The Bright Child

Chapter One - What Used To Be A Childhood

The day was a bright sunny day, white puffy clouds in the bright blue sky, the sun shining down on everything in its path, especially the small playground in a small neighborhood.

A small boy around the age of five was running around the small playground, a girl around the same age as him was seen chasing him.

"Kazumi! Come back here!" The girl exclaimed, trying to reach the boy, her voice a high pitch.

"No can do, Haruhi! It's a game of tag! I'm not supposed to let you tag me!" The small boy, now known as Kazumi, replied, still running away from the girl now known as Haruhi.

Haruhi pushed her legs to go faster, slowly catching up to Kazumi before she jumped, tackling the small boy down with her.

"Oof!" Kazumi let out breathily, hitting the ground roughly.

"Are you okay, Kazumi?" Haruhi asked worriedly, not wanting her best friend to be hurt.

"Yeah, I'm fine, but you know... you tackled me and that's cheating! You shall pay!" Kazumi exclaimed lightly before pushing her off, getting on top of her and tickling her sides, causing light giggles to come out of the girl's mouth.

"I-I'm sorry, Kazumi! Ple- hahaha! Please stop!" Haruhi managed to let out between laughs, causing Kazumi to quietly laugh at her before he decided to stop, giving her air.

Getting up from the ground, Kazumi held out his hand towards Haruhi. Looking up at the hand, Haruhi grabbed it, letting herself get pulled up from the ground by her best friend.

"You're really cute, Haruhi! I don't get how those meanie boys could ever say you were ugly!" Kazumi exclaimed, looking over his best friend's facial features.

Shifting side to side, Haruhi looked away from Kazumi, playing with her dark brown hair that went to her shoulders, her chocolate brown eyes looking at the ground before looking towards Kazumi from the corner of her eye.

"Really..?" Haruhi let out hesitantly, nothing more than a whisper. Kazumi looked towards his female best friend before nodding heavily, a bright smile on his face.

"Of course I meant it, Haruhi! I'd be stupid like those other boys if I couldn't see your prettiness!" Kazumi declared, causing Haruhi to quickly cover her face, a hint of red peeking from under her hands on her cheeks.

Haruhi opened her mouth to say something else but before she could, a feminine male with long reddish-brown hair came rushing over to them, his chocolate brown eyes wide with worry and concern.

"Kazumi, Haruhi, you have to come with me!" The male exclaimed in a rush, most of his words coming together but still understandable.

Kazumi instantly became worried before following the male with Haruhi following behind him, trying her best to keep up with the two males, one of them being her best friend and the other being her father, Ryoji Fujioka, or more commonly known as Ranka Fujioka.

Noticing the route they were taking, Kazumi ran faster, outrunning Ranka quickly as he made his way to the hospital.

"Kazumi! Wait!" Both Ranka and Haruhi yelled as Kazumi quickly ran out of sight.

Making it to the hospital in minutes, he burst through the doors, running to the lady at the front desk.

"What room are my parents in!? Their names are Akita and Shoto Keitaro! Where are my parents!?" Kazumi exclaimed in worry, wanting to know where they are and how they are.

"Room 313." The nurse told him without looking up from her computer, continuing to do her paperwork after checking the room number.

"Thank you!" Kazumi yelled over his shoulder, running to the room as soon as he heard the numbers.