Okay lovelies, wish me luck, I'm starting an anime Fanfic. I hope you like this, please review.

There are children who stand out in the minds of teachers; it's been this way since the beginning of time, and it will always be so.

Two such children were Raven and Kiara.

Between them, unexplainable things often happened in their 1st grade class; things that couldn't be traced to the two girls, but…

Kiara stood outside the circle of normalcy in children by choice; she rebelled against rules with a sense of confidence and assuredness. She was clever, boisterous and charming, in her own way. She wore her own types of clothes with pride, and was the girl to help others that fell down during recess, but she was a loner by choice. In a world of clones, Kiara was an individual.

Raven was the one to never fit in. She seemed too old for her body; mentally she was smarter, emotionally she was almost younger, but socially…she never related to most children. She was amazingly polite, intelligent, and she charmed teachers and adults. But her classmates despised her.

Kiara and Raven were inseperable.

Mrs. DuBose, their teacher watched them; they were alike, and yet not; Kiara was full of energy but settled easily when Raven showed her something from the books in the library that most 4th graders weren't able to understand (the little school has preschool up to 8th grade, crammed to the rafters with students); Raven was slow to action (often deep in daydreams or books) but quickened her pace at Kiara's offer to teach her to climb trees/climb the monkey bars/anything really (because no one wants to show her and they laugh when she fails, so she sits on the sidelines and occupies her mind to hide her disappointment).

But the thing that really entranced Kiara, and isolated Raven, from everyone else, is that she talks to herself.

Mrs. DuBose can make herself unnoticed, a valuable skill for a teacher, and listens when Kiara asks Raven who she talks to.

"It's her." She points to her shadow, beneath the maple tree; the two are sitting on the picnic table, cross legged.

"Who?"

Raven seems to listen to something before smiling sadly at Kiara.

"She says that you can't see her."

"Is she your imaginary friend?" Raven's eyes narrowed.

"No. She's real. She just…no one can see her."

"What is she?"

"A woman."

"How old?"

"She says: "A lady never reveals her age", but I think she's 17…give or take."

"What's she look like?"

"Um…like me, when I'm older. But prettier."

"How do you know she's not just make believe?" Kiara asks, smiling. Raven bites her lip and picks at her sleeve.

"Because…I just know. She might be up here," Raven points to her temple, tapping it twice. "But she was real once, and she still exists." She blushes and whispers, quietly, "I think that she's my guide."

"Like a Spirit Guide?" Kiara's eyes are sparkling in excitement now, and she's grinning, and so is Raven, who nods, but not in assurance; Mrs. DuBose knows that it's the only answer she can come up with.

They talk about something else after the revelation, but their teacher wonders…

(line)

Kiara is a protector.

She keeps the younger kids safe, and is looked up to by them.

She protects Raven from the bullies as well.

But one day she isn't there (a dentist appointment), and two 2nd graders corner Raven; they shove her face into the ground and try to make her eat dirt, make her cry, but she doesn't. She watches them with eyes that, by all means, look timeless, and as they tear apart her books, Mrs. DuBose runs over and drags them to the office. She looks back to check on her student, and sees, for a split second, the back of a young woman kneeling over her, long black hair tumbling down her back, dressed in white, but she blinks and there is only Raven.

The boys are punished.

The next day there is a black out; the power goes out, and nearly all the younger students begin to panic, screaming and running around. Only two sit still in the utter darkness; one forwarned and the other comfortable.

Mrs. DuBose almost misses the soft whisper of, "Now."

When the lights come back on, the two boys who picked on Raven were on the floor, noses broken, eyes blackened.

No one, but the teacher connects the incident.

(Line)

There are other incidents, small ones; the kids who make the two girls suffer are punished in some way, but the girls have alibis, and nothing is pinned on them. Indeed, few suspect.

Only they knew.