The sun had barely risen behind the distant horizon, yet Keith was already up, waiting next to his bedroom door as Klein finished packing up his belongings in the other room. As Klein lifted up the backpack he had been packing into, he noticed Keith watching shyly from his room.
"Already up, Keith?" Klein said with a warm smile, "It's barely dawn."
"I wanted to see you go," Keith said timidly, "Are you really gonna leave?"
"I'm afraid so, lil' bro," Klein said slipping on the backpack and turning towards the door.
Keith said nothing. He couldn't find the right words to say. He could tell his brother not to leave or stop him before he stepped out the door. He did nothing as Klein turned the door handle and stepped outside.
"Hey, Keith? Take care of Mom and dad while I'm gone alright?" Klein said looking back at Keith one last time, "See ya later, Keith."
And in a second, Klein was gone. Barely 13 and already taken off on his own, leaving Keith alone to stand in his shadow. That was several years ago.
Keith blinked awake to the sight of an empty classroom. Did class already end?! Keith thought in in shock I must've fallen asleep! Springing out of his chair, Keith rushed out the classroom to find some of the students on their way down the halls and to the school courtyard. Ethan! He must be waiting for me! Keith realized as he rushed through the halls. Suddenly, Keith spotted a head of white and blue hair standing idly next to the stairs; it was Klein. Keith opened his mouth, ready to call out to Klein, but quickly closed it. Klein will probably cause more trouble again. Keith thought, Maybe it'll be best if I leave him be for now. And so, Keith slipped past Klein unnoticed and continued towards the fountain.
(Shift to Klein's point of view)
Klein stood idly by the stairs flipping around a lighter in his hand and staring out the window at the fountain full of students outside. Hm… boring… absolutely boring… Klein thought to himself as he stared out of the window silently, Maybe I should go… do something fun. Klein smiled deviously to himself then began walking towards an the literature club clubroom. With a swift, careless motion, Klein kicked the door clean out of its hinges and strolled casually in. Hm, empty, Klein thought to himself, Perfect.
Klein walked around the room for a bit, examining the furniture and decorations, scanning the room for anything that seemed valuable. Finally, Klein's eye fell onto a particularly interesting item sitting plainly on the teacher's desk, a little bright pink notebook adorn with stickers and hand-drawn patterns. Something drew Klein to it. It didn't look particularly valuable, but it did look like it belonged to someone, someone who can be blackmailed, or worst. Klein picked up the notebook and tossed it around in his hands. Maybe, I can sell this to some creep who likes snooping around in people's secrets, Klein thought with a smile, Or maybe-
"Hey,"
Klein turned around to the sight of a dark-haired girl with a darker expression standing still by the broken door.
"What?" Klein asked sternly.
"You know, I really hate thieves," the girl said, "Especially ones with a mind as filthy as yours."
"My mind, eh?" Klein echoed, "Hm, that must mean you're the school's infamous mindreader, Kamui."
Kamui nodded, "And you're a petty thief. Put the book back already. It's not worth anything."
"And who's gonna make me?" Klein said with a dark expression before walking past Kamui and out into the halls.
"You're not who you seem, are you?" Kamui said without looking at Klein, "Inside you are empty, devoid of anything. You seek to fill that hole with chaos and destruction, yet you deliberately make the hole wider by avoiding human affection. Why? Why is it that you do this?"
Klein said nothing for a moment before turning around and replying, "Stay out of my head, freak." He walked away.
"That boy," Kamui said to herself, "He's an interesting one. Underneath all that muck lies a diamond that refuses to reveal itself and shine in the light of day. Very, very interesting."
Band class was beginning, and students began entering the classroom. Klein had arrived late as usual and took a seat next to the window. Taking out a pocket knife, Klein began carving doodles into the table as other students watched in fear. Finally, a student approached Klein's seat with an irritated expression. It was Astra.
"Okay, mister," Astra began, "This is your last chance. Are you going to stop ruining school property, or do we have to do this the hard way?"
Klein ignored her, continuing to carve more images into the table. A look of fury flashed onto Astra's face and she suddenly took out a book and opened it in one hand.
"Astral Beam!"
Suddenly the book flashed to life and a beam of light and stars erupted out of Astra's outstretched hand. Klein quickly jumped out of the way as the beam struck the wall, leaving little to no damage to it. The class began to laugh.
"Did that kid just jump out of the way for a little light show?" a student snickered.
"No way, doesn't he realize that Astra's magic does absolutely nothing?" another student joined.
Soon, a ton of students had their gaze on Klein who was still on his knees on the ground with wide eyes. Astra was stunned to see Klein so afraid of her magic, but somehow a smile made its way onto her face.
"Ha! Now I guess you know who you're dealing with," Astra smirked, "Better behave or there'll be more where that came from."
Klein sprung up to his feet and grabbed Astra by the collar, lifting her up close to his face.
"Don't ever do that again!" Klein growled, "That is if you value your life."
Astra turned pale and froze still hanging from Klein's furious grip. Klein's eyes were full of fury and hatred, a look Astra had never seen before from the normally relaxed and devious boy. Astra didn't know what to do. It was as if she was staring straight into the eyes of death.
"S-Stop!"
Klein quickly turned to the direction of the voice and saw only a timid, little girl looking up at him.
"P-Please, put her down," the girl stammered.
Klein dropped Astra suddenly, letting her fall helplessly to the ground, and walked threateningly up to the girl with tightened fists. The girl retreated slightly, trying to avoid eye contact with Klein.
"And what do you want?" Klein asked in a stern voice, "That girl could've killed me. I was only returning the favor. Unless you want to be next, I suggest you butt out."
The girl let out a soft whimper before backing away slowly.
"Astral Beam!"
A swirl of light and stars struck Klein in the back which immediately knocked him over. The class gasped as Klein laid shock on the classroom floor. He felt a burning sensation in his back and pushed himself off the ground. Astra looked at him with her hands clasped over her mouth. Klein immediately looked into the window and found that his clothes had been burnt straight through, and the skin underneath had been scorched red and bleeding. The boy who was seemingly invincible had just been struck down by a beam of pastel colored lights. The pain was worsening, and Astra could hardly utter a word as Klein struggled onto his feet and turned to face her with a furious expression.
"You!" Klein growled readying his fist.
But before Klein could strike, he felt a soft embrace from behind and a soft glow encapsulated his entire body. The pain in his back melted away, and all that was left was a gentle warmth that rested softly on his bare skin. Turning around, Klein was shocked to find the girl holding on gently to him, whispering quiet words under her breath. Klein immediately shook the girl off and retreated backwards with a reddened face.
"W-What are you doing?" Klein quickly ran his hand down his back, "My burns… What did you do?"
"I… I healed you," The girl hesitantly answered, "You looked like you were in pain."
Klein said nothing. He couldn't respond to something like that. He had never heard someone that concerned for him before. Klein looked around the quiet classroom, noticing everybody's stunned faces, before stomping out of the room out of impulse.
Class passed relatively quickly, but Klein didn't bother coming back to attend it. Instead, he stayed in the bathroom of the bottom floor, still thinking about what had happened. Of all the people… Why did it have to be some stuck up princess? Klein ran his hand down his healed back, Magic… Why was I born to be like this? Why was I born to be cursed with this weakness?! In a blind rage, Klein bashed his fist straight through the bathroom wall nearly collapsed the entire wall.
Klein quickly regained his cool. No, I can't let this get to me. I'm stronger than this stupid curse. Klein calmly walked out of the bathroom, But still, that girl… She healed me… What did she want from me? A favor? Protection? Why would she just heal me for no reason? The thought was slightly irritating to Klein, but he quickly put it aside as the bell rung for lunch to begin.
Klein quickly made his way over the cafeteria, passing Keith who was busy chatting with Ethan. Huh, they really are close, Klein thought to himself, Weird… It kinda reminds me of back then… Klein hesitated for a moment, debating to himself about whether or not he should walk over and say hi, but ultimately decided against it. Nah, he seems busy. No use trying to make small talk again, I'll just end up scaring away his friend, Klein thought to himself before spotting a familiar person from across the cafeteria. That girl!
Klein quickly walked over to her, unaware of how threatening he looked. As soon as he girl saw Klein approaching, her face went pale and she froze on the spot. Seeing the girl freeze up, Klein took the opportunity to trap her between him and the wall in the most intimidating way possible. The girl let out a quiet yelp as she looked up with tears in her eyes at Klein, who looked down coldly.
"Okay. I want answers," Klein began, "Why did you heal me before? You couldn't possibly just have done it to help me. So what is it that you wanted from me? Maybe I can return the favor, so we can both forget about that mess from earlier, hm? Well, what do you say?"
"I… I-" the girl whimpered, trying to get her words out.
Suddenly from behind, Klein heard a familiar voice call out.
"Astral Beam!"
Right on time.
Klein quickly turned around, and with a smile, snatched up a lunch tray, and shielded himself from the ray of bright pastel colors. With a swift flick of the wrist, Klein quick flung the tray towards Astra, knocking the spellbook out of her hand. Astra stumbled backwards, giving Klein an opportunity to rush up to her, scoop the spellbook off the ground, and quickly chuck it out of the window with all his might. Astra could only watch in anguish as her beloved spellbook flew out of Klein's hand and out of on the cafeteria's beautiful glass windows.
"Well, that's enough of that." Klein said with a confident smirk, "Think of that as payback for the burn this morning."
Astra could say nothing as Klein walked past her with an accomplished smile on his face. Suddenly, Klein heard an unfamiliar sound.
"Stop!"
It was the girl, who now had clenched fists and tears streaming down her face.
"Come back, and apologize!" the girl called out to Klein.
Klein stood in disbelief. Was this still that shy girl from before?
The girl was shaking, but nonetheless, she walked up to Klein and looked up directly into his eyes. The entire cafeteria stopped and stared at them. Klein, who found her little display of false courage amusing, bent over a little until there were mere inches between their faces.
"And how are you going to make me?" Klein sneered.
The girl's face reddened, but she didn't break eye contact, still trying to find her words under the pressure.
"W-Wait, Sakura, don't! He's dangerous!" Astra called out trying to reach out to the girl. However, she stumbled a bit and ended up pushing into Sakura, who's face and lips immediately collided with Klein's. Klein and Sakura froze as the tension in the air quickly shattered with an accidental kiss. Klein quickly stepped away from Sakura with a reddened face as the blushing girl stared back at Klein with wide eyes before quickly breaking eye contact.
"Oh my gosh! I am so sorry!" Astra quickly stepped in front of the still blushing Sakura and wrapped her arms around her, "I didn't mean to- I didn't think it would- I am so sorry!"
"I-It's alright…" Sakura whimpered, trying to calm Astra down.
Hesitantly, Sakura's eyes made their way back over to Klein, who slumped over and walking away with his hands in his pockets clearly embarrassed from what just happened. Just as Klein exited through the cafeteria doors, he spotted his younger brother trotting towards him with a concerned look on his face.
"Klein!" Keith called out.
"Oh, er… hey, Keith," Klein responded trying to shake the thoughts of the kiss out of his head, "How's it going?"
"I heard there was a fight going on in the cafeteria!" Keith said slightly agitated, "Klein, did you do this?"
"Er… sort of?" Klein answered unsurely, "But don't worry. Nobody got hurt."
"Oh, Klein," Keith pouted, "You have got to stop causing trouble wherever you go. You'll get in trouble!"
"I know, I know," Klein replied, "I'll work on it, but I make no promises."
Keith let out a sigh of defeat, "Well, if you say you'll work on it, I guess that's better than nothing."
"Oh, by the way," Klein began, "Don't go into the cafeteria today."
"Huh? Why?" Keith asked.
Suddenly a voice erupted from inside the cafeteria, and an angry Astra rushed out. Keith suddenly realized what had happened, but before he could confront Klein about it, Klein was already about a couple meters away from him running away at top speed.