Ryouzanpaktou's strongest disciple. (Sanquin / Sarpedon)

[Sanquin]

Name: Furinji Miu (last name first)
Age: 21
Appearance: http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs71/f/20...f2-d53iajj.jpg


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Her first day of school. Things would be so great this time. No one there knew her. Knew how she would regularly get into trouble with gangs, thugs, muggers, delinquents, all of it. This would be a fresh start. A fresh start for the second time...but still, Miu was excited! Meeting new people, joining regular school clubs like the gymnastics team or the soccer team...something she had missed out on for most of her young life. With a happy smile on her lips Miu walked to the nearby channel. It was quite wide, and the nearest bridge was half a mile away. But it was a short cut if she crossed here. The girl walked to the edge, then crouched down and jumped all the way over the channel, and landing on the fence on the other side. No one had really seen her as it was past rush hour, and the streets were pretty quiet.

The rest of the walk went by rather quickly, the short cut having cut her remaining walking distance almost in half. She arrived at the school, and just to be sure, went to the classroom she needed to go to right away. Introductions were always the worst though. Having to wait outside until the teacher called you in, and then having to introduce yourself to the entire class. There was quite a bit of waiting, but then all the students started to go into their classrooms. Miu had to wait a bit longer, but then she was called in too. Once standing in front of the class she bowed, introducing herself appropriately. "Hello, I'm Furinji Miu. I hope I can make a lot of friends here. Please take care of me." Once that and the whispers among students was done Miu looked for an open spot. And there was only one place she could sit. One guy was sitting alone, everyone seemingly...avoiding him or something. So she decided to sit next to him.

With a smile the girl sat down and turned to the person beside her. "Hello~ Ah, I'm not up to date on where we are, could you help me for a bit?" She asked politely, hoping this could already be a start of a friendship between her and him. After that Miu got out her books and opened it on the right page, waiting for the guy next to her to help her. And if not...well, she would probably figure it out soon enough.

(the boy next to her is supposed to be you.)

[Sarpedon]

((I like to think I'm not simple, a hint that obvious is hard to miss XD))

Name: Shima Masaru
Age: 22
Appearance: http://oi50.tinypic.com/2gtp55i.jpg


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Masaru had gotten up early, as usual, and rushed his way to class. He hated public transportation, it made him nervous, and then he'd freak out and people got upset, and the last time he had tried it, he'd been kicked off the train less than halfway to his destination. Instead he just walked, he got up insanely early, and he walked. The good thing about it, was that no one was up that early, no one was around to bother him. He liked it when no one bothered him. Today had been no different, he got up, and went to class, eating his breakfast as he walked. As usual, he showed up almost half an hour early for class. The teacher had been there when he showed up, so Masaru had gotten to take his seat and get his notes out. Sometimes the teacher left, locking the door, but they had an understanding. Masaru didn't fuck with anything, and he got to sit there and not get bothered. It worked great for him. He already had his books out when class started, and dodging the morning paper ball was second nature now. But it seemed life had another way to mess with his routine. A new student in class. Now? Really? How do you expect to make up that kind of work? he wondered, they'd have to work harder than he did! Then he looked up. She's pretty... he thought, before going back to his notes.

He sat at the very front of the class, closest to the windows, and all around him was a space of at least one empty desk, most times more. No one wanted to sit near the guy that got hit with things when the douchebags were bored. And then suddenly, someone was sitting next to that guy. "What?" Masaru was genuinely shocked, why the hell was someone sitting next to him? And why was she so pretty? He didn't get it, but he figured she was probably fucking with him. Even the new girl is in on it... he thought, sighing mentally as he checked his page numbers. It took him only an instant to recover from his initial reaction, "Oh, yeah, we're on page five-twenty-seven... Umm... I dunno what you need help with, it's pretty basic stuff, we just started the new unit..." he said quietly. He really wanted to pay attention, since class would be starting any moment, and he needed to get these notes. At the same time, if this was not people messing with him, if this girl was genuinely interested in his help, he didn't want to begrudge her that, a friend or two might be nice once in a while. He supposed she'd figure out why the no-man's-land was there by the end of class, though, and then she would find someone else to help her. I can hope, though, can't I? he figured he could, but then realized he should probably stop before all the disappointment got to him and he got depressed and couldn't keep up with his classes...

[Sanquin]

There were more whispers in the class then Miu decided to sit next to the only guy no one wanted to sit next to. But she really didn't care. Gossip and such about these things weren't important. As long as they didn't think of her as scary or a freak she was fine with it. The guy told her the page they were on. It was at the start of a new chapter it seemed, however he didn't tell her his name. That seemed a bit rude to her. Did that mean this guy didn't want anything to do with her right from the start? That would definitely suck...and if so, she definitely wanted to find a different seat. She was here to make friends after all, not to just sit there quietly with a guy that didn't like her. "Um...so what's your name?" She asked, deciding she might as well ask him directly rather than waiting for him to maybe decide on telling her.

That's when two guys sitting a bit to the back decided to throw balls of paper at the guy beside her. However one was aimed pretty poorly, and headed for Miu instead. Without even thinking about it, or even looking at it she leaned to the side and caught it with her hand. Then after a quick glance she threw it back to the two boys again. Everyone in the class that saw it was stunned, and more people whispered among each other. All Miu could think about was "Damn, I caught it without thinking! Stupid training...I want to be a regular girl for once!" Luckily for her, even if she didn't know, people didn't see this as a freakish thing. More like an awesome thing. Getting back at the bullies in such a way was something most students never got to see.

Miu focused on her school work again, reading through the two pages they were supposed to do with only little interest. The lessons seemed to be pretty easy. Easier than what she was taught in her previous school at least. So at least her grades would be pretty good throughout the year if everything was like this. With a small smile she glanced at the boy beside her again, wondering how she could maybe start another conversation.

[Sarpedon]

Shit! You didn't introduce yourself! How are you supposed to make friends if you don't introduce yourself! he screamed in his head, outwardly, it manifested as a couple of muttered swear words, a wince, and then he managed to pull himself together enough to actually get his name out, "Shima Masaru." he said, giving Miu a bit of a nod. He really wanted to make friends, but the douchebags near the back would be throwing more paper in the next thirty seconds, give or take ten. There they were. Masaru leaned to the right, his statistical analysis having been correct, the balls aimed at him whizzed right by. He'd taken months to average all this though, he had it down to a science thanks to so much observation. But this girl, she'd plucked the paper out of the air and whipped it right back, and it was her first class. "Holy shit..." he muttered. Then he chuckled, it had even bounced right off the offender's forehead. They saw him laughing, though, and he realized that simply staying in at lunch likely wouldn't help him. It was actually time for class now, though, and he had to focus on that instead. It was a nice relief from the worry, though he did keep an eye on his watch, he had about twenty minutes, give or take five, before those two got bored again, this time he'd want to lean left, and then right, and then left again, if his observations were correct. He shifted positions slightly, so maximize his ability to avoid what was to come as he continued to skim the material. He had already read it so that he could pay more attention to avoiding his torment.

Then, the time approached, and he figured it was only fair to warn his seat-mate. "In approximately three minutes, give or take thirty seconds, there is going to be a volley of three to five paper balls headed our way..." he said quietly, not looking up from his work, "If you lean to your left at least thirty degrees you should be clear of them, but so far attempts to calculate a standard deviation of the flight paths has proven inconclusive." he sighed when he realized what he had just said. Look at me, I'm the smart kid who get's picked on, so I use my intelligence to calculate all kinds of things about how I get picked on because I have no friends, and nothing better to do when I'm bored... he thought, shaking his head and continuing with the assignment. He was almost done though, and soon enough he would be alone with his thoughts, with the new girl sitting next to him. He figured, since she already knew he was probably the biggest loser she had ever met, he was okay to try his last, desperate attempt to find friendship, or at least someone to sit with occasionally.

"You asked for help catching up earlier..." he started, not sure how he wanted to put this, "We've got two group assignments coming up. I get the best marks in the class." he figured he would stop there and be the nice guy now, he had enough pride to not want to seem too desperate, "However, the two guys in the middle, closest to the door are also viable alternatives, they don't like to work ahead of time though. The girl two rows back, three seats over tries very hard, but she's not the smartest, you two would probably work well together." that was just based on observation. He was good at that, though it went more smoothly if he had a notebook and some time on his hands. It was the best he could go for now, and very likely it was the last help that Miu would want from him. Sighing again, Masaru leaned, almost casually, and watched the volley of papers fly by his head, not one even coming close. He smiled at his achievement, before seeing another two papers he had not accounted for. They were both headed for the new girl, though, no doubt everyone wanted to watch her bean the douchebags who threw them, and obviously they wanted to get her back for earlier...

[Sanquin]

Miu smiled when he finally did tell his name. "Nice to meet you, Masaru." She turned to her work again, still a bit worried about him disliking her or not. However then he spoke to her again. This time about the balls of paper that had been thrown their way a few moments earlier. The girl giggled softly as she looked at him. "Sounds like they're teasing you a lot then, if you were able to calculate their throwing skills by that much already." She turned to her work once again, deciding to take out a paper and pen to write some things down. After they both listened to the teacher for a bit. Then once again the guy decided to speak to her. Two assignments. That was bad...her life at the dojo was quite busy, so she wasn't in any position to spend a lot of time on such things. It was always the thing that gave her the worst grades in school; The assignments. However if Masaru was the one getting the best grades she might as well partner up with him right? It didn't seem like others wanted to do so anyway. "Well then, consider me your partner for those assignments. I'm looking forward to working with you." She smiled at him again, then got back to work.

The first classes passed quickly enough for Miu. Some more papers were thrown, but this time she just dodged them like Masaru had suggested. It was just as easy to catch them, but she didn't want to stand out so it was best to act like the classmate sitting beside her. During break time Miu first went to get her lunch from her locker. Then as she tried to find where Masaru was he seemed to have disappeared. She frowned, looking around for a moment or two before finally spotting him in the crowd. No one seemed to really be paying attention to him. Like he was blending into the crowd quite well. A skill quite a few people never learned. She grinned, heading into the same direction to try and follow him. If he was going to be her first friend in this new school she wanted to eat lunch with him as well.

After taking a few turns, and seemingly being away from where everyone else was sitting, Miu finally managed to catch up. "Masaru~ Wait for me! Can I join you for lunch?" She called out as she ran after him before walking beside him. "You're the only person I know a little bit, so it's fine right?" In truth Miu could probably find a dozen friends, mostly male, given her looks. But she didn't care about people that wanted to be friends just because you were cute. And Masaru seemed like a nice guy even if most other people avoided him. It puzzled her a little bit, so maybe she could ask him about it later.

[Sarpedon]

Masaru didn't say anything when Miu commented on the "teasing". He figured she would realize what was going on soon enough, probably at lunch when the two at the back finally spotted him and chased him down. Being observant only helped so much when you couldn't run. And he couldn't get in shape, since that meant going to a gym, and that is where his tormentors went, leaving him in a vicious circle he hoped to break by being more successful than them, and then crushing them financially with a contrived lawsuit. He sighed, wishing he could just beat the shit out of them and not have to just fantasize about getting them back. At least he had a partner for the assignments, though, that was nice. Normally he got stuck with whoever didn't have a buddy in class that day, and then he had to do most of the work himself because no one wanted to be seen near him. He understood that, but he really didn't like it. He didn't blame them though, it made sense. Miu, however, said she was looking forward to working with him. Did that mean she actually wanted to help out? Did she really want to be friends? That would be cool, maybe she could throw some of those paper balls back with some regularity and get his tormentors to stop throwing them.

Masaru eventually managed to get his mind back on the work at hand, and he worked hard, trying to get at least some of it straight in his head. All too soon, though, lunch time arrived. All the students were dismissed to go get something to eat. Masaru had brought his own lunch to minimize the risk of being spotted. He packed up his things, and was one of the first few out the door. He quickly blended into the crowd, and thought he might not get spotted today. He headed for one of his usual spots, and almost made it. Then he heard someone calling his name, and he turned around. "Oh, uuuuhhh... Hi Miu..." For a very brief instant, he looked like a deer caught in the headlights of a truck, but then he managed to recover, and smile. That was what you were supposed to do, right? He nodded, "Uh, sure, yeah, that sounds good..." She doesn't seriously want to have lunch with me, right? he thought, I wouldn't have lunch with me... he was confused, but he wasn't about to say no to a little human contact.

But no matter how okay it was for them to have lunch together, he wasn't sure he'd actually get to eat lunch. "Fuck, shit, bastards..." he mumbled, suddenly seeing his tormentors from class. They made eye contact, and the bullies grinned, while Masaru moved to head the other direction. Except that there was a fat guy in his way. To be fair, the fat guy was in everyone's way, he took up a good quarter of the hall and really wasn't making things easy for anyone. Unfortunately, it meant that Masaru was unable to escape. Then, as if by some cue, a circle formed, and there was no stopping what had to come next. The two, much bigger students squared off against a resigned-looking Masaru. He didn't bother trying to move, he just stood quietly and waited. That seemed the best course of action. As long as he didn't make much noise and didn't do anything, they got bored and left pretty quickly, though he was probably looking at a minimum of a black eye today, considering that he'd laughed at them in class. Some day I'll get them back... he promised himself, though it sounded hollow with a rather unpleasant beating about to begin...

[Sanquin]

Miu wasn't given any time to say anything more. As suddenly a group of male students headed their way. And before she knew it she was 'pushed' out of the way. A bunch of guys had decided to step in between him and her, and now Masaru was surrounded. Miu could of course easily break things up, however there were a few problems with that. One; she didn't want her martial arts to get noticed in school. Two; this was his fight, not hers. Supporting was one thing, fighting his fight for him was a whole different thing. Three; her grandfather had always told her that a man should be allowed to fight himself. Otherwise, if he was 'saved' by a girl his pride as a man might be severely damaged. And that could hurt a person a lot more than 'just' getting beaten up. So she stood by for the moment, wondering what would happen next. Surely Masaru would be able to escape at the very least, right? However things didn't turn out that way... Some words were exchanged, part of them being the bullies saying that Masaru had suddenly gotten all full of himself because of his 'cute, big breasted new friend' in class. Miu of course immediately realized they meant her. She frowned even deeper, thinking "my breasts aren't that big! And they're even talking about me like I'm not here!" But she still didn't step in.

And then came the beating. One guy stepped forward and his Masaru right in the stomach. A guy then came up from behind and harshly pushed him to the ground. The group now started to get closer as a whole, probably planning on kicking the guy a few times at the very least. And that was when Miu finally did step in. But not to fight. "Hey! Leave him alone!" She exclaimed, pushing her way through the group and standing in front of Masaru as if she was trying to act like his shield. "We're just trying to have lunch. He's down already. If you want to hurt him more you'll have to go through me!" Even if they did, she wouldn't actually fight. Just defend herself enough to not get seriously hurt. Maybe a bruise or two, but that was nothing compared to what she was used to. However the guys quickly all backed away instead. "W-wha? So this is her? I knew it...she's really damn cute...and that chest!" One of them mumbled. He seemed like some kind of leader type guy in the group. "Ugh...whatever. We'll get you later Masaru! And you too, girl!" After that they dispersed. Unknown to the two, the leader of the group had only left because he didn't want to have the whole school against him. Hitting a cute, probably soon to be popular girl like this would be really bad for his already 'bad' reputation. And that wasn't something he wanted to deal with right now. If the two of them were alone though, where no one could see them, he would have no problem with hitting a girl. Even one like her.

Miu turned to Masaru again, smiling like nothing had happened at all. She held out a hand to help him up, if he wanted her help that is. "Geez, why didn't you fight back? Or at the very least run? You could have easily slipped by them you know~" She spoke. Her eyes had spotted at least a dozen openings to either attack or escape. And it would have been so easy too... She didn't even realize that 'regular guys' didn't see such things as a normal, every-day thing.

[Sarpedon]

Masaru went down hard. His normally observant brain shut down standard functions when his adrenaline kicked in, all he could see were his tormentors. He got hit in the stomach and just about dropped. He couldn't breathe, and while he knew his body would figure itself out in a matter of seconds, his brain was not being so agreeable. And then he hit the floor, with the help of one of the bullies. It hurt, it always did, but he'd gotten pretty good at not giving them a reaction. They usually kicked him a couple times and then left. This time, though, someone stepped in. He just lay where he was until he was sure that he wasn't going to get knocked around for a little bit, before finally finding his feet again. Miu had just helped him? That was cool of her, maybe next time she could step in before they knocked him down though. Then he got the usual questions, why don't you run or fight back? He shook his head, "Last time I fought back, I wound up in the hospital with three cracked ribs, and a broken leg. Last time I tried running away I woke up in the hospital with a concussion, a broken arm, two black eyes, and four chipped teeth." he said levelly. Escalation didn't work with those two, because they were willing to go further than he physically could.

Masaru then turned and started heading for his usual lunch spot again. He wasn't in the mood to get lectured by some girl who's biggest problem was being new. She could probably fit in wherever she wanted, she had no idea what he had been through, and he wasn't going into any more detail. He had work to do, food to eat, and an air of invisibility to restore. The back corner of the cafeteria was waiting for him as always, and he was glad that no one was there waiting for him. Sometimes people liked to sit there just so they could get up and leave when he arrived, apparently it was funny, he really didn't care though.

Sitting down, he got out his work and continued right where he left off in class. He got his pre-packed lunch out as well, though he did that more slowly, focused on his work more than his food. Then, when he finally had his sandwich in his hand, he thought he saw movement out of the corner of his eye. He looked up to see Miu sitting there at the table with him. Masaru looked around, his confusion growing. There was no one else here, it was just the two of them. Why was she sitting there? Hell, why had she stepped in? It didn't make any sense, she was the new girl, shouldn't she be trying to climb the social ladder or something? Then he realized he was giving her that look, the one that seemed to creep people out, he wasn't sure which look it was, but no one liked it, it was probably rude. On top of that, he'd been staring. He quickly stopped, making a slightly apologetic face before returning his gaze to his books, chewing slowly and thoughtfully as he pretended to read. No wonder no one likes you, you're so goddamn rude, and you didn't even apologize... he thought, feeling bad, but unable to do anything about it...

[Sanquin]

Miu frowned when he heard Masaru's explanation. Bullies could be harsh, but this harsh? That wasn't something she had seen before. The area was indeed a bit notorious for it's gang activity, but to think that also showed in the school itself... Luckily she was perfectly able to take care of herself. Sadly, he wasn't. The guy started walking away, Miu once again following. He really did seem like a nice guy for some reason, even if she hardly knew him. Maybe it was his eyes. They showed anger, but not that will to hurt others. Unlike those bullies whom had very clearly wanted to hurt Masaru. Once he sat down, so did she. And for some reason he was adamant on studying even during break time. Miu sighed a little bit. She had hoped this would be a good time to learn something more about each other, since they would be spending most of their classes next to each other. (schools in japan don't have you switch classrooms for different classes.) He did look at her in a weird way, but didn't say a word. And then all of a sudden he went back to his work.

Miu giggled softly, deciding to take out her bentou lunch. "You're weird you know that? First you seem like you don't want anything to do with me, and then you're suddenly friendly, and then it's back to ignoring me." She put a small rice ball in her mouth before speaking again. "Seriously though, why not take self-defence classes or something like that? Those bullies really don't seem that strong..." And really they weren't. They were at most at the level of a high school karate club. Not even worth mentioning when it came to real fighting. She could take them all out with her hands tied behind her back. Not that she was going to voice such thoughts to him...the idea was to blend in, not to be seen as a scary freak or delinquent or something similar. "If you did that, I bet you could defend yourself properly within half a year."

[Sarpedon]

Masaru rolled his eyes when Miu told him he was weird. She couldn't see it though, and that was probably for the best. He finally looked up from his work, finishing his current bite of sandwich before speaking, "First, I though you were messing with me to get in the popular crowd, then I thought you might be a nice person to hang out with, and then you made the most unhelpful suggestions I've ever heard... People who make unhelpful suggestions make me sad..." he said with a shrug, it was mostly because they reminded him of himself, and he was not the greatest individual. Then she asked him why he didn't take a self-defense course. He chuckled before trying to explain, "You don't think I've got good marks because I'm smart, do you?" he asked, "I'm as dumb as bricks, but very motivated." he added, "So I get all kinds of stuff done when those assholes are busy trying to torment me. and really, learning to stick up for myself never occurred to me..." He shrugged. It didn't help that he was getting through school on an allowance from his parents, but he supposed that they might consider it if he asked. They wanted to see him do well, so they made sure he never had enough for parties or anything, but if he told them what he wanted to learn, they would probably point him in the right direction. His father always wanted him to join the military. He didn't want to, and his mother was kind enough to take his side on that, but martial arts might keep his Dad happy. He smiled mentally at that, then maybe he would have more time to devote to being smart so he could mess around with computers.

Finishing his sandwich, he tried to focus more heavily on his books, pushing aside thoughts of other things, trying to memorize what he needed to know, and understand everything else. There was one upside to being tormented so much, he supposed, but he would really prefer being dumb as a brick. If it weren't for them keeping him inside, he would have flunked out by now. He supposed his father would be happy about that, since he could join the infantry and slog about and be dumb. He didn't like that idea. As much as he loved his parents, he wanted to work with computers, he wanted to build robots. Ideally, he wanted to design a robot that could be used to fight instead of people. He'd heard stories of his father's PTSD, and while it was better now, it had never really gone away, and likely never would. As much as he respected the men of the armed forces, they went through a lot of crap, crap that robots could do better. He wanted to help with that. Guess I need to learn to kick ass after all, Dad... he thought, chuckling silently. Then he relied he wasn't paying attention. Motivation was nice, but he needed to pay attention too.

He sighed again, and began flicking the side of his head, trying to keep himself focused on the task at hand. He had to figure this stuff out, preferably before they got the assignment to go with it. Masaru was hoping that Miu wouldn't leave him to do the project himself, but he had to be prepared just in case. And then, as usual, he got the gears to spin. There was always that point for him, where everything clicked. Another ten minutes and he'd understand everything. If his new friend wanted to keep chatting it would be more like twenty, but he could deal with that. Now that he had another idea to run with, he might be able to get his torment to stop, and he was feeling better, despite the pain in his abdomen. Six months... he thought, Six months, and I'm free...