In the clear blue sky, the sun radiated it's warmth onto a busy village. Villagers bustled in and out of their wooden huts. Just outside of that magical village, were two small children, a boy and a girl aged ten and eleven.
The boy, wearing a smooth black jacket and baggy shorts, sliced the air with his long, slim swords. He has short brown hair with pitch black eyes. On top of his head were two drooping wolf-like ears. Shadows twirled around his feet and imploded, throwing him up into the air. He landed stealthily onto the ground. His black tail also steadied him as he fell. He grabbed two throwing knives, placed on his calves, and with the unique patterns etched onto them, he threw them precisely at a wooden target. A black mist followed the blades as they penetrated the air.
The girl, meanwhile, controlled a tiny bit of magic at her fingertips and threw it up, forged it into a spherical shape and caught it. She also had animal ears on her silky black hair but hers were shaped like a fox's and her tails were also a fluffy white. A white arctic fox. A warm sensation radiated off the magical sphere, tickling her hand. She added an array of different colours and pointed her hands towards the ground, making a translucent glow around her, causing a slight illumination of her surroundings.
She was about to suggest practicing a joint attack when suddenly she remembered that she forgot to ask him something. She began sprinting towards him, closing the distance between her and the boy.
''Sanji!'' She shouted. Sanji paused in between his movements and turned around to see Yuuki also wearing her usual combat clothes, running at him. A black baggy shirt, black trousers, a neatly tied ponytail and her 5 tails swaying behind her like a skydancer.
''What?'' Young Sanji replied irritatingly. He hated being disturbed during training.
''Have you heard of the rumors? There's a stray the hunters found near the Illusion Forest!" She stopped to see how he would react. After making sure she had caught his attention, she continued.
"Apparently, the Elders are looking after her but she's not doing that well. She ate some Void Berries without knowing they were poisonous." She told him."Oh, and also people are saying that she has strange golden runes on her knuckes." She added. A cheeky grin spread across her face."What do you think? Should we check it out?''
As soon as he heard her words he immediately knew that he was going to be able to put his skills to the test.
"You know the drill,"He returned the grin.
The sky gradually darkened and a building towered over them. The hospital walls were made of cold, colourless stone and the windows reflected the moonlight.
They both knew what to do.
Sanji climbed the side of the stone, hanging onto the windowsill poking out of the building. He threw himself up, his feet making the windowsill rock slightly. His hands felt the glass. He tried to find a way to open it but failed, so he pulled out a small dagger and made a hole at the bottom, thin and small enough for him to grab the lever and open the window.
Yuuki jumped up and followed closely behind him as Sanji snuck inside on his tip toes. He looked around the room. To the left was some herbs and a bucket to create medicines and elixirs. To the right, he saw a small girl, laying on the bed. Her ears were shaped like a cats but a golden colour faded from the tip of the ears to the base, which was a deep brown. His eye caught something glowing a faint yellow-ish colour. To his surprise, golden runes reflected in the moonlight on her tiny knuckes, making it even more visible.
"Yukki, look at her knuckles," Sanji quietly pointed out to his partner in crime behind him.
"I wonder what species she is," Yuuki asked. She crouched down at the bed's end and saw a name.
"'REDACTED', doesnt that mean they dont have a name?" She thought outloud.
"She probably has a name, she just hasn't woken up yet," Sanji made his way towards the plain, boring bed. Curiously, he reached out to touch the glowing golden runes on one of her knuckles but a tiny yellow sparked in between his finger and the rune, like a connection. He flinched and took his hand off. Realising nothing had happened, he tried to redo the phenomenon. He tilted his head in confusion as he made contact and realised that small girls eyes were slowly opening. Her emerald green eyes, like small gems, stunned Sanji momentarily. They slowly drifted towards him, her long eyelashes complimenting them, which was still bursting with colour.
Suddenly, more sparks appeared and became larger and stronger, taking over his body, the sparks reached inside him and he started glowing as it launched him backwards into a wall. The small girl looked up, panicked, and tried her best to sit up straight. The sparks had disappeared and faint marks appeared all over him. Yuuki's eyes widened as she looked at Sanji's body, engraved into the wall and shot up as fast as she could.
He came off the wall slightly, his sleek feet hitting the ground while a deep crimson blood trickled from his lips. His hand rubbed the back of his head, the other one wiping blood off of his maroon lips. The taste of iron filled his mouth and he tried to come back to his senses.
"Sanji!" Yuuki lunged forward and held the back of his head and his chest, "Are you okay?"
"We... gotta go. We can't stay here... otherwise security will come" He said weakly. He got off of the wall and shuffled towards the window, his hand still on his lips.
"We'll come back soon, Golden Girl," Yuuki called out behind her. Her voice was laced with worry but she tried not to show it. The thick opaque curtains swayed infront of the window, and Sanji disappeared behind a strong gust of wind, Yuuki followed after him, once again, disappearing before the curtains revealed them.
The crunching of leaves struck the ground, and so did two troublemakers, "Lets move," Sanji muttered.
"Wow what a great idea! Why didn't I think if that?" Yuuki scowled.
"Just shut up and let's quickly get back. We're gonna get caught if we stay here." After that minor throwback, he wasn't in the best mood. Yuuki threw him an irritated glance but didn't say anything more. She knew it was more a matter of pride than pain with Sanji so she chose to stay quiet. Then they split up and returned to their homes in the dead silence of the night.
When the sun reached it's peak, the news of people breaking in into the Rune girl's room filled the ears of every person in the village. Sanji and Yuuki met up at the same spot that they did yesterday, this time sitting down on the vibrant grass.
"What are we supposed to do now?" Yuuki asked. She sat with her legs crossed and hands behind her.
"Simple, isn't it? We gotta go back for Golden Girl," he replied weakly, his head still throbbed a bit from last night's... roadblock.
Silence sounded around them both and after a while Sanji blurted,
"They probably tightened their security."
Yuuki turned her head and scrunched her face.
"Oh really? Thanks Detective Rentaro, I didn't think about that."
He smirked a bit, "You're so dumb you probably didn't even think about it," he chuckled. They both knew that she really didn't think about it before Sanji thought of it so they both laughed.
"They added bars onto the windows, I saw it this morning." She added after recovering.
"Hmm so this time its gonna be harder you say? I'll keep that in mind." Sanji sighed.
"The plan is to break in again tonight but this time we should actually talk to the girl without scaring her and be more discreet. Maybe you can use a spell to slice the bars? Mine aren't as effective as yours." Sanji ranted.
"Good idea. Maybe you wouldn't have to be blasted at a wall again if we are nicer. But for now let's train a little more and we'll meet up here just before dusk. Sound good?" Yuuki tilted her head in question.
"Sure." Sanji muttered.
They had to get to the girl again. They both had so many questions and as the young kids they were, a simple couple of bars couldn't stop them. After all, training was part theory and part experience. Getting up, they resumed their training.
Dusk fell upon Fujito village, the troublemakers met up at their agreed spot and quickly made their way to the hospital the second time this week. Once they were in front of it, Yuuki turned to Sanji and asked,
"Windows again?"
''Windows again", he nodded.
He held out both his hands and Yuuki stepped on them with one foot.
"On the count of three. 1,2,3!" She thrust herself forward and caught the edge of the windowsill and placed a foot on one of the niches conveniently implanted below the window. She pulled the dagger she 'borrowed' from her dad from its sheath and carefully sliced the bars. If her dad found out she took it, she would surely be severely punished but she had to take that chance. She was bubbling with curiosity. Once she was done she sheathed the dagger again and cast a spell to silently bend the bars outwards so the two of them could enter.
The young girl brushed off the non-existent dust on her shoulder and turned around to call out to Sanji.
"Are you gonna stay there all night like that? Oh yeah... I forgot... you can't come up without me. My bad" she whisper-teased.
Sanji scowled at her but nonetheless told her to pull him up.
Climbing up, he noticed that the girl was awake. They locked eyes and he saw a moment of terror flicker in those emerald eyes. She immediately sat up and blinked the hazyness aside. Clumsily getting out of bed she grabbed a surgery scissor from the table next to her and pointed it at them. It was evident she was scared because her cat-like tail-which was also a mixture of gold and brown- straightened up like a ruler. Her voice ablaze with fear and desperation she said, "Who are you? Why are you here? What do you want from me?" Her head turned from side to side, trying to look at both of the new strangers that entered her room in the middle of the night the second time.
Immediately sensing the girl was panicked, Yuuki secretly created a calming aura around the room to soothe the situation.
"Hey please calm down, we're not here to hurt you. We just wanted to see if you were alright." Yuuki slowly edged towards her, hands out to show her she had no ill intentions.
Sanji, who had climbed in soon after, was currently leaning on the wall with one shoulder and his arms were crossed. He was wearing a look of amusement in his eyes.
"I won't hurt you. Unless you decide to hurt me or her again. It was quite painful that cut you gave me you know." He said in a matter-of-fact tone. The Golden Girl slightly relaxed when she heard that they didn't mean any harm but didn't let her guard down just yet.
"I-I... won't hurt you. Can you please tell me where I am?"
She asked vulnerably, finally putting down the scissors on the table. Her tail also drooped down but her ears were twitching- a sign of alertness.
Yuuki took the initiative and introduced herself.
"My name is Yuuki Akiru and this is my friend Sanji Rentaro. You are at Fujito village and you're here because you ate those Void Berries remember? Those were poisonous but luckily our village hunters found you just in time so you didn't die." Yuuki said in a calm and pure tone. It soothed the girl's anxiety.
"Now can you tell us anything about yourself? Your name or why you were in the Illusion Forest?" She continued.
Due to the effectiveness of Yuuki's aura, the little girl relaxed and looked into her eyes.
"My name is...Kira." was all she could whisper, as though it was hard to even remember her name. "I-I was hungry and the berries looked so delicious.." She paused and winced at her stupidity.
"I didn't know that they were poisonous." Suddenly she looked up and caught Sanji's eye.
"Please help me! I want to go back to my master! He must be waiting for me. I- I need to get back." She pleaded with her sparkling eyes which were threatening to spill tears.
Sanji nonchalantly looked at Yuuki,
"Thoughts? Do we help?"
Yuuki's heart ached for the poor girl, not only had she almost died but now she was stranded and she didn't know the strangers breaking into her room, twice. She decided to help her get back to whoever the Kira's master was. At least they owed her that much after putting her through last night.
Yuuki pursed her lips and nodded seriously. He took the gesture and glided his eyes towards Kira. He sighed, pushed himself off the wall and walked over to her. He then held out his hand to the feeble girl sitting on the bed. She looked up slowly and hesitantly.
"Are you..really going to help me?" She whispered, she was in a slight shock that these two 'criminals' were trying to help her.
"Sure, why not?" Sanji shrugged and looked down at her. He didn't really care as long as there was excitement and adrenaline.
Kira slowly put her hand into his. In the blink of an eye, another set of sparks appeared but they were tame, harmless. Both Sanji and Kira were surprised and looked at each other, still holding hands.
"Is that your power?" He asked.
"Y-yeah.. Will you still help me?" She questioned weakly. She feared they would be scared off by her unusual power.
"Yep," his other hand ruffled her hair, "Sit tight, we'll be back tomorrow.. Kira!" He smiled.
Yuuki smirked too and walked over to Kira's opposite. She held her hand and in a blink of an eye, an unbreakable bond was formed between these three unsuspecting children.