Following Ryu Sheng

Darah was starstruck for a moment. She gazed at him deeply, wondering what's lying behind those charismatic black orbs. He always had a tired gaze to himself, as if he was desperately looking for a stop to his endless run from something. 

"Are you afraid?" 

Darah nodded unknowingly, her gaze lost in his while he smirked. She then realised what she did and shook her head in denial. 

"N-No! I-I'm not afraid!" She blushed. 

"Yes I can see that." He cocked an eyebrow and headed off upstairs. Darah trailed behind him, silently analysing his features from the back. Was he always this tall or was she hallucinating? Oh wait you're two steps behind him, dumbass. She found herself lost in admiration again and shook herself out of it. No this is not fine, you're scaring yourself at this point. Keep yourself in check, Darah reminded her heart.  

Ryu was walking towards his room, gently turning the knob. His room was just as or maybe a bit more spacious than Darah's but she noticed it was extremely blank compared to her's. It was much darker in theme and the furniture was minimal. She secretly liked it more…

"Now, if you'll keep this a secret. Just between the two of us..." 

Darah nodded but realised his back was turned on her so he couldn't see obviously. 

"Yes!" She replied like his most trusted confidante. He went on towards his book shelf, twisted a key and kept his hand in between the middle parting which seemed to conjoin the two sides. In a split second, Darah's eyes widened, the parting opening like a doorway to a dungeon. No, it wasn't a dungeon, it was a narrow space to another spacious room. 

"H-How?" Darah already heard the rain roaring outside. Ryu turned around and his godly face glimmered in the sudden streak of lightning. 

"You're surprised already." He muttered, smirking as he walked inside. Darah felt her heart race against time as he shut the door behind them. As he walked ahead, all kinds of wrong thoughts crossed her mind, imagining even the worst of all. What if he tries something? What if there's already dead people inside!? Fuck it, I'd rather not go in! He does have the face of a charming killer who lures people in now that I think of it! I'm such an easy prey! Disgusting. Darah took a deep breath and calmed herself. She turned behind and looked at the door in hope. I can still make a run for it…

"Darah." He called gently. Something about the way it sounded relieved her. She took small steps forward, nearing his calm gaze. He tapped a switch and a number of small yet bright circles flashed their lights on the room. Good, it doesn't smell of blood, Darah sighed. One could easily feel suffocated in here. But then she looked around and her eyes almost fell out of their sockets. 

"I present to you, my collection..." He extended his arms to both sides and smiled faintly. Weapons. It was weapons all around her, all of different kinds, shining their beauty at her. Of course, he thinks they're toys. She couldn't deny, they were pretty, but dangerous. 

"Eight years of training in Japan. I gathered all of these as prized possessions from my teacher, Hiroto… and many more which I acquired recently." He said proudly, eyes gleaming with admiration as he touched softly along each of their metallic surfaces. Maybe it was Darah's morals that stopped her from smiling back at him but she knew her morality meant nothing considering the situation she was in… She kept it to herself for so long that she had killed a man, which hurt her. But now that she thought of it, she wouldn't be alive if it weren't for what happened then. 

"You don't seem interested I suppose-" Ryu stopped midway, watching her attention being grabbed by something in the corner. Her hand extended out to a throwing knife at one of the velvet sheets. He drew closer to her side and watched her looking at it carefully. 

"Throw it." He said suddenly, breaking her out of her thoughts. 

"What?" 

"Let me see." He ordered, stepping back and pulling down a sheet from an erect board. It was a target, his eyes narrowing in curiosity as he stepped aside. 

"Come on. Show me how you'll do it with your scrawny hands." He smiled. Darah squinted her eyes at him. He's smiling a lot these days. Just how great does he think he is? She stared ahead, eyes fixed on the middle black dot of the target while taking a deep breath. Taking in her full strength, she gave it a worthy shot. Ryu felt a soft breath leave his lips… Almost at the centre. 

"Look at that!" She said enthusiastically, flipping her short hair with a proud smile. Leaning against the wall, Ryu was watching her closely with that unreadable expression of his. Is he pissed I actually did it? Well, suck it up. Darah internally praised herself, hell, she didn't think she could do it with him as an audience. But that wasn't it, he was just lost. He stood straight and approached her slowly watching her mellow brown eyes turn twice the size. 

"What's wrong?" She asked worriedly, stepping back.

"By the time you throw that.." Ryu raised his hand and pointed a finger to the centre of her forehead." A bullet would've already pierced through your little head." Darah pursed her lips and glared at him. She looked like an angry toddler regardless, to Ryu. 

"Well, you surely look pissed!" Darah didn't intend to say it out loud but gasped and shut her mouth with her palm. Not sooner did she see Ryu's cold gaze on her break into a scoff. 

"That was really not what I was trying to say!" She said immediately, raising a hand in apology. 

"Why, did you miss some sweet words to add to it Darah?" He replied with a smirk so close to her burning red face and walked past her. That tattoo of his wasn't helping with the nervousness. Seriously, why does he have to look like that!? Her eyes once again went towards the knife… 

"Not there. Over here." He gestured to her. Darah stepped closer and saw him loading a 9mm pistol. He handed it over to her, carefully. 

"Why this? I don't want to hurt anybody..." Darah said in a very low voice, being reminded of something bad. 

"When people say martial arts is for self defence, it's half true and half false. Because it lies in the hands of the user. It's the same with weapons. It's your choice to try learning it, either to protect yourself, or the other." 

 She felt weird holding it but still raised it to her level and aimed at another target board. He wasn't entirely wrong… There are people after her. Things could take an ugly turn any moment. Ryu watched carefully how she'd respond. 

"I want to learn it!" Darah said dead seriously. 

"Atta girl." His praise dusted a light pink over her cheeks as she tore her attention away from his majestic gaze. It was her first time holding a gun so it felt both stupid and strange for her. She held it at an awkward angle, shifting every second. Ryu smirked after a defeated sigh. 

"You need help." 

Yes I need mental help, Darah thought when she found herself looking at him every 2 seconds or so. But when he came closer, standing just behind her and his hands over her shoulders, her soul left her body. Darah! Hold still, don't faint! 

"Like this." He held her unsteady hands from behind and adjusted her alignment to the target through his eyes. All through the process, unknown to him, Darah was shaking in nervousness. In the unending silence of the room, she could hear crystal clear his each breath, the soft air blowing past her cheek. She wondered in fear if he could hear how bad her heart was racing…. If he'd leave his hands, it was a hundred percent given that she'd fall face flat on the floor. 

"Now." His voice deepened, Darah's unsteady finger firing a bullet blankly. To her surprise it pierced right at the centre, not an inch different thanks to his grip on her hands. Darah was exhilarated till the next second until a banging thunder dragged the soul out of her body, making her drop the gun, causing it to fire at a random direction. 

"Ah!" She shrieked and turned around in sudden fear to hold something. After the ringing of the thunder lessened in her ears, she blinked her eyes and raised her head slowly, only to see a serious face gazing down at her in daze. She realised he had held her in his embrace and quickly broke away. 

"S-Sorry. I got scared." She mumbled. He said nothing, looking at her nervous eyes wandering here and there, looking at everything except his face. But then she felt something warm on top of her head, his hand... She looked up, eyes widening in disbelief.

"It's alright..." He said in his most gentlest voice she'd ever heard. Darah was convinced of two things. That he was unpredictable... and that his touch felt comforting in a very lovable way. A way that made her heart stop.