They Say a War is Coming
White Ribbons of White's Day -whiteribbons-
Chapter One: Moving out
"Sora… Sora?" The sounds of the crowd had disappeared from my ears. All I heard was the rumbling of the bus engine. I woke up and stared up into Roxas' ocean blue eyes.
"Ani, what happened?"
"You seemed to have fainted…" He sighed as he helped me stand and handed me my bag. People were walking off the bus, but only the last group. Roxas must have spent a while trying to wake me, "let's go." Roxas murmured as he took my hand again and led me into the line.
"Where's mom and dad?" I asked suspiciously, causing Roxas to stop, spiky blonde hair slowly turning towards me, reluctant.
"Sora… I… don't think we'll be able to see them ever again." His voice was a bit shakey, yet calm. It seemed he was more worried about me having an attack than he did about the whereabouts of our parents. I, however, didn't take this hint and snapped back.
"What do you mean?! They were in this bus, they might be outside-"
He cut me off, "There was another stop before this one, Sora, everyone in the front of the bus was forced to go outside by soldiers, I saw them then in the crowd in front." That's right, this war, the internment camps. I let it flood back to me slowly. This wasn't some sort of bus ride to the amusement park like I wished.
"W-why didn't you go with them?!" I asked, hysterical, tears welling up in my eyes again. It was quite obvious by now that we had not a slight chance to see them in the next few years of internment. I wanted more than anything for us to at least be together, because then, life would be good even without everything we had and lived with. The world wasn't exactly that kind, though.
"I wanted to, but I couldn't… that would mean leaving you." Roxas looked down sadly, and my mouth shut. It was my fault we couldn't catch up to our parents.
"S-sorry…" I stuttered, falling to my knees and continuing to cry. I wiped the tears away and stared at the ground for a while, rethinking the events before the bus had picked us up.
"It's not your fault." Roxas sighed, holding out a hand, "Plus, they specifically told me to take care of you, so get up."
I blinked up at him. He didn't sound the least bit mad. I nodded and took his hand, walking with him. For some reason, the feeling I got from him was confident, and it bled over to me. With everything happening- who would believe that I'd suddenly feel 'confident'?
As my eyes scanned the people, I noticed something weird, the two people in front of us had different color hair like Roxas and I. One had red hair, and one had silver. Along with that, the feeling you felt around them wasn't one that you would feel from people who were just scooped up from their homes and taken away from their families. These two acted normal, and they were bickering about something.
"I think this is stupid." The silver-haired one said, shrugging his hands into his pocket.
"Ha, I think it's cool. Whatever house they're going to make me live in will be a lot better than what I had before." The red-haired one laughed full-heartedly, totally contradicting the depression that floated around the bus.
"I blame you for burning down our apartment room and getting us kicked out for good."
"Whatever… the hotel-keeper had it coming." The red hair man paused in his conversation and looked over the silver-haired man's shoulders, his smile widening as he took notice of my brother, "Oh look, if it isn't blondie.".
My brother, who was completely ignoring them a second ago, turned to the man who had called him a blonde. I noticed that since we were little, Roxas always hated being called a blonde, because he originally wasn't, but decided to dye his hair just so he can 'make them back off,' though I don't see how confirming other people's thoughts can make them stop teasing a person about it. "Axel!" Roxas seethed through his teeth, it was obvious he didn't enjoy seeing this man one bit.
"Oh and who's the brunette?" The red-haired man's smile broadened before he took a sight of me, a brunette. I dyed my hair just right about after Roxas had, deciding to that he didn't want us to look exactly alike after he dyed his hair, so I grabbed brown hair dye and went from there. I was pretty surprised of what the red-haired man said after that, though. "Is he your distant boyfriend?"
Roxas kicked the red-haired man in the face right then, jumping on him and proceeding to beat him to a pulp. "He's my brother, you fool!"
The silver haired one only watched the two jump at each other on the bus floor, his face clearly interpreting his absolute boredom, it was as if this happened on a daily basis.
"Guys, maybe you should take it outside." He said calmly, picking up his companion's bag.
I blinked, following suit and picking up Roxas' bag.
"Yeah blondie, stop raping me before-hand." Axel teased, laughing.
"Shut up you pyromaniac dunce!" Roxas countered, punching the man in the face again, leaving a bit of a purple bruise there. I weakly pulled at my brother's shirt, hoping to calm him with just that. Luckily it worked, and he stood, dusting his pants off. "Oh, and stay completely away from my brother." He huffed those last words and dragged me off the bus. I blinked in confusion as the red-head waved happily as we left. I wondered if the man would be okay, but I also wondered…
"You know him?" I asked as we exited the bus doors.
"He's a held back dunce, but he's in my homeroom. I don't know why he just picks on me all the time, he's like an overly annoying stalker." I giggled to myself as he bickered.
"Ani has a stalker?" He seemed to have blushed before snapping back at me.
"SHUT UP. IT'S REALLY, REALLY ANNOYING HAVING HIM AROUND." I couldn't hold my laugh in for long.
He sighed and calmed his red face. We were approaching another line, where people were being assigned cottages. A soldier marched from person to person, randomly telling them who are partners. My frown suddenly returned.
"Where's mom, where's dad?" I heaved, trying to hold in my cry. Now, I feel I don't know why I asked that question. I knew they were gone, but my heart revolted. I wanted them back.
"…" Roxas turned to me with worried blue eyes, knowing he couldn't help, so he kept silent. Where they were, he didn't know, I didn't know.
A tear slipped by me then, and I felt like I was to die right then and there. I had completely forgotten our situation- here, alone.
The man made his way to us, "You two will be roommates at 2921." Golden eyes then scanned me carefully. He glared as he slicked his long white hair down his back before spitting at me and walking away, a different soldier walking towards the other two behind us.
I wiped the spit off my face before Roxas hissed, "You bastard, what right do you have?!" It was a bad idea, though, for the man turned and growled.
"To you two, every right I've earned." He then walked away, leaving us to just stare, confused.
"That was absolute gibberish." Roxas said, grabing a towel out of his bag and helping me wipe the spit off. Of course, I was disgusted, but I also wondered what about us made him hate us so much. Maybe it was our hair?
"Hey, wait, doesn't that mean we're roommates?" I asked, changing the subject to the delinquent soldier.
Roxas let out a sigh of relief, and I felt it too.
Even though our parents aren't here, we still have each other, and that's how we'll deal with living for the while we're stuck here.
As I turned around, I noticed the two men we met in the bus rushing down. "You two are in room 2922." Said the other soldier before marching off back to the lookout.
"Hey look, Riku-chan, we're in the same room! Kyaaa!" The red-haired one joked, glomping onto Riku- or as he called him.
"That's not a good thing, Axel." Riku sighed.
"Oh don't worry, I'll hold back on you, promise, no love-love at night." Axel laughed evilly while Riku backed away. They were creating a scene.
"I meant keeping you from burning the barrack down."
What was really surprising though, was that as much as Axel teased him, Riku didn't look the least bit embarrassed. At the same time, I see why Roxas is so angered by the man.
Roxas sighed and turned away, but he didn't sound annoyed, for some reason, I sensed more jealousy than annoyance, but what was Roxas jealous of?
"They'll be in the room next to us." I blinked and nodded as Roxas led me towards our room.
"Hey Roxas, do you know the silver haired boy too?"
"And you don't?" Roxas snapped at me, but in the kidding way. "He's the hot-shot of the school, all the girls swarm around him like bees to honey!"
Well… I did notice that he was really hot. Perfect, long silver hair, glistening green eyes with flawless, soft, light skin; He looked like a movie star straight from a movie case. I stared back in awe at him as Roxas dragged me along. I wondered if I can become friends with him, he seemed pretty cool. And in order to live next to these two, it only seemed natural to be accustomed to them, as much as Roxas was annoyed with Axel.
It was the way we'd be forced to live for a while, after what had happened…
xX…Xx
We called ourselves Nissei and IsseiIssei for just immigrants, like my parents, but Nissei for Japanese-American citizens, or us who were born here but are still in the Japanese bloodline. I'm a Nissei, born in California. Everything seemed to be going perfect for me, I was a normal school boy, with normal school friends, and I was even lucky enough to have a girlfriend, but that's when my own country randomly decided to bomb Pearl Harbor, or… that place in Hawaii or something.
I heard it from my parents, and all they were doing was bickering in their language. Since I never cared to learn, I never understood the slightest thing they've ever said. But I knew one thing, something was definitely out of control.
A few days after, my parents had calmed, but it was unfortunate that this very day was the day the 9066 was established. It ordered all Japanese to be sent into 'Internment Camps,' AKA they were putting a restraining order on us.
"Sora-kun, we're being forced to leave our home." My mother explained in, what she tried to make, a calm voice.
"Haha," It was Japanese for mother, something I'm used to calling her, "What happened, really?"
"They think we're bad, because our country is doing this." It was my older-twin brother, Roxas. I usually referred to him as 'ani.' "They're sending us to these camps." Roxas knew everything. Unlike me, he actually took the time to learn Japanese.
"I'm home." I heard my father say, interrupting my horrified thoughts, "They gave us these bags to put our stuff in, you can't bring any more than 75 pounds." He handed me a bag that had my name, 4s on the corners, and the number 40059 right below my name. My family each had the same, but with varying numbers- for the father, the corner numbers were 1; mother is 2; oldest son is 3; youngest is 4. They each had pin numbers close to mine.
My perplexed eyes perked up as Roxas began asking my mother questions in Japanese. She shook her head and looked away. Roxas' face was suddenly covered in absolute shock. Curiosity overcame me, almost understanding the conversation the two had transpired.
"Our we allowed to come back?" I asked loudly, turning to Roxas and my mother. They both looked down, hesitant to answer.
It already meant no.
My dad had sold the house and all of our property for some weird and stupidly small price. I protested at the purchasers, but all they did was call me a stupid Japanese monkey and pushed me away. Roxas wanted to beat them up for it, but refrained, in order to keep the Japanese' names clear. None of this was our fault, after all.
My parents had advised me to bring clothes and blankets along with only a few things I treasure. For that, I brought a few books and albums, along with my CD player. Some stuff I'd never leave anywhere.
Before I left, I took advantage of the phone, calling a few friends, telling them what's happened. I called my girlfriend too, Kairi.
She told me that she was being taken away too, and that this would mean we had to split up. Of course I cried for a few hours, being comforted by Roxas and all, but it really didn't matter now.
What mattered now was how we were to be divided.
The busses picked us all up, and Roxas insisted on us holding hands. As gay as it was, I agreed. I was kind of scared, because, to tell you the truth, I never turned Roxas down when he asked me to hold his hand. I've done it since we were just four, and I still do it now.
But this time, holding his hand right then was more than just a favor for me, it was a blessing.
My parents had gone in first, getting lost to us in the crowd. Roxas, still holding onto my hand, tried to drag me towards them, but even he admitted, it was mission impossible. At first, I thought I saw the top of their heads and tried pointing them out to Roxas, but every time we thought we made it to them, it turned out it wasn't them. Person after person, a lot of Japanese looked typically alike after a few rounds in the bus. My brain thought- maybe they were looking for us too, that's why we can't find them, but my heart thought- that was the end, the last you'd ever see of them.
And I always ruled my heart over my head. After a few hours, me and Roxas were knocked to the side as the bus slid to a stop in front of stoplights. It was then we both had lost hope. I was crying.
Together, we huddled towards the wall as he sat next to me, talking words that only I heard into my ears, trying to comfort me. I knew, though, that he was at the brink of tears too. We both felt it, it was probably the very last time we'd ever see our parents. And then I found myself cursing my own country, cursing them for bombing Pearl Harbor, for making Americans blame all Japanese, but most of all for making all of these misfortunes happen.
I fell asleep from fatigue, even through the loud crowd, even through the crashing sounds of a turning bus, even through my brother's words. I slept in his arm soundly, hoping that when I woke up that it would all just turn out to be some kind of a disastrous nightmare…
…but nightmares can change into dreams sometimes, right?
This war shouldn't bring me down. Instead, I should think ahead.
There's a chance to make it into a dream, right?
End of Chapter 1
A/N: OMG note: I refixed this chapter because it was making me angry D= Chapter two will probably come out sometime later in the day or tomorrow, for my lack of cooperation this week. I also need to write the first draft of chapter four. Also, if this confused you, I put the first part of the story last to make it seem more interesting. I'm just that weird, but I still need to fix a few things, I think. And chapter two is also in need of some serious editing. I plan to spend this entire day doing that. Now, for the real A/N that came with this chapter:
This is the first story in YEARS that I have ever written BTW people, I really hope I didn't lose my touch. Please tell me how you like it, do you like it? Please tell me so it'd be so awesome to get some reviewers (= And if there's something bad about it, I accept constructive criticism also- o= ILU all!
And holy jeebus, I promise the next two chapters are a lot better written than this. O.o this makes me so scared, I can't believe I write so crappily. Please consider to continue reading, the plot gets a whole lot better after this chapter, or at least I think it does. Lol, I suck. Oh well, I hope you enjoyed this-ish. This is the 13th time for me to edit it, and it's not getting any better. –long sigh- oh dear, help me.
I do have 3 other chapters written, but you know, I feel like updating only once a week, I'm having problems with chapters 4-6, so I wanna spend more time writing those as you read these. I'll also edit the ones I do have written so it makes a whole lot more sense.
Notes
This indeed is based off of WWII, so some things you learn in this story is actually true. What happened was I was in history class and I heard about how Japanese were sent to Internment Camps and I thought, OMG WUT IF SORA WAS LIKE JAPANESE AND LIVED BACK THEN?! And out sprouted this idea. It's because I'm a Kingdo-tard and obsess too much I'd say, but I really like this idea! So here's some lessons of the day.
Issei- Japanese Immigrants.
Nissei- Japanese-American Citizens
Internment Camps- A place they sent all the Japanese in America, thinking they were all bad, even though not one of then knew a thing about this… yah, its harbl.
In truth, most families were split up like that, and a lot of people lost their property to cheapstakes because it was last minute selling, they'd take a nickel for something that was twenty dollars. It was rather sad.
REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW!!
Copyright: Kingdom Hearts: i.e. Sora, Axel, Roxas, Riku, and Kairi © Square Enix/Disney Games
Information gathered from and Encarta Student DVD Encyclopedia.