Prologue
The soft sound of someone crying could be heard over the quiet rustle of trees being swayed by the breeze. The origin of this heartbreaking sound was a strawberry haired little girl with scraped knees and dirtied clothes slumped atop of a tree stump, bawling her eyes out. She was alone and afraid, and desperately wanted her otousan and okaasan to find her so she could apologize to them for running away. She had not meant to run away but the news her parents had just disclosed to her about them moving from the only home she had ever known caused her such turmoil that she did the only thing her five-year-old mind believed would solve her problem, and that was to just avoid it and run away.
She ran and ran despite the sound of her parents calling after her blindly out the door with blurred eyes from salty tears. She wasn't paying attention when she crashed hard into a small boy with two brow tufts of hair protruding out of his head like horns, as he ran out the front gate of his home to catch his newly found soccer ball. This caused her to cry harder out of sheer frustration despite the boys attempt to make sure she was okay. She got up with a small "gomen nasai," not making eye contact and continued to run. The boy would have followed her had his mom not called him inside for lunch. The girl ran and ran and ran until her feet could take her no further. She slowed down to a walking pace, when she reached the edge of the woods. She heard voices approaching and panicked causing her to enter the thick forest. During her escape she tripped over an unearthed tree root scraping her knees in the process. She was lost, alone, and injured.
"Otosan…Okasaan..." she whispered with a sob. "Please…someone…find me."
Suddenly, she heard a rustling sound coming from the bushed behind her. The little girl got down from the stump, backing away from the noise as she picked up a stick preparing to fight off her offender should she be attacked. She was scared but would not let herself be harmed without a fight. Her parents had always told her to be brave in the face of danger and she would always be stronger than her enemy. As the sound grew louder, the girl gripped the branch in her hand tighter and swallowed her fear replacing the expression on her face with one of determination.
A red eyed little boy about the same age as her with brown braided hair in a ponytail, emerged from the bushes, appearing to be looking for something. Noticing that her suspected attacker was no threat to her, the little girl breathed a sigh of relief lowing her branch and her eyes once again filled with tears as she began to sob. This did not go unnoticed by the little boy who immediately looked up and noticed the girl curled up under a tree crying. Feeling concern for her, because he had a little sister of his own, he temporarily gave up his search for his missing item and went over to her kneeling down to offer her some comfort.
"Are you okay? Why are you crying? Are you hurt? Are you lost?" He inspected the girls condition and noticed that she was indeed hurt for she had scraped her knees.
The little girl cried harder nodding her head "yes". Knowing immediately that she needed help but not wanting to leave her alone the boy offered her a suggestion.
"The orphanage is right down this path. If you come with me I can clean your cut for you and I can help you find your way home if you are lost. Is that okay with you?" the red eyed boy asked as he got up and offered her a hand.
The littler girl finally looked up at her savior. Upon noticing his gentle red eye and smiling face, she stopped crying. She felt that she could trust him. She nodded her head once more and took the boys hand as he helped her up. The secure grasp he held on her hand made the girl feel safe, and a small blush spread across her face.
The boy too was able to fully survey the girl. She had hair the color of strawberry taffy, his favorite, that was breaking free from her once neat braid, medium beige skin, and the deepest most alluring chocolate brown eyes he had ever seen. She was wearing a lavender dress over top of a white puff sleeved blouse held together by a mint green ribbon around her neck. She had light pink sock on, tucked under her hot pink maryjanea. But it was her eyes that drew him in. They were unlike any other he had ever seen, and much more appealing to him than even his little sisters, which was saying something. Hell, she could almost be cuter than his little sister. Almost.
He led her out of the dark woods and back into the warm glow of the sunlight. The strawberry haired girl looked up at the bright blue sky and smiled. Unknown to her, the little boy had looked back and noticed it.
"You know; you look a lot prettier when you smile." He commented giving her a smile of his own. The girl looked at him surprised, then blushed and tried to hide it by looking away.
"It's not nice to stare at people," the girl replied back with attitude as she continued to avoid eye contact with him. This caused the boy to chuckle.
They had finally reached the back of the orphanage the boy resided in. He cleaned and bandaged her scrapped knees and cleaned the dirt off from her face and hands. He even attempted to rebraid her two strawberry pink locks; this however was a failure. The girl watched the boy attentively, taking notice of how diligent he was in his task. He was careful not to hurt her but made sure he did the job correctly. It was as if he had done this task many times before.
"There all better, although your knees will begin to bruise in that area," the boy said wrinkling his eyebrows in concern.
"Thank you for taking care of me," The girl said with a small bow feeling slightly ashamed for having caused the boy so much trouble.
"It's no problem," the boy said scratching the back of his head with a small smile. "I have a sister who can be clumsy sometimes."
"Is this where you live?" the girl asked out loud.
"Mmhmm." The boy replied simply.
"Where is your Otousan and Okaasan?" the girl wondered curiously.
The boy looked down and did not reply immediately. When he did meet the girls beautiful chocolate brown eyes again, she noticed that they held a sad look in them. The boy pointed up and answered her question.
"They are in Heaven. They died in a plane crash not too long ago." He said sadly.
The young girl was saddened by that answer but she couldn't keep her curiosity at bay. She wanted to know more about the kind boy who had rescued her.
"So you are all by yourself with no family?"
"No, I have a little sister here with me," the boys face suddenly brightened at the mention of his sister. "Her name is Haruna. She is all I have. We are all we have."
Wanting to lighten the mood a bit she added "What were you looking for when you wondered in the woods?"
"My soccer ball," the boy replied with a fire in his ruby red eyes.
"Soccer ball?"
"Mhm. It is this medium sized round ball with black and white pentagons on it. I'm very good at playing. I win all the time against the other kids here, even the bigger kids. Kageyama told me that I'm a prodig...progge...prodigy? Yeah, prodigy! He told me that I am a prodigy and if I keep it up, he will make sure me and Haruna get adopted into a good home!"
"Well you can't be that good if you lost the ball," the girl teased. This did not go unnoticed by the young boy.
"Yeah well I bet I am better than you. You didn't even know what a soccer ball was until I told you."
Not wanting to be showed up, the girl foolishly challenged the boy into a game. "Oh yeah? Well let's find your ball, then I can prove to you that I am better than you."
"Alright then, let's go."
The two kids wondered back into the woods in search of the ball, but this time the girl stayed close to the boy not wanting to get lost again. Not long after the start of their search, they finally found the ball under a wild berry bush. They returned to the orphanage to prepare for their game. The girl was worried, having no experience at all in the game of "soccer," but she of course didn't let it show under her look of determination. The boy across from her smirked in a cocky manner, red eyes glistening as if he had already won the game.
The two were about to start their game when familiar voices were heard.
"Oooniii-chan!"
"Asuna!"
At hearing her mother's worried voice call her name, the little girl, Asuna, ran in the direction the voice was coming from with new tears in her eyes, completely forgetting about her game and the boy.
"Have you seen my daughter? Here is a picture of her. Her name is Asuna, she is five-years-old, with strawberry red hair almost like mine, and dark brown eyes."
"No ma'am, I'm sorry but I haven't seen her," another voice said.
"Come on honey let's keep looking. She has to be around here somewhere."
Asuna sprang up at hearing her parents voices and ran in the direction they were coming from
"Otousan! Okaasan! I am so sorry! I am so very sorry!" Asuna cried as she ran into her father's arms.
"Oh Asuna," her mother said with tears of her own streaming down her own face, "We were so worried. Please don't ever do that again."
"I won't, okaasan. I promise," Asuna cried while hugging her mother.
"I got lost in the woods and got hurt. I was so scared but then this boy found me, and he helped me, see?" Asuna said to her parents showing them her bandaged knees.
"Oh, where is he so I can thank him for saving my precious Asu-bug?" Asuna's father asked using that nickname that made her scrunch up her nose.
"He's over here," she said hopping out of her father's arms and pulling him in the direction she came from.
However, upon returning to the spot she was a minute ago, Asuna noticed the boy had disappeared. She tried looking for him but couldn't seem to find him anywhere. She wanted to continue searching, but realize her efforts would be fruitless, for she did not even know his name. Her parents told her it was time to leave and that she could comeback before they left Japan to properly thank him. Asuna reluctantly agreed. If only she had his name.
Azuna kept thinking about the boy and the kindness that he should her in the days to follow. She had convinced her mom to take her to the store so she could find a gift to give him so he would remember her. She also decided to get his sister a gift as well. She had searched and search the store for hours determined to find him the perfect gift but none had satisfied her demands. She remembered something her grandmother told her. "The best gifts come from the heart." That is when she found it. Something that could be useful to him as well as have him remember her by. As for his sister, she didn't know that much about her so she just got her a bananya plushy. Satisfied with her gifts, she took extra care to wrap them with her mom's help, to hand deliver her gifts. Yet, fate had other plans. The boy and his sister had already been adopted and Asuna did not remember either of their names to search for them.
The day came when Asuna had to leave Japan for America, thus leaving her home and any hope of ever finding the boy again. As time passed her memory of the boy faded until all that remained etched in her memory was his distinct pair of ruby red eyes.