Chapter Three: It all Started with the First Day of Classes

Ryuko took the bag of ice offered to her by the nurse and gingerly upheld it to her swollen face. She let out a gentle sigh as the coldness numbed her bruised cheeks. Everything and anything that could go wrong on the first day of classes had. She'd gotten lost on her way to her first class, Pilates, because everything had been labeled so confusingly, resulting in her being late by half an hour. She'd tried to sneak in unnoticed but failed.

"Matoi!" Barked the teacher as soon as Ryuko had quietly entered the room. Everyone's head swiveled around to see her and the trouble she was about to get into. "Your half an hour late to your first class of the school year. Any reason why?"

"I got lost, I couldn't find my class." Ryuko mumbled sleep still weighing heavily on her tongue.

"Excuses will not be accepted! You should have found this class beforehand. That's one strike Matoi, two more and you're going to the department of discipline. Now take a mat and catch up with your diligent, on time classmates."

Then in cardio and weight training class she got her ears yelled off by the extremely vocal coach who thought Ryuko wasn't giving it her all. Ryuko grumbled angrily; she had still not properly woken up. Her day began at twelve not eight am. He made her stay back after class to redo all her exercises, causing her to wobble unsteadily to her next class and yet again be late.

"Matoi!" yelled her teacher for her gymnastics class. "This is the second time you were late today."

"My teacher held me back in my last class and made me redo all my exercises. It's not my fault!" Ryuko's tongue had gained its sharp edge as the cardio and weight training classes had gotten her blood pumping.

"It is your fault. A teacher has the right to make you stay behind and redo all your work if it is unsatisfactory. Now shut your mouth before I make you do the same!"

Ryuko gritted her teeth but shouldered off her book bag and then set to work.

Lunch passed by too quickly and Ryuko barely got a chance to talk to Mako who ended her lunch period when Ryuko started hers. So Ryuko had sat at a one person table and grouchily ate the food, which was surprisingly delicious, before she raced off to her next class.

Wrestling class knocked her out on her back quite literally. They started wrestling right from the start and apparently they weren't doing weight class, because the guy Ryuko was paired up with looked to certainly be more than 300 pounds.

She turned her head to protest this fact when the coach blew the whistle to start and she found herself gasping for air, stars dancing in her vision as the guy tackled her to the floor. She was out for the rest of the class, adding a sore back to the list of increasingly sore body parts.

She barely made it to her international affairs class and then came one minute late to her psychology class.

"Department of Discipline, Matoi!" the teacher pointed his finger at the door without even looking up at her.

"But it's just a minute!" Ryuko snarled. Her exhaustion from the day's excursions and the unfairness of the situation made her curl her fists.

"A minute makes all the difference when it comes to matters of life and death, now off with you." The teacher whistled at her as if she were a dog, still not looking at her, gaze on his papers. Ryuko planted her feet down firmly on the ground, refusing to leave.

"You're disrupting my class, Matoi, leave or you will leave by force."

Ryuko fought her anger so as to calm down. No good would come out of this if she chose to fight. She had to do this for Mako. Giving a stomp with her foot she left the room only to be greeted by a guard waiting for her.

"I'm here to see you to the department," he intoned and Ryuko followed him trying to keep her anger in check.

The guard took her to the black gates and as they slowly opened up by some invisible hands Ryuko let out a snort. She'd planned on getting behind the gate but not like this.

Now that it was a school day security guards were milling around, chatting to one another in hushed tones. The buildings created a half circle barrier in between the gates, and what Ryuko could only assume was the Kiryuin mansion. It was white, tinged with blue, and looked like it came out straight from the medieval ages. Well someone's certainly a bit of a showoff. The guard deposited Ryuko in one of the buildings in a small room that looked like it was fit for interrogations right out of TV crime shows. "Wait here," the guard muttered before leaving. Ryuko sat down in the chair, and tapped her fingers across the desk while she waited.

A woman came in some time later and spread out her papers while taking the seat across from Ryuko. She looked young, like she could be a student here and after examining the notes some more she swept them back in the manila folder she had with her.

Then she looked up at Ryuko her expression and voice blank. "You've had three infractions already Matoi, all involving tardiness. It seems you need to know the meaning of on time. Therefore, as an appropriate punishment, for the rest of the week you are to be an hour early to your first class and your lunch break is now cut in half."

Ryuko grit back a retort, she had to stay strong. It was fine, she'd make it. It was only an extra hour in the mornings and just less lunch time. Clenching and unclenching her hands to remain clam, she let out a long breath through her nose.

"You are dismissed. Make sure this doesn't happen again." Ryuko grabbed her things and left as fast as she could. She still had other classes she needed to attend to and she couldn't be late for those.

Defense training turned out to be more fun then she'd thought it would be. They went over slides on defensive techniques that they would soon get to test out. And the teacher seemed much kinder than the previous ones; in fact the way he spoke made it enjoyable to listen, even if he got into boring nitty-gritty details. Then came fight club, the class Ryuko was most excited for. She was itching to let out some steam after today's events and what better place than a class where she was not only allowed to fight but got grades for it as well. Also it was her one class, besides Zumba that she had with Mako.

Ryuko stayed on the edge of her toes as the teacher for that class, a balding old man with a six pack and bulging biceps, slowly went over the procedures and rules for the club. Finally when he'd finished he turned to the class who was all shifting around eagerly and said, "Who's ready to fight?"

The class let out a cheer and stamped their feet excitedly. Mako looked at Ryuko and smiled. "It's your turn to shine girl, go get 'em."

The teacher quieted down the class by clapping loudly. "Unfortunately we don't have time for all of you to fight today, but we will be able to have a match. The two students I've suggested are Takaharu Fukuroda, and our little troublemaker, Ryuko Matoi."

Ryuko felt an angry blush settle on her cheek but pushed it away. She was going to show them what she was capable of. The class pushed to the sides of the room to make space in the middle for the two warring factions. Takaharu a small guy with red hair, who was wearing nothing but boxing shorts, approached her with a nasty smirk on his face. "This is gonna be too easy he drawled."

"I wouldn't bet on that," Ryuko muttered. The ground beneath them shifted as mechanics whirred and brought up a boxing ring for them to fight in.

"The match is three rounds, three minutes each. The first to be knocked out is the loser. And remember keep it civil." The teacher smirked before he pressed the buzzer that signaled the start of the match.

Ryuko paced at the end of her ring, appraising her opponent. He was small and scrawny, nothing a few good punches and tackles couldn't take down. If she settled for a fake out, and made to punch his stomach but actually sent a jab to his chin, she could probably even knock him out in the first round.

All the while Ryuko was thinking, Takaharu was calmly putting on a pair of red boxing gloves. "I wouldn't do what you're thinking about." He sang. "I'm a professional boxer, best of my age, and your dirty street fighting won't be able to bring me down."

"We'll test that theory out." She snarled and rushed right at him. But he just chuckled and jerked back his right hand. It seemed as if hundreds of his fists were flying at her and Ryuko let out a surprised gasp before it turned to grunts of pain. The fists fell like rain upon her and she'd managed to put up her arms to shield the worst of it, but they hurt like nothing she'd felt before, like she was being punched by rocks. She had to stop it, and blindly reaching forward managed to snag onto Takaharu's wrist. But before she could do anything he pulled back his left fist and clobbered her in her now unprotected face. She flew back onto her side of the ring, gasping for breath, her head was ringing and she could barely hear the excited chants of her fellow classmates.

"These gloves are special, baby." Takaharu explained looking perfectly serene as if he hadn't just thrown who the fuck knows how many punches at her. "They're made of a special fiber that makes them as hard as steel and gives me the ability to move my fists super-fast."

"Isn't that cheating?" Ryuko mumbled out, the question more for the teacher than for Takaharu. But the teacher who was just watching the fight with his arms crossed shook his head no. "The enemy is not always fair, Matoi. But you have to figure out how to work past it."

Ryuko groaned and swallowed a mouth full of blood flavored spit before heading towards her enemy again. She approached him slowly watching for the slightest hint of movement from his hands that indicated he would throw a punch. She had to get close to him, but his fists had more than a normal range of distance.

He swung at her and she just barely managed to dodge, the air next to her ear whooshing loudly as the fist missed, but then he was throwing punches all over the place again and all Ryuko could do was dodge. She wiggled to the left and to the right, the air around her a blur of gloved fists before one finally caught up to her and smacked her right in the face. She was sent reeling back to her side of the ring.

"That concludes round one!" Mako announced as she jumped up in the middle of the ring with a board that signaled a two minute break. Then she zipped over to Ryuko's side and started massaging her shoulders. "You got this. You've fought Yakuza gangs, and hardcore criminals; he's just a kid with gloves." She pep talked as she poured cold water into Ryuko's mouth. Ryuko nodded her head. Mako was right; she'd fought against worst odds. So what if this kid had some magical gloves, she could take him on.

Mako jumped back into the ring a huge board announcing the beginning of round two.

"Fight!" the crowd, which had come closer to the ring, cried out. Ryuko threw herself into the fight with renewed vigor. She'd let herself take a couple hits in order to draw closer to him and then strike him when his defenses were down. One thing Ryuko knew, was that she could take a lot of damage and she was gonna use that to her advantage.

But even that plan didn't work. Takaharu's flying fists never let up, each time pelting her with steel punches and then lobbing one huge hit at her that sent her to the other side of the ring. This continued over and over again and he didn't seem to get tired no matter how many punches he threw. But Ryuko was certainly starting to tire. Blood trickled from her nose and she felt one eye about to swell up shut. Breathing hard she rested on the ropes trying to rethink her plan. Maybe she could just endure until all three rounds were done? But then that wasn't a true victory to her, that was as good as failing and Ryuko knew she could beat him.

Takaharu sniggered from where he was standing; the little rascal hadn't moved an inch ever since the fight started. Ryuko ground her fists together. It was time for an action change. She ran at him, changing her path ever so often to confuse him. She ran at him than retreated, then ran to his left side, then retreated or ran to his right side but then quickly circled around him. This made Takaharu confused. He didn't manage to position his body to face her, in certain cases, on time and Ryuko let out a grin. So what if his hands flew like lightning. The rest of his body was slow compared to that.

She circled around him and extended her fist meant to catch him in the back of his head. It connected and she felt the thrill as flesh meet flesh, but her grin faded as his torso contorted to the left, and he quickly swung around his fist connecting with her temple.

Everything sounded fuzzy and the world was dark. Ryuko could hear the sound of the crowd roaring and clapping but wondered why. Was she in a dream? What happened? She felt so warm now, her body weightless and floating on nothing.

5…

Someone was counting down, but why? She didn't want them to count down. Their voice aggravated on her nerves, interrupting her peace. She could now feel a cold material against her back as feeling slowly returned to her limbs. She twitched her fingers for good measure and felt them brush against something.

4…

"Ryuko-chan!" a shrill voice cried out standing out from the buzzing in her ears. "Ryuko-chan, you've got to get up! You have to finish the match. You can't let him win!" That's right; Ryuko had been in a match. But against who? Memories of flying fists dotted her vision, the four corners of a ring, a big burly man with no hair. Her fingers clenched instinctively into fists. She had to get up and finish this.

3…

She willed her body to move and she could slowly feel it responding. A muscle twitched here, a muscle twitched there. "Ryuko-chan you have to hurry and get up!" the shrill voice, no Mako's voice reminded her. I'm trying, Ryuko seethed. Strength began to trickle back in and she tensed her muscles ready to get up.

2…

She sat up, the movement sending her mind reeling. She blindly grabbed out with her right hand, brushing against some ropes and before grasping onto them. She used them to pull herself up as her legs unsteadily tried to support her weight, but they wobbled shakily and she dropped down to her knees.

"Look she's trying to get up!"

"She'll never make it!"

"All talk no bite!"

"She's gonna lose, figures."

"She doesn't look like she'll make it!" Voices called out commenting on her progress. Shut up, she thought bitterly.

"Ryuko-chan! I believe in you!" the one voice Ryuko needed to hear. She smiled, wincing at the pain it caused her.

1…

Summoning a great surge of strength she pulled herself up to her full height, hand never leaving the ropes. She forced open her eyes wincing at the brightness in front of her. Her head spun as she adjusted to the visuals before she sent a shit eating grin to Takaharu. The crowd went wild. "Omg she did it!" was followed by other cries of astonishment.

Takaharu who had been previously smiling about his easy victory let his grin fall.

"Thought you were done with me? Well bad news pal. I don't go down that easy, especially against a kid in magical gloves."

Takaharu snarled, "I'm not a kid. I'm twenty years old! And big words for someone who can't even stand up by herself."

"Round three, begin!" Mako announced and the fighters got ready to go at it again.

Takaharu didn't wait for Ryuko to make the first move; he cocked his left fist back and let it fly. But Ryuko was ready. When she'd been flat on her ass, her fingers had brushed against something sharp that she carried in her pockets. It was her half scissor blade that her dad had made her. She'd made it into a keychain because she didn't know what else to do with it, and carried it around with her.

She pulled it out as Takaharu's fist approached her and slashed at it. The knife was meet with no resistance, shredding the material of the glove like it was water. Takaharu let out an astonished cry as he withdrew his fist and glanced at the ruined material. Blood ran down his knuckles were the knife had met flesh and he let out a hiss. "My gloves, my gloves! How dare you ruin them."

"Heh, bet ya didn't see that coming," Ryuko smiled triumphantly as she pulled herself off of the ropes and took a powerful stance in front of him. "The streets have come back for vengeance, and their meaner than ever."

Ryuko approached Takaharu slowly, who was watching Ryuko cautiously now. If only the blade could be longer, Ryuko mused, then I could-

As if hearing her thoughts the blade vibrated under her palm and extended to a length that nearly resembled her height. The red blade gleamed menacingly in the light and Ryuko let out a, "Holy shit."

"That's cheating!" Takaharu hissed but the teacher just shook his head no.

"Oi, this is interesting," Ryuko smiled and gave the sword a couple of practice swings causing Takaharu to jump backwards in fear. The blade sliced through the air perfectly, its weight almost next to nothing in Ryuko's hand. She'd never fought with a sword before but it felt right; like it was an extension of her arm.

"Afraid now?" Ryuko prompted and ran at her opponent slashing each and every way. Takaharu just backed up, his eyes following the blade closely, until he reached the ropes on his side; he was cornered with nowhere to go. Letting out a battle cry he flung himself at her, lobbing both fists in maddening fury but Ryuko blocked all of them with her blade. With another cry, Takedara leapt up hoping to get above Ryuko's impermeable shield of a sword but Ryuko was ready. Using the blunt edge of the sword she struck him in the neck with it, causing him to tumble to his knees.

"Thirty seconds for the last round!" Ryuko heard the teacher call out. Ryuko debated: should she knock her opponent out or keep him at bay for the last seconds?

Nah, she'd knock him out. Still using the blunt side of her blade Ryuko swung it down on Takedara's head hard. His chin rushed to meet the floor and he stayed like that, not getting up even when the countdown ended.

The sound of bells signaled her victory and Mako rushed up to her friend's side pulling her arm up in a sign of victory. "You won! You won!" She shouted. Ryuko raised her other arm up with the blade in it, the red gleam shining extra bright. Ryuko caught her face reflected in it and smiled. She looked terribly bruised up, but she had won.

She'd gone to the nurse's office after class, which would be more accurately described if it was called a hospital, where she'd had her injuries treated. She would have a lot of bruises but nothing too serious. As Ryuko gripped the ice bag closely to her face and grabbed her book bag with her other hand she smiled. Okay, so maybe today hadn't been all bad. The rush from her victory had managed to almost erase all the bad events prior. Maybe she could even withstand the strict as hell regulations here if she could pound the shit out of people.

She hurried over to her dorm, being excused from her zumba class, finding that Mako had left her a nice warm plate of croquettes. "They'll make you feel better," the note attached to it said and Ryuko smiled at her best friend's thoughtfulness.

She was about to shove one into her mouth when a certain jacket dropped off the hanger it had been on and placed itself in between her and the croquettes, hands on hips.

"What happened to you?" Senketsu demanded to know and Ryuko had let out an annoyed sign. She'd forgotten about this creation of her fathers.

"I got into a fight in class. I won. Long story short stay out of my fucking business."

"Uh uh," the jacket tsked. "You're such a mess. If you'd worn me, you'd have avoided this damage."

"But I'm not going to wear you," Ryuko answered back eating the food in her hand and then trying to get another past the form of Senketsu. He slapped her hand away.

"I'd be a failure if I didn't do what your father said and protected you!" Senketsu roared and then launched himself at her.

"Hey cut it out!" Sounds of breaking objects and objects being thrown were barely audible over the screams and shouts. Ryuko's suitemates looked on confusedly before they shrugged and went back to their own business.