New Perspective
The halo of the horizon arrives with golden grace, I awoke in the morning.
*Yawn*
I yawned as I stretched my body. I walked to the bathroom as I examined my body. Currently, I was 5"9 at 12 years old. The mirror reflected my body that had a lean and defined figure. My red eyes glimmered for a bit as I washed my face with water.
After washing up and brushing my teeth, I dressed up in a new set of clothes. Primarily a black t-shirt accompanied with white shorts. After dressing up, I walked towards the balcony of my penthouse. I enjoyed the scenery for a while as I immediately sensed the presence of Charles behind me. What was surprising is that I didn't even hear any footsteps or noise. I just felt him.
"Good morning Charles" I greeted him, not even turning around once. Charles was surprised internally at this, but years of experience made him already regain his composure in a less than a fraction of a second.
"Good morning, Young Master" Charles said as he bowed towards me.
I then said "Prepare an ice-bath for me, along with my breakfast later. I'll be exercising for awhile"
Charles nodded as he answered me "Your request will be arranged immediately, Young Master. Although, are you interested in learning martial arts from me?"
This immediately piqued my interest as I replied "Sure."
Charles gave a light smile and said "It is a pleasure, Young Master"
I walked to the mini-court of my penthouse as I tied my shoes and began to do several laps. This went on for a span of 25 minutes. Beating my previous routine of only 15 minutes.
*Huff* *Huff*
I stabilized my breathing as I then went on to do my other exercises, albeit this time I did more than what I could previously do.
An hour had passed since I started exercising as I tiredly walked to my bathroom. I could see the bathtub was already ice cold as I laid down on the bath. No matter how much I have already done this, it'll always feel like hell. I calmed myself down as I left the bath after 15 minutes.
I walked back to my room and put on a new set of clothes consisting of a white t-shirt and black sweatpants. I wore my white shaggy slippers as I went towards the dining area while carrying my phone. I could already see a good amount of food that was there. Though, I didn't see Charles here. I sat on the chair and began eating by myself. But damn, this food is good.
After eating, I sat on the couch properly and began to rest so that I can digest the food properly. I suddenly heard my phone ringing as I checked who it was. It was my mother so I immediately answered the call
"Hello?" I asked as I put the phone near my mouth.
"Aki-chan?" I could hear my mother's voice through the phone
"Yes it's me." I immediately replied
"How are you? Did you like what we arranged for you? Did you sleep well? How was the flight" She barraged me with questions through the phone as I answered each and every single one of them.
We talked for awhile until it was finally the afternoon, so I told my mother goodbye and hanged up the call. I looked at the time and saw it was already 12PM. What was so amazing about this penthouse is that it had everything here. I was supposed to meet Charles at the gym as I walked towards it. I opened the door and saw Charles, in his infamous butler uniform.
"I see that you have come here for your training Young Master?" He asked me
I nodded as he then continued, "Attack me"
"What?" I asked confused
"Punch me, or just simply attack me" He said
"Are you sure about that?" I asked one more time
He didn't reply as the air surrounding the room began to change. I could see coldness coming from his eyes as he recalled what my father had told him. "Teach him to protect himself"
Seeing me unresponsive, Charles ran forward. It seemed like in a blink of an eye, he was already in front me. His fist was already nearing my face. But then, it stopped. No, it didn't stop. It was much slower, too slow. It was a drastic change as I moved out of the way immediately. This surprised Charles for a moment.
But as I dodged, I immediately felt something was wrong. Using the momentum from the missed punch, Charles swayed his body as a kick was nearing me.
'Is this guy really an old man' I thought while trying to dodge.
I reacted as I put my arms on my head, hoping to block it. But I felt a huge blow on my stomach as I collapsed on the ground.
'It was a feint' I failed to react
*Arghh*
I clutched my stomach because of the pain that I had felt.
"Treat this as a lesson, Young Master. There are sinister people in this world. Some want your money while some want you. In some point of time where there's no one to protect you, what will you do?"
I then realized my shortcomings, I was too focused on improvement and other things that I had forgotten about my safety. Charles was right, I needed to protect myself. I'm no longer an ordinary kid, I'm the heir of the Akashi's.
That comes with dangers and responsibilities. This may be a fictional world, but tragedies will always happen.
Although my face is still well-hidden from the public's eyes. Who's to say I'm still safe from any harm or danger. Not only that, Charles was not an ordinary old man.
There's no possible way. But from now on, I'll change. I don't want to end up as before; powerless to do anything and to just sit still as I died. Protecting myself was a factor that I needed to place importance on. Though, there are also benefits with me learning martial arts which will help me in basketball.
Charles helped me recuperate, when I finally recovered, it was almost late afternoon. Today was also a special day. It was June 17, 2010. It was the Game 7 of the NBA finals between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics.
We already secured tickets beforehand. As much as I wanted to buy tickets for court side, I didn't want to attract much attention so I settled for the VIP Box. Why? Because there will be countless celebrities that will be present. No way will people think that some random kid would be able to afford a seat like that without having any strong backing.
.....
It was already 7:00PM and Charles and I went to the car. Charles was driving as we rode on a Ferrari 458 Spider Matte Black. I wore a purple trench coat under it was a plain white t-shirt accompanied by black pants. I also wore black leather shoes. Some way or another, I had to support my team so I wore purple because I was a Lakers' fan
The trip was smooth as Charles parked the car while I got out. And then, it was in front of me; the Staples Center. Home to the Los Angeles Lakers and many more. I couldn't help but get excited. Charles finally finished parking the car as we walked towards the stadium. We parked at the VIP parking area so everything was convenient.
I bought some food along the way as we finally sat on our seats. The private suite was very comfortable as I overlooked the flock of people.
.....
Time had passed and the players had started arrive. They had presence I had never felt before, and there he was...