Chapter One: The Scent of Cherry Blossoms

Aichi glanced nonchalantly at the class listings hung up on the side of the brick wall of the tall school building. Giving a sigh, he turned, looking at them. They were still, maybe not so surprisingly, in the same class, but since he started the card game 'Cardfight! Vanguard' they had become his friends. He shook his head and quickly walked over to the pair, glancing up at them, being regrettably shorter than both. "We're in the same class again."

Morikawa gave him a large smile, sticking his thumb into the air. "Yes! Now I can challenge you to a cardfight whenever I want!"

Izaki gave a sigh, closing his eyes as if he could block out the stupidity. "You do realise that we can't in the classroom…? And even then we would need permission…"

"Oh…" Morikawa gave a pout, shoving his deck back into his shirt pocket.

. . .

From a distance, Kai looked over at the three. Miwa was in the same class as he was, despite the age, but that was normal, and how it had been since elementary school, excepting his time away. An arm jumped around his shoulder and Miwa hauled him off, chattering about the new year and such. Really, though, the paler pink and white of the cherry blossoms outside made him melancholy instead of excited.

. . .

Aichi watched Kai and Miwa head over to their classroom. "Maybe we'll have the same electives…" He mused, although it was unlikely, since both had already taken the English level that he was just starting.

"You wish. Kai probably has all of his credits already. All he'd need to do is finish the core classes." Izaki picked up his binder and he and Morikawa headed to the homeroom class, chatting like birds. Aichi gave a sigh and grabbed his binder as well, taking time to stand up straight again. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a girl with long, dark brown hair pass by, giving a chaste glance towards him. He blinked and she was gone, heading into the building. He looked at the class list again, running his eyes over the names. "Only one person we don't know…" He turned around, blinking against the slight, arid breeze. "I wonder if it was her…"

. . .

In class, the dull first period English, Kai mused over the textbooks - which he couldn't afford to buy, and already knew a large amount of anyways, if not already all. His thoughts wandered to other things, as was the usual during classes, and, glancing out the window at the petals falling outside, he debated visiting the hospital later. After all, there was someone that he needed to visit. With a word from the teacher, though, his thoughts were interrupted and he asked for a repeat of the question.

. . .

Aichi glanced at the front where the teacher was writing a few facts about herself, finishing with a flourish of the chalk giving a scrape over the side of the green board. "And with that, you should all introduce each other… Even though you seem well involved socially, based off of the amount of talking to listening ratio."

She pointed to the person in the front row, left desk, and they quickly stood up and introduced himself, along with a like and dislike thrown on. The pattern continued on as Aichi tried to entertain himself; it was rather boring because everyone already knew everybody else, as stated before multiple times.

The teacher gestured to the last person, in a window seat, in the back of the class. A typical anime main character seat, Aichi mused. Maybe she was suffering from chunnibyou or something. Either that or she didn't like people that much, since she was surrounded by empty space.

"I'm Kai, Mikato Kai. Nice to meet all of you." She sat down, her quiet voice only carrying because the class was quiet, the still air reverberating. Her tone was dull, and she wasn't smiling in the least. Yes, Aichi thought, chuunibyou was definitely not out of the question.

"I guess Kai-chan-"

"San."

"Kai-san is the only one new to this school." The teacher placed her hands together, looking over her pupils like she would choose one to be an unlucky victim to fate. "Okay, now I will pass out the school packets! Be sure to read them over and turn them in tomorrow."

. . .

The bell rang, signifying the end of the school day, and Kai walked out briskly, doing his best to avoid Miwa and his all-too-cheerful demeanor. He didn't particularly mind the blond, perhaps even liked him [even if this was all he was willing to admit] but there were some things that he'd rather prefer to keep private.

More specifically, his after-school activities were something that he'd like to keep more private. The underground fighting situation was bad enough, and Miwa's reactions to that had been extremely annoying.

. . .

Aichi gave a sigh as Morikawa and Izaki continued to argue about the school rules, both of them being wrong, to boot. "Oy, Aichi. Isn't it true that your hair has to be a certain length?" Morikawa yanked on his arm, much to his chagrin.

"No, but I'm not quite sure. Just look it up…" Aichi gave a sigh, shaking his head forlornly. He really didn't want to be dragged into something like this again. He looked to his right and watched Mikato meet up with someone who looked all too familiar, what with that stance and all. He gave a small gasp, eyes widening. "Is… Is that… Kai-kun?!"

"Well, they do have the same last name…" Izaki finished eating something, quickly shoving the food in his mouth.

"I never knew he had a sister…"

"Well, since he never mentioned it, how could we have known?" Morikawa gave a shrug, fingering through his mostly grade-three deck.

Aichi gave a small sigh, feeling slightly upset that the older boy had never mentioned anything about it. "I guess you're right…"

. . .

Kai glanced behind him, noting his sister behind him. Or, presumably, following him. He stopped, turned around, and raised an eyebrow.

"I thought I asked you to wait by the classroom! I don't know the school at all!" She crossed her arms and wore a typical frown upon her features, throwing a huff on top of her speech.

...Oh. "...Sorry." He muttered, turning around again, and continuing on his previous path.

Mikato gave a sigh, hurrying her pace slightly to keep up with his longer stride. How come she didn't inherit at least a little more in terms of height? "You could at least act like you care at least a little bit…" She closed her eyes, taking in his tone and attitude. "Are we going to visit her?"

Aichi blinked his eyes, accidentally overhearing the conversation. Her…?

Kai nodded slightly to affirm. "I am, at least. If you have homework, you can go home."

"I won't let some lousy homework get in the way… Besides, it's the first day, and you know my IQ is high enough that I can finish it in a few minutes." Mikato followed Kai into the distance, or rather the outer edge of Aichi's view.

"Huh…" Morikawa glanced at Aichi as he let the word go though his mouth.

"What is it?"

"Nothing!" Aichi gave Morikawa a smile and continued to walk behind them, letting the few words that had been uttered between the siblings turn in his mind.

. . .

The hospital doors opened with a faint whoosh as Kai entered. The receptionist at the front desk looked up and, in a few seconds, recognition gleamed in her eyes. "Do you need a visitor pass or do you work here yet?"

Kai repressed a sigh at the useless banter and walked up. "May I have a visitor's pass?"

The nurse handed him one, and Mikato followed behind her brother as they went to the upper levels of the hospital.

. . .

Aichi watched as the sliding doors parted ways to let him into the cardshop. Morikawa and Izaki were already there, near the middle of a cardfight. Morikawa was actually on a grade three this time, but since his deck was so unbalanced no skills could actually be used, Aichi noticed. He lost in a few short seconds. Aichi gave a begrudging sigh as Miwa dragged him into a cardfight, and he took out his royals deck.

"I thought you didn't like to cardfight often, Miwa-kun?" Aichi drew his hand, keeping his cards.

"Ah. I felt like a little change of pace was necessary. And there are some things I was thinking about… I want to forget them." He gave a shrug, giving a slight smile.

The doors slid open again. "Kai-kun?" Aichi turned his head, hoping to see the brunette step through the doors.

"Close, but no cigar." Aichi's classmate, Mikato he reminded himself, walked over to the counter, pulling out some coins. Shin handed her a booster pack after a few words were exchanged, the manager giving his normal smile.

Miwa glanced over. "Close… Wait… Mikato-chan!" Miwa ran to her, arms spread out, a smile plastered on his face. "It's been forever!"

Mikato gave a sigh as Miwa hugged her, giving a slight groan. "Yea… I guess it has…"

"You could do better than that, you know, Kai-san…" Misaki gave a sigh, fingering through an order booklet.

"He's only a year older than me… I don't think I really need to hug him back…"

Aichi blinked a few times. "But that can't be right. Miwa is our age, or at least, close to our age. You two are the same age."

"No, actually, we really are a year apart." Miwa turned to Aichi, releasing the shorter girl.

"But you're in my class, Kai-san!" Aichi blinked his eyes a few times, trying to figure out the situation.

"I skipped a year, Aichi. Goodness."

So informal… Misaki noted with her usual face.

Kamui glanced over, hearing the slight commotion behind him. "Quiet down! I finally get to cardfight with Emi-chan!" Seeing an unfamiliar face, he raised an eyebrow. "Who's that?"

Emi shrugged, turning back to the field. "I don't know."

Aichi stood up and walked over to his sister after the information finally clicked in his mind. "That's Mikato, Kai's sister… She's in my class…"

Morikawa and Izaki looked over from their cardfight, having quickly started another one. Izaki gave a shrug after the shorter boy looked at him.

Kamui blinked a few times. "Then… maybe after I'm done I could test you out…?"

"It's fine if you don't like cardfighting me, Kamui!" Emi gave a smile and a slight laugh. "You can just say so."

Kamui's face ran red. "NBONONONONONONO NO CARDFIGHTING YOU IS THE THE THE MOST AWSOMNEST THING EVER!"

"Now he's onto fake words, is it?" Misaki gave a sigh. "Something like 'exhilarating' would be a better replacement for word drabbles."

. . .

The hospital room was silent, and the pale curtains fluttered slightly in a breeze that carried the scent of cherry blossoms. The brunette was still sitting there, almost half an hour after his sister had left, and he spoke to fill the silence that he knew he could drown in otherwise and to keep the grief and remorse welling in him at bay.

He speaks, and he keeps talking until a nurse comes in and he is interrupted with an apologetic 'time's up' and a sympathetic smile. He stood up, smiling slightly in response in an attempt to hide the sadness that showed in his eyes, and as he left the room, he whispered, "I miss you," and made a promise to visit again the next day, as had been his routine for a long, long time.

. . .

Aichi looked over at Mikato, a question brimming at his mouth. "Say… if Kai-kun is your brother… Why isn't he with you?"

Mikato looked over to the side, a look of longing crossing over her visage. "Let's just say, some things are best kept unsaid…"

Golden: And here debuts a new fanfiction, yay~!

This is actually a revised version of the first ever fanfiction that I wrote, with my friend (who writes Kai and Miwa, mostly, so if there's a change in writing style, there you go)

We started years ago, and are now finally starting to edit the first part. For total length so far, there's like three stories total. It gets quite hectic, but it manages to fit in the end, hm.

Eventual ships will rise, but I hope that it's at a slow enough pace as to not startle anyone.

Happy reading~