It was just a normal day in Kaniwa City. The sky was blue with clouds scattered about, the sun was shining, and kids were playing outside with their friends, not giving a care in the world.
Well, that is, except for a small group of kids who, up until recently, were playing a game involving them all being superheroes.
Everything up until this exact moment had been going just great. Ayano, who was 9 years old and had gathered three of her other friends together, had made up a game to play with her younger siblings and their friends. There were twelve of them total, and all of them were heroes, because who wanted to be the villain? Nobody, that's who.
Kido, Kano, and Seto- Ayano's younger, adopted siblings- were probably the most into it, although Momo (who was Ayano's crush's little sister) seemed to be pretty happy as well. Kido, Kano, Seto, and Momo were all 7, and they were at that age where they always wanted to play. Marry, a little 6 year old and also a cry baby who was easily intimidated, was also playing, although she wasn't too interested in being a hero (and, in good spirit, Ayano had decided to make Marry the princess they all had to protect). Marry was only there because Seto was there.
The last of the young ones, Hiyori and Hibiya, were only 4, and Ayano had promised to watch over them, so they were there as well. Shintaro- Momo's big brother and Ayano's crush- was there by force, and Haruka, Ayano's friend, was also there, along with Takane (whom he dragged along) and his brother, Konoha.
They were all having fun- playing heroes, 'protecting' Marry from dangers like ninjas and bandits, and all together just having a good time.
Until he showed up- Kuroha.
Kuroha was Haruka's and Konoha's brother, and had refused to play their 'childish game'. He thought it was stupid, and anyways, he had much better things to do than play 'heroes' out of all things. He always thought, why be the hero? Obviously the villains got more done. However, after watching them for a bit, Kuroha got bored and had taken his toy gun, deciding to join the game- but he was not going to be a hero.
Pointing the 'gun' at Momo, Kuroha let out an evil cackle, grinning. "Hand over the queen, or else you all die!" he said, and the other kids stopped, all of them turning to Kuroha. They didn't even ask who we was talking about, since in the game, there was no queen- Kuroha had always called Marry 'queen', and whether that was a teasing name or a nickname that only he could call her, nobody knew. However, Marry, seeing how scary Kuroha looked (or as scary as a 9 year old could get, anyways), ran behind Seto, quivering. Kuroha was always pushing the others around, and he was so intimidating! She had faith in her friends though, and doubted they would let Kuroha get to her.
"Never!" Ayano said, raising an imaginary sword. "We will protect our queen to the end!" Although this wasn't planned, she knew Kuroha just wanted to play with them as well, and who was she to say he couldn't join in on their game? Anyways, they needed a villain to defeat!
Quickly, Kuroha ran over to Seto, grabbing him away from Marry and holding the toy gun to his head with one hand. Extending his free arm out, Kuroha offered his hand to Marry, grinning triumphantly. "Join me, queen!"
Marry, who was over whelmed and afraid that he really was going to hurt Seto (and Kuroha has done it before, pushing the poor boy down and shoving him around), did the only thing any other six year old would do- she started to cry, her pink hair flower falling out of her hair as she wailed.
Overwhelmed and feeling bad, Kuroha shoved Seto away (who fell down with a loud thunk) and ran to Marry, putting the gun in his back pocket. "A-ah, don't cry, my queen!" he exclaimed, starting to panic. He had made Marry cry!
Behind them, Kano sighed. "Nee-chan, Kuroha made Marry cry again!"
It was true, this wasn't the first time Kuroha had made Marry cry- on numerous occasions he had scared the little girl away, or made her cry. It wasn't his fault she was so sensitive!
"Kuroha!" Haruka exclaimed, crossing his arms at his brother, but Kuroha ignored him, and instead knelt in front of her so he was her height.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you cry," he said softly, and Marry sniffled, wiping her tears away. "Look at this," Kuroha then said, and pulled out of his pocket a baby snake, small enough to fit in one hand.
Marry peered down at it and smiled, touching it softly. "It's cute!" she exclaimed, and holding out her hands, Kuroha put it in her small hands, the little girl giggling some more. "Thank you, Kuro-nii!" she exclaimed after a moment, handing the snake back to Kuroha, and he took it, relieved that she wasn't crying anymore.
"Try not to cry anymore, alright?" Kuroha said. "Tears don't suit a princess such as yourself, after all."
Marry nodded, and without further warning, hugged Kuroha. Although he seemed uncomfortable at first, after a couple seconds Kuroha hugged back, although it was somewhat awkward. He was never really the affectionate type, and although he was only nice towards Marry (he even bullied his own brothers and the two four year olds!), he still wasn't used to hugging, or even patting people on the head.
"Erm... no problem, Marry," he said, using her real name for once. He'd much rather see her happy and smiling than crying because of him, anyways.
Marry pulled away and stood up on her tip-toes, giving Kuroha a big, slobbery kiss on the cheek that only a six year old would give, before running back to Seto and the others to continue playing 'heroes'.
Maybe it didn't hurt being the good guy after all.