Burnt to Ashes - Kenichi Todoroki

The Weight he Carries

"Shinju!" I looked over at Ryker, who held a basketball in his hand, ready to pass it to me. One of Ryker's siblings named Ace was blocking me, and the other, Magnus, blocking Ryker. Ryker was able to pass to me, and I barely caught the ball, as Ace tried to knock it away. I dribbled to the other side of the court and shot..

I missed.

"That was the final play. Good game." Ryker's oldest sibling, Quinn, put her hand up as to stop the game. Tired out, I sat down in the middle of the court.

"So close." I panted.

Ryker nodded in agreement, sitting next to me.

Ryker's siblings were pretty cool. Quinn was the oldest, followed by Ace, Magnus, Ryker himself, and Kiara. And they were pretty close in age with Ryker, too; Quinn was 17, Kiara was 10. That left Ace being 15, Magnus being 14, and Ryker being 12.

Not going to lie, Magnus was kind of hot.

Not as hot as Kenichi, though. Speaking of the devil..

"Is Kenichi still resting at your house?" I asked Ryker. "I want to go see what he's up to. I know you couldn't heal his injuries that well in one session.. did you not try a doctor?"

"Remember, they could possibly recognize us as gang members. That's why I didn't want to be involved." Ryker muttered.

"Oh, so you did end up joining The Bloody Mambas?" I mused. "That's funny, because you told us that you would never join.."

"I was under peer pressure." Ryker shot at me. "Besides, I didn't want to be left out. I try and act like the bigger person but you two are my best friends, I don't really get to see you guys at school that much because of my advanced classes, so I thought spending time with you two and helping you build up your gang would y'know.." He trailed off, fidgeting with his hands. "I wanted you both to respect me a little more."

"Well hey, let's go see him. I want him healed up as fast as possible." I stood up, and put out my hand. "He's our leader, right?"

Ryker took my hand and brushed off his pants. "Yeah, Kenichi's our leader."

We waved goodbye to Magnus and Ace, who were going to play a 2v2 round, and we started heading to Ryker's house. Nostalgia filled me, realizing that I hadn't walked alone with Ryker in forever. It had always been Kenichi. If I date Kenichi then.. what if Ryker becomes jealous of the attention I'll shower him with? Is it a bad idea?

I shook the thought away. No, he would totally be supportive, on the outside anyway. But deep down I felt like he would drift further apart from us..

I won't let that happen.

Ryker opened the front door to his house and we both walked in, not bothering to take our shoes off as we walked down to the basement. "I'll clean the stairs later, momma." Ryker called up.

I saw Kenichi sitting in the corner of the basement, wrapped up in bandages. I couldn't see his face due to his hair, but I sensed he had a saddened expression. "Yo, Kenichi." I said. "I haven't seen you in a while. Are you recovering okay with Ryker's help?"

"I never needed his help." Kenichi grumbled.

Ryker gave me a concerned look. I walked over to him and put a hand on his shoulder. "Be appreciative, you could've died if it weren't for him. And he got you away from a pretty risky talk with your dad."

Kenichi slapped my hand away with his and glared at me. Through his strands of hair, I could see his eyes were still a blood red color. I backed away and returned to Ryker's side, scared of his piercing gaze. Ryker nudged me and started walking to his room, which was on the basement floor.