... Well? What're you hanging around this AN for? Get reading.

I own nothing but my own OCs. :D Later OCs sent in by readers will be pointed out in ANs on the chapters they appear in.

"Rokuuu! We're gonna be laate!"

"I am more than aware, Chii!"

The two siblings were in a rush that morning. The break was over, they were scrambling to get breakfast in, and...

Wait, why am I speaking in third person? Sorry, gotta get my stuff straight. Okay... Where was I?

Right. My little brother stood on his toes as I got to work wrapping up that morning's breakfast, packing the two sausage biscuits in a paper towel and sliding the bundle into the microwave. I set it fast and looked down at the little guy, trying not to sound too panicked. "Chii, can you go grab my jacket? Its inside of-"

"I know." He muttered quickly, turning around and speeding off up the stairs. The little guy was fast, as expected of a SMG. I smile just a bit as I pull my shirt on fully, buttoning it up as fast as I can manage it. I struggled to get the top buttons done, managing to get it together over my chest before Chii gets back down with my jacket. I motioned for him to toss it, and he does. Really hard. I managed to catch it before it fell into the sink, and pulled it on as Chii watched the microwave. Hungry kid, he was.

The nuke box dinged as I started buttoning my jacket up, prompting my brother to jump up and pull the door open. Our breakfast was finally done, and I decided to leave the top buttons of my jacket open. Laziness is a plague, I swear. Chii tosses me a biscuit and chomps his own up as fast as possible. I caught mine in my mouth, wonder what I'm thinking, and ran for the front door. Chii followed me as I burst out the door and jumped the gate. I left the little guy to close the door, of course.

He wouldn't be mad for too long. Maybe.

The sun forced me to shield my eyes as I tore down the sidewalk, working my legs over like a madman would. They were awesome legs, if I do say so myself, but I digress. I looked back to see lil' Chii starting to catch up, trying to smile past my now half-eat breakfast. It looked weird, so I stopped and turned around. My side bang decided to get in my face as a burst of air came through, and I brush it aside before caused problems. I turned a corner and nearly hit a lady walking with her kid, quickly apologizing and getting back on track. Good thing I brushed my bang away.

There's a term for that, but I couldn't think of it. I ignored the urging of my brain to track this term down and managed to forget to watch where I was going, and I suddenly fell into an enchanted pothole in the sidewalk, hearing my brother trip and fall with me...

XXX

"And you expect me to believe that?!"

Their ears rang as the voice of everyone's favorite hardass, otherwise known as Coach Johnson, tore into the two siblings standing before him. They were in quite the state of disarray, with dirt and grime splattered in patches on their clothes. The older one, Kara, had hair that probably experienced a nice, relaxing mud bath involuntarily. A few strands were stuck out, even. Needless to say, Kara looked ridiculous. It would've been funny if he wasn't taking it so lightly.

"No, sir." The older rifle responded cheerfully, smiling and pushing a dirty bang out of one eye. The dark mud mixed in well with that nearly jet black hair. "I was actually hoping you'd be so amazed at my brazen lies, you'd tell me to fall in before you kicked my ass." That carried over to a few students nearby, and they chuckled. This was a good distraction as they waited for Johnson to unlock the locker rooms. The coach, ever the old rifle, gave the rifle a stone-faced look before sighing.

"Okay... Yeah, okay. You planned that, Kararoku... Okay. MPX, go fall in with the rest." The litle one nodded and ran over to the group, leaving Kara to deal with he coach. Kara was still smiling, expecting to iust be told off or something. The coach watched the rifle in silence, and it turned into a stand off. To the side, the crowd shifted. Then the coach smiled.

"Report to the range, SIG 556. Load yourself. I want one hundred rounds through you as fast as possible."

Kara wasn't smiling. No one was smiling, bar Johnson.

XXX

The main group, sans Kara, was simply made to run around the school. It being early morning, and the bunch of students that came early to Dainishu Academy were... usually tired, a good run did 'em good. At least, that's what Coach Johnson thought. He ran alongside the semi-large group and called a lazy cadence, which everyone thought was weird, but didn't question. Most of them knew why.

MPX didn't, but he ran along anyway, keeping pace with the rest of the bunch. Spatters of conversation popped up at random, talking about some new magazine with new poses for M16, or a report on some war, or even videos of a competition or two from the human's side of things. They took particular interest in that, as did MPX, though the latter didn't show it. Even Coach listened in.

Truth was that they all followed it closely. Dainishu Academy wasn't just some school for talented kids, or even prestigious names. They got those sometimes, but that wasn't the point. Dainishu was that special school that, instead of taking in the future of humanity, took in the future- and in some cases, past- of gun culture. MPX, 556, MR-1. You name it, they were there.

Put very simply, they were all guns. But not just any guns. None of them, notably, were active in any military, mostly delegated to police forces, government agencies, or worse, not used at all. Some were just starting. Like MPX.

Speaking of, someone bumped into him, apparently on purpose. The little SMG turned to the offender with a blank expression, tempted to snark off at them. He stopped short of that, however, once he noted that it was another SMG. A cute one.

"You're new." She flicked her head idly as she ran alongside of him, getting a lock of blonde, curly hair out of her face. MPX didn't respond. "At least, I think you are. I've never seen you around. But I did see that guy you were with." He looked away from her at that. He was still embarrassed over that excuse. She giggled in response, bumping into him again playfully.

"Don't look so down about it. I know Kararoku. He's silly like that. You his little brother?" She asked innocently, bumping into him gently at the 'silly' part. He reluctantly nodded, which the girl caught onto fast. "You've never seen him and Johnson before. It's what they do every time he's late. It's kind of like a game."

That didn't make MPX feel any better... or, at least, she couldn't tell. His expression never changed. So, to try and keep it going, she went and changed subjects. "My name is Ara-shi. Or... well, that's what my friends call me. You can call me Cx4, or Storm." Not even that got a comment from him. Needless to say, Cx4 was kind of disappointed. One would think that, considering that he was Kara's brother, he'd be more playful. It was strange. She was about to give up on a reply before she heard a small muttering noise.

"... roku." That last part was all she got. Suspecting that it was from her soon-to-be friend, she spared him a glance and her favorite charm-laced smile.

"Che cosa?" She asked cheerfully, gasping once she realized what she did. "I'm sorry. That was 'what' in my language." It took a second, but she got a reply.

"M... MPX. M-my friends call me Chii-roku." He muttered, almost inaudible if it wasn't for the intense focus Ara-shi had on him. She got a name, though! That was a start. Now to work the rest.

"Well, can I call you Chii-roku?" She sang back, getting a little closer to him to get a better reaction. The group turned a corner suddenly, making her fall back a little bit and lose Chii-roku before she could get an answer. She felt her little balloon of cheer begin to deflate. That was going to be her friend...

Then someone bumped her from the side. She stumbled into a .308 student and bounced off, apologizing quickly and turning to get a look at the offender. She stopped short of yelling once she saw who that was.

"Only if I can call you Ara-shi." Chii-roku sang back, flashing her a smile that made her reflect it with her own. The two ran on with that mutual stare, and Ara-shi couldn't help but bump him again.

"Welcome to Dainishu, Chiiroku."

I just wanted to make the first chapter a little cute. :D We've got new Dainishu arrival MPX, old hands abound, and one angry 1941 rifle. :D This is gonna be fun.

Rate and Review! If my writing's crappy, I wanna know about it. XD Thanks for reading!

~ The Schwag