***A/N: This picture is the muse for Kaen Pierce! I don't know who the credit is to, I found it on Pinterest :/ But he has white hair and orange eyes! Remember, it's pronounced like k-eye-n. Kaen. :) Enjoy chapter 2!**
Ashling's POV
Today is my second day of school, and I'm actually kind of excited for today. Mr. Asano said that we were going to be practicing our skills today, and I'm really excited to see everyone's affinities put to use.
Akita told me that we get uniforms to put on while we're training, so I don't have to dress already prepared, but I'm still going to dress pretty chill today, regardless.
We were told to head straight to the gym when we got here, and I'm amazed at what I see inside. It's ginormous— I mean, I'm sure it has to be in order to serve the students better.
"Hey, Ash!"
I look over and see Akita calling me, "Hey!"
"So, what do you think of the gym? Pretty cool, huh?"
"Totally. My old school was for all normal people, so it's pretty sick being able to see this kind of stuff. I'm really excited to see everyone use their affinities."
"Oh, yeah, I've been meaning to ask you— how come you decided to come to this school? You know, being without an affinity and all."
"Oh... well, honestly, it was the closest school to my house. But after doing some research about it, I thought it looked pretty cool. And I like how they combined regular students and students with affinities, too."
"Well, I'm glad your here. Seriously— you seem so cool."
I smile at her words, and I'm honestly glad I came here, too. And managed to make a friend within two days.
"Okay, is everyone here?" Mr. Asano says.
"Everyone except Kaen."
"Of course. Let's just get started. For those of you who don't have an affinity, you'll be training together and working on your fighting skills. And since Ash, here, seems to be a pro-fighter, I'm going to have her help train you guys. You up for it, new girl?"
"'Course. I'd be happy to."
Being the teacher on my second day? This will be interesting. Sucks that I can't really watch everyone else practice, though. There's only about five of us here that don't have affinities, so training won't be too bad.
The gym door opens and shuts loudly as someone else walks in.
"Stop being late to my class, Kaen, or else I'm gonna start taking points off. Okay, you guys, go get changed into your uniforms."
The uniforms are just plain and all black with the school's logo. We have the option of tank tops or t-shirts, with shorts or pants. I chose a tank top and leggings. I asked Mr. Asano if I could leave my combat boots on while practicing, and thankfully he said yes. I'm usually always wearing a heavier shoe, and whenever I practiced on my own time I was either wearing boots or I was barefoot.
My group heads towards the mats so we can get started on practice. "I know you guys are probably kind of mad that the new girl is training you, so I'm sorry for that."
"Are you kidding me? This is totally awesome! Having a student train with us instead of a teacher is way better."
"You're still being supervised, Sawyer." A teacher with red hair says to him.
"I'm sorry, I haven't introduced myself. I'm Mr. Red."
"Mr... Red?"
"Yeah... my last name is long and complicated so I just have them call me Red— because you know... my hair. Anyway, I'm supervising you guys because I myself don't have an affinity, so I'll be of the most help."
"Right... gotcha. So, tell me you guys, what have you learned so far?"
Some time passes by and I watched my classmates practice with each other, and some of them are actually pretty good. I'm not doing much practice myself, but that's okay. I'm just glad to be helping other people who actually don't have affinities.
All of a sudden, I feel a wave of heat blast over me, and see smoke.
"What the..."
"Kaen." They all say in sync.
"Can we go check it out?"
They nod and we walk around to where the other students are so we can watch whoever is practicing.
"Kaen is fighting?" I ask Akita.
"Yeah. Him and Del. Those two always go at it. They're two of the strongest in class, but they're also best friends."
"Wow, Kaen actually has friends?"
She laughs at my joke but my smile is cut short when I see Kaen use his affinity.
"Woah..."
His affinity... is fire? Huh, suits him well.
I watch as him and Del fight each other, both moving quicker than my brain can even process.
"Hey... what's Del's affinity?"
"Oh, he's super strong and also fast."
It sounds pretty basic and boring, making him sound like your typical Superman type hero... but he sure is putting up a fight against Kaen.
I wonder why Kaen is always so angry. I mean yeah, we all get in bad moods sometimes... but he just seems like he's always angry. And by the way he's fighting, I can tell. I don't know how it's possible, but he looks even better on fire than he does normally.
Jeez, what the hell is wrong with me?
"Told you he was a hothead."
I jump at Mr. Asano's words, "Oh.. uh... yeah. I can see that, now."
I try to study his movements and the way he fights. He is pretty quick, but he's sloppy. Anyone that's smarter than him would be able to figure out his next move; which in that case, is me.
I'm not just a skilled fighter, but I'm smart as hell, too.
"And Del wins!"
Everyone claps for Del and I notice that Kaen is sitting on the ground, with steam coming off of his head and parts of his body.
"Get up, Kae. I don't know what you get so mad about. Seriously... it's just practice." I overhear Del say. As Kaen stands up, his hands are still on fire but he gets off the stage and walks away.
The door is next to me, so I decide to have a little fun.
"You were great out there... I'm surprised you lost. Guess Del's must be better than you."
"What did you just say?" He stops and turns around.
"Well, clearly if you lost... Del is a better fighter than you."
"You don't even know what you're talking about."
He walks away again, and I already know I'm gonna regret the next words that come out of my mouth.
"I bet I could beat you, too."
Dammit. Why can't I just keep my mouth shut?
"Don't push me, newbie."
"What? Scared to lose to a girl?"
His face turns angrier than it was just a second ago, and I didn't even think that was possible. "Fine. You wanna fight? Then let's fight." He starts walking back towards the stage and I follow him.
"What are you doing?" Akita asks me but I don't respond, instead hopping on the stage with him.
"Let's get this over with."
Everyone looks at each other in disbelief, then Mr. Asano chimes in. "What do you guys think you're doing? This absolutely is not happening. Get off the stage."
"It's okay, I can take him."
Kaen laughs at my remark.
"Ash, no. I'm not about to let a student without an affinity fight Kaen of all people. If you get hurt—"
"I won't. And if anything happens, I'll be sure to tell them it was my fault."
"Come on, Asano— if she wants to fight me so badly, then let her. This fight won't last long, anyway."
Mr. Asano sighs, "You kids really make me hate my job, sometimes. Kaen... watch yourself."
I'm not gonna lie, I'm kind of nervous about this. I knew this was going to happen from the minute I opened my mouth to him, but I can't help it. I'm too stubborn to stay quiet. I don't think it'll get to the point where I'll have to use my affinity, and hopefully the teachers will step in if it gets bad.
"Don't think I'm gonna go easy on you, newbie."
"Wasn't planning on it."
"3...2...1... Begin!"
As soon as that word is yelled, I'm met with a blast a fire, nearly hitting me. We're a good distance apart right now, but my reaction time is quick, regardless.
All he's doing is throwing blasts of fire at me, and I'm not too sure why. He's gonna tire himself out easily, which is one his faults along with his sloppiness. My drive to fight right now is through the roof— I haven't fought anyone like this in a while.
Kaen lunges at me, but I quickly dodge him. His fire is definitely making me hotter and making it more difficult to breathe, but that won't stop me.
He goes to punch me but I grab his arm and twist it, then bend down to kick his legs, causing him to fall over.
I really want to laugh right now. He really is predictable.
He grunts, shooting another blast of fire at me, burning part of my hair off.
We fight for another ten minutes, but I'm starting to get tired. I haven't fought like this in so long, my body isn't used to it. Plus, the heat is only making it worse. My hair has completely fallen out of its braid, and my clothes have small holes in them from the fire.
"Alright, you guys, that's enough." I hear Mr. Asano say but neither of us pay attention to him.
"Come on, you fucking newbie. Why aren't you done yet?" Kaen yells at me.
"I don't just give up."
He grunts, then continues to throw blasts at me.
Somehow, I'm able to stop him again, and I kick him so that he's now flipped over onto the ground. I grab ahold of both of his wrists to stop him, but suddenly my hands feel like they're on fire, too.
I look down and see that he heated up his hands, so my hands were burnt as a result. I yell in pain, and he pushes me off of him, pointing his fire at me.
Thissss isn't good.
Fuck... my body is so tired.
"Kaen, don't!"
I manage to kick his legs and knock him down once more, and get up as quickly as I can. But I'm in pain from our fighting. He got a few good hits in and now I can't really use my hands. The adrenaline in me is the only thing stopping me from feeling these burns.
He's even angrier than before.
He gets up and manages to land a hit on me, leaving his hand lingering in the process so that I get burnt again.
Unable to use my hands, I can't hit him back, so he's able to land more hits on me, causing me to fall to the ground.
"I told you... you can't fight someone with an affinity. Give up."
No... I can't. I won't. I'll never surrender to another person ever again.
I'm on the ground on my hands and knees holding my stomach, stuggling to get up, but I finally manage to.
"Never."
He lands one last punch on me, and I fall right back down to the ground.
"Ash!" Someone yells.
"Enough, Kaen."
I see Mr. Asano blocking him from me.
"What the hell is wrong with you, Kae?!" Akita yells. "Are you okay?"
"Y-yeah..." I cough, "I'll be fine."
She helps me up and her and a guy named Leo help me walk down the stage.
"Kaen, do you have any idea what you just did?"
"What do you want me to say? She asked for it."
"It doesn't matter. You know you're not supposed to be fighting people without affinities."
"It's not my fault she said she could handle it but couldn't."
I overhear Kaen and Del's conversation, and Kaen walks past us and out of the gym.
"Let me take her. I'll be quicker." Del says.
He swiftly picks me up and carries me to the nurses office.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah... I'll be fine. What about Kaen?"
"What do you mean? I mean no offense, but I don't think you hurt him."
"No, not that." I cough in between my words, "You seem to be pretty good friends with him, so I just wanna know... why is he like that? I've only known him for two days... but always seems like he's so angry, and so determined. Is he like that to everyone?"
"Yeah... pretty much. It wasn't so bad, a few years ago, but then he went through some shit and it really fucked him up. He's a complicated person." He sighs, "I'm sorry that he hurt you."
"It's okay. I've been through worse."
Del drops me off at the nurses office and I end up being there for the rest of the day. I didn't realize it, but Kaen hurt me worse than I thought. I had burns and cuts on face, and all over my arms. My clothes and hair were a mess... damn.
Whatever he went through... it must've been pretty fucking bad to mess him up like this.
**A/N: Hope you enjoyed chapter 2! Please vote, comment and follow! ☺️ Thanks for reading! Xoxo, Nova**