02: Siblings

The day had finally come to an end and everyone was released from their classes and headed on back to their dorms or wherever else they wanted to go. Kazuma was one of the few who went back to the dorms. He was glad the day was over. Not only was the classwork so painfully easy for him, but the students were just so irritating. They were so many of them wanting to talk to him to 'get to know him' and the like. But all of them just seemed to rub him the wrong way. Thus, he didn't associate with anyone. And now, he was preparing himself for what they were going to say about him tomorrow. Not like it would bother him though.

He finally made it back to his room, avoiding all the stares the other boys would give him. It was bugging him though. He felt like he was being watched all day. So he quickly entered his room and shut the door behind him. A sense of relief washed over him as soon as he entered. Finally, he was alone.

"Welcome back." Or so he thought.

"Y-You again!" The hooded-man from yesterday appeared once again sitting in the chair while staring at Kazuma with his piercing golden eyes.

"Did you enjoy your first day of school?" Kazuma just looked at him while being wary of the strange figure. He was still trying to figure out who this person was and why he was appearing in his room. During the whole day at school, Kazuma was checking every student his eyes fell on to see if maybe one of them was this man. But, no one caught his attention. The way this man vanishes and appears though, it made Kazuma question his own sanity.

"I'm not going crazy am I?"

"Who knows. But, if you are, it wouldn't surprise me in the least. Avoiding everyone, and being all weird... No wonder you have no friends."

"You were watching me?" The thought of it disturbed him.

"Of course I was. I'm always with you...so long as you have that tablet." Kazuma quickly went in his pocket and took out the stone tablet he found yesterday and examined it.

"You're here...because of this?"

"That's right." Kazuma was even more intrigued by it then before.

"Are you, by any chance, some kind of spirit then?"

"Hmm...I guess I am...in a sense." To see if all this was really true or not, Kazuma walked closer to the man and reached his hand out to touch his shoulder. To his surprise, his hand went right through. But rather than being disturbed by it, Kazuma smiled in excitement.

"Amazing! This is simply amazing!" The hooded-man couldn't see his eyes, but he was sure they were similar to a small child's surrounded by mountains of toys.

"You think this is amazing?"
"Why wouldn't I?" Kazuma stared at the stone tablet once again. "I didn't want to come to this school in the first place. But a discovery like this makes coming here not so bad. I wonder if there's anything else here?" The man couldn't help but feel somewhat amused. He thought the kid would be freaked out by all this. To his surprise, that wasn't the case.

"Interesting...I think I'm starting to like you."

The sun had set and lights illuminated the night sky. The city was busy as usual with the streets crowded with all kinds of people. Celica was among them as well walking while looking around her surroundings.

"I hope he's home..." She made a turn at the next corner and continued walking straight while examining the buildings she passed by. She eventually came to a stop when she saw a man with long spiky, blonde hair walking out of one of the buildings in front of her. "Ragna!" She yelled out grabbing the man's attention. He looked back to see who was calling him.

"Celica?" The young girl ran up to him. The man named Ragna, didn't seem too happy to see her though. "What are you doing here?"

"I just..." Celica paused for a moment examining his face. She couldn't help but feel a bit hurt by it. "I just wanted to see you."

"Well you're wasting your time." He began to walk away until she called out to him again.

"Wait!"

"What the hell do you want?" His tone became harsh and she was taken aback by it.

"What's going on with you? You've been acting strange for these past couple days."

"Nothing's going on..."

"Is it my sister then?"

"No... Your sister has nothing to do with it. But she is gonna start bitching to me again if she finds out you were here. And I really don't want to deal with her shit right now." The pink-haired teacher was indeed annoying when it came to the issue of Celica seeing him. Both Konoe and Ragna told the young girl to stop seeing him, but she didn't listen to neither of them. Ragna knew the girl liked him. And truth be told, he did enjoy her company. Maybe even liked her a bit as well. But, he knew Konoe worries much for her younger sister. And in her eyes, she didn't like the whole idea of a young seventeen year old high school girl, who was her sister, making visits to see a twenty-four year old guy such as himself. If it was just the age difference however, then maybe it wouldn't have been such a big deal. But to add more to the issue, Konoe knew all about him...and what he does. It's not like he was proud of what he was doing either, but his life never goes how he would like it to be. He had to do what he had to do.

"Then...why do you seem so distant?" Her brown eyes stared right into his green ones hoping he would open up to her. "I'm here for you... You do know that don't you?"

"...Yeah. I know." He looked at her one last time before he went on his way.

"Guess who's here to take you home?" A young girl sat on a bed in a hospital room looking out the window. She turned her head to see the nurse walking in along with Ragna who she was so desperately waiting to see.

"Big brother!" Her face lit up and she quickly jumped out of bed and into her brother's arms.

"Hey Saya. Sorry I'm late. I hope I didn't make you wait long." The young, long, blonde-haired girl just smiled.

"It's fine big brother. I'm just so happy I'll be able to go back home now." The nurse looked at the siblings hug for a bit with a smile on her face.

"I know you must be quite the lucky girl to have such a wonderful and dedicated brother like him." Ragna blushed a bit from the comment.

"Of course!" The young girl replied. "My brother is the best brother in the whole world! I plan on marrying him one day!"

"S-Saya! Don't say weird stuff like that!" Ragna felt a tad awkward to what she said. The nurse just let out a chuckle and started walking towards the door.

"Well, You two take care now. Especially you missy!" The nurse waved them a goodbye before leaving the room.

"Anyway, we should start heading home before it gets too late." Ragna grabbed her bag and took her hand in his and started heading out. He was glad his little sister was coming back home where she belonged. But he couldn't help but wonder how long will it be before she has to come back to this hospital once again. Saya was always such a fragile girl. He always worries about her. Each time she would get sick, it was another trip to the hospital. And she would stay there for weeks. She was only sixteen years old and she couldn't live out her youth to the fullest because she was so weak. She didn't have many friends either because of her sickness. So the only people she really had, was himself, and their other sibling Jin. But...

"Big brother?"

"What is it Saya?" The two stopped in front of an elevator with Ragna pressing the button to call it.

"Is...Is Jin home?" He had a feeling she would ask about him. But not because she wanted to see him.

"I don't know. He might have gotten home while I was on my way here." He saw her looking down at the floor replying with a simple 'Oh'. While Saya and Ragna's relationship with each other was very close, the same could not be said for her and Jin's. No matter how hard Ragna would try and bring the two closer together, it just wouldn't happen. Jin couldn't stand Saya. And so she would always be intimidated by his cold attitude towards her. Ragna knew Jin was just jealous of her though. Admittedly, Ragna would always give his attention to his younger sister first before anything else. Not to say he neglected Jin, but because she was the youngest, and the only sister he has, and the fact that she was so frail, Ragna couldn't help but spoil her as well as be protective of her. Perhaps a bit overprotective.

"Big brother...do you have to work tonight?"

"Unfortunately, I do." By the look on her face, Ragna knew she was disappointed.

"Oh, okay..." She didn't want to be left alone with Jin. Ragna was well aware of that.

"Don't worry. I'll be back soon." He smiled reassuring her. "You have to wake up early for school tomorrow anyway. So when we get home just get ready for bed. I promise I won't leave until you fall asleep." His warm and gentle smile made her worries disappear. Even if it was for just a brief time.

She was indeed a lucky girl. Ragna was her everything. And there was nothing in the world that could change her mind nor take his place in her eyes.

The young girl had finally fell asleep and Ragna got up and switched the light off. He opened the door and looked at his little sister once more before leaving and quietly shutting the door behind him. He walked into the living room and looked at the clock set on one of the end tables beside the couch.

10:31 P.M

"It's about time for me to go..." He went back to the direction he came from and went into his room which was a bit further down the hall from Saya's and Jin's respective rooms. He checked under his bed and grabbed a strange massive looking object wrapped in cloth being held together by belts. He placed the mysterious object on his bed to take out a red jacket from his closet. He got his arms through the sleeves putting on the jacket and took out a pair of black gloves and put those on as well. He grabbed the object from his bed and strapped it around his back before leaving his room and then started heading for the front door to his apartment.

"Going out?" Ragna turned and saw his brother Jin sitting on the couch with a book in hand.
"Yeah. I'll be back later."

"You know brother, you're starting to become famous within the academy. I can't get by a single day now without hearing the name 'Bloodedge' being mentioned." He closed the book and adjusted his glasses while a smirk formed on his face. "I'm not sure if I should be proud or worried."

"Worried. I'm not sure why you would be proud of it." Jin let out a snort to his brother's response.

"Maybe a bit of both. Proud because this just simply means you're becoming one of the best in the field. Of course, I always knew you would." Ragna was feeling a bit annoyed. "But I am worried. After all, I am your brother. And I'm attending the Military Academy which is under the famous Novus Orbis Librarium, whose also starting to take notice of your actions." The atmosphere became heavy suddenly as the two brothers stared at each other.

"Do me a favor and wipe that smirk off your face." Ragna couldn't stand that amusing look Jin had. He was enjoying this a little too much. But Ragna did admit. This was all pretty ironic. "I'm off." He turned his back to Jin to open the door and then left.

"...I can't help it brother. This is just too amusing... But please, be careful."

And there goes the first two chapters of this story. I'd appreciate some feedback if anyone can. I would like to keep going with this story, but if no one is interested then I'm just gonna discontinue it as I like to write for people more then myself (Unless it's my own story).

Anyway reviews are appreciated and let me know what you think of it so far. Thanks!