A/N YAY! I'm totally excited that I got three reviews! I would like to point out that even though Kai and Bryan are two of the main character this is not a yaoi. To NinjaKiwi96, beybladekaiya, and... uh... Halfy (you change your username too often) for reviewing. Since beybladekaiya asked so nicely I decided to update earlier than I expected. Enjoy :D

Chapter 1: Kai the Wanderer

It was high noon and the sun was blazing over head. A raggedy looking young man stumbled his way towards a well. Dirt and sweat covered nearly every inch of his exposed skin. His two toned blue hair was sticking up in disarray from the lack of cleaning. With trembling hands the man grabbed onto the rope hanging from the well and began to pull the bucket up to the surface. Half way up he lost his grip and the bucket splashed to the bottom. The man fell to his knees trying to conjure up the strength to start over.

"You there!" a gruff voice called. "What are you doing?"

The man turned his head and saw a horseman dismounting his steed. His mouth was too dry to answer the horseman. Instead he got to his feet to leave. Black dots blurred his vision as the world began to spin. He fell to his knees once more.

"Hey, are you alright?" the horseman asked, running to the young man's side.

The man tried to answer but it was no use, he was just too tired. Something wet ran across his lips. When he opened his mouth cool water entered his mouth, quenching his thirst. He greedily drank from the container. The horseman took the water away far too soon for his liking, saying that he might get sick if he drank too much. Slowly, the man fell into a deep sleep.

-o-

Abby leaned back and sighed in content. With Annabelle done she had finished the milking and was one more step closer to finishing her chores. Knowing her mother though, she would think up something extra to keep her busy. Using both hands she picked up the pail of milk and made her way towards the house.

Her father stood in the doorway as if waiting for her. He waved a hand beckoning her to hurry up. Quickly, she picked up her pace while trying not to spill the milk. When she reached her father he took the bucket out of her hands and put it onto the floor.

"Follow me," he ordered.

He turned and led her into the spare bedroom. On the bed was a young man with two toned blue hair. Abby coved her mouth and nose; he looked and smelled awful, like he had not bathed in months.

"I found him half starved by the old well. Look after him for me Abby?" her father asked.

"Of course Pa," she replied. "I wonder where he came from."

"Don't pester him too much when he wakes up, he needs his rest."

"Yes Pa."

"I have to go back out to the fields but I'll be back for supper. Tell your Ma not to fret over the lad too much."

Before she could respond, he was already out the door. Since there wasn't much she could do she merely washed the dirt from his face. With the filth gone she noticed that his face was practically one giant sun burn. He must have been outside for a long time to get such a burn.

The man began to stir. Red eyes opened and gazed up at her. She couldn't help but stare at him. No one she knew had such oddly coloured eyes.

"Water," he croaked.

"Right." In a matter of seconds she ran out of the room and returned with a cup of water. Carefully, she help the man sit up and held the cup to his lips. Once he was finished she helped him lay back down. "Are you hungry?"

The man nodded.

A few moments later she re-entered the room with some bread and more water. The man quickly gobbled up the food as if it might be his last meal. With his stomach full he leaned against the headboard.

"Pa says you need to rest," she pointed out.

"Pa? Do you mean that horseman?" the man asked.

"He was the one that brought you here, so I assume so. My name is Abby, Abigail Westton."

"Kai," the man replied.

"Where are you from?"

An odd look crossed Kai's face then. For a moment he eyed Abby suspiciously, as if he was debating if she was worth of such information. "The Corwick Mountains." He then yawned. "I'm still a bit tired. I Think I'm going to get some more rest."

Abby hopped to her feet. "Right, you should do that. If you need anything just cal me," she said.

He didn't answer her though. When she looked down the man had already lain back down and had his back turned to her. She sighed and left the room.

For the few hours, Abby spent her time finishing her chores, while checking up on Kai every so often. She just started to stove fire when her Ma entered the kitchen with her arms full of food from the market. Without being prompted she headed out to the wagon and brought in the rest of the food.

"Pa brought a wanderer home," Abby said once everything was put away. "He's sleeping in the spare room right now."

"Really?" her mother huffed.

Uh-oh, that look on her mother's face was never a good thing. That look usually meant that her parents were going to have one of their rare fights. What to do? She really didn't want to hear her parents argue of over Kai. What if Kai heard them? Maybe she could talk her mother around before it came to that.

"Yeah, the poor guy was half starved when Pa found him. He's so exhausted Ma, you should have seen him when I fed him some bread. It was like he had never seen food before," she stated. Her mother's eyes softened a little bit, encouraging Abby to continue. "And it's not like we know nothing about him. His name is Kai and he is from the Corwick Mountains."

Her mother rolled her eyes. "I get it Abby, you want to help the boy. I'm just not happy that your Pa brought home a complete stranger."

"He needs our help Ma!" she protested.

"I know sweety, I know. Let's get supper ready."

-o-

The next time Kai woke up the sun had just finished rising. The smell of bacon wafted into his room, making his stomach growl. Where was he though? The last thing he remembered was that he found a well after days of no water. Wait, the horseman had brought him home. That girl, Abby, she had looked after him.

On a chair sat a clean set of clothes waiting for him. With a bit of effort he got up and changed into the loosely fitting garments. Once that was done he followed his nose out the room and into the kitchen. The horseman was sitting at the table with his daughter, while a woman busied herself at the stove. The horseman glanced at Kai and smiled.

"See, I told you Lisa, one sniff of your cooking and the lad came running out," the horseman laughed. "Have a seat Kai, breakfast is almost ready."

"Thank you for the other day, sir," Kai murmured, taking a seat next to Abby.

"Call me Peter and don't mention it, I was glad to help out. This is my wife Lisa, and that my daughter Abby," the horseman said, pointing at the woman cooking and the girl at the table.

"Abby and I have already met," Kai pointed out.

"Right, I forgot about that." Just then Lisa placed a plate food in front of her husband. He grinned. "Everything looks great dear."

"Yes, thank you ma'am," Kai said when food was placed before him.

"Well eat up boys, you have to keep up your strength."

Breakfast was a lot noisier than Kai was used to. Back at home everyone ate their meals in silence, but here, it was non-stop chatter. The family talked about everything, the crops, the villagers, they even talked about the weather, which led back to how the crops were fairing.

"So Kai, Abby says you come from the Corwick Mountains. It must be odd down here in the fields," Peter said.

"Well it is different not being surrounded by rocks I suppose," he mumbled.

"What brought you all the way up here? I mean the mountains are pretty far away from here."

"Did you cross the Orack Desert? How did you do that by going on foot?" Abby questioned.

"Well… uh." Why did they have to ask? Why couldn't they talk about the weather again? "Yeah, I did cross the desert but I lost my horse there and had to walk rest of the way."

"How did you loose your horse?"

He shrugged. "In a sand storm."

"So what are you doing so far from home?" Peter repeated.

"Well, I'm eighteen now and wanted to do more than mining in the tunnels. At home it was either that or join the military and I didn't want to do either. So I decided to look for work elsewhere," was his answer.

For some reason Peter seemed very interested in his answer. Before he could ask another question Lisa stood up and began to clear the table. "Well that was a lovely meal but don't you have work to do Peter?" she said, giving her husband a look that clearly stated that he should bet busy.

Peter got to his feet. "Right, well I'm off." He gave the girls a kiss on their cheeks and was out the door.

"You too Abby, go fetch the eggs," she ordered. "And Kai, I know you need your rest but I would love it if you bathed before you crawled back into bed."

"I should really get going ma'am," he argued.

"Nonsense, you're still weak. You will stay with us until you are back to full strength. Now there is a well out back, if you can't fill the tub on your own get Abby to help."

"But-" he began.

Lisa turned around and gave him the same look she had given her husband. "Listen Kai, I suggest you learn this real quick, I hate to repeat myself and I definately hate it when I'm talken back to. Now, go get cleaned up."

He sighed in defeat. "Yes ma'am."

After three trips of fetching water his arms felt like they were about to fall off. Maybe Lisa was right about him still being weak. There was no way he was going to ask that girl for help. The only way to get back to normal was to fight through the pain. Besides, there was no way a girl with such scrawny arms could carry this much weight.

Suddenly his load got exceptionally lighter. Looking down at the bucket he saw another pair of hands holding onto the handle. Following the arms he glared into the girl's blue eyes. She was smiling at him.

"Need some help?" she asked.

"No," he snapped. "I can do it myself."

"Ma wouldn't like it if she knew you were exerting yourself like this," she argued.

"I'm not exerting myself."

"Here." She took the bucket from his hands. "I got this one, go get the next one ready. It will be faster."

He opened his mouth to protest.

"Go on," she ordered, turning towards the house.

With a huff he headed back to the well. Who did she think she was, ordering him around like that? She was just a girl. He was at least two years older than she was and yet, she was giving him orders! Who made her the boss? Just then she appeared in front of him with that smile on her face.

"Thank you," she said, pouring the water into her bucket. "This should be the last one so you can come back now."

"I can carry that," he argued.

"I got it, just relax," she said.

He rolled his eyes and followed her into the house.

-o-

Time slowly went by and little by little Kai regained his former strength. In a matter of days he ways helping Abby with her chores. After a couple of weeks of helping Abby, Peter suggested that he come out to the fields to help him. The morning was spent ploughing a field intended to grow corn. When they rested for lunch he felt exhausted. How could this man do all this work by himself?

"Thanks for the help lad."

"Hn," was his reply, too tired for idle chatter that this family was known for.

"Here you go princeling," he said, offering him a slice of bread.

Kai froze. Princeling? What gave him that notion? Boris had no children, therefore no princes. He eyed the farmer suspiciously. What was he getting at? Maybe he was just trying to get a reaction. "Ha ha," he laughed, "just because I'm from the mountains doesn't mean I don't know anything about what is going on in the kingdom. King Boris doesn't have any children."

"Yes, but King Susumu had a son. Do you know that you have the same red eyes as the Hiwataris do? Not to mention that you look very much like the Queen," was Peter's reply.

Kai got to his feet. "You're starting to creep me out Peter. Let's just get back to work."

"Are you looking for him?"

"I have no idea what you are talking about."

"Dranzer, are you looking for him?"

He glared at the older man. How did this guy know so much? "You're crazy sir. Dranzer is gone; besides, he's a traitor for killing King Susumu."

"Sorry if I scared you lad," he apologized, getting up as well. "It's just that the stories about the King never really said if the prince was truly dead. I have always just hoped that he would come back and knock King Boris off the thrown. You know, if he was alive, Prince Kai would b eighteen just like you?"

Kai shook his head.

"Never mind, we have a lot of work to do."

For the rest of the afternoon they worked in silence. How could the man think that he was a prince because of his age and his appearance alone? Was it that simple? If it was that easy then he had to get moving. He needed to continue his journey.

When they returned to the house, supper was waiting for them. The meal was delicious but the knots in his stomach prevented him from fully enjoying it. Once they finished eating Kai left the table and hid in his room. He would leave tonight while everyone else was asleep. Meanwhile he changed into his old clothes and left the new set folded on the chair.

"Kai?" Abby poked her head through the door.

"Go away," he snapped.

Of course she did not listen. Instead she entered the room and closed the door behind her. "Are you alright? You didn't seem yourself at dinner."

"How can you say that? You have only known me for a few weeks."

"I guess you're right. I just meant that you aren't acting normal today. Are… are you leaving?" she asked, looking at what he was wearing.

For some reason he felt guilty that she had caught him. So guilty he wouldn't look her in the eyes. "Yes."

"Please don't go," she begged. "I know farming isn't really an interesting line of work but we could really use your help. Ever since our last stable hand left Pa has been struggling in the fields. Can' you stay for the rest of the season, please?"

"I should really get going," he said, still unable to meet her eyes.

"Please Kai, we need your help.

He lifted his head and looked her in the eyes. The plan was to tell her no and leave the room. One look into those big round eyes though, those big, watery, eyes, he couldn't be the one to make her cry. He turned away and glared at the wall. "I'll stay until the harvest, then I'm gone."

"Thank you Kai!" the girl cheered, giving him a hug.

He pried her off of him. "Don't hug me!"

He glared at the smiling girl. What was with this girl? How could anyone be so happy? She ignored his wish and latched herself onto him once again, giggling happily.

A/N I told you that my next chapter would double in size. Now I would absolutely love i if you clicked that little blue botton and review.

Thank you, come again. :D