Kaze: Guardians

First Steps

     I opened my eyes, convinced that the girl had been nothing more than the product of an active imagination. I had landed in a bush, leaves blocking my view. As I shoved them aside, I gazed at the sky above me. The clouds had completely subsided. The moon had vanished, so every star in the sky shined brightly overhead. Small white trails crossed the sky and a single shooting star traced a line through the stars. I never would've seen this had I stayed home. I had decided I was a night owl long ago, but even I was mesmerized by the view of nature at its finest. I got up and took a leisurely stroll in the streets of... Hima? Was that its name? I couldn't remember for the life of me. The roads were abandoned and barren in the night. All of the families, servant and owner alike, had gone to bed.
               Except for one group.
     Men in black carried a very strange package that seemed to always wriggle and slide out of their hands on purpose! They struggled with it. I didn't like the way it made bile within my stomach rise. So, I did what any sensible main character would do. No, I didn't slowly walk away. I followed them. They carried the package to a building I had never seen humans enter before. I was a bit nervous. It had boarded up windows and a heavy stone door with boards over the top. I nervously pulled the sword out of its sheath. "Must've gone through a window that wasn't boarded over." I told myself. I was small for my age, so wiggling through a tiny hole in the wall was hardly a problem. I heard wood scraping on the floor above me and rushed up the stairs. The sight I saw was forever imprinted in my mind. One of the men held a small, dull knife to the neck of a little girl who was tied to a chair. She had purple hair tied back into two pigtails with loops at the tops. She gasped as she saw me appear at the top of the steps. The men followed her gaze and saw me standing right there. Now, as you'll soon find out, I am a complete idiot. Usually, when my feet should be running, they take the day off and let my mouth do the running. I get into a lot of crazy situations that way.
     "Well, I honestly think you could've done WAY worse. I'm actually kinda proud of you crazies."
     They, naturally, didn't take it very well. They chased me all around the room, knocking the little girl over. I wove around and cut her ropes. "Run!" I shouted to her. "Yo! I always thought criminals were fast. Keep up, slow pokes!" I said. They spat some colorful language at me and grabbed me by the wrist. I had been caught! "Curse my loud mouth!" I swung my sword like a baseball bat at my assailants, thinking to hit them with the broad, flat sides of the weapon. However, while I was freed, I was doing hardly anything to get us out of the situation. Nothing was working! I swung one last time at a criminal with the sides. I panicked, knowing I was doing it wrong, but my reflexes were too slow to stop me. I sliced through the man's head, spilling guts on the floor. "Well. That was effective." The little girl stood there, shocked. She then summoned a little ball of energy and chucked it at me. I yelped and ducked down and it hit a criminal that had been preparing to stab me. The girl and I worked as an excellent team, covering each other as if we had guessed each other's moves. As we finished, I turned to face the powerful child. "Thanks for the backup. If it weren't for you, who knows what would've happened!" She smiled, but didn't say a word. In fact, she hadn't said anything at all the whole time I had known her. I wanted to ask her about it, but decided against it. I didn't want to lose my first friend over something so trivial! "Hey, I'm not sure I want you all alone on the street so late at night. I'll take you home. Let's go." We walked along the dirt paths, pausing every now and then to look over our shoulders.