Hotaru was taking a slightly different route home, mostly to see if she could use her limited skills to sense the cards to find one before it went active.

Except Sword was acting increasing excited, so she let the card dictate where to go.

And found herself outside a small dojo where a man was practicing with an old, and clearly semi-magical sword.

Somehow she had the feeling this was what the Sword card had picked up on.

The man noticed her when he finished his set, before smiling. It took her a moment to realize that it was the man who owned the best sushi shop in town.

"Hello there!" he said in a friendly way.

"Um... hello Tsuyoshi-san," she replied. "What sort of sword is that?"

Tsuyoshi looked at the katana in his hand.

"This is Shigure Kintoki. It's a family heirloom that's been passed down for generations," he replied. "What about yours?"

Hotaru realized with some shock that Sword had left the form of a pin on her shirt and took it's full form. More so, it was clearly wanting to go say "hi" to Shigure Kintoki.

She would prefer not to ask how that would work, for her own sanity. If pressed she would claim magic and not ask further.

"Um... it's called the Sword card. I think it noticed yours, which would explain why it seemed to happy when it woke up."

Tsuyoshi hid his reaction to the way Shigure Kintoki seemed to feel almost cheerful when the "Sword Card" came near it.

Like Hotaru, he decided to play the "Let's not ask headache-inducing questions on what's happening" game... though the sight of Sword in it's released state could be seen in the dojo during school hours right below his family blade after the two properly introduced themselves.

Kero had looked exasperated... right up until he tried the sushi. Then he pretended not to notice the fact that the Sword Card had apparently made a very odd friend in another magical sword. Odds were that the card would pick up a few things from Shigure Kintoki and pass them on to Hotaru later when she needed it.

Clow certainly hadn't given it much selection when he made the card, being barely competent when it came to using a sword in the first place.

Though it didn't stop him from looking completely and utterly exasperated when, after finally locating the Fight card and managing to wear it down long enough to capture it, Hotaru did something Clow never would have.

"You let Fight play with that crazy boxer kid?"

"Ryohei-sempai is a bit...extreme... but he's also very nice if you get to know him. He's so dedicated to his sport that he's always trying to get people into his club... but people are put off by him so he never has anyone to properly practice with. And Fight seemed to be really happy sparring with him, so I thought they could play together," said Hotaru helplessly.

Fight absolutely adored her Mistress for that. Not only did she get to fight a worthy opponent, but she didn't mind if she sought out decent opponents to improve their skills. There was this one boy that looked like he could be a really good fighter that she hadn't had the chance to test before the Sun Guardian tracked her down.

Hotaru was very confused when she found a note in her shoes after school.

Still, she had the sealing wand around her neck, so she should be safe enough.

Needless to say she was beyond shocked at seeing Hibari-sempai waiting for her.

"Herbivore."

"Hibari-sempai," she squeaked.

"I know those nuisances were let loose and you have the Fight in your possession."

It took her a moment to realize what was actually going on, before bone deep relief came across her features. Of course Hibari-sempai would want to test if Fight was a worthy opponent. No one else in town could keep up with him.

"You know about the cards?" she asked, already reaching for Fight. It seemed to thrum in her hands with anticipation.

Hibari looked irritable.

"My clan and the Li have had a long standing rivalry long before they were made. Their existence wasn't that big a secret considering how much the Li bragged about one of their members creating them and the guardians attached."

He did raise an eyebrow at the sealing wand, but there was a gleam of anticipation in his eyes as she unleashed "Fight". The 'girl' looked at Hotaru who smiled.

"Have fun, and try not to do too much damage to the school. It upsets Hibari-sempai," she told her.

Fight grinned wildly and went after Hibari without any warning which suited him just fine.

Hotaru sat on the roof and pulled out her homework. It wasn't until she no longer heard the vague sound of two people trying to beat each other up that she registered Hibari's presence. He looked very unhappy about something.

"Where did you get this?" he asked, picking up the math worksheet she was trying and failing to get through.

"Class. The teacher handed them out, why?"

"Which teacher?" he pressed.

"Nezu-sensei."

Hibari scowled.

"Did everyone get the same sheets or did he single out specific students?"

"I noticed the kid across from me had slightly different questions, but he's never cared when I brought it up."

In fact that particular teacher took a great deal of pleasure in reminding her of her math grades and making a big deal about how stupid she was in a barely subtle manner if she couldn't understand the questions on the sheet. And if she tried to point out the sheets were different, he accused her of trying to copy another student's work.

Hibari made a mental note to find out who was the teacher in charge of Sawada's math class and bite them to death. The fact the fool was deliberately trying to sabotage a student pissed him off.

Hotaru turned to Fight who looked exhausted, but distinctly pleased. She was in a very happy mood, she could tell. So was Hibari, underneath his strange annoyance over her math sheets.

Two days later...

Hotaru had been dreading math class. Hibari had confiscated her math sheets and two others and never gave them back. The only thing she had been able to do was her English homework, which Kero helped her with since he actually knew how to speak and read English. Then again he had spent most of his early years in England, and had picked it up from Clow.

So while most of his knowledge was a tad outdated, it was still more than Hotaru had.

She had to blink at the unfamiliar and very nervous teacher.

"Um... hello. I'm your new math teacher," he said.

"What happened to Nezu-sensei?" demanded Hana Kurokawa, best friend of Kyoko, the class idol.

The teacher looked very uncomfortable and nervous now.

"Due to certain circumstances that have come to light, he has been permanently let go," he said.

Everyone turned in the sheets, though only Hotaru noticed that the new teacher went through them while they did a pop quiz and set at least four or five of them aside. He didn't even ask where her papers were.

Somehow she had the feeling this had something to do with why Hibari looked so annoyed when he saw her homework. And why Kero had looked very unhappy while watching her do her math homework... all he would say on the matter was that something was clearly wrong with it because she was lucky to get one in three right.

A day later, Hana tracked Hotaru down to get answers. Two other teachers had been fired and summarily replaced by the Disciplinary Committee followed by suspicious pop quizzes the same day as the replacement being brought in.

"What did you do Sawada? Every single one of the teachers Hibari had fired targeted you in particular, and now they've all been banned from teaching again."

"What?" she squeaked.

"Hibari bit Nezu-sensei to death over something, and the only commonality between the teachers is that they've all targeted you," said Hana flatly.

"I don't know! Hibari-sempai confiscated most of my worksheets a few days ago and looked really angry about something! That's all I know!" she squeaked fearfully.

Hana frowned. With the way the weakest kid in her class was acting you'd think Hana was about to hit them or something. She wasn't too sure if Sawada was a boy or a girl, considering how they always wore clothing slightly too big to reveal anything specific to gender. And she had never seen the other kid in anything remotely feminine, but there were times she thought she saw something.

"Hibari confiscated your worksheets?"

"He asked me where I got my math homework. He looked really irritated with the fact I told him the teacher gave it to me."

"Was there anything about the sheets?"

"Only that it was different from the ones that he handed to the boy next to me," said Hotaru.

"Different how?"

"The questions were different and I can never make heads or tails of them whenever he hands them out. And there was only ever references to some of the things on the sheet in our textbook," said Hotaru.

Hana was beginning to paint a very specific picture in her mind. It sounded like Nezu-sensei had given Sawada the wrong sheets on purpose and Hibari found out about it. And he found something that pissed him off enough that he bit the math teacher to death before having him fired and banned from teaching ever again.

Come to think of it, all three teachers who were fired had been particularly cruel to Sawada and a few others.

Hana noticed how skittish Sawada was.

"Geez Sawada, you'd think I was going to hit you or something with how you're shrinking into yourself," she said exasperated.

Sawada flinched.

Hana was beginning to form a very unpleasant picture she had been unconsciously ignoring until now. The only reason she had even noticed Sawada in the first place was because they had been visiting the boxing gym when Ryohei was in at least twice a week. And Ryohei always came out of the visits looking far more cheerful and relaxed than normal.

"What's your relationship with Sasegawa Ryohei?" asked Hana seriously.

Sawada somewhat relaxed.

"Nothing outside friendly acquaintances. I have a friend who likes to fight as much as he does, but she would have a lot of difficulty visiting because of the Disciplinary Committee so I've been sneaking her onto school grounds so they can spar in the ring. I think Hibari-sempai might want to fight her more often as well, because they looked like they were having fun before he confiscated my sheets."

Fight had actually hugged her for letting her play with Hibari. She was really happy after getting a chance to test herself against him.

Kero always had a rather odd look at the way she arranged things to make the cards happy. Like the way she made sure to drop Sword off with Tsuyoshi to 'chat' with his family sword. Or how she let Fight play with Ryohei and Hibari, and let Time nap in the odd cuckoo clock in her room while Dash napped on her bed during school hours.

Flower took great pleasure in taking over the garden, and Jump was always trying to coax Dash into playing with it.

The one thing that struck her the most was how much the cards loved her and were particularly eager to help retrieve their friends. And how quickly new cards seemed to warm up to her, even if they were violent before.

"...That is adorable."

"Annoying carnivore, shut up."

**Click**

"...Did you just take a picture?" asked the second voice incredulous.

"I am so saving this for my wallpaper," said the first smugly.

"I will bite you to death, annoying carnivore," growled the second. Meanwhile the feathery creature on his head cooed and put it's head under it's wing.

"But it's too adorable, the way Fly seems intent on staying with you!" said the first a little too gleefully.

"Die."

Fly blearily glared at the second voice, before roosting on the tree outside as the two fought like cats and dogs. Didn't stop it from returning to the taller one's head once he was beaten and claiming it's spot a second time.

The first voice cooed again and took multiple pictures...for blackmail purposes of course.

Hotaru looked at her report card with open disbelief. Naturally the look on her face was enough to get one of the more snide kids in class to steal it from her in an attempt to embarrass her about her grades.

"Check out the Dame's grades everybody!" sneered Hiroto.

"...I don't see what you're so smug about. So Sawada got mostly C's...what's the big deal?" said Hana sharply.

That stopped the usual taunting short, as the bullies actually looked at Hotaru's grades.

"There's no way... how the hell did the Dame get something above a D? You have to have cheated!"

Hotaru flinched at the accusation. Surprisingly it was Hana who came to her rescue.

"Or it could be that the teachers were given an actual warning about deliberately sabotaging certain students," snapped Hana with an acerbic tone. "Or did none of you notice that all the teachers who got replaced by Hibari were the same idiots who harassed Sawada in the first place?"

The implications that Sawada might have gained the dubious protection of Hibari was enough to disperse the worst of them and even hand back her report card without trying to damage it. No one sane wanted to piss off Hibari Kyouya.

"Thank you," she said quietly to Hana.

"Apparently Nezu-sensei was handing you the sheets for the advanced calculus classes for the year above us," said Hana.

The others were fired not for the obvious sabotage, but because Hibari had gotten several witnesses who all commented on the fact they openly told Sawada that the only thing she would be good for was to spread her legs for anyone who would pay her. The fact they were openly making comments to a student like that had pissed him off.

It was with some surprise that Hana actually pulled Hotaru to sit with her and Kyoko during lunch. She never had anyone to actually share it with before.

"I have to ask... are you a boy or a girl?" asked Hana bluntly. Hotaru winced.

"I'm a girl."

Kyoko stared at her in surprise.

"Really? Then why are you wearing the boy's uniform?"

And why hasn't Hibari come after you for wearing the wrong one, went unsaid but definitely implied.

"In case you haven't noticed, nearly every boy in the school has at some point become very insufferable around the girls once puberty hit. You can't have missed the way they seem to gravitate to certain girls," said Hotaru.

Kyoko nodded slowly...she still got love confessions, but had turned them all down.

"Well once puberty starting hitting most of the class and the teachers all forced us to take Sex Ed for a semester, I went and looked up some of the things they were talking about... it was a bit of an eye opener, especially when I realized the danger I was in since no one has ever cared enough to speak up in my defense against the bullying and harassment."

Hana caught what she was implying, but wouldn't admit outright.

"You're afraid that if the boys knew you were a girl, they'd try to assault you in one of the areas where Hibari's goons don't patrol," she said in realization. Even Hana knew there were areas of the school that the Disciplinary Committee didn't patrol so well because of how rarely they were used. It could take precious minutes to get to a student in trouble...minutes that could make a major difference if the attack was bad enough.

"There's a reason I will go out of my way to only take well-patrolled and traveled routes in the school," said Hotaru. "Even if it means I'm late to class."

Considering her reputation and lack of defense against the bullies in school, her only defense was misdirection and staying far, far away from any area that was remote enough that it took longer than a few minutes for one of the DC to reach it. None of them would dare come after her in an area where one of Hibari's men would hear her scream and report it immediately to their boss, who would make his anger known in spades to the point he would hospitalize the offenders.

Hana could only nod in sympathy. Considering she had only taken notice of Sawada because of the frequency she went to the boxing club and the fact that she was the common denominator in the teachers being replaced.

At least Hotaru had made a tentative friendship in Hana and Kyoko.