The New Rook

Chapter 39

The event air was nice on my still damp skin. It feels a little warmer out here than back in the city. I took in a deep breath in and let it out with a sigh. I ran my fingers through my fairly dry hair and flicked the water off my hand. I heard a little bit of shuffling and I turned my head to see Akeno walking around the corner.

"I still don't know why you wanted to meet me here." She said as she tied her hair in her usual ponytail. Her voice sounded kind of muffled as she carried the second tie between her lips.

"Well, I did kind of want to have this discussion in a little privacy," I said. Her hands stilled and an interesting expression crossed her face, "No, no, no, not like that, I hope I didn't give off the wrong vibe." She removed the second tie from her mouth and brought it up to her hair.

"No worries, I suspected you weren't that cheesy," Akeno said as she continued to tie her hair up, "You have to be quite the guy to be able to refuse seeing any women, especially some of the most popular girls in school naked."

"Yeah, well I believe girls should be acknowledged by the way they act, rather then that physical attributes." I explained. She smiled as she finished tying up her hair with a quick yank at both ends of her yellow ribbons, sending a little excess water misting in every direction.

"So, where do you want to start?" She asked.

"Oh, I just wanted to meet you here, I didn't say I wanted to talk here." I said before motioning for her to follow me and started walking in the opposite direction.

"Where are we going Ryuu?" Akeno asked. I turned around and brought my index finger up to my lips.

"It's a secret, you need to promise you won't tell anyone about this." I said. I picked up my pace a little so I was in a slight jog. I checked behind me every couple of seconds to be sure that Akeno was still following me, which she was. We traveled for about a minute before we reached out destination. A small single story room that jutted awkwardly out of the rest of the building. Without stopping, I ran up to the building and hoisted myself onto the roof. I turned around to see Akeno standing on the ground with a worried expression on her face. I bent down off the roof and held out a helping hand.

"Ryuu, we shouldn't be doing this," Akeno said in concern, "If Rias found out about this, she would kill us."

"Oh come on Akeno, when you look back on this moment in the future, will you regret taking my hand and getting in trouble," I said, "Or will you regret not taking my hand and getting in trouble instead." Akeno paused for a minute.

"Well, what the hell." She said and she reached out and took my hand. I grabbed her wrist firmly and yanked her up onto the roof of the small room.

"Okay, 1 more." I said before turning around and climbing up onto the actual roof of the training lodge. I was careful not to climb by the lit window, just to be sure no one caught us. I thrusted myself onto the stony tiles of the roof and turned around and helped Akeno onto the roof.

"No more climbing?" She asked. I smiled and turned around.

"No, but once you see this, you won't regret the climb." I said as I walked over the peak of the lodge. I turned around to see Akeno walking over the steep peak of the roof and stopping. She seemed bewildered by the spectacular view of the lake.

"Wow Ryuu, this is beautiful," She said in awe, "How did you find this?"

"Well, after Koneko's brutal training, I didn't want to go to Asia bitching about a few scraped and bruises, so I looked around the place, and I eventually found myself up here." I explained. I walked almost to the edge of the roof and sat down. I patted the hard tiled beside me, motioning for Akeno to sit. She walked over and sat down beside me.

"So what do you want to start with?" She asked. That's the first thing I need to think about. What should I talk about? Maybe should I ask her? Maybe I should start off with something different? I think I'm just going to ask her with what to begin with.

"I don't know, do you have any options?" I asked. Damn it, that sounded way too pathetic.

"Well, um, how about, you tell me how she made you feel being with her." Akeno suggested.

"Um, well, okay, here it goes." I said.

"Well, one of the things that sucks about is whole thing is how I felt being with her," I started, "Well, before I met her, I had always felt like there was something missing, I never slept good once in my life, I hated the fact that I even existed," I continued, "But when I met her, I just felt like that little piece of me was starting to fix itself, and I was just starting to sleep a little better," I explained, "And then I figured out that that so called 'Love' was all just a fake, God I'm pretty stupid for thinking that she actually liked me."

"Oh come on Ryuu, you're not stupid at all." Akeno said in an attempt to calm me down.

"No, I went after the first person who would even talk to me, and I rushed into it way faster than I was supposed to," I explained, "Now I'm sure I'll sleep envy better than before."

"Well, if you would like, I could talk to Rias about getting you a private room, maybe that will help." Akeno offered. I can't believe she would go through for me.

"Wow, thanks Akeno, I wish there was something I could do in return." I said.

"All I want you to do is stop thinking about this whole thing, and go into that rating game and kick some Phoenix ass." Akeno said.

"Okay, done, and done." I said.

"Ryuu, you are in charge of your own fate, you can't let others make your decisions for you," Akeno said. She reached her arm out and placed it on my shoulder, "You're a great guy Ryuu, Mira doesn't know what sh's missing."

"Thanks Akeno, I know this was a short talk, but it really helped," I said, "We should do this again before training ends."

"Yes, I would like that." Akeno said. I don't know what it is, but there is something I like about hanging out with Akeno, and it's moments like this that I wish would never end.