For Whom the Bell Tolls

Beginning Arc: Before (Part Two)

I don't want to die again. What human being does? It's very natural to be afraid of death, and people do all sorts of things to prevent death from occurring.

Having died once, I still don't want to fade away. I don't want to be killed by Aren. I don't want to be in life or death situations where I constantly feel as if my life is flashing before my eyes. I don't want anyone else to die, but if it's my life or theirs, I…

I want to live.

And if power is what it takes… Then, I'll do anything for this power.

(So, so selfish. But also so very human.)

The sun had barely risen when I was shaken awake by yet another person.

"Ara, child, hurry and wake up or your father will scold you." The scent of citrus fruits and fresh baked bread wafted in the air as fingers pinched my cheeks. "Ara, wake up."

"I'm not Ara…" I mumbled, somewhat half-asleep, tilting my head away from the unwanted pressure. "Mother, you have the wrong person…"

"Don't lie, Ara. Here, I'll lift you up and brush your hair for you." Something pushed me into a sitting position, but I kept my eyes closed, enjoying the sensation of a comb running through my hair.

"You never do that…" I slurred a little. "You only do that to my younger siblings, Mother."

"Ara Haan, don't speak nonsense!"

Wait, my eyes snapped open as the words registered. Ara Haan. Ara. Haan.

Internally screaming, I snapped my head around to the person that was brushing my hair, causing the comb in their hand to yank painfully at my hair. I yelped and clutched my head in my hands.

"That hurts…"

I heard a sigh behind me and slowly turned to look at whoever it was. "Don't be so impatient, Ara," a beautiful woman smiled wryly and shook her head, turning the very shocked me around and continuing to brush my hair. "You'll get hurt if you move around too much."

Was this Ara's mother? She was so young, though… Did she even hit her late twenties yet?

Well, only one way to make sure, though…

"M-mother?" I asked.

A soft 'hmmm?' was given in return as she concentrated on pulling my hair into a ponytail. She didn't reject the title, which means… She really was Ara's mother. With soft, smiling lines around the eyes and dimples on the cheeks, I'm pretty sure that she could pass for a teen if she tried. Anyway, I could see the resemblance between her and Ara's—well, my face now. I had the exact same nose and heart-shaped face as her, though her eyes were more brown than yellow.

"O-oh, it's nothing," I fiddled with the two strands of hair that hadn't been tied up yet.

"Oh?" Lightning flash, she whipped me around and beamed. "Come on, you can tell your mother anything!" She leaned closer. "Could it be that you're nervous about your first day of training?"

"Uh…" I blinked and nodded, feeling only a little bit bad about lying to her but shrugged it off. Whatever. It was kind of true, anyway. Since I never knew of any martial arts other than the few self-defense moves my gung-ho grandfather tried to teach me, well, it is safe to assume I didn't know anything about fighting.

"Well, don't worry about it!" She reaches over and begins to tie snow white ribbons on the hair strands left behind. "You'll do just fine. You're my daughter after all!"

I was soon urged to wash up, and while I did that, Mother left clothes on the bed for me to wear afterwards. Looking over at them, I could only sigh.

"Seriously? I have to wear base Ara's clothes?" It wasn't exactly the same clothes per say, because while it was indeed a one piece outfit, it switched out the open dress for a pair of stitched on shorts. It was still orange and white accented, though. So, literally, it's pretty much something I would wear if I wanted to fit the cute pumpkin look.

Sulking all the while, I put the outfit on, pulled on the arm and wrist guards along with knee-high socks, and topped it all off with a pair of orange-brown boots. Dear god, the only thing that made this outfit bearable was the arm and wrist guards. Otherwise, the original me would've shoved it to the back of the closet by now.

I stride to the door, almost losing my balance because I had overextended my...legs.

Oh.

"Why am I so short?" I complained, clutching the doorknob to hold myself up. "I know this body's probably only like, six, but still!"

When I opened the door, Aren was already there, leaning against the wall with a smile.

"Good morning, Ara," he waved me over and patted me on the head when I obediently walked over. "You probably already know where the training hall is at but since it's your first day of training, I'll walk you over there today."

Uh, I kind of don't Aren, but you know, you didn't know that so...

"T-thanks." It feels really nice to be petted on the head. As the oldest one in the house, I had never been petted by my family. Usually, it was me doing the petting, but my younger siblings always whined about being treated as a kid, so I didn't do it often. Seriously, though, I don't get it. If this was how it felt like to be petted, I would never complain.

The courtyard of the Haan family was very spacious. And when I say spacious, think of how big a football stadium is, then multiply by two. Yeah, really spacious, right?

Anyway.

As...spacious as it was, it was still completely covered in people that were training. Some were fighting with their bare fists while others used a weapon of some kind. Spears, arrows, swords, nunchucks, etc… If you could name the weapon, there was a high probability of it being there.

"Have you decided what weapon you will be specializing in?" Aren's smooth, low voice carried over the grunts and puffs of the people in training. "Or do you only want to fight bare-handed?"

Well, that's a very good question, Brother. I just don't know if I can answer it.

The Ara Haan I know uses a spear in combat. She either slashes forward or thrust it backwards. Her combos seemed to transition into the next pose without any trouble, seamlessly guiding through the steps. But I… couldn't. While being true to the original character is good, there is such things that don't completely transfer over. Such as my pacifist nature.

"I…" I nervously clenched my fists. "I don't want to fight, Brother."

Aren gave me a look that seemed to say you're joking, right? before sighing and patting me on the head again when I didn't even crack a smile. "Ara, do you know the history of the Haan Clan and how we came into power?"

"Ah…" Kinda? I sort of skipped intros for most of the characters. "Didn't we seal the Nine-Tailed Fox," who I really need to find soon, "and then harness the power of the Moon El?"

"I'll give you half a point on that," Aren smiles, almond-shaped eyes sharpening in the preparation of the upcoming serious explanation. "You have to remember that we, the Haan clan, were not as numerous or strong as we were now, so how did we seal the powerful Nine-Tailed Fox?"

Huh, that's a really good question. How did they seal it? They didn't have the Moon El back then and they certainly couldn't go brute force on it because what's a hundred people against a large demon fox? The words 'cannon fodder' flashed in my mind, and I gave a mental wince before staring expectantly at Aren to explain.

He correctly interpreted my interested look because he continued, "This is all due to our ability to absorb spiritual energy. While the fox itself could also absorb energy, everyone in the clan had been trained to absorb this energy since they were young. Thus, we could prevent the fox from absorbing more energy from the surroundings and getting stronger. We also possessed a sealing technique that was unique to the clan, developed many years ago by our first clan lady."

So, Ara's ability to utilize spirit orbs wasn't completely from Eun? …That was an interesting tidbit of info. I always believed Ara was only able to absorb and get spirit orbs because she had Eun, who was (in my mind) a spiritual fox similar to Kurama from Naruto.

Huh, they are both pretty tsun, now that I think about it...

But just to be sure...

"What is spiritual energy? And what this thing about the first clan lady?" I asked, because well, why not? Knowledge is power, and if it's one thing that's useful at nearly all times, it's power.

However, instead of answering me like he did a while ago, he gave an exaggerated, exasperated sigh. "Oh, Ara, now isn't the time to be talking about this. You should've paid attention in class yesterday. Come on, let's get to Father before we're late."

"Un," I agreed for the sake of agreeing. Because I had no clue what happened yesterday, and even I can't exactly say, oh yesterday? Why, I was completely a different person yesterday, Brother. I may look like Ara, smell like Ara, and sound like Ara, but I'm not your sister. Sorry, if you thought wrong.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that will make Aren give me a strange or two before patting me on the head. … Not that I mind because head pats feel great.

"Here are our training rooms," Aren said, interrupting my thoughts of saying unbelievable things aloud. "You should go on in first. Father should be waiting for you in the back."

Well.

Let's hope Ara's dad doesn't notice my change in attitude too much.

(Seriously, what had I been hoping for? ...It never mattered later on.)

A/N: No excuses here. Take it, just take it.

(Thanks for your reviews, they make me feel all warm and tingly inside.

Really, it motivated me so much that I wrote about half this chapter in a day.)

DescendingSnow - Are SI OC stories really rare in this fandom? I could only find two and that includes mine lol.

XenoVise - They did say curiosity killed the cat ^^;; Thank you for your encouragement.

TheRunAwayPanda - Why thank you! I do love your pen name. ...Though, from the most recent movie, pandas don't run. They roll...