Fictober/Fantober2020 - Day 8 - First Meeting
What a freak. That had been Ash's first impression when he had talked to Eiji for the first time. When seeing him, there had been nothing about him that had stood out. Nothing that would draw attention and would make you cast a second glance at him. He had been nothing special. He had looked plain, ordinary and like everyone else in China Town. The only thing that had aroused his interest had been his huge brown eyes. Still, there was something about him that had impressed him immensely. The police had told Eiji that he was controlling most of New York as a ruthless gang leader. He had known he was a dangerous criminal who ruled Manhattan with cold-blooded leadership and an iron fist. And yet, Eiji hadn't been scared of him at all. He hadn't trembled, hadn't kept his distance, hadn't avoided eye contact with him. Quite the contrary, in fact. Eiji had never watched his step around him and had walked right over to him without the slightest hesitation. He had started talking to him in his lousy English without watching his back or looking around nervously. He had just stood next to him without the slightest sign of fear and had begun asking him questions as if he'd be the neighbor next door or any ordinary person he had just met. At first, he had thought Eiji was strange. Weird. A freak. He had assumed at the time that it was because he was Japanese, and they had grown up in different countries and cultures. After talking to him for a while, he wondered if it was because they both hadn't communicated that well since Eiji's English was awful, and he had a hard accent, so Ash had a hard time understanding what he was trying to tell him. But after a while, he had realized that both of those assumptions had been wrong. That hadn't been the case. Eventually, he had figured out the truth. He just felt comfortable around Eiji. Most people were scared of him, respected him or despised him and wanted to kill him. They called him a monster, a killer, a devil. Eiji had been different. He hadn't been suspicious or prejudiced against him. He treated him like a typical 17-year old teenager and had just been openly curious about him because that was just how he ticked. Even more so, Ash had figured out; he had treated him like a human being. Eiji's attitude had fascinated him. His huge eyes and his face or his body language didn't hide anything. He had had no poker face at all, and Ash had doubted at that point that he even knew how to tell a lie. His eyes and face had reflected an honesty that had been entirely new for him. Eiji had been so innocent, naive and cheerful it had made him relax and drop his guard more and more. His open face and his genuine smile had been so refreshing that he had forgotten all the people around him when he had been talking to him. Yet, at the same time, Eiji had been stubborn, and there had been a blazing fire in his eyes when he had called him a kid. He had touched a sore subject, it seemed. His eyes had flared up suddenly as he had told him he was, in fact, older than him. Eiji had turned around and had cleared that up while staring right into his eyes without flinching. If anything, he had been irritated, and his gaze had been burning into his. No one dared to look at him like that. Most people just avoided meeting his gaze altogether or just did so on accident, flinching at once and immediately backing down or freezing up, too scared to move. After a while, he had noticed that he had enjoyed talking to him and how a genuine smile had dawned on his face, and his features had softened more and more. Usually, his smile was more a sarcastic smirk or a sneer, he rarely smiled, and if he did, it was fake or forced; like a mask he put on for others to see, burying his true emotions deep inside. Eiji's pure smile, however, had brought out feelings he had always kept hidden deep inside his broken soul. Eiji's laugh was warming him from the inside. It was like a band-aid, it didn't heal you at once, but it made you feel better and stopped the pain.