RENJI AIHARA

I remember the scene vividly the pool of deep dark red blood that stains my memory.

the blood of my parents as I watched them desperately use the remainder of their energy to protect me and my sister so we could survive the plane crash at the very least.

I remember me sitting there watching my parents fight humans who had attacked my family's flight for at the time reasons I did not know. I remember my sisters warning me not to run after my parents after we were attacked.

she could protect me, that's something that was made very clear throughout my life. I knew very well that whatever or whomever my sisters opponent was stood no chance but at the time the overwhelming thought of my parents dying of being severely hurt took over and I ran ignoring my sisters warning leaving her alone as I ran through doors of the corridor that seemed endless.

Eventually I heard the sound of metal clashing and threw the final door I screamed for my mom and dad I was temporarily calmed at the sight of my parents so much so that before i could catch my breath I ran towards them with a smile.

The horror on their face that day as they saw me was unimaginable. They screamed my name my father called out a chant and I turned to see a man behind me with his gun pointed in my general direction time seemed to slow as I watched him slowly pull the trigger letting off rounds of a semi automatic rifle but before the bullets could reach both my parents jumped in the line of fire to block the shots fired at me best they could

As the sound of the last shell hitting the floor sunk into my ear my father fired a surge of raw magical energy at the man standing in the doorway, due to his chant being lackluster from his poor condition.

That had been enough to kill the man thankfully.

After that my head spun thinking about what to say looking at my parents full of holes going from there torso down to their knees.

I was too shocked to say anything, I had realized that even if my parents were in a disadvantaged condition they could have won without my interference.

My mother had grabbed me and pulled me in close to her bloodied chest soaking her white dress in red crying asking if there was any pain.

My father just looked me in the eyes with his normal goofy grin as if he was fine and he knew this was coming.

"how are you feeling boy?" before I could respond I heard the sound of footsteps I knew right away they belonged to my sister Raiko

I could tell she stopped moving,Thinking, For a moment I thought I felt what seemed like anger pointed at me. Before long I had realized I was wrong it was pure sadness.

Before my sister could get any words out over the sound of her beating heart my father spoke first "did you win" my sister hesitated to respond, tears streaming down her face like a stream but eventually let out a dry, shallow " of course " my dad instantly shot back "good job" with a smile almost meeting his eyes.

"I knew you had it in you" my mother said as she began using her water magic to erect a barrier around me and my sister.

"listen- clo- sly you two" she spoke in a dry tone hard to hear as she was spitting up blood in between sentences.

For a moment I had thought she had accepted her fate long before this. I pushed aside these thoughts as they were doing nothing but spiraling me further into a emotional mess.

"I am so very proud of the both of you…."

She paused and looked up as If thinking. "And…. I apologize I won't be there to experience your marriage,or graduation from the academy, or things in your life that bring you happiness as you grow old" "I don't want… either of you to live thinking you have to uphold the Aihara lineage or anything absurd like that."

"Live good lives, be the people you want to be I love you so much" my mother began to start balling like I've never seen before.

Her ruby colored eyes shined one last time as they began to lose color and she asked my father was there anything he wished to say.

"There isn't much to add besides for my only two children to stay healthy" he said laughing as my mother laid her blood stained black hair against his shoulder they both smiled and asked to look at both their children one last time.

My sister hugged them both finally breaking down into uncontrollable tears.

" My son Renji be strong you are capable of a lot more than you think I will always watch over you ok"

Still crying I responded "mmh Kay I'll be strong"

"Eww your getting snot on my shirt Renji" Raiko tried to lighten our final moments with our parents

They both smiled "We love you both. be well on your journey"

Those were the last words I heard my parents speak to me, the words that will forever stick in my head and in my heart.

I wear my mothers pendant around my neck and I use her sheath.

It was pretty painful at first considering it was a magic training pendant and the sheath weight is set for my mother the most powerful magic sword fighter known to man but it meant the world to my mother while my sister had my fathers gloves.

we were both young at the time with no idea what to say no idea who to hate the memory of my mothers eyes losing color and fathers smile slowly fading did nothing but remind me that their death was my fault.

"Master…Mas…Ter… Master Renji"

I let out a scream only to find myself not on a crashing plane but in my bed.

It's been 5 years since that day…

I opened my eyes to see Saika she's my magical energy or so you could say she's more like a soul that makes up my sword she's a bit unique.

after a year or so after the "incident" or so the media is calling it I began training to take revenge on the people that killed my mother and father.

During that training my sword took the form of a girl that looks around my age maybe a bit younger or older… I'm never really sure.

She doesn't like materializing unless it's only me and her around so we communicate telepathically.

"Master Aihara?…Wake up young master, you promised Mistress Aihara you would start going back to school this year."

"Are you up in there Master Aihara?"

"Your breakfast will get cold if you don't come down to eat it soon"

"Yea I'm up I'll be there soon" I said more aggressively than I had intended to be.

"Young Master Aihara let me know if there's anything I can help you with ok?" "Will do, thanks," I replied quickly.

I haven't been to school since that day long ago but I can't just neglect it all together.

I sighed, "I think it's good you're going to school again" Saika said mentally.

"Oh really that's interesting" I said "how so?" she shot back, "all your gonna do is sleep in sword form anyway" I said as I began to walk down the spiral staircase.

"If you wish it I could attend your school with you as your lover master" She laughed, I let out a slight chuckle as I reached the bottom of the stairs and entered the dining area

"Good morning Young Master Aihara" "Good Morning Mei" "there are plenty of options to choose from what would you like for breakfast?"

"Can I just get an apple and a juice box, oh and a strawberry tart for Saika please." "Will Lady Saika be joining us today Young Master?" "Nah not today she says, I'll be having it to go as well," "Of course young master but do you think it wise to leave the estate the only time Mistress Aihara will return home? I'm sure she misses her only relative."

" It's fine I replied she's done fine without me for years a couple more won't hurt" I replied

I grabbed the apple tart and the juice box and headed back to my room where I had tucked in the white collar shirt. I didn't really like the jacket so I just slung it across my shoulder like a towel.

There she was in human form sitting on the edge of the bed the reason she doesn't like materializing or so she says is because she doesn't know what she is. She feels uncomfortable being "different" from everyone else.

The atmosphere was stale.

I could sense Saikas eagerness to tell me something so I waited till she spoke about it although I was ready to cut her short already knowing what she wished to say.

"Master you know" "yes I know Saika" i quickly replied.

"I know Raiko well trust me I do she doesn't blame me for what happened to our parents but that doesn't make me feel any better."

"Well we should probably get going we're supposed to be there for the entrance ceremony soon," saika didn't respond. I could feel her empathy leaking into my head.

"Don't blame yourself either you couldn't control when you would appear even if you did I was too scared to fight back then anyway it wouldn't have changed the outcome."

"Plus when you first formed all you did was hide away in my body like a shut in addicted to his games."

The walk to the school was silent. I haven't been in the sun in a while so I just took in the sunlight on a leisurely walk.

Finally, I had arrived and the sign said in big letters "Miwa Advanced Tutoring Academy" I had searched internally for Saika but she wasn't there so she must be asleep.

Although it's not what's expected out of a Aihara I intend to be a background character if at all possible.

Mother had told me to live life the way I wanted but also majority reason being I haven't been properly taught at an institution since my younger years as a kid.

In short everyone here probably has much more experience in basics than me and I don't wanna drag my class down.

I had been training much longer than any kid here I assure you so I should be able to pull my own here although I don't know what's expected of me.

As I stepped foot inside and walked towards the large sheet hanging with names I realized there were an odd number of stares hanging on me like I was some type of animal in human clothing.

feeling my worry Saika asked if I was ok "yea" I responded "it's ok" I told her she could go back to sleep that I decided to ask a group of students I seen passing by.

"Excuse Me could you guys possibly" before I could finish I was approached by a man.

"My name is Rendo come with me please the principal would like to speak with you" I followed quietly keeping my distance but not as far back that it could be seen as questionable.

we walked through a school that was extremely clean with many pictures of heroes from past times. I even saw a few of my mother and father which made me smile inside slightly.

We arrived at a black door after walking through a hallway of gold white decorations. without knocking a second or two passed and the door opened as confused as I was I didn't pay it too much mind and i step to the left of the man named Rendo.

"i'm here sir and brought the boy you requested with the strange Aura" "thank you Rendo you may leave" "strange Aura? I thought confused to myself at the choice of words he left with"

"You can sit boy, you are not in trouble."

"My name is Principal EarthBorn, a friend of your mothers,I brought you here because you are alerting the other students.

"Alerting…them?" I responded "how I just got here." Your Aura or discharge of magical energy is contaminated " he said "meaning?"

"Meaning you are in alignment with something far scarier than a beast" Scarier than a beast? What could you- i had understood what he meant.

"I will not ask you to rid yourself of demonic power." But It isn't an everyday occurrence nor something you would see in my school before today.

"in the world, as you know there are species, many of them in fact, that have been discovered and some even take on human like features such as myself a dragon one of four still alive."

"My apologies.". "It seems you are new and don't quite know how to control your powers completely but that's what my school is for."

"I hope you enjoy my school Renji."

"Thanks a lot principal EarthBorn."

I headed back to the front where the paper was that displayed the classes and it turns out my class is 2-4.

I headed to the second floor first classroom on the right. It looked like everyone wasn't quite gathered yet the sign on the door read find yourself a seat there are plenty I'll be there shortly.

I walked into the class and headed for a seat in the back row in the half circle shaped room.

I was almost immediately approached and asked if the seat next to me was taken although clearly it wasn't I responded nicely with "no not at all have a seat" the kid was small and scrawny but slung a hammer double the size of his body

Apparently the boys name was Curtis he spoke about a special visitor supposedly coming to the entrance ceremony that was a once in a lifetime.

I didn't pay him much attention but listened enough to give an appropriate response if any questions were asked. I wanted to avoid telling people my name due to my parents being famous and all.

The teacher finally arrived and everyone was seated. He spoke about the class expectations as class 4 and what not to do in his class.

"Today for our entrance ceremony we have a special guest that wants to wish the students here well on their studies. Show them what we are about and be on your utmost behavior"

once again another person spoke of a special visitor planning to come to the school entrance. We were headed to an Auditorium or so I've been told to hold the entrance ceremony.

We were among the last classes to arrive old man EarthBorn took the stage and the chatter quickly ceased.

He spoke of the history of his school and it's association to the 4 major industries of the world.

The Aihara family and their exceptionally large mana pool and assassin type swordplay.

The Kishi family and their knight order that protects the peace of the city and work for the government.

The Kiyomeru family and their advancements in alchemy and phenomenally wonderful medical care of the world

And lastly the Ōkui family with their deep pockets and financial support of the world

After that boring explanation apparently we were to meet one of the successors of one of those four families.

I had drowned out the noise of what was being said searching for Saika who was still sleeping soundly in the sword attached to my waist.

Without realizing it I was isolated in an area by myself with eyes on me,

Suddenly I thought about it, Those families should all be fighting in Reyseeve who could possibly have made time for this silly.. No.

Out of nowhere I was instantly the target of extreme malice and instantly my hand reached for my blade on instinct. I drew the blade and swung to the side but stopped as I realized what was transpiring.

There was only one person who could make it to that battlefield on time from here… "Damn it why does she always do this" "RAIKO!" I screamed her name.

"Whatever do you need little brother I'm always one call away" I can tell from her tone of voice she was enjoying this.

Once I hesitated I was already in her arms. She looked so slow but had moved so fast I didn't even notice her presence. It truly goes to show much she's been training since I've last been this close to her.

I had heard she was somewhere in a secluded mountain training with who knows and their companions.

Time began to flow like normal as I began to hear whispers. My sister asked for silence. She told me to follow her up to the stage and on the mic out loud she announced to everyone present " This boy is Renji Aihara and is my ONLY sibling."

RAIKO AIHARA

I hadn't originally planned to come to my younger brother's school. But once I found out he left home knowing I was coming home to meet him and I couldn't be here long it made me a little sad but this is as good a time as any to repair our bonds as siblings.

so I thought, "I'll embarrass him a little bit by making a surprise appearance at his entrance ceremony"

Time passed and the assembly had already started. I spotted him walking into the room with his class.

I stepped onto the stage when it was finally my turn to speak and pointed at my brother, the only one not paying me any attention as expected.

I took the chance to flash closer to him so before he could notice I could hug him.

he instantly drew his sword fast enough to slice me clean through had I been an actual attacker.

To be frank I was impressed but it wasn't enough to stop me I flashed behind him again and grabbed him from behind so I could give him a big hug.

There were whispers and with my magnetic hearing I could hear bits of conversations, some asking friends who my brother was, if he was my boyfriend or secret lover. Some asked how old I was and that I was pretty. I told my brother to follow me up to stage and cleared my throat before announcing to everyone in the stage that.

"This boy is my one and only brother his name is Renji Aihara" I turned slightly to see my brothers expression but to my surprise he looked back to normal as he stepped off the stage sheathing saika back in the sheath.

You could hear the sound of his sword with its pretty pink pedal sheath that once belonged to our mother as he walked away back into the crowd.

Renji couldn't exactly blend into the crowd anymore, everyone knowing that he was my brother and of the Aihara industry isolated him more so than I had thought.

I began to feel bad seeing how everyone stayed away from him but that feeling washed away as one boy walked up to him.

I couldn't quite hear what was said but his expression changed even if ever so slightly to form a slight smile for just a moment which was more than enough to warm my heart but it looked fake as if it was just a means to an end of a false expression. Still, I had a job to do.

I continued with my entrance speech and wished everyone good luck with their studies.

Principal EarthBorn finished up his entrance ceremony and students went off to their respective classes .

Of course I followed Renji around to his class I wanted to see how the boy who used to cry non stop had changed to this tough guy act.

Plus I followed him to stop off the line of girls trying to talk to him. I had heard from the maids in the estate that when he stopped going to school he locked himself in the training room or in his own room. I could understand why.

I did the same in a way. "Hey Renji, how's Saika?" I asked "She's sleeping." "supposedly she's bored she's missed you though" he replied. "Is that so?" "for someone acting tough you sure have a soft spot for Saika." "You could say that" he responded expression still unchanging.

He had finally arrived In his class meaning I had to leave soon but at least he hasn't completely avoided me like In the past.

it was sad not having him by my side. I stood in a daze thinking of my final words for my brother in this last moment I had with him for however long we would be apart.I hadn't realized I had the class attention unintentionally.

My daze was broke by the teacher yelling at me to leave for disturbing his class attention.

Before I could respond my brother stepped in and said "my apologies she's here because of me I'll escort her out please continue" as he grabbed my arm to pull me out of the class. I hated watching him have to apologize.

I looked back and gave the teacher a small smile not deathly but definitely not innocent, beads of sweat running down his face. He understood my threat. My brother then pulled me out and told me I could leave. I told him I loved him and missed him as much as I want him to fight with me against numerous foes I'm scared.

He was always more quick witted than I was I have no doubt he'd be placed a commanding officer as I almost immediately. But the fear of not being able to save him had the situation arise terrified me much more than any demon could.

I discarded the thought as I walked slowly to leave for the Reyseeve forest.