1 Strange Encounter

Ren cursed himself for being stupid and taking the shortcut. He was slumped against the wall in the alley and watched as the punks rummaged his bag and wallet, taking everything that was of value. He could feel the taste of blood from the cut on the side of his lips.

He was scared as hell but if all they wanted was money and valuable belongings, they could have them. Ren's efforts at putting up a fight was decent but four against one wasn't exactly fair game.

One of them whistled at the amount in his wallet. "Rich kid. Should have figured from the watch and the bag."

"Pretty too," another looked at him like he was a piece of meat. "Gonna be a waste if we leave him here."

Ren felt his heart sink and his blood went cold. Oh, shit. Now he was in proper trouble. He tried to get up but another kick to his stomach sent him crumpled in pain.

"Yeah, didn't notice before. But hey, looks almost like a girl."

"Let's have some fun with him. Alley's quiet. No one's gonna notice."

"You bastards!" Ren hissed and tried to fight them off as they pinned him down on the floor, hovering over him like animals. He was desperate and he tried to call for help but to no avail.

They laughed as hands began to roam over him, tearing his shirt.

"Scream, bitch. Turns me on, ya know."

"Whoa, look at that bod."

They were going to start on his pants when one of them squealed in pain and doubled over.

"What the fuck-"

Suddenly, Ren felt all the looming faces above him disappeared. He scrambled up and widened his eyes as three bodies laid in various positions in pain on the floor. A guy was fighting it out with the last one of them and Ren watched in awe as he evaded the punk like some judo champion and pinned him against the wall, before knocking him out.

Then a pair of eyes, almost chilling, looked at him.

Ren nearly choked.

"Well, guess who I found," a cool, amused voice spoke.

"T-thanks for saving me," Ren managed as he stood up shakily and hastily buttoned what was left of his shirt. Great, now he sounded like a damsel in distress.

For a moment, he thought he might have gotten into a whole new level of trouble when the other boy merely gave him a casual once-over before crouching to go through the pockets and effects of the punks.

Ren was so relieved and grateful. He picked up his torn jacket and wore it quickly and then found his bag and wallet, which the other boy had left alone.

He widened his eyes as the boy took all the money from the others and kicked one of them hard when he tried to stop him.

"What are you doing?" Ren asked.

The boy ignored him as he stuffed the money into his jacket. Then he snapped at Ren. "You're going to stand there or what? Get lost."

He walked away and into the main street and Ren ran after him, not caring that he looked like a mess.

"Hey! I haven't thanked you yet!" Ren finally got a good look at his saviour when he turned around to glare at him.

"You're hurt!" Ren blurted out when he saw the bruises and cuts on the knuckles and cheek.

"I got into a fight, are you stupid or what?" the boy looked at him like he was a proper idiot.

"Well, um, it was my fault," Ren began tentatively. "At least let me pay for your medical fees. Or dinner?"

The pair of grey eyes stared at him as if he had lost his mind and then a slow, cool smirk. "What, you want to pay a debt or something?"

"I guess," Ren said truthfully. "I do owe you for rescuing me back there. They were, you know."

He was so embarrassed he could crawl into a hole right there. But facts were facts.

The smirk disappeared and was replaced by a warning. "Stay away from the alleys. Don't be a fucking idiot."

"Yeah, I won't be so dumb again," Ren admitted. "So, erm, let me know, won't you? I owe you one."

He got a calculating, reserved look. "Whatever."

Ren watched as he walked away and disappeared into another side lane. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

Then realisation hit him squarely in his head and his knees nearly buckled again.

Dear god, he was saved by Kurosawa Shinobu, the worst delinquent in his year in school.

"I'm in trouble," Ren whispered to himself.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

It was a good thing that he had the weekend to recover so by Monday, the bruises had faded and it just looked like he had an accident with a cut. Ren spent the entire weekend wondering what he should do about Shinobu. He wanted to do something to show that he was grateful because if Shinobu hadn't showed up, god knew what would have happened.

But how did one approach the unapproachable? Shinobu was more likely to beat him up than make friends.

He got a lot of attention when he turned up in class on Monday morning.

"Fujiwara, what happened?"

"Oh dear, are you okay?"

"Fujiwara is hurt!"

He answered all the queries politely and did not get into the details. He only bumped into something, that was all. No, he was perfectly fine. Yes, he didn't need any taking care of, thank you.

"Come on, did you really have to ask for more attention?" Izumi teased as Ren finally escaped during lunch hour to one of the quiet, silent staircases in the old school building.

"I wasn't asking for it!" Ren protested.

"The girls are so worried about you," Nozawa laughed.

Ren glared at him and continued munching on his sandwich.

"Hey, look," Izumi gestured towards the window.

They all followed his direction and Ren widened his eyes.

Shinobu was standing in the backyard of the building and wearing a lazy smile as a girl, with long coloured hair and a skirt that was much too short, went up to him and whispered something into his ear. The three of them watched as Shinobu backed against the wall, grabbed her hair and kissed her forcefully. Then she smiled coyly and began sliding down against him.

They couldn't see what she was doing but one didn't need any imagination to have a good guess. All of them backed away from the window immediately.

"Whoa!" Nozawa nearly shrieked.

"Shit, man," Arai shook his head in disbelief. "That's bold."

"Well, it's Kurosawa," Izumi rubbed his head. "That's expected.

Ren didn't trust himself to say anything. He sat back down on the stair and was very aware that his heart rate was up.

Get a grip, he told himself.