Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Synthetic Emotions ❯ Phase 07: Suspicions ( Chapter 7 )

XxXxXx

Synthetic Emotions

By: Melissa Norvell

Phase 06: Initiation

XxXxXx

"This is the fourth day in a row," Mizuki stated.

"No joke," Momo replied. "Who is that guy?" She looked towards the school grounds, her one visible eye staring at the very thing the two were talking about, which happened to be the subject of Mariko and Asagi.

"If you really want to know, you could go up and ask her," Hyobe told them, figuring that it would solve the gossip between the two.

"Yeah right, like Mariko would tell us," Mizuki replied casually, as if the event didn't matter to her or not.

"She never tells us about her guy friends," Momo sighed.

"Probably because she's slept with all of them."

"Man, that's harsh."

"I'm being honest."

"So, do you think she slept with him too?" Momo asked, looking towards Asagi with a curious look on her face.

"Probably," Mizuki replied in her usual serious yet nonchalant tone. She always seemed uninterested in most everything. To most, she'd come off rude, but to those who took the time to understand her would know that it was just the way she was.

Kisame and Hisame walked up at that moment, accompanied by Sonata. They were dressed in their battle clothes, which consisted of kimono inspired ninja outfits. Kisame wore a short, pink kimono that stopped mid-thigh, had no sleeves and a long purple sash-like belt which was tied in a lose bow on her waist with two ends that hung down to her knees, which were covered by dark purple leggings and zori sandals which were black in coloration. She also had dark purple arm wraps which were held together by black sashes at the elbow and wrist.

Sonata was dressed in a white kimono top with puffy white pants that were gathered at the bottom. The right shoulder of his shirt was bright blue and he wore a belt that was yellow and long, tied in a knot. He also had socks and zori sandals that were light mahogany in color. He was carrying a long wooden pole with him.

Kisame wore a red business coat with black buttons and a golden kerchief in the pocket. She also had an arm band with the letter 'A' on it. Underneath her coat, she wore a dark purple poofy dress with white lace and white stocking with lace at the top accompanied by simple Mary Janes.

"Another tournament?" Hyobe asked, knowing that the only reason members of the martial arts club dressed like that was because they were having a tournament of some sort. It was one of the only times that they were permitted to wear their costumes instead of their uniforms.

"Nah, just initiation," Kisame waved a hand in dismissal as if initiation were a normal thing. Then again, it was to her. There were a lot of young people who aspired to be part of the martial arts club. Too bad the club had such strict limitations for neophyte members.

"Everyone is required to wear their club dress," Hisame told them.

"So, why are you dressed like a Lolita doll?" The wavy haired school girl asked, getting close to Hisame's face.

"I'm the announcer of the big tournaments. I'm just required to dress formally."

"Will you be announcing the initiation?" The narcissistic boy wondered.

"Not sure really, but it's good to be prepared."

"Who's fighting?" Mizuki asked.

"Wait…" Momo paused, throwing her long, blonde, wavy hair behind her back. She then looked at the stoic girl. "Why are you still in your uniform?"

"I didn't know about this," she replied, looking at Sonata and Hisame.

"I don't know why you weren't informed. I told Sonata-" The femininely dressed twin began to explain, but she was cut off by the stoic blonde girl, who was leveling Sonata with a death glare.

"Idiot."

"Uh…" Sonata made a happy anime face, complete with sweat drop. "I forgot?"

"Jerkoff."

"I saw you guys staring at Mariko and Asagi," Sonata tried to avert the subject from everyone being angry at him. He thought if he turned it towards what their attention was directed at that he would get out of so much tension and everyone being angry because he was too preoccupied to tell anyone. Just as he uttered the question, Eros and Aroura walked up, hearing the question as they neared the group.

"So that's his name," Aroura spoke, announcing her arrival.

"Aroura!" Momo and Mizuki said in unison, both of them sounded equally happy to see her.

"Hi guys," the black-haired girl smiled quaintly.

"Greetings," Eros replied, taking a formal bow to the two girls. The group bowed back to him before Aroura spoke up once more.

"Who is this Asagi anyway?" She asked, red eyes looking towards Sonata, who asked the question initially.

"Asagi is a prodigy!" The guy with flipped up hair said with excitement. "This guy has only been here for a week and a half and he's beaten every member of the SayaTouya Team. He's good and if you can beat him, you're talented. He's also super smart. He goes to the college down the street and he's only nineteen. He takes a lot of advanced classes and aces them all no problem."

"So, is he dating Mariko or not?" Mizuki asked as Sonata's face made contact with the ground.

"I don't know. Why are you asking me?"

"Because they are always together."

"Then why don't you ask Mariko?"

"Because she won't tell me. She never does."

"So…" Eros turned his head mechanically over towards the two. "He is my opponent?"

"Yeah, damn sucks to be you and I mean majorly," the tomboyish twin spoke. "I've seen this guy beat people and it's not pretty." Kisame felt sorry for anyone who went up against Asagi. She was glad that he wasn't around when she was joining the team; otherwise she wouldn't have lived through initiation.

"He looks very formidable," Hyobe replied, examining the dark man from afar. "Almost as if he's fought before."

"He looks like he's been through nine kinds of hell. I mean, look how tall, lean and muscular he is," Sonata added that it did look as if Asagi had been in life or death situations regarding physical situations. Asagi intimidated everyone on the martial arts team, even the most experienced members. As far as the realm of martial arts went, Asagi was top dog.

"What if that's just his body type?" Momo asked, being optimistic. After all, some people were just tall and strong. It didn't necessarily have to mean that they've been through hard times.

"Well, people usually look like that if they do a lot of sports or have been through some trials," Kisame noted. Not just anyone could have a fit figure like his. It did require a lot of movement and exercise.

"He's really good-looking. I like to watch him fight," Hisame sighted, giving a dreamy stare towards the spiky haired man a distance away from the group.

"Hisame!" Her twin shouted in scolding manner. Hisame always embarrassed her with stuff like that. Every time she met or saw a hot guy, she was always the first to get googly-eyed at them.

"Sorry…" Her sister replied, blushing to herself at the thought of the way Asagi's body moved in the practice room. At times like these, she was glad to be in the same club as him, especially since she got the opportunity to see him shirtless.

"The way he's built reminds me of Kagegane-sensei. You know, like he's seen death and stuff before," the tomboy tried to get the subject off of Kisame's rant.

"But his technique isn't anything like Kagegane-sensei's," Sonata stated.

Eros was transfixed on Asagi's form as he stood lazily beside of Mariko, the two of them talking. Pale, dull eyes locked on to his form, as if he interested him greatly with every movement. Since everyone spoke so fondly of Asagi, Eros decided that he would gather some analysis on his fighting capabilities and do a quick scan so he'd know what to expect. He was glad that Aroura had taught him how to do scanning analysis. Thanks to her, he'd gained a lot of use from his functions.

His eyes narrowed. 'Subject analysis…' He began to process information regarding Asagi as his detectors locked on to his form and his vision turned everything a monochromatic green. To the right of his central focus point, numbers began to roll up. Everything seemed normal for a while until something strange began to happen.

The numbers began to go up and down in count, and a yellow triangle flashed to his left. He could feel his body rising in temperature. He felt as if he were overheating. 'What? What's going on? His readings are throwing my reading off the chart. If I don't stop now, he'll shut down my system. Initiate cancellation.' He sent the telepathic message through as the word 'cancelled' flashed on his screen. He sighed to himself in relief. He'd never witnessed something so strange.

There was something strange about Asagi, especially if he couldn't read him with a normal scan. He'd practiced this procedure on many humans and it worked every time…so why didn't it work with Asagi?

"Are you alright?" He could hear Hyobe's voice reach him. The pretty boy noticed that he was looking what seemed to be nervous and almost paranoid.

"Huh?" Eros blinked, shaking it off.

"You looked a little spacey there."

"Sorry," Eros replied, looking down at the ground for a few minutes, waiting for his system to cool down for a while. He could still feel the smallest pulses speeding up beyond what they could handle.

"You do know that your initiation is at lunch, don't you?" Hisame asked from in front of him.

"I am aware of that."

"Are you prepared?"

The robot nodded in affirmative as Aroura looked over to Asagi. She noticed the look on Eros' face and figured something was up. She could almost feel a bad omen befall her at the very sight of him.

'Why do I get bad feelings about that guy?' She thought to herself, her look becoming serious. She then noticed that the two of them were heading towards them and decided that she shouldn't be so outright rude by frowning at them. She smiled before they could notice her prior face. "Hi Mariko," she said cheerfully.

"Hey," the blonde gave her a casual wave as Hyobe inched close to her. Mariko made a strange face at him, almost like an inflated 'what the hell' look as her vision became clouded with long, puffy white hair. He looked at her with a coy smile and a hand under his chin, almost as if her were in deep contemplation.

"Who's that with you there?" He asked brazenly, trying to hint that the two of them were together.

Mariko's look then turned in to one of annoyance as she could feel a vein pop up on her forehead. "Asagi, he lives with me." She gritted through clenched teeth. She knew full well what Hyobe was trying to incriminate her for.

"Mariko is committed now? It's so unrealistic," the white-haired bishounen replied happily as he was smacked upside the head with one swift blow by the tomboy. "Ouch!"

"Can it! I know what you all are just waiting to say something and no, I haven't done anything to him. So I hope you listened and listened good."

"Mariko?" Eros spoke up, after the blonde was done scolding everyone.

"What do ya want?" The blonde snapped, just waiting for something stupid or accusing to fly from the robot's mouth.

"Why would everyone think that you slept with this person?"

The sheer innocence earned a grunt from Asagi as he looked to the robot in a detached and cold manner, a frown plastered to his face.

"Let's just say this. I have a reputation that I'm not proud of," Mariko's green gaze fell to the floor in a moment of sorrow, which Asagi hurried to cover with a simple statement.

"So, you're Eros," he hoped that this statement was enough to pull Eros attention away from Mariko.

"Huh?" The blonde blinked, looking up to the spiky haired man in surprise. This was uncharacteristically kind of him, and while the two of them spent close moments at her house together, she'd never witnessed him sticking up for her in any way. He seemed so…Kind.

"Yes, I heard that I'd be fighting you. You must be Asagi," Eros said formally, looking the strange man in the eyes.

"Yes, I wish you luck in our spar," Asagi replied, staring back into the robot's dark grey eyes. "You seem like a good challenge. Let's just hope that you last longer than the others…It's been a while since I've had a decent challenge."

"I too hope that it is one that neither of us will forget."

"Good luck."

"Same to you."

XxXxXx

Lunch time was only in a few minutes and Asagi had decided to go to the kendo hall and train a bit before going into the fight with Eros. He had a feeling that Eros wasn't like the other green horns that came through that he could beat in one hit. This man was much different.

After practice, he sat on the hardwood floor, taking off the top of his hakama shirt to cool off. Underneath of the shirt was something that resembled old feudal age armor. It wrapped around his torso and was held on by straps tied in the middle with strings on either shoulder. He also wore a sash-type blood-red belt that tied in a large sagging bow in front with two pieces of the fabric still handing to his knees, which were clad in open-legged hakama pants, accompanied by socks and beige zori sandals. A thin layer of sweat coated his body, some of it being soaked up by a headband that was tied around his head, extra material hung from the knot in the back and ended at his shoulders. He held a cloth, in which he was running along the blade of a long, katana-like sword with elaborate hilt.

"Do you really think you can with in this condition?" Mariko asked, knowing that with his chronic seizure-like headaches, he could be in real trouble if he had one in the middle of a battle or worse, even pass out.

"You're bothering me," Asagi pushed the subject aside in a hurried and annoyed voice.

"Fine then," Mariko snapped, turning her whole body in one powerful movement and marched off with her nose stuck in the air. She only managed to get a few paces from the angry man before his strong arm wrapped around her waist. Attempting to spin out of the touch, the blonde tomboy found herself landing head first into his strong chest. "Huh?" She questioned upon hearing the 'thong' of her body hitting his armor. Looking up, she soon found that her face was only inches from the man's. This made her feel uneasy. He was so close that she could feel the heat from his breath and smell the spice of his cologne. "Let go," she said strongly and stared at him defiantly.

"Don't doubt me," Asagi smirked. "I've got him where I want him, and Souhi will feast on his blood today."

"Don't get so cocky. You might lose," she warned.

The spiky haired man then frowned. "Don't preach to me. You're not even in this club."

"Well excuse me if I didn't want you to have a headache and end up losing," she spat angrily.

"Only a minor distraction."

"Oh yeah, what if you faint?"

"Then I lose, but I won't lose."

"And why are you so confident about that?" Mariko asked.

"Just trust me on this."

"You're a guy."

"Whatever," Asagi knew that she meant that sexist comment offensively and simply walked off, breaking their embrace.

She didn't know why, but Mariko felt a little sad. Something about that emotionless way he stated the word sent pure sorrow stabbing through her heart. An internal struggle took place between the feelings that wanted her to say something to him to have him stay and the feelings that told her to just let him keep walking and that he was no different than any of those other men she'd been with and would probably end up using her too.

"Wait!" She called out to him in a rash moment in decision. Her concern overrode her usual uncaring nature.

Asagi stopped, but did not turn around. "What now?" He asked, slightly irritated.

"I…Wish you luck…" The tomboy said, almost as if she had to force the words out. "Oh and also, be careful out there."

A few silent moments passed between them before she could feel herself regaining her usual tough composure. The tomboy put her hands on her hips and frowned, "because I'm not going to peel your ass off of the ground."

"M-Mariko…" Asagi replied at the girl's endearing statement. His cheeks turned an almost unnoticeable pink color and his lime-green eyes widened slightly as the blonde grinned at him.

"Don't look at me like that. Just go."

"Right." The man replied, almost bashfully before walking off and as his form became smaller and smaller, disappearing from sight. Mariko watched, thinking to herself.

'Why did I even try to be nice to this guy? What's wrong with me? What? Two weeks and I'm feeling all weird around him? I mean, he's just like any other guy…isn't he?' The girl mentally asked herself. Surely she wasn't falling for someone as cold as Asagi. Besides, she was Mariko! Mariko fell in love with no one!

'Two weeks…Two weeks of living with her…' Asagi thought as he walked down the hall towards a large arena where his spar with Eros would soon take place. He should have been worried about the fight, but too many other things were still fresh on his mind. 'At times, she can be pretty damned irritating…But others, like this,' He smirked a little. 'I can actually think of her as a friend. There's still a lot I don't know about you, Mariko.'

Just then, a flashback of something Mariko had said to him in the past resurfaced in his mind. 'Men are all the same, nothing but a bunch of scum.'

'But that is one thing that I'm going to prove you wrong on. I refuse to be scum in your eyes and I will gain your respect.' He frowned, pointing the blade of his sword towards the ground as he looked a short distance across the flat plain of the field to see Eros standing on the other side. 'Hopefully, this will get me a bit higher up on your ladder.'

"I'm ready," Eros replied from the beginning of one of the white lines on the side of the field. Aroura stood next to her, the wind toying with the red streak in her hair. He was dressed in a drab light grey karate outfit with a dark grey belt and trim on the shirt. The look on both of their faces was one of serious demeanor and they stared intently at each other like hawks not wanting to let their prey escape.

"Are you sure about this?" Aroura asked, a worried look crossing her face. "I mean, this guy seems really tough."

"You've not seen him fight," Eros stated.

"But he has a reputation," the girl replied, trying to make a point.

"Are you afraid that I'll kill him?" The robot asked, looking over his shoulder as the girl behind him looked down as if she'd been caught red-handed.

"It's just…He's close to Mariko…"

"I'll go easy on him," he assured in a slightly kind voice, trying to reassure the girl, "I promised you."

All around them, the stands were filled with school and college students, as well as a few teachers and parents. The crowd was excited about the spar. The martial arts team's initiation always made lunch a huge event and nearly the whole school loved to watch the members fight and test their skill out on this battle field. Kisame, Mariko, Hisame, Sonata, Momo and Aroura stood on the sidelines, close to the action. They were accompanied by Mizuki, who was now dressed in her martial arts costume. It was a short black dress with slits up the sides, long sleeves and a large neckline that went across her chest. It was black in coloration with a bright red cloth belt and handkerchief that was tied around her neck. She wore black sandals that only exposed the toes. Momo, Aroura and Mariko all had their school uniforms on. They stuck out plainly against the other martial arts members, who were clad in ninja-esque clothes.

In the stands, to the left and closest to the ground sat Tetsumaru, Hisaka, Hyobe, Himemari and Kyoui, they were seated in the middle. All eyes were intent on the field ahead.

"Master, do you think that this will be a good time to conduct some analysis?" The blue-haired robot asked, turning her head towards Chacha, who was seated beside of her.

"Hisaka," Chacha called his name, almost in an instructing way as the boy opened his laptop.

"I have the situation under control. This computer will be taking a movie file of this initiation ceremony. That way we can monitor their movements. I've been hearing rumors that Eros was supposedly capable of what seemed to be superhuman activities, but they could just be rumors," the boy replied, as the sound of rapid clicking could be heard as his fingers skillfully ran across the keys. "To further explore this theory, we need more data."

"Of course, with this data we can either confirm or deny our previous allegations and bring the truth to light," Chacha replied.

"What are your theories, Chacha?" Hisaka asked, pausing momentarily to look at his friend.

"Well, the only thing I'm sure of, by Tetsumaru's collected data interacting with Eros is that he seems to possess uncanny senses and qualities that cause an arise of suspicion that he's not exactly human. With this data we can figure out what exactly he is. I want to be sure that Aroura is aware of what he is. As her friend, I have to make sure that she's not caught up in any trouble."

"Of course, that's understandable," Hisaka agreed, adjusting his glasses. "Even I agree that some things just don't add up."

"It's starting," Tetsumaru informed as both students turned their sights to the battlefield below them. Both opponents stood in their respective places as the spar began. They both stared intently into each other's eyes, studying one another's movements carefully, even to the slightest degree. Eros held his sword to his side, in an offensive position while Asagi simply had his sword pointed to the ground.

"Are you ready for this kid?" Asagi asked calmly.

Eros pointed the sword to him. "Yes, come at me with all you've got."

Before the robot could even compute the rest of the sentence, Asagi rushed at him with his sword drawn; now the blade was above his head, ready to make a death blow on anyone or anything that got in his way.

"Soon, Souhi will taste your blood," the man said coldly and simply with no emotion. It was a promise that before the battle was even over that someone's blood would be spilt upon the ground.

Eros was going to be sure that it wasn't his.

To Be Continued…