Disclaimer: As we all know, I don't own this, and almost definitely never will.

For all of you who're reading this and like my other fic, Love's Many Risks, don't worry. I most certainly have not given up on it. In fact, I'm going to go write a chapter of that as soon as I finish this intro-thingy. This idea just came to me in school, and I've always wanted to do a next generation fic, so why not?

I'm going to try and alternate releases of the two, but if I get some epiphany about one or the other, I'll probably work on that. I hope you like this. If you do, drop me a review. If you don't...well, I'd still kind of rather you review, but I'm not going to force you to do something you don't want to. It'd probably hurt my feelings anyways. *cries* Just kidding!

For those of you who've already read this and are going back, I've added a few minor edits here and there, but it shouldn't be that different from the original. For those of you who haven't, please enjoy!

Now, I present to you the first chapter of Our Sky.

Our Sky

Chapter 1: Akimura Retsu

"Retsu, it's time for school!" a woman's voice called from the ground floor. When she received no response from her son, she stomped up the stairs to his room. The woman threw open the door, and almost gasped. She'd just cleaned in here the day before yesterday! How was it humanly possible to make such a big mess in the space of a little more than a day!

And a mess it was. Clothes were piled high in towering stacks, some of which were leaning to one side precariously. The floor was a distant memory, buried under unopened textbooks, papers, and miscellaneous other items. The only semi-clean spot in the entire room was the boy's bed, and even that was questionable. While it was made (sort of) the sheets were rumpled and mussed, and candy wrappers covered the unfortunate piece of furniture. The source of this disaster was sleeping peacefully atop the sheets, oblivious to his mom's shock. Until she began yelling. "RETSU!" she bellowed. "UP! NOW!"

"What?" came the sleepy response. He started to sit up, but was met with a deadly glare from his mother. He gulped, scanning his room. Oh yeah. He'd forgotten to pick up after himself after his 'studying,' a process which usually involved he and his friends eating a ridiculous amount of junk food, making a mess, and getting no real work done. "Look, I can ex-"

"Don't even try, young man!" she interrupted icily. "Laziness is one thing, but this? How is this even possible? How could you possibly manage to do this in two days? Do you try to make my life harder?"

"No, I just-"

"Get dressed," she cut him off, her look silencing any further protest. "You're now late for school. When you get home, you're cleaning this. If it's not absolutely spotless by the time you go to sleep tonight, you're brother is going to be an only child!" And with that, she stalked out of the room, slamming the door behind her with a satisfying crash. Retsu cringed.

"Geez," the fifteen-year-old sighed as he grabbed a clean uniform out of his closet. The thin silver bracelets around his wrists that he never took off jingled pleasantly. "She didn't even try to listen. Why'd I have to get a clean freak for a mom?" He pulled on the black pants and white button-up shirt that made up the Namimori Middle uniform, and headed for his door, grabbing the last piece of said uniform, a plain blue tie, on his way out. Before he could reach his destination, however, he tripped over an empty soda bottle, falling back to land on his butt. Retsu looked at the treacherous drink container in dismay. "Although, she might just have a point about the mess. I should probably clean up a little. Besides, she said she was gonna kill me otherwise, and she might actually do it this time."

He picked up the bottle. "At least you were empty," he mused, before tossing it towards the empty trash can by his door, ironically the only part of the room not covered in junk. It missed. Whatever. He looked over at his clock, and swore at the time he saw. "Dammit, I'm gonna be late!" he exclaimed, wrenching open his door and practically falling down the stairs in his hurry to get out of the house.

"Language!" his mother yelled from the kitchen, still miffed about the state of her youngest son's room.

"My bad," Retsu called back as he tried to pull on his shoes and grab his bag at the same time. Not an easy task, but he managed it, and was out the door before his mother could comment on his lack of manners. The woman, however, didn't seem to notice, as she was engrossed with sorting through the mail. One particular envelope caught her interest, and she held it up curiously.

"Home...tutor?"

~OS~

The boy made it to school in record time, passing through the gates just as the bell signaling the beginning of the day rang. He leaned his head against the shoe lockers, enjoying the feel of the cool metal against his sweaty forehead. He'd run all the way to school, and was panting.

"You look like shit," remarked a voice from behind him.

"Shut up, Amatsu," Retsu growled at his friend without turning. "You're no lady killer either."

"Well, then!" Amatsu feigned indignation. "That's cruel, even for you."

The smaller boy pushed himself off the lockers reluctantly, removing his sneakers in favor of the school's white indoor shoes. He ran a hand through his snowy white hair before turning to give the other teen a withering look, weariness apparent in his violet eyes. "You'll get over it."

Ignoring the his friends squawks of protest, he walked away, heading for their classroom. After a moments sulking, Amatsu followed, muttering obscenities about him under his breath. It was a normal thing in the morning. He reached the classroom door, and was about to grab the handle and slide it open when he heard a loud crash, and the sound of the door being opened from the other side. He just barely managed to avoid getting run over by the soccer player that scrambled out seconds later.

"Wah, Retsu-kun, I'm sorry!" Kazuki exclaimed without stopping in his mad sprint. He was halfway down the hall before the person chasing him burst out of the classroom, eyes trained on the blond figure running away.

"Kazuki Shin, you bastard!" Jun cried, already in pursuit of the other athlete. He was dripping wet, and looked ready to kill him. They were out of sight before Retsu and Amatsu even had time to ask what had happened. A muffled yell could be heard from around the corner, and the sounds of a fight broke out. Of course Jun had caught him; he was a track runner. A sprinter in fact. Kazuki was fast, but Jun was faster. The two boys re-emerged from behind the corner, accompanied by the soccer player's complaints and cries of pain. The black haired sprinter was dragging the other boy by his ponytail, blue eyes flashing dangerously.

"It was an accident, Jun-chan, I swear!" Kazuki yelled. Jun ignored him. Retsu watched with a mixture of amusement and mild curiosity. The two were always fighting, but it was also always fun to watch. "C'mon, my hair's gonna fall off if you don't let go soon."

"And what a shame that would be," Jun snapped.

"What happened?" Amatsu intervened just in front of their classroom, watching Kazuki's failed attempts at escape with pity.

"This moron was going to use a bucket of water for something in science class later," the taller boy replied irritably, shooting a glare at his companion. "I was heading into the classroom, and he was playing with the bucket. One of his friends then proceeded to trip him, and the water ended up on me," he pointed to himself. "As you can see."

Jun's usually curly black hair was plastered to his face, and water dribbled down from the tips. His shirt was entirely soaked, and almost see-through, but his pants had thankfully remained dry. Unknown to three of the boys, most of the girls were staring through the open door with glee. A few were even drooling. Amatsu, however, always the observant one, noticed, and quickly stepped in front of his handsome friend, shielding him. Jun looked at him questioningly, then past him at the girls. He blanched, then turned an interesting shade of red.

"I-I gotta go home and change," he stammered. "Tell the teacher I'll be back by lunch." He turned to leave, but almost immediately ran into said man.

"Takahiro Jun," the older man sneered. Jun glared back, but said nothing. "This is school. If you're going to have a wet T-shirt contest, please refrain from doing so here."

Jun opened his mouth to protest, but was silenced by Retsu, who had been quietly observing the whole scene up until now. "Sensei, it was an accident. Kazuki-kun accidentally spilled the water for his science demonstration on Jun-san just now."

"I see," he replied, not convinced. Retsu hated the man so much. He thought he could do whatever he wanted just because he was a teacher. "Well, either way, students aren't allowed to leave school early without a signed note from a parent."

"But-" Jun started, but was quickly cut off.

"It's fine, Jun-chan," Kazuki interrupted cheerfully. "I've got my jersey for today's game in my bag. You can just wear that."

The sprinter looked at him warily, trying to decide which would be worse: having to go through the day with a wet shirt, or actually accept help from the idiot who'd gotten him in this situation in the first place. Amatsu answered for him.

"Thanks, Kazuki-kun!" he said. Retsu, the quieter of the two, nodded.

"I'll go get it, then." The soccer player ran into the classroom, returning moments later with the blue and white jersey worn by the Namimori soccer team. He held it out to the taller teen. "Here."

Jun accepted it reluctantly, and headed off to the boy's locker room to change. The three remaining boys looked at each other, then shrugged.

"We should probably go inside now, I guess," Retsu suggested. His friends agreed.

Jun returned later, receiving a glare from the teacher and questioning glances from the few students who hadn't been in the classroom to witness the scene earlier, but was otherwise let off the hook. School continued like normal after that. Retsu got a thirty-one on his math quiz, and a twenty-seven on a test in Japanese class. Yep, normal. He was also the second to last to be picked for a team in gym, right before a kid with a broken arm. Also normal.

And his life was going to continue like that. The athletic ones, like Kazuki or Jun, and the smart ones, like Amatsu, would go on to become something great and amazing and interesting. People like him, no, failures like Akimura Retsu would fall by the wayside, hidden in their shadows. Retsu was never going to be special, never going to hold a position of any importance or interest.

...Or, at least, that's what was supposed to happen.

~OS~

"I'm home!" Retsu called as he entered his house, kicking off his shoes.

"Oh, good," his mother's voice came from the kitchen. She sounded happy, and excited, and well...bubbly. The boy was immediately on his guard. His mother was never bubbly. Something was up, and he had a feeling he wouldn't like it. "Come in here, would you?"

Had he known then what would happen as soon as he walked into the room, he probably would have run away right then and there. Then again, maybe he wouldn't have. Who knows? Regardless, his life was about to change, drastically and eternally. And it all happened as soon as he took his first step into the room, and saw the person sitting at the table.

It was a baby! Retsu was blown away. The tiny kid was dressed in a two piece black suit, an orange dress shirt, and a black fedora rested on his head. Curled around his face were two thin sideburns, and on the hat's brim lay some sort of green lizard, maybe a chameleon. The baby's black eyes bored into the teen, studying him carefully.

"So it's you?" he asked suddenly. Retsu jumped.

"W-what?" the white haired teen stuttered.

"It's you who I'm tutoring."

"Tutoring?"

The baby sighed. "And it looks like you'll really need that tutoring too. You're not exactly the sharpest tool in the shed, are you?"

That got the boy. He glared at the kid in indignation. "Who the hell do you think you are?"

"I don't think I'm anyone," was the cryptic response. "I know that I'm your new home tutor, Akimura Retsu. My name is Reborn."

Alright, chapter one is done! Yes!

For the record, I kind of based Retsu off of Eyes Rutherford from Spiral (which, by the way, I also don't own, just in case I need to put that in there). Not really, but a little. Just imagine Eyes with slightly shorter, messier hair, purple eyes, tanner skin, and a lot more spazzy. Yeah, I know they're really not that similar, but I just wanted to give you an idea of what the main character looks like.

I don't think there's anything else, so...PLEASE REVIEW!