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“Ryo, that girl’s been looking at you the entire class.” A sigh escaped the blond man’s lips. Yes, he had noticed she had been looking at him. Just because he no longer held the position of one of the most powerful people in all of Cherryhill didn’t mean that he had lost all of the skills that came with it. They had been dulled from months of not being in use, but they were far from gone. If it mattered at all to him, he would have done something about it.”Actually, she looks at you almost every day.” No, even if the girl and her constant looks did bother him, there was someone else whom with he was much more concerned in getting to stop whatever he was doing. The person was Kiyoshi, Ryouichi’s roommate and possibly the most annoying person he had ever come across. See, Kiyoshi was that special kind of annoying that made it impossible to hate him but also made it impossible to want to be around him for more than five minutes. Unfortunately for golden eyed man, aside from having to live with him, Kiyoshi decided to attach himself to Ryouichi.

“First of all,” Ryouichi said as he physically pushed Kiyoshi away, “I don’t care. She can look at me all she wants. Second of all-” The next thing he knew, his roommate with perfectly straight black hair that hung just above his eyes interrupted him. A few months ago, Ryouichi would have threatened, and possibly carried out those threats, his roommate with violence. By this point though, he had learned to mostly ignore it. Kiyoshi slid himself back to where he had been before, and was just as invasive of Ryouichi’s personal space as before.

“Because you are hopelessly devoted and completely in love with Mikami, right? You know, come to think of it, I’ve never even met this Mikami character, Ryo.” Kiyoshi had this infectious smile he pulled out sometimes. On normal people, it made them stay and listen to what he had to say. When it came to Ryouichi, it just made him want to have even more space between him and the black haired man.

“Second of all, how many times have I told me not to Ryo?” Ryouichi wasn’t even looking at his roommate anymore. His eyes were focused on a book that the two of them were supposed to be reading for class.

Kiyoshi rested his on the blond’s shoulder, making Ryouichi tense up. Kiyoshi full well knew that his roommate valued his personal space and that there were few things that bothered him more than it being invaded. That was the exact reason why he made it his mission to be as close to Ryouichi as possible in every moment of his day. It had even gone so far as crawling into bed with the closed off teen on a few occasions, only to be promptly kicked out. Batting his almost unhumanly beautiful blue eyes, Kiyoshi let out a small whine before responding. “But your name’s just so long Ryo! Calling you Ryo is so much easier!”

“Your name isn’t much shorter than mine and I still call you by it.”

“But I gave you the option to shorten it. Remember, on the first day we met I told you to call me Kiyo.” Ryouichi sighed, pushing Kiyoshi away again. He came back without fail, as he always did, but this time rested his head on the table in front of him, eyes trained on the girl that kept glancing back at the two of them.

Ryouichi did remember the first day, and despite insulting, ignoring, and pushing away Kiyoshi all the time, he truly didn’t mind him. He was his closest friend at university, as much as that pained him to admit, and it wasn’t like he was a bad person. Ryouichi would bet his life, the life of his family, and the life of Mikami on the fact that he was sure he had been a much worse person in the past than Kiyoshi would ever be. There was something that kept him attached to the raven haired man. The more he thought about it, the more Ryouichi had come to terms with the idea that if he had known Kiyoshi in high school, he would have wanted him to be on his side. He was intelligent, quick witted, and on the few occasions that Ryoichi had tried to physically harm him, he jumped away before the blond could get a single hit in.

“You know, she’s kind of pretty.” Ryouichi nodded. He wouldn’t deny that the girl was pretty, but as Kiyoshi had mentioned before, he was hopelessly in love with Mikami. “That Mikami must be a pretty swell guy for you to not even consider girls like that.” He didn’t respond. Kiyoshi could never hope to understand just why Mikami was so special. He had no intention helping him figure it out either. Those memories were painful, and, truthfully, he still wasn’t completely over them. No, Kiyoshi’s blue eyes, the girl’s green ones, they could never compare to the two sets of eyes he had fallen in love with. Both brown, but both entirely different at the same time. “But you can tell she’s an athlete too. Look at this arms. They’re small and ladylike, but you can tell just how defined those muscles are. My guess is a swimmer.”

Ryouichi internally congratulated Kiyoshi. He had an eye for detail that few people had. Yes, he would have been someone who, at least in theory, would have fit in perfectly at Cherryhill. In theory at least. In reality, Ryouichi would never wish that world on anyone with even a bit of good in them. Cherryhill ruined people. It had ruined it.

He let his eyes drift over to the girl and immediately realized it. She had an aura about her. It wasn’t something that was really there, just a feeling in his gut. He’s picked it up during his highschool years and he was almost always right. That girl was a fighter, and not in the sense that she boxed on the weekends. The way that she dressed, girly but still usefull if something bad were to happen. Her hair was pulled up so that no strand was loose. The way she looked back every so often, which he was now convinced only he and Kiyoshi had noticed. She knew how to survive in harsh situations. It wasn’t like Kiyoshi, who had the natural talent to survive but hadn’t ever refined it. Further more, he’d never got that sense from anyone that wasn’t from Cherryhill.

Kiyoshi didn’t pick up on the instinct that had taken over within his blond roommate even as the girl got up and walked towards the two of them. Ryouichi doubted he could. She smiled as she came to a stop next to where the two of them were sitting, her ponytail hanging down over her left shoulder. Kiyoshi smiled instantly. The girl returned the smile. Ryouichi’s face stayed the exact same. “Hi. I’m Mei. It’s nice to meet you.”

“Not to break your heart, but he isn’t interested,” Kiyoshi said with a devious smirked. “But the dark haired boy with beautiful blue eyes sitting right next to mister tall, handsome, and blond is.” Ryouichi just about told him to shut up. It was obvious she wasn’t here because she was interested in either of them. He decided to let Kiyoshi figure that out for himself though.

“Sorry,” Mei said with a slight laugh as she brought her hand up to scratch the back of her head. “I’m not here for that kind of thing.” A wave of disappointment washed over Kiyoshi. She was so pretty too! “I’m a psychology major and I was wondering if I could ask you a few questions for my project Ryouichi.” Ryouichi wasn’t phased by her knowing his name. If his suspicions were right, and she was from Cherryhill, she would have no reason not to.

“What, why do you know Ryo’s name? Are you a stalker or something. Maybe a spy.That would work too.”

“Kiyoshi, shut up,” he said, his head turned to face his roommate. After that though, all of his attention was on her. “I assume you are from Cherryhill then?” She nodded, a smile still on her face.

~~~

“Kiyoshi sounds interesting,” Mikami uttered as he leaned back against the wall beside Ryouichi’s bed. It had been a week since the events between Ryouichi, Kiyoshi, and Mei had gone down. Now, Ryouichi was home visiting for the weekend. He tried to come home as often as possible. After all, Mikami was at Cherryhill and there was something oddly homely about the messed up city. Plus, one could only handle so many weekends with Kiyoshi. He was at his limit. The constant pestering about his past was something else he could do without for a day or two.

“If by interesting you mean annoying then yes, Kiyoshi is the most interesting person I have met since I graduated.” Mikami chuckled. Of course. He had to smile though. As much as he knew that he didn’t have many friends to speak of himself, it was a partial relief to him that Ryouichi had someone while he was away, because deep down, he was still scared that the former banchou would slip back into his old ways for some reason. The post Kizuna and before him ways. The ways where his classmates had been afraid to leave him alone. “Mei was much more pleasant. Although I think her hanging out with us could be bad for her. Kiyoshi bothers her almost as much as he bothers me.” Ryouichi spun around in his desk chair so that he wouldn’t have to be physically turned around to look at Mikami

“So where’d she go to school? I’m assuming it wasn’t Seiryuu, because the name Mei doesn’t ring any bells and it seems like she was involved in delinquent activities.” The way Ryouichi described her looks wise didn’t really match anyone he had known either.

“Genbu. She wasn’t high in the ranks, but she apparently knew Kichiro. You know, Rokurou’s brother. And that’s why she knew as much about me as she did.”
“Rokurou and Kichiro are the two information brokers that rarely ever actually fight and will literally sleep with anyone, right?” Ryouichi nodded. As much as he hated it to admit it, even he had stooped to the level of given into the temptation of sleeping with Rokurou for information. Back then he hadn’t cared, but now it was different for some reason. He put it out of his mind though. After all, the past was the past and it couldn’t be changed. That was a sad fact he was forced to live with every day.

Mikami’s voice pulled him out of his self inflicted moment of sadness. “What exactly did she ask you about anyways?”

“Would saying everything be too vague?” Mikami nodded, smiling a little bit. “Then I’ll start from the beginning.”

~~~

A small blond boy stared at the door to his new classroom. He kept reasoning with himself that he shouldn’t be scared. After all, how bad could these kids be? They were probably just like the kids from his old school and he would end up being absolutely fine. He would make friends just fine, and hopefully his parents wouldn’t get new jobs and everything would be okay. His mom and dad had even told him that he shouldn’t be scared. So why was his heart still beating fast, and why was he compulsively clutching the bottom of his sleeves? Somehow, he found the courage to open the door to the classroom. Ryouichi was now regretting being late on his first day. Mom and Dad had made him come anyways, so maybe he should have just gotten over with this earlier.

As it would turn out, his first day wasn’t nearly as bad as he had expected it to be. By the time lunch came around, he had plenty of other kids to sit with. Yes, an eight year old Ryouichi was perfectly content with his place at his new school. When the topic of the gangs the older kids ran came up, he had no clue just how much that conversation would change his life. He just thought it was another silly thing kids his age talked about.

“So, you’ve heard about the gangs the older kids run, right Ryo?” Ryouichi shook his head. No, he’d never heard about that. Why would kids be running gangs. Cherryhill seemed like such a nice place too. “Heh, then I should probably tell you about them. I mean, they usually leave little kids like us alone, unless one of our older siblings is involved or something. You’re brand new though, so you shouldn’t have to worry about it.” Ryouichi shook his head, hoping to show that he kind of understood where his new friend, a kid by the name of Kotetsu, was trying to say.

“Either way, there are four schools: Suzaku, Seiryuu, Genbu, and Byakko. The four of them are at constant war with each other. Its not really like you have to worry about them though. Like I said before, they rarely ever go after kids.” It sounded silly to Ryouichi. Why would someone ever actually get involved with something that dangerous? Besides, those must have just been rumors. The authorities would never let that happen.

~~~

“So Kiyoshi wasn’t the first one to call you Ryo?” Ryouichi shook his head.

“No. Actually, it only really stopped once I started high school and people finally decided to listen to me when I told them I didn’t like nicknames.”

“Huh, I never pegged you as the type to dislike nicknames,” Mikami replied sarcastically. He would have been more surprised if Ryouichi had told him he liked nicknames. After that thought though, a silence settled over them. Then another thought crossed Mikami’s mind. “Why’d you move to Cherryhill in the first place?”

“Dad got transferred from another region and a promotion. He used to be the chief of police for Cherryhill until some private company paid a huge amount of money to get him to be head of security. That was a few years after we moved here though, so he just commutes.”

“I never knew your dad was the Chief of Police. Kind of ironic, considering your position up until you graduated.” The two of them shared a laugh. Yes, ironic was definitely the best way to describe it. “Anyways, lets get back to what you told Mei. Its interesting. I’ve never heard about your childhood before.” Ryouichi smiled. He liked telling Mikami these things. They were things that he never told anyone. Why he had even chosen to tell it to some random girl who was basically studying him for a psychology project would always be a mystery.

“I’m not going to go into detail about what happened next. I didn’t go into it when I told Mei and its not something I particularly want to make myself relive.” He took a break to gather his thoughts. “When I was nine, I caught my father cheating on my mother. I hadn’t really thought about it before I talked to Mei, but I guess you consider that the start of my trust issues and the like. You know, how I was when I was banchou.” Ryouichi full well knew that there were many people out there who had much more traumatic events that they had had to live through. He wasn’t denying that. But for a boy who had grown up in a near perfect world, it was shattering.

Mikami didn’t want to force the topic. It was obvious that it was something Ryouichi didn’t want to talk about, just like how the subject of Kizuna, the dead number two, was never brought up. As much as Mikami knew about his blond boyfriend, there was still a good deal he didn’t know, and most of that was just how he would react to stuff like that. So, instead of pressuring Ryouichi into telling him more, Mikami just nodded and let the subject drop. Ryouichi smiled, and continued on with the story. There was a time and place for sensitive subjects after all, and right now was neither the time.

~~~

It was in middle school that Ryouichi first really heard any news about these fabled gangs of students. Back in elementary, they were kept as far away from the chaos and turmoil as possible. Especially in Ryouichi’s case, being a well off kid from the North. He also had zero interest in the goings on of the older kids, thinking they were downright stupid and silly from the start. But things had changed inside of the young blond. He wasn’t as innocent and naive as he used to be, but even more than that, he had lost nearly all of his ability to trust others. He had become an excellent liar and slowly realized that it was a skill that could get him nearly anything he wanted. It was something that happened gradually, so much so that not even he noticed. He became a realist, and it didn’t take him long to figure out why student participated in these wars. They wanted to survive, and the best way to do that was ensure that your enemy was weaker than you were.

He didn’t actively seek out information about it until the year before he entered high school. Even before that though he was starting to pick out kids that would be good to have on his side when he got to highschool. Ryouichi didn’t even know how the whole system worked back then, but he knew he wanted to be a part of it.

The opportunity to gain more information came from a sophomore who was visiting the middle school to tell kids about high school and what to expect. It didn’t take long for the idea to pop into Ryouichi’s head, and the perfect time to ask about the school wars came at the end of the sophomore’s presentation when the older student asked if anyone had any questions.

Ryouichi’s hand shot up, taking the older student by surprise. Weren’t kids supposed to be uninterested or hesitant? He called on him, chuckling a little bit to himself as he did. “What about the wars going on between the schools. Is there anything we need to know about that?” This single question took the older student by surprise more than his lack of hesitation. Curious, yet oddly serious and sly eyes stayed trained on the older student until he came up with an answer.

“Look, kid. That isn’t something you want to get involved with. People die. Suzaku only participates in it because someone needs to protect our students.” That wasn’t a good enough answer, at least for Ryouichi. It did confirm some of his suspicions about the school only participating because of a need for protection.

“But don’t people need to be involved if the school wants to stay safe?” The older student sighed. What was wrong with this kid.

“Fine. If you really want to know, the only people involved in the war going on between the schools at Suzaku are the student council members and the class reps. Become one of those and you and be part of the war. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.” While the older student had done his best to warn Ryouichi and steer him away from a path that led down getting involved with that insanity, it did little good. He now had a goal. But if he really wanted the other students to trust him, even if he didn’t trust them, then he would have to go about this like a normal student. Make people believe he was doing this for their good, not his own desire to be stronger than everyone else so he would never be betrayed again. Yes, that was a brilliant plan. He was already charismatic and good looking after all. He could pretend to be a nice and genuinely interested person well enough. Yes, it was nearly fool proof.

~~~

“I didn’t know Suzaku worked like that,” said Mikami as Ryouichi moved so they were sitting together on the older male’s bed. “I just always assumed everyone who wanted to be a delinquent got to be one.”

“That’s how it works in the other schools, right?”

“Yeah, or at least that’s how it works in Seiryuu. If you could fight, you were a delinquent. It wasn’t as much about protection as it was getting rid of stress and avoiding life, at least for me.” Ryouichi tilted his head a bit to the side as he leaned up against the wall next to Mikami.

“I’m sorry. That sounds like a horrible escape from reality.” Mikami shrugged. He had never really thought about it like that. It made sense, but he had never thought about it like that.

“It was easier, I guess. More simple. If you’re a good fighter, you live and move up in ranks. If you’re a bad one, you might die. It wasn’t complicated. Trust me, not complicated is for the best. A lot of Seiryuu kids can’t handle complicated.” Ryouichi laughed at the small joke. He’d never liked Seiryuu students, Mikami being the exception of course. It was a natural dislike. The organized, intellectual, innocent Suzaku lifestyle just didn’t mix well with Seiryuu’s rough and tumble lifestyle. Like oil and water. “I shouldn’t even ask how you became your grade’s rep, right? I’m assuming it was through lies, deceit, and charm.”

“Not entirely. Other students weren’t begging to be the rep, knowing what went along with it. It would be a lie to say that I didn’t charm my way into the position though.” Ryouichi was hurt a little bit by the lies, deceit, and charm part, but understood that Mikami was only joking. After all, those were the method he got nearly everything he wanted. Nearly everything because no amount of lying, deceiving, and charming could bring back that dead. Nothing could. “I wasn’t the only rep from my grade. He was there too.”

“Kizuna, right?” Ryouichi nodded.

“It took me a while to understand how someone like that, someone so sweet and tame, at least on the surface, could do any good in a position like that. But Suzaku, and this silly war in general, is all about politics, and when it came to that, he was nearly as good at putting up a front as I was.” Ryouichi sighed. “I became banchou in 11th. The rest is history that I’m sure you know.” The older male leaned his head on Mikami’s shoulder.

The two stayed like that for awhile. He had heard enough about the two years that Ryouichi left out of his story to know what happened. He cemented Suzaku as the top dog for a time, and then nearly lost it all with the death of his number two. All of it made Mikami question whether or not he would take the role as banchou next year once the four above him graduated. Part of him wanted to, just to spite the current banchou. When he thought about it more and more though, he realized that it was a delicate position that could very well break people. Look at the insanity in the eyes of Akira or the paranoia and distrust that had overtaken the Genbu banchou. Look at how close Ryouichi had been to being thrown over the edge last year. Could he survive that? Mikami wasn’t sure. There was the very real possibility of it breaking him as well, and that wasn’t something the dark haired boy liked to think about.

Oh well, that was a thought to be had another time. For now, he would just be happy that Ryouichi hadn’t been broken completely. Yes, that was the best course of action.

Description
“Ryo, that girl’s been looking at you the entire class.” A sigh escaped the blond man’s lips. Yes, he had noticed she had been looking at him. Just because he no longer held the position of one of the most powerful people in all of Cherryhill didn’t mean that he had lost all of the skills that came with it. They had been dulled from months of not being in use, but they were far from gone. If it mattered at all to him, he would have done something about it.”Actually, she looks at you almost every day.” No, even if the girl and her constant looks did bother him, there was someone else whom with he was much more concerned in getting to stop whatever he was doing. The person was Kiyoshi, Ryouichi’s roommate and possibly the most annoying person he had ever come across. See, Kiyoshi was that special kind of annoying that made it impossible to hate him but also made it impossible to want to be around him for more than five minutes. Unfortunately for golden eyed man, aside from having to live with him, Kiyoshi decided to attach himself to Ryouichi.

“First of all,” Ryouichi said as he physically pushed Kiyoshi away, “I don’t care. She can look at me all she wants. Second of all-” The next thing he knew, his roommate with perfectly straight black hair that hung just above his eyes interrupted him. A few months ago, Ryouichi would have threatened, and possibly carried out those threats, his roommate with violence. By this point though, he had learned to mostly ignore it. Kiyoshi slid himself back to where he had been before, and was just as invasive of Ryouichi’s personal space as before.

“Because you are hopelessly devoted and completely in love with Mikami, right? You know, come to think of it, I’ve never even met this Mikami character, Ryo.” Kiyoshi had this infectious smile he pulled out sometimes. On normal people, it made them stay and listen to what he had to say. When it came to Ryouichi, it just made him want to have even more space between him and the black haired man.

“Second of all, how many times have I told me not to Ryo?” Ryouichi wasn’t even looking at his roommate anymore. His eyes were focused on a book that the two of them were supposed to be reading for class.

Kiyoshi rested his on the blond’s shoulder, making Ryouichi tense up. Kiyoshi full well knew that his roommate valued his personal space and that there were few things that bothered him more than it being invaded. That was the exact reason why he made it his mission to be as close to Ryouichi as possible in every moment of his day. It had even gone so far as crawling into bed with the closed off teen on a few occasions, only to be promptly kicked out. Batting his almost unhumanly beautiful blue eyes, Kiyoshi let out a small whine before responding. “But your name’s just so long Ryo! Calling you Ryo is so much easier!”

“Your name isn’t much shorter than mine and I still call you by it.”

“But I gave you the option to shorten it. Remember, on the first day we met I told you to call me Kiyo.” Ryouichi sighed, pushing Kiyoshi away again. He came back without fail, as he always did, but this time rested his head on the table in front of him, eyes trained on the girl that kept glancing back at the two of them.

Ryouichi did remember the first day, and despite insulting, ignoring, and pushing away Kiyoshi all the time, he truly didn’t mind him. He was his closest friend at university, as much as that pained him to admit, and it wasn’t like he was a bad person. Ryouichi would bet his life, the life of his family, and the life of Mikami on the fact that he was sure he had been a much worse person in the past than Kiyoshi would ever be. There was something that kept him attached to the raven haired man. The more he thought about it, the more Ryouichi had come to terms with the idea that if he had known Kiyoshi in high school, he would have wanted him to be on his side. He was intelligent, quick witted, and on the few occasions that Ryoichi had tried to physically harm him, he jumped away before the blond could get a single hit in.

“You know, she’s kind of pretty.” Ryouichi nodded. He wouldn’t deny that the girl was pretty, but as Kiyoshi had mentioned before, he was hopelessly in love with Mikami. “That Mikami must be a pretty swell guy for you to not even consider girls like that.” He didn’t respond. Kiyoshi could never hope to understand just why Mikami was so special. He had no intention helping him figure it out either. Those memories were painful, and, truthfully, he still wasn’t completely over them. No, Kiyoshi’s blue eyes, the girl’s green ones, they could never compare to the two sets of eyes he had fallen in love with. Both brown, but both entirely different at the same time. “But you can tell she’s an athlete too. Look at this arms. They’re small and ladylike, but you can tell just how defined those muscles are. My guess is a swimmer.”

Ryouichi internally congratulated Kiyoshi. He had an eye for detail that few people had. Yes, he would have been someone who, at least in theory, would have fit in perfectly at Cherryhill. In theory at least. In reality, Ryouichi would never wish that world on anyone with even a bit of good in them. Cherryhill ruined people. It had ruined it.

He let his eyes drift over to the girl and immediately realized it. She had an aura about her. It wasn’t something that was really there, just a feeling in his gut. He’s picked it up during his highschool years and he was almost always right. That girl was a fighter, and not in the sense that she boxed on the weekends. The way that she dressed, girly but still usefull if something bad were to happen. Her hair was pulled up so that no strand was loose. The way she looked back every so often, which he was now convinced only he and Kiyoshi had noticed. She knew how to survive in harsh situations. It wasn’t like Kiyoshi, who had the natural talent to survive but hadn’t ever refined it. Further more, he’d never got that sense from anyone that wasn’t from Cherryhill.

Kiyoshi didn’t pick up on the instinct that had taken over within his blond roommate even as the girl got up and walked towards the two of them. Ryouichi doubted he could. She smiled as she came to a stop next to where the two of them were sitting, her ponytail hanging down over her left shoulder. Kiyoshi smiled instantly. The girl returned the smile. Ryouichi’s face stayed the exact same. “Hi. I’m Mei. It’s nice to meet you.”

“Not to break your heart, but he isn’t interested,” Kiyoshi said with a devious smirked. “But the dark haired boy with beautiful blue eyes sitting right next to mister tall, handsome, and blond is.” Ryouichi just about told him to shut up. It was obvious she wasn’t here because she was interested in either of them. He decided to let Kiyoshi figure that out for himself though.

“Sorry,” Mei said with a slight laugh as she brought her hand up to scratch the back of her head. “I’m not here for that kind of thing.” A wave of disappointment washed over Kiyoshi. She was so pretty too! “I’m a psychology major and I was wondering if I could ask you a few questions for my project Ryouichi.” Ryouichi wasn’t phased by her knowing his name. If his suspicions were right, and she was from Cherryhill, she would have no reason not to.

“What, why do you know Ryo’s name? Are you a stalker or something. Maybe a spy.That would work too.”

“Kiyoshi, shut up,” he said, his head turned to face his roommate. After that though, all of his attention was on her. “I assume you are from Cherryhill then?” She nodded, a smile still on her face.

~~~

“Kiyoshi sounds interesting,” Mikami uttered as he leaned back against the wall beside Ryouichi’s bed. It had been a week since the events between Ryouichi, Kiyoshi, and Mei had gone down. Now, Ryouichi was home visiting for the weekend. He tried to come home as often as possible. After all, Mikami was at Cherryhill and there was something oddly homely about the messed up city. Plus, one could only handle so many weekends with Kiyoshi. He was at his limit. The constant pestering about his past was something else he could do without for a day or two.

“If by interesting you mean annoying then yes, Kiyoshi is the most interesting person I have met since I graduated.” Mikami chuckled. Of course. He had to smile though. As much as he knew that he didn’t have many friends to speak of himself, it was a partial relief to him that Ryouichi had someone while he was away, because deep down, he was still scared that the former banchou would slip back into his old ways for some reason. The post Kizuna and before him ways. The ways where his classmates had been afraid to leave him alone. “Mei was much more pleasant. Although I think her hanging out with us could be bad for her. Kiyoshi bothers her almost as much as he bothers me.” Ryouichi spun around in his desk chair so that he wouldn’t have to be physically turned around to look at Mikami

“So where’d she go to school? I’m assuming it wasn’t Seiryuu, because the name Mei doesn’t ring any bells and it seems like she was involved in delinquent activities.” The way Ryouichi described her looks wise didn’t really match anyone he had known either.

“Genbu. She wasn’t high in the ranks, but she apparently knew Kichiro. You know, Rokurou’s brother. And that’s why she knew as much about me as she did.”
“Rokurou and Kichiro are the two information brokers that rarely ever actually fight and will literally sleep with anyone, right?” Ryouichi nodded. As much as he hated it to admit it, even he had stooped to the level of given into the temptation of sleeping with Rokurou for information. Back then he hadn’t cared, but now it was different for some reason. He put it out of his mind though. After all, the past was the past and it couldn’t be changed. That was a sad fact he was forced to live with every day.

Mikami’s voice pulled him out of his self inflicted moment of sadness. “What exactly did she ask you about anyways?”

“Would saying everything be too vague?” Mikami nodded, smiling a little bit. “Then I’ll start from the beginning.”

~~~

A small blond boy stared at the door to his new classroom. He kept reasoning with himself that he shouldn’t be scared. After all, how bad could these kids be? They were probably just like the kids from his old school and he would end up being absolutely fine. He would make friends just fine, and hopefully his parents wouldn’t get new jobs and everything would be okay. His mom and dad had even told him that he shouldn’t be scared. So why was his heart still beating fast, and why was he compulsively clutching the bottom of his sleeves? Somehow, he found the courage to open the door to the classroom. Ryouichi was now regretting being late on his first day. Mom and Dad had made him come anyways, so maybe he should have just gotten over with this earlier.

As it would turn out, his first day wasn’t nearly as bad as he had expected it to be. By the time lunch came around, he had plenty of other kids to sit with. Yes, an eight year old Ryouichi was perfectly content with his place at his new school. When the topic of the gangs the older kids ran came up, he had no clue just how much that conversation would change his life. He just thought it was another silly thing kids his age talked about.

“So, you’ve heard about the gangs the older kids run, right Ryo?” Ryouichi shook his head. No, he’d never heard about that. Why would kids be running gangs. Cherryhill seemed like such a nice place too. “Heh, then I should probably tell you about them. I mean, they usually leave little kids like us alone, unless one of our older siblings is involved or something. You’re brand new though, so you shouldn’t have to worry about it.” Ryouichi shook his head, hoping to show that he kind of understood where his new friend, a kid by the name of Kotetsu, was trying to say.

“Either way, there are four schools: Suzaku, Seiryuu, Genbu, and Byakko. The four of them are at constant war with each other. Its not really like you have to worry about them though. Like I said before, they rarely ever go after kids.” It sounded silly to Ryouichi. Why would someone ever actually get involved with something that dangerous? Besides, those must have just been rumors. The authorities would never let that happen.

~~~

“So Kiyoshi wasn’t the first one to call you Ryo?” Ryouichi shook his head.

“No. Actually, it only really stopped once I started high school and people finally decided to listen to me when I told them I didn’t like nicknames.”

“Huh, I never pegged you as the type to dislike nicknames,” Mikami replied sarcastically. He would have been more surprised if Ryouichi had told him he liked nicknames. After that thought though, a silence settled over them. Then another thought crossed Mikami’s mind. “Why’d you move to Cherryhill in the first place?”

“Dad got transferred from another region and a promotion. He used to be the chief of police for Cherryhill until some private company paid a huge amount of money to get him to be head of security. That was a few years after we moved here though, so he just commutes.”

“I never knew your dad was the Chief of Police. Kind of ironic, considering your position up until you graduated.” The two of them shared a laugh. Yes, ironic was definitely the best way to describe it. “Anyways, lets get back to what you told Mei. Its interesting. I’ve never heard about your childhood before.” Ryouichi smiled. He liked telling Mikami these things. They were things that he never told anyone. Why he had even chosen to tell it to some random girl who was basically studying him for a psychology project would always be a mystery.

“I’m not going to go into detail about what happened next. I didn’t go into it when I told Mei and its not something I particularly want to make myself relive.” He took a break to gather his thoughts. “When I was nine, I caught my father cheating on my mother. I hadn’t really thought about it before I talked to Mei, but I guess you consider that the start of my trust issues and the like. You know, how I was when I was banchou.” Ryouichi full well knew that there were many people out there who had much more traumatic events that they had had to live through. He wasn’t denying that. But for a boy who had grown up in a near perfect world, it was shattering.

Mikami didn’t want to force the topic. It was obvious that it was something Ryouichi didn’t want to talk about, just like how the subject of Kizuna, the dead number two, was never brought up. As much as Mikami knew about his blond boyfriend, there was still a good deal he didn’t know, and most of that was just how he would react to stuff like that. So, instead of pressuring Ryouichi into telling him more, Mikami just nodded and let the subject drop. Ryouichi smiled, and continued on with the story. There was a time and place for sensitive subjects after all, and right now was neither the time.

~~~

It was in middle school that Ryouichi first really heard any news about these fabled gangs of students. Back in elementary, they were kept as far away from the chaos and turmoil as possible. Especially in Ryouichi’s case, being a well off kid from the North. He also had zero interest in the goings on of the older kids, thinking they were downright stupid and silly from the start. But things had changed inside of the young blond. He wasn’t as innocent and naive as he used to be, but even more than that, he had lost nearly all of his ability to trust others. He had become an excellent liar and slowly realized that it was a skill that could get him nearly anything he wanted. It was something that happened gradually, so much so that not even he noticed. He became a realist, and it didn’t take him long to figure out why student participated in these wars. They wanted to survive, and the best way to do that was ensure that your enemy was weaker than you were.

He didn’t actively seek out information about it until the year before he entered high school. Even before that though he was starting to pick out kids that would be good to have on his side when he got to highschool. Ryouichi didn’t even know how the whole system worked back then, but he knew he wanted to be a part of it.

The opportunity to gain more information came from a sophomore who was visiting the middle school to tell kids about high school and what to expect. It didn’t take long for the idea to pop into Ryouichi’s head, and the perfect time to ask about the school wars came at the end of the sophomore’s presentation when the older student asked if anyone had any questions.

Ryouichi’s hand shot up, taking the older student by surprise. Weren’t kids supposed to be uninterested or hesitant? He called on him, chuckling a little bit to himself as he did. “What about the wars going on between the schools. Is there anything we need to know about that?” This single question took the older student by surprise more than his lack of hesitation. Curious, yet oddly serious and sly eyes stayed trained on the older student until he came up with an answer.

“Look, kid. That isn’t something you want to get involved with. People die. Suzaku only participates in it because someone needs to protect our students.” That wasn’t a good enough answer, at least for Ryouichi. It did confirm some of his suspicions about the school only participating because of a need for protection.

“But don’t people need to be involved if the school wants to stay safe?” The older student sighed. What was wrong with this kid.

“Fine. If you really want to know, the only people involved in the war going on between the schools at Suzaku are the student council members and the class reps. Become one of those and you and be part of the war. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.” While the older student had done his best to warn Ryouichi and steer him away from a path that led down getting involved with that insanity, it did little good. He now had a goal. But if he really wanted the other students to trust him, even if he didn’t trust them, then he would have to go about this like a normal student. Make people believe he was doing this for their good, not his own desire to be stronger than everyone else so he would never be betrayed again. Yes, that was a brilliant plan. He was already charismatic and good looking after all. He could pretend to be a nice and genuinely interested person well enough. Yes, it was nearly fool proof.

~~~

“I didn’t know Suzaku worked like that,” said Mikami as Ryouichi moved so they were sitting together on the older male’s bed. “I just always assumed everyone who wanted to be a delinquent got to be one.”

“That’s how it works in the other schools, right?”

“Yeah, or at least that’s how it works in Seiryuu. If you could fight, you were a delinquent. It wasn’t as much about protection as it was getting rid of stress and avoiding life, at least for me.” Ryouichi tilted his head a bit to the side as he leaned up against the wall next to Mikami.

“I’m sorry. That sounds like a horrible escape from reality.” Mikami shrugged. He had never really thought about it like that. It made sense, but he had never thought about it like that.

“It was easier, I guess. More simple. If you’re a good fighter, you live and move up in ranks. If you’re a bad one, you might die. It wasn’t complicated. Trust me, not complicated is for the best. A lot of Seiryuu kids can’t handle complicated.” Ryouichi laughed at the small joke. He’d never liked Seiryuu students, Mikami being the exception of course. It was a natural dislike. The organized, intellectual, innocent Suzaku lifestyle just didn’t mix well with Seiryuu’s rough and tumble lifestyle. Like oil and water. “I shouldn’t even ask how you became your grade’s rep, right? I’m assuming it was through lies, deceit, and charm.”

“Not entirely. Other students weren’t begging to be the rep, knowing what went along with it. It would be a lie to say that I didn’t charm my way into the position though.” Ryouichi was hurt a little bit by the lies, deceit, and charm part, but understood that Mikami was only joking. After all, those were the method he got nearly everything he wanted. Nearly everything because no amount of lying, deceiving, and charming could bring back that dead. Nothing could. “I wasn’t the only rep from my grade. He was there too.”

“Kizuna, right?” Ryouichi nodded.

“It took me a while to understand how someone like that, someone so sweet and tame, at least on the surface, could do any good in a position like that. But Suzaku, and this silly war in general, is all about politics, and when it came to that, he was nearly as good at putting up a front as I was.” Ryouichi sighed. “I became banchou in 11th. The rest is history that I’m sure you know.” The older male leaned his head on Mikami’s shoulder.

The two stayed like that for awhile. He had heard enough about the two years that Ryouichi left out of his story to know what happened. He cemented Suzaku as the top dog for a time, and then nearly lost it all with the death of his number two. All of it made Mikami question whether or not he would take the role as banchou next year once the four above him graduated. Part of him wanted to, just to spite the current banchou. When he thought about it more and more though, he realized that it was a delicate position that could very well break people. Look at the insanity in the eyes of Akira or the paranoia and distrust that had overtaken the Genbu banchou. Look at how close Ryouichi had been to being thrown over the edge last year. Could he survive that? Mikami wasn’t sure. There was the very real possibility of it breaking him as well, and that wasn’t something the dark haired boy liked to think about.

Oh well, that was a thought to be had another time. For now, he would just be happy that Ryouichi hadn’t been broken completely. Yes, that was the best course of action.