A tale of the past begins to unfold and changes the course of the present into the future. This one will be mostly in Jed's perspective before the story continues as normal.

Tears of White Night

Chapter 3: Fragments of Sorrow

Disclaimer: I own some characters here, namely Rei, Jedit, Sirius, Byakuya, Bleu and Miyuko. Everyone else are just support characters that mostly belong to Neopets or were created to help with the story.

Jedit was born on Mystery Island to a prince of the Lost Desert and a shaman living on the isle, both Kougras. They met on the sandy shores of the tropical land and married soon after. A year later Jedit was born as an orange Kougra, happy as can be. He loved to walk on the beaches of the island and explore the jungles with his father by his side. For reasons he did not understand, the family moved to the forest terrain of Meridell. They moved to the outskirts of a village near the woods where mysterious beings were said to exist in. Though they never seek to cause any trouble, the other villagers seemed a little skittish of them, and Jedit had to endure teasing from the village youth on a daily basis.

One day, everything changed when the young Kougra's petpet Anubis named Bleu (here Rei stared blankly at Jedit but nonetheless paid close attention) gave her life from a dastardly prank. The Kougra finally gave in to his anger and fought off the other boys who ran off in fear. But that small victory alone did little to pacify the pain in Jedit's heart as he wept for his only friend in that harsh world. The sky darkened suddenly and silent tears began to fall, as if the world was mourning with the Kougra. He sat there crying for Bleu when a cloak was hung over his shoulders and Jedit averted his tear-stained face to see someone that he would remember for the rest of his life.

Though it was raining very heavily, not a drop of water touched the young man that stood before the Kougra. Long, ebony hair descended down his head as pale crimson eyes peered at Jedit with a mixture of sympathy and compassion. The garments he wore were simple: a long sleeve white shirt and black pants. The stranger had no fur or feathers like other Neopians he knew at that time. Jedit thought that this being was a different type of Faerie, but he later learned that the kind person who appeared before him was a spirit that came from another realm.

The spirit child gently picked up the fallen form of Bleu and beckoned Jedit to follow him into the forest. They waited for what seemed to be hours until they reached a small clearing where a lone tree stood by itself with its branches void of blossoms. The young stranger carefully laid the petpet down next to the tree and turned to face Jedit. Holding the Kougra's paw as if it were a fragile thing, the entity slowly lead Jedit out of the clearing through the forest until they reached the house were the Kougra's parents were currently living in. Waving a silent goodbye, the spirit turned to leave when Jedit found the courage to speak.

"Wait," The Kougra called out as he stared after the benevolent one. "What's your name? I'm Jedit."

The raven-haired child blinked in surprise and smiled a little bit. "Sakura." He replied softly and walked away into the night. But Jedit somehow inwardly knew that they would meet again.

As time went by, the two began to grow closer as friends until they could almost be called brothers. Jedit became more cheerful and energetic while Sakura began to talk a little more than he used to say and even showed Jedit some bit of magic. The Kougra was summon a bit of fire when he concentrated hard enough but wasn't able to progress until he got older. The two did everything any good friends did in those days; take long walks, talk about everything and nothing, explore the world around them and most of all had fun. For three years Jedit and Sakura became inseparable, but that all changed when Jedit's mother Flora became pregnant with a child. The situation was very tense since the female Kougra had been ill for a short time. Her husband Terran was somewhat frantic, boiling water, getting clean sheets and mostly staying by his wife's side through her ordeal. Jedit and Sakura helped whenever they could, gathering herbs to ease the pain and relieve some of Flora's symptoms.

One day, when the spirit child was gathering some healing plants he felt an aura from his tree and discovered that the spot where the Anubis once laid was a small blue rose in full bloom. Sakura was overjoyed since it meant that Bleu would come back to Jedit and he took the flower along with the basket of herbs to where Jedit's house was located and went inside to deliver the news when he stopped abruptly: the aura of the interior feeling very tense than usual.

Though Flora was happily cradling her newborn daughter, both Terran and Jedit were staring at her with slightly tense expressions on their faces. Sakura was greeted somewhat politely but he felt unsure about the situation as Jedit quietly lead him outside so that they could talk in private. That was when Sakura learned that Flora had only a month to live due to her condition. Jedit then asked his friend if there was a way to save her, and it pained Sakura greatly to even think about it but he gently told the Kougra that there was nothing he could do.

The moment those words came into hearing, Jedit became livid. He verbally dumped all of his sorrow, pain and frustrations on Sakura and angrily added that their friendship was over at that moment. Even though his heart threatened to shatter into tiny pieces, the spirit quietly nodded his head and walked away, never to come back. Both were unaware of how much the other cried when they separated that day, and never knew of it for a long time to come.

After a month has passed, Flora was laid to rest behind the house in a private cemetery that Terran spent a good three days working on just for her. About three months later, he passed away from heartbreak. Jedit was left alone with his young sister named Bleu, and his heart hardened to never let anyone become close to him except for her. There were signs from time to time that Sakura did something to help him but they never met face to face during that time. Ten years had passed and Jedit became stronger and quieter than before while Bleu grew up to be much like her late mother and the villagers expressed their sympathies though the teenage Kougra mostly kept to himself. His sister knew about his pain and tried her best to cheer him up, and she succeeded to a certain degree.

Then one day something ominous happened as a strange being appeared in that village and attacked the residents living there. Only Jedit was able to fend off the monstrous fiend and became in charge of the village's safety due to his actions. He accepted the task without hesitation but a lingering thought hinted to someone living in the woods and so he set out one day to find the reason for the phenomenon. It took a great deal of effort and time at his expense to traverse the thick forest into the clearing he knew from his childhood. There he found his old friend watching over a young child around the same age as Bleu but of a different species he had never seen before.

The child was white, with halfway decent robes covering his frail figure as he smiled at Sakura and asked questions with an innocent demeanor on his face. Slightly large ears perked heavenwards on his head as a tail with a bushy tip flickered sideways as he and the spirit conversed like old friends.

Jedit expressed surprise at how much his friend changed in the ten years absence since they have last seen each other. Sakura's long hair had grown slightly and lost its once black sheen to a pale white shade. His eyes were the same color thought they seemed to carry a hint of sadness as he smiled at the Bori named Byakuya. Unconsciously the Kougra stepped forward and broke a twig, which alerted the two to his presence. Sakura expressed shock and mild joy while Byakuya glared angrily at Jedit. All The Kougra could remember after that was the Bori's hate towards him and Sakura's tears before his vision was blinded by white light, and he awoken to find himself alone in an unknown world before he managed to find the sakura tree and collapsed out of exhaustion. That was when he saw Sakura again with Sirius soon after. His tale complete, Jedit felt the tears coming again and tried to hide his sorrow but his pain ceased when Rei came over and gently embraced the Kougra, stilling the fragments of sorrow that fell from his eyes.

TBC…

That has got to be the longest and hardest chapter I have done in my life.

Sirius: I still can't see why you would want to put this story up Rei.

Jedit: (gasps) You have defied the master! Punishment! (Chases wolf with spatula)

Sirius: Knock it off you floozy!

Rei: ENOUGH!

Jed & Sei: (huddle together in fear)

Byakuya: (sigh) They'll never learn…