The hours of announcements had ended, and people made their way to the respective classrooms for club activities, all except Martin. As a new student he was supposed to attend the welcoming ceremony, but he felt nothing for another boring activity that would above all else be a complete waste of time.

From the moment he stepped outside he could feel the people staring at him. Their faces told him exactly how they thought about him, and for once it seemed the prejudices about Japanese people were true as these students all seemed to be terribly xenophobic.

Distracted by these glances he received from people Martin accidentally bumped into someone. A boy called 'Gehzong', a troublemaker and self-proclaimed ladies' man

"I'm sorry." Martin said, apologizing for his clumsiness.

"How about you watch where you walk, stupid foreigner." the boy said, trying to look threatening, despite being around a foot smaller than Martin.

"Whatever xenophobe." Martin said as brushed past the boy, further conversation was unnecessary.

Martin preferred that the boy would keep it at that, being called a xenophobe proved to be too much for the boy's huge ego to handle however. It wasn't until someone told him to watch out that he even realised that the boy tried to attack him from behind.

At the moment Martin noticed the punch heading his way, it was too late to do anything any more. The fist connected to his jaw and a blunt pain shot through Martin's jaw, staggering back into the wall.

"If you have a problem with me..." Martin said as he spat out some of his blood. "...Tell me to my face next time. Because this shit makes me mad.".

"Like I care!" the boy shouted as he continued to stroke up his sleeves.

"You really should." Martin said, just before he jumped at Gehzong's throat.

Gehzong, although surprised by the suddenness of the attack, jumped aside, allowing Martin's hand to merely graze the fabric of his uniform. For a moment their eyes met, Martin's murderous gaze peered deep into the haughty eyes of Gehzong. Taking pride in evading the attack, Gehzong lowered his guard. A mistake.

Seeing the opening, Martin jumped and spun around, smashing his knee into Gehzong's surprised face. Gehzong's defence was shattered, paving the way for a series of follow up punches.

Gehzong suffered an utter defeat, within seconds he had been forced to the ground and his normally good looking face had now been turned into a bloody mess.

Martin lifted Gehzong up by the collar, preparing for the final set of blows to the chest and face, when he suddenly found himself on the receiving end of an extremely rapid set of hits, not from Gehzong, but from a large man that had seemed to have appeared from thin air with his two comrades.

It didn't take the man long to get Martin to bleed, as within second blood started oozing from his mouth and nose as well as from a rib that had fractured and torn through his skin.

With a final kick to the gut, Martin was propelled against the wall behind him, where he left a small impact crater covered with blood, his own.

Slowly he dropped to the ground and looked up at his attacker, a silver-eyed monstrosity in a karate suit.

"That is your payment in blood for the attack upon my club member." the man said. "Remember who you will be dealing with the next time you attack someone of the Karate Club. As I, Yamamura Katashi, will once again be your executioner.".

Katashi turned around to pick up the unconscious Gehzong and left.

It wasn't until then that Martin realised the crowd that had formed to witness the fight. Again he coughed and bent over until his arms managed to support him. A silver cross fell from his uniform and dangled from his neck. His seal was no longer secret.

XXXXXXXXXX

Among the crowd was Kurumu, who had witnessed every moment of both fights from the moment Martin had lunged at Gehzong. At first she was impressed, but his quick defeat at the hands of Katashi put an end to her praising.

When push came to shove, Martin was just another piece of trash.

As Martin rose again from the ground she caught a glimpse, however short, of the cross that dangled from his neck. Immediately she made a connection with Moka's rosario. Why did this boy have a seal?

As soon as Martin had left the scene did she remember what she was doing before getting caught up in the rather exciting show. She was late for the club meeting.

Quickly she rushed to the clubroom where, as soon as she passed the door, she was greeted by Yukari with a magical saucepan dropping down upon her hand..

"Ow! Yukari!" Kurumu shouted as she covered the place where the pan had struck her skull.

"That's for being late desu." the little witch said smugly and she waved her wand.

"Well I guess you have a point..." Kurumu said as she was suddenly interrupted by a second saucepan dropping on her head. "Ouch! What was that for?" Kurumu shouted, slightly enraged by the witch's unusual pestering.

"That was for being unfaithful desu." Yukari replied.

For a moment the room remained completely silent, until the dropping of a lollipop marked the start of a heated, but very much useless, discussion.

"Unfaithful? Me? What are you talking about?" Kurumu asked, as she had not even the slightest clue as to what the witch was referring to.

"I caught her in the hallway admiring how a European guy beat up Gehzong desu." Yukari said, as she accusingly pointed her finger at Kurumu.

"I'd hardly call beating up Gehzong admirable." said Ginei as he took a sip from his coffee.

"Yeah, that's also hardly what I call unfaithful." added Tsukune as he took up a newspaper and started reading it.

"And here I was thinking you were a walking dictionary." Kurumu said teasingly.

Yukari's face shot red and she waved her wand again. She was however turned into a ice cube before she could finish her spell.

"No need for any more flying kitchen utensils." Mizore said dryly as she continued to stare Tsukune from the ceiling, earning some surprised glances from the gang in the process.

"And was it interesting?" Ginei continued. "The fight I mean. It might just make for a most amusing article, 'Foreign student unleashes a wave of violence'." he said with a self-assured grin.

"First bit was." Kurumu answered. "The entertainment value plummeted however as soon as Katashi started interfering.".

For a moment Ginei remained frozen in place, right in the middle of him sipping his coffee. Slowly his eye turned to look at Kurumu.

"You mean Yamamura Katashi from the Karate Club?" he asked.

"That's the one." Kurumu said as she sat down on her usual spot. "He totally beat up Martin.".

"Martin?" Yukari asked, hoping for some fake reason why she knew his name to use as munition in her eternal struggle against her big breasted love rival.

"Yeah, he's in our class." Kurumu continued, not paying any attention to the little witch's hopeful expression.

Quickly she looked at Moka's rosario.

"Do you think they have grown?" Moka asked, in her usual, rather insecure, way.

"Huh?" Kurumu said. It took her several moments to realise that Moka was talking about her breasts, that were behind her rosario. "Perhaps, but of course they are nothing compared to my beauties." she said as she stood up. As usual she didn't leave an opportunity unemployed if she could use it to get Tsukune to pick her.

XXXXXXXXXX

At the end of the day, the team had made a plan for the first monthly school newspaper. Everyone had received a subject to write on. Kurumu, as she was the only one that had actually witnessed the fight, had been given the task by Ginei to write an article about the 'Violent Foreigner', something that would be sure to get some laughs from the students.

The task didn't bother her, she was glad for receiving this assignment actually. Perhaps this would allow her to find out why a boy like him possessed something that looked like a seal.

XXXXXXXXXX

The walk back to the dormitories had been long, painful and otherwise extremely unpleasant. Martin was glad though that people didn't seem to pay that much attention to him. Either they thought he was going to the hospital, that strangely enough was in the completely opposite direction, or that he was simply not worth their attention. Either way, they left him in peace, and he preferred it that way.

The moment he had reached his room and locked his door he could finally take a look at his wounds. He discarded his jacket and sneaked his hand under his shirt. He flinched as his fingers touched the rather painful wound where a bloodied bone stuck out through the skin.

"Am I this weak?" he whispered as he looked at the blood on his fingers. Quickly his gaze fell upon his cross. "All because of this stupid cross, and that damned witchcraft." he snarled. He tried to yank it off, but as always, a burning sensation settled in and soon he could smell his own burning flesh, at which point he chose to give up on his attempt to part with his hated seal.

Snarling at the fresh wound he had just inflicted upon himself, he decided it was now time to heal, rather than to deal any more injuries.

He closed his eyes and clenched his teeth. Broken bones snapped back into place, blood retreated into the wounds and wounds closed themselves as if someone invisibly stitched them back together. It was excruciating, even more so than actually being on the receiving end of those blows that had caused the wounds in the first place.

As the pain subsided Martin felt slightly dizzy, a sign for him to replenish his energy. However instead of diving into the cupboard and retrieving a 'normal' meal like 'Instant Ramen', he opened the refrigerator, revealing a massive supply of blood packs for his consumption.

He grabbed one, pushed a straw down through the package opening and sat down at his desk, where he slowly sucked out the delicious metallic essence of life from the plastic container. He smiled and whilst warm blood, freshly taken from a victim, always tasted better, this substitute was more than enough to bring Martin a feeling of slight ecstasy.

After squeezing out the last drops, he discarded the container and took off his shirt, which was still covered in blood, that had now totally been dried into the fabric, making it near impossible for him to consume it.

He placed the shirt in his laundry basket and proceeded back to the refrigerator, eager gulp down some more of the delectable fluid, when someone knocked on his door.

Without even considering to grab a shirt he walked over to the door with his fist clenched and ready to attack should that Katashi guy be waiting for him on the other side. He opened the door and saw not Katashi, but the beautiful blue haired girl that sat in front of him during today's class.

XXXXXXXXXX

Unlike her usual self, that was always full of confidence, Kurumu needed a few moments to muster the courage to knock on his door. Something about this new guy didn't feel quite right and it made her feel slightly unsure.

She knocked and sighed. There was no turning back now.

The door opened and there stood Martin, wearing only his trousers. Kurumu stood frozen in place, not so much from seeing his bare torso, but the lack of injuries.

"Can I help you?" Martin asked, prompting Kurumu to snap back to reality.

"Yes, since you are one of the few transfer students we have from outside Japan, some of newspaper club would like to write an article about you. Would you like to participate in an interview?" she asked quickly.

An eerie silence followed.

"Jeez, you guys really must not get a lot of foreigners here." Martin murmured in English as he scratched the back of his head. "Sure thing." he continued in Japanese as he stepped aside, opening the door completely in an inviting gesture. "Please, come in.".