{Rune}
Raven's expression was unreadable when he looked at my face and I didn't like it. He might think that I was so sensitive that I'd cry over this and make some comment about my girly weakness although I didn't even know why tears were rolling down my cheeks.
At some point I suspected that it was probably because of the shock of almosy dying and the bottled up anger inside of me. I wasn't used to that and it stressed me... but I didn't want anyone to see me like this.
"I'm fine, stop staring." I slapped away Raven's hand from my shoulder and turned around to open the locker with my things in it. The tears had already stopped flowing but I still felt uncomfortable.
It didn't ameliorate things when Raven stopped me from opening the locker by pushing it close and forcing me to sit down on the bench next to him. His eyes were big and his lips slightly parted when he filled the silence with his weird stare.
"What? Leave so I can get dressed." I demanded but I was ignored.
"Why... are you crying?" He asked this so slowly it seemed like he had just learned how to speak.
I gulped nervously when I failed at comprehending what was going on with him.
"I'm not crying. It's because I got no air before." I wanted to add 'partly thanks to you' but right now that didn't seem fitting.
"But you're not scared of me now, are you?" he kept going with those weird questions and his stare intensified.
"No... I'm not scared of anyone." I said this because it was the truth but in his ears it must have sounded childish when he suddenly started laughing.
"Well then I'm relieved. But you shouldn't lie about fearing no one."
For a moment I caught myself admiring that sincere laugh of his. It sounded so clear and calm and combined with his undeniably attractive face it was almost godlike.
'What the fuck was I thinking about?!' I shouldn't admire people's outside if their inside was trash.
"Whatever, get out so I can get dressed."
"Why? We're in a public dressing room and we're both men... I hope at least. You already saw me half naked some weeks ago, you pervert, so why do I have to leave." he raised an eyebrow and at that moment I decided to just give up for that time. I did prefer changing clothes alone but there was nothing I had to hide.
"Fine..." I groaned and grabbed my stuff before pulling up my shirt, my back facing Raven so I didn't feel exposed as much.
"Why would you want to hide a body like that?" He questioned after having stared at me without moving an inch.
I didn't turn around to him but quickly put my sweater.
"You like it?" I joked to soften the tensed mood from before a little bit but instead of answering Raven cleared his voice and went outside the dressing room. What an odd guy...
Shortly later I followed him to head for the cafeteria.
As soon as we entered Raven turned back to his usual self and glared at people that got in his way.
I wasn't sure if talking to him was the best idea right now but I also didn't want him to constantly remember what happened 10 minutes ago so I picked up a new subject. Talking so much was unusual for me...
"So... what do you recommend for eating?" I asked him when we got our trays and looked at the variety of food that was offered. We were early so luckily there weren't many people.
"Dunno, I'll get myself a burger but since you're so small a glass of milk will do better." He shrugged and proceeded to get his food. I sharply inhaled air and decided to be satisfied with at least getting an answer. So that's why he didn't answer before... because he thought I was small and weak.
In the end I went with a small portion spaghetti carbonara, a salad and actually a glass of banana milk because after reconsidering it I thought 'Why not?'.
I made my way to the table Raven was sitting at and placed my tray down on the seat right next to him.
"Who allowed you to sit down here?" he groaned but it didn't stop me.
"Who do I need to ask for permission?" I asked back and started sipping my milk with questioning eyes.
"You- whatever, I can't believe you actually got yourself a glass of milk, how ridiculous." He changed the topic and I smiled slightly when he bit into his burger and stopped looking at me.
Usually, I wouldn't sit down next to someone who almost killed me twice but as strange as it sounded I enjoyed eating with Raven more than sitting alone. He was also my only contact person to the Inoue family and he was also interesting to talk to because of how brutally honest and mean he was. Of course it was a little difficult to handle but at least it was the opposite of boring.
"It's banana milk and I gotta admit, it's really tasty. You can try some if you want." I offered simply because I wondered how he'd react to that.
For a moment Raven's eyes narrowed and he stared at the drink and then at me.
"You'll probably put poison in there or something when you give it to me. You can't tell me that you sat down here for another reason but to get payback." He stated being very assured that his assumption was right making me wonder why he let me stay here in the first place.
"That's not how I get revenge but fine, then I'll drink it myself." I sighed and happily put it to the side to start digging into the food.
"Your friend Jane told me you're the best in our generation and I heard you are the nephew of the woman that leads Inoue group." I started a new topic out of pure interest and to not make the atmosphere more awkward than it already was.
"That's right, you should feel honored that you get to train with me." he grinned arrogantly before it slightly faded for a second. Yeah, sure I felt honored to be thrown around by the great Raven Inoue. Maybe he realized that his training methods weren't worth praising much.
"Anyways, I don't know much about Inoue group so I wondered if you could explain me some things about it?"
Raven glared at me for a second but turned back to focusing on his food and ignoring me.
"Well then I'll go ask Jane." I remarked silently and was about to push myself up from the chair when Raven pushed me down again.
"God damn, alright. I never talked to a newcomer so much in a day. You really get on my nerves. What do you want to hear, blondie?" He questioned in annoyance but I smiled in satisfaction and got back to where we left of.
"You're part of the leading family so I want to know who else in this group is highly respected by the others so I don't make mistakes." I explained.
"Alright, there is my aunt, Charlotte Inoue, she's rather young and not married. Her brother is my father who leads the headquarters in Tokyo so he's never here. My mother died in a mission when I was 2 years old but she was highly respected just like the leader. I also have an older brother who currently stays in Tokyo with my father and my uncle who has no children." He mumbled monotonously while I tried to memorize everything.
"Your family has Japanese origins, right?"
"Yeah..." he eyed his food for a second as if contemplating if he had the motivation to continue talking.
"My great grandpa came from Tokyo to LA and founded the second headquarters of Inoue in America and since then our group expanded in economical power and influence. Don't ask me to speak japanese because I can't." He warned me and I made a mental note of that. When he said his mom was dead I felt a little sting in my heart although I knew very well that you won't miss a person much if you couldn't remember them... it was the same with my own parents. However, I wasn't done asking yet.
"So other ancestors of your's were western?" I wanted to know because Raven didn't look like he had only east asian parents.
"Why are you so nosy? Weren't you just crying half an hour ago. You should be running away from me." Raven said back and put his glass of water down a bit too hardly so the water spilled over slightly.
"I see no reason to run away neither do I see a reason in not asking what's on my mind right now so just say if you don't want to answer it." I suggested and reached for a tissue to hand it to him. He did not take it though and got himself one alone.
"My mom was Latina, my Granpa was Canadian-American and married my japanese Grandma. Satisfied now?" He hissed and wiped the water from the table before standing up to put his empty tray away.
I hurried after him and did the same even though I hadn't finished all my food yet but I wasn't hungry anyway, it was only sad because the tasty food was wasted.
"What are we doing now?" I ran after him.
"Theory lesson." He simply stated and after some running we entered the library and sat down in a secluded area where Raven pressed some books into my hand.
After that he started explaining one after another, the system of the Inoue group, the classes I could join after the one month training and the teams that I could be part of after that. We also went over different missions, accomplishments of the group in the past and important rules about using your gifted abilities in public.
It was like I was back in school when I found myself almost falling asleep after two hours of this with no break. He even told me to take notes on my phone or search for specific information in the books or online so I wouldn't forget them. For real, I'd rather be thrown around in the gym hall than being forced to memorize all of this at least a bit.
"... so that means you have the opportunity to stay in one of the buildings apartments for at least 3 months. The prize will be cheap and you probably won't have to get here so early every morning. If you want to do that, tell me now or I'll tell the responsible people that you don't want to." Raven ended his seemingly endless monologue and leaned back in his chair with his eyes closed.
"I'd rather not, thanks." I answered and did the same.
"For real? It'll be better than what you currently have though, blondie." Raven raised his head with an exhausted chuckle.
"It's most likely not. And I know you won't stop calling me blondie but if you keep that up I'll call you grumpy cat from now on. I hope that's not a problem." Immediately after I finished that sentence a pillow that Raven grabbed from the sofa next to us came flying at my head.
I caught it before it hit and threw it back a little too fast so it landed on Raven's face instead.
"This is a library. You shouldn't throw things." I scolded him amused by the disbelief in his eyes when he took the pillow again.
"Oh sorry, I was so bored, my hand slipped, blondie." Raven sweetly remarked.
"Well I hope it doesn't slip again."
"Why? Are you afraid this pillow will hurt you." Raven questioned sarcasticly sweet and I leaned my head on my wrist with an unimpressed reaction.
"I told you I'm not scared of you but I definitely wouldn't want to start a fight here... I swear I'll report you to Mr. Gray for mistreatment of your junior, grumpy cat." I replied calmly but enjoying the fact that he didn't believe me. Maybe I wanted to trigger him a bit... but just maybe.
"Is that so, pretty blondie boy? So you're telling me when I almost choked you to death some weeks ago in your old apartment you weren't scared to die?" He leaned forward and intensively stared at me.
"Yeah, scared is the wrong expression here. I want to live for sure but I've never been scared, big grumpy boi with aggression problems." I grinned and saw him getting up from his chair while I was still calmly sitting in mine.
"I hate people that lie and stop shaming my aggressive nature or I might kill you..." In that moment he suddenly almost jumped forward and before I could really get a hold of this situation he was already holding a knife to my throat. I hadn't noticed him pulling it out before but I guess it wasn't unusual for Raven to have one with him. This dude was actually crazy...
"This time for real..." he whispered being so close to me that I could feel his breath on my face. While his right hand was holding the knife, the left one held onto the chair next to my shoulders. His left foot was next to my knees on the edge of the chair so I was basically caged.
Raven's hazel eyes were glowing like a maniac.
"So? Rune Smith? Are you scared now?" He proceeded to move the knife closer but the only thing I was focused on was the distance between our faces... he was so close it made my blood run faster. I watched too much dramas god damn.
"Cat got your tongue?" He grinned and took the weapon away to place his hand on my chest. Unconsiously, I sharply inhaled and forgot how to breath for a second. I had to push him away... this was too close.
"See? Your heart is pounding like crazy meaning you indeed are afraid at the moment." He proudly concluded and I immediately pushed him with all the force I had when I realized that Raven was at least 10 times stronger than me. This was so weird. At first I wanted to tell him that this wasn't because I was scared but what would I say then? Like 'I am not used to people being close nor touching me except when fighting so I am sensitive?' Pfft never!
"Ever heard of personal space?" That was what I said instead but it sounded much more confident in my head than in reality.
"Hm, yes but I am enjoying this somehow." Raven chuckled but stopped feeling my heart beat at least.
"You are hella annoying but I won't get bored when I'm with you."
I glared at him coldly thinking of a way to get rid of him right here and now. My hands were free and so were my legs... oh. Yes, that was it.
"I agree and I'm sorry."
"Wh-" before Raven could finish his sentence I used all my force to knee him right between his legs. Superhuman strength or not, this was definitely going to hurt.
And I was right. Raven immediately let go and fell to the floor holding his precious crown jewels making me want to laugh at him. But I held myself back and instead stood up to leave before Raven would come at me again.
"YOU LITTLE PIECE OF-" he groaned in pain and I interrupted him.
"It's already five pm, my lessons are over! See you tomorrow!" I winked at him and left the library in a hurry already thinking about what would happen tomorrow. Would this teasing and fighting continue forever? It was definitely just as painful as it was fun.
...
When I got home Vera already waited on the balcony for me with a bowl of mango ice cream and strawberries. I didn't tell her much about what happened the first day at the group headquarters because she was busy meaning she was probably curious now.
"Runi, welcome back. How was your training?" Just as I expected she wanted to know about it but I really wasn't in the mood to tell her much. Most of it was embarrassing anyways.
"I needed to show how good I am in close combat and I was taught a lot stuff about Inoue group and their rules and everything. Honestly, it was exhausting and I still need to upload a song cover so I'll talk to you later." I excused myself trying to sound as nice as possible before grabbing the ice cream and disappearing into my room. Vera always understood when I was like this so I felt certain that she wasn't mad.
And it was true because I promised my subscribers to upload a cover soon since it had been some time ago since I posted anything. The last few weeks I recorded it with Vera's help so it felt relieving after such a stressing day to have it finished.
'Bonnie and Clyde (original by YUQI)/ Cover by Dandelion'. That's how I named the title and soon pressed the uploading button. Dandelion was the name I gave myself because these flowers had been the first thing in my view when I had thought of a name. I really liked it still.
Tomorrow, I'd use my time after lessons to go to the library again. In the computer data or books had to be information about the massacre of the Falcon group even if Raven didn't speak of it in his lecture.
Well, of course I first needed to survive tomorrow in order to do that...