Dragon Bound

Chapter 1

“C'mon Ryoka! Serve the ball! Ace them!” a teammate from the sidelines called, charging Ryoka to give the acing overhead service she was well known for.

Volleyball came easy to Ryoka, she was arguably the best on the team, that is the main reason why she is co-captain and she is usually only used as a super sub, sitting on the bench and only to come on when the team is in trouble and her expertise is needed.

Ryoka looked at the players on the other team one after the other, she had gauged the other team players while she was still on the sidelines, (one of her unmatched skill set) so she knows those that are weaker to different approaches, and that was exactly what she had maximized to pivot the gameplay from 19 : 23 to (game point) 24 : 23.

Now, the rotation had brought her to the serving post, she already knew where and who she wanted to aim the service at, someone with the most flaw when it comes to receiving services, all she was doing at the moment was misdirection, so the other team would think she wasn’t after any of their weak points.

Ryoka bounced the ball some more then poised for her overhead service, then she sprinted forwards a few steps and made her smashing spinning service right before reaching the line.

Her aim was true, straight at the opponent’s current player who played the number six spot, the lady was prepared, but despite that, she was no match for the spinning hot speed of the ball from Ryoka's service.

The ball glanced off her hands -despite the fact that they were poised in their ‘dig' posture- and spun off in the wrong direction, and despite all her teammate’s effort to recover the ball into play, it still proved futile and the point was lost, earning Ryoka's team the winning point.

A huge cheer erupted from the spectators and the players both, filling the field of play in a joyous cacophony.

The result was announced and the whole field erupted into celebrations of all sort, it was their home ground after all that the game was being played.

Ryoka was placed high up on the shoulders of others and hailed with winning songs, she had after all saved them from a six point deficit and won them a place in the finals by so doing.

Everyone knew Ryoka, mostly from her spectacular playing mode, and the fact that she always comes in to save the day, if her team had been winning though, she might not even be called in to play, hence not touching the ball till the game was over.

After the celebrations on the field, the students had an after party at a discrete location, although its discreteness was betrayed by the loud music and hails of all those present.

Ryoka was looking for just one person though, only one person was worth celebrating anything with; Lily, her girlfriend, they had been together for almost eight months now, in the ten months that Ryoka had spent there, which is the longest she had spent at anywhere so far.

What had started as a fling for her, gradually got real as she stayed longer and longer, her only wish now was for the stay to finally become permanent so that she and Lily might have a shot at something really real and solid.

“Hey you” Ryoka said as she finally spotted Lily, but she immediately knew something was wrong, one, because she was amongst her fellow gossip girls, and two because of the scowl on her face even after spotting Ryoka.

“Uhm, what’s up babe?” Ryoka asked gingerly, she really wasn’t in the mood to argue or fight or even just disagree on anything with Lily especially, getting in her cross hairs was equivalent to getting shot already, and all she really wanted was some private time with Lily, she wanted to taste her, badly.

“Babe? Well 'babe', the jig is up, give it up you faker” Lily answered hotly and from her tone, Ryoka knew things had to have gone really awry.

“Can you just chill out and explain to me whatever has gotten you into such a mood?” Ryoka said defiantly standing her ground, she was sure she hadn’t done anything to deserve such treatment from her.

Then Lily stretched her hand and a phone was placed in her palms, then she righted the phone and played a video recording.

The video showed Ryoka being pranked to kiss a boy, the boy though is the well known captain of the football team, someone really coveted by the straight ladies in the school.

“Babe” Ryoka said calmly after seeing the video “I already told you about this before, why is it getting you riled up now?” she asked her girlfriend.

“It is getting me riled up? Oh you’ve not seen me get riled up Ry” Lily replied calling Ryoka by her popular nickname “And did you tell me about this, the kiss itself? You kissed a boy and conveniently left that part out of your explanation” she finished in a half yell.

By now other people were starting to notice the conflict and more and more attention was being drawn to them as it went on.

“Lily, I specifically told you, I was pranked to kiss a football player in our school and big as our school is, we don’t have one female football player do we, they are all boys for Christ's sake, so what did you think when I said that?” Ryoka retorted, now she herself was getting angry, and the previous romance mood she was in had vanished.

Lily took a step towards Ryoka, she was a head shorter than Ryoka but somehow she managed to look intimidating, “Don’t come to me with that flimsy excuse, I wasn’t even in the right state of mind when you ‘explained' to me, and now I discover that there is even a video of it trailing around like some porno?” she said, her own anger already levels above and beyond Ryoka's.

Ryoka started to find the whole thing comical, “Why is this even an issue right now? It has happened, over a week now, I told you about it, and fine, if you claim you heard right or not, but then it has all gone past now, so what exactly is the issue?” Ryoka asked really flabbergasted.

“Oh so it’s not an issue anymore now because it had happened a while ago? You know I was warned about you, that you are a two faced faker, I was told that when you would leave me, it would be for a boy, now where is the lie in that seeing as you are conveniently kissing them up and about” Lily returned.

Now Ryoka could already tell how this was going to end and despite the kind of person that she was (someone who really couldn't care any lesser) she really didn’t want this to go that way.

“Lily, please, let’s just go work this over, someplace else maybe, this is neither the place nor the time, so please let’s just leave here, let's go somewhere else and talk it out, please Lily” Ryoka pleaded.

“Oh! Now I should follow you? Follow your lead uhn? Volleyball captain jerk! There is nothing to talk about, this is ending and it is ending right here and now, before you break my heart with some boy, I’ll leave you” Lily answered instead.

“Lily please, don't do this, I… I really... I…” Ryoka stammered.

“You what? Go on say it out loud, something you haven’t said to me for the eight months we’ve been together, say it now” Lily challenged her.

Ryoka stayed silent though, it was true that she had never said those words to Lily, does that mean that she didn’t really feel that way though? Probably.

“What I thought exactly, I’ll have your stuff waiting in front of my apartment, just pick it up and go when you come over, I don’t want to see you ever again” Lily said and turned away walking away briskly with her gaggle of gossip girls before the tear in her eyes could drop.

“Lily…” Ryoka said weakly unable to chase after her having run out of any other argument points, she looked around with tears welled up in her eyes, there were people all around, observing, so this was not the place to let it out, "Never show your weak side to the public" her father always says to her.

So she moved away and headed towards the open field, the football field where the incriminating deed had actually even happened.

On her way, she was blocked by the boy in question as well, “Hey Ry, I heard what happened with Lily, I’m sorry I didn’t mean…” he was saying but Ryoka sidestepped away from him and with an arm waved him away, then she kept on moving not looking back despite his calls and pleas.

She was holding a lot in and needed an outlet, “Hey you, think about it, on the bright side, now you can secure a position with Nathan and get some more good kissing from him you know, I’m sure he doesn’t kiss like a girl, definitely not like Lily” another football player said, a friend of Nathan, the guy she had been tricked to kiss, he was part of those who orchestrated the kiss with Nathan.

The boy speaking tried to block her path as well, but rather than sidestep and wave him away this time like she did with Nathan, she instead hit him with a lot of her strength, squarely hitting him in the stomach with her palm facing forward.

The guy, despite his size which was in contrast to Ryoka’s was flung away quite a few distance from the spot he previously was, he landed flat on his face and rolled about in pain.

Ryoka couldn’t be bothered by the seemingly impossible feat she had just managed, she was sad, angry and frustrated and she needed to let it all out, somewhere where people won’t see her weak side.

She got to the center of the field, no one followed her out, not after seeing what could happen to them as well, and even without that, most people that knew Ryoka already feared her in a way, the factual reason was because she was tough as nails and as stern as they come.

Memories of that moment when she made the mistake of falling for the boys prank flooded in again at that point making the whole world spin as her vision doubled from the anger and frustration and desperation and confusion and especially the tears.

She got to her breaking point and then she closed her eyes and let out a scream from deep within her, letting it all out in that one, single, frustrated scream.

As she screamed and let out her frustration though, something else followed; a searing heat wave so intense rolled outwards roundabout her with her in its center.

When she opened her eyes, the whole field was singed, all the grasses on the field was burned out by intense searing heat forming circles within circles, but at her center, right where she was standing, roundabout her in a little circle, the grass was still green and the field intact.

Ryoka got confused even more than ever and this time she even got scared, a feeling she wasn’t familiar with, so she ran home, home was miles away from the school, yet she ran all through and got there with even extra breath to spare, and hardly feeling the fatigue.

As she got home though, she met with an even worse circumstance, her father had packed their luggage, everything was done in, cleared and packed which she was sure didn’t take him long at all, seeing as they had very little to pack, not because they were poor, but because they moved around a lot never spending more than five to six months in a particular place, so their luggage was always concise and mobile.

“Hey daughter, thank goodness you’re back early, saves me the trouble of coming around to get you first, we gotta go dearie, right now” her father said to her.