Fifteen years ago…

‘Please… hang in there,’ said the brown haired man, clutching his wife’s hand tightly in his hands as she yelled in pain. A few of the village women had come to offer assistance and support while she was bringing her first child to the world. Amidst the excruciating cries of the woman, there came a knock on the wooden door. An elderly man walked in, his face pale from fear.

‘The Ninjas and the Samurais are at it again…’ he panted nervously, trembling helplessly while holding himself up with his walking stick. ‘They are serious this time, and they are planning to engage at daybreak! We need everyone to stay indoors and keep low. I don’t want any of our villagers in danger.’

‘But she’s still in labour! The child needs close attention once it comes!’

‘H-He’s here…’

After hours of anxious anticipation and agonizing suffering, the newborn baby’s cry echoed as the first sunlight of the morning crept through the windows. The village women exchanged uneasy looks when they first laid eyes the child, wrapped in a sleet white blanket.

‘Congratulations, it’s a healthy boy,’ said the village lady to the couple, safely carrying their baby in her arms. As the people drew closer to take a peek at the baby, they all expressed their surprise, soft whispers and opinions issued around the room about him.

‘His hair… it’s so bizarre!’

‘It’s all white! We never see that around here.’

‘At this time of crisis too. It must be an omen!’

‘I think that –’ the brown haired man spoke suddenly, taking the child from the woman into his arms as he smiled blissfully. He brought his baby boy closer to his wife, the baby’s hair although bare was visibly sleet white, clean and pure against his yellow skin and the white blanket that covered his body. ‘– white is a beautiful colour.’

‘He’s my baby… he’s a gift… This white hair must mean hope and peace… a gift from the Gods,’ the mother uttered with tears of joy as roars and sounds of clashing swords were heard from the nearby forest, signaling the start of a long war.

***

It was the year 1473 and it has not been peaceful for the island of Amatsu. It has been one year since a sibling war broke out between the Ninjas and Samurais who fought because of their contradicting beliefs and conduct while proving the supremacy of their own kind. The right to protect the royal family was also at stake, the organization that earns this will have their guild officially recognize by adventurers worldwide and indirectly determining the propagation of their teachings. However, this affair had been extended too long, bringing unwanted suffering to the people of Amatsu.

It has not been a peaceful year for the Kusano’s either, even with the arrival of their first son. It should have been a cause for celebration for the villagers, as everyone were closely knitted on the island of Amatsu where any matters would not go unheard of, especially when in the ears of the housewives, who would pass it to the children and their husbands, who would pass it to anyone else who was uninformed. It was a joint effort, which became the reason why Amatsu never had any need for the printing press. This remained true until the curfew was imposed on the villagers the day of Kusano’s first son’s birthday, which also became the mark of the Amatsu Sibling War. Their son’s birthday was only celebrated on a small scale with some of their close family friends in their little home situated in south Amatsu near the wharf and the sea.

Four days after their son’s birthday, the Kusano’s were graced by the visit of the village elders, who were very disturbed by their son’s hair colour. It was not only unusual to find a child with white hair in these parts, but also for the islanders, white held a symbolic sign of misfortune. Many villagers found the birth of Kusano’s white haired child to be a bad omen, especially when a war broke out right after he was born. There were those who were ready to stand behind the Kusano’s and defend the child, asserting that the misfortunes that followed the child’s birth should not be tied together.

“Mr. and Mrs. Kusano, we have invited feng shui experts from Louyang to help us with this situation,” said the elder who was tall and had a pointed nose, speaking for the Amatsu majority who were superstitious. “They will study your son’s ba zhi and see if we can remedy this bad luck. We would hope that you name your child only after listening to their readings and advice, I’m sure it’ll be helpful to the situation in Amatsu.”

“But the little boy has nothing to do with this!” said the woman who was the white haired child’s midwife. “We shouldn’t believe in this feng shui thing, village elders. We can only try to stop the Ninjas and Samurais from continuing this war.”

“Um… village elder sir…” Mrs. Kusano interrupted softly from her bed, her baby sleeping sounding in her arms. “We have already given him a name yesterday.”

The village elders were displeased by the Kusano’s and their casual behaviour even after bringing in what they claimed as a bad luck charm to Amatsu. Everyday after then was filled with war cries and the sounds of battle, inflicting panic into everyone in Amatsu. On many days, every week for the whole year, Mr. Kusano would need to leave his wife and son at home in his neighbour’s care while he dashed to the centre of the village, bringing himself closer to the battlefield up north to retrieve household supplies, just like many of the other men in the village. However, Mr. Kusano had found himself in tight spots on many of these occasions, often being insulted for fathering “the Unlucky White Boy”, giving him enough bad memories of war to last for a lifetime. Even then, the Kusano’s had been very loving to their son, making sure that he was always in good shape and insisting that his unique white hair was a gift from the Gods, and was a symbol that peach would come.

Today, the current king of Rune Midgard, King Tristan the Third decided to intervene in Amatsu, sending his Knights from the Prontera Chivalry to control the situation. Rune Midgard and Amatsu were trading allies, and King Tristan the Third had found the need to inspect the state of their trading ally. Because of grandeur of the event, the Ninjas and Samurais made a mutual agreement to cease fire for that day, and all of Amatsu would flock the streets to welcome the arrival of the Prontera Knights. This was no exception for the Kusano’s, who brought their son out to the wharf. As expected, they received negative reaction from most of the villagers, staring at their son’s white hair in disgust.

‘It’s that “Unlucky White Boy”!’

‘Aaaah! Don’t come close! You’ll bring me bad luck!’

‘I used to like you, Kusano. But you should’ve done something about that kid.’

The Kusano’s had grown numb by the pointless comments the villagers had about their son’s white hair. They remained in this discussion even until the village elders had brought the Knights down on to shore from the ship that brought them from Rune Midgard’s Port City, Alberta. The Knights were dressed in a chain mail that guards their body and neck under a silver armour, the proud emblem of Rune Midgard decorated their chests. Some of the Knights were mounted on Peco Pecos, giant bird-like creatures with a large beak and colourful feathers. There were those who preferred to travel on their foot at a moderate pace too. The Knights, males and females, were all curious and awed by the exotic beauty of this strange, war torn land.

‘Uh, let’s take a look in my handbook… hajimemashite everyone!’

‘Oh look at the people, they have a yellowish tinge in their skin.’

‘Hey, where are the cherry blossoms they were talking so much about? The trees that’s all pink?’

‘Sir, it’s not yet season for the sakura trees to bloom,’ the pointed nosed village elder explained to the Knight who was on a Peco Peco while the local tour guide pointed out notes of interest about Amatsu. The Knights continued to look around in excitement, trying to enjoy the breath-taking surroundings before heading over to the Amatsu Castle, also known as the Lakeside Castle for it is surrounded by a stream of water. Some of the Knights had even started to mingle with the locals, sharing stories about their own lands.

‘Oh… this is an Amatsu child…’ said a dark haired Knight on his feet. He had a faint blue aura around him and was carrying a spear along his back, approaching the Kusano’s who were standing innocently near the front doors of the weapon shop. He smiled at the couple, and with his hand he caressed the soft, white hair of their son, sending gasps amongst the villagers.

‘Sir, please don’t do that!’ a plump village elder snapped quick. ‘That child is unlucky, white hair is a bad omen in Amatsu.’

The dark haired Knight laughed, maintaining a tender look at the baby with his blue eyes that had a similar tone as the ocean pendant that hung from his neck. ‘It’s alright, little kids always bring luck,’ said the man. ‘This white hair… it’s beautiful and pure. Both of you must be really fortunate to have him. What’s his name?’

‘Hirei. Hirei Kusano, sir,’ Mr. Kusano replied after lowering into a bow, which the dark haired Knight responded in the same way.

‘Hirei… It sounds like Ray, like a droplet from the sun,’ the dark haired Knight laughed heartily once more, contagious enough for the Kusano’s to join in as well. ‘I have an affection for little kids lately. I’ve only had a baby girl a few months ago, you see. She’s a little smaller than Ray here.’

‘Oh, congratulations!’ Mr. Kusano said. ‘Hirei is almost a year old now. His birthday is around the corner now.’

‘Wow, will the both of you be celebrating his first birthday?’ the dark haired Knight asked. ‘If you are, I’d love to come to your house then. Would that be alright?’

‘It’ll be an honour, sir,’ said Mrs. Kusano happily, touched by the fact that someone had appreciated the beauty of Hirei’s hair just like they did. ‘We’ll welcome you with open arms.’

‘Hey, Darian! We’re heading to the Amatsu Castle already,’ yelled a female Knight with a red scarf tied at her neck to her colleague. The dark haired Knight waved back upon being addressed to, and said his goodbyes to the villagers and the Kusano’s.

‘Be good, little boy,’ said Darian to the baby Hirei before he left. ‘May Odin protect you, and that your white hair will prove that it is a sign of peace.’

***

Four years later…

‘Hey “Unlucky White Boy”! You forgot to finish my homework!’ yelled one of my schoolmates at me while I was walking towards the school gates after the bell rang. Amatsu was still in a middle of a war, but the villagers decided that we should still carry out some activities, like schooling for kids like me at the south side of Amatsu where we are far from the battlefield in the Amatsu Fields.

And by “Unlucky White Boy”, they are referring to me. For some odd reasons, they probably find it more fun to say something with five syllables instead of “Hirei”, an old-fashioned, not so interesting and potentially harmful two syllable name. The children liked teasing me, and had a weird theory that by bullying me, they could reduce the apparent “bad luck” that I bring. It is the kind of thing five year old kids would do to a five year old who did not act childish like me. It was made clear to me that no one would become friends with the boy who was a bad omen, said to have brought about the Amatsu Sibling War. Other than some of the adults who pitied me and my family, I have never had the chance to interact with kids my age before. You could call me anti-social in a way; I am always alone in silent areas, where I start to become fond of. I did not like talking much either and try not to bother with their insults as I hate to get into trouble, although there’s this conscious inside me that keeps talking and disturbing my peace. He is like this mini version of me that sits on my right shoulder, nagging on and having an opinion about everything and anything under the sun. Just the other day, he shifted over to my left shoulder and complained that the spikes on the right side of my head were too long and sharp and that I needed a haircut soon. And right this moment, he is asking me to run towards the boy who is threatening me right now and stomp over his homework.

I lowered my head and pulled my brown bag closer to myself, running off quickly before the boy called his friends to gang up on me. I did not want to pull too much attention to myself, but with my spiky white hair, and the fact that I had just slipped into a puddle of mud when turning out of the school compound, I always seem to do the opposite. The kids were laughing at me now, cheering that my bad luck has only been affecting me.

‘Haha! Clumsy little Hirei!’ a bespectacled boy jeered as he clapped his hands happily. ‘See what happens after you bring bad luck to other people? You know what I heard from my dad, that Hirei killed a Knight who touched him on his one year old birthday!’

Oh, come on Hirei! You don’t have to keep it in! Just give that kid a good one two! Mini Hirei was at it again, and was insensitive to my feelings. I could not remember the Knight they were talking about, but okasan told me that a really kind man from Prontera said that the colour of my hair was beautiful; I always loved it when okasan and otosan say that my white hair was beautiful. The Knight said he was going to celebrate my birthday for me that year, but he died in the war on that very day.

Labels: NaNoMadness, The Eminent Guardians