Archive of Our Own ^beta

    Karma was angry. No, he was far beyond that at this point. He was furious, in a way that the others had never seen him, more used to his casual snappishness when irritated, rather than the dangerous image he was presenting at that moment. Golden eyes darkened to deep amber, his lips pulled back in a snarl and his clenched fists trembling at his sides as though he was barely just restraining himself from lashing out. Gone was any hint of his usual mischievousness, and there was a malevolent air coming from him that at that moment was putting Nagisa’s bloodlust to shame.

    The source of his fury was currently sat on the floor in front of him, slumped slightly against Terasaka who was scowling although not at the boy leaning on him, his face pale and tight with pain as Kayano tried to ease of his school shirt as gently as possible. Kayano’s eyes were narrowed with concentration although it did little to mask her concern, especially as she finally sat back on her heels for a moment her face paling as she glanced down at the blood now staining her suddenly trembling fingers.

“I need scissors,” her voice was quiet, scared of drawing Karma’s fury and of breaking the shocked silence that had fallen over their group. Thankfully Chiba merely nodded, climbing to his feet and heading across to the shelves where the class equipment was kept, returning quickly and silently handing her a pair of scissors with a faint grimace. “Stay still, I don’t want to catch you,” she warned and waited until Nagisa nodded to show he’d heard before setting to work cutting off the shirt, biting her lip as despite her efforts to avoiding causing him pain he let out a soft whimper.

   The noise was enough to break through the fog of Karma’s anger, and he blinked before his snarl melted away into an expression of concern as he finally allowed himself to move from his self-imposed paralysis. Dropping down in front of Nagisa he reached out to grasp the other’s face in his hands, fingers brushing gently over pale cheeks and he forced a reassuring smile onto his face as pained blue eyes rose to meet his gaze.

“Karma…”

“Shh,” Karma hushed him, using a gentle tone that none of the others had ever heard from him before, but given the anger still simmering in his eyes, they wisely held their tongues.  “Just let us look after you alright?” Nagisa blinked owlishly at him, the words taking a few minutes to penetrate through the haze of pain clouding his mind and finally he gave a small nod. It was as though that agreement had drained him of the last of his energy though, as his head sank down to rest against Terasaka’s shoulder. Which caused the larger boy to blink before his expression softened for a moment and he carefully wrapped an arm around Nagisa’s waist to support him, carefully staying out of Kayano’s way as she worked.

   With the scissors it only took a couple of minutes for her to cut it apart, abandoning the scissors as she slowly and carefully pulled the bloody material away from his back, muttering apologies when he hissed at the fresh pain she was causing. She blanched as she finally got a proper look at his back, and seeing this Karma rose quickly to his feet ignoring the quiet protest from Nagisa, moving around so that he could get a look at it. His mind finally kicking back into gear as it replayed what had happened only moments before.

    It was still nearly an hour before school would start, and yet the six of them were already in the classroom with Ritsu trying to come up with ways to deal with Koro-sensei’s ultimate defence form, and plan their assassination attempts for the day. As usual, they had pushed the desks around so that they could sprawl in a group on the floor, Nagisa’s notepad open in front of them along with a mass of sheets containing every plan they had come up with up until this point and a bouncy yellow ball sat in the middle to represent their teacher.

“Damn octopus,” Terasaka grumbled as he poked at the ball with his pencil, wishing that it was actually Koro-sensei so that he could suffer for the headaches he was giving them. “The thing is, how do we know he doesn’t have some other secret technique up his…er tentacle?”

“We don’t,” Kayano replied, smiling slightly at his stumble before glancing down at Nagisa’s notepad as she added brightly. “But we still have time to figure them out.” The little notepad which in the beginning had only had a couple of items was rapidly filling up, and while she knew that some of them were just odd observations, she had faith in Nagisa’s ability to pick up and record something that the rest of them might miss.

“Yeah but we don’t have forever,” Chiba pointed out grimly, looking slightly guilty when her face fell, but she only sighed before nodding in agreement.

“I think we should focus on what we do know,” Nagisa said before frowning down slightly at Karma who was sprawled next to him, his head resting against his knee and his eyes closed. “Karma I know you’re awake! You’re meant to be helping, not lazing around!” He scolded the red-head, nudging him gently and causing golden eyes to open as Karma smirked at him, making no effort to move and Nagisa let out an exasperated sigh that was tinged with fondness. “Karma…”

“I prefer listening to your sneaky side,” Karma teased, breaking into chuckles as the smaller boy narrowed his eyes at him a faint blush dusting his cheeks and Nagisa had just opened his mouth to retort when Hayami who had been laid facing the window screamed out a warning.

“Watch…” The rest of her shout was lost to the sound of breaking glass, and they instinctively went to move away from the window. Karma had reacted just as quickly as the rest, but as he tried to roll to safety, he was suddenly forced down by a warm body, eyes widening with horror as Nagisa cried out in pain above him.

“Nagisa?!” He shouted in alarm, managing to extract himself and surging to his feet, looking around in alarm and tensing as he took in the shattered window, and the glass scattered across the ground around them. His eyes shifted, moving to where Nagisa’s slumped form was shaking with pain and shock, crimson spots already showing on what Karma could see of his back, and there just to the side, lay a brick… His mind had gone blank at that point, and he’d only been vaguely aware of the others gathering around Nagisa with worried voices, Hayami racing out of the classroom only moments later. However, his world had narrowed down to that single, innocuous-looking brick and the dark realisation that someone had thrown it through the window.

     Feeling his earlier fury threatening to overcome him once more, Karma took a deep breath before daring to look at Nagisa’s back. And it took every scrap of willpower for him not to lose it as he took in the bloody cuts scattered across Nagisa’s back and shoulders, the faint glitter in some of them indicating that some of the glass was still inside the wounds. Kayano met his gaze nervously as he gritted his teeth to stop himself from cursing.

“What do we do?” She mouthed at him a moment later. While they had all learnt how to deal with the minor cuts and bruises that came with training to be assassins. There was no way they were equipped to deal with this, and he hesitated - hating the fact that this wasn’t something he could easily fix for Nagisa, and he found himself shaking his head helplessly.

“How bad?” Nagisa’s voice was quiet, and he made no move to lift his head, his tone indicating that even with the pain he was in, he hadn’t missed the change in the atmosphere and they both found themselves cursing his alertness.

    However, they were spared the need to actually answer by the sound of running feet, and they all glanced up just as Hayami reappeared with a worried looking Karasuma on her heels. They all caught the way his eyes darkened as he took in the damaged window before his gaze immediately shifted to Nagisa, and there was no missing the rare flash of anger in his expression.

“Karasuma-sensei!” Kayano cried with relief, of all their teachers he was the one that she trusted the most to help in this situation and she felt some of her earlier panic fading as he moved towards them, his usual calm mask back in place. Nagisa weakly lifted his head at her cry, dazed blue eyes blinking heavily as he glanced up at their teacher and after a moment he made a half-hearted attempt to rise, although Terasaka was quick to restrain him.

“Easy,” Karasuma said soothingly as he moved forwards. “Let me look,” he added as he moved around to look at the injuries, Kayano darting out of his way although she didn’t move far, her eyes finally filling with tears now that they had real help. Cautiously Karasuma inspected the injuries, his calm mask never wavering although his eyes were growing stormier by the moment, his fingers ghosting around the worst of the injuries. “Sorry,” he murmured when Nagisa jolted as he accidentally caught a bit of glass.

“I’m okay,” Nagisa whispered, glancing up as Karma let out a low growl at his words, blanching slightly at the fury in the redhead's face even though he knew it wasn’t really directed at him and he ducked his head slightly.

“You need to go to the hospital,” Karasuma said firmly, anger leaking into his voice for the first time and Nagisa jolted slightly before turning panicked eyes towards Karma. And he was unsurprised to see that his fury had increased as their teacher’s words and for the first time he found himself feeling a little bit afraid of the red-head and his voice shook slightly as he spoke.

“Karma?”

“Go,” Karma’s voice was surprisingly soft considering his expression, and Nagisa felt his momentary fear disappearing, this is still the Karma I know. “You need to be looked at properly,” he added after a moment, feeling as though he was losing important by admitting that they…he…couldn’t give Nagisa what he needed at that moment in time. Although he was careful to keep that thought carefully hidden knowing that Nagisa would refuse to go if he spotted it. Nagisa studied him for a long moment before letting out a defeated sigh followed by a whimper as the movement jostled his back.

    Not wanting to give him a chance to argue, Karasuma and Terasaka carefully helped him to his feet, the latter moving aside once he was certain that their teacher had an arm firmly slung around the smaller teen’s waist to support him. Carefully Karasuma began to guide them forward, not noticing as Hayami slipped up to Karma and whispered something in his ear, causing golden eyes to narrow. However, Nagisa had caught the movement, and he halted as they reached the pair, glancing anxiously between them before his gaze settled on Karma who shifted slightly under his gaze.

“You’re going to do something stupid aren’t you?” Nagisa asked softly, ignoring the way that Karasuma’s arm had tightened around his waist at his words, biting his lip as he stared up into Karma’s eyes daring the taller teen to lie to him.

“Not stupid no,” Karma replied after a moment, realising that lying wasn’t going to help. “But I’m not going to leave this alone…” Someone attacked you - whether you were the target or not, they dared hurt you right in front of my eyes… He glanced challengingly at Karasuma, half-expecting the man to try and say something to stop him, and he was surprised when instead he found a hint of approval in the dark eyes.

“Just don’t get caught,” Karasuma warned, and Karma grinned. It wasn’t a pleasant grin, and the other teens shivered at the sight, glad that they had never done anything to bring that look onto themselves, and Terasaka was privately thanking his lucky stars that Koro-sensei had seen through his earlier plot with the grenade.

“Of course not,” Karma managed to sound offended by the very idea, and after a moment Karasuma gave a sharp nod. Nagisa still didn’t look convinced, but he didn’t protest or fight back as he was encouraged forward and out of the classroom, glancing back just before he left and blinking as he realised that even at this distance he could feel the bloodlust now radiating from Karma.

 Please don’t be stupid about this…

****

    Karma lent casually against the wall, ignoring the suspicious and offended looks being sent his way by the passing students, wondering if any of them would dare protest his presence directly and almost hoping that they would.  Bored of watching them he let his hand slip down to his pocket, checking his weapons with a dark smirk tugging on his lips. Kayano and the others had wanted to come with him, all of them wanting the chance to avenge Nagisa, but he had refused them - pointing out that there was less chance of getting caught if there was just one of them. Plus, I’m the one who's supposed to protect him, and I failed, he added privately to himself, his fingers clenching for a moment before he forced himself to relax.

    Raising his head, he glanced around, a malicious smirk appearing on his face as he finally spotted his targets, once again thanking Hayami’s sharp eyes. She had been one of the first on her feet during the accident, and despite the chaos, she had spotted the culprits fleeing the scene and had seen enough to identify them. Patiently he waited until they had just passed him, ignoring their comments on his presence before nonchalantly straightening and following them. He wasn’t worried about being spotted, because he knew that once he had dealt with them, they wouldn’t be telling any tales on him. The pair were chuckling and whispering between themselves, and the moment he heard one of them mention ‘the window’ he moved into action.

    Quick steps brought him right up behind them, and without hesitation he dropped an arm around each of their necks, grinning as they nearly jolted out their skins before they paled as they realised who it was. He could practically see them calculating how much this was going to damage their standing in the school, smirking at how easy they were making it for him to follow his original plan, and his smirk only grew as he leant forward to whisper in their ears.

“I want a word with you two,” he could see them instantly opening their mouths to refuse, and he continued softly. “So why don’t we go somewhere private where your precious reputations won’t suffer.” Seeing that they still weren’t convinced he glanced around at the people that were beginning to stop and stare at them, obviously recognising that they weren’t in his class and he could see the whispers, and he made a show of removing his hands and shrugging. “Or we can do it here, and I can welcome you to my class in the next week or so,” he tilted his head towards the gathered students, knowing that he had won when they both paled and glanced at one another before nodding in defeat.

“Fine.”

**

     He had guided them to the empty space behind the main sports hall, knowing that it was one of the spaces they wouldn’t be interrupted at this time of morning and that it was one of the few spots that couldn’t be seen by the chairman’s cameras. He wasn’t about to risk giving the man ammunition against their class, regardless of how angry he was right now.

“What is this about Akabane?” Tanaka Nobuta demanded haughtily, seemingly having regained his composure now that they were away from the crowds and Karma couldn’t wait to change that, and it was a struggle to keep his expression even.

“It’s about your little - prank this morning.” It was a struggle to phrase it like that when all he could see was blood and pained blue eyes.

“We don’t know what you mean,” Takeda Chosuke denied instantly, but it was ruined by the way his eyes flickered nervously towards his friend, and the nervous swallow he gave when he realised that Karma had spotted the glance.

“Oh really?” Karma drawled, before his voice and eyes hardened as all humour drained out of his expression, his voice a low growl as he continued. “You see I know that it was the two of you who threw a brick through our classroom window.”   

“It was just a dare!” Tanaka protested, and Karma’s eyes narrowed dangerously, causing the other teen to swallow nervously as he held up his hands as though to ward Karma off. “Everyone says your loser class is getting too bold, the challenge was to put you back in your place.” It was clear that he was trying to sound self-righteous and adopt the usual ‘I’m better than you’ tone that he’d taken to using whenever he taunted Nagisa, and Karma snarled at him, tempted to lash out just for that as he knew how much Nagisa had been hurt by the rejection of his former classmates.

“What are you getting so upset for anyway?” Takeda demanded angrily, although he couldn’t hide his flinch when Karma’s gaze flicked to him. “It’s just a window.” Just a window...Golden eyes narrowed as he realised that their intention had only been to break the window, a small part of him sneering at what they considered a ‘dare’. However, even if they had only been planning on damaging the classroom, the fact remained that they had hurt Nagisa. I might have to lessen their punishment, but I won’t let them off that easily, and the sight of Nagisa’ back was fresh in his mind as he spoke.

“No, it wasn’t.”

“What…” Tanaka began to ask, only to be silenced by Karma taking a half-step forwards.

“Did any of you stop to check the classroom was empty?” Karma’s voice was barely a whisper, but in the sudden silence it rang out clearly, and both teens shivered at the icy tone, before what he was saying registered, horrified realisation dawning on their faces even as he drawled out a lazy. “No?”

“I-It was before school…” Tanaka protested weakly, and there was understanding dawning on his face, and he shuffled back nervously.

“So?” Karma asked coldly, arching an eyebrow as he caught the underlying implication behind the words but determined to make them dig their own grave.  “It’s not unheard of for students to arrive early at ‘this’ school.” In fact, its encouraged. Every moment must be spent excelling, or you end up in the End class, and you don’t want that do you? He sneered mentally, unsure of whether he was sneering at the miserable pair in front of him or the school in general, even before his suspension he had never liked how the school worked…

“Yeah,” Takeda agreed reluctantly, but then adding in protest. “But you’re the End class!” Ah, there it is - the answer to everything in this place…

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“Why would you lot be here early?” Tanaka demanded, seemingly gathering his courage at Karma’s surprisingly calm question, and he couldn’t resist sneering slightly at the red-head as he added.  “No amount of work will bring you back up to our level, so why would you bother?” Karma wanted to laugh at that. Why would we bother? Because if we don’t the world will end? Because we haven’t given up on our future, no matter what the rest of you think.

“I don’t think you should be worried about that…” He pointed out, growing bored of listening to them spout the usual excuses for their behaviour. His expression darkened as he slipped his hand into his pocket, before taking a menacing step forward.  “What you should be worried about is that the class wasn’t empty and that it wasn’t just a window!” He couldn’t quite keep his temper in check, and the last bit came out as a shout causing them both to flinch backwards away from him, gripping their school bags tightly as though they would shield them from his anger.

“What do you..?”

“Your little dare,” he snarled no longer bothering to try and keep his anger at bay, his eyes flashing as he added coldly. “Put Nagisa in the hospital.” They both paled at his words, and for the first time, there was true terror in their eyes as they stared wide-eyed at him, nearly everyone in the school knew that you didn’t mess with Nagisa past a certain point. Otherwise, Karma would come after you. It was the worst-kept secret in the place, and they swallowed as they realised that they had well and truly gone past that point.

“I….”

“We…”

       Karma didn’t bother giving them a chance trying to explain their actions, because nothing they could say would excuse the pain Nagisa was currently experiencing. In a fluid movement, he drew out the ANTI-SENSEI gun that Hayami had slipped him on his way out of the classroom and pointed it at them, smirking as they both nearly wet themselves in terror, neither of them educated enough to realise that it wouldn’t hurt them.

“Don’t worry,” he cooed as he took another step towards them, and they scooted backwards only to find themselves pressed up against the wall, shaking as they stared at him in horror.  “I won’t shoot you.”

“I knew…”

“I said I wouldn’t shoot you,” Karma’s voice was icy once more as he cut across whatever false bravado Tanaka had been about to produce, and neither of them could miss the threat in his next words. “I never said I wouldn’t punish you.”

“What do you mean?”

“Did you know how easy it is to access the school records system?” Karma asked casually, letting the gun drift between the pair of them and watching how their eyes followed its path with increasing fear, although he could tell he had caught their attention. “I can get in there in my sleep, and I know others who can do the same, wouldn’t it be a pity if your grades suddenly dropped…”

“You wouldn’t….”

“I would,” Karma said with a grim expression, taking another step forward as he continued levelly, his finger tapping lightly against the trigger.  “Today you’re only facing me, but there are several others who would like to pay you back for what you did today. Imagine if you got to join our class – imagine what a warm welcome we’d be able to give you, and no-one would care what happened to you, because we’re the E class.” He was grinning freely at the end, the horror on their faces telling him that he got them exactly where it would hurt the most.

“You’re bluffing!” Tanaka managed to force out after a moment, his voice shaking wildly and Karma merely tilted his head to the side before asking with complete confidence.

“Am I?”  

“Then why are you still in that class if you could scam your way out?” Takeda demanded, and Karma almost wanted to laugh, are they really that brainwashed by this system that they think that question would prove I am bluffing? What am I saying of course they are.

“Because I like it where I am,” he replied calmly and with complete honesty. He hadn’t been expecting it, agreeing to come back and join the E class only because he could kill a teacher, and see Nagisa of course. However, at some point, the class had become a second home to him, and he found himself letting his classmates past his considerable barriers while discovering that there were teachers out there that he could respect even if he didn’t always show it.

   It was clear that they had heard the sincerity in his response because whatever shaky confidence they had gained from accusing him of bluffing disappeared in the blink of an eye.

“What do you want?” Tanaka asked in defeat after a long moment had passed in silence, and Karma grinned before straightening, carelessly twirling the gun on the end of his finger as he studied them for a moment before replying.

“A rather dangerous question. I think you’d probably give me anything to keep your precious grades,” he grinned as they paled even further before his expression turned serious and all play drained out of him. “You will apologise to Nagisa when he’s back, in front of witnesses including me,” he ordered harshly, waiting until they both nodded before continuing. “After that, you will both stay away from everyone in End Class, and I would urge you to discourage any more of these ‘dares’ as I will hold you partially responsible for all of them even if you aren’t directly involved.”

“That’s not fair…” Tanaka began to protest before swallowing at the furious glare he received, snapping his mouth closed and nodding desperately to indicate his agreement.

“Excellent,” Karma smirked in satisfaction, finally lowering the gun and offering them a mocking bow.  “Well, gentlemen I believe that concludes our business.” Humming softly he turned and began to walk away humming softly to himself, however, a few feet away he stopped and turned back to look at them causing them both to freeze in alarm.  “Oh wait - I did forget one last thing.” He gave them no chance to prepare or protect themselves, raising the gun in a swift motion and firing it twice, watching in satisfaction as the ANTI-SENSEI pellets struck their targets with unerring accuracy, both teens crumpling as they yelped in pain, although he knew that all they would get was bruises. And he wrinkled his nose in disgust as he realised that at least one of them had peed themselves.

“Don’t ever hurt Nagisa again,” he growled before turning and walking away without a backwards glance.

****

That evening:

     Much to Nagisa’s disgust, he was being kept in hospital overnight, even though his back had been stitched up and bandaged and he was on pain medication. As far as he was concerned that meant that he was ready to go home, but the doctors and Karasuma disagreed, and so he found himself stuck in a hospital bed. The only thing that had improved the situation was that he’d had a stream of visitors once school had ended before they had all disappeared to leave him alone to spend some time with Karma so that the red-head could fill him in on what had happened that morning. The classroom itself having already been repaired at Mach20 by an irate Koro-sensei who’d swung by quickly to drop off a large bag of American sweets which Nagisa had put aside for a later date.

“A Dare? You’re telling me that all of this is because of a stupid dare?” Nagisa demanded as he gaped at Karma, torn between horror and anger, almost desperate for him to turn around and tell him that he was lying, but after the way he had reacted that morning, he knew there was no way he would joke about it. But of all the stupid things - a dare? In all honesty, though he was a little bit relieved, as part of him had been worried that it had been a deliberate attack on them rather than the classroom, but still a dare?!

“Yeah,” Karma nodded with a scowl, relieved that the smaller teen wasn’t trying to make excuses for them like he had thought that he might, before adding with a satisfied smirk.  “But they won’t be doing it again.”

“What did you do to them?” Nagisa asked anxiously, remembering just how furious Karma had been and knowing just how over-protective the red-head could be, his concern only growing as the other teen chuckled darkly. “Karma?”

“Don’t worry your pretty little head about it,” Karma replied reaching up to mess with the already ruffled-blue hair, easily dodging Nagisa’s irritated swipe before grasping the threatening hand in his own and squeezing it slightly, smiling at the soft blush that appeared on Nagisa’s cheeks at the simple gesture.

“Karma!”

“It was nothing too bad,” Karma promised him, realising that Nagisa was honestly concerned that he might have gone too far.  “And I think they’ve learned their lesson now.” They better have, he added silently, sensibly not voicing that thought aloud as he knew it would just set Nagisa off again.

“Geez,” Nagisa huffed after a moment as he realised that he wasn’t going to get a straight answer out of the other teen, adding under his breath. “You better not get suspended again.”

“I won’t,” Karma promised catching the quiet whisper, knowing that there was no way either Tanaka or Takeda would dare tattle on him, after all, that would mean admitting they’d lost to a member of E class. “And hopefully we won’t have to deal with any more dares,” he added somewhat darkly as he squeezed Nagisa’s fingers again, before leaning over to press a quick kiss to Nagisa’s cheek making him turn even redder.

 Hopefully, no one will dare hurt you again…