Without You: Chapter Two

Quick Guide: If this is your first time seeing one of my stories, welcome! Thank you for checking me out. I would recommend heading over to 'Without You: Chapter One' before reading this chapter.

Monday morning greeted me with a cold breeze as I stepped outside. I shoved my hands deep in my pockets and tucked my chin in to block the wind. Winter is almost over, I thought to myself. Just hold out a little longer.

The sun slowly sprouted her good mornings, reaching her warm rays through the buildings as I passed. I let out a sigh of determination for the day ahead. Only three more months before graduation and then summer would be just around the corner. The finish line of this droning race known as 'finish school' was finally in sight.

"Amaterasu." A voice came from an alleyway to my right that startled me out of my thoughts. I took a few steps backwards and turned to the alley.

Ewan casually stood at the entrance, leaning on the wall with his broad shoulders. A few men stood behind him, their large frames filling the skinny alleyway.

"Ewan..." I started. "Can I help you?"

He flashed a smirk at me and stood up straight. "Nope. But I can help you." He stepped up next to me, swinging and arm over my shoulders. "Want to skip school today?" He asked.

"For what purpose?"

"My brother, Nikki,"-brother, huh? That explained a lot.- "got the boss to agree to meet with you. But only if you'll come right away." He said.

He had to be joking. "Yeah, right." I waved him off with my hand.

"I promise you it's not a trick." He said in a more serious tone.

I nodded to the men in the alley. "Then what's their purpose?"

"Escort. That's all. The boss wants to ensure he gives a good first impression."

I scoffed, looking down the road that would take me to school, and pondered for a moment. The completely straight path of high school wasn't exactly that appealing. But was meeting a gang leader and getting to fight him any more appealing? I looked back up at Ewan who still casually hand his arm over my shoulders.

Who was I kidding, meeting a gang leader and his twin brother was literally the most interesting thing to ever happen to me.

"Screw it, I'm down." I said.

Ewan grinned and made a fist with his hand that was draped over my shoulder. I tapped his fist with mine.

"Follow us and we'll meet up with Nikki and them." He said, beaconing me into the alley.

"They walk in front." I said defiantly as I stood my ground. He looked back at me, eyebrow quirked for a second.

"Sure thing." He said. He prompted them to lead the way and only once they were a handful of steps down the alleyway did I move. Ewan stayed a few steps ahead as I followed him down the alley and through a few back roads. It was only about a five minute walk before we came up to a walking bridge over a river. The guys in front veered off the road and down the hill, Ewan following.

As I came to the peak of the hill and started downward, I saw a small group of men gathered in the area directly below the bridge. The river was loud as we got closer, a smart place to have a fight since it would be hard to hear anything over the rush of the water.

Ewan sprinted ahead of the group leading me and when he did, the four men formed a straight line a few feet away from the other group. I waited behind them trying to peek over their tall shoulders.

Ewan's voice came booming from under the bridge; "Let her through," He gave the all the clear with a wave of his hand.

The men split and I walked past. Strange that Ewan was held in high standards for these guys. I tried to be as casual as I could as I stepped up to Ewan. He was grinning from ear to ear.

"Amaterasu, I want to be the first to officially introduce you to founder and commander of the Jade Riders." He stepped to the side, arm opened wide. "Nikki Cordano."

In front of me stood the same blond haired man as yesterday. He stood with his hands in his pockets, a long coat draped over his shoulders.

I clicked my tongue. "You like to play with me, don't you? Pulled me away from school just to pull a prank?" I watched his face drop as I turned away. "I'm not falling for it."

The eight men that now gathered under the bridge blocked my exit. I clenched my jaw. No way in hell would I be able to take on ten men.

"You misunderstand, Amaterasu." Nikki's voice came from behind me and a hesitant hand to my shoulder followed.

I looked up at the men's faces in front of me. Each of them held a conviction in their eyes. I took a second to process the pieces of the last meeting with Nikki and Ewan and then the events leading up to this moment.

Ewan was commanding these men with complete assurances. And non of them questioned him. Now here they stood, keeping me from leaving the brothers.

I turned back to Nikki. "You're not joking are you?" I asked.

"No. I'm sorry I wasn't truthful on Saturday. To be honest I thought it was mildly endearing that you didn't know and I wanted to make sure you wouldn't write me off as a liar."

I rolled my eyes. "You jerk."

He grinned. "So, you want to join us?"

I crossed my arms. "Is it just the ten of you?"

"Oh hell, no. I've got five district leaders and each of them cover at least thirty people. It's a fairly large group of us."

"All of them are men?" I questioned. The brothers nodded their heads. "And you want me?"

"I do." Nikki said. His voice held a mature tone. I suppose it had to when he was the leader of 15o men.

Was I really going to join a gang? I wondered if I had much of an option at this point. My parents would kill me if they ever found out... I frowned. Not like they ever would, I suppose.

"Alright, I'll bite. But I still want to fight you." I said.

"Oh, legit?" He asked. "I wasn't lying when I said I don't hit women, though."

"Noble, but stupid. You're not dumb enough to disrespect a sparring partner by refusing to acknowledge them, are you?" I challenged.

He paused for a moment, staring me down. I gave him my best look of defiance. Without saying a word, he shrugged his jacket off his shoulders and tossed it to the side.

"You're on then." He said.

"If you win, I'll join the gang without hesitation." I took a stance, arms up to cover my face. "If I win..." I smirked at him. "you have to graduate school with me."

He tilted his head. "Odd request."

I shrugged. "I may have snuck into the school records to do some snooping on Saturday. Nikki Cordano, 19 years old, held back last year for failing his senior year. I'm not giving up on it when I'm so close to graduation, so, if I have to suffer through it, so do you."

"Fair enough. Ewan, you're the ref." His stance had barely changed but I could tell he ready throw it down in a second. I kept on guard.

"Alright, no weapons, no cheap shots, no running away. Winner takes all fairly. Begin."

I jumped at him first, throwing a knowingly obvious kick to see what he'd do. He leaned back and to the left, shifting his front foot to the back to duck out of the way.

I continued forward, sending some obvious hands mixed with a hidden kick. He dodged them all, blocking the kick with a solid forearm before my foot could reach the side of his head.

I didn't let up. If he was any good, he'd be able to throw his counter attacks in the mix without missing a beat. And I was ready for it. Jabs and back hands, round kicks and jumping twists. Nothing simple was reaching him.

When he deemed it his moment to attack, nothing but a foot came down on me. I caught it with a block but his strength was surprising. Even though I blocked, his foot kept following the trajectory the Nikki laid out for it. I ducked and rolled to avoid getting hit.

Strong round kick; he fights with his feet because he's short. I chuckled to myself. I fight with my hands because I'm short. Most would say this was a bad match up, but unlike him, I didn't have the luxury of sticking to a single fighting style. I just needed to match his reach.

I jumped forward with a flurry of kicks that weren't meant to hit to throw him off. He dodged, running me in a circle until I finally sent out a jumping side kick to his face. He had no choice but to stand his ground and block this kick. I stopped my foot just short of his block and swung my foot back down to the ground. With his focus being on guarding his face, I dropped for his feet.

Pulling his legs out from under him, I lunged us both forward over a dip in the land so he wouldn't hit head as he flipped. Smacking his back firmly into the ground and landing on top, I trapped both his right hand and leg between me and the ground.

I sent my fist smashing down to his face but stopped when my knuckles brushed the tip of his nose.

We stared each other down in only a second of silence. Inches away from his face, I could smell the mint from his toothpaste as he breathed.

"Why not finish it?" He asked.

I smirked, feeling the light pressure on my head that caused me to pull my punch. "I could ask you the same thing." His toes were at the back of my skull, only a fraction of an inch away from knocking me out.

If we hadn't pulled back, we both would be knocked out cold.

"That, my friends, is a stalemate." Ewan said, calling the match.

I stood, releasing his limbs, and offering a hand to him. He took it and got to his feet. We hadn't unlocked from each other's gaze, I noticed, until he turned to Ewan to grab his jacket.

"You're a strong fighter." He complimented. "Have you been trained?"

"No. I've learned everything on my own."

He opened his hand to me and I took it firmly. "Welcome to the Jade Riders." He said.

"Only so long as you put effort into school enough to graduate."

"A deal's a deal." He said with a wink.

A few weeks passed since that day and it felt as though my whole life had changed. Nikki and Ewan invited me to their house almost everyday so we could study. By the time spring break was near, I considered both of them to be my ride or die friends.

But the thing that was most surreal to me, was the amount of respect that simple fight with Nikki earned me. My name, Amaterasu, became known on the streets.

Amaterasu, the girl who can't be beat by Commander Nikki, the Unbeatable.

Amaterasu, the first female member of the Jade Riders.

And above all, a certain someone never dared to touch me after that; not with both Nikki and Ewan hanging around as much as they did. For the first time in my life I had friends instead of enemies.

A part of me wondered how long that would actually last...