Akko Kagari and the Evil Within

Chapter One: Happy Birthday, Akko Kagari

Not for the first time, an argument had broken out over breakfast at the Kagari house. Akko had barely just entered the kitchen, rubbing the sleep from her eyes, when Mr. Kagari yelled at her purple-haired guardian, Blair, from across the table.

"If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times!" he shouted. "If you're going to be walking around as a human, at least have the decency to wear clothes at the table!"

Blair grinned her little Cheshire grin back at Mr. Kagari.

"So you're saying I have to wear clothes only at the table?" she said with a cunning laugh. "So that means I don't have to wear clothes anywhere else around the house?"

"You know what I mean!" said Mr. Kagari, leering disapprovingly at her with a bit of egg splattered on the side of his face. "You're setting a bad example for Akko. What if she starts mimicking it?"

"I think I'm a little smarter than that, dad," said Akko as she sat at the table. "Give me some credit."

Akko had barely taken her seat when Mrs. Kagari slammed a gigantic stack of pancake in front of her along with a small pile of bacon. Ever since Akko came back for the summer, Mrs. Kagari seemed to make it her goal to fatten her up by at least a hundred pounds.

"Isn't it a little much, mom?"

"Of course not," said Mrs. Kagari, turning misty eyes on her daughter. "I have to build you up while I've got a chance….I don't like the sound of that school food…."

"Are you kidding me? It's the best!" said Blair heartily. "I never went hungry when I was at Luna Nova. Sometime me and my friends would sneak down to the kitchens just to get more."

"Yes, we've heard all about your teenage delinquency streak," Mr. Kagari sniffed disapprovingly.

Blair only laughed and stole a handful of bacon from Akko's pile, waving her breasts dangerously close to Akko's face. Had she not been accustomed to seeing the woman walking up and down the halls naked on a daily basis, Akko would have felt slightly embarrassed as she did when she first saw Blair.

Ever since Akko had come home for the summer holidays, everyday had been something like this: waking up to see Blair streaking to the kitchen, going out with her friends to places like the park or arcade, coming home to Mr. Kagari trying to persuade Blair into a pair of pants, then ending with a quick peek at her e-mail to see if her friend contacted her. Overall, Akko Kagari's life seemed fairly normal. But Akko Kagari wasn't normal. As a matter of fact, she was as not normal as it is possible to be.

Akko Kagari was a Demi-Human – a partial human with the characteristics of another being, more specifically, a witch, and she was just fresh from her first year at Luna Nova Magical Academy. Both of Akko's adopted parents were normal humans and she loved them dearly, but there was an empty feeling in her stomach to being back home.

She missed Luna Nova so much it was like having a constant stomachache. She missed the castle, with its secret passageways and talking armors, her classes (though perhaps not Professor Finnelan, the Alchemy teacher), the mail arriving by broomstick, eating banquets in the dining room, sleeping in her four-poster bed in the tower dormitory, visiting her Astronomy teacher, Ursula, and, especially, Chariot Races, the most popular sport in the magical world (five players circling a constantly changing track on broomsticks passing rings to the next player while dodging other player's spells). Akko wondered many times how her broom, the Shooting Star, was feeling alone in the castle without her. It must be feeling really antsy not having anyone to ride it.

Because Akko was adopted by her parents, it was no surprise when someone pointed out that they looked nothing like the rest of her family. Mr. Kagari was a gangly man with messy brunette hair and wore round, wire-frame glasses; Mrs. Kagari was much taller than her husband with silky smooth black hair; Blair was voluptuous with curly purple hair. Akko, on the other hand, was small and flat, with burgundy-red eyes and dark-brown hair partially tied into a small ponytail. And underneath her shirt, stretched across her back, were seven scars shaped like four-pointed stars.

It was these scars that made Akko so particularly unusual, even for a Demi-Human. These scars were the only hint of Akko's very mysterious past, of the reason she had been left on the Kagari's doorstep twelve years before, and her only real connection to her birth mother, Shiny Chariot.

Over a decade ago, Shiny Chariot was a world-famous performer who used magic to entertain people and was the reason why Akko wanted to be a witch in the first place. No one ever knew that Shiny Chariot had been pregnant at the time when the world was threatened by the greatest evil witch in history, Aradia, whose name most people still feared to speak. Akko was supposedly born during Chariot's final battle against Aradia at the Grand Triskellion twelve years ago, and somehow – nobody understood why – Akko's birth had led to Aradia's downfall and the release of magic into the atmosphere, allowing Demi-Humans to roam the world freely.

Sadly, Shiny Chariot could not take care of her daughter and left her with the Kagaris, where she would be loved as if she was their own. She had spent ten years with the Kagaris, never knowing she was special, never knowing that she was famous, and grew up being raised as a normal girl from a normal family.

And then, exactly a year ago, Luna Nova had written to Akko, and the whole story had come out. Akko had taken up her place at the magical school…though she was far from the best student, having set a school record for causing more disasters than anyone else in the history of Luna Nova (It came with a plaque and everything!) Still, attending Luna Nova had been one of the most thrilling experiences in Akko's short life…but now the school year was over and Akko was back to being a normal girl until she went back to Luna Nova for the next term.

At that moment, Mr. Kagari cleared his throat importantly and said, "Now, as we all know, today is a very important day."

Akko looked up, scratching her chin in though. Was there something important about today? She couldn't remember….

"It's not every day your little girl turns twelve," said Mr. Kagari. "And after the disaster with the parade last year, we'll try to keep things simple this year."

Akko face-palmed herself. Of course, she thought wildly, today is my twelfth birthday. How could I have forgotten? Her parents and Blair had been planning it for two weeks, and she almost didn't remember. They were going to have a simple backyard birthday party, not wanting to take any chances of Akko causing a catastrophe like last year when she accidentally set a flaming phoenix on a crowd of parade watchers. Admittedly, Akko had been a little more than distracted lately.

"Miss Kobayashi, Tohru, and Kanna said they would be arriving early with the food and drinks for everyone," said Mr. Kagari. "We should start setting up the decorations in the backyard in an hour. Kaori, you will – "

"Be heading down to Midori-ya to pick up the cake," said Mrs. Kagari. "One of the benefits of working at a café is the employee discounts. I'll also be picking up Nanoha, Fate, and Hayate there – it'll be nice to see some of your school friends again, right, Akko?"

"Good, good. And Blair?"

"I'll find something appropriate to wear," said Blair with an exaggerated groan. "I promise I won't strip in front of the guests…only until the little ones leave."

"Or you could keep your clothes on indefinitely," said Mrs. Kagari monotonously; Blair whined.

"Excellent," said Mr. Kagari, shooting a warning leer at Blair. "We should expect everyone to arrive around noon. Now, remind me, who all is going to be there?"

"Miss Kobayashi, Tohru and Kanna are arriving early like you said," answered Mrs. Kagari. "I'll be coming back with Nanoha, Fate, and Hayate…Hikari, Yuki, and Kyoka are obviously coming…Shinobu, Alice, Yoko, Aya, and Karen said they were (Shinobu wouldn't stop talking about Akko going to school in England) … Taihei is bringing his little sister, Umaru, and her friends along…."

"Vigne called and said she, Satania, and Raphi are going to be late," said Mr. Kagari. "They have to go pick up Gabriel from her apartment and you know it takes at least an hour to get her out of bed."

"Hard to believe that she used to be top angel in Heaven," said Blair. "She's worse than a fallen angel – she's a faillen angel."

Hearing them reading off the list of names, Akko realized that she quite possibly had the strangest assortment of friends of anyone in the world. Dragons, mages, angels, and devils…even her human friends were a particular set of strange what with Shinobu's blonde obsession and Umaru's uncanny ability to shift personalities at the drop of a hat.

"Right – I'm off into town to pick up the cake and the girls," said Mrs. Kagari. "Miss Kobayashi should be over in twenty minutes. You all should start setting up in the backyard – and Akko, no magic! There are still patches in the yard from when you set the tree on fire!"

"I was trying to pick an apple with a telekinesis spell," said Akko.

But nevertheless, Akko left through the backdoor with her father and Blair, who had the decency to dress outside. It was a brilliant, sunny day. While she unfolded the chairs and Mr. Kagari set up the tables, Blair would decorate the yard with floating streamers like colorful water snakes and summoned flashy banners from nothing to hang unsupported over their heads. There was a perk to having a fully trained witch living under their roof. And yet, Akko couldn't bring herself to be in a festive mood like her family.

She had a pair of loving parents, a decent home, a playful witch-cat, and a dozen friends she knew she could rely on. Yet there was this empty feeling in her chest as her mind wandered back to Luna Nova. More than anything else at the castle, more even than Chariot Racing, Akko missed her friends. She missed Lotte and her quiet sensibility, Sucy and her fondness of poisonous mushrooms, Amanda and her outrageous antics, Constanze and her amazing inventions, and Jasminka and her motherly affection. They, however, didn't seem to be missing her at all. None of them had written to her all summer, even though Amanda had said she was going to ask Akko come visit New York.

Countless times, Akko had been on the point of jumping on the next bus and hunting them down to get a response in person…but she had no idea here any of them lived, or how she would even leave the country without a passport. So, hoping to distract herself from the people who were supposed to be her friends at school, Akko had spent the greater majority of the summer getting to know her new friends.

She already knew Miss Kobayashi and Tohru from her father's work and Kanna was her junior back in middle school and Hikari, Yuki, and Kyoka were in the same class together. Unfortunately, they all went to different schools, but they always kept in touch. When Akko came back for the summer, Hikari had insisted on introducing her to all the new friends she made (leave it to the bubbly vampire to make an army of new acquaintances). She met Shinobu and Alice because Shinobu loved Hikari's blonde hair and Alice was very jealous; she met Aya, Yoko, and Karen through them. Hikari knew Gabriel and Umaru-chan from the local arcade (though Umaru insisted on going by an alias, UMR) and their group expanded by them. Nanoha Takamachi was an old friend through their mothers and a classmate from Luna Nova and apparently her friends, Fate and Hayate, were also Luna Nova students, but a year above them.

Every day this summer had been filled with some crazy adventure whether it was camping in the woods, going to the beach, touring the local attractions, starting a band (they lasted about four days before they got bored), or doing a summer play for the local senior center involving a little match girl that could turn into a heat-throwing magical girl. But after the long silence from Lotte and her friends, Akko's feeling of depression started to weigh her down that even smashing Hikari's face at volleyball had lost its appeal – and now her friends had forgotten her birthday.

What wouldn't she give now for a message from Luna Nova? She would even be happy to hear from Professor Finnelan, just to be sure she had dreamed up the school, her friends, Diana…cold, aloof, beautiful Diana….

Of course, it wasn't like her first year at Luna Nova had been fun. What with being chased by minotaurs, nearly falling off Shooting Star, and staring down giant polar bears, Akko had to admit there were some parts of the school she didn't miss. But at the very end of the last term, Akko had come into possession of something that was both wonderful and dangerous: the claiomh solais – the Shiny Rod. The famous tool that had once belonged to her mother had nearly fallen into the hands of someone that would have abused its power, but her faith and cunning had awarded her with victory. Since she had retrieved the Shiny Rod, the staff had become bonded with Akko, and now it sits upstairs safely hidden in a box in the back of her closet where no one would find it. The Shiny Rod was Akko's key to finding her mother and understanding what happened the day she was born that made her so famous.

But the Shiny Rod was still incomplete. She only possessed one of the Seven Stars of Arcturus, the Star of Energy, and it was only after she found all seven that she would be able to see her mother again and find the answers she so desperately wanted. But she didn't know where to start looking for the others; the first one had pretty much just fallen into her lap. And she wasn't the only one looking for them, either. Aradia wanted the Shiny Rod so that she could change the world according to her whims. Akko couldn't even begin to imagine what terrifying things she could do with the power to alter reality at its most basic level. So it was a race to see who could collect them first. Every now and again, Akko can feel the hairs on the back of her neck rise up, as if someone was watching her –

Akko suddenly stood bolt upright and turned to the fence. Someone was watching her. The top half of their head was clearly visible over the high wooden fence, exposing her dark hair tied in a high ponytail and her slanted black eyes staring blankly her way. If she was trying to be sneaky, she was doing a very poor job of it – if this were an anime, there would be a large sweatdrop on Akko's head right about now.

"Uh…can I help you with something?" Akko asked the strange girl politely.

The not-so-sneaky girl gasped and dropped out of sight. That was weird….

"What're you looking at?"

Akko made a little squeaking noise and spun around. Kanna was standing behind her; Miss Kobayashi and Tohru showed up with the food.

"We have arrived!" shouted Tohru theatrically.

"Sorry we're late," Miss Kobayashi apologized. "We would have been here sooner if Tohru hadn't tried to push some weird things she found in with the food."

"How would you know it's weird," Tohru pouted. "You didn't even try any of it."

"It had tentacles and the eyes were winking at me," said Miss Kobayashi blandly.

"Hey, hey," Kanna tugged on Akko's sleeve to get her attention again. The little dragon girl was holding out a card. "Happy birthday, Akko."

"Thanks, Kanna," said Akko, petting her head; Kanna liked being petted. "Having you here already makes this a great birthday."

"Hey, hey, are your friends from school gonna come?" asked Kanna.

Akko's hand subconsciously stopped. It had been an innocent enough question, but the unknowing barb stung in Akko's chest.

"…I'm afraid none of them are gonna be able to make it," Akko finally spoke up after a long pause. "They're all very busy, you know, and they…they live in different parts of the world. Even with magic, it would take them a very long time to get here, even for a day."

"Oh…," said Kanna, nodding understandingly.

Thankfully, Kanna didn't ask any more questions and went back to helping Miss Kobayashi and Tohru set the food out on the tables. Akko looked back at the high fence one more time, but the strange little girl didn't pop her head back up again. For one wild moment, Akko had entertained the possibility that she was someone from Luna Nova. But if that were the case, why would she try to hide? Was she spying on her? A nervous feeling pricked up in the back of Akko's brain; she had a brief flashback of a baby dragon named Eco.

Nearly a half hour later, the backyard had been converted from an empty space of grass to a small festival with dozens of fluttering banners and party favors (though wildly out of season because of Blair's pumpkin magic). Mrs. Kagari had returned from Midori-ya with her classmate, Nanoha Takamachi, and her seniors, Fate Testarossa and Hayate Yagami (Akko couldn't help noticing Nanoha and Fate glancing at each other occasionally; they were so obvious). As noon started to roll around, more party guest started to show up. The first group to arrive was Taihei Doma, a co-worker from her dad and Miss Kobayashi's office, and his perfect little sister Umaru along with their friends. Hikari's arrival was signal by an expected tackle to the ground with the others picking them up, shaking their heads. Gabriel and Shinobu's groups came together only because Shinobu had spotted Gabriel's blonde hair from half a mile away and ran at it at top speed while the others gave chase.

By the time it was half-past noon, the entire backyard was filled with Akko's friends both old and new. Everyone was chatting happily with one another generally having a good time…yet Akko couldn't bring herself to join them. The thoughts of her Luna Nova friends still weighed heavy on her heart.

That's considering if they even were my friends, she thought savagely.

"Akko, come inside and get changed!" called Mrs. Kagari. "You're all sweaty!"

Akko moved gladly through the sliding door into the gleaming kitchen. On top of the counter stood her birthday cake: a two-tier chocolate masterpiece complete with an excellently designed portrait of Akko in her Luna Nova tunic riding a broom (she never told anyone that she had zero flying skills). Akko tried sneaking a quick taste, but Mrs. Kagari had ultra-mom vision and snapped a spoon at her wrist without even looking.

"Don't even think about it, Akko," said Mrs. Kagari, who was busying herself with the dishes. "Hurry upstairs and change into something nice. This is your birthday, after all. And do tell your friend to hurry on down. She's going to miss the cake."

Akko paused at the threshold of the kitchen door, looking back with confusion written on her face. She leaned backwards for a peek into the backyard. She did a quick head count…. Hikari…Nanoha…Gabrial…Umaru…Shinobu…. Everyone that had been invited was already in the backyard. Akko felt a familiar prickling sensation on the back of her neck when she reached the upstairs landing, pausing for a moment to listen as she leered at her closed bedroom door. She could hear rustling come from inside.

Akko crossed to her bedroom on tiptoe, slowly turning the knob, opening the door silently, and braced herself for whatever was waiting inside.

Someone was sitting on her bed, and they were holding the Shiny Rod.

Once again, the story starts off in a completely different direction than what the source material writes. Unlike Potter, Akko is well-loved by her family and has many friends (and has fun with a boatload of references), although taking an original approach while trying to stay on path with the plotline might make it a bit choppy, but hopefully, we can work through this. I do want to say that back in the first story, someone complained about there being too many references to characters from other series involved. These are just background characters to give weight to the happier parts of Akko's life, because there isn't a whole lot of that in the majority of the series.

Next Chapter: The Little Ninja