Chapter One: Startling Revelations Right Off the Bat
A/N: I don't normally do this before a chapter, but it's kinda important this time. Some of you are going to be a bit confused about how quickly the pairing takes off. Let me just say I have a plan for it that I hint at late in the chapter.
"Ready to go?" Ryuko asked, standing over my desk imposingly with a hand on her jutted hip and with a raised eyebrow. It was the same day I had met the girl, and classes for the day had just finished. Predictably, Mikisugi had conveniently disappeared after he dismissed us, presumably to avoid the inquisition, so I sat still as Ryuko attempted to rouse Mako from her sleep.
"Yeah, just let me stretch first. I hate sitting for long periods, makes me antsy." Standing from my seat, I elongated my back, moaning in happiness at the loud cracks that came from my popping vertebrae and the accompanying comfort. Ryuko winced while Mako peppered me with questions about my spine and generally random shit.
"Please don't moan like that again," my friend interrupted the eccentric girl. With a small smirk, I noticed a slight flush to her cheeks, but decided not to be cruel and call her on it. Sighing, I nodded and gestured to the door, making sure to hold it for the ladies.
"After you, my friend. Not that I know where we're going," I said, appending my usual thoughts to the end of my spoken sentence. It was a habit, but my habits made people laugh, something I quite enjoyed. The power of laughter was something special.
"You'll find out soon enough, Rou, don't you worry," Ryuko scolded in mock annoyance. For people that just met today, I mused, we get along rather well. It was fairly peculiar in my opinion that two people could just 'get along' within hours of meeting and even trust each other as much as Ryuko and I did. I was almost the same way with Mako, and just chalked it up to compatibility.
As soon as we walked into the courtyard, however, I was beamed comically in the face with a baseball. The cruel kind of laughter that could only be issued by an enemy sounded, and I got up gingerly, staring in the direction of the grating sound to find a peculiar sight. A student stood roughly an American football field's length away from me holding a massive spiked bat in one hand and a baseball in the other.
"Ahaha, meet the power of the Grand Slam Goku Uniform, and taste the pain of a hundred super-accurate homeruns, transfer!" Frowning at the student, I assumed that the ridiculous attempt at a Babe Ruth cosplay meant this kid was more powerful than the usual peons. Ryuko prepared to step forward to fight; however, I stopped her with a hand on her shoulder, unsheathing just my Sora blade.
"Jasutisu," I whispered into the hilt, relishing in the righteous feelings that followed as the aura of white light extended outwards about three feet beyond the tip of my blade, coalescing into a near solid beam of energy. Not bothering to activate my Kamui, I strode forward with quite the menacing look on my face. "You, sir, got dirt on my suit. You'll get no quarter from me for that alone, though your surprise attack certainly won't help your case."
Flustered, the student attempted more and more furiously to hit me with baseballs, but I deflected or dodged every one until I stood directly across from him, my expression unchanging. As he turned to run, my blade lanced out and sliced up his uniform. I made sure not to break the skin, but the damage was done and the uniform burst into fabric squares. "Leave. You interrupted my walk with the lovely Ryuko and her friend Mako."
Now terrified, the naked student fled faster than a speeding bullet, and I held the hilt to my mouth once again. "Seigimai," I intoned carefully, and the aura died down to its usual wispiness as I twirled the blade and sheathed it before turning back to my companions. "Does this happen often?" I asked once I reached the still gaping Mako and Ryuko. "As much as I like fighting, that kid wasn't even a challenge."
Mako recovered first, unsurprisingly. "Yeah, Ryuko gets battled after school, during school, before school sometimes too! You can probably expect the same, being new, but wow that was so cool! Just a swish of that white stuff and his Goku uniform disappeared right off his body! It's like the Scissor Blade or something!" I laughed and nodded as Kurai snorted at the girl's enthusiasm.
"Mako, cut the chatter, we'd better go before we're even later getting home than normal. Oh, and Rou, that was really amazing." I looked away at Ryuko's compliment, startled slightly at how she affected me. We had hardly spoken more than a half hour, but already she made me sheepish and nervous. Damn attractive females. Even her personality drew me to her.
Sighing at myself, I followed the two girls into the slums to a quaint little building tucked into a back alley. Back-Alley Doctor, I read with a snort. Figures. "Mom, Dad, Mataro, we're home, this time with another friend! I think Ryuko's into him and he seems to be into her, so since he's going to be living with us things might get interesting. Oh, I forgot to mention that, he's like Ryuko cause he doesn't have a home, so I decided he can stay here."
At Mako's introduction of me, Ryuko and I blushed as we stared at each other. "Into him/her?" we questioned under our breaths. I admitted to myself there was a certain allure to the idea, but I couldn't let that get in the way of discovering my true self. To be honest, I was afraid of what I would find, but the biggest reason I wanted to avoid such a situation was that I already felt we were moving too fast. To enter into something romantic would feel false at this point in our short friendship.
My staring contest with Ryuko was brought to a screeching halt with the arrival of the rest of the Mankanshoku clan. The father held out a beefy hand first. Cautiously, I shook it, and he smiled wide while eyeing my suit greedily. "My name's Barazō. My wife is Sukuyo, and this is our son Mataro. Oh, and our dog is Guts. I run this clinic, though I've arguably killed more patients than I've saved." The man laughed, and I sighed at his poor attempt at deflection.
"That's a nice suit you've got there," the wife complimented. "Where'd you buy it?" I frowned and scratched my head.
"This is the only pair of clothes I've got, Mrs. Mankanshoku. It's like Ryuko's sailor uniform." This caused the other two members of the family to stop eyeing my figure while the woman smiled easily.
Without further ado, I was invited inside. For whatever reason, they decided to put me with the girls, and I hastily erected a screen to separate the two genders. This arrangement was weird enough without having to worry about getting slapped for letting my gaze wander about the small room.
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That night, after we had all eaten, Ryuko had cast herself a bath and gotten in. Once I had adequately beaten the male members of the family for trying to peep on her, I stripped down to my boxers and unashamedly walked into what passed for the bathroom, ignoring Ryuko's squawk of anger and embarrassment.
"Oi, I'm not so crude as to look at you while you're in the bath. The very thought disgusts me. I just need to shave and brush my teeth," I tried to reassure her, pulling my Tsuki from behind my back and whispering into its hilt. "Jentoru," I intoned, appreciating it with a soft expression as the aura became razor sharp at one side. Continuing to bring it to my face, I silently cleaned my jaw and chin of hair, making sure to cover my upper lip as well.
Once I had finished, I held it back to my lips to whisper the counter-word and placed it gingerly on the ground next to me, pulling the only toothbrush to my name out of my boxer pocket and proceeding to quite vigorously brush. After I was done, I laid my hands on the wall on either side of the mirror and shook physically, tears escaping from my eyes as I fought against myself.
Suddenly, I was enveloped in a hug from behind. Immensely startled, I looked into the mirror to find a towel-wrapped Ryuko had her arms around me. "Wha–" I started, but she dug deeper into my chest, even as she blushed. My shocked expression slowly softened to a smile, and I silently enjoyed the feel of her arms around me in what was my first hug from another living being to my memory.
"Why were you crying?" she finally asked. I sighed in the broken silence, letting myself slide to the floor as she stepped away from me. Leaning against the wall, I bowed my head and thought about how much I should tell her. "I understand if you don't want to tell me." Well, that settled it.
"Have a seat, please. I don't know if I can say this with you hovering over me like this." My sarcasm was weaker than usual, my tone more resigned and tired than anything else. Ryuko caught that this was important, sitting next to me. I kept my hands wrapped around my knees even though we were stiflingly close, our hips touching.
I picked up Tsuki, handing the blade handle-first to my friend. "That sword," I started, sighing again, "and its partner Sora. I get the feeling they weren't mine before I woke up. Hell, I don't even know if my name is really Rou. But those swords, they're a terrible power." I stopped and drew my knees closer, shivering. "Whenever I use them, I have to make myself devoid of emotion because I could be in battle at any moment, but afterwards their effect kicks in."
Ryuko leaned her head on my shoulder and I frowned at the blatant, out of character display of affection, even though it was meant in comfort. From what I had seen, she was a hotheaded, brash, tomboyish sort of girl, so this behavior out of her surprised and worried me that she might be hiding as well.
"What's that?" she asked after a time, and I cursed at myself for letting the silence drag out.
"Whenever I use them, they sing to me, trying to get me to lower my barriers. When I do, even after I sheathe them, they pounce on me. They sing of the most foul deeds they've committed, the worst murders and assaults, the tortures. Sora thinks it's justice, Tsuki just likes the chaos it reaps. And it hurts. It hurts so much to feel the pain and screams of a thousand men, women, and even children."
"Every time I use them, I get a little more afraid that I'll lose my mind before I find out who I am. Every time, I get a little more corrupt-minded, and I even start to enjoy drawing blood when it gets intense enough. Today, when I tore that kid apart, it felt good. I liked seeing the terror on his face, and it finally sunk in that I'm becoming a monster. Kurai isn't much help, he can't really comfort me at all really, though without him I'd be long gone."
"It's more than that, though. When I woke up, I saw the rune on my right hand. I looked into it, and found it's from an Ancient Norse alphabet. Apparently it's the Laguz rune, and it stands for a few things. Emotion. Unconsciousness. Memory. Love. It means nothing to me, and yet I feel as though it means everything in the world. And I'm afraid I'll never find out why, never find out the mystery behind this scar." I held out that hand, glaring at it without any real drive.
I sighed again, drawing a deep breath before continuing. "How am I supposed to live, Ryuko, when I don't know what I want? I barely know how old I am! I push and I push and I push, and I come no closer to the answers. What am I supposed to do?" I finished, letting another tear drop down my face and onto my knees.
Ryuko wrapped her arms around me again, cuddling into my side. "Keep fighting, of course. That's what I do, though I can't imagine what you must be going through. I'm just trying to find out who killed my dad. You're struggling with the worst kind of identity crisis." I snorted and laid my head on hers as she reached for the rune on my hand, tracing it softly with her thumb.
Stiffening, I gasped as images flooded my mind. "What? What is it, Rou?" Ryuko asked, concerned.
"Do that again. With my hand. Please." I near begged, my voice straining with something I couldn't identify. She acquiesced hesitantly, and the images continued, this time at a trickled. Allowing my posture to relax, I laughed lightly. "Thank you," I said. "I don't know how, but I remember some of who I am now."
"Y-You do?" my friend asked, eyes wide in wonder at my change in attitude.
"Yeah," I smiled, kissing her on the cheek, giddy with happiness. "And I found a name. My name isn't just Rou, I've got a last name too! Looks like Isa. Ironic, considering it's the rune for self-identity. Thank you, thank you, thank you! I know so much now, even though I have so much more to learn. You really helped me, and not just with the hand thing." I kissed her again, too happy to really notice anything else. I was pretty overwhelmed with the whole 'I have memories now' thing to worry about anything I was doing to my friend's complexion.
Once I had calmed down sufficiently, I turned my head to press my lips to her cheek again and found myself on her lips. Well shit, I thought, my mind back in overdrive, I probably should have expected this, but still… The most surprising thing about this experience was that I wasn't the one who initiated it, leaving me quite confused about how to proceed.
While I was deliberating my future actions, Ryuko took the first 'step' so to speak and pushed me over onto my back on the floor before straddling me and crashing her lips back to mine. At this point, I had decided just to go with it, having no previous memory of this happening to draw from. My thoughts continued to roil about in my mind until I felt a tongue slip into my mouth, at which my mind stopped working altogether and I felt a familiar hardness in my general crotch area.
Suddenly, the curtain to the bathroom was thrust open by an enthusiastic Mako, who caught one look at us on the floor and seemed lost for words for once. Coming to our senses, I realized with a jolt that I was poking Ryuko's thigh, and her towel had become a little loose around the chest, causing me to blush and shut my eyes hard. Much to my surprise, Ryuko kissed me again before I felt her weight disappear, though we were all still there.
"U-Uh, hey Mako. What're you doing here?" Ryuko stuttered, and I opened my eyes cautiously. Thankfully, she had refastened the towel about her body. Nice one, girl, I scolded her in my mind, This is her own house. I don't think she's going to fall for that question after catching us in such a compromising position. I was right, and Mako furiously dragged her friend out of the bathroom. Groaning, I sat up as well, leaning back against the wall in an attempt to process what had just happened.
"It seems things just got even more interesting," I murmured, picking up Tsuki off the floor where I had left it, examining the rune on the bottom of the hilt. "Thurisaz. Figures." I snorted at the pure ridiculousness of the situation, closing my eyes again and relaxing my body. Of the images that had flooded through my brain, I found more than a name. I found pictures of a younger Ryuko, and I got the distinct feeling she was very important to my existence, which might explain why we got along so well.
"It may very well be that we have history neither of us remembers," I spoke to myself in the now-cold air in the bathroom. "Hmph. Well, better get ready for the inquisition. Who knows what awaits me when I go to bed tonight. Whose idea was it to put me with the two girls, anyway?" I questioned the air, unsurprisingly receiving no answer. "Whatever. This town just gets weirder and weirder."
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After I completed my allotted time in the bathroom, I made my way ever so slowly to the bedroom. With every step, I felt myself get closer to death, even though there really wasn't a good explanation as to why. Luckily, the Mankanshokus had managed to pilfer me a pair of flannel pants for bed, and I donned them after inspecting them for bugs and the like.
Quietly, cautiously, I opened the sliding door to the bedroom, making extra sure not to make a sound as I tried to creep over to my bed in the corner. It appeared as though the girls were sleeping soundly, so I figured I must be safe. However, when I finally reached the screen, fleeing behind it, I eeped at the sight of a stern Mako and an embarrassed Ryuko.
"Well, shit," I said. "I guess it was worth a try to escape this."
"Damn right, mister! Now, you had better not hurt Ryuko while you're together, or I'll come down on you with all the power of her best friend, you hear? And I'm pretty powerful when I want to be! And I better not catch you two on the floor again, if you want to do something like that use a bed or you'll be in danger of catching cold!" What?
"What?" I repeated the sentiment, a little confused that she would be so accepting. "But – what?" Unfortunately, my question went unanswered as the girl marched around the screen, only stopping to tell us to talk it out. "But – what?" I said again, even though it was just Ryuko and me behind the screen. She was dressed in pajamas that I assumed had been Mako's, and even though she looked pretty cute in them, I focused on her face.
She was blushing heavily, looking anywhere but my eyes as she held her other arm across her chest. "So," I initiated the conversation. "How would you like to be my girlfriend?" That wasn't what I had meant to say, but those words were the ones that came out first. Groaning on the inside as my face shone red on the outside, I waited for her reaction to my brazenness, looking out the window to distract myself from the heavily awkward situation I now found myself in.
"A-Alright. Just don't think I'll be letting you kiss me like that again for a long while, got it?" I started at the abrupt change in demeanor, and looked at her with wide eyes. She was still nervous to be sure, but a fierce determination stared right back at me and I smiled slightly before her words registered.
"Wait! You're the one who kissed me if I recall! I was aiming for you cheek! And then you straddled me and all that and how is that my fault?!" I near shouted, incredulous.
"You're the guy, so obviously it's your fault!" she spat back at me like it was clear, and I threw my hands in the air.
"Whatever. Can I at least hold your hand and hug you whenever I want? Well, whenever we're both clothed? That's more than enough for me," I replied somewhat normally, though there was a bit of desperation there I didn't quite understand. Staring at Ryuko, she blushed again and nodded, though again I didn't know why exactly.
"Good. Now come here, I want to hug my girlfriend before she goes to bed." When she made no inclination to move, I sighed and jumped at her, pulling her into a hug. "There, now go. We have school in the morning and I want to talk to Kurai for a bit." She hmmed in agreement and walked around the screen. I sighed again, running a hand along my scalp in exhaustion.
"So I take it you two finally decided to mate?" Kurai asked, and I glared at him. "Sen and I had long since seen the signs."
"Shut up, you. She traced the rune on my hand and I remembered some stuff. My name is Rou Isa. Ryuko is somehow important to me, even discarding all this new shit we've gotten ourselves into. I remember a lab, and a roiling mess of bright light. I also remember where I was when I woke up, unfortunately."
"Oh? And what's the name of the mystery location you found me in?" my oldest friend asked. I took a deep breath before responding.
"It was the Matoi house. I don't know how I know that, but I do, and it's so confusing. Whatever, I'm going to have to sleep it off. Goodnight, Kurai."
"Goodnight, Rou."
Laying down on the mat that served as my bed, I pulled the covers over my head and curled into a ball. I had a lot of information to process, not the least of which was the twelve-hour whirlwind of a relationship with Ryuko, who I had memories of that didn't make any sense. She said herself she had never met me, and yet we got along so well. Almost as if we knew each other before all this.
I took a few more deep breaths and settled down, closing my eyes and filling my mind with the scene from earlier – before Mako interrupted – to get myself out of the loop of confusion I was stuck in. It was going to be long time before I knew everything about my past, but at least I knew I was in the right place – with the right people.