Jia-Long

I've never been one for pacing. It actually annoys me a great deal to watch people fidget. I (used to) pride myself on my ability to sit still in even the most nerve-wrecking situations. With that said, I was reasonably distraught when I continuously resurfaced from my thoughts only to find myself pacing around my room.

"It's just a normal day at school," I muttered the mantra yet again. "Emil is coming back, but it's no big deal."

"Should I call the doctor, aru?" I turned to glare at Yao, who was standing in my doorway.

"Don't you two, like, knock?" I didn't actually feel annoyed by Yao, but the constant pacing was getting to me. And the fact that something so small could bother me bothered me even more.

"The door was open and you were pacing again, aru. I really think I should call someone."

Barely managing to not roll my eyes, I grabbed my school bag from my bed.

"I'm leaving, I suppose," Yao moved to block me as I approached the door.

"I want you to b nice today, Jia-Long," he said in a serious tone. "Try not to get into trouble, aru."

Pushing past him, I scowled.

"I can't, like, get in trouble unless trouble crosses my path, I suppose. And it's Leon."

Yao knew me better than I had suspected. He knew that if I ran into Them, I would do everything in my power to assure that they wouldn't hurt Emil again. Just as I reached the bottom of the stairs, I ran into Arthur.

"You've been doing this every morning, Leon," he said, a hint of worry in his voice.

"It's something that I can't help, Arthur."

Huffing, Arthur furrowed his caterpillar-like eyebrows.

"I know," he paused, staring at me for a long moment. "Just don't do anything rash. We worry about our little martial artist, you know. No matter how strong he gets."

I watched him turn and walk into the kitchen, almost surprised. Usually, Yao was the one telling me that he worries about me. Rolling my eyes lightly, I turned to leave, ignoring the small smile that ghosted over my lips. This was no time to start being sentimental.

The cool morning air stung my cheeks as I stepped outside. Even though it was the middle of spring already, the morning air was harsh. Pulling my light jacket a bit tighter around me, I began my morning jog to school. For the past week, I'd been jogging to school as a part of my morning workout. It was a short jog, but it was enough for me. As I made my way to school, I couldn't help but observe my surroundings. The rising sun painted the horizon and gave the clouds a surreal glow. Birds were already making their way across the sky in an orderly fashion and a few people were driving to work, but not many cars passed me. The streets were relatively deserted.

The jog seemed a lot shorter than the fifteen minutes it actually was. I arrived at the school about ten minutes before people usually started showing up. I'd never really noticed how nice the school's courtyard was until about a week ago. Finding a picnic table to sit on, I gazed around the deserted school grounds. It seemed impossible that in a few minutes, there would be an impossible amount of people surrounding me. Closing my eyes to the cool morning air, I began meditating. It had been a part of my recent routine since my first day alone to meditate before school.

"Hey there Leon!" I immediately scowled and opened my eyes. Though it felt like I'd just closed my eyes a few seconds ago, the courtyard was full of people. Most of them ignored me, too busy finding their friends and preparing for class to pay me any attention. How I wished all of them did me such a courtesy. Sighing, I turned my attention to the male standing in front of me with a broad smile.

"Bit cold today, huh?" Jett tried, his eyes clearly hoping for a response.

"You don't, like, quit, do you?" My voice was as blank as always, but Jett looked relieved. I groaned internally, knowing that I should have just ignored him. He'd been playing nice with me since the day after Emil was attacked and I'd been everything but nice to him. Yet, every day, he found me and attempted to start a conversation. If that wasn't bad enough, since Jett was in such good graces with everyone, more and more people were starting to attempt the same thing. Most of them gave up after one death glare, but it was still annoying. None of these people had wanted anything to do with me until now and I felt nothing but contempt for most of them. Especially Jett Wilson.

"Not a morning person, are you?" Jett chuckled and moved to sit next to me. I glared at him, but he pretended not to notice, as he had been doing all week.

"Why are you doing this, Jett?" Much to my annoyance, he laughed lightly and placed his arm around my shoulder.

"I already told you that I wanted to be your friend," he said, shying away as I lifted a hand to grab at his arm. He was apparently smarter than he'd been letting on; I would definitely break his arm if it found its way to my shoulder ever again.

Luckily for Jett, a few of his friends materialized by his side, asking him about the previous night's homework. I chose this moment to grab my bag and leave, not even bothering to say goodbye, though Jett called out a much too friendly goodbye.

Entering the building's front doors, I paused to think about where I should go. Emil's make-up work weighed heavily in my bag, but there was no way I was going to look for him now. It was too early in the morning to feel this much guilt. So I decided to go to my locker instead of Emil's.

As I walked towards the hallway where my locker resided, I spotted the familiar color of Emil's hair a few feet in front of me and my stomach did a triple backflip. I couldn't do this. I couldn't walk right up to Emil and face the shame of looking at him and knowing that I couldn't do a thing to prevent that face from being bruised.

Never back down, the voice of a random, nameless martial artist from an action movie echoed in my head.

Do not push yourself to do what you simply cannot. A day when you will be able to do it will come, the much more reasonable voice of Honda sensei countered the martial artist. I stood at the end of the hall for a few moments before turning and going in the opposite direction. Sensei's words (however I twisted them) were practically law.

Luck was apparently on my side as I walked into my classroom. Today was a test day. At our school, this meant that the teachers would all get together and decide one day to have every class's tests on. It was usually a torturous pain to go through, but today it was the best news I'd ever heard. This was a great reason to not have to face Emil until lunch at the earliest. I could easily handle class changes.

Dropping Emil's work on his desk, I sank into my chair and took a deep breath. I figured that I had about two minutes before Emil came through that door, frantically looking to see if I was there. So I used those two minutes to meditate. And I was right. Just as the bell rang, Emil rushed into the room and almost immediately locked eyes with me. If not for the teacher welcoming him back, Emil would have bombarded me with questions concerning my absence this morning. Unfortunately for him, teachers loved him. Fortunately for me, the teacher had already placed the tests on everyone's desks and we were told to start. Emil sat next to me and shot me a look that promised that he would get his answers sooner or later. I began my test, hoping for later.

I managed to avoid Emil until lunch. As soon as the bell rang, he was at my desk with a fierce look in his eyes.

"What are you doing, Jia-Long?" I had two choices: I could play dumb or I could stand up for myself like a man.

"Like, what ever do you mean, Emil?" I tilted my head to the side as I gave Emil the most neutral look I could muster up. It was all I could do not to get up and run away as Emil stood in front of me with narrowed eyes.

"Jia-Long," Emil's voice was deadly. Before he could say whatever it is he wanted to say, Jett materialized next to him. This was amazing considering that he didn't have this class with us.

"Emil!" I'd never been so happy to hear his overly cheerful voice. "I'm glad to see you're back on your feet!"

Jett managed to distract the seemingly surprised Emil until we got to the cafeteria. Yao always packed a lunch for me, so there was no need for me to go to the line. As soon as the three of us had reached a table in the corner, Jett gave an apologetic smile.

"Forgot my lunch today, so I have to get in line. I heard the chef was in a good mood today."

I plopped down into my chair, trying my best to ignore Emil's stare as Jett waltzed away.

"Are you really going to keep ignoring me?" I looked up from grabbing my lunchbox and met Emil's eyes.

"No," I said before going back to grabbing my lunch. I sat my black and gold lunchbox down on the table and opened it up. Yao had packed it with dumplings and a small mooncake. I almost smiled at that; Yao always made mooncakes when I wasn't feeling well. Jett returned just as I finished wiping off my chopsticks.

"That looks great as usual!" he sat down next to Emil, who was directly across the table from me. "Your mom must be a world renowned chef!"

I met Emil's eyes and we both managed to give each other a small smile. Yao would be happy to hear that he was both my mother and a good cook. I noticed for the first time that Emil didn't have anything to eat.

"Didn't Aunt Lukas, like, pack you a lunch?" Emil blinked as if noticing his lack of food for the first time as well.

"Ah, he didn't have time this morning and I couldn't really make it myself," Emil gestured to his hand, which was still in a cast. Right, I'd almost forgotten about Emil's hand injury. Sighing softly, I began placing half of the dumplings onto the lunchbox top. After a moment of deliberation, I broke the mooncake in half and gave Emil the slightly bigger half. He looked surprised as I pushed the food across the table.

"Jia-Long, I don't-"

"Just eat it, Emil," I picked up my chopsticks, ignoring the look Jett shot me across the table. It was an irritatingly questioning look with a hint of something that I didn't quite recognize.

I adjusted my chopsticks and started to grab a dumpling when I saw that Emil was just staring at his food.

"Why aren't you eating?" I allowed one of my eyebrows to rise just a bit. Emil gave me a sheepish look.

"Well, I don't have any utensils," he trailed off. This kid was hopeless. Leaning forward, I picked up one of Emil's dumplings and I held it up to his mouth. Almost instantly, he blushed and leaned away.

"I can get a fork!" I pressed the dumpling closer to his mouth, silently ordering him to eat. Emil scowled at me and took a large bite of the dumpling.

"Good," I lightly smirked as Emil glared at me. Placing the dumpling back on the lunchbox top, I leaned back to my original spot.

"You guys are really close, huh?" Jett said, grinning at the both of us. I'd almost forgotten about him and by the red on his face, so had Emil.

"It's not like that!" he quickly assured Jett. I frowned, not liking how much Emil seemed to care about Jett's opinion.

"I've been, like, feeding him for years, I suppose," I said, keeping my voice as indifferent as possible. Ignoring Emil's glare, I reached into my bag to get my extra set of chopsticks.

"Jett!" The same group of guys from this morning was waving Jett over to their table. He gave Emil and me another smile before gathering up his tray.

"Sorry guys, they asked me to eat with them today and I couldn't really refuse. I'll eat with you guys next week though!"

I watched Jett leave, a strange sense of satisfaction settling over me as he was lost in the sea of students. I slid the other chopsticks over to Emil and started to eat my own lunch.

"Wait," Emil said, just before I took my first bite.

"Yes?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. He had a strange look on his face and hadn't even picked up the other chopsticks.

"I want those chopsticks," he mumbled. "I already ate off of them."

"Does it really matter?" I asked, confused as to why he cared. Instead of answering me, Emil huffed and grabbed the other chopsticks, immediately starting to nibble on the same dumpling from earlier. Blaming his weird behavior on his already healed head trauma, I pushed it out of my mind and began to eat.

Emil

Jia-Long and I ate most of our lunches in silence. I was trying hard not to think about how Jia-Long was eating off of me. He was so insensitive to these types of things! I scowled down at the mooncake half, which was the last thing I had to eat. There was no reason to get worked up over this; we're almost like family! Sighing, I set down my chopsticks and picked up the mooncake with my good hand.

"Were the dumplings good?" I looked up, only to find Jia-Long finished with his lunch and staring at me. He was leaning forward with his left cheeks resting in his palm. He probably didn't notice, but the spot he chose to sit in was probably the best spot in the cafeteria. The light from the windows was usually too bright or too dark, but in this particular corner, the light was perfect. There are some things you can only see in certain light; like the hundreds of golden flecks in Jia-Long's dark eyes and the copious shades of brown that made up his hair. Realizing that I was staring, I quickly fumbled for an answer.

"Uh-huh," I said dumbly. "They were great, better than last time."

Jia-Long stared at me for a moment before shrugging and gesturing blankly to the mooncake.

"I don't, like, share my mooncakes with anyone," he said, a slightly playful light in his eyes. It was such a strange occurrence that I couldn't help but give him a look.

"Okay, what's wrong with you?" I asked in a serious tone. "You've been acting really strange since the day of my injury."

Jia-Long's face darkened. Not literally, but the playful light was completely gone from his eyes. It was strange how quickly he could go from avoiding me to sharing his food with me to distancing himself again.

"I'm not, like, acting strange," Jia-Long's voice was quiet and I had to strain to hear it over the buzz of the cafeteria. "I just don't have a lot to say, I suppose."

"Jia-Long," I did my best impression of Lukas. "I've known you for how many years now? There is no way on Earth that I'd believe such an obvious lie, so you might as well tell me the truth. You promised me that much."

I mumbled the last sentence, not expecting Jia-Long to remember such a childish promise. It wasn't all that important anyway; at least, that's what I keep telling myself. I don't know why I care so much about Jia-Long's semi-detached personality.

"I," Jia-Long had a strange look in his eyes. "I'm sorry. I did, like, promise, but it's hard to admit that I'm weak, I suppose."

I blinked, surprised. What on Earth possessed Jia-Long to think he was weak? As if sensing my question, Jia-Long continued his explanation.

"I, like, wasn't there for you. And not just with Them, but during gym too. If I can't, like, protect you from all of these common enemies, how can I call myself strong? I might as well not even be training."

I was slightly shocked. I'd never heard Jia-Long refer to himself as weak. It just didn't happen. Was Jia-Long hiding all of these insecurities this whole time? I should have known that he would blame himself for my injuries.

"You're such an idiot," the words came out of my mouth before I could stop them. The faint look of irritation on Jia-Long's face almost made me smile. "You're always blaming yourself for things that are completely out of your control. I'm the one who kept going off on my own, so blame me. And it's not as if you're just my protector. I have the same responsibility as you think you do; I protect you. And all week, I've been lazing around listening to Arthur tell stories about you as a baby. So tell me again, who isn't doing their job?"

Jia-Long stared at me for a long moment. Before he could say anything in response, the bell rang signaling the end of our lunch hour. Sighing, I picked up the mooncake half and began stuffing it into my mouth. There was no sense in wasting a perfectly good snack. Jia-Long looked at me with slight distaste as he gathered up his things.

"How can you, like, enjoy a mooncake if you do that?" I gave a nonsensical answer with my mouth full of food, mentally chuckling as Jia-Long's eyebrows furrowed together.

The last two classes passed as slowly as molasses on depressants. The day was ending and I'd finished a week's worth of make-up work today. All that was left for me to do was get the notes. It really wasn't as much as I'd anticipated. Then only thing that was more difficult than expected was dealing with Jia-Long. He still refused to talk to me between class and he was sure to keep his eyes in every direction but mine. It was as if we'd made no progress at all during lunch.

As the last minutes of our World Literature class seeped by as I mindlessly doodled in my notebook. Most of the students were still struggling to answer the last couple of questions on the test, or they were gazing lazily around the room. Jia-Long was pretending to do the former, but I knew better than to believe that. He'd finished the test about ten minutes ago and he was doodling around the edges of it. Typical Jia-Long.

The bell rang, slightly surprising me. I thought I'd had at least another minute of gazing around the room. Gathering up my things, I turned my make-up work in to the perpetually happy teacher, who gladly accepted the work without the questioning look most teachers gave me.

As soon as Jia-Long had turned in his test, we silently fell into our typical routine of going to his locker. Halfway there, I noticed a strip of yellow tape blocking the staircase that lead to the roof.

"Hey, what's going on?" Jia-Long didn't even glance towards the tape.

"Construction for a month," his tone was devoid of any emotion. It was the same tone he used when talking to strangers for the first time and he wasn't really interested in the conversation. Jia-Long had actually never used that tone on me before. It hurt to hear him talk to me with such indifference.

By the time we got to Jia-Long's locker, that specific hallway was mostly empty. Not many people had lockers in this part of the building. I was trailing a bit behind Jia-Long, still a few feet away when he opened his locker. I only looked up at him when I heard him scoff lightly.

"What happened?" Picking up the pace, I was at Jia-Long's side in seconds. I almost immediately saw what was wrong. On the inside of his locker, painted in purple were the word 'orphan', along with a crude drawing of Jia-Long's face.

"Those idiots," he mumbled, tossing any books he had inside of his locker. "They, like, spelled 'best fighter in this school' wrong."

A/N

Well then ^^; it's been a while, huh? I'm really sorry guys. I could give you a million excuses, but I won't. But, I do have the next couple chapters mapped out, so they shouldn't take too long to write!

I don't think any notes are needed, but if they are, please tell me and I'll clear everything up!