Read at your own risk: Thank you very much. That truly means a lot to me. And thank you for being so patient while I got this going.

Again, not much changed in this chapter. I did do a bit more research on the characters (trying to refamiliarize myself with everyone) and decided to include more on what Natsume's experiencing on his first day of school. Must say that I'm pleased with the decision.

Disclaimer: I only own OCs and my plot. Nothing you recognize.

[o]

Chapter 2

After enduring the rest of the classes (something I hadn't done in a long time) we were finally released for the day. As the hordes stormed out of the room and I was followed out by the three, I felt my eye twitch. I should've just ditched him. I should've ignored the baka-sensei like I always do. Because these classes are much too long for my taste, which I usually expressed by leaving about half-way through them.

"Hurry up," I grumbled. I intended to show Hyuuga where the special star rooms were and then abandon him for my own. And I'd very much like to get there some time today, thank you very much. Why was Tobita following me, anyway?

"Tobita, why aren't you showing your own partner around?" He immediately snapped to attention.

"Well, uh, I thought Hyuuga-kun and Ruka-kun would like to stay together because they're…" he trailed off at my look.

"Ruka-kun," I mocked in a drawl, earning a glare from said boy. "I already told you that clingy partners don't work in relationships. You've got to let him live his own life." Anger colored his face, but the red there wasn't nearly as captivating as the red of Hyuuga's eyes, so I turned away.

"We're not a couple!" Came the indignant cry from behind me, which I easily ignored.

"Well then. Tobita, Nogi, catch you later." And I walked away, Hyuuga trailing nonchalantly behind me. Now if I was somewhat considerate I might have considered their feelings and how they really probably would have preferred to stay together on their first day in a new environment surrounded by hundreds of students they've never met. But I'm not, so I didn't.

The long walk was completely silent on both of our parts, and I was immensely grateful. If he had ended up being a talkative person, I would've murdered him in his sleep and blamed it on Tobita. Unfortunately, the blessed silence was too quick to be broken.

"Where are we going?" Oh, didn't I tell him?

"I'm showing you your dorm." I considered leaving it there, but sighed in a moment of mercy.

"You've already been deemed a special star – top rank – no doubt because of something you did before entering the academy," because there's no way he had been tested already.

"What star are you?". Interesting question. Almost like he was scoping me out. Like I'm the enemy. My eyebrow raised a fraction of an inch. Smart kid.

"I'm also a special star. We're currently the only ones in the Elementary branch."

"What does it mean?" Whoa, the walk's making him talkative. I preferred him glaring and quiet. Maybe he thinks since I'm acting like his partner somewhat he can treat me like one. Time to set him straight.

"Look, I'm just dropping you off. Once you're off my back feel free to ask anyone else your questions." There, boundaries set. In time he'll realize that just because we're partners it doesn't actually mean we have to be friendly or talk or any such nonsense.

The special stars had a special wing of the Elementary dorm building. Of course we did take up a whole wing, since the rooms were pretty much apartments, but I wasn't about to complain. Sure, only two of the many rooms were filled, but it meant being alone. Alone is something else I like.

I led him to the first floor of the wing.

"Here we are. You get whichever one you want. Except this one. It's mine." And with that I entered a door further down the hall with my name on it and shut the door behind me.

Ah, blessed solitude. I was beginning to wonder if life would ever grant me this small favor again.

…

Natsume's POV

"Oi," I said to the kid with glasses. He looked up from his lunch at me with a large annoying smile.

"Yes Natsume-kun?" I was already in a bad mood without his annoying cheerfulness. My eyes narrowed at him, causing his smile to become nervous.

"What's up with my partner?"

"Kutan-chan?" No, my other partner. He adopted a thinking face, finally getting rid of the ridiculous one he'd worn before. Said partner was currently missing, so I was eating lunch once again with Ruka and his partner, trying to pretend I couldn't hear the whispers all around me.

"No one knows very much about her, really. She got here before most of us." I watched as Ruka began to listen from beside me as well, and I knew Tobita had both of our interest.

"How old was she when she came here?" He interjected.

"A few of us have asked Narumi-sensei, and he said she's been here for five years already. That means she got here when she was six."

"But that's not uncommon, is it?" Ruka continued. Tobita shook his head in response.

"No, we have a lot of children staying in the Elementary dorms. But I heard she was a special star from the start." That didn't have any significance to me seeing as I'd been handed a special star earlier by one of the teachers, and this was only my first day. He sweat dropped, realizing his mistake.

"Usually young students are undetermined stars for a year or two, before their sensei's decide what star they are. And even then they usually only progress to single stars and the occasional double star. So Kutan-chan being a special star right from the start is very unusual."

Speaking of whom, my partner had just entered the cafeteria. Just like the day before she came in near the end, only this time she grabbed just a glass of water and no food. And there was a large bruise on her face. My eyes narrowed at seeing it, but I kept my mouth shut as she took the seat across from me again. Tobita, not so much.

"Kutan-chan, what happened to your face?" She took a long drink from her water, blatantly ignoring him and his concern.

"Oi," I said to her. "Where were you this morning?" She hadn't ever come out of her room this morning and I had to find my way back to the Academy on my own, arriving late to the first class with the substitute teacher who acted as if he was left to substitute more often than not. All in all, I didn't really mind being late. If anything, I would've liked her there to intimidate any brave (stupid) enough to approach me or Ruka despite how clear we made it they weren't welcome. Really the thing that bothered me most were the rumors already spreading through the class.

I don't know how, but somehow word had gotten out about what happened before I came here. No one in our class did anything more than whisper, but I wasn't sure if it would stay that way forever. The whole incident was too fresh on my mind, the loss of my home and family too painful. Some part of me had been hoping I'd be leaving the fire that burned down my life in the past when I came here. Now it was haunting me and I wasn't even through the first full day.

"I had some business to attend to," she answered vaguely. Ruka, ever the over-protective one, hadn't handled her absence nearly as well as I did.

"What sort of business would you have before class?" he snapped.

"We have mixed classes today," she said. "You'll find out soon enough," and though she was answering Ruka's question she was talking to me. Before anyone could ask for an elaboration on her cryptic words the bell signaled the end of lunch.

She quickly drained her glass and stood up, getting out before any of us had even dropped off our trays.

Yeah, there's definitely something weird about that one.

...

Saito stayed through the rest of the classes, surprisingly, but was asleep through them all. I couldn't help but consider the option she presented – since none of the teachers bothered her about it – but decided against it because I was busy elsewhere. Now that she was here the whispers had quietened, the curious looks were more subtle, so I was free to focus on something else for the first time all day.

Through the classes I was thinking; thinking about Aoi and father, and about Saito and the mixed classes she had brought up. I also thought about how she didn't come out of her room this morning, and then reappeared at lunch with a bruise on her face. What was she hiding? What was she doing, or where did she go, that she got hurt? And what did she mean that I'd know soon enough?

She finally woke up when the last bell rang, and there was a dark look in her eyes as she stood up.

"Follow me," she said, and though I didn't like being ordered around I did as I was told, because the dark look in her eyes was almost alarming.

She took me outside and we walked along a trail. After a minute I began to wonder where we were going, and I made it known.

"If you think you can kidnap me, you're wrong." Her gaze slid over to me but she didn't shoot down my comment like I expected. Instead she ignored it like she tends to ignore everything irrelevant to her.

"We have some time before mixed classes, so I thought I'd explain them to you before then." She went back to being quiet. Well I wasn't going to ask outright for an explanation or she'd never give it to me. So I figure I'd pester it out of her.

"You're not doing a very good job at it." This time her eyes narrowed at me, but it had the affect I wanted.

"There are three different kinds of alices," she finally started, "and based on those alices there's a weekly class between all of the grades where a teacher helps the student to learn to control their specific types of alices." The dark look returned to her face as she stopped talking for a moment.

"Then there's another mixed class, the Dangerous Ability class, that takes any alices deemed dangerous and we're trained to hone our abilities. To completely master them, so we can use them to do anything we need. Any alice types are taken into the Dangerous Class. And you're one of them."

I let her words process, trying to get in all of their implications.

"The other types are taught to control their alices," I clarified. She didn't deny it, so I took it as an affirmative. "But we're taught to master them." Again, nothing. "Why?"

"For our missions." Before I could snark that I didn't have a clue what she meant she continued. "I'm a member of the Dangerous Class as well, so that's what I was doing last night. Every member of the Dangerous Ability Class gets sent on missions by the Academy through Persona." Her eyes slid over to me again and we stopped walking. "We're used to do the Academy's dirty work.

"The Dangerous class isn't a well-known thing. We're all kept secret so we don't exist. I don't exist, you don't exist. None of exist, so we're ghosts, and who better for the Academy to get rid of problems? No one can touch ghosts. We're the ultimate weapons."

My eyes widened in surprise. So that's why they wanted me; they wanted a new weapon. I looked down at my hand where fire could materialize at my command and I could feel her eyes on me.

"Usually new students are given some time to settle into academy, build some roots, meet their normal mixed classes. Sometimes it takes years before an alice is deemed Dangerous. But for some reason you don't get that luxury. Seems like you're getting thrown in right away."

I knew exactly why they weren't giving me any time to adjust. It's because my family succeeded in running from them for so long, because my alice was easy to utilize as a weapon, and because they had Aoi. They knew I would do anything to keep her safe, so they could use me however they wanted. I clenched my hand into a fist and narrowed my eyes. I hate being used. Saito read my expression when I looked up again.

"Get used to it." Then she began walking again. "Come on, Hyuuga. It's time to meet your new family."