I sighed for the fourth time today. My books were slipping off my arm. I clutched them to my chest tighter, wishing that kitsune magicians/teachers weren't so talkative. Hikari had gone back to the School for Kitsune and Kitsune Hybrids, so that she could explain to everyone that she was transferring. Everything was happening so fast- I didn't have time to think.

"Do you need help?" Minori asked tentatively.

"No," I snapped. I began to stalk away, my chest boiling with anger.

Minori trailed behind me. "What happened? You seem angry."

"Nothing. Leave me alone." I was most annoyed when people asked why you were angry, when it was clear that you wouldn't want to talk about it.

"But-"

"I believe she said no, whoever you are." A soft voice spoke up. My head snapped up. At first, I couldn't believe my eyes.

"Koan?" I spat out.

"Hello. Is that the kind of greeting I'm going to get?" His gold eyes bore into mine.

I laughed sarcastically. "What did you expect? A huge hug after what you did to me?"

"Yep."

"In your dreams."

"Yep."

"Idiot."

"Nope."

"Yep."

"Hello?" Minori drawled loudly. "Am I interrupting?"

We both stared at her. "Of course."

"I'll go then." Minori made a motion of darting away.

I shooed her with my hands. "Go."

Minori sprinted away. I watched her go, and I noticed that she didn't run very fast.

"Right now you really are adiaphorous."

"Impressive vocabulary, Kojoro."

"Thanks." I sneered. Koan frowned at me.

"So cold to your old classmate. Actually, the classmate you spent most of your attention on."

"That's only because you were begging for it."

"Says who?"

"Says me."

"Wrong."

"So right. You have no idea how much I loathed you when I was even only two hundred years old, idiot."

"Shortcake, you're being ridiculous."

"Don't call me that." I snapped. "I'm not even short."

"You are to me."

"Well, then you're freakishly tall."

Koan began to guffaw. I hated the sound.

"Really, you should respect me, hybrid."

Koan stopped cold. His eyes hardened, and he pressed his lips into a thin line. "Follow me."

I stalked after Koan, mad. The appearance of Koan had enraged me. He was reminding me of my old school, just like Hikari was. When Koan whirled around, I bumped right into his back. Ugh. I made a big show of wiping my mouth with my hand to get rid of Koan's 'cooties '.

"Now, what the hell are you doing here?" I demanded.

Koan stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Well, there was a break, so I decided to come here and harass you."

"How thoughtful of you!" Now I was really furious. Who did he think he was, coming and interrupting my life? Sure, Hikari did the same but she's a friend! I concentrated on my powers, and splayed my hand. Koan was flung into the pool next to us by an invisible force. He spluttered, and widened his eyes. When he realized that I did it, his expression turned into a sneer.

He raised his eyebrows. "Is that the best you can do? We learned how to condense the air when we were one hundred years old, Kojoro." The water around him began to rise. I should have known better than to surround him with his expert element- water. The water formed a wave, and it began to push Koan upwards. I hadn't seen that one yet- I couldn't deny that I was impressed.

The wave had grew large enough to be lethal for even a kitsune. I wasn't sure if Koan wanted to kill me, but I wouldn't take any risks. I slowed time down, just between the bubble of Koan and me. Koan narrowed his eyes- remember, time is slowed down- and I formed a shield around me and waited.

The wave crashed against my shield, and Koan landed in front of the exterior of my shield. He pressed his hand against it, and then frowned. "New trick?"

I cocked my head. "What, you haven't learnt it yet?"

Koan gritted his teeth. "Doesn't matter." I felt his powers explode against my shield, and I was blown backwards. I landed on the grass five meters behind me, and felt the wind being knocked out of me. I gasped for a breath for a second, and then sat up.

Koan was standing in front of me. He clenched his fist, but a look from me reminded me that he couldn't punch a girl. Koan took a step backwards.

My expert element was fire. That wasn't good, since Koan's water could douse my fire. I hadn't quite mastered the skill of the kind of fire that burn underwater, but I could control it- barely.

The trick was to combine your understandings of both elements, which was very difficult. I narrowed my eyes while Koan examined my expression. Suddenly, I got the right feeling and the power exploded out of me.

I started at Kojoro. She seemed to be concentrating, and I knew the look. She began to make motions with her hands, while seeming to go into a trance. Kojoro gritted her teeth, and before I realized what she was doing, a huge flame erupted into life in between us.

Kojoro's flame formed a circle around her, protecting her from me. I crossed my arms. I see. That's clever, it's a fire that I can't extinguish, I thought.

Kojoro looked at the flames around her. She smiled, and then glanced at me. "Ready?"

I nodded. My mind scrambled for a trick, but my old habit was back, when my thoughts would wander, like it's doing now...

SNAP OUT OF IT! My mind screamed.

I focused on a basic one, a shield of water. It formed a circle just like Kojoro's, and we were soon at a stalemate. If either stepped out of our circles, we would be attacked instantly. I touched my circle gingerly.

Suddenly, I felt my hair standing on end. Kojoro's sensing abilities were always better than mine, and I saw that she was looking towards the left side of the field with a look of astonishment on her face.

A wall of yellow vapor was racing towards us. Wait, no, it was electricity! The wall crackled and made popping noises, and I cringed instantly.

Something was tugging at the back of my mind... Something very, very important. Something about how water was excellent conductors...

My eyes widened. I recoiled from the water very quickly, just before the wall of electricity hit my shield. The shield erupted, and I created another shield around me- a shield of air, I wasn't stupid enough to forget that-, very closely, to avoid the electricity. The grass around me was instantly fried, and then the assault ended.

Kojoro was grinning. How dare she? A figure was racing over. He had dark hair and amber eyes. Ugh, a hybrid.

"Is fighting even allowed? Are you okay, Kojoro? Who are you? What are you doing here? Don't you have classes? Why are you guys fighting?" The guy stopped with a gust of wind in front of us.

"Yes, yes, Koan, fighting, no- not really, we hate each other." Kojoro answered. I glared at her, hoping it looked menacing.

My lungs were on fire. I hated running long distance, but I couldn't exactly summon the wind. I was a human-kitsune, which meant that I was set back several decades in learning magic and air wasn't even my expert element. Lightning was.

I was coming out of the bathroom when I noticed lots of water and fire churning in the distance. Looking closer, you could tell that it was Kojoro and someone battling each other. Naturally, I panicked and sent a wave of electricity, which was stupid, since I didn't even know if Kojoro was on the water side and water's highly conductive.

The other guy managed to block my attack and protect himself. I wondered who he was- he was almost as powerful as Kojoro, and Kojoro had special abilities. Why else would she have been able to climb over to my house? I figured it out as soon as Minori started to say her name and when I saw Kojoro running away.

"What?" I asked incredulously.

"Fighting is allowed, I'm fine, his name is Koan and he's an old classmate, I'm fighting him, I do have classes but they are automatically dismissed if you're fighting with another person, and we're fighting because we hate each other and he came over and provoked me. Besides, I thought you weren't talking to me, Jacob."

"Human-kitsune. Always so clueless," Koan snarled.

My expression was probably a mix of disbelief, skepticism, and shock if it was reflecting how I felt. "Who says I wasn't talking to you? I have no idea where you got the idea."

"Well, when you stalked away after cutting me off when we walked back together, I guessed that you weren't talking to me."

Before I could reply, Koan cut in. "Don't forget me!"

"Not in a million years," Kojoro replied sarcastically.

Koan took a bow dramatically and said with an Italian accent, "Thank you, Madame Kojoro. Wish you good luck in your career of harassing people to the degree of making them speak with an Italian accent- what am I doing?" Koan shook his head and walked away.

Kojoro and I were left staring at each other. Kojoro, being the ruder and more straightforward of us two, stalked away, muttering curses.