Chapter 1

Lennox spun around slowly, staring hopelessly into the countless empty hallways surrounding him. He sighed angrily. 'A whole month in this stupid Japanese school, and I still can't find my own damn homeroom!' If this went on any longer, he was going to be late! Finally, with a vigorous shake of his head (mostly to make sure that all of this wasn't just a really bad dream), Lennox lifted up his index finger on his left hand, the dominant one, and did a quick eenie-meenie-minie-moe. Once that was decided, he started down the chosen hallway (which looked very suspiciously like the wrong way).

"Yes, that is the wrong way," a clever, timid voice drifted from behind Lennox. The American boy whipped around to find the source of the voice.

For now, lets leave Lennox here, lost in a school hallway with an unconfirmed presence, so that you can gain some knowledge of Lennox's backstory. Lennox is an American teenager, who has just recently moved to Japan because of his mother's work. Grudgingly, Lennox had gone to a new high school there and learned Japanese. He'd only perfected the language a few days ago, which was most likely the reason for his unpopularity at school. Though, considering the fact that he'd only had a few Japanese crash courses from his mother and a month to pick up the rest, the fact that he now spoke Japanese practically fluently was pretty impressive.

"Over here," the voice said, a bit louder this time. Lennox turned towards the source of the noise. Standing to his right he saw a blond Japanese boy. He wore the blue school uniform, of course, and was unusually short. On his collar was an old plastic yin-yang pin.

"You!" Lennox cried, "Hey, what are you, a mind reader or something?" The blond had responded to Lennox's thoughts earlier, and he was still a bit shocked by the coincidence.

To Lennox's surprise, the boy laughed. The American cocked an eyebrow. "Okay. I really don't get you."

The blond shook his head, "It's nothing." He held a hand out. "I'm Shirahama Haruno- but you can call me Haru," he grinned.

Lennox nodded uncertainly and took Haru's hand. But before Lennox could remember to introduce himself, his eyebrows shot up at the strength of the blond's grip. He looked so scrawny, who would've thought he could be strong? Lennox was sure he'd have a bruise once Haru let go.

Haru quickly let go, noticing Lennox wince. "I'm so sorry, are you okay?" The boy blurted apologetically.

Lennox shook his head, "No, no, dude, you're so s-!"

BBBRRRRIIIINNNNNGGGGGGGG.

Lennox jumped and Haru flinched at the loud ring of the tardy bell. "Shit, I'm gonna be late!" Lennox yelped.

Haru nodded, then giggled. "You Americans swear a lot." Then he winced, realizing, "Ech, late on my first day here."

Lennox cocked an eyebrow. "First day?" Suddenly he noticed, "Oh, that's why I haven't seen you before!"

Haru nodded, and was opening his mouth to reply when the bell rang again.

"O-oh, uh, before you leave, I'm Lenn-." he cut off, remembering the rule in Japan- last names first. "I mean, Holland Lennox."

Haruno nodded, and started, "Nice to-" but was cut off by the second tardy bell. He shouted a hasty, "Ono-sensei's homeroom is that way!" and vanished down a hallway.

Lennox smiled. 'Friend number one. It all goes uphill from here, right?'

Wrong. Very, very wrong.

An exhausted Lennox plopped down at one of the tables in the cafeteria, cursing when almost half of his ramen soup sloshed out onto the clean white tabletop. His morning had been one of the worst so far, starting off with a scolding from Ono-sensei for being late (and she almost never scolded anyone), ending with a teasing about his accent from around half the boys in his class, and with plenty of worse things in between. Mopping up the brownish liquid the best he could with a tiny, 0.2-ply napkin, Lennox sighed mournfully and ran a hand through his messy brown mop of hair. God, he missed America.

A paper towel dropped on the spilled soup that Lennox was still trying desperately to sop up with the small napkin. The brunette looked up. Standing next to him with a steaming bowl of udon soup was Haru, smiling calmly and balancing a roll of paper towels between his tilted head and his shoulder. Lennox smiled gratefully, "You didn't have to help me."

Haru shook his head violently, "Of course I did! That's what friends are for, right?"

Lennox had to admit, that did warm his heart just a little bit. He smiled, "Yeah. Um, thanks!"

"What's what friends are for?" A lazy voice drawled. "To stand up for each other? Too bad for you two pansies, you're too weak to do that for yourselves, let alone each other."

Lennox whipped around angrily. "You can't-" he cut off suddenly when he spotted the tall lanky boy with matted pitch-black hair standing above him. The uniform he wore looked too short to fit his long limbs and he was smiling crookedly, revealing a gold tooth at the very front of his mouth, the rest of his teeth unnaturally white.

But the reason Lennox had cut off wasn't the gangly boy (though the long scar running down his right hand was a little creepy), it was the two humungous thugs lurking behind him. Each was gigantic, heavily muscled, and flat-out scary. They had matching buzz cuts and both wore camouflage pants with sweaty gray tank tops (technically it was against school code to wear anything other than the uniform, but nobody seemed to feel like arguing), and the only way to tell them apart was by the long scar parting the hair of the goon flanking the right side of the rude boy.

The one without the scar grinned. "Not so confident now, are we, pretty boy?"

Lennox frowned. "Pretty boy? That's a new one." Then he smiled. "Actually, I kind of like it... Well, it's a hell of a lot more flattering than half the other things people like to call me."

The skinny teenager blinked, then shook his head and sneered, "You do know you just insulted yourself, right? Oh wait. You probably don't, considering your accent! Heh, I bet you don't even know the Japanese definition for pretty boy!"

"Pretty boy," Lennox recalled instantly, and smiled slyly. "A boy. Who is pretty."

The gangly boy narrowed his eyes. "I don't like your attitude." He tilted up his head and looked down his pointy nose at Lennox, like he was judging a piece of meat. "And just so you know, I'm boss around here. Don't forget it." With that, he blew a piece of oily hair out of his face and sauntered off with his goons in tow.

There was a moment of silence between the friends, and then Lennox asked, "Who the hell was that?"

"That," Haru replied quietly, "Was Niijima Yuki. And when he says he rules the school you'd better believe it. He may not look it, but he is probably the most skilled martial artist in this place."

Lennox looked over and was surprised to see hatred on Haru's face. He'd seemed so light up until now; what had happened to make the blond so different?

"Well," Lennox reasoned, "Just because he can throw a few punches doesn't mean he's better than anyone else. He seemed kinda stupid, actually."

Haru shook his head violently, "He can do more than throw a few punches. He is a practitioner of Satsujinken."

"Gesundheit."

"No," Haru said, lowering his voice like what he was about to say was top secret information, "Satsujinken is the Killing Fist. I mean that he will not hesitate to take a life."

Lennox blinked. "Wow. That's... intense. But even though that's scary and all, if people knew that, then couldn't he just be, like, arrested for murder?"

Haru shook his head again, "Not if I want to stay alive. I'm the only one that knows. And you of course... But I'm perfectly justified in telling you."

Lennox blinked. Then a thought struck him. "Why?"

"Excuse me?"

"Why would you tell me?"

"Er..." Haru suddenly looked uncomfortable. "Because..." He looked up and smiled uneasily. "We're friends, aren't we?"

Lennox looked down. Somehow, he suspected Haru wasn't being entirely truthful. But he nodded anyway and muttered, "Yeah. Friends to the end."

Lennox still wasn't used to living in Japan. The roads were more crowded, the people more distant, and the population seemed to double that of his homeland. He was strongly and unpleasantly reminded of this as he sprinted through the streets to the apartment he shared with his mother. He tried his best not to bump into anybody, but it was hard. Crowds upon crowds of people flanked him on every side. The route home from school passed through the busiest part of town, right smack in the middle of rush hour.

As he struggled unhappily through the crowd, Lennox noticed something odd. There was a huge man just standing in the middle of the crowd, holding an ice cream cone. This guy was so gargantuan that he wasn't even fazed by the river of people pushing past him. Lennox wondered why the man would be standing there like that. Didn't he have somewhere to be? It seemed like everyone here did.

The large man looked to be in his thirties, though he was very fit. He wore a tank top and was heavily muscled; almost ridiculously so. Was he a bodybuilder or something? Lennox couldn't make out what he was wearing on his bottom half due to the crowd, but he assumed it was something light. The weather was nice and warm outside today. Oddly enough, the man's hair was an icy light blue, short and wore atop a headband. His face was what would be expected of a man of his demeanor, but he didn't seem very harsh. If anything, that man was happy and innocent, almost like a child.

That guy was sure odd, Lennox noted, but there wasn't much to do about it. Just as the high schooler was about to move on, the man suddenly ran in his direction. Confused, Lennox started to greet him, but the odd man just ran straight past him. Or rather, straight into him. Lennox was knocked out cold as the muscleman struck him.

"Holy crap! Apachai, I thought you just bumped into him!"

"It seems that this boy has three broken ribs and a dislocated shoulder. Are you sure that you didn't intentionally do this?"

"Apa! I just saw some really yummy looking pastries in a shop, and when I ran over to it I think I wasn't looking down and then..."

"I was with him when it happened. He got really excited over something, and then started running and crashed right smack into this high schooler. Poor kid. Looks like he got banged up pretty good. But more importantly, I didn't get to buy sake. Come on, I'm gonna die if I don't get some soon!"

"I can't believe you did that, Apachai! You haven't accidentally hurt somebody this badly since you were still training Kenichi!"

"Oh, calm down, Miu. It isn't that bad. I didn't even have to use any of my special Chinese medicines on the boy."

Those voices were all Lennox was aware of when he first slipped back into consciousness. His eyelids fluttered a little bit, and he suddenly noticed aches and pains throbbing all over his body. He groaned.

"Shush. He... woke up."

Lennox's eyes opened onto a very peculiar scene. Well, first all he saw was a wooden ceiling, but faces suddenly crowded around his vision soon after. He recognized the huge man from before in the group of people, but everyone else was unfamiliar. There was a beautiful woman with black hair pulled up into a ponytail, a roughed-up man with a scar across his nose, a Chinese guy in a bowler hat, a mustached man with black hair and a calm demeanor, a pretty young lady with long blond hair that was partially held back in a red hair clip, and a brunette young man who seemed about the blond lady's age with a yin-yang pin on what Lennox could make out of his shirt collar. This was all extremely overwhelming for the poor boy, and he let out another groan.

The man with the mustache and the bowler hat guy quickly directed everyone else to back away and give Lennox some space. Thankful, he began to sit up. Suddenly a sharp pain ran up his abdomen, and he was forced back down by the two men.

"What the hell...?" Lennox ground out. "Where am I?"

"Do you feel alright?" Bowler Hat asked, ignoring his question. "Are you fully conscious? How is your vision?"

Frustrated, the boy shouted, "Hey! I asked you a-!" He cut off quickly, the pain striking him again. "I'm conscious, my vision's fine. Now why am I here?"

Still ignoring him, Bowler Hat rummaged around in a bag for a second before producing an electronic thermometer. Mustache took it and stuck the thing into Lennox's mouth before he could protest. The device beeped, and upon checking it, Mustache said, "Ninety-eight point six, normal. Good."

"Now, what was your question?" Bowler Hat asked absently, putting away his thermometer.

"Where am I? Why am I here?" growled Lennox. He remembered being knocked to the ground by that blue- haired man, but after that everything was blank.

"You are at Ryozanpaku, but that's not important right now," Bowler Hat answered absentmindedly. "Anyway, y-."

"Not important?" Lennox cried, leaving the cut-off Bowler Hat looking annoyed. "Excuse me, but I think I have the right to know where I-" Suddenly he stopped speaking at grabbed at his side. Coughing a bit, he managed to say, "Go on."

"Stupid boy," Bowler Hat huffed under his breath, and pushed Lennox's torso back down onto the bed. "Our friend seems to have accidentally hurt you. But not to worry, Akisame here runs a bone-setter's clinic," he motioned to Mustache, "and I specialize in acupuncture. You'll be fine. We're even treating you free of charge."

"Oh," was all Lennox could manage at the moment.

"You room and board fees, however, will not be free of charge. You've been here since yesterday."

"What?" Shouted the teenager frantically. He shot back up and searched his body for his cell phone. "I gotta call mom... She must be worried sick! Ah, no... this is bad..." Upon finding that he was wearing a robe instead of his clothes, Lennox turned to Mustache- rather, Akisame- and Bowler Hat. "Where did you put my cell?"

"We certainly got stuck with a lively one, didn't we?" Akisame chuckled.

Bowler Hat nodded. "The youth always are. You were the same way, Kenichi."

"Don't remind me," the young brunette man laughed.

"Hey, answer me!" Lennox cried, sinking into panic mode. "This is not good, this is very very not good... mom is gonna kill me!"

"He reminds me more of you every second," Bowler Hat went on.

"Come on guys, you're being rude," the man named Kenichi sighed. "Speaking of my younger self, I remember I used to hate it when you did that."

"I guess you're right." Akisame stroked his mustache stoically. His gaze shifted to Lennox. "Don't worry. We found your mother in your cell phone's contacts and notified her of the situation."

Lennox let out a sigh of relief. "Thank god. You had me really scared for a second there."

"Oh, and also," Akisame added casually, "Your mother wanted me to tell you: 'If you miss curfew one more time, the special chicken curry I so lovingly poured my heart and soul into making for you is going up your-'"

"Okay, I get it!" The American interrupted quickly.

"And she also says that she isn't going to do the kitty litter for you," finished Akisame.

"Dammit."

"With all that out of the way, I believe introductions are in order," Bowler Hat sang happily.

"Ah, first tell the kid where he is," the man with the scarred face drawled roughly.

"That takes all the fun out of it," Bowler Hat complained. "But fine. You are currently in Ryozanpaku, a dojo where masters of martial arts gather. You would be in Akisame's bone clinic right now, but we all got bored and wanted to see some youth so we brought you here."

"So this is a martial arts dojo?" Lennox said quietly, looking around. He was in a simple wood room with sliding paper doors, Japanese-style. It seemed they had dragged a hospital bed into the room for Lennox to lay on.

"No, it's a spaceship," Scar Face deadpanned. "Yes, it's a martial arts dojo!"

"I apologize for... well, everything," Bowler Hat sighed. "We realize this is an inconvenience for you."

"Nah, this was an accident, from what I can gather," Lennox forgave him. "Thanks for treating me."

"Apachai want to say hello to the skinny American!" The big man who injured Lennox cried happily. Lennox cringed.

"Go on, Apachai," Akisame said.

"Hello!" Apachai shouted.

Lennox flinched. "Um, hi."

"Right, introductions," Akisame said. "I am Kouetsuji Akisame. I practice jujitsu, judo and the like. I am also a craftsman." Right, Lennox noted, these must all be masters of martial arts.

"You do everything, Akisame," Scar Face chuckled. "I'm Sakaki Shio, also known as the 100th Dan Street Fighter. I do Karate."

"I am Ma Kensei," Bowler Hat introduced, and finished simply, "Chinese martial arts."

"Go on Shigure, introduce yourself," Sakaki urged the black-haired woman.

She was quiet for a moment, then said softly, "I am Kousaka Shigure. I fight... with weapons."

Apachai looked around, and realizing it was his turn, said, "Hello. I am Apachai Hopachai. I am Death God of Underworld." Then, punching his fists together, he finished, "Muay Thai!" Lennox was vaguely reminded of the Hulk. "Apa. I am very sorry I broke you."

"Uh, it's okay, I guess," Lennox told him.

The young woman with blond hair spoke next, her expression kind and motherly. "Nice to meet you, I'm Furinji Miu. Actually, my grandfather Furinji Hayato is also one of the masters of Ryozanpaku, but he left on a quest a while back, so don't expect to see much of him. I inherited his personal martial arts. I'm also known as the Feather that Slices the Wind."

"I guess I'm the last one," the brown-haired young man smiled sheepishly. "I'm Shirahama Kenichi, ex-disciple of those five." He motioned to all of the other masters except Miu. "I used to be known as History's Strongest Disciple, but now people call me the Master of the Four Arts. And that makes all seven of us, I think."

"No, we're missing someone," Akisame said suddenly.

Kenichi looked confused. "Huh?"

Akisame pointed at Lennox. "You."

A/N: Hope you enjoyed this first chapter! If anybody seems at all OOC to you, or if you notice any mistakes (grammar, spelling, plot holes, etc.) please don't hesitate to tell me in a PM or review so I can fix it.

Speaking of reviews... please review! Thanks for reading! Expect a new chapter within two or three weeks. :3