{Rune}
It was on a Monday morning when I brought my slumbering body to the Inoue company building once again but a loud men's yell made me wake up finally.
"YOU SAID YOU'D TAKE ME IN! I APPLICATED FOR THE 5TH TIME NOW!" The man had dirty clothes and frizzy hair. He was kicking and punching around him when two security men stopped him from entering the building. Did he want to join Inoue group? Why was his application denied? I wondered but kept my distance when observing the situation.
"Listen I just need help!" The man continued now begging.
"I can't controll this power, everywhere I go I destroy things. Please! I'll do everything you ask me for." He pleaded but was ignored by the security men. I was about to walk over to them and ask about the problem when I was called.
"Rune Smith, please follow me to the CEOs office immediately." The thunder-like voice of Mr. Gray made me lose attention and quickly I entered to face the man who was waiting for me. Training was supposed to be continueing as usual so Mr. Gray stopping me right in the middle of the entrance hall wasn't right.
"Did I do something?" I wondered and pulled my hood back to get a better look at him. It was hard to read his expression.
"Please come with me first and ask questions later. Raven is already there." he explained and I decided I'd follow him for now. But Raven too? What did I do that the leader of this group wanted to see me? They couldn't have found out about my gifted abilities... I was as good as dead if that was the case.
Mr. Gray proceeded to lead me into the elevator and up to the 7th floor where he held a large door open for me.
I entered seeing Mary Inoue, the gorgeous woman with long silky black hair sitting behind her desk and Raven leaning on it next to her. But there was a third person in there... a child.
"Ayaka?" I said out loud seeing the girl run over to me and grab my hand. Of course! How could I not think about this. I already suspected the girl from 2 days ago to be the leaders niece! But I didn't expect them to find out that it was me who basically kidnapped them into a bakery.
"See? This is him, auntie. I told you he's the one who saved me!" She turned around to the woman who got up from her chair while Raven kept his eyes averted. I still remembered how he threw me out of his apartment like that so maybe he was still being angry...
"Did you save Ayaka and Ethan from the religious people." Ms Inoue asked and I could feel her power in the way she was speaking. Calm anf elegant, yet confident and dominant.
Feeling a little intimidated I nodded. Looking at her brought up feelings of anger for a second but I couldn't let them notice... I didn't even know if she had been involved in killing my family. Judging her age she had most certainly been a young teen back then.
"Then I, as the leader of this group am officially thanking you." Her plump rosy lips curled into a smile making her looking younger and I mirrored it.
"It wasn't a big deal really. I'm just glad that they are fine." I laughed it off but Ayaka wouldn't let go of my hand. I decided to not hold a grudge against this woman for now... but I had to stay cautious.
"He just beat them all up in only one second although he doesn't have the gifted strength!" She cheered and I tensed a little thinking about her revealing too much.
"One second is a little exaggerated, haha."
"Still, we owe you something so if you ever face a problem please reach out to Mr. Gray or Raven." Ms Inoue added and I heard the said boy sighing.
"Hey, Rave." Ayaka stared over to her cousin.
"Look out, he might surpass you some day." She chuckled making Raven's head shoot up.
"Beating up some humans is no accomplishment." He coldly replied and I couldn't deny that he was right. But it wasn't my goal to surpass anyone. I was focusing on getting stronger myself so comparing was useless.
"Alright, I think we should let them train for now." Mr. Gray suddenly offered and I just now noticed that he was behind us.
"Uhm right." I mumbled and slowly made Ayaka let go of my hand. Compared to Saturday she was really clingy now... it was cute.
Raven followed along and as usual took the lead to head downstairs again.
"Why did you do that?" He asked at some point when we were in the elevator again and I raised my eyebrow at him.
"Who wouldn't help a kid that is dragged away by weird people?"
"No, Ayaka told me you bought them donuts after that. Why did you do that? Are you trying to get on their good side to use them?" he bluntly questioned and I felt like he just splashed my face with cold water. What kind of person did he think I was?! I didn't like people distrusting me...
"Listen, after one whole week of training together I think you should know better that I'm not that kind of person. I did it because I felt like it." I explained but Raven didn't seem convinced.
"You held a knife to my throat before so why should I trust you?"
Good point, I would not trust myself either. I didn't answer to that.
"Whatever, Ayaka seems to like you so you're off the hook." he sighed and I looked up at him happily.
"Thanks! Next time I buy them food I'll get you a donut too." I offered partly joking and partly meaning it but I didn't wait for his reaction when we went outside the elevator and to the training halls.
At the end of this week there was gonna be a competition between all new Inoue group members in form of something like capture the flag. We'd be allowed to use paint guns and knives so the focus of the training this week was only on fighting.
Because we arrived late Jane and her group had already started so me and Raven ran our rounds and did our workouts to warm up.
"So blondie..."
And here we were again with the nicknames. Raven and I had finished warming up and he was about to tell me about his training plan. Sweat was running down his neck and for a moment I was lost in the sight of it. Oh no... this wasn't good.
That was when I remembered that I still had his clothes freshly washed in my bag so I quickly went to grab them and pressed them into the older's hand.
"Before we start, here are your clothes from Friday. They are washed."
Raven stared down at the black stack of a shirt and a pair of sweatpants before quickly looking around us. Was he afraid someone was watching?
"Just keep them and don't embarrass me." He grunted and pressed them back into my arms. I... was supposed to keep them?
"Uhm... isn't this a bit..."
"What?" His eyes gleamed in annoyance and I gulped because I was non willingly reminded of those romance webtoons that I read in the past. Why did I remember that now?
"I mean people usually don't give their clothes to others unless... they're friends or-"
"Like I said, they are too small so don't consider yourself special, we're not friends." Raven coldly stated when we were interrupted by Jane who spotted the clothes in my hands.
"Not friends? Rune is my, Kate's and Ed's friend so he has to be your friend too Rave." She patted her friend's shoulder as he kept his eyes somewhere else.
"Now stop arguing all the time or you'll lose on Saturday!" She giggled and left again to talk to Ed.
...
After some time of fight technique training Raven began lecturing me about how to best use my abilities.
"Your eye sight is fast so you'll be at an advantage when spotting enemies and analyse their strategy quickly. One on one with an Inoue family member you have a disadvantage so you're better suited as a supporter who can either help others or secretly get the flag. Long range weapons are not your strength but you are quiet fast so maybe that'll be usefull." he made it sound like I was not usefull at all and couldn't really help anyone when we'd start the game. Well, perfect. Hiding my abilities or not I still didn't want to be looked down on by Raven. Everyone else was fine... but not him.
"I'm good with knives." I stated and Raven snorted in disbelieve.
"Yeah, you almost killed me with one, I remeber." He sarcasticly said but I had already left to the equipment room to grab some harmless knives made of hard plastic.
I threw one at Raven to catch and took two myself. Each in one hand.
"Lets do a little bet, yeah? If I win you'll stop calling me blondie." I grinned enjoying the confused expression on the other's face. I wasn't the one to usually do this nor did I mind the nickname much but even without using my speed I had a desire to prove myself in front of him right now.
"Huh? Alright. But if you lose... you have to do everything I say for one hour." He offered and I nodded. Losing in that situation could end up being hell but I'd see how good it went.
Both of us got in fighting position.
"3, 2, 1, go." He counted down and I jumped forward to attack him. At first he dodged pretty well but at some point I got him almost where I wanted when he suddenly tripped me with brute force and pulled my hair. In less than a second he was behind me still holding the hair and pressed the fake knife to my throat. I couldn't move my head and felt his chest pressing against my back so tight that I could feel his heart beat.
"No one in this hall dares to challenge Raven Inoue. Don't be so arrogant, little brat." He whispered to my ear and I felt my heart skip. Why was he so close again? This was normal when fighting but I reacted to it in a way I wasn't supposed to.
"You played dirty." I hissed and elbowed him hardly but Raven wasn't even bothered by it.
"And you didn't say I wasn't allowed to. You did well though so no need to feel down." He said back and I noticed how I had the disadvantage here.
"I'm not feeling down, I know I lost, let's just continue with training. This is a waste of time." I pleaded wanting to change the subject and make him step away again but I still felt the knife on my throat.
{Raven}
I still held onto Rune's hair and noticed how incredibly soft it was... whatever. He was squirming a little in my grip and I finally released him losing the warmth of his body. Opposite of what I expected he didn't seem mad at all. Instead it was like he accepted that he lost with ease making me feel less respected in some way. Back on Saturday he had almost managed to get me to say something stupid and I mistreated him many times. Yet he never held it against me and didn't show any hate toward me. Rune's mindset was impossible to understand.
"Now, run 100 rounds." I demanded thinking about our agreement. 100 rounds were almost impossible to do after the hard training we went through. It was actually lunch time by now so I wanted to get on Rune's nerves a little bit. But... he actually left with no comment and started running while everyone else was leaving the gym hall. I was about to say something but I couldn't go back on my word now. Damn. I did not intend on actually making him run so much... why didn't he ask me to demand something else?
"Come to the cafeteria when you're finished." I yelled and also went to leave and eat with Jane and the others. She asked me what all of this was about but I brushed it of. Rune would never run all these rounds... never.
But even after the hour had passed I still couldn't spot him anywhere in the cafeteria making me wonder what he was doing. Lunch break was already over and the first people were heading back.
With furrowed eyebrows I was about to go after Jane again when suddnely I felt someone tap my shoulder.
With big eyes I spotted Rune in front of me. Face red and wearing different sports clothes from before. His hair was a little loose and I knew he had to be totally exhausted. Yet he smiled at me.
"I did what you said, lunch break is over anyway so we can go down again." he stated making me feel that disgusting feeling of guilt once again. Why did he always manage to make me feel like that?!
"Idiot, you're gonna eat something and take your time before we continue." I pushed him down on a chair and went to get him some food without knowing why I did it.
When I placed a tray with spaghetti carbonara, a salad and a package of banana milk in front of him he stared at me with big eyes.
"What the fuck is wrong with you?" I mumbled but sat down on the opposite side to watch him eat the food looking like he was about to cry.
"I'm just very happy that you remembered what food I like." His voice sounded like he'd actually start crying soon. I really didn't get him. He wasn't the type of person to take something that emotionally but this was the second time I saw him like this for a bizarre reason.
"I just picked out something random. Don't assume I'm being nice." I reminded him of how I didn't like that but he more or less ignored it.
"But seriously, I made you run for one hour after an exhausting training and here you are thanking me again and weirdly crying. What the hell is wrong with you?"
"I'm not crying... and I'm not angry. I like running actually so a little more training can't hurt. And I guess I'm not used to people buying me food or even remembering something about me." His smile hinted a little sadness giving the impression that Rune was... lonely. Speaking of that I didn't actually know anything about him despite that he was in Germany before he came here. I'd never admit it but I was a little interested in that since Rune was like a mystery sometimes.
"Don't you have a family or friends that buy you dinner?" I asked and Rune remained calm.
"No, I don't have a family and there were only two people in my life that I'd ever consider a friend before I came here but we lost touch a long while ago."
That hurt a little. Even though I didn't empathize much with people, imagining being alone was something that I feared a little because I could relate to it... not anymore though.
"Well now you have us from the Inoue group" That came out sounding nicer than it was supposed to be.
But Rune's smile faded a little after I finished my sentence. Wasn't he happy about that?
"I guess I have, but who knows how long that'll last." he almost whispered.
"I'm joking haha." He added with a laugh but something was off. Surely, he didn't want to be friends with me. Jane or Vince were the better choice here. Maybe that was why he didn't think the friendship would last long.
Next thing I knew, I grabbed his opened package of banana milk and took a sip from it. Totally dumbfounded Rune followed my action with his eyes.
"What? You said I can try, don't you remember?" I defended myself giving my best not to let awkward feelings show. Why did I do that?! This was basically an indirect kiss.
"You've been strangely nice... you aren't sick or drunk or something, are you?" Rune questioned and suddenly put his hand on my forehead. I didn't process the situation quick enough to react because this never happened to me before. Rune was leaning over the table and I felt the freezing cold of his hand on my skin.
"Hm, doesn't seem like it." he stated as a matter of fact while I caught my eyes trailing down to the wide collar of his shirt that gave view on his collarbones and part of his chest.
Then finally I snapped out of it and leaned back.
"When did I allow you to touch me?!" I yelled a little louder than wanted causing some people to look at us.
"Hm, so you go around pulling my hair and staring at my chest like that and I can't touch your forehead as a joke?" he must feel like he was totally in the right here and I just now noticed that he meant what he did before as I joke. But worse... he noticed where I had my eyes before. Since when was I ever looking at a man's chest on purpose?
I wanted to say that he was wrong but what came out instead was...
"What am I supposed to do when your collar is so loose?" Yeah, I really was a very bad liar.
Oh no, I realized how Rune started blushing and mentally face palmed myself five times. What was I doing? Had I just been honestly flirting with Rune after doing it as a joke for the last week?
"I'm joking haha. Let's get back to training!" I got up faster than ever before and left the cafeteria. God, I had to keep my self under control better. What was I? A teenager?