They met eight years ago in an orphanage. He would never admit it, but he vividly remembered the day she came there. It was a humid rainy morning and she was without an umbrella. Her head hung low as the rain soaked through her pink sundress. Some of her chestnut colored hair stuck to her face while other strands stuck out in different directions.
The young boy looked down at his brother who was still staring at the girl. A few moments later one of the adults picked her up and carried her inside and the brothers got a short glimpse at the girls' eyes; empty. Her eyes were desolate and devoid of any kind of feeling and the young boy wondered what she could have seen to make her look like that. The two siblings looked at each other and turned back to the girl, watching her disappear into the the building.
On a sunny day during their outside time, the small brunette appeared again playing by herself in the sandbox. The older of the brothers looked over at the small girl but she didn't attempt to make eye contact with them.
"She looks so sad." The small black haired boy said reaching up and grabbing his older brothers' hand.
"That she does Moki." Was his response. After a closer observation he noticed her chestnut hair highlighted her cheekbones and It fell in curls over her shoulders with a little red bow keeping the rest out of her eyes.
Her eyes flickered up as she slowly stared at them. Moki cowered behind his older brother who returned the girls gaze. After a few moments her expression faltered and she returned her gaze to the sandbox. Moki looked up at his brother and frowned. Whenever he was sad he always had his brother to cheer him up but it looked like she was all alone. He turned back to her and released his grip on his brother's hand.
"I'm gonna go talk to her." Before the youth could walk over to her, his brother stopped him. "You don't know her. What if she turns out to be a bad person?"
"Did you see the look in her eyes Seto? She looked so sad and alone..." He looked down at his feet. "It's not fun to feel like that..." Seto took a step back from his brother and watched him walk over to the girl. The youth had a valid point and after a few moments of thought, he followed his brother over to the girl.
"Hi! My name is Mokuba. What's your name?" She looked up at him, her honey golden eyes laced with sadness and opened her mouth but no sound came out. Her eyes fell back to the sand and she drew her legs closer to her body.
Seto was standing behind his brother as the latter introduced himself. The girl remained silent and her expression was more closed. Moments later one of the adults came to retrieve her. "I'm sorry you two." She told them before bending her knees to get down to their level. "But this little one can't talk. She saw something very tragic a few days ago." The lady told them before pulling the young girl away. The brunette turned her head slightly and stared at them with uncertainty in her eyes before allowing herself to be pulled away.
She appeared before them again a few days later in the playroom, sitting at a round table by herself surrounded by adults while she colored. They were talking in hushed tones and glancing at her as she leaned closer to the table. She looked up and noticed the brown haired boy staring at her and, after blinking a few times, slid out of her chair with paper and crayon in hand and walking over to him. Mokuba looked up from his picture and smiled at the girl. "Hi." He said with an enthusiastic grin. She only waved before sitting down next to him and continued to draw. The eldest looked over at what she was doing and noticed she was drawing a descriptive picture. In it, there were a man and woman who were yelling at each other and in the left-hand corner of the paper was a small girl curled up and covering her ears.
She stopped coloring for a split second and flipped the paper over before looking up at the male. Her eyes were vacant and devoid of emotion. She opened her mouth but just like before, no sound came out. "So why can't you talk?" Mokuba asked after sitting up. Seto, despite himself, was curious as well. Though he had seen the picture, he still wondered what exactly she had seen that would stop her from talking. The girl held the crayon up to the paper and started to write but before she could show them the paper one of the adults pulled her away again. Her hair whipped across her face as she turned to look at them again. The look on her face was unsettling and it made Seto's stomach feel odd. He shook his head and smiled down at his little brother before the two started to play with action figures.
It rained two days later and the girl was walking around in it. Her hair stuck to her face and her night clothes were plastered to her body. Her feet were bare as she sloshed around in the grass and mud without much direction. Seto happened to wake up early that morning and noticed the girl and his stirring also happened to wake up his brother. Mokuba jumped out of bed and put shoes on, pulling Seto and trying to get him to come with him. After a few moments the elder grabbed an umbrella and put on his shoes before following the other outside.
"Hey! What are you doing out here?" Mokuba called as he ran over to the girl. She stopped and looked up at him. "You'll catch a cold if you stay out here for too long." He smiled as Seto leaned the umbrella over both of them. The girl blinked and a small smile crossed her lips for a brief second before she nodded slowly and followed them both inside. Mokuba pulled her into their room and gave her a towel. As she dried herself off, the black haired youth sat on the bed and looked up at his brother. Seto smiled back before turning to the girl, if his little brother didn't think she was bad then he would give her the benefit of the doubt. The young girl pulled the towel from her hair, bowed and turned to leave the room. "Wait, don't go! We don't even know your name yet!" She turned her head slightly, shook her head and walked away. The adults kept her away from people so she thought it was better if she didn't interact with the boys.
This didn't last long however for the next day she witnessed them playing chess. She watched with her hands gripping the end of her shirt tightly. The short black haired one who she recalled was named Mokuba was losing to the taller brown haired one. She watched behind the comfort of a wall, happy that the adults had finally let her off on her own. For the most part, the other children didn't bother her, they had probably been instructed to leave her be. Her hair fell into her eyes and she brushed it away in time to meet the deep stony blue-eyed stare of the elder brother. His gaze startled the young girl and she slid further behind the wall as her hand flew up to her chest. After taking a few deep breaths she managed to calm down and peek out from behind the wall. They had gone back to their game with Mokuba still on the losing end and occasionally the older brother would glance up at her. After a few minutes of this she decided to walk up to them.
Mokuba looked up and smiled as she approached the rectangular wooden table they were sitting at. She nervously pushed some hair behind her ear and stopped a few inches in front of the table. Previously she had thought it would be better not to interact with the boys but after all that time by herself...she felt so lonely.
"You still haven't told us your name." The blue eyed male crossed his arms over his chest but kept his gaze on the board. His brother looked up at her his eyes laced with enthusiasm while she leaned over the board and began to rearrange the pieces. "Hey! What are you doing?" Seto exclaimed but Mokuba shushed him and watched her move the pieces around. After a few moments of this she took a step back and looked at the brothers.
They both stood up and walked around to where she was standing to see that the pieces spelled out a name; Minami. "Hi Minami, its nice to meet you." Mokuba said with a cheeky grin before giving his brother a light nudge. "This is my brother Seto." Minami looked between the two and gave them a slight nod before pointing at the chess board. "You play chess?" He asked. She nodded and kept her gaze on the chess board. "Well my brother is the best. You can't beat him! " Mokuba wore a large grin and looked between the two. Minami rearranged the board and sat down looking expectantly at Seto.
A smirk crossed his lips and he sat down. Challenge accepted.