New Year's Eve… A bright day even if the sky was gray… The snow was falling slowly and gracefully from the sky… The pure, white snow that had covered everything like a soft quilt had turned the New York City a beautiful place to be… Shops and Shopping Centers were all decorated with beautiful green garlands and colorful lights that were twinkling playfully like the stars that would be watching from above soon… It was noon, but it was getting dark early. Even if it was the middle of the day, it looked like early in the afternoon…
And it was cold…oh it was really cold…
The bitter cold was sweet, in a way, for all the countless people running around in the City That Doesn't Sleep. It was New Year's Eve and everyone was happy. Another year would pass and a new one would come… It was a day of happiness…a day to be with your loved ones…a day to celebrate… All shops and shopping centers were full with people that were doing their shopping, buying presents for their family members or their acquaintances… Their breath was coming out in small, white clouds from the bitter cold. They were all dressed in their best and warmest coats, and their coats were all buttoned up till the last button. Their hands were searching for warmth inside their pockets or they were kept warm by beautiful, warm gloves (woolen or leather). People never stood still in the same place. They were walking fast to grand some warmth to their bodies. Children were also running around with their heavy and colorful coats and woolen scarves, gloves and caps… Laughter… Happiness… Their happy and plump faces all flushed from running, cold and laughter…
However…in a corner there was a bare hand…extended… White and with black nails from cold… A pair of emerald eyes that were looking the passing-by people in a begging way… Right next to him…there was an identical pair of eyes…emerald too…and watery… Another child…like the reflection of the child with the extended hand… Like the mirror that shows only reality… While the beggar-kid was trying to hide his tears…the other was simply letting his eyes look watery…he was biting his lower lip and his chin was clenched and it was trembling slightly… Both kids were dressed with old, damaged clothes…clothes that seemed to be good, long time ago…however now they were full of holes and they were dirty… They weren't Americans. They had oriental features in their faces… They were from Japan… The two children, looking like two drops of water were cuddled together for warmth as they were sitting on an old piece of newspaper on the cold pavement. They were identical twins. That was pretty obvious. Their hair was greenish, their faces pale from cold… They were skinned and famished…
Poor creatures…
Why? Cuddled up like that…at a day like that…and no one would even look at them… No one even paying attention to them… Why? How can people be so…inhuman? Their poor small bodies were shivering from cold…their little stomachs were rumbling from hunger…their eyes were watery and with dark circles because of the lack of sleep… How couldn't…anyone…simply go to them…even whisper to them "Happy New Year"… Someone offer them some food…or even some small coins for them to buy some food? However the small boy's palm was now empty…he had a few coins in his pockets but those weren't enough even to buy some food from Mc Donald's for both of them… They needed some more money…
His name…
Gekko Tenma…
And his bother…
Yako Tenma…
The two children couldn't remember when was the last time they felt warm… Their old, almost ruined clothes had stuck on their petite bodies from humidity, cold and dirt… Their hair was falling on their shoulders weak and long… No one had taken care of them…
Poor children…
The two brothers always…always took care of each other… Their mother had died in childbirth…and left them for the Next World… Their father was there for them… Both of them were talented children… Smart and independent… Gekko was outgoing and friendly, Yako was always shy and collected… They weren't rich but never missed out of anything… Till that fateful day…their father had to come from Japan to America for business…and he took the children with him…
Poor children…
One day he had to take the car and go somewhere… He took the kids with him. Oh, how happy they were in the car! Always singing together in a perfect duet as he was smiling… Their father would leave them at a Game Shop and they would play for a little till he would come back… It was New Year's Eve…and snow was falling softly… The cold was bitter…and the roads were frozen…
Their father opened the door for them to come out. He had stopped out of the Game Shop. He hugged each one of them and gave them a kiss on the cheek. And they did the same… And their father said "goodbye" and entered the car… The children watched him leave…when… Oh how frozen the roads were! A car was coming from another road…too fast to stop… The ice was too slippery… And there, one hundred meters away from the spot the kids were…the two cars crushed! The kids were frozen on spot as the huge explosion followed…and flames emerged out of the crushed cars… Soon people started to gather… The kids got afraid… Gekko grabbed Yako's hand and they ran away
And ran…and ran…and ran…
They stopped running when they had to catch their breath…but they couldn't recognize anything around them… The kids were lost… Yako cried in his brother's chest… Gekko was crying too… No matter how hard they tried…they could never get back from where they started… It had started to get dark… Soon the sky was black…and the two kids were alone in the alleys of New York City… The weak, yellow lights were the only things that was illuminating their way… They were cold, hungry…afraid… How old were they? Seven? Eight years old?
Poor children…
They were clinging on each other…for warmth…for safety… Their little hearts were jumping in their chest with each sound… After some time they got tired… They stopped and cuddled up at a house's entrance…and this was were they slept…cuddled up… As if trying to become one again… And their tears were the only things that was warming up their frozen cheeks…
Yes…some time passed since that day…and the two poor children were still wandering around in New York City…wearing the same clothes…so much that they had more or less got destroyed till now… Sometimes, when the weather was good, the poor children would stay in sunlight, in order to get warmed up… Sometimes when they were lucky, they would find one of those common meals and they could get a plate of warm food… However… How many people were there! The queues were so big…and everyone was pushing and pushing others…
Who would pay attention to two more famished kids? No one! They were all so famished already that they wouldn't pay attention… But if they were lucky they could get a plate with heavenly, warm food…
If not…they were sitting at the sides of a pavement…extending their hand to the passing people hoping to get some coins and buy some food… When the air was howling mercilessly, the twins would hug each other tightly and cuddle up outside some house, where the entrance walls would block some of the air… Other times they were seeking some shelter from the bitter cold at the Metro stations…sitting at a corner over some piece of carton…there, they were sitting with some small, plastic plate they had found in the street waiting for some coins to get in…and when their eyelids would start to close from fatigue and lack of food…they would sleep together…cuddling up for warmth…
Other times, rain was falling…thunders were rumbling…and wind was howling making the water drops hit poor children's faces like merciless whips. Then, the kids would run in the rain till they found shelter under some pavilion or in a carton box in a dark alley… there, Yako would look at his brother…and tears would flow down is cheeks.
Brother, don't leave me, his eyes were begging
And Gekko would force a smile on his lips and hug his brother tightly as if assuring him that he would never leave him alone…but when his face was hidden from his twin, because of the embrace, then he would let his tears fall too…hot and salty…
There weren't few the times the twins had nothing to eat all day… They were holding each other's hands, blowing warm air on them to feel warmer…pulling over their frozen, little bodies a newspaper as a blanket…an illusion of a bed…sleeping in the streets… They were hungry…and thirsty… They were eating snow or cutting ice-crystals that were hanging from pavilions…licking them with their small, pink tongues…sometimes drinking water from small puddles…where they could find some clearer water to drink…
And when they found some place to sit…where warm air was coming out, they sat the one opposing the other, warming up their small hands there…and when their tears were falling, they were whipping them with a swift move of their arms and get back into warming up again…
Alas!
Poor Yako would fall ill easily… Then, Gekko would help him lie down, and he would cover him with a newspaper…and then ran to the closest street he could
Please give me some money, he would say, to buy medicine for my brother! Please…at least something warm to give him to drink…
Sometimes someone gave him a small cup with hot tea…and then he would run back to his brother…however Yako wasn't that kind of kid. He would drink a small sip and then hand the cup to his brother. Gekko would have a sip and then give it back to Yako and this was happening again and again till tea would run out… But it was too fast…and the kids were still frozen…and Yako feeling his body trembling because of the fever…
The night would find the twins cuddling up under the newspaper…their foreheads touching… As if they were back into their mother's womb… As Yako was breathing more heavily through his mouth because his nose was blocked because of the flue…
Poor children…
When someone would drop a match by mistake…one of the twins would pick it up and bring it to the place where the other was waiting… Light it on and they both held their small hands out to the weak flame…to feel its warmth to their frozen, little fingers… Sometimes hunger was defeating them…and they had to search for food at the trash beans…like street puppies… Actually…puppies were luckier than them… They found really few things they could eat… Time was flying and it left its mark upon children… Their faces had gone extremely pale and thin… Black circles were formed under their beautiful and almost always watery emerald eyes…
Ah! There was a small piece of chalk!
Yako picked it up…and slowly, with watery eyes, started drawing at the pavement… He was drawing the moon…the stars…the sun… Houses with beautiful gardens… Himself and Gekko…holding each of their father's hands…
Tears were threatening to fall on his innocent, childish drawing… He would wipe his eyes quickly before that would happen and then extend his hand to the passing by people…asking for some coin for his…drawing…
Alas!
Many few people would do so… Gekko was wrapping his arms around his brother that had started to cry his eyes out, with his face buried in his chalk-stained hands…and then the brothers would hug each other…and cry together…
Gekko wasn't so good at drawing… However he would stand at the side of the road
Sir, let me clean your shoe… Good lady, please…
Some people indeed stopped…for the poor child to polish their shoes with his sleeve, the best he could…just to get their breakfast… Just to have a small bite of bread to eat…
They walked hand by hand…as if they were afraid that they would lose each other at a blink of eye…as if they would die if they let go…
Oh, poor kids!
They were all alone in the big city…of course they would get target of others! Many times, gangs would find them…and they would kick and punch them…and leave them at the alleys, full with bruises or small slits on their lips or cheeks…and with all their money (they had earned after the entire day) lost… They remained there…lieing down where they had fallen…not having the strength anymore…to stand up…
They had learnt to be satisfied with very simple things… How many times hadn't they looked up, happily to see the rainbow…? How many times hadn't they sat down at a park gazing upon the night sky…making wishes to falling stars…with the one leaning his head on his brother's shoulder and the other leaning his head on his brother's head…? How many times hadn't they tried to laugh at the most simple things…?
Poor children…
Even if their bellies were never full with food…even if their fingers and toes were ready to turn into crystals…even if they were hearing terrible words from people such as
Tramps!
Beggars!
Thieves!
Or even when they were hearing people whispering
Poor children…
I can't get close…they might die!
I think it will be better of God ends their misery…
Even after all that…they were trying to find a race of sunshine…something that would give light to their dark life…something that would give them some warmth…so poor little ones would feel loved again… Not hated…not pitied…but loved…
That day the sun was hidden under those gray clouds… The snow was falling softly…like small fairies that were dancing and playing in the air… People were passing fast…so they would be warm… So they wouldn't freeze…
Freeze…?
What could they possibly know? The two children we were talking about sure did… They sure had felt cold deep down their little bones…on their thin skin…
That day, anyway, it was calm…it was a celebrating day… Among people there was a young man walking… His hair was long and silver, even if he was young. It was falling like a curtain over his face, covering half of his face… He was looking around gazing at the decorations…watching the children playing around. He sighed a little melancholically…and walked a bit further…
If only he could have some children of his own, he was thinking, but that chance was lost…some time now… And then something drew his attention…
The twins were cuddled up with their backs against a wall as usually, wrapped in some paper to keep themselves warm… Gekko was sleeping with his head upon Yako's shoulder…and Yako was half-asleep with his head upon his brother's… Suddenly a shadow fell in front of them and that made Yako's small eyelids to tremble and then open slowly… He looked up to see…that man looking at them…with a gentle smile on his face… Not anger…not hatred…not pity…but gentleness…interest…love… Yako remained there…looking straight into the unknown man's eyes (eye)…as if he had seen an angel…that had come, finally to pick them up and end their misery…
But no…
That was a man…a human with flesh and bones… But for Yako…it still looked like…a savior…someone he needed to respect… His smile was bright like the sun… Then Gekko woke up too…and joined his brother into staring the unknown man…
The man simply smiled at them…and extended both of his arms at them…offering both of them a hand… The kids hesitated a little…but then as if some magnetic force was pulling them, their small hands held the man's…the man smiling gently, helped them stand back to their feet… Softly… His name…?
Pegasus. J. Crawford…
Pegasus slowly helped them up…and the two children looked up at him… The man smiled back…and they soon were walking away from that place… The twins were holding Pegasus's each hand…as they walked into the metro…as if they have always been a family…
Inside the huge metal "beast" the kids couldn't help to be looking out of the windows while they were passing by several stations…. They hadn't got in the metro for so long! It was as if it was their first time again…
They walked out of the metro and started climbing the stairs of the subway… The kids had to close their eyes for a small second as the sun hit their faces as they walked out in the light again… And they looked up...as if for the first time…to see the tall buildings all around them… As if they had just realized how beautiful New York could be…
Some minutes later they were sitting at a restaurant…the two kids were gobbling up food, the gentle man had offered them, as if it was the first time in their lives they had tasted food… And Pegasus was watching them with a smile full with pride…as though he was their father and he was watching them do something great… The kids kept on gulping down their food and their warm drinks… So much happiness they had, having their bellies full at last that they couldn't stop their tears from falling while eating… They were wiping them and go back to their food…
But they still were flowing…again…and again…
Next stop was at a clothing shop… Each one of the kids got a beautiful, new jacket… Oh, how warm and soft and sweet-smelling it was! Both of them were hugging themselves as though they were afraid the jackets would fly away… And next new shoes took the place of their old, ruined ones and new shocks replaced their old, wet and full of holes ones… Soft, woolen gloves covered their frozen hands…
As they walked out of the shop…cold air hit their small faces again…but the cold didn't reach their small bodies…for the first time they could feel like staying outside forever…and play…and run…and laugh… They felt a hand on one of their shoulder… Pegasus was looking down at them with a smile…
Well, how do your new clothes feel?…, his eyes were asking
The children couldn't hold back anymore… They rushed in his arms and buried their little faces into his stomach and let out their tears to run down freely… Hot and full of gratefulness…and Pegasus was patting their backs softly…like a tender father…
Then, when the two of them calmed down, Pegasus took them both by the hand and they walked away… And they seemed indeed like family…as the questions would flow…
Who's older?
Gekko is…for some minutes
Where are you from?
Japan…
Where are your parents?
We don't have any…
The eyes were saying things their voices and mouths couldn't
Do you want a new family?
If they wanted it?! They nearly jumped on him! But they didn't…they simply smiled and their smile was the best reward Pegasus. J. Crawford could ever wish for… And they stopped in front of a really big, black car. A limousine! The twins' faces simply shone with their new smiles…
And the trip started… Yako and Gekko had their small hands and faces constantly stuck at the windows…enthusiastically watching at the view…the places they have been passing by… They had never seen anything else but the ugly side of New York City…but now…here they were… In a rich car…seeing the American countryside…
Oh, how beautiful it seemed!
Pegasus was watching them from his seat…smiling softly… Their happiness was his happiness too… As the car stopped in front of a grand mansion the twins couldn't believe in their eyes! When they got out of the car they just couldn't bring themselves to walk forward and enter that beautiful place… Pegasus pushed them softly along with him as they entered the house…
House?
It was big like a palace! For the two homeless orphans it looked like a brand new city! And next came a nice and hot bath… The twins had almost forgotten how incredible sensation it was, to be in steamy hot water that was relaxing their pained muscles… How beautifully it felt be clean again…
Yako and Gekko were together in the same bath…even playing with water as a maid was cleaning them patiently, especially their, full with harms and calluses, feet… After the bath, came a nice haircut and after that new clothes for the two orphans…
How soft and warm!
After the bath came time for sleep…and the room…oh, the room was like taken out of a dream or a fairy tale book! There were two identical beds in it…but the children didn't want to sleep separately… They were afraid that they would disappear any moment and re-appear back in the streets…clinging on each other…freezing and hungry… Therefore…
Gekko slowly walked at Yako's bed and both hugged under the rich quilt and on the soft pillows…and they slept with their foreheads touching each other…
The next morning the sun caressed their faces gently like a motherly kiss…
So it was true!
Everything was not a dream! They had found family…home…love…
They got up and got dressed…and when they walked down they found Pegasus waiting for them for breakfast…
Breakfast?
How long time had it passed since the last time they were sure they would have breakfast! And what breakfast! It had everything…everything the orphans had years to taste… Fruits, vegetables…fresh, warm milk and hot chocolate… Even sweet cookies and lovely tea… They ate gratefully with Pegasus watching them smiling and sometimes drinking from his coffee…
The twins couldn't stop thanking the good man that wanted (and he would) to adopt them! He was already like a father to them…and he seemed so young…
He promised that they wouldn't miss out of anything from now on…and he was a man of his word… Private teachers provided lessons to the twins… And they learnt a lot… They learnt foreign languages, statistics and marketing and even music and dance…
Sometimes Pegasus would play the piano and the twins would, in turns, accompanying him with the violin…adoring the moments…
Pegasus had officially made them his sons… He took them with him everywhere… At dinners, at trips… And Yako and Gekko were always watching him…learning from him… As if they wanted every time to impress him…show him their gratitude… they were always doing whatever he said…
They were learning everything from him… Pegasus was always smiling to them…and he treated them gentler than any other person in the world ever did for them…
Mother and Father…Brother and Friend…
They found EVERYTHING in his face… And he was like a guardian angel to them all the time…not only providing them with everything they needed…but for protecting them…being there for them…trusting them…
Love them…
Some time later Pegasus brought two more kids at home…one was one year older and the other one-year-older… The younger was brunette and pale and thin just like they used to be…his name Depre Scott. The older was blonde and his name was Richie Merced. Pegasus had adopted them too…
As soothingly time passed, they learnt some things about their savior… He was the owner of a big fortune and he was currently creating a new game… He had lost his lover…and he was now alone…
Many things were remained unanswered for the twins…however they would always remember that the man had saved their lives… Therefore they might loved him like a father…but they couldn't simply call him "father"… No…they respected him much more than that to call him merely "father"… They were trying to figure out about a way to call him…to prove how much the worshiped him… And finally they found it
Master Pegasus…
Like a father, he was getting excited every time they did something, even if it was the simplest thing in the world… He was praising Yako for his drawing skills and Gekko for his communication skills… Richie was better in things that required strength… Depre was good at following plans…
Pegasus planned to raise other children too…and teach them how to design games and gaming platforms… And the twins…
The twins would become his successors…
Yako and Gekko had stopped believing in miracles as long as they lived in the streets… They had lost all hope that such thing as "miracle" existed in the world… They had seen the hard side of life… The unfair life… However when Pegasus found them in the street…almost frozen and famished to death… When he took them in…when he gave them a place to sleep…something to eat…and much more…children started to believe in miracles again…
Long time ago…the New Year's Eve was a cursed day when they lost their parent…the only living relative they had…and their torment started…however Pegasus turned that day to a blessed day full of hope and happiness…
Poor little ones…
If he hadn't found them they would, for sure, have died in the streets…
But now they were happy again…hoping again and most of all, they were loved again… And that was all thanks to a miracle…
A New Year's Miracle…
Please Read...
This is a story I made for my friend to thank her for the points she gave me...because she loves the Tenma twins...
This is an alter way of how the twins got adopted from Pegasus...
In my previous one-shot ("Yako and Gekko Tenma") they were adopted by an orphanege...but in this case the two of them were homeless and alone and Pegasus found them...
They got lost in a city they didn't know and they were alone and hungry...afraid and cold...
For the story:
It is supposed to take place a little after Pegasus loses his lover Cyndia. When Pegasus returns back from Egypt, and he has just got the Millenium Eye, he goes for a walk in New York and finds the twins...
The story had many inspirations such as Andersen's "Little Match Girl".
It was inspired by the many mute cartoons sometimes appear. When the expressions of the characters say it all and only music plays... For my story I had imagined this music playing:
Ludovico Einaudi-Una Mattina: watch?v=EoaPhxNubL0
This song was supposed to play during all the episodes with the twins throughout the story...and the one image/fact taking place of the other in any order you desire... Imagine the story moving soothingly with this music...
Also I was imagining this music playing when Pegasus finds them and till the end...
Amelie- Comptine d' Un Autre ete: watch?v=f5FCKLtNnFU
The reason I chose the New Year's Eve for the background of my story was simple... To make us think of people who really need our help...especially to big cities such as New York...
(I chose the city because it was completely unknown to the twins and so big that the twins easilly got lost...)
In the story the twins were real beggars in a city that many people might lie or even pretend being homeless to get money... Or others that simply are homeless as a "sport" However many people really need our help...
Yako and Gekko were lucky in my story...but others are not...
Anyway I hope you liked it especially you my friend
Please review me!
Enjoy!