When We Were Innocent
"Gah! Watch out!"
Hatori Souma turned his head just in time to see a silver haired girl, racing down the hill, and crashing into him. The force of the impact had thrown both of them onto the ground, Hatori being crushed under the other child. He stared blankly at the girl on top of him, then suddenly leapt up and backed away in panic. The eight year old child look surprised, confused, and some what scared.
The girl pushed herself off the ground, flipped back her long flowing hair, and dusted the dirt off her Chinese-style gown.
"What...?" She looked at him.
"Something wrong?" A black haired boy, wearing a grey kimono, poked his head out from behind the girl. He stepped out, took a few steps closer to Hatori, gave him a hard look, and smiled.
"Ah! I know you! You're Hatori, right?" He said, pointing towards him.
"Oooh! Why didn't you say so." The girl said. "Don't worry, I'm a boy, I won't transform you."
Hatori put his usual emotionless face back on and arched his eyebrows. "Do I..." He trailed off. looking from the one boy to the other. Did they just say, transform...? "Are you...?"
The black haired boy laughed, he put his arm around his friend and said. "Look, Ayaa, he's finally getting it."
"It's not that hard to figure out you know." The one named Ayaa grinned. "Yes, we're Soumas."
"Ayame and Shigure, right...?" Hatori's memories told him. He does somewhat remember seeing them at NewYears, but he never really noticed them. They were just sort've... There...
"He remembers us, Gure!" Ayame said cheerfully.
"Hai, hai." Shigure nodded.
"So what was that all about?" Hatori said, changing the subject.
"The what...?" Ayame frowned.
"Ah! It was a race." Shigure replied. "Ayaa was going too fast, he couldn't stop in time."
"Well I won!" He announced proudly.
"You had a head start!" Shigure pouted.
"That's great..." Hatori rolled his eyes. He dusted off his shirt and jeans and began to walk away.
The two stopped their arguing and watched their cousin leave, then looked at each other and smiled. As Hatori walked down the grassy field, blissfully unaware, the two pounced and tackled him onto the floor.
"What are you doing?" Ayame asked.
"I could ask you the same thing..." Hatori shot them a glare. He had both of them on top of him, and was certainly not enjoying it.
"You can't leave!" Shigure said.
"Why not...?" Was he breaking some sort've new rule about walking or something...?
"Because, we are going to be friends!" Shigure said simply as Ayame nodded in the background.
Oh boy... Hatori motioned the others to get off him, which they did, and he sat up. "You can't decide things for other people..."
"But I wanna be friends with Tori-kuuuuuun!" Ayame tugged on his shirt and faked some tears.
"Aw, you made Ayaa cry." Shigure did the same.
Hatori shot them a look of annonyance, he got up and began walking again.
"You know you don't want us to tackle you again!" The dog said teasingly.
Hatori stopped in his tracks. Hesistantly, he took another step.
"Alright, we're gonna go all out this time Gure-kun!" Ayame followed his lead.
Hatori sighed and turned around.
"Fine, fine..."
"So we're friends?" Shigure asked hopefully.
"Sure..." He replied.
Ayame jumped for joy and high-fived Shigure.
Idiots...
"Ah! We must properly introduce ourselves!" Ayame noted. "I'm Ayame Souma, I'm the snake."
"Shigure Souma, dog, at your service." Shigure took a bow.
"Hatori, the..." He paused. "The dragon."
"The snake, the dog and the dragon..." Shigure said. "You think they'd get along?"
"Dragons are mythical creatures..." Hatori said.
"Right! Right!" Shigure laughed at his own mistake.
"But it doesn't matter right?" Ayame said. The two boys gave him a strange look. "I mean, all that matter is we're gonna get along. Forever and ever."
"Forever and ever...?" Hatori raised an eyebrow.
"Hai!" Ayame grinned.
Hatori looked at them uncertainly, but that soon vanished when Shigure mumbled something about a flying glomp.
"Friends." Ayame placed his hand out. The other too placed their hands on top of his.
They nodded and smiled. "Friends forever."
Thus the Mabudachi trio to-be began as they walked side by side down the park. Little did Hatori know the troubles that lie ahead for him.