Disclaimer: Yeah... no disclaimers here.

Claimer: I own everything in this series, characters, plot, ideas, etc, etc, etc...

Warning: This'll be good 'ol boy on boy fiction, eventually graphic, so if you don't like that kind of stuff, plz leave kthxbai. There'll be a lot of violence and fighting as well, with extreme angst at times and some serious material later on. So if that's not your cup of tea either, plz leave kthxbai.

Genesis

Chapter 1

Seconds ticked by while the minute hand worked its way around the clock placed up on the wall. The math classroom was swelteringly hot, but that was to be expected during the first few weeks of summer. Rows of desks lined the center of the room, each spot occupied by a high school student taking their final exam. On the far side of the chamber, a teacher was situated behind his desk, sharply keeping a look out for even the slightest signs of cheating.

One of the students glanced up at the clock, irritation shining clearly in his eyes at the discovery that the test would end in another thirty minutes. Swiping a lock of his chocolate-colored bangs out of his eyes, Sakai let out a small sigh in frustration. Damn it...

Playing his guitar and watching television before studying for his final had seemed like such a good idea to Sakai the night before, he reasoned that relaxing a bit before doing schoolwork could help him study better when it came around to doing it. The only problem was, Sakai had accidentally fallen asleep and woke the next morning, with just enough time to drive to school for his exam.

Features crumpling up in annoyance, Sakai dropped his head gently onto the cool surface of his desk. I just had to goof off, didn't I? If I had just prepared for this damn exam, everything would be fine right now. You are so stupid, Sakai! Instead, he was stuck in school staring at a blank test packet with no immediate answers coming to mind.

Running his hand through his hair, Sakai allowed his eyes to drift to his right and saw his friend Osamu having a similar problem with his exam. The other senior's head rested on his hand in a relaxed pose, though Sakai knew by the aggravated look on Osamu's face that his friend was having just as much trouble as he was.

For the next half-hour, Sakai struggled through most of the test, slowly gaining speed with each question answered. Yeah... yeah, I can do this, alright. Turning to the last page in the booklet, he started on a question when a loud voice stilled his hand. "All right everyone, that's enough. Pens and pencils down, I'll come around to pick up your papers."

Sakai put his pencil down and leaned back in his chair, letting loose a loud sigh. It hadn't been as hard as he thought it would be, and taking into account he hadn't studied at all, he thought he had done pretty well. So what if he had missed a page? It was better than none at all. Turning his head to look over at Osamu, Sakai was met with a large grin from the other student. "Ah, doesn't it feel good to be done with it, Sakai? I swear, these tests get harder and harder each year."

Stifling a laugh, Sakai remarked light-heartedly, "Yeah, I saw you having a bit of trouble over there. Think you did okay?"

Frowning playfully back, Osamu snorted. "Oh, believe me, I did awesome. I was just, uh... double checking some of my answers. Concentrating really hard, ya know?"

Unable to hold it in any longer, Sakai began to laugh. "Sure, I understand. So, you know what you're doing over the summer?"

"Well. I've been planning to just hang out at my house, relax a bit. Get a job for college. The usual, nothing special."

"Sounds a lot like what'll end up happening with me. We should-"

Sakai was abruptly cut off by a shrill ringing sound, a noise everyone in the school knew quite well. The fire alarm was used often for drills that every student was well versed in, and within seconds everyone, including Osamu and Sakai, were filing out of the humid room and into the hallways. Osamu scratched his head while looking at the milling students around him. "Huh. That's odd. Weird enough that a drill's on a big day like this, not to mention it's after the test is over. Is there a real fire somewhere?"

Sniffing the air to try and find any hint of smoke, Sakai shook his head, raising his voice so he could be heard over the alarm's ringing. "If there is a fire, I don't smell it. Or hear it, though it would be kind of hard to hear anything right now." The thick crowd of students turned a corner in the hallway causing Sakai to bump into someone, tripping over his own feet and falling unexpectedly to the floor. He landed hard on his elbow, eliciting a sharp cry of pain that made the student he collided into turn around.

Slowly getting to his feet, Sakai looked towards Shozo, another student who had been in his math class. He was the star player of the school's football team, and was well known by almost everyone in the school. Scowling, Shozo yelled over the din, "Hey, watch where you're going man! No one's in a rush, slow down. Jeez." And with that said, he walked away, melting into the crowd of shuffling bodies.

Moving with the flow of the other students, Sakai growled in frustration. That idiot is so dumb he would tell a wall to watch where it's going if he happened to walk into it. Giving a sigh, he pushed ahead, trying to find Omasu, who had apparently moved on, in the large group of people.

Within minutes, everyone had filed outside, warm sunlight beating down on the confused students. Sakai hadn't been able to find Omasu in the confusion, so he had given up searching. I'll find him eventually, or when the drill's over. Sitting down in the grass situated in front of the high school, he tried to see the telltale sign of flames flickering up from any part of the building. Unsuccessful, Sakai looked at the various teachers around him, noting that each one seemed to be just as out of the loop as the students were.

The ear-piercing alarm stopped as a line of buses drove in front of the school, yellow paint painfully obvious in the sun. Mr. Nagika, the principle of the school, walked out of the building with a large amplifier cone in hand, and began to address the large crowd in front of him. "You all most likely are wondering why you are out here at this moment. That I can tell you." Glancing down at his shoes for a second, Nagika refixed his gaze back onto the group before him. "I will notlie, as the importance of this message has been made clear... There has been a nationwide order by the government to evacuate the area immediately." He paused at the influx of worried voices, those of student and teacher alike.

Waiting for the noise to die down, Nagika continued. "Further details on the subject have been withheld from me, although I can assure you all that there is a perfectly good reason for all of this. Now, if you all would neatly make lines and get on the school buses. Yes... that's it..." His voice trailed off as students began to hurriedly get on the vehicles, each and every face painted with fear and uncertainty.

Sakai slowly walked over to one of the many lines that were forming, but then stopped as an unfamiliar feeling shot through his body. Osamu wasn't outside with the others. He... wasn't quite sure how he knew, but he just did. Sakai was positive. Where's that bastard Osamu? Ignoring his instincts, he looked about quickly, glancing around to see if his friend was getting onto a bus. Dammit, if he's not out here... then he doesn't know about the evacuation. Whirling around, Sakai dashed into the school before any of the teachers could notice that he was gone.

Echoes made from his rushed footsteps bounced through the empty halls as Sakai ran down the maze of corridors that made up the school building. Where could he be? Why wouldn't he come outside? He was right in front of me before that asshole knocked me over. Rounding a corner, Sakai let out a surprised yell as he abruptly crashed into Omasu, knocking them both to the ground. Both were a tangle of limbs before being able stand up, each one laughing as the two friends recognized each other. Omasu pushed Sakai's shoulder, chuckling as he stumbled backwards. "What the hell Sakai?! Why are you in such a rush?"

Laughing, Sakai placed his hand behind his head embarassedly. "Ah... well... you see..." Remembering why he had come inside in the first place, Sakai's laughter dropped from his now serious face. "Omasu, we've got to leave. They're making everyone load up onto the buses and then they're driving them away from here. Nagika says it's a government order to evacuate the premises." He let his last statement sink in before continuing, "Where were you? We could have left without you!"

Omasu gave a sheepish grin. "I, uh, I had to go. Yanno, to the bathroom."

Smirking, Sakai gave an amused look, "You couldn't hold it?" Shaking his head, he went on quickly. "Whatever, we've gotta go outside before they leave. I don't know why they're holding an evacuation, but it can't be good, right?" Nodding in agreement, Omasu followed as they both moved towards the nearest exit farther down the hall.

Without warning, the bright light shining in the windows from outside began to dim, causing their shadows to meld away into the now steadily increasing darkness. Omasu's head darted around, trying to adjust to the sudden drop in light. "Eh? What the hell?! Sakai, what just happened?!" Running over to the window, the pair looked to the sky, where Omasu's question was unfailingly answered.

Just seconds before, the horizon had been a bright shade of blue. Now, the color was undeterminable through the thick layer of fiery objects blanketing the sky. Thousands of meteors were spread out across the sky as far as the eye could see, the spheres of flaming rock bearing down towards the ground at an impressive pace. Stunned into silence, they both watched in awe as the buses suddenly sped off towards the main road. The line of vehicles never reached it, as incoming traffic began to swerve dangerously off course, most likely because of the descending image of hell was distracting the drivers.

Sakai had a feeling of surrealness, somewhat like he was watching the events unfold before him as a spectator. An out of body experience. Omasu seemed to be saying something and making forceful gestures, but Sakai couldn't comprehend his friend. The screeching of tires brought Sakai out of his light stupor as he watched the escaping buses crash into the erratic cars, most of the vehicles bursting into flame at the numerous head on collisions.

Omasu let out a loud gasp and Sakai sunk to the floor, his outstretched arms the only things holding his body from fully collapsing to the ground. All those people... died. ...Except us. As bad as he felt about his fellow classmates' deaths, he felt a glimmer of gratefulness at Omasu's inability to wait. A feeble smile broke out on his face at the notion, but quickly disappeared as his mind wandered back to the burning pile of vehicles.

"No... no no no no no!" Omasu slammed his fist into the windowpane, causing a crack to appear in the glass. "They- they didn't have any warning! They couldn't do anything... they can't be dead! This isn't happening!" A tear slid down Sakai's cheek as Omasu spoke, but he shakily managed to stand up, an prevailing sense of calm washing over him. He's right. The others didn't have a chance... But we do. And I'm not going to let it go to waste.

Wiping his eyes, Sakai said quietly, "C'mon, we've got to get to shelter. Before those things make a landing." He glanced outside again at the bombardment of fiery rocks careening down at them, and it looked closer than ever. Now the mild darkness was lit by a faint glimmer of red and orange from the burning spheres, casting eerie, flickering shadows across the walls. A jolt of urgency ran through his body, and Sakai was struck by inspiration. "Omasu, the basement. The basement! There's got to be something sturdy down there that we can hide in!"

Watching his friend silently cry, Sakai gasped as Omasu retracted his hand from the window. He saw tiny rivulets of blood running down the side of his friend's clenched fist. The other student swayed once and then seemed to regain some composure, walking unsteadily down the hall to where the basement door lay around the corner. A twinge of guilt twisted in Sakai's gut as he saw his friend stumble down the hallway. Why… why am I not crying like Omasu, shouldn't I be feeling worse about this than I am now? Like I was before?

There was no doubt that Sakai felt horrible about the crash, but it was obvious that he wasn't feeling as badly to the extent that Omasu was. The student felt driven to protect himself and his friend, but he couldn't quite shake off the feeling of composure and numbness that he knew he shouldn't be feeling during this particular moment.

Running forward to catch up with his friend, the dull roar caused by the legion of meteors was suddenly overlapped by a piercing car horn, then another louder blare a second later. Pausing, the two had only a moment to react as the wall virtually exploded with the wrenching sound of metal scraping on rock. Sakai was flung forwards, a large chunk of the wall smashing into his forearm in midair. His limb giving a resounding crack, Sakai let out a scream of pain before landing on the polished marble floor, sliding forward several feet.

Writhing on the ground, Sakai clutched his arm as flashes of pain radiated throughout his body. He had never had any kind of a large or serious injury before, the most pain he had ever experienced had come from a mildly sprained ankle in his childhood. Eyelids flickering open through the hurt, Sakai realized Omasu wasn't near him, twisting his head this way and that to try to see where his friend had landed. Only then did he notice the large pile of rubble to the right of where he was lying, and the bloodied arm hanging limply from underneath the mound. The front end of a silver car jutted from the hole in the wall where it had crashed into the building, the driver sitting dead in his seat.

Tearing building up anew, Sakai began to sob, staring weakly at the arm sticking awkwardly out of the heap of rocky cement. There was no way anyone could escape being crushed under that weight. Standing up, still bent over in pain from his broken arm, Sakai ran towards the basement with tears freely flowing down his face. The already hot air had taken a sudden jump upwards in temperature, and now the heat was beginning to become unbearable. Omasu… no one should have died today. Least of all you… what am I going to do now without you?

Uncontrollably heaving as his thoughts lingered on his dead friend, Sakai reached out with his good arm and opened the basement door as he reached it. A rush of cool air greeted him as he stumbled down the stairs, almost tumbling to the concrete ground several times, each step sending a painful jolt through his broken arm. Crying, Sakai crashed against the hard wall under a large metal shelf in a corner, sinking down to put his head in his arms. His sense of calmness had long since dissipated, not long after Omasu had… no, I can't think about that. Not that. Anything but that.

A tentative touch on his arm caused him to look up quickly, blinking away tears in astonishment. There was someone else down here. The student who had earlier knocked Sakai down sat down next to him, Shozo's hand resting on his shoulder. Sakai opened his mouth to ask him how he was here, why he was here, but no sound came out. A startled look was all Sakai could muster, and the other student nodded. "I understand. Don't worry... we'll be okay. I know it." He noticed tears brimming just under the surface of Shozo's eyes, so Sakai redirected his stare down at his broken arm.

Finding himself relieved at another's presence, Sakai placed his head back down onto his arms and closed his eyes. The events of the past few minutes, including his broken arm and the death of his friend, were making his head spin, nausea rising dangerously high in his gut. The last thing Sakai heard before fainting outright was the roar of fire, metal, and rock, his mind fading into darkness.