“I’m surprised Tadashi let you come up here with me still”, voiced Pep in surprise as she sensually licked the remnants of the ice cream on her spoon.
“Well he did say he would be around”, reminded Luna. “Some important business came up seemingly.” She continued sounding disinterested although slightly in thought as she remembered the group of, admittedly good-looking, green-eyed boys that required his attention.
She was quite disappointed, and it clearly appeared on her face at the time and although he didn’t say it, Tadashi’s guilt-ridden face told it all, as it was clear he didn’t want to part from her. But for some strange reason he didn’t say it nor let the boys see the emotion on his face.
Stabbing her chips with her fork she bit her lip before taking a bite out of the few she gathered while looking around at the area she was in.
Apparently, the school had around eight dinner halls and on the top of each building had a garden which could be used to dine, although they were usually used as peace areas or dates according to Pep. Luna could understand why though, the roof had some weird atmosphere, a presence that almost whisked away all her troubles that included her family. Unfortunately, that included her, mother.
It was still a sore topic for her and probably would for a while should nothing be done. She was far from a fresh apple – the opposite could be said actually - and despite her fathers views and possible interventions of other possible involvements during her competitions, he always seemingly had the best at heart.
A sharp gust blew and snapped Luna out of her thoughts as she shivered and tightened the jacket that was delivered to her just before lunch started, around her. She had been doing that a lot lately, thinking that is. Maybe it was because of her adjusting to a new setting.
“Pep”, called out Luna in attempt to gain her attention, her face slightly disgusted in what she saw.
Pep snapped up in attention and blushed at being caught in the act of her wolfishly diving into her ice cream. The caramel flavoured treat was smeared all over her mouth as if she had a terrible make out session and her spoon was seemingly half way down her throat.
Throwing a pack tissues at Pep in disgust, she watched as Pep cleaned herself up and composed herself with the addition of a small cough.
“What is it Luna?” she asked.
“I saw someone today”, she continued hesitantly, and it took Peps constant goading to get her to finish of what she was saying. “He sounded a lot like Tadashi but older, deeper and…angrier.” Luna held her hand to her heart and took a deep breath in realisation that her breathing had stopped, and her quickened heart-beat.
Pep slowly put down the spoon of ice cream that she was going to put in her mouth down and a sombre, yet serious expression made its way to her face. Her back straightened and she looked at Luna in the eye.
“I was hoping that you wouldn’t see him for a while” she said defeatedly, eyes cast down.
“Who is ‘him’ pep?” asked Luna curiously.
“Wow your slow”, Pep commented aberrantly. “Who you saw was Tadashi’s elder brother by two years. Kaiser.” She whispered, almost like a name forbidden to be spoken.
Both of their skins crawled as a wave of power washed over them, like his name alone contained power that demanded respect of the highest manner. Pep let out a heavy breath, she fidgeted with one of the clean tissues thrown at her prior and looked at Luna, who seemed more uncomfortable than her.
“Can you fill me in,” she as rather uncomfortably, it seemed that even the weird aura of the garden couldn’t keep her calm and she almost hoped that she was hallucinating as she saw the tree behind Pep had actually trembled at the mention of his name.
“You would think that after being here for so long would grant more knowledge about this place”, Pep said shamefully. “I don’t know much, the folk here are incredibly secretive and rarely few things slip to outsiders, all I know a few facts at best and the rest are rumours and educated guesses.”
“I can handle it”, Luna said swiftly.
“Let’s start off with what I know. They are a part of a Yakuza, both ‘him’ and Tadashi I mean.” Pep explained, seeing the confusion in Luna’s eyes, Pep continued. “Think of a Yakuza as a crime family, Mafia, if you will.”
Luna gasped as a spark of realisation came to her eye. “You mean he kills people for a living?”
“I have no idea what he does but I doubt it, he seems to hold a lot of power.” Pep replied. “Being a hitman would make no sense, especially since he is the son to the head of the family. Around these parts he’s practically royalty only second to his brother, so my guess is that he’s some kind of commander. As you can tell, I have no idea how a Yakuza even works.”
“Then those boys who I saw before I left to find Penelope” thought Luna, “they are grunts of some kind?”
Hoping that Luna was even listening Pep continued. “With the heir of the family being at this school, he has protection littered everywhere throughout the school and owns a lot of things in the area, heck I’m willing to bet that his family even owns the school.
His family demands respect of the highest order with few exceptions, you and I are apart of this ‘few’, as to why we are, I have no clue. However, like any other crime family, they know things which I have no doubt you wouldn’t even know about yourself”
Luna’s skin crawled, “does that mean what I think it does.” Her face was slightly pale at the implication as she harshly bit her lip, ignorant to the tear in her skin.
Penelope nodded at Luna’s question, even after all these years she still wasn’t comfortable with this fact.
“They know everything about you, from your famous life to you more personal, your biggest to your smallest secrets no matter how small, they know everything. I can even bet that we are being watched right now just to make sure we are not a threat. I can bet my ass that you are having Tadashi as a guide was no mistake. It was a security precaution.”
“But if they know I’m not a threat then why would they have me watched and monitored?” Questioned Luna weakly, breath slightly laboured.
“Too make sure that you are mentally stable, I guess.” Said Pep, waving her spoon around before digging into her ice cream. She hummed and close her eyes clearly in enjoyment of the food she was eating.
Had she even waited a second longer, she would have seen Luna flinch and rub the side of her lower stomach.
“What about the rumours,” she asked stuffing a group of chips in her mouth while drinking some of the sprite that was at the side in attempt to drown her nausea.
“Its said when Tadashi’s brother was younger, around six years old, he killed over one hundred people over night, out of anger.” Pep whispered while swallowing harshly with wide eyes.
Luna blood went cold and her eyes went wide. “Holy shit.” Her jaw dropped at such a thing happening. Just the idea of a six-year-old massacring a hundred people further unsettled her stomach.
Luna couldn’t help but imagine the trauma that he must have went through, the guilt that settled into the dark pits of his stomach as he killed so many. The mental strain would have to had been huge on him, going such lengths to defend himself.
Despite the inhumane act being taken place, Luna couldn’t help but pity Tadashi’s brother. That was one scar which would never fade, forever immortalised.
“His shit’s not holy,” said Pep amusedly.
“Not funny”, huffed Luna.
“Meh a girl can try,” shrugged Pep. “Any who, what’s even scarier is that it’s said that he came out drenched in blood, with the use of no weapons …. Unscathed.”
A cold shiver ran down her entire body as her blood ran cold. Bile shot through her through her throat and she quickly covered her mouth to contain it as she shot out of her chair to the closest bin.
Penelope cringed at the harsh sounds of Luna vomiting in the distance but couldn’t blame her, she had done the same after all. Just imagining a boy slaughtering a hundred people with his bare hands and teeth made her soul whimper.
That boy he wasn’t human.
Not in the slightest.
He was the very definition of a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
Cool, calm and kind on the outside. But once his methods were needed, once his bloodlust had need to be sated, he was brutal, a complete monster, an uncivilised savage who would not be tamed.
Once Luna sat down and downed a bit of her sprite, Pep’s eyes flickered onto hers. “Remember take what I said with a grain of salt. This could be false or twisted truths for all we know.” Said Penelope in attempt to be reassuring.
“Yeah” she whispered with slight confidence.
A calm silence echoed rhythmically in the area as the gardens power finally seemed to take hold.
In comfort, the girls shoulders sagged as they released a sigh of relief as their hearts steadied once more. Reaching into her bag, Luna took out her Samsung to check the time.
“Um, Pep,” asked Luna unsurely.
“Yeah,” replied Pep as she finished off her ice cream.
“Classes start at one twenty-five, right?” she continued unnervingly.
“Yeah,” Pep drawled unconcerned.
“It’s one nineteen and I have music.” She finished.
Pep stared and blinked owlishly at Luna. “We have the same class who would have thought.”
“Um, I don’t know where that class is, I’m new remember?” Luna explained nervously.
Almost like her brain rebooted, Pep shot up from her seat and launched herself across the other side of the table and snatched Luna’s hand as she rushed to the exit, forcing Luna to quickly grab her hand bag.
“Oh ma God, oh ma God, I completely forgot.” She rushed as she burst through the exit making the door hit the wall with a loud slam. Many in the area close to or about to enter their classes turned and looked at the two running down the hallway with a disapproving disgruntled look, causing Luna to shrink slightly as she was dragged along.
Unaffected, Pep gracefully weaved through the puzzle of people and took sharp corners in order to make it on time, unlike Luna’s clumsy attempts and numerous close calls as she exclaimed a slew of apologies.
“Pep slowdown,” Luna frightenedly shouted as she narrowly missed a vase as she was rag dolled along a corner.
“We are almost there c’mon!” shouted back Pep ignoring Luna’s demand as she made way to the door that was just at the end of the corridor. Forcing herself to go faster she forced herself to not acknowledge Luna’s struggles, being late to class was much worse after all.
Knowing that she didn’t have time to slow down, Pep slammed herself against the door obliging it to slam open and loudly bang against the wall causing it to echo in the now silent room.
“We’re on time!”, she loudly claimed exhaustedly.
What she didn’t account for however, was Luna suddenly slamming into her pushing her in attempt to stabilise herself. Trying to do the same, Pep grappled onto Luna only to drag the both of them down with Luna on top of her in the eagle position with her head in her breasts.
“How’s the weather down there?” Pep asked in between breaths and giggles. “Hot I hope?”
“Yes, it is,” answered an approaching stern voice. “With heavy pours of trouble coming in ten seconds unless you don’t explain yourselves.” The voice quipped over the various wolf whistles, cat calls and sniggers.
“Oh, Mr Mein,” said Pep nervously as she quickly pushed the blushing Luna off her as she attempted to recover to look at the tall, cold blue-eyed Norwegian man. “Funny story actually, you’re guaranteed to laugh.”
“Is that so?” He queried with a raised brow.
“Ye- “
“- I won’t be laughing,” he stiffly cut off. “And neither will you in a couple of seconds,” he continued darkly.
“Hyerword, leave them alone,” called a familiar voice exasperatedly.
“But Heiyo -” he suddenly wined.
“– Ms Sanders was simply looking after Luna for some time. Its my fault that I hadn’t come and pick her up from where she was to familiarise her with her surroundings of the schools facilities. There is no doubt in my mind that Luna was simply looking around with Ms Sanders before losing track of time.” Tadashi smoothly cut off from the back of the class with soft seriousness as his eyes flickered over to the still recovering form of Luna.
“Very well,” said the man, his hand briefly tensing in frustration. “Penelope sit in your usual seat, Luna sit by Tadashi,” continued the man as he pointed close to the right corner of the room that pertained a few empty seats.
Having fully recovered, Luna looked at where the large man had pointed and if she didn’t know better should would say that the area was not so subtly guarded by a plethora of green eyes boys. Each boy was either stocky but muscled like a bouncer or muscled like an athlete or a martial-artists and she hard pressed to say she wasn’t intimidated or impressed by their physic.
However, it was easy to overlook their presence as it was only now that she had noticed the almost over whelming sense of dominance that was being emitted in the centre. Looking up slightly she admired Tadashi’s cool yet domineering figure and blushed.
His feet were kicked up on the table with him leaning back as his hand was rested on his torso with a silver watched strapped on to his wrist and his beats headphones where still attached to his neck like a lions mane, but this time instead of his head bopping like usual, his feet where moving at a six by four beat instead of the four by four that she regularly saw.
He had forgone the loose tank top that he had worn when he had first met her at the entrance and was currently wearing nothing but a blue jeans jacket, putting his defined wash board abs up for display. He had a trail of hair that started from in between his pecks all the way down to his jeans and if Luna didn’t have self-control she would have drooled as she discreetly, or so she though, followed the trail.
Snapping out of it, she almost missed Pep’s suggestive yet concerned smirk as Pep went towards her seat as she gazed into Tadashi’s eyes. His eyes danced with amusement that was laced with mischief, joy and something else.
Joy? What had she done to warrant such a look? They had only met since around five hours ago and last time she checked she had done nothing of significance to be looked at by such a way.
Luna took a deep breath, Tadashi was a criminal, an incredibly hot criminal but a criminal no the less. Going by what Pep had said, he was dangerous not as dangerous as his brother but still not one to tread lightly with. He probably had an alleyway full of dead bodies pilled up as a trophy to represent how perilous he was. She couldn’t let down her guard not one bit.
A soft cough woke her up from her thoughts and she flinched in her moment of vulnerability and a few poorly hidden chuckled rumbled in the room. Deciding it was now time to disappear, she quickly picked up her bag and speed walked down to the back of the class, which almost felt like eternity as eyes flickered towards hers as she passed each and every pupil at the end of each row.
Once she had finally gotten to her row, the boys quickly shuffled to the side letting her through to sit with Tadashi. What had quickly followed was a string of awkward ‘sorry’s’ as she bumped into a few boys that had released a few low grunts.
Finally, she had passed the last guy and released a sigh of relief once she had sat next to Tadashi and had laid her bag on her thighs. She looked off to the side and she scolded herself as Luna eyes glued itself to Tadashi’s abs. just as she was about to turn her head, Tadashi’s unsurprisingly calloused hands, grasped her chin and turned her face to meet his.
For some unknown reason she stilled, and her head turned as though it was a puppet and he was pulling strings. His eyes focused on her lips, reaching up, his thumb found her lip and traced it slightly. Slowly, dragged his thumb along her lips and pulled lightly, forcing her inner lip to expose itself and with out hesitation he continued as though no one else was in the room.
For some reason Luna couldn’t find herself to stop the boy, even though her mind protested, and her heart raced as she thought of him as a risked to her life, she couldn’t help but not care. She found her self actually liking what was happening, whatever it was that is as she found herself comfortable with his presence.
Finding herself a thread of confidence, she boldly flicked her tongue to meet his thumb as he left his thumb at the edge of her lips.
His magenta eyes darkened, and she shivered finally recognising what she what she had had couldn’t earlier.
Lust.
Barely concealed and restrained lust.
Suddenly, Tadashi snapped around and released a loud, animalistic snarl that ripped through the tranquil atmosphere of Mr mein teaching. The hair of every person in the room raised to attention and all bodies stilled but one at the sudden act.
Tadashi let loose a threatening growl at the person next to him and his figure looked as though it had gotten bigger as it blocked all sight of the person Tadashi was glaring at.
The person next to Tadashi rolled his eyes and skirted around him giving her enough time to take in his form and Luna rolled her eyes as it revealed someone who was taller than her again.
He wore white sports shorts with matching a sports top that hugged his chest lightly enough to show a bit of definition. He was very muscular not as much as Tadashi, as he seemed to be taking up the ‘buff’ route instead and tattoo on his right arm, two simple circles one bigger than the other going all around his upper forearm.
His eyes were a soft mixture of yellow and with blue being the most prominent. He eyed her strangely, almost like assessing her before flicking from her to Tadashi before deciding to stick with her.
“mashie soka’e ma heiya makat noe heiyo mashie dommata,” he hummed to himself before humming in approval. “Oh shie” he continued thoughtfully as Luna’s brow twitched slightly in annoyance.
“zei oh te aki,” Tadashi grumbled in annoyance.
“Translation please,” interrupted Luna slightly miffed at them ignoring her. They had to be talking about her right?
“Sorry where are my manners,” said the boy as he smirked back her boyishly.
“Where are they indeed,” Tadashi shot as he eyed his friend.
“I’m Dante Jacobs, heiya,” he half bowed like a jester, yet he still sounded serious “at your service.” He held out his hand in a gesture of supposed kindness.
Seeing no trouble in it she gave his hand out to him and he leaned down further to kiss it, something that she was well accustomed to when men and boys had tried to court her when she was younger.
“Luna Violet,” she replied smiling slightly, she was so focused on their interaction that she was ignorant to the glare that was sent at Dante by Tadashi.
“So, since you are at my service,” she said teasingly. “Mind telling me what you were talking about.”
“Oh that?” he questioned in surprise. “Tadashi was so stunned by your beauty that he couldn’t focus during Physical Education and had to take a cold shower, if you know what I mean,” he continued with a suggestive wiggle of his eyebrow that made Luna’s head duck in embarrassment.
“Your embarrassing her,” Tadashi said rather bored, not attempting to defend himself.
“shi co tei, you know it’s true,” Dante said in attempt to get a raise out of his superior.
“Moving on,” Luna squeaked stopping Tadashi from replying. “You called me. Heiya, was it? What does it mean and what language are you speaking?”
“The language is irrelevant right now, you will find out later, so you don’t get information overload, but for your information I called you ‘Princess’, and get used to it, you’re going to be called that a lot throughout your time here.” He answered in reverse mysteriously.
“Why?” She asked surprised her head turned cutely to the side to demonstrate this.
“You’ll find out eventually,” he answered without hesitation causing frustration to fester as her brow wrinkled as she tried to figure him out.
“How was the garden by the way?” Tadashi questioned in attempt to steer Luna’s attention.
Luna blinked. “How did he?” She thought. None the less she decided to answer. “It is very peaceful, I can see why anyone would go there.”
Tadashi nodded his head, “Yeah, any one that needs to be calmed down goes to one of the gardens to calm down.”
“How did you even know I was there in the first place anyway?”
Dante shifted slightly, and Luna’s eyes shifted to him as he made himself comfortable on her desk. “Word spreads quickly,” he answered with an annoying smirk attached to his lips.
Luna frowned, “Pep was right,” she thought. “We are being watched.”
“It isn’t that bad honestly,” said Tadashi trying to figure out why she was frowning. “You’re a new student, the first one we have ever had come in after school has actually started, you are an interesting topic and people are just curious.”
Shaking her head Luna frowned further, not getting the answer she wanted, even though she knew that he wouldn’t give himself away.
“Can we focus on our lesson please? I don’t want to be behind.” Luna asked desperately accompanied by a glare that seemingly had no effect on the two.
It was almost like she was playing two verses one ping pong with these two as her head bounced to Dante who had answered this time.
“No point, lessons about to end,” he shrugged carelessly as he flicked his head towards the clock at the back of the class.
It was two fifty-five, fifth teen minutes until the bell rung if she could remember what pep had said while bringing her up to the garden earlier.
“This is-”
A soft tranquil sound interrupted her. It was sad, full of sorrow as it echoed throughout the room.
Noticeably the class was silent too and had sad expressions on their faces. Even Dante had neglected the annoying smirk on his face.
Everyone in the class looked like they would tear up and she couldn’t blame them. There was so much emotion put into each breath, each note and they all told a story. A story of pain, love, loss.
Without knowing it she began to cry, crying for the persons loss as it resonated with her and pulled her heart strings
Crying for the pain that they were going through.
Crying for the love that was not being received by who this person love.
And crying for the loss of hope as the song sounded empty.
ns 15.158.61.21da2