Shun
Sunshine was beating down on Dan and I while we walked towards Murucho's mansion. It was the first day of summer, and the hottest it had been in the weeks leading up to it. Dan mumbled under his breath, "I can't wait to get to Murucho's and cool down." I chuckled.
The heat didn't bother me much. I had been in much worse weather conditions before. So a little hot weather wasn't anything to me. I said, "Dan, your attribute it fire. You should be used to this." He rolled his eyes and said, "Oh ha-ha. Those are two different things."
A group of girls on the way to the beach were in their swimsuits and walked by us. Dan stopped and said, "Hello, ladies." They giggled and kept on walking. I said, "Now what would Runo do to you if she saw you flirting with them? Oh yeah. She'd hit you upside the head and call you a pig."
Dan rolled his eyes again and said, "Sheesh, you know Runo and I aren't dating. But you are right about what she'd probably do to me. At least I'm not like you though." I looked at him and asked, "Like me? What's that supposed to mean?" Dan cut me a sly look and said, "You don't even make eye contact with other girls cause you're so dead-set on getting Alice."
I felt my face heat up and I looked away from Dan. He laughed and said, "Ha! See! You're blushing! I was right!" I glared at him and said, "It's a sunburn!" Dan was bent over laughing, and I kept walking and left him there. I heard him running to catch up with me, and he was still laughing. "Aw, take a joke, Shun. I swear. You're too serious at times." I didn't comment and tried my best to keep the rest of the walk to Murucho's quiet.
Which was impossible with Dan walking beside me. We were a few blocks away when Dan said, "Dude, this summer vacation with Murucho is going to be beast!" I looked at him and said, "What is the point of saying that?" Dan raised an eyebrow at me and asked, "Saying what?"
I rolled my eyes and said, "Beast. What's the point of that?" Dan shrugged his shoulders. Murucho had invited the six original Brawlers to go on vacation with him to some island his parents bought. I had to admit, having Murucho as a friend had its perks.
I remembered Murucho saying that we were leaving at the end of the week to give the others enough time to pack up and get to his mansion. I didn't think Dan would survive the four days before we left though. The only ones we had to wait on were Runo and Julie. Alice was already there, and that was the reason I had told Dan that we were going there early.
Runo was still out of town with her parents, and would be back in a few days, and Julie was just living so far away. We walked through the front doors of Murucho's mansion, and Dan closed his eyes and smiled. "I love industrial air conditioners." Murucho was standing in the main room when we walked in, and smiled. "Hey, guys. Glad you could make it." Alice was behind him and said, "Hi, Dan. Hi, Shun."
Dan grinned and said, "Hey, Alice." I just waved and pretended to look at a painting that was hung on the wall. "Isn't it pretty?" I jumped and turned around to see Alice behind me. I clutched my hand to my chest and said, "You scared the crap out of me."
Dan was across the room laughing. Idiot. I tried to recover quickly by saying, "Uh, yeah. It's a nice painting." I noticed she was looking at my right shoulder. "Shun? What's that?" I quickly pulled my sleeve over at said, "A scratch. Grandfather decided to up my training." She nodded. I couldn't tell her what it really was.
I left that life behind a long time ago. I had to make sure that I kept that mark hidden around the others, or else I'd have to face their questions. Alice said, "Oh. Sounds like your grandfather is still doing good." I nodded my head. "Yeah. At the rate he's going he's going to live for many more years. Speaking of grandfathers. How's your's doing?"
She smiled and said, "He's doing fine. Still working in his lab as usual." I bit my lower lip and tried to keep my face turned away from Alice to hide my blush. She said, "Well, I guess I'll go catch up with Dan. It was nice talking to you, Shun." When she was gone, I let out a sigh.
I almost regretted agreeing to go on this vacation. Later on in the day, the four of us moved into the dining area to sit and talk when Julie showed up. Alice smiled and said, "Julie! We thought your flight got delayed till tomorrow." She smiled and said, "They fixed the problem and now I'm here and ready to get some of that warm island sun!"
That only left Runo to show up within the next few days. Julie looked around the room and asked, "Did I beat Runo here?" Murucho smiled and said, "She'll be here either tomorrow or the day after." Julie nodded her head and took the seat between Alice and Murucho. I was sitting on the end chair as usual, but Dan had picked the seat next to me. I knew what he was planning.
He was going to tease me about Alice. I tried to keep myself reserved from him, but doing that is difficult when his loud mouth opens so he can talk. Dan whispered over to me, "There's still a seat next to Alice." He nudged me a few times with his elbow as well. I said, "I'm perfectly content with where I'm sitting now."
Dan rolled his eyes and said, "Shun, you've been doing nothing short of stalker her since we were twelve. It's time to make a move, buddy." I acted like I didn't hear him while I sipped my tea that Kato had brought me. A phone rang, and Murucho left from the table to answer it.
He soon returned and said, "That was Runo. She said that she'll be here sometime tomorrow morning or afternoon." Julie squealed and said, "She needs to hurry up!" I said under my breath, "Patience is a virtue." Julie looked over at me with narrowed eyes and said, "What did you say about me?"
I looked around and said, "I didn't say anything about you, Julie. I was talking to myself." Dan was covering his mouth with his hand while he laughed. I heard him say something like, "Smooth, ninja boy." I growled at him. I'd end up going insane before we even left to go on vacation.
Shun
Runo wasn't lying when she said she'd most likely show up in the morning, because when I woke up she was downstairs talking with Murucho. Alice was also awake, leaving Dan and Julie the only ones left sleeping. I was relieved that Dan was still asleep.
That would give me at least an hour of peace from him. It didn't take long for Dan and Julie to join us, and of course they both freaked out when they saw Runo. The rest of the day went by fairly quickly. Before any of us knew anything, it was dark and we were getting ready to turn in for the night. Before I headed into my room, I saw Alice walking towards the main lobby.
Curious, I ran after her. I saw she was getting ready to go outside. "Alice? Where are you going?" She turned around and looked at me and said, "I was just going outside for some air. You want to come with me?" There wasn't any wanting to go with her. I needed to go with her. The streets outside weren't safe at night. Or anytime of day for that matter. I said, "Yeah. Sure."
I slid my shoes on and followed her outside. We didn't walk any further than the park when we turned back to return to Murucho's. Neither of us really talked or said anything to each other. I didn't know if I should have been thankful for that or disappointed.
Probably thankful because I didn't say anything that would have make me look like an idiot. She stopped in front of a little café that was still open and said, "I'm going to grab a drink and maybe something to eat. You can head on back to Murucho's if you want." I looked and saw that Murucho's mansion wasn't more than a couple of yards away. I said, "I think I'll head on back."
Alice nodded her head and walked in the café. If she ran into some trouble, she could have easily ran and made it back to Murucho's place with no difficulties. I walked back in the mansion and took off my shoes. Quietly, I made sure that I went back to my room without waking any of the others that were sleeping. I wasn't sure what time at night it was. Maybe ten or eleven at night?
I wasn't ever good with making estimations. I probably should have waited for Alice to get back and make sure she was ok, but I went ahead and went back in my room instead. I knew what kind of people were out on those streets, because I had been involved with them before.
I rolled up my shirt sleeve and looked at the mark. It wasn't a scratch made by my grandfather's ridiculous training. No. It was a scar that I had gotten when I fell into the wrong group of people. It was a sign of my loyalty to them, and that I was one of that gang's members. But years and years ago I had turned my back on them because I started to see the errors of my ways.
I didn't want to be a part of them anymore, and just walked away without another word. I thought I had made the right choice, until I found out they had been looking for me afterwards. I had a few run-ins with them, but I always got away from them by making use of my ninja skills.
I hadn't seen hide nor hair of them since my last encounter with them almost a year ago. I assumed they had forgotten about me, and went on with my life, Or what I could salvage out of my life. I laid back on my bed and folded my hands behind my head so I could stare up at the ceiling.
I couldn't ever let the others know about the things I had done and seen. They wouldn't understand, and I didn't want to try and make them. The past was the past, and I was going to try my best to keep it that way. My eyes started to grow heavy, and I fell asleep just as I heard the wail of sirens going down the street.
Shun
That morning, I woke up because sunlight was shining right into my eyes. It had to be the second most unpleasant way to wake up next to my grandfather yelling right into my ears. But something about the atmosphere wasn't right. I couldn't pick it up though.
When I changed into my clothes for the day, I was greeted with several police officers standing in the main room that were talking with Dan and the others. They looked nervous and worried. I asked, "What's going on here?" Old habits of mine were telling me to run or fight because of the cops in the room. The tallest one said, "Take a seat with the others please."
He turned and looked at one of the officers behind him and asked, "Is this all of them?" He nodded and said, "All five of them, sir." The tall officer, who's name I saw on the badge was Allan, nodded his head and said, "Ok. Now we can get down to business." I looked around the room quickly, and saw Alice wasn't there.
I started to get a sick feeling. Officer Allan interlocked his hands together behind his back, and he started to pace back and forth in front of us. I didn't take my eyes off of him, because, yet again, my old habits. He stopped and said, "We're here today because we found your friend, Alice, in an alley."
That sick feeling only got worse and worse every minute. Nobody said anything, so the officer kept talking. "She was beaten pretty badly, and is now in the hospital in the ICU and undergoing tests. We found you all when we went through her phone to find family to contact, and we saw the Marakura's name listed. So this was the first place we went to gather information." The officer's eyes fell on me.
I had seen him before, but I didn't think he was an officer when I last saw him. He seemed to recognize me too. The others seemed to stunned to speak or register anything that was being said. The officer asked us, "Why was she out last night? And do any of you know who she was with?"
Everyone shook their heads, but I spoke up. "I saw her before she left. She said that she was going to get some air, and I went with her because I know how dangerous those streets can be at night." The officer gave me a cold look when he asked, "And did you see her attacker?"
I knew what he wanted to know. He was seeing if I was the one that hurt Alice. I told him, "No. When we were walking back here, she said she was going to stop at that little café a few buildings down. I didn't think anything would happen to her in that short distance, and came back here."
Runo was the first to speak up other than me. She asked, "What hospital is Alice in?" One of the other officers scribbled down on a piece of paper, and handed it to her. He said, "This is the hospital address and room number." Officer Allan said, "We have no further questions as of now. We will return later with more information and to continue the questioning if necessary. Thank you all for your time."
He and the other officers escorted themselves out of the building without any other words. I turned and looked at the others. They were all still in shock. Murucho pushed up his glasses and said, "If it isn't obvious as of now, we aren't going on that trip. Not until Alice is better and her attacker is found." Dan nodded his head and said, "I second that motion." Something doesn't add up here.
just out of boredom i have started another story. i am also currently working on The Puppetmaster but i can see it really isnt doing all that well but i'm going to keep working on it anyway. well, please read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~
