Kai

Kai fell backwards, splashing in the flooded rice fields. He grimaced as he stood back up, shaking the water off his hands.

"Nice going," Nya smirked from a row away. Kai shook his head at her.

"We shouldn't have to do this anyways…we have a whole blacksmith shop we could be running!"

Nya didn't say anything for a few minutes as she planted a few more rushes from her basket.

"And we will…but the village has made it clear that you have to be a little older…"

Kai scoffed. Ever since their parents had disappeared, the village had taken them in as charity cases. He hated it; life was nothing more than an endless round of babysitters and chores. He wanted to be working for himself…getting somewhere with his own life. They didn't need nannies… he could take care of himself and his sister fine without all this outside "help."

He planted the rice rushes in wavy rows and Nya laughed at his efforts.

"Hey Nya…"

Kai looked up and narrowed his eyes as one of the village boys approached his sister. Nya's smile faded and she looked back down at her work.

"Nya…" the boy tried again, a friend of his nearby for support. "I was wondering if you wanted to come by today…you know…for an ice cream, or something…"

"I'm not really interested, Bill." She answered, still not looking at him. Bill's face fell, but then it became more determined. He handed his own rush basked to his friend and tromped in front of Nya, standing in the way of where she needed to plant hers. She sighed and looked up at him.

"Bill…"

"How do you know you aren't interested, when you won't even give me a chance?" He asked.

"Hey!" Kai had come closer now, giving Bill a look that could kill. "She said she wasn't interested, pea-brain…"

Nya turned and glared at her brother, annoyed at him for getting involved. Bill narrowed his eyes as well.

"I don't believe I was talking to you, porcupine head!"

Kai tromped closer but Nya held her arms out.

"Enough, you two…you're just gonna get us all in trouble." She gave her brother a look that clearly meant back down and he huffed in annoyance.

Bill tore his gaze from Kai and turned back to Nya.

"So…about that ice cream…"

She looked at him, incredulous. "Are you joking? I said NO Bill….not now, not ever. Stop. Asking. Now get out of my way, I have rice to plant."

Bill looked like he had been slapped. After a few moments he glared down at her.

"You think you're better than me? Do you think that anyone else is ever gonna want a know-it-all like you? Your own parents didn't even want you!"

Nya decked him before Kai ever got the chance…but it wasn't long before the spiky-haired kid and the tall bully were wrestling in the mud. Bill's friend went scampering away, and soon the adults were involved.

Nya sat next to her brother. They were both covered in mud as they waited to hear what the punishment would be for this incident.

"You should have just let me handle it." Kai said finally, nursing a fat lip. "You didn't need to…"

"Kai, when are you going to learn that I can fight my own battles?" Nya said. "It's not like guys are just going to stop treating me like that…honestly, men are so dense…"

"Not as long as I'm around." Kai growled, and Nya rolled her eyes. They sat in silence for a bit before Nya spoke.

"Are you sure you don't know what happened to our parents?"

Kai glanced over at her solemn expression and lowered the hand nursing his lip. He cleared his throat as he scooted closer to his sister.

"I really don't, Nya…but what I do know is that they would never have given us up…they loved us a lot. And…and maybe someday we'll finally know what really happened to them.

She sniffed and nodded as if that made sense.

"Yeah…yeah I guess you're right."

Kai exhaled angrily as he looked back down at where the villagers were still planting rice.

"I'm telling you, Sis…once we finally start running our parents' shop things are going to change. We aren't going to have to listen to anyone anymore; we'll be living our own lives and be in charge of ourselves."

"Sure…unless something crazy happens," she teased. He rolled his eyes.

"Like what?"

"I don't know…like fate."

He scoffed before turning around to look at the shop on the hill in the distance.

"I'd like to see fate try."

Author's Note:

Well...we've come to the end of the collection. It's been super fun playing around with backstories for different characters, and maybe in the future I'll write more to add to it, but for now this is all of it. Thanks again to all of you who took the time to read all of this and to those who reviewed I really appreciate it :)

-NP