The sun had set and night had truly set in when she decided maybe it was finally time to head home. She could take a bath and crawl straight into bed. It was late. People were trying not to miss the last trains home. She was not the only one who had decided it was time to head home. Working adults left their jobs, bars and whatever other establishments they were at till the late hours of the evenings.
She herself had just left a cafe where she had been working on her homework after she had eaten her supper there as well. She was well known at a few locations that circled her school district. She hated going home. It was cold and empty. Had been since she pretty much started school. Her parents were never home; they were always working. Sometimes she would hear one of them returning during the middle of the night if she stayed awake long enough. But they would always be gone by morning.
A stack of cash would be left on the table. Her monthly allowance in a way. It was often much more than she needed to survive. The bills on the home always paid and cash left for her. There were no rules. She could do whatever she wanted. At first the freedom was great. She liked it as a kid. No one forced her to go to bed. She bought candy and junk food with the money. But it didn't last long. Loneliness had set in fast.
She was forced to grow up fast. She wanted to have good grades, get into a good high school and college. So she stayed on top of her studies, she kept the house clean, though her parents paid someone to come once a week while she was at school to clean the place. Still she didn't like to stay there. It was an empty house not a home, and so she only stayed there to sleep more than anything.
But with it getting late she knew it was time to head home and crawl into her cold bed and sleep till her morning alarm would wake her up to go to classes for the day. And that was the plan as she started walking down the growing empty streets. It was just the same as any other night. With her backpack full of her homework and still in her school uniform she looked forwards just spacing out as she walked.
Though the peace did not last long. She had just walked past the door to a restaurant. She was two steps past it when the door opened and loud boisterous chatter filled the street behind her. It was a rowdy group of guys. They looked about her age. Still kids at the end of their teens. She paid them no attention as she could hear them walking down the street only a few steps behind her.
It wasn't the first time she had encountered rowdy guys while walking home. Cram schools only got out a short time ago, as well as the fact that most people out and about would start to head home at the same time as her. Kids and adults alike. Hell she often encountered more drunks than she would like at the same hour. Some teens were no concern to her. She should have taken more precautions and been a little more on guard.
So when an arm slithered over her shoulders she was ripped from her thoughts. She blinked her eyes a few times before she looked over towards the stranger beside her.
"Hey there sexy," he hit her up with what had to be the worst attempt at flirting. And she was not amused as she scowled at him.
"Don't bother, I am not interested," she said bluntly as she reached up to grab at his wrist and throw his arm away from her shoulders. That earned her a frown from the young man that looked close to her age.
"Hey now. That is not very nice," another man grumbled as he stepped up to the opposite side of the first. Looking around she took in the sight of four men about her age. She was clearly outnumbered. Four against one was in no way a fair fight. Then again she could not fight. She knew that fighting would get her hurt, both by the group and by herself. After all she was just as likely to break her own wrist if she tried punching someone.
"No, what is not very nice is harassing a girl that has no interest in any of you," she should learn when to keep her mouth shut. She watched the second guy's face grow red with anger.
"You bitch," oh shit. She fucked up. Hands grabbed at her left arm as one of the guys started to try and pull her towards one of the dark alleys. She was all too aware of what was probably going to happen to her if she let these men pull her into an alley. Dying may be one of the better outcomes.
"Let go," she yelled out trying to pull back against the tight grip. It did no good. His grip tightened as his pace did not slow. She could feel panic start to take over as she felt more hands gripping at her body.
"Oh what's this? Oh is that little Mori," she knew that voice rather well. And for once in her life she could not have been more thankful to hear it. Tear filled eyes looked back over her shoulder to take in the sight of Hanma Shuji standing there. A half smoked cigarette sitting between his fingers. He was in a white t-shirt, some skinny jeans and flip flops.
"Hanma," she called out a little breathless at who she could only hope was her savior.
"Who the fuck are you," one of the men dragging her along barked at Hanma.
"Oh? Looks like you got yourself in a little bit of trouble, girly," Hanma said, ignoring the men as he took a drag from his cigarette.
"Oi! He asked you a fucking question," another man yelled at Hanma who simply tilted his head and finally looked over at the last guy to yell at him. She could do nothing more than look at him with pleading eyes. Praying that the man would step in and help her.
"I ain't talking to you," The friendly look on Hanma's face fell as he glared at the man who had spoken up to him.
"Hey Ginji I don't think we should mess with this guy," One guy who was shifting his way to hide behind his comrades was trying to say to the man who was still holding tightly at her arm not yet letting go. Even as his attention turned to his friend to ask what he was talking about.
"The bitch called him Hanma, if he is Hanma Shuji then he was the second head of Moebius and is the acting head of Valhalla. You can't fight with him, he will kill you," The scared one seemed to be the only one out of the group who was aware of the danger they themselves were now in. And he looked ready to either run for it or shit his pants; she was not sure which.
"Was the second in command of Valhalla if you want to get technical," Hanma said as a wide grin started to pull at his lips. It was a rather feral grin, one that she had seen before. When he had been fighting with Draken. She was saved.
Though the realization that she was currently stuck in the middle was a little nerve racking. She was not stupid. She could be turned into a shield and Hanma probably would not care if he hit her. This was not good, she was still not exactly safe in her current predicament as she listened to the men around her seem unsure if they should turn tail and run or attempt to stand their ground which would not end well. Their stupid leader seemed to refuse to let her go and let his pride take the hit instead of his face in the way of this fight.
She needed to get away from the impending danger unless she wanted to find herself as collateral damage. Her own safety was her prime concern. It may have been seen as a dirty move in the eyes of guys but she did not care. Her knee slammed up as fast and hard as she could. Driving it between the legs of the man who had yet to let go of her.
The noise he let out sounded like someone was strangling a moose. And she was pretty sure that he was starting to foam from the mouth. At first his grip didn't waver for a second and she thought he was not going to let go. But then finally his hand dropped her arm and in that instant she turned and ran for it. She could hear the other three men yelling at her but she did not dare look back.
Was running to Hanma really running to safety? That was probably questionable on the best of days. But she had no choice. She could not fight with the three men that were chasing her. Or the fourth that would recover soon enough and he was likely going to be pissed off after what she had just done to his manhood.
She had no real choice but to hope that Hanma would help her. She felt bad dragging him into her problem. But she did not know what else to do. She had hoped that once she ran past Hanma and stood behind him the others would stop chasing her. She was wrong.
Hanma had been puffing on his cigarette looking unimpressed as he watched the entire event unfold before him. Internally Hanma was laughing his head off. That tiny little kitten of his just drove her knee into the junk of the one guy so hard Hanma almost thought he could have heard a ball pop. He didn't care if the move was dirty, it was hilarious that she was such a dirty fighter.
He let her run past him to hide behind him. Had it been anyone else, Hanma would not have cared enough to intervene and may have even joined in with the other guys. But this was his toy and his toy alone. They could not have her. He waited till the first guy reached him before letting his cigarette drop to the ground as his right fist drove fast and hard into the nose of the first moron who thought it was a good idea to touch what was his play thing. The mixture of surprise and power was enough to send the first guy flying back to land on his ass as he cried out and his hand flew up to his bleeding and probably broken nose.
Now Hanma was the target as one of the morons tried to throw a fist at him. He didn't even bother to dodge. The knuckles hit his cheek. It was weak compared to some of the hits he had taken before. Compared to Mikey's kicks and Draken's heavy fists. That felt like a simple annoyance like a fly landing on his cheek. Though the soft gasp from behind him told him his little kitten did not expect him to just take the hit.
"How pathetic. If you're going to run around picking fights with people you better have the strength to back up your fists. This is going to be so boring," Hanma frowned at the guy who punched him and now looked like he was about to shit himself when Hanma did not even flinch.
How boring. This was going to turn out to be a waste of his time. Another punch had the second guy on the ground too. And Hanma barely tapped him. Turning to the fourth and final guy to still be standing in one piece and it was the only semi smart one of the group. The one who had tried to warn his friends and encouraged them to run. This kid was shaking like a leaf as he stood back outside of Hanma's reach without moving. The idiot was so scared Hanma wondered if he was to say boo at him would he scream, cry and run for it? The thought almost made him start to laugh.
It seemed Hanma's attention on the fourth was more than enough to have the kid turn and run for it. Chicken shit didn't even attempt to stand his ground. Well that was a stupid waste of his time. And so boring. This was supposed to be a decent fight. Four on one should have given the others at least a slim chance of making this hard for him. But no, only one had been able to even reach him, and that was only because Hanma had let him connect the easily dodge-able fist.
"Look out," a thrilled voice cried out as Hanma had just pulled the pack of cigarettes from his back pocket. He was not expecting the attack from the first idiot that she had castrated with her knee. With his hurt pride fuelling his anger he had pulled a knife. It was not a large knife, just some dinky pocket knife. Still if it stabbed into his body it would hurt and may even require him to go to the hospital. Hanma did not like that thought at all.
Still this moron did not know how to attack with a weapon like a knife. His grip was weak, he didn't even look like he was trying to aim the blade as he blindly ran towards Hanma like a wild boar.
"Idiot," Hanma drolled as he used his still empty hand to reach out for the oncoming wrist. His timing was off. He could feel the burn start as he tightly gripped at the blade's edge. The sharp blade sunk into the skin of his fingers. The blade had no extra handle to grip at and the idiot paused once closer and so Hanma was too fast to grab his wrist. It didn't matter. This was fine. Pain in his right hand was nothing new for him.
"If you are going to come at someone with a knife you better be prepared to kill someone then or die trying," Hanma said, flashing the man a crazed grin as he leaned over him. The other grip on the pocket knife disappeared, leaving the small knife still in Hanma's bloody hand.
The idiot in front of him ended up backing away quickly when it became clear that he had just picked the fight with the grim reaper. It was a good thing Hanma found a knife used in a fist fight as only a tool a weakling would use. Tossing the knife away, Hanma was shaking his stinging hand out. A few spots of blood flying from his fingers.
"Get lost. This fight is no fun. What a waste," Hanma said, turning his attention back to the pack of cigarettes in his uninjured hand. He did not care about his own blood. Bloody fingers carefully plucked one out of the pack so he could lift it to his lips.
Kokumori on the other hand was very upset at the sight of blood once the group of four guys were retreating away from the battle zone. She was quick to step up to his side. Maybe she should go into healthcare after high school. She had a stupid strong desire to help hurt things it seemed. She was babbling about him bleeding. It's not like Hanma cared at all.
"You may need stitches," was the first thing she had been babbling that grabbed his attention.
"Nah this is nothin. I've had paper cuts hurt more," he said as he stuck the cancer stick between his lips and his bloody hand reached into his pants pocket for his lighter. Any pressure hurt a bit, but otherwise the slices to his fingers did not hurt much.
"This is not nothing," she was clearly upset and maybe even a little panicked. Her tiny hands had reached out for his. And once his cigarette was light he let her pull his bloody hand down to her eye level so that she could inspect the cuts.
"Come on. Let's head to my place and I will clean and see if I can somehow bandage you up," she was a bossy little thing. And yet Hanma let her boss him around as he found himself walking with the small girl.
They did not have to go far it seemed as she was quickly leading the way into a large apartment complex. The place was really nice looking on the outside and even more so once inside. The lobby almost reminded him of a hotel rather than an apartment complex. Luckily at the late hour no one seemed to be around to witness the somewhat bloody Hanma as he followed the naive idiot up to her apartment.
The letters 403 were staring at him on the front of the door as she proceeded to pull her ring of keys from her backpack and opened the door. The place inside was much larger than Hanma was expecting. For an apartment the place was huge. And quickly Draken's earlier common came back to him. She lives here alone. This was a lot of space for one teen to live in. Following her inside he slipped his shoes off and watched as she did the same before taking off into the large house.
"Just stay put for a moment. I'll be right back," she had yelled at him as he had started to follow her into the house. The place was spotless and almost looked like no one lived in it. Had there been a layer of dust he would have believed the place was abandoned. But no dust meant someone kept the place clean at least. Moving towards the kitchen Hanma could not help but snoop. Opening the fridge he was surprised to find it almost bare. Some soda and a jug of milk was all he could see.
Even his fridge at his most broke of times had more in it than this. The sound of pitter patter of feet on the floor had him close the fridge and step back from it to not reveal his snooping. Though this was oddly raising questions in Hanma's mind. Though why did he care? He barely knew this girl. And what he did know was limited, she went to school with Draken, she was too nice for her own good, and seemed to put others above her own safety. Like now, she barely knew him and yet she had dragged him to her home. They were alone, he could do anything he wanted to her and she would be defenseless. He was bigger and stronger, she could not force him off of her if he decided he wanted to harm her.
Yet her own safety did not seem to matter at all as she returned to the kitchen with a backpack he had recognised. It was the one she had turned into her walking first aid kit for his and Drakens weekend fights. It must be what she stored all of her first aid stuff in. Placing the backpack on the table she reached into it with a growing expertise. Pulling out the clean towels, some butterfly bandages, disinfectant and some surgical style tape.
"Run your hand under some cool water at the sink. Make sure the cuts are clean," she instructed him as she was pulling out what she deemed that she needed for his injuries.
Silently he did as he was told, walking over to the kitchen sink he turned on some cool water and stuck his hand under it. It stung a little bit as he watched his blood turn the water pink before it was running down the drain. It didn't last long as the old blood was washed away and his cuts were bleeding much slower now. Once it seemed his hand was as clean as it would ever get he turned the water off. He didn't even get the chance to ask for a towel as she was already standing beside him and she snatched out to grab his wrist and pull his injured hand closer to her to inspect as she was carefully drying and applying pressure to the fingers bleeding the most.
"Butterfly bandages are not the best for highly flexed areas. But I'm hoping since the skin looks cleanly cut. And if you can go a day or two without flexing or bending your fingers too much then this should work. I'll also apply some gauze and surgical tape to help try and prevent your cuts from reopening before you even get home from here," she explained as Hanma was not really listening to her. He did not care what she had to say to him. Instead he was looking down at her tiny hands that were working to dry his fingers before she reached for the disinfectant first.
Her hands were so much smaller than his, and soft. Where his hands were calloused and scarred up hers were soft and blemish free. And like the last time she cleaned him up her touch was so gentle, as if he may break under her gentle, helpful touch. He could not remember the last time anyone had touched him like he was the fragile one. It was an odd feeling.
"This is gonna sting," she warned as she sprayed some disinfectant on his fingers. It stung but he did not flinch or make a sound. It was not the first time he had felt the sting of disinfectant on an open wound. As she let the disinfectant dry she moved her attention to grabbing the butterfly bandages.
"Thank you," she said softly while her back was turned to him. He gently arched an eyebrow at the soft spoken words he knew he had heard.
"There's nothing to thank me for," he gave a huff at her.
"No, I need to thank you and apologise. It's my fault you got hurt. And yet if you would not have stepped in, I do not want to think about what may have happened to me," He watched a shiver run down her body as she spoke.
He had not actually thought much about what had been happening when he walked across her and the group of idiots. He had heard some voices, and he had been about to ignore the events as they unfolded till one yell of a feminine voice sounded familiar. Curiosity had then gotten the best of him and he found himself walking over to investigate. And it seemed he had heard right, he had recognised the tiny girl that had started to join him and Draken on their Sunday fights.
"Nah you're just lucky I was in the area. I had been hoping those idiots would have put up at least a slightly decent fight. They didn't. How boring," and to show for it he only had some cut up fingers and his boredom was still going strong.
"Still you did not have to say anything, you could have walked past and pretended to not see me," she pointed out, knowing that most people would have ignored the scene and just walked past her as she called for help.
At that Hanma shrugged his shoulders. He too was unsure why he had stepped in. Sure his curiosity had been the reason he went to see what the noise was about. But his curiosity was not what drove him to step in and stop the men trying to drag her into an alley. He could have turned and walked away, or if he was that sick and twisted he could have tried to join the group. She was just lucky he was not exactly that sick and twisted.
Her light touch took his hand in hers again as she turned her attention back to pressing the wound together before one hand carefully pressed the small bandage on one side of the cut before she pulled it slightly tight to the other side. It took a couple on each finger that were cut and she was careful where she placed the bandages to try and avoid areas that may pinch as he closed and opened his fingers.
Placing some gauze over the fresh bandages and wrapping some surgical tape around his fingers, bending said fingers became much harder. Which had been part of her plan. It was probably her way of trying to prevent him from making things worse with always bending his fingers.
"Why did you bother bandaging me up?" He asked bluntly as he looked at his hand inspecting her handy work as he waited for the answer.
"Who would do it if I didn't?" She asked with a tilt of her head as she watched Hanma's golden eyes snap up to look at her. He was expecting her to say it was her thanks or something stupid like that. Instead she pointed out that if she did not tend to his wounds no one would. Hell half the time he could not be bothered to tend to his own injuries.
He did not even know what to say. Could she see that he was lonely? Why did she care about him? A stranger to her. Even Kisaki, his one and only friend, did not care so much about him. That stirred a few unfamiliar feelings in his gut. Yet the sudden urge to make her his was one he noticed. She may have been chasing Draken but Hanma no longer cared. She was going to be his. His to keep, his to touch, and his to tend to him and him alone. He would not share her. Well maybe with Kisaki but even then he wasn't sure.
She was not far from him. Two small steps and he cleared the distance between them. His hands both reached out and he grabbed her hips. Listening to the adorable noise of surprise she let out as he picked her up off of the ground and placed her butt on the counter. With the added height she was a little closer to his height now but was still small enough he had to lean forwards and bend his back in order to crash his lips against hers.