7For anyone coming here after discovering the original version was taken down, surprise! So there's really only one major change to this Revised version and that's the characters' ages. Since the fic starts two years before the manga starts up, that would, according to canon, place all the ages at around 8 years old. I tried that, everyone agreed that it was too young. So I changed it so everyone's around 11 instead, which means when Hotaru and Sakura enroll two years later it'll be at age 13. Despite this I'm not going to change very much with the canon-verse, but will be adding a few things. Like good ol' puberty.
If you guys have any questions as you go on, whether on the story or how the age difference impacts certain things, please ask. I've researched things extensively and have everything saved to a special folder in case I forget any details, and I'm more than happy to explain my reasoning. Now moving on from the ridiculously long A/N.
Disclaimer: Mumble. Mumble-mumble.
[o]
Chapter 1
Red. It's a confusing color. It's beautiful and yet tragic. It signifies life, yet also represents death. It's funny how something can come across both ways: beautiful yet ugly. People are like that, too. A person may be seen as evil to one, yet as pure to another. I thought that often when I first met Natsume Hyuuga.
It was a clear, sunny day when he was introduced to our class. It was the perfect irony, considering what he was about to get caught up in. I knew this kid wasn't normal; he was special, and I knew this because anyone passing by Persona could feel his well-contained excitement.
There was definitely something different about the kid, and I didn't want to have anything to do with him, because anything that got Persona in such a mood didn't mean good news.
He stood at the front of the class with another kid his age being introduced by the baka sensei Narumi, and he observed the class with eyes as crimson as blood. That's what got my train of thought going. The one next to him observed the class with blank, expressionless eyes, and in this they were twins. Twins who weren't related. They must be friends. I hadn't heard anything about the blonde one, though, so figured he wouldn't be an issue.
"Class, these are the new students, please be good to them. Go ahead and introduce yourselves." The dark one introduced himself first, and the light one followed in his fashion. Definitely friends. Friends with a dark past and stained souls.
"Well then, I'll assign you partners who can help you get accustomed to the Academy life. Nogi, your partner will be Tobita Yuu – please raise your hand – and Hyuuga…" here he stopped for a second, and his eyes flitted over to my uninterested gaze. I knew what he was going to say before he said it and nearly got up and walked out of the room that instant. "Your partner will be Saito Kokutan – please raise your hand." I didn't raise my hand. He repeated himself, looking directly at me, and the kid followed his gaze to meet my own. I reluctantly raised my hand. Looking back on it now, I wish I had fought against getting him as a partner. He made everything so much more complicated.
Hyuuga seemed just as pleased to have me as a partner as I did him, and while Yuu naturally tried to befriend the blonde boy when he took his seat, the two of us promptly ignored each other.
As soon as the baka sensei left as he always does, the class erupted into talk, ignoring the substitute teacher who sat growing mushrooms in the corner, muttering to himself.
Whispers and mutters quickly filled the air on the new kids, but their cold demeanor kept anyone from approaching. For now. And yet the two of us continued to ignore each other. It registered to me that he'd have questions about the Academy, and that being his partner I was expected to answer those questions, but I was still thinking of the color red, and the things it signified.
It wasn't long before Tobita and his new partner were standing next to us. I wasn't surprised, and continued to ignore them, too.
"Hello," said the polite Tobita, introducing himself to my partner. "I'm Tobita Yuu, but please call me Yuu." There wasn't an answer and I turned my head, which was resting on my hand, to see my partner's reaction.
He had slid his eyes over to look at Tobita, and that was it. Interest sparked in me, as that was quite an odd reaction for one so young. Definitely a dark past.
Tobita lifted from a small bow, raising his hand to scratch the back of his head and give an awkward chuckle, before opening his eyes and settling them on me.
"Has Kutan-chan introduced herself yet?" No answer, but that didn't faze him. "Your partner is Saito Kokutan, but everyone calls her Kutan." Not that I told them to, or anything. My gaze slid over to Tobita's partner – Nogi – and saw something peculiar in his eyes. Jealousy, no doubt aimed at me for being the partner of his friend, along with protectiveness for said friend, and all in all, there was a challenge.
"I'm Nogi Ruka," he introduced himself, and I noticed that there was no invitation to call him by his first name. And who am I to turn down a challenge? I accept.
"What does blood mean to you, Nogi?" I asked him. His eyes widened a fraction, and I saw the interest in Hyuuga's eyes as they slid over to me. "You too, Hyuuga. What does blood mean to you?" There was silence, and Nogi quickly regained his composure.
"It depends who's asking," he answered easily.
"It means death." My eyebrow raised slightly at Hyuuga's answer, having predicted Nogi's.
"So you've seen death." I let the conclusion hang. I never said in which context. It could be in a movie, or a video game. But if they reacted in a certain way…
"What are you talking about?" Nogi immediately defended.
…it would mean they had actually seen death. Dark past, stained souls. It made sense. I turned my head to them fully, interest piqued.
"Who did you see die?" Nogi immediately bristled and began uttering excuses, claiming he didn't have any idea what I was talking about and that I was crazy. The such. But I hadn't asked him, and the person I had asked was leveling me with a glare. Someone close? No, his gaze is too strong.
"Nogi," I drawled, growing irritated. "I asked Hyuuga and you're the one over-reacting. Couples with an overbearing partner never work." His eyes widened while Hyuuga's grew even narrower.
"We're not a couple!" Nogi immediately burst out. If the classroom had been any less loud since the whispers and mutters had turned into full out questions, no doubt everyone's gazes would've been turned to us. I raised my other eyebrow.
"Oh, did I say couple? My mistake." I could almost see something snap inside of him, and no doubt I would've gotten an earful, but Hyuuga interrupted him.
"Ruka," is all he said. Though he was visibly upset about it, Nogi shut his mouth and straightened up. Hm. Tobita, with that ridiculous I-don't-know-what-to-do look on his face immediately pulled him away, saying there were other people he wanted to introduce him to. And no doubt they wanted to be introduced, too, if the long glances and questioning gazes coming at both of them were to say anything.
"You're wrong," he said, breaking the silence that had spread between us again.
"Oh?"
"We haven't seen anyone die." Hm? But the stain on their souls has to be explained somehow. Then he slid his eyes over to me like he had to Tobita, and I saw pain there. Fresh pain, and not the physical kind. Whatever had happened had happened recently – possibly the reason they had been brought to the Academy in the first place. But it was fresh, so I knew I wouldn't be learning his secrets any time soon.
I turned my head and rested it back on my hand, bored once again.
Once the hordes finally descended I stood up to leave. The substitute likely wouldn't be able to teach anything with two new exchange victims, so there wasn't any point in me staying anyway. What are they going to do, give me detention? Expel me?
"Oi," came the voice behind me. I turned to him. Right, I'm supposed to show him around and explain things to him.
"Just follow Tobita around. He'll show you and Nogi what to do." He continued to look at me with those red eyes, and I twitched as soon as the horde was upon us.
"Tch." I suppose it wasn't his fault that Narumi baka sensei had assigned me as his partner, and I couldn't very well show him around right now. It wouldn't be good for him to miss his first day of class, when teachers get their initial impression of new students and begin deciding their star ranking.
True, I normally wouldn't care about things so unimportant, but he had gotten Persona excited, and that meant everything had to be treated different around him. So I sat back down, leaned back on my seat, and tried to sleep while discreetly listening to the conversations going on around me.
The loud pre-teens soon to graduate into Middle School weren't as obviously interested in the new students as the younger students, so they continued their own antics in their own chairs. I'd never before been so thankful for the bratty older kids, but they were much better than the ones attempting to interrogate Hyuuga and Nogi. Note: Attempt. The most prominent of these two being Umenomiya Anna and her friend Ogasawara Nonoko. Having previously been the newest two in the class, they no doubt were happy to have all the attention shifted onto even newer students.
It was entirely too long before Jinno-Sensei replaced the bumbling fool substitute teacher and actually managed to maintain some order in the class of hyper-active kids with alleged superpowers. It was an amazing feat that not many could manage. A few zaps of electricity flew around and before we knew it any kids floating in the air had returned to their desks, and those with more animated Alices quickly had their creations dissipate or scatter. Ah, blessed silence.
I once again opened my eyes and sat up, summarizing his words as efficiently as I could and jotting them down neatly in my notebook. True, the chances of me ever getting out of the Academy were little to zero, but that didn't mean I had to be stupid in my time here. Maybe it's my pride, or maybe it was me trying to find purpose in this life. Whatever it was, I didn't dwell on it for long.
Besides, my brief and descriptive notes came in handy quite often, for when the actual stupid people found themselves struggling near Jinno's tests and didn't want zapped for failing. I often rented them out for an unreasonably expensive price. See how much I could weasel out of them. Everyone has their hobbies; mine just happens to be cheating people out of their Rabbits.
Once lunch rolled around Hyuuga was joined by Ruka, and the two followed Tobita to get lunch, which suited me just fine. I needed to find that baka sensei.
He was easy enough to find – being in the staff room eating his own lunch. I stopped at the door and he saw me while raising his chopsticks to his mouth. It promptly stopped and he sweat dropped.
"Baka sensei," I called. "We need to talk." Had I addressed Jinno-sensei like that I would've been electrocuted into next week; if I had addressed Persona like that my missions for the next month would be painful and long with interspersed punishments all throughout for non-existent mistakes. Yet Baka-sensei just walked over. Which is part of the reason no one could take him seriously. He doesn't give any reason to take him seriously.
"Kutan-chan!" Was his greeting, which I ignored, and he shut the door behind him.
"Why'd you give me Hyuuga?" Nogi I wouldn't have minded so much, but Hyuuga would no doubt be the center of trouble in due time. His eyes softened, becoming unreadable in a falsely innocent way.
"I thought you'd have questions about that."
"Why?" Was my immediate question. Why would he feel the need to give me a partner? Why that particular boy who no doubt would have trouble nipping at his heel, and as his partner I'd just as likely get pulled into it.
"That's actually a good question. But I can't answer it." My head snapped over to him, a challenge burning in my gaze. He sighed with false defeat, but I knew it was just an act. Everything he did was all just an act. As if the world was his stage and we were just the audience or some props.
"It's not my secret to tell. But I can tell you that you two are very similar."
"He only got here today, how would you know?" The baka sensei suddenly turned serious like he does occasionally, and my interest showed itself again.
"Persona's interested in him." My shoulders fell a fraction, but my gaze stayed indifferent. I was right; this kid was trouble. Not only was Persona excited about this kid, he's interested. With Persona, the combination of those two things was never a good thing.
"I could've refused," I told him suddenly. He nodded, once again the baka.
"But you didn't." Of course I didn't. Because of his eyes. His dark, blood red eyes that had the guard over them that no one his age should have. The same guard I see in the mirror. Not like I would ever tell Narumi that.
"You should go get lunch," he finally said when the silence stretched out too long. I turned around, but with no intention of going to the cafeteria.
"It's almost done anyway." I could almost feel his eyebrows raise, even while walking away from him.
"You need to eat, Kutan-chan. Especially with your schedule." And by my schedule, he of course meant my missions. I stopped walking, back still towards him.
"Don't pretend you care, baka-sensei. It doesn't suit you." There was a sigh from behind me.
"At least make sure to show Natsume-kun where to find his room." Where do the undetermined stars stay? I'd never had to bother with that, since I'd been given a special star the moment I stepped foot into the Academy. It was my turn to sigh.
"Fine. Where is he staying anyway?"
"Well, you see, he's a special star like you." And suddenly it clicked. I was a special star because I had the fourth form Alice – the most powerful – and when I came Persona was interested in me. I whirled around to face baka sensei.
"He's a fourth form." There was sadness in his eyes before I'd even said it. I frowned at him (it was more of a glare).
"How do you know?" Had they already run tests and drills? Did they do that as soon as he got here? The Academy must be desperate for powerful Alices if they're becoming so quick about it. From what I've seen they usually wait a few days.
"We're not certain yet, but there are a lot of fingers pointing in that direction." I turned back around, this time heading for the cafeteria. More precisely, the blood-eyed boy in there. Narumi was quiet as I stalked off, no doubt lost in his own thoughts. Perhaps guilt at knowing he was part of the Academy who caused so much pain and suffering. So much death. But then again, everything he does is an act, and sometimes I wonder if he's even aware of that himself.
Once inside the cafeteria I went to the serving area, declining the large portion offered to me by the Nanny-bot as a special star and instead took an apple and a glass of water. I knew the baka sensei was for once right in that I needed to eat, but I just wasn't hungry.
I spotted them quickly. When I approached the loud conversations quietened and when I stood behind the two people sitting across from Hyuuga they immediately scooted away, making room for me, and then a bit extra. Fear. It's something I like. Respect, just the same. And I have both.
He eyed me for a moment, then turned back to his meal. I did the same, except I didn't eye him. I full out stared while taking chunks out of the red apple or sipping at my water.
I was looking; looking for any sign of what made this kid tick. What made him so interesting, if not just his Alice? Why the out of character moods from Persona?
"Why don't you just take a picture?" Hyuuga said – sighed, really – having grown tired of my staring.
"A picture won't capture what I'm looking for," I answered easily. One of his eyebrows raised, but I didn't explain.
"What's your Alice?" I asked abruptly. He stiffened and didn't answer. Ooh, touchy subject. But I was curious, and this kid didn't know to fear and respect me, yet.
Taking in his cool gaze and level eyes I couldn't help but think that he didn't fear or respect anyone, and would likely become the feared and respected himself. Just the same, that hasn't happened yet and I currently have both, so I continued to stare him down.
Nogi, who had pulled himself into our conversation, sent a hard look my way.
"What's your Alice?"
"I asked first," I replied smoothly, not even sparing him a glance. At mine and Nogi's exchange a slight tint of curiosity grew in Hyuuga's eyes, and I saw that I'd won.
"Fire," he spat out. Definitely a touchy subject. I raised an eyebrow, understanding Persona's interest now, and then leaned forward with a smirk on my face. Here's the fun part.
"I make peoples' worst fears their reality." Tobita, who had also nosed his way into our conversation elaborated on my mysterious reply, completely ruining the fun.
"Her Alice is a lot like mine," he explained, leading me to believe he'd already explained his own Alice, which was illusion. "Except she's able to sense peoples' fears, and then able to make them see it."
"Not only see it," I elaborated, figuring if he's going to ruin my fun he may as well get his facts straight. "I make them feel it, too. It's like they're actually experiencing it."
Nogi was looking at me with the fear I loved to see, but there wasn't respect there; there was wariness. Close enough. Hyuuga, though, began to look at me like I was a threat. A subtle glare graced his features, and I wanted to look. I wanted to look at what was causing such a reaction to my Alice. What did he fear? I almost reached out, but the disciplinary restrains covering my body sent out warning shocks.
I narrowed my eyes in annoyance, surprising Hyuuga because he no doubt thought I was glaring at him. No, I'm glaring at Persona. At the whole Academy in general, really.
Once lunch finished I tossed my half-finished meal and followed the chattering group back to the classroom.
One thing's for certain: this kid wasn't any good news.
[o]
As you can see, very minimal changes. However, there are little changes that I added with the intent of bringing out the initial relationship between Hyuuga and Saito. My hope in adding this is to bring out the gradual change from forced companionship to mutual friendship. And, well, also some random changes just added because.
