AN: If you recognize it, I don't own it! Enjoy!

Chapter One:

Kaminari Jinsei was resting his head on his desk in his rather spartan apartment. It was roughly six thirty am, and he was unconscious, dreams of death and destruction passing through his mind, making him twitch, grunt, and screaming himself awake just as an owl came through the window. Jinsei jerked upright, falling onto his back, where he stayed, panting, wide-eyed. He noticed the owl, who was looking at him with something akin to fear in its eyes. "Sorry," he panted, "little one. I didn't mean to scare you. That last nightmare was bad." He looked up to the ceiling. "I'm always looking for something, but there's something evil and corrupt behind me, and I just know that it's after me, not whatever I'm after." The last sentence was more musing, but the owl heard, and wondered about his sanity. Suddenly, he shot upright. "Right, right, sorry. I'd forgotten that you have a job to do! May I take my letter?"

The owl nodded, making a mental note to tell all of the owls about this man. It extended it's leg, where the letter was attached, and he took it. "Arigatō, my friend. You have others to take care of, I'm sure," said Jinsei, bowing to the owl as best he could, only to have it shake it's head at him. "No?" he remarked, his eyebrow raised. "I'm guessing it has something to do with me."

The owl nodded, and Jinsei heard, "Indeed, Kaminari Jinsei. Call me Kage." He jumped in surprise, then grinned. "Good to know we can talk, huh?"

Kage nodded, giving Jinsei the owl equivalent of a grin, and gently nipped his fingers. "Come," said Kage, fluttering to the door. "We have much to do, and not much time!"

"Let me get more than just my pants on, will you?" retorted Jinsei, a small smile playing at the corners of his mouth, which warmed Kage more than said owl thought possible.

"By the way," said Kage, making Jinsei pause in tucking a tight black T-shirt into the samurai hakama he wore, "I'm neither a guy, nor an owl. I'm a female phoenix."

Jinsei stared at her in shock. "Well," he said, regaining his voice, and bowing fluidly to her. "I see that I have been out-shined, my Lady."

"No flirting with the phoenix, Jinsei," replied Kage, cuffing him with a wing, but she was inwardly glad that he had quickly figured out where he stood with her. Admittedly, the my Lady comment took her by surprise, but he was a guy, but few actually had a chivalrous side to them. He finished tucking in the shirt, pulled on a pair of woven straw sandals, then grabbed a long, thin bag from next to the door, slinging it over one shoulder, as Kage fluttered over to his shoulder, where his black hair brushed her wing. It was thick, well-kept, and brushed his collarbone, which startled her. Kage herself was a such a dark red that she was black with crimson highlights, but the fact that his black hair had white highlights took her breath away. That can't be natural, she thought, examining one of the streaks.

"I assure you, Kage," said Jinsei, breaking her out of her thoughts and examination, "the hair is completely natural. I believe we have somewhere to go?"

Kage nodded, taken aback by the quick answer to the question in her head. With a flash of fire, the phoenix and the samurai vanished from the little apartment that had been Kaminari Jinsei's home for the last few months.

"Gah!" gasped Jinsei, from where he'd landed. "I think I hate that method of travel!" Kage was concerned though.

"Nothing like that has ever happened before," she replied, examining him. "Fire-travel is possibly the safest and fastest way to go, never has it felt like that."

He hummed as he thought. "It may have something to do with my... unique energy," he finally said, looking up at her.

"How so?" she asked, confused.

"My energy is spread throughout my body in equal amounts," he said, looking at his hands. "I've got a different energy than my sensei, my teacher, thought I did, so he taught me how to spread it equally, using it to enhance different things. What he didn't realize, however, was that in doing so, more things started to happen around me that I had no control over. The last straw was when we were in a practice match using wooden bokken, or wooden swords, I swung, and pitch black flame covered the blade of the bokken I was using, and easily cut through his bokken, and I almost hit him."

"That sounds like accidental magic, to me," said Kage, looking at him in confusion. "But... your body seems to be your magical core if what you're telling me is true."

"I swear on my life, soul, blade, and blood that what I'm telling you is true," he replied, only to have black flames run rapidly over his body, then vanish, which scared the hell out of him, if his shrieked, "WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED?" was any indication.

"You're taking that well," remarked Kage, watching him pat himself.

"That was sarcasm, wasn't it?" he growled, looking at her.

"Yeah."

Jinsei sighed, shaking his head, then looked around, and asked, "Where are we?"

"Welcome to London, England, Jinsei," said Kage, her owl-grin back in place. Jinsei just groaned, but figured that anything was better than that ratty apartment he'd lived in for several months. "You do realize that we're going to have to do something about the fact that you're carrying a katana in a bag, as well as your six foot five stature, you know that right?"

"Yeah, I know," said Jinsei, looking at her out of the corner of his eye. He yelped as the sword and all vanished, and he was reduced to a year old. He immediately attempted to cuss her out, but gave up when nothing made sense.

"You have to protect Aurora Potter, Jinsei," said Kage. "I'll be nearby as always. Now, sleep, and know that you are in safe hands."

With that, the one year old that was Kaminari Jinsei fell asleep, with the dark, dark red phoenix Kage watching over him. She carefully picked up Jinsei, and carried him to the one place that she knew he'd be cared for; oddly enough, that place wasn't in Dumbledore's hands, as the elderly Headmaster had long since proven himself an unfit companion for a phoenix, as Fawkes had had to have more Burning Days with him than anyone else he'd partnered with. No, she'd placed the sleeping Jinsei in the hands of Lily and James Potter, who had just married, but weren't expecting a child.

Jinsei was five years old, and had rapidly hit four feet six inches, when he received the news that his adopted parents were expecting a baby, and for once in his life, Jinsei was scared. He'd named himself as soon as he was able, much to the surprise of Lily and James, but what they didn't know was that each child had a bond with their parents, but the chance of being adopted and having the other children accept that adopted child was less than five percent. And so, Jinsei waited, knowing that even if he wanted to do something, he couldn't. He waited, carefully pulling away from Lily and James, so as to reduce the pain on the chance that he wasn't accepted, which was a large one.

Nine months had come and gone, and his younger sister, who'd they'd named Aurora, after they'd asked him, and he'd simply said, "Aurora," was born. His bond with his surrogate parents had slowly been reduced, so they couldn't quite tell what he was thinking, let alone feeling, but they hadn't noticed. As soon as Aurora laid eyes upon him, she examined him for a minute, then let out a loud cry, as she went through her bond, and tore apart the bond between Jinsei, Lily, and James, which made Jinsei give an agonized cry, dropping to his knees, and holding the area over his heart. Slowly, as Aurora kept crying, he managed to get to his feet again, and said softly to her, "Anata wa nagai ma sunde iru to, Aurora, watashi no utsukushī imōto o han'ei suru koto ga dekiru," and placed his right palm on her cheek, where a small symbol appeared. Then he turned, and left the room, as Aurora became quieter, startled by his gesture and subsequent leaving.

"James," whispered Lily, her eyes on the door through which their adopted eldest had gone, "what happened?"

James didn't answer, as a note was on the table next to them, and he'd seen it. He started to read it, and became more and more worried.

Dear Mother and Father,

I'm sorry that I had to tell you like this, but I did a bit of research on bonds, specifically the bonds between parent and child. You adopted me, knowing what would have happened between us, but you didn't know all the facts, unfortunately. When I found out that you were expecting, I threw myself into looking at the statistics. I'm sad to say that the adopted child has a less than 5% chance of being accepted by the natural children of his/her adoptive parents. If you're reading this, then that means that Aurora, my beautiful sister, your darling daughter, has gone through her bond to me, and torn my bonds to the both of you to pieces, which explains me collapsing. I don't know how long it'll take before she finally accepts me, unfortunately, but I wish her to live long and prosper, my sister, Aurora. Know that no matter what happens to me, I will always love you.

Kaminari Jinsei,

Adoptive child of the Great and Noble Potter Family

"Oh, no," whispered James, looking up from the note.

"What, James?" asked Lily, becoming worried from his thunderstruck expression.

"I'd forgotten..." whispered James, sinking to his knees. "I'd forgotten about the bonds..."

"What do you mean?" demanded Lily. "What bonds?"

"The bonds between parents and children," said James, staring at the note in his hands. "I'd forgotten about the chance that the natural siblings won't accept the adopted one. It's a less than five percent chance, Lily. Did you see and hear his reaction after she started to cry?"

"Yes, what of it?" asked Lily, utterly confused as she went up to her husband and knelt next to him, and grabbed the note.

"She shattered his bond to us and herself," he whispered, placing his face in his hands. "Jinsei would never do such a thing to us, let alone himself, he's been starved of affection and love, but he was adopted. Did you ever wonder what he meant by what he said and his gesture?"

"Yes," she admitted, still reading the letter.

"It means Live long and prosper, Aurora, my sister."

Lily's head shot up. "You mean -"

"Yes," said a soft voice behind them. Jinsei was sitting on the floor to the side of the door, leaning on it, his breathing harsh. "I mean her well, even if my bonds are gone." A choked sob escaped him. "I love her to pieces, but she rejected me." He raised his amber eyes, fixing them with a stare that they couldn't break free of. "I beg of you," he whispered, his desperation clear in his eyes. "Do well by her, and help her see that no matter what happens, I'll love every one of you, because it hurts too much to stop."

With that, he slowly climbed to his feet, and walked back out of the room, and into his room, where the door shut, and Jinsei sank onto his bed, before releasing the floodgates. Tears cascaded down his face, as tortured sobs escaped him. He turned, and pressed his face to his pillow, and that night, sobbed himself to sleep.