Title: wholly the sun
Rating: G
Summary: "Because I am Japanese!" Kallen repeated. Again and again. It filled Naoto with pride… and with sorrow.
Author: Anonymous
Naoto had always known his sister as a ball of fire—bright and impulsive. She did have a bit of a shy side, but once she warmed up, she was fierce and energetic.
Kallen would puff up her chest and proudly say, "Of course! Because I'm Japanese!"
It used to bring a smile to his face, seeing his sister so free-spirited and full of pride.
But now, it pained Naoto.
Because Japan was dead. Any Japanese pride was sniffed out and stomped out of the people. That pride would do Kallen more harm than good. If anyone were to ever find out Kallen was half-Japanese… Naoto didn't want to think about it.
He remembered Kallen when she was so much younger, long before the invasion. They had been living in Japan ever since they were born. All of Naoto's friends and classmates knew he was mixed—his hair and eye colour gave it away—and they'd tease him about it.
Kallen, on the other hand, had just started school. Everything seemed to be going well.
One day, Naoto came with his mother to pick his sister up as a surprise, but Kallen wasn't there to greet them. They discovered that Kallen had been missing since the beginning of lunch. As his mother and the teacher panicked, Naoto went looking for her.
Naoto found her in a storage closet, squeezed between a shelf and the wall. He could never forget the sight what he saw. The sight of his sister's hollow eyes and tearstained cheeks—the mud-caked hair and purpling skin—etched in his memory. He could never forget how she trembled like a leaf. How she had repeatedly and brokenly muttered, "But I'm Japanese."
He had been so shocked and confused at first. Who would do this? And why? Once he'd pieced together what happened, he was filled with a mixture of anger and dread.
The weeks after were awful. Kallen had gone quiet, as did the house. She would hunch over, curling into herself as if to make herself a smaller target. She had taken to tucking her hair under hats or hiding her face. Naoto had once caught Kallen hacking away at her hair with a pair of scissors. Their mother even had to save Kallen from burning her scalp with cheap hair dye she somehow managed to steal. Kallen had become so scared of going to school that she had to be moved to different one.
She used to always want to go to the park, but in the days following the incident, Kallen rarely left the house. At home, she'd shun the things their father had given them. She would hide away, curling up in corners and staring at her knees.
"I am Japanese," she would repeat.
"Yes, you are," Naoto or their mother would say.
They tried their best to be there for her and coax her out of the shell she made for herself. Slowly but surely, she came back to some semblance of old self, boisterous and lively once more. Over time she even seemed to have forgotten all about the incident, but she continued to repeat those words.
The affirmation became a declaration—a mantra that became a statement of pride. But that pride could soon become what would damn her. Naoto did not want that for his baby sister.
"I am Japanese too!" Kallen slammed her fist onto the table.
They'd been having the same argument more often lately. Naoto would shut her down, again and again. He didn't want her to be too involved with these activities—fighting for freedom against a tyrannical empire that destroyed their country, their people, their culture. It came with risks, and he didn't want to risk Kallen any more than he already had with his involvement. Kallen still had a chance at a good life.
"No, you are not!" he shouted back, heart breaking at the hurt in those eyes. A betrayal he knew she felt. "You are Kallen Stadtfeld. Just a Britannian school girl who should be getting to class on time and worrying about her studies. A Britannian school girl has no place here."
For moment he was tempted to take those words back, but then he saw the fire reignite in her eyes as she glared at him. He was relieved she still had a fight in her—that she could no longer be easily knocked down. He never wanted to see those terrified eyes again. He didn't want to want her to be so hurt that she felt the need to hide.
His words were harsh. But Kallen was more than just Japanese. Naoto was fighting for her—his little sister who felt so ashamed of a part of herself and felt the need to drown it out.
Naoto wanted a better future, one where his little sister wouldn't have to fear or hide half of herself. Because Kallen was a brilliant fire, fierce and bright, and she deserved to show the world her whole, radiant self.
Japanese and Britannian.