Here goes folks! Ya da da da da da! My first attempt to write and complete a fanfic. I only have the first chapter done, its not much but who ever reads will let me know weather or not I should keep going. So please be harsh but not mean. The chars you don't know are mine and all the ones you've heard of before are Yukito Kishiros, so don't sue me!! Love ya'll (like my virginian-even-though-im-califorian accent?) ***I Redid it so it's a little bit better than before*** R&R!! PLEASE!!! ^_^

Chapter 1 Promise

The sky over the scrapyard was a yellow-brown. Typical, it was from all of the chemicals from the factories. What was produced, not many new, all that was really known was that it was sent to the floating city Zalem above. The city above was beautiful, even if from below people could not really make much out of it.
But no one really cared, some talked and of course others gossiped. It just wasn't a huge interest in the scrapyard. As long as Zalem existed the scrapyard would too exist. After all it was made from the scraps thrown out of Zalem. Hence the name. So the people were content with their lives thinking that somehow without the scrapyard there would be no Zalem. It sounded crazy to them but that was the life of the scrapyard. Where humans, or 'fleshies' as they were called and cyborgs, partial humans with robotic structures, whether it was a limb, a hand, or an entire body, lived in somewhat peace. The majority of the population was now cyborg considering how dangerous the scrapyard was. But the fleshies hung in there, determined not to give up. Many of them were trying to make a decent living, selling products and working in factories. Others didn't care so much and went around on mass murder or rape sprees. That is why the Hunter Warriors were created. These people were awarded a certain amount of chips for the head of the bounty they brought in. That was mainly how the peace was kept in the scrapyard. Of course, it was not perfect, who could expect it to be, things still happened, bad things, but good things were still able to happen too.

This story takes place with two people, fleshies, perfect for each other and in complete love. They too don't worry about Zalem and never will. Their minds are close, and also far away from the scrapyard, neither of them cared about fleshies or cyborgs, they wanted to be together. To be able to live in peace, together.

"How'd you like Motorball, Ruth?" asked her curious older date. Motorball was an intense sport played in the scrap where cyborgs and humans raced across dangerous courses to get a ball, the motorball. They were to hold it as long as possible while still racing. The motorball had a mechanism in it that if not held correctly would come out of the racers hands. If a racer did get a hold onto it the only worry now was the other racers. Limbs are torn off and it is a race to the death. Some times only one will survive.
Ruth, the girl with him looked up, her sunflower eyes sparkled with joy, wild curly blond locks fell out of place, with her braids she had neatly done in her hair looking like gold after being refined in a fire, he new her answer, but he still wanted her to tell him. She twiddled her fingers as she replied to him.
"I liked it a lot. It was really cool how fast they went and everything. I mean, there was only one part I didn't like." She squished her up her face and made it look funny. "All the body parts were gross." She stuck out her tongue in a childish manner. It was hard to believe that she was 17 sometimes, although she did look it, her actions weren't like that of the normal scrapyard women. She loved the little things in life, different colors of sand, the sounds of the streets at night, and how her home looked. Yet it was amazing how she could be so serious at times and how mature she was. Like she acted like a kid because she new he thought it was cute. He laughed a bit. He did think it was cute, it was one of the reasons he loved her so much. It was because of her innocence to things, but also to her knowledge of other things. She was a balanced person you could say, more mentally than physically. She was rather short, about five feet one inch tall, and she looked healthy and full, but was not at all fat. If asked her weight, she would simply ask the person to guess. Because she was a fleshie, she was considered less than attractive because she didn't have that oh-so-wanted perfect figure. But Ruth was definitely okay with this, the thought of people checking her out was completely grotesque in her mind.
Tigris on the other hand was tall for his age; he was six feet five inches and still growing. He was 18 and very much looked like it. It was hard to believe that a fleishie could be so tall. His hair was messy but kept short, and the color was a raven black, it contrasted nicely with his deep, blue eyes. He was also on the skinnier lankier side, but he still had a firm muscle. He was in all reality a very attractive fleshie that often caught the eyes of the other women in the scrapyard. They would be drawn in by his blue eyes, and be amazed that some one could have eyes that blue. Ruth would usually draw them away, she always said she liked his eyes, but she loved his lips even more.
They continued to walk to his apartment, which wasn't much; it had a bed bathroom, stove and a chair. But it was kept nice (thanks to Ruth) and no one complained. It was also in a 'nicer' part of the scrap, if you could call any part of the scrap nice. It was in a poorer part, but not in the dirt cheap sewer tunnel homes. Some one could say it was on the border of the ghetto and the suburbs. They walked past a few vendors, a lady was selling metal flowers and jewelry she'd made. Many people would make colorful little flowers that could be used to decorate a home with. For two reasons, they would never die, and flowers that actually could grow were next to impossible to find. Another man was selling body parts. The sign said they were the best, but it was mostly likely that they were from dead bounty. He looked well dressed and even sophisticated, but Ruth hated walking by his shop, the thought of someone's limbs that close to her made her feel sick. There was even an old man sell ratkabobs. Although she never tried it, people had told her that it was very sweet, once you get past the fur. She stopped for a moment to look at the flowers that were out to purchase, they were beautiful, painted with pinks and reds, she could have stared right into their souls, beneath the metal texture and right into their very life, an existence that once flourished, with names and a touch that didn't stink of metal. Yes, a life where cyborgs and Warrior Hunters were unheard of, but that place was also extinct, along with the beauty it once treasured. Tigris saw this, her desire for things that didn't need man or machine to run and control, they would often have talks about that sort of thing. She didn't mind so much that there were cyborgs and floating cities, but she wished that the people of the scrapyard could be truly free. He had told her that they never really new who was free or not, she would usually agree and comment on how she thought too much. He was glad that she would think, and not act on bodily urges. She was looking at one flower in particular, a small pink rose in half bloom, it was glazed and shiny with few rigid edges, any one could tell that this lady had a gift, it was three chips, not a bad price. He would get it for her. The lady at the table, Suzy was enthusiastic and cheerful, "May I help you?" she asked Ruth responded by shaking her head no but Tigris pulled out three chips and held them out for her.
"Yes, I'd like to get the pink rose, if it's for sale of course" He said with a polite tone.
"Of course it is!" Suzy said happily and gratefully accepted the chips from him. "Would you like me to put it in a box and wrap it for you, or would you like to let her have it now?" she said coyly. Ruth blushed.
"You can wrap it, thanks." Suzy wrapped the gift in a small hand made box and put a little green bow on it and handed it to Tigris, he then put it in his jacket pocket.
"You can have it when we get back to my place, okay?" He looked at her and smiled. She nodded happily and they continued to walk. There was silence between them as Ruth thought about what to try and make for dinner (she was not a skilled cook) and Tigris just thought about that day in general. He took her out to see her first motorball race, imagine living where she did and never even seeing a motorball racer! He thought about being a racer and what it would be like, would it be painful? Well, only if the person was a bad motorballist. But it seamed that you could learn how to play fairly easily. The thought of doing it made his adrenaline pump.
He looked up, they were coming near his apartment, it was on the second story so it was easily seen, there were no more vendors and the area around was packed dirt. It smelled gritty and oily; from the spare parts lying around you could tell that there were a lot of cyborgs living there. Up ahead some chicken wire made a fence for some fleshie kids to play in while a cyborg dog kept an eye on them. Mothers were busily making dinner and some were out shopping or at a pub for the night. There were a few women hanging around looking for a place to 'stay' the night. Luckily, they learned to avoid Tigris and Ruth, she could be fireball when her anger was roused. "Wouldn't it be neat to be a motorball racer? I think someday I should try it." He said after a while. He didn't really mean it, but the thought was exciting. Even if he new he would never do it, he wanted to talk about it. No, motorball racing definitely wasn't his kind of pastime. He had a fine job working to build more homes for people in the scrap. He made small homes that were cheap so there would be less bums lying around. It made it easier on the Hunter Warriors too. It was fair pay, and his boss was one of those nice big guys no one could fight with, or want to. His apartment was even in the same place as his boss, so they had a pretty good relationship.
Ruth stopped, she could never think of him doing something so dangerous, what if he died? Why did he even say that? She new he liked to joke around but the thought of him dying from that game made her shake. "What? No, Tigris you can't, you could die. What would happen if you died?" She thought for a moment. "You have to promise me that you wont please, promise me!" She could feel the tears coming already, the thought of being without him crushed her.
"I was only joking-"she cut him off, he was joking. She hated this part about him, how he would joke about his own life. That's how she saw it at least. "I don't care, you shouldn't joke like that; please promise me you'll never play motorball, ever."
He looked at her and smiled slightly, putting his hand up to her cheek to feel her warm skin, no he could never do that. He cared too much about her and would never endanger his life while they were together. He mentally kicked himself for saying that.
"Don't worry Ruth," He said, "As long as I'm with you I'll never become a motorball racer," He paused. "I promise."
She looked up at him, sure of what he said, but not sure at the same time. He looked at her and wrapped his arms around her and they just hugged each other for a while.
"Don't worry." He repeated. What a dolt, he thought to himself, I'm such a dolt.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

I redid chapter one! I think it's a lot better now than it was, so R and R please... I know I still have a long way to go before anything I write is good.. lol, I'm okay with that!