Leif's watch awoke him with a high-pitched, artificial "scree" sound. "Ah, man…I hate that thing. Why can't it chime, or beep?" Leif rolled over, and reached out his hand for the device. He could not find it by running his hand over the bookshelf, and finally got up. "Wait a minute…" He looked at his left wrist. He was still wearing his watch. He unlatched the band and pressed a button on the side. The incessant sound finally ceased. It read MON-5:30. Yesterday had been a long day, but a good one. Last night he had gotten to take another shower, this one full length, much to his relief. He had his clothes for the morning set out. Leif got up and stretched, with a slight pop, and found his fuzzy slippers. He checked his backpack, then zipped it up and set it in the corner. He slid the small closet open to find his spoils of the previous day's activities. The boy readily snatched the first shirt and pair of pants from the hangers, but was careful enough to make sure the hangers stayed in the closet. He took off his T-shirt and placed on the newer navy garb. He cinched up the belt and walked outside the doorway. Something caught his eye. He looked down to see a small, dark brown bag sitting outside his doorway with a note attached to it. He snatched it.
Dear
Leif,
Sorry
I forgot to tell you, but last night a messenger from the school
dropped this off for you. He also gave me some of your records and
papers to put inside it. I thought that was nice of him to take time
out of his schedule, don't you? Also, I put a few pencils, a black
roller pen, and a red pen for school inside the front flap. Enjoy
your first day!
—Kasumi
"Well, that's…nice." He picked it up, folded the note and placed it into the same pocket as the styli he had been informed about. He set it back down, then checked his room. He grabbed his comb, and closed the door behind him. He grabbed the book bag by the handle sewn in on the top, and quietly headed downstairs, watching the narrow stairs as if they might bite him.
Nabiki was happy. Her dream of owning the world's most formidable business empire was finally coming to fruition…until she smelled an omelet cooking. "Whum?" She yawned, and blinked. "Mmm… Kasumi must be up. What time…is it?" She rolled over, and glanced at the hands of the quartz clock sitting across the room from her. "Five thirty-five? Since when is Kasumi up this early?" She yawned and ran her fingers through her long brown hair. She somehow managed to get her feet into her slippers, and made a feeble attempt at standing up. "How on earth does Kasumi manage this? Anyone else would either go back to sleep, or go crazy trying to keep up." Her mumbling slowly changed to her standard witty tone as she finished her sentence. She blinked once more and walked down the stairs.
Nabiki passed by the kitchen. "Hi Kasumi." Nabiki kept walking. Then the thought registered in her mind. Kasumi had not answered. She quickly backed up, and found the source of the aroma. After glancing at him, she started her rant softly, from the doorway. "Leif, what are you doing?" He turned around. He had a spatula in one hand and a medium-small skillet in his left. He was cooking the omelet. "Cooking breakfast for myself. Why? Did you want something?" Nabiki cocked her head, her bangs lagging shortly behind. "A few things. Since when can you cook? And why the heck are you up, this early?" He clinched his eyes down a little bit, and answered. "If you had paid attention, I like to go camping. When you camp, you have to know how to cook, or you don't get food. And why aren't you up earlier? School starts at 7:30." Nabiki walked in the kitchen. "Careful. You don't want that to scorch." He shut off the burner. "Leif, a little thing you should know. School starts at 8:30. Not at half past seven. Secondly, you shouldn't cook just for yourself. In this household, people who wake other people up and haven't cooked for them often have a habit of ending up face down in a gutter, somewhere in Okinawa, with a grapefruit spoon shoved through their chest." "And why should this matter?" She eyed him. "Well, except for the school part…it doesn't, although you might want to pay attention to your omelet, before it any more of it disappears." She was munching something as she said this. Leif glanced down at the skillet to his left. A corner was missing. "Alright. Do you want that one, then?" Nabiki smiled. "Well… now that you mention it…"
Breakfast had gone well, with him unexpectedly cooking omelets for the entire residence, except for the strange and unnerving fact that Mr. Saotome had been a panda for breakfast. "Where in the world would Kasumi get that kind of bamboo? Especially, since I thought pandas only like a couple of kinds of it." Leif, clad proudly in his new uniform, was walking down the alleyway that led to the school, with Ranma and Akane far, far behind him. He liked it that way; he stayed out of their crossfire. His hair was combed, his shirt unwrinkled, he had his book bag, his staff, and a note signed by Dr. Tofu explaining to his teachers what occurred the previous day and why he needed it. At least his ankle didn't hurt that much anymore. "Well, if you had listened to me in the first place…" Leif turned around, and walked slowly backwards. "You? Listen to you? And what would you know?" "A lot more than a stupid un-cute girl like you!" "Oh, yeah?" After hearing a loud splashing sound, Leif simply shook his head and walked on.
"Doing any better yet?" Dr. Tofu was sweeping the front step of his office. "Yes sir." The doctor smiled. "Well that's great. If I were you, I'd use that staff of yours for about a week. If any of your teachers give you trouble, just have them call me, okay?" Dr. Tofu did that same grin again. "Okay." Dr. Tofu's glance shifted to something behind the student. Leif turned to see a very sour-faced redhead walking by, staring at any equally angry Akane. "You know, it's your own fault, Ranma. You know that woman splashes water outside her house every day." The pouting spitfire rebuked the statement. "Be quiet." The minx headed by Dr. Tofu and into his office. "Ha ha! That Ranma, always giving you a hard time, isn't he?" The man smiled. "Yeah." Akane ended her statement with a sigh. "Hey Akane, I'm going to go on ahead. I need to meet my teachers and such." "Okay." He walked off towards the street. The boy glanced at his watch—MON-8:12. He had plenty of time.
When he got to the school, it was noticeable. Furinkan was three stories tall, easily setting it above the surrounding residential area. "An iron gate?" Leif also noticed a large brazen plaque that hung on the right side of the fence. It was simply inscribed with the school's name. A large crack interrupted his observation. He looked up to see that the sky had grown dark, yet only for the local area. At the edge of the horizon in all directions, it was a nice morning, except for the Nerima ward, which was shaded by the tall clouds. "Must be left over from the weekend's front." He walked inside the gate to find it deserted. He rested on his staff, when he noticed something…he was not alone.
"Oh, Nabiki, you're here early." She looked up at the inquiry. "Yeah, I had a project to finish for Mr. Tanaka's physics class." "Is that the new transfer student?" A girl in Nabiki's class asked her. The latter answered, "Yep." Nabiki continued. "And I don't see why Kuno's going to give him hell. If he wouldn't do that, perhaps this school would see a lot more exchange students that it does." Her friend continued. "Think he'll be okay?" Nabiki smirked, and gave a "humph" sound. "He should have no trouble at all."
Leif looked around, the wind howling. It blew his hair out of the orderly fashion it so naturally despised. "Who goes there?" He heard a contemptuous laugh as a figure stepped from behind a tree. It was a boy, an inch or so taller than Leif, in a traditional garb. That was not what disturbed him. What disturbed was the fact that this person also carried a curved wooden sword of apparently hard oak, with a sharpened edge that actually gleamed. The figure spoke. "Well, now, are you the one who has caused the trouble I have feared?" Leif set his satchel down beside him and clinched his eyebrows down, shading the upper part of his iris. "What?" "Are you not the gaijin who is staying in the Tendo home? With the lass, Akane?" The spin he put on gaijin made the new student almost bear his teeth. A few people stopped talking and watched. "I am the exchange student you are referring to. I have done nothing to her." "You?" Kuno laughed, and stepped forward. "I figured you would be less…frail. Thou wouldst appear as if a ghost sapped your vitality boy…or was it the result of an incantation by that pigtailed fiend that dwells so disrespectfully in thy household?" "What are you blabbering about?" "I simply want a test. To see…if that vile Saotome has corrupted you as I am certain he has many more." "Are you insane? He's a nice guy, of what I've seen." Kuno closed his eyes, laughed softly and then quivered, shaking his fist. "I cannot…allow this…to go unrepented!" The kendo practitioner lunged forward at an incredible rate, his weapon out directly to his front. Leif took his staff up off the ground and put it up defensively at a diagonal angle. Sparks flew off the staff in all directions as the sharpened wooden blade slammed against it. Kuno was up in his face. "Good, good, my adversary. There is but a spark still left within thee, but there still rests weakness in thine art." Leif stepped back, keeping his staff at ready. "Adversary?" "What, are you deaf?" Kuno replied sarcastically. Leif blew out a strong "humph" and continued talking. "I have no qualms with you. Who the heck are you, anyway?" Tatewaki simply smiled as he prepared his opening speech. Leif looked around to see a few more students starting to meander into the schoolyard.
The wind blew Kuno's brown bangs as he spoke, acquiring a prominent-looking stance. "I am the captain and champion of this school's kendo club, the rising star of the entire high school fencing world." He raised his blade up, pointing at Leif. "I am Tatewaki Kuno, age, 17." The storm crackled as the fencer continued while Leif, half listening watched the second count on his watch progress. "My peers know me as…" Lightning flashed directly overhead, as Tatewaki inhaled. "…The Blue Thunder of Furinkan High!" The storm echoed the last bit as Tatewaki practiced looking smug. "That's very nice." Kuno scowled. "Gaijin, it wouldst be ill in thy deed if I were to be taken…lightly." "Kuno—" Tatewaki interrupted him. "You will address me as Upperclassman." "If that's a threat…" Kuno smiled as Leif calmly continued. "…I don't care. Why would I want to fight to fight you in the first place? Do you really fear an as you said 'frail' transfer student?" Kuno simply sputtered and blinked. Meanwhile, on the third floor, Nabiki simply said, "Told you." Leif grabbed his book bag off the ground, and walked inside the school, leaning on his staff.
Kuno stood pondering the new student after watching the boy walk away with a slight limp. "He walks away from me? Heh." Kuno grinned. "Yet his guise and wile are unmistakable; his obvious intellect shrouded, for reasons yet unknown. His claudication gives a sense of honor to his refusal… or perhaps he lives a pacifist." Kuno hated that word, that sense of a lack of challenge and spirit. "I cannot tell, although either way his will is mighty indeed. He is not weak… and should be an interesting challenge that I shall deal with soon enough." Kuno smiled, this time almost disturbingly, and casually walked back to the door to the school.
Leif had gotten inside the school when his watch said MON—8:27. "Well, that's just great! I spent so much time dealing with that darn Kuno guy and now I can't go around to each teacher early!" He growled in frustration and walked off to his first class, which happened to be on the second floor. As he walked up the stairs, he noticed something. Everyone was staring at him. People would simply stop their conversations entirely when he walked by. They showed no malice, no interest, simply an impolite stoic nature. "Why is the whole school watching me? Have I done some horrible social error that they kill people for? Haven't they had any exchange students before? I doubt that. Have they never seen an American?" Leif continued to think as he started to worry constantly about what was happening. Luckily, a few seconds later, he was seated down in his classroom. He looked around, and saw no one he recognized, not knowing whether that was advantageous or not.
The teacher walked in the room, so Leif used his staff to get up and walk over to him. "Good morning, sir." He politely bowed to his instructor. The man, of about forty, balding, and much shorter than him, spoke. "No, no boy. There's no need for that. You're not only new, but speaking a different language. That should be more than a challenge in itself. I hope you enjoy your first day here; if you need help with anything, you're welcome to come ask me, you understand?" "Okay." "And, I don't mean to be rude, but why are you carrying that staff?" Leif opened up the front flap of his satchel with a click and handed his teacher the note. After a short pause, he continued. "Doctor Tofu, eh? You must have really banged it up if you're still sore after seeing him! Why, even I go to see him about once a month for my back. If he says you need to walk on that, it's fine by me, Leif." Leif walked over, still half-limping, (although he tried not to show it) to his desk, which was, consequently, in the exact center of the room. He sat down as the bell rang. There were several groups of girls talking, and when he sat down, their eyes focused on him. Leif's day had definitely not going quite as he planned it. "Class, settle down." The background instantly stopped, leaving only the air conditioning's humming reverberations. "We have a new student today. Leif Zahn new to both Furinkan High School and our country. I ask that you all give a nice, big, warm welcome to him!" The teacher's plan critically failed. Not a single person said anything for a while, and in that sense, nothing warm occurred. They just turned around and glared at him. "I, I get it! It's my hair they're looking at! Everyone else in this crazy school has either brown or black hair! I bet not many have seen a natural redhead before." In that account, Leif was correct, at least partially. One girl that sat behind him one seat and to the left one, whispered, if it could be called that, because of the volume, "What the heck is that akage doing here? And look at him." Leif slouched in his seat. This was definitely not a good day.
Leif stumbled to his second hour, after carefully reading his schedule. "Not only that, but the printer smudged the kanji, which were small to begin with!" He almost yelled at no one in particular. "Hey, you want some help?" Leif looked up from the folded piece of paper to see an average, yet slightly different boy standing there. He had slightly frizzy light brown hair similar to many of the other people he had seen the previous hour. "Hey, you and I have a lot of same classes together. But not first hour." He said, after checking the schedule. "You must be the new guy right?" The boy stopped to think, placing his right hand on his chin for a moment. "Zahn, isn't it?" Leif nodded. "Yeah, but I go by my first name most of the time. And you are…?" Leif trailed off while gesturing with his hand. "Hiroshi. Sorry. People in Nerima normally get called both, so just be keep your ears up. Don't want to be embarrassed on your first day here, right?" "No kidding. Wait…why am I so hard on him if I just met him and he's been polite? Hmm." Leif cut off his theory, and replied. "Okay."
Along with the other kids that went into the seemingly short doorway (much shorter than Leif was used to, anyway.), another boy stopped next to them, and stood next to Hiroshi, and elbowed the latter. This person had straighter, darker brown hair, and a much less jovial, more subdued expression. "Well, Hiroshi, you've already started hazing the new kid, haven't you?" Leif sputtered. "He wasn't, I mean…" The newer one cocked an eyebrow. "I'm just giving you a hard time, Zahn. I'm Daisuke, and am not at your service." "Okay, great. But how did you know whom I am without me telling you? I assume Hiroshi knows because it's on my schedule." Daisuke cocked his other eyebrow this time, lifting his left. "Actually…no. You see, we both heard about you last week in class, so we pretty much know who you are. And besides, I recognized you, because you're the only person, I bet, in the entire school with that crazy flaming hair of yours. Not a single person here would be crazy enough to die their hair that color." He smirked. "Green, perhaps. Blonde, sure. But flaming orange? You're definitely one to stand out there." Hiroshi nodded in agreement, then spoke up. "Well, I think we might want to get inside the classroom." They proceeded inside to find two-thirds of the class present. Akane, with a few of her friends, walked inside and sat down, still talking, although one of them glanced one eye momentarily at Leif, which almost made him shiver. It was not the action, but the accompanying sour look that agitated him. "Hey Ranma! Finally, you're here. Trouble with Homeroom again?" The pig-tailed wonder walked inside, wearing his favorite red tunic and black slacks. "No, just doin' stuff." "Ahh." Daisuke added a rising pitch that made his answer seem mysterious. "Did you know Zahn here has all the same classes we have except for his homeroom?" "Well, cool." Leif recovered his schedule and walked into the room. "Maybe, just maybe, this day might go better than I thought." He couldn't have been more wrong.
Leif's day had actually gone fairly well. His second through fourth periods can gone a little better than his first, since the other classmates had seen Ranma, Daisuke, Hiroshi, Akane, and her two friends, (which he learned were Yuki and Sayuri) relaxed around him. "Alright, class, wait to the bell." Ms. Nurasawa eyed her class, the members of which had started to creep towards the door. "So, are you really from the United States?" Yuri asked Leif. "Yep. Far Northwest. Foresty and wet, kinda like here." "And, even though your country drives on the wrong side of the road, they're still okay?" "It's only wrong if the majority of people don't drive like that. Everyone drives on the right side, so they're aren't any major problems." Sayuri spoke up. "See, Yuri, I told you so!" Then, the lunch bell rang.
Leif had been given a lunchbox and an accompanying lunch by Kasumi, which had painted rice that spelled out his first name. He closed the box. "Tacky, really tacky. At least she was being thoughtful." Akane spoke up, as Leif packed up. "Aren't you staying in here for lunch? Ranma, Hiroshi, and Daisuke always just stay here." "Nah, I was going to go outside and see if I can still draw. Know any good shady spots to sit?" See turned around and pointed out the window, to the ground. "There's the big oak tree over there, will that work?" Leif found his sketchbook, which just barely fit in the schoolbag, and replied, "Perfect."
Leif walked down the second level stairs, and had to carefully walk the congested hallways, filled with classrooms, lockers, scuffed, dusty floors, and a bunch of noisy people; he hated being stuck indoors. He narrowly avoided running into several people. Leif checked his watch, and saw that he had almost an hour left in the lunch period. As he walked down the right side of the next stairwell, which was on the opposite end of the hall, he avoided a group of girls clogging the whole width of the stairs. He had to use his staff to help him get down the second flight, which had been washed and was still wet. When he got there, he walked there, he found the ground floor empty, except for a group of people that extended from the lunch lines and blocked the hallway. As he walked by another group of students, a person about his height with bleached hair that he recognized from his first hour shoved him down. "Out of my way, gaijin." A couple of what he might call geeks (although very moderately so) and the other boy laughed as Leif fell backwards, and crumpled onto the floor, landing on his left ankle, which made him yelp. The group laughed again. Leif winced, and used his staff to carefully get up. When he looked, they were gone; absorbed into the extended line. He shook his head and grabbed his bag, dusting it off, and continued on.
Leif sat down on the section of soft, dry grass that butted up to the oak tree he had seen earlier. He got out his lunch and sketchbook, and took his pen and started in. He stopped for a moment, and looked up and to the left to see Daisuke and Hiroshi grinning at him, as he went back to what he was doing.
"Are you sure?" "Yeah, I know it's true, because Aki said so. He's a yakuza for the Italian mob." The group of girls stood about thirty or so feet from Leif, on a picnic table, talking in a whisper, but purposely loud enough for the whole group, and Leif, to hear. "That orange hair comes from Italy? I thought his family was from Eastern Europe, like Scandinavia." "Nope, you can't listen to Taro-kun. All he watches are those conspiracy mysteries he imports from the U.S. He thinks the gaijin is actually a Russian KGB agent." "The KGB's still around?" "Of course, Yumiko, the KGB's still around." The group of eight continued. Leif had ignored them.
Another group, a co-ed foursome this time, walked by, but they were talking in normal volume. A boy spoke first, stopping the giggling of one of the girls standing next to her boyfriend. "I heard the transfer student killed someone." The girl who responded to this was the one who was standing without a boy next to her, just in the group of four. "Ichiro, that can't be true. He' so nice and—" The same boy cut her off. "No, Hiroko, look at him. See him there? Look at how quiet he is? I did some research for a report in my sophomore year, and it talked about how all the last major U.S. terrorists were all really smart and quiet." "You're full of crap." Another boy remarked this, then conversed to her this time. "I don't know, but if you look over there…" he pointed his finger at Leif. "…he seems really sad, like maybe someone in his family died." Of course, Leif wasn't depressed, just quietly sketching some of the smaller school buildings along with trees and the cirrus clouds overhead in pen. Hearing this last group made him rest his pen and stop, and looked over, seeing his staff on the grass next to him. The group continued. "Well, why don't you see, Shiro-kun? There's no harm in talking to him." Another girl replied. "You're always like that, Hiroko-chan. Always trying to be polite and nice. Who knows might happen if you went over there? He might snap and go crazy, or something." "Relax Ami. Just watch me."
Leif went back to his sketching; he was carefully using the pen to acquire several different line widths by letting it soak into the grain of the paper. "Hey, you're pretty good at that, Leif." There was a voice beside him. Leif set his pen on the pad. The voice walked around to the front of him, revealing it to be a girl, about his age, long black hair (slightly shimmering), and deep green eyes. She squatted down and blinked at him, while the bewildered boy looked on. "You're Leif Zahn, aren't you?" A single bead of sweat ran down Leif's face as his name registered itself in his mind. "Is he... almost shaking?" Hiroko blinked as she considered this and then continued. "Are you okay? Your face is white." She chuckled, halfheartedly, then saw his reaction. "You look like... you've seen a ghost." Leif's face mouthed the word, and then went agasp. He then cried out, in plain English, as if he were being strangled by some ethereal force. " No! Stay...away... get away from me! " He backed up, clutching his gear loosely. Hiroko blinked. "I'm sorry, but I don't understand English." " Please... just leave me alone! Why… why are you here? " He continued crawling backwards, still facing the girl, whose face now contained a huge amount of confusion mixed with guilt. She backed up slightly. "I'm...I'm sorry. My name is Yamane Hiroko. I've never met you; at least I think I haven't." Leif calmed down, and looked at her. There was nothing to worry about. He let out a deep sigh. "I'm sorry, Hiroko. I thought...you were someone else. I'm Leif." Hiroko became more cheerful. "Mind if I look at your sketchbook?" He picked it up. "There's nothing good in there, but if you want to see it, go ahead." She took it from him, cocked her head, and smiled cutely. "Thanks."
Daisuke and Hiroshi had been watching the entire "incident" from their window rookery. Hiroshi started in. "So, you think he's a eunuch?" Daisuke raised his left eyebrow. "I don't think so." His statement was highly emphasized. Daisuke continued. "Inexperienced, perhaps. Or he just has bad luck with women." Hiroshi replied. "Or perhaps, this whole thing was simply a classic case of mistaken identity." Hiroshi ended his conjecture with the raise of an eyebrow and an accompanying smile that gave the impression of wit. "Yes, Mr. Pinkerton. Excellent theory." They both chuckled.
The bell signaling the end of lunch rang as Hiroko rejoined her group of friends. Ichiro, always the group's critic started in. "Well, you should have listened to Ami-chan. She was right on, wasn't she? I surprised you're not that phased." Shiro poked back at Ichiro. "Yes, but Hiroko was man enough to actually go up and try, Mr. Macho." Ichiro grumbled as Ami chuckled. Hiroko smirked while she headed up the stairs. "You've got to admit, he's cute, even more so when he's quiet like that." Ichiro started in gruffly and teasingly. "Gee, Hiroko, I wouldn't think that—." Ami cut him off. "Ichiro-kun!" "Yes?" he replied weakly. "Shut up now, before I hurt you." "Yes Ami-san." Shiro laughed out loud. "The second best soccer forward we have, getting pushed around by his girlfriend. That is priceless." Hiroko, her thoughts still in a specific elsewhere, more specially, a specific someone, her mind filtered out most of the chatter her friends were making. As she opened her locker, she thought to herself. "But why was he so afraid? What about me is scary?" She looked over her hair in the small, plain mirror that hung in her locker. "What if I can try to undo whatever I did?"
"So Leif, how was your first day of school? Do you like it here?" Kasumi's ever bright and chipper spirit could not even reach him. He said nothing as he set the lunchbox on the kitchen counter. Using his staff, he climbed up the stairs with little or no facial expression. Kasumi heard the door slam shut. "Oh my, I do hope everything went alright today." She picked her towel and started placing recently clean plates back in the upper cabinet. "Funny you should say that…" The eldest Tendo instantly recognized that perpetually mischievous tone. "Welcome home, Nabiki." The younger walked in behind her sibling. "I'm home!" Kasumi walked out of the kitchen to the front door to confront them (if such a strong verb can be used) about what happened. "Akane, did something happen to Leif today? He didn't say a word." Akane thought for a moment as Nabiki replied. "If you call screaming in English and frightening and agitating the entire school normal, then he had a perfect day." "Oh dear… Does anyone know why?" Akane, her face no longer red, jumped in in her chance to speak. "No. I'm baffled." Nabiki got a sly grin across her face, as she placed her hand on her chin. "Yes, but that's a problem easily solved, now isn't it?" She looked at her sisters' bewildered faces. "What?"
