THE CERULEAN BLUE LAKE RELFECTED THE EMPYREAN SKY THAT RULED ABOVE. A seafoam blue-green identical to Anari's eyes as she stared at her own rippling reflection that distorted as yet another boy did a stunt off the bridge and into the water they went, head first, causing a large splash and a crackle on the surface tension.

Instead of enjoying herself like everyone else, Anari sat on the railing. Her slightly baggy white tank top rustled with the wind that gave her slight chills. It was mid-autumn, and in Tokyo it was a good time for fresh sixth years to hurl themselves into the river beneath the bridge.

The current was soft, allowing them to freely swim across and under the water and back up to the bridge.

Kazutora was slightly disappointed that Emma and Anari refused to get dressed in swimsuits when swimming, but a glare from both girls simmered his disappointment.

Pah-chin and Baji were throwing each other underneath the water, having a wrestling fight, while Mitsuya was guarding his pants from the antics played by Draken and Kazutora. Emma was on Draken's back just for the fun of it as he swept through the water.

Mikey made himself into a human fountain, spewing water out of his mouth and straight onto Draken's head.

It was always an eternity of laughter and bliss with them.

A Saturday for some fun in the water.

Mikey stood in the translucent water beneath Anari's free dangling feet. His arms were spread out as she blinked. "What?" He grinned at her. "Jump."

"I already told you I was on my period!" Emma shook her head in dismay. Mikey only turned to Emma in a whisper, "what's that mean?"

Even his sister couldn't think of the right words to describe it without scaring him. "It means she's bleeding from there and she's probably in a lot of pain right now." Draken came to Emma's rescue, having heard this health lesson lecture from Anari before. She was like his walking encyclopedia, always giving him knowledge and lessons he didn't need or want to hear about.

Mikey's fist made contact with the palm of his hand as the shape of his lips formed into an 'o'

"I'll carry you, Rin, jump!"

As a matter of fact, the blonde did not understand.

Anari only adamantly shook her head, standing up on her own two feet. "Mitsuya, now!" Draken signaled.

Somewhere along their intense staring contest, Anari hadn't noticed that Mitsuya snuck out of the water without her knowledge. "Yaya, don't you dare!" Anari grabbed onto his arm before he could push her off. He only gave her one of his brotherly sweet smiles that sung like Satan's hymn.

"Have some fun too, Anari." It was almost a cruel mischievous smile, Mitsuya allowed the girl to plummet down the water as she let out a scream just for a second before hitting the water. "It was bound to happen .." Emma sighed.

Anari was only stuck in the water for a nanosecond before a hand wrapped around her waist and pulled her to the surface. She stared at him with an unamused frown. "I hate you both."

"You're already in the water, no use of getting out now." Draken shrugged it off.

It wasn't that Anari hated swimming or diving-- she was just somewhat embarrassed and afraid of an accident to occur. "Now I have a partner!" Mikey cheered aloud, hugging Anari who only sighed and made her way to his back, slinging herself on.

"Chicken fight!"

There were eight of them total, meaning four teams, a perfect number for a chicken fight.

"Thanks for letting me use your bathroom Shinichiro, and the clothes too!" She looked at herself in the mirror again, donned in a navy jacket over a grey hoodie along with some simple jeans, they were all clothes Emma had to toss out after she hit her growth spurt first before Anari.

Shinichiro was the one who taught Emma, Mikey and even Anari about fashion, bikes and gangs. And from what she knew-- he was the founder of the Black Dragons, which had grown more notorious over the years. Even on her way to school every day, she saw their flags pass by.

Shinichiro only pat the top of her head. "You can always keep the clothes if you want, make sure to stay extra warm so you don't catch a cold alright?"

Anari who had already sunken into the hoodie nodded happily, running out the back door with her damp locks in order to avoid the potential gang members in the front of Shinichiro's bike shop which had become a common gathering place for delinquents and Black Dragons alike.

Anari loved Shinichiro. More specifically the warmth he shared and the sincere kindness in his actions. Almost like a dream-like big brother someone would see in the movies. Nothing like Anari's own.

Maybe it was Anari's way of coping with her brother's disappearance .. or maybe it was Shinichiro taking pity on her.

But as far as the bleached blonde had knowledge of-- Shinichiro had already retired and now worked full-time in his bike-shop, still holding the same amount of charisma and wisdom that allowed him to be so respected in the first place.

Even she had to admit he was a bit princely.

Emma who was dressed in her beige romper turned around and fawned over the perfect fit of her clothes on Anari and even more so how her older brother was able to style it. "Now I'm jealous!"

Anari flinched. Whenever Emma was jealous, it was always nothing good that came from it except her sneaky cheeky antics that ended up backfiring for either the other party or for her.

"I'm joking. What's with the look on your face?" The blonde perked a brow while Anari simply smiled. "Nothing."

As the two girls ran down the block to meet up with Draken and Mikey who were on their way to the same tattoo parlor in which Anari got her hair dyed, and Draken's tattoo-- to see the reveal of Kazutora's new tattoo displayed as a tiger, and it was a rather large one at that.

The skin was like a cherry pink tomato, swollen and bursted red. Baji and Mikey teased by poking the skin, earning a hiss of pain from Kazutora who looked in the mirror proud.

"Holy shit it looks cool!"

The tattoo was his own symbolization of his strength, power and courage given by his friends and it was his reminder of ambition to escape the hell hole he'd been living in for the sake of himself and his future.

"Wow .. It looks like the same style as Draken's tattoo.." The way each obsidian black inkling was separated like a mural, pieces not exactly touching one another or over lapping, but separated, creating its own shape between the delta crevices of non-inked skin.

Mikey poked at Anari's cheek. She was so captivated by the tattoo, he had to snap her out of the trance. "You plannin' on getting a tattoo too, Rin? If you do I'll probably get one too!" Mikey grinned.

"Wait till she stops growing first, then she can get one." The man, owner of the parlor had informed. The group nodded their head.

The only reason Draken and Kazutora had gotten their tattoos before they had even gotten their growth spurt was because Draken's was on his temple. A place where the skin and muscle wouldn't stretch and distort the tattoo easily, and Kazutora who absolutely needed the tattoo for morale.

"What if you got it on your shoulder or the back of your neck?" Emma tapped. Anari thought about it before nodding.

On their way home, parting ways, boarding the motorbikes lent to them by Shinichiro, Emma rode with Draken, wanting to switch places with Anari for once, due to the fact that Mikey's bike was ever so painstakingly slow.

Because it was so slow, there wasn't much of a need for Anari to grip onto Mikey, and so she merely held on by the hem of his jacket.

"What if you got a butterfly?"

Throughout the sputters of the engine, Anari's eyes widened. Mikey didn't bother looking back, keeping his eyes on the road ahead. There was a double edged meaning behind his suggestion, but Anari didn't want to assume.

So instead, she kept quiet. "Do you think it'd look good?"

Mikey looked up to the sky for a moment. "Yeah."

The forewing and hindwing of the onyx black butterfly margining and severing its divinity between the shoulder blades, intricate lining marking a symbolic solitude. Painted and tattered onto a porcelain skin, calloused and bruised.

Maybe Mikey obtained his elder brother's charisma .. or maybe because everyone was all so used to him being a playful carefree individual all the time that they forgot .. he was all too genuine and soft hearted inside. The opposite of Anari. Mikey gave the entirety of his heart out to those he deemed his friends and family, while Anari was careful.

She had seen abandonment all too many times, even in Draken's case. She had heard tales and stories of a descent into a self spiralled hatred that started from the cause of love, an emotion described as a drug that could go both ways of bad and good.

There were different types of love, and no matter which it was, the heart paved its path.

So instead of Anari leaving behind her friend's and family behind on a path dwelled alone, perhaps she would stand behind the very boy who swore that he was invincible and with that, he would protect everyone standing behind him.

Maybe Anari would allow herself to be protected instead of being the one protecting.

Anari didn't fight, but she did protect indefinitely. She salvaged Kazutora's faith and carefully carried them into her own hands, she told tales of a fairytale like world to Mitsuya's sisters, Luna and Mana. She gave reassurance to Emma's own occasional worries when one of either Mikey or Draken's pointless arguments and battles grew out.

Anari was someone who strayed in the shadows, with her hands on people's backs and pushing them forward.

Draken and Shinichiro were the only people who knew. Anari's brother's disappearance.

Maybe he died somewhere in Osaka, or in the end, with all the money he had, he finally escaped the own grave he dug for himself, and fled, leaving behind a non existent sister. Shinichiro helped the girl with paying the bills and taxes for the home with money already given and sent through the mail by Hiro.

It wasn't that Anari was numb or anything, or sad, she simply didn't feel anything.

Because Hiro had raised her without any love, and teaching her that she'd never receive any from him, nor would he ever accept any from her,

it was his way of protecting his younger sister by easing the pain of their strung out thready relationship, plucked by a grim reaper on a harp, and severed by his scythe.

The girl was content enough to amalgamate with acceptance.

And if her brother still was alive somewhere, Anari prayed to the heavens that he was happy. The final happiness he deserved. But Anari's world grew ever so slightly dimmer along with the darkening skies.

Mikey had almost swerved off of the road the moment he felt the side of her head place itself against his back and her arms limply hung around his shoulders. Almost as if she was .. asleep.

The eyebags that grew heavy and hung down the lids shadowing over her aqua orbs. A night of stars that rocked the small butterfly to sleep as she furled her wings and dwindled away. He drove just a little bit slower to assure her safety.

"Shinichiro told me one day, that butterflies symbolized endurance, change and hope." They were all of the things Mikey wanted his future gang to uphold .. "And he told me they reminded him of you." But what Shinichiro never told him, was why it reminded him of Anari.

But one thing his brother was right about .. was change.

Seafoam green eyes that held a resolute glimmer of a shooting star with wishes of morale, it soaked up every ounce of drowning strangling wallow. A kiss of a butterfly like fresh air.

'Change occurs in every generation.'  Those were the words from Sano Shinichiro looking at the current present day Black Dragons. And Mikey? He wanted to make a new change as well. A new change in an era for delinquents that didn't involve the motive of scums.