DAGGERS OF JEALOUSY EYED EVERY HOLLOW DROPLET OF PITTER PATTER RAIN WHILE LIGHTNING DANCED ACROSS THE DREARY SKY. It sounded surprising didn't it? That a mere twelve year old was envious of an abiotic factor, completely unalive and was run by a water cycle.

It was a mix of envy and distaste. She envied that it was so beautiful, yet hated it because it saw the most vulnerable of human fragments, rainwater that slowly poured down your roof, or slid down your window, it was the eye of a god who Anari lost faith in.

Anari used to love the rain too, until she realized it was like a thick misty fog, perfect for a mask concealed by the sweeping wails of nature. Because that night it was raining, the rain blinded her vision so thoroughly, that Anari couldn't see which way the car her aunt and uncle left in, had gone.

The rain washed away the little chalk drawings on the side of pavements that young Anari dabbled with in the old modest two story home with her once happy aunt and uncle as well as a brother who never returned.

Rain washed away the tears upon her brother's face and it drowned out the brilliance of the sun. It was a typhoon that swept every emotion away, almost as if it hadn't been there or existed in the first place. It both could put out fires or start fires, and was the cause of several disasters.

It was also a sign of a brewing storm.

That and —

The twelve year old girl let out a sharp gasp as the clap of thunder just mere miles away had sounded honking alarms from cars as well as the zipping sound of her power being shut off.

Power outages.

"Crap!" She was home alone that day, Draken was back in the red light distract brothel, and there was no specific planned gathering or meeting with the group.

Anari scoured in the dark for a candle, not wanting to waste batteries on a lamp.

When finding one, she muffled a scream that nearly sputtered out of her cherry lips as the sound of the door swinging open and the sliding chain lock struggling to hold back the intruder surprised her.

"A-Anari..!" The moment her name was uttered, Anari's beck slid down the cabinet doors as she quieted herself. The voice that called her out was that of a male's.

The male, not hearing a reply let out a grunt. "Alice!"

A nickname only Emma created and those within the group of friends they formed would call her. Immediately she had sprung to her feet, scrambling as the mop of raven black hair panted. "Kazutora!" Anari unlocked the door immediately and helped him in, he could barley support his own body weight as she assisted him, slipping one of his arms over her shoulder and kicking the door shut.

"I'm sorry!" She immediately began, for not opening the door right away, but the boy only heaved, waving his hand dismissively, "we're the ones who told you to lock your door more often."

After using her sleeve to wipe away the rainwater on his face, she had realized, his bloody nose that slowly tainted his ivory white polyester t-shirt that even the rain couldn't wash away.

Cuts on his cheeks from what seemed to be grazed punches, and his hands that applied pressure to his abdomen where a cherry red spot glowed, soon to be transformed into a nasty purple bruise.

"Kazu can you hear me?" Anari could hear that his breathing was shallow.

She was no expert in medicine, but she learned basic first aid for Draken when they were younger and ran to find the emergency kit. "Did your .. parents do this?"

He shook his head letting out a groan of pain. "The .. Black D-Dragons .." The boy replied.

Anari put a warm cloth on his forehead and helped him slip off his jacket and shirt, plopping a blanket on top of him to ensure he didn't catch a cold— just like how Shinichiro did for her.

The girl disinfected his wounds and applied ointment with bandaids to lay on top. "Where the hell is Mikey's number .. I had it .." Anari scrolled through her contacts until it settled on one.

Two rings was all it took. "Rin?"

"Kazu got into a fight the Black Dragons .. he's here at my house, I-I know it's raining outside but—" She was cut off by a chuckle from Mikey. There was rustling on the other end of the line, almost as if he was putting on a coat.

"Sit still and keep your door locked until I come, I still have to return your umbrella."

There was a ping of the phone in a group chat that Mikey had formed, stating that there would be a meeting on the weekend at the shrine they went to for new years. He had an announcement to make then.

"You called .. Mikey?"

Anari nodded her head guiltily. "I know you didn't want me to call him but he has to know."

Kazutora only looked away from her sincerity, facing the wall in shame for crawling to her doorstep in such a state and worrying her, acting as if he was dying.

The first-year junior high girl paced back and forth across her living room. More than half of her mop of blonde was returned to its original brunette color, after she had dared trust Baji and Mikey to dye it, and they had done so unevenly— and using parchment paper instead of foil. It was so messy that Anari couldn't even bother to get it re done until her hair could grow out the bleaching damage she had inflicted on it.

So slowly, as it grew out over time, she allowed her old roots to return, waiting for it to become long enough so she could chop off the remnant bleach blonde along with her dead ends.

"You're here.." Anari threw herself at him. Mikey folded the umbrella and tossed it aside to catch her. Despite his damp hair and soaked windbreaker jacket, she clung to him. Mikey pat her back, eyeing the sleeping male laying on Anari's couch with a quilt placed over him. "The Black Dragons didn't follow him right?" Mikey was overall more concerned on whether or not Kazutora got Anari dragged into it.

If they were to find out where Anari lived, it would be a done and gone game over.

Mikey stood there and stared at the boy. Number of bandages were tattered on his face and his knuckles as well. He could see the sheered uneven and tattered edges of the wraps, almost as if they were done in a rush. He knelt down and slowly unwrapped it himself to see the raw bloody knuckles of Kazutora.

Anari came back with a small towel, placing it onto Mikey's head and helping him slip off his jacket. "Did he say anything?"

The chestnut haired girl shook her head as she pat dried his hair. "You guys .. didn't do anything to aggravate them right? Fight any of them, try to overtake their territory, or ride your bikes there, right?" The turquoise orbs followed the pattern of Mikey's wrappings as he tugged on the cloth to tighten them.

"C'mon, you think we'd worry you like that and go against your orders?" Mikey gave her a lopsided reassuring smile as his obsidian black eyes curled up into crescents. "You'd better not .. and if you do .. you'd better win." Anari grabbed his cheeks and forced him to stare her dead set in the eyes.

"You can't grow taller than me if you're stuck in a hospital all the time eating their crappy food!"

In a way, Emma and Anari were his morality that kept him chained to his consciousness and common sense. They were people he always had to return to who supported what he did wholeheartedly despite not being involved within it.

"You're right .. that's why we're gathering the boys together this weekend. I'll stir some trouble for them." Mikey pat her head, allowing her to breathe a sigh of relief.

Junior high had gone slightly smoother for most of them than middle school.

Baji and Mitsuya had transferred to the same middle school as Draken and Anari, whilst Pahchin and Kazutora attended the same school. Had Kazutora lived in the area, he'd likely be able to go to the same school as well, but his case was similar to Mikey's, who attended an entirely different school all by himself with his sister of course.

"You know I hate it when you say you're invincible."

"Huh!? It's true though! Never lost a fight in my life! Not even to gramps!" The blonde protested immediately. "Then, if I were to challenge you to a fight right now, put you into a figure four choke hold, would you fight back?" Anari pulled some of the quilt draped on Kazutora onto herself and Mikey.

The boy stared at his fists. "Nah."

"No? Really? You really make exception for girls?"

"Oi! Why do you look surprised .." Mikey grumbled bitterly. Anari shrugged. "Then you're not so invincible if I can beat you in a fight." One sided or not, a fight was still a fight. Anari knocked on Mikey's head like a drum.

"I'm not a scumbag, I don't do things that garbage would do. Besides, I'd never hit my future wife~"

Anari scrunched her nose at him in distaste, raising her hand up to measure their height. She was a solid two inches taller than him, just hitting her growth spurt and still in the middle of it, expected to grow even more.

"So the Invincible Mikey isn't so invincible with girls." Anari grinned. He merely accepted that fact to amuse Anari. But if it came to, and there was a day a girl posed a threat to him and his friends, that would be the day he would break any promises or forget any lessons Emma bashed into his bleeding ears.

He wasn't afraid to hit a girl.

To hit a girl who had done plenty wrong, too far to be brought back, and rejected help, would be an evermore separate scenario than just hitting a girl.

He was simply afraid of scaring Anari if he were to hit a girl for her sake.