Disclaimer: As usual, I own nothing, although I wish I did. Everything belongs to Moriyama Daisuke, ADV and Gonzo.

Author's note:

Originally this chapter and the last chapter were one, but it was getting too long, so I decided to post it as two separate chapters. This means that both chapters were written in one go, then split. Enjoy! Please review at your earliest convenience. It's so cool to get reviews. I like to go by the theory that for each review, there are 2 other people reading the fic who don't review.

Anyways, to the story...


Chapter 7: First Day

Rosette:

Someone was shaking me.

"Go away." I mumbled, rolling over.

"You're going to be late for breakfast. Don't you want food?"

I shot up at this. It was morning? When had I gone to sleep. Wasn't I with Chrno last night?

My brain quickly went into fast forward and I remembered...squabbling with Sister Kate...being sent to my room like a little kid...

"Stop day dreaming and hurry up!" I glanced over at the girl with long brown hair who had woken me up and who was looking at me in a very annoyed way.

"Ok, ok, I'm going..." I muttered. I stumbled out of bed, seeing some other girls already in various stages of getting dressed.

The girl pushed me along to the cupboard where our robes were kept. "I'm Elizabeth, by the way. I'm the monitor in charge of this room."

"Monitor?" I tried to talk while wriggling out of my night clothes.

"Yes. I make sure that rules are being kept and that everyone is ready when they should be." She said. Sure enough, she was already fully dressed and ready.

Quickly slipping on my robes, I pulled my hair into their customary pigtails, then quickly ran to the bathroom to brush my teeth. I was back in thirty seconds, much to Elizabeth's surprise.

"Is everyone ready, then." She called, inspecting us. We all nodded. "Great, let's head down to the dining hall."

As we walked down, I tried to talk to the other two girls. "I'm Rosette Christopher. What are your names?"

They looked at me for a moment, and I felt as if I were being assessed. "I am Josephine." "I am Katherine."

Josephine was a petite girl with short blonde hair and hazel eyes. Katherine had long black hair and was taller than me.

"Nice to meet you." I tried. I really did. But they didn't really seem to want to talk. After a few monotonous responses and absent nods, I just gave up trying to hold a conversation with those two.

I tried talking to Elizabeth. "So what are the classes like?"

She thought for a moment. "We learn the same kinds of stuff as normal schools, like maths, english, etc. But for those who want to specialise and become exorcists for the Magdala Order, there are optional classes like weapons introduction and later, there's demonology."

I pricked my ears up at the last part. "Now THAT sounds interesting."

Elizabeth gave me a funny look. "Not many people from our year take those classes. It's mostly boys and a few of the older girls. They are mostly theory classes. You have to pass certain tests before they let you do any practical work."

We made it to the dining hall where people were already seated waiting for breakfast. I followed Elizabeth and sat down, pointedly ignoring glances from the girls who had been harassing me last night. Luckily for me, they were on another table, so I wouldn't have to confront them directly.

Food was served soon after. Glancing around the hall, I saw Sister Kate and Minister Remington eating at a table on the other side of the room with the Elder. The Minister must have sensed me watching them, because he turned to look at me. Smiling, he excused himself from his table and walked over.

"Good morning, Rosette. I hope you slept well."

I nodded slowly. The other girls were staring with awe. Either he was psychic or I was easy to read, because he leaned down and said softly, "I saw you looking at the Elder. Don't worry about your friend. He will be looked after, I promise. There's no need for you to go looking for him."

Straightening up, he smiled at me reassuringly. "I hope that you enjoy your first day." After he left, the other girls stared at me. "What?" I said testily, annoyed at their staring.

"You know Minister Remington?" Josephine squeaked in awe. I frowned at this and answered carefully. "Not really. I guess that since he brought me here, he wanted to make sure that I was alright so far."

"Oh." That was all that they said to me for the rest of breakfast.

General education classes were so boring. I spent half the time staring out the window. I caught Elizabeth giving me dirty looks every now and then, but I didn't really care.

My favourite class by far was weapons introduction. The teacher for this class was a member of the Militia, the elite exorcists of the Magdala Order. Although I wasn't allowed to try the weapons out, it was interesting to be shown the different types of artillery which exorcists and the Militia used. I watched enviously as the older kids got to try them out.

Just like Elizabeth had said, I was the youngest girl there. But this was the only class that I felt motivated to study for.

The teacher explained the format of the lessons to me. If I managed to pass the preliminary theory test, I would be allowed to start the practical lessons for weapons use. You gained levels as you progressed in this class. The higher the level, the more advanced were the weapons which you could learn to use. Misconduct or irresponsible use of weapons would lead to a level reduction or suspension from class.

Michael and Luke were two of several boys from my year who also took this class. They had already passed their first level tests before, and were allowed to practice with wooden swords. Most of the weapons in the class were designed to be teaching aids which would have minimum risk of hurting others, so there were no real bullets in the guns and swords were made of wood. They must have seen me watching them enviously because they smirked and waved their weapons at me tauntingly. I growled and turned away, watching an older girl practice loading with a model gun.

While the teacher was busy with the older kids in the target practice room, the rest of us were left outside to practice. I sat by myself while some of the other kids chatted amongst themselves.

"I'll bet you wish you were allowed to play with these."

I turned around slowly. Michael and Luke were grinning, leaning casually on their swords. "Ignore them..." I thought to myself.

"Why did you decide to take this course anyway?" Michael sneered. "Shouldn't you be with the other girls, doing cooking or something?"

Growling, I walked up and grabbed the front of his shirt. "Do you want to pick a fight or something." This boy was no different from any of the other boys I'd previously interacted with. I never took this kind of crap from Billy back at the orphanage, and I wasn't going to start now.

Luke was looking on in amusement, while Michael was squirming in my very tight grip. "You're such a violent girl, is this the reason why your parents abandoned you?"

I saw red at this. Distracted by this comment, Michael broke free when I loosened my hold on his shirt and pushed me over.

"BOYS!"

All three of us looked up. Minister Remington was striding towards us, looking extremely unimpressed. "I distinctly remember you being told to look after the new student, so why were you deliberately being cruel?"

He gave them detentions and sent them off for a run around the entire perimeter of the compound twice as punishment.

"Are you alright?" he said kindly, offering a hand to help me up.

"I'm fine." I muttered, taking his hand as he pulled me up. "But I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself so..." I broke off as I noticed that Minister Remington had gone stiff, staring at me. Or more importantly...

I followed his line of sight. He was staring at the clock which had untucked itself from inside my robes when I had been pushed over. He looked shocked and horrified. Oh crap...

TBC

Wow! 2 chapters in one go. This actually took a few days to write. This chapter was a bit rushed. Oh well. Thanks for making all the way down here. Please try to review this chapter and tell me what you think should happen.