Starting Over

I walked off the boat and looked around. We ended up in Ocean City port. I wanted to head more inland before I stopped and found someplace to stay. Areas around the port were usually busy and noisy. Not my type of thing.

I looked around for a place I could buy a map, and soon found a newspaper stand that sold maps as well. Paying for a map I opened it and stood off to the side. Determining country type places to find.

After a few minutes I decided to check out the nearest city, Somers Point, and from there head towards Vineland. After that I started walking towards my destination. We reached Somers Point by nightfall the next day, only because Tony wouldn't let me roof hop there.

We stopped in a hotel before resting for a while. I was lying on my bed and talking to Tony one night.

Ryuu, you have to understand something. You cannot, unless under dire circumstances transform or use chi recklessly!

"And why the hell not, Tony?" I asked.

Because! You are not in Nerima anymore! You're in New Jersey! And the people of New Jersey have most likely never even seen a building be demolished by a single man's pointer finger.

"Okay, but still, I don't see a reason I can't go out at night as a tiger."

Because you never see a tiger roaming around the streets around here! That's why!

"But how would you know that? You've never been in New Jersey, have you?"

Well no, but...I'm sure they don't just let roaming tigers, well, roam in the streets freely.

"I'm sure they don't either, Tony. But how well can you see a black tiger roam the streets at night...when it's dark out?"

Not very well, unless someone else has mastered the Neko-ken-

"Then that's it. If I want to go out as a tiger, I go at night."

And...?

"(Sigh) And unless I am in dire need of it, I do not under any circumstances go tiger during the day. Happy now?"

Yes, yes I am.

"Good. Now, you go and entertain yourself the way all tigers do, and I'll go and send my letter to Mom and Kasumi."

I could hear Tony mumbling a bit before it got totally quiet. I got up from the bed and threw a t-shirt on before heading out the door. Locking the door behind me I walked down the hallway and found the receptionist.

"Excuse, miss? Do you know where I could possibly mail a letter?" I asked.

The girl nodded, "Yes, we have a mailbox down the hallway and on your left."

I thanked the girl and went down the hallway. All the while thinking about making a few changes. By the time I had mailed the letter and was on my way back to my room I had decided what I was going to do.

I opened the door and changed my shirt. In place of the t-shirt I wore a different t-shirt with the sleeves ripped off, it said "Walking Biohazard" and it had a biohazard sign on it. I had a dark blue button shirt on top of it, unbuttoned, and black cargo pants.

On my way out I locked the door, again, and headed towards the nearest barbershop.

(-)

The barber finished clipping my hair, "Finished. I must say, I did a very good job with you, boy."

I stood up from the chair and wiped the few strands of hair off my clothes and arms. I looked into the mirror that stood in front of me and admired the barber's work.

I ran my hand through my now short hair. It came up in natural spikes and the blue stripes had remained in my hair giving it a cool look to it.

I smiled and turned to the barber, "Thank you, it looks great," Handing him the amount he had asked for I walked outside and decided I needed one more thing. A reminder of my hardships. Something that would never fade. Something that would keep me linked with my past no matter how far into my future I traveled.

I walked further down the street and found another shop. I smiled and walked inside.

I picked my selection and sat down in the chair after paying the man. I endured the session of pain and sat still as the man worked on my arm.

When he was done he smiled at me, "It's done. It should take a week and a half to fully heal." (I've never gotten a tattoo before so I don't know the real amount of time it takes to heal. If anyone lets me know I'll change it.)

I thanked him and left. The tattoo I had gotten was a barbed wire that wraps around my left bicep, and a small droplet of blood under one of the thorns.

The barbed wire wrapping around my arm symbolized the hardships I've endured and lived through and the memories that will never leave me. While the droplet of blood reminds me of the sacrifices I've made to get where I am today, to be who I am. The perfect tattoo.

I stopped at a cafe on my way back to the hotel, and grabbed a...Mountain Dew they called it. It was an interesting soda. Different from what we had in Japan, but...it was better, in a way.

As I was heading back to my room, already at the hotel, I was anticipating night to come. I wanted to be able to run around in my tiger form. I had been itching to run around all day. That night I would pay for my stay and leave. Until then, the sandman was calling.

(-)

Night hadn't come fast enough for me as I ran across rooftops inspecting the area, in my tiger form.

Those who saw me only saw brief glimpses. And even then I was a black blur to them.

I flew, quite literally considering I barely touched the roofs of the buildings before I was bounding to the next one, and relished the feeling of momentary flight.

Eventually I came to a stop. I was in front of a large sign that said, "Welcome to Vineland". I had arrived at my destination. I jumped down to the road below me and transformed back.

I sighed as I endured a small lecture about what I was allowed to do and what I wasn't. I laughed at Tony lightly and started down the road.

It was morning by the time we were inside the town. I bought a newspaper and looked through the For Rent section with all the apartments.

(-)

It was mid-day and I had checked every apartment and room available. None of them would allow me a room without pay for the first month. I was standing in front of a house on a random street talking to myself in frustration.

"Why does no one let people skip on one month of rent?" I asked my self.

Because they're greedy and they have trust issues, Tony answered.

"And I still have no place to stay!" I yelled to myself.

Little did I realize there was someone behind me listening to my little tirade. Again, little did I realize she would also help change the course of my life.

"Excuse me, do you need a place to rent?" a voice came from my side.

I turned around and saw a girl around my age standing to my side. She had long black hair with her bangs dyed red. She had brown almost amber eyes. She was standing by the door of the building with a "For Rent" sign in her hands.

"Uh...yeah, I guess."

"I also understand that you need a month free of rent. Why's that?" She asked.

"I need to find a job so I can pay the rent."

"Oh, well, I think, if you want to try staying here, I can skip a month of rent. Though you'll owe me."

I smiled, maybe things were looking up, "Of course, I wouldn't dream of cheating you out of rent. But apparently people have trust issues around here."

She smiled, "You're different from most of the men around here. Come in, and I'll show you around. You might like the place, my name's Sasha Metsuretsu by the way. What's your name?" She asked as we walked inside.

"Ryuu Mouko," I answered.

"Nice to meet you, Ryuu, now on with our tour."

It was fairly small but big enough to house two people. When you walked in the door a dining table sat off to the side where further down was an entryway to the den. A few feet away from the front door was a small hall that had 3 doors at the end.

On the left was a bedroom, directly in front of you was a bathroom, and to your right was another bedroom. Heading back towards the den brings you by the kitchen with a small island for eating. And if you headed down the stairs to the den you'd be in the living room, which was the den. It had two nice sized, comfy looking, couches. A fireplace, a 32" TV with surround sound. Off to the far right corner, if you were facing the stairs back to the kitchen, was a computer center.

There was another set of stairs next to the computer center, leading to the basement. Down there you could see was a lounge room of sorts. It had another TV, video games, beanbags, a pool table, a dart board (complete with darts), and a 300-watt stereo with a separate subwoofer.

All in all it was a nice house. I turned to her after a bit more exploring.

"So? How do you like it?"

I smiled, "It feels like home, when can I move in?"

(-)

Ah, it was the beginning of a beautiful friendship. We had many things in common and Sasha even introduced me to my new addiction. Skateboarding. Turns out she co-owned a skate shop with a guy named Charlie. And that she was one of the best in town.

Later on I would meet Mike, Jon, and Sam. But that's not until a month after I started skateboarding. And I had found a decent job at Lov3 Th3 3vil. But let's get back to my story, shall we?

(-)

I walked into the skate shop known as Lov3 Th3 3vil.

"Hey, Sasha, need any help back there?" I yelled out to the backroom.

"It's about time you got here! Come back here, I need help lifting some boxes!" Sasha called from the back.

I rolled my eyes. Translation, come here and take these boxes up front because I can't carry them myself.

I went in back and lifted the boxes without so much as a second thought. They were light to me. And probably always would be, for that matter. I brought them up front and turned to Sasha.

"I will never get used to that," She said.

I smiled; it was fun to shock her. She had the cutest shocked expression every time.

"Anything else?"

She shook her head, "Nope, Charlie's out. And we're ahead of schedule. Today all we do is serve costumers."

"Meaning we sit around and see what upgrades we can do on our skateboards with left over merchandise lying around the shop."

"Basically."

We laughed a bit and then went in back to grab our boards. Mine was a normal skateboard. It had a yellow background on the bottom with a biohazard sign in the middle. Sasha had a black background with a red dragon on it.

I sat down and began fiddling with my board. I was scratching out the figure of a tiger on my board's foot grip.

(-)

We got halfway through the day with only 3 customers. It was a slow day, but that was okay, we needed the break. Don't know why, but I'm gonna say we did.

I was in the back doing some inventory, because I was done tinkering with my skateboard and I was bored.

I heard the door open and then footsteps. From the sound of it there was 3 people.

(-)

Sasha had been looking around behind the counter for Charlie's cigarettes. Charlie was a smoker, and Sasha hated when he smoked around the shop. So she was looking forward to burning them in the pit out back.

She heard the door open and looked up. And was happy to see her 3 best friends standing in front of the door. Jon and Mike stood there in front of her waving. Sam was off to the side looking around.

"Hey, guys! It's been a while since you stopped by," she smiled at them and they smiled back.

"Yeah, we figured we'd check up on you." Jon said.

"And I've been dying to meet this guy you've been telling us about! Who is he?" Sam asked.

Sasha laughed, "His name is Ryuu. I think you guys have seen him around the skate park every once in a while."

Mike spoke up first, "Depends, there are a lot of guys who skate around the park. They all suck, but that's besides the point."

"He's got black hair with blue streaks and he's got blue eyes. Whenever he wears a sleeveless shirt you can see his barbed wire tattoo, too."

Sam jumped up and down, "Oh! Oh! Him? That hunk is your roommate?"

Jon put his hand on Sam's shoulder effectively stopping her from jumping up and down.

Sasha nodded, "Yeah, he's in the back, you guys wanna meet him?"

At their collective nods Sasha headed into the back to get Ryuu.

(-)

I looked over at the doorway to see Sasha coming in the back.

"They need anything?" I asked.

Sasha nodded, "You bet. They need to meet you."

"Huh?" Was all I got out before Sasha dragged me out to the front.

As Sasha stopped pulling my arm, I straightened my shirt, which was a black t-shirt that said, "Sarcasm, just one more service I offer".

"And this is Ryuu. My roommate and fellow skateboarder," Sasha said smiling.

I wasn't sure what to do so I waved and gave an awkward smile.

Suddenly I found myself being given a critical stare from Jon and Mike, and Sam was drooling for some reason...damn, now I'm gonna have to mop the floor later.

Jon and Mike, done with their evaluations of me, just nodded. While Sasha waved a hand in front of Sam's face.

"Sam? Sam? Helloo...? Anybody in there?"

I looked at Sam and saw a dazed look in her eyes, "The lights are on, but nobody's home, Sasha."

Mike laughed, "You're a wise ass. I like that. You and me are gonna get along just fine."

"Uh...Thanks, I guess," I scratched the back of my head.

We spent the rest of the day talking and getting to know each other. Mike and Jon were really cool. They wanted me to hang out with them more often and to skateboard with them at the park. And Sam, well...let's just say I think she's a bit schitzo. But I can't, or rather, shouldn't talk. I hear voices and can change moods pretty quickly too...maybe I'm bipolar...?

Anyway, it was late and it was near closing time for the store before we decided to split up.

Sasha put her coat on and turned to me, "Hey, Ryuu, we're all going to the karaoke bar, you wanna come?"

I shrugged my coat on as well and smiled, "I'd love to, but I still have some stuff to do. I'll catch you later though," And I waved as I walked out the door.

I jumped on my board and skated home. I opened the door and locked it behind me before heading to my room and grabbing a pencil and my notebook.

My room was pretty basic. It had a twin bed in the corner and a night table next to it. I had a closet and a dresser. And around the room were certain items, skateboard accessories and CDs scattered around. I had a few posters of bands like Metallica and Alice In Chains. And a stereo in the corner with a separate subwoofer and 3 CD player. Anyway, back to why I grabbed my notebook.

I had been composing lyrics for a while now, it helped vent and it helped calm me at the same time. I looked at the lyrics I already had put together and tried to put music to it.

You my friend
You're a lot like them
But I cut your line
And you know I did
Now I'm lost in you
Like I always do
And I'd die to win
'Cause I'm born to lose

Firefly
Could you shine your light
Now I know your ways
'Cause they're just like mine
Now I'm justified
As I fall in line
And it's hard to try
When you're wide open

Take my hand
We'll be off again
We'll come back again
To a different land
Now I like this way
You can go away
If you guess the name
You cannot replace

Firefly
Could you shine your light
Now I know your ways
'Cause they're just like mine
Now I'm justified
As I fall in line
And it's hard to try
When you're wide open

Bring me your enemies
Lay them before me
And walk away

Firefly
Could you shine your light
Now I know your ways
'Cause they're just like mine
Now I'm justified
As I fall in line
And it's hard to try
When you're wide open

Fuck you firefly
Have you lost your light
Now I hate your ways
'Cause they're just like mine
So you lost my friend
Such a sorry end
Now I don't know why
So I choke and smile

I laughed a bit, an excellent set of lyrics to describe my relationship with Akane. Ironic how I used to be so forgiving back in Nerima. But Akane betrays me and I can suddenly hold a grudge for decades...like Pops for example...

My thoughts were interrupted as my door opened and three people fell onto the floor of my bedroom. Sasha, Sam, and Mike fell onto the floor while Jon stood there with the door open, his hand still on the doorknob.

"So sorry to intrude, Ryuu," Jon said, "But when the girls get curious there's no stopping them."

I pointed to Mike, "But Mike was eavesdropping too."

Jon nodded, "That's what I said didn't I? The girls are naturally curious."

Mike got up and started yelling at Jon, while I looked at Sasha, now standing, who looked embarrassed.

"Sorry 'bout that. We just wanted to know where that song came from..." Sasha said.

I tilted my head to the side, "Song? You mean my lyrics?"

"You wrote that?" Sam asked.

I nodded, "Yeah, came up with the music too."

Sasha looked a bit confused, "Wait, you write and you play your music? How did you keep this from me?"

I had the decency to be embarrassed at this point, "I usually play late at night, when everyone is dead asleep. I play it all in the basement, and I like to write and play while the moon's out too, so it helps that there's a window above ground down there..."

Mike at this point had already grabbed my notebook and started scanning through the lyrics.

"Jon, come here. Look at these lyrics."

Jon walked over and looked at the notebook over Mike's shoulder.

"That's it. This is exactly what we're looking for..." Jon mumbled.

"What...you're looking for? I don't get it? What are you looking for?" I asked, totally confused.

Sam answered my question, "We're looking for someone who can sing and help us write lyrics. You see, we're a band, Mike, Jon, and me. We don't have a name for our band yet, but we're working on it."

I was interested now, "So, can you guys play my music?"

Sam just nodded, "Yeah, Mike plays drums, Jon plays guitar, and I play bass guitar. All we're missing is a lead singer."

"So...you guys want me to join your band?"

Sam, Mike, and Jon all nodded.

"As your lead singer?"

They all nodded again.

I smiled, "When can I start?"

To Be Continued...

A/N: Reviews welcome, flames are used to fight off the lawyers.