Black Blood: Awakening

Chapter One: A Chance Encounter

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In a high school in Osaka, Japan, a young woman was currently sitting in her high school class, lightly tapping her desk with the eraser portion of her pencil.

She was currently working on the tail end of a test, but unfortunately, she was dealing with her weakest subject... physics.

As she scribbled on her test paper, her frustrations only managed to grow. Why couldn't it have been a test in a better subject, like... music or geometry?

Anything but physics.

When she thought she had answered every question to the best of her ability, she quietly passed her paper to the front of the room, and impatiently waited for the final bell to ring. It wouldn't be much longer until it did, anyway.

But dear heavens, she hated physics so much. To her, it was just a bunch of odd letters, weird formulas, and silly numbers, and she didn't care about any of that stuff.

Once she put her head on her desk, the final bell rang, almost if it had read her mind.

'Jeez, finally...' she thought to herself as she placed her items inside of her school bag and sighed heavily. After she did that, she simply got up and left her classroom, waiting for her friend to arrive.

As she waited, she calmly smoothed out her long dark purple hair and adjusted her reading glasses a bit.

This tired young woman went by the name of Emiko Tsukino, but to her closest friends, she was known as...

"Emi! Hey!"

And the person that called out to her was a rather tall girl with short red hair who went by the name of Miyuki Fujiwara... Emi's childhood friend.

"Well, you sound incredibly perky today, Miyuki," the purple-haired girl said before yawning a little.

"Let me guess. You had a physics test, right?"

"Unfortunately. I just finished it. I'm a bit afraid of the results. I even studied this time!"

"Ah, you know that I believe you. Come on, let me help you get your mind off of that silly test! Wanna go to the cake shop or something? That usually makes you feel better."

"I'd like to, but my mother wants me to avoid taking any detours today. I have to get back home and take care of Keiko. She still hasn't gotten over that terrible head cold yet."

"Oh, yeah, I forgot about that. Might as well take the subway, since that's the fastest route for you to get home."

As the two walked through the crowd of fellow students and left their school to head to the subway station, they engaged in their usual small talk methods... well, it sometimes turned into Miyuki teasing Emi about any guys that she might have shown any interest in for a short while before the latter calmly rebuffed the questions...

"Would you forget about teasing me and focus on our upcoming graduation ceremonies? We're third year students, Miyuki!"

"Oh, please, that's not for another six months!"

"See, this is why planning ahead is a thing, you know... not to mention that you need to fine-tune your grades..."

"Did you really have to bring my marks up like that? Really, now?"

While the two were somewhat bickering with each other, Emi noticed that the train that they were boarding wasn't too crowded today. As she approached the nearest row, she noticed that someone was sitting in the seat that was next to the one that she was planning to occupy. And naturally, she had to ask...

"Um, hello. Is this seat taken?"

The recipient of that question only looked at Emi for a second before he shook his head and allowed her to sit next to him.

Miyuki, of course, took the seat that was next to her friend, and couldn't help the fact that she almost sported a giant grin in the process.

Of course it was another opportunity to tease her...

----

"So," Miyuki began as the two walked up the street that Emi lived on, "Do you know who you sat next to on the subway train earlier?"

"Of course I don't, Miyuki. What was so special about that guy, anyway? He just sat there during the entire ride and didn't bother us."

"You really don't know, do you? Let's see... do you remember the King of Fighters tournament that was on the Satella News Network a few years ago?"

"Hmm... barely. What, was that guy a participant?"

Miyuki could only balk at that question in response...

"Emi, he wasn't just any old participant! He won the tournament with his team for four years in a row! Lady, you just sat next to Kyo freaking Kusanagi!"

Emi... still didn't seem to care. She only sighed as she pulled a stick of lip gloss out of her sweater pocket and began to apply a fresh coat on her lips.

"Okay, sure, fine, don't care. Besides, you were quiet during that whole ride. What, did you think that he was cute or something?"

"Well, perhaps."

"And now that I think about it... what if he's the key to controlling that hidden power of yours?"

With those words, the purple-haired girl stopped her action and stared at her friend...

"I thought I told you not to bring that up in public, Miyuki. We're only lucky that we're near my house. Besides, what do you want me to do? Stalk the man and beg him to train me?"

"Well, uh... that's how he ended up with his first pupil, so I think that you have a chance there!"

"I'm not going to stalk him. Forget it," Emi said and turned to her home, "Do you want to come in? I'm sure that my mother won't mind you as a guest, as long as you keep your distance from my sister."

"Sure. I have a couple of hours to kill, anyway," the redhead replied as she followed her friend inside and found a note that was taped on the nearby desk in the den, "Hey, Emi? Guess your mom's not home at all. She left a note."

"Yes? And what does it say?"

"It said that she'll be back home in a few hours. Oh, and she wants you to pick up a few things from the grocery store. The shopping list and the money is attached to it."

"Well, I don't have a choice, and I don't feel like changing out of my school uniform right now. Alright, let's get this stuff over with."

----

The nearby grocery store was only a fifteen minute walk away from Emi's home, but to her, it felt like she was taking half an hour to get there. Who knew that a measly physics test could throw her off so badly?

She only shook her head, cursing to herself for blaming something like that. It wasn't the test's fault, of course. Perhaps it was something else.

Maybe those hidden powers of hers were acting up again.

As she continued to think about it, Miyuki calmly nudged her in the shoulder.

"Hmm? What?"

"Do you want to split the shopping list, Emi? We can get out of here faster if we do that."

"I know... but I don't want to," the purple-haired girl said as she yawned a little.

"Oh, boy. I think that thing of yours is making you tired again. Well, you just push the cart, and I'll look for the items, okay?"

"Sure..."

While the redhead was locating the first aisle to head into, the sight of a person halted her in her tracks.

'Oh, this cannot be for real...'

Indeed, it was. It was the same person who was on the subway train with the two ladies earlier... and almost instantly, Miyuki had to kick start another tiny conversation.

"Emi? What if I told you that a certain someone's in this store, too?" the redhead whispered.

"Stop joking around, Miyuki," Emi mumbled, which caused her friend to snap her fingers in response.

"No, no, I'm serious! It's him! He is here! Look, look!"

As the shorter one of the two followed that request, her nerves began to get the better of her. There he was, standing in the aisle that the two were about to enter, wearing the same blue jeans and white jacket.

"This could not come at a worse time."

"Oh, come on, Emi! It wouldn't hurt to ask him, right? Like I said, he could be the key to... well, you know."

"I... I don't know. I don't want to bother him."

As the two walked down the aisle, Miyuki began to take hold of the shopping cart as a rather mischevious idea formed in her mind...

"It's now or never, friend," she whispered as she pushed Emi forward, "Might as well ask him now!"

Unfortunately, Miyuki pushed Emi a bit too hard. The purple-haired girl nearly bumped into her intended person, which caused him to notice her for the second time today.

"Huh. A bit clumsy, aren't you?" Kyo casually mused out loud.

"Oh, um... sorry. It's been a long day, and I'm in a little bit of a hurry here."

"I guess I can tell there. Anyway, if you don't mind, I'm in a bit of a hurry my own self--"

"I'm sorry, but... I need to ask you something."

Almost instantly, Kyo stopped in his tracks and faced Emi...

"What do you want, an escort home or something?"

"No, it's not that."

"Then what is it?"

"I... I would like you to help me. You see, I have this power that I can't harness properly, and I need someone who's... well, experienced in something like this. So, I figured that you would be the perfect person to ask."

In response, he only let out a small snicker, "Yeah, I don't think that that's gonna happen. You want training and power and all of that stuff, you're better off signing up at old man Sakazaki's Kyokugen dojo. Hope you like soba noodles."

"What? No, I don't want that! I want you!"

"That sounds enticing and all, but we'd have to know each other first. I'm not a one-night stand kind of guy."

"No, no, that's not what I meant at all!" an incredibly flustered Emi replied as she attempted to hide a sudden blush that began to form on her cheeks, "What I meant was... I have the power of fire as well, and I can't use that power properly because it tires me out at random times. As we speak, it's probably tiring me out right now."

"Oh, I see. Well..." the brown-haired man said as he turned around and began to walk away, "Unfortunately, I have a bit too much on my plate to help you. Have a nice life."

Of course, Miyuki heard everything... and practically balked at Kyo's casual rebuffing of her best friend.

"Oh, no, no, no, this will not do! Hey, you!" the redhead shouted and pointed at him, causing him to stop once again...

"Miyuki, please don't make a scene here. Let's just finish our shopping," Emi quietly said, nearly embarrassed at the fact that a potential small crowd of people could be watching them at this very moment.

"Don't worry, this will only take a minute, Emi. Now," Miyuki began, "I know who you are. You're Kyo Kusanagi, the four-time champion of the King of Fighters tournament. The guy who masters the power of flame."

"And you're... what, a living advertisement?" Kyo sarcastically asked as he scratched his head, "What's your point here?"

"My point is that you're missing out on this friend of mine who will do anything to get that power of hers under control."

"Anything?"

"Well, anything legal. Seriously, she'll do anything in exchange for you being her teacher. She can clean, she can cook..."

And now, that last point only seemed to intrigue him.

"She can cook, huh?"

"Well, yeah. Why not train her in exchange for some free meals made by her, huh?"

"You... kind of have a point there," he said as he turned to Emi, "Alright, you. You have one chance to impress me with your cooking this Saturday afternoon. Bring your own ingredients."

"Oh? Oh, thank you so much!" the purple-haired girl happily responded.

"Better thank your noisy fangirl friend there for setting you up. She reminds me of someone that I know... unfortunately. Anyway, I may be regretting this, but I might as well give you my address, then. Oh, and by the way... you're coming there alone. Got it?"

"Got it."

Luckily for Emi, she did bring a pen with her, so she managed to write his address on the back of her shopping list. As the two friends left him so they could finish their assigned task...

"Miyuki?"

"You're not gonna thank me for hooking you up with Kyo?"

"I should, but... my goodness, you're so impulsive. I can't believe that you embarrassed yourself just so you could get him to possibly train me."

"Hey, you know me. I like sticking my neck out for you and your sister. That's what friends are for, right?"

"Well, yes, but... never mind. Thank you."

"Hey, it's no problem at all. Anyway, let's finish this shopping. Kei's waiting for ya."

"Of course," the shorter one of the two replied, "Now I'm just hoping that I don't mess this up."

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