Disclaimer: I do not own Peacemaker Kurogane and I am not making any money off of this hobby of mine.

Yes, another Peacemaker fic taking place in modern times. Hopefully, this story will be different from any story with a similar setup you may have read before. Anyway, this will focus mainly on the younger characters as high school students. Most of the Shinsengumi officers will be teachers at the school, while other characters will show as guardians to other characters or perhaps have different occupations. We'll just have to wait and see. This should be pretty fun if I can pull it off. Anyway, let's begin.

---Kouji Tamino

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Kurogane High

Chapter 1: The Worst Day

Tetsunosuke Ichimura ran frantically toward the train station. Today was the first day of school and he was a first year high school student. Dressed in a black Japanese public school uniform with the jacket open and white sneakers, he dashed through the doors. He came to a dead stop as he was grabbed by the collar of his jacket. "H-hey! Let me go, damn it! I-- Huh?"

Hajime Saito gave the red head a deadpan look. "You shouldn't run, Ichimura. Someone might get hurt." He was dressed in a police officers uniform.

"Officer Saito? What are you doing here?" Tetsu asked, raising an eyebrow.

"A security guard suddenly fell ill." He replied, monotonously. "I came to take his place. It was on short notice, so I am still in my school uniform."

Ichimura chuckled awkwardly, struggling to get out of the officer's grasp. "That's nice and all, but if I don't catch the next train, I'll be late for my first day of high school!"

"Hmm…" he replied. "Can't have that, now can we?" Putting the rather short 15-year old down, he sighed. "Just be careful, now. I can sense restless spirits coming from that school whenever I pass."

"Okay, Officer Saito!" Tetsunosuke shouted, speed walking towards his destination. "Boy, he sure is creepy sometimes…" Looking at his watch, he groaned. "Aw, damn! I lost two whole minutes! I'd better hurry!"

-----

After buying a new rail card, he was relieved to find that his train hadn't left yet. "All right!" Her screamed as he was suddenly pushed over by a taller boy dressed in the same uniform. "Hey!" Tetsu shouted angrily, picking himself up from the ground. "What the hell? Apologize!" The headphone wearing boy simply ignored him, getting on the train that Tetsunosuke was getting on. Growling angrily, he stomped his way toward the gate, scanned his card, and made his way onto the train. He was hoping he'd be able to find the boy and confront him. Just to his luck, the boy was standing just a few feet away from him, still bobbing his head to whatever he was listening to. Getting a better look at him, he seemed to be a bit older looking than his actual age. He was tall, with black spiky hair that was a tad long in the back. His eyes were closed, and he had on a black headband tied around his head. Like him, the taller boy's uniform jacket was open. On his feet was a pair of blue and white sneakers. As Tetsunosuke walked over to the spiky haired fellow, a rush of 'last minute' passengers pushed over and trampled him. "This is just not my day…"

"Are you on the ground again?" the taller boy asked, opening one of his brown eyes. Tetsu noticed that the boy had an accent. "What a klutz you are."

"Shut up!" Tetsunosuke screamed, standing up and walking over to him. "Now apologize for pushing me earlier!"

Staring at him for a moment, the boy pushed back one side of his headphones. "What was that, little boy?"

"Damn it, I'm not a little boy!" Tetsu shouted, causing a scene on the train. Then again, not many people noticed. Some were preoccupied with being molested by perverts and said perverts were preoccupied doing the molesting. "And apologize for knocking me over!"

"I'm sorry that you're so clumsy. Now go away, you're annoying me", the boy named Susumu said bluntly, going back to his music without a second thought. Obviously, subtlety was not his strong point.

"Bastard!" Tetsu screamed, kicking Susumu in the shin. "You take that back!"

"Ow!" Susumi yelped in pain, grabbing his leg and wincing. "Why the-- You little --!" Grabbing Tetsunosuke by the collar and lifting him up, he gritted his teeth. Regaining his composure, he glared at the shorter boy and sighed as he let him go. "You may not be a little kid, but you sure act like it."

Tetsunosuke bit his lip in frustration, clenching his fists. "Well, at least I'm not an icy bastard like you…" He muttered, after turning around and walking away.

-----

Meanwhile, at Nanae Chrono High, new Principal Toshizo Hijikata and Vice-Principal Isami Kondo were making some last minute preparations for the first day of school. "Damn it, where is that speech?" Hijikata cursed, running a hand through his hair. Wearing a black suit, red tie, and black dress shoes, he was beyond stressed. He had worked on his 'Welcome 1st Years' speech all night, just to lose it? There was no way he was going to let it all end like this.

"Are you sure you brought it?" Kondo asked, crossing his arms. "Perhaps you left it at home?" This theory earned him a glare from the principal. "Or maybe not…" Searching a drawer, he produced a piece of paper with writing on it. "Why not use last year's speech instead?" He gulped as, in merely seconds, Hijikata was right in front of him, his eyes glowing yellow. "Um…"

"Never…" Hijikata replied in a dark tone of voice. "Never, in my 4 years as principal, have I ever reused a speech. I don't plan on breaking that tradition, even at a new school." His eyes suddenly widened. "We either find the speech, or I adlib the whole damn thing…"

"Excuse me, Mr. Hijikata?" a very effeminate man with long black hair poked his head into the room. He was wearing a blue dress shirt, cream colored pants, brown shoes, and a smile. "I hate to bother you when you seem so busy, but when will the new math books arrive? The old ones are pretty much unusable at this point."

"Yo!" shouted Sanosuke Harada, Gym Teacher. He wore a white polo shirt, black shorts, and white tennis shoes. "Is the new gym equipment in yet?"

"We need new geography books!" Shinpachi shouted, in his red dress shirts, black pants, and black shoes.

"Some of my cooking equipment is getting rusty!"

"The books in the library predate 1987!"

"I don't need the new math books today, but they were supposed to have arrived by now! I'm getting worried…"

"QUIET!" Hijikata screamed at the top of his lungs. "Now listen. I know that this school is kind of run down, but the new school supplies and equipment are on the way!" Calming down, he began to rub his temples. "They're just delayed, that's all…" As the room cleared, he sighed. "What a wretched school. If the teachers are this bad, I wonder what the kids will be like… What a state the former Principal left this school in."

"Don't be too hard on him, he really tried his best." Kondo replied defensively. "He's a great man."

Rubbing his temples, Hijikata sighed. "You're right. Besides…" he began with a smirk. "Anyone that can handle this place for 3 years has my respect."

-----

After arriving at the school, Tetsunosuke began to have second thoughts. "Oh no… I'm not ready for this…" He stopped walking as he reached the courtyard, looking around nervously. "So many older girls here…" He blushed, looking down at the ground as 3rd year girls passed by and giggled, pointing at him. The girls uniform was a white and red sailor fuku blouse, the skirt was red, the socks were white of course, and the shoes varied from person to person.

Pretty soon, a small pack of 3rd year girls had gathered around him, poking him and cooing at him with cries of "Aww, so adorable!" and "Is he a high school student? He's so precious!"

Tetsu's face turned even redder as the older girls focused all of their attention on him, their boyfriends getting jealous. 'Why does this always happen to me?' He groaned as he looked around. 'And their boyfriends look pretty pissed…' Just then, in the corner of his eye, he saw the cutest girl he had ever seen. Short black hair and big brown eyes, she was walking with two other girls towards the entrance of the school. Wandering away from the crowd, much to the group of 3rd year's chagrin, he started to follow her. Focused on this new face, he ended up bumping into someone. Falling back and hitting the ground, he growled. "Hey!" he shouted, quickly standing up. "Watch where you're going!"

The dark skinned, white haired boy frowned. "I could say the same for you." He was wearing the uniform correctly, with a pair of black dress shoes on his feet. "It's not my fault you were too preoccupied with skirt chasing."

Gritting his teeth, the shorter boy stood on his tiptoes. "Why, you--!" At that moment, the bell rang. Growling in annoyance, he turned away in a huff. "We'll settle this later!"

"Whatever…" Suzu said with a shake of his head, smirking.

-----

"You!" was the reaction of Tetsunosuke and Susumu as they realized that they were going to be in Class 1-A together. They were pointing at each other with shocked looks on their face.

"Just what the hell are you doing in my class, spiky head!" Tetsu screamed, slamming his hands on his desk while standing.

"Don't ask me…" Susumu muttered coolly, calming down and taking his seat. "It wasn't my decision…"

"Damn it, you piss me off so much!" the redhead shouted, stomping his feet.

"My sentiments exactly…" the spiky haired boy replied. "Just stay out of my way, okay?"

"Grah!" Tetsu clenched his fists, ready to clock his new classmate. The entire class was staring at this confrontation intently, ready for a fight to break out.

"Okay class, settle down!" Math teacher Souji Okita shouted, clapping his hands to get the student's attention as he walked in. "Please take your seats."

"Stupid spike headed, no eye browed freak…" Tetsu muttered, sitting down.

Okita giggled as Tetsunosuke sulked in his seat. "Since today's just the first day, let's get acquainted, shall we?" One by one, students stood up, gave their names, their hobbies, their likes and dislikes, and what their dream is.

As Tetsunosuke's turn came up, he stood up and shouted his name proudly. "My name is Tetsunosuke Ichimura!" he blushed as he got a few more 'precious' and 'cute' comments from girls. He continued his introduction with a big, cheerful grin. "My hobby is practicing kendo! Things I like include eating and sleeping! Things I dislike include spiky haired jerks who push people down and don't apologize!" He glared over at Susumu, who rolled his eyes response.

When the dark haired boy's turn came up, he stood slowly. A few girls swooned and began talking amongst each other about him. Sighing in annoyance, he began. "I'm Susumu Yamazaki. That's all you need to know about me." The whole room was silent after that, everyone staring at him.

"Oh, um…" Okita began, blinking rapidly. "Okay."

-----

And so, the day went on. At the end of school, Tetsunosuke began to walk home. "Damn. Today sucked."

"Tetsunosuke! Wait!" Okita shouted, running over to the boy.

"Mr. Okita?" Testu tilted his head in confusion. "What is it?"

Smiling cheerfully, he continued. "I seem to recall you saying that your hobby was kendo. How would you like to join the Kendo Club?"

"Huh?" Tetsunosuke raised an eyebrow in surprise.

-----

"Everyone, I'd like you to meet Tetsunosuke Ichimura and Suzu Kitamura!." Okita said with a grin, introducing him. "They are going to join our Kendo Club!"

"Hey, it's you!" Tetsu shouted, pointing at the tanned boy.

"What are you doing in here, you brat?" Suzu asked in annoyance.

"Oh, so you already know each other?" Okita asked, clapping his hands together once. "How wonderful!"

"Yes, but we didn't meet on the best terms…" Suzu muttered, staring at the shorter boy.

"Oh, I see…" said Okita, chuckling a bit. "Since you two are the newest members, why not have a sparring match with each other as your initiation?"

"Me, spar with that puny brat?" Suzu replied with a shocked look on his face. "No way, I might accidentally step on him!"

Tetsu growled, stomping his foot. "You take that back, you gremlin-eyed freak!"

Suzu smirked. "Want to shut me up?" Grabbing two shinai, he tossed one to Tetsu. "show me how good you are with a sword."

"Fine then, you bastard!" Tetsunosuke screamed, catching the bamboo sword and getting into a stance. "I'll show you how good I am!"

"Wait, wait!" Okita shouted, running towards them. Soon, the two boys found themselves in the traditional kendo gear. The teacher giggled, waving his finger. "Safety first!" A serious expression suddenly came over his face as he stood in between the two boys. The rest of the club watched, curious to see how the two new younger members sparred. "This will be a one round spar. First to two points wins!"

And so it began. Tetsunosuke ran toward Suzu in a rage, shinai raised above his head. Swinging wildly, he missed several times, Suzu blocking and dodging all of his thrusts.

'He's fast, I'll give him that.' Suzu thought to himself. 'But he has no style!' Moving out of the way of a strike completely, he countered by stepping forward and hitting Tetsu on his noggin. "Head!" he shouted, gaining a point.

"That's one point for Kitamura!" Souji shouted, waving his left hand.

"You were saying?" Suzu replied, smiling cockily.

Calming down, Tetsunosuke laughed. "Who said I was done?" Stepping forward, he began to strike quickly, forcing Suzu back a bit. He made several fake attempts at his opponents head, both the top and either sides, trying to keep him off guard. Then, as he seemingly made another attempt at the head, he quickly moved his shinai down to the left wrist of his opponent. "Wrist!" he yelled, stepping forward as he whacked him on the left wrist.

"Point to Ichimura!"

"Not bad…" Kitamura said with a shrug. "But that trick won't work again!"

"Neck!" Ichimura screamed, thrusting his shinai forward with so much force, it knocked the other boy's bamboo sword right out of his hands. He continued with his thrust to the neck, making contact right as Suzu's shinai came back down… Right on his head. "Ow…"

Okita and the other members looked on in shock. "Um… a tie?"

Rubbing his neck, Suzu took off his face protector. Looking down at Tetsunosuke, he sighed, offering a hand to help him up. "You're… pretty good…"

Tetsunosuke smirked, taking his hand. "You're not too bad yourself." As he was lifted up, he laughed and started to take off his Bogu. "That was pretty funny at the end though."

"Ha, yeah." Suzu said in agreement. "Who would've thought that something like that would have happened. You would have beat me if it hadn't."

"Yeah, but what can you do…" Tetsunosuke said while scratching his head, slight disappointment in his tone.

Okita smiled as he looked on. "They're not fighting anymore. That's good…"

As the two boys laughed, Tetsu thought to himself. 'Hey, I think I made a new friend... Maybe today wasn't such a bad day...'

End of Chapter 1.