Blah blah blah everyone knows I don't own Special A. only Aki is mine and this particular story-line blah blah blah and onward to the story!
Ryuu ran. Day after day as soon as he could and whenever he was able he would run. "Find Aki. Find Aki. Find Aki." His mind would chant over and over again.
He didn't understand how he had fallen in love with Aki in such a short amount of time, but he did. Her mesmerizing dual colored eyes, her sense of humor, how she could be happy one minute and break down the next before whisking out of his life again; everything he had learned about her so far hung heavy on his mind. Somehow just that small amount of time wasn't enough for him. Ryuu wanted more. Ryuu normally didn't ask for anything, he didn't want much and provided what he needed for himself. A simple man really. But that didn't stop him from wanting to be in Aki's company.
His desperation to see her again and assure with his own eyes of her safety is what drove him to chase after her every day, night, and morning. His gut was telling him she was in trouble, just not why. His worry increased with every passing day and his panic mounted so high he barely slept despite the exhaustion brought on by running.
"Aki…Where are you?"
Ryuu could not shake the bad feeling in his gut. His instincts had brought on the insecurity, but checking every room in her apartment complex fueled it. None of the people who lived there knew who she was except for the exceptionally old-yet harsh and somewhat violent- landlady. That short woman had smacked him so hard with her broom he could still feel a bump and bruise combo three days later. He couldn't blame her though, he was disturbing the residents by knocking on all of their doors and running carelessly around the building and she didn't want to deal with their complaints anymore. She became much more understanding after he had a chance to explain his situation to her. It was then he found out Aki had been evicted.
Ryuu felt numb with shock. Nothing could reach him. There were no words or actions that could succeed in breaking his hollow shell of a being. He couldn't remember leaving the old lady's office. He didn't know why his hand was bleeding with broken knuckles or where he was. He didn't know why he ran out of the landlady's home or why he was in the park where he had met Aki. He didn't know why the tree next to him had a huge indent in its trunk or why none of the animals had dared to approach him. He lost his ability to think. Then a faint familiar shape formed before him followed by a deep baritone voice calling his name. Everything went black.
"What do I do now?" asked a petite and filthy red head with haunting blue and brown eyes. Aki had lost everything. Her home, family, job, and education. Granted, just about everything on that list sucked supremely, but it was all she had ever known. Harshness in people and hard work that just barely paid off. She had no luck in finding any other jobs and hell would freeze over twenty times over as she became a gorgeous model millionaire before she dared going back to her lousy father or any one else with his genes. No sir, this stubborn female would sit happily miserable homeless on a bench that she had been sleeping under for the past week which was located in a clearing in some random forest she wandered into.
This feisty red head was by no means lazy. She left her bench everyday until after dark had long since settled around her looking for a job or school that would take her. Her people skills weren't the best and she smelled worse then a skunk that had been rolling in a landfill. Most people could smell her before she came into view and ran for the hills thus eliminating the chance to even ask for an application or interview. She would bathe in a public place, but all she could find was a slimy pond in the park where her bench home was.
"Gross, but better then nothing," she said to herself as she mentally prepared herself to jump in fully clothed. This way she could change into her only other set of clothes and the wet ones could drip dry on her bench and hopefully be some degree cleaner then they previously were. The water was cold around her, but refreshing to her grimy state. She didn't feel clean per-say, but again, better then nothing. Once she finished she changed into her other set of dirty clothes and curled up on top of her wet ones to prevent them from getting stolen. Tonight would be another freezing miserable night, just what she needed.
Despite it all, she still had a single ray of light in her mind. Only one.
"Ryuu..." she whispered softly to herself.
He was the only comforting thought she had as she suffered alone in the darkness each night. His smile and soothing baritone voice still haunted her mind and brought a small smile to her lips. She missed his laugh and company. He was the only man who had ever shown her any kindness.
Suddenly a thought came to her. "Didn't Ryuu say he goes to a private school named Hakusenkan?" It was the best high school around, even she knew that much, and awhile back they had tried to recruit her;however, she turned them down because she had already been accepted into a college. None of the schools around here would give her the time of day, but maybe Hakusenkan would since they already tried to recruit her. With that thought and a smiling green haired man in her mind, Aki began to doze off into the first peaceful sleep she would have in about a month.
"HIYA!" screaming Aki punched the startling figure in front of her before hearing another voice, this one angry and somewhat more feminine, yelling at the person responsible for waking her.
"TADASHI YOU CAN'T JUST GO AROUND SCARING PRETTY GIRLS!"
As Aki's eyes adjusted to the new morning light shining through the cracks of her bench she noticed a shaggy brunette being strangled by a pretty violet pixie-cut girl. Aki rubbed her eyes again to be sure she was processing the scene in front of her properly. When she opened her dual eyes again what she saw was even more unbelievable. The shaggy haired man was being thrown into the pond that was at least 100 yards away. Suddenly the girl was in front of her. Aki flinched back a bit and climbed out from under her bench-home taking into consideration how deceptively strong she just witnessed this chick to be along with her frightening temper.
"Why hello there young kitty-chan. Aren't you lovely?" said the violet haired lady politely "Whoa that was a fast change..." "I am very sorry for that flaming moron over there, please excuse his rudeness you see he is actually my boyfriend through some sad twist of fate."
"I see..." said Aki cautiously still waiting for the bipolar temper to emerge again.
"If you don't mind my asking, what are you doing here? I thought only Tadashi knew about this place."
" Well, if you don't mind ME asking, who are you people?" replied Aki rather rudely. So far only Ryuu had been able to question her without her temper and suspicion flaring up too much and this chick certainly was not Ryuu.
"Oh pardon me! My manners aren't with me this morning I'm sorry!" said the lady not bothered by Aki's blatant rudeness and suspicion in the least. "My name is Akira Toudou and the dripping idiot over there is my boyfriend Tadashi Karino. We both go to Hakusenkan just a few miles from here. He's actually the chairman of the school's stupid son."
Now that little bit of intel got Aki's ears perked up real fast. "You go to Hakusenkan? I was just about to walk over and see if they would accept me as a student... but I guess I don't look that serious do I?" Aki said looking down at her pitiful appearance.
Akira thought for a moment then asked, "Hakusenkan is miles away from here, what made you decide to try there?"
"Well...," Aki blushed, "There's this guy I met who goes there and told me about it and I remembered they invited me awhile back. Since I'm kinda out of options at the moment I thought y'know might give it a go and see how it works out."
Akira's eyes lit up with a scary brilliance that set Aki on edge as soon as there was mention of a boy, "WHO?" she demanded.
"Y-you probably d-don't k-know him..." Aki stuttered nervously. Those eyes were seriously freakin' her out.
"Who?" Akira demanded again.
After a much needed deep breath, Aki managed to calmly whisper, "...Ryuu..."
Both Tadashi and Akira's jaws dropped to the ground. Tadashi actually fell over, but Akira either didn't care or was too stunned to notice.
"Come with me." the purple haired beauty demanded with no room for argument as she snatched Aki's hand and hauled her off leaving Tadashi to scramble after to catch up.
Soon the trio was out of the woods and into a clearing where a shiny black limo waited with a sharply dressed chauffeur proudly holding the door open for the ladies, but only the ladies. Tadashi gleefully strode over to his sparkling red Harley and easily slid on with his leathers and helmet, not affected at all by the beating Akira gave him for scaring Aki.
The red head simply stood and stared at the sleek black vehicle in front of her, mildly stunned, but more so suspicious of Akira who she just met. Aki didn't know how well she could trust these people and jumping into a car with strangers is not the kind of habit she wanted to get into. Their eyes showed some recognition earlier when she mentioned Ryuu's name which told Aki the three were acquainted. That much didn't surprise her considering they went to the same school and looked to be about the same age, but with only a flicker of recognition, Aki couldn't gauge what their relationship was. For all she knew, they could be dragging her off to attack her and leave her in some ditch just for spite of her knowing Ryuu, but they couldn't possibly know her relationship with him. SHE didn't even know her relationship with him.
As a flurry of thoughts, suspicions, and concerns flooded AKi's mind, she missed Akira grabbing her elbow and directing her to the limo chattering away about fixing her up at her place.
Ryuu came to in Kei's house the next morning unable to remember anything from last night after hearing of Aki's eviction. The thought caused him to begin zoning out again, but this time Kei made his presence more well known by coughing.
"Good morning. How is your hand? You damaged it pretty badly when you attacked that tree."
Confused, Ryuu looked down at his clenched fist to see his bandaged knuckles bleeding through the gauze Kei had wrapped. "It's fine thank you." Ryuu answered modestly, "I'm sorry to have troubled you."
"It was no trouble at all." Kei said waving off Ryuu's comment, "That's what friends are for right?"
"Right..." Ryuu said with a sad smile lingering on his lips.
"Should I ask what that was about last night or leave it as something to do with this Aki and leave you alone?"
"I would prefer not to talk about it.." Ryuu replied still staring at his still clenched fist. "When do we need to go to school?"
"Pretty soon. I'll give you thirty minutes to shower and get dressed. I've already prepared a uniform for you to change into and the bathroom is behind you. I hope everything is to your liking." Kei said as he walked proudly out of the room. Ryuu simply sat for a moment letting reality sink in. His Aki really was in trouble and he couldn't be there for her. He remembered her rough laughter ringing in his ear and his stomach clenched painfully at the thought of not hearing that melody anymore, and to make matters worse, he knew she was suffering alone, but this time he couldn't find her to help. She didn't have much before, but she had even less now. Ryuu desperately wanted to comfort her and take care of her. Even if she chose not to stay he at least wanted to know of her safety. One small sign to tell him she would be okay, that no one had hurt her more than her past demons he knew she had.
Sighing in defeat, Ryuu pushed himself up off of the bed and made his way to the mahogany hand carved door that led to the impressive, up to date black marble bathroom. As Ryuu walked in he took a moment to distract his thoughts by taking a moment to appreciate his surroundings. On the far end stood a clawfoot bathtub-shower combo with a basket of towels near enough to reach but far enough to remain dry. Above the towels was a hanger where a neatly hung uniform rested. On the left wall stood a black marble sink with golden faucets and a mirror framed with a delicate yet intricate swirling black design. Ryuu quickly showered and changed then went to go find Kei who was waiting for him by the front door which was another hand carved masterpiece.
"Shall we go then?"
"Sure."
Soon enough the pair arrived at the greenhouse just before Hikari crashed through the door. "Of course that's why Kei wanted to leave his house at exactly that moment. They must've had another contest." Ryuu thought to himself. Sure enough soon the couple were arguing as they did every morning, though Ryuu could tell they really loved each other through the looks on their faces. Kei's was soft and his eyes lit up as they did for no one but Hikari who like-wise held a similar look in her eyes and a fitting blush to her cheeks. Ryuu wondered whether or not he looked at Aki that way. He didn't know if people made those faces when they didn't know they were in love.
Suddenly a thought came to mind, "Where are Akira and Tadashi? Shouldn't they be here by now?" Ryuu asked. He knew June and Megumi spent their mornings with Sakura-chan and Yahiro since they went to different schools though the twins still spent tea-time and the afternoons with everyone in S.A. in the greenhouse.
"Now that you mention it," said Hikari looking around with her hand shading her eyes, "they should be here by now. Akira said they were taking a walk in Tadashi's woods though, maybe something happened. Hmmmmm, well it's alright. As long as they have each other they'll be alright!" Hikari said smiling glancing at Kei who was gazing at her affectionately.
Smiling Ryuu said, "Yeah, you're probably right.." Though Ryuu was a bit worried, he knew the pair were safe together. Besides, his thoughts worried more over a certain red haired, dual eyed, feisty beauty that he knew was in trouble and needed him. The helplessness he felt tore him apart with guilt, yet he did not let the happy couple before him see his inner anguish. Then the bell rang signalling the trio to go to their first class. As they exited the greenhouse, Ryuu looked up longingly at the sky.
"Aki where are you?" whispered a sad green haired man so softly, not even the air had heard him.
"So can she stay? Please?" begged two unison voices as they stared at the dark figure before them that switched between analyzing the paperwork before her, and the smaller figure beside the voices.
"Better than that, say hello to the newest member of the Special A. class."
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Until next time
See ya!~~