Sicth chappie! Let's all freak out! Hee hee hee...anyways...read on and enjoy and review. Oh, and please.

Wakai Kyoushu

Young Assassins

Storm

"Rise and shine!" Une announced as she opened the door. She blinked as she turned around to see Heero pointing a gun on her. She made a mental note to remember the boys were assassins and still had weapons. No surprising or startling anyone. "Please relax, Heero. It's just me." The gun went down but he continued to watch her as she made her way over to the edge of Duo's bed, since it was in the middle of the room and closest. She dropped the box she carried on the bottom of it, and Duo yelped and drew up his feet, waking up abruptly. Une chuckled, and Duo moaned and buried his head under his pillows. Une noticed the boy had undone his braid for the night. My, he had long hair, and very thick as well.

"Up an' at 'em!" Une yelled, jerking Duo's blankets off him. He immediately drew his knees close to his chest and shivered, then began feeling near his feet for the blanket to pull it back up. Upon not finding it, he opened his eyes to see Une holding it like a trophy. "School is in one and a half hours. You have to get ready so we can go early, to give you situated."

"Situated?" Trowa had gotten up and was looking into the box. "Clothes?"

"Yeah," Une pulled out a plastic wrapped package. "You're six months late already. The principal is going to give you a little tour. He wanted to help you settle in personally after I explained your situation. And these are your school uniforms." She looked at the tag pasted on the package. "And this one's...Wufei's." She threw the package at him and continued to sort the other four packages as she spoke. "There's your blazer, slacks, dress and casual shirt, and nehru jacket, which is more casual than the blazer, and only one tie, so don't lose it. Shoes are in here, too..." She pulled out five pairs of shoes. She looked up at Duo and Wufei. "Lucky us that they don't have a strict hair code. The dress code isn't that strict. You can accessorize however you want as long as you wear the uniforms. So, I want you to get dressed, get cleaned up-toothbrushes and everything you'll need is in your bathroom-and meet me in the mess hall for breakfast in forty five minutes, if you can do that." Everyone nodded and Duo was already heading for the bathroom with the black band in his mouth for his hair.

"Uh, miss Lady Une?" Quatre got out of his bed. He had slept with his goggles on in case anyone was to turn the light on, and without his cloak swallowing him, Une could see he was smaller. He still had black cloth covering his face and hair as though a mask. Apparently his lips were free as the words from under his veil didn't sound muffled that much by the thin cloth. "How...how am I supposed to wear these?" He held up his clothes.

"Don't worry about that today, Quatre," Une explained. "You can wear your own clothes to school for today, of course. I'll be getting the results of your test, the one to see if you were allergic to sunlight or anything, and then we'll see. If you're negative, you'll be in the sun this afternoon!" Quatre looked unsure of that idea.

"Alright, see you in forty five, and be punctual," she smiled just before she closed the door on them. "This is a military base, after all."

The boys began to get dressed, except for Quatre. Duo soon came out of the washroom with a new, neat braid. He opened his own package of school clothes and held up his clothes. "Hey!" he said, noticing Quatre wasn't changing. "How come I have to wear this, and Q-man doesn't?"

"He's Night Wraith, baka," Heero muttered.

"Oh, right," Duo remembered, and changed into his slacks and blazer reluctantly. After he was in it, he stretched his arms. "Hey, it's not that bad."

"If you like this kind of stuff," Wufei said, holding up his tie. He threw it on the bed and changed from his blazer to his nehru jacket. He nodded approvingly and went to take his turn in the bathroom.

Heero pulled on his dress shirt and blazer and left his tie on the bed. He had no clue what the hell it was for, so he left it. He waited at the door for the others to be done. Quatre and Trowa joined him first, and Wufei about ten minutes later. Five minutes until they had to meet Une, Duo ran up to them. He had somehow found a blue cap to match his blazer and was currently wearing it backwards on his head. The five of them left and hurried to the mess hall, arriving exactly on time. Une told them to go and grab a meal, so they did. Duo managed to grab some leftover pizza and have it warmed up, which Heero scowled at, eating his own simple toast and eggs. Duo ate four slices of pizza, and then took a second trip and returned with a plateful of bacon. Another 'grease pit' according to Heero. The pastry Duo grabbed as Une told them it was time to leave was at least acceptable in Heero's eyes.

Une took them first to a hall with metal detectors, then requested any weapons they had on them. They all wisely gave her everything they had, Heero only with the assurance his weapons would be returned to them, since anything they hid would just be detected by the metal detectors. Une handed each of the boys a light, blue jacket-an added article of the school set-since it was a windy day and then led them all outside. She explained that the school was only a fifteen minute walk away, so she would accompany them today and show them the way, and pick them up later.

"We decided to put you all into Trowa and Heero's grade, nine, since it would be pointless to split you up between two schools. And also because the high school is within walking distance, and because I didn't want to put Quatre, Duo, and Wufei in a new school in their last year there. It's better to put you all in a new school in your first year," Une took some gloves out of her Preventor's uniform jacket and slipped them on. "Some of the students might think you're a little young for high school, but I think you're capable enough."

"Damn straight!" Duo grinned as they turned another block. Une pointed out the school ahead of them, students similarly dressed as they were milling about under trees and congragated into small groups.

"I'm just going to introduce you to the principal and then let him take over your introduction to the school," Une said. "Then I have to get back to work." Une led, the five unknown assassins following, as they walked up to the school. The boys could see and hear poeple looking at them curiously, whispering to their friends. A Preventor seen with the five new students, one dressed completely in black, no features showing, was a big item. Preventors never came to the school and never would, unless there was a national emergency. Police came every now and then to deal with any disturbances, but never Preventors. To see a Preventor with students in tow, new students, brought up a lot of questions among the school society. It could mean these students were dangerous enough to require Preventors, or they could simply be Preventors children, or...in a school society, there were dozens of possibilities.

Une brought them inside, where more students lounged near lockers and doors, and brought them into the nearest door. She spoke briefly with the secretary, and in another moment, the Principal came out. Jonas P. Terrigan was a tall, lean man, with a firm set of glasses upon his nose and a wise look in his light blue eyes. He was young, under thirty five, they guessed. Une did the introductions, then left them in his hands-metaphorically, of course, since neither of them were especially comfortable with crowds or closer contact-and left to go back to her job as a Preventor.

"Welcome to Acryne High, boys," he said, smiling. "I figured you wouldn't want to be shown around by an old codger like me, so I've arranged for a student in your first class to get you started. I just sent for her a minute ago, so she should be here soon. Have a seat while you're waiting. Her name is Hilde Schbeiker, and you can leave with her as soon as she arrives. I'm incredibly sorry I don't have time to give you a complete tour, but I'm swamped with school issues right now."

The boys sat and he turned and went back into his office, leaving them alone with only the secretary's typing to accompany them. They sat silently for five minutes, a hard thing for Duo, and then the door burst open and a girl burst in. She looked around, then smiled crookedly at them. Her hair was a deep black, tinted blue, and was cut short. Her bangs fell in front of her eyes, and the boys slacks she wore gave her a tomboy look.

"Hey, you the new kids?" she asked, a slight accent to her voice.

"Yeah, you Hilde?" Duo jumped up, tired of sitting still for so long. The girl nodded.

"Okie, come on then. Our first class is math."

"What?" Duo yelled. "Math already?"

"Yeah, I know," Hilde agreed. "They want us to do good in school and learn and all that shit, then they try to teach us math when we're all still half asleep!"

Hilde and Duo kept on talking back and forth to each other. Duo chattered the most, but Hilde kept up her side of the argument before. Heero, Wufei, and Trowa didn't bother to talk, preffering silence, and Quatre hung back, nervous about a girl his own age and anxious as well what people would think of him, dressed in black. Hilde brought them into the math room and they all automatically sat down in the back row. Hilde took the last remaining seat right beside Duo and then began to give a quick, easy outline of what they had learned. The boys weren't concerned. Each of them had been tutored beyond their years by their mentors, and they knew they would be fine in every class.

The bell rang now, interrupting one of Duo's wild calls he had started for some reason, and the reast of the grade nine math class students filed in. There were caught breaths on those who recognized him, and Quatre clearly saw the looks most of them directed toward him, some wary, some amused, some curious, and some insulting. He avoided meeting their eyes, even though they wouldn't have known through his goggles, and focused his gaze on his desk. Someone had carved their name into the corner. He traced the indented letters with his finger. T...R...E...C...E. Trece. Nice name. Quatre didn't know if it was a guy or girl's name.

"Welcome to math," the teacher, a tall, lanky man with large round glasses that magnified his eyes droned. Quatre was very sweet at heart and polite, but he could barely hold in his laughter at the man. Duo erupted in a bout of snickering and snorting, then abruptly sat up and looked perfectly sweet and innocent when Heero pulled on his braid. Quatre snorted once at this, but managed to muffle it so only Trowa beside him heard. The teacher had been staring blankly at Duo until he stopped, and now moved on sluggishly to the chakboard. His every movement seemed sluggish, as did his expression, as though he just didn't care.

"My name is Mr. Rowbin. We have new students today..." Quatre thanked Allah that he didn't talk like he moved, or they would never learn anything. "...could Yuy, Maxwell, Barton, Raberba, and Chang please stand up and introduce themselves. Maybe tell us what you like to do or something." He dropped the chalk and collapsed into his chair. The boys looked at each other, then Hilde poked Duo who poked Heero who growled at him, then stood up.

"My name is Heero Yuy, and I like spending time on my labtop." Duo snickered, earning a cuff on the head from Heero as he sat back down, which went completely unnoticed by Rowbin.

Duo jumped up right then and started speaking. "I may run, I may hide, but I never tell a lie..." Quatre hadn't heard this before. Must be Duo's slogan or something. "...Duo Maxwell. I like my scythe." Everyone blinked at this, confused. "Oh, and I like blowing things up...but not when people get hurt," Duo added thoughtfully with a sad look. He then grinned suddenly and sat down again. Trowa stood up right after, but didn't speak. Everyone looked at him, including Quatre. "C'mon, Tro. We can't read your thoughts, you know," Duo said. "Hey, that rhymes..." He poked Heero, who glared at him and did not poke Trowa. Quatre instead nudged Trowa for Duo.

Trowa started to speak. "I'm Nanashi..."

"Trowa!" Duo exclaimed.

Trowa seemed to snap back into reality and blinked, as if just realizing something. He tried again. "I'm...Trowa Barton. And I like thinking in silence."

"Hn," Heero said. Quatre had no clue what 'hn' meant, but Duo seemed to be able to understand them.

"Yeah, I know," the braided boy muttered. "I agree. Q?"

Quatre realized it was his turn and he stood up. "I'm Quatre Raberba and I like to play violin and read." He began sitting down when a kid spoke and he stopped, startled.

"Why're you dressed like that?" the girl asked sweetly.

Quatre blinked, though no one knew. "I...I've never been exposed to light before..."

"Why not?" a boy asked this time, making a 'that's wierd' face.

Quatre hesitated, stammering. "I...I don't know..."

Wufei suddenly stood up, taking everyone's attention away from Quatre, which he thanked the dark haired boy immensely for. "I'm Wufei Chang and I like martial arts and meditating."

The whole class was staring at them. Quatre realized this wasn't only because of his clothes, but because they had some really odd likes in the students view. Wufei sat down, and his chair scratched the floor a bit. Rowbin suddenly jerked and blinked, as if snapping back from daydream land. Such a concerned teacher! Note, that statement had an incredibly vast amount of sarcasm dripping from it. He began drawling on about 'thank you' and 'go to page this and that' and 'complete the questions' or 'hand in your homework'. The boys followed his sometimes vague instructions and completed their questions long before anyone else. Duo began chattering to Heero, who simply 'hn-ed' every now and then. Wufei closed his eyes and Quatre assumed he was meditating, and Trowa simply stared at nothing and thought. Quatre couldn't understand how he could think so much. If he tried to fovus and just think...well, his thoughts turned to bad memories, and those only caused him pain.

He had once had no book or anything to read, and his violin needed a rest since he had played it so much, and H hadn't given him any more assignments to prepare for. He wouldn't for a while, either, since Quatre...no, since Night Wraith had just finished one. And since he had nothing to do, he had simply thought, much like Trowa was right now. He had thought about how his assignment had gone...

Quatre closed his eyes tight for a moment, breathing deeply. He heard H's instructions flowing through his thoughts...kill the man sleeping in the second bedroom, third floor. He is evil...H had shown him a map and a picture of the man. Quatre had gone out that very night, just him and the darkness of night, together as one. Night Wraith...

He had found the house easily and, using a strategy created by himself from data, he entered through a small door-that was, thankfully, unlocked, since he was awful at lockpicking-in the cellar and made his way up through a laundry chute. It was a tight squeeze, but he fit, just barely. He reached the third floor and made his way silently and unnoticed to the room. He went in, found a man and confirmed it was his target, then closed his eyes and steeled himself, a knife in hand, listening to H's words from the past...block it out. You must create a distance from your feelings and your assignment...Quatre's eyes grew dark and he slit the man's throat. He paid no attention to the blood dripping on his hand or knife, simply wiping it on the bedsheets and sheathing it. The man's gurgled cry faded into silence, and Quatre left the room, feeling empty. Now that the deed was over, he let his blocker go a tad, and immediately felt an incredible sense of remorse and guilt. He had stopped for one instant, leaning against the wall to catch his breath and block it all away again, when the door behind him opened. Panicking, Quatre whipped out his gun, turned, and fired.

He watched, breathless, as the bullet shot into the skull of the little girl. Quatre ran to her as she fell, screaming in his mind, but keeping silent from his training. He knelt beside her, feeling for a pulse, but knowing he wouldn't find one. She looked about seven years old, just four years younger than him. Her hair was a light blonde and curled in little ringlets. The blonde was now being stained by the crimson of her blood, and her small, innocent deep green eyes were lifeless, staring past him. Quatre cried, his tears mixing with the pool of red forming on the floor. She was so young, and he had killed her! Her small, bright yellow teddy bear lay a foot away, having fallen away from her hand as she fell. Quatre picked it up, wiping away the tears as he did. He stared at it...

Quatre's eyes jerked up as a light suddenly turned on in the hall. A maid was standing with her hand on the switch, staring in shock at the black clad figure and the dead little girl. Quatre choked back a cry of alarm, a cry of 'look away' but he knew he had to kill her. No one who sees an assassin lives...he vaulted at her while she was still stunned, quickly stabbing her through to the heart. She dropped heavily, and Quatre bolted before any others had managed to hear his gun through the silencer mounted on it. He jumped out a window, tripping an alarm he didn't really pay attention to and disappeared into the night. Just the darkness and he, as one, as Night Wraith. The darkness, he, and one small yellow bear...

So dark...it's lovable! Addicting! Yay! Review, please!

Storm