the two teens allowed Mikisugi to draw the required amount of blood. He pointed the needle at Senketsu and said.

"As Iori mention earlier to you Ryūko, 'life's blessing' or blood is required to wake your Kamui."

Blood flew from the needle and landed Senketsu's collar. The uniform started to shine purple and with a flash transformed into a talking sailor uniform. The upper front part of the sailor uniform turned into a face. A giant orange and yellow eyeball started to rapidly bulge as it scanned the room for more blood. Senketsu saw that his human was alright and started to calm down and opened his newly created mouth. His collar started to move up and down like they were massive red eyebrows.

Iori was amazed at the transformation. He wasn't expecting to see an actual change in physical appearance between an sleeping Kamui and a awake one. It also seemed to be talking to Ryūko and from the yells of abuse flying from Ryūko; she seemed to understand what he was saying.

It was an unbelievable sight and a lucky one for Iori. However…

A strange music filled the one room apartment and Iori had the displeasure of knowing what was coming next.

He was going to nip it in the bud before it could become anything serious.

"Mikisugi if you start to strip I am leaving." The tone was cold and the delivery of the sentence even colder.

"…Iori don't do this to me." The (now) male stripper whined.

"Don't test me Mikisugi; I don't want to see you strip. It's nasty enough that you do it front of guys but now you're going to do the same to Ryūko? I believe they call that sexual harassment."

Ryūko was just confused on the whole situation. What did Iori mean by Mikisugi stripping? Wait why did she want to know that in the first place?

"What?" Was the only word she could voice due to her confusion.

"Trust me Ryūko this is something that no one should witness."

Mikisugi actually seemed hurt by his favorite student statement. He had a godly body! Shouldn't it be his duty to display to the world, especially to his pupils? To hide such knowledge was a crime to his profession as a teacher!

"Since I refuse to let you suffer through an ill-intended strip show…" Mikisugi curled up in a ball at his student destroying any chance of showing his body off. Iori continued on, he didn't want to waste more time. After all the lunch bell was supposed to ring any minute by now.

"You should have realized by know that your Kamui gains consciousness when he taste your blood. The Kamui Senketsu was created by my information by your father, Isshin Matoi. The sheer power of a Kamui gives you tremendous advantage against those ratty Goku uniforms you have witnessed already."

"Ratty? Those freaking things are dangerous! Did you see that midget with the boxing gloves yesterday?" Ryūko yelled, she was shocked that Iori considered those killer outfits as sub-par! She witness firsthand how insane those Two-Star uniforms were and here was her friend saying there were 'ratty'.

The hell is up with that?

Iori smiled at his unsure friend, she really had no idea what she was blessed with. Well maybe he should tell her why those Goku uniforms were simply sub-par compared to her outfit.

"You see your Kamui is one hundred percent made out of l-"

A hand grabbed Iori's shoulder, the suddenness of the maneuver stop Iori cold. Glancing at Mikisugi from the corner of his vision Iori frowned. It seemed that his guardian didn't want him to talk.

How annoying but he did have an agreement to follow. If anything was true about Iori Katsuki was the fact that he was a man of his word.

"Made out of what? Come on Iori don't leave me hanging!" The still frozen Ryūko demanded. Just as she was about to get some answer in regards to Senketsu, her homeroom teacher stopped her friend from saying anything!

Wait when did she consider Iori a friend?

"Sorry Ryūko but my 'guardian' here doesn't want me to say anything more." He bowed in apology.

"Whatever…" She rolled her eyes in annoyance. "Is there any reason why you are stopping Iori from giving me information, mister pervert?"

Mikisugi simply smirked at the annoyance that was radiating off Ryūko. "You have to prove yourself first Ryūko Matoi. I can't let Iori tell you information that you are simply not ready to know." He ripped off his shirt and his manly chest was shown to the world. Iori simply grabbed a pillow from the sofa and place it front of Ryūko face.

He would spare her from such a grizzly fate.

"Iori…," Mikisugi pouted, it was unfair! Just when he thought he had a chance! "Anyways, if you want to defeat Satsuki Kiryūin you need to master wearing your Kamui. By doing this there is no doubt about your victory over the Kiryūin heiress and getting the answers you seek."

Ryūko was glad for the shield that Iori protected her with and she smirked at the teen. Her smirk widened when she saw him mouth 'you're welcome and please save me'.

Maybe she wouldn't kick his ass for undressing her earlier.

However, she had something important to ask from the stripper that was her teacher.

"Okay who are you guys?" Ryūko clenched her teeth in annoyance. "Where did you get this information and did you know my father?"

"As much I want to tell you Ryūko, I am bound by an agreement that keeps my mouth shut." Iori saw the frown that quickly formed on Ryūko's face.

Sadly it was the truth, he couldn't lose the information that his backers were sending him. Worse, he couldn't risk losing Mikisugi's organization protection against the people who want him dead.

Going down the route would lead to his death and probably the death of his friends.

It was something that Iori refused to gamble with.

"No, I understand Iori. I have a feeling that it's something you can't afford to lose." Seeing him nod in agreement, caused Ryūko to switch her frown towards her homeroom teacher. She was glad that she still couldn't see him due to the pillow in front of her.

Her glare would cause any normal man to turn to ash.

"Let's be reasonable Ryūko, if you can manage to defeat the tennis captain, Omiko Hakodate, I will allow Iori to finish what he was going tell you."

"I don't have a choice in the matter, but fine. I beat that tennis freak into the dirt and then you will allow my friend to tell me what I need."

"See, that wasn't so hard Ryūko."

The shrill of a siren filled the air as the afternoon classes were just about to start. Mikisugi raced over to his paralyzed student and quickly threw the needles off. Like magic, Ryūko regain the control of her body. She quickly dropped down and covered herself with the woolen blanket she woke with.

"We better get going, afternoon classes are starting! Iori give her the glove." With that Mikisugi was out in a flash.

He could be quick when he needed to.

"Glove?"

Iori walked over to the dresser with Senketsu on it and threw the Kamui to the tomboy. Ryūko easily swiped it from the air and started to dress herself. Normally she wouldn't even think about doing such an action in front of people much less a guy but, Iori seemed that he could care less about her nude state. As Iori opened and started to dig through the dresser he said.

"There is actually one piece of your Kamui that you are missing Ryūko. It's not an originally part of Senketsu, but I believe it should make using Senketsu even easier than before."

A red glove lay in the palm of Iori's hand. It had steel planting on the knuckles and a strange pin was on the right side of the glove. For some odd reason Ryūko felt that the glove was familiar to her but she could swear that she never seen it before.

Right?

As Ryūko took the glove and moved her right hand into it, Iori opened his mouth again.

"I call it the Seki Tekko (Crimson Glove) and by pulling the pin it will allow you to feed blood to your Kamui without any issue."

Ryūko stared at her gloved hand in puzzlement. So, just by pulling the pin she could transform with Senketsu? How convenient for Iori to have such a thing, then again something that her cloaked friend said bugged her.

"Thanks Iori…but what do you mean by 'I call it the Seki Tekko'? It's not like you made it right?" Ryūko looked around the room to notice that Iori was missing. It seemed during her studying of her Seki Tekko, Iori left the room without her noticing.

"…I am going to punch that dumbass later for this."

With that said Ryūko grabbed her guitar case next to the door and left the room.

She did learn some things today but at the same time she was left with even more question.

One thing she did know was that her homeroom teacher and Iori Katsuki were in cahoots with each other. Yet it looked like the two men could barely stand each other and the earlier exchange she overheard from them when she was sleeping told her something interesting.

She was right that Iori knew something and he is willing to give her information over time as they got to know each other more. Yet Mikisugi had something big on the cloaked boy and Ryūko had a feeling that his so called organization was in fact 'protecting' Iori.

But from what and from whom?

It bothered Ryūko and yet she threw these questions to the back of her mind.

She had a tennis chick to beat and answers to win.


Author's Note

Don't worry I haven't forgot about the tennis fight! It's just that the next chapter will have a fight scene that will more then make that up. I mean who doesn't like seeing Ryūko and Satsuki beating the snot out of each other? I know I going to enjoy writing that scene a lot! I bet a couple of you might be wondering why didn't Senketsu talk at all in this chapter. That is because this chapter is from is from Iori POV and not Ryūko's POV. Only Ryūko's chapters are going to have a talking Senketsu, after all only she can hear him.

So yeah I hope d you guys enjoyed this chapter and if you have any questions send me a PM!

Next Chapter: "Hot-Blooded Devil": Fresh Blood

I hope you enjoyed this chapter and see you again soon!