Hi, I'm a newbie in FFnet who's looking to try my hand at writing and also to improve my English as it's not my first language. So I really hope that you guys will give this story a try and guide me on ways to better improve my language skills and story writing skills.

I guess this story's character might be a Mary Sue, because from what I've read around, Mary sues are original characters? So yeah, as a precaution, I'm issuing a Mary Sue warning first.

Well then, onwards and thank you very much for your help.

The alarm clock rang shrilly and a pale hand smacked it hard, silencing the irritating thing forever. With a loud sigh, the large mountain of blankets and pillows move and tumbled about, finally revealing a tousled head.

With another loud yawn, the slender lithe body half dropped half clambered off the bed into the bathroom.

Hoodie - Check. Scarf - check. School uniform - Check. Glasses - Check.

Alright. Time to go.

For 8am in the morning, the street was surprisingly deserted. She hurried, alternating between the map in her hands and the road.

"You got to be kidding me." She spoke out loud in English as she stared up at her destination. A dilapidated building covered in vandalism stood forlornly in front of her. Even the gates, with barbed wire winding around the top, radiated an aura of abuse.

For a moment, she wondered if she had gone into the wrong place. But that's not right. The signboard stated, "Suzuran Boys High School". She was in the right place, no doubt about it.

"As expected of the worst high school in Japan," she murmured underneath her breath. She hadn't expected a really lovely school, based on what she had heard about this place. But she wasn't expecting it to be this bad. For a moment, she had her misgivings. Would it be worth it if she got killed in here?

She shook her head vigorously. Blinking rapidly behind tinted glasses, she swallowed and proceeded onward into the school.

The insides of the school were no better than the outside. She sat stiffly in a worn out hall next to a boy vigorously digging his nose, eyes steadfastly looking forward at the Principal giving the welcome speech. He seemed apprehensive and she could forgive him for that. It was a well known fact that the country's worst troublemakers went to Suzuran All Boys High School. Any student here was probably capable of being the top bad ass at any other schools. Now, majority - the minority being good students like her. How did they end up here, anyway? - of the freshmen are getting bored and restless. That spells trouble.

Sighing, she turned away to look to her other side, where a young male with a face mask was sitting, reading a book calmly. Her mouth twitched upwards slightly as she caught sight of the familiar content. Without meaning to, she lean leftwards to take a closer look at the book, not even noticing the way the owner of the book glance at her from the corner of his eyes and waited patiently while she finished reading.

"Done?"

She started a little when she heard his muffled voice.

"Sorry." She apologised politely. Best not to get on anyone's bad side. This guy looked like he could throw a mean punch or three, despite his book worm symptoms.

He merely shrugged. "Didn't think anyone else in this school can read."

At her questioning glance, he elaborated. "This is Suzuran, known for fighters, gangsters and idiots, not students. You look like someone smart."

Ah…

"You mean I look like I can't fight." She said. Her lips curled into a self-deprecating smile behind the scarf.

Even beneath his mask, she could see his eyes crinkle in embarrassment.

"I get that all the time." She answered dryly and gave a theatrical shrug. "I'm used to it."

"So you really can't fight?" a voice interrupted. Sora turned to look past the boy, where a young man with sharp eyes and spiky hair was sitting on his other side. He looked at her suspiciously. Past him, on his other side, a tall guy with long pigtails and goggle-like shades sat solemnly. Pig tails? What kind of guy wears pigtails? "How are you going to survive Suzuran?"

"I'm pretty good at escaping." She deadpanned.

A muffled chuckle from he-who-wears-a-face-mask. "Honjo. Honjo Toshiaki."

"Kirishima Hiromi." That was Spiky hair, and Pig Tails was... "Sugihara Makoto..."

She gave a polite nod. "Asamori Sora. Nice to meet you."

"Next, a few words from our freshmen representative." Their conversation was disrupted by the principal who gratefully gave the stage to a young round-faced fellow freshman. A pathetic smattering of clapping could be heard from the school teachers.

"Looks like I'm not the only one who's a student here." She murmured. She pushed her glasses further up her nose and tugged at the scarf around her neck. She was so warm in here. But what can she do? It's not like she can afford to remove her coat.

"How long will this take?" She asked Honjo. He was saved from answering as a bald freshman with squinty eyes stalked up the stage and proceed to kick his terrified school mate off.

"Yo listen up!"

That seemed to be the unofficial signal to get up and get ready for a fight as everyone leapt up.

"Stupid idiot!" Kirishima snorted as they listened to the fresh man giving his version of a ceremonial speech. "Another one who thinks he can rule this school. Look at him being all cocky and arrogant!"

She refrained from pointing out that Kirishima himself had the same thinking.

A smirk twisted Kirishima's pretty boy features. "YOU'RE FULL OF IT! SQUID HEAD!"

"WHO'S A SQUID HEAD?" Mr. 'Squid head' roared. Bursts of laughter rang out and belatedly, Sora realised she was one of those, grinning away.

Seriously, for THE gangster school in Japan, this is fast becoming a comedy.

Kirishima merely stood up smugly, walking to the middle of the hall. "You are."

And that's when chaos erupted.

True to her own words, Sora managed to get out of the massive fist fights, landing herself in a corner with 2 other teachers hiding out. Tables, chairs, fists and knees flew freely everywhere, and twice, Sora has to dive out of wayward trajectiles.

Silently, she slipped out of the grand hall, the peace outside a stark contrast to the deafening battle going on inside. Briefly, she wondered if she should go in and help Honjo, Sugihara and Kirishima.

On second thoughts, nah... They're obviously confident enough to take on the whole level, judging by the way Kirishima purposely pissed off the Squid head... They don't need my...

"Oof!" She slammed into a wall and fell backwards.

"What the fuck?" She heard the wall curse.

So she hadn't hit a wall, she had hit someone. Oops. She hurriedly stood up. Her body tensed when she eyed the quartet in front of her. Most likely, she can choose to either fight or run.

Most likely, run.

"First year freshman, huh?" the leader – the biggest and fattest of the lot – growled. "Watch where Ya going, bastard!"

"Uh… Sorry about that?" She began. "Though I'll gotta tell you I'm supposed to be in the third year, and not the first."

That seemed to piss him off. "What was that?" he snarled. "Ya think I'm stupid, huh? HUH?"

Uh Oh… Me and my big mouth…

"Ya need to be taught a lesson to respect your elders…" The leader snarled. "Get'im!"

She needed no more reason to turn around and dive straight back towards the school hall. Between the fighting in the grand hall and this bunch of guys, she'll choose the grand hall.

At least I can lose them in there… That, and I can probably get help from my 'new found friends', in the worst case scenario… SHIT…!

Letting out a string of profanities, she turned and quickly ran in another direction, away from the quartet behind her and away from the trio that was currently charging towards her, making her initial decision to go back to the hall unfeasible.

Behind her, the two small groups combined into a miniature mob, chasing after her in the school corridor. In front of her, lone students ran out of her way when they spied the group descending upon them.

"Get back here and fight like a man!" She heard the leader snarl.

Lucky I'm not a man, eh…

In an attempt to buy time, she dumped cupboards, chairs and tables behind her to slow the gang down. It worked, as the group had to manoeuvre over the mess. She tore up the stairs and turned into another school corridor, nearly smashing headlong into another student.

He was very tall and lean, with a severely handsome face and a strange hairstyle that resembled a Mohawk combed back. His pants rode low and were accentuated with a white belt and chain.

She recognised him - Takiya Genji - fellow Transfer-student-in-arm and (if she would have it) current hero to the rescue. She saw him at the administration office just this morning, before the entrance ceremony, when they both came to enrol.

"You got to help hide me!" she hissed. He blinked and looked around him.

"Where?" he asked.

Sora slapped her head in exasperation... Forget I said anything...

"Just don't let anyone know you've seen me!" Sora said as she barrelled into a rusty janitors' cupboard, and slammed the door shut, just in time as the group of 7 came running into the school corridor after that.

"Where did that asshole go?" She heard one yell out amidst the crowd of voices.

"Hey, You! You saw a shortie run by?"

"No… He ran the other way…" She could hear Takiya's voice, bored and uninterested. There was a loud bump on the cupboard door and cigarette smoke wafted in from the outside. Sora wrinkled her nose.

"Come on! Let's go!"

Loud footsteps thundered and then there was blissful silence. Soon after, the cupboard door opened creakily.

"You can come out now." Takiya said.

"Thank you for your help." Sora said sheepishly, climbing out of the dirty cupboard.

Takiya merely grunted and turned away.

"Hey! Takiya Genji-san," Sora called out, jogging to catch up with his long strides. He turned and looked down at her, barely reaching his chin. Yep, she was that short. "I owe you one for that. If you need any help, give me a call. I'm Asamori Sora."