Tiger's Past - A story about when the White Tigers were young. How they met, how they became friends, and the troubles they faced together that would inevitably build trust between them. No pairings, because having a few six-year-olds love each other is out of the question. Sorry. (:
Ages: Rei; 7 Lee; 7 Mariah; 5 Kevin; 4 Gary; 11 - The ages change, but you'll know when they do.
Note; I've attempted to keep this relevant to Chinese culture, so when you read something like the discription of the temple, the earth god, or the spirits, that's why. Keep in mind that I only know about Chinise culture through a month or so of studying at school, so it might not be as accurate as I would like... But it probably is.
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"Hah, yeah, that was sure funny!" Short black hair bounced around amber cat like eyes as the young boy walked down the dry dirt road. Besides him, a raven haired boy of the same age nodded in agreement with a broad smile.
"When the bucket when flying through the air and landed on Mr. Lin?" The two erupted into a fit of laughter at the memory. It continued until one stopped the other.
"Rei, did you hear that?" The first boy asked, putting his arm in front of the other to stop him from walking. The addressed child paused, and then nodded.
"Yeah, Lee, it sounds like crying."
"And laughing?" The two exchanged a look before moving off the trail in the direction of the sound. What they came upon startled them to silence as they ducked behind the trees and underbrush of the forest. Before them, three older boys – probably all ten years old – were standing around a much younger boy, who was lying on the ground with tears in his eyes.
"Stop it!" The young green hair boy whined, looking up at the oldest of the three. He only sneered and brought his foot down onto the boy's back.
"Cry baby! Give us your girly necklace, you cry baby!" The immature taunts brought an unfamiliar feeling of anger and responsibility in the two boys watching this all. Though they were both only seven years old, the two knew they had to stop the bullies.
"Hey!" Lee called, standing up and making himself known. Not knowing any better, Rei did the same. The sudden appearance of the pair got the attention of the three older boys, who paused a moment before laughing.
"Buzz off, we're teaching bite size here a lesson." One of the three boys sneered, turning back to the small boy now kneeling on the ground before them. His violet eyes looked at Rei and Lee pleadingly, but there was a small sign of resentment in his face as his gaze towards them, arms wrapped around him chest like he had been kicked there one to many times. Rei could tell with a glance that the bullies had done far more then just teaching him a lesson.
"No, pick on someone your own size!" Lee called, repeating the phrase he had heard from his parents but honestly not having the faintest idea of what it really meant. The older boys laughed, and repeated the comment in sardonic tones. After a while of the unjust mockery, the largest of the three grew bored and turned back to the small boy, who looked like he had recovered slightly in the time the bully had been distracted.
"Now where's that necklace, you little runt?" The rather pudgy boy demanded. The small, younger boy fixed his glare on the ground and said nothing in reply, his arms still wrapped around his upper body. The bully growled and smacked the victim upside the head. The boy fell to the side and hit on the ground, too tired to lift himself up the second he got the chance. Just as the bully was about to grab him, Rei and Lee made a beeline towards them and leapt onto his back. A confusing mass of shuffling around followed before the bullies took off running, emitting straggled cries of how the two younger boys were too fast, and demon like. They were down the path and out of site soon, and Rei and Lee high-fived happily.
Their positive emotions, however, vanished the second they looked back to where the boy had been. Nothing but disturbed dirt and foot steps were there to thank the two boys for their efforts, as it quickly became apparent that the youngest boy had run off.
"Hey, he ditched! After all that!" Lee complained, throwing his arms in the air and turning in a complete circle as if doing so would summon the boy back. Rei, on the other hand, gazed worriedly in the direction where the boy took off, hoping that he would be alright.
-x-x-x-
The sun set quickly through Reis bedroom curtains. It had been a long day, and Rei was ready for a nice long sleep. His parents had tucked him into bed only moments before, and if anything the night would be undisturbed. Slowly and peacefully, sleep began to claim the young boy all nestled in his bed of blankets and pillows. He would have drifted off completely had it not been for his mother opening his bedroom door slowly.
"Rei, dear, are you awake?" Rei groaned to signify that he was not yet asleep. His mother came to sit down on the edge of his bed, and Rei could feel the mattress shifting under her weight.
"Rei, have you ever heard of a boy named Chen?" She asked calmly, stroking her sleepy son's cheek. Rei paused a moment before shaking his head.
"Well, he is older then you by about three of four years. He came home this evening complaining about demons and just happened to describe one like you. What were you up to today?" She asked, concern floating into her words. Suddenly, Rei felt wide awake. He remembered it all; the older kids, the younger boy, and how he had run off after then got rid of the bullies. Specifically, Rei's mind made a connection to how the bullies were yelling about demons as they raced off.
"Yeah, there were these bullies picking on this one kid and we chased them off but then the kid ran away without saying thank-you!" Rei spat this entire explanation out in one breath and his mother was left looking at him with great concern.
"They were bullying another boy?" She asked, her eyes narrowing. Rei immediately saw his mistake; by telling his mother that the boys were beating a younger kid up, Rei had earned himself the title of tattletale for a good four months, or at least until someone else did it. Still, he nodded slowly, knowing it was the right thing to do.
"Oh… I think I'll just have to go and let Mrs. Mao know that. Goodnight Rei."
And uneasy pause followed. "Night mom."
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"Lee, get up!" Pale amber eyes narrowed as the young girl shook her brother again and again.
"Aggh… Go away Mariah!" The boy lying under the blankets on the bed waved his arm at her weakly to shoo her away, but the girl just smiled, grabbed hold of his wrist, and tugged the boy from his bed. He hit the wooden floor with a thump and groaned loudly.
"Lee's up, mom!" The girl called, racing out of the room. Pink hair flicked back and forth behind her as she went. Being only five years old, Lee's sister was an honest to god pain in the morning. Lee stood and stretched, rubbing his back where he had landed on the floor. His thoughts went from sleep clouded, to breakfast oriented, to the past day. He tottered into the kitchen, finding that whenever he closed his eyes, those pale violet eyes of the young boy were staring back at him, as if telling him to go away. Lee would rub his eyes again and again, but the agitated look wouldn't vanish from his mind's eye.
The day continued on slowly, and as Lee found out, the same thing was true for Rei; except he saw the pleading look of the boy, rather then the resentful look. The both of them talked about it awhile, Lee asking if Rei thought the boy was a spirit, and Rei saying that in order for there to be a child spirit, a boy must have died recently. Since not only were there no recent deaths in the village, and Rei honestly had no idea what he was talking about, the two dismissed the idea.
"Well we could go find him." Rei suggested. Lee groaned inwardly.
"Why? He obviously didn't appreciate us helping him last time."
"Yeah, but at least we'll know his name. Common!" Rei called, racing ahead of Lee. His best friend growled and rolled his eyes. They were about to spend their entire day tracking down a four year old, and he wasn't going to enjoy it.
The two boys searched day in and day out, coming across nothing but small footprints here and there that would disappear into the trees as if the boy had flown up and away. By noon, Lee had grown quite annoyed with the aspect of finding him, and decided to openly complain to Rei.
"He's probably at home resting, Rei. There's no point of searching for him, we could be at the river right now!" He whined, stopping in his tracks. About six feet ahead of him, Rei turned around and narrowed his eyebrows.
"I bet the bullies are at the river." He stated simply. Lee's disconcerted expression faded into a blank slate as he considered this. It was the place where the older kids hung out, after all, and they would likely run into the older boys who had caused the distress the previous day.
"But, they'd be scared of us. I mean, we showed them what we can do, right?"
Rei paused a moment, wondering if he should inform Lee of his conversation with his mother the night before. Deciding that it would be better for Lee to hear it from him and not one of the bullies, Rei took a breath and tried to explain.
"My mom found out last night. All the older kids probably know and they'll beat us up."
Lee stared at his best friend. "You… You squealed?" His eyes were wide.
"It was an accident! I never meant for my mom to hear, but I was really tired and she just worked it out of me!" Rei said, shame visibly showing on his face. His let his head hand while he waited for Lee's reply.
"Well… I guess… There's nothing else to do but find him." Lee said. The boy was experiencing one of his rare moments where he pitied someone so much, he would attempt to make things easier for them by doing something nice for them. And since Rei was his best friend, and wanted to find the boy so badly, Lee would stick by him. After all, the second they came in contact with the older kids, Rei would hear enough about being a tattletale. Lee didn't have to add to that. Much to Lee's relief, Reis face lit up without him knowing about Lee's plan.
"Thanks, Lee."
"No prob. So where would he be?"
"Um…" The two of them felt their spirits drop. The village was fairly large, and there were plenty of places for a four year old boy to hide. Rei thought about this a moment, wondering why someone would run away and then put in so much effort to conceal himself the next day. Rei found himself slowly approaching an idea that had never occurred to him before.
"Lee, what if he thought we were bullies?"
"What?! We saved him from those bullies, we weren't going to beat him up!"
"Yeah… But say there were more then one group of bullies picking on him… And he thought we were coming to protect our territory."
"Territory?"
"Yeah, bullies stick with the same kids that they beat up."
Lee narrowed his eyes, not following at all. Rei sighed and attempted to explain his reasoning.
"Okay… Say you had a favorite beyblade stadium. You practiced and battled there all the time, and it was practically yours. But one day you come to practice and find other kids there. You would want them to leave, right?"
Lee looked at Rei a moment. "So… There are other bullies beating up this kid? And… He thought we were the other bullies?"
"Yeah, I guess." Rei said, shrugging. The two stayed silent a moment.
"That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. He would recognize us, right?"
"Well… Maybe he thought we were new bullies." Rei said quietly, wondering how stupid his plan sounded. It was smart to him, and made enough sense to encourage the boy to follow the hypothesis. Lee too fell quiet, trying to remind himself that he had to keep his mind open.
"… Alright, so maybe that's why he ran. But where is he now?"
"… What are some good hiding places around the village?"
As the day went on, the two spread out looking in all the hide-and-seek spots they could. Even some of the greatest hiding spots were empty, and even with the help of Lee's younger sister Mariah, it was no use. Rei was walking through the bazaar, Lee was down by the rice fields, trying to avoid the temptation of splashing his feet in the fertile water, and Mariah was up near the temple, looking in ever corner there was.
She walked into it slowly, bowing towards a figure the size of a barrel, and noticing the red incense that was burning slowly around it. It was dressed in rich red silks and seals painted in red were hanging on the ways. The shrine had been like this for years, and people continued to come and idolize the earthen god for the years of great harvests and perfect farming weather. Mariah looked all around it before lifting her eyes to the upper floors of the temple. The middle of the building was hollow, with different levels wrapping around the walls until they reached the top, connected by ladder like stairs.
The corners of each section of roofing were curved upward, to deflect evil spirits that were said to only travel in straight lines, and Mariah's eye caught on to something as he gazed upwards.
Someone appeared to be sitting on the top most layer, as Mariah noticed a small bag barely hanging over the edge of the layer of floor. She had always hated the top, as the view stretched on for miles and miles, and it was so high off the ground. However, Lee and Rei had made it very clear that if she noticed something, she should check it out. So, she began climbing quietly and quickly. There were a total of five floors to the temple, which rested atop the highest hill in the village. Mariah made it past the first three before the fear of heights kicked in, and she continued on very slowly and carefully. One more floor... Five more steps…
"Go away." A voice, young and sorrowful, sounded quickly. Mariah stopped head in her tracks, three steps from the top level. She waited, not moving, for the voice to sound again. When it didn't, she narrowed her eyes and replied.
"Not after I got this high up!" She tackled the remaining three steps and found herself kneeling on the top floor. The round windows provided a few of every hill, tree, lake, river, and stream for hundreds of miles, and disappeared into the horizon. She looked around her slowly, until her eyes came to rest on a small boy. His green hair fell over his right eye just barely, and he was hugging his knees to his chest. He looked genuinely sad, but not afraid. Mariah stared at him a few moments before noticing the bruising on his upper arms and his left cheek.
"Hey, you're that kid my brother saved yesterday!" She proclaimed. The announcement startled the younger boy, and he looked at her with narrowed eyes. Mariah decided that he was unsure what she meant, and explained.
"Yeah, he said that he and Rei saw three guys beating you up and they scared them off. Isn't my older brother cool?"
The boy paused. "No." The reply made Mariah's heart sink.
"What do you mean, 'no'? He saved you from bullies!" She cried, eyes narrowing. How could someone be so ungrateful?
"That doesn't make him cool. Now go away."
Mariah glared at him, wondering how old he was. After a moment, she asked.
"Four." He spat, glaring right back at her. She smiled broadly.
"Ha! I'm older then you, I'm five."
"So?" The boy narrowed his eyes, the sadness returning to his face. Mariah recognized that she wasn't making him feel any better. Slowly, she sat down next to him and gazed out the window at the hills below. She found herself not scared anymore, and realized how beautiful it was.
"I'm Mariah."
A long pause followed. "I'm Kevin."
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xChewy; First chapter, please don't flame. I'm studying China in school at the moment, but I'm not sure if the information I plug in is 100 correct. If there's something wrong, please let me know.
Rei's mother; :cough: Do I get a name, in this story?
xChewy; … Why? O.o;
Rei's mother; Well, I never do.
xChewy; Then why break the chain?
Rei's mother; -.-; Rude little…