The beautiful spring was blossoming in the city of Tokyo. The proof was the cherry blossom trees, releasing their petal as the wind blew across them. The petals landed on a stone path in a small park not too far from a school. A young boy was walking on the petal-covered path as the petals moved across his shoes as he was walking. With a bag on his shoulder, a book in his right hand, he focused his attention on the book while walking down the path. He shifted his glasses with his left hand, pushing them upward as they began to fall down. He then brushed his silver hair out of his way to gaze at his book
Out of the beautiful spring items, there was sound of sorrowful crying. The crying hit the boy's ears when he came into the sound range for it. He brought his eyes from his book and gazed all around the area to find the source of noise. His silver eyes found an odd shape behind a tree. The shaped was breathing heavily and the noise was coming from the there.
He ran over to the tree and peered over it. It was a little girl. She was no older than 10. Her pinkish red hair was tangled heavily that was outlined by her shoulders. Her face was buried deep in her knees.
He bent over and touched her shoulder. "Hey. Are you okay?" He asked in a croaked voice. He was at the age of 15 so he was going through his stage of puberty. He had already grown a few inches and his voice is about healed, but he was still croaking.
The girl looked up at him with tears going down her unusual red eyes. The boy's eyes widened as he saw something peculiar near her ears. On the side of the girl's head were cat like horns. He, however, ignored them and looked back at her eyes.
"Why are you crying?" He asked in a gentle voice, despite being croaked.
The girl made a whining noise and looked away from him. He knew she wasn't going to tell him right away so he had to do little by little. He put his bag on the ground and opened it up. He rummaged through the bag until he pulled out a small bag of tissues. He took one of the tissues and gently reached his hand over to her exposed right cheek and gave it a gentle rub. The girl twitched at the softness of her cheek but remain calm as he began to dry her cheek.
He pulled the tissue away from her cheek, which caused her to look at him with slight trust. He smiled while grabbing another tissue before drying off her other cheek. He put the tissue to her nose, and she blew into hit. She let out a small hiccup from all the crying.
"Are you better now?" He asked. Her reply was getting up and going into his chest, wrapping frail arms around his sides. He hugged her back before picking her up. He put his book in his bag and began to walk with her in his arms.
He continued to walk until they reached a bench, half a mile where he found her. He set her down gently before sitting beside her. She just continued to look at him. He smiled down at her, showing her that he was her friend.
"What's your name?" He asked. She just sat there and continued to stare. He had to try a different way. "My name is Kazutaka" He replied kindly to her. She tilted her head.
"Kwazutaka?" She said in a cute voice. He let out a sigh of relief. He managed to get her to talk.
"Kazutaka" He corrected. "But you can call me Kazu-Kun if you want."
"Do a lot of people call you by that?" She asked in a quiet voice. He nodded to her question. Why did she ask that?
"Then can I call you Kazu-Chan?" She asked. Her eyes were in a puppy dog that made Kazutaka not be able to say no to her so he simply nodded happily at her.
"But why, if you don't mind me asking?" He questioned her.
"You're a really nice person for allowing me to be my very first friend so I wanted to call you by a special name." She replied sadly, having her gaze go down towards the ground.
His eyes widened. He would be her first friend? He had concluded that she was being teased but he did guess that she had no other friend. She smiled happily as she looked back up at him with a light giggle. He smiled back at her.
"Well if you have a special name for me, then what should I call you?" He asked
"My real name is Lucy, but I don't like that name" She growled out. She pointed her finger at Kazutaka, which made him blink slightly, and stated. "Only you can call me with a name that I really like, even it's not mine. Call me Kaede" Kazutaka nodded. Kaede smiled happily and gave Kazutaka a hug. He hugged her back with equal happiness. He looked down at her. "Where are your parents?" He asked with evident concern in his croaked voice. Kaede gave him a muffled answer when she moved her head to his chest.
"Huh?" She looked up at him with the sadness back in her eyes.
"I don't know. They abandoned me when I was born" She said, letting the tears form in her eyes.
"Kaede . . ." He started but was interrupted.
"They don't want someone who's not human! I'm such a freak!" She screamed. She grabbed her cat-like horns and started to sob again.
He put his hand on the top of her's, feeling the horns under his touch. Kaede was pulled into a warm chest, where she let her tears fall on his shirt. Kazutaka moved his hands from her to her hair. He stroked her hair, hoping it would soothe her.
Kaede seemed to calm down as she felt her hair being stroked lovingly. She moved her face from his chest to look up at her friend. All she could see was a lovingly smile to show how much he cared.
Kazutaka stopped stroking her hair, and moved his hand to grab another tissue. He wiped the tears off her face while smiling.
"Well since your parents are not here, stay with me for awhile." Kazutaka said, pulling back his hand from her face. Kaede's eyes widened at his suggestions.
"Stay with you?" But why Kazu-Chan?" She asked voice hoarse from crying.
"I don't want you to stay in a place where you're nothing but tortured." He firmly stated. He couldn't bear to see the child be bullied to death.
"But-" She started but was stopped when he pulled her into a hug.
"You're staying with me and that's final" He stated firmly at her, telling her in a way not to fight back on the matter. Kaede nodded in his chest, which Kazutaka felt. He smiled before putting his arms under knees and back to pick her up. She didn't weigh too heavy and it was only a few miles home. He could make it with no problem.
It took Kazutaka a half an hour to reach his mansion. Kaede's eyes widen when she saw the house. Kazutaka chuckled at her expression. "My family are very successful doctors" He told her while walking to the door.
He set her down, feeling the extra weight leave his arms. He opened the door for her, watching her go inside before going inside himself. He took off his shoes before taking the step to the main floor and headed for the kitchen.
Kaede stood at the door, examining the whole place in front of her. The door was in front of a long tunnel hallway. She could see doors on both sides of the wall that could lead into different rooms. She could see a grandfather clock at the end of the hallway, the bottom part clicking back and forth as being hypnotized by a watch. She took off her shoes and took the step into the main hallway.
As she progressed farther into the hallway, she saw pictures hanging on the wall. They're different people in all sorts of pictures. She walked down the hall, examining the pictures until she came to a certain picture where Kazutaka was present.
It was a family picture. Kazutaka was standing at the far right of the picture. He was standing next to woman, but Kaede couldn't see her face because her camera cut her off at the neck. To her left was her husband whose face was also cut off because of the camera. To the far left was another boy that looked a little older than Kazutaka. He had the same silver eyes but his hair was brown.
"That's my older half-brother, Saki" Said a voice behind that made her jump like a cat. She turned around to see Kazutaka looking at the picture.
"I blame my father for this. When I was in my mother, my father had an affair and got another woman pregnant. I blame him for everything. It was until a couple months ago that father let Saki live here. I had no say what so ever. My father prefers my brother over me. I spend all my time reading, staying away from the both of them"
Kaede looked up at him. "Would they be alright if I stayed here?" She asked in a worried tone. He smiled down at her.
"No. We live in separate parts of the house. I live in the east wing. It's like an apartment to me" He explained to Kaede to ease her anxiety.
"Huh? Why do you do that?" Kaede asked with confusion on her face.
"As I told you before. I stay away from my family so I moved my things into this wing of the house". He said as he turned and walked away from her. She blinked a couple before following him. Kazutaka lead them into a small kitchen. She stood there in shock, hearing a chuckle from her older friend.
"I am indeed distant from my family" He said before she could ask anything.
"But wouldn't your mother be worried about you?" She just asked without thinking. Kazutaka's smile wiped off his face.
"My mother died a few months ago" Kaede then covered her mouth as tears began to form in her red eyes. "I'm sorry. I didn't know" Kazutaka walked over to her before putting his hand on her head.
"It's alright" He simply while rubbing her head to calm her down. Kaede nodded and smiled at him. As he turned away, she blushed. She developed a crush on her only friend.
The memory brought a smile to her lips. She didn't smile often since those days. Lucy walked down the streets of Kyoto, the old capital city of Japan. She managed to escape from a hellhole recently by killing 25 people in five minutes.
The Island Laboratory that studies Dicolonous, her species. Her heels clicked on the ground as she walked the stone path, just like she heard when she first met Kazu-Chan. Her black dress brushed against her thighs as she took small steps on the pavement. He never left her mind from all the years they had not seen each other.
She sighed before looking ahead and saw three guys run past her. She couldn't get a good look at them because of the darkness that was all around her, only to be lighted by the blood red moon. She heard them say, "Let's hurry to the University! We have to save Tsuzuki from Muraki!" She gasped. She heard HIS name. She turned around to the receding footsteps.
Making up her mind, she ran after them. She kept a good distance from them so they wouldn't hear her heels. Her waist length pink hair blew hard as she ran a good speed. She continued to follow them until they came to a huge building with a clock.
She saw them go inside before going inside herself. She couldn't see anything but she could sense that they went downstairs. Doing so, she went down the stairs slowly until she came to a large door. They opened the door with a card. The inside was covered with fire everywhere.
She gasped. Kazu-Chan was in there?! They went inside the fire and it wasn't long before she slipped in as well. The fire was scorching hot. She looked around and saw a white figure lying down by a huge tube. She ran over to see the blood on the white suit, hearing a dying groan. She walked over and gasped. Kazu-Chan was in front of her.
She looked in the tube he was facing and gasped. His brother's head and spine was in there. Ignoring the face, she looked at Kazu-Chan in front of her. He was passed out from blood loss. She bent over to carefully remove the knife that she just got glimpse of. She then used her vectors to lift him up gently on her back.
Once firmly on her back, she ran out of the lab until she was safe outside. She looked up at the school and then back at the unconscious friend. "I finally kept my promise to you Kazu-Chan."