Dark Waters

Chapter Nine: Assault

Chapter Nine: Assault 

  

Angel sighed as she took her bag of groceries from the counter as she prepared to leave the store. She smiled as she mused on how different her life had become. A month ago if someone told her that she would have an old Grandmaster and his three teenage ninja grandsons living with her in her apartment, she would have told them that they were crazy.

But following several strange other events these past weeks, Angel suddenly found herself playing hostess to her newfound friends. Not that she minded, it had been a little lonely living all alone in her apartment and those youngsters do provide good security for her little store in this part of the neighborhood. She even found a lot of common with one of the teenagers, Daniel, who shared her passion for computers and sciences.

But still, Angel mused to herself, having to feed for her four guests sure took a toll on her food supplies. She soon found herself having to do her groceries at least two times a week.

She was just stepping out of the store when she suddenly bumped against someone.

"Oh hell! Miss, I'm so sorry!!!" A hand suddenly grabbed her wrist, stopping her fall.

Angel looked up at her savior. It was a young man, probably around eighteen or a year younger with black ruffled hair that barely stayed just short of covering his dark blue eyes, which gave his slight Asian features an odd but handsome look. He wore a black shirt and dark blue pants that made his pale skin look even fairer.

He looked exactly like Rainier, but his features were more delicate and seemed fragile.

“Rainier?”

The younger man didn’t seem to notice her stunned expression. "Oh crap! I'm so sorry, Miss. Its just I tend not to pay attention to where I'm going." He apologized as he helped her on her feet. "Here let me help..." He added as he got down and began picking up her fallen grocery items.

"No, it's all right." Angel replied as she got down beside him. She gave him a good look. "Hey, you're not from around here aren't you?"

The young man gave her a bright smile that made his blue eyes shine. "No, I'm not. I come from uptown."

"Uptown?" Angel blinked, remembering that only the rich and the upper middle class could afford to live in those expensive high-rise condo units from that part of the city. "Then what are you doing here?"

He looked a bit embarrassed by the question. "Promise me you won't tell anyone?'

Angel look puzzled. This guy didn't seem dangerous or anything. It just didn't seem to fit in with his "good boy" looks. "Okay," she slowly began.

The young man blushed and sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. "Well, I kinda snuck out get away from one of my tutors. You know, the kind who'd insist on making you practice every frigging moment?" he made a face as he grumbled. "Like someone actually would need to play the violin every hour of the day..." he shook his head and shuddered before giving her a wide eyed pleading look. "Promise you won't tell anyone?"

Angel couldn't help it, she laughed, ignoring the young man's slightly wounded look before he joined her. She didn't know why, but for some reason she found him likeable and non-threatening. "Okay, I promise." she replied as their laughter died down. She held out her hand. "Hi, my name is Angel Luna but you can call me Angel. What's yours?"

The young man seemed to hesitate for a moment before taking her hand and shaking it. "Leo." He smiled. "Call me Leo."

***

Meanwhile back in the apartment, Rainier yawned and got out of bed. He stepped out of his room, to find that everyone else was up and in the living room. "Morning," he grumbled, swiping a piece of toast from the kitchen where his youngest brother was making breakfast. "Where's Angel?" he asked in a nonchalant way then immediately dropped down and started doing push ups.