Prologue

The Boy by the Shore.

The small girl took a deep breath as she looked up at the building before her. Her body was shaking as she and the rest of the children hesitated if only for a moment.

Perhaps it was just fear, or perhaps uncertainty still fill her head. Was she lucky? No, it was simply fate that brought her here.

"Now, children, please relax and the madam will be out shortly." The woman that had escorted them there gave a small smile as she entered the large building, the black haired girl biting her bottom lip.

She was safe...that is what she kept telling herself. However even if she was safe, none of that mattered. All she was worried about was finding out where her brother was, and yet.

"You all may come in!" The woman smiled before she continued. "Oh, please get into a single file line. There is a lot of you and not a lot of space~" The caretaker grinned as she allowed the children into the building.

They did as they were told as they entered the building. The girl took a deep breath the moment she entered. Perhaps she underestimated the size from the outside, but everything seemed to tower over her.

The ceiling of the building was that of a painted sky. It was like a chapel with three floors as if it was a tower. At the end of the bottom floor was a woman in a long dress standing before them. A small tanned skinned girl around her age standing next to her.

"There is...quite a lot of them." The woman sitting at the desk frown as the caretaker smiled.

"Well, these are all the children that were misplaced due to the children hunts. We went through a few of the village and found whoever we could." The caretaker pointed.

The woman behind the desk just sighed. "Rather sad to say the least..." The woman then cleared her voice before standing up letting out the goofiest of grins.

"My name is MeMe Law, and I am the owner of this building. I know it's not much, but for the time being you will be staying here. Now if you may please give me your name we should be able to find a room for you."

The caretaker then ushered each child up to the desk as they gave their names. There were probably at least thirty of them as one by one they walked up, Mrs. Law signing off on them.

Finally it was the black haired girls turn. She straightened her ribbon before holding her chest. She walked up to the desk as MeMe lowered her head.

"Why hello there, what is your name?"

"Ah-" The girl paused for a moment. She was confident going in, but for some reason she was choking up. "I-its, Kagura Mikazuchi." Kagura finally spoke as MeMe eyes widened.

"Ah, rather long name huh?"

Kagura faced turned red as the girl standing next to her mother chuckled.

"Don't worry about it." MeMe smiled as she quickly wrote down the young girls name. Kagura then stepped the side with the rest of the finished kids as she waited for the process to be done.

Once they were all sorted Mrs. Law took a look at the least and started to count for a bit.

"Ah, please follow the caretaker throughout the building as she gives you each your rooms." MeMe said that as she handed the caretaker the papers as the woman gave a slight bow.

"Alright, please follow me~" The woman chirped as the ocean of children followed her through the buildings.

Younger kids were grouped in pairs while older children were allowed to have her own rooms. Luckily Kagura barely reached the age requirements to reach to get her own room.

"Here you go Kagura." The woman smiled as she let the small girl into her rather bare room.

There was a tiny bed with a small bookshelf next to it. There was a window peaking into the streets below as the caretaker started speaking once again.

"It will take some time to get settled. We will bring you some food in a few hours, so why not try to relax." The caretaker smiled as she slowly shut the door leaving Kagura completely alone.

The small girl paused for a moment looking around. The room wasn't that far off from the one she used to have back at home...though thinking about it, calling it a home was wrong.

She frowned slowly taking the ribbon from off of her head and staring at it. It was the only thing she had of her brother, something she wanted to keep by her side at all times.

She slowly sat on her bed tying her ribbon back onto her head before laying down. Her eyes glued to the ceiling above.

"I'm safe..." She repeated those words to herself. Yet she still couldn't be happy, not when she had no idea where her brother was and her entire village was gone.

Even if she was safe, what was there to be happy about. Why should she be happy to just exist while losing everything she cared about?

"Ah," she felt tears rolling down her eyes. She felt pathetic and now she was making herself cry.

Just as Kagura started to sob she heard something knock against her window. She quickly shot up looking around as she walked towards the glass staring outside.

Only a few feat away from the building was a large tree that reached to the second floor of the building. In the tree was a fat cat, the branch it was sitting on slowly starting to bed. Next to the animal was a boy about Kagura's age desperately trying to latch onto the tree slowly creeping towards the creature.

Kagura started at him. He had a dark complexation with white hair, his clothes seemed to be raggedy and torn as if he hadn't changed them in awhile. Kagura slowly noticed the bending branch starting to break as she held her breath.

A part of her wondered if it would have been proper to warn him. Would she get into trouble, she bit her lip as she pushed such thoughts to the back of her head. She couldn't do much, but she could do that much.

Kagura tapped on the window as she noticed the boy flinched. He turned his head as the two eyes met, she noted him have red eyes. The boy then grinned waving at her.

It seemed that he completely missed her warning. Then again a window tap probably wasn't going to do much. Kagura then completely opened her window.

"Hey the bran-" She couldn't finish her statement as the branch snapped in two forcing the cat to jump from its place digging its claws into the boys face.

He let out a yelp as he and the cat fell from the tall tree into the ground below causing Kagura to wince at the impact. She looked down looking at the boy laying on is back the cat still clinging to his head.

There was a woman standing over both of them. She held out her arm as the cat jumped from the boy's face into her arms. The woman then helped him up as the two engaged in a meaningless conversation.

"Ah, I guess he's fine..." Kagura frowned as she slowly shut the window. Though she couldn't help but feel a tad bit guilty for what had happened. Though the fact that he didn't seemed to have been hurt was good enough.

Hours passed as Kagura continued to try to make herself at home. She didn't have much, she simply decided to watch the people go by from her window.

The town itself was a bit larger than Rosemary Village, but not by much. Though the fact it had a familiar air to it was calming to her. While it wasn't a replacement she could at least take comfort in that.

As she continued to look out the window her room door slowly opened as the caretaker walked in with a plate of food.

"Hey, just brought you something. Would you like to eat with the rest of the kids or by yourself?" The woman tilted her head as Kagura held her breath for a moment.

"Ah...well." She paused before finally giving her answer. "I wouldn't minds eating with the other kids."

The caretaker then smiled as she opened the door wider still holding Kagura's place. "Alright come on then, let's go back to the main room."

Kagura nodded as she slowly got up. She had long since stopped crying, and at the moment this was the only time she would be able to get to know the rest of the kids.

As the two walked Kagura had to ask something. "Um, if I could ask. Is there a white-haired boy staying here?"

The caretaker eyes widened for a moment before she chuckled. "Ah you must have seen Fon from your window huh?"

"Oh, so he does stay here?" Kagura asked as the woman shook her head.

"Actually no. He just appeared one day in our village just hanging around doing things for people. While both me and Mrs. Law have asked him if he wished to stay here he has turned us down repeatedly. Nice boy, but it seems he rather keep to himself."

Kagura wondered if he simply didn't like people. Though if that was the case he wouldn't have been climbing up a tree to save someone's cat.

"Doesn't he have any parents?"

watch?v=J8MhrycImic"If he does they never come into town." The caretaker pointed out making the girl even more curious about the situation.

The only reason Kagura asked was because she wanted to at least apologize for letting him fall. However it wasn't like she was going to find him and tell him that, she ultimately decided to drop the subject.

The next few weeks was...uneventful to say the least. Most of it was just Kagura and the rest of the kids being shown around town and having items bought for them.

Due to the small size of the town, the kids who were over the age of 5 were allowed to wander alone. However the curfew was set for sunset and there wasn't a lot to do.

There was a small local library, but it felt like it was more set up for the kids in the town rather than any of the adults. Despite that, Kagura had a habit of visiting it daily.

The black haired girl sighed as she at the small desk made for children. The librarian was off doing something else, and while there were some other kids in the building it seemed they were more looking for a private place to talk rather than read.

Right when she was about to leave Kagura heard the librarian call out a name.

"Ah, Fon, you made it." The woman stated as Kagura instinctively turned her attention to the doorway to see a familiar boy.

The white haired boy let out a yawn, the clothes he was wearing were the exact same as the ones Kagura saw him in before. Despite weeks having passed it almost felt like she just saw him a few hours ago.

"Yep glasses lady I'm here to do..." Fon tilted his head. "What was I supposed to do again?"

The librarian simply sighed. "You are supposed to help me move some books around, most of the men are working at the moment and you are the only one who does this sort of thing for free."

Kagura remained silent as Fon walked right past her. The hazel eyed girl frowned for a moment. He looked...normal, but something was somewhat off about him.

His smell, and his general aura felt...off. Like she wasn't looking at another person but something else.

"If you stare at him too long he'll notice~" A voice nearly caused Kagura to jump as she quickly turned her head to see Risley.

Risley Law, the daughter of MeMe Law. Her mother was the owner of the building the kids were staying in. Though Risley and her mother rarely stayed in the building overnight. It was clear that they had their own house.

Risley herself was a rather chubby girl, though that never seemed to bother her.

"I guess you're right." Kagura replied as Risley glanced over to Fon and back to Kagura.

"Do you like him?"

"No, I haven't even talked to him yet." Kagura frowned as Risley laughed.

"Well, he is kind of a weirdo. If you are that interested in him why not follow him a bit. I was going to do that, but I kind of got cold feet," Risley pointed out as Kagura glanced over to the odd white-haired boy.

Was it really a good idea? On the one hand it was somewhat boring in town and she didn't have anything better to do that day, on the other hand it was creepy. Even a six year old would be able to see that.

After Fon was done helping at the library he casually walked out both Risley and Kagura frowned.

"W-well, if it's not too much trouble I guess I can follow him." Kagura stated as Risley nodded.

"Good luck with that."

"Y-you aren't going to help at all?" Kagura asked wondering if she was making the right choice in doing what she was doing.

"Nah, you can just tell me about it later." Risley laughed as the girl got up leaving the library as well.

Kagura hesitated, was it really right for her to spy on someone? Even if he was weird she would be weirder doing something like that. At the same time Risley was already expecting her to do something like that so...

"If I just follow him around a little it should be fine..." Kagura frowned as she quickly left the library making sure not to lose track of her target.

It didn't take long for Kagura to find Fon again. Though this time he was heading towards the exit of the village as the hazel eyed girl stopped, if only for a moment.

The kids were prohibited from leaving the town without the caretaker with them. For the most part they followed that rule, at the same time she barely got to know anything.

"I-I shouldn't leave..." Kagura frowned, she didn't want to get known as the girl that broke the rules in the first two weeks.

At the same time, it was still quite a long ways from sunset and if Fon traveled too far she would turn right around. Kagura steeled herself as she walked out of the village making sure no one saw her do so.

The path out was rather barren except for a few clusters of trees scattered in a few spots. Perhaps it was because the town itself was near a beach, either way Kagura kept her distance trying her best not to alert her target.

After a few minutes Fon finally reached a beach as Kagura stood behind a nearby tree. She nearly stopped her breathing as she peeked from her spot, not saying a word.

She noticed something off about the beach. There were holes in the sound, not just small holes. Rather randomly placed holes that was somewhat sunken in. It was like there were sand-traps.

Kagura continued to look on as Fon placed his ear to the ground as if he was listening for something. He then placed a fist into the sand, his eyes widening for a moment.

At that moment a large chunk of sand flew into the our as if he punched the beach itself. Dust and shells flew into the sky before landing back down.

"Ah, was that magic?" Kagura eyes widened. A few of the adults back in her old village knew some, however something was off about Fon's. It was still magic, or rather...

Before Kagura's thoughts could wander any further she noticed Fon looking around the beach before picking up a flipped over crab.

"He must be going to cook it." Kagura stated, that was the only thing that she could think of as Fon examined it further.

Then, without a hint of hesitation Fon bit into the still moving crab removing a third of it.

"E-eep!" Kagura let out a small yelp before quickly covering her mouth. "H-hey didn't even bother cooking it or killing it...he just took a bite of it like it was bread..."

Kagura remained silent as Fon finished the crustaceans in two more bites before letting out a yawn. He then started to create more holes in the ground with his 'magic' as Kagura frowned.

The simple action went on for a full hour. He would practice his magic, then find another crab to eat. Despite all the build up, Kagura couldn't help but feel a bit cheated.

He was a weirdo sure, but it seems that he was just practicing his magic. Kagura turned around as she leaned against the tree taking her eyes off of him.

"Ah, I knew I shouldn't have done this..."

"Done what?" A voice asked as Kagura nearly tripped over herself as she quickly turned around to see Fon staring right at her.

"W-when did you..."

"Huh? When did I what?" The boy tilted his head acting like what he just did wasn't a big deal.

"S-sorry I'll go!" Kagura said scrambling to her feet only to trip again.

"Huhuhuhuh! You must be pretty weak if you can't even walk properly!" Fon let out a rather annoying laugh as Kagura grumbled.

"T-that's not true, y-you just shocked me that's all." Kagura counted as Fon shrugged.

"Oh, sorry, but wasn't you the one that was following me?" His tone was genuine as Kagura winced.

"Y-you noticed?"

"Well, it's more that no other kid would go this far out." Fon pointed out as Kagura paused before speaking.

"So, do you live here?"

"Yep!" There wasn't a hint of hesitation in Fon's voice as Kagura took a few steps away from the tree setting foot onto the beach. Besides the holes that Fon had created there wasn't really anything there.

No structures or tents or anything. Nothing that hinted at there being anyone living there.

"D-don't you have a house?"

"Nope!"

"W-what about your parents?" Kagura asked as Fon shrugged.

"I don't remember those." The fact that he referred to parents as objects more than people were odd.

"So...you just stay here by yourself?" Kagura asked as Fon happily nodded.

"Sure!"

Despite his overall positive demeanor there was something sad about the whole thing. Though, the fact that Fon was completely okay with it meant that he probably didn't need any pity.

Not only that, but it wasn't like the town ostracized him. In fact, from the way that Kagura saw it, he had a pretty positive relationship with most of the towns-folk. So him being by himself was a deliberate choice.

"You're pretty lucky, you probably get to stay up as long as you want and do whatever you want." Kagura pointed out as Fon placed his hands on his hips and nodded.

"Yep! I also get to train all day long." Fon cheered as Kagura grumbled.

A weirdo with magic, that was the only thing he was. Considering how open he was she probably could have just asked and skipped the whole following thing.

"Well, anyway bunny girl I got more training to do."

"My name is actually Kagura." Kagura quickly corrected as Fon looked at her smiling.

"Alright, either way I have to train more. So I'll be seeing you." Fon grinned one last time as he walked back to the beach leaving Kagura alone.

A part of her wished something a bit more exciting had happened. Still she was just glad the entire thing wasn't a waste of time, and it would have been a lie to say that she wasn't interested in Fon at least a bit.

"I should probably head back before one of the other kids realize that I broke one of the rules."

Author note

I am not sure if I am going to keep this as a prologue. Since chapters where it's this heavily focused on Kagura probably will me swapped for a bit more focus on Fon.

I was even wondering if I should have done a chapter like this since it's pretty slow and nothing exciting really happened.

Don't worry, I'm not planning on just having a story follow the same events as canon with an OC slapped into it. Expect major changes in some arcs (Tower of Heaven specifically) and a lot of original arcs too.