O.C. #1 : -weeping over the sorry-ness of her first chapter-

O.C. #2 : Onee-chan #1 wrote this one herself. She feels that this first chapter sucks big monkey balls, so I'm here to tell you (as I have read the entire story) that it gets better as the story progresses.

Near You

Chapter 1


Let's just say the day couldn't get worse for Takuya Kanbara. He was stuckwith the world's biggest prat, being forced to go on a vacation with said prat AND said prat decided to be extra pratty today. Ok. Maybe that was a little too much 'prat'. But lets go back a few days..

This place is called Hiemwood (High-m wood). The main characters of this story could be considered complete opposites. Takuya was an average kid in this spiritual city. He had normal brown hair and brown eyes. Like most people, he didn't have any special purpose, or so he liked to believe. He led a normal life with normal parents and normal things. He'd had a total of NO girlfriends and yet he still liked to believe he was king of the world. He was very social and spunky, which drew people to him, although he got annoying.

He's polar opposite is Kouji Minamoto. With his long navy hair and always glaring, dark eyes, he already gave off that darker sense. Takuya liked to talk about him like the undead. People said he was an only child, but that was bull since his twin brother was in the same class as him. Kouji liked to read books and act like you weren't there. It seemed the only one he liked at all was his brother. He hardly talked but he was a brilliant student. Rumor was that he came from a long line of powerful warlocks or witches.. Or some other powerful human. Which, of course, meant that everyone thought he had magic in his blood and therefore, loved yet avoided him.

About all that magic. The age of kings and queens may have been lost but here, magic still lingered. It snuck down through blood lines to average people. They might not even know of their own powers. Of course, the bad guys are all magical. Almost every crime, or wrong doing, was done with the help of magic.

Despite all the magic in their lives, people still managed to be normal. They went to school, celebrated holidays, went on vacation. Life here was very aware of magic, but it seemed people had become so used to it that they didn't notice much anymore.

Anyway, enough about magical worlds and people, this story is about two boys. Let's see.. We'll start a week before summer break in the last period of the school day.

"I can't believe you!" A brunette hollered.

"..."

"Jerk! Hand it over!" Takuya continued to yell at Kouji, who seemed to not hear him as he read his book.

"Takuya! Calm down. What's going on?" A girl named Zoe asked, holding Takuya back so he didn't try and hit the bluenette.

"That bastard stole my game!" Takuya pointed accusingly at Kouji. Kouji just turned his head to look at Takuya and sighed, putting his book down.

"Check your pocket, idiot." he said, his eyes closed. Takuya paused and reached into his pocket. He gasped and then glared at everyone as he sat down without another word. Kouji scoffed and went back to reading.

-

The bell rang and Kouji stood up to leave.

"Takuya. Just say it!" he heard a younger boy, named Tommy, whisper harshly. He opened his eyes to find Takuya standing in front of him.

"Hm?" they stood staring at each other for a moment.. Things never went quickly with these two.

"Uh.. I'm.. Sorry." Takuya finally said, resigning himself and waiting for Kouji to say something smart in a comeback.

Kouji just picked up his bag and walked right past him and out of the classroom, putting a headset on as he went. Takuya fumed.

"Why that... that... that.." Takuya shook with anger. Someone placed a hand on his shoulder. It was Kouichi. Kouji's older, nicer brother.

"Don't mind him. He's just not good with words." he said, smiling.

"He's not good with anything!" Takuya snapped his bag onto his shoulder and stomped out of the room.

"Nice try, Kouichi." Zoe sighed. Kouichi shrugged, still smiling, and ran to catch up with his brother.

-

"Why that's a wonderful idea!" the twins heard their mother on the phone as they got home. "We should do it as soon as school let's out. Oh hold on, I think they're home. I'll talk to you later. Bye." and she hung up. "Boys, can I talk to you for a minute?"

Both boys gave each other confused looks before dropping their school bags and walking into the living room to find their mother.

"Ya?" Kouji asked, putting down his mini player. Their mom was smiling too happily for it to be normal.

"I have news! We're going on vacation! We'll leave the day after school gets out. It'll be near the mountains, so pack warmly." she seemed to be checking things off in her head.

"Who're we going with?" Kouichi asked as Kouji turned to leave and go upstairs.

"Oh! My good friends, the Kanbara's!" she said happily. Kouichi looked to Kouji, who was frozen in his tracks. Ok.. This was going to be.. Fun.


O.C. #1 : Sry. These first few chps will be kinda short. And they'll never be really long. ButI hope you don't mind that. The last few chapters are much longer...I think...