**** Chapter 1 ****

Death and Beauty

'We have a new student today, class. He has just transferred over from Kyoto. Please introduce yourself, boy' said my new form teacher, in a proud, powerful tone, with an undoubted authority.

I looked blankly at my new 'friends'. And her. And with the coolest voice I could use 'My name is Ryuu, Ryuu Nakamura. Pleased to meet you '

'Please take a seat next to... Aimi, yes Aimi. Oh urm, the one with the red her, just there'

Her, it had to be her. Just my luck really. I don't know if I could hold my nerves... she was beautiful, a natural beauty, she obviously didn't need to hide behind any make up, even if she did wear it. Her blinding red hair, long length, just passing her shoulders. It was like fire, it moved swiftly and you couldn't help but stare. Her skin, soft as silk, but pale as chalk, you could that. She had amber toned eyes. Her smell, just as attractive, inviting even. But, the way she stared. It confused me, was she afraid? Could she sense I wasn't one of them?

'HI! I'm Aimi!!!' she said in hysterical excitement

well, she isn't shy. That's for sure...

' Hello, Aimi' I said, with a light smile

'So your from kyoto? Why did you come down here to Tokyo then??'

'I'm not actually from kyoto, I have just lived there for a few months. My dad got a new job here down town, he thought it would be best if we live here as well. So here I am'

'Oh, I see! Aww that's nice, I hope his new job goes well for him!' she grinned. I tried to hide a smile.

'Hey Aimi! Stop flirting with the new kid!' shouted a loud female voice from across the room.

'Ahhh, I'm sorry. I think, maybe, I should go. Sorry, it was nice talking to you. Bye!'

Well that was... something. She was, friendly. Unexpectedly.

I didn't see her again, not for the whole day. Was... she avoiding me? No, I don't know her. She can't make a judgment. Well, not yet anyway.

So, this is my new school, of about 50 others. I cant stay in one place, people will notice that I still look the same 7 years later. My kind don't age once we are transformed, theres been rumors of aging. Some of us are born like it, but I'm unaware of what happens to those who are. No one ever asks to be one of us, it just... happens if it needs to.

I couldn't get her off my mind, there was something about her. It wasn't right. It wasn't normal. I really needed to stop drifting off like this, I don't know her. I don't need to know her.

I got back to the flat we were staying in, same white walls, same black sofas, same everything, things never got any interesting around here.

'Yo, Sayikarou, whats up man? How was school?'

'I told you not to call me that, Koda. Call me Ryuu, okay?'

Koda was a survivor along with me, you see, we move from town to town getting settled until we decided its time to move on. Me, him and 3 others, we are like family to one another, Koda is like a brother to me in a way. Me and him are very close, we would die for one another. And, he was cool, just typically cool. Long black/brown sharp hair, he liked to wear sleeveless tops, says its 'Convenient'. Although none of us are really sure what he means. He was tall, in good shape, quite.. fashionable, if anything he really cared about what he looked like. Yet behind all of the tough/cool guy attitude he was a good guy, always done what was right.

'alright, alright, chill dude, okay Ryuu!' Koda said in a sarcastic, mimicking tone.

'How was school?'

'it was alright'

'alright?!, come on man, tell me about it. Any hot girls there? Know what I'm saying?' he made a clicking noise with his tongue

'ha, trust you. Its pretty cool there, no on really caught my eye' I lied the best I could

'then whats up with you?

'up with me? What do you mean?' I sounded nervous, I knew it. He was gonna figure it out, I tried my best to hide it.

'oh come on man! I can sense it, tell me!. Is it a girl?!'

'well, don't tell the others? There's this one girl... shes... strange. I can feel something about her that isn't quite right. She has this natural but at the same time totally unnatural beauty about her. I can't quite get it though, I mean she could be normal for all I know'

'whoa, calm down there. Have you spoken to her at all?'

'well, kinda. Shes said hi to me, but that was it. Didn't see her for the rest of the day'

'then why so worked up if you only met her once?

'I dunno man, look, I will leave it for a few days okay? I might just be paranoid' it sure wouldn't surprise me... the amount of times I come out with stupid crap like this.

'maybe things will be okay, I wont attract any attention'

'sounds good to me, dude'

glad that was over with, Koda is pretty cool with things like this, I know he wont tell anyone. Hes pretty trustworthy. I just hope I can get over this. I guess there's more important things to focus on right now, like finding more of us.

I've never really understood my purpose, but who does? If we all knew why we were here things wouldn't work, they would try to cheat life, but cheating doesn't work. We have to thrive, crawl, fuck and fight to get where we need to be. Well, so they say. I'm not sure what to believe, were all here for something, that's for sure. I always wonder whether our paths in life can be changed by others. Or whether there path is apart of ours, people alter our lives more than anything else in the world ever could. Even if these people are metaphorical. But who am I to say we aren't all just characters in a book? just some sick, metaphorical symbolization of life in a book. Its a hard grasping concept, I guess today is what matters and tomorrows today. Just live and love. That's and easy, realistic purpose.

'Ryuuuuu' a high pitched voice shrieked, of course it was Sakura, she was the youngest of us, only 12 but the most adorable brunette girl any middle aged women has ever seen... or so every middle aged woman we come across had said, heh. She was pretty though, cute. Completely innocent.

'Hey there, girl, whats up? How was your new school?'

'It was okay! There's loads of really sweet guys there! They all showed me around' she grinned at me

I have always thought of Sakura as more of a sister than a member of our clan.

'awwh cute, the boys seem to like you everywhere we go huh?' I smiled back at her

'Hey! Shut up!' she blushed

'What about you then! Girls are all over you! Any girls that have taken your eye?' she demanded

Great... not another one. I guess shes only 12, it wont matter for her, I can lie my way out of this.

'ah no not really, same old same old' I smiled

'oh but I know one girl? Who's possibly the cutest little girl on earth, if only she was a little older' I laughed

'Huh? Who! Tell me, you!

'Its you, silly!' she went red again, more noticeable than before, and she knew it.

'Hey! No! That's not fair!' she ran upstairs, and tripped as she went, I tried not laugh. She was the latest member of our clan, so shes struggling more than the rest of us. It's fair enough really, I remember when it was me in her position. I was scared and confused. She seems to be coping okay though.

I didn't sleep well last night. I don't know what it was, it was one of 'those' nights. Too much thinking and paranoia. Too much of too much. I needed to keep track, its been one day. Who knows when we will get back on the road again. Could be weeks, months. I just wanted to get away. Or did I? I feel drawn to this place, its that same feeling when you know something is bad and you shouldn't interfere but you need to, just to be sure. Like a child at the point of adolescence when a mother tells them not to touch the iron, but they do, and they will again, and again.

******

'Hey, You!' said an unfamiliar voice 'Hi, I saw you yesterday, your new. My names Kasumi' She grinned. This was oddly, yet irritatingly familiar. The girl had brown hair, A glossy brown, it was warming, Green eyes, deep yet bright. She has a soft voice, much like that of a mothers, comforting. None the less, she was undoubtedly pretty.

'Oh, Hello, I'm Sa-, Ryuu' I replied in a sharp tone, I almost forgot for a moment.

'I know' She smiled, it was strangely warming to me. 'I saw on your planner that you have sociology next? So do I, Mind if I walk with you? I'm kinda new too, a couple of weeks, It's been hard making friends here' she said with a light smile, again.

'Sure, thats fine with me, It will be nice to have some company' I smiled back to her.

'So, met anyone yet?' Kasumi said with slight curiosity.

'Not really, I'm a bit of a shy person' I thought of Aimi, But I didn't say anything about her.

'Ah, so am I. But being new, I Just want to meet a few new people so I'm trying to be a bit more confident about things'

'That's good' I nodded. 'I guess It's hard moving out of your comfort zone into something completely new'

'Yeah. But I try to fit in' she giggled

'You shouldn't try to fit in, just be yourself. People should accept you for that'

'Oh, I know, I just feel awkward around people who are into different things'

'I understand' I smiled 'Guess I will talk to you later then, Kasumi' We got to sociology, god knows how many times I had done this course.

'Yeah, definitely' she grinned

Well, that was a strange encounter. However it was nice, it kept my mind of Aimi for the rest of the day. Not that I was now obsessed with Kasumi, but the fact that there are other people here willing to talk to me other than Aimi.

'Oh, Ryuu!' A familiar voice called out to me. Irony was cruel.

'Ah, hey, Aimi is it?' I tried to sound as if I wasn't completely aware of who she was.

'Haha, yeah, it's Aimi' She almost blushed. 'Ah, Yeah. I just thought I would say hi, you seem lonely . It must be hard being new' I wonder how many of these I was gonna get, average rate is normally about seven I think

'Yeah, but I don't mind so much, I'm a shy kinda person' I smiled at her

'I bet I came off as a bit of a lunatic, huh?'

'Not at all' I laughed

'Oh, thats good to hear' This time, she did blush, noticeably. 'I was just gonna say I saw you walking home yesterday, you as the same way as me. So, I dunno, do you maybe wanna walk with me? It's okay if you don't want to' She stared at her feet in embarrassment by this point.

'Yeah, thats fine with me. But I don't say much, sorry' I tried to sound apologetic. And the thought of having to spending a 15 minute journey home with her was making me very nervous, I think my legs were almost shaking. But it was stupid, The whole thing was stupid. Shes just a girl, from my new school, nothing special about her.

'Thats okay. I could always just make you talk' She grinned at me

'You can try' I laughed. We started to walk. We didn't talk for about 5 minutes. Maybe this was gonna be okay, we weren't gonna talk we were just gonna say goodbye to each other.

'Sorry! I'm not saying very much!' Aimi said very suddenly. Irony was really not on my good side today. However, with much decline I replied smoothly.

'Oh thats okay, I'm not doing any better. But I said I wouldn't' I grinned at her.

'I know, so I should be making an effort to talk to you!' This wasn't as bad as I thought. She was nice. I might even be able to be friends with her. 'So... what does your dad do for a job then? You said you had to live down here because of that? She asked with keen curiosity.

'Oh yeah, ah well he's a forensic scientist actually' honestly, its the only thing I could think of. Death played a big part in my life I guess its not a complete lie.. maybe?

'Eeeew, That's like dead bodies isn't it?' she gazed at me in shock. Great, I had to say something to do with corpses, that will lower suspicion. I guess I will just have to put up with it, there's no going back now.

I laughed once 'Yeah, I guess it is. It doesn't bother him too much though. He's used to it by now. I have only been to his work a couple of times and its not as bad as you may think it is, just a bit, eye opening I guess' this made me think a little, eye opening... I was only saying all this to make conversation but maybe, in a sub conscious sort of way it was eye opening. Death. I'd seen enough if it anyway to know what it did to a man, a person, a soul.

'Really? I'd hate to see a body like that! Just the thought that it was a person, like me and you' that made me laugh... person, I guess that's my bland humor that only I would understand in this situation. 'That person had feelings like you and me, they could have been in love, had a family, had anything and now there just a lifeless doll' Her voice broke. It was a bit heartbreaking to hear that noise, familiar. I felt sympathy for her, and empty sympathy, the kind you get when you know you hadn't done anything wrong and you know there was no reason for the persons pain yet you understood their pain.

'I know... ' I gulped 'I know what you mean' I said flatly.

She stopped walking. I turned around, apparently she was still talking to me.

'Hey, you still there?' she said in a bit a offended tone. I felt embarrassed and reluctant to answer.

'Sorry, yeah I'm still here' I said apologetically.

'Well I live here so I guess I will see you tomorrow' She sorta shrugged. 'it was nice talking to you, thanks for walking with me' she smiled at this point, she tapped her feet together. 'Bye' she prolonged the 'e'.

'See you tomorrow, and you too' I smiled at her as she walked down her drive into her house. Funnily enough her house was only about 2 roads up from mine but I failed to mention this to her. I just watched her walk into her house. I stared for a moment then sighed. This was normal I guess, I mean, I have had relationships with people before. Not close ones but formal ones before this school. But, she made me nervous. She was beautiful. Stunningly beautiful.

**** Chapter 2 ****

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