Aelin-uial: Meres of Twilight

Haha! Chapter two! Hopefully this one will be a bit longer (I never know till I write it, and I always write this first). I want to average ten pages a chapter. More character introductions, and more background! Once we get into the swing of things, actual plot will begin, so you won’t have to wait much longer. I don’t like to rush things. It ruins the story.

Daedricfire: Thanks so much for being the first reviewer! As for sounding like Harry Potter, I’m trying to keep away from there. I honestly don’t see the teachers in Hogwarts poisoning their students, or even physically abusing them. Nor do I see them allowing other students to cut each other up, like Sarah enjoys doing to underclassmen. That and the school is divided by majors, like a college, not houses. But, it’s hard to do a magic school fic without Harry Potter springing to mind. I’m glad you like it, and I hope you keep reading!

Now onto the story!

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Aelin-uial (Meres of Twilight)
7th day of Acrimony, Tenth year of the Swan
First Day of the New School Year II

“Can anyone tell me the proper incantation for the flesh-knitting spell?” The black haired, red eyed female teacher propped herself up on her desk and surveyed her room of advanced healing students. She had started off class with an immediate quiz (to test if any of her students had actually studied during their brief break), and had been thoroughly disappointed in them. So, she had decided to try a short review. The question Kurenai had asked was one of the last topics the class had reviewed at the end of the previous term. It should have been easy to answer.

One hand immediately shot up in the air and waved albeit a tad frantically. It belonged to a pink haired, green eyed girl that looked more excited than she should have, “I can Miss Kurenai!” As the teacher nodded, and said girl stood to recite the incantation, Sarah twitched briefly.

The battle mage was in the process of digging rivets in her desk with only her fingernails. As Sakura’s blatant kiss-ass attempt made way to Sarah’s ears, the girl dug her nails in deeper. If there was one person she hated more in this school than Tsunade, it was Sakura. The pink haired bitch was Sarah’s only competition for best in the class, and Sakura frequently bested her. Personally, Sarah believed it was because of the girls distinct lack of a social life.

“Perfect as always Sakura,” Kurenai’s voice was full of praise for her favorite student. Her red eyes gave a sweep of the room, landing on Sarah, the only one who was obviously not paying attention. She narrowed her eyes, “And Sarah, can you tell me the disenchant for the previously recited spell?”

“I can, but I don’t particularly want to,” Sarah replied impassively, still digging into her desk, “Ask Sakura. She’s eager enough to display her brilliance, or lack thereof, to the world.”

There were a few titters among the students in the room, but most shot Sarah looks of disgust. It was a firm belief that students specializing in combat had no place in a healing class. It took away from the prestige of the major. Battle mages caused injuries, healers healed injuries. They were polar opposites. Combat inducers were thought to be too brash and rough to handle the delicate arts of healing.

Kurenai twitched, “You will answer the question, or I’ll send you to the Mistress’s office.”

Rolling her eyes, Sarah didn’t even look up as she lazily recited the disenchantment needed. It was better to give in then to face Tsunade. She didn’t care for another tongue lashing. Besides, the class was almost over. Ten minutes left, and then she’d be back where she belonged: the battle arena. Technically this was her last class of the day, but Sarah had already set up a private lesson schedule with her combat instructor, and she was looking forward to it.

Slightly disappointed Sarah had gotten the answer correct, Kurenai continued her review. She didn’t call on Sarah again, much to the teenagers delight. However, it was to be expected. Kurenai would only call on the hazel eyed female when she thought she’d get the answer wrong. Unfortunately (for her at least), Sarah never answered incorrectly.

Class finally ended, much to Sarah’s relief. As always, she was the first one out of her seat, and the first one out the door. However, due to the new seating arrangements, Sakura was now closest to the door, and the pink haired princess was looking to start a fight. Sarah normally wouldn’t have minded, as she could kick Sakura’s ass any day of the week, but Sakura had nearly the entire class on her side, and the entire class knew how to rip someones insides outside of their body with just a few minor words. Sarah had just gotten out of the door when she heard a whispered spell behind her. Since she had thoroughly expected such a pathetic move from Sakura, she instantly snapped out a protection charm, dispelling the magic that could have quite possibly scrambled her brains. The bronze haired female turned and eyeballed Sakura, a small arrogant smirk on her mug, “Do you need something?”

Sakura shot back an equally arrogant grin, but hers possessed more anger behind it. Her hands were twitching, and Sarah caught sight of brief magical energy. Oh. That’s right. Sakura was also a master of certain unspeakable spells. Joy. A slender pink eyebrow raised, “I was just curious. Where are you off to in such a hurry Sarah? Classes are over for the day.”

“I’m off to go play with myself,” Sarah replied, her tone almost dull, as if she were bored with the whole situation, “Unlike you, the campus whore, I don’t have bunch of guys waiting in line to fuck me. Occasionally I have to serve as my own sexual release. You know how that goes.”

Green eyes flashed with fury, and Sakura opened her mouth to snap at her, but was cut off by the blonde beside her, “Don’t waste your breath Sakura. Just look forward to the day she graduates and gets her first military assignment. By that time, we’ll most likely be at war, and with any luck, she’ll get herself killed.” The white robed, porcelain doll fae placed her hands on her hips and sneered in a very unlady-like manner.

“Why Ino, I’m glad to know you care. It makes me all warm and fuzzy on the inside,” Sarah shot a sickly sweet smile in Ino’s direction, and then turned, “Now if you don’t mind, and I’m sure you don’t, I have more pressing matters to attend to. Cya!” She gave a wave of her hand and started down the hallway.

Sakura slowly unclenched her fists and struggled to calm herself. Once she had accomplished such, she broke into a soft smile, one that suited her face much better than the previous scowl. What Sarah had said wasn’t entirely untrue. Sakura did have a bunch of men vying for her attention, but not because she was a whore. No. Sakura was perhaps the most beautiful girl on campus. She and her friend Ino were considered the princesses of Austere, their magic school, and they worked hard to display perfect images. Both possessed beautiful, soft and succulent skin, perfectly manicured nails, brilliantly colored hair, and a lithe, sultry physique. They were the only ones who could get away with altering their uniforms (as they were perfect, ideal students, and Tsunades favorites). Their common white healer robes had been fitted to their bodies, cut up the sides to reveal long legs. Sakura’s was tied around the waist with pink ribbon, and Ino’s with baby blue. Both of them had cut the robes in such a fashion that it displayed more cleavage than someone in their birthday suit.

Ino yawned softly and ran a hand through her luxurious blond hair, “Other than the fact that she’s a bitch, why is it again that we hate her so much?”

“Don’t you think it’s strange that some girl out of nowhere just waltzed into our school, with no real magical history, and advanced to where she is now? It’s even stranger that the Head Mistress even allowed her in the school! She could be a spy or something from Eidolon.”

“Her? A spy? Get real Sakura. You know Kurenai herself slipped her a truth potion and interrogated her. There was no evidence of it. You’re just being paranoid,” Ino flicked her friend on the shoulder, “Now let’s get going. With any luck, Sasuke will be in the cafeteria.”

Sakura sneered towards Ino, “He’s got no interest in you. You shouldn’t even try.”

“This coming from the girl who practically shoves her tits in his face and gets no response? Get real. He’s obviously into realistic girls, rather than ones with magically-enhanced tits and dyed hair.” Ino snickered and started off down the hallway.

“They’re not enhanced!” Sakura scowled and stomped after her friend. It was an odd friendship. Most people speculated that they two were only close to each other because they were enemies. You know the saying ‘keep your friends close and your enemies closer?’ Well, that was what ran their friendship. It was especially obvious when it came to Sasuke. Both girls wanted his attention, and both failed miserably at catching it.

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“You’re late.”

Sarah didn’t respond right away. She was too busy gulping down air and struggling to re-inflate her lungs. The mad dash to try and get from the southern edge of campus to the northern edge had stolen most of her energy. Despite the fact she had taken the time to briefly enchant her boots with a speed charm, the brunette was still ten minutes late to her private lesson.

Finally, after she managed to calm her beating heart, she drew herself up and shot her teacher a cocky little smile, “Sorry.”

He was dressed as odd as ever, decked out in a mask that covered his lower face and much of his neck, a tight black shirt, somewhat loose black pants, and boots similar to hers, only shorter. His hair, a unique shade of silver, was held away from his face by a black sash that obscured one eye and tied behind his skull. Lean, muscular arms were mostly covered by fingerless black leather gloves that trailed to his elbows, padded on the forearm (they served as protection when he needed to block incoming attacks).

“Before we start, I’d like to know about the progress of your current project,” Kakashi stared at her. His smirk was hidden beneath his mask. The project was always a touchy subject for Sarah.

The girl rolled her eyes, “Hrmph. I don’t know why you saddled me with the rich brat, Kakashi. Why can’t you teach him? He’s taking valuable time away from my social life, and I’m running out of excuses to give my friends.” She crossed her arms and stared at him, her eyes narrowed, “That and he hides shit from me. I went the entire three weeks break without knowing that the asshole could use illusionary techniques!”

Kakashi eyed her for a moment before speaking, “I have duties as a teacher. I can’t afford two private students at one time. I’m technically not even allowed to give you private tutoring. The least you can do is not complain about what I ask of you. That is, if you want these lessons to stay private.”

He was, of course, indicating that he could include this ‘mystery’ boy in their lessons. That changed Sarah’s tune right away. The last thing she wanted was someone intruding on her time with Kakashi. She was possessive of him, and his attention. Part of it had to do with the fact that the lean twenty-five year old male had been the one to find her and bring her to the school. The other part was the fact that Sarah learned at an intense rate. Adding in the mystery boy would only slow her down.

She forced a smile, “I’ll cope, as long as he decides to put in a bit more work. For a prodigy, he sure is fucking lazy.”

“Hm.”

Sarah stuck her tongue out at Kakashi. He always seemed bored and lax around her. He toyed with her during their battles, making fun of any unnecessary actions she comitted during the course of their lessons. Sarah was good, but she was only three-fourths as good as Kakashi. He wasn’t known as the number one battle mage in all of Trsiel for nothing. Aal’gesh still sought after him to teach at their school, but he always refused.

“Let’s get started. I’m itching to relieve some frustration,” She splayed her legs and bent her knees just a tad, her arms brought up before her in a defensive position. Kakashi almost always attacked first in order to test how she was progressing in her defensive capabilities.

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Naruto sighed and rubbed his head. Today had been immensely stressful. First he had been subject to a scorching hot sun which had left him dehydrated and with a slight headache. The headache had only gotten worse as the day progressed. His last class was the worst of them all.

A Summoner mage didn’t gain their soul-bound creature until the end of their sophomore year. The first two years of school focused on theories surrounding summoning magic, combat, working in tune with your creature, and how to summon forth the spirit. The last two years were used as time for the mage and their creature to bond. The mage and the creature worked side by side, fighting, training and so forth. Summoners learned advanced techniques that could boost the strength of their pet, alongside other methods that allowed them to use their pet’s senses.

As a senior, Summoners were expected to be able to summon and control their pet during every class. Needless to say, Naruto’s first day doing so was not at all pleasant. The nine-tailed fox, affectionately dubbed Kyuubi (its self-given name), had proceeded to wreck the classroom the moment it had been summoned. It wasn’t until after a magical binding concocted by the teacher that the summoned beast was able to be controlled. As a result, Naruto had been forced to clean the entire room of debris, apologize to each and every student, and he had also been given an enormous amount of homework to do.

He was now draped across a table in the cafeteria, his empty dishes discarded before him. All he wanted right now was for Sarah to waltz in and take care of this headache so he could think properly.

The cafeteria was virtually empty. It was late at night, but since the food was self replenishing and self-heating, students could grab something no matter what time of the day. Sarah always ate dinner really late at night. It was a routine that had developed after she had taken on that project. Of course, Naruto knew nothing about the project. He only thought that Kakashi kept Sarah out really late practicing. The private lessons he did know about. He had, after all, spied on his friend. If someone close to you continuously vanished, with odd excuses, you would spy too.

The golden haired boy buried his face into his orange sleeve. Since school hours were over, he was dressed casually in some black slacks and a long-sleeved orange shirt. It was his most comfortable shirt, and the night was getting nippy.

Naruto had almost drifted off to sleep when gentle fingers caressed his head, and his headache vanished. Azure optics opened and he rotated his head so that he could see Sarah as she plopped down beside him. She was somewhat filthy (who wouldn’t be after continous battle with Kakashi, and then with her project student), and tired, her slow movements signifying that she had exhausted herself. As she sat down, she propped a blue tray up in front of her, containing the meal of the day: bread, baked potato, some sort of poultry (Naruto couldn’t tell the difference between chicken and turkey), and a large helping of gravy. A glass of water sat beside a steaming hot mug of tea; Sarah’s two favorite beverages.

“Thanks,” Naruto shot her a small smile.

“You’re welcome,” she replied before digging into her food. They sat there for a few moments in silence before Sarah spoke through a mouthful of potatoe, “Anyone for the list?”

His grin widened just a tad and he let off a yawn, “Not today.” What was the list? While there was no actual physical manifestation of said list, it did involve very real names of very real people. Every person on said imaginary list was another person Sarah jokingly committed herself to murdering for Naruto’s sake. It was a list of all those who tortured the cute blond, or made fun of him. Needless to say, if Naruto knew Sarah wouldn’t hesitate to actually murder the people on the list, just for fun, he wouldn’t have compiled it in the first place.

“Too bad,” she muttered through a full mouth of various items. Sarah lacked obvious table manners. She finished eating in record time and contented herself to sipping on her scorching hot tea, “Heard you destroyed the Creature Control classroom.”

“It deserved it,” he snorted softly and then grinned. Now that his headache was gone, he was in a much better mood, “Heard you bitched out the princesses’ again.”

“Ah. News sure travels fast in this tiny school,” Sarah threw caution to the wind and downed the rest of her tea, scalding her throat in the process. She healed it immediately with the last of her energy reserved and then collapsed on the table with a grunt, “Naruto. Carry me to my room. I’m tired.”

“Carry yourself,” he gave her a casual shove, “You’re talented enough to do that, aren’t you?”

“I think you’re mistaking me for Mr-stick-up-his-ass prodigy boy. Because, you know, if anyone can defy reality, he definitely can.” She was obviously referring to Sasuke.

Naruto’s face twitched, almost as if his whisker-like scars were real, and responsive to the environment, “True. True.” He paused in contemplative thought, “Oy. You know what we should do? After class tomorrow, let’s head down to Aerith. I want to buy some more clothes.”

“You mean you want to steal some booze and naughty magizines,” She corrected him, “And I can’t. I’ve got an extra long lesson with Kakashi tomorrow.”

Naruto flushed. Sarah had automatically guessed his ulterior motive. Then again, they both commonly went down to snatch things from unsuspecting stores. Sarah was a master at stealing, and Naruto was learning well, “Again? Wasn’t that where you were today?”

“Yeah,” she stood and stretched, “And I’m exhausted. Let’s go.”

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There was no separation between girl and boy dormitories, although there were restrictions on opposite-sex housing. Boys could bunk with boys, girls could bunk with girls. That was it.

Sarah resided in room two-hundred thirty one, and Naruto was only four doors down on the same side. He dropped her off at her door and she gave him an evil little grin and flicked him on the nose, “Day one is over. Get some rest, you look like you need it.”

“Eh. You too.” With that said, he started down the hall, a backwards wave given in her direction. Sarah watched him for a few moments before she slipped into her dorm. The two-room apartment like complex was quiet, which meant Temari was either asleep or spending the night with Shikamaru. Sarah, being ever the curious one, opened the door to Temari’s room and smirked in satisfaction as she saw it was vacant. The brunette gave off a yawn, her eyes closing. She pulled the door shut, turned, and opened her eyes to a somewhat disturbing sight.

“Fuck! Dray! You’re bleeding on my couch!”

Who was Dray? Dray was the lanky six foot, six inch over effeminate male that was draped across her furniture, bleeding from delightfully slashed wrists. He had shockingly white hair, cut in a jagged pattern at the ends which were dyed as deep a red as the blood that poured from his pale skin. His golden eyes were bloodshot and somewhat glazed, and a creep insane-laced grin was smacked on his face. It was the type of grin you would expect to see on the face of a pedophile eyeballing their next prey.

Instead of responding, the male simply smirked at her and dipped his head to lap up the blood. It was his way of saying he was sorry. His appearance was not out of the ordinary, but Sarah was still peeved that she’d have all that blood to clean up.

“You should do that outside or something,” she muttered as she untied and yanked her boots off. They were quickly followed by the rest of her clothing, revealing a relatively flawless body, save for some scars (obviously battle wounds), and an odd tattoo on her inner left thigh. Day, however, appeared totally oblivious to her strip-show as he continued to trace his tongue over the wounds he had given himself. As he did so, the wounds sealed themselves, and once again the tanned male had perfect skin.

“Where’s Loki?” Sarah asked as she entered the bathroom, not caring much to stick around for an answer.

Dray began to carve anew on his flesh, with no indication of any pain. The only emotion he displayed was the absolute delight at the swelling of blood that broke forth across his skin. If one looked close enough, they would have been able to observe the erection that pressed at his sinfully tight black leather pants. His own blood excited him that much. “Loki’s mad at me,” he replied in a silky smooth, calm, and even bored voice.

Sarah rolled her eyes as she stared at herself in the mirror, “I don’t give a fuck. I just want to know where he is.”

“Don’t know.”

“I’m right here.” The exasperated voice came from just outside the bathroom door. Sarah peeked out to confirm Loki’s existence. He was around her age (as was Dray), only he was much shorter. He only stood at a height of five foot eight inches, something he frequently expressed his dislike for. His hair, a light brown, was cropped short, the tips dyed blond. His skin was abnormally pale in contrast to his tanned brother, and the fact that he wore all black, including a black trench coat, only accented this feature. The most dazzling part of Loki was his brilliant green eyes. Those eyes displayed not onl intelligence, but a cunning master of mental capabilities, and a distinct sadism.

“Can you get Dray to stop bleeding over everthing?” Sarah muttered darkly as she began to draw a bath.

“Alright,” Loki turned his gaze to his brother and rose an eyebrow, “Dray. If you don’t stop, I’ll limit your playtime.”

Dray suddenly froze, and looked to Loki with somewhat dismayed eyes. Playtime, in essence, meant the amount of time in which Dray was allowed to touch Loki. Taking away from that was worse than death for the sex-crazed S&M. Instantly he tucked away his knife, stopped his bleeding, and cleaned up his surrounding area.

Loki’s face remained impassive, and he merely leaned back against the wall, ignoring his brother for now, “Sarah, anything new?”

“Nope,” she replied as she slipped into the water, “Just another fucking boring year. Although I do have so much fun torturing the people here. You?”

“It’s been quite boring actually. I do have some good news for you though. Yesterday was an Akatsuki meeting, with all of the members, myself included of course. I got to meet all of them, and you would never believe who the second in command is.” Loki drummed his fingers against the wall.

“Who?” Sarah knew this had to be good.

“Itachi Uchiha.”

The sly girls grin grew even wider at this tidbit of information. She leaned back and sunk into the warm water until only her head was visible, “The same Itachi that destroyed his entire clan and ran off?”

“Who else could it be?” Loki drawled out, eyeballing Dray who was staring at him, a signature crazy hobo look on his face.

Sarah elapsed into silence, a smirk dominating her features. Oh this was just too delicious. Now to figure out a way to best use this information.

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Authors Note

Alright. If you haven’t guessed it yet, Sasuke is Sarah’s project. You’ll learn more about their relation in the next chapter, and why she’s training him. For those of you who are confused when it comes to Sarah, Dray and Loki…well, read the story summary again, and you’ll get a hint. The next chapter will cover their roles better. It’ll also include introductions of Hinata and Shino. Oh, and don't worry. Once the fic gets into motion, it'll focus less on Sarah and more on the other characters. Especially Naruto and Sasuke.

This chapter is a bit shorter, but this seemed like the best place to end it. Please review! Thanks!