Ok. Here's chapter 2. Hope you like it!

The Ties That Bind.

Chapter 2.

Maya liked Dusk. It was the best time of day. Most people were absorbed in their own lives, barely noticing the others around them; They were heading home from work, from clubs, some were heading out for the evening chatting animatedly to their friends as they walked. There was always the odd person who was just out to enjoy the evening air or to watch the sunset, but these people were often deep in thought, contemplating life's problems. There was one of these such people now sat on the bench before Maya. There was a kind of sadness to the man. He wasn't young, maybe sixty or seventy years old. His hands were folded neatly in his lap, his eyes staring at a fixed point in space. Next to the man was a half-eaten sandwich partially wrapped in clingfilm and a now stone-cold cup of tea poured from a green plastic flask. It was these two items that drew Maya's attention. She sat, patiently waiting in the bushes behind the bench. She could feel her empty stomach churning at the possibility of food. Her jaws were mechanically moving up and down in anticipation of the pretty stale looking sandwich. The old man had been sat now for what Maya guessed to be around two hours. She hoped desperately that he would head off soon and leave that delicious food there. Even if he threw it in the nearby bin that would be fine. Taking it with him would mean that she had wasted all that time on nothing and she would likely go hungry for yet another night. Maya had been alone for as long as she could remember. The streets were her home. Scavenging strangers' leftovers was the norm. She remembered there being other people around when she was very small but she wasn't sure what had happened to them. She knew they weren't parents; she didn't know what had happened to them, they were just other kids, older than her, that looked after the littler kids. However, at some point, Maya had found herself alone and now was left to scavenge what she could to survive and live in cardboard boxes.

The old man suddenly moved and Maya tensed hopefully. His head drooped and he uttered an audible sigh. He looked dolefully out across the river, blinked and heaved himself stiffly up into a standing position. He turned and picked up his flask emptying the cup out onto the floor and screwing it back on top of the flask. He put it into his pocket and picked up the sandwich. He stared and the curling edges of the bread mournfully and tossed it casually into the nearby bin. With bowed head and hands stuffed into pockets he slowly shuffled away down the footpath. Maya waited, every muscle tensed, waiting for the man to get far enough away. The agony of waiting seemed to be eternal as the figure disappeared into the distance. Soon the rumbling of Maya's stomach became too much for her and she darted out of the bushes towards the bin. Plunging her hand into the assorted filth, she rummaged around until her fingers closed around the sandwich. She pulled it out and hungrily stuffed it into her mouth. Past experience told her that she should eat this slowly and even try to make it stretch into more than one meal, however this was the first food she had managed to get in nearly three days and, now that it was in her grasp, she couldn't help herself.

Suddenly, Maya jumped as something hit the floor just a few short feet in front of her. She stared at the area where she'd seen and heard the movement, puzzled. Seconds later another object hit the floor on her other side. Moments later she heard laughing and jeering from behind her. She turned and looked up to see a group of boys on the bridge. There was maybe five or six of them pointing down at Maya, laughing loudly at her. They had seen her mad dash to the bin and her shabby attire and had begun throwing stones around her. She ducked and dropped her dinner as one such projectile skimmed across her head. Dismayed, she dropped to the floor and gathered up the parts of the sandwich as it had fallen apart on impact with the ground. The laughter above her got louder as she scrabbled around on the floor. Maya felt her face heat up and redden as she straightened up at unfortunately the wrong moment. She suddenly felt intense pain as a stone bounced off her temple. She stumbled, once again dropping the sandwich. She felt the bench bump up against the back of her legs and sat down heavily upon it. Up on the bridge the laughter stopped abruptly. The one young boy whose stone had connected still had his arm in the air from its release. The look on his face had turned to horror as he looked down upon the scene. He could see the girl sat on the bench. Her hand was holding her head. He could see trickles of blood squeezing out between her fingers. He hadn't meant to hit her. They were just having a bit of fun. The boys around him were nervously nudging each other and whispering. One of them grabbed his shoulder and he was brought quickly back to his situation.

"Come on. We need to get out of here."

He looked at his friends and, needing no further encouragement yet still with guilt gnawing at his insides, raced off down the road away from the scene.

Down below, Maya's head was spinning, her vision blurred and she could feel the hot wetness trickling down her face. She brought her hand down from the wound and looked at it. The redness seeming strangely bright in the darkening evening. The brightness appeared to grow and grow until it disappeared completely, being replaced by utter blackness.

"Come on Daichi! You gotta give me a bit of a challenge!" Tyson said cockily, folding his arms across his chest and pointing his nose in the air in a highly irritating fashion. The smug smile on his face rattled Daichi to the point of shaking and clenching his fists angrily. However, a twinkle of realisation sparked in his eyes as he noticed that Tyson was no longer watching the activity within the dish. Smirking he jabbed his finger at him
"You shouldn't be so complacent Tyson. Go Gaia Dragoon!"

Daichi's blade suddenly roared around the side of the dish using it as a ramp and came crashing down directly on top of Tyson's blade, knocking it off balance. Not missing a trick, Daichi's blade circled around once more and slammed into a wobbling Dragoon, booting it neatly out of the stadium.
The look on Tyson's face was absolutely priceless as Daichi copied his previous pose.

"You gotta give me a bit of a challenge Tyson!"
Said loser then leapt, his eyes blazing, across the stadium at the younger Blader, only to be stopped mid-air by Ray who quickly intervened before things got out of hand.
"Daichi! Stop tormenting Tyson."

However, even Ray, one of the calmest of the group had difficulty maintaining a straight face as Daichi continued to imitate a now furious Tyson.
"And Tyson, you shouldn't get so cocky. It's your fault you lost. You should always be focussed on the battle even when it appears to be an easy win."
Tyson visibly relaxed, realising that Ray was right but keeping his gaze fixed on a now still but still smirking Daichi.
"Ok. Ok.. Let's go again. I'll beat you this time you little monkey boy." Tyson's enthusiasm building, intending to absolutely slaughter the young Blader for his insolence. Ray and Max exchanged a look, the former rolling his eyes resignedly, before turning back to face the oncoming battle.

Kai simply stood there, arms folded, watching but not really seeing what was happening. He was distracted today. For some reason, he could not get that girl out of his head. Something about the whole experience had seemed odd to him. He closed his eyes thinking back to the night before…
"Kai?"
He was suddenly brought back to the present, his eyes jerking open to the friendly but curious face of Ray.
"You ok? You seem a bit… more distant today."
"I'm fine." Kai replied confidently. "Just bored with Tyson's lack of professionalism as usual."
Ray peered into the depths of those grey eyes for a moment, sure that his friend was hiding something. However, seeing nothing out of the ordinary he shrugged and went back to the battle, glancing back over his shoulder every now and again at Kai's stoic figure.
The man in question watched the battle, pushing any thoughts of the girl to the back of his mind. He was soon absorbed in analysing his friends' obvious mistakes as Tyson finally beat Daichi, his screams of elation nearly deafening those around him, before Ray and Max started their own battle.

"It's getting dark guys. I think we should be heading home." Kenny informed the teens, looking up at the gradually darkening sky.
Max looked up from his heated battle against Daichi, and seeing that the stars were in fact out checked his watch.
"Yeah. It is past eight o'clock guys."
"OK. I guess we should be heading home then" agreed Ray.
The six teens arranged to meet again the following day and parted ways. Max cheerfully waved to the others as he headed off down the river in the opposite direction to Kai. On the way he played back the battles he had just played in his head. Out of the five battles he had played, he'd won 2 but lost three. This didn't worry him as he knew his teammates were accomplished Bladers but he resolved to concentrate harder tomorrow and aim to win more than he lost.

As Max walked, he allowed his mind to relax. He put the battle out of his head, knowing that if he didn't he would never be able to sleep that evening. He looked up at the night sky, taking in the beauty of the stars. He was brought back to the present by a noise ahead of him. He peered through the darkness just about making out a bench near the river bank. It should have been lighter here but there was a streetlight out, leaving a circle of darkness surrounding this area. Max altered his course slightly to make for the bench and the source of the noise. It sounded like soft moaning. As he got nearer he could see a lumpy shape draped across the bench and soon realised that it was a person. Quickening his pace he soon arrived at his destination dropping to his knees in front of the figure. It was a young girl. She was dressed in clothes that were nearly falling off her; dark grey shorts stained and frayed at the edges and a T-shirt bearing some slogan that Max couldn't make out through the filth. Her feet were bare. Her dark hair had fallen across her face and Max gently pushed it to one side to see her face. That was when Max saw the reason the girl was here. On the left-hand side of her forehead was a deepish cut. Blood had seeped down across her face leaving dark lines across an already dirty face. The Liquid had mostly dried although the wound looked pretty angry and red, even in the rapidly fading light.
"Hey… Can you hear me?"

Max spoke softly, not wanting to startle the girl. She stirred as if she had heard him but her eyes remained closed. He looked up seeing if there was anybody around. The area was deserted. Gently he shook her arm attempting to wake her again. This time her eyelids fluttered.

Maya's head throbbed. She was dimly aware of someone touching her but it was like her body was refusing to respond to her own instruction. She felt another movement on her arm and willed her eyes to open. They twitched and she saw a blurry face in front of her own. Sleepily, she tried to force her eyes to focus but the stress just sent waves of pain racing across her temple. Hot tears leaked down her face as she pulled her arms underneath herself and pushed herself upwards. She could hear someone talking but the words made no sense. She manged to right herself and pushed forwards intending to stand up but the strain was too much and she felt herself falling forwards. Suddenly strong hands grasped her around her middle stopping her descent. She had time to feel both relief and fear of the unknown before the pain took over and she blacked out once more…

Done. If you liked it then hit that review button! Thanks!
Mamph