The Haruno Chronicles
Ch. 28 Ah, the first day of High School, Now that was something to remember. First time for the revenge cycle to end. Then to settle in. Then it's off to find your club. In this chapter we see the first few days of our main characters high school experience.
Disclaimer: Everything, material, characters, locations ect… are property of the respective people.
Chapter 28 – High School, the experience
Lee woke up the next morning to find that Lance and Chrono's 'prank' had finally worn off. Even the dress and all other things girly magically attached to him had disappeared and he was wearing the same clothes as yesterday right before the transformation magic Lance had booby trapped his room with took effect. At first, he was already planning a get back prank but the he decided to give them each a punch in the head and be over with the whole incident. After all, it is pretty much how it all got started. He ate breakfast early and was running to the door. He didn't want to be late on the first day. Just as he was getting to the door, his father came and handed him a package. Lee opened it to see a full metal Katana, the type used for concealment and the standard for what John use on bodyguard missions. "Don't worry, some 'relations' within the family got a license for you to carry that anywhere. It would be too bizarre if you always made one of Ki out of thin air. Also, the principle knows and has signed the agreement as long as you don't use it to harm other students or purposely damage property." He handed Lee an official looking document with some important signatures. Lee hid the katana in a special pocket of his pants. It was short and light so it didn't look like it was there at all. He then thanked his dad and ran the door.
He had sealed most of his Ki with RETASETSU so he wouldn't stand out. But not all of it so he could still look impressive. Most people trained to get better at something after all and it would be a waste not to use some of it. He used his SHUNPO, which had been virtually cut in half to make the bus on time. He got there just in time to get on the bus and find a seat in the back, where everyone was waiting for him. Sakura was on a different bus due to the fact that the junior high school started 15 minutes earlier to make sure that buses didn't clog traffic. Lee sat down next to Chrono and Sakura, with Nanoha to Sakura's side. Lance was at home due to the fact that there wasn't a way of entering him into the school without suspicion. He went on patrol from time to time to keep an eye out though.
They were all laughing when Lee, true to his word the previous night, hit Chrono on the head before saying, "If I hear or see any 'rumors' going around, I can't promise the building will hold up." This made them all stop, but Sakura said, "Well, if it has any meaning, you were a very cute girl." Lee was about to say something but decided to look the other way. Then Chrono said, "Yes, you were very sexy." Lee then said, "Just for your information, as of this morning, I have a license to carry my sword anywhere, including the school grounds. Now we both know I won't hurt you but it could just slip, tearing off your clothes and what little dignity you have left." Lee then opened the pocket of his pants with the blade in it. He seemed to get his point across as Chrono had turned almost sober by the time they got off the bus, when Lee finally said, "It was a joke, I may be a bit vengeful, but not evil."
They walked through the doors to the school. Lee felt some staring as they passed. Lee no longer had the vast majority of his muscles showing so to normal eyes, he just looked like a normal, maybe even wimpy freshmen. They walked to their new lockers and shoved their books in, then they each got their schedules and went to homeroom. Due to Chrono's families 'influence' over the cities public functions, they had all been placed in the same class, a big relief to Nanoha who was still getting used to the school thing, having only attended one for a month. They entered their homeroom to find to their delight that there was a grouping of four desks in the back corner (As was tradition in a Japanese school, Seating was decided by the desk you chose on the first day). They sat down and placed their books in their desks and they prepared for the first day of school. As soon as everyone was in his or her seats, the teacher came in.
"Good mourning. I am going to be your Homeroom teacher this year. My name is Mr. Kenton, A pleasure." He looked like he had just come out of college or even was still attending. He was easily the youngest teacher Lee had ever had. Also, most of the girls in the class were starring at him. The boys were just sizing up the enemy. He then started to write stuff on the board. The class started off with basic introductions. They stated their Name and something about themselves. When Lee came up, he said that he liked Kendo. "That's good. I am pleased to say that I am the new Kendo instructor. Can I expect you to join the team?" As they were required to take a sport or club in high school, Lee said yes. He had planned to join it from the beginning. Chrono was going to join him. As one of his weapons could be a sword and Lee was already there, it wouldn't hurt. Sakura had joined the girls archery club along with Nanoha. They thought they could at least work on their accuracy. Though their magic usually auto guided their shots to have pretty good aim, John had told them that at the root, it was the mage who supplied the skill required so the better the mage, the better the attack.
Homeroom lasted until lunch, as it was the first day. The second part of the day was entirely devoted to finding a club or sport to join. They ate lunch on the roof like normal. When they were done, they were instructed to go to the gym for an assembly. When they got there, they sat with their class on the floor why the principle gave a speech about a new start and other stuff. Then he explained that in each room in the school, there was a different club booth set up for them to go and look at. They were to goo and look at the ones that interested them and chose one by the end of the day. Those who hadn't would be placed in the club with the fewest members automatically and be forbidden from changing for the first semester. There was a big map of the whole school posted in the gym saying which rooms had which clubs in it. There were also ones near the stairs and at the entrance. Lee and Chrono split for the schools Dojo, where the martial arts and Kendo teams met together. It was big so it could be split in half easily. Sakura and Nanoha headed for the back of the gym, which was where the fully equipped archery range was located.
When Chrono and Lee entered the dojo, they enter and walked up to the kendo booth located inside. There were three people at the booth. One was Mr. Kenton, and the other two introduced themselves as Drew Hokkaido and Norman Tints, both seniors. Drew was the captain of the Kendo team. He had the perfect build for kendo. He had a lot of muscle but they weren't big. He wasn't huge but medium sized. Norman, the vice-captain was a bit bigger in comparison. His muscles were large. This meant he would be slower but he could make up for it with excessive power. As far as normal swordsmen go, these two seemed to be pretty good. "So are you two beginners?" asked Drew. "I am," said Chrono. Lee then said, "I wouldn't call myself a beginner but no one is perfect." Lee tried to see if any of the three were any good so he released one level of his sealing, which to the eye was unnoticeable but obvious to any true swordsmen. Neither of the two seniors showed any signs, but Lee thought he saw something in the captain's eyes so he wasn't sure about him. But Mr. Kenton smiled and looked at him directly, giving Lee a clear sign that he understood. Lee at least now was confident that the instructor had some talent. They asked them to start warming up for practice while others came to look at the club.
At the same time as Lee and Chrono were at the Kendo Club, Sakura and Nanoha went to the Girls Archery club to sign up. When they got there, there were two people at the booth. The first was a student and the other a teacher. They introduced themselves as Susan Layton and Miss. Bell. Susan was a senior and the Captain of the Archery club and Miss. Bell was the instructor. Rosa Genoa, a junior and vice-captain was in the archery range setting it up. Sakura and Nanoha said they were beginners and to teach them. They then went over to help set things up why waiting for the sign up period to end.
Back at the Kendo booth, they were all set up and the waiting time had expired. In total, 6 boys, including Lee and Chrono had signed up. Along with 8 old members from the previous school year, there were 14 in all, including captains. There were 2 others as well but they were helping some of the other booths and so would not be with them until tomorrow. They were both seniors. They had all already warmed up so now they were splitting up into three groups, Beginners, intermediates and experts. The Beginner group was made up of 6 students, 4 freshmen (Chrono included) and 2 sophomores, led by Mr. Kenton. The intermediate group had 4 people in it, 1 freshman, 2 sophomores and a junior, led by vice-captain Norman. The last group, the experts only had two people, Lee and a returning junior.
Drew smiled, "So you think your some hot stuff, don't ya freshmen." Lee looked at him as if daring him to say something else. He then said, "Don't worry, I ain't mocking ya or nothing. I did the same thing freshmen year. I will just warn ya now that I don't go easy. With that said, do you want to continue?" Lee nodded. "Good, lets get started. As to ascertain the strength of our newcomer, lets have a little spar between the two of ya. We can use the karate side of the dojo, I think they're still jogging around the gym." Sure enough, the other side was empty when they went through the dividing curtain. "Okay, this is a free style full arena match. There are no restrictions on the fighting style at all. You can use your bare hands for all I care. Please go to your places." John had taught Lee a bit about formal matches for the family tournament. This was basically the same type they used in that tournament. Lee went to the opposite side it the arena. Then he took his wooden Katana and bowed to his opponent. The junior smirked, thinking of this as an easy win and bowed in return. Drew started the match. The junior rushed at Lee, but to Lee seamed unbearably slow. Lee dodged his first few attacks without using his sword at all. Then he got behind him. The junior then turned around and tried to do a side slash. Lee stopped it with his pointer. Then, just using his pointer and thumb, held it in place. "What the?" said the junior, trying to move the sword with both hands and with no luck. Drew looked impressed by this. Then Lee let go and the junior fell over. He got up, looking furious and rushed towards Lee. He did a violent slash downwards. Lee evaded it with ease and then swung fast at the junior, stopping right before it made contact near the stomach. Next thing the junior knew, he was on the floor, looking up at Lee and Drew who were looking down at him sleeping on the floor. "What the hell happened? I remember his sword being right near my stomach and then it was all a blur." Drew then said, "Don't worry, most people would be knocked out by 13 straight blows to the stomach." "13?" the junior said, looking were the pain was and there were at least a dozen different small slash marks. "Sorry, I tired to hold them back a little bit." The junior then said, "Bane, the name's Bane Darrow. Remember it; I will be back for you." And he walked away.
"Nice attack, 13 hits and I almost lost track, mind you I was caught off guard." Lee smiled, "I guess no ones perfect," and he pointed at the floor where he had made the attack. On the ground, there were exactly 15 slash marks. "I made the majority of the slashes to the ground to hold back, but I guess you were caught off guard a bit." Drew started laughing, "I have got to face you; how about a small match between the two of us, and lets not hold back so much. I know your using RETASETSU; yes I noticed it earlier. So how about we both release it and we do an exhibition match for the whole team. It will be a good moral booster. And I will throw in a bonus. Beat me in under 30 seconds and I will make you the new vice-captain. Norman is strong but is as fast as a rock. It is always his downfall." Lee agreed, thinking that it could be interesting.
5 minutes later, they were on opposite sides of the arena, with the rest of the team as spectators. Mr. Kenton was going to be ref and timekeeper. "This is a free, anything goes match. If Lee wins within the first 30 seconds, he will be the new vice-captain." Drew then asked Lee, "By the way, I never got your last name. What is it, I would like to know my challenger and next victims full name." Lee then said, "Cross, my name is Lee Cross." Drew's eyes seemed to widen. "Cross, that explains it." He then took off 4 training weights. By the sound they made on contact with the floor, Lee guessed they were about 32 kg apiece (about 75 pounds). "I am sorry for matching you up with a mediocre opponent. For a cross, it is necessary to have a worthy opponent. I will not hold back." He released the power seal and Lee felt a good amount of Ki radiate from him. About as much as Sarah could. Lee then released another 2 levels out of the twenty he made. Now his muscles got noticeably bigger. Then another 2 so he was at level 5. Now he was ready to fight. His muscles were clearly visible. He no longer looked like some newbie freshman. "Take your stances." Drew took a stance Lee recognized as a Benjutsu stance. It was where the user positioned their sword as if it was in a sheath and swung it as such. It was a technique of moderate power but amazing speed. At Lee's current level of Ki emission, even he would have trouble reacting. It was a technique that's total attack time was 2 seconds. He decided to make this as quickly as possible. He took his sword and with his right hand, brought the hilt level to his face. Then he placed his left hand on the swords tip. To Drew 30 feet away, it looked like some type of thrusting technique, but that couldn't be right. He was much to far outside a thrusts range, which was that of the user taking one step with the sword fully extended. Drew thought it was a challenge for him to make the first move.
Chrono on the sidelines was the only one in the room who knew what was about to happen. He looked at Norman, who was next to him and said, "Prepare to be demoted." Norman looked over at Chrono, "So do you know what your friend is about to do?" "More or Less. It is impossible to see but the result is as clear as day. It will be over in zero seconds." "Don't over exaggerate. So this is some type of high-speed technique. Sorry to tell you but speed is Drew's specialty. No one can beat him in that department." Chrono smiled, "Sorry to say this, but this technique goes far beyond just speed. To someone who can't use the technique, it is 100% unbeatable." "Tough words for the beginner."
Back on the arena, Lee and Drew were ready. Mr. Kenton looked at both the combatants. He could feel the power around the room. "Ready, Set, GO!" The moment that he started said go, it was over. Everyone rechecked they're eyes after what happened. One moment they were taking their stances, the second, Lee was behind Drew, who was standing motionless. If you blinked, you missed the fight. Then Lee's sword, even with the Ki he put into it, broke into pieces. Lee walked away from Drew. "Mr. Kenton, See to it that he is properly taken care of." Mr. Kenton nodded. Lee then realized that the kendo instructor was probably several times more powerful than Drew. He was the only one who noticed what happened, though he could only tell from the signs left from it. Just then, two seconds after the attack, a large crack from where Lee was to where Lee had reappeared appeared on the floor as a shockwave flew forward. Mr. Kenton walked over and looked at Drew's face. "Hay," said Norman, looking at Lee, "Where are you going, the match is still on." Mr. Kenton then spoke up, "No, it isn't. Mr. Drew here is unconscious. Lee already won, which I guess makes him the new Vice."
It took a few minutes but Drew finally recovered. He sat up on the bench he was placed on where Mr. Kenton was bandaging him up. "I can't remember a thing from the fight." Mr. Kenton smiled and said, "That would be because the fight as far as we are concerned consisted of a little Disappearing act by Lee where he reappeared behind you." Drew then asked, "So what was the final fight time?" Mr. Kenton takes out his pocket watch and hands it to Drew. It reads "00:00:00.00." "There wasn't enough time to press the button. If you blinked, you missed the battle." Drew then laughed, "This is interesting. This years is going to be fun."
Drew walked over to Lee, who was resealing his Ki down to one level. Following Drew was Mr. Kenton. Mr. Kenton then asked, "So that technique, was it ZERO TENSHI?" Lee's eyes widened, "Where did you learn about it?" Mr. Kenton then asked, "By any chance, do you know a person named Sora. I once saw him use that same technique." Lee's eye's widened some, "Yeah, he's my older brother." Mr. Kenton started laughing, "I knew it. I knew I recognized the style. Your Sora's brother, aren't you. Sora used that technique many times on me during Kendo practice last year. We were on the same Kendo team in college. He was a year under me. How is he?" Lee responded, "Good, He was here until 2 days ago." Drew butted in, "So what exactly is this ZERO TENSHI anyway." Mr. Kenton answered, "A thrust. It is a thrust of such amazing speed that the opponent cannot defend against it. They can't even move." Lee interjected, "Only half right. It is not a high-speed technique. Combining Ki with a special stance and a correct step, all perfectly done, this technique enters the user into Zero Time, a space existing outside of time. Time, Distance, fear, they all become Zero within this technique. But the basic part was right. It is a thrust, initially. If I was going for a full out attack, I could add slashes or anything I wanted to the combo. This technique literally takes Zero seconds to perform. Do not feel bad, except for my father, no one has ever defeated it and he was the one who made it so that loss only makes sense." Drew then said, "Interesting, this is very interesting. Let me fight you again sometime." Drew got up and then turned around, "Be sure to go to Norman and get his Key's for the dojo. I will have the vice-captains badge ready for your uniform once the uniforms get in. Lee went to sit down and watched as the rest of them resumed practicing.
Meanwhile, at the same time, Sakura and Nanoha were sitting down on some benches with about 20 or so other girls, listening to the captain, Susan Layton, explain the basics of archery. She also explained the tournament styles and other stuff newbie's needed to know. When she was done, she asked them to come over to get fitted for a bow. They were each given a bow at the beginning of the year that they were to maintain for the rest of their time in the club. Sakura and Nanoha each got themselves a fairly new bow and walked over. Then they had their measurements taken by Miss. Bell for their uniforms. Then they got a wrist guard and were led in droves of two to one of the ten target stations. Nanoha was first; she placed the arrow on the bow like Susan had shown them, then pulled it to face level. She looked closely at where she was targeting. She then let it go. It hit the blue ring, right outside the bulls-eye zone. She looked a little disappointed but the vice captain, Rosa, came and told her it was a nice shot for a beginner.
Then Sakura went up. She took up the bow and loaded an arrow. Then she drew the arrow back to her face level. Then she aimed. Instead of trying to aim the arrow, she pretended she was firing a blast of magic. She focused hard on the target. Unnoticed by her but noticed by Nanoha, a bit of magic seeped into the arrows tip sub-consciously. She launched her arrow. It went straight through the bull's eye and the entire target and came out on the other side, cracking the tip of the arrow as it hit a rock behind it. Susan happened to be watching. "Dam nice shot you got there, any previous experience." Sakura shook her head, "Well, your good for a beginner. I want to see another three shots." Sakura went back to the range and loaded three arrows. This time, she asked after Nanoha told her to CERENITY to hold her magic back. She then focused intently on the spot, still imagining the arrow being a blast of magic. She aimed it the same way and let it go. She did this three times, each time hitting the bull's eye. The second arrow went down the shaft of the first and the third down the second's shaft. Susan clapped. "You got stuff freshmen. I like stuff. You are going to be good. I will make sure of it."
From then until the end of practice, Susan took Sakura to a station at the end to work alone on her shooting. She showed Sakura the entire mechanics of the bow and exactly how to fire. She gave Sakura an example with her bow, which looked a bit too big for her. She fired 5 times, each hitting a dot that she had preplaced on the target. Sakura was amazed, but then again, Susan was the captain of the Archery Club. Sakura then tried it herself and managed to hit all of the targets on her first try. They kept going at it.
The rest just kept alternating. Nanoha had taken Sakura's advice on aiming and it seemed to work. Nanoha too started hitting the Bull's eye, though she couldn't do it every time. She was able to hit 3 out of 4 though. Rosa came over and told her that it was all in the wrists. She gave Nanoha a visible demonstration. Nanoha tried to copy her and her arrow went off. "No, No, NO. You're doing it all wrong. You are trying to copy me, who am left-handed. You are right handed, so instead of mimicking me, reflect me like a mirror, doing the same and at the same time, the opposite of me. Nanoha tried again, changing hands to 'reflect' the vice-captain. The result being that the two arrows collided into each other while hitting the bull's eye and falling down. "There we go, just needed a push." Nanoha continued to practice the form for a while after.
After about 2 hours, Susan declared that practice was over and that they should all meet here tomorrow for practice as well. They all started to leave. Susan asked Sakura to stay behind and help clean up. Unfortunately, Sakura was driven home and had to hurry. She was now allowed to ride to school on the bus but she still had to be driven at night. But she decided two minutes wouldn't hurt in the long run so she went and helped bring the arrows to the door of the Archery clubs supply shed. "Thanks," said Susan, locking the shed. "You are a really good teacher," said Sakura. "Don't worry, it is mostly you. I don't remember anyone besides Rosa or myself who got a bull's eye on their first day." Sakura blushed and said, "Well my friends say I have a keen eye. That's the real reason why I joined." Susan then said, "Well I'm glad you did. There is ever lasting demand for talent in any sport." Sakura said good-bye and ran to the car where Nanoha and Sakura's dad were waiting for her to go home.
At the same time, the Kendo club had also been dismissed. Lee and Chrono were already leaving the building when realized that they had missed the bus. In celebration of their first day of school being over, they decided to have a sky race. When they weren't transformed, they were pretty evenly matched. Lee ended up winning but it was close. When they finished their race, Chrono headed to his house while Lee just directly teleported to his bedroom.
When Lee went downstairs, Sarah was already on the couch watching TV. He sat down in a chair and watched some TV too. "And how was your new prison today?" said Sarah. "Not bad. Joined the Kendo team, stole the vice-captains position ect… Would have been captain but you needed to be a returning club member first. No Homework, that's good. And how about you?" Sarah looked at Lee, "Would be dead in detention if it wasn't for your "Guide of Miss. Warne avoidance." She was all over me. She even swapped my chair for one that forces you to sit straight back. It was agony. It was all I could do to hold back from making her desk explode. Though I did manage to make her pen squirt ink in her face via magic. It was funny to watch." Lee and Sarah laughed when John came in. "So what's so funny." They stopped for a second, and then decided that telling their dad was all right, as long as mom didn't learn about it. She was a fun mother, but a strict disciplinarian. She didn't approve of this sort of behavior, in excess at least. She would sometimes turn a blind eye of it was a harmless little joke or something to someone who deserved it, but that would never pass for doing it to a teacher.
After dinner, Lee and Sarah went into the dojo for a little after dinner workout. Lee told his dad about joining the Kendo club. It turned out that Sarah had joined the junior high kendo club. There club only met three times a week. They were going to evaluate each of their skills tomorrow so Sarah was still an unknown, but Lee had a hunch that she would also become a vice-captain very quickly. John then said that they had made good choices and to make sure not to over do it. Then Lee told John about his match with Drew. "He isn't a boastful idiot like I first thought. He's good. He too was sealing Ki. I would say he is as good, if not even better than Sarah's Level, and definitely much faster. I actually had to try a bit. I had to use ZERO TENSHI to beat him it under 30 seconds to get the vice-captaincy. He is good." John looked a bit surprised, "Now that is an anomaly, another prodigy. What's his last name?" "Hokkaido I think." "Ah, Hokkaido. That would explain it." Lee looked confused, so John continued, "If you say that you and your cousin Sam are rivals, then you would have to say that the Hokkaido's were the Cross's rivals. Their ancestral line is almost as old as ours. Though we've always had similar goals throughout history, we have always been butting heads, trying to outmatch each other. Two of the Hokkaido's are on the list of ZENRYOKU ZENKAI users. And I would bet that one of them, Moran, is probably directly related to this Drew, probably his father, uncle at the most." Lee looked surprised. He was wondering how Drew knew so much about the family name. After absorbing the information, Lee said, "And another anomaly, Mr. Kenton, the Kendo instructor, used to be on the same Kendo team as Sora last year when he was in college." John smiled, "That is a laugh. I know that name. He was the only person I know of outside the family that ever beat Sora. I had to teach Sora ZERO TENSHI to help him win against him, and he still only won by a nose hair. Took him 4 tries as well; he always messed it up during a match, even though he could do it in practice. "You have yourself one interesting Kendo club there. I will definitely make an effort to watch your tournaments." They got back to practicing before going to bed. Sarah had to stop early because she had been given homework on her first day (from Miss. Warne.)
The next morning, Lee slept in late and didn't even make an effort to catch the bus. He just ate breakfast and teleported to school. It wasn't hard; he already knew all the places that would be vacant so no one would see. He teleported to an empty closet near the door to the roof and walked to class. They sat down and waited for Mr. Kenton to start Homeroom. "Good Mourning Class. I have good News. Unfortunately due to paperwork, he couldn't come yesterday but we have a new foreign exchange student joining us today. That's your cue" he said looking at the door. Lee and the rest almost jumped back in shock. A very familiar and mostly unwelcomed face walked into the room. "Hello, my name is Andy Santo. Pleased to be here." His accent was so different from when they met him in the hanger that it was almost believable that he was an exchange student. "Now lets see, as for your desk. I think there is a free one next to Lee in the second back row; you can have that one," Mr. Kenton said, pointing at Lee. Andy smiled and sat down next to Lee. On closer inspection, Lee saw that there was a bandage around the area where Lee had written "BAKA" into his skin as a bruise mark. "So, you like the title," said Lee. Andy smiled, "I think this planet had an expression "What comes around goes around," or something along that line." Lee smiled and said, "What happens happens." Suddenly, the bandages around Andy's head unraveled of their own accord to reveal the BAKA bruise mark on his forehead. Before he could cover it up again, Lee made the bandages fly to his hand and put them in his desk. Unfortunately, it looked like he had been prepared for this and had put on more than one bandage. Andy laughed quietly while Lee just said Mentally, "You will get yours. Count on it."To which he got a reply, "Same goes for you. By the way, a message from your father." He made a piece of paper appear in Lee's desk via magic so no one would notice. Lee took it out and read it discreetly, "Come to hanger base after clubs, Andy will show you to the entrance. John" Lee put the note away and nodded at Andy in confirmation.
Homeroom ended and they walked down the hall to the chemistry lab. The teacher, Ron, who Lee by a friend had been told about, was there. He was supposed to be some really good teacher, and that statement was proven true. For their first class, they were working with sulfur, carbon dioxide, oxygen, and a bit of hydrogen. For those of you not in chem., this is the standard formula for the all-famous original stink bomb. Everyone got ready quickly for the experiment, putting on his or her gloves and protective goggles, and air masks for good measure. They prepared the flame and beaker and started the experiment. It took the entire class to complete. "We WILL be testing them tomorrow so be prepared. You will be testing them yourselves." Everyone looked a little pale but not surprised. Many of them, including Lee had already guessed this scenario.
They had lunch near the dividing fence today, as they had decided to meet up with Sarah. She appeared 5 minutes after they got there with a lunch. "Hello all," she said. They all said hi back and they started talking about how they were fairing. Sarah was doing all right. She had P.E. next and was going to play girls vs. boys' dodge ball. They wished her luck at the end of the Lunch period. They were going to be late so they said by quickly and split. Sarah running towards her schools gym and Lee and co. to the dreaded history room, home of Nora, the male hating feminist.
They entered Nora's classroom and sat down. They got their books out and prepared for class. When they were situated, the door opened and a young woman, around her mid-20's, with long blond hair came in. Now it was the boys' turn to start starring and for the girls to size up a potential enemy, or would be except the girls already knew her reputation. She went to the front of the classroom and said, "Hello class, I am Miss. Nora," then she looked at all the boys in the classroom, "And I WILL expect you to call me as such. I will get to the point; I do not put up with childish antics in my room; one strike and your out. I will give detention for those who do not comply. Also," again she looked at all male members of the class, "I will not put up with delinquents. I hope I made myself clear." She then told them to move their desks to match a seating chart she just posted. It split the room up by gender, having the boys in the back and the girls in the front. There was also a clear distance between the two sections. "Good, I am glad we could handle that. Lets begin."
She started class. It was as close to hell as one could get without dying. For the first part of class, when she asked questions, she always chose a girl to answer the question, even if a good number of the boys' section of the class had their hands raised. Then when she was done with the subject, would comment on how poor the participation of the boys was, and then said it must be a lack of proper education. Then came the next part. She asked a girl and a boy to come to the board and answer a question. From everyone's perspective, each answer was 100% right and almost word for word from the textbook. She went up and told the girl that her answer was perfect. Then came the boys answer. It was perfect, and even Nora said it was perfect, but then she said, "But unfortunately, even though the question was right, you get zero points. This is word for word from the text book, which mean that you only copied the answer from the book, you didn't know it." Now the boys were about ready to pop, which in Lee's opinion was what she wanted so she could send them all to detention.
Lee put down his book to get a pen out of his bag and she came over him like a hawk. "Looks like we have a slacker here. Pick your book back up." Lee retaliated and said, "Why you yelling at me. All I did was get a pen." She looked a bit miffed at this, and then she took out a wooden Katana from her sleeve. It was quick to the untrained eye but slow to Lee. "As I said before I don't put up with riff raff in my room. And I also have my pride as instructor of my families Kendo style to uphold. I warn you, stay on guard or else." The rest of the class was watching on. The boys thought that she was taking a bit too far, and some of the girls shared the same thoughts. Lee wasn't dazed in the least. He grabbed the top of the wooden sword with two fingers and asked again, "So what did I do to deserve this again?" She tried to move the sword to find it was firmly in place. Lee had to release a level to keep it that way though. "Why you," she said when Lee finally let go. The boys cheered until a menacing glare shut them up quickly. She swung down at Lee, who hardened his hand with a bit of Ki and grabbed the sword with both hands, leaving most of the class speechless. Then he broke the wooden Katana in half by bending his half to the side. The boys cheered quietly. Nora didn't know what to do; she had never come across someone like Lee. He wasn't, even to her eyes being unruly in anyway but still broke his Katana. She then thought of the perfect punishment. "Lee, as punishment, you will hold an exhibition match with me for demonstration of how the warriors fought during the late 1700's. If you win, the boys will have no Homework tonight and you are exempt from punishment. Lose and you, along with the rest of the boys will have to write an essay, 10 pages in length on what we learned in class today for tomorrow. I will also give you a second choice. Back out and only you will have to do the essay and the rest of the class will be let off from HW." She thought she had him. No one had ever actually taken this gambit before. They all took the former and did the essay, which, to her, was as good as saying they give up. To her surprise, Lee said, "Okay, your on. Where shall we do this?" She didn't know how to respond, as this was the first person to ever agree. Luckily, for her, Lee said, "The dojo is empty, if you want. I have the keys." She agreed reluctantly, not actually having a spot pre-decided for the match.
They hurried to the dojo, not wanting to waste time. Lee opened it and found it empty. The arena was clear and the wooden Katanas were in a cabinet near the entrance. She picked up one of the Katanas, as Lee broke her personal one. Lee picked one up as well. "Rules of the match are simple, only swords and no headshots. First one to land a hit wins." She had a student, a girl; signal the start of the match. She waited for him to come and try and hit her. Unfortunately, Lee had decided to be chivalrous and give her the first move. She decided to take the offer and started a charge. The class watched with awe at the match. To them, this was a fun spectators sport. Lee dodged every one of her swings easily. She was good, but not nearly as good as Drew. She was probably better than the junior he fought the previous day though. And another thing, as it progressed, she was getting faster and stronger. John had once told Lee about a style of swordsmanship that made the users abilities rise after the battle had started and they would rise indefinitely but it was slow and only good for prolonged battles. The easiest way to counter was with speed. Lee took a guess that Nora was a member of the style and that meant that she was probably better than she was showing. Lee was then caught off guard by a small wave of Ki launched off Nora's sword that Lee recognized as the EZUNA. The EZUNA, like most of Lee's Ki techniques were not just the works of the Cross style of Swordsmanship. They were basic techniques of Ki found in any style. Lee had to release another level of Ki to block it. His muscles expanded a little. The class watched on in amazement. Lee decided to end this now. He had purposely prolonged the match for a few reasons. One was to entertain the class and anther was to measure how good Nora was and also not to embarrass her too much.
He took off two bands from his ankles, each around a thousand kg with his dad's hardened Ki (around 200 pounds) and he felt as light as air. These weights, besides limiting the amount of power he could output, they also helped him train his muscles. And due to the properties of Ki, they didn't interfere with his weight compared to anything else. They only weighed 1000 kg in terms to Lee. Lee with them on only weighed 150 pounds if put on a scale but his muscles had to deal with them being a force of 1000 kg or 200 pounds in relative terms. He put them on the ground gently, not wanting to break the floor with them and prepared to finish it.
He then took a stance and waited for Nora to attack. She charged, now a bit exhausted and Lee took action. When she swung, with lightning speed, he spun around her. Most of the class only saw a blur when this happened. The crowed was cheering. Lee then as to not hurt a teacher, hit her softly on the back with his sword. Not enough to hurt her but enough to make her feel it. "That's game. I guess all the boys have no homework tonight then." She was speechless. This was the first time she had been taken on willingly by a student. And for the other times she forced a student into it, was the first time at all that she was beaten. She admitted defeat and put the swords back. Then she told them all to hurry back to the classroom. When they got there, she concluded the lesson with telling them a story of a legendary battle in the 1700's between two samurai at the end of the age of swords. She dismissed them for the day, telling them all, reluctantly to the boys, that there was no homework tonight. The entire male population of the class, except for Andy, went to Lee and told him good job and that was really cool and stuff like that.
It was time for their last class of the day; P.E. Great Triumph was a special school that thought that you should have a P.E. class, even in high school. Other schools in the central Tokyo region were like that too. They went outside and split up, by gender. It was going to be a Boys vs. Girls dodge ball match, like what Sarah had earlier to celebrate their first gym class. They were outside for this and Lee was ready to win. He had put his weights back on but had only sealed one level, leaving one open to enhance his abilities a bit. The boys were sure they were going to win with Lee on their team. But Sakura and Nanoha had their own plans. They, who were terrible at sports, were going to use magic to enhance their abilities to around Lee's Level. Chrono decided on his own to do the same. They prepared to start the Match. The P.E. teacher signaled the start of the match with his whistle. They all ran for the balls on the center court line. Then they ran back a few steps and started throwing the balls like crazy. There was a flurry of balls being launched. Many of the people from both teams were getting knocked out fast. Lee was launching the balls fast but not hard and getting many people out as a result. Chrono was doing the same. But for every person Lee and Chrono got out, Nanoha and Sakura got just as many out as well. It took only 5 minutes to eliminate everyone except Nanoha and Sakura on the girls' side, and Lee, Chrono, and to their surprise Andy from getting out. They all knew he must have been using magic too to enhance his abilities as well. Then Sakura threw a fast ball that he didn't have time to counter and Andy went down as well, leaving just the four of them. Another 5 minutes went by with no change. Then Lee decided to end it all. He stopped the chivalry and started throwing all sorts of crazy balls, which took all they had for Sakura and Nanoha to avoid. Lee was making the balls go wild with his magic controlling them. Nanoha retaliated by focusing magic into a ball in her hand and sending it rocketing at Chrono, which made a solid hit before exploding from what everyone thought was pressure. Someone had done it the previous year. It was actually the magic inside it that made it explode. In return, Lee made a ball turn wildly in mid air and knocked Sakura out of the game. It was now down to Nanoha and Lee. Nanoha, whose side had all the balls started a furious barrage of balls at Lee, who dodged them all easily, then he took a ball and made a 5-foot jump in the air and did a twist launch at Nanoha. She retaliated by making a ball collide into it, the result was that the balls rebounded off each other, Nanoha's hitting Lee and Lee's hitting Nanoha. As it had been at the exact same time, the game was called a tie. The boys went to Lee and congratulated him on a good match while the girls went and worshiped Nanoha.
They ended class with another few rounds of dodge ball, which resulted in an undecided result of a win each for the girls and boys. They then went to change for sports. Sakura and Nanoha were heading out to archery and Lee and Chrono were going to the dojo for Kendo practice. When Lee got there, Drew and the now third ranked Norman were already there. Lee was already inserted into the schools archives as the new vice-captain of the team. Though Norman wished it wasn't true, he willingly admitted that Lee was more suited for the position than himself. Lee and Chrono noticed that there were two boxes in front of them. Drew explained that the practice uniforms and new sets of protective armor were in. For tournament play, they had to wear a full set of kendo armor for insurance and safety reasons. The old sets were falling apart so the school had gotten some new ones. They each picked up their uniforms, which were just a white tee shirt with normal martial arts pants and a sash for a belt. They went and changed into them while waiting for everyone.
When everyone had assembled and changed into their practice wear, Drew started off with them sitting down. Today, they would spend some times going over the rules of a proper Kendo match for tournaments. He went over all of the main rules and differences from normal fighting. For instance, a hit was only counted if it hit one of the nine target spots determined by the location of vital organs in the body, if you were hit in the head, neck, heart, stomach, liver, lungs, intestines or either kidney spot, it was a loss. There were three rounds in a match, 5 people on a registered team, and 2 schools in a single 1-1 tournament style and 8 or 12 schools at the main tournament once a month. Then in March, there were district finals, and then the winner of those would go to the nationals. The major tournament styles goes as follows. The rounds up to the finals were all fought using the one hit system explained above, then for the semi-finals, it was a traditional style match between the semifinalists. A traditional match was one where the armor rule wasn't enforced and you lost after 5 vital hits. These matches were each 3 rounds as well. Then there was the finals match. In this round, the three members of the two finalist teams would have an all out free style match with no restrictions and no excessive armor. These matches were decided when the opponent was unable to fight or was rendered unconscious. You could be disqualified for excessive force and hitting in the privates. Headshots however were legal. For 1-1 tournaments. Teams of 5 were needed. They consisted of only one round of a traditional style match. There was no final match; the team who won the most won the match.
After he finished his explanation of the rules, he announced to them that they had the opening tournament in 1 week. This was a tournament between 8 schools in the same district to kick off the start of the season and to see which schools had promising prospects. It would be held at a city owned location meant for sports exhibitions. They had only one week to prepare. As it was a regulation tournament, it was going to be done with a 5-person team. There were currently only 3 people that have been decided for tournament contestants, Lee, Norman and himself. The other two spots were open to those who showed the best during the next week. Drew also mentioned that he did put a beginner in last year at the beginning of the season with good results. He was in the final round and won. This brightened the faces of all the beginners. When they were about to go, Drew said, "Stop, I forgot to mention something. Attacks with Ki, by the national kendo association, are limited to final round fights only. For anyone who could use a Ki attack, save it." He was mainly looking at Lee. Lee only knew a few Ki techniques so far so it didn't matter.
For the rest of practice, the beginners sparred with each other, the intermediates were being taught techniques by Mr. Kenton and the experts, now four including the captain and Lee were also sparring. Lee kept facing Drew, who said that he was a good training partner. Lee told him he wouldn't use ZERO TENSHI, as even Lee could see why some people would call it cheap. An attack that is impossible to see or avoid wouldn't help someone improve anyway. Lee for good sport only released up to 5 levels, but took off two of his weights. He was surprised to find that Drew also had four more weights to take off in addition to the ones he took off yesterday, and they were heavier at 45 kg, (100 pounds) apiece. Lee had learned from his father that though the Cross's were the only ones who had ever done it to such an extreme, there were other styles that used the same training methods. The result of both of them taking off their training weights was that to most of the others, they appeared as blurs to anyone watching. Only Chrono and two of the intermediates who had started their Ki training could keep up. Lee at this level still had trouble. When Norman said that this guy was fast, he wasn't kidding. Lee ended their first match by resorting to his SHUNPO. Though Drew could also do SHUNPO, he couldn't go nearly as fast as Lee. Instead, he did a Ki technique Lee had never seen before. He stopped where he was and held his sword up. Then he focused Ki into the sword and then sort of shot it out in thin pulses, resulting in a 360˚ attack. It hit Lee who was just going in circles and knocked him over. Before Lee even hit the ground, Drew dashed behind him, placing his sword at his neck. Lee admitted defeat at this and they resumed. The next battle only lasted 2 minutes with Lee ending up the victor by using a move his dad taught him. It was a move that used pure power, no speed to beat the opponent. It was a pure downward slash that sent a shockwave of Ki though the ground on contact, aimed at the opponent. The technique aimed at the person's feet, the result being that after continuous use, the person's feet would be too damaged to keep them stable. It worked like a charm. Lee won after Drew's feet gave way. Even though he wasn't going full out, fighting Drew was still good training.
At the beginners group, Chrono was making good progress. They were sparring and Chrono was dominating. He seemed naturally gifted with combat; this was one of reasons according to John that Chrono had good close-combat potential with his magic. Chrono ended up winning 5 consecutive matches. Norman ended up pulling him aside after a while and asked him to give him one match. Chrono agreed and they had a single traditional style match, but only one round. Chrono made the first hit to the side of Normans neck. Norman then got both of Chrono's kidneys consecutively. Then Chrono got Normans stomach. At this, Norman used a special thrusting technique that was blindingly fast to hit the intestines, stomach and heart in the same move to claim the win. Chrono got blasted back by the attack and landed on his but. Norman went over to help him up. "Good match," said Norman. "Thanks, it was fun." Then Norman said, "You got talent. To be honest, I never expected you to hit me, let alone twice." Then Norman went over to a wooden post to his right. Norman took his sword out. He then slashed his sword next to the post but didn't hit it. Suddenly, the wood right next to the sword broke as if it was hit with a rock. "MUNITAISHU, the unseen hit. This is the basic form of a style of Swordsmanship that uses air pressure for its attacks. You are similar to me. We both have a good build for muscle, but what we lack is speed, so we need to train ourselves to be faster. This is a technique that I learned to acquire speed, along with running and wearing training weights. I want you to learn this technique. You are to master it in three days. The form is natural. You must use the speed of the sword to make a vacuum right behind the tip, and then stop it right before you hit your mark. The vacuum will result, along with a hard stop, in a blast of air pressure that should crack the wood." He gave Chrono four weights. "Each of them in only 1 kg, about 10 times as less as mine. Master it using them and good results will come." He walked away. Chrono was stunned, he didn't even get past three days of kendo and he was expected to learn some special move in three days. He thought to himself it wouldn't hurt and he put on the 1 kg weights, (5 pounds) he felt an immediate difference. He could hardly move the sword up and down more than a few times. Remembering that Lee's were more than 100 times as heavy, he started to feel light headed. He couldn't understand how it was humanly possible. He started to get to work.
During Lee and Chrono's Kendo Practice, Sakura and Nanoha were at Archery practice. It seemed everyone was improving. More and more people were getting bull's eyes, which was good seeing as you needed 10 archers for a full team. Susan had started the session off with an explanation of an Archery tournament. It worked as followed. At the start of an Archery tournament, each person from both teams would shoot 1 arrow. The top half of each team with the highest accuracy would advance. The next round consisted of five, two person sets, one from each team. They would each be given three arrows and the one with the most points wins. In the result of a tie, each archer would shoot one arrow until a clear victor was decided. The team with the most winning archers won. In other words, the team consecutively needed 3 wins to claim victory.
When she was done, she handed out uniforms, which were blue Hakamas, with no separation, (Hakama= samurai pants. No separation means they are like a dress.) They also wore a white kimono shirt on top. They were the traditional clothes of female archers, who descended from priestesses, according to Susan. These were only to be worn for tournaments and matches. They would have a match every Saturday unless otherwise notified, including this Saturday. They had only 2 large tournaments, not including district and nationals. One was in 2 months at the beginning of November, which was an exhibition tournament meant for scouts. The other one was near the end of the year. It wasn't an official tournament but the school that won it gained a lot of prestige and the winning prize money for their schools archery program. This tournament was meant to honor a local deity, who according to legend saved the land by sealing a cursed spirit with an arrow. They won the exhibition tournament last year but lost miserably in the second round at the tournament to honor the local god. They planned to win both this year. They also had rivalry tournaments between other schools individually periodically throughout the year. These tournaments were much more simple. A team of nine archers would go against a second one from another school individually. They would then hold a three round shoot off with each grouping, consisting of three arrows. Whatever school the winner belonged to got a point and the team with he most individual wins got the gold.
They got to practice. She said she wasn't going to announce who was going to be in the tournament until Friday. This was to make them all work harder in hopes of being chosen. Sakura was working hard to get better. She had finally got her magic under control and, with help from Nanoha giving her special training, kept it from coming out unconsciously. She was now getting a bull's eye about 3 out of four times, but improving fast. What made her happy was that she was doing it herself, without her magic. Even though her magic was a part of her, it was something that not everyone had and thus felt like cheating for using the advantage. She also knew she wouldn't improve if she relied on it. Nanoha felt the same way. She was improving too. She had her magic under control from beginning so she had been improving all along. She was now almost always able to get a bull's eye. By the end of the day, Sakura had a rhythm going and was getting straight bull's eyes. Same thing with Nanoha. They ended practice about 2 hours later and headed for the front gates.
