The sound of a popular J-pop song rang out loudly from a small flip phone sitting on my hard wood desk. Light vibrations made a rattling sound as it hummed on the smooth surface before my slow moving hand found it and lightly flipped it open to cut off the sound. I rose from the covers of my bed and lazily made my way to a sitting position. Waist length brown hair pooled around me as I rubbed my blue eyes and looked around the unfocused room. Confused at first, I looked at the calender by my bedside and noticed that the date was circled with red marker with the words 'school starts' written neatly in the square.

Saved by the Bell



'My name is Takamachi Nanoha.' The girl slowly got out of bed and made her way to the small closet on the other side of the slightly messy room. 'I'm seventeen years old and attend your average run-of-the-mill high school.' As she pulled off her pink pajama top Nanoha almost fell over thanks to a small pile of clothes at the bottom of her closet door. 'I'm your normal everyday high schooler, or at least I think I am.' Pulling up her skirt, she zipped and buttoned the side before plopping down on the floor to pull up white stockings. 'My grades go from average to down right pathetic depending on the subject. I find myself quite capable of math but my language skills have something to be desired. I'm hoping to change that this year, as next year will be crammed with studying for my college exams.'

Nanoha, fully dressed, made her way outside of her room and into a hallway in which she followed to the near end. After retriving her toothbrush from the holder she smeared paste on it and started brushing. ' I don't really need a college education, as my family owns a really popular cake shop just downstairs. Our income is above your average person and I've always had an allowance. Lately I've been helping out after school but to be honest I am thinking about doing something else with my life. What you ask? Well, I don't really know yet but it doesn't involve baking cookies and cakes every day.' Once done with prepping herself, adding just a faint touch of make-up, and putting her hair up in a lop-sided ponytail, Nanoha retreated from the wash closet and made her way around to find the dining room.

'My mother, Momoko, and my father, Shiro, both take good care of me.' Stopping at each in turn, the girl gave them both a good morning hug. ' My brother and sister are both in college right now but they come home every weekend. Sometimes they'll drop by the café just to say hi and see how I'm doing. All-in-all, though, I spend most of my time with my friends from school. I love my family to death but it seems as if I'm not really a part of it all. Don't get me wrong, they think the world of me, specially daddy, but sometimes I get the feeling as if there's something more to the world out there that I should be part of.'

Breakfast was completed shortly thereafter and the girl reluctantly put on her shoes before picking up her briefcase that housed a few notebooks and pens. Her keys were stuffed in her pocket and after double checking everything she was out the door. 'Right now it's the start of a new school year. Oddly enough I wouldn't be heading to the school I was used to going all my life. Last year there was an accident that wasn't explained and somehow the school caught fire and was damaged really badly. Although construction is on-going I wouldn't see the new buildings before I graduated. Instead, our school was divided up and separated among four surrounding schools. Luckily all my close friends were in the same new school as well.'

Looking ahead, a smile played on Nanoha's lips when she spotted a man leaning against a building ahead. Long blond hair spilled over his back, reaching his waist and being kept in a low ponytail by a green ribbon. One hand went to push up the nose of his glasses before finishing whatever drink he had in his other. With a casual toss he made the empty bottle land in a garbage can a few feet away and turned to look at the girl approaching him. "Good morning, Nanoha." He pushed off the wall and slung his briefcase over his shoulder, placing his free hand into his pocket.

"Good morning, Yuuno-kun!" Nanoha cheerfully looped one arm through Yuuno's and the pair started walking together. 'This is Yuuno, my childhood friend. His parents died in an accident when he was only seven while doing some government controlled archaeological dig. I'm not real sure on the details but they were famous enough to have quite a bit of life insurance. Yuuno, along with a government grant, is able to live on his own thanks to the inheritance. I don't think he will ever really need a job but he still spends most of his time after school on the college campus with the professors. You see, Yuuno is what I would call a child prodigy. He's a genius.' Nanoha looked up at her friend and giggled to herself lightly, getting a confused but interested look. 'A lot of people think we're dating, Yuuno and I, but the truth is we're closer than family. My parents tried to adopt him since they were good friends with his parents but for some reason it fell through. Yuuno still stayed with us most of the time and I can honestly say that I've probably spent more time with him than I have without him. Because of this I'm normally very reliant on him and often find myself seeking him out when I'm nervous or have a problem. Platonic Life Partners, they call it.'

"So," Yuuno spoke up after the two walked for a while. "New school. Think you'll be okay?"

"I'll be fine," Nanoha nodded to herself. "I already went there to look around last week. Found all my classes and drew a little map on the back of my schedule just in case." Digging into her briefcase, she produced said map and showed him. "We stay in the same classroom for the most part but we split up for club activities and lunch and stuff. I made sure to mark where everything is."

"Going to join any clubs?"

"The 'Tennis club'," Nanoha thought aloud. "I don't know if I will make the team or not abut it's worth a shot."

"You and tennis." Yuuno laughed lightly. "Oh well, keeps you in shape. Don't want you getting fat from all the cake you eat."

"Yuuno-kun!" She slapped his arm and pouted up at him, ignoring his playful apologies. 'Yuuno and I get along really well, but he's just one of my circle of friends. Arisa and Suzuka were my two other best friends, followed closely by Hayate. The first two I've known literally all my life, as we were born in the same hospital within weeks of each other. Turns out both of their parents loved the cakes that our shop made. When they saw my daddy in the hospital they talked a little and pointed out their children. Our families have been friends ever since.'

"Hey look," Yuuno nodded ahead of himself to the two girls Nanoha had just been thinking about, along with another one to their side sitting on the bus stop bench. "Arisa, Suzuka, Hayate!"

Nanoha elbowed Yuuno in the ribs and wagged her eyebrows at him, getting a short lived blush before everyone met up. 'Hayate is my latest friend. I met her several years ago and we became fast best friends. When she was little, around nine years old, she was in a wheelchair. After years and years of treatment, and after four relatives of hers suddenly came to take care of her, Hayate began to get better. Now after all this time she could walk but still had to use a cane and rest often. The doctors say that she will be able to walk perfectly within the year based on her current progress.'

"Good morning, Nanoha-chan." Hayate smiled brightly at her. "A new school for all of us, I can hardly wait!"

Arisa crossed her arms and sighed. "I liked our old school. It's annoying to have to change to suddenly. What if our classes progressed at different speeds?"

Suzuka giggled and pushed back some of her long purple hair behind her ear. "Don't worry, you always get perfect marks." Arisa looked over at the girl before looking away.

'Arisa and Suzuka are really close to each other. Although I can kind of understand it since I'm so close with Yuuno, but they are obviously different. Truth be told I kind of think they have a thing for each other. I don't really mind gay couples, mainly because Yuuno so metro-sexual it hurts sometimes, and it would be neat to see if they could have a relationship with each other.'

The bus stopped in front of the small group and soon they found themselves at the gate of the school after walking a little bit from the drop off point. "Well, it's a nice school," Nanoha spoke lightly as she observed it. Cherry blossom trees surrounded the walkway, giving the pavement a nice sprinklings of pink petals. The gates were nice and clean with a hint of marble decorations. All in all the school looked fairly large. Four stories tall and several buildings in all directions. "I think I'll like it here." Looking around as she walked, Nanoha completely missed the girl walking in front of her and collided with a firm bump against her. "Ahn!"

Both girls got tangled up in trying to not fall down and only succeeded in taking the other to the ground with herself. "Ow," The girl rubbed her kneecap lightly before looking at the one who had just rammed her. Clear blue eyes locked on to her ruby red ones and they stared for a moment before speaking. "Hello."

"Hello," Nanoha put a hand behind her head and laughed nervously while her friends laughed. "Um, sorry about that." Quickly she picked up her briefcase and helped the other girl to her feet. Two blond pigtails fluttered in the wind as she stood and just for a moment Nanoha felt a weird sensation in her stomach. "Are you all right?"

"Fine," The girl picked up her case as well and dusted it off lightly. With a small bow she turned and continued along her way.

"Um, hey!" Her words made the girl turn to look at her. "I'm Nanoha." She didn't know why she wanted to introduce herself so suddenly but she wanted to hear the girl's name for some reason.

"Fate," She nodded at her once more before continuing along her way.

"Fate...-chan..." Nanoha tasted the name. 'I don't know why, but at that time I knew that there was something about that girl. I'm a really good judge of personality and character, just ask the poker players that I talk to, and there was something about Fate that just seemed to bug me. She was very pretty, and her eyes were so large and clear... But they were sad. So, so painfully sad. It was as if in that one moment when our eyes met I could feel my soul crying out in pity for her. Why? How could someone that beautiful seem so...alone?'

"Hey, earth to Nanoha!" Arisa called out, tapping her foot. "Let's go!"

"Y-yeah!" Nanoha ran forward to catch up with them. "Sorry."

"Nanoha, is this your phone?" Hayate bent down carefully and picked up a small black and pink object. "No wait, yours isn't black... I could have sworn it fell from your case."

"Huh?" Nanoha looked into her briefcase and gasped lightly when she pulled out a notebook that wasn't hers. "This is Fate-chan's!"

Yuuno looked ahead at the swarm of students walking around. "Too late now... You'll have to find her at lunch time."

Nanoha bit her bottom lip and looked at the school before her. "You know... Somehow I think this year is going to be very interesting..." A light breeze blew around the group, scattering petals around them.

'My name is Takamachi Nanoha... And this is my story.'