Disclaimer: I do not own Sengoku Rance nor do I own Zero no Tsukaima/Familiar of Zero

Kenshin of Zero

Chapter 3 – First Day

Tristain Academy of Magic, Tristain, Helkegenia.

Louise opened her eyes and groaned as sunlight intruded upon her face. Her back throbbed as she found herself not on her bed but on the floor, she had apparently tossed and turned so hard from her dream that she fell out of bed.

If what she had could be called a dream.

The 'dream' felt so real to her, it felt like she was the one that charged headfirst into a wall of spear and cutting them all aside and slashing through men like they were merely paper. A moment later she felt sore, every single limb screamed pain like she had exercised intensely for days.

Urgh! I will certainly need some help getting up. Louise thought to herself as she struggled to stand, her legs being on the bed while her body on the floor did not help a single bit.

She noticed someone else in the room as she heard a faint mumbling.

"Munyaa... I cannot eat anymore..." came a familiar voice from the corner of the bedroom.

Kenshin was sleeping flat on the stack of hay that Louise prepared. Her face fixed with one of the silliest grins that she had seen in her life as she snuggled comfortably in her blanket.

Wait... what's she doing with my blanket?! Thought the pink-haired girl as she promptly rolled her feet off the bed and scrambled up. She stomped over to the dark-haired girl and with a firm grip ripped the blanket off, sending it to her bed, Kenshin however just rolled into a ball and dug further into the hay stack.

"OI! WAKE UP ALREADY!" shouted Louise as she swatted the well piled stack into pieces with little effort. Without any more hay to dig into, Kenshin unwillingly began to rub her eyes as she sat up.

"Uuuuuuuh... let me sleep a bit longer, Ai-chan..." she pleaded with an unfocused gaze as she yawned and sat there, shoulders slouched without a care in the world.

"Silence! How dare you steal your Masters blanket for yourself!? No breakfast for you!"

"E-EH!? Kenshin exclaimed as she shot up, fully awake now. Not to the shock of punishment but at the shock of having food taken away. Louise yelped as she was suddenly glomped from behind by the taller girl, she could feel the pressure of her bosom pushing on her back as Kenshin attached herself firmly.

"Please! Anything but food!" cried Kenshin, comical tears began flowing from her very comical eyes now. Louise tried to shrug her off but the dark-haired girl latched on like leech and used the throwing momentum to reposition herself every time Louise made a successful throw.

"Urgh! I get it! I get it! Let go of me!" Louise muffled, tired from all the unsuccessful attempts to throw Kenshin off. Satisfied with her win, Kenshin let's go of Louise and sat down.

"Good morning, my Lord."

"Ugh... how can you even say that after doing all this?" Louise grumbled and looked at her room; bed sheets and hay scattered the wooden floor, add a few cobwebs and it would look like a deserted building.

"Um... so when do we have breakfast?"

"Geez, is breakfast the only thing you know in the morning?" Louise sighed in utter defeat; she lazily slipped out of her night-gown and motions to Kenshin, "Dress me, familiar."

"Immediately, my Lord." Kenshin complied obediently and immediately got to work, starting with her underwear and slowly working her way up with the other pieces of cloth that made up the uniform.

However despite the quick success with the underwear the outer clothes proved challenging to Kenshin as she had never handled buttons before, she fumbled and slipped many times, it took a great few minutes to complete the top button but it was enough.

"Urgh! I'll do it myself! Go wait outside you incompetent familiar!" Louise commanded as she swiped away the hands of the dark-haired girl, who made a sad look but obeyed. Louise's gaze following angrily as Kenshin walks out of the room.

This... she is so different from the dream I saw through her eyes. Louise thought to herself as she put on her clothes with ease. The Kenshin from the dream was much stronger, commanding and elegant compared to the child-like Kenshin that just wrestled with her for breakfast and fumbling with such simple clothing.

Perhaps the one in the dream was someone else? Another person with the same name, hair colour and voice? The difference between the two was like heaven and earth, like two entirely different entities.

Unless she is hiding something, she thought as she put on her cape and tighten the straps, but shook her head as she rejected that idea.

Why would someone like that hide behind the mask of a child?

"Well, whatever, I'll worry about that afterwards." Louise told herself as she opened the door to her room.

Standing outside the room was Kenshin, who faced an adversary as tall as her, red-haired, tanned and possessing a bust that was vastly superior to hers and Louise's. Kenshin looked blankly at the newcomer, who seemed to be scanning her from her neck down. A smug grin formed on the red-headed girl, and Kenshin somehow felt defeated.

"What are you doing to my familiar, Kirche?" Louise asked with a frown.

"Oh, good morning there, Louise." The red-head replied, grinning even more happily upon seeing the short, pink-haired girl. "I was just checking out your... familiar here."

"What about my familiar?"

"Well, one thing for sure..." Kirche replied, eyeing Kenshin and back, "She has a better developed body than you."

Louise's face flushed tomato-red as she received the insult.

"S-shut up! It's not like I wanted to summon a big-boobed commoner as a familiar!"

Ouch! Kenshin thought to herself as the words pierced her like lightning strikes.

"Well, well, at the level of skill you have, I was surprised that you were able to summon anything at all." Kirche boasted, using her right hand to weave through her silk-like hair. "It would be impossible for you to summoning anything good at all like I have."

Owie! Kenshin felt the pain again, sharper this time. If this had been more comical it would have shown speech bubbles from both person sprouting spears and protruding into her chest.

"Oh really? Why don't you show me what summoned?" Not wanting to back down, Louise folded her arms across her chest and tried to look firm.

If only she knew that was the worst way to be shown down.

"Of course." Replied a happy Kriche as she looked back towards her room. "Flame!"

A large, dark-red lizard slithered out from her room, accompanied by a heat wave which threatened to burn the very air around it. It eyed the two strangers, and opened its mouth to breathe a quick burst of orange flames that disappeared before burning anything.

"Is that a salamander?" Louise asked, her chest cringing with jealousy.

"That's right! A salamander!" Kirche said, as a matter of fact, and puffed her chest out, making the melons bounce a few times. "Look at the tail. A flame this vivid and large means its without a doubt a salamander from the Fire Dragon Mountains! It's like a brand! Collectors can't even put a price on these!"

"Uuuuugh..." was the reply from the pink-haired girl as she eyed the reptilian with envious eyes. "That's nice..."

"Isn't it just? It matches my affinity perfectly!"

"Your affinity is Fire, isn't it?"

"Of course. After all, I'm Kirche the Ardent. The ardent of gently smoldering passion. Everywhere I go, I have boys falling for me. Unlike you, right?"

Louise sighed, she has had enough of this for now and wanted to get away from Kirche.

"Well, I don't have the time to go around flirting with everything I see, unlike you." Grumbled Louise as she started to make her way out, then she noticed that Kenshin had stared at Flame the entire time.

The two familiars were locked into a staring contest, both contestants unwilling to blink or look away from the gaze of the other. The atmosphere was so intense it could be cut with swords.

Flame was the first to back down, slumping its head slightly as if bowing in defeat, and took one step back with its front leg. Kenshin smiled, and then stood up while giving Louise the puppy eyes as if saying. "Look! I won!"

A loud slap accompanied Louise as she palmed her head with her frail looking hands. Winning in a staring contest against a reptile is nothing to be proud of, she thought to herself as she rubbed her forehead.

Despite the shame, she felt some of her pride return, as her familiar was proven to be quite willing to fight for her pride, if in such petty contests.

"Well, well... it would seem I have underestimated your... familiar." Kirche noted, her grin fading slightly as her familiar went back into the room with its head down. "What is your name, familiar of zero?"

"Ue... no, Kenshin." Kenshin stuttered, hesitating to use her family name, bowing slightly as she introduced herself. "Pleased to meet you, um..."

"Kirche Augusta Frederica von Anhalt Zerbst, just Kirche is fine." Kirche replied as she put a finger to her chin. "Kenshin... what a strange name."

"Oh well, I shall be off now." Seeing that there isn't much more to say, Kirche walked off, her strides prideful and graceful as she disappeared into the next part of the corridor.

As she disappeared, Louise shook a fist in her direction.

"Ooh, that girl gets on my nerves! Just because she summoned a salamander from the Fire Dragon Mountains! Argh!"

"Calm down, it's just a summoning." Kenshin replied, trying to calm down the fuming pink-head.

"No, it's not! You can determine a mage's true power just by looking at his/her familiar! Why did that idiot get a salamander, while I got you?" Louise grumbled, still jealous at the fact that she didn't manage to summon anything impressive apart from the commoner standing in front of her.

"Well, I did prove the better one in staring, didn't I?"

"Oh... of course you did." Louise smiled as Kenshin reminded her of the win earlier, and put her hands on her hips. "Good work, for that I shall give you extra servings for breakfast."

Kenshin's eye gleamed with the power of ten thousand suns when she heard the word 'breakfast', and started fantasizing about the amount of food that she would be rewarded with as she followed her now cheerful master into the dining hall.

Alviss Dining Hall, Tristain Academy of Magic, Tristain, Helkegenia.

It was a big room; three extremely long dining tables lined the room that could easily seat at least 100 people per table. Louise and Kenshin were sitting somewhere on the table in the middle of the three tables.

Kenshin looked very comical, the sharpness and seriousness of her face are now gone, her eyes were like a child's and sparkled like a bishoujou manga character. It had been so long since she saw such delicacy prepared in such an amount, even the food from last night paled to the sight she beheld.

Food of all kinds were prepared, roasted culinary and pork lined the centre of the tables, followed by roasted potatoes lining besides them and baskets of various kinds of breads and fruits.

Even the decorations of the table were grandeur as vast amounts of golden, shining candles lined the centre of each table, followed by bunches of flowers.

"This... is... so nice..." Kenshin was at a loss of words of the grand-ness of 'breakfast', herself not having really experienced banquets such as these due to her constant campaigning.

"Of course it is, Tristain's Academy of Magic doesn't teach just magic, you know." Louise explained proudly, "Almost all mages are nobles. The saying 'nobles achieve nobility through the use of magic' is a foundation for the education we receive as nobles. Thus, our dining halls must also be fitting of a noble's status."

"Understand? Normally, a commoner like you would never set foot inside the Alvíss Dining Hall. Be grateful."

"I see..." replied Kenshin, her eyes not moving away from the display of food. Is this how the gaijin eat every day? Kenshin thought as she eyed the food. But then, technically speaking Kenshin is the gaijin now as she was 'summoned' from her homeland into Helkegenia, so she is the gaijin in a foreign land.

Louise felt annoyed again, at how Kenshin is ignoring her and paying full attention at the food. How dare she not pay attention when I am talking!

"Oi, how long are you going to keep staring at the food, pull out my chair, will you?" Louise commanded, raising her voice. "You're not a very competent familiar, are you?"

"Oh!" Kenshin replied, snapped away from her trance as her gaze fixated on Louise, noticing the angry aura emitted by the pink-haired girl she immediately pulled out the chair that was in front of her. "I'm sorry."

Louise sat down on the chair, without a word she pointed to a place beside her seat. Kenshin, not wishing to anger her more, went over to the direction she pointed and found a plate on the floor.

"It's a bowl."

"Yes. It is."

"There's something suspicious in it." Kenshin noted as she recognise pieces of meat in what seems to be soup and a single piece of bread.

"Don't tell me..." a sudden realization struck Kenshin as she took an exaggerated step backwards. "... this is my breakfast!?"

Louise propped her chin on her hands and spoke.

"You know, familiars are supposed to stay outside. You're only in here because I especially requested it."

"But so little!" complained Kenshin, this was no worse than what the guards back in the Uesugi castle. "Can't I have a bit more?"

Louise looked back through the edge of her eye, sighed and took a chicken leg that she took for herself earlier, and dropped it into Kenshin's 'bowl'.

Kenshin looked shocked at the 'addition' to her small sump of food, and glanced with teary, puppy like eyes at Louise.

"This is the extra servings I promised before, pray that I don't cut it down next meal." Louise said as she closed her eyes and muttered a prayer. "Oh, Great Founder Brimir, and our lady, the Queen, we thank you for this humble meal that you have graciously provided us this morning."

As everybody started their meals, Kenshin fell into a orz position in front of her plate, her colours completely drained, leaving her a shade of white with black outlines. Slowly, with a wobbling hand she picked up the food and ate, comical tears streaming down her face.

"Uuuuuuu..." Kenshin moaned as she walked across the court of the academy, supporting herself on a wooden staff she found on the ground. She got to class with Louise and on a pretty empty stomach and was kicked out because it growled once too many times, interrupting the old lady standing in front of the room.

She quickly went back to the dining hall, but was too late as it had already been cleared of everything. The only choice left was to scavenge whatever was around outside the academy.

I barely had enough strength to keep myself from falling over, how in the world can I make it out of the academy and to the forest!? It seems like the forests are miles away! Kenshin thought to herself as her stomach growled again, the sound echoing through the courtyard drawing the attention of several nobles, who began speculating at such a sight.

Kenshin then noticed the blue dragon out of the corner of her eye. It was a magnificent creature, at least two times the height of the nobles that was around, it's skin showed impressive muscles that shows that it was very well-developed.

It also looked like chicken.

It was not like it belonged to anybody important... right?

Nobody would notice a missing dragon or two... right?

"Kyui!" squealed the dragon as without warning, Kenshin closed the distance with a powerful leap that would make tree frogs green-er with envy. The dragon was caught completely off guard, never expecting something as small as a human to be attacking the predator. With a swift swing of its gigantic wings it batted the attacker away and planting her firmly into the stone wall that surrounded the academy.

The people nearby panicked, a few girlish screams could be heard and some people called out for water mages. The dragon was panicked itself, not wanting to cause a ruckus and possibly kill a commoner which would create major problems for its master.

"Kyui?" the dragon squeaked at the person embedded into the stone wall, hoping to get a response.

The response from Kenshin was sudden, her eyes grew bright red and in an effortless motion freed her body from the rocks and jumped at the dragon again. This time she was able to grab hold of the neck of the dragon, pinning it to the ground as it struggled to free itself, however the girl stood her ground, unmovable like a mountain. Soon, the dragon tired after a long struggle.

Its owner, a blue haired girl the same height as Louise, rushed over and summoned several blocks of ice in her direction in hopes of getting her to let go. However the shards of ice that raced towards Kenshin were largely ignored as they pretty much BOUNCED off her barely clothed body.

Though ineffective, one of the ice-blocks struck her in the face, and notified Kenshin of a potential competition in getting her food. Angered and hungry she glared at the blue haired girl, pouring all her hatred and malice into the look. The girl froze in place, petrified by the deadly and overwhelming aura pouring out from this dark-haired, white clothed figure.

Satisfied with the competition gone, Kenshin lifted the hand which held the dragon in place and hand-chopped the dragon, which slumped down, its strength suddenly gone from its limbs.

Defeated, the dragon whimpered as Kenshin looked into its eyes and muttered in her own language which somehow could not be understood by anybody present.

"Daijyoubu kara... ittakunaikara..." Kenshin whispered in a monotone as she held the head of the dragon firmly. "Teikou ha... dame-desu-yo..."

"JUST A MINUTE!" voice as loud as thunder rang across the courtyard, stopping Kenshin before she could twist the head of the dragon off.

Sensing another competition to her prey, Kenshin glared at the direction of the voice in dismay. The voice had belonged to a dark, straight-haired girl in an outfit that was different from the others; it was a black maid dress which ran all the way to the ground, covered by a white apron almost just as long, she also possessed assets which were greater than the ones Kirche possessed.

She also smelled like food.

Attracted by the smell, Kenshin let go of the dragon and began slowly walking towards the new character, her eyes glowing red as she savoured the smell of different kinds of foods and flavouring.

To the girl who stood there it was like watching a predator, a slow-moving predator that had such confidence that it will catch the prey that it had no need to give chase. Sure enough, she found herself unable to budge, and immediately regretted calling out to the person trying to... eat a dragon?

"I-I-I-I-I'm so sorry! P-p-please don't eat me!" she cried out as Kenshin reached her, knowing exactly how utterly screwed she is. She closed her eyes as Kenshin was a step away from her, her eyes glowing like rubies as she staring into her very soul, and waited for the impact which would end her life.

And waited.

It seemed like eternity had come to pass as the maid waited for the impact, several minutes passed without anything occurring, and the maid opened her eyes to see if she was in heaven or hell.

Instead she saw the stone walls of the academy, the green grass of the courtyard and the blue-haired girl attending to her dragon. The winged beast moved sluggishly, but was still moving, and so the blue haired girl hugged the dragon in relief.

The maid sighed in relief and looked down, she saw the figure which sat in front of her on the lawn, the same figure who had threatened the dragon and possibly her from before.

The figure was sobbing as she tugged on the end of the skirt as her stomach growled again, with a teary-puppy eye Kenshin looked up at the maid.

"I'm hungry..."

The Kitchen, Tristain Academy of Magic, Tristain, Helkegenia.

Large pots and pans were lined up on ovens inside the large room they called a kitchen, the cooks and maids were busy preparing other dishes for serving. In the corner of the room opposite the door sat Kenshin and the maid, and Kenshin was eating her heart out.

"More please!" Kenshin exclaimed, holding her bowl towards the maid, her smile replicating the perfect image of an innocent child.

"More!? Wow, you must be hungry..." replied the smiling maid, filling another bowl of soup that was from the leftovers of the noble's lunch.

"Wahaha! There's nothing wrong about eating healthily!" a tall, boisterous chef says as he approaches, giving Kenshin a slap on the back. "Eat well, and you'll grow up just as healthy as Siesta here."

"Aaah, jeez, mister Marteau." Siesta complained as she picked up a piece of cloth and wiped at a few spots of soup that were dropped when he slapped her back earlier. "You shouldn't do that to someone who is having soup."

"Alright, alright." replied Marteau, smiling as he returns to his duties among the other chefs.

Siesta sighs as she watched him leave. Always treating newcomers like this, will he ever learn to be more considerate? She stopped wiping the table when she noticed clear drops of water on the table. Confused, she looked up at Kenshin and saw her sobbing, tears streaming down her smooth face.

"W-w-w-w-what's the matter? Was the food not good? Are you hurt anywhere?" Siesta cried out in panic, not knowing why she had started crying as she was smiling just moments ago.

"N-no, nothing's wrong..." Kenshin replied, wiping a stream of tear away, only to be replaced by more. "It's just... it's just that I haven't had such good food in such a long time!"

"I-I see..." replied Siesta as she offered Kenshin a piece of cloth. Instead of taking the cloth Kenshin grabbed hold of Siesta's hand and stares into her eyes. Siesta jumps as the sudden movement and yelped.

"Thank you so much for helping me." Kenshin thanked, eyes beginning to glitter like the stars. "Please let me repay you with my wholehearted servitude."

"E-eh? That's a bit... much isn't it? I mean, it's only food..." Siesta replied as her face adopted a shade of red, she remembered something similar about this situation from a few certain books including two girls and very... intimate moments.

"It's the least I can do." Kenshin insisted, her gaze unmoving as she waited for Siesta to say only 'Yes' or 'Okay'.

"W-well..." reply a very flustered Siesta as she looked down, her hair desperately hiding the shame of the thoughts of indecent things they might do.

"Hey Siesta! Stop sittin' around! We got dessert to serve!" came the loud, gruff voice of the head chef as he stirred his soup.

"Ah-! Yes!" cried Siesta, suddenly broken out of the trance and breaking free of her grip.

"I'm sorry, but I have to serve dessert." Siesta explained to her sudden disengagement, "I'll be around, so you can come to me when you are hungry again."

"Let me help you!"

"What?"

"Let me help you serve desert!" Kenshin declares, grabbing hold of Siesta again.

Siesta tried to break free, but Kenshin was using the same unknown strength she used to pin down the blue dragon to hold her hands, with a sigh Siesta agrees to her help.

"A-alright, I guess." struggling against this sort of strength will leave her tired and unable to perform her duties, why go against the flow when one can simply follow the flow.

How can things possibly go wrong? Siesta thinks to herself as Kenshin skipped towards the tray of cheese cake, ready to be served.

Fenrir's Library, Tristain Academy of Magic, Tristain, Helkegenia.

Fenrir's Library, in the normal, non-magical world it could be comparable to the archives or reference section. Normal students were not allowed in this part of the library.

"Hrm… no, it's not this one either..." muttered Colbert, the teacher that had spent 20 years teaching in the Tristain Academy of Magic.

Since the Springtime Familiar Summoning a few days ago, Colbert had been concerned about the girl who Louise had summoned. To be more precise, he'd been concerned with nothing but the runes that had appeared on the girl's left hand.

The runes were rare, and thus rightfully intriguing to the man of education. For the last few nights Colbert had confined himself to the library and begun intense research among various texts.

The library was built into the same tower as the dining hall. The bookshelves were unbelievably tall, about thirty mails in height, and the way they were lined up against the walls was a spectacle to behold. The grandeur of the library was rightly so, since this place was crammed with the history of everything after the creation of the new world in Halkeginia by the Founder Brimir.

With a deep sigh, Colbert closed another book and placed it into the return tray, which had books stacked up like a small hill. He rubbed his bloodshot eye, which had also adopted black rings due to the lack of sleep and eat.

"Just one more book... and I will have a small snack and perhaps a few hours..."

He levitated himself up to an out-of-reach shelf and scanned it intently for a particular book. His efforts were rewarded as his gaze fell upon the title of the book. It was a very old text which held descriptions of the familiars that had been used by the Founder Brimir.

His attention was focused on one particular paragraph written in it, and as he read on in fascination, his eyes grew wide. He compared the book with the sketch he'd made of the runes on the girl's left hand.

"Th-this is!" Colbert gasped in surprise, and stumbled as he lost his focus necessary for the levitation spell. He fell into a shelf and knocked it over, creating a domino effect with the other shelves as they fell one by one. The library was soon a mess of its former self.

Noting the damage he caused, he silently apologized. Holding the book in his arms, he hurriedly descended to the floor and ran out of the library.

Author's Notes:

Hi guys sorry about such a late update, was busy with work for the entire time (having difficulties due to lack of staff and I have to start doing everything else)

At long last I will be able to upload this chappie, please enjoy! :3

Notes for the awesum ppl who commented

Heaven Canceler: True, perhaps it wasn't such a good idea to have her jump to the conclusion of seppuku at that time, I guess it was just the spur of the moment to me when I suddenly had the idea.

Guest who -20'd me: I will have a damned good reason, I hope, stay tuned.

Nameless Noogai: Lol I think judging from Rance Quest's Rance he is willing to do lolis, she will lose her virginity as soon as they get to a place with nobody... then of course there's the Morurun curse.

Phalanxx: Thank you for comment :3