Read at your own risk: What did you think would come next? I considered adding how she figured that out but realized I don't have any clue how she stumbled on that information.

Exploring a bit into the life of Saito, and for those already familiar with the chapter there aren't many changes to report.

Disclaimer: Still don't own anything you recognize, but it's only a matter of time.

[o]

Chapter 4

Weeks passed since Hyuuga was enrolled, and I was secretly proud of the progress he was making in his training. He was now taking on more than just the basics, and was moving quickly. Him being my very first mentee and all, I gotta say, I'm good at this. Especially considering that my own mentor had been Persona himself, and he's not the type of mentor one wants to look up to or emulate. Said creeper had shown up a few times to see how we were doing in Hyuuga's training and the anger coming off of Hyuuga during those sessions was almost tangible. He wasn't dealing with Persona's chosen method of blackmail very well, as it turns out.

Not long after he got here he had demanded from Persona that Nogi get better living accommodations, as well as his sister, wherever she is. Persona had easily agreed but made it clear that if Hyuuga ever does anything unsatisfactory everything would be taken away from them, and they'd be left with the worst of the worst. The big sadistic jerk.

We were currently in homeroom – baka-sensei had just left us with the substitute again – and I was surprised at the fanclub that was building for Hyuuga and Nogi. Considering their cold demeanors and unwelcome attitudes I thought they'd be ignored for the best part, maybe even outcasted a little. Especially with the rumors floating around about the crimson-eyed Alice and his growing reputation for attacking upper-classmen. Surprisingly, the last one is actually where they were getting the attention from. Apparently it painted him as some sort of rebel and Nogi as his blonde sidekick. Bunch of bull, all of it.

Just the same, they didn't acknowledge anyone and most advances were met with a blunt refusal or upright ignored. Hard to please, them.

Hyuuga sat beside me asleep underneath a comic book with his feet up on the desk. He had his arms pulled up behind him, and I eyed his protruding elbow warily. Many a time had that thing whapped me upside the head, and I'd learned to punch him a good one if it looked like I was going to get hit again. But for the moment it seemed safe. Just the same I had my elbow propped up to jab him if that changed.

I suppose I've set a bad example, but who can blame me? I'm often exhausted after Hyuuga's training, my training, and the more and more frequent missions, on top of whatever pathetic punishment Persona's seen fit to give me. He should be flattered I sit through homeroom with him anyway.

Oh wait, no I don't. I usually leave half-way through. And show up sporadically throughout the rest of the school day (they think it's sporadic. I just show up for whichever teachers seem worthwhile that day. Jinno's usually among them, since I love to see him scare people witless). My eyes drifted to the side where the blonde sidekick sat next to his friend since the substitute didn't much care if he sat with his partner or not.

Well, no need to keep the torture up to Jinno-sensei.

"Ru~chan," I sang to the now aggravated Nogi. "You're boyfriend's sleeping on me again. Come defend your honor." His face turned bright red, but it wasn't because he was embarrassed. No, the embarrassment he used to feel at my teasing wore off a long time ago. Now it's from anger. Ru-chan doesn't like me very much, and I can't say the feelings mutual. No, I like Nogi very much. He's a very entertaining toy.

"I told you to stop calling me that! And he's not my boyfriend!" Though Nogi was sitting on Hyuuga's other side, he still usually sat further up next to Tobita. I figured that once Tobita and I are no longer the boys' partners Hyuuga would leave me to sit with Nogi. The thought sent a pang through my heart that I didn't care to identify as being lonely, because such things are trivial to me. Or at least that's what I kept telling myself.

"But Ru~chan," I sang once again, making his eye twitch. "Whoever said I meant he was your boyfriend and not just your boy friend?" His face slowly went back to its original color and an odd look grew on his face and he let his head hang toward the ground for a few moments. I wondered bemusedly if I had just earned the right to be ignored as well, but then his head snapped up.

"I don't have any other friends! You wouldn't need to specify!" I smirked down at him and his rapidly re-coloring face.

"Well putting it that way, perhaps you torment yourself enough without my help." Not that I'm one to say anything; I don't have any friends. And that's how I like it.

A sigh came from beside me and Hyuuga took the book off his face – I quickly avoided his elbow – and sat up.

"You guys are too loud." Nogi looked abashed, but I raised my eyebrow, not sorry at all for disturbing his beauty sleep. A shout then sounded from further up and I turned my head back to see what the commotion was. Seems our two Telekinesis Alices were playing catch with a couple of their classmates. As in the classmates were being thrown back and forth through the air. With that the substitute had lost all vestiges of control and went to sulk in his corner. Well, that's my cue. I stood up.

"As nice as it's been to talk with you, Ru-chan, it's time to say goodbye. Take care of your boyfriend for me." I shut the door on his shouted retorts and immediately rested my back on the closed door behind me. I took a deep breath and felt a jab in my rib area. The guy last night had a mean right-hook, and my ribs could attest to that. Just the same, I had a meaner trick up my sleeve and left him screaming on the ground, trying to get away from something only we could see. If he survived he'll no doubt be visiting a shrink for quite a while.

I figured I'd stop at the infirmary quickly before going back to class. I needed to renew my stack of pain pills anyway, and what's getting my injuries checked out in the process going to hurt?

I began the familiar trek to the white hospital building and walked past the attendant – who had learned with enough time just not to mess with me – and entered my favorite check-up room. It was ground level, right next to the exit, and had a large window leading right to the forest. In other words, plenty of escape routes. Plus it was usually manned by my favorite nurse and doctor.

Luckily, the room was unoccupied so I didn't need to threaten anyone out. The nurse was there quickly, no doubt having been warned of my presence by the desk attendant.

"Kokutan-chan, nice to see you." It's not like it had been long since my last visit. "You need the usual?" I nodded, taking a seat on the table and laid down on my back as she began her examination.

"Anything in particular today?" I shook my head, looking up at the ceiling with its fluorescent light doing its pitiful best to blind me.

"Same injuries as last week, plus something going on with my ribs." She began prodding me and when she reached my side I winced in pain.

"Do you mind…?" She asked and I didn't, pulling myself up so I could remove my shirt. I was shocked when it revealed harsh black and purple bruising and peeling skin covering a large portion of my left side. I blinked in surprise, looking down at it. How had I not noticed that while changing this morning? Oh that's right, I didn't change this morning. I collapsed in bed in my uniform after my mission late last night (or rather very early morning) and barely had time to make it to class by the time I managed to wake up. It's a surprise Hyuuga was the one sleeping in class and not me.

"Oh Kokutan, what happened?" It's not like she hadn't seen me with bruised ribs before. I looked back down and winced. True, this time they did seem a bit worse than usual.

"Just the usual. Got punched. The guy may or may not have had some rather impressive looking brass-knuckles on." I did a one-shoulder shrug, not wanting to hurt that side any more than it already was. Something sad passed through her eyes, but then she was ushering me to sit up. I swallowed a pain pill quickly and then she wrapped copious amounts of bandage around my chest to protect my ribs and keep them from being damaged further. Not that it would do much if I got nailed with more brass knuckles. Hopefully I wouldn't be going on any more missions for a while, though Persona's really been piling them up on me lately. I'd talk to him about it later.

No doubt it was because we were a bit short-staffed from a mission-gone-wrong, leaving quite a few of the Dangerous students imprisoned in the infirmary. But seriously, with the work I was taking on the others in the class probably didn't even realize the shortage in staff. I huffed, ignoring the twinge it caused.

After she finished wrapping the bandage I pulled my shirt on while she pulled down my sock to check on a gash I had on my calf there. She'd treated it last week and I'd made sure to clean it regularly since then, so it was healing nicely. She replaced the bandage and pulled the sock back up. The rest of my bumps and bruises had healed, and the newly acquired bumps and bruises were only skimmed over; nothing too bad.

She left the room after looking at everything to meet with the doctor quickly, and in a surprisingly short amount of time came back with a small bag in her hand. I reached over and took it from her, inspecting the insides.

My eyebrows lifted in surprise and I looked at the nurse for explanation. She smiled, putting her hands behind her back.

"I talked to the doctor after he reduced your prescription and he brought it back up to what it was." I looked at the bottles and packets in the bag. That's nice. It means I wouldn't have to either come back to the infirmary so often to replenish these or, what I was more prone to doing, just deal with the pain without them.

"Thanks," I said shortly, then stood up. Rather than letting me through she took a quick step to the side, blocking my passage through the door just enough that I knew she had something to say.

"Kokutan-chan, Persona's pushing you too hard. He of all people should know the affects having you use your Alice so often will have on your-"

I shouldered past her, getting out of the room before she could finish speaking. There was a reason she was my favorite nurse, and the reason was not because she liked to butt into my business. In fact, it was the total opposite of that. I like her and the doctor she usually comes with because they know when to stop pushing it and get their noses out of where they don't belong. Though I suppose having their particular Alice set around was an added bonus. The doctor's Alice was Metal Manipulation, which had saved me from many a surgery in the past. Nasty things, bullets.

I left the building and made my way over to the dorms. I wouldn't be needing one of the pills currently, since the nurse had already given me one for my ribs, but there was no doubt about me needing them later. All of my excessive work would come back to bite me eventually.

I put the bag on my nightstand, stood there for a second, then sighed and collapsed on my ridiculously large bed. A pillow was immediately hugged to my bruised chest as I determined my next course of action, because whether I wanted to acknowledge it or not the nurse was right. These missions were taking their toll on me, and the bag of painkillers on my nightstand was proof of the affect the frequent use of my Alice was taking on my body.

So, talk to Persona about how ridiculous he's being I would. Doesn't mean I have to like it. Talking to the jerk always brings my mood to rock bottom, and more often than not I end up sassing him (or full-out disrespecting him) and end up with a punishment for the next few days. Not that I particularly minded. My situation was definitely preferable to the one Hyuuga was in currently.

I sighed heavily and pushed myself back up to my feet, snatching a pear from my kitchen quickly before making my way over to where Persona was most likely to be hanging around. I hadn't gotten a chance to eat breakfast this morning and lunch was still a few hours away, so I figured I'd eat while I had the chance.

Persona was where I had expected him to be, thankfully, since I really had no idea where the guy's office or rooms were (not that I wanted to find out), and I stood beside him watching a few students train in the gym. After a moment I figured I had let my presence linger long enough.

"You're giving me too many assignments." He was quiet, and I watched one of the older students pummel a dummy with his fists, occasionally taking swipes with his legs.

"Are you saying I should give them more assignments?" Sometimes I wondered if he actually knew me. Guilt tactics don't work.

"Yes." His painted lips pulled up, since he did in fact know me and had predicted my answer. He didn't say anything more, so I continued as respectfully as I could without actually respecting the guy. I'd like to keep from receiving a punishment if at all possible, thank you very much. "I've seen a few of their schedules; they could easily take on some of the work you've been giving me."

"Is something the matter?" He knew full well what's wrong.

"Yes. In case you've forgotten, my Alice is eating my body." And there's the sass. I quickly added onto my statement before he could add anything onto it for me, figuring that since the sass had come out it may as well stay out. "You wouldn't want to lose me any sooner than you have to, would you? And here I was thinking I was valuable to you." I could all but see his eyebrow arch behind his white mask, but I continued to watch the training students. There was a moment of tense silence between us, filled only by the sounds of training, but it passed quickly.

"I'll see what I can do," was all he said, but that was as close to an affirmative as I'd get. Perfect. I turned around and walked back to the door. "See you in class, my little Mara*." I shuddered at his pet name, but shut the door behind me without saying a word and went back to the Elementary building.

He had started calling me that after deciding on my pseudonym – Akumu – which meant nightmare. Going off of that Mara was Germanic folklore, an evil spirit that gives nightmares, both relating back to my awful Alice. As I walked back down the dirt path I held my hand in front of me, staring at my palm. Such an innocent, normal looking thing could create such destructive power if I wanted it to.

I continued staring at my palm, slowing my walk to a stop, and as I watched tendrils of black mist spread from it. My Alice was a dark thing. Something that could taint souls and ruin lives. It was a nightmare.

I shut my fist abruptly, cutting off the mist, and hurried my walk again. Jinno-sensei taught next, and his were my favorite lessons since there was some vestige of order, so I didn't want to be late for it (plus there was always some level of amusement in watching the idiot who wasn't sitting in his seat when Jinno-sensei showed up get electrocuted by the impatient man. True, I'd been on the end of that zap my fair share of times, but it was still amusing to watch).

I sat down just as Jinno-sensei came in and grabbed the notebook I always kept packed away in my desk to begin taking notes.

Hyuuga asked once why I only take notes in some of the classes and I explained that some people are idiots and will pay many rabbits for good notes when exams come around. Sure, there aren't many customers, but the ones I have are regulars. Because if there's any constant in life, it's that there will always be idiots around.

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*I put one site with this mentioned on my profile. Otherwise you can find more on it by looking up 'German Folklore, Mara' and all sorts of things come up.