Part One

Kai held the little bundle in his arms as if it was as fragile as glass. She wasn't his, but he knew it was his duty to take care of her now. The little girl looked at him curiously as if she was deciding if he was the one she wanted to take care of him. She smiled at him, and Kai knew for sure that she really was his responsibility now.

Her name, which came to him in a sudden idea, was Mina.

. . .

Nya couldn't believe what she was seeing. The five year old was making a crayon balance in the air like it was nothing. And the child was laughing at it. It wouldn't have been so bad, but Kai was shrugging it off like Nya was the one going insane!

"I'm sure you were just seeing things." Kai told her once.

"You're not listening to me!" Nya told him, growing more and more frustrated as they talked.

"Of course I am." Kai said to her with a mildly straight face. "I'm just choosing to ignore you."

"But you know I'm right, then?" Nya then asked him. To this, he had no answer.

. . .

"Witch!" one of the kids on the playground shouted at her.

"No... I just..." she started to say in protest, but nothing could make up for what she had just done. A kid was unconscious a few feet away, knocked by the pure lightning bolts that came out of her hand only moments before. She couldn't explain it, all she knew was that she was in trouble. Deep, deep trouble. More of her classmates surrounded her and began to chant a word she soon would hate very, very much.

Witch... Witch... Witch... Witch...

She shut her eyes and covered her ears. She only wanted them to stop. If only something loud enough, like... like an earthquake, would silence them... The earth began to quake, as if trembling out of her thoughts and into the mortal plane. When she opened her eyes again, she wished she had never opened them.

. . .

They had been walking in the park for hours, and yet, Kai still wouldn't let Mina see what was in that brown paper bag he had brought with him.

"Patience is virtue." he reminded her every time she asked.

"Right..." she said once with oozing sarcasm. "I'm the one that's impatient."

Kai let out a light chuckle and they kept walking. Eventually, the found a spot to rest and relaxed for awhile.

"Today's the day." Kai said, almost to himself, rather satisfied but distant. She already knew a part of what he was talking about, but was still rather curious.

"What's going to happen today?" Mina asked.

"After this, likely a whole lot of nothing." Kai responded. Mina looked at him with a confused look, and he quickly noticed this. "But something happened today years ago that I wouldn't trade back for the world."

"And what was that?" Mina asked, getting more curious and becoming a bit disgusted.

"I found you." he told her simply.

"Oh." she let out in an odd sense of disappointment. Kai chuckled a little and pulled something out of the brown paper bag he had brought with him. Mina peered over curiously, dying to know what Kai had decided to bring this far out. It was a small cupcake with a single (partially melted) candle on it. Kai then snapped his fingers and a small pillar of fire lingered at the tip of his finger, like his finger had been a lighter. Carefully, he lit the tiny wick on the candle and passed the cupcake to Mina.

"Make a wish." he told her. Thinking of something good, Mina squint her eyes as tight as she could then blew the candle out. Mina opened her eyes to see that the candle had been frozen over with ice. Quickly, as seeing Kai was getting something else out of the brown bag, Mina picked off the candle and chucked it as far as she could so he didn't have to see what she had done. When he turned around again, Mina had plastered a fake smile to show that nothing was wrong.

"I also have this for you." he told her, obviously ignoring her forced expression, and handed her a small card.

"A business card?" she asked, turning the card over then looking at the front again.

On one side it read 'Wu Tea' and listed the business's hours and address. The other side read 'Golden Special' in a hastily written chicken scratch.

"I can't pretend that what happens isn't real." Kai then started to say, already regretting what he was saying. Mina looked at him in near horror. "But this... if you ever wanted to know, Wu has the answer."

Mina looked at the business card. The earth was shaking, the grass burned then froze over, and a streak of lightning hit a nearby tree but Kai remained where he was, perfectly hiding how terrified he really was.