Xer: Hey guys! This is gonna be my actual third foray into writing a story for FF, so here's hoping this does well.
And if you're wondering why my page only has two stories on it (as of July 2010), that's because my second story was a lost cause, and was thus deleted. Now, for disclaimers, I give you Ragna the Bloodedge and Tsubaki Yayoi.
Ragna: Xernuht owns the plot and the concept of this story.
Tsubaki: Arc System Works owns the rest.
Xer: By the way, providing fair warning, this is an AU story, so the characters will range from slightly OOC to extremely OOC. If you aren't interested, leave now and don't flame, or I'll find ways to pay you back twenty-five-fold. On that cheery note,
Xer/Rag/Tsu: Let's rock!
BB: Kagatsuchi High School Days
Episode 1
What A Homecoming...
A taxi pulled away from the front of a small house in the downtown area of the city of Kagatsuchi, capital city of the Country of Norbis. A teenager, 18 years old, watched as the cab sped through an intersection... when his light was red. He flinched as the horns of numerous frustrated drivers blared.
"What a fucking entitled snob.", he said, as he turned to help the men unloading a truck full of furniture and boxes. "And to think Brother had me tip him..."
"Hey, we'll be fine, kid, don't worry.", one of the workers said as the teen hopped into the truck to grab a couple of boxes.
The boy turned to the worker, giving him the sort of gaze that says, 'O RLY?'. The worker then noticed the boy's eyes: one a bright green, the other a deep red. With his spiky white hair, he seemed like a character out of a video game or anime. "Well, it's my stuff, so I'll do as I please with it.", he said, and hopped out of the truck. Turning to the house, he yelled, "Hey, Jin, stop ogling the poor house and help with the unloading!"
"Real funny, Ragna.", said the other boy, roughly the same age. His blond hair hugged near his head, yet didn't cover his green eyes, as vibrant as his brother's right one. He grabbed a box labelled 'Pictures' and followed his brother into the house.
The Kisaragi siblings practically kicked the door down as they entered, Ragna leading. Inside, a tall blonde woman looked at them with a slightly angered gaze. "What was that?"
"Cool off, Saya.", Ragna said, putting his boxes at the base of the stairs. "If the door fell down, I'd just repair it. Goodness knows we can afford it, sis."
"That's not the point, Ragna.", the 25-year-old scowled even more. "Just because Mom and Dad left us a fortune doesn't mean we should spend it cleaning up a path of destruction."
"But where's the fun in that plan?"
"Just listen to your sister, Rags.", came a calm voice from the door. Standing there was a wiry man in a fine suit, complete with fancy shoes and tie. The jacket was undone, and the hat on his head flattened his typically spiky hair down and around. A chain dangled from the right side of his pants. In his arms was a box of kitchen appliances.
"Oh, come on, Terumi, couldn't you take my side for once?", Ragna groaned. Terumi was a friend of the family, and legal godfather to the three Kisaragis. Ragna and him had bonded a lot during his childhood, so he thought of Terumi as being pretty close to a father, and thus found it tricky to argue against him.
"No such luck." the godfather said, dropping the box in the boy's arms. With his hands free, he reached into a jacket pocket, and threw Saya two small bags, each with three keys. "The silvery ones cover the front, the bronzy ones cover the back. Now, if you excuse me, I gotta get back to work." With that, he quickly bolted out the front door.
"Damn.", Ragna muttered. "I guess this means we're on our own with the unloading."
After about three hours of trying to get all of the furniture and boxes where they needed to be, the movers drove off in their truck, and the siblings were sprawled over various pieces of furniture: Ragna on the dining room table, Saya in a recliner, and Jin on the couch. It wasn't long before the doorbell rang. All three siblings promptly raised their hands in a rock-paper-scissors game. Ragna lost to two rocks.
Mumbling, he shuffled his way to the door. Opening it, he was met with a young girl, who couldn't be more than 14. Her gaze, framed with blond hair and coloured with green eyes, looked him square in the eyes. "Welcome to the neighborhood!", she said cheerily, lifting up a pie as a gift.
"Hmm...", he said, sniffing near the food, "I'd guess it's... cranberry?"
"Well done, but could you take it, please?", she asked.
"Oh, right. Sorry.", he said, relieving her of the pastry. He looked slightly down to the right in shame.
"Thanks... wait... no way. Ragna?", she asked, joy bursting from just saying his name.
He took a moment to get a better look at the girl. She looked similar to Saya when she was younger, just not so... flat. But that would mean... well, it's been 10 years, so... no way!
"Holy crap! Noel Vermillion?", he cried in happiness. Noel was a very old friend of Ragna and Jin's, from way back in grade school. They were always playing, and the brothers ended up beating up a kid who made fun of her on the playground. The month of detentions was worth it, though. "Wow, you don't look a day over 14!"
Needless to say, the Kisaragis wouldn't partake of pie that evening. Just Ragna right there.
Jin went to meet his old friend after hearing Ragna's loud exclamations. When he saw her, though, his heart did a quick flip. "Uh.. uh... hi.", he muttered, befuddled by her beauty. He thought now she didn't look anything like Saya. Her form seemed to flow like a fluid, while Saya was much more rigid. Also, Noel seemed to have longer hair, hers extending down to her hip while Saya's was in a shoulder-length ponytail. Noel seemed to blush a little, finding that the wiry Kisaragi was quite handsome in his older age. There was an awkward silence filling the air.
Ragna, having wiped off most of his face and eaten the tasty pie filling, decided it was his job to play the part of the tension-breaker. "So, Noel, how've things been since we were gone?"
Noel snapped out of her trance, addressing the other brother with a slight blush still colouring her cheeks. "Oh, not much. Although I'll have to invite my... uh, other friend, over. Ya know, 'cause you guys are still friends, right?"
Ragna smiled, enjoying how nostalgic Noel's flustering was. He gave her a playful tap on the head. "Idiot. Of course we are. Right, Jin?"
"Oh... uh, yeah..."
"Well, that's hardly the most inspiring statement. At least he means well."
"Anyways, I'll call her over." Noel pulled a deep blue phone out her pocket, and quickly used the speed-dial to call this 'new' friend. After a short conversation, she hung up. "Okay, she'll be here any minute now. I'm sure you'll like her. In some ways, she's like a female Ragna."
The mere mental image of himself with Saya's face and breasts had Ragna pass out from shock. Needless to say, his imagination was a little rampant. Jin and Noel dragged him back into the house. A few minutes later, the doorbell rang, stirring Ragna from his unconsciousness with a jump. Noel and Jin were chatting quite peacefully. At least, until the white-haired brother had launched himself from the couch. "Whew... I'll get it."
Ragna opened the door, and was greeted with a girl roughly as tall as him. Her red hair, almost the shade of blood, contrasted her light blue eyes in a very beautiful way. Taking a brief moment to see this new person in her entirety, he took a small step back to get the full view of the girl. Her hair stretched down to her hips, which his eyes lingered on a little too long. Coupled with a slim, yet curved build, and he had found out his old friend had befriended a definite hottie.
"Are you done ogling me?", she asked. Her voice sent a shiver up his spine. It was sexy, too.
"Depends. You done checking me out?", he said back. Ragna liked using his words to knock people off their feet.
Of course, when the girl replied with, "Well, I guess I could get back to that later.", as she went into the house, Ragna stood speechless for a moment, an almost-evil grin appearing on his face. Oh, the chase is so on. Is there any way this girl isn't perfect? Not that Ragna was a pervert or a womanizer. He just liked to have things be a challenge, whether it be school, recreation, or getting a date. Obviously, this was the last option.
"Hey, Noel, your friend is here." he yelled to the living room.
Tsubaki Yayoi, as her name turned out to be, was the heir to a rich family that had moved to Kagatsuchi about 9 years ago. Noel didn't know Tsubaki was rich when they first met. They spent most of their time at Noel's home. In fact, it was a whole year before Tsubaki insisted Noel sleep over at her place. Apparently, despite being smart enough to go to any private academy in the city (this revelation only sweetening the deal for Ragna. My god. Witty, hot, and smart? Jackpot!), she chose to go to public schools only. "I went to an academy for one year before coming here. I swear, the ego of those assholes hasn't washed off 100% yet."
Saya poked her head out from the kitchen, glass of water in hand. "So, I'm ordering pizza for how many?"
"I'd say 5.", Ragna said. "I'm assuming you guys are gonna stay for dinner?"
"Of course, Ragna!", Noel chirped. Yes, she chirped.
"I suppose so.", Tsubaki said.
By the time the clocks tolled 10, two large pizza boxes were emptied. Ragna had eaten over half a meat-lover's pizza on his own, and would have kept going if Tsubaki hadn't appeared to challenge him to an 'eating contest' with that very pizza as their battleground. Jin, Noel, and Saya had just watched in amazement, eating their own regular pizza as the two others ate their fill of the other pizza.
"Noel, are you sure she isn't just a female Ragna clone?", Saya asked.
"Wouldn't know.", the other girl said, swallowing her piece of crust.
"Brother, you're gonna choke at this rate.", Jin said with concern.
Returning to the present, Saya was cleaning up the remnants of dinner. "Now, guys, you've got school tomorrow, so you should maybe head home."
"Yes, Mom.", the four teens said mockingly. Saya hurled a box at them, prompting them all to leap out the door. Noel and Tsubaki said their goodbyes and left for their homes. It wasn't too long before Tsubaki was greeted by the noise of another pair of shoes.
"Enjoying what you see, Ragna?", she said, not even bothering to try and look.
"What's not to like?", he said as he pulled up beside her. "If you'd like, I could pull ahead and let you resume your viewing party from this afternoon." His smile, despite his flirtatious behaviour, held a large amount of obvious caring behind it. Hmm... Interesting. He's not like the others...
"So, what do you hope to accomplish with letting me ogle you, anyways?"
"First friendship, then work up from there." Once again, an honest reply.
"Certainly a different approach than others take.", she said. Then, in a deeper, sexier tone, she added, "I like it."
"Glad to know I'm better than the average Joe." he said, smiling. "Well, I think Step 1 is done."
She smiled back. "I'd say so."
"So, how much harder would it be for a date?" he asked quite bluntly.
"Well, maybe-"
"!", came a roar from an alleyway. Tsubaki jumped back, startled. Ragna shifted himself in front of her. Out from the alleyway came a large dark-coloured human-looking thing, with strange horse-like legs and taloned hands. The claws were dripping with blood, and what looked like a chewed woman's hand protruded from the side of it's mouth.
"Fuck. They're here already." Ragna spat. "Okay, you bastard, it's about time I got to send a message to your creator. I guess I'll carve it into your corpse."
Tsubaki was confused, obviously. "What are you saying, Ragna? You're not making sense!"
"I'll explain at lunch tomorrow with Jin and Noel, okay?" he said. "I need you to take cover now, okay?" Tsubaki nodded and ran behind a nearby car, her head peeking over the trunk. "Good. Now, back to Fugly and the meesage-sending."
Battle Theme: Rebellion – Daisuke Ishiwatari
Ragna lifted his right arm in front of him as a red glyph appeared beneath him.
"ARMAGUS, UNLEASH!". With a great red flash, the glyph erupted with blood-red light, which died down after about a second. Ragna was there, but was now in a red coat and a black hakama, with red boots with metal toes. He also had gloves with weird metal bits on the back. On his back, near his hips, was a large white sword. "Alright, let's get this over with.", he said. Of course, the monster replied by punching him into the wall behind him.
"Ow... wasn't expecting you to be strong." Ragna got up, dusting himself off. The beast propelled itself at Ragna with blinding speed, this time aiming its claw for his heart. Just as it was within reach, Ragna kicked it away. The force he used was obviously superhuman, as the beast flew through a newspaper bin. As it got up, Ragna pulled the sword off of his back, adopting a dashing stance. As it got up, Ragna vanished from sight.
"Carnage..."
Ragna reappeared in front of the creature, slamming the hilt of the blade into its gut, winding it. He quickly readjusted his grip, and swung with the blade.
"SCISSORS!"
A bolt of dark energy erupted from the blade, ripping the creature in half. It fell over, dead on arrival to the floor. Ragna reverted to his street clothes, and went to see Tsubaki. She was awestruck by the sight of the battle, even if it was far from long or epic. "You okay?", she asked.
"Yeah, I heal fast.", he said. "Before you ask anything, wait until tomorrow's explanation, okay?"
With a nod, the two walked backed to her house. Needless to say, it was pretty big. As she opened the gate to get to the house, she turned and kissed Ragna on the cheek. 'Just so you know, all girls are softies for superheroics. Consider yourself that much closer.", she said smiling, before running up to the house.
Heart doing a whole gymnastics routine, Ragna ran back home to tell Jin and Saya what had happened. He felt ripped off, though, when it turned out that Jin and Noel had a whole make-out session when he and Tsubaki had broken off.
Needless to say, life seemed good. Well, flesh-eating monsters aside.
