HELPLESS
Annie was blessed with her mother's genes; at least that's what she used to think in St. Petersburg. No one looked at her like she was an unknown foreign object. No one looked like they wanted to poke and prod her and reveal all her secrets. Besides, no one could even if they tried. Back there, she was Vanya Tatsugami; swordsman in training and heir to the Tatsugami and allied conglomerate.
All that changed in a moment. Their house mysteriously caught fire in the dead of a night; which in turn cost Annie, her mother's life and put her father on life support. No one knew how it happened; though she had a sneaking suspicion that it was some kind of an internal uprising. Either way, the surviving heir of the Tatsugami empire had to be protected, at least till she was a fully grown and capable adult. After the unanimous decision of a few loyal members left, Annie found herself in her father's inherited residence in Tokyo.
Thus, at the tumultuous age of fourteen, Annie found herself attending a regular public school in Japan. Fortunately, her father had the foresight to educate her about Japanese heritage and culture, just as much as her Russian counterpart. However, no matter what she did, Annie always stood out. Her pale porcelain skin, crimson red hair and almost silver eyes refused to let her fit in with her Japanese classmates. To them, the only thing Japanese about her was her surname.
Oftentimes, teenagers are capable of the cruellest things. The girls in her class went above and beyond, to let Annie know she wasn't welcome there, while the boys often made her the centre of unwanted attention. She couldn't even get back at them, she was required to maintain a low profile at all times.
It was somewhere around that time, that she started to skip school. It's not like she needed school anyway. What she needed was to become stronger and take back her rightful place as heir. She needed to be the finest weapon ever forged, or so she thought.
She met Emma on a day she didn't skip school. (Or rather, she couldn't, unless she wanted to get suspended.) It was the end of the day; the sun was way past its peak when she noticed two boys from her class harassing a girl in a different uniform. At first, Annie chose to ignore it; all she wanted was to go home. However, the look of clear distress on the girl's face didn't sit well with her.
"Hey dumbass, what part of no do you not get?"
Before, she could even try to stop herself; Annie had firmly planted herself between the girl and the two boys. Fortunately, Annie was taller than most girls her age. Heck, she was shoulder to shoulder with the boys before her.
"Look at that Amane, the alien wan-"
Annie didn't even let him finish. Punching him square on his nose and flipping him over her shoulder, all before he could even react. She had hoped 'Amane' would get the gist and shove off. But, being the idiot he was, charged straight for Annie, only to be roundhouse kicked in the gut.
The rest, as they say, is history. Emma practically adopted her after that, and dubbed Annie to be her "guardian shinigami". She also found out that Emma was waiting, (though Annie was quite sure the right word for it would be stalking) for one, Ken Ryuguji.
Ken Ryuguji turned out to be one of the upperclassmen in her school; two years older to be exact. Annie found him to be incredibly mature for someone his age. Ken Ryuguji also happened to catch Annie amid battle and asked her if she was interested in joining something called Toman.
"No."
She simply said and was on her way. Though she had no idea what the heck he meant when he said Toman, she had a feeling she was better off not knowing. Besides, she had to keep a low profile. She was vaguely surprised when Ken Ryuguji respected her decision and thanked her for looking out for Emma. He also said that she could call him Draken instead of Senpai.
"Wasn't planning on calling you Senpai."
Days later, Annie found Emma hovering outside their school again. This time she wasn't being harassed so Annie decided to ignore her and head straight home instead. Besides, she didn't want to interrupt Emma when she was in the middle of stalking. However, she soon found out that Emma was there to see her that day.
"You should stick to stalking Draken instead."
"H-uh?! I-I wasn't doing t-that!"
"…nothing wrong with looking out for the people you care about."
Maybe she shouldn't have said that because she was soon found themselves in a nearby café and promoted from Emma's "guardian shinigami" to Emma's "accomplice shinigami" (none of which she signed up for).
Apparently, Emma also wanted her to join Toman. That's the whole reason why she was stalking Annie today. She was even kind enough to give Annie a brief rundown of Toman and biker gangs and delinquents and other stuff she was not interested in.
"You make it sound like it's something cool."
"Because it is! Don't you see how cool Draken is?"
"No."
"Well, you're the first. Besides, you won't know till you try."
"…I don't care?"
"Aw don't be like that Annie. Just come with me to the next meeting I promise you'll like it. If you don't, you can always leave."
"…fine."
Vanya Tatsugami was made aware of her immense potential at the tender age of four. That day, her father had presented her with a wooden sword along with her proud lineage. That was the first time she picked up a sword; her very own bokken forged from an odd combination of ebony, biwa and ironwood. Back then that wooden katana was roughly the same size as her four-year-old self. Today she had grown into her old blade, rather well.
Through the years of endless training, Annie had learnt that the Tatsugami sword technique went beyond basic kenjustu. It was a way of life, the only way to capture and conquer life. It was not something to be taken lightly at any cost. The only time she should wield a blade (be it wooden) is when she is ready to use it to strike. So why was she taking it to some dumb clan meeting?
The only reason she agreed to this in the first place, was so that she could get Emma off her back. So why was she in her black combat boots, ripped jeans, tank top, gloves and body harness? Why was she in full gear, something she only put on during training?
Was she subconsciously taking this seriously?
Impossible.
Vanya Tatsugami was no delinquent.
Yet.
She ended up going in full gear, something Emma was oddly pleased to see. The meeting was happening in an old abandoned parking lot and consisted of a total of six people (well, they looked like boys, but Annie wasn't going to assume anything) in total. Out of the six, she could only recognise Draken.
Annie could tell that at least three out of the six, were scrutinizing her every move; especially the guy with blonde hair and ominous eyes, who was sitting atop one of the concrete pipes lying around the parking lot. Suddenly, he hopped off and made his way toward her.
"Kenchin tells me that you pack quite the punch."
"You believe every word Kenchin tells you?"
"Well, I have no reason not to."
From where he stood, Annie could tell that he was probably an inch or two shorter than her. But, that didn't mean she could put her guard down. Her instincts were honed enough to know, that this boy was the strongest one there, possibly stronger than Annie herself.
"You can call me Mikey. What should I call you?"
"Nothing yet."
When Mikey chuckled, Annie was pleasantly surprised. She had no idea that someone, with such darkness in their eyes, could laugh like that; so cheerful and carefree. It was almost like he became another person. That just seemed to make her wearier of him.
"I like you, Annie. You're welcome to join us once you've beat those three.", He said, pointing a thumb at a short, chubby boy and a tall one with an intense look in his eyes with spikey brown hair and also to another one with long black hair.
"Baji, Pahchin, Peh. Don't pull your punches."
That's how Annie was roped into a fight she didn't even want to fight. True to their word, the boys didn't mess around. If Annie got hit by even one of their punches, she would be coughing up blood. She was acutely aware of the difference in strength when it came to combat against a man. Annie knew she could never physically match up in strength. She could, however, match them in speed and technique. Taking out Peh was her first order of business. Her wooden sword was hard enough to shatter bone. One hit on the right spot and it was enough to twist his ankle and have planted his face straight on the ground."
After that, taking out the other two was easy. All she had to do was time herself. In the barrage of punches they sent her way, Annie managed to not only dodge but also had Pahchin slug Baji in the face, which in turn Baji returned with interest until the two of them took each other out for Annie. Draken and the silver-haired guy had to even step in and separate those two from each other.
"Seriously Baji! Infighting is prohibited. You know that." Draken said struggling to hold him down.
"You heard the Vice President Pah! Now calm down." The silver-haired boy said trying to drag him away.
"He started it!"
"He had it coming!"
They both protested in unison. Fortunately, they cooled off soon and Annie was a little relieved to know that Peh wasn't as seriously injured as it seemed.
"I think I'll put her in the first division. Is that okay with you Baji? I hear the first division requires a vice-captain. Maybe she could fill up that spot."
Baji didn't complain. But by the looks of it, he wasn't too pleased with Mikey's decision. But, since he lost the fight, he didn't want to speak his mind. Fortunately, Annie was able to pick up on the slightest change in a person. Besides, she didn't put herself through all that just to be some low ranking delinquent. In whatever she did, she always aimed for the top. Though, in this case, the top was already taken by someone else. So she aimed for the next best thing.
"No thanks. I think I'll pass."
"What do you mean?" Darken asked a little wary of her already.
"I'd rather be in his division," Annie said, pointing at Mikey.
"Wha-"
"Fine by me.", Mikey cut in.
"But you should know that you're the only one there."
"You won't need anyone while I'm around."
"Guess we'll see, won't we?"
Turning around, Mikey face the silver-haired boy and said, "Mitsuya, looks like we'll need a new jacket."
"Yeah, yeah, I'm on it."
Never in her wildest dreams, could Annie even think about joining a biker gang. But here she was. A few days later Mikey even gave her a new and more permanent position, something he said only she could do. He claimed that almost everyone voted in favour of it. Thus began the tale of Vanya Tatsugami, trained swordsman, delinquent and Toman's Secretary-General.
