Ryu was walking up to his front door when he stopped and saw what his shirt looked like, it was covered in blood, much of it not his own. “Heh, looks like I gotta take the long way up” He hopped up onto a terrace that extended out over his front porch, and continued to climb up the wall into his bedroom window, he snuck in quietly and removed his clothes, “Another outfit I need to burn.” He grabbed a spare towel and wrapped the clothes in it, after changing he walked down into the furnace room, making sure to avoid his mother. He opened the door and felt the heat immediately. “Jeez mom, its July you don’t need the furnace on full blast.” He walked to the furnace gate, opened it and threw the clothes in, immediately the flames engulfed the clothes, leaving nothing but burnt shreds, he walked back up into his bathroom, and removing his clothes again, turned on the water and stepped in. His upper arms were scarred with cut marks and healed wounds, he had a major scar down his back from an old battle. He let the water run over his body, washing away any trace of sweat, blood, or dirt from his body. It was a good 10 to 15 minutes before he turned the water off and stepped out, he grabbed another towel and after drying his hair and upper body, wrapped it around his waist, Ryu headed into his room and closed the door. He put on a pair of basketball shorts and fell into his bed, as soon as he landed, he felt a sharp pain in his side, he looked down and saw a massive bruise on his side, where he was kicked. “That’s gonna take some time to heal.” He rolled over and began thinking of the better parts of the night, like the time he spent with Raiza, he thought about the night, and how it ended, with a kiss on his cheek. It brought a smile to his face, and he was able to fall asleep happy.
It seemed that almost as soon as he fell asleep, his mom came into the room, waking him up. “Ryu, come on, get up, you got a bus to catch.”
“unuh…” moaned Ryu a his mom opened the blinds, letting the sunlight in. The light penetrated his room and Ryu tried to block it out by throwing the sheet over his head. His mom just ripped it out of his hands and threw him off the bed and onto the floor, he landed with a loud thud and was jolted awake. “Ow! What did you do that for!?” He said, getting up off the floor and walking to his closet. He threw on a red shirt and a pair of khaki shorts. He wore black crew length socks with white shoes. He put on a hat and walked over to his dresser, he began filling up his suitcase with all his clothes and important belongings, when he was finished he checked his phone, he had 15 texts and 5 missed calls. He spent the next 20 minutes answering them all back. He scrolled through his screen, seeing a couple of texts from Raiza, he finished everything then sat down on his bed and called her.
“Hello?” answered Raiza
“Hey Raiza, it’s me, Ryu. Just wanted to let you know that I’m leaving for the busport now if you wanted to see me off.”
“heh, I’m already downstairs silly.” Replied Raiza, hanging up the phone. Ryu turned bright red, he grabbed his bag and headed down stairs, to see Raiza sitting on the couch with his mother, talking. He took a deep breath and walked to the bottom of the steps. “Hey Ryu.” She said with a sweet smile
“H.. hey” said Ryu, trying to hide his redness. “How long have you been here?”
“Oh, about a half hour.” Replied Raiza, touching her index finger to her chin in thought. “I told you I wanted to see you off.”
“heh, yeah. So mom,” continued Ryu, turning to his mother, shall we go to the bus station?”
“Yes.” The three got into Ryu’s mom’s car and drove off towards the bus station the car ride there was silent and awkward, they all knew what needed to be said but no one wanted to say it. Would Ryu make it to Zuellni alive?
They finally got to the bus station and headed to Ryu’s platform, number 17. He was walking up the steps when he saw a sight that brought tears to his eyes. All of his friends were there to see him off. He wanted to cry for 2 reasons; he was happy they were all here, and that he was leaving them all behind. He walked through the crowd, shaking hands with his guy friends, hugging his girl ones. He was about the step onto the bus when a hand gripped his shoulder. He turned to see Raiza, but only for a split second as their lips met, sending a shockwave through his body. It felt amazing, her lips were soft and they tasted great. He was in heaven, and just like a good dream, it ended abruptly. “Wha… where did that come from?” stammered Ryu, still trying to process what happened.
“You never want to go through life wondering what could have been.” Replied Raiza, turning bright red. “Goodbye Ryu, I hope you come back one day.”
“I will he said with a reassuring smile, as the bus doors closed, he felt a longing to go back, but he couldn’t he was headed to Zuellni and there was nothing he could do. He sat down, put his headphones in and tried to relax, but he couldn’t he just stared back at Glenden until it was out of view. He kept a look out for any sign on Zuellni. After almost what seemed like days of travel, he arrived. He got off the bus, stretching for a long time, it felt good to breathe fresh air again. He grabbed his bags and headed to the apartment that his mother had bought for him. He walked into the front door and set his bag down, the apartment was fully furnished, it was a 2 bedroom 1 bathroom apartment. He walked around, getting used to his surroundings. He just fell onto his bed and passed out. He woke up the next day, knowing what was going to happen, his first day at the Military Arts Academy, He got out of bead and took a shower, put on his uniform and before he left, kinda admired the way he looked. The uniform suited him and he looked good in it. He took a picture with his phone and sent it to his mom and Raiza. They both replied with how good he looked, but in their own ways.
He arrived at the academy with all of the other new students, not five minutes later, he was swarmed with platoon leaders, asking him to join their platoon. The 4th, the 8th, the 11th, the 14th, after all of their conversations, he just sat down on a bench to think. “Man… first day and I already don’t know what to do.” He sat in silence for a bit until someone sat next to him.
“Hello, I am Nina Antalk, leader of the 17th platoon.” Said the blond haired woman.
“Lemme guess, you want me to join your platoon?” replied Ryu.
“Well yes, but I also just wanted to talk, to get to know you. How about you come to our training session after classes today? You can meet the gang.” She asked with a polite smile
“Umm, sure.” Said Ryu, “By the way, my name is Ryu, Ryu Akatski.” He extended his hand for a handshake.
“Nice to meet you Ryu.” She shook his hand and got up off the bench. “you need help getting to your first class?”
“Well actually, yes” he said dropping his head in embarrassment.
“haha, its fine, no need to be embarrassed, I didn’t know my way around here for a while either.” The two headed towards Ryu’s first class, they stopped outside of the door and said their goodbyes, Nina went her own way and Ryu walked inside, the classroom was huge, almost like an auditorium.
“Oh man…” He took a seat near the back and started taking notes, nothing the teacher said made any sense, he couldn’t understand a thing. But he sat there, writing, hoping that he would figure it out after reading them over later. After that clas was finished, he decided to head to the locker rooms, he ran into Nina along the way again.
“Hey, long time no see, how’d your class go?’
“Didn’t understand a thing…”
“You’ll get the hang of it, say, we were about to start the training session, still want to come?”
“Sure.” Ryu followed Nina into the training hall where he met the rest of the 17th platoon.
“So here’s the gang Ryu, thi techie right here is Harley Sutton, an old friend of mine and our DITE fixer upper. This tall jack ass right here is Sharnid Elipton, our sniping expert. This little silver haired ball of sunshine is Felli Loss, and last but certainly not least is our very own” Ryu cut her off.
“Layfon Alsief.” The two stared at each other intensly for a few minutes, creating a tense feeling in the room, until Ryu cracked a smile and began laughing. “How’ve you been? Didn’t think to find you here. You know what Nina, you’ve got yourself another platoon member.” He said with a huge grin.
“Ryu Akatski… you crazy bastard…” said Layfon, shaking his head with a smile.
“Well then, would you like to join our training session Ryu?” asked Nina.
“Sure.” Replied Ryu
“Well then you’re gonna need a DITE, interrupted Harley, bringing over a box of unused ones. “go ahead, pick one.”
“But I already have my own.” Said Ryu, pulling out his DITE.
“Well academy rules say that you have to use one from this box.” Said Harley nervously
“Really?” He tossed his DITE into the box. “Wow, look at this DITE, I think I’ll take it Harley!” he grabbed his DITE back out of the box and gripped it tightly.
“Nina… did I forget to mention that he’s a huge smart ass?” said Layfon.
“yes… yes you did…” replied Nina. “So Ryu, let’s see your skills, she pulled out her two DITE’s “Restoration.” They became two swords. She launched at Ryu with all her force.
“heh… Restoration!” his DITE became the scythe again. He dogged Nina’s attack and countered with his own.
“A Scythe DITE, I didn’t even know those existed…” said Harley.
“They don’t.” said Layfon, “that DITE is custom made, by his own hands. He takes pride in it”
“What? He made that himself?” interrupted Sharnid.
“yep.”
“So, let’s see your Kei. External Ballistic Kei!” Nina glowed blue and launched herself at Ryu again.
.x.x.x.x.x.
“So how do you think he’s doing?” asked Raiza, walking with Ryu’s mom.
“Oh I’m sure he’s doing fine, after all, his grandfather was a Heaven’s Blade.” Replied Ryu’s mom with a smile
“What!? He’s a descendant of a Heaven’ Blade? Why didn’t he become one?” replied Raiza, shocked.
“Yes, yes he is. His grandfather died fighting the contaminoids not to long ago, so that’s when the ex-heaven’s blade, Layfon Alsief was appointed. And everyone knows how that went.”
“haha yeah” said Raiza with a laugh, “do you think we could ever go see him?”
“Sure, why not next month? School get out and I go on vacation from work.”
“Hehe, sounds good Mrs. Akatski.”
“please, call me Sheryl.’
“Okay, Sheryl.” Said Raiza, a little uncomfortable with being on a first name basis.
.x.x.x.x.x.
“’Come on Ryu, you can do better than this.” Nina was keeping Ryu on the defensive, delivering blow after blow, all he could do it block her swift attacks.
“So Fon Fon,” said Felli, finally speaking “How good of a fighter I Ryu exactly?”
“well, I haven’t seen him in a while, so I don’t know now. But back when we were together in Glendan, he was a great fighter, he was my rival.” Replied Layfon, watching Ryu intently.
“Come on Ryu, show me what you got! I’ve never seen a scythe before, show me what it can do!” said Nina, excited and swinging her swords quickly.
“Damn, you got some energy girl.” Replied Ryu, “You really wanna see my scythe’s power?”
“Show me what you got! You used to be Layfon’s rival right? That means you should be about as strong as he is!” Nina grew a wicked smile on her face, the battle excited her, the fact that she was facing an unknown weapon too made her excitement grow that much more.
“heh, fine then!” Ryu dodged out of the way of Nina’s attacks. “Here we go, External Ballistic Kei!” An orange glow radiated around Ryu, he swung his scythe, sending a spiraling crescent shaped wave of energy at Nina, the wave traveled too fast for Nina to react, it hit her directly in the chest, knocking her backwards. Ryu jumped and landed on top of her, holding the scythe blade to her throat. “I think I’ve won.”
“Man… that’s some real power Layfon, think he could match yours?” whispered Harley, picking Nina up off the ground.
“Okay… guess we could call it quits for today. However, Ryu, Layfon, I want to talk to you two in private.” Said Nina
“Yes ma’am” replied both of the boys in unison. The group walked into their locker room, talking to each other. Ryu took the locker next to Felli’s.
“So Senior… you’re the groups Nen-I user?” said Ryu, fishing for a topic.
“Yes. Yes I am.” Replied Felli in her usual mono-toned voice.
“I’ve heard from Layfon that you’re good, really good.”
“Thank you. I haven’t seen enough from you to say how good you are, but if you used to be fon-fon’s rival, then you must be good.”
“Fon-Fon?” replied Ryu, curious as to the nickname
“Yes, it’s a nickname I gave for him, he calls me Felli as you should too.”
“hah, okay Felli” he said with a smile. “Well Nina’s waiting for me and Layfon, I’ll talk to you later. Maybe I could walk you home?”
“I take the train to my brother and my apartment.” Replied Felli
“Well I don’t have plans at all tonight, so I’ll ride with you.” He gave her a warm smile and walked out, causing her cheeks to turn slightly pink, to which Sharnid noticed.
“Awe, looks like someone has a crush.” Said Sharnid, wrapping his arms around Felli’s shoulders, teasing her about Ryu.
“Grrr…” growled Felli, turning around and kicking Sharnid straight in the shin, making him buckle over in pain. “Idiot…” She walked out and waited for Ryu outside the training hall.
“Hey Nina, what did you want to talk about?” asked Layfon, walking into the room with Ryu.
“About the next Municipal Challenge, we’re going against the 6th Platoon, they’re not the strongest, but still. We need to be on our guard, I’m not having what happened against the 14th happen against the 6th. Tomorrow, instead of training we’re going to discuss a strategy, with Ryu now on our side, it opens up a lot more strategies we could utilize, plus, he’s a sleeper right now, no one knows his power, so we can use Layfon as a distraction and have Ryu go after the flag.”
“Sounds like you just came up with a strategy boss lady.” Said Ryu with a laugh
“Do you have a problem with this plan at all Ryu?” replied Nina
“Not at all ma’am. I look forward to it, so when is the next challenge?”
“Day after tomorrow, so be ready Ryu, I think you can handle yourelf. We’ll see though” said Nina with great concern.
“With all due respect ma’am, you have no idea…” Ryu walked out and met Felli infront of the training hall. “Hey, didn’t know you were waiting for me”
“Of course I was, you promised to walk me home, rememeber?” she responed with a kick in his shin.
“OWW!!!” screamed Ryu, hopping on one foot and holding his left shin “You got a mean kick,” he put his leg back on the ground, shaking off the pain. “Come on, let’s get you home”
.x.x.x.x.x.
“Hey Raiza, come here a sec will ya?” beckoned one of Raiza’s friends sitting at a lunch table. “Read this, they say that “Death” has struck again, whether he’s a hero or just someone trying to get away with murder I can’t tell, but read this article.”
“Okay Kayla,” replied Raiza, walking over to the table, she picked up the paper and couldn’t believe what she read. The title alone brought a pit to her stomach, “Death’s identity not a mystery anymore?” she wanted to read on, but had a bad feeling about what the article might say.
“Late Thursday night 3 men were killed, one in the Glenden View Luxuary Apartment complex, and the other 2 in a back alley, Municipal Police reports indicate that the 3 men killed were the last surviving members of the Rizuto crime family, who have been dropping like flies since summer of last year. A bystander snapped a picture of the suspected “Death” slaying the two men, police suggest that it is Death because of his DITE, a scythe.” Raiza couldn’t read anymore, she glanced at the picture and felt her heart break, she could tell it was Ryu in the photo, caught mid-attack, killing the fat one from before. She dropped the newspaper and ran off, leaving her friends sitting at the table, and a few others near her, wondering what happened.
“Raiza!” called the friend from earlier, “Whats wrong?” she asked finally catching up with her.
“Th… Th… That’s Ryu in the photo..” she said through broken sobs.
“No, it can’t be, there’s no way Ryu is Death.” Said the black haired teen, pulling Raiza in for a hug, allowing her to cry into her shoulder. “Come on Raiza, relax, there’s no way that’s possible.”
“Yes it is…” said a tall teen-age boy walking up to the two. “Mitsuko, can I talk to Raiza in private?”
“Sure Paul.” Mitsuko walked off back into the cafeteria, leaving the two alone.
“Raiza… there’s something you should know…”
CLIFFHANGER’S!!! >
Wanna know what happens? Wait till chapter 3 :3
by 
you better post more soon.
