Chapter 1
Twins: TakehiroMy name is Zack.
...Okay, okay! So my name isn't Zack. It's Takehiro, but please just call me Zack!
Why? It's my codename. I'm trying to adapt to a whole different country, which I didn't even want to come in the first place. But I can't tell you my last name or where I live, or where I would to live. Not even my twin sister would tell you.
We can't give any clues to our true identities. We're not being different or anything. You see, what happened to us was unbelievable and maybe to you too.
Then again, you'd be surprised to find out that my sister and I are trained ninjas, or Shinobi in Japanese. Well, were trained ninjas in Japan. Here in this strange country, we're just typical teenage twins.
It's kinda hard coping with Americans. I mean, just think that you're the only Asian around with black hair and blue eyes around.
That's why I prefer to be called Zack. And actually, we were training with a group of kids back home. We all decided to call each other by codenames. It was Misao's idea, a friend. We were a pretty good team back in Japan. Running quietly across the rooftops, sneaking away in the shadows, fighting bad guys at nights while juggling with our daily chores and stuff. Yeah, that's what we did together.
But that was a week ago. Time really flies fast.
We just arrived from Japan. And just got into our new school. We were all right on our first week of school...
SLAM!
Except that the fact that I was always bullied around.
"Give me your money," a big bully demanded, who had slammed me to a locker by the collar. Easy prey, maybe.
"I-I really don't have any at the moment," I told him nervously.
"Cut the crap, Chinese boy. You're bound to have some currency," he spat.
Chinese? Do I look like Chinese? I may have the black hair and all but do I really look like Chinese? Geez...
"Hey!"
We turned to see a guy named Jake down the hallway. He looked like the strong type. He has brown hair and dark brown eyes. And he seemed pretty serious. Next to him was another guy, Tobias, I think. I heard he was new here.
"Leave him alone," Jake yelled.
"Or else what?" the bully demanded, grinning.
"I-It's okay!" I assured them. "I don't need any help."
"Oh, please! You can't even stand up against this fat moron," someone taunted.
"Who said that?" the bully yelled.
A tap on his shoulder distracted him from me. Unexpectedly, an upper kick of a shoe shot at his face, knocking his front buckteeth out of his mouth. His grip loosened and we dropped to the floor. His face was battered. With one print of the shoe on his face.
I turned up to my saviour. My sister.
"Really, Zack. You could at least just punch him back," she said, placing her hands on her hips.
"Zoe..." I muttered her codename. Yup, her name now is Zoe.
"Didn't Grandpa teach you anything about martial arts?" she snapped.
"Yeah, not get in trouble," I uttered, getting up.
Jake and Tobias stared with eyes wide from Zoe to the bully that scampered up on his feet and ran away after picking up his broken teeth.
Zoe grunted. "Hmph! So what if you get into trouble? Big deal. At least he wouldn't bother you again."
Zoe is my little sister. By five hours.
Her real name, however, is Kaoru. Yes, she also has a codename as Zoe.
Zoe has always gotten me out of trouble even though that landed her in trouble. She had to go to the Vice Principal for punching another bully earlier. If you're wondering, that one locked me up in my locker on the first day of school.
Okay, now your first expression is, "she's a violent, hot-tempered girl," but she's not. She isn't what you think. She actually is a kindhearted sister. Slightly naïve though. Cheering me up when I'm down and always telling me to never give up on things. You know, the kind of talk your brother or sister would say to you. Hey, what can I say? She's always there for me. Weird is that it should be me being the older sliding around instead of her.
"Zoe!"
Zoe's eyes widened as she gulped and looked over her shoulder. Mr. Chapman was standing in the hallway. He lifted one hand and pointed to his office.
"In my office now!"
Zoe laughed nervously. "Can I say it was an accident?"
After her trip to the Vice Principal's office for the second time, we were on our way back home, biking down the pavement and around the corners. Until we stopped at a crack in the fence, leading to the construction site.
"Zack, are you sure we should take this path?" Zoe asked.
I knew we shouldn't be doing it. We were supposed to be home at least ten minutes ago. But it was a shortcut to the forest. Grandpa's bungalow was near the mountains, not far from here.
Grandpa's our guardian since we moved here. Plus he is a retired martial arts master, kendo teacher and a Japanese Military General. Also, he was once a ninja back in his young times. How cool is that? Your old man knowing every sort about combat.
Except that we are ruthlessly forced to train and rustle up our skills. Grandpa expects us to be on our lead in any combat and understand the laws of martial arts and kendo. You don't know how hard it is in every single lesson. My hands hurt, I get bruises, aches and pains all the time and some of his lessons are excruciating.
I think you're wondering why we're living with our grandfather. Our mom, who is recently blind and in a hospital in Japan, suggested that we should move here for a better life. It all started with her blindness. Without any explanation for the cause of her eyesight.
We didn't want to leave her but we had no choice. No matter what we said to change her mind, she shook her head and told us to go. We really missed her now.
And for our dad, why, there's not much to talk about him. He disappeared when we were five years old. No one knows why. Rumors spread that he left our family for another woman or committed suicide. But I never cared what happened to him. I hated him since then.
I don't know why we had to move in with Grandpa when we could just stay with mom. Grandpa never told us the reason. Neither did mom.
It was getting late by the time Zoe was out of the office and I thought the smart thing to do was to go through the construction site across the mall.
Two reasons why. One, it's the quickest way getting back home. Two, it's highly cool! Deep pits filled with galleons of water, cinder block obstacles, dips and downhill runs. Just the adventurous place to ride wildly.
Hey, what can I say? I'm a daredevil.
"Grandpa said it's dangerous going through there," she continued.
"Come on. It's the only way we can get there before dinnertime," I explained.
"Or is it because you want to be an off-road cycling freak?" she inquired.
She read me like a book. "Nothing's gonna happen to us. Besides, you're not afraid of riding along there, are you?"
We were just at the entrance when Zoe sprinted past me on her bike, glaring with anger as she yanked away the worst debris and made a single-track loop. She landed with a loud thud and looked back at me.
"Afraid, huh?" she yelled. "Well, try beating me in a race then."
She always takes my dares. I grinned and took the pedal to the metal. "Right on!"
She turned and raced down a downhill run as I tugged away from the debris and followed her.
Yes. We are daredevils, you might say. We have always been daredevils since kids. Dare each other out to do the most dangerous and exciting thing that pops to our minds. You can also dare us to do absolute anything. We'll do it.
We each leaped on a log made out of cinder blocks and raced across it. I was gaining fast on her. As we jumped off the logs, we rotated sharply to the left and cycling on like we were racing in one of the mountain biking clubs. We hurdled over the high mounts of dirt and somersaulted in the air before landing on our wheels.
We went around and around the track, faster and faster. There was just barely enough light to see.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw some dark forms moving. I stopped my bike, a little nervous. I thought it could be a gang of gangsters.
Zoe saw me halted and pulled the brakes.
"What's wrong?" she asked, looking at the direction I was looking. It wasn't what I expected to see. They were kids from school, kids we knew.
We recognized them. Jake, Marco, Cassie, Rachel, and Tobias. We don't know them that well, but maybe I know Marco. He sits next to me in science and makes jokes under his breath all through class. Thanks to him, I'm barely breaking a C. Don't tell the teachers.
I was thinking about yelling "hey!" but Zoe's face stopped me. She looked kind of a bit unhappy. I understood why. We didn't know they were all friends. We felt a little bit left out, even though they didn't see us. I wasn't terribly swelled at making friends.
Ever since Zoe fought up those bullies, a lot of the students became frightened of her. But in her side of the story, Zoe didn't want to get involve with anyone. Even if it hurts her inside. So she became an outcast to everyone, except me. Truthfully, I could feel her pain. I guessed she thought those kids would get terrified of her.
Sometimes, I get the feeling this was my fault because I wasn't strong enough to defend myself. If I were, Zoe wouldn't be so frightened by everyone. Then again, everyone would be frightened of me instead. One loophole.
The group moved away and Zoe suggested we should go back home. I agreed to her.
We were cycling on when we saw it.
A light in the sky.
It was moving fast, way faster than an airplane or helicopter. And this light was shining blue, a shade of blue we never saw before. It was a blue that is almost white, and yet it registered as more blue than any blue we've ever seen.
That didn't make much sense, but neither did the light.
We stood there; our mouths opened like fish, and watched it come closer. I saw that the light had a shape. It was like an egg with two stubby wings. The blue light was coming from a shaft at the end. And suddenly, I got what it was.
It was a UFO. I knew it. And it wasn't because I watch the X-Files. It was because every hair on my head was standing on end.
I looked at Zoe and she glanced at me. We knew what we were both thinking.
Instead of running away, like a normal person would do, we ran toward it, dropping our bikes down. We kept out of sight behind a tumble of masonry and cinder blocks. There was when we saw Jake, Tobias, Marco, Cassie, and Rachel. Rachel's hair was standing straight out from her head, so at least I wasn't alone.
I felt my heart pounded as the UFO landed. The kids huddled together. We couldn't hear them, but I knew they're wondering what to do, like we were.
Then we heard Tobias's voice.
"Please, come out. We won't hurt you."
-I know.-
The voice was in my head! I didn't hear it with my ears but I definitely heard it!
I saw my sister jumped, astonished. Marco and Jake exchanged glances. Tobias looked at Rachel. They all stared at each other, wide-eyed. They've heard it, too!
"Can you come out?" Tobias asked.
-Yes. Do not be frightened.-
"We won't be frightened."
"Speak for yourself," muttered Jake.
I peered through a crack in the half-wall while Zoe peeked at the left of it. A creature stepped out of the ship. One that I could say was weird because this creature had hooves. Four of them. And blue fur, and four eyes, two of them on two little horns that come out of his head. A head with no mouth as well. No wonder this guy talked to my brain.
And the tail. I couldn't keep my eyes off it. Or rather, the long stinger on the end of it that looked as though it could do serious damage.
Here was the funny thing: I wasn't that scared. Not really. First of all, there was a nice solid wall between the alien and us, protecting us from harm. And somehow, I suspected he wouldn't hurt us.
-You're right,- I heard in my head. -So you can come out. You don't have to hide.-
I gazed wildly around.
-Yes, I'm talking to you,- he said. -Including the other human with you.-
And that part about not being scared? Forget it. I was terrified.
It was then I remembered Zoe and gazed at her. Her eyes were locked on the creature. She was trembling. And whimpering with cold sweat. She was frightened of something and I knew what. It wasn't that the creature frightened her. It wasn't that she thought it could hurt us or do anything.
It was the stinger. It was the sharpness of its blade.
Twins: KaoruI was terrified. Afraid.
More than afraid!
That sharpness...
The reason wasn't that the creature was right in front of us and didn't look harmful but the stinger did. I was so terrified I felt like crying.
Why? Its sharpness triggered something in my mind. A memory. A horrible flashback. I guess you want to know what it was. But not right now.
That memory was still foggy to me but no matter what, I regretted myself on one thing. Even today, I still regret it. I don't even have the heart to tell it to you. A few years ago, I was given a samurai sword and I did something terrible that would be a sin weighing on my shoulders forever.
And when I saw the creature's blade, I wanted to run away. Run away from that nightmare that haunted me like a ghost. I wanted to get away from that day. That day I even held that sword!
I took my bike and was about to cycle away, away from all this. Away from my nightmares.
-Do not run away.- I stopped. That voice was still in my head. -You do not have to be afraid.-
I looked back and saw the creature was gazing. Not at the group or at Zack. But at me. I shivered with fright.
I stared straight at him. I felt all my muscles frozen.
My heart beat rapidly.
Part of me wanted to stay whereas the other was afraid of the nightmare, the cursed day, which haunted my mind. It was like two beings were talking to you, telling you to do this, to do that.
I couldn't take it.
I just couldn't take it anymore.
I rode away. I couldn't stay to find out who or what he was or what was going to happen. I just wanted to get away from this. I heard my brother shout at me, telling me to stop.
I didn't stop. I kept on riding. With all my strength on the pedals. I wasn't sure if he was following me. I never looked back.
I biked on, out the site and onto the road, down the main streets and up to the forest. I reached back home, dropped my bike on the ground and darted inside, hurling the door open. Grandpa was sitting in the living room on the floor with his green tea on the short-legged table. He looked up away from his newspaper he was reading and saw me dashing in.
But I didn't stopped to say hello to him. I rushed upstairs and closed shut our bedroom door (Zack and I sleep in the same room). I fell to the floor, my back leaning against the door. I clutched tight to my legs.
I heard knocking on the door.
"Kaoru? Are you alright?" Grandpa asked outside.
I wasn't all right. I was still shivering. Grandpa couldn't help. No one could help me with my problem.
I wept.
I hated myself. I hated it. I thought I would overcome my fear by being strong but despite my strength, I could never. I would never. It was like the truth was driving you down like a drill to your head.
I could never hold a sharp object again. Since that day. Daggers, maybe but nothing else. I couldn't stand needles either. I thought that if I could overcome my past, I could be with friends now.
But I was alone.
I couldn't overcome my fear or my past. That was why I ran away, not only from the creature but also from the group. I was afraid that the past would haunt me again and I would involve them.
It was a curse to me.
I cried.
I cried until I fell asleep.
A/N: Before I update anymore chapters, I'd like to say that this is one out of five books I'll be doing. The second, called "The Soldier" will be introduction of Ryo-Mew-Ki, a furred humanoid alien and the third, called "The Truth" will tell more about Karine. The fourth and fifth and maybe sixth will come out soon. Hopefully, you all will understand this before you flame me. Until there, enjoy the chapters.
+Chapter 1 renewed and updated+