In the underground slums, there were darker activities than I could ever imagine. Surrounded by the rich areas where many mansions were built, I lived with my family. I am not sure why I am writing about this now, but maybe it is because I met him on the day that my life started to change.


"Hey..." It was a sudden start to the normally conversational one in their travels. They walked down a rather long path from the garden to the fountain. Eishi spent most of that time before that in the background inside, watching noble kids dance and socialize. Many joked that he was their new wallflower for every party that was held, but he didn't seem to mind. He stared first at the fountain with slight ripples that formed due to the statue spouting water. It was the only thing disturbing a simple reflection of the stars above the sky. He then reached out and grabbed the sleeve of his brother. He figured that if there wasn't a better time to ask other than now, he would never get the nerve to confront him later.

Jake had been tired of being surrounded by others at the party. He had left on his own, but he didn't seem to mind that he was being followed.

"Where do you go at night?" Eishi asked.

He was watched with an expression that he could not identify at that moment. "Does it really matter?"

Eishi was frustrated by then. "It does. You show up back home and you don't say a thing to me, but I can tell that you haven't slept because you haven't been in your room since I checked on your birthday. Do you know how dangerous it is to go out alone at that time?"

Jake smirked by then, standing still next to the fountain as if he knew better, and that bugged him because it was a secret that he couldn't get to. A big one. "The military police will protect us," he stated. "They know better than to disobey father. They are probably watching us right now."

"That's beside the point! They can't be around all the time and I know you, Jake. You don't like them watching over us any more than I do and you wouldn't just stand out there if you weren't sure that they couldn't see. Do you think that there are many places that we can go and they don't?"

He seemed about ready to respond when a girl from the party indoors called out to him. Jake avoided him for a pretty long time next week. That was when Eishi had enough of waiting around indoors at night.


He did not know what he was doing, but he was dressed for the worst case scenario, with a winter coat and a scarf over his body, but still light enough for travel. He tried to dress simple enough, with pants that didn't stand out much. Noble clothing was a good chance for targeting and they usually traveled around in carriages for this reason. His brother was off in the distance, and he tracked him until they found a path to somewhere underground. It was an entrance to the underground slums, between a dirty set of buildings where homeless people would sometimes sit outside as they begged for coins. His gaze widened and he tightened the scarf over his face before he ran forth, almost into the filthy water at the end of the steps.

His brother's steps could not be far off. He followed the sound of footsteps, walking past horrific scenes of dead bodies piled up in the corner, long rotted away and nothing but skulls staring hollowly out at him with it's shadowed gazes. Rats scurried to the side as his own footsteps echoed along, but he finally entered upon a path that was not accompanied by the water. It was a crowd of people, all dressed in rag-like clothes, the material ripped in places. He walked past them still, worried that he had lost his brother for good. Past near the entrance of the streets where people huddled alongside it, trying to sleep were what looked like thieves. This crowd was filled with burly looking men, all strolling or standing in their own groups and generally more confident, but even further than that seemed to be underground buildings and what resembled a city street. He heard two of the men talking to each other, as he skirted himself behind a wall.

"That kid is hard as fuck to take down. You wouldn't think one of those pigs knew where to hide and run in a place like this."

The other man seemed just as grumpy. "Still a bastard if I've ever seen one. He doesn't belong here and already stabbed Gerick. What is this! Some kind of hunting game?"

"We'll get him back for this."


He didn't stick around to hear the rest, simply stumbling back from his listening position. His brother couldn't be far off, but he was a little dazed now. What's going on, are they talking about him? A chilly breeze whipped around the underground slums, and Eishi pulled his scarf closer to his face. I don't believe it. Why would he do something like that?

He stumbled into what looked like a group of kids huddled around on the ground. The inner city area didn't seem any more welcoming, with the way they looked. He ducked his head and walked past them, trying not to look at the poverty that existed around this area, but it wasn't long before he was lost. He was deeply heading the wrong direction, feeling somewhat upset, wondering if he could have possibly been able to figure out sooner, and why such a thing would be hidden from him. The possible thought of it being that his brother could be killing someone seemed to sink in before he almost stumbled into a person nearby. It was a teenager, around his age, wearing a hooded cloak. He stared at him, and saw that the other's expression was particularly moody as he walked past him, so he watched them warily, distracted enough to bump into someone.

It was a big burly man, who had seemed intent on intercepting their path. "Hey kid," he said, and the boy glanced around just to see that he was suddenly surrounded. "That hurt. Aren't you going to apologize or something?"

He said nothing for the moment, eyes wide and frozen before instinct hit him and he attempted to run for it, darting past the nearest man and towards what looked like an empty alleyway. Unfortunately, he was grabbed by the scarf and it fell off.

Eishi was average height for a kid of seventeen, around 5'4". When his family had adopted him to replace a dead sister, he had thought nothing of it, until he heard whispers from the relatives that he looked like a girl. He didn't mind since all kids his age seemed to be on the girly side too, but then again, it seemed logical that a rich family would pick a decent looker if they ever did choose a child from an orphanage. The purple hair color was overlooked in this area, and he was allowed to keep his hair long to medium length, pulled back into a braid.

Apparently, before he could get pulverized by the man or god knew what else, a flurry of movement rushed past him, and knocked the person into the ground. He stared, gaping awkwardly and dumbstruck when someone literally flew from the ground and started landing punches and kicks. The group of men didn't really just stand around either. They were suddenly busy attempting to dodge and kick the lone fighter. It was like something out of a theater play, in which a hero took down a whole crowd. He backed away into the wall that he thought that he could escape to, but something kept him from running away, namely that he saw the hooded fighter, whose face was still recognizable even from the distance that Eishi stayed in throughout the battle.

Levi only had one man down to go, and he knew it wouldn't look good based on the weapon the guy pulled out. A sword had pretty good range, and it seemed like this man was attempting to play Cassanova from whoever he jacked that off of, along with some cape. It was too bad that he was also balding and had rotten teeth. They aimed at him and swung their sword. Lowering himself into a crouched position he launched one of the arrows into the air and pivoted his body upwards. The glint of metal caught his eye as it started rushing towards him, and he used his own knife in order to repel it, catching the strike with two blades crossed in front of him that echoed loudly throughout the somewhat quiet alley they fought in. But the guy had some kind of trick up his sleeve. A loud bang sounded through the alleyway and smoke filtered through everywhere.

He launched back and tried to sense for footsteps and located the man from his sound.

"Levi!" The man had feigned a slash to the side and did a lower uppercut, only to be repelled by another source. Isabel had jabbed her own sword into the guy's neck before the full weight of the blow could take place, but some of the damage had already been done. He stumbled back, at some point, but knew that he was cut, and it was rather deep as well, not enough to damage organs but just enough to get seriously infected if left untreated. "What the hell happened to ya? Didn't you say it'd only take 5 minutes?!"

That was when Eishi moved away from the alleyway and ran up to the two. "Wait!" he shouted out.

Isabel paused and turned to stare at him. "What do you want?" She asked, the look on her face plainly stating that more pressing matters were at hand.

He skidded to a stop. "I know someone who can help him. It's my fault that he got in this state, so at the very least, allow me to repay the debt."

She eyed him and squinted a bit. "You aren't from around here. What makes you think -"

"Enough!" Levi broke in, as he attempted to move away. "I can take care of myself."

Eishi sighed, and reached into his pocket, holding out what looked like a good amount of money in his pouch. "If you take me back to the upper city, I will give you this, and I will guarantee that your friend is good as new when he comes back."

They both stared at him, looking at the amount of money that was actually Eishi's birthday present to his brother.

"You really aren't from around here," sighed Isabel. "What kind of moron goes around here with that much money on hand?"

The trip back to the upper city remained uneventful, but partly because Levi had collapsed halfway there, and they were suddenly in a bit of a hurry.