Sweet Insanity

[Akira]

I've been working on this story for a LONG time, revising it, changing it... But here it is, this follows one of my favorite characters, Kurai, and his journey to insanity ^^








The sun’s rays made me turn in my bed, it felt like morning but I did not want the morning. I wanted to sleep more, for some reason I kept feeling tired but I did not know why, nor did I really think about it. I opened an eye, looking up to the window next to my bed. Sure enough, the sun had already risen. I sat up in my bed, stretching my arms and looked around, my twin brother, Akari, still slept next to me. I watched his peaceful form for a few minutes before swapping him over the head.

“Hey, get up!” I yelled.

He jumped quickly after I hit him and he looked over at me as if to ask ‘why did you do that?’ he just moaned and turned over. His light blue hair fell over his face, covering it. “I don’t want to.” He said, curling up into my blanket and sheets, trying to hide his face under the covers.

“C’mon,” I said, nudging him. “Get up and out of my room.” Akari just whined and dug himself further into my covers. “Akari... get out of my room...” I said and then bit my lip. “I’ll throw you out myself.” I said, crawling out of my bed and getting ready to pull him out of my bed.

I heard a heavy sigh and then my dark blue covers moved. “Okay, okay.” he said, sitting up and stretching himself. “I’ll get out of your room.” He yawned and then looked at me, sleepy eyed.

“Well...” I said looking at him, crossing my arms. He yawned again before getting out of my bed and then leaving to the door.

Turning back to me he smiled. “Papa Yamato is coming today.”

“I know.” I said smiling. I had ‘over heard’ my father thinking when he received the letter and read it. Grandpa Yamato had not been here for a while so I was happy that he wrote saying he would be stopping by. “But you know, he’s not going to be here soon... maybe daddy will let us skip school today,” I said smiling, “so that we could be here when he comes.”

“I wish!” Akari said then turned to the door quickly. “I smell something good! Daddy must be making breakfast!” He smiled and ran out of my room.

I just looked after him for a moment before I too, left my room to the hallway. Walking down the hall, I looked at my parent’s room door. Shut as always, I paid it little attention as I walked down the stairs and heard Akari whining.

“But daddy... why not?” I heard him say loudly.

“Because your mother would be angry if I let you.” He said simply.

Akari must have asked our dad if we could skip school, I thought to myself as I turned into the kitchen where I found my dad at the stove cooking. “But won’t she be gone for another week?” I asked and my dad just looked over at me as if my brother and I were going to gang up on him. “So what she doesn’t know won’t hurt, right?” I asked, smiling with hope.

“No. You both will go to school.” He turned back to his cooking. “Besides, your mother knows everything... EVERYTHING.” My dad said, extending the last ‘everything’ with exaggeration.

“But... we want to see Papa Yamato when he comes...” Akari whined again and our dad looked at him in suspicion.

”How do you know that he’s coming?” My dad looked over at us.

That stupid brother of mine and his big mouth! I thought to myself. I should stop telling him everything. “Well.... I sort of... found the letter... he wrote...” I said looking away from my father to the table where the fruit sat in a wooden bowl.

“Even still.” My dad said, turning back to his cooking. “You can’t skip school.” He flipped what he cooked around in his pan before placing it onto a plate. “Breakfast will be ready in a few minutes.” he said and Akari just slumped down at the kitchen table.

I followed my brother and sat down at my place at the table. My father, I noticed, or well, noticed everyday, started to divide the cooked food at the counter onto three plates and then set the food down at our designated spots. I happily took a fork and started to right away dig into my food. Pancakes. I loved those and who can’t love the hash browns? I guess my brother since he just poked at the pancakes and started to eat the meat. I just frowned and watched my father eat his food for a moment before going back to mine.

Breakfast seemed like this every morning, if my father did not ask anything or talk, my brother and I did not say anything. Mainly because I know that I did not want to get yelled at for something that might be said that my father would not like, or get hit over my head again with his spatula. So, we ate in silence.

Once breakfast was over, my brother and I went to our rooms to ready ourselves for school while our dad cleaned up breakfast. I just kicked my door open and walked in my room. It’s probably going to be another boring day... I thought frowning as I gathered the homework that Akari did for me. School would be more interesting in I looked more like my brother of if he looked more like me. Then we could switch each other’s classes around so that he could have my boring history and geography and I could have his art or anything else besides history and geography.

How come our hair has to be different? I looked at brown locks above my eyes. I’d much rather have blue hair than brown, then my brother and I would look exactly alike.

I shoved my foot into a sock and then into one of my boots. I hate learning about wars and laws, what’s the point? I looked out of the window at a squirrel on the tree branches close to my window. And now we have to learn about Former King Yamato Kaitaki... again... Does it matter? He’s not king anymore, so why should we have to learn about him?

It frustrated me how stupid the school could be. I grabbed my back pack and slung it over a shoulder. Looking around the room to see if I was forgetting anything and not noticing anything, I left from my room and immediately ran into my brother, but that was unavoidable, our rooms were right across from each other.

“Akari.” I said, shoving him to the wall. “Watch where you’re going.”

“Ow...” he said, rubbing his arm that squished against the wall. He looked at him as if he were really hurt. “Why’d you do that for?” He asked and I just rolled my eyes and continued walking down the hall. “Hey!” He ran after me but I just ignored him.

“Bye daddy!!!” I yelled running over to him in the kitchen to hug him then quickly running out of the back door to hurry on without Akari. Unfortunately it did not work out as I had planned it.

“Kurai!!” I heard a few feet behind me and I turned to see Akari running after me.

“What do you want?” I asked, walking backwards so that I could watch him try to catch up.

Akari finally made to me and we both stopped so that he could catch his breath. “Why... why did you leave without me?” He asked in between pants.

“Because I want to get school over with as fast as I can so that I can get home and see Grandpa Yamato.” I said quickly. “That’s why.”

“But... we always walk to school together.” he said looking at me with sad eyes.

”So?” I crossed my arms and then started walking again. “You were moving too slow.” I said and heard him start to walk as well.

“Well... you were moving too fast!” He argued and I just shook my head

[snailfreak]

All right, I read through your story and found it very enjoyable :D I like the casual feel you give across, and how easily you show the character interactions, such as their relationship with their father, and the hilarious relationship between the brothers. ^^ I was laughing so hard at the end when Akari said ‘well...you were moving to fast!’. XDDD So cute! I really want to see where this story is heading now, I want to see what happens to Kurai. ^^

Haha, that was funny how Akari does Kurai’s homework for him XD

My only criticisms are grammatical ones. So here are a few examples for you ^^ You wrote:


He jumped quickly after I hit him and he looked over at me as if to ask ‘why did you do that?’ he just moaned and turned over.


Personally, I would change the wording of the ‘he just’ section. Because, Akari didn’t just moan, he jumped quickly and also looked at Kurai. So you can't really say 'he just'. Here's an example of how you could reword it:

He jumped quickly after I hit him and looked over at me as if to as, 'Why did you do that?' Then he made a moan and turned over.

Another thing I saw just a few times was this,

“I don’t want to.” He said…

The only problem here is that you have the ‘h’ in he capitalized even though it should be part of the same sentence. I do that same mistake all the time, so don’t worry. You shouldn’t have a period to end your quotes if your going to put something like ‘he said’ afterwards. Do you get what I mean? But anyway, to show you, the correct way should be this:

“I don’t want to,” he said.

It’s the same thing with this:

“Well... you were moving too fast!” He argued and I just shook my head

Don’t capitalize the ‘h’ in 'he'. ^^

And the last example is this:

He yawned again before getting out of my bed and then leaving to the door.

I wouldn’t say he was ‘leaving to the door’. I would say ‘walking to the door’ or, ‘about to leave through the door’ See what I mean?

So those were the basic issues, just some errors involving how to end quotes, and a couple misuses of words. But really, I think this story could go somewhere, I see potential here ^^

I really want mooooooooooooooooooooore!!!!!

I want to see Kurai’s school day, I want to see what he does when he all bored in his classes. He’s a character that is really easy to identify with ^^

((Although, I do have a question…is Akari’s hair naturally blue? O.O ))

[Akira]

Yes, ^^ Akari's hair is naturally blue, as is their fathers and grandpa Salyti who has yet to come. Kurai get's his hair color from his mommy. I figured there would be some grammatical things ~~;;; I do love Kurai though ^^ he's my most developed character I have ever created.

[Akira]

I leaned on the table in front of me. The day was so BORING! and too slow! I sighed in my arms. It stunk how my brother and I did not have the same classes anymore too. If we did, I'd just bother him the whole period and then expect him to remember everything that went on of what the teacher said so that he could do my homework, or I could cheat from him. Though I could cheat from anyone in the room, that was not a problem, but I don't know, it just more fun with him in the room.

The teacher, as I saw when I looked up, was writing something on the board and just just halfway read it, I did not care what it said, as I was too busy thinking of everything that I could do with my grandpa while he was in the village. Of course it would be with Akari too, since I knew our dad would be mad at me if I just ran off with grandpa and left Akari at home, I would probably end up being grounded and have to do chores all day. I moaned thinking about it and just leaned my head on the table again.

"Mr. Elentir," I heard the teacher and I looked up. "Will you please explain the meaning of this sentence to the class?" she asked and looked around, everyone was staring at me and I just looked at the board before I stood up.

"It means that you shouldn't expect to get something when you don't deserve to get it." I said, echoing her own thoughts on what the sentence which really made no sense to me, actually meant. I sat back down and did not bother to look at her or the others in the room, I just leaned my head on the table again.

When the class ended and the other teacher came into the classroom, I was mad. It was the history and geography teacher. I HATED that teacher so much! He was so annoying with his always grinning face and friendly outward appearance. Everyone loved him but I knew what he was really like. Though I had never exactly experienced anything from him, thank the gods, I just could not stand a teacher who did not grade their students fairly. I knew I deserved my F's in his class, but there were other kids in the room that did not.

"Class, today we are going to be learning about the important cities around the Kaitaki castle." he started and that was the last thing that I heard as I drifted off into sleep.

When I woke up from the bell that was ending the school day, I looked up at the board, tiredly, but my eyes widened in what I saw. It clearly said in big bold chalk letters:

NEXT TWO MONTHS - Learning about Former King Yamato Kaitaki, you WILL have to do a report on him!


I really hated that teacher.





“It’s not fair.” I told my brother on our way home from school. “We have to learn about Yamato Kaitaki for the next two months!”

“But he’s an interesting person!” Akari defended.

“To you! Only because you love history and got to do a report about him last year when we had to learn about him.” I crossed my arms and blew a strand of hair out of my face.

“Your just jealous because you got stuck doing a report about Gwaihir Tabyoukai.” he said, smiling and I just glared at him.

It was true though, if I got to do Yamato Kaitaki like I wanted to, I’d probably like him more than I do now. I sighed and just tightened my grip on the straps to my back pack. I’m not jealous. I told myself looking ahead of me and not at my brother.

Ha! I got him! Finally! I heard Akari think happily in his mind.

“Whatever.” I said, starting to walk ahead of him.

“Hey! That’s not fair! You said you wouldn’t read my mind anymore!” Akari said and I looked back at him as he gave me a mean look.

“I only said I wouldn’t for that day. And that was three weeks ago.” I said and stuck my tongue out at him.

Upon approaching our house, it was apparent that our dad had not come home yet. Since the sun still shown in the sky and he usually comes home when the sun leaves the sky. I then got a bit upset. What if Grandpa Yamato was at our dad’s restaurant? I frowned as I came to the back door porch, Akari not too far behind. I opened the door and came inside, setting my back pack down at the kitchen table.

”I hate school.” I said slumping down at one of the places at the table.

I looked over at my brother who just shrugged. “It’s okay...” He said simply and then I heard a noise but I did not pay it much attention until I heard my brother yell almost at the top of his lungs; “Papa Yamato!!!”

“Eh?” I said, looking over to see that my brother had attached himself to Grandpa Yamato. He was here?? I thought to myself and stood up fast. “Grandpa Yamato!” I said excitedly.

”Hiya.” my grandpa said, smiling and I ran over to him, hugging his other side and he hugged us both.

“Yay! He’s finally here!!” Both my brother and I said at the same time and I mentally kicked myself. I probably pushed my thoughts into his head and we both said it at the same time.

“So!” Our grandpa said, letting go of us and crouching down to our level, which made me think to myself that he must of have gotten taller. “How has my favorite two grandchildren doing? How’s school? Are the grades good?” He asked all at once.

“Yes!” Akari said happily. “Well... no... my grades aren’t... but I’m fine.” Akari smiled, hugging him again.

“I’m okay.” I said and frowned. “My grades are good... but gosh! School is boring.” I said, remembering what the teacher had told us. “And it’s not fair!” I said crossing my arms.

Akari just shook his head and sighed. “Here we go again...” he said and our grandpa just looked at us both for a moment.

“But it’s not fair!” I said to Akari who just shook his head. “We learned it last year, why should they make us learn it again?” I asked no on in general.

“Well it must be important... if they’re making you relearn it.” Grandpa Yamato said with a smile.

“No it’s not,” I started, and then scrunched my face at the thought. “It’s just about Former King Yamato Kaitaki... and we have to relearn about him for two months! It would be three if we didn’t have to go to school on Saturday to make up for the snow days.”

My grandpa looked stunned and a bit nervous, which made me look at him confusedly. “I would think that would be interesting...”

“Not when you have to learn about him one year and again the next, and then do another report on him and we can’t use the one we used last year.” I said in one breath and he looked even more nervous.

“I see... Um... so what do you learn about him...?” He asked.

“Boring stuff.” I said, crossing my arms and my brother just gave me a look as if to say that it was not boring. “Just about what he did while he was king and what laws he made.” I said and then shifted my standing. “Why do we have to learn about the former king who isn’t king anymore? Why not just learn about the current king? I don’t understand schools...”

Grandpa just looked sad suddenly and I wondered why. “That’s kinda disappointing you don’t want to learn about...” he paused and I waited for him to finish his sentence. “Never mind.” He said suddenly quieting down.

I looked at him puzzled. “About what? The former king?” I asked. “But it’s boring, almost as boring as learning about the dragons.”

“But the dragons were interesting...” Akari said, looking at me sadly.

“No they weren’t.” I said and Grandpa Yamato just leaned back, listening to my brother and I. “Why does it matter to learn about what happened a long time ago?” I asked then added, “I think I fell asleep when we learned about the dragons...” I looked up scratching my neck. “Because I don’t remember anything that we were supposed to learn...” I then looked over at my Grandpa. “Was history boring to you Grandpa Yamato?” I asked.

“Uhhhhh....” he just sort of looked down at my brother and me so I decided to try and read his mind, which it confused me. ‘I can’t believe it... my grandson... doesn’t want to know anything about me... oh well... I guess it’s okay...’

I looked at him again, with confusion. “Did you?” I asked again, trying to get out what he had thought because it made no sense to me.

”....the person you were talking about...” Grandpa started but did not finish.

I looked at him, a bit bewildered. “Who? Former King Yamato Kaitaki? You thought learning about him was boring too?” I asked.

“No... I didn’t... because...” He paused. “well! I was alive when he was king!” he said smiling.

“Well, I think learning about King Yukimoto would be boring too, but at least he’s current, so I guess you thought the same?”

“Um, no... I never learned about Lord Yamato Kaitaki...” he said, still holding his smile.

“So then you didn’t go to school?” I asked then got a bit angry. “See, this is the point I need to make to my parent’s.” I said. “School is boring and a waste of time, I could do so much more with my life when I grow up. You don’t need an education to do... uh... what is it you do?”

“No, I did not go to school because... well that’s a different story for a different day.” He said, with determination in his face. “The reason why I didn’t learn about him is because I am --- uh...” He stopped mid sentence and then his thoughts just appeared in my head. ‘I can’t tell them that I am Lord Yamato Kaitaki... that would be awkward...’

My eyes widened, in almost horror and almost embarrassment. I could not believe that I just said all those horrible things, even if they were true.

“What?” I looked over at Grandpa Yamato and thought for a second.

“Uhh...” I looked over in a different direction than looking directly at him. “Umm... hmm... can... can I talk to you in the other room?” I asked and grabbed his arm, trying to pull him out of the room.

”Oh, sure.” Grandpa Yamato said, smiling.

“Hey! Stop hogging Papa!!” Akari said crossing his arms and giving me a dirty look.

“Don’t worry Akari! I will spend time with you too!” I heard my grandpa say and I just rassberried Akari as I took him to the living room, far away from my brothers tattle telling ears.

”Can... Can I tell you a secret? You have to promise not to tell anyone, especially my parents...” I said, looking up at him, trying to look cute and sad.

“I don’t tell secrets, so sure.” He said, shrugging, and I sighed with relief. “What’s up?” He asked,

I was not sure how to start, or even how to tell him about my ability. I did not want him to think I was a freak. “Well... umm...” I tried to think of what to say but the only thing I could ask was; “Why were you so boring? Or is it just the books making you boring?”

“What?!” he asked, looking confused and shocked at the same time.

“Well uh... I can... I can hear thoughts...” I said scrunching my face as if I were to get yelled at or hit with some cooking utensil, but I looked at him, through the squint of my eyes.

He just starred at me for a second and then he smirked, which made me look at him puzzled. So, you too huh...?”

“Yeah...” I was confused but then asked, “It’s... normal, isn’t it?”

“Normal for what you are.” He smiled at me.

“What do you mean?” I asked, still not sure as to what he meant.

“Well, your an Elentir.” he said, like my last name meant something. “Elentir’s have powers like this...” He smiled, and then it kind of dawned on me. “Your other grandfather has powers as well... and when I traveled with your father, he was developing his powers.” He smiled then looked off to the side. “I wonder if he plays with them anymore...” He shrugged.

My eyes went wide. My father??? He has powers???!!! My mind was racing with excitement as well as anger that he didn’t tell me about them. “My daddy has powers?!” I asked then toned down my voice so Akari did not hear. “Like... what I have?” I asked, then added, “So then I’m not weird?”

“No! Of course not.” He smiled at me as if to tell me I was silly. “But your father... I don’t remember. I know that he has powers though.”

“Do... you think that he’ll tell me what he has?” I asked. I was excited. I did not think that he had anything like what I had since Akari never showed any sign of anything either and daddy never showed any “Powers” to us.

“I’m pretty sure he will.” My grandpa said smiling.

I smiled. It was all so new and exciting, but then a thought crossed my mind that I just had to ask him. “So then... since since you were a king... and my mommy is your kid... does that mean... I’m Royalty?” I asked excitedly.

“Oh no. There are rules and such.” He said and I looked down. “Besides, I did not know that your mother even existed until recently.”

“Really?” I asked, I was confused. How could someone not know about their child?

“Oh yes, but I believe your mother should tell that story whenever she comes home.” He said, smiling with a finger out.

“Okay.” I said smiling too, then I added quickly, “and I promise not to tell you that your days as a king were boring to learn about to your face again... sorry...” I looked down.

“Well... to the average teacher, my life would have been boring...” he said with a hand on my shoulder. “Because they did not know what went on in the castle.”

“I didn’t know that YOU were Former King Yamato Kaitaki...” I said still in shock about the recent event.

“Oh yes, I am... and Yukimoto is my grandson.” He said, smiling to me.

“He’s your grandson?” I asked, doubly shocked. “Like Akari and me? So then I’m related to the current king?? Wait... so then if you were the former king, does that mean I can’t call you Grandpa anymore? I have to call you ‘Former King Yamato Kaitaki?’ like I have to at school?”

“NO!” He said loud and quickly. “Please don’t.” he looked as if he hated to be called that. “If you listened to your teacher, she or he would have told you that I have disappeared. No one knows where I’m at... so I would like to keep it that way.” He smiled. “Grandpa Yamato is fine.”

“Okay,” I sighed with relief. “Because saying ‘Former King Yamato Kaitaki is tiring to say.” I smiled.

“Um... you just don’t tell anyone that I'm the king...” he said, nervously, “Not many people have seen me...”

“So that’s why there’s no pictures of you in our books...” I said. I had always wondered about that.

“Well, the only picture of me is in the castle and I painted it myself.” He said and I wondered what it looked like. “All lords of Kabuka are required to paint a self portrait.” He told me and then I started to wonder again.

“Am... I a lord?” I asked.

“No... that’s what elves call their “king” Humans only call their “king” by that title.”

“Oh... I see...” But I really did not, he was a bit confusing. “So... I’m not royalty even though my grandpa was a king?”

“No.” He simply said.

“Darn...” I lowered my head sadly.

”The royalty line is through Yukimoto’s blood now.”

”Awww... wait... does he have any kids? Maybe I’ll marry his daughter when I’m older?” I said, smiling in hope. “Then I’d be royalty right?”

“His daughter... is much older than you... But you wouldn’t be the next one in line... His wife is pregnant.”

“Is it ia girl?” I asked wanting to know and leaning closer in hope.

“I don’t know.” He said with a tone that clearly marked that he did not know, but how could I be sure? He might know. “I’m kinda hoping for a male myself...”

“But... you were a king.” I looked at him. “ Your supposed to be all knowing.”

“Where is that written?” he asked looking at me as if I should know.

“Umm...” I blinked for a moment. “No where I guess... I just thought that the king knew everything.”

“No... we’re the first ones informed but we’re not impaths or anything.” He said and I just blinked again, not sure what he was talking about. “We just have a power which is beyond any power in the world, which can only be granted to the true ruler of the world.... that’s the only thing that makes us special.”

“So then...” I thought for a moment, holding my finger to my chin. “If... Yukimo--er... King Yukimoto’s kid on the way is a girl... and I marry her... do I get that power?”

“No. It would be the child.” He said and I slumped down. “Not anyone married into the family.”

“Oh... but... I’d get to rule right? Being a boy?” I asked, still trying to be hopeful.

“No, the girl would, because even though you’re royalty, you’re not the bloodline.” My grandpa was really confusing me.

“But... isn’t my mommy your daughter? So then that would make her royalty though right?” I asked, still not understanding what it was he was talking about with all this yes they were but aren’t now.

“She is royalty, but you are not.” He said and that made me sad. “And technically, she’s royalty through two different races.” He smiled. “However, her title of royalty was removed once Yukimoto took the throne, because it’s no longer through my bloodline.”

“That sucks...” I said disappointed. “Wait... two races?” I wondered for a moment, but what other race? I knew my mom was wood elf and human, did that mean that she was royalty with the humans?

“...Like I said, your mother should explain.” My grandpa smiled holding out a finger.

“But she won’t!” I said, trying to sound upset and mad. “She doesn’t tell us anything...”

My grandpa just looked off to the side somewhere. “Your mother...”

“I guess I won’t ever be royalty?” I asked looking up, trying to look teary eyed.

“Most probably not.” I was sad by how simply he said it.

“Awww...” Oh well, I thought, maybe I’ll just be rich, a trader maybe or something. I hugged my grandpa. “So then someday, you’ll tell me the interesting things that happened when you were king?”

”Sure!” Grandpa said happy. “But not today,” He told me holding a finger up, “because now I probably should spend time with your brother...”

“Okay...” I said, hanging my head. “Oh! Maybe you can help me with my report on you before you leave in hopefully a week or two?” I asked quickly, hopeful that he would.

“Sure!” he said, smiling and I smiled too.

“Yay!” I hugged him again. “Okay, I’ll let my brother bother you now...”

“Alright.” My grandpa said, standing back up to his normal, tall, tall height.

“I guess I’ll go do my...” I cringed at the thought, “homework.”

“Yes! Do your homework...” Grandpa Yamato said and I followed him back into the kitchen. “What’s your homework on?” He asked.

“Geography...” I said scrunching my face. I hated geography, I hated history too.

”OH!” My grandpa said suddenly, and loudly, making me jump. “I’ve traveled everywhere! Let me help!”

“Okay! Sure!” I said. I love cheating... I thought to myself smiling.

“Oh! So you came back.” Akari said happily. “I was about to get a snack. I’m hungry because you made me give you half of my lunch.” My brother said, glaring at me and I just stuck my tongue out at him.

“I see...” Our grandpa said, then looked around the kitchen at the cabinets. “Do you need me to fix you something?” He asked and my brother just shook his head.

”Nah,” Akari said smiling at him. “Daddy keeps fruit on the table for us to eat for snacks.” He said taking a pear out of the basket. “Did you want some Papaw?” Akari asked.

“No, I’m fine, thanks.” Grandpa Yamato said, sitting down at the table waving his hand a bit.

“Oh, okay...” Akari sat down at the table as well. “If you don't’ want any...” He tugged the bowl closer to him.

”Don’t hog them all.” I scowled, looking at him evilly as I pulled the bowl to me and took out an apple, biting into it.

Grandpa Yamato just smiled at us. “Want to get your homework after both of you finish?” He asked.

I put the apple back into the bowl and pushed it away from me, I’ll finish it later, I thought to myself. “I’m finished!” I said quickly, then jumped from my chair to get my homework out of my bag. I took out my geography homework first and looked at it. I hated geography, and this homework we have to label all the important places around the castle. “I already have the castle labeled... it’s just the other places.... I don’t know where anything goes.”

“Give me a pen and a piece of paper...” My grandpa asked and I quickly handed him the materials.

”Here!” I scooted closer to him and watched him start to write something then he handed me the paper. “Uh...” I looked it over, but no matter how much I tried to make sense of it, the words were unfamiliar to me. “What... what does this say?” I asked looking at him in confusion. All my grandpa did was look at the paper in silence. I blinked a bit and then looked at the paper again myself. “Umm... Grandpa?” He still stared at it. “I can’t read that...”

He stayed silent for a moment and then started to scratch out what he wrote. “I wouldn’t think that you could...” He started to rewrite what he had already wrote, only in words I could understand.

“Okay, that’s better.” I smiled looking at the paper and wondering why he had written in a weird way before.

“Sorry about that.” He chuckled.

“That’s okay,” I looked at the paper. “What was that though?”

“Nothing you need to know.” He said not wanting to say anything else about it, but I was not so sure.

“Why not?” I whined, trying to sound sad, which I was a bit.

“Like I said...” He looked at my brother who had half of his new fruit, an orange, hanging out of his mouth. He stood up and started to walk around the table.

“Hmmhmmphmm?” My brother said through the food in his mouth, it only made me shake my head.

Our Grandpa suddenly stopped, turning his head slowly at my brother. “Hmm...?

Akari swallowed his orange piece and then held up a non eaten one. “Did you want one?” He asked our Grandpa who just shook his head slightly.

“No thanks, I just...” His gaze then suddenly turned to our kitchen window.

“Is something wrong?” I asked him, looking up at the window but I didn’t see anything.

“No, nothing...” He still looked out the window and it made me curious, but my brother seemed to ask what I was about to.

“Is someone out there?”

“You’ll see soon,” Grandpa Yamato still looking out the window.

“Daddy’s not coming home is he?” I squinted my eyes. “He’ll be mad at us...”

“No... it’s not your father...”

My brother and I exchanged glances of confusion and almost said at the same time. “It’s not?”

“No... it’s someone else...” Our grandfather smiled with a small chuckle. “I can’t believe we picked the same day to show up.”