Loveless (Book 1) [Completed]

Chapter 81.

STREET FIGHT.

A palm came to rest upon her shoulder interrupting Kyoko's thoughts. She swivelled her head with a smile, hoping to see Ren. "You're back–"

Instead, it turned out to be a middle aged man with long greasy hair and an unfamiliar face. "Hey there, hot stuff." He whistled, putting his arm around her shoulders and pulling her close. The action evoked shrill laughter from his befuddled companions.

Kyoko gagged inwards when she caught the horrible whiff of his intoxicated breath. However, knowing that Setsuka wouldn't get scared of something like this, specially when her brother was around to protect her, she tried to keep a straight face: the same bored and uninterested look in her eyes.

"We're gonna party. Wanna join us?" Another guy asked in a similar shaky voice, who was occasionally sipping from his bottle of alcohol.

Kyoko didn't need to turn her head to know that she was surrounded. She had already heard them approach. Yet, she wouldn't allow even a pinch of fear to be detected on her face. Partly because her character wouldn't, and also because she had nothing to be afraid of with Ren around.

"Really?" She smirked in a tantalizing manner. "A party! Yay!"

"That's a good girl!" The guy holding her cheered her on. "We knew a hot girl like you wouldn't say no to us!"

His friend flashed a smile, revealing his yellow teeth. "Yeah! Let's go party! Then we'll take you somewhere special."

"You wanna play with me?"

"Aren't you a smart cookie!"

"Sure, I'll play," her smirk widened, "but first, you'll have to get permission from him," she pointed at the entrance of the store from where Cain Heel was exiting. His cool blue eyes, betraying nothing but his inner frostiness, remained fixated only on Setsuka, not even glancing at her new acquaintances, as he made his way towards her.

"These guys said they wanna play with me," Setsuka commenced, once he was in hearing range. "Can I go, Bro-ther?" She pouted her lower lip, emphasizing the last two syllables.

"Brother?" The ruffians exchanged confused glances, because they all had simultaneously mistaken the Heels to be a couple. Judging from their appearance and their behaviour, they seemed as far from being siblings as possible.

Cain, without bothering to answer or to pay any attention to the small crowd of waiting thugs, enclosed his sister's hand into his own. "Setsu, let's go."

"'kay." She followed him without complaining.

One of the ignored hoodlums called out a warning to Cain to stop or else.

When Cain didn't oblige, the strongest one of the bunch ran ahead, and threw a punch at him from behind.  Before it could connect, Ren ducked below, dodging the attack without even turning.

That caught the attacker by surprise, and the rest of his companions mocked him with hysterical, drunk laughter.

Embarrassed, he tried winning back the respect of his friends by making up for his missed punch launching another hit. However, the second attempt was no more successful than the first one as Ren easily dodged this punch as well.

The attacker's eyes glinted with a new found determination to settle the score and he clenched his fist menacingly with a sneer. Meanwhile, Ren let go of Kyoko's hand and put his own in his pockets, finally turning around to face his opponent.

Guessing what was about to happen, Kyoko cupped her mouth, panic creeping inside her. Ren ending up in a street fight was the last thing she imagined would happen because of her. If she had any idea things would get this rough, she would've gladly broken character and ran away from the thugs by herself instead of involving Ren.