Rising From the Ashes [01]{Alice Nine - A Tora Love Story}

I hate riding the subway train. Every damn morning its the same thing over and over again. A group of giddy school girls would swoon over who was the cutest at school or who they dated and what the latest in fashion was. No matter how hard you try to ignore it, it just keeps coming back. I guess you could say it's like a virus; you can't cure it no matter how hard you try. But like I was saying, I hate riding the subway train.
You're wondering who I am, right? Well, my name is Akira Watanabe. I live in Tokyo Japan with my older brother Kaoru. I'm eighteen and I dropped out of high school when I was a second year student. My reason was because I'm not what you would call "right in the head". I'm not psychotic, I'm bipolar and paranoid. Both my parents couldn't take anymore of the medical bills that I wracked up, so they disowned me and left me in the care of my thirty-five year old brother.
Any ways, the train ride was boring. I was on my way to visit my friend Yoko Takahashi who lived on the other side of Tokyo. The view outside my window was dull, so I looked way towards the inside of the train. My gaze landed on a young man who had light brown hair, kind of a copper color; it was obviously dyed. He looked to be in his mid or late twenties but with the way he was dressed, he looked to be a kid like me. He was wearing a black shirt with a silly quote on it and over it with the buttons undone was a black denim jacket. And his legs were clad in baggy camouflage pants with a chain from his wallet dangling from the belt loop and pocket. He seemed familiar, but I shrugged it off as my stop came into view.
I made my way to the door, standing next to the man and waited for the train to come to a stop. My black tank top that had the words Mizu ni Nagasu, and showed my barely tattooed arms, must have caught his attention, along with my oddly streaked Mohawk styled hair, which consisted of the colors red, white, yellow, and purple. It looked like a pinata threw up on my head. And my TRIPP-pants with chains crisscrossing down the back of my legs and ending just above my ankles. My eyes must have made him do a double take seeing as they weren't the normal dark brown; they were bright blue, a crystal blue that was hard to come by on a color wheel. As the train came to a stop and the doors opened, I stepped out and walked towards the exit.
Upon reaching the top of the stairs which lead to the streets, my eyes were met with the bright light of the sun. "It's way too bright out here. Why couldn't it have been cloudy? That way my eyes wouldn't have to suffer." The sound of my cell phone reached my ears. I pulled the small flip phone out of my pocket and flipped it open. "Moshi, moshi. Oh, konnichiwa Yoko! Yeah, I'm on my way. I just got off the train."
I hung up my phone and walked down the sidewalk, past the sweet shop, and down two bocks until I reached my destination. A kid, living in the apartment complex, jumped down the last flight of stairs and landed right next to me and ran off across the street to the arcade to meet up with some friends of his. My paranoia must have kicked in because I pulled out my cell phone and called Yoko. She answered the phone with a soft voice. "Yoko, I'm at the bottom steps." I hung up without giving her a chance to speak. Something about kids coming out of nowhere freaked me out, although I'm not sure why. The doctors don't even know why. It could have been from the time my cousin came out of nowhere with an axe and chased me around the yard trying to cut me up into pieces when we were little.
After waiting ten minutes, Yoko finally showed up. She was wearing a plaid skirt with chains draped around it so when it swooshed in the wind it would jingle. Her shirt was a black tank top with a white skull and cross bones, like the Jolly Roger. Her feet were clad in steel toe boots. And her raven black hair was up in a messy loose bun. "Let me guess. A kid popped up out of nowhere?" she asked.
I nodded my head in reply.
"So what do you want to do today?" she asked.
"Getting myself a new tattoo," I stated, grabbing her arm and dragged her down the street towards the tattoo shop. "Now let's go."
Upon reaching the shop, I threw the door open, causing the little bell hanging over it to jingle. "Ohayo gozaimasu!" I shouted, throwing my arms up into the air. At the front desk was a young man who was into his early twenties. His name was Ryuu, he had tattoos decorating his arms. He had bleached hair and a lip piercing.
"Oh, ohayo Akira-chan! What can I do for you today?" he asked, getting off of his stool and walked around the glass display case he used as a desk and took a seat in the artists chair.
"I'm getting a new tattoo! Preferably on my arm," I stated, sitting down in the chair next to his. "I want it to be Suzaku. First done in black ink, like an outline, and in red ink, mimic the black lines! And I want it to go from my shoulder to my elbow."
Ryuu nodded.

-Yoko's Point of View-

I couldn't believe Akira was getting a tattoo this early in the morning! She was a wild child! I remember when I first met her. We were both in elementary school, and she was new to the class.
The teacher of our homeroom class wrote the name Watanabe Akira on the board in chalk. "Class, please make our new student feel welcomed to the class."
There, at the front of the room, stood a girl with short brown hair that rested just below her jaw line. Her eyes were a deep brown that looked like the black hole in outer space. "My name is Watanabe Akira. I'm from Tokyo."
She was so normal looking back then and now, here she was, getting a tattoo to add to her collection of ink drawings on her back, but this one would be on her arm. Her hair never looked like a pinata had thrown up on it and she never used to where blue contact lenses. But ever since her parents legally disowned her she's become rebellious. "Oh, Yoko, you'll never guess what I saw on the train ride over here," she said, keeping her blue eyes on the ink gun.
"What did you see?" I asked, becoming curious.
"I saw a guy who looked like Shou from Alice Nine. He must be a fan, because that's the best cosplay I've ever seen."
"Hn. Interesting."
-click-
stay tuned for part 2! Rate and message!