Fire on Fire

1: Fateful Encounter

NOTE: words in between () usually mean the main characters thoughts.

The sun was shining it's warm rays down on the girl's face, and she could hear the birds chirping their beautiful song. Today was perfect. At least that's what someone would think looking at the girl walking through the streets. She had a bright smile on her face, and a look in her eyes. A look that made anyone who passed by her smile too. She made everyone's day just a little bit brighter. The girl jumped up onto a flower bed wall and balanced on the edge, not a care in the world. She almost fell a couple times, but quickly regained her balance. Not even those instances could deter her mood. She had a camera hanging on her neck and she repeatedly raised it up to snap some pictures. Some of the sky, others of the flowers around her, and others of the people bustling through the streets. Hayden had been having a stressful week. Her little brother was being a complete monster again, although he is eleven and some kids are complete monsters at eleven. She was also having some money problems and was still struggling to learn how to pay taxes and pay her rent. She and her brother would be set to live comfortably for at least another year or two, but after that Hayden would have to find a job, and she was not in any way shape or form qualified. Hell, she hadn't even graduated from high school yet. So, in order to get away from all her problems, she decided to drop her brother off at a friends house for a two day sleepover, and go out for a relaxing day in Shizume city. It was relaxing at first. She got a nice lunch at a small cafe as well as her daily dose of coffee, and bought a really cute jacket along with a saddle bag. The bag was currently by her side with the jacket stuffed into it. Hayden was having one of the most relaxing days she's had in months.

And that's when it happened. She saw another girl in the middle of the street. Straight white hair, red eyes, and a Gothic red dress. Turning her head, she noticed a truck that was going too fast heading straight towards the child. That's when she jumped into action. She flung herself off the flower bed wall, her feet touching the ground for a split second, before she took off. She barreled into the street and grabbed the little girl, holding her tightly, while jumping out of the way of the truck. She couldn't regain her balance in time and started falling head first into a wall. Hayden quickly rotated her body in midair making sure her back would get the brunt of the collision instead of the girls. Her head banged painfully against the cement as the girl rolled off of her. A little groan escaped Hayden as she clutched her head in pain trying to ignore the headache that was currently banging against her skull. Instead of worrying about herself though, she immediately turned to the little girl and gazed at her with concerned eyes.

"Are you okay?" Hayden asked the girl. She nodded, her white hair bouncing with the movement. Where the hell was this girl's parents and why was she just in the middle of the street like that? Hayden's first question didn't go unanswered for long, since a man walked up to them and grabbed the little girl's hand. He didn't even acknowledge Hayden who was still sitting on the ground. He looked to be in his early twenties and had bright red hair and amber eyes. His clothes consisted of a leather jacket and a white v-neck shirt. He looked like a punk and an ass. Hayden only had time to look him up and down before he turned and started walking away, the little girl at his side. He doesn't bother to thank her, he doesn't bother to make sure his kid is okay, he just grabs the girl's hand and pretends she didn't almost get run over. How neglectful is he? So Hayden against her better judgement yelled at him.

"Hey!" She called. The man stopped and spun on his heel looking at her in question. She pushed herself off the ground and started walking towards the man and the little girl, and stopped until she stood right in front of them. "What the hell is wrong with you?" Hayden asked him. His eyebrows lifted in surprise at the tone of her voice, but that didn't falter her in the slightest. "You let that girl walk off and don't even bother to watch her? Seriously, who knows what could have happened. She almost got run over!" Hayden's voice got more aggressive the longer she spoke, but her volume never raised. The man studied her, like he was trying to figure out what her point is.

"Do you want me to thank you." It sounded like a question, but he didn't ask it like a question. He seemed genuinely confused by the girl in front of him, but completely missed the point of Hayden's rant.

"No, I want you to pay more attention to someone who is obviously in your care." Hayden glared at the man before she turned to walk off, but felt someone grab her hand. She looked down and saw the little girl holding the sleeve of Hayden's sweatshirt. Then Hayden felt an arm wrapped around her and had to prevent herself from stumbling backwards at the shock of being hugged.

"Thank you," the girl whispered. Hayden smiled at the girl, and ruffled her hair.

"No problem." The girl detached herself and made her way back to the red haired man, quickly grabbing his hand. Hayden gave a small half wave to the child and another glare to the man, before turning on her heel and walking away.

That was the start to a very bad day. Actually the start wasn't so bad, it's just that man put her on edge. He seemed dangerous. He just had this air around him that screamed destruction and it unnerved her.

Putting the man out of her head, Hayden pondered on what to do next. It was the last few days before summer vacation ended and school started back up again. Not like she planned on going back to school anyway. Especially after everything that had happened. Hayden sighed and tried to dispel all the negative thoughts from her brain. This was not the time to be feeling sorry for herself. She had a day all to herself, and decided to take full advantage of it. She picked her camera up again and started scrolling through her pictures, trashing the ones hat were blurry or stupid. The camera's screen glinted as a ray of sun fell upon it. Walking in the direction of the sea, Hayden pointed her camera at almost everything that caught her eye. She took a picture of two buildings completely made of glass, capturing the way the light fragmented off of the windows and formed mini rainbows in the air. She also got a cute picture of a couple sharing a milkshake together through a cafe window (with their permission of course). She also got a picture of the sun sparkling on the open sea, since she was close enough now, before walking away. The sun was already starting to set and she needed to get home. That doesn't mean she couldn't have a little fun, so she decided to take the scenic route home and by scenic she means long. Hayden kept walking all throughout Shizume City, until a flash of red caught her attention. She turned her head to the side and saw the man from before. The one with bright red hair, that was with the little girl. The only difference was that now people surrounded him. They seemed to be friends rather than foes, but that wasn't even the weirdest part. They were all on fire! Bright red flames surrounded them, and it didn't seem like they even felt a tiny bit bothered by it. What the hell was going on? Hayden raised her camera and zoomed in on the group of people catching a couple of quick shots. She managed to catch a shot of a blonde spewing fireballs from his cigarette, and of a boy with a beanie riding around on his skateboard swinging his bat through the air with fire surrounding it. Then she focused on the redhead from before. He seemed to be the most powerful with his fire. These people seemed dangerous, (really? how could she tell, was it the flames or the weapons?) so she decided to slip her camera back into her saddlebag, and head home. That was before she felt an arm wrap itself around her waist, pinning her arms to her side. All her muscles tensed up as she felt someone's hot breath near her ear.