Ch. 1

Start at the beginning, right? Got 16 years? I doubt it, but, for better or worse, that was when my life began. Still, I think the beginning you're looking for occurred on my younger brother's 6th birthday.
~

Rin never slept lying down. As far as she could remember, she had slept sitting up on her bed and then, as she got older, leaning against one of her bedroom walls. She always felt vulnerable sleeping flat on her back, throat exposed to the world. Of course, the world was more than happy to keep its distance from the nearly-grown half-demon, but there was always an exception to the rule.

One of those exceptions cracked open the door of her bedroom now. Rin's pointed ears twitched at the sound, rousing her from her light slumber, but she continued to feign being asleep. This did not deter her early-morning visitor, but then Rin had not expected it to.

"Rin." Rin shifted her body, making her folded wings rustle. She half-opened her amber eyes and peered at her younger half-brother. James, today six years old, was already up and dressed, his light brown hair brushed and his face wreathed in an eager smile.

"Ohaiyo, James-chan," Rin muttered, closing her eyes again.

"Rin!" James knelt down next to his sister and grabbed her hand. "Come on, Rin. You promised!"

"I did?" Rin kept her eyes closed. "I thought I promised to take you flying on your birthday."

"It is my birthday," James insisted. Rin yawned.

"No, your birthday's next week."

James giggled, still holding onto Rin's clawed hand. "No, it's today!"

Rin opened one eye to stare at James. "It is?"

"Yes."

In one deft movement, Rin unfurled her wings and pulled James to her, wrapping the two siblings in the leathery appendages.

"As if I'd forget that! Happy Birthday, James!"

"Thanks, Rin!" The half-demon set James back down and stood up. Stretching her arms (and by extension, her wings), Rin glanced out her bedroom window. Outside, the seashore was bathed in early morning sunlight, giving the beach a warm glow. The white sand still bore marks from the receding tide and the sea was as smooth as glass. Little white waves whispered over the shore and a few seagulls were hopping about, searching for breakfast.

"What time is it?" Rin asked.

"7:15."

"Couldn't wait, huh?"

James shook his head. "I love flying with you. And Mum said she's okay with you taking me over the ocean now."

"Fair enough." Rin crouched down and held her arms out. "Let's go, then."

James trotted over and grasped his sister's shoulders. Rin felt her brother settle onto her back, his knees lightly squeezing her sides. The half-demon placed her hands on her windowsill, prepared to take off.

"Watch your head and hold on." With a limber leap, Rin jumped through the window and spread her wings. The appendages, firmly attached under her arms and against the sides of her torso, spread fully and caught the air currents. A moment later, both Rin and James gliding over the sparking blue waters.

"A good day for flying!" Rin called. "The weather must've known it was your birthday!"

"Maybe it did!" James called back. He sat up a little. "Look, a fishing boat!"

Dammit! Sure enough, Rin darted past a small vessel with two older men holding fishing poles. Rin only caught their stunned expressions before she soared past, but James smiled and waved at them. Rin carefully banked away before he could realize the men weren't going to wave back.

"Let's go faster!" Rin called. She felt James grasp her shoulders tightly before putting on a burst of speed and leaving the boat far behind. Soon, the shore was only a dark smudge behind them and Rin allowed herself to drift on the currents over deeper waters.

"See anything else?" Rin asked. James looked around.

"Oh, look! Fish, a lot of them!"

"Hai, I think those are bluefish."

"Like the ones Dad brought home last week?"

"Hai . There must be an abundance of them this year. Huh, we might see a shark if there are so many fish." James sat up and looked around, scanning the horizon.

"I don't see any fins."

Rin shrugged and turned around. "Ah, well, no matter. Who wants to see a shark leaping out at you anyway, right?"

"Right!"

"And I think it's time we headed home. Okaa-san and Henry Keifu-san will be waiting for us."

"And Mum said we're having a party on the beach today!"

"Hmm, a party. Huh, maybe I can catch a few seagulls for that!"

"Rin!"

"No? Oh well, more seagull for me!"
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"Look! That one looks like a camel." Rin glanced up and saw the cloud her brother was pointing at. Sure enough, it did resemble a camel. Blowing her bangs out of her eyes, Rin looked over at her family. Stretched out on a blanket, James was laying between their mother and Rin's step-father. Miranda Trotter looked over her son's head and met Rin's eyes.

"Thank you," she mouthed, her dark eyes bright with pride. Rin nodded, returning her mother's smile. Miranda Trotter knew that her half-demon daughter preferred to be flying free on such a nice day, but Rin wouldn't have dreamed of missing her brother's birthday. Still, her mother had been through a lot these past sixteen years and Rin knew she hadn't made it easy.

"Can you see the tallest building in the world?" Rin's step-father Henry asked James. James stared at the sky, his brown eyes narrowing in concentration. Rin's eyes darted from her brother's face to her step-father's. The smile on Henry Trotter's face was full of love as he watched his son scanning the sky and Rin felt a small tug in her chest. Much as she thought Henry was a wonderful man, she remembered her own father looking at her like that. Even twelve years after his death, she still missed him.

"I can't find it," James said. Miranda leaned over, brushing back a stray dark curl that had slipped out of the kerchief wrapped around her hair.

"Try looking at it another way," she encouraged.

James sat up and tilted his head slightly. Rin followed suit, staring at the white mass. Oddly enough, the cloud did look like the Empire State Building. Rin had seen pictures of the massive skyscraper and had often wondered what it would be like to leap off the very top of it. She could imagine the rush of air in her ears and the thrill of falling, knowing that she could pull out of the dive and go soaring into the air at anytime. She wondered how many New Yorkers would have heart attacks at the sight.

"That's where we're going."

Rin started, jerked from her thoughts. Henry was handing James a New York City travel book, its cover decorated with a picture of the famous building. James's eyes were wide as his father continued.

"We're going a great ship that'll take us across the ocean. And we'll climb to the very top of that building. All of us on top of the world."

What? What is he talking about?

"Are there any kids there, like me?" James asked.

"Hundreds of them," Henry assured him. "It's a wonderful place, James. A city where dreams come true." Rin turned away, trying not to listen anymore.

Dreams. Sure.
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"Rin?" Miranda pushed open the door of her daughter's room. Rin, who had been standing by her window, turned to face her.

"So, New York City?"

Miranda sighed, her slim hands brushing of the front of her sundress. "I know this comes as a surprise-"

"No, really?" Rin crossed her arms and scowled.

"-but we've been talking about this for some time."

"By 'we,' you mean you and Henry, right?" Rin asked, narrowing her eyes.

"Well, yes. We didn't want to worry you."

"So just breaking the news in the middle of James's birthday was the best plan?" Rin snorted and turned away from her mother.

"Rin, we're talking about a vacation."

"Oh joy."

"Come on now, you looked perfectly interested when Henry was talking about the Empire State Building."

"Actually, I was thinking about jumping off it. It would make for a fantastic flying experience."

"Rin, you'd give people heart attacks!"

"You think I could really do it?"

"Oh for Heaven's sake!" Miranda rubbed her temples. "Rin, we're talking about going on a family vacation to New York City."

"Exactly! Flying off the Empire State Building would be fine if I didn't have to stay in the city! Remember London?"

"Yes, I remember London."

"Remember how I hated the noise? The smell? The people?"

"Rin, you were five. And we had to go there to settle your father's-" Miranda stopped mid-sentence. Rin bit her lip, not daring herself to speak. Miranda took a deep breath.

"You have a lot more control over yourself now. You're so much stronger, sweetheart, and we're going to New York to enjoy ourselves, not because of…. because of business."

"Hai, I know," Rin muttered.

"And New York has Central Park. It's quite large and I think you'd enjoy that."

"I guess."

"And like I said, it's only a vacation."

"A vacation filled with crowds and crowds of people. My favorite thing." Rin's voice dripped with sarcasm as she turned away again.

"And something you're going to have to get used to." Miranda shook her head and crossed the room to place her hands on her daughter's shoulders.

"I know large crowds make you uncomfortable, but you can't isolate yourself from the world. That's not living, Rin, that's shutting yourself off. I want you and James to know more of the world outside of a little village on the seashore and a vacation is a good place to start. And you don't have to dive headfirst into crowds. But I do want you to at least try and be a little social. Who knows; you may make friends too."

Yeah, right. But Rin held her tongue as she looked back at her mother. Miranda looked so sincere about Rin making friends that the half-demon didn't have the heart to correct her. Her mother still clung to the hope that Rin would be able to fit in with human girls her own age, a hope Rin had herself long abandoned.

"Besides," Miranda added now. "You know James will want you to be there."

"No," Rin countered with a half-hearted grin. "He'll want to drag me all over the city so I can see it with him."

Miranda laughed. "Very true. Well, that'll be fun, won't it?"

"I guess."
~

So, that was the beginning of our plan to go to New York. Unfortunately, that plan would never come to be.