Amakusa stared at his Dark History class with a pleasant smile. Or, at least, it would have been a pleasant smile had it been on anyone else. For, when a single human (or humanoid being) radiates so much evil, it is rather difficult of any aspect of such to be pleasant. And when many students gulped loudly in fear, Amakusa found himself feeling very pleased. He glanced across the room, observing all of the students. There was Balabalalde, his one eye aimed at the floor. Then there was that Maimsworth boy, a disaster in himself. Never will be able to pull off a decent revenge, Amakusa thought to himself. Then there was that boy of the Steal Thorn Clan, who was being glared at by a winged girl. Amakusa struggled for a moment to remember her name, before deciding that it didn't matter. And then there was Yuri Mikagami, seemingly frazzled from rushing to this class so not to be late after dropping her books in the hall. But Amakusa knew better. He knew that beneath her perfect innocent act, she was a conniving demoness. But there would be time for that later. "Hello, class," he started. No one dared to return the greeting. "I understand that you've completed the unit on the founding of our fine establishment. Correct?" he said, pacing slowly across the front of the classroom. There were a few terrified nods, but no one dared to break the silence. "Very good. In that case, I think you're ready for the test." Had it been any other teacher, whispers of complaint and dissent would have filled the room. But this wasn't any other teacher. This was the principal, Amakusa-sensei, the most feared member of the faculty. So, as Amakusa passed out a thick packet of test questions, no one dared to even look him in the eye. ************************************************* Dark Heart High Netherworld Educational Institution for The Universal Propagation of Evil started by Mads ************************************************* Part Eight: Preparation! by Ann ************************************************* "I can't believe how hard that test was!" said Yuri as she sat down at the lunch table with Leilei and Balabalalde. Bala blinked his confirmations. "I mean, I've heard of pop quizzes, but a pop test?" Yuri sighed. "I hope that we won't have another one unannounced like that." "Don't worry, Yuri-chan! I'm sure you did fine," Leilei smiled. "I hope so.." said Yuri, nibbling on her sandwich. Suddenly, a shadow fell over the group. They looked up to see a sight that could strike fear in the hearts of all freshmen. An upperclassman. He was very tall and wore glasses. The armor he had was anti-climatic when compared to the wickedly shaped swords that he dragged behind him on chains thicker then those that bound Balabalalde. He eyed them all before staring at Yuri. "Yuri Mikagami, I presume?" Yuri's eyes went wide. "H-hai!" "Well, you're a freshman," he sneered the word, "but I guess that can't be helped. It was you that signed up for the esteemed position of equipment manager for the Fencing Team, correct?" "H-hai!" Yuri squeaked. "Very well then. Seeing how you are the only one to want the position, it is yours. I am Kashin, Kashin-sama to you, captain of the fencing team." He paused. "The fencing team meets every Tuesday and Thursday right after school. And I don't mean five minutes after school, I mean as soon as school ends you have one minute to find yourself in the gym. Be there. Or else." "Hai, Kashin-sempai!" Yuri called out at his retreating form. "He doesn't seem too friendly," Leilei said with a frown. "But it looks like I can't quit, so I might as well make the best of it!" Yuri smiled weakly. "I guess it works out anyway. Bala has soccer practice every day this week, so you're fencing should finish at about the same time and we can go out for ice-cream! Wai!" Yuri looked at Bala, who was sitting there silently, as always. "Why does he have so many practices?" Yuri asked. "I mean, everyday? Is that how much the soccer team usually practices?" "No, they usually don't. Usually it's just a few days a week. But, with the athletic season just starting, they found out that their first match is against the Knight School. They usually have a strong team, and we can't let them win the very first game! Right, Bala?" Bala just looked at her from behind the bandages. After a moment, he blinked. "Oh, right!" Leilei slapped her forehead. "I'm so sorry! I forgot all about unwrapping you!" And with many apologies, Leilei liberated Bala from enough bandages to permit him to eat. * "Grr..! Why do I have to be stuck with her?" Craig whined. Their science teacher was not amused. "You will do this lab, and you will do a good job with it. Or else." Yuri went over to her assigned station and sat down with a grin, reading over their instructions. Craig followed her, grumbling. "First we need to add the eye of newt..." said Yuri, looking around until she found the correct jar. "Here it is!" She quickly added it into the pot. Then, Craig had an idea. A very good idea, according to him, at least. He reached for a small vial of a mysterious blue liquid on the wall. He held the vial, prepared to hand it to Yuri whenever she asked for it. Then he cackled evilly. "No, no, Craig! It's not like that! Kurosawa-sensei said that laugh came more from the throat!" Yuri cheerfully corrected. Craig was so angry that his fist clenched so hard that it shattered the delicate glass vial. It broke, splashing his hand with the red liquid. At first, it burned. Craig hopped around the room, clutching his hand and screaming in pain. Then, all of the sudden, the pain stopped. But his hand had shrunk to less then half of it's normal size. He screamed and fainted. The teacher sighed, and slapped him to wake him. "This memory eraser does not require the shrinking solution. Go to the nurse; she has the antidote. And you get an F for the lab." Craig almost protested, but with a look at his hand obeyed. "Geeze. Kurosawa-sensei shouldn't bother teaching him how to laugh evilly when he can't even scream like a GUY!" Craig heard someone laugh as he stomped out of the room. Yuri shrugged and continued working on the lab. * As soon as the school bell rang, Yuri was hobbling on her crutch to the gym, swerving every which way to avoid the crowds of students rushing to freedom. "Stupid ankle!" she muttered as she finally entered the gym. Kashin was there, watching the clock very closely. "Just in time," he said coldly. "So, this is our fencing team this year?" He eyed everyone in the room. Most of the people in the room were people that Yuri had seen but never spoken with. The majority of the people were upperclassmen, but there were a few freshmen like herself. Of those freshmen, she only knew two. "It looks like we have some strong returning members," Kashin said, looking at a pair of twins who wore numerous swords on their armor. One of them nodded slightly, the other smiled a cold smirk. "..And some pathetic looking newcomers," Kashin sneered in the direction of none other then Craig Maimsworth, who in fact was busy glaring at Yuri. "A-HEM." He did this loudly and sharply, to attract Craig's attention. It failed. Even Yuri felt sorry for Craig at this point, seeing as Kashin decided to use his swords to slice up the very ground that Craig stood on. Craig toppled over and rolled uselessly in his over-sized armor. Kashin kicked him for good measure. "Now, getting back to what I was saying before Tin-man decided not to pay attention, it's good that you all brought your own equipment today. Last year, we lost all of our equipment and the manager in that tragic accident, if you remember." He suddenly turned to face a stringy-haired boy with a wiry frame. "We will have none of that this year," he frowned. The stringy-haired boy cackled softly in reply. Kashin rolled his eyes. "Everyone, pick a spar- partner and start practicing. Remember, do NOT harm your opponent. We will need every member of this team for our first match, against Sakura Art. That match isn't very far away, and they always have a big team." His grin clearly said that he did not want to lose. "Oh, and our equipment manager will be coming around to get your sizes for all gear," he added as an after-thought, tossing an order form and a pencil to Yuri, who nearly fumbled but caught it. "Begin!" And all of the older members leapt into action, grabbing a newer member to fight. Yuri darted, well as much as one with an injured ankle could dart, through the sword fights. Finally, she saw a familiar face. "Ki-san!" He turned to look at her. Taking advantage of this, his opponent, the stringy-haired guy, aimed a slice for his neck. "Look out!" He ducked just in time. And in the moment where Yuri had closed her eyes, fearing the worse, they had moved their fight and a new pair of leaping figures had taken their place. One of them turned to face her. Yuri's eyes just managed to follow his moves in his fight as he spoke to her. "Oh! *dodge* You must be the *slash* new equipment *duck* manager! My name is *jab* Sai and I *spin* need armor *jump* size--!" And Sai went flying as his opponent slammed their hilt up under his chin. His opponent then leapt after him. Yuri sighed. This was going to be a long practice. She started after Sai, but instead found herself pushed back to the window by two other fighters. She looked out of it and to the soccer field just in time to see Bala score a goal. A small figure jumping up and down cheering Yuri made out to be Leilei. With one last look out the window, Yuri returned to stumbling away from blades, trying to take all of the equipment orders without getting injured. Soon, she found that the easiest way to do this was to wait until people were knocked to the ground. Then, with the combatants separated, she could more easily question them. The only trick was not angering the person who was winning by taking so much time that their opponent regained his footing. By the time that she was about a little over halfway finished with her task, she noticed three girls inching in through the doorway. They seemed to be worried about something, and were wearing more stereotypical villain costumes then even the most gimmicky of the costumes that she had ever seen in the halls of Dark Heart High. Yuri just decided that they must be late arrivals for the practice. She quickly went over to see them. The closer she got to them, the more worried they looked. "Hello!" she greeted cheerfully. The shortest of the three was beginning to look sick. "....." said the tallest. "Well? Aren't you here for the practice?" Yuri said. Obviously, Yuri thought, they were worried about being in trouble for being late. One girl whispered something into the ear of the tallest, who then stepped forward. Yuri could have sworn that she heard the words, "Not very just!" "Um, y-yes. We are here to join the team!" she smiled weakly. Kashin hadn't mentioned anyone being late, so there was only one conclusion that Yuri could come to. "You haven't signed up yet, have you? Well, you should probably wait until tomorrow to sign up! After all, we all know how serious Kashin is about his practices, and how angry he is when someone's late or interrupts," Yuri said with a knowing nod. Yuri took a step forward and accidentally crushed what looked to be an electronical device. She pulled all sorts of small, broken pieces of whatever it was off of the bottom of her shoe. She picked up a long, slender, sharp looking piece of metal. "What's this?" "Eeek!" the shortest girl squeaked. "I dropped it!" And she darted out the door. The other two staggered back in fear for a moment, trying to salvage their mission. They then gave up and were on her heals a second later. Yuri turned around to see Kashin walking towards her. "Good job, you destroyed their bug. It's a good thing you were paying attention and saw those Sakura spies come in. Most freshmen don't have such a good memory of the student body as to determine from a distance who's a spy. I saw you go over right after they entered. You did good to distract them, but next time don't scare them away yourself. Usually upper-classmen have better ways to... handle spies." He paused. "Now go finish getting the equipment orders before I have to show you some of those ways!" * "You seem just as tired as Bala-kun!" Leilei said as she skipped between her two worn and weary friends. "I thought you were the manager!" "It was hard work. I had to dodge everyone's fights and get all of the new equipment orders!" Bala gave her a tired blink. "I looked out the window once and saw Bala score, though!" "Oh, yes! Bala-kun was the best!" Leilei then launched into a vivid play-by-play account of the soccer practice. As Leilei went on and on, using soccer terminology that Yuri could only guess the meaning of, Yuri felt her eyelids growing steadily heavier. Leilei turned when she heard a loud thud. What she saw was Yuri, passed out and snoring softly in a bush. Bala, ignoring his own weariness, gently lifted her up, and cradled her in his arms to carry the sleeping girl home. * Author's Notes: I was plagued with much writer's block while writing this. I apologize that it's so short and not good.. ^.^;; I would like to thank my pre-reader Jessica who, without any background knowledge agreed to pre-read last minute. Anything decent can be attributed to her. I also thank our wonderful impro admin, for granting me the extension. Thanks for reading! * Amakusa did not look happy. "I have heard that there was yet another infiltration. It seems some students from Sakura Art decided to spy on our fencing team, as preparation for the match." Akurei shifted uneasily. "I thought you said you had handled that problem?" "I.. thought I did. It must be that they were spying, and there for weren't picked up by a virtue scanner! That must be it!" Amakusa just raised an eyebrow. "Such a temperamental system.." "I'll get right on it!"