A/N: Thanks to all of my faithful reviewers! I am very grateful to all of you who seem to review almost every chapter, especially ToykoPrincess and j((Y. You have been very consistent. Also, I don't know if I have said this before but YES, this is going to be Xiaoyin. But, it will probably be later. Finally, I am nearing the place I left off. Once I get there the updates will almost definitely be less frequent, but I will still continue to write...with enough encouragement. Lol! Don't worry I will DEFINETELY continue! Anyway, thx.

Disclaimer: Tekken is not mine. I am a good kid and would not try to steal...*mutters under breath* (unless I was desperate)...

***

Xiaoyu walked out of the counselor's office half an hour later with an excused tardy note and a new schedule. Xiaoyu was content with her schedule; many of her classes sounded interesting and she even managed to get herself an extra elective: PE. Things were looking up, even if she still had to take math.

Xiaoyu walked down the hall looking for her new locker. "Twenty, twenty- two.twenty-three!" She started to open her locker.

"Hey there cutie," came a voice from behind her.

Xiaoyu turned around. Five guys stood in a semicircle around her locker. "Can I help you?" she asked politely.

The handsome one raised an eyebrow. "That eager are we? But then you must be; you seem to have struck the rich boy's fancy."

Xiaoyu looked confused, "What are you talking about?"

The mean boy sneered at her. "Playing innocent are we? You're pretty good at it. But then you would have to be; I heard you manage to charm your way into Old Man Mishima's house within twelve hours of meeting him. I'm impressed."

Her brow furrowed, "Excuse me?"

He looked at her slyly. "You heard me. So.Are you happy with the famous Mishima Hospitality or are you going for the grandson's money too?" He smirked "You know.I'm not completely without resources myself."

Xiaoyu's face turned red and she started to shake. Her fists were clenched so hard her fingers turned white. She opened her mouth to let out a scathing retort but someone else beat her to it.

"Motosawa Kotaro, are you still bothering people?" came a cold voice. "Honestly, one would think you would have learned your lesson by now. How many times has it been? Two? Three? Looks like it's about to be four if you don't watch yourself. If I were you I would apologize humbly and slink away."

Kotaro turned around. "Miharu," he muttered viscously.

"Kotaro," she murmured maliciously.

He turned red then and strode away without a backward glance. Miharu looked at Xiaoyu.

"Hi. My name is Hirano Miharu."

Xiaoyu stuck out her hand. "Ling Xiaoyu."

"Nice to meet you Xiaoyu. Please don't judge us all by Kotaro's example; he's just jealous of Jin. He was the richest, cutest, most popular boy at school before Jin showed up. Now he hates everything to do with Jin. You included."

Xiaoyu grimaced. "I see that." She looked at Miharu. "What exactly were you holding over his head?"

Miharu looked down at the floor and when she looked up she had a big grin on her face. Xiaoyu gasped.

"You didn't!" she exclaimed.

Miharu's grin grew wider.

"You did!" Xiaoyu was amazed. "Where did you learn?"

"My brother taught me the arts a couple years back. He traveled all around the world to learn from the Phoenix Dojo."

"Phoenix Dojo!? That's where I learned! Hey.Your brother wouldn't go by the name Hirano Masaki would he?"

"Yeah! Did you know him?" Miharu asked excitedly.

"Not very well," Xiaoyu answered. "He was kind of a loner."

"Yeah, that's him alright."

"So, what did Kotaro say that you had to pound him for?"

Miharu sniffed, "He told me to stop throwing myself at him."

"Were you?"

"No! He thought that my general contempt for his 'personage' was a way for me to show that I liked him. I tried to tell him otherwise but he just wouldn't take the hint. Finally I got so fed up with his crap that I decided to demonstrate my feelings. Ever since then there's been some.friction between us."

Xiaoyu laughed. "How funny!" Then the bell rang. "Oh! How bad!"

Miharu blinked. "What?"

"I just missed the first class of the first day of the first year of school I've been to in three years!" She cried.

Miharu blinked again. "Oh. That is bad. Hmmm.Let me see your schedule."

Xiaoyu handed it to her.

"Oh, hey, don't worry about it. You have Mr. Akira first period. He's pretty laid back and he doesn't much care for arrogance. Tell him about Kotaro and he'll let it slide. Hmmm. Hey, we have almost every class together! All except fifth and sixth. You're taking Spanish? Weird."

"I like taking languages. I'm good at them."

Miharu shrugged and handed her schedule back. "If you want I can show you to every class we have together. It should cut down the hassle."

Xiaoyu brightened. "That would be great!"

Miharu smiled. "Hurry, get your stuff. Mrs. Parker's class isn't far."

***

As she was leaving campus, backpack in tow, Xiaoyu finally concluded that things were definitely looking up for her. In spite of her first shaky encounter with the MPS (Mishima Polytechnical School) student body Xiaoyu's impression of the majority of the students was good. They were definitely curious about her but seemed friendly enough. Xiaoyu had made many friends that day but she liked none as much as she liked Miharu. Never in her life had Xiaoyu met anyone so easy to talk to, nor anyone so eager to talk. Xiaoyu learned more about her fellow students' personal lives than she thought she could have learned about anything in a single day. Nor was her gossip limited to students. Xiaoyu had learned much about the teachers as well.

Xiaoyu was surprised by the sheer diversity of teachers in the school staff. The faculty was a veritable cornucopia of personalities as well as nationalities. There was a nervous French economics teacher and a Mexican art teacher who could almost pass herself off as the cliché 'absentminded scientist'. Minus the whole scientist part, of course. The inconsistencies in the staff prevented the day from degenerating from interesting to dismally monotonous.

In fact Xiaoyu was surprised by her complete satisfaction with curriculum. MPS provided a wide variety of classes available and her schedule reflected that. Many of her classes Xiaoyu had wanted to take and the few she had not had turned out better than expected. Xiaoyu's calculus teacher, Mr. Maekawa, might just be her favorite. Xiaoyu had asked questions and he had answered them with enthusiasm and had even offered to elaborate after class. He encouraged curiosity and seemed to derive a great deal of pleasure from helping students to understand a concept. Xiaoyu couldn't see any possible way for her day to get better.

So, of course, it didn't.

"Hit it again! I want to hear it roar."

Xiaoyu heard a loud thump and a pained moan. She looked to the left. The very same group of boys that had bothered her that morning were gathered near a fenced area. They were throwing rocks at something. They picked up more. The rocks bounced off a bruised and bloody panda who made small sounds of agony at each blow.

"Hey!!!" she yelled. "STOP THAT!!!"

The boys turned around and looked at her. Xiaoyu strode up to them. Kotaro looked at her arrogantly then bent down and picked up a rock. He tossed it up and down in one hand and sneered at her.

"Make us."

Xiaoyu tensed. Her awareness sharpened. The courtyard took on an odd gleam and Xiaoyu began to notice things that had not seemed important only moments before. Such as the placement of Kotaro's feet as he shifted toward his friends, the way his shoulders clenched as he turned back to face Xiaoyu, and how his arm floated almost negligently toward the sky before launching the stone straight at Xiaoyu's face.

Xiaoyu watched the rock streak toward her like a bolt of lightning and was surprised at how slow its approach seemed to her. She reached up and effortlessly caught the projectile. The stone made a soft sound as it hit Xiaoyu's palm. She curled her small fingers around it then let the rock fall to the ground. Xiaoyu turned her sightless eyes toward Kotaro and parried his incoming blow.

She slid straight from her parry into Rain Dance and delivered a bone shattering Mistrust to his abdomen, launching him into the air. Xiaoyu kicked him again before he could land and when he hit the ground she stopped Kotaro's upward motion with a Raccoon Kick. Now, back in Rain Dance with her back to her opponent, Xiaoyu slammed her right foot viciously back in a Full Circle Breaker.

Kotaro groaned and slumped over. His cohorts stared for a moment at their leader. Then, slowly, anger replaced the shock on their faces. They threw themselves at Xiaoyu simultaneously.

Xiaoyu cart wheeled out of the way and immediately leapt skyward. She twisted midair and landed on a thug's shoulders. She slammed her fist into his face before he could react and hopped off as he collapsed.

Xiaoyu ducked the next boy's punch and came back up with a rising Skyscraper Kick. He went limp and Xiaoyu sent him a Storming Flower to make sure he stayed that way. The last boy took one look at his three unconscious friends and fled.

Xiaoyu straightened and looked at the pile of bodies at her feet. She cringed; Xiaoyu knew she'd be in trouble later. She knelt and looked them over. They'll recover, she thought to herself.

Xiaoyu heard a noise behind her and whirled to face it but it was only the panda. She walked over to it.

"Hey there, are you okay?" she asked.

The huge bear huffed at her and nodded.

Xiaoyu blinked. "Hey.Can you understand me?"

The panda nodded again.

"You're a pretty smart bear," she remarked. "Have they been hurting you often?"

The panda nodded and reared back onto its hind legs. Xiaoyu noticed that although it towered far above her head the panda was skinny and dirty with patches of red spread periodically throughout its coat. The bear dropped back down onto all fours and Xiaoyu realized that it avoided using its front right paw.

"What's wrong there?" she asked and pointed.

The beast looked at its paw then shuffled closer to the fence to thrust it at Xiaoyu. Xiaoyu could see something shiny lodged between its first and second claw. The digits themselves were swollen furiously.

"Hmmm.That looks terrible," she murmured.

The panda nodded vehemently.

Xiaoyu vaulted over the fence and stepped close to the panda.

"Let me see," she ordered.

The bear lent Xiaoyu its paw and Xiaoyu looked it over critically.

"Hmmm." she looked at the creature. "You have a nail stuck in there. I can take it out. Want me to?" Xiaoyu asked.

The creature hesitated then nodded.

"Okay." Xiaoyu sat down and pulled the paw onto her lap.

"One.Two.THREE!" Xiaoyu yanked the nail as hard as she could. It came loose with a soft sound and Xiaoyu fell over backwards.

"Whew." Xiaoyu sat up and looked at the bear. The panda was making terrible moaning noises and trying to lick its bleeding paw.

"Hey!" she exclaimed. "Let me help." Xiaoyu ripped a couple of strips from her skirt and tied them over the wound. "How's that?" she asked.

The bear lifted its head and shot her such a look of gratitude that Xiaoyu thought that there must be very few who had been kind to the animal.

"You don't have many friends do you?"

Panda shook her head and Xiaoyu could see the loneliness in her eyes. Xiaoyu didn't stop to marvel at how Panda had, in that moment, ceased to be an animal, nor did she wonder how she suddenly knew that Panda was a girl. Xiaoyu merely reached out and hugged her.

"I'll be you friend," she whispered.

"Ling Xiaoyu?" someone called from behind her.

"Yes?" Xiaoyu answered and turned.

"Come with me."