Kai cradled his son in his arms with tears in his eyes as he thought about what he was preparing to do. Keith just smiled at him with such innocence that made it even harder to get started. But Kai knew that he couldn't take care of his toddler when he was being drafted into the army for a war that they needed everyone they could get. Kai stroked Keith's cheeks where the stripes that he had inherited from his mama, first on one cheek then on the other.
Reluctantly, Kai started gathering Keith's things and a few items that he wanted Keith to have if he didn't make it back. He held his son the entire time, wanting to hold him as long as he could. Keith enjoyed the attention and was soaking it in. But eventually he realized that something was going on and he didn't like it, causing him to cling to his daddy as tight as he could with his chubby little hands.
Before Kai knew it, everything was packed and ready to go and buckled Keith in for what he knew could be the last time. Kai talked to his son the entire trip to comfort him and himself, while also keeping his mind off of dropping Keith off with his friend Nona, who ran an orphanage, and he knew that she would take good care of Keith and keep him from harm. When they arrived, everything was silent, and Nona greeted him warmly before showing Kai the room that she had set up for Keith while he caressed Keith's soft violet hair. Everything just went by too fast, and before Kai knew it, it was time to say goodbye. More than a few tears were shed when he handed Keith over and kissed him goodbye.
Fourteen years later, Keith had decided that he didn't have to pay attention to the speaker today since it wouldn't affect his grades and was staring out the window. He didn't care that Takashi Shirogane was a famous pilot, all Keith cared about was that he was working with the people who had taken his dad away from him. The feel of his pendant against his skin, made him feel better and turned his mind to think about the stories Nona told him about his dad. One of them was that he had once told her that there were secrets about the pendant and now Keith would have to discover them on his own, since Nona didn't know any more than that.
When he thought no one would see, Keith moved his hand to where it was under his shirt. The pendant was round and medal-like with some intricate designs on it, one of which was in the center and had a dim blue glow to it that seemed to pulse with energy. Keith loved looking at the pendant and tracing the designs with his finger, in fact he hardly ever took it off and that was when he needed to. The only reason that Keith made sure that no one saw it was that he was afraid that they would take it away or break it.
Keith was pulled back to the present when he heard the pilot asked who wanted to join the Garrison and everyone else responded eagerly. After that it wasn't long before Keith found himself outside, sitting on the sidewalk while the other kids crowded around the game. He didn't want to admit it, but flying a spaceship did sound like fun. Keith was just struggling to look beyond the connections between the Garrison and the disappearance of his dad during the war. So, he just sat there watching some birds while waiting for it to be over and perhaps the school day ending so that he could go home.
Eventually, Takashi asked Keith if he wanted to try, and Keith figured that he'd minds well give it a shot. Much to his surprise, not only did Keith discover that he absolutely loved it, but he was also actually really good at it. Everyone was shocked at this and some even claimed that it was broken. What was even better was that he was even impressing the pilot, if he was impressed, that had to be good right? Keith couldn't help but listen to what he was saying to his teacher and hope that it was good. "What about this kid? He seems ready for the real thing."
"Keith?" The teacher asked surprised. "Keith is a sensitive dolt who is a disciplinary case, he would not do well in an environment like the Garrison." When he heard that, Keith bolted from his seat all the way to his locker, grabbed his stuff and slunk home. Reaching his room, Keith dropped his backpack, took off his shoes and curled up on his bed to cry. It wasn't like he was trying to have a bad record at school, or didn't care. The boy just struggled keeping calm when people (especially adults) were mean or took something the wrong way.
No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't seem to please his teachers, or most other adults. Not even by getting a good grade, he had some of the best grades at the school, but no one seemed to care about a lonely orphan like him. It was not long before there was a knock at the door. "Nona!" Keith exclaimed before giving her a hug.
"What's wrong Sweetie? Were they being mean at school again?" She asked scooping him up in her strong arms and sitting on his bed. Keith then told her what happened feeling a little better now that she was there.
"You'll get your chance someday Keith, and I'm going to help you in any way I can."
"Thanks Nona."
Keith had just finished reading his latest comic book when he heard a knock at the door. Opening the door, Keith surprised to see the pilot and wondered what he was doing here. The pilot explained that he wanted to give Keith a chance at joining the space program and that he was there to ask if Keith was interested. "I'd love to if you can get them to accept me. Most people don't give me a chance when it comes to things like this." Keith replied moving his bangs out of his face and realizing that he needed to get a haircut while also wondering if he would have to get it cut more than back to his normal shaggy hairstyle.
"I think I can get it arranged; my friends will help me out if there's any trouble. But we have a whole summer before we get to that, in the meantime I was thinking that we could go out on little outings, if that's okay." Shiro replied with a smile.
"That'd be great! Um… I kind forgot your name already." Keith replied, embarrassed that he had been paying so little attention that he would forget by the weekend.
"That's okay, just call me Shiro, people seem to have an easier time remembering that."
"Are you nervous?" Shiro asked Keith as they left the tour and headed to the dorm that Keith was going to share with three other boys. Keith could only nod as he thought of the possible scenarios that could play out. "Don't worry, they're all nice boys and I think you will fit in with them just fine." Shiro assured him. Keith hoped that Shiro was right, it would be nice to have some friends, but that didn't make it any easier meeting people who he'd be living with for a whole school year.
When Keith first entered the dorm there was no one in sight and he thought that he might be able to look around before meeting anyone. But just as Keith was heading over to the bedrooms one of them opened and one of the others came out. "Hi, you must be Keith, I'm Matt. Nice to meet you." He said walking over. "Lance and Hunk will be here shortly; they missed the first two tours because they got stuck in traffic."
"How did you know my name?" Keith asked wondering if there had been something that he missed.
"My dad told me who was going to be my dormmates and I've known Lance and Hunk since second grade, so it was just a process of elimination."
"That's nice, I guess. Have any of the rooms been claimed?" Keith hoped that he wasn't coming off as rude, he was just feeling more like an outsider than before and needed time to process this.
"No, not yet, I was going to wait for the others to pick one, but I'm sure they wouldn't mind if you picked one." Keith smiled gratefully, glad that Matt seemed to know that he needed some time to adjust. Walking to the room on the far left, Keith opened the door and stepped inside, feeling more comfortable now that he was in a smaller space. His eyes were immediately drawn to the other side of the bedroom where a window seat with bookshelves on each side, drawers underneath, and nice cushion on it was. He walked over and sat on it, having found it very inviting. To his left, Keith noticed a built-in twin-sized loft bed with stairs, a little closet and a desk all built into it.
He liked how the space had been utilized and how it had a cozy feel to it that helped him relax. Keith decided to poke around, and looked in the drawers under him, before checking out the desk and then the bed. Once he was up there, Keith decided that he should see how comfy it was, so he quietly laid down and discovered that it was nice and soft. The boy was suddenly very aware of how tired he was and wondered if it would be such a bad idea to close his eyes for a couple minutes. Now he knew that the others were waiting for him to come out, but the bed was just so comfortable and the very thought of sitting up made him want to close his eyes even more. After a bit, Keith gave in and just closed his eyes.
The next thing he knew, Shiro was waking him up to meet his other two dormmates before they left so that Shiro could get Keith back home at the time that Nona had requested. Keith was embarrassed that he had been caught sleeping and followed him out to where the others were waiting. The boy clung to Shiro when he heard a loud thump, worried about what it could be. Though, soon it was clear that it had just been a heavy bag of flour falling on the floor and the dormmates whom he had yet to meet were arguing about whether it was necessary to have brought such a big bag. "Hey guys! Keith's out." Matt called to them, stopping the argument.
"Hi, my name's Lance, I'm here to become a copilot/weapons specialist."
"And I'm Hunk. I'll be doing most of the cooking for us. Oh, and I'm going to be an engineer." They seemed friendly enough, but that didn't stop Keith from feeling shy.
"I like your hair; did you dye it yourself?" Lance asked, hoping to get a smile.
"I… uh… yeah, it reminds me of my mom. Her hair was purple too. I mean… you know what I mean… right?" Keith replied, wishing he would be able to stop stumbling over that excuse.
"Yeah, we know what you mean." Lance replied with a smile which soon disappeared when he heard a beep. "Excuse me, I need to charge my leg." He said before hurrying into one of the rooms.
"He has a prosthetic leg that his sister invented. It works really well and allows him to do things that he wouldn't be able to do with others, but it needs power, so he has to charge it from time to time." Hunk explained. They continued talking and Keith learned that the others had agreed to let Keith have the room that he had fallen asleep in. By the time he and Shiro left Keith was feeling much better about living with the others in the dorm. In fact, he felt like they were going to quickly become friends. Things were looking up, and Keith felt like it could only get better from here.
