His gaze was captivating and intense.

The sunlight coming from the window was lightening his face, showing perfectly the blue color of his eyes, eyes which most people would describe as cold and without any human emotion, though, I found something attractive about them. It was undeniable that once you caught sight of them, you just couldn't look away.

I was trying desperately to avoid his gaze but each time, I succeeded to get my eyes off him, I found myself looking back at him, feeling both uncomfortable and curious. There was a small smile on his lips as he looked at me. A part of me knew what he was doing, he was trying to destabilize me but I did not know why.

I tried to find something to say, anything would be better than the awkward silence that reigned currently between us, but the words didn't seem to want to come to me, they never did, not when I most needed them. I wasn't chatty around strangers. I found it difficult to make conversations with people I barely knew and even though, the boy sitting in front of me could hardly be qualified as a stranger to me with how much I heard about him, I couldn't say anything.

My mind was boiling with thousands of thoughts though, because the things that I heard about him were terrifying but also picked my curiosity.

"People said that you are evil," the words came out of my mouth before I could even stop them.

It was only after a few seconds that the realization of what I just said struck me hard and my eyes opened widely. My first instinct was to apologize but I stopped myself when I saw that his barely visible smile has now got bigger. I was slightly confused.

"I know," he said and I blinked a few times, a frown coming to my face at his nonchalant response. He didn't look angry at all by my words. In the contrary, he seemed amused.

"They also said that you have killed before," I added without thinking once again. I didn't really know where I was going with this but I suddenly wanted to know what he would reply to that.

"I know that too," his answer was like the first one he gave me and it somehow pushed me to continue.

"And you do black magic?" that sentence sounded more like a question than an actual statement and he chuckled but he didn't confirm nor deny it. Instead, he opened the book that was placed in front of him and resumed his reading.

That single action from him made me remember what I was doing here in the school library in the first place. When he came, and sat in front of me, he captured all my attention and the book that I was reading seemed to no longer be interesting.

I was more interested in him.

"Are they true?" I asked him and he looked up at me, his blue eyes piercing right through me.

"What? The rumors?" he questioned and I nodded. He hummed softly and then closed his book. He put it aside and placed his arms on the table, now giving me his full attention. "What do you think?" he asked me and I opened my mouth to reply but then realized that I didn't have any answer to this question.

Everyone else in the high school seemed to truly believe that he was evil. I only arrived here since a few days and I already heard so many things about him. It was like his life interested others more than their own. All sorts of things were said and even though, some of them were unbelievable, I still wasn't sure if those rumors were just simple rumors or the pure reality.

"I don't know," I replied at last to his question, "I don't personally know you so I can't tell. I don't even know why you are sitting in front of me in the first place."

That was true. I came in the high school library to read my book in silent but then he came and distracted me. We never talked before. I was just the new kid in town which most people still didn't know about. I didn't think that he, of all people, knew about my existence...except that one time.

On my first day here, I saw him walking in the hallways and somehow, we made eyes contact and god, he was stunning. With his spiky black hair cut short, his black clothes and those blue eyes which seemed so perfect, I couldn't look away and I just continued to stare at him until a random girl came to talk to me and our eye contact was broken.

After that little event, as the days went by, the rumors about him flying around the high school got to my ears, and I was told to stay away from him, the devil, that was how he was called by many people. They rarely used his true name and I wondered why. It was kind of unique.

Cloud.

It was original and uncommon, just like my name. I was saddled with the name Luffy, a name which my mom found from one of her favorite anime. Monkey D. Luffy was a boy in search of adventures and who wanted to become the next pirate king. He was strong and humble, always there to protect the ones he loves and my mom wanted me to be just like him.

Was I brave? That was still to prove. Did I protect the ones I love? I try to at least, even though I was mostly the one who people needed to protect. And did I want to go on adventures? Maybe I did.

"That's my table," Cloud said, snapping me out of my thought.

"Your table...?" I repeated with a frown and he nodded, a smirk coming to his face.

"Yes, my table," he agreed, "I always sit here to read."

"As far as I know, we can't claim any table in a school library," I told him and he hummed.

"Sure, but you see, everyone is so scared of me that they all stopped sitting at that table, so basically it's mine," he declared and I was lost for words.

The fact that everyone feared him was something that I noticed. I could see it in their eyes, the fear; I could even feel it at times. Cloud had that little something about him that had the power to intimidate you just by one glance. Maybe that was why I wasn't sure if those rumors were true or not. Only the truth could create such fear, not a bunch of lies.

But, did I fear him? I didn't think so.

"So, I can't sit here?" I asked Cloud at last with a little bit of hesitation in my voice.

"It depends," he replied as he started to make small circles with his thumb on the table, "Do you want to remain here?"

I thought about it for some seconds before timidly nodding.

"Well then, I have no protestation to you sitting here. I can afford some company," he stated and he took his book once again, opening it. I assumed that he was going back to his reading. Just when I was going to do the same, the bell suddenly rang and Cloud sighed. "Looks like our time is up," he said, standing up from his seat. He took his book and looked down at me before asking, "What's your name, little one?"

"L-Luffy," I replied, blinking my eyes a few times, "Luffy Dickson."

I didn't think that the family name was necessary to say but it was out of my mouth before I could stop it. It was clearly obvious to me that I was having some difficulties controlling what I was saying around him.

"Nice to meet you, little Luffy," he said, "I'm Cloud."

"I know," I said almost immediately and he smirked but didn't say anything. He then walked away and my eyes didn't leave him until he was out of my sight. One question came to me at this very moment.

Who are you truly, Cloud?