Chapter 1: Gift From me, to You.

Haisei - POV.

Sigh.

Plopping on the park bench that sat on a hill facing the sun, I sighed. Pulling out my school work from my backpack as well as my lunch. Another regular Wednesday afternoon in passing, and not a single interesting thing to take me out of my routine life.

I complain about it a lot, even to my peers but in reality, I don't have much problem with it. With my days being so uneventful, it helps keep track of things.

Opening my plastic bag of trail mix, I open my notebook and get to studying. I have an algebra exam tomorrow, one of my worst subjects too.

Taking a swig of my apple juice and putting on some Miles Davis in my earbuds, I got to work.

…

Seconds turned to minutes and minutes turned to hours. Soon, the sun was setting and here I was, immersed in my homework to the point I didn't even realize the lack of natural lighting.

My snacks had been devoured and so have my multitudes of water bottles. It was definitely time to go, one look at the darkening sky was key enough.

As I packed my stuff back into my black backpack, I suddenly got a chill down my spine. Subtly looking over my back towards the direction I felt drawn too, I caught a glimpse of two people, darkened in a silhouette.

A faint smell of cigarettes invaded my nostrils causing me to involuntarily scrunch up and close my eyes.

Opening my eyes to watch them again… They were gone. 'Well okay then.. Weird.' I thought, subconsciously putting my stuff back together faster than before.

I was uncomfortable. Where did they go? Who were they? It doesn't help that I couldn't see them. An idea swirled in my mind that it could just be people from my school trying to mess with me.

If that was the case and they tried something, I would definitely be able to hold my own. Even against an adult I'd be fine so I wasn't too worried, but I just couldn't shake off the eerie feeling I got when I locked eyes with one of them.

'They might be homeless.. They have a knack for making people uncomfortable sometimes…' It was wishful thinking and quite rude, but I wasn't wrong.

It wasn't long until I started on my way home. I took one of my earbuds out so I'd still be able to hear stuff around me. Wouldn't want to get hit by a car or something.

…

I was a little closer than half way home when the same chill that took over me back at the park invaded my body again. I instantly started speeding up and kept glancing over my shoulders every few seconds.

Was I being followed? 'Please let me get home safe.. Please.' Crazy how fear can turn an atheist into a fellow follower.

My speed walk soon turned into a slight jog, and then into a full-out sprint that caused the surrounding buildings and lights into little blur-like knives. Even then, the gaining feeling of someone chasing me overwhelmed me…

And then it hit me.

BOOM!*

"Wow, aren't you fast? Though I guess we should've expected that… Anyway, that's enough of that." Groaning, my eyes groggily opened, revealing a woman that looked to be about my age standing where I just was…

"W-What? Cough!" What the hells going on? Why does my chest hurt so bad? My head spun as I tried to gather my bearings, but even that was useless.

"Sheesh! He can still stand. Seems like you're getting soft Jessica." A deep gruff voice spoke from beside me. My eyes widened and I tried to get a look at him only to be met with a backhand.

His giant fist blocked my vision completely and sent me flying back in the air. My cheek bone trembled instantly and my brain rattled wildly in my skull.

BOOM! BANG!*

Once again coming to a rolling stop, my head rang with pain. I was down. I thought I was considerably stronger than the average Olympic male… But these guys were something else.

"Oh shut up, Rurin. I hit him with everything I had." The same girlish voice that taunted me at the beginning barely tickled my ears. A gruff laugh follows after. Most likely from my second attacker.

'Where am I..? What's going on?' I struggled to my butt, at least trying to get a grasp of where I was in order for a better way to call for help. However, a rational thought struck me even in the midst of this beating.

'If I can't handle this, the police definitely won't be of any help..' Then despair hit. I was scared. What's going on? What'd I do wrong?!

"Oh? He's stronger than he looks… Guess that little blessing from the heavens is stronger than intelligence thought." The man said, slowly walking up to me with his partner.

RING RING. A cell phone started to ring and through blurry vision, the woman answered it.

Seconds later, she turned to her partner.

"Rurin hurry up. Boss is getting impatient. Just knock the kid out and lets head back with him." The man nodded seriously and for a second, he disappeared.

Within the next, he appeared in front of me, my collar in his hand and the other pulled back ready to strike.

"W-wait…" With a groggy breath, I tried to plead for answers but he didn't grant me any sort of honor. Slamming his fist into my face, my nose crunched loudly and the next thing I know, I was engulfed by an endless, cold darkness.

…

"Ugh…" With shuttering eyes, I groaned, rolling my neck to try and ease my headache. My face ached too… Trying to hold my face in my hands, I was met with a binding force around my wrists.

Pulling again, they were really binded.

Taking a deep breath, I kept myself calm. I can easily break out of these shackles with little effort, but I need to know what it is I'm dealing with.

I was in a dark room, barely lit by multiple candles that sat around me in a circle. The flames crackled and flickered with each random gust of wind that sent chills down my spine, most likely a scare tactic to keep me tense and nervous.

In the middle of the room, sitting just in front of me was a coffee table with a box wrapped in writings unrecognizable to me.

Squinting, I tried to read it but I was suddenly interrupted.

"Interesting isn't it?" A lighter, but empty voice wrestled me out of my trance with the box. Leaning back slowly, I pushed down any possible emotion that could influence my decisions.

"...Yeah, what is it?" I replied, my tone coming out smoother than I expected. Footsteps clacked behind me, circling and coming to a stop in front of a candle.

Highlighting his outline.

He was fairly tall for a Japanese man. Standing much taller than any five footer I know. Plucking the flames with just his fingers, he turned towards me.

"That… Is your way out of that chair." My eyes widened and I busted out into a laugh. I was scared before, I won't lie. The suddenness of it all threw me way off guard, but in this room, with just a single man?

What do I have to worry about?

"Hmm?" The man hummed questioningly, but I ignored him. Breaking the metal bindings that kept my hands and feet restricted with ease. My laughing stopped and I stretched and stood up.

"Seems like your plan failed. Oops." I say mockingly. The man scoffed and shook his head. He took a step towards me and my world view flipped instantly.

My eyes widened when I suddenly found myself making headfirst contact with the floor.

BANG!*

Rolling over in an instant, I made space between me and the man. He struck first, now it was my turn.

Grabbing the chair that I was binded in, I chucked it towards him with all my strength. It whizzed in the air and broke into multiple chunks when it made contact with his arm.

Not letting him get the chance to react, I dashed towards him, appearing in front of him in an instant, I threw a low left hook, aiming for his kidneys.

Outside of my expectations, an elbow blocked my fist and his other hand latched around the back of my neck, his cold palms pulling me towards his knee that was rising fast.

Gritting my teeth, I gripped his hand and yanked it off my neck, once I was free, I twisted out the way and spun with a kick towards his chest. Only for that to be blocked as well.

"So you have some type of martial art training… How come the other two brought you back here with such ease? With your strength, even if they blocked everything, they'd still have some type of bruising." The man questioned, gripping my leg that he caught and sweeping my other foot from beneath me.

Collapsing to the ground with a loud thud, I groaned.

"I didn't know what was going on. I didn't fight back." I answered truthfully. To which the man just laughed like I told a joke.

He grabbed the box on the table and opened it swiftly, revealing a stench that caused me to visibly gag. Still on the floor, the man put his foot on my chest and began to press.

My chest ached under his pressure, my ribs held their own, but it wouldn't be long until they caved.

"A-Argh!" Grunting in pain, I tried my best to rip his foot off of me, but it was useless. He grabbed the contents within it and forced my mouth open and shoved it in. My eyes widened and the stench mixed with its pungent taste caused my eyes to tear up and my breath to hitch.

He covered my mouth with his hand, preventing me from spitting it out. With nowhere to go, it slipped down my throat and I digested it in reflex. The man removed his foot soon after, sending me into a fit of coughs as I rolled over on my side.

"That wasn't that bad now was it? Something as simple as that would've saved you from that little beating. But, hey, I guess every misbehaving child needs someone to discipline them." He started with a chuckle, wiping his hands.

I glared at him through painted breaths.

"W-What the hell was that!?" I questioned angrily. Walking towards the door, the man stopped for a second.

"A gift from me to you."

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HAISEI RYUTO APPEARANCE!