The crowd was silent, each member holding his or her own breath in quiet anxiety. Tension was thick in the air. A short, slender figure landed gracefully on the ground, disk in hand. Five unconscious and bruised bodies littered the ground behind her. Her audience exploded in hysterical applause.

"Yet another victory for Umi!! She'll be an A class team in no time!"

The young teenager waved at the cheering crowd as the sole member of 'Aoi no Umi(1)', better known as simply Umi. It was extremely rare for a one person team to exist, not to mention the fact that she was a girl. However, she had been so insistent, they decided to let her create her team - on the condition that she defeat an A class team, in an A class match. Everyone was amazed when she won, and quickly rose through the ranks to become a B class storm rider. So now she stood after another win, radiant smile and all. She wore baggy white capri's that had a baby blue belt laced through the hoops, a white beanie cap, a form fitting ice blue tank top that left about an inch of pale skin show on her waist, and matching clear goggles. Her eyes appeared turquoise behind the see-through blue, but in reality, they were a piercing emerald. She had long, silky straight chestnut hair that ended at her waist. When not wearing her hat, her overlong bangs hung loosely in her eyes. With another wave and a grin, she departed into one of the changing rooms, leaving behind another satisfied audience.

The door slammed shut with an audible click. Kayla sighed in relief. "Finally, it's over." She quickly stripped out of her storm rider outfit, grabbing instead the white sweater and blue skirt that was her uniform. Her hair was thrown into a loose ponytail and tied at the nape of her neck with a white ribbon, bangs brushed to the side and secured with a silver clip. The previous outfit was shoved into a messenger bag along with her ATs and slung over one shoulder. The door creaked open an inch as she pushed it. After checking to be sure no one was watching, Kayla silently left and trotted down the hall and out the door.

Her walk home was uneventful as always; the streets she chose were usually empty. It looked like she would continue to be undiscovered. Her friends thought she was at home studying, the people she lived with thought she was with her friends, or at cram school. Kayla raised a hand to stifle a laugh. It was obvious certain people wouldn't take notice, but it seemed to be sheer luck she hadn't had a problem with the girls. Her steps slowly turned into skips and she hummed softly. The moon shone brightly, illuminating her smile. Her home was soon in view.

It was quiet except for the loud buzzing of the television; most likely Ringo and the others were eating, she decided as she crept down the hall. Kayla entered her room, throwing down what she was carrying and removing her clothes. She rummaged around in her closet a bit, where she kept some towels, and produced a fluffy pink one. It was nearly time to do laundry, and having used up the larger towels, Kayla was left with a medium-sized one, as in it ended at her butt and started about in the middle of her chest. At least it would dry her off.

Kayla studied the hall suspiciously. No Ikki anywhere. Gulping, she hurried across the hall and opened the door to the bathroom with a sigh, stepping in. She turned to close the door behind her. There was a splash and the sound of something dripping. Spinning around, she could only gape and blush furiously as her mind slowly took in the scene in front of her.

Ikki was in the bath, his eyes running up and down her barely covered body, blood pouring out of his nose as he watched, open-mouthed. Not only that, but there was a boy with blue hair and a golden left eye, the other covered by... an eye patch? The thought barely registered as anything important. After all, the problem was...

"Iyaa(2)!!" Kayla screamed, rushing to pick up her towel and provide what little coverage it had to offer. In the shock, she had dropped it. Ikki, finally having regained his senses, made a jump for the towel as well. Kayla grabbed it first, wrapped it around her body, and ran into the living where three girls sat around the t.v.

"What the hell?" she screamed at the group, who reluctantly tore their gaze from the glowing box to look at her.

"Kayla? Are you going to take a bath? You should probably wait until the lover boys are out," Mikan smirked at the thought of Ikki and Akito.

"Na(3)?"

Mikan dove into the story of how Ikki brought home the boy, making it sound as sexual as possible. She was obviously having fun describing the kiss.

"Eeeh(4)? Ikki kissed another boy? I missed it too. Why didn't I go with them? Aan(5)..."

"Hey. You. Quiet." Ikki hissed from the shadows.

"Oh, Ikki, so good to see you. How was the bath?" Mikan smirked again.

Ringo stood and slammed her hands on the table before storming out. Akito entered the room, towel wrapped around his waist to match Ikki. Kayla still hadn't realized that she too was also wearing nothing besides a towel.

Mikan cleared her throat. "Kayla, I'd like you to meet Ikki's new lover, Akito. He'll be staying with us. In, uh, your room." Mikan ran out and Ume followed.

"Eeeh?!"

"But I want to stay in Ikki's room!!"

"No way, little twerp." Ikki reached out and pulled the eye patch so that it covered his left eye.

Huh, weird, Kayla thought, not getting the difference. She smiled at him. He seemed nice and childish, like a little brother. "My name is Kayla. It's nice to meet you."

"Ch(6). Whatever." He examined her. "You don't have much of figure." Even if he was wrong - Kayla's chest was normal sized, if not a little bigger - but it was still rude.

Okay, so she had been wrong. Apparently this 'Akito' person was a jerk. "Y-You --"

"What? Are you serious, Agito? Her figure is so sexy," Ikki said with a perverted laugh, drooling.

"Agito? I though his name was Akito...?"

"Yup, Akito and Agito Wanijima." Ikki switched the patch again.

"It's nice too meet you too," Akito exclaimed, grinning and holding up a hand in a peace sign.

Kayla blinked with little swirls in her eyes. "Oh, I get it," she said, not really getting it.

"Oh, Agito has something to say!! Let me switch over," he said in a sing-song voice. His right eye opened in an angry glare. "Don't say you get it when you don't really get it, you stupid slut."

"Shut the hell up you --" Wait. Slut? It was at this point that she looked down at her body. Still in a towel, she ran away in embarrassment.

Once safe in her room, Kayla switched into her pajamas; black shorts and a tank top. That stupid insensitive jerk. She frowned and narrowed her eyes as she locked the door and looked over at the second bed that had been placed on the opposite side of hers. He's not sleeping in here tonight.

(1)Aoi no Umi - Blue Sea. (Umi - sea)

(2)Iyaa! - sort of like screaming "No!"

(3)Na? - usually the first syllable of "nani," which means "what?"

(4)Eeeh? - an exclamation of surprise or disbelief.

(5)Aan - an exclamation of disappointment.

(6)Ch - an expression of disgust or anger.

A/N :: How did you like the first chapter? Please review!! And also, take note, in my fanfiction, the girl from Akira's past does NOT exist!! Muhaha!! - cough -. I changed the past story too. Anyway, please review. Oh, and if you notice anything wrong with the bit of Japanese I've put in, and I'll correct it immediately!!