A/N: Hey everyone! Welcome back to The Dragon and the Marlin!
There's not much to say this time, except have fun reading, and I hope you'll enjoy it. Please read and review!
Disclaimer: I own nothing except my OCs.
Chapter 1 – Start of a new life and a fateful encounter
Next stop: Kyushu Station
"We're finally here, family! Here is where our new life will begin." A middle-aged man said to his wife and his two children.
"Yes, and it was about time, darling." His wife said happily before looking at their son with concern in her eyes. "Asahi, you haven't talked for the whole trip; are you okay, honey?"
Asahi looked out of the window with his head resting on his hand and replied without even facing his mother. "Yes, mom. I'm fine."
It was clear that he wasn't, but his parents didn't want to pry further into his situation, so they proceeded to get off the train and made their way into their new home.
After arriving at their house and sorting their things, Asahi was lying on his bed, staring at the ceiling, and thinking about the friends he had to leave behind again.
~~Flashback~~
"So, you really won't move again? You'll stay here and swim with us next year, right?" The shorter, teal-haired boy asked one of his best friends with joy in his amber eyes.
"Yes, this time for sure! I won't move again, and we'll swim together next year, and if we don't succeed, it will be the year after!" Asahi exclaimed, convinced of his words.
"Promise?"
"Yeah, I promise!"
~~End Flashback~~
Asahi was distressed at the thought of breaking a promise that meant so much to him. He really wanted to keep it, but he also knew that it wasn't possible since he had to move as a consequence of his father switching his work place.
So many times Asahi wished he could go back to at least apologize to his friends because of him leaving so suddenly without even saying goodbye.
And tomorrow he would yet again go to a different school, fearing that he would have to leave his new friends again, like he did with the former. Still, he had no choice but to prepare himself for the inevitable, so he started preparing everything for his first day at his new school. Thankfully, his father sorted everything out with the school beforehand, so he could start immediately after they arrived.
Standing up from his bed, he took his bag and his school supplies and said, "It's already late. I should probably finish up and go to bed." Asahi told himself, taking everything else he would need the day after and putting it in his bag.
After he was finished, he got ready to go to sleep, and fortunately, he was tired enough from the trip that he fell asleep as soon as he lay back down in bed.
On the next day...
"Asahi, get up, or you'll be late for your first day at your new school!" his mother yelled.
"Five more minutes, mom!" Asahi insisted, still half asleep, pulling the white sheets over his head as he tried to go back to sleep.
Asahi's mother pulled his blankets off of him, causing Asahi to fall out of bed. "Alright! Alright! I'm up!"
Asahi slowly walked to the bathroom and did his usual morning routine: brush his teeth, wash his face, and change into his uniform, which consists of a long-sleeve white shirt with a red tie, a pair of black trousers, and a light black blazer.
He walked down the stairs and entered the kitchen to have breakfast. His family was chatting lively, but Asahi was silent the whole time.
He wanted to get it over with quickly, and luckily it was soon time to go to school. So he grabbed his bag and headed towards the door.
"Bye Mom, bye Dad, bye Sis. I'm leaving."
"Alright, have fun, sweetheart!"
"Good luck on your first day, son!"
"Yeah, yeah, bye."
The school wasn't very far from his house, so Asahi decided to walk. When he arrived, he entered the hall and searched for his name on the black board. "Asahi Shiina…Asahi Shiina…Asahi Shiina…found it! Class 2-1, better get going then. It's not like I know anyone here anyway," he thought.
When he entered his classroom, he noticed many groups of people sitting and chatting together, except for one student. It was a girl. Asahi had no idea why, but that girl immediately caught his eye. Taking a closer look, she was really pretty.
She had beautiful waist-length black hair, crimson eyes, and was of average height, but while everyone around her was laughing and had smiles on their faces, the black-haired girl seemed...distant and a bit sad.
"Hey you, come over here to us! Don't just stand there all by yourself!" He heard someone call him from one of the backseats.
"Uh, yeah, sure!"
"What's your name, man?" asked one of the boys in the group.
"Shiina. Asahi Shiina, nice to meet you."
Asahi was happy that people were talking to him, which could only mean that he wouldn't be alone for too long, but he also couldn't help thinking about that girl who sat on the other side of the room. She just sat there all alone, staring blankly out of the window with her head resting on the palm of her hand.
"Hey Shiina, you listening?"
That was enough to rip him out of his trance. It was only then that he noticed that he had been staring at the black-haired girl all this time and wasn't really paying attention to his classmates.
"Uhm, sorry guys, but who is she and why is she sitting there all alone?" Asahi asked curiously while looking at the girl again.
"Her? That's Kuromi Ryujin. Pretty as a doll, but she doesn't really talk much, and she's...well kind of strange and doesn't really fit in. You should do it as we do and avoid her as much as possible," answered one of the boys.
"Yeah, plus she's got that dark aura around her. I swear, she gives me the chills," added the other.
Asahi didn't like the way his classmates excluded the girl just because she was "different," but before he could protest, the teacher walked in and told the students to take their seats.
"We can go home afterwards. Let's talk some more tomorrow, alright, Shiina?"
"Yeah, sure." Asahi answered, not satisfied with what his classmates told him about this girl called Kuromi Ryujin. He wanted to know much more, but that would have to wait until tomorrow.
"I don't think I should just leave her be; I mean, she must be lonely if everyone avoids her, and I don't think that's fair. I should talk to her after class." He decided in thought before turning his attention to his teacher.
After class, Asahi wanted to put his words into action and talk to Kuromi, but when he looked over to her side, she wasn't there. Asahi stared at her empty seat, and he had to admit that he was a bit disappointed that she left so quickly.
"She must've gone home already. That's too bad; I really wanted to talk to her. Well, I guess I'll just have to try again tomorrow." He thought before leaving school as well.
It was still early, and Asahi didn't really want to go home yet, so he told himself he would walk around a bit to get acquainted with the area.
Kyushu was actually really nice. There were a lot of parks with many trees, including cherry blossom trees, and gardens with beautiful flowers. There were also many restaurants with a variety of delicious dishes, and the streets were crowded.
"Should I really get used to this place when I could leave next year like all the other times? Does any of this have any meaning if it will end up as a memory anyway?" These questions occupied the young boy's mind since his arrival at his new home.
The redhead was so lost in his thoughts and worries that he didn't notice that it got dark fast and that he should've already gone home. His parents were certainly worried sick that he didn't come home after school, but just as he wanted to return, he heard someone's scream. In an alleyway just around the corner, Asahi could see a young boy around his age surrounded by three other guys.
Strangely enough, they were all dressed the same: white hooded jackets with black tiger stripes, white pants, and white trainers. They looked like they belonged to some kind of gang or something.
"Please, let me go! I'll give you what you want, but please just let me go!"
"Shut it, will ya? Now stop squirmin' or we'll have to be very rude to ya!"
Without thinking twice, Asahi stepped in to help the poor boy.
"Hey, you! Why don't you take on someone your size? And besides three against one, you think that's fair?"
Upon hearing the "intruder," the three taller boys, seemingly high schoolers, let the other middle schooler go, who ran away in the process and turned their attention fully to Asahi.
"Look at him acting all tough. Boy has a lot of nerve getting involved in our business."
"Yeah, who does that punk think he is?"
"Hey, Mori-san, I think we'll have to show him what happens when you mess with members of the Torakiba."
"I agree, fellas; let's show him what it means to get in our way," declared the one called Mori before quickly stepping forward and punching the redhead right in the stomach.
That caused Asahi to lose his balance and fall hardly to the ground. Unfortunately, they didn't stop there, and soon the other two stepped forward as well, surrounding him and kicking down on him mercilessly.
There wasn't much the young boy could do to defend himself except cross his arms over his upper body to at least shield himself a bit from the brutal attacks of the older boys.
He soon felt his limbs go numb from the pain and hoped that they would soon get bored and stop or that someone would come and help him. Just as he was about to lose hope, someone did come to his rescue.
Suddenly the beating stopped, and all he could hear were pain cries, but they were a little further away. He lowered his arms a little, only to see that the guys who just beat him up were now lying on the ground themselves, wincing in pain.
But there was someone else standing in front of him. She had her back turned to him, so he couldn't make out her face, but she was clearly a girl. He could tell from the long blond hair and the mini skirt with over-knee socks she was wearing; she also wore a wide black coat over her shoulders, and there was a wooden sword in her left hand.
"That's enough. If you wish to fight," she said while taking on a fighting stance, "I will be your opponent."
The three boys lay on the ground paralyzed without speaking a single word for a while, until the shortest among them broke the silence.
"M-Mori-san we should leave; w-we don't stand a chance against her!"
"Y-Yeah, that's right, that's the black dragon herself; w-we should r-run while we still can!"
"Shit, you're right; let's retreat, boys!"
Only a short time later, they ran away and soon disappeared in the darkness of the evening.
The "black dragon" lowered her sword and turned around to face the boy she just saved.
Now that she was facing him, Asahi could finally see her face. She wore a black medical mask that covered her face, so he could only see her fiery red eyes that stared down at him blankly, and instead of a shirt, there were bandages that covered her half-bare chest.
"The bruises aren't that bad; it looks like I showed up before worse could happen. Are you okay? Can you stand?" She asked with the same blank expression as before.
Asahi couldn't say anything. He didn't know if he was just confused by all that had happened or if he had lost the ability to speak at the beauty of the girl in front of him. Nevertheless, he managed to voice out a barely audible "Yeah."
The girl in front of him heard it anyway, and so she stretched out her free hand, motioning for him to take it so she could help him up.
Asahi slowly raised his hand to take hers, even if it hurt a lot to do so. The blonde helped him up carefully, not wanting to hurt him further, and put one of his arms around her neck, holding it with one of her hands and putting the other behind his back to steady him.
Asahi blushed at the sudden close contact, but the girl next to him seemed unfazed and instead continued talking normally.
"You can stand. That's good, but I'll accompany you home to be safe, so lead the way."
This caught him off-guard. Did she just say she would accompany him home? Who was this girl anyway, and why were these tall and strong boys so scared of a short, young girl like her?
"Hey, are you listening? What's wrong? Did you hit your head and you don't remember where you live or what?" she asked while waving her hand in front of his face.
Oh right. He spaced out again. "N-No I didn't! I'm fine, and yes, you're right. I should go home; it's really late, and my parents must be wondering where I am. It's this way," he said, this time with more conviction.
The red-eyed girl only nodded in agreement and started walking with him.
The walk home was mostly spent in silence, which was only broken when they arrived in front of Asahi's house.
"We're here. Thank you for your help, um... I don't even know your name. I'm Asahi Shiina; nice to meet you." Asahi told her, smiling for the first time since the attack.
"My name shouldn't concern you. Just address me as black dragon, like everyone else, and you're welcome." She turned to leave, but stopped to say something in addition. "One more thing: don't walk around at this hour anymore. As you can see, the streets are quite dangerous around here. Now go inside and tell your family you're alright. Don't worry about me; I can take care of myself."
"Alright, will do. Be careful on your way home, black dragon, and thanks again. I'll be more vigilant next time," he told her before entering his house.
Seeing that the red-haired boy got in safely, the "black dragon" made her way home as well.
After a while, she arrived and entered as quietly as possible, not wanting her parents to hear her. When she finally made it to her room, the door in front of her read, "Kuromi". She quickly opened the door and closed it just as fast. She then changed into a pair of red pajamas with black stripes and took off her blonde wig to reveal her long black hair.
Kuromi was exhausted, so she let herself fall onto her bed. "Damn them, why did they have to show up today of all days? Good thing I was around, or it would've ended badly for that boy," she thought while standing up again and preparing properly to go to sleep. "Asahi Shiina...isn't he in my class? Wonderful. A classmate who could find out my true identity. Just what I needed," she commented sarcastically.
After she finished brushing her teeth and her hair, Kuromi went back to bed. "I have to be careful around him; it would be troublesome if he were to notice something." She mumbled before drifting off to sleep.
A/N: And that was all for Chapter 1 of The Dragon and the Marlin! Like I promised, this time with a longer chapter and way more insight than in the prologue, and I properly introduced my main characters. I hope you liked it. Please read and review, and I'll see you guys next time!