Kurogane

A young man, Kurogane Ikki, lay unconscious in a hospital bed. The large display on the wall above the head of the bed showed the state of the patient in a dozen numbers and graphs surrounding a central image of his beating heart.

Two girls sat beside the bed watchfully. The younger, slim with short silver-hair, was the boy's sister, Kurogane Shizuku. The elder was taller, voluptuous, with scarlet hair that reached half-way down her back was Stella Vemillion, the boy's fiancée and roommate here at Hagun Academy, one of seven Mage Knight academies in Japan.

"He saved my soul, you know," Shizuku said suddenly.

"How do you mean?" Stella said.

"He was the eldest of us in direct line, and should have been the heir of the family, but he was born without magic, and so was cast aside. Whereas I was born with the greatest power seen in a generation. From a young age I was doted upon, pampered and my every whim indulged until I became a spoiled brat."

Stella looked startled at the tone of disgust in Shizuku's voice.

"You think me odd for admitting to such a failing? Or perhaps you don't see it as a failing? As the second princess of the Vermillion Empire do you believe you should have everything you desire, whether you deserve it or not?"

Stella shrugged and just waited patiently for what she realized was a confession of wrongdoing.

"One day, I must have been nine, a son of one of the branch families made me angry. The boy was four or five. He was running and spilled a drink on me. I was in a towering rage. At a mere child. His mother came running up and apologized profusely and the child too. But I was not appeased. With the family retainers watching, I prepared to punish him–with magic you understand–but his mother shielded him with her body and begged me, crying all the while, to have mercy. But I wasn't moved. My fury couldn't be soothed with a mere apology. I was the star and future head of the family!"

Stella was startled to see tears welling in Shizuku's eyes. Shizuku turned her head down and twisted her hands together.

"What happened?" Stella said.

Shizuki glanced at Stella and quickly turned her head to watch her brother's unconscious face.

"Onii-sama walked up and stood in front of them and told me I was being unreasonable. That it was a regrettable accident but only an accident and nothing to get angry about. They had already apologized."

"That just enflamed my rage. Then he did the unthinkable. He slapped me. I was stunned. I held my hand against my face in shock. Then the family retainers who had been standing by, five grown men, beat him into a bloody, broken-boned, unconscious mess."

Stella gasped a breath. "The scars?"

Shizuka nodded. "Some of them he received later, but yes, every one of those scars he bears to this day. He was in the hospital for two months. After a week, I snuck away and went to visit him. When I saw what they had done to him–my brother only a few years older than I–I broke down and wept with my head on his bed."

"What happened then?" Stella said.

"He didn't condemn me, he didn't ignore me, he said 'don't cry sister'. Then he patted my hand  and fell unconscious again. That's all he had the strength for."

"I went and found the family who I had almost wronged, save for my brother's intervention. I made the retainers and body guards assemble the entire family in the tiny living room, then I made them go outside and close the door."

"Three children, parents, grandparents and I looked in their eyes and I realized that they didn't respect me because of my position or my power. They were afraid of me. I'm sure they were expecting me to unleash my anger on all of them. The adults all tried to shelter the children from me, no more than a child myself."

"I fell on my face and cried and begged their forgiveness. I could see the grandparents from the corner of my eye and they were shocked. Shocked that a high-ranking main-family member would beg their forgiveness. That just made it worse. Made me realize, in a way I could not ignore, that for generations this was the way of things. That the strong ruled and weak submitted. I had thought that those of us with power protected those without, but it was just power for power's sake."

"Then what?" Stella said.

"I stayed on my face and wept and begged until finally the little boy, who I would have hurt, possibly maimed for life, or even killed, squatted down and patted me on the head and forgave me. But I stayed there until every single one of the others forgave me too."

"I don't know what the retainers outside thought was happening. Like the family, they probably thought I was there to torture them all."

Shizuku gulped a couple of deep breaths and Stella realized that she was about to cry again. She slid closer and patted Shizuku's hand until she was calmer.

"It was after that, that I realized how our family was treating him, their own flesh and blood. I had always loved my onii-chan, but I never really knew what his life was like when I wasn't with him. The best days were when he was ignored, but those were few. He was bullied, physically, mentally, and emotionally. He was scorned, and made fun of, by adults, even by those younger than myself, who had more power than him."

"At first, I tried to help him, to shield him from the worst of it, but I couldn't be with him constantly, and when I wasn't around, I learned everything was much worse."

"He came to me one day and thanked me for trying and then he asked that I ignore him too. I refused and I shouted, but he was adamant, so I finally agreed."

"After I gave up trying to help him, it did die down somewhat, but something else stopped that I hadn't noticed; people had started to treat me differently. I had been looked at askance without realizing it. And I realized that was his true purpose in asking me to stop. He didn't want me to be affected, to be tainted by association."

"From then on, I had vowed to give him all the love and respect that our family refused him. From our parents, siblings, aunts and uncles, cousins, nieces and nephews. I would offer all that to him and more. I vowed that I would marry him."

"Uh, marry?" Stella said faintly. "You can't..."

"Do you think anything the head of the Kurogane–one of the greatest Mage-Knight families in Japan–wanted would be denied?" Shizuku smiled wryly. "Or so I thought at the time. I was young then. I've since learned that siblings can't marry in our society, not even for the family head. So I settled on becoming his lover. But it appears you captured him first."

"He is my brother, whom I love above all others, and I don't believe anyone can know him as I do. But if he chooses you, I will abide by his choice as long as he is not hurt." Shizuku gave Stella a fierce look. "But if you hurt him, I will kill you, even if it starts a war with your empire."

"I will protect him from the entire world, as he protected me from myself."

"I won't protect Ikki," Stella said,"for someone who is always protected can never grow stronger. I can't even promise never to hurt him, because that is part of life and relationships. I will promise never to intentionally hurt him. I will help him where I can. I will challenge him. I will beat him, if I can. That way, both of us will grow stronger."    

"Yes," Shizuku whispered, "perhaps you are the one he needs after all."

Shizuku took Stella's hand where it still rested on her own. "That will be enough, I think. You challenge him, and I'll shield both of you from our family."

The two girls smiled at each other and turned back to watch over the boy they both loved.