And finally, a fic about Makenshi's past! I found one on Kaze's - no, wait, it's two fics on Kaze's past! _______

*Ahem.* Ah well, hope you guys enjoy this fic.

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Memoirs: His Home World and His Brother.

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By: XiaoBai

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He had always view his brother as a great person. His elder brother, Akai Kasumi, was a skilled warrior with the ability to blend magic wonderfully into his sword attacks. That was why he earned the title 'Aka no Madoushi' in the country.

In his home world, there were many countries, each having their own races and cultures. His country was Mistorina, one of the biggest and strongest countries in his home world. Mistorina was a very special country because everyone had a colour; not a single colour was repeated.

Being the only white in the country was rather stressful. People had high expectations because white was a symbol of purity, innocence and infinity. It means he had to be pure, innocent; his skills should have no limit, etcetera, and etcetera.

Thus his parents kept him from many things that they thought might contaminate his endless whiteness. His brother was the one who had secretly expose him to the true facts of the world and taught him how to protect himself from the monsters of the real world.

" It was for your own safety, Shiroi-chan." His brother had said, ruffling his hair fondly.

He grew up with his brother and gradually saw him as a role model.

' Someday, I want to be like aniki.' He had thought determinedly.

They practiced sword-fighting everyday with wooden swords or sticks. They would receive their soul swords. He had learnt everything he could from his brother in the meantime and was particularly interested in the Mist technique.

-- --

He clenched his fist rather fretfully as he was called. Nervous but determined Kumo climbed the sacred stairs to the platform, which was the home of Swords. As soon as he stepped on the platform, his fear went away and he moved towards the priest steadily. Kasumi was standing slightly behind the priest, wearing his best clothes and smiling encouragingly at his brother.

Kumo gave him a slightly nod before looking determinedly at the priest. Kneeling down, he raised his hands and bowed his head.

" Your name signifies purity and infinity, Shiroi Kumo. The sword chooses the master, and so, here I present to you the Silver Tine, the twin sword of Crimson Thorn, which is the sword of your brother. May the Soul of the Sword bless you forever." The priest laid the long sword gently in his hands and Kumo stood up.

The crowds cheered as he raised it high in the air. Kasumi nodded happily, his own sword gleaming from his waist.

-- --

" Ne, ne, I heard that the Red White siblings got twin swords!"

" Really?! How can you be sure of it? The conversation the priest had with the receiver isn't heard by anyone but Akai-kun, the priest and Shiroi- chan."

" I was passing by the shrine when I heard the priest talking to their mother."

" You mean Midori-san?"

" They sound very worried, so I went closer and I heard the ' Twin swords'!"

" Oh dear, that will be disastrous! Siblings with twin swords are very ominous!"

" I think we should not spread this around...such things should be kept quiet."

" Un."

-- --

Midori looked worriedly as she stood on one side watching the brothers practice swordplay. She couldn't bear to break the news to the siblings who were laughing happily.

" What's wrong, Midori-chan?"

Midori turned and saw Aoi walking towards her. She sighed warily and turned back to look at the siblings.

" They have twin swords, Aoi-kun."

Aoi's eyes widened, " What?" He glanced around slightly and bent his head, " Do they know about this?"

" They know that they have twin swords, but they are not aware of the danger." Midori closed her eyes tiredly and continued, " We have to tell them soon, or else something bad will happen."

" What sort of things?"

" I'm not sure," Midori said, " The priest said that it can never be predicted...but I just can't bear to separate these two!"

Aoi pulled Midori into his arms as she wept. He patted her back softly and said, " We have to tell them someday, Midori-chan, before it's too late. This will be better for them."

" I know," Midori sounded muffled as she laid her head in Aoi's shoulder, her long green hair falling over her face, " But can we tell them tomorrow? They are so happy now..."

Aoi looked at the siblings again and closed his eyes painfully.

" Un."

-- --

The annual fighting competition for the teenagers had finally arrived. His brother had joined in last year, but this was the first time Kumo entered the competition.

He was very nervous, of course, but he kept a calm appearance all the time so as to not appear weak to the others. Kumo ended up being viewed as a cold and quiet person. During this period, he spent lesser time with his brother, as both had agree that when the competition start, they would be each other's opponents.

In his first battle, Kumo had defeated the other guy within 10 minutes, astounding the surrounding audience. They also noticed that he was the brother of the famous Madoushi who always dress in red.

" This year's competition will be very interesting." People alleged.

As he fought, he gained more experience and his power and skills improved greatly. He was growing as he was fighting. The audiences were amazed by his skills and his intelligence and soon he was one of the favourites at the competition.

The qualifying competitions were over and the top 8 were out. His brother was in the other group so there will be no way to compete with his brother unless both of them rise up to finals.

" Ne, aniki! Let's meet at the finals!"

They made a deal and it made him more determined.

He fought more fiercely, often defeating his opponent by summoning at least one mist dragon seconds after the match started. But soon, he realized that he could not keep up his stamina in a long fight. Therefore, he began training in sword combat.

Besides that, he also spent two hours a day storing his magic in the black spikes he wore on his head. His brother had once taught him that the last person standing with the most magic power left was the winner. Kasumi had plucked one of the four spikes from his head and gave it to Kumo, making the younger boy a little touched as the spikes were the most important object to their people.

He defeated all his opponent finally with his newly found strength and skill and waited in anticipation to the finals.

In anticipation of dueling with the person he respect the most: His brother.

-- --

" And FIGHT!"

He flew at his brother, his sword held high in his left hand. Kasumi immediately drew a triangle with his sword and attempted to trap Kumo, but the white swordsman moved away just in time. He came close enough to avoid any magic attacks and started slashing his sword swiftly at Kasumi.

At that moment, everything around the two brothers faded away, and to them, nothing existed at that moment. They were focused on beating their opponents and indirectly, trying to find out which of them was the strongest.

Their swordfight was extremely fast by now. None of them took the chance to leave an opening for each other and it seemed like the fight was going to be a draw.

But then, Kumo noticed a small opening just right under Kasumi's arm. It was a very small gap, and normally, it would not be spotted. But Kumo saw it, and his sword reacted immediately.

The fight was over. Kumo had bent down to dodge Kasumi's sword, but his own sword had swung forward to meet Kasumi's waist.

The crowd was silent for a few minutes before slowly, they began cheering. The judge announced the winner and at that moment, Kumo felt happiness that he could not describe. He turned towards his brother and smiled happily.

" Aniki, arigatou!" He said sincerely.

But Kasumi's emotions were unreadable.

-- --

" Aniki..." Kumo called out uncertainly.

Kasumi stopped, but he did not turned around.

"What is it?"

Kumo stared at his brother's back, " Are you upset?"

At this, Kasumi turned around and looked at Kumo, " Upset?"

" You seldom talk to me ever since the competition, aniki." Kumo said, frowning slightly.

Kasumi turned away from Kumo again and said quietly, " Is this what you want to talk about?"

" Yes, aniki."

" Then there is nothing to talk about."

Kumo made an attempt to reach his brother, but Kasumi was too far from him by then. Lowering his hand, he stared sadly at his brother.

" Aniki..."

--

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'I had tried many times to talk to aniki, yet he treated me with the same cold attitude every time I tried.

I am very confused on what to do and what aniki was thinking about. Where was the once loving and caring aniki I knew, loved and respect?

I wished someone would tell me the answer.'

--

" Chaos had come to claim our world. There is nothing we could do except defending our home world from Chaos. Yet, we may not be successful."

" I wish all of us good luck. May this be not the last day we saw our world..."

~Lord of Mistorina

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" Remember! Whatever you do, do not loss each other!" Mother had shouted before leaving with Father.

I went along with aniki to protect the east side of Mistorina. Although we had the power of the Mist Dragons, I do not think we could win. Chaos was starting to bomb our home world with thousands of meteorites and I could already felt many people's aura disappearing.

Our world was dying.

Aniki and I fought as hard as with could, but aniki had run off suddenly, and I noticed a white glowing aircraft in the air. But before I could give chase, rocks landed all around me and everything went dark afterwards.

--

When I woke up, I was in another world. It was a strange world with many unexpected things happening all the time. I was worried for my parents and aniki, but I could not find them anywhere in this world.

As I was sitting on one of the natural rock pillars I found, an airship appeared and a boy came from inside it.

" Greetings." The boy said politely. I stared silently at him, although I could feel a great power emitting from him. He felt very familiar, but I did not remember where it was I had felt this power.

" You must be Makenshi, if I am not wrong," The boy carried on in a smug fashion, " I heard of your skills and wish to invite you to join my crew."

I considered this for a moment, thinking what aniki would do if he were in my situation now.

Nodding slightly, I stood up and leaped lightly off the pillar and onto the aircraft.

The boy smiled again in that smug fashion of his, " You had made a good choice. Welcome to Wonderland, Makenshi. My name is Count and this is my kingdom."

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~Owari

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I didn't really elaborate on the relationship of Makenshi and Madoushi after the competition and I'm not really happy with it. But then, I don't really want to write a VERY long story...I'm too tired now.

Anyway, hope you guys like this story...I spent ages typing this out! I might write a Kaze one, but then I had not a single inkling about his past. @_@

By the way, for those who also read my other stories (14 years, 7 days and Dilemma for the Cloud), please be patient. I am VERY busy these days because of homework and stuff, and I can't write anything without my computer...I'm sorry!!! I will try to pull out the chapters on the weekends though, but don't put your hopes to high...

For those who review my fics, THANK YOU VERY MUCH! For you guys, I will try to come up with the chapters soon!

Last but not least, please REVIEW!!!!

Thank you.

Xiaobai.