The Gift

I

Freezing. That was what he was, that's what defined this very moment. Cold as hell, soaking wet due to the constant weeping of the sky, although no amount of the purifying and chilled cloud-tears could make him feel less gritty, dirty and exhausted.

Ace finished his last, noticably damp, cigarette as he leaned against the cold brick wall of the alleyway, one leg bent to connect the sole of his supple cowhide steal toe boot with the damp and hard surface and his upper back of his black, patched, leather jacket pressed tightly against it.

He drew in the last puff of the cancerous smoke, coating his lungs and eventually releasing it as he exhaled, then flicked the butt to the ground, crushing it with a gritty crunch and extinguishing the glowing red end.

"Just like my damn hope to get back to the gang..."

He begun to mentally curse himself, his mind venturing to dark parts of his psyche. The ones that made him want to crawl up in a ball of self hatred and wither away, unknown to the world and hopeless.

He feebly kicked a random and innocent discarded soda can, it's crumpled and once bright but now dully coloured form skipping across the hard, dark grey cement with a few clatters and landing in a dirty gutter across from him.

He struggled to mentally claw his way out of the familiar sinkhole of self loathing deep in his mind, shoving his chilled hands in his grimy pockets of his pants, finally slipping out the shadows of the alleyway. His frown was deeply carved into his features, at a point of almost being a cruel scowl, his soul and spirits sinking six feet under.

Japan. A beautiful, classy and quite fascinating country, full of culture and elegant traditions passed down through many generations and preserved perfectly and meticulously. Hell, he would love to enjoy it if it wasn't for his current state. When-more like if- he ever got out of this shitty situation, he'd probably come back to visit and actually enjoy the place.

Yet, he did about the stupidest damn thing he could ever fathom, and now he had been mugged, broke, homeless, stranded and overall hopeless. He mentally shook his head at how damn dumb he was, recalling the events that led up to his woeful circumstance.

When he seen those bright, obnoxious letters and symbols almost lazily scrawled across his computer screen, something akin to a dumbass phrase like "GENUINE GET-RICH-QUICK IN JAPAN!!!" his selfish, greedy and grimy little mind had to sweep up that chance, especially since the pay the gang got from the reboot was drying up and their small side jobs weren't paying the bills and putting food on the table. So, in his mind it was perfect, he grabbed some cash, boarded the closest flight to the new country just to get his sorry ass mugged.

As he slammed himself with more self deprivating insults in his mind, he picked up his pace to a lazy stride, aimless and empty. He honestly didn't notice the purple haired Japanese woman who's attention was keen on him until she had, with her voice, as sweet as honey and tiny as a kitten, spoke to him in English.

"Um, sir...?"

His mind snapped out of his thoughts, his head whipping around to meet her emerald orbs, his fight or flight instinct soon tore down and dissolved quickly as he drank in the small form in front of him. She had the most gorgeous dark plum coloured hair, almost black, green eyes the color of a young, tender forest, ivory skin that was lightly brushed by water droplettes from the sky. She wore a soaked hoodie and equally drenched jeans, but nothing that nature could do to her made her beauty any less stunning and aw inspiring. He caught himself staring, not something a lovely lady like her would enjoy from a random homeless and stranded slick kat like himself. He composed himself in a hot second.