Title: The start of something new.
Pairing: Kazama Ren / OC
Rating: PG-13 or T
Genre: Drama, Romance
Disclaimer: I wish I could say I owned them all. *wipes tears*
Summary: Ren's life has been going pretty well lately: He passed the midterm-exams, he's about to graduate, he and his sister are getting along beautifully and his friends are the best you could ever find... And yet he feels like there is something missing: A girlfriend.
But how will he ever find one when just the name of his school makes everyone run in a different direction?
A/N: This is a follow-up/alternative continuation of the goukon-scene in episode 6.
Ren, Yamato, Kengo, Ichi and Kamiya looked at the five Momo-high girls in front of them and were very pleased with the way their lie had worked out: The girls had all looked excited when they said that they were from a good school called Shuusai Academy... Well, all but one.
Yuki leaned into her best friend Misa with a plastered smile on her naturally plump lips.
"Misa." She whispered in a bored tone of voice. "How long do I have to stay here? You know I hate goukons." Misa looked at her friend, a tad annoyed.
She knew Yuki wasn't attracted to this kind of normal guys and by normal she meant: Nice, calm, successful. Basically the-type-you-can-take-home-to-your-parents kind of guy.
Yuki had always been more of a bad-boy-girl and Misa had to admit that Yuki herself was more bad than good. She was a bit of a delinquent, never cared about what people thought about her looks and somehow she always managed to get into fights but nonetheless she was easy to love since she always thought of her friends first and never let them down, had a good and fair heart and was very keen on sensing people's feelings.
"Yuki, please do this for me. We didn't have enough girls for this and it's not like you had anything better to do." Misa grinned at her friend who just answered with a low "Whatever." and returned to staring at the white wall in front of her while playing absentmindedly with the straw in her drink. Her wall-watching session was quite interesting actually, it had some shiftings in the color on one place just above the couch that told her the spot had been repainted once or twice.
"So, Yuki-chan..." The dark haired guy in front of her called her name in an attempt to get her attention from the wall behind him. "What do you like to do?"
She eyed the guy before giving her answer and had to admit that he didn't look too bad: A couple of bleached highlights in his otherwise jet-black hair gave him a little bit of a wild look and that was the type of guy that she tended to fall for... If he would just loose the glasses, mess up his slick hair a little and lose the goody-goody attitude she would almost feel attracted to him.
"I don't know, hang with friends and stuff. You?"
"Oh, well. Most of the time I study..." Yuki's interest-meter instantly dropped from quite interesting to BORING! "And if there's anytime left I tend to socialize with my friends."
"Right." Yuki went back to playing with the straw while thinking: "Please! Can't someone save me from this misery?"
Suddenly the door was slammed open and a group of guys, Yuki counted seven of them, entered the room with overconfident steps.
"Hello, girls. Why don't you ditch these losers and hang with us instead?" The only guy with bleached hair closed the distance between them and Yuki could immediately tell that the guy definitely wasn't sober enough to pick up girls. The girls were frightened and the guys seemed nervous from the interruption.
The blond guy walked up to the girl-side of the room and with a confident grin he put an arm around Misa's waist and pulled her away from the couch.
"Let go of me!" Misa was scared now, no doubt about it, and Yuki was not about to let her most treasured friend be taken away by some drunken gang and apparently the nerd-guys wasn't about to let that happen either.
They were about to stand up but Yuki was faster than them and walked up to the guy. She grabbed Misa's wrist and pulled her away from the guy before placing a hand on his chest pushing him towards the door.
"What the hell are you doing?" The guy yelled at her with a fierce voice but Yuki was not about to be intimidated by a drunkard with no looks.
"Don't you ever touch my friend again!" She emphasized every word and her eyes were as dark as the pits of hell when she spoke. Before he could answer back she punched him in the face and the impact was so great her target fell backwards and landed in the arms of his friends.
"Let's get out of here, guys!" One of them said and without any further delay they left the room in one hell of a hurry.
Yuki stepped up to Misa and placed both hands on her shoulders that were still shaking a bit.
"Are you okay?" She asked with a comforting smile.
"Y...yeah." Misa nodded slightly. "I was just a little scared, that's all." Yuki patted her shoulder and was about to sit down again when she noticed the eyes that were staring at her, eight pairs to be exact and the blaming looks from the girls made her chest hurt.
"Koyama, why do you always have to ruin everything?" Sakura's voice was cold and the harsh question almost brought tears to life in Yuki's eyes.
"I..." She looked around the room and noticed that the guys were still staring at her. "I didn't mean to... I was just..." Yuki couldn't stand the cold eyes any longer and so with a short bow she grabbed her bag and left the room.
The cold air outside made her shiver when she walked down the almost empty street. A teardrop stained her beige school-uniform, she was crying although she tried so hard not to.
Why did she always manage to mess everything up? Sure the other girls weren't unfriendly with her but she had never felt like they really accepted her for who she really was. Even though she knew this she still didn't like to disappoint them. Misa on the hand was a whole different story.
She had been Yuki's best friend since the first day of high-school and they tried to spend as much time together as possible even though they were so different: Yuki was a troublemaker who always got into fights, willingly or not, and Misa was a good-girl with good grades who would never hurt a fly. But their odd personalities completed each other and that was probably the reason they had managed to stay friends for almost three years although they were such an unusual combination.
After about ten minutes she reached her and her three brothers house, it was a pretty big white house with a low brick-wall in front of it.
She looked through her bag for the keys, soon found them, unlocked the door and stepped inside the dark house.
"Tadaima!" She called out although she knew her two little brothers would be out doing the usual karaoke-round or hitting the game-center like they always did after school.
Suddenly she heard a loud bark from the second floor and seconds later a little white Akita-puppy came running down the stairs to welcome her home. "Did you miss me, Sora-chan?" Yuki sat down and ruffled the puppy's fluffy fur before heading upstairs to change out of her uniform and slip into something a little more "her".
Sora was her older brother's dog but Yuki (and her two younger brothers of course) had offered to take care of her while her brother Seijirou was on a business-trip/pleasure cruise in Okinawa.
When she got upstairs she realized that the rest of the house was completely dark and she found no sign of anyone being home since seven am.
She walked in to her room, opened the closet and quickly changed into the first thing she saw: A pair of camo-pants, a coral-blue tanktop and a black hooded jacket. She took a quick look in the mirror before heading downstairs again. She looked good, at least better than in her uniform.
"Come on baby. Let's take you out for a walk." Yuki put on the dog's collar, attached the leach to it and went outside again.
She didn't really care that it was a school-night or that the clock had just struck 9:30 pm, Sora needed a walk and Yuki concluded that she, as well, needed one to clear her head.
The cold made her shiver once again and she pulled the hood over her head to try and keep it warm.
"Well, well boys. What do we have here?" The familiar voice from behind her made Yuki's body freeze. She spun around and her eyes widened when she realized she had just ran in to the seven guys that had interrupted the goukon earlier.
"Looks like the girl that hit you, bro." The tallest one of them grabbed her hood and pulled it off revealing Yuki's long, dark-brown hair and beautiful face.
The man's action made her mad and as a reflex she smacked the hand that was still lingering on her shoulder after pulling off the hood.
"What the hell? You really wanna fight don't you?" He growled and that's when it hit Yuki that if the situation turned into a fight it would be seven against one and even though she was a good fighter there was no way she could win against that many. Not to mention that Sora could get caught up in the fight and since the puppy was her responsibility, Yuki was not about to let her get hurt.
"No, I didn't mean..." She failed to finish the sentence because of the fist that landed on her face and wobbled a bit but did not fall. Not until she received a hard punch in the stomach and she landed hard on all four.
As soon as she hit the ground they started kicking her, again and again she tried to get up but the heavy kicks did a good job in stopping her to do so and she started to understand that the fight wouldn't be over until she fell unconscious.
Not too far away from the street were Yuki was Ren, Yamato, Ichi, Honjo and Kamiya were on their way home from the goukon. Things had been fairly awkward since Koyama Yuki had left, the girls had been pretty upset about their friend's behavior and the guys had been too shocked to get a conversation going again.
"But guys, honestly!" Honjo said excitedly for the fifth time already. "Did you see that girl? The way she..."
"YES!" The guys pretty much yelled in unison finally getting Honjo to shut up. But the one who seemed to be most fascinated by the fight was Ren. He had never seen a girl fight before, not even his sister, and it surprised him how fascinated he was by it.
At the first sight he had known that Yuki was a little different from the other guys: She positively beamed with confidence and when she had gotten eye-contact with him she kept looking him straight in the eyes until he averted his gaze, but what was even more interesting was that she seemed to be completely immune to the charm of the good guys that they had claimed to be.
Suddenly Yamato stopped in his tracks, the others noticed and stopped as well.
"What's wrong, Yamato?" Ichi looked around in an attempt to find the reason for why his friend had stopped.
"Do you hear that?" Yamato asked his friends and they all turned quiet to see if they did hear something, and true enough they all heard something: Distant barking, low shouting and thump-like sounds that didn't seem to be too far away.
"Yeah, but what is it?" Honjo asked Ren with a confused look on his face.
"I don't know... Let's find out." Ren said with one of his usual grins as his curiosity got the best of him and he gestured to the guys to follow him.
"Hey..." Yamato pointed at the girl being kicked on the ground, surrounded by a large group of guys. "Isn't that Yuki-chan?"
The guys looked closer and yes: It was Koyama Yuki who was laying in the ground while the group of guys gathered closer around her.
Kamiya, feeling uncomfortable about just standing, sought advice from his friend.
"What should we do, Ren?... Oi, Ren!" Kamiya saw his friend and classmate running towards the brawl and with a simple look at the others he ran after him and the others did the same.
"Will someone shut that damn dog up!" The little Akita-puppy had been barking the entire time and it was so high-pitched their eardrums felt like they were going to explode if the dog didn't shut up soon. Her assailants stopped their kicking and one of the smaller guys leaned in and tried to take the leach in Yuki's hand but the moment he bent down to get it Yuki gathered all of her strength and stood up in a spring-like motion.
She managed to hit the guy's chin with her head and it was a good enough impact for the guy to wobble away from her.
"Don't you dare touch her!" She screamed at the top of her lungs and strengthened by the need to protect Sora, Yuki got ready to fight again although her entire body hurt and she knew that there was still no way for her to win.
The tallest one looked at the girl in front of him who was ready to drop but still pushed her body to the limit and used all of her last powers to protect the little puppy, he looked and laughed at the sight.
"You really need to get your values right." He laughed, tensed the muscles in his right arm and got ready to hit her face again.
Yuki knew there was no way her body could stand another round but to save the puppy she had to take it, and so she closed her eyes and waited for the big fist to hit her.
But instead of the intense feeling from a punch she felt a strong hand on her shoulder and a soft voice calling her name.
"Yuki-chan. Are you alright?" Yuki opened her eyes as she thought she recognized the voice but when she saw the one who had called her by her firstname it didn't make any sense.
There was a very good-looking guy in front of her but why would he know her name?
She suddenly realized that the guys that had attacked her were gone and in their place there were four other guys, not exactly horribly-looking, and they were all looking at her.
"Yuki-chan?" Another one called her name and it left her even more confused.
"Yeah. Yeah, I'm okay. A few cuts and bruises but nothing serious." Her saviors looked very relieved from her answer and she in turn was very relieved when one of the guys came towards her with a content white Akita-puppy in his arms.
"I think this is yours." He said with a smile and another guy patted Sora's head with one hand and that earned him a teeth-showing, happy smile from the puppy.
"Yes, thank you." Yuki took the puppy in her arms. "I'm surprised though. Sora doesn't usually allow other people than family to touch her."
"Well, maybe we're an exception." All of the guys grinned at her but for some reason Yuki couldn't take her eyes of the young man who had first called her name. There was something familiar about him and she had to know why.
"I'm sorry but I have to ask you something." She told him. "Have I met you before? 'Cause you seem really familiar."
The guy looked a little insecure from her question but after a look at his nodding friends he answered her.
"Yeah, we met about an hour ago... At the goukon."
Suddenly things seemed very clear to Yuki. If the answer was correct it would explain a lot.
"But why did you dress up like that in those geeky clothes? It really seems like a waste." The guys wriggled a little but answered nonetheless.
"Well, there is no other way for us to get girlfriends." Yuki frowned at the very strange answer.
"You see..." Another one said. "As soon as a girl hears that we go to Akadou they pretty much run as fast as they can in a different direction."
"Well, then it's their loss... Did you just say Akadou? The delinquent-school not too far from here?" She looked at them with a questioning look.
"Yes, that school." The guys sighed and looked like they regretted bringing up the subject.
"Cool! My older brother used to go there."
"Really?" The blond one asked with a shocked face.
"Yeah, he was known as the ringleader of Akadou until he graduated four years ago." The guys looked more or less like they had been struck by lightning.
"Is something wrong?" She felt a little insecure after about a minute of silence so she decided to ask.
"What's his name?" The serious look on the hot guy's face made her feel a little awkward.
"K...Koyama Seijirou."
"HA?" The guys exclaimed in unison and it made Yuki flinch a little.
"That guy is like über-famous at our school! And he's your brother?" The guys were in shock, Yuki could easily tell that from their strange faces and the open mouths.
"Yeah, but I have two other brothers as well although they are two years younger than me. They're a pair of akuma-style twins sent by God to make my life interesting." While talking about her little brothers who usually brought her nothing but misery a smile formed on her plump lips. Ren looked at the girl closer than before and suddenly he realized something: She was very attractive.
Her long hair that reached her shoulder blades was dark-brown and had a few darker highlights in the bangs and on the sides. Her light-brown eyes were filled with energy and emitted a soft feeling of compassion. Her light-pink lips were plump and were very alluring. All in all she was just the type of girl that he liked... "No!" He smacked himself mentally. "Do not check out the little sister of your most respected sempai!"
"So... Maybe we should walk you home." He said trying to make his voice sound as normal as possible, Yuki may not have noticed it but his best friend did and decided to help him out a little.
"Sorry, man. I gotta get home, mom's waiting for me." Yamato said while waving at them and left making the others realized what he was doing.
"Yeah, us too." Honjo grabbed Ichi by the arm. "My dad is going to need our help with the store so..." He also waved at them before dragging Ichi with him.
Ren looked at Kamiya with a warning look but the latter just smirked at him.
"I need to go home and study. But it was nice meeting you, Yuki-chan." He smiled at them and he too left them alone on the empty street.
"Kamiya, you bastard. If you're gonna tell a lie make sure it's a good one." Ren thought to himself and quickly calculated that the probability of Kamiya going home to study was one in a million.
Yuki looked at her companion, the only one who hadn't left, and couldn't help but giggle at the I'm-going-to-kill-them-when-I-see-them-again face that he was making.
"Well, guess it's just the two of us left. Too bad the others had to leave." She sort of knew that they had left on purpose and it made her kind of happy.
"Should we get going?" Ren smiled nervously at her.
"Of course, my house is in this direction." Yuki put down the puppy who was still in her arms and started walking up the street from which she had came.
"So you are an only girl with three brothers?" Ren asked when he felt that the silence was killing him slowly.
"Yes. My mom died soon after giving birth to my younger brothers and it's only been them and my dad after that... Well, my dad isn't really part of our family anymore. He left us about a year ago for some foreign woman, he just left one day when we were all at school and when we got home we found a note on the kitchen-table saying that he had left for Paris and that we were old enough to take care of ourselves." Yuki seemed quite resentful of her father but if Ren had been in the same situation he would probably feel the same way.
"But does your older brother live with you?" Ren asked.
"No, he lives alone now. He stayed behind for a while but since he started working he needed his own place to come home to and relax. So mostly it's just me at the house since my brothers have started spending the nights at their friends houses lately." Ren looked at her with a unreadable look and Yuki felt like he was seeing into her heart with those piercing light-brown orbs of his. "But I tend to manage just fine." She really hoped that her lie would convince him but somehow she even failed to convince herself so she decided to change the subject.
"How about you? What about your family?"
"Well, it's just me and my sister now. Our parents died in a car-crash when I was seven so I've been living with her since then." His calm voice was tinted with sadness and Yuki immediately regretted having said anything.
"Oh... I'm sorry. I... I didn't know."
Ren looked at her surprised. Why would she be sorry for that? Maybe she was just being polite but for some reason he felt that she really meant it. From the bottom of her heart...
"Don't worry about it. It's been a while so it doesn't hurt as much as it used to." "What the hell are you doing, Ren? Why are you telling these things to a girl you hardly know?" He felt a little mad at himself, he hadn't even told his sister about these feelings but after knowing this girl for 15 minutes he could tell her all of it. Why was that?
"Well. Here we are." Yuki stopped in front of this big, white house and turned to Ren with a smile. "Thank you for following me home, I really enjoyed it."
Ren felt how a small blush crept over his cheeks. How could those small words make his entire body warm and how could that sincere smile make his heart flutter every time he saw it?
Suddenly an image formed in his head, he could clearly see himself pushing the smaller girl up against the house while kissing those plump lips of hers furiously. He had never felt embarrassed about something like this before but this time he did and to avoid Yuki's beautiful gaze he turned his face away from her.
Yuki's curiosity got the best of her and she closed the distance between them in an attempt to see his gorgeous face but he did a good job of keeping his distance to her.
"Ren?" The slightly teasing voice calling his firstname made something in him snap and without a word he grabbed her wrist and pulled her in the direction of the part of the brickwall that was facing away from the street, still not looking at her.
"Ren, what's wrong?" This time her voice wasn't teasing, it was serious and even though Ren didn't notice it there was a small hint of fear in it.
"Ren..." She was pushed down on the brickwall and although it didn't hurt she was very surprised with Ren's actions.
He felt his heart beating like never before and he leaned in and stopped when his face was only a few centimeters away from hers.
Without a word he placed a hand on her cheek and stroked it before he looked her straight in the eye and what she detected there made her heart beat faster and she felt a stirring in her stomach like she had never felt before.
Yuki leaned into his touch and she shivered as her face was warmed by his large hand. He leaned closer with a smile, his heart felt like it soon would escape his body if he didn't do anything about it and so he was just about to place a kiss on her lips when they both heard a loud banging on the door of the house. The person at the door obviously hadn't seen them as they were partially hidden by the big bushes next to the wall.
Ren pulled back with a flushed face, what had he just done? He was really embarrassed about how he had behaved and didn't dare to look at Yuki until she stood up and headed for the door. Ren followed her, although he felt like he should disappear rather than to stay around but on some unconscious level he didn't really want to leave just yet.
When they reached the door they noticed two young men, probably about sixteen years old, banging like crazy on the door while screaming for Yuki.
"Yuki-chan! Open the door, we wanna sleep!" From the way the boys couldn't really pronounce the words they were using told Ren that the two of them were completely wasted.
"Great, it's the second time this week they come home drunk." Yuki said tiredly and massaged her temples slightly before walking up to the two boys who were still banging on the door.
"I thought you guys promised me you wouldn't drink anymore." She scolded, hands on her hips and a determined look in her eyes.
"Come on, nee-chan! When will you let us have some fun?" One of the boys said defiantly while the other nodded.
"Hiroto! Takeshi! Take Sora with you inside, go to bed and I'll kick just your asses in the morning when you're sober." Yuki's voice was cold as ice and it made Ren's body shiver as she reminded him of his older sister.
Under heavy protesting both of the boys went inside and left Yuki and Ren alone outside again.
"I'm sorry about that, I don't know why they insist on going drinking with their friends all the time. Sure, dad left us alone but I'm really trying my best to make things work for us and yet they just go out and have fun all the time while I'm working my ass off in school and..." Yuki's voice broke and a tear fell down her cheek. She was just so tired of taking care of everything by herself.
Ren wiped the tears away with his thumb and smiled at her.
"Maybe... It's time to start taking care of yourself." He looked at her with one of his warm smiles and the headache that her little brothers had given her as a we're-happy-to-be-back present disappeared in a second.
"Maybe." She smiled back at him and something told them both that maybe this was the start of something new.
The End