This is Your Fight

Chapter One

By KellyQ

Aichi slowly opened his unfocused blue eyes concluding that he was in the hospital by the smells and sounds; his vision was fuzzy and distorted as he looked around. He could hear worried voices behind the curtains, and he knew that it was his friends and his sister by the silhouettes. Emi was the first person to pull one of the curtains back to see that her brother was awake. Her cry of joy got everyone to stop their multiple conversations and focus on what distracted her from the pain that she was enduring five minutes ago.

"Aichi!" Emi threw herself in her brother's arm; her soft shoulder length sandy-colored hair tickled his face as they both fell back on the bed. Her pink cotton dress rippled with the movement. She buried her flushed heart shaped face in his chest.

Aichi's appearance was different than his sister, his azure hair hug like a bellflower and his long side hairs and bangs framed his face giving him the illusion of a young woman, and his blue eyes showed uncertainty, and he wore (at the moment) an oversize hospital gown.

The rest of the gang pulled the rest of the curtain back and looked relieved that Aichi was awake. He glanced at his group of friends as they formed a circle around the bed, until eyes fell upon Kai, a tall regal teen with dark-sandy hair was brushed back as the end of his hair spiked out. His green eyes held nothing. He had on his gray coat over his red shirt and dark pants with black shoes, standing behind the group.

"I'm so glad you're alright!" Emi sobbed.

Aichi's expression softened as he hugged his little sister's trembling body close. "I'm going to be alright, Emi," he reassured rubbing her back soothingly.

"We're hoping that you are," Shin spoke up, a little worried about something. He was standing at the foot of the bed. Shin had dark-green hair that parted off to the side like a four-leaf-clover, and his triangle-shaped glass shined under the lights overhead. He wore his white shirt and dark-blue pants. "Emi has told us that you've been having headaches, falling, and your right leg has been numb," he exclaimed. "So I took the liberty to have you checked out. We should have the results in at any moment."

Aichi only nodded. He didn't know what caused him to faint or pass out, but he did note that he felt that he was having a headache, and everything around him was spinning. "I'm sorry that I caused you guys to worry. I don't know what happened before I got here."

Kamui walked up with concern on his face. "You gave us a big scare, bro!"

Kamui was standing on the right side of the bed. He was the shortest and the loudest to the group and Aichi's closest friend. Ever since they met, Kamui called him 'bro' knowing their feelings were the same about many things in life. Kamui had dark hair that stuck up as a crown that was pulled back in a low ponytail, his cherry-red eye (normally has determination) was showing worry and fear. He was wearing his usual ruby vest over his orange shirt, black collates and red tennis's.

Taishi couldn't help but chuckle, a frisky blond-haired teen with dark-green eyes, pink short-sleeve shirt over his dark-green shirt, dark pants. Taishi was also a long-term friend of Kai's. He stood next to him. "Especially, Kai! He was the first to notice that there was something wrong," he exclaimed, " so he called the ambulance, and they came right away."

Aichi stared at Kai for a good solid moment, trying to figure out if he did it out of decency or he did it because he just had to do it. "Thanks, Kai."

Footsteps right then reached their ears. They all turned their heads to see a young doctor walked in. He had short black hair, tan skin, emerald-green eyes, and his lab coat covered his uniform. He was looking at a chart that was in his right hand.

Kamui was the first to greet the doctor with concern. "He's going to be alright, isn't he, Doc?" The doctor sighed and checked the chart over again.

Everyone moved out of the way, as he made his way over to Aichi. The blue-haired teen was ready for the worst. Kai closed his eyes and walked out of the room with Taishi following close behind asking why he wanted to leave critical time.

"I have more important things to worry about then what's going with Aichi," Kai said, stopping in mid stride.

Taishi frowned. "That still doesn't give you the right to leave! What if it is something serious?"

Kai looked over his shoulder and gave his old friend a piercing look. "That's none your business." With that, he adverted his attention back to making his way out of the hospital.

Taishi sighed, turned around and made his way back to Aichi's room, before stepping into his room he overheard who he assumed was the doctor.

"Your test results don't look that good. You have a tumor in your brain that may not be removable."

Taishi's eyes widened with complete shock and horror including everyone else. Taishi turned and started to run all the way to the park where he found Kai lying down on the bench that was shaded by a tree.

Kai opened his eyes when Taishi's silhouette loomed over him. "What do you want?"

"You are the worst, you know that?"

Kai sighed with annoyance and sat up as Taishi sat next to him. "What's going on with Aichi?"

"If you stayed long enough, you would've found out that he has a brain tumor," Taishi explained.

Kai lowered his gaze. "I'll visit him later."

Taishi grinned. "Aichi would like that!"

Kai got up stuffed his hands in his pockets and started to walk through the park. His feet lead him to the cemetery. The grass was mowed and some of the tombstones had fresh flowers. One of the tombstones stood out among the rest of the description of: I'M SORRY, REN: R.I.P. The tombstone was put together with brass and copper giving it a glossy effect.

Kai closed his eyes, turned his head, and opened them again, looking at nothing in particular, remembering the last few months of Ren's life before his death.

After everyone left, Emi said that she was going to get some stuff from the house; Aichi sat there gazing down at his lap moving his finger in a circle.

"Are you awake?" came Kai's voice. He was standing on the other side of the currents, holding a duffel bag and a thick hardbound cover book called VANGUARD: ARISE MY AVATAR. Moments ago, Kai saw Emi making her way to the hospital. When she saw him, Emi asked Kai to take the stuff in her arms to Aichi. "I have some of your clothes and a book."

Aichi sighed as Kai pulled the currents back and brought the bag and the book over to the bed, placing the items on his lap. The cover of the novel had a beautiful illustration of a knight in white armor. He stood confidently in front of a moving army. The look in the knight's blue eyes was keen and the sword face down in the cracked dirt. Aichi brushed his fingertips along the picture and remembered the descriptive words that the author used to describe the battle scenes.

Aichi couldn't help but pull the book close. "Thank you for getting me this book, Kai."

Kai watched Aichi stare at the cover. "How many times have you read that?" It was more of an accusation then a question.

A small smile made its way to Aichi's lips as he focused his gaze on the white knight. "I read it a lot. Blaster Blade is my favorite character …"

"Is it because he looks like you, or is it because you can picture yourself being as strong as him?" Kai pointed out, sitting across from him.

A gasp except from the back of Aichi's throat and his eyes widened with shock and realization. He then looked down after concluding that there was a hidden meaning behind what Kai asked.

"I … I know it's childish to have those thoughts, but thinking that I'm strong as Blaster Blade does help me …"

"You do have a chance, Aichi," Kai pointed out again as Aichi gasped, "if you're going to beat this you're going to have to be stronger then you are."

Aichi shifted a little and clutched the book to his chest. He looked down with embarrassment. "I … I know you think I'm weak, but I do want to get stronger …"

"Not in the condition you're in you won't," Kai stated. He got up and walked out. He paused at the door. "I won't let you die. That's a promise." Kai continued to walk out, and I'm not going to make the same mistake I made with Ren, he vowed.

To Be Continued …