A/N: Hey! This is my first original story in a very long time. I hope this one will be good and people will enjoy it. I want this one to finish and not too drag on too long. Well, anyway, happy reading.

CHAPTER 1—The Girl:

First Day of School, Seventh Period . . .

The swimming instructor looked at the pool and then his eyes shifted to the sophomores and juniors in his class. He needed to go the office but didn't know if the group was trustworthy enough. So far, three students attempted to jump off the high board; one jumped into the pool; another shoved someone else in. He scanned their faces, seeing the expressions they wore. They didn't look like troublemakers. Most looked like nice, bored kids.

He sighed, scratching the back of his head. "I need to go to the main office. I'll be back." With that, he walked out, hoping none would do anything dumb while he was gone.

Immediately, the group of thirty-something students broke out into a loud chatter.

"Koji!" A girl yelled in the cluster, waving her hand enthusiastically. She wore the school uniform—a gray skirt, blue blazer and white blouse. She even added a red scarf to wrap around her neck. The boys wore just the opposite—gray pants, blue blazer, white shirt, and a red tie on some occasions.

Koji Takahashi looked up at the girl and gestured the girl to come. He didn't feel like abandoning his buddies for one girl. They were having an important discussion about sports. When the girl came over, he wrapped his arms around the brunette playfully. "Hey, Hana."

The girl looked up into Koji's lime eyes and giggled. "Where you've been? I haven't seen you all day."

He quirked an eyebrow, simultaneously smirking. "That's because I don't have any classes with you this year . . . except this one and math."

"Of course," Hana said. "Oh, and I'll be cheering for you during this soccer season."

Koji looked back at his other friends, still clinging onto Hana's small waist. "What did you say, Makoto?"

A boy looked up from the floor, his dark eyes on his friend. They stared out through the raven locks of hair that fell across his face. Leisurely, he jammed his hands into his pockets. "Hm?"

"What were you saying?" Koji repeated, not even bothering to cover the agitation in his voice. He didn't care if people got annoyed by it. There was no point in keeping some fake happiness on his face. If he was annoyed, he'd admit; upset, he'd admit. The only thing he wouldn't admit so easily was if he was wrong. Makes you wonder how he got friends or became popular.

Makoto rolled his eyes. "I said that I'm not playing soccer this year."

"Oh," Koji said. Koji looked away from the circle and saw a group of sophomores.

The sophomores stared at the pool, some excited for the next days to follow. They couldn't wait to start swimming. It should be an easy task for those who could swim already or at least that was what they hoped.

"I think we should jump in," one person suggested.

"Then do it!"

The person who had the idea, looked at the other one with a look of shock. "And get wet? I don't have a change of clothes and it's not even the end of the day yet." Her hazel eyes stared at one of her fellow sophomores. It was a girl name was Tanaka Nakamura, not one of the most popular students in her time. She kind of stood there, looking at the water like she didn't like it. "Hey, Tanaka!"

The girl named Tanaka looked at the other sophomore with a quizzical look, casually placing her orange bangs behind her ear. The girl, who had called her, was waving her over impatiently. Reluctantly, Tanaka walked over, not knowing what to expect.

She reached the girl, her mahogany eyes staring hard at the water. It was so much more dangerously close than before. The student who had called her over, linked her arm in Tanaka's. "Rini?"

Rini, the one who had called her, grinned. "Relax. I wanna show you something."

Makoto stared at the group of sophomores, some who were already snickering. He raised her eyebrows, not seeing the funny part of what was happening. Easily, he saw Rini because she had attention naturally drawn to her. He knew Rini from last year. She had tried to get him to go out with her by flirting throughout gym class. Whatever she was up to could not be good for the orange-haired girl.

"Idiots," Koji muttered, his air of superiority clearly obvious.

"Hey," Hana said in a hurt voice, pushing him lightly. Koji shrugged.

"Oh shit," Makoto said. Koji looked back now, seeing the sophomore fall into the water. She went down under for a second before resurfacing, arms flailing wildly.

"Help! I can't swim!"

The girl (Koji thought her name was Rini) laughed. "Stop joking, Tanaka! Everyone knows the basics of swimming!"

"Help!" His green eyes watched as her head submerged under water. Her nose came out, her arms still flapping to keep herself afloat. But soon that proved to be pointless when she was out of view. Bubbles came to the surface quickly before it stopped.

"I think that . . ." Koji released Hana from his side. Hana and Makoto followed him to the group of sophomores.

"You sophomores are a bunch of idiots!" Hana glared at them all. Koji had jumped in not too long ago. Hopefully the girl would be fine. "Especially you!" Her eyes were on Rini only, the bitch who was responsible for the incident. Where was the swimming instructor now? She heard a gasp behind her and turned around. Koji had the sophomore, Tanaka, in one arm while using the other to swim. Makoto rushed over to help get Tanaka out of the water.

"I didn't know she was being serious!" Rini protested. SMACK! Her cheek was red from the slap issued to her. Rini glared at Hana furiously. She didn't care if the girl was a grade above her. The time was now. She wanted to pull her by the hair but she heard Makoto say something.

"She's not breathing!" Makoto announced.

Koji looked down at the girl, wondering if the teacher was going burst in and would see a dead student. His eyes drifted to her lips. Maybe he could still manage to save her life. He pinched her nose and brought his mouth to hers.

Hana watched, a little envious. Seeing the way his hair was wet was driving her crazy. The tiny beads of water, still in his hair. The occasional moments they dropped onto his arm.

Koji started to push down on her stomach many times till he felt that was enough and brought his mouth down again. The whole situation was weird. He had never thought paying attention for once would be useful. But the whole process was taking too long for his liking. Was he doing it wrong? Come on, wake up, he thought as he pushed down on her stomach a few more times before coming to her mouth a third.

"I didn't mean to," Rini said, looking so close to tears. "If I'd known she'd drown I'd—huh?" When Koji pushed down on her stomach again, water spurted from Tanaka's mouth and her chest began to heave again.

Koji sighed out of relief. The sophomore was still alive and he had saved her life. He ran a hand through his wet hair. "You're okay?"

Tanaka looked at the guy who was hovering over her. She flushed red, embarrassed that everyone was staring at them. She nodded to answer his question. Her face turned redder when she saw him grin flawlessly at her. "Um, I . . ." Her voice came out timid and small. Koji could barely hear it. She opened her mouth to add more but was interrupted.

"Hey! What's going on here!?" The crowd immediately parted to reveal a clear path to their swimming instructor. His eyes went from the two wet students and looked at the pool before resting on them again. "Don't tell me you jumped in, too?" He groaned.

At the end of the day, Koji went to his locker to get his stuff. He had been interviewed by the school newspaper and students was talking about it the net period. News always traveled fast around the school even though it contained well over two thousand students. It was alright. It was better to be known than not he guessed.

He felt a tap on his shoulder but decided the person could wait a little longer. When he finally yanked out his backpack (which took a minute), he turned around to see who it was. It was the girl who he had rescued. Her clothes was a lot drier than it had been two periods ago.

Instead of looking at him, her eyes stared at the floor. "Um . . ."

"What?" The guy didn't feel like waiting all day for the girl to speak her mind. He had things to do. He wanted to get back home to his mother.

"I wanted to say thank you for today. I owe you my life."

He smirked at the girl's embarrassment and cupped her chin. Then he tilted her head so he could see into her eyes. "It helps if you look at the person . . . Your name's Tanaka, right?"

She nodded, embarrassed that he was staring at her. Her face became instantly redder and she pulled away. Again her eyes were on the floor. "I'll pay you back somehow."

Koji shrugged. "Don't worry about it." He closed his locker and left.

After coming home from school and playing video games for three hours, Koji came downstairs to the kitchen to eat. He saw his mother standing by the stove, stirring something inside a pot. He came closer to see what she was cooking. His eyes made out the thick soup she cooking, dumplings sticking through the surface. "Smells good," he commented.

"Thanks," she said. She looked back over her shoulder, seeing the strong resemblance to her husband in Koji. The same hair, same eyes, same laid back expression he had in high school. It was right because Koji was his son.

Koji started to set the table for two. His father was dead and there were no other children in the house since his older brother died. However, that was some time ago. "How was your day?"

" . . . It was fine. Work was tiresome but I got through it. How was yours?"

"Okay. I got that stupid Hikari teacher again."

"For math?'

"Yeah. If I fail in his class, I can't play in my soccer games. Coach warned me to pick up my grades this year."

"I wish that I could help you," his mother said while taking out a large spoon from the drawer and two bowls from the cabinet. Using the big spoon, she started to put some stew in each bowl. "But the kind of math you kids do these days is ridiculous. Maybe a tutor can help." She walked over to the table and put the bowls on separate place mats. Finally she sat down across from her son.

He snorted, picking up his spoon. "I don't know any girls that's smart enough to tutor me."

"It doesn't have to be a girl."

"I prefer girls."

After dinner, he went back upstairs to his bedroom, wanting sometime to think to himself. However he wasn't expecting it to be occupied. There was the girl who he had saved from death, lying on his bed. "What the hell are you doing here!?"

The girl bolted up and swung her legs over the side to sit. "I'm sorry. I got bored waiting for you and-"

Koji cut her off, not caring much about what she wanted to say. "Maybe you didn't hear the question. Why are you here!?"

"I . . . still feel that I should repay you in some way." She wasn't looking at him again. Instead, she was playing with a red and black bracelet she was wearing. The bead alternated colors (first red then black, then red again) with kanji on them.

"How did you get in here?" Koji asked, ignoring the girl's inner turmoil.

She looked back over her shoulder at the window, the tree branches just outside of it. "The window. It was open."

"You know, there's a word for people like you."

Tanaka thought about it before responding. "Freak?"

"Good. I don't have to say anything."

"I thought of you the whole day. You were the only one who tried to save my life. You have so much potential, so much courage that you can use. You can help a lot of people in this world." Finally, she looked up to see his face. He looked so confuse and baffled by the words coming out of her mouth. Her eyes tore away from him and stared down at the bracelet. "Maybe even me."

"I saved your ass already. Isn't that enough?"

" . . . It's not." Tanaka stood up, sliding off her bracelet. She held it up in front of them and shook it once. The beads clashed together, producing this soft, melodic sound. Then she threw it. When it was about to fall, it stopped in midair glowing in a perfect circle. Suddenly, the beads turned into a door that stood in the middle of the room.

"What the hell?"

Tanaka grabbed Koji by the hand. "Come on. You have to meet the Council."

The door opened and there was a flash of light.

A/N: So how was that for chapter 1? Good? Bad? Needs work? Let me know with a review. Till later.