Encounter

She tenses as she hears footsteps approaching her. She hasn't heard this particular feet before, but she can tell by the volume and separation between steps that it's a tall male, probably wearing some sort of boots. She prepares herself to bolt, but before she can she sees a sweater land on the ground next to her. 

"You look like you're cold," the voice in front of her says.

She looks up and confirms her prediction. It's a tall boy, maybe seventeen or eighteen years old, with dark black hair dip-died red on the bangs and several piercings in his ears and his eyebrow, his nose and lips. He's wearing all black, but he doesn't emit a dangerous aura, instead, it seems welcoming.  

"Thank you," she whispers and jumps off the fence to pick it up and put it on. 

He holds out his hand. "The name's Mane."

Akuma stares at his hand but does not shake it. "Akuma."

"That's a weird name."

She starts to walk, pulling her bright orange hair over her shoulder so that she could put up the hood. She didn't want to deal with anyone at the moment; she needed to find shelter before sundown or else she could get wound up in some sort of gang fight. The night is dangerous here.

"Hey, where're you going?" Mane asked, running up to walk at her side. She doesn't answer, and he begins to get persistent. "C'mon Kuma, I want to know where you're going!"

"Don't call me that..."

"Well then what should I call you?" he inquires.

"Nothing. You should just leave."

He huffs loudly. "Well maybe I don't want to."

She glares at him. "Look, if you stay out here too late it's not my fault anything happens to you. Get back home where you belong."

"I'll be fine! Why do you think I'm out so late anyways? I like living on the wild side!" He's grinning, and his teeth shine almost as brightly as the setting sun. "Please? Tell me where you're going?"

It's her turn to huff. "Look, you really don't know who I am--"

"You're that one chick that everyone talks about at school," he says, cutting her off. "The one that swings around a katana and kills gang leaders lives in abandoned buildings because she can't ever go home or else  the cops will get to her because they don't like vigilantes. You're like a celebrity!"

This sends a chill down her spine. Nobody should have ever thought of her in that sort of manner. She was dangerous, she was hated, there was a reward out for her head. That's why she hated being out at night, because she knew there were splintered alliances of different gangs trying to avenge their bosses, and during the day she could only hide in the most abandoned, ruined parts of town because nobody would ever go there in the first place except for these two weird girls with a plan to take over the world. Those two were probably the closest things she had to allies. Otherwise, it was her against the world.

"You okay?"

She doesn't respond. She can't go home because there are cops waiting for her just behind her front door, but because there is no home to go home to. Her family was killed by gangsters. Once again, the only place she could call a home was probably the very top floor of the building where the two nutcases were camping out, but that was on the complete other side of town, and she wouldn't risk getting over there. Too many rooftops to traverse in the fading light.

"Kuma--"

"Shut up already!" she snaps at him. "Look, you're a good kid. Go home to your parents and just forget about me. Don't even listen to rumors about me. I need to find somewhere to camp out before someone decides to shoot me dead. If they see us together, they'll just go after you too. So get the hell out of here while you can."

"C'mon." Mane started climbing a fence, jumping from the top to land on his feet on the other side. "I've got food in here too if you're hungry. And blankets. And a little generator so we can heat up the room too if it gets cold."

Akuma examines his face carefully, trying to see if there's anything dangerous about him that might justify her leaving him while she could. After a minute, she climbs the fence and joins him on the other side, still watching his expression and his posture warily. He smiles and leads her through a side door and towards a staircase. 

"It's several floors up from here, so I hope you don't get tired out by walking. The electricity went out a few months ago, so we can't use the elevator anymore."

She can't hear any sounds from the different floors as they pass them, but it isn't that heavy silence of an ambush. Just the quiet of an empty building. 

"I come here over the weekends to get away from my parents," he explains after a few minutes of waking up steps. "The gangs leave me alone because I haven't gotten involved with any of them over the past couple of years. They'll try selling me drugs or asking me to hide a stash of stuff here for a few days, but I always turn them down, and they all know that. Unless they saw you come into this area, they won't come looking for you here." He walks out onto a floor and presents to me what looks like an indoor camp. "And you're welcome any time you want, as long as you're careful to hide your tracks."

She looks over at him and warily picks up a can of pop that was resting on the floor nearby. This earned her a smile from Mane, but she pretended not to notice. She sat down on the sleeping bag and opened the can and took a long drink from it. In the meantime, Mane walked into another room and came back with another sleeping bag. He then walked over to the generator and turned it on before going to the space heater and turning that on as well. He sat down next to her and together they waited for the room to heat up.

"I'll be gone by morning," Akuma said after several minutes of awkward silence between them. 

"Wouldn't it be safer for you to stay until at least sunrise?" Mane asked, looking over at her. "This area is generally pretty violent at night."

"I'll survive."

"I don't want you getting hurt," he said, moving a little closer to her. 

She tensed. "I won't. I'm not some weak amateur. And the buildings around here are all about the same height so I can jump from one to the other pretty easily."

"These gangs have snipers..."

"They won't be able to recognize me if I strip you down and take your clothing and hide my hair."

"So I'm not the only one thinking about stripping?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

She stood up and started walking towards the stairs. So that's what this is about? What a creep!

"Wait! That was a joke!" He scrambled to his feet and grabbed her arm, trying to keep her from running off. "I'm sorry! Please, don't leave!"

"Fucking pervert...Let go of me!" she yelled, yanking her arm out of his grip. 

He grabbed her shoulders. "I was kidding! Sheesh, calm down! I don't really want to do that to you! I just..." He bites his lip, looking down.

"You what?" She's glaring at him, praying that he doesn't do anything crazy. 

"I..." He takes a deep breath, closes his eyes for a second before opening them up again, and leans in for a small kiss. She didn't expect that whatsoever, so she pushes him away and he lets her do so, turning and walking away. She just stands there quietly, looking down and trying to understand what had just happened. 

That night she slept in a corner of that room, waiting for sunrise to come so that she could get away from this confusing situation. When she woke up, Mane wasn't in the room, but there was a sack of food and toiletries next to her. She grabbed it and snuck off before noticing that she was still wearing the sweater the boy had given her the night before.