OK, here it is, another in the 'Weather' series…For those who care, bar Stormy Afternoons and Starry Nights, none of these are romances…This is just two kids who don't know very much about each other trying to learn something new…It's got Kenny and Emily, because when I started writing this, there was no Hilary, and Emily seems to sit better in this than Hilary did *glares at annoying, Tyson-crazed Hilary*
Disclaimer: I own nothing…Ocular Albinism is a disease, not very common however…I dunno if Kenny actually has it, but it fits to make him have because it explains the goggles and his hidden eyes
Emily stood at the back window, watching Kenny, who was sitting on the back lawn, surrounded by the morning mist. She was hoping that by watching him she'd be able to work out what he was doing. After standing for ten minutes and coming up with nothing, she pulled on her coat and went outside, stopping diagonally behind the still figure.
"What are you doing?"
"The moist air is nice on my eyes…they get sore after working at the computer for twelve hours straight like I did yesterday." He turned to look at her; she gasped and took a step back.
"Your…Your eyes…Your eyes are…"
"Red, yes I do realize that, it became obvious to me when I was quite young." Kenny said, his tone marinated in sarcasm.
"It was kinda obvious wasn't it? Sorry."
"No, I'm sorry, I hate it when people tell me the obvious, I forget sometimes when people first find out, their mind is taken over by shock and they don't say anything original."
Emily chuckled, the noise sounding twice as loud in the quiet back lawn. "So…what happened?"
"I was born, that's what happened. I've got a genetic disease called Ocular Albinism. It means that, legally, I'm blind, and my eyes are red. So sitting here, I can only see blurs of colour, hence the goggles, to hide and help." He looked out across the yard, seeing smears of green and brown.
"How do you get out here each morning?" she asked, sitting beside him and trying to ignore the cold feeling in her feet and legs. She and the All Starz were staying with the BladeBreakers because their hotel room had been flooded out because there had been a minor fire in the kitchen of the hotel they were staying in, and the water sprinklers came on, except the one in the All Starz room wouldn't turn off.
"I've worked out my way enough so that I can get from my room to here without any help, as long as the guys don't move anything, I'll be fine…until we move again."
"Yeah, there's another tournament coming up…I hope you adjust quickly to new places."
"I do…I've learnt quicker with this team than I have anywhere else."
"What was it like growing up? I mean, you lived in Hawaii right?"
"I couldn't go out during the day, mostly because mom wouldn't let me. She was scared I'd become blind and her poor sweet son would never be able to see again. She decided that I should be home schooled, in the basement, in the dark. I finally got her to let me go to school when I was 13 and rebellious. Hard to believe hey? Me? Rebellious, but at one stage I was. All the kids used to tease me and jeer at me, telling me I'd be caravan trash and never amount to anything…Do you know how hard it is to live in the surfing state and only be able to surf at night? I used to sneak out and go surfing in the moonlight…Mom never knew."
"Why don't you go out late at night anymore?"
"Sometimes I still sit on the roof…but I think there's more moisture in the morning. I was always an early riser…but because of the sun and my eyes, I could only be out for a few hours. When I was going in, all the other boys were coming out. They all jeered at me, reminding me that they thought I'd never be worth anything, and I'd never get off the island and never go to college and never surf. How little they knew. They gave me my drive to be the best, I knew that I'd be famous one day and then they'd realize. I took the chance of dreaming, knowing that it might not come true, and at school, I paid the price for telling someone that one-day I'd be great. I knew I'd succeed, I had to, but no matter how much I believed it, no one else did. No matter what happened, I thought about my goal, imagining what it would be like once I got to the top. I started blading, in the basement. I found a way to vent my anger, my passion. I guess I started playing because I could do it indoors and in the dark. I even painted the dish and the blade with glow in the dark paint so I could take it onto the lawn and play under the moon, in the humid air of the night. I stuck the dish in the grass and away I'd go. On the soft grass, wet from Dad watering it. I even learnt to play without my glasses. Then I lost Dizzy to my computer and I had to settle for knowing all about the sport, without ever being able to be a worthy player."
"How did you end up in Japan of all places?"
"Well, Mum and Dad decided that they couldn't live under the same roof. So Mum moved back in with Grandma, and went windsurfing with her on the weekend. Dad moved in down the street, which was OK with everyone, but I always ended up being the messenger between them. Why they couldn't use a phone is beyond me. Anyway, living in my house was like living in a nut house, with Grandma and her crazy new fads and Mum and her weekly boyfriend. So I pushed Mum for coloured prescription contacts, so I could go out during the day, and so people wouldn't know what colour my eyes were. She eventually caved in. And then they got back together, for some unfathomable reason which I am still to work out…they both decided that they should open a restaurant, and so they did…I guess they fell for each other again."
"How did you end up at the championships?"
"Well, I knew most of the bladers in the area, except for this loud one with blue hair and then, one afternoon he comes bursting in on the local bladers being threatened by a Blade Shark, and stupid as this kid is, the challenges the shark to a battle….I couldn't believe it…I figured if he had the guts to try something that stupid, he could probably use some of the information I'd been collecting over the years. Amazingly, Tyson, that loudmouth blader I didn't know, beat the Shark and went off to a blading tournament and by some fluke, and some careful planning on my part, got onto the championship team."
"What happened then?"
"Mum found out. She was disappointed that I hadn't told her, and Dad, wanting to contradict my mother, was congratulating me and telling me how he was going to build me a trophy cupboard for all the trophies I was going to win. Of course, in their natural fashion, by the next morning it was no longer a big issue, I wasn't going to be around for a few days…it didn't bother them. It wasn't till I was packing for the American tournament that my parents seemed to register what was going on. Dad and Mom wished me luck. I loved the tournaments, I met a lot of people, and for the first time in my life I didn't stand out because of my eyes. I stood out because of all the information I'd collected and learnt to use over the years, the skills in making careful battle plans, organizing a line-up to pack a punch." Kenny took a deep breath, enjoying the feeling of the moist air in his lungs and the feeling as it washed over his face, easing the pain in his eyes.
"Are you happy now?" Emily asked quietly
"Yeah, and even though I can barely see, it won't stop me. It just makes me more determined. I know I can do it…I have to….See, one day, when all those no-hopers back home are wondering what happened to that red-eyed kid they use to pick on, I'll be sitting up in my office at the BBA, helping to create a better blade for the bladers of the future."
"All that passion, flair…now I understand the fire in the background of the team. All that mental focus did get you to where you wanted to get to in the end didn't it?"
"Yeah, I guess it did…I wish they could see me now…"
Owari
A/N: Did you like it??? If Kenny's family sounds too unbelievable or too OOC, then I'll change it…otherwise…please let me know what you think, and be warned that there is a Tyson and Max (as friends only) in the works….I've just gotta wait for the right depression to hit before I can write it….