Disclaimer: Minekura, the god of all manga-ka, owns all that is Wild Adapter. Unfortunately for me.

Chapter 1

"Hey."

Tokitou eyed the young man wearily as he sat down. He was about the same age as Tokitou, a little shorter maybe, with short black hair and an amiable, open face that made Tokitou want to punch him.

"Hey yourself," Tokitou replied with an edge in his voice. The flashing neon lights beaming out from the games and ceiling were muted in the strong daylight, and the buzz of the arcade filled the awkward silence that followed the unexpected greetings.

"I saw you playing DDR," the boy started uneasily, glancing at the now empty machine.

"Yeah, ran outta money," Tokitou grumbled back.

"You're pretty good. How about going a round with me?"

"Fine, but you're paying."

The machine flared to life and tension lifted between the tow boys as their focus shifter to the game. Tokitou's fingers punched out the song selection as soon as he'd leapt on, not giving the other boy a chance. He picked the most difficult one he could, hoping the kid would give up and leave him alone. It wasn't that he had a bad feeling about it or anything; the guy didn't seem like a pervert or anything even if he was a little too perky, but he wasn't interested in making new friends. His world was hard enough without it, he thought. The leather glove of his right hand creaked as his unconsciously balled it into a fist.

Unfortunately for Tokitou, he didn't give up. Fifteen minutes later, when sweat glued their shirts to their backs and dripped down their burning cheeks, the winner was decided after Tokitou slipped. He fumed, he hated losing. His new companion was on guard, he hadn't intended to irk the hot tempered young man any further, but it seemed as though he'd done just that. With a few quick motions that made his nervous dancing partner lose his smile and jump in surprise, Tokitou looked at his watch, wiped his forehead with the front of his shirt and walked towards the door.

"Wait," he called just as Tokitou's gloved hand touched the door, "what's you're name?"

"Tokitou Minoru," Tokitou grumbled and shot back a scowl.

"Ikemi Toru," The boy smiled back, unfazed, "I hope we'll meet again,"

Tokitou rolled his eyes, "Yeah whatever. I'll beat you next time, Ikemi-kun."

With that, he stepped out of the arcade into the warm Japanese autumn and made the leisurely journey back towards the apartment.

Surprisingly, Kubota was waiting for him when he stomped into the mansion. It was only six o'clock, and he'd left earlier on a baito from Kou.

"Welcome back," Kubota said cheerily, unlit cigarette bobbing in his mouth as he spoke, "I picked up Mosburger."

"Better than curry," Tokitou growled as he pulled off his sneakers and kicked them into the entrance. He actually was happy about the change of meals, but he wasn't about to let Kubota know, or they'd be eating burgers for the next month.

"I was hoping that you'd be at home waiting for me," Kubota teased, handing him a paper wrapped burger.

"Yeah well, I got bored," Kubota stood in place, looking at him expectantly with his eyebrows raised, "I went to the arcade."

"Oh, how much did you lose?"

"Shut up!" Tokitou threw a fry at Kubota's head, but it was easily caught and consumed, "I only brought 500 yen with me."

"Is that so?" Kubota sat down across from his cat-like roommate, and lit the white stick in his mouth.

"Eww, Kubota. Don't smoke when you're eating," Tokitou wrinkled his nose. He continued to wolf down his supper while Kubota smoked.

When they were done their meal, the sun had begun to set, giving the whole apartment an orange glow. Tokitou had resigned to the couch, and Kubota was left to clean up. With his chore finished, he made his way slowly towards the television. Tokitou turned his head enough to glance back at him with a single thickly lashed eye.

"Guess what?"

Kubota smiled, "What?"

"There was this weird guy at the arcade. I was sitting down 'cause I'd lost all my money when all of a sudden he just pops outta fuckin' nowhere and says 'Hey'. Isn't that weird? I mean honestly, who the hell just walks up to people like that? Then he challenges me to a game of DDR. The little asshole beat me too!" Tokitou babbled angrily while he played. He had turned back towards the screen as the fight started. The Playstation control felt the brunt of his anger as he mashed down the buttons.

Kubota's step faltered for a moment, calm smile still plastered on his face. He caught himself quickly, but Tokitou didn't notice, his mind and eyes were back on the game.

The prospect of a new friend worried him, although Tokitou wasn't one to trust people easily and there was only so close he could get to someone without them finding out about that right hand. Besides, Tokitou didn't sound very excited as he relayed the encounter, and he was no good at hiding his emotions. Still, concern gnawed at him, and when he sat down beside his house cat to play, he found himself mashing the buttons as hard as Tokitou had been.

Toru's encounters with the mysterious young man began to take the form of a strange courtship. Toru had been at the arcade the next day, waiting for him. After another game of DDR, in which a triumphant Tokitou got his vengeance for the previous day's defeat, he had invited Tokitou out for coffee. He wrinkled his nose and instead they ended up at the theatre to watch a new action movie that Tokitou just had to see. Toru began to notice a few strange things about their encounters; for one, the right hand of his new companion was always covered and whenever Tokitou caught him looking at it, he gave a scowl and stuffed it in his pocket. Also, their meetings would only ever last for an hour or two before Tokitou would rush off, presumably back to his home, wherever he lived. Toru wondered if he lived with his family or if he was on his own, but as the other boy was reluctant to say anything about himself and answered any question with a grunt or a scowl, he was left guessing.

For the most part, over the next few weeks, he was scowling, and secretive. Occasionally, he was nervous, and very, very rarely he would forget himself, give Toru a friendly punch on the arm (which hurt a lot more then he cared to let on) and laugh brightly. Toru found he was intrigued by that laugh, and hoped that he would hear it more often.

Tokitou's uneasiness was confirmed one afternoon when he and Toru left the arcade to find a gleaming black Mercedes waiting. Toru explained that it was his older brother coming to pick him up, but Tokitou's gut instinct told him that there was something wrong. As Toru sprung towards the car, twisting to wave a quick 'See ya' a man got out of the passenger seat to meet him. The man who got out of the car was wearing a black suit, fully buttoned despite the warm weather. His large sunglasses hid most of his face and he wore his bleached hair long. The man gave him a smile that made him squirm, and when he turned his back to get into the car, a light breeze revealed an elaborate tattoo peeking out from under the starched white collar of the suit.

He was definitely yakuza.

And it would be bad news if he was Tohjou-gumi or Izumo-kai. He himself was of no interest to the groups, since they didn't know about his hand, but if they tried to use him to get to Kubota…Tokitou swallowed hard, he didn't want to think about what would happen. Even Kubota couldn't take on a whole army of thugs.

While his thoughts wandered, the car and the man had left. He was left standing alone on the sidewalk, eyes wide and mind racing, when a soft touch on his arm brought him back to reality. He looked up into the concerned eyes of a young woman,

"Are you alright?" she whispered, as if he would break if she spoke any louder.

He stared at her for a moment, not finding the words to reply with, then brushed off her hand and started down the street towards Chinatown. He decided not to tell Kubota.

To Saiyuki-Lvr: My first review! Thank you so much for your encouragment. bow I hope Chapter 1 didn't diasppoint you.