PROLOGUE
She was six years old and he was eleven when both of their parents died tragically.
Dazed and confused, they were now with their appointed guardians. Everything had happened so fast. Yesterday, they were happily chatting with their parents. Today, they were simply not there.
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She was kept hidden and well-guarded. She was the sole heir to the royal throne of Arus. Her appointed guardian was tasked to keep her safe and alive to later fulfill a prophecy and to raise the heavily bombarded planet back to its former glory.
So many expectations placed on the shoulders of a mere six-year-old girl.
She could hear muffled explosions. In a heavily fortified bomb shelter deep underground, within a labyrinth of caves, bathed in the amber glow of emergency lights, the young Crown Princess Allura quietly clung to her porcelain doll and drifted into an exhausted sleep.
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He was seated in a private jet en route to Asia. All he heard were the muffled voices of his heavily armed escorts and two bodyguards, who had whisked him away from the middle of his morning classes in an exclusive international school.
His Dad was a "consultant", a rather vague-sounding description for an eleven-year-old boy, something beyond his understanding, and he simply shrugged it off. His dad was often away on business, but when he was around, their house would light up with enthusiastic energy.
His Mum was a part-time language teacher who made sure that her son was proficient in at least four languages. His Mum's American accent belied her Japanese heritage, and her crisp British accent was impressive as well.
Mum made sure he was well-versed in the land of her birth. She taught him how to read and write in kanji, hiragana & katakana at an early age. She also made sure he could also understand basic Mandarin. Mum had many talents apart from teaching, and she was especially gifted at preparing Japanese dishes. She made sure he could make a good onigiri by age five, and roll up a fine sushi roll by age eight. And every summer his Mum made sure he spent time with his uncle in Japan for kendo lessons.
Being an only child, his imagination sent him places. Sometimes he thought he was a spy kid, raised by parents who were secret agents, or superheroes. He imagined his mum was a ninja and his dad wielded a magical blazing broadsword.
His mind drifted back to where he was now, reclining in a fine plush leather seat alone in a private jet. He had just finished his in-flight dinner. The flight attendant offered him game consoles & kid's movies to pass the time. He quietly shook his head and simply pulled out his favourite sketch book and began drawing his favourite doodles of flying robot lions.
They would be in Tokyo in five hours, and he soon drifted into an exhausted sleep.
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Grimly, he set the phone down with a dark look on his face. His wife was beside him, holding his hand. "It has begun," he said to her in a solemn voice. She simply nodded.
He had just gotten word from Galaxy Alliance Intel, a fully verified report that the entire royal house of Arus had been massacred.
The official statement said that no one had survived, but he had an encrypted document that accompanied the report, of which only a select few were aware: She was safe.
Now, it was their task to keep him safe.
Further intel revealed that the boy's parents had been killed by hired assassins. It had happened on the same day her parents were massacred.
They needed to make him disappear and to keep the trail cold for as long as they could. And what better place to hide than one of the busiest and most densely populated cities on the planet?
They drove quickly to the airport.
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His Mum had instructions for him if anything happened to them. He was instructed not to speak in English. He had to use his Japanese name and his mother's surname. Not Keith, and especially not Kogane. He had to follow these instructions to the letter - his very life depended on it.
The private jet came to a standstill on an isolated stretch of tarmac in Tokyo's International Airport. The doors opened, and he walked down to meet a welcoming two pairs of arms.
"Welcome home, Akira. "
This was to be his home for the next few years, and he would be known as Akira Himura.