Soukonoki

Chapter 1

"Wow, it's gotten really late, I didn't think it would take this long to get here." A small framed high school boy says as he trudges his way through a thick forest. His name is Rin Sato, he is 16 years old and a first year at Kanozaki high school. He is actually headed to his new life as a high school student right now. The only thing is, the school is in the middle of nowhere and he is going there in middle of the night (12:14 to be exact) and while finding it in the day is hard enough, he is taking on the impossible task at night. Rin has been wandering for over an hour at this point and still can't seem to find the dorm. He pulls a small campus map from his bag and stares at it intently. 'It's no use, I can't see anything out here it's just too dark! And of course I would forget to charge my phone today of all days.' He sighs and puts the map back into his bag. 'I guess I should head back to the bus station and see if I can ask someone for directions'  Just as he is about to turn back, he sees something. He squints a little and through the darkness realizes he is looking at a person. He starts towards the figure "Excuse me, um, do you know where the dorm is? I'm a little lost and -" Before Rin could finish his sentence or even blink for that matter the figure he was talking to appeared in front of him, a sadistic smile plastered on his face. One second he was a 10 feet away and the next he was right in front of his face. Before Rin has a chance to react he is hit in the abdomen and is sent flying. His body crashes through a tree and he lets out a small yelp. His body smacks into the ground and rolls for a few feet before coming to a stop in a small clearing.

Rin's whole body ached. His head throbbed, it hurt to breath and he could feel himself start to lose consciousness but before he does, Rin sees the figure that attacked him heading towards him, the same sadistic smile on his face. The attacker gets 5 feet away before someone jumps in front of him. This new figure starts to pull a katana from his hip before he is stopped by another figure lunging at Rin's attacker. "I'll take care of this, Keita you just get him out of here" he looks over at Rin who is now unconscious. "Okay, just be careful Kazuki" Keita says as he approaches Rin. He leans down and slips one of his hands under Rin's arms and the other under his legs. Rin whines in pain as he is lifted, this draws Keita's attention to the man in his arms, though from what he can see he is more of a boy. Either way he notices that whoever he's holding isn't doing well. He decides to take the boy back to the dorms. At least there he would be safe. Just as he is about to leave, he looks back at Kazuki. He is still fighting with the attacker. Keita sighs and starts to run in the direction of the dorm but every time he makes a jerky movement, or any movement, Rin lets out a pained moan.

Keita slows down and the moaning stops. As they get closer to the dorms a downpour starts. "Damn it" Keita mutters as he notices that the boy he is holding has started to shake from the cold. "Sorry" Keita whispers as he picks up the pace. In a matter of minutes they arrive at a large, castle looking building. Keita rushes through the front doors and heads up a flight of stairs.  He reaches a large door when Rin starts to wake up. "Wh-Where am I?" Rin manages to stay just before breaking into a coughing fit. His face twists in pain as every cough racks his body with pain. "Are you alright?" Keita says as he opens the door to the room. "Sorry, stupid question" Keita adds as the pained look on Rin's face answers his question, "Well, first things first we need to get you out of these clothes, can you sit?" He asks as he approaches a bed with Rin who has now stopped coughing. "Yea" Rin manages to say as he is set on the bed. "I'm going to grab some dry clothes okay, just try not to move too much" Keita says as he walks over to a dresser on the other side of the room.

Rin puts his hands on his knees to stabilize himself. He takes deep breaths to stop himself from passing out but it just makes the pain worse. "Okay, I found you some of my old clothes, they might be a little big on you but it's better than nothing. Do you need any help changing into them" Keita walks over to Rin. "No,I think I got it" Rin says as he pulls himself off the bed. "Okay, well here are the clothes, you can change over there" Keita points at a door to their right. "Thanks," Rin says as he manages to force a small pained smile. He grabs the clothes and takes 3 steps towards the door before his legs give way and he starts to fall. Keita catches him and Rin yelps out in pain as Keita's arm presses against his chest. "Sorry, are you sure you don't need any help?" Keita lifts Rin up until he can stand on his own. "Yea, I'm sure, but thanks" Rin says as tries to make his way to the door again and this time succeeds.

He opens the door to find a small bathroom. He closes the door behind him and leans against it for support. He catches his breath and leans up. He puts the dry clothes that were given to him on the sink and looks up into a mirror above the sink. His face was covered in blood. He looks closer and sees that there is a sizable gash above his right eye. He leans over the sink and starts to wash his face, he winces in pain as he starts to scrub his cut. After he finishes cleaning his cut as best he can, he dries it off and examines it again. It wasn't as bad as it looked before but it might need some stitches. He moves back from the sink and starts to pulls his shirt off. He stops half way when the pain in his abdomen gets worse. He rests for a second and then finishes pulling the shirt over his head, this reveals many large bruises on his abdomen, chest,and shoulders. He moves his hands to his abdomen and presses down. He covers his mouth to stop himself from yelling out in pain. 'It looks like I have a few broken ribs' Rin thinks as he uses the sink to stabilize himself. 'I better finish changing before I pass out.' He looks over at the pile of clothes and finds a long sleeve shirt and a pair of pajama pants. He grabs the dry shirt and steps back from the sink. He takes a deep breath and pulls the shirt over his head as fast as he can. He rests a moment and then slips his pants off. Rin reaches over and grabs the clean pair. He slips them over his hips to find that they are too big, they start to fall off whenever he moves. He grabs the drawstring on the inside of his pants and pulls them as tight as he can. They are still way too big but at least now they won't fall off. Rin grabs his wet clothes, rests a few seconds and then exits the bathroom.

In the bedroom Keita is waiting for him, he has already changed into dry clothes and is sitting on the bed waiting for him. "Are you feeling any better?" Keita asks as he stands up. "Yea, a little" Rin says as he starts to walk over to the bed. As he gets closer he gets light headed. Rin drops his clothes and grabs his head as darkness starts to cloud his vision. Keita sees Rin start to sway and jumps up just as Rin collapses. "Wow, hey are you okay?" Keita says as he helps Rin over to the bed but by this time Rin is already unconscious. Keita lays Rin down on the bed and checks to make sure he is still breathing. Once he sees that he is, Keita moves Rin under the covers. He grabs a chair and sits down next to the bed and looks at Rin closer. Keita hadn't noticed when he first saw Rin but he was actually very small, in fact he looked like a middle school-er. He looked at least half a foot shorter if not more. His clothes were so big on him. 'He's kind of cute when he sleeps' Keita thinks as he starts to smile to himself but is interrupted when Kazuki enters the room. "Is he alright?" Kazuki says as he walks over to the boy. "Yea, I mean for the most part, he did pass out that I think he's fine" Keita replies. "Hmm... I will have Akiyama sensei take a look at him in the morning but for now we should let him rest. I need to check in with the headmaster about this mystery boy and how he got through our dimension break so do you mind looking over him for the rest of the night?" Keita looks down at the boy again. "No, I don't mind" Keita says as he continues to look at Rin "Good, I will see you in morning" Kazuki says as moves to the door. He smiles a little and walks out of the room. Keita sits down and looks over at Rin only to see that his breathing has become fast and shallow. He looks closer and notices that Rin is covered in sweat. He reaches over and places his hand on Rin's forehead. It's burning hot. Keita jumps up and rushes to the bathroom.