A/N: So, hi there :D This is chapter two, and is longer than the previous one. I'm not gonna lie; I was laughing my ass off when I wrote this. Not that it's particularly funny; it's just the situation that makes me smile. Anyway, I hope you like it. Chapter three should be edited and uploaded by Tuesday. Woot woot! (PS. There's dog hair in my eye and I can't get it out.)

The Past Unforgotten

•TWO•

Cowardice, Barbie Doll Bandaids, And Pretty Eyes

•

Aura never played with dolls. He knew this for a fact; she preferred books much better, and always had. She wasn't like the girls at recess and lunch who crowded around a make-shift doll house, vibrantly green grass creating a barrier around them as they voiced their wide-eyed, toothpick role models. But she read; not the little baby books, either, and that was the first common ground that he found with the young girl. They even owned some of the same books, and would read together in their half an hour of play and the forty five minutes they received for lunch. But not this lunch period, in particular. Kentin recalled that Aura had been kept after class after calling the teacher a "bad word", leaving him alone and vulnerable.

As he sat there, knees pulled to his chest as he tried to focus on the words splayed out before him, it was becoming increasingly difficult to ignore the rocks that where being pelted in his direction. He visibly cringed when one finally came into contact with his face; namely, his brand new pair of glasses that were purchased just yesterday.

He felt the hot, inescapable liquid form on his tear ducts as the taller, much bigger boys pointed at him and laughed. He was promised by his mother that it wouldn't be like kindergarten, that kids wouldn't be this horrible; he guessed, in a way, she had broken that promise. He nearly yelped as a much larger rock, large than the ones they had thrown before, smacked the bridge of his nose. He hands immediately lost their tight hold on either side of his book, its pages rustled by the wind as it fell unattended to at his side, his hands darting to cup the newly inflicted wound with his hands.

"Aren't you going to say something, faggot?" Looking back on it now, he knew that it was a horribly lackluster insult, but at the time, for some unknown reason, it had hurt. No, he had no idea what it even meant and he doubted that they did, either, but he knew somehow, it was meant to offend him in ways that pelting him with rocks couldn't. And it did; he lost the ongoing battle of fighting off the tears, the hot liquid running down his face and into his mouth. Feverishly, he tried to wipe the evidence away with the sleeve if his sweater, but it only aided in making the situation that much worse.

His heart sank to the pit of his stomach as he watched the tallest boy out of all of them pick up a rock nearly the size of his fist, his lips curled in a demeaning, Cheshire-like smirk.

"Only cowards pick on those that are smaller than them. But since you were probably raised in a zoo filled with inbreeds, it wouldn't be a surprise if you didn't know the simplest forms of humanity." Her voice was calm, collected, and light as a feather. The boy's face heated up in embarrassment as he whirled around, the rock still grasped firmly in his hand and held high in the air. If Ken would have been able to get a look at his face, he knew it would have been one of bewilderment and shame that girl a year younger than him had managed to completely disarm his wits.

However, this astonishment didn't last, and he quickly regained what little composure he had. "Aw, has Kenny's little body guard come to save him… again?" The two boys around him chided with laughter, the rest of the world completely oblivious to the situation at hand. Bile rose in the back of his throat; Aura may have been strong and brave, but that boy was easily five inches taller than her, and had a rock readily available as a make-shift weapon. Still, she looked unfazed, unimpressed, even, as she cocked a light brown brow in the direction of the three boys.

The wind caught the hem of her cream-colored sundress, reviling her black, knee high combat boots, providing a stark contrast against her tanned skin. She tilted her pointed chin to the side, her hands clasped behind her back as she began walking around the boy, much to his confusion. He spun around just as she was finished with her quick once over, and took no time to point an accusing finger directly in her face.

"What do you think you're doing, you little freak?" She was unwavering as she kept constant eye contact with his offender. Ken wanted more than anything to bolt and run to her side, but he was stuck to the ground around him like a fly caught in a spider's web. Wordlessly, she took careful steps toward the looming giant until their chests were nearly touching, her head positioned directly above his shoulder.

"I can completely dress a deer. Do you know what that means?" From where he sat, Ken saw a bead of sweat drip from his crooked left brow and fall on his cheek. Without giving him time to respond, she continued. "It means I can skin, gut, de-bone, and section a deer into pieces. You weigh as much as the average doe, I'm guessing." Kentin smiled to himself as he recalled the boy's expression; the mocking smirk had completely left his face, and was replaced with a horrified, grim line. The rock he had been preparing to throw at Ken had fallen from his hand, the appendage limp at his side. He didn't have to see her face to know Aura's eyes with alive with victory.

"Now, I'm hoping you're not too dumb to not understand what I'm getting at. Before you go running off to a teacher, remember something; I am a girl, after all. All I would have to do is cry, fall down, and say you punched me, and you would be suspended." His friends from before looked as though they were preparing to completely abandon him without guilt. But, she didn't give them the chance to escape before adding, "If I see any of you messing with Ken again, you'll regret it. I promise." With the drop of a hat, the young girl bounced back on the heels of her shoes, flamboyantly swaying her hips from side to side. "Do I make myself clear?" Ken didn't know if she had noticed the puddle of urine that had begun to pool around the boy's ankles, but he look liked she had absolutely made herself clear. Without another word, all three of them darted away from the scene of the crime, their running so fast and desperate it left a cloud of dirt in its wake.

To say the least, Ken never had to worry about them again.

Without letting another second pass, Aura twirled around on her feet and rushed toward him, crouching on her knees once she was directly in front of him, her long dress creating a veil around her legs.

Tentatively, she reached a small hand out to touch the open, bleeding cut on the bridge of his nose. He fidgeted away from her touch, but that didn't seem to deter the freckled blonde. She reached her hand over and swiftly grabbed the water bottle from Ken's lunch box before pouring a small amount of it on the corner of her pristine sundress.

"Hey, what're you-"

"Sit still, would you?" It was clearly a demand, and he really didn't have the balls not to fallow it. Gently, she placed the dampened cotton fabric against his nose, the pressure causing some of the bleeding to cease, but only made the pain worse. He winced as she cleaned the rest of the less sever scrapes that his face had endured before pulling a Band aid from the pocket of her dress. He watched in horror as the wrapper was pealed back, reviling a bright pink, Barbie decorated strip of adhesive coated bandage.

It even surprised himself when his hand shot upwards, grabbing her wrist before she could place the humiliatingly girly band aid on the wound.

"W-wait! Why do you even have those?" He questioned, as a tomato-red blush seeped over his already tear-flushed face. She responded with her usual smile, the single, deep dimple appearing on her rosy cheek.

"My mom says it's better to always be prepared for the unexpected. Now, shut up and let me put this on your face." He, bravely, I might add, still didn't relinquish his weak grip on her slender wrist. He knew by the creasing of her brows that she was becoming annoyed, but she didn't even fully answer his question.

"Well…That makes sense, but why do they have Barbie on them? You hate dolls." She gave him the most fed-up look he thought he had ever seen before in his life before stamping the damned thing to his cut without warning, her touch less than gentle.

"The way I look at it, blood, puss, and infection are leaking onto her face." He would have questioned if she was fucking serious, but with a mental sigh he already knew the answer. He recoiled back into himself, wrapping his slender, sweater clad arms around his knees before pulling them tightly to his chest. The blood that had rushed to his cheeks was so obvious it was almost painful.

To make it that much worse, she reached her hands forward and pulled his thickly-brimmed glasses from his face, reviling his reddened, dark green eyes. She locked her much paler ones with his and refused to let the stare falter, the embarrassingly large glasses held between her pointer finger and thumb.

"You have pretty eyes, Ken." She said, taking care not to bump the wound as she placed his glasses back into his nose. It was almost afflictive to Kentin as he looked back on Aura when they were children; he doesn't think she ever knew, or will know, how much that simple statement had meant to him.

Without exactly knowing what to say, he gingerly dipped his hand into his opened lunch box, retrieving an unopened packet of chocolate chip cookies. He opened it with borderline shaking hands and silently offered her one, hoping it would distract her from the redness that was contaminating his entire body.

She stared at the wrapper for a few seconds before smiling, a small giggle erupting from her like sulfur dioxide from a hot spot volcano. She took one and took a bite from it, the soft smile never leaving her lips. "I'll take that as a thank-you."

He silently ate his cookie, his head tucked between his shoulders so she couldn't see the smile spreading over his lips.

A/N: I love when kids are slightly sadistic. It's extremely hilarious, in my opinion, and they always have a fucked up explanation for things. I remember that one instance where my little cousin kicked my uncle in the face, simply because "…he wasn't awake to stop me." Mind you, he was only five at the time. I dunno, I guess me and my family are just weird like that. Anyway, it's Sunday where I'm at, and I have to be logged onto school (homeschooled woot woot) at eight in the morning, and it's almost nine thirty now. That may seem a bit early, but If I don't get like, ten hours of sleep, I'm so cranky it's not even funny. So, I hoped you had a lovely day, and an even better night… Or, vice versa, where ever the hell you happen to be right now. You might even be in Narnia.