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Before the Fire |
Tokyo, May 25th, 2013
The new kid kicks Miya back. Miya advance, though the boy's faster and blocks his strike with his sword with his own, and the turns around him and hit his back. Miya fell to the ground with his face.
“Argh! Damnit! I thought you're you're good on this.”
“I practiced a bit of fencing when I was younger.” He helps Miya up with his hand “It seems I haven't lost it.”
“Still, no one grabs a Shinai with just one hand." Miya says. "The sensei himself told us it must be grabbed with both hands. Japanese blades are wielded with both hands.”
“This is my style. Adapting to a new style is how I do things. I don't see why I should grab it with both hands. If I did, my strikes would be strong, but I would sacrifice part of my agility.”
“Well, suit yourself new boy!”
“It passed over a month since the beginning of the class and you still call me that…”
“Aw, come on!”
“You know my name, use it!”
“A gamble: the one that strikes first the head of the other wins. If I win, I'll keep calling you new boy.”
“Then if I win, start calling me by my name!”
“Fair enough…new boy!”
“You're a douche sometimes; you know that!”
He was about to attack him, when he see Shun practicing Kendo with Taichi.
He clashes swords with him; they separate, and stare at each other for brief moment. Taichi attacks, but Shun falls back, eluding his first attack and then he counters with one of his own attacks diagonally to his right. Still Taichi isn't bad either and deflected the attack but a small part scratched his mask. Taichi resumes his attack, attacking Shun's flank, but He eludes his attack, spinning next to him and striking Taichi's own flank, making him fall to the ground.
“He's good…”
“What? Kazeriya? Yes…I hate to agree with you. But his father was master Kenjutsu and Kendo.”
“Cool...”
“Yeah…I guess..” he said reluctantly.
“What? You've had problems with him? Right?”
“Yes…More than you. He's a total ass with kids like us. I've been in this school for longer time, and he has been here the same as me. He always sized opportunity to call me mongrel or half-breed,”
“You hate him?”
“I don't know. But I'm close to it.”
“He isn't that bad…”
“How do you know?”
“I don't know...Is just…I think it.”
“Whatever now…Round two! Get ready!”
---
Tokyo, May 26th, 2013
“Hey! Sakura!”
The blonde girl tuned back, to see the kid following her running.
“Ah, new kid!”
“Aw come on! Miya stopped calling me that. That isn't my name!” The kid shrugged.
“Haha. Well alright…You're cute saying that!”
“Cute…Me..?”
“Yes!”
“Okeeey…”
“I'll go to the bathroom. Go to the break, I'll find you there.”
“Okey.”
She runs to the girl's bathroom
The kid leaves to the school-yard with a smile drawn on his face. That was actually the first time a girl called him that “cute”. It had never happened to him before. He really liked her...she was beautiful, sweet, everybody liked her, and caring with either boys or girls. Not even Kazeriya bothered her, and she was half Japanese, the same as him and Miya.
The kid places himself against the wall, and looks down with a smile, waiting for her.
Suddenly, a pair of black shoes appears on his view. He looks up seeing it was Kazeriya, just in front of him.
“Hey! Mongrel!”
“What?”
“Stop talking to her!”
“To who?”
“Sakuya! To her! Stop talking to Sakura Sakuya!”
“Why?!” He looks to the face of Shun, and noticed a small blush on his face, which quickly became redder. “Wait a moment...you...like her?!”
Shun blush turned redder still, to make certainty the kid’s question.
“You like her! YOU LIKE SA-”
Shun drives a strong fist to the pit of the stomach, blowing the air out of his longs. He fell to his knees to the ground, with his hands covering his chest and his eyes with small pupil. He was in pain.
“You stupid mongrel!”
He punches the back of his head, hitting the ground with his forehead. There were no teachers near, so he wouldn't stop. Other students remain looking at the fight, but no one dares to stop it.
He places his foot on the back of his head.
“I'LL TEACH YOU TO SHUT UP WHEN YOU MUST! YOU HAVE TO STOP TALKING WHEN I SAY IT!”
He raised his leg, ready to step on the back of his head.
“NOW SHUT UP, MON….”
“NO, YOU SHUT UP!”
Miya throsw himself to him, stopping his kick. He punches him on the face, but this doesn't stop Shun, who then counters with a fist of his own also to his face. They struggled a bit between them two with both hands pushing one each other, until Shun pushes him back with a kick to his stomach, blowing the air out of his lungs. They separate and briefly stare to each other.
“YOU'LL NOW GET WHAT YOU DESERVE STUPID RACIST!”
“Miya stop!” The kid says while getting, with his head dropping blood,
“What?”
“This is my fight!”
“But...look at you! You're dropping blood from your face! You can't fight!”
“No. This fight is one on one, and I haven't lost my will to fight! You have no reason to get in the way!"
“Tch...Alright...you better know what you are doing!”
Miya crosses his arms and got near the rest of the students, as the kid gets ready for a second round.
“It seems the mongrel has a bit of honor!”
“I do…”
The kid advances, as does Shun. they start the fight a straight punch both of them directly to the face, which both of them well place on each other’s cheek right cheek. After the strike, they separate. But not for long; the kid attacks with his left hand, but Shun chains a fast kick to his back, hitting part of his ribs, and blocking the strike with his hand. Still the kid manages to move his other hand and strike him directly to the middle of chest, making Shun lose part of his breath. The briefly stare. Shun starts his own assault, advancing with a frontal kick but the kid grabs it. Even still, Shun manages to bend his leg, getting nearer to the kid, and punching him. The kid grabs Shun's hand near to his face, moving it and punches his stomach. Shun jumps back, managing to get his leg free of the grab and kicking the boy with his other leg, using a scissor kick. They settle distance and stare to each other again for a brief moment, like if they were searching for each other’s weakness. Suddenly they advanced once more. While Shun attacks a low fist, the kid attacks with one to his face. They clash. The kid’s stomach had been pierced deeply and Shun’s nose was bleeding. They separed as both of them fell to the ground, exhausted.
Sakura appears in front of the kids eyes.
“Are you okay?!”
“I...will be...”
“Idiot! Idiot! Idiot! Idiot! Idiot! Why did you fight him?!”
“Because I had to...”
Teachers arrive, and raise the kid, Shun and Miya.
“You three, to the principal’s office. The others! The break is over! To your class rooms! Now!”
---
“It's all your fault dumbass!” Shun says.
“You were the one that started the fight!” Miya repies
“Yes! And?!" Shun replies
"It's your fault that we're here!” Miya says.
“I don't care! You dual of Mongrels! You pathetic!”
The door of the office opens.
“SHUT UP! ALL OF YOU!”
The door closes.
Miya: “Dick teacher…”
His friend laughs, as Shun remains still serious. The kid looks him and Shun does the same, but he quickly parted sight.
“I didn't mean to know your secret, but you made it too obvious.”
“Not your concern, mongrel.”
“Hey. Come on. I know you're not as you appear, to be Shun.”
“ Mind your own business.”
Miya: “You shouldn't even bother to speak to him, is useless. I've tried.”
“No. I'm stubborn lo let this stay just like this.”
Shun: “You should stop wasting time...”
“Well, I won't. You're not truly like this, Shun. A kid that just likes to insult us for being half japanesse!”
“As I said! Isn't of your con...”
Suddenly, the sound of an alarm begins. It was the alarm of a fire.
Miya: “What are we doing!?”
He begins to run in the direction of their classroom.
Shun: “We're going back to the class room! Help the others!”
Miya: “No, Idiot! We should stay together! Damnnit!!”
“Let's go.”
He begin to run just behind Shun and Miya reluctantly followed. He gets next to his friend fast.
“Why's he doing this!? It a stupid idea. They'll get out somehow!”
“Yes. But we can't stop him no matter how hard we try!”
They rapidly arrive to the classroom in few seconds. All the classmates had got out from the classroom now burning in crimson fire. Most of the children were crying, and there was no teacher nearby.
“Shun!” Taichi says once he appears.
Shun: “What happened?!?”
Tai: “The light turned on fire. We all got out as fast as we could. The teacher went to find a fire extinguisher.”
Shun looks around.
Shun: “Where's Sakuya?”
Tai looked at him.
The blonde kid looked around and noticed she wasn't there. She was not there…
Taichi: “I…didn't see her getting out…”
The blonde kid rushes inside the room and Shun follows him seconds afterwards.
Miya: “Damnit!”
They enter the classroom.
Inside everything was set on fire, as the heat inside could be compared to the one of the sun. Not much could be seen, but they both lowered to their knees, trying to breath the oxygen left near the ground.
“SAKURA!” he begins to cough. “SAKURA WHERE ARE YOU!”
He hear a sound and both of them walk towards the place were it came.
Shun: “Keep on speaking! We're heading there!”
Few seconds later, they find her. She was on the back of the classroom, and a heavy burning wooden rafter from the ceiling had felt to her legs, trapping her.
The blonde kid rn next to her.
“We'll get you out of here! Shun help!”
They try lift the beam of wood with all their strength, but it was too heavy from them. They tried several times as the heat grew by each second they spent inside.
Sakura: “No stop! Get out! You can die in here the same as me!”
Shun: “No! We'll take you out!”
Sakura: “My legs could be broken by the weight! Just get out!”
Shun: “We'll carry you outside!”
Sakura: “CAN YOU NEVER LITSEN TO ME!”
“No! a true hero doesn't leave anyone behind! Especially you!”
They both try once again, but it was on no use. It was too heavy for two kids of just 6 years old.
Bot of them began to get numb, but the blonde kids kept on trying. He was not going to surrender.
“SHUN!”
“That voice…”
Taichi appears out of the smoke alongside Miya.
Miya: “You were taking too much time!”
Shun: “Help us!”
“Now we can do this!”
They all grab the wooden rafter and at the count of three, they lift up for few seconds, enough for Sakura to crawl out of it. After it, they let it down.
“Sakura! Are you alright?! Can you walk?!”
“I can't, somebody haves to lift me up!
“Shun you can?”
Shun's coughing a lot.
“Miya! Taichi! Help her up, get her out of here! I'll help Shun! GO!”
Miya and Tai lift her up by her arms, while her legs swiped on the floor. The kid removes his blue shirt and tied it around Shun’s mouth and nose.
“This will help you to breath! Let us get the hell out!”
He carries him with his arm slung over his shoulders, while both of them walk. After some difficult steps, both kids got out, coughing a lot. Fortunatly, none of them of weren't wounded nor burn.
Let themselves to the ground on their knees and hands, continuing to cough. The kid look around and noticed Sakura sat down, next to Miya and Gawn. He, smiled to her, as what she did the same.
Some teachers appeared, alongside firefighters.
“What're you two doing here?!”
“Saving lives.” He replied. “Sakura was still inside. We entered to save her.”
“Well done. But it was mad idea.”
“It's what anyone would've done.”
Some firefighters take Sakura, Shun and the kid outside to the hospital to check if they were alright.
---
“Son!”
Kiritsugu hugs him; Norah does the same shortly afterwards. Both of them were happy to see his son alive, and they were crying, being happy and sad at the same time.
“Hi.” The kid says
Norah: “We thought you dead…”
“I did what I must. To protect people.”
Kiritsugu: “We herd what you did…well done.”
“I didn't do it alone. Two others helped me. But I have to find Shun and Sakura now, I have to go to see them!”
“Alright.” Kiritsugu parts. “Go!”
He runs to the rooms his friends were taken. Both of them were worse than him. He just had a bandage covering his forehead and other bandages across his arms and hands.
He rapidly arrives to the place where both of them were. Shun having oxygen by a machine, and Sakura with her legs bandaged.
He first went next to Shun.
“You're alright?” He asks.
“I'll be."Shun answers."It seems I breathed too much monoxide. It affected my lungs. I just need some bandages in my arms, the same as you.”
“Good. I'll go with Sakura now."The kid began to walk to the bed next to Shun’s.
“Wait!" Shun says stopping him.
"What?”
“I…Owe you one…I'm sorry for what I said. I won't ever say it again.”
“See, I knew you were truly not that bad.”
“Let's be friends.”
The boy looks to his hands, and to Shun, smiled.
He grabs his forearm with his hand, and Shun closes his own. They handshake
“Best friends. And your secret is well kept with me.”
He turns around, as a doctor closed a curtain between him and Shun. He looks to Sakura smiling.
“How are you?”
“My legs are damaged. I won't walk for some weeks. But if I hadn't got out of there place, I'd be dead. Even if I'd spent more time there, I could've lost both legs. You're my hero.”
She extends her hand. The boy grabs it with both hands.
“I couldn't leave you there to die. But I'd not have saved you without Shun Miya and Tai.”
“But you leaded them. And I owe you my life for that.”
They spend a brief moment staring at each other’s eyes.
“Hey...what you want to be when you grow up?” She asks.
“What I want to be…when I grow up…”
“Because now I notice it. I don't know what it is. But you have a power. You can really lead people to the future...”
“Lead people to the future…”
“Yes. You have that power. The power of gathering peoples wishes and hearts to advance to the future. The power to change the world. You can do it. I guarantee it.”
They boy thinks but a moment. His father said to him the exact same thing on his first day. Both her and his dad believed in him. Thay believed in something he hadn't discovered or perhaps neither even existed. But they talked about it as if it was a certainty.
“What I want to be…That's…That's a secret….”
She gets her back up the bed, and they stand in front of each other eyes. Both of them blush a little but they don't separate.
“That being the case, let me see what you're capable of that day. Until it comes, I'll stay by your side.”