Prologue: The Golden Children

-----China-1988-----

“Run, Kai,” a black haired man shouted to his wife, “RUN! You have to get out of here now!”

“No Aiden,” a golden haired woman cried. She clutched a boy, not older then one, to her chest with one hand and supported a newborn baby in the other, “I will not leave you here alone. I need you, the children need you!”

The man placed his hands on his beloved wife’s shoulders and stared into her eyes.

“I will join you soon,” the words seemed so truthful, but his eyes were swimming with doubt and fear, “I promise.”

Kai nodded, tears fell from her eyes. The small girl stirred in her arms and both parents attention turned to the sleeping children.

“Keep them safe. For they are the Golden Children, they will save our people,” Aiden kissed the top of the boy’s head and ruffled the small tuff of auburn hair. He looked at the tiny girl and picked her up, cradling her in his arms, “Let’s name her Arisa.”

Kai smiled through her tears, “Yes, Arisa. Arisa and Daisetsu.”

He nodded and smiled at his son. Aiden kissed Arisa’s small head before handing her back to her mother. Aiden hugged the three tightly. Kai shook her head, not wanting him to leave them.

“It’s alright, Kai,” he whispered softly in her ear, “I’ll always be with you, right here.” He touched her heart and then kissed her lips tenderly before turning around and running in the opposite direction towards a darkened castle.

Kai took one last look at her beloved before hugging her children tight and ran as fast as she could. She was exhausted and the only thing that kept her going was her husbands words, ‘Keep them safe. For they are the Golden Children, they will save our people.’ The words echoed in her mind as she ran to the ocean. Kai ran onto a small boarding dock and saw the familiar ship that was waiting for them.

“Thank you! Thank you so much,” she wheezed as she placed her children on a small bed. Immediately Daisetsu wrapped his small arms around his sister, holding her close in a protective grip. Kai couldn’t help but smile and laugh at this, “You don’t know how much this means to me Taiko.”

The elfin man just smiled and hugged his old friend warmly.

“You think that I would let my best friend and her children get killed?” he laughed. Taiko was about to open his mouth when an explosion came from where Kai had just run from. Then shouts of armies and heavy march like steps approached them. Kai gasped, hands raised to her mouth as tears flooded from her eyes once again.

“Kai, there’s no time for tears. I’m sure that Aiden is still alive,” Taiko said, wanting to comfort her but knowing that they have very little time to get away, “it would take a lot more then the likes of the Cross to get rid of him.”

Kai nodded and rubbed her tears away. A small cry came from the bed as Arisa began to stir. Kai ran over to sooth her daughter. The ship shook with the rhythmic beatings of the Cross’s army’s foot steps.

“TAIKO, WE MUST LEAVE,” Kai screamed, “NOW!”
The elf nodded and sprinted up deck. They left the dock just as it was covered with a mob of weapon wielding Cross soldiers. Back at the castle Aiden was nearing the end of his battle.

“You thought that you could beat me Brother?” a clocked figure sneered as he held a sword at Aiden’s throat.

“Good will always triumph over Evil, Kal,” Aiden’s voice still held its confidence and bravery.

Kal laughed, “Those words shall be remembered dear brother, such strong words for someone who is going to die.”

“You can kill me, but someone will return and kill you and put a stop to the Cross once and for all.”

“Avery, Avery, Avery,” Kal shook his head as he said his nickname for his older brother, “and who shall come and kill me? Your wife? No… she has fled but she will be mine soon enough.”

“Kai would never go to scum like you,” Aiden spat. This only caused Kal to press the sword harder into his throat, this time it was far enough to draw blood. He watch as it trickled down his brother’s skin, to stain his charcoal Chinese shirt.

“Kai doesn’t know who I am. She believes me to be good, and when you’re goon and dead she won’t have anyone to turn to. She’ll be back at my feet, crying and begging for me to take her in,” Kal laughed manically as his brother shook with anger.

Aiden knew he was through and that his brother was just taunting him before he finished him off, but he hated it nonetheless. Aiden hated the fact that he would never be able to see his first born, Daisetsu, or his new born, Arisa, grow up. He would never be able to teach his son how to drive, or give him dating advice. He would never be able to see his daughter turn into the beautiful woman she was bound to be, never be able to know what type of person she would be.

He hung his head, “Just kill me now. You’ve taken away everything that gave my life meaning. I have nothing left… just take my life now and spare me any more grief.”

Kal shrugged, “I was going to spare your pathetic life but since you have given me such a pleasant alternative…”

With his last words he cut through his only brother’s life, killing him instantly. Then he walked away, leaving Aiden’s corpse bleeding on the marble floors. The last thing Kai’s husband ever did, was shed tears for the first time. The tears fell from his face and one to the floor. But instead of landing in two drops of water, two sapphires appeared. But as soon as they appeared, they vanished from site.

Chapter One: Party Time

-----United States-2005-----

“DANNY,” I shouted as I knocked on my sleeping brother’s door, “MOM SAYS TO WAKE UP AND GET DRESSED! SCHOOL STARTS TODAY!”

I knocked one more time before hearing a flop which meant that Danny had rolled and fallen out of bed.

“You okay in there buddy?” I laughed.

“Of course I am. I just fell out of bed and was woken up by my sister screaming at me, of course I’m feeling just peachy,” his voice was groggy.

“Good to know! Now get dressed,” was all I said before skipping off to my own room.

My door was right across from my brother’s. You can’t miss it since it has a wooden door hanging with my name, Arisa, craved in it. That’s me, Arisa. Only I don’t really like my born name so everyone calls my Aaron. My brother has the same problem, his name is Daisetsu but everyone calls him Danny. Only our mom, and one or two of our oldest and closest friends can call us our real names.

“Now to find something to wear…”

Everyone knows that on the first day of school, your outfit sets up your reputation for the whole year. Now, I’m not the kind of girl who cares about what people think of her, well, I do but to a point don’t start thinking I’m some preppy cheerleader. I’m far from it. I’m on the school’s track team, so I’m not really the frilly, pretty-n-pink type of girl.

Anyways, there I was, standing in front of my open closet just staring at my racks of clothes. Danny rapped on my door and said to hurry up or mom won’t drive us to school. So I ended up throwing on my favorite pair of jeans and a blue and white striped polo shirt. Swinging my backpack over my shoulder I ran down the hallway and slid down the banister, legs out in front of me so that I wouldn’t land on my butt.

“Arisa,” my mother had her scolding voice drawn out, “how many times have I told you not to slide down the banister? You could hurt yourself.”

“I know, I’m sorry Mama.”

I heard Danny snicker behind Mama and I glared at him, making a mental note to get him later. After Mama gave us both breakfast she dropped us off at school, but not before Danny and I fought over who got shotgun. I won.

As soon as my brother and I stepped out of the car we were hailed by our friends.

“See you at the rally Danny!”

“Yeah, okay,” I started to walk away but Danny wasn’t going to let me go that easily, “HEY ARISA!”

“Yeah?”

“Watch yourself today okay?”

“I will… why?”

He looked unsure of the answer himself, “I don’t know, I just have a bad feeling that something might happen today.”

“It’s probably nothing,” I said, shaking my head. I still took him seriously but still…

“Yeah probably but nonetheless, watch out okay? I don’t want you hurt.”

I nodded, “Don’t worry! You worry too much,” I ran over to him and gave him a quick hug, reassuring him, “You’ll age yourself if you worry too much.”

Then, just to embarrass him, I gave him a kiss on the cheek before sprinting over to my friends. If I had turned around most likely I would have seen a red faced and angry Danny.

My friends and I hurried to get the front seats in the school auditorium for the first day of school rally. The principal has this thing where he likes to personally welcome the students each year. It’s kind of boring if you’re not going to do anything that involves the school i.e.: sports, clubs, student council. Last year I had lost a bet and now I had to run for class president. My class was after me to be the prez since eighth grade. Ever since I became ‘popular’, whatever that means.

“Aaron, you’re running for class president this year right?” my friend Kristine said, her hair in its usual waves that framed her face and made all the boys go gaga over her.

“Of course I am,” I groaned, “you guys won that stupid bet from last year remember?”

“Oh yeah...,” Kristine said in fake remembrance. She did remember, they all did, they just loved making me say it, “that’s right.”

Emi laughed, “Oh come on Ronny-” only Emi was allowed to call me ‘Ronny’. I’ve known her since third grade “-you’ll make a great president! Besides, the whole class has been waiting for years for you to crack.”

I just grumbled about it. All of a sudden I’m blinded and I feel like someone is sitting on me. And that someone is heavy!

“Guess who?”

I knew exactly who it was and I could hear all my girlfriends around me giggling.

“I don’t know, Zack. You tell me.”

Zack laughed and removed his hands from my eyes. He was sitting on me, just like he usually did when he first saw me after a while.

“How’s it going?” he smiled. I loved his smile, it was crooked and it suited him perfectly. I had had a crush on him since I met him in seventh grade and it was obvious that he liked me too. But both of us were too embarrassed to say anything and had silently agreed to just stay friends. But that didn’t stop us from flirting with each other.

“Nothing much, babe,” I smiled and pulled him in a hug, “Hey Emi move! Make room for my man!”

Emi knew this was coming and was already moved the other side of me, next to Kristine. After that, all I had to do was roll Zack into the right seat and that’s when the principal came out and started the rally.

“Hello again returning students and welcome to Cross High School newcomers. I am Principal Grayling. This year is going to be a very busy year for students and faculty alike,” and he was off. The principal had a thing for speeches so while he was talking, everyone else was too.

“So who’s holding the first day of school party?” I asked everyone. It was custom that someone from the track group would hold a first day of school party. Of course the student body was a buzz wanting to know the details, normally shouted out at lunch.

“I am,” quiet Stephanie said. It wasn’t really as surprising as you would think, the quiet girl throwing the first wild party of the year. Out of the whole group Stephanie would have to be the bravest when it came to social things, “my parents said I could and so they’re fronting all the money and even bought a hotel room so we’ll have the house to ourselves.”

Emi high-fived her, “Nice! But wait… a few questions, dress code, drinks, and cost.”

But at this, instead of letting Stephanie decide, we all looked at Kristine. Kris was nicknamed the Party Queen, for the obvious reasons.

“Dressy casual, five bucks at the door, and you know my drinks, need I say them out loud?” she laughed.

“Got that right,” I said, shaking my head. I wasn’t big on alcohol like my friends were. But don’t think that they were the type of people who got wasted every time they went partying, far from it. But they would drink a little more then they should, “So I’ll bring some sodas for the rest of us. Coke, Sprite, and Root Beer?”

“Sounds good to me,” Zack whispered. He was a good kid, didn’t like to get in trouble but he ended up getting into it whenever he was around me and my girls.

“Yeah, I’ll go with you after school Ronny,” Emi said, “And after we get the drinks, we can get our hair done.”

“Oh no,” I hated hair salons. They always said they would go fast, but they never did. Even on me with my shoulder length golden hair, “you are not getting me in one of those places again.”

“Oh come on Aaron!” Stephanie groaned, “It’s the first party of the year! Why not start it with a bang!”

“I could always end the year with a bang, too” I reasoned, but then realized that I’d still have to go to the dreaded hair salon then, “on second thought… never mind.”

“Zack, don’t you want to see your girl all dolled up for the first party?”

I looked at Zack that clearly said, ‘Don’t say anything that I wouldn’t say.’

“Actually, I would.”

“Zack!”

“What! It’s our junior year and I haven’t seen you style your hair since the eighth grade graduation.”

“He’s right you know,” Emi nodded.

“And I thought you were my best friend… fine! I’ll go! But only cause I have to shut you guys up.”

“I would like to introduce the junior class of ‘07’s new class president, Ms. Arisa-”

“AARON!” my group of personal friends and the whole track team and I shouted to correct the principal. We had been doing that for years, and now some of the other kids joined in.

“-excuse me, Aaron Chang!”

I walked up to the stage and gave my little speech then sat down through the rest of the rally. We had a short day today so we got out at noon, that and the fact that today was a Friday made everyone more excited then usual. My friends had made sure to spread all the details of the party around to everyone at lunch and as the bell rang, you could hear all the conversations of everyone discussing the party.

“What are you wearing?”

“Who are you going with?”

“Think that they’ll have alcohol there?”

“Of course! Haven’t you ever been to an Aaron Chang group party?”

I just laughed at all these comments. It was especially funny when the new kids would hear the details of some particular wild parties from last year and the year before. After we all went our separate ways, Emi climbing in my car and Zack giving me a quick kiss before climbing onto the bus, Emi and I drove to the store and got all the things we needed for the party. Of course we ordered it and it would be dropped off at the party later, we would need more than my small car to carry all the soda to Stephanie’s house.

So there I was, sitting in a chair at the hair salon, my hair wet and a blow dryer in Wendy’s hand. Wendy is a sophomore in the local college; her neighbor owns the salon so she’s worked there ever since she was eligible.

“Oh, I’ve been waiting for years to do your hair, Aaron,” Wendy squealed as she dried my hair, “I know the perfect style for you, too.”

Wendy and Emi, both good friends as well, had been discussing what to do with my hair for over an hour and probably still would be it wasn’t for me trying to sneak out.

“Oh Arisa,” Emi gasped, I was finally done with this torture, “you look beautiful!”

Wendy laughed, she too was happy that she had gotten her hands on me. I looked at myself in the mirror. I had to admit, it looked good. Since my hair was naturally strait, one aspect that added to my tom-boy/track girl look, it didn’t need the extra work. Wendy had added yellow blonde and auburn highlights to the layers of my hair, barely noticeable though you could tell my hair was different. Wendy had curled the ends so they flipped up a bit, but it looked natural. There were tight curls scattered here and there that was clearly a rave party look.

“I have to admit… I like it.”

After paying for the work and leaving to my house with Emi, we talked about the party over cheeseburgers provided by McDonalds.

“Oh my god, Ronny,” Emi looked at her watch, “it’s four o’clock! We need to be at Steph’s place in half an hour! And we still need to get dressed!”
“Yeah you’re right,” I said lazily, “I don’t know what to wear though…”

Emi grinned, “Well, since it’s too late for you to drive me home, I’m going to have to borrow your clothes. And… since you don’t know what to wear, I guess that I’m just going to have to dress you!”

I groaned as we walked upstairs. When we reached the second floor, the front door opened.

“I’m home! Mom, Aaron?”

It was Danny.

“Hey Danny, me and Emi are upstairs and we’re going to get ready for the party at Stephanie’s. Are you coming by the way?”

“Umm… I don’t know, probably stop by and make sure you’re okay.”

Emi snickered. She always teased me on the fact that my brother was so protective of me. Once we were in my room I searched for a good radio station while Emi searched for some clothes for me. She had already dressed herself in a pair of my nice embroidered jeans and a crinkled looking beige spaghetti strap top and some black flip flops.

“Here we go,” she said as she pulled out the black dress that I wore last year to a track dinner, “This looked really nice on you.”

“Oh Emi… not that dress!”

“Yes this dress! Now go and put it on.”

She threw the dress at me and I put it on because if I didn’t she’d do it for me. The dress fit me still, I was surprised. It had a V-neckline but it didn’t show much, which was how I liked it. It came out in feathery looking layers of triangles which ended mid-thigh. I spun around and let the bottom fan out around me, that’s why I bought the dress. Not because it looked nice, but because I could goof off in it and still get into the fancy restaurant the dinner had been at.

“That looks even better on you then I remembered! But it looks to fancy for this type of dance.”

I nodded in agreement. Emi dug around my closet some more and pulled out a pair of faded jeans and my black strappy sandals.

“Perfect!”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, you did good Emms.”

She smiled. As we walked out my room we ran into Danny.

“Don’t tell me you’re going out like that Aaron.”

“Yes I am. Got a problem with that?”

“That’s to revealing Aaron. You’ll be hit on all night and getting other attention that you don’t want.”

“Come on Danny. You know that I wouldn’t do anything with the guys that come on to me.”

“Good because I wouldn’t want you to-”

“I’d be too busy flirting with them for them to come on to me.”

“AARON!”

“Well we’re leaving so BYE!”

I yelled as Emi and I ran down the stairs. We ran all the way to my beat up white Honda and as soon as we shut the doors we were laughing so hard.

“That was great!”

“Yeah, it’s always so much fun to tease him like that.”

Once we got to Stephanie’s house we found out that the sodas had been delivered and her parents were just leaving.

“Now Stephanie, call us if it gets out of control and we’ll come right over.”

“You have our cell phone numbers. We trust you.”

“Have fun.”

“I will, don’t worry Mom and Dad! Oh hey Emi, Aaron.”

“Hey Steph. Hello Mr. and Mrs. Berges,” Emi and I both said.

“Hello girls,” Mrs. Berges said, nodding to each of us, “now we have to be going. We’re going to dinner and a movie before checking into the hotel.”

We waved as Stephanie’s parents left.

“Thank god! I thought that they’d never leave!”

We laughed as we raced up the stairs and up to her room. We talked about the party while Stephanie got dressed. She now wore a black tube top and a short red plaid pleated skirt with her fishnet stockings and sexy black heels.

“Alright girls, now Kristine said that she’ll be here around five thirty and people will be coming around seven. So we have about two hours to set up everything.”

Steph knew exactly what to do and was always in charge of decorations. First we picked up and put away all the family pictures, mirrors and anything else breakable and/or expensive. Then we moved the furniture around so people could move around and dance in the living and TV rooms. We moved the dinning room table out into the guest bedroom, which was downstairs, and put all the chairs outside around the large patio and fire pit. After each room looked like it could hold a lot of people, sitting, standing, or dancing, we moved to locking every room upstairs (and the guest bedroom downstairs) except the bathroom. In the kitchen on the counters we set up both the sodas and when Kristine came we placed large coolers filled with beer on the island and on the floor. Set up around the house were large black bags, meant for trash, duct taped to poles and corners. On the kitchen table were chips and baked goods which normally got eaten about an hour after the party got underway.

“Alright… now, Emi and Aaron, you two tackle putting up those lights outside-” she pointed to a box of white and multicolored string lights that were usually hung up at Christmas time “-Kristine, you and me will look over and double check the rest of the house and then we can string up a few lights.”

Emi grabbed the box and we went outside.

“Let’s hand up the white ones near the back and around the gazebo.”

“Alright, but why just the white ones?”

“Because, the multicolored ones are for partying, and the white ones are for romance!”

“Nice… only you could think up that.”

“I know. But that’s why we got to do the outside stuff.”

Emi and I laughed. Everyone was done around seven o’clock and we had just enough time to do a quick run through of the house and make sure everything was perfect. Zack was the first to show up and he brought all of his boys.

“Aaron,” Zack smiled and ran over to me, “wow, you girls really changed this place.”

“What’d you expect us to do? Leave it the way it was and have everyone running around drunk in my house,” Stephanie asked as if it were the most obvious thing in the whole world, “My parents would murder me and I wouldn’t be able to go to anymore parties, let alone host them!”

“Chill girl!”

“Yeah, calm down,” Zack’s boy Jason walked over to her and placed his hands on her shoulders, beginning his famous neck rub flirting, “You’re a little bit tense Steph.”

“And what about it Jason?” Steph and Jason both liked each other and they both knew it, though neither would admit it. So they spent their time going with other people trying to make the other jealous enough to confess their love.

“Oh you know what I’m going to do about it baby,” Jason cooed in her ear.

“Ladies,” Kyle said as he placed his coat in the closet, “Ladies please! Calm down.”

“Shut up Kyle! You’re ruining my moves!” Jason punched his arm lightly.

“Right… smooth dude…” Andrew snickered as he walked in the door for the fourth time since he got there.

“Yo Andrew, will you stay put! Jeez,” Emi said as she kicked back on a couch, “I’m getting tired just watching you go in and out of that door!”

“Yeah, who are you waiting for Andy?” Kristine asked.

“I bet he’s waiting for Lauren.”

We teased him about that but had to stop once the football quarterback pulled up with the starting team and their cheerleader girlfriends. For the entrance fee, it was Zack and I for the first shift, in an hour or so Emi and Kyle would take over for us.

After taking in five dollars from at least a hundred fifty kids, she was getting tired.

“God, when will those two get out here and relieve us?”
“Whenever they remember about us,” Zack said as he stuffed some fives into the fee box.

“Well, they better get here soon. If they don’t come, I’m going to declare this the worst party of the year.”

“Why? I think it’s going pretty good! I mean, a lot of people showed up. We have a good variety for the first party of the year.”

“Yeah well, I haven’t seen any cute guys walk in this door and I’m getting fed up!”

“Why,” Zack seemed a little down, maybe whoever he was looking at was with someone else…, “because you can’t flirt with anyone?”

“Exactly, this means I’ll have to go back to last years guys!”

I sighed, trying to act all dramatically sad. Then we both burst up laughing. We were interrupted when someone tapped my shoulder.

“Excuse me, is this Stephanie Berges party?” There, standing on Steph’s porch and right in front of me, was the most gorgeous looking guy I’ve ever seen. He had semi-long black hair in lazy looking spikes with black eyes that you could get lost in trying to separate the different colors and emotions. He wore black skater slack pants with a white button up top and a red tie hung loosely from his neck. He also had on a charcoal gray jacket, halfway zipped up.

“Umm yeah…,” Zack said, “you got five bucks?”

“Here,” he said as he handed Zack the money.

Zack looked at me; waiting for me to do something then shook his head and stepped aside, letting the black haired beauty in.

“Aaron… hello,” a hand waved in my face bringing me back to Earth, “you in there?”

“What? Oh yeah…,” my voice was slow and airy, “Who WAS that?”

“Him, he’s new. He just moved here from China I think it was.”

“China? Exotic. What’s his name?”

“What was it… it’s on the tip of my tongue…,” Zack smiled as he tapped his lips in a mock thinking look. He knew but he was torturing me.

“Come on Zack! Tell me!” I jumped at him and wrapped my hands around his neck.

“Alright, alright, I’ll talk I’ll talk,” he laughed as I, who was still sitting on top of him, “His name is Chad.”

“Chad? I thought you said he was Chinese!”

“I never said that. I said that he used to live in China.”

I sneered at him, then as soon as I saw Emi and Kyle walking towards us I bolted into the house to find him.

“See you later Zack!” I yelled at him before I lost sight of the front door.

BV- So here's the first chapter of my Chinese sibbling story. I like it, but only the prolouge tells you what's going to happen and people are probably going to be thinking that the actual first chapter sucks and didn't need to be as long as it was, or even need to be there. But trust me! Everything that I write leads up to something! Jeez... there's alreayd foreshadowing, re-read the thing if you don't get it! R&R, you're halfway there already so why not review and finish what you started!