AOI (Art Of Innocence)

Chapter 1

"O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?

Deny thy father and refuse thy name;

Or if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love

And I'll no longer be a Capulet."

"Shall I hear more, or shall I speak at this?"

"'Tis but thy name that is my enemy:

Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.

What's Montague? It is nor hand nor foot,

Nor arm nor face, nor any other part

Belonging to a man..."

"HEY YOU BASTARD THOSE ARE MY SHADES!"

Cedric and Victoria both turned their heads towards the entrance of the theatre, and this is where the real shit started.

The hot headed, hooded teenage boy ran towards the modern badass Romeo through the isles, jumping up on the stage with ease and whipping his sunglasses off his face in one quick motion, sliding past him. He ended up in a pretty dramatic pose, his hands out, slightly bent at waist. "Those are mine."

"Oh, come on! It's not nice to interrupt a rehearsal!" a blond boy whined from the rows, with a small smile on his face.

Ryuu turned to him and pointed, to which the blond raised his arms up in defense, "right. You listen here you little shit! This bastard stole my shades. D'you know how expensive they were? They're from the surface world! So you," he turned back to Cedric, pointing at his face "you need to get your priorities straight. Because I'm Ryuu, from Japan, and I'm hardcore. Nobody fucks with me!"

~

"So please explain to me exactly what happened."

The four all sat in seats in front of a dark haired male, who was reclining against his chair in his small office. His legs were propped against the plain desk as his calm, yet scary gaze averted back to the mysterious gangster boy. "So, as I was saying, this clown had stolen my shades, thinking he was all so clever and shit. Sneaking past me whilst invisible, pfft don't give me that. If i see a pair of sunglasses floating in the air I know that something's up. So then I f-"

"-That's enough thank you," Derek then looked at Cedric, who was sitting casually next to Ryuu, and mumbled tiredly, "I'm not a kindergarten teacher. I shouldn't have to look after you all. This group has strong policies, and if you cannot follow them, Cedric, you'd be cast out."

"Hey, I didn't do anything wrong." When Cedric spoke, he had this very heavy british accent, which made Ryuu snigger.

Victoria stood up "Excuse me, but he interrupted our rehearsals, and was extremely rude to all of us. And he doesn't get told off?"

"Sit down," Derek put his hand over his face, exasperated. "now each one of you, tell me. How old are you?"

"Seventeen,"

"Eighteen,"

"Fourteen,"

"Eighteen."

"Precisely. So shoo, go away and deal with your own problems in a civil manner. Oh, and Aoi, you stay."

The blond that was sitting on the end of the row nodded a bit, with a small smile.

Cedric stood up and left the room first. Derek knew that his words had entered his brain through one ear and left through the other, so he hadn't bothered much scolding the guy. Victoria soon followed as Ryuu shifted his weight lazily towards the door. "Oi, blondie! You owe me one!" he shut the door behind him.

~

"O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?

Deny thy father and refuse thy name;

Or if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love

And I'll no longer be a Capulet."

"Are you done with this bullshit yet?" a brash voice called out from the audience rows. Cedric and Victoria both turned their heads to look at him, their expressions screaming out "are you fucking kidding me?"

Raphael soon appeared with his book, sitting on a row far away from others. Raphael was a boy with silvery white hair, and a serene expression, as if nothing in this world could bother him.

"Shall I hear more, or shall I speak at this?"

Ryuu yawned and shuffled across the rows, towards the platinum haired boy. "Aye." he peeked at his book. "the hell you reading? What language is this even, it don't look English."

Raphael turned a page with a placid expression, "it's written in Japanese."

"Japanese? Like the Japanese Japanese? Like the one I learned about at school Japanese? Wasn't it the main language in Japan centuries ago?"

"wow," a voice came from behind Ryuu, as he turned back quickly. Aoi smiled a bit "you don't look like the type to pay attention to lessons at school." Ryuu stared at him, shocked. "how did you sneak up behind me so easily??"

"Well, as I said, you don't seem to be the smart type."

Ryuu turned around, crossing his arms. "Very funny. I am actually quite smart, y'know. But I'm not a nerd. D'you know why I'm here in this shit hole? It's cause I kicked this guys ass at school, and I fucked him up so bad it became a criminal offense. So..." he shrugged a bit. "I mean... the guy probably's getting bionic legs or getting his limbs chopped off and regrown but..."

"okay, okay. We get it" Raphael muttered. "You were exiled from the surface world for beating someone up."

"If you ask me, I'm not at all surprised," Aoi laughed a little.

"Well no one asked you, so..." Ryuu sighed. "Anyway, I'm living here from now on. Cause I got nowhere else to go."

Cedric hopped down from the stage and moved towards the sidebar of the theatre, pouring himself some whiskey and downing it in one go. "Hey, Vicky... have I told you how much I love you?" he laughed a little, walking towards Aoi, Ryuu and Raphael. They all stared with annoyed expressions on their faces, as Victoria rolled her emerald eyes and poured herself something strong.

Derek left his office, walking through the wooden plated corridor that was built along the top of the theatre, before glancing out of the window into the dimness. This whole theatre, and the city that surrounds it, was in fact underground. There were small windows on the ceiling, letting small rays of light in, but the ceiling itself seemed miles away, leading to the surface. 500 meter pillars held up the ceiling, and were spaced evenly around the underground city. They were also elevators, leading in and out of the underworld. Most people called his place "hell" and it practically was, though life in the main district seemed to be prospering.

Derek was tense, though. His relaxed composure was still intact, but his mind was restless. Something was wrong.

That's when the Shiroi attacked.