{Rune}
The next day I was supposed to be at the headquarter building very early in the morning at about 7 am so the training orientation could start. Getting up so early after finishing to edit a recorded song yesterday after I left early surely was a big struggle but at least that way Vera wouldn't see me and question the red spot on my forehead. I already covered it with my hair relatively effective but you could never know.
I decided to be trained in close combat because I had experience in that sector so today I was entering the building with a bag of spare clothes in case we'd already start. I actually had no idea where I'd be meeting Raven today so even if I didn't want to I ended up asking some random person that looked like they knew about this.
So after 10 minutes I ended up in the 5th floor in front of a door with a sign next to it.
'Appartment owned by Raven Inoue' I read in thoughts and doubted that I was supposed to wait for him here. The person I asked probably had no clue themselves.
"What the hell are you doing here?" I turned around to see Raven at the other side of the hallway, dressed in sweatpants and a large black hoodie.
His expression was as annoyed as ever and I couldn't deny that I felt a little sad to hear nothing about yesterday... no apology.
"I was searching for you." I explained making him sigh.
"Did no one tell you to come to the training hall again? If you wouldn't have run off yesterday I could've told you." he seriously scolded me although he was the reason I left in the first place. Trying to not take it personally and don't hold a grudge I brought it over myself to apologize. However, I was ignored and told to follow Raven down to the second floor.
In the elevator it was awkwardly quiet and I had the feeling he must hate me even more now... it wasn't pleasant.
"Show me your forehead." Raven then demanded all of a sudden and I let my eyes trail over him for a second before answering.
"I'm alright, no one will notice so you won't be in trouble." I assured him knowing that this was the reason he asked and not because he was actually worried.
"That is for me to decide. I can't risk that Mr. Gray sees this." he didn't accept what I was saying and came closer but I didn't want to show the spot to him. It was red, even blue at some small spots and slightly swollen even after I applied medicine on it.
"I'll put on a beanie on or something, don't worry." I kept trying not to show it but he wouldn't let me and brushed the hair away that was hiding the small injury.
His hand on my skin felt hot and I flinched back not liking anyone touching my face like this. The audacity to get so close to me!
"I said no." I raised my voice slightly and fixed the hair again while Raven looked at me with an expression that I couldn't read. Did he feel bad now? I sure hoped he did.
"It has the same color as your make up yesterday."
I didn't know what to say in that moment because it came so random. How did that guy even notice I was wearing make up yesterday...
"I mean it looks ugly, you should make sure it heals quickly." Raven cleared his throat and awkwardly stepped out of the elevator.
"What in gods name..." I whispered to myself but let it drop quickly when I ran after him to the same hall as yesterday where about 10 other groups of three people had already gathered. Most of the applicants must have chosen close combat then.
"Oi, Rave!" A girl shouted his name and I remembered her as Jane. Her icy blue died short hair was not difficult to spot in the small crowd of people.
When she approached us, another girl and and a man followed behind her, both already dressed in more comfortable clothes for training.
"Woah, where did you get such a pretty boy?" She grabbed my shoulders and eyed my face before I gently pushed her away. These people were so touchy, seriously...
"Oh sorry... but what do you use for your lips? It looks so soft..." her brown eyes where sparkling the same way as when she looked at me the first time we met.
"Uhm..." I was unsure if I should answer this and noticed Raven burying his head in his hands next to me.
"Jane... it's him. The guy from Germany." He sighed as if he felt embarrassed for his friend. Or were they even friends? Probably...
"Rune Smith." I smiled at her feeling some kind of satisfaction that she didn't recognize me from before.
"Woah, who would have known you were so pretty from back then." She took my hand even though I didn't even offer it to her. But when I wanted to react I was already pulled with her to face the two people that were probably in her group.
"Raven is a prick so feel free to join my group anytime." She whispered only for me to hear and her strongly extroverted nature irritated me.
"Sooo this is Katheryne and this is Mr. Jones but we call him Ed." She pointed at them as they awkwardly said hello.
The girl had long brown curls that were tied up and complimented her dark skin beautifully. She was very small and it wasn't difficult to tell that she was a shy one. The man next to her smiled while scratching his neck. I could see his stubble growing out and he gave of a messy but calm vibe. I liked it.
"Nice to meet you." I smiled but quickly excused myself to change clothes so the training could start. Unneccessary small talk with people would cost too much time but that didn't mean I didn't want to speak to them of course.
But what I witnessed when I came back was unexpected. The groups that had stood separated and already started with their training were now all gathered around Raven, well at least all the applicants while Jane and the other seniors gave judging stares.
Quietly, I watched the situation with interest when I approached Jane to talk to her.
"What is this?" I simply asked and she quickly caught on to what I meant. For a moment she just stared at me before giggling.
"Hm, so you don't know much about our Inoue family, huh?" She voiced out but I waited for her to continue instead of replying. Of course, I didn't know much about this family... I did not know much about gifted ones to begin with.
"In every country there is a ranking for the strongest gifted ones in each family and Raven proudly owns the first place in our generation for 3 years now in whole north america." Jane explained but didn't put any excitement behind it so it was obvious she didn't think as mighty of Raven as everyone else did.
"Get in line, then you might get your autograph."
I laughed at her statement and crossed my arms not moving an inch.
"No thanks, I think I'd burn the autograph if he gave me one." I said back causing Jane and the few friends of her that were close enough to hear us to break out into a wave of laughter.
"I swear, that he got stuck with you as his trainee is the best thing that ever happened to him." She wiped a fake tear and I also kept laughing to fit in the vibe although I did not even think what I said was funny.
Raven was someone who easily hurt people mentally with what he was saying and even if I never really showed it I was a little sensitive. On the other hand he was also an interesting person and probably the best aquataince to get closer to what I wanted.
After 10 more minutes the little fan event was finally over when all the people began minding their own business again so I could join Raven.
"Oh, want an autograph, too?" he cockily questioned and posed in front of me making me want to vomit. Luckily, he didn't wait for an answer.
"Sad news, I won't give it to arrogant brats like you." his face fell to a none bothered expression before I sighed loudly.
"Yeah sure whatever." I shrugged purposely ignoring him for a moment to tie up my hair. This behaviour of his was so childish it was actually funny.
"So... can we start now?"
"...you know what? Sure we'll start and see how long it'll take to make you shut up." His forced smile was a little scary but I pushed the thought aside and concentrated on listening.
Apparently, since I wasn't a member of the Inoue family and had different gifted abilities we had to test out what worked best for me and how good I already was.
"Your abilities are fast eyes but you're neither tall nor strong so in a fight with an Inoue family member you have no chance using force." Raven spoke, now being actually concentrated on what he was doing for once while still managing to look down on me.
Yeah, some day I'd use my speed on him and land a lovely punsh on his face...
"Yeah I know." I sweetly responded and kept listening.
"I think for close combat your skill is very good for seeing an attack before it hits. That way you can use your enemies force to your advantage. But first... attack me." He demanded and I needed a few seconds to understand.
"Are you listening? You're supposed to attack me. I need to know where to start so give me a demonstration of what you can do." He added, his eyebrows furrowing in annoyance.
"Just like that?" I wanted to make sure I didn't get him wrong and got into my fighting position. This might be harder than usual since I had to slow down my movements drastically to be considered normal. Raven was most likely not stupid so he'd notice if I used my speed.
"God damn just try to hit me. You can't even land one punsh, believe me so don't worry." He smirked and I sarcastically smirked back. At this moment I really wished to use my full power.
However, instead I went for a common technique and advanced forward pretending to aim for his face before reaching back to knee his side. Even with less speed I did not put my full force into that movement. However, that didn't matter because my knee hit nothing and in the next moment my other leg was tripped so I fell over and hit the floor.
"Nice try, but it was too predictable." Raven stated in blissful amusement when he eyed me getting up on my feet again. I didn't like getting hurt... not at all.
"Try again. Blondie."
"Is annoying the person you're supposed to help part of your work?" I asked back to him with a grin and took my position again while Raven just stood there with his hands in his pockets.
"Actually... let's say I'm trying to really get on your nerve so I can see your potential. When we're angry we tend to put more force into our movements, you know?" he explained making it sound like this had nothing to do with personal stuff but I knew better that he just wanted to annoy me for amusement.
I kept attacking him again and again but every time I was thrown to the floor, kicked or pushed while Raven did nothing but laugh at me. It was humiliating in many ways and I really tried to keep my cool when I got up again seeing all the other groups being taught techniques and cooperating with their senior.
"You not only look like a little girl, you also fight like one, haha." he laughed and I needed to close my eyes and take a deep breath before turning around to him. For a person that had inhanced strength Raven was also really fast. With my speed I could've dodged some of his attacks but most of the time I was powerless as soon as I lost my balance so I ended up getting hit again and again.
"At least I'm not an egocentric bitch who thinks laughing at people makes them superior." I fired back before I could stop myself and mentally facepalmed. Now I had to go through with this... god damn.
"What did you just say?" Raven asked in threating voice but I glared back.
"I said you are a bitch, Raven."
It happend immediately after I finished that sentence when Raven's fist came flying at me. This was what I hoped for though... that little moment in which he lost focus.
I dodged it the same way as in the house in Germany so his fist hit the air. At the same time I pulled his streched out arm further before forcefully pushing it down while placing my foot so he'd trip. It was a simple trick but it did its purpose with a little help of superspeed.
Raven fell over and I already thought I got him when he caught himself by smoothly rolling to the side. Unfortunately, I didn't notice that he had grabbed my wrist while doing that and in the next second I was pulled down along with him as my back hit the floor hardly and all the air was pressed out of my lungs.
"You really begged for this didn't you?" Raven was furious and his right arm gripped onto the collar of my shirt harshly while he was pushing down my wrist that he had grabbed with the other. My legs were caught between his and the way he hovered above me was suddenly alarming all of my survival instincts. All the playfulness was gone and he seriously looked like he was about to kill me.
My eyes stopped focusing on his face when I gasped for air desperately. This wasn't the first time I hit my back so hardly that I couldn't breath but it instantly made my body go into panic mode.
"I c-can't breath." In my mind my voice sounded raspy and fading but I couldn't care less when Raven was additionally pressing my throat.
It was almost like when he woke up in my apartment and almost killed me but this time he couldn't know that it was because I hit my back.
"Is that so, Rune? You might consider that before you call me a bitch next time." He growled and I started hitting his shoulder with the arm that was free because I could not form any word.
At some point Raven had finally caught onto it and moved away leaving me laying on the floor still trying to catch my breath. The air only returned slowly but at least it didn't feel like dying anymore.
{Raven}
I quickly got up when I realized that I had gone to far.
"Don't ever do that again, you hear me? I have very bad temper so I could've ended up killing you." I told him and felt so stupid all of a sudden that I wanted to hit myself. Of course Rune was annoying me but smashing him on the floor so hardly was a mistake that I shouldn't have made. He wasn't part of the Inoue family so it was likely he lost his breath.
Feeling responsible I eyed Rune still on the floor breathing heavily. Other groups had started looking and I didn't want them to come to quick assumptions.
"Everthing is fine, mind your own business." I told them off in a very impolite way before begrudgingly approaching Rune so people believed that I'd help him. Well, I was more or less forced to help him now.
"Hey... are you still alive?" I leaned down and tapped his shoulder because he was laying on his side.
Slowly he turned around and got into a sitting position but kept his head low so I couldn't see what he looked like.
"Is it fun to you choking people until they think they'll actually die?"
I felt frozen when I noticed how his voice had changed. It sounded raw and threatening and I could see his lips shivering.
"Come on, it was an accident. You shouldn't have offended me then." I defended myself not liking in what position I had brought myself now. Never had I ever done this to an applicant but they had also never treated me as respectlessly as Rune.
"This is enough practical training for today so let's get up to get lunch." I quickly came up with an excuse to end this part of the training today and leave the hall before Jane would attack me for this.
I pulled Rune up from the floor and subconsciously noticed how he was shivering...
"Follow me." I demanded and lead the way until we were inside the empty dressing room.
"I'm sorry again... this time for calling you a bitch." The boy then suddenly stated when we arrived and I could only stare at him in disbelief.
"Hey..." I grabbed his shoulder to turn him around being about to give him a lecture about stopping this when I saw his tearstained eyes. Rune's usually pale cheeks were red and I noticed small bruises on the side of his face.
He was crying... this dude was crying here in front of me the whole time...
At first I immediately thought of doing some mean remark but there was that little sting in my heart when I started feeling even more guilty than before. He was 19 years old so why was he crying after getting beaten up a bit?! I didn't know how to handle something like this, god damn. This was only the first day of training... what had I gotten myself into?