Note: This is my first fic for this fandom! Hopefully this fandom will continue to grow, but here's my little contribution of slight KarmaxNagisa.

Warning: It's slightly dark and does touch upon dissociative identity disorder. I didn't research extensively on this topic, so there may be some medical fallacies. Otherwise, there may be some spoilers for the anime. Mostly though, this is a separate piece.

Also slight OOCness taken on account of non-canon circumstances.

Disclaimer: I don't own Assassination Classroom. No slandering of any character is intended. This is purely for fun and not for profit. The characters do not belong to me in any way, shape or form.

~*~ The Dichotomy of Shiota Nagisa ~*~

"Hello Karma-kun. Come to save me again?" Came the smooth, fey-like voice of the small androgynous teen. Gone were the signature pigtails. Instead, lustrous locks of pale cerulean held together neatly at the back of his neck by a thin strip of bright-crimson ribbon. He gazed at Karma curiously, as if lazily trying to decide something. A smile bled onto his face, slowly and deliberatively.

He was enjoying every second of this.

"Slink," Karma stated, only half-intending it to be an inquiry of sorts. He didn't really need a confirmation, not when the other boy was like this.

'Slink' tossed his head back and laughed. Karma winced. Although Slink wasn't Nagisa, they still shared many traits and many thoughts. He hated it though, when he was reminded of that fact. 'That's Nagisa's laugh…' he thought bitterly. Afraid he'd lash out and do something he'd regret, Karma straightened his back and stuffed his hands in his pockets.

"Oh dear…whatever gave it away?" Slink shrugged dramatically, flinging both arms up in the air in a grandiose 'I-don't-know' gesture.

Karma resisted the urge to strangle the other boy. He settled for smirking. "You know Nagisa will hate you for this. Hate himself. This will only put him in lots of pain. And that would defeat the whole purpose of your existence, no?"

Slink/Nagisa stared at him intensely, cerulean eyes bearing uncomfortably onto ruby ones, before he let out a long-winded sigh. "Is that all you have, Karma-kun?" he asked mockingly, pouting and moving closer to the redhead. His gait was natural, innocent even, but Karma knew better than to trust the other boy's movement to reflect his intent.

Karma stiffened when Nagisa reached him and paused for only one second before sliding his arms around the taller boy's waist and entrapping him in an unwanted embrace. He'd began to relax and almost subconsciously wrapped his own arms around the smaller boy's body when Nagisa broke out into hysterical laughter, the vibrations wracking against his chest. He immediately shoved Slink away.

Slink stood at a reasonable distance now, pretending to wipe away tears of laughter from his eyes. "Such a pity, Karma-kun. You were the king of getting under people's skins, knowing how to push the right buttons, and now…? That was the best you could come up with? And so easily distracted by moi as well. I expected better, you know."

Karma frowned. "Don't use him like that," he bit out through his clenched jaw.

Slink blinked. "Use him? I think you've got it wrong, Karma-kun. Nagisa-chan is the one using me. You're the one who said it—I wouldn't be here if he didn't need me to keep all the baaad things out."

"Nagisa-kun won't approve of what you did."

Slink rolled his eyes and twisted his pretty lips into a sneer. Karma wished he didn't have memories of Nagisa making such expressions. Once upon a time, things were different. But now… "Don't be absurd, Karma-kun. You do realize that we are technically one and the same, no? I'm here because he needs me to do what I do. Granted, he probably won't consciously approve…but it's all better for him—us in the long run. That's the whole point of me, remember?" The smaller boy gave a sardonic twirl complete with a bow.

"It doesn't change the fact that this will hurt him. Badly," Karma hissed angrily. It was only ever he who could push the limits of Karma's patience. Well, Koro-sensei the un-killable bastard as well, but he wasn't exactly human—

No. Karma pulled that train of thought from the tracks. That no longer…

"Ah yes. Nagisa-chan will probably cry…" Slink admitted with an unhappy pout, turning sideways to look at the scene behind him.

…and for the first time since actually arriving at the secluded woods clearing that contained their school, Karma allowed himself a long hard and harrowing look at the bodies of his—their—classmates littering the ground like seaweed washed up by the high tide on an otherwise pristine and sunny beach.

And amidst it all lay a figure he didn't recognize. It was a man with tresses of midnight-black hair covering half his face. His pale figure would be completely exposed to the sunlight had it not been for the set of heavy black robes loosely fitting him.

Karma let out a humorless chuckle. 'He did it…'

"…which is where you come in." Slink continued to speak, now holding Karma's gaze evenly with all weight of seriousness.

Karma scoffed disbelievingly. "Me? This is all you," he accused.

"Yet Nagisa-chan will be the one to suffer. And you won't let that happen. I know that. You know that. He knows that," the effeminate boy concluded with a wry grin that appeared to carry a ghost of sadness.

The taller teen could only stand there. It was true, the allegation. "Will you do something for me in return?" he asked in a low, almost monotonous tone.

Slink inclined his head in acknowledgement. "Yes. You'll get your wish." With one hand, he pulled loose his ponytail and scrunched his hair into two little pigtails. "Funny how it works. You and I are only ever working to protect Nagisa-chan. But only you seem to think that I'm the one he needs protecting from." After smacking the hair ties into place, he shot Karma a beaming smile and moved in close again. "But I warn you—" he started before leaning up close to the other's ear, "—the bloodlust you're so scared of…that you want to save him from…that won't go away when I do. What will you do then, Karma-kun?" He pulled away grinning with a strangely curious look on his features.

"I'll do as I've always done." Karma promised solidly, though sounding more nonchalant and uncaring now as more was his usual character. His lips then drew into a half-smirk and half-smile. This time, it was he who leaned closer to the smaller boy and whispered, "I'll protect you from the things you need protecting from…including yourself, Nagisa-kun."

Nagisa's eyes widened a fraction, and then he relaxed with a small smile. "Thank you, Karma-kun," he whispered back softly before slumping against the taller boy.

Karma felt the additional weight and held it close. A moment later, hands gripped his biceps in support and a groggy Nagisa glanced up at him in confusion. "Karma-kun? What…why are you…what happened?"

Karma stared down at the wide and bright cerulean eyes and smiled. "It's ok. It's over. We're alive."

"But…" Nagisa bit his lip uncertainly. "I remember…Koro-sensei… I had a plan to kill him, but for some reason…it—" His words were cut off in a gasp when he turned around. "Wh-what…what happened? Who did this?" he asked with a trembling voice.

Karma regarded him for a moment, internally conflicting over something for a moment. "An assassin…with skills way beyond ours…" he murmured half-heartedly.

"Isogai-kun…Kayano-san…Okuda-san…they're all…" Nagisa whimpered, eyes fixated horrified at the carnage before him. "And that's…is that…Koro—"

"It's over, Nagisa-kun," Karma reaffirmed, pivoting them around and tearing Nagisa's gaze from the scene. "What's done is done. We're alive," he muttered reassuringly and hugged the shorter boy closely. "It's alright."

"Karma-kun…"

Flashback

"What did you do?" Karma stared at the pale cerulean-haired boy standing over the prone figure of their upperclassman.

"What do you mean what did I do? I gave him what he deserved. I punished him. It's only right." Nagisa smiled eerily.

"…who are you?" Karma asked incredulously at the Nagisa-who-wasn't-Nagisa.

"Why, Nagisa of course! But I'm assuming you don't fully believe that. Hmm, fine. Indeed, it's not quite true. I'm Slink. Pleasure to meet you, Karma-kun."

Karma glared maniacally at the two bullies cowering on the ground. "Sorry…it's just that I thought you said you'd rather be dead than be caught associating yourself with…ah what was it you called us…vermin? I thought I'd do you the pleasure of fulfilling your wish."

"N-n-no that's not what we…we didn't mean…p-please just forgive us…" one of the bullies stuttered out.

"Oh? Whatever did you mean then, senpai? Perhaps not dead, but you'd rather suffer a very painful beating? I'm sure that's much more preferable than talking to Nagisa-kun over there, right?"

"P-please…"

"Karma-kun! That's enough, isn't it? Just let them go," Nagisa appeared by his side to pull on his arm, looking a little worried and pale. "If they don't want to associate with us, then they won't. Let's go."

Karma observed Nagisa for a moment with an indifferent expression before splitting into a gentle smile. "Sounds good. I think you still owe me an ice cream."

Nagisa pouted. "Mou…that's the first thing you think of?"

Karma laughed. "Don't think you're getting away with it." And he walked away, hands stuffed in his pocket. With his back turned to the other, his cheery features dropped and he let out a discreet sigh.

'I don't want to see that bloodthirsty expression again.'

"Say, Nagisa-kun. What do you think about pranking Kurasabe-sensei for all the sanctimonious bullshit he spews all the time? I'm thinking a little bit of pain or public humiliation wouldn't be out of line…" Karma mused, while glancing at the other boy every so often out of the corner of his eye.

Nagisa stared up at him, horrified. "Karma-kun! You're not actually planning to hurt sensei, are you? That's a bit much, no?"

'But part of you agrees,' Karma thought. He didn't voice his thoughts of course. Instead, he pasted on his smile and hummed noncommittally. "Yeah, maybe."

When he returned from his suspension to a den of craziness started by the giant yellow octopus of a teacher, he was no longer the only one to know of Nagisa's bloodlust.

The giant octopus blob had known by the time he'd come back, Karma knew. After the incident with Takaoka-sensei, he could confirm that Karasuma-sensei knew as well.

Sometimes, he felt awed by his friend's cavalier attitude towards death and the bloodlust that drove it, the ability to wield that bloodlust as a weapon. Other times, he was scared. Not so much for his own life as he was for the existence of the Nagisa he'd come to know.

End Flashback

But in the end…

They all thought he was Nagisa's protector, his dark knight. They all thought that he'd always manage to show up when the other boy becomes involved in something bad, and kick the opponent's ass. They weren't wrong. He was Nagisa's protector. Only…the thing he was protecting him from, always has been and will be Nagisa himself.

~End

Notes: Well, that's all! Hope you enjoyed! Reviews are very much loved and encouraging to see. :)