Quote of the week: "It's like the twilight zone... only on your desk. It's the twilight-desk!" -Kia

Honestly, I doubted I could finish this by the weekend... Halloween and all that...

Oh, yes, and I've noticed that through the last few chapters I've had a brain-lapse and accidentally typed Lyonell as Lionel... oops. ;;

Lyonell: - - I hate you...

Replies to reviewers (those with nicknames, you know who you are):

Shikyo-buddy: So you only care about the cake, ne? ::sniff:: I feel so... so used! ::coughs:: anywho, nice to see you around again.

Pegacorn: Yes, that was a goldfish. If you read back to Yukimi's latest house problem (last chappie of Cumulus Academy, minus the bloopers) she had an infestation of viciously fanged goldfish. Lark decided to take one home as a souvenir, and, well, it went off from there... ;; Also, if you have three months with just you and this ridiculously large bus, why not have some fun with it.

Azuredragoness: ::hands cake:: j0. OCs from the last fic will be included; I need an assistant teacher or two around, and the academy always has college-level classes. Also, I'll try to step up on updates. Ph34r th3 ph0x.

Embyrflame: Sure, I don't mind tossing in an OC or two. Just e-mail or IM me later on and we can work out how she fits into the story.

Ebbster: Thank you muchly. You deserve a w00t! ::punches fist in air::

"Mooooooove your-"

Crunch.

Fwoooosh!

And so, another lovely day began.

To tell the truth, Hiei had no idea where Kuwabara had dug that damn clock out from. Surely, the idiot must have hidden it just to bother him incessantly with its little annoying, false-Chinese-accented voice come the day of their return. After all, if Hiei had had the entire summer to beat on it, the cow-shaped clock would most likely be obliterated at from the face of the planet by now.

But, like always, the topic had to tire itself out for favor of more enterprising activities - namely, getting to one's classes on time. Even with the hassle of Mara to deal with, the fire demon managed to bide a little time to watch everyone else scurry to and fro.

"Oi, sparrow, find another perch!"

"Alright, now who can explain why my combination lock is 'unexplainably' forced open?"

"The dust spiders did it."

"Miss Lyra, can't I even have a goodbye kiss?"

"Stupid rat; get outta the damn house!"

"Yusuke, if you even try to use my violin as a weapon, you are SO dead."

"Really, everyone, try to calm down. We're going to be late as it is."

"Hey, where's midget?"

"Ahh! Runaway broom! Runaway broom!"

(Good luck guessing who says what, folks)

If just the dorm had been in such chaos, no one was surprised in the least by the total lack of order in the Academy halls; even though most classes were reached by means of outdoor pathways, one could hardly walk through without being shoved off to the side or compacted in a throng of otherworldly students. Most of the trouble wasn't just from a new headmistress, through; there were always new students: the human high school's equivalent of a freshman.

Although the much younger, kindergarten-aged newbies were cooed and fawned over, and grade-school kids were pitied, any new student over the age of twelve had a tough time of it.

This was a well known fact to Hanabi; for years he had always been the "new kid", shoved from school to school, shoved into lockers, shoved to the back of the line...

Well, just plain shoved, really.

At each new school he had been given a clean slate, a fresh start, a chance to make something of himself. And then, things always went bad...

He supposed it had started with the blackouts; when it had first happened, at the tender age of six, he was being shoved around (yet again) by his jeering classmates during recess.

When he woke up, they weren't there anymore. At first he thought it was a prank - they had beat his lights out and were probably sitting in the classroom laughing about it all - but when the bell rang and he went inside, no one besides the teacher was there. It had taken a week, but the rest of the class was eventually found in the woods just out of town. Unharmed, yes, but scared out of their young minds.

That was the first time, and since nothing could be explained, he had been let off. Then, when word got around he had done it, the older kids had started spreading rumors, hiding from him, and taking special care to not look at his eyes. In time, by the end of the year, some kid had decided that Hanabi was a trouble to the school, and decided to settle it with fists.

Another blackout, and, although the troublemaker was still there when Hanabi woke up, he was even more scared than the others. He had to be sent to the hospital... and he was still there, even today.

He was kicked out of school, and sent to another. More blackouts, and he was shipped out yet again. By now, his parents were royally peeved at him; they decided to have a sit-down, and he passed out. When he woke up, they were unconscious. And they never woke up.

The cycle repeated for years, and he never had a clue about what happened. Then he met her, the one person who dared even walk near him, and this time it was if he were watching a movie, stuck trapped in his own mind, while she... she...

Hanabi shook his head, trying to disentangle himself from the painful memories, his white hair flying into his eyes. This wasn't the time to think about it; he had class to get to, and this school had promised to fix everything. The voices would be gone, and he could start again.

That's right... everything about this place was new; he had no idea such a place existed, really, and the less human-like students had frightened him at first. But he would break out of his shell, maybe make some buddies, and live anew. No one would ever shove him around again-

PHWAM!

The teenage boy made a quiet mental comment about how pretty the clouds looked (that one even looked like a bunny... with a cotton tail and big long ears...) and something hovered over his head, blocking out the morning sun. Hanabi lifted a hand to his head, fingering the growing bump, and squinted his eyes at the painful throbbing.

Through his pale lashes, he made out a face framed by wavy brown-red hair and bright hazel eyes, full of distress. The girl's face showed nothing but guilt as she floated above him, hands clasped onto a polished broomstick.

"My God, are you okay? No, wait, don't move. I'll go get someone! Oh God, oh God... I'm going to be so late!" The girl looked around, panicking and almost causing her broom to capsize. Hanabi groaned and slowly sat up, loosening his scarf so the thing didn't choke him to death.

"I'm okay, really." He finally managed to say, and the girl almost didn't even hear him, he was so soft spoken.

"Er, uh... Someone? Can someone get a teacher, please?" She darted higher, her book bag dangling from the tail end of her broom, and Hanabi blushed bright red. "Hey, there's no reason to get so worked up, really. I'm fine." The boy struggled to his feet, dusted off his jeans, and swung his backpack back over his shoulder. The girl gave him a doubtful look, but jumped down from her broom and balanced it on her shoulder.

"I'm so sorry I ran you over. I was just in such a rush to get to class, that-" the bell rang, and the girl nearly jumped back onto her broom, but thought better of it and grimaced. "I am so dead..."

"It was my fault, really; I wasn't paying attention, and I'm kind of new here..." He almost expected the girl to stiffen and lose her worried tone at those words, like so many others had at his old schools, but this one stayed. "Oh, a new student... Here, I can make it up to you by showing you to your classes, okay?" She swung the broom down and Hanabi watched in awe as it levitated on its own above the ground. The girl straddled the broom, then held out a hand to Hanabi, obviously intending for him to get on behind her. With a little bit of hesitation, the white-haired boy did so, and looped an arm around the girl's waist to keep his balance.

"Just tell me the class and the teacher, and I'll fly you over, okay?"

"R-right..." He nervously looked down at the ground, which was quickly falling away from them. Deciding it would be better for his nerves to just avoid looking, he squeezed his eyes shut and clung tighter. "Well, your class?"

"English; Taught by Shikyo-sensei." He sputtered, and felt gravity pull him back as the broom shot over the school buildings and increased speed. Wind rushed by, making his hair whip his face, and filling his ears with the sound. He almost didn't hear the girl shout over the noise, and strained his hearing to make it out.

"So, kid, what's your name?"

"H-Hanabi Niwamori!"

There was a sudden lurch, and he felt the entire world stand still, tempting him to peer out at the world. When he did, his eyes widened fully, and he nearly gasped at the view; the entire campus lay spread out before him, the various students and buildings mere miniatures of their real selves; a flock of pigeons flew under them in a tight formation, and the sunlight reflected off of the ocean and the girl's coppery hair. It was gorgeous...

The girl seemed to spot their destination and pointed the handle downwards. With the sickening sensation that his stomach had been left in the air above him, Hanabi screwed his eyes shut as the broom made its descent. They gained speed, faster and faster, until, with a sharp jerk that nearly sent him flying over the girl's head, the broom docilely floated three feet off the ground.

Hanabi's legs weren't much more than wet noodles when he reached solid ground, and he took a second to gain his wits before turning to the girl, who was nervously checking her watch. "Thank you very much," he said, bowing his head, and the girl nodded in return. "I'll stop by later, when class is over. If you need me in the future, though, my name's Holly Landon. At least one or two of the girls in there are buddies of mine, so they'll know."

"Uh-huh..." So, Holly was her name...

"See ya!" Holly waved, and was up in the air before he could blink. A second later, and she had disappeared over the roof of another building.

"Well, doesn't this year prove to be promising..." Suzuki strolled down the aisles, hands clasped behind his back as he surveyed his class. He hadn't really made this job out to be a permanent one, but since it provided boarding and many of the rarer ingredients he needed for most of his potions for free, well, who was one to turn it down. Even watching over these curmudgeons wasn't as bad as he had first thought.

With a slight smirk, the inventor peered at some of the more familiar faces in his class. Yusuke had already propped his feet up on his desk and was leaning his chair back haphazardly; Lyonell was doodling in his notebook, tail held an inch above the floor and twitching; Rogerik was busy toying with a small combination lock, making it lock and unlock on its own while dangling from his fingers; Justin was hidden in the corner behind his three friends, and was glowering dangerously.

Yes, another amusing year...

"I'm sure most of you already know the rules I have set." There was a mumbled chorus of "Yes Sir" s and the inventor smiled warmly. "Well, that makes my job that much easier. Now, if you don't mind, we can start the class and-"

There was a furious knocking from the door, and Suzuki's left eyebrow twitched. There was no reason he should be interrupted this early in the morning...

Another knock, and the door visibly shook from the force. Suzuki strode over, and turned the knob, but was barreled over as the knocker flew into the room. Yes, flew.

Aki peered at the class, clasped her hands together and gave the brightest smile ever seen. Her ruby-red wings were blurs as she floated a full two feet off the ground, and the Celtic knot tattoo on her shoulder contrasted with her skin. "Suzuki-sensei, I was sent here to be an assistant teacher for your class!" She babbled on a bit more, but no one was really listening; the students were too busy watching their teacher pry himself off the floor.

Once he was sure his face was composed, the inventor turned back to the fairy and his class. "Well... what a nice surprise, Aki. I don't suppose you have a letter of certification, do you-" A folded piece of paper was thrust under his nose, and Suzuki calmly unfolded and read it, still sitting more or less on the floor.

"Damn..." The swear was whispered, but imminent, and Aki buzzed farther away from Suzuki, landing on the windowsill on the opposite side of the room. Once sure she was out of the path of the blond youkai, she cocked her head quizzically, her red hair framing her face and bright eyes. "What's wrong, Suzuki-sensei?"

Suzuki's face seemed to be forced into a smile, but it was barely more than a grimace when he asked, "Did Ryo assign you here?"

"Oh, yes sir!" Aki nodded enthusiastically, and watched as the inventor began to laugh quietly to himself. Suzuki took a cell phone out from his pants pocket and, still sitting cross-legged on the floor, pressed a few buttons, then waited silently until whoever was on the other line picked up.

"Ah, Ryo, so you are awake this early in the morning; lovely. Care to tell me about the assistant teacher you sent over here? ... Oh, trust me, this is no mistake - she clearly told me you partook in this. No, I'm not particularly amused."

There were a few minutes of complete silence except for the garbling from the phone, and then Suzuki, apparently fed up with the conversation, flipped the phone shut and stuffed in his pocket, then got to his feet. He dusted his hands off and looked at his class, trying to calm down enough to be civil.

Damn Ryo... just because the elf was too lazy to take on an assistant teacher didn't mean he had to dump the girl on someone else. As if having to put up with Aki outside of classes was bad enough... well, might as well make the best of it.

Lark slid her folder into her backpack and snapped it shut, chatting with Chrysanthemum as she did so. The cat had had a spectacular summer, as she had heard; leave it to Shikyo to turn their first day back into a conversation about vacation. For once, the neko was oddly unfocused, and had wandered off topic quite admirably in the middle of introducing the newer student, Hanabi.

The boy wasn't really much to look at, considering; even with his stark-white hair and good-looking face, his personality was so Blah (and that was as good a work as Lark could come up with so early in the morning) that he didn't stand out. But his eyes... a bright honey-gold, an unusual color to begin with; mix that with the blotch of orangey-red in the iris of his right eye, and you had a gaze that was downright hypnotizing. Now if only he would bother to look people in the eye, the kid might have something going for him.

"...You wouldn't believe how hard it was to get that idiot twin of mine to pass Finals last year... it took months of tutoring, and he's probably going to be so lazy he'll do the same thing this year, too." The tawny-haired girl continued, swinging her bag on her shoulder and giving the black cat an enthusiastic wave goodbye, with a slight sigh.

Shikyo watched the students file out, and looked through his schedule book with a few lazy flips of the pages. When most everyone was gone, the cat caught sight of a snow-white head and called over to the newcomer.

"Hanabi, can I have a word with you?"

Hanabi felt his insides twist, but he dutifully hung back, dutifully putting his bag on a vacant desk. Shikyo-sensei was a demon... and he was still getting used to the fact that the young man had black cat ears and a tail, never mind the fact that he heard demons were particularly blood-thirsty. (But we all know Shik wouldn't do that, do we? Yes indeed.)

"Yes sir." When the teacher stood up, Hanabi tensed, golden eyes directed at the cat's sharp nails. Seeing this, Shikyo sighed and sat back down at his desk.

"I've heard you've had some problems at your other schools." The teacher began, and knew that he had hit a nerve. Hanabi's gold eyes looked down at the floor for a moment, but soon he was back to nervously eyeing the English teacher. "Yeah, but it's no big deal, to tell the truth."

"Yes, well, I know I've talked to you about this before, but be careful not to get into any trouble until the school figures out a way to help your... condition."

He knew that there was no real way to banish the voices completely -- they had been around too long, had taken root in him. But, maybe with this academy, he could control them...

The bell rang, a piercing sound, and the cat waved him out, his dark gray eyes already re-focused on his schedule book. "I'll see you tomorrow morning, Hanabi."

"Yes sir."

The teen swung his bag onto his shoulder and quickly made his way out of the room, although he wondered why, since the rest of the school day seemed to promise nothing but criticism and general gloom. He had thought it was a lovely day? How long ago was that..?

"Hey, you look more than a little gloomy." The voice was light and airy, and Hanabi looked up, shielding his gold and orange eyes from the sun with a hand, to see an already-familiar silhouette up in the sky. The silhouette floated downwards, and Holly grinned as the light caught the reddish highlights in her hair. "Care for a ride, stranger?"

For a moment, he seriously considered just passing the offer by, but a slight shred of the hope that he would make a real friend made him take his seat on the broomstick behind Holly. Again, the wind ushered the broom up, and he held on as the girl cleverly maneuvered past the more fortunate students who were gifted with the ability of flight. It had been a trying first few periods, and the boy tried to remember his schedule. Lunch... right - a little early, maybe, but classes had started fairly late, sometime around nine-ish.

The wind died down, and the two of them coasted gently over towards the picnic area outside the cafeteria. Holly brought the broom down closer to earth, and Hanabi clumsily dismounted from the broom, swinging the bag back over his shoulder. Another lunch period eating by himself, great...

"Hey, you want to sit with me and my friends?" Holly nodded over to an empty picnic table, and Hanabi seemed to think about it before slowly nodding. He had nowhere else to sit, come to think of it.

"Hey! Cheater!" A black-haired girl, one whom Hanabi faintly recalled as being named Lark, ran over and gave Holly a good-natured thump on the back. The redhead coughed, but managed to smile. "You never said I couldn't fly on my broom."

"And I never said you could leave me behind!" The familiar yowl sounded off from somewhere in the bushes, and Hanabi stared as a small black cat jumped out and onto Holly's shoulders. "Kyuro," Holly grimaced and plucked the cat from her shoulders, unhooking the small claws as she did so. "I thought you wanted to stay home."

"Just because I slept late didn't mean I wanted to stay in the house all day."

Okay, so he hadn't been hearing things - the cat was talking.

By now, he must've seen everything, right?

As many of you well know, a talking cat and girls on brooms are nothing. The poor boy was in for quite of a shock.

Finished... sheeee... don't just look the other way, now; Hanabi plays an important role in this story - be sure to keep an eye on him. In fact, I'm actually cutting down on plot holes (yaaaay!) so even the most miniscule factor can be important later on (::hinthint::Rogerik'ssummerescapades::hinthint::)

Er... yeah...

By the by, readers, I know you are all familiar with my ongoing Wheel of Torture series (I was actually thinking of turning WoT into an actual fic, but, alas, has sabotaged that plan, so I need to do it in end of chapter minisodes), and it's getting about that time again. Anybody with a suggestion of torture for an YYH character (or one of my OCs in Cumulus Academy) that I haven't used yet is welcome to give one in a review.

Oh, and Kuwabara, Suzuki, Chuu, Hiei, and Shishiwakamaru have been used already. Sorreee...