(Kouji)
I used to think that I was fine
Oh, that I was doing ok
I didn't know that I was blind
I just went all along my way
-'Till I found you by Freestyle
In the depths of darkness
Chapter 2: Befriending
"Open your math books to page 57 and answer..."
Izumi just stared blankly at the teacher. 'Why is it that Mizuaki-kun looks like the killer?'
She looked at the back where Kou sat, unaware that he was the assassin she saw. He sensed someone staring at him that he shot up his head and his eyes met hers. He gave a smile to her. A light blush was somewhat visible in her cheeks.
'What the-?! Why am I blushing?'
"Ms. Orimoto, will you please pay attention and stop staring at our new student Mizuaki?"
Izumi blushed even redder from embarrassment. "S-sorry."
"That's okay."
After school...
"I can't believe that she said 'that' in front of everyone!!" Izumi whined as her friends just laughed.
"Chill Izumi. I'm sure it's natural that a girl would stare at a new student." Aiwa said.
"Not to mention cute." Rui added. "Notice the way he smiled at the whole class with those blue eyes?" she sighed dreamily.
"I kind of like Kiei Kazuma (Kouichi) better." Yuki said.
"What about you Aiwa?"
"Tayuki's okay. He's got a sense of humor."
Izumi caught a glimpse of Kou in the soccer field with Tayuki. They both made it on the team and are now practicing.
"Izumi's got a crush." Yuki whispered to her.
She resented the remark. "No I don't."
"One side everybody! Kou Mizuaki fan club! We're coming through!!" A girl, named Suzaki yelled, carrying a big banner followed by a group of girls.
"Looks like you've got competition."
"Shut up Yuki!" Izumi hissed.
"Hey! Orimoto! You joining or not?" Suzaki asked approaching her.
"Why should I?"
"We know that you like Mizuaki-kun as much as we do. We'll let you in as long as you tell and share with us every bit of information you know about him."
Izumi glared at her. "Sorry. I'm not interested."
"Then we'll just have to force you." The girls closed in on her until a soccer ball hit Suzaki's head, hard.
"Ouch!! Who kicked that stupid ball at me?!"
"Sorry about that!" Kou shouted running to them to get the ball.
"Mizuaki-kun!!"
"Are you hurt?"
"No. That was one heck of a kick." Suzaki commented blushing.
Kou smiled then picked the ball up. He turned to the group of girls, then to Izumi and raised his eyebrow.
"What're you girls doing?"
Yuki opened her mouth to tell the story but Suzaki beat her to it.
"Just talking!"
"Well, if you say so. You're not hurting Orimoto are you?"
"No. Of course not."
"Good, because..." Kou walked away then looked back at Suzaki. "If you hurt her I'll finish you off..."
Izumi felt a shiver down her spine after seeing the glint in his eyes. 'He is the assassin...'
Suzaki cocked her head, unable to understand.
Kou grinned "By giving you one of my killer smiles."
His fan club screamed with hearts in their eyes as they stared at the departing Kou Mizuaki.
Suzaki turned to Izumi. "I'll force you some other time. I'm in such a good mood today so I'll let you off. Let's go girls."
They marched off and left Izumi and her friends.
'Why would Mizuaki-kun do that?'
When her friends went home, she walked into a mini store and bought a bottle of water. She sighed and continued her way home. Not knowing that someone's watching her, ready to shoot in a short distance.
"Now you're dead..." Kouji muttered atop a building with a sniper he had assembled, aiming the shot at her. He was about to pull the trigger when...
"Bang!"
A gunshot was heard and the people nearby ran amuck which caused him to hold his fire.
"Damn it! I almost had her!"
He grabbed a pair of binoculars and checked where the shot came from. A robbery was held and one of the suspects grabbed a hostage. Kouji's eyes widened and narrowed at the same time after seeing who it was.
'Orimoto...'
"Hey! Let me go!!"
His comrades were caught but since he had Izumi, the police couldn't take action.
"Let the girl go... let's talk this over." A cop said trying to calm the robber down.
"Nobody come near me or I'll blow her head off!" He placed the cold metal gun at Izumi's head. Feeling it, her fears took over once again and her eyes blurred with tears.
Kouji saw this and remembered his past.
A little boy was crying after seeing his father die in front of him.
The assassin, which was Kouji, walked to the child and patted his head.
"Your father is a bad man. Don't follow his footsteps."
"You're also bad! You killed my daddy!!" He cried.
Kouji just walked away. "Sorry kid. Your dad started it."
He shut his eyes remembering the little boy who committed suicide after the incident. Right in front of him too, he never wanted innocent kids to die, nor innocent people to get involved.
He took the sniper back and made a perfect aim at the robber's head but also thought of aiming it at his hand where he held the gun at Izumi. He couldn't make the right decision until it was too late to even make a move.
The robber had taken Izumi inside an abandoned building; there was no chance at all to save her unless he does it in another way. Get inside the building and annihilate him with his own hands.
He dismantled the gun and placed it back in the suitcase; called Takuya to pick it up and left after getting his katana and handgun. Taking a few steps to the side of the building and making sure of the height and impact he would receive if he jumped down there and run in the back door of the structure.
Inhaling a deep breath, he jumped off and landed on the alley without a sweat. He ran swiftly but quietly to the building, looking for the two people he was after.
"Let me go! Please!"
"Shut up or I'll really pull the trigger!"
'Bingo!' He got his gun out and cocked it. Aimed it at the robber and began to speak.
"Let her go or you'll meet death soon."
They both looked behind them and saw Kouji with a smirk on his face.
"H-how did you get here?!"
"Maybe telling you my name would give you an idea why."
Izumi this time paid more attention to Kouji than the situation she was in and same goes for her 'kidnapper'.
"My name is Kouji Minamoto. And I'm the most wanted assassin in the district of Shibuya."
"Holy shi-"
Kouji had fired the shot so the robber was unable to finish his reaction. Izumi stood there then looked down at the corpse beside her. She was about to scream when a hand covered her mouth.
"Keep quiet or you'll be next." Kouji commanded and pulled her outside the back door. They both ran until they arrived on top of the building where he was supposed to shoot her.
Izumi then gathered all the courage she needed to be able to talk to her killer and savior.
"Why'd you save me if you intend to kill me?"
He was caught off guard at this that he gripped the rails which surrounded the sides of the tall skyscraper. "I..."
Izumi walked towards him and placed a hand on his shoulder. His eyes widened at this.
"You don't have to answer it if you don't want to."
Kouji sighed and turned to face her. "I don't know why I can't kill you or why I even saved you. But..."
She gave a questioning look.
"Could you promise me one thing?"
"Sure." She replied.
"I won't kill you if you promise me that you won't let anyone know about what you saw that night, and what I told you about me a while ago."
She nodded and smiled at him. She held out her pinky. "I promise if you promise to be my friend okay?"
He closed his eyes and smiled, held out his pinky and locked it on hers. "Okay."
"Good. So, if you don't mind, you want to come with me and talk?"
Kouji gave her a 'what' look and she just smiled. "I just want to talk."
She pulled him to the elevator and pressed the 1st floor. When they reached there, they stepped out and headed to the park.
Izumi sat on one of the swings and gestured him to sit on the other one beside her. He sighed and sat down.
She smiled at this as she began to move forward and back on the swing, using her legs to ick u speed. When her gaze fell on him...
Her attention fell on the black lace where a small silver cross was attached to it that hung around his neck. She studied him from head to toe. He had his 'assassin outfit' on. Black sneakers, dark blue pants, a white shirt with a black jacket over it and a black bandana on his head with a few of his bangs swaying with the wind blowing. She blushed and never had this feeling when she first met him. She was definitely attracted to his aura, personality and even his skills in playing soccer and killing.
He felt her eyes on him that he looked at her. "What?"
She shook her head slowly "Nothing..."
Kouji blinked, then, he smirked and then laughed, "Yeah right!" He said sarcastically.
He stood up and walked in front of her, then bent down. "It's getting late. I'll walk you home alright?"
Izumi nodded as she stood up and they both walked home under the night sky. Every minute she would glance at him at the corner of her eyes and get a glimpse of his face. The only problem is she can't keep her eyes off of his blue eyes.
"Um... exactly where do you live?"
Izumi snapped from her thoughts. "It's okay. I'll walk home by myself from here."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah! Thanks anyway. See you tomorrow then!"
She ran off after waving goodbye. When she was long gone...
"So, you like her huh?"
Kouji ignored the statement and walked towards a black car which was parked at the other side of the street.
"I hope you didn't scratch it Takuya."
His friend/partner, pouted "Since when did I drive your car recklessly?!"
"Whenever you use it."
"Oh shut up Kouji..."
He went inside the passenger seat and crossed his arms "Let's go. Your dad's waiting."
Kouji just smiled and drove off. "He's always waiting Takuya."
Takuya just smirked and turned some music on. "Full blast?"
"It's up to you."
Takuya nodded and turned the music at maximum volume and began bopping his head.
"This song rocks!"
Kouji smirked and just continued driving.
'Something tells me that Orimoto is in danger...' He thought.
Izumi was inside her room. She then took a shower and afterwards, wrapped the towel around her. When she stepped out, she noticed the window was open.
"That's odd..." She approached the window and closed it. 'I swear I closed it when I got here.'
Unknown to her, someone was behind her with a knife in his hand.
Kousei sat in his chair and had his hands clasped and elbows on top of the desk.
'Kouji...'
He sighed.
'If you can't kill her... I might as well ask someone else to do it...'
He stood up and looked outside the window. The black car had just entered the HQ.
'If you fall in love with her, she might face the very same fate your mother did.'
His office door opened. "What took you so long Kou-"
"Sorry sir. But your son just went somewhere else." Takuya said.
"I shouldn't have told you Kanbara."
Takuya grinned "Too bad. You just did."
Hey readers! Thanks for all your reviews. And just to answer Wind Temple's question, you'll have to read my other fanfics or wait for the result of this story. I wouldn't want to do spoilers now would I? Unless you figured it out by reading this chapter, I'm sure Tamer Shadow knows the pairing here, am I right Nat Nat? Hehe. Thanks again people! R&R!! Oh yeah, and what genre do you think this story is? I really don't know. Note these names:
Kou Mizuaki- Kouji Minamoto
Kiei Kazuma- Kouichi Kimura (Minamoto)
Tayuki Kiroaki- Takuya Kanbara
Toki Hinato- Tomoki Himi
Jiro Sakayuko- Junpei Shibayama