Chapter 1: The promise

Kai:

I have been having this dream more often now. The dream of the time, back when I was 7 years old.

We were sitting under a big tree in my grandma’s backyard. It was the end of summer, and the last day I was allowed to play all afternoon with my new friend. I told him it would be the last time I would see him, because I would be going back to the city. He frowned. He was sad, but he understood.

“You won’t forget me?” I asked.

He shook his head.

I fumbled in my pockets for something to give him. Then I remembered, and took off my string necklace with a plastic pendant. “There. Keep it, so you won’t forget me.”

He took the necklace and placed it in a pocket. He fumbled in his own pockets and also did not find anything to give me.

He looked me up and down, then took a deep breath. He smiled, and took up my left hand. He looked straight into my eyes. I felt my hand get comfortably warm while in his own hand. Then he said:

“I will protect you, always.”

My dream slowly faded from view as I heard a succession of raps on the door. Then my mother’s voice.

“Kai, Kai, time to wake up. Remember, it’s the first day of school.”

I groaned and hugged my pillow a little tighter. “Yes, mom, coming, coming.”

I rubbed my eyes, and saw the little mark at the back of my hand again. It was something like a birthmark, but I wasn’t born with it. I just noticed it appear when I was 7, a little after a vacation at my grandmother’s house. It was just a small, elegantly made star, brown and unobtrusive. It was pretty, and it didn’t hurt, so I just left it alone.

Hi. My name is Kai. Katrina, really, but everyone calls me Kai. It’s my first day as a second year high school student. And despite not wanting to wake up so early, I do want to go back to school. I actually like school. I like everything about it…..except Math, I guess. But the teachers are nice, the classmates are friendly, and the guys are cute. I can’t complain.

I’m not the kind who becomes a student leader, but hand me a ball, and I’ll try my best to get my school first place. I’m good at volleyball and soccer. This year will be my second in the volleyball team.

I went to the assigned classroom and sat beside my friend from last year. I waved and chatted with other classmates I knew, catching up with how they were during the vacation.

Soon enough the teacher came, and the first class of the new school year started.

“Hello, class,” the teacher greeted us. “I’m new here, so I would appreciate it if you could introduce yourselves to me, even if you already know each other from last year.” He raised a set of index cards to check along the way.

We were all in a good mood, so we went along. Besides, there were a few new faces in our class, and we all wanted to know their names as well.

One of the new faces sat on a chair one seat away from me. He was taller than me, and had a very serious, studious look to him. His hair was parted to one side and framed his face. Funny, but he looked like one of those angels you see sold every Christmas. You know, they looked kind and caring, but they looked sad, like they carried a heavy weight on their shoulders – maybe, of all the people on earth they had to watch over.

“What are you looking at?” he suddenly whispered.

“Oh! Sorry!” I looked away for a moment, then looked again to apologize correctly. “Sorry, I don’t know you yet.”

Just in time. One of the guys tapped him on the shoulder. It was his turn to introduce himself. He stood up calmly. “Kenneth Gabriel.” Then he sat down again.

A few of my classmates giggled. Surely it was just a play on his last name, why he was named Gabriel, a guardian angel. But he did not seem to care, and scribbled on his notebook.

My friend beside me stood up to introduce herself. “Aileen Mariano. I’m in the art club, and I like to draw.” She sat down.

It was now my turn to stand. “Katrina Lim.”

Several of my classmates started cheering. The teacher asked why.

“She’s a champion spiker, sir! You should see her play!”

I could only blush and scratch my head.

“I will, I’ll try to find time to watch a practice game,” the teacher smiled at me.

The teacher smiled at me! Such a good-looking teacher, too! I sat down happily, grinning in a weird way.

But as I sat down, I managed to glance at Kenneth. He was looking at me. Surprised, somewhat scared. He kept looking at me. I could not explain his face. It was like he knew me from before, but did not want to be reminded. I did not understand why.

“Hmmmm…the new guy already has a thing for you,” Aileen nudged me, as she spoke in a voice I knew the new guy heard.

“Stop it, Leen!” I chuckled back. The new guy harrumphed and looked down on his notebook again. But he was not writing on it anymore.

The rest of the class stood up in turn and introduced themselves. I could not stop myself from glancing at him. He bit his lip, and I saw that he was thinking deeply about something. I had a feeling it had something to do with me, and not because he suddenly had a crush on me. Guys with a crush on a girl looked different.

I could not get that look he gave me off my mind. When the bell rang, I didn’t care what the class said, I approached him. “Hi, Kenneth, right?”

“Ken,” he corrected without looking at me.

“Okay. Have we met before?”

I could not believe the next thing he said. “Yes.”

“Where, again?”

He sighed, placed his notebook in his school bag, and stood up. “You don’t remember?”

“No, sorry.”

“You will.” And he left

“Oooh, ice cold, isn’t he?” Aileen nudged again.

I only shrugged. He might soften up after a month or so.

I ignored the new guy for the rest of the day. So did everyone else. He did not feel like talking to any of us. He just kept stealing glances at me. I still did not know why.

I kept thinking about Kenneth—sorry, Ken—on the way home. I kept racking my brain. Where had I seen him before? Why could I not remember? Why was he so, um, um, surprised to see me? Did I do something wrong? Or maybe my parents?

I was crossing the street just then, my brain filled with the questions about the new guy who looked like a very sad angel.

And I did not notice a car coming straight at me.

When I did see it, I froze where I stood. The headlights blinded me, the horns frightened me. I did not know what to do.

I was going to die.

I saw the world around me shine with a bright light, and someone or something grabbed my hand and pulled me back. The something was wearing the male uniform of my school, but it had wings! Nice white feathery wings!

But after that I blacked out for a few moments.

I opened my eyes, and found Ken standing over me, sighing with relief. And I was sure, he was the something with the uniform and the angel wings. Except that now, the wings were gone, and he was plain Ken.

He helped me sit up. “Thank you so much,” I said, still catching my breath.

But upon seeing I was alright, he hmphed and left me there, seated on the sidewalk, alone. He started to walk home, like nothing happened.

“HEY!” I stood up as quickly as I could and ran after him.

He just looked at me, half-angry.

I smiled at him. “I thought so! You’re a nice guy, you just have to open up more.”

Then I saw how mad he was at me. “I’m just under orders. I have to keep my promise.”

I stepped back. My mother was an ordinary office worker, and my father was a manager, but we were not rich. No one would want to kidnap me. “What promise?”

“To protect you always.”

……………………………….

He did not walk me home. I saw him again the next day.

As I turned the corner from my house, I saw him leaning on the wall.

“Oh, Ken! Good morning,” I greeted.

He did not seem to hear me, had that “What took you so long?” look to him, and started walking beside me. As we started to cross the street, he held my hand. But it was obvious that he did not like the idea.

He just kept walking beside me, all the way to school.

I turned to ask him a few things as we got through the gates. “Hey, where do you….” But he was suddenly gone, vanished into thin air, I don’t know how he managed it.

It was already in class that I saw him again. He was seated in the same chair as yesterday, and scribbling something into a notebook. I peeked for a bit, but I only saw lecture notes and final corrections to math assignments. He quickly slammed the notebook shut. “None of your business.”

“You have no sense of humor,” I teased.

“You have no respect of privacy,” he retorted.

It was pretty much like that the rest of the day. He was dreadfully serious, not even talking to the other guys in our class. I was the only one who was brave enough to talk to him, and when I did, even I was ignored.

“Playing hard to get, maybe,” Leen teased me.

“Will you STOP it already!” I chuckled back.

……………………………

Volleyball practice. My favorite time of the day and the week. I’m not bragging, you know, but I know I’m good with a ball, and I liked every chance I got to show people that I knew just how to play ball. Besides, I had a lot of good friends in the team.

And yes, I had to admit. I like the group of guys who kept watching us girls practice, the guys who called our names out and cheered. I didn’t like any of them in particular, but I liked that they liked me.

But I also enjoyed the chance to be by myself after practice, and just to watch people going home after a long day at school. The afternoon sky today was still clear blue with just a few white clouds. It was nice to look at after some good practice. I sat down on the grass and did some cloud-gazing and bird-watching.

I had not stayed there for a long time when a noticed a strange bird fly by and circle the school. It had white wings spread out elegantly, and a dark body in the middle. It was larger than the others I had seen, and was beautiful to see from where I was. I saw the bird circle around the basketball court, then the volleyball court. I finally saw it disappear above the school building.

I decided to have a better look at that new bird, and I knew a very good vantage point, the school roof deck. I ran there. It was a short distance.

I was right. As soon as I got to the deck, I found the dark bird with white wings circling around the deck. It was even preparing for a landing. I kept standing by the door, so the bird won’t be scared away as it descended.

Imagine my surprise, then, as the bird came closer, and I realized that the bird was not a bird at all.

It was a man. And as the man descended, landed, crouched on one knee, then stood….I saw that it was Kenneth.

I saw his back behind two large wings, perfectly white and feathered throughout. First, the wings hid his face, then he waved it back to blow with the wind, and I saw him perfectly.

I must have gasped aloud before I realized it, because he turned and faced me, as he slowly retracted the wings.

“Kai.”

“Um, hi,” I greeted with embarrassment.

And yet, he did not try to explain what I had just seen, or to lie about it either. He just took it as a fact that I had seen it, something he was trying to hide but was not ashamed of. He turned his back on me, and leaned on the railing. “What are YOU doing here?” He said this with such a flat, monotone voice. His face was equally stony.

I went up and leaned on the railing beside him. “Nothing, really,” I replied. That was true. I was curious, sure, but I was not going to pry. And yet, I could not keep my eyes off his back. My mind kept going back to that vision of white wings saving me from certain death. “I wasn’t dreaming, or hallucinating.”

“No, you weren’t, but I was hoping you didn’t have to see it,” he replied.

“Soooo….what ARE you, really?” I tried to speak as seriously but as kindly as I could. “An alien? A time traveler? A spirit? An angel?”

“Your guardian.”

“MY guardian? Like a bodyguard?” I cringed. Bodyguards were okay for pop stars and actors and politicians, but not me.

He explained. “Normal people call people like me as guardian angels, but that’s not exactly correct. I’m just a guardian. A half-angel. I’ve never been up in the clouds. I’ve never gotten off planet Earth. I’m not immortal. We keep an eye on our little part of the world, but we have to personally protect only one person.”

I raised an eyebrow. That was the most words I had heard out of Ken since I met him again. And what he was saying was quite unbelievable.

“For me, that person is you,” he finished, and pointed at the mark on the back of my hand.

I knew about guardian angels since I was a little girl, so having a real one, even if only a half-angel, and seeing the guardian in person, was incredible. “Cool!”

But he folded his hands over his chest and frowned. “No.”

“No?”

He did not explain. And a prolonged silence went between us again.

“Um, I have one more question,” I eventually said. “How did you get to be my…guardian, as you call it?”

He slowly raised his left arm, and pulled down the arm sleeve. He showed the bracelet on his left arm, made of white beads. Tying the bracelet together was a little plastic pendant.

The pendant, that I remember, used to be mine.

“You gave me this,” he said. “In exchange, I gave the promise to protect you always.”

My thoughts flew back to that time many years ago, under a tree, with a little boy who held my hand and promised something.

“You mean, YOU’RE Kenji?” I absolutely could not believe it. He looked completely different, totally unlike my friend from that vacation long ago.

He hmphed a reply.

I wanted to pile on a million questions. How was he? How was his mother? Where had he been during the last few years? Where had he been going to school? Why was he suddenly in MY school?

“My mom and I had to move here.” He glanced at me like it was my fault. “My dad died.”

“I’m…sorry…” I said.

“Don’t be.” He kept silent again, and looked far into the distance.

I found THAT a bit odd. He was not even the least bit sorry that his father had died. He was angry at the fact.

I tried to get his mind off it, for now. “So, that thing yesterday…”

“Part of the job,” he said rather coldly.

That took out a little bit of the joy in having somebody rescue me. I pouted at him for a few moments.

But I remembered the concern I saw on his face when I opened my eyes. I remembered the sight of those white wings swooping over me. I remembered how he sighed with relief when he saw I was fine.

The little boy I knew from before was still there. I don’t know why he was keeping it hidden from the world, or why he was suppressing it. But he was still there. He was still my friend Kenji. So I have to call him Ken now. It doesn’t matter.

I smiled at him. “I haven’t thanked you properly for saving me. I don’t care if it was ‘part of the job’. Thank you.”

He nodded.

I was happy, though. If I had to have a guardian, I was glad it was Kenji. Even if he was a sourpuss now. I know him from long ago, and I know better.

As the sun began to set, he took up his shoulder bag. “Don’t tell anyone. I’m already considered strange, as it is.”

I laughed.

He scowled at me.

“No, no, don’t take it that way. People think you’re odd because you’re anti-social, that’s all. You just have to be a little friendlier.”

He gave a little hmph. “I’ll walk you home.”

“Alright.”

……………………………………

Chapter 2: The contract

Ken:

I was happy that I had given her something. Mommy always said that giving that promise was a very, very precious thing, given only to someone you really, really, really love. She was my bestest friend now, even if it was only for a month. So I was really happy.

I ran home and showed Mommy the necklace Kai gave me. I told Mommy I would keep it forever.

Usually Mommy would just say, “That’s nice. I’m glad you did that.” But today, it was different. She looked scared, as she looked at me.

“Why, Mommy?”

She drew me closer, and hugged me. I felt her tears wetting my shirt.

“Too soon, my dearest, too soon. You are still too young, my dearest. You gave the promise too soon.” And she cried and cried and cried.

I was thinking about my mom soon after I was done with the exam.

You’ve seen City of Angels, right? Meg Ryan….Nicholas Cage…lots of men in black trenchcoats? My mom used to be like that. No, she didn’t wear those hideous trenchcoats, but she used to look down at people from rooftops. She gave up being a full angel to be with a human being. It’s irritating that it had to THAT particular human being, my dad. If only she knew that back then, when she gave the promise.

All the same, she believed in the promise, and did not regret giving it. That’s what made her decide to move, as soon as my dad died.

“You have to keep your promise, dearest,” she said.

“How in the world will I do that?” I said then. “I don’t even know where she is right now!” I was actually relieved about that.

“You are now 15, dearest. You cannot run away from the promise. If we do not find her, circumstances will make her find you.”

The contract worked two ways. If you made the contract before you turned 13, the person received a mark. You had to make good on the contract when you turned 15, grown-up enough to use the powers properly. If you made the promise after you turned 15, the contract took effect immediately. My mom gave up her rank at 16, and gave her promise at 17 to that lousy…

“I know, dearest, but don’t call your father names,” she interrupted.

“So, where do we move?” I asked.

“Where do you want to move?” she asked in return.

“I thought we had to be where SHE was.”

“Just follow what your heart tells you.”

My heart was telling me about a nice school that did well in the science and math quiz bees. It was far away from bitter memories, and near the park. My mom would like that. I told her about the school.

“It’s settled then,” she said.

“Yeah.”

“When you meet her, do bring her home someday.”

“MOM!”

“As your friend, silly!” she laughed.

I brushed the thought away. I had to check my answers.

Mathematics was pure logic. It had reliable patterns. It did not depend on emotions. It had no tolerance for human error. That’s why it’s my favorite subject.

I was done quickly. The exam was reasonable. Not too easy, not too hard. I know that because Kai was still scratching her head through the middle of the exam, and so was most of the class. I turned my paper face down, and waited, gazing at the people passing through the jalousies of our classroom.

She passed by.

The girl from section 2A. She had straight hair up to the middle of her back, with a little clip near her forehead. She looked a lot like my mom, and seemed just as nice. Not to say Kai wasn’t nice – just not my idea of nice.

I heard my teacher saying “Time is up, pass your papers,” but she was still standing and talking with a classmate, just outside our classroom, and I could not get my eyes off her. I just felt someone tap my shoulder, and was surprised to find the teacher. “Mr. Gabriel, I would have thought you would be the first to pass your paper.” Everyone else was already outside, even Kai and her friend.

I felt my face go red as I gave him the paper.

“Her name is Ricia Antonio, and she is good in biology,” he chuckled. “A kind girl, too. You have good taste.”

I hmphed. “Thank you, sir,” I said, much annoyed.

I walked to the cafeteria for lunch, grateful that for once Kai was not walking there with me, chatting and calling me Kenji. Besides, I know enough about girls to know that it would not fare well with me to talk about Ricia Antonio, good in biology, and a kind girl, to Kai.

But I was halfway there when I felt something warm on my left hand. I pulled up my arm sleeve.

The bracelet was glowing.

Darn it. Kai was getting in trouble again. I started running, and flying.

Kai and Aileen and a few of her other friends often spent 15 minutes on the courts near the cafeteria, slowly hitting at a volleyball while chatting. Other guys also played some slow basketball over the lunch break.

I was just in time to see the basketball fly over the heads of the girls to the area where a few of the more annoying first year boys sat around and threw pebbles at passersby. One of the boys took up the ball with a malicious grin, and aimed the ball at the girls. He threw it at cannonball speed, straight at Kai.

I dashed for the ball, jumped up in between the ball and Kai, and caught it squarely in my hands before falling to the ground. Any of the World Cup goalies would have been proud of the perfect technique.

Kai looked at me in shock, and I think so did her other girlfriends. Meanwhile I stood up, tossed the basketball to the guys who owned it, and glared at the first year boys. “Find better things to do.”

I dusted myself off, did not wait for anything out of Kai, and walked away. The students were all clapping, but I didn’t care.

I kept my promise. I did what I was ordered to do. That was all.

………………………………

A short, thin guy met me just outside our classroom after the last class. He introduced himself as Gerard Lira from the neighboring classroom, and a member of the school paper. He wanted to interview me, as one of the new people in school.

Kai came over, and Gerard paled something terrible. He got enough composure to say, “Hi, Kai. Keep safe as you go home.”

“Sure, Gerard,” she waved, then grinned at me. “I have volleyball practice, and I’ll be done by 5. Will you be alright by then, Kenji?”

I glared at her for calling me that. She just giggled and ran out to practice.

Gerard started the interview as we walked to the volleyball courts, and got ourselves a good view of the girls practicing. We were done by the time the girls ended and made their way to the locker room.

“One more thing,” he said, and his face grew red. “Um, is Kai really as sweet as she looks?”

“You need that for the paper, too?” I asked.

“No, off-the-record,” his face was getting redder. “You’re her friend. Am I right? She’s not like those girls who put up a front? She’s true to herself? She’s really that sweet?”

“You like Kai,” I ended the ranting.

“What’s not to like?” he said. “She’s smart, athletic, friendly, kind, and pretty!”

She was also annoying, chatted too much, knew that she was great at something, was aware she was pretty, was too friendly with boys who could not care less….but that was beyond the point.

“I was wondering, could you maybe, um, let’s see….if I have a few poems, could you make sure she gets it?” he asked.

“Why don’t you give them yourself?” I replied.

“But I can’t do that,” he twiddled his thumbs. “I have all these things I know I want to say. But when I’m standing close to her, and I see her smiling and asking what she can do for the school paper….well….all the words suddenly disappear…..and all I can talk about….is the paper…..or the weather….or something about English.”

The girl with the long hair was passing through while he ranted. This much was true: I did understand what Gerard was going through. I felt it with her. But I felt that, if I did nothing, I would be stuck letting my life pass me, serving someone I felt nothing for.

“You have to do something, if you really feel strongly about it,” I said, not letting my eyes off Ricia. “Otherwise you might live to regret it.”

“But, come on, look at me,” he sighed. “She won’t like someone like me.”

“Stop pulling yourself down,” I snapped, clenched my fist and gritted my teeth. “I’ll show you how it’s done.”

It was now or never. I marched straight up to the young lady, much to Gerard’s shock and trepidation. I was wondering myself why I was doing it.

It was not against the contract, but it would make it more complicated.

I stopped in front of her. She stopped as well, and smiled.

“I am sorry if this seems incredibly assuming of me,” I began, rapid-fire, “But I am new here and I have been seeing a lot of you lately. My name is Kenneth….”

“Gabriel, yes, I know,” the young lady chuckled.

“You do?” I raised an eyebrow.

“Everyone has heard about what did over lunch, Kenneth Gabriel of Section 2B,” she explained, still chuckling. “Although, it IS quite an honor to have Mr. Gabriel introduce himself to me. I am….”

“Ricia Antonio of Section 2A, good in biology,” I said. “The math teacher told me. Nice to meet you.”

She invited me to join the science club, as she was a member. I had to refuse: I had to be with Kai when she went home.

“Lunch, at least?” I asked.

“That will be fine,” she smiled.

“Um……Ke……Ken….” Poor Gerard’s face was pale and clammy.

I looked behind me….and saw Kai.

We looked at each other for quite a while. Then Kai just shrugged, smiled a small smile, sighed a bit, and started walking away. “See you at the corner.”

……………………………..

Chapter 3: The breach

Mommy was bandaging the bump on my forehead. One of the boys in school threw a ball at me.

Mommy told me, “Always, ALWAYS, keep your promises.”

“But promises are made to be broken, Mommy,” I said. “At least, sometimes.”

“No, dearest, not for a Guardian,” she replied.

I pouted. “Why?”

She frowned and looked away. “The broken promise? You will pay it back.”

“I don’t understand, Mommy.”

“Like this bump on your head. You felt dizzy, and your forehead hurt, right?”

I nodded.

“If this happened to your friend Kai one day, and you weren’t there to stop it, she will get hurt. Worse, YOU will get hurt as well. You WILL feel the pain she will feel.”

“Not fair.”

“It is only fair. We are Guardians.”

……………………………………

Ken:

The interschool sports contests were being held at our school. Of course, Kai was in the starting lineup for volleyball. Of course, her friends were there to watch. Right now, that was a little group composed of myself, Ricia, Aileen, and Gerard.

Gerard was now in our little group because Aileen was there, and they got along well. They talked about anime and music nonstop. He complained about the occasional grammar mistakes that got into this anime magazine Leen always got. She in turn griped about the little things that got past the editor of the school paper. But don’t ask me why Kai became friends with Ricia, when she knew full well that I was now almost like her boyfriend.

“Simple, Kenji,” she told me once. “At least you know where I am, and I know where you are, when we’re one group. That should make things a little easier for you, right, my guardian angel?”

She did have a point, but it was sometimes annoying to be talking to Ricia while Kai was around. I felt uncomfortable doing that, for some reason.

It was nice and hot that day, a good day for a volleyball game, but not a good day for people like Ricia. Even while I held an umbrella over her, I saw that she felt faint, just in the first half of the game. Ricia had some heart problems, which prevented her from enduring a lot of stress. Her worst enemies were exhaustion and heat. I suppose that was one of the reasons why we got along. Among all her friends, I knew when something was wrong with her the soonest.

I told Aileen and Gerard that I would take Ricia to the clinic. Ricia leaned on me and we slowly began to walk there.

“You were right to take her here,” the nurse told me when we arrived. “Any longer in that sun and she would have really fainted.”

They brought her to a bed, and she soon fell asleep. But she was having a hard time breathing. I kept holding her hand, just to tell her I was not going away.

News came that the first game was done and they were changing court. Kai would be alright without me, I was sure of it.

But my bracelet began to glow.

I could not leave Ricia! Who knew what would happen if I left her without anyone.

Ricia finally woke up and smiled at me. But the bracelet kept glowing.

I clenched my fist, and decided. I was not leaving. Kai could take care of herself. But I was not leaving Ricia. She needed me, too, and there was nobody else who could be there but me. It was terrible that I could not be a full Guardian to the girl I truly wanted to protect. I sat back on the chair beside Ricia, and kept praying that the warning was not serious.

Then I felt a sharp pain at the front of my head, like a block of cement hit me, then the back of my head. Ricia and the bed disappeared for a split second. I shook my head to clear it, and saw the bracelet flash and glow quickly.

I stood up. “I have to go out for a while, but I won’t take long.” I slowly made for the door.

I got dizzier and dizzier as I went out of the clinic, looking for an isolated place. I remembered my mom’s words back then. YOU will get hurt. You WILL feel what she will feel.

Fine, if it had to be so. But I grasped the desperately glowing and hot bracelet and prayed to our authorities.

Keep Kai safe. Keep her alive. Don’t make her feel the full blow. Let nothing happen to her. Pass it to me. I deserve to have that. Not her.

I heard a voice.

Permission granted.

Now I felt my head pound terribly, painfully, and the ground spin around me. I had to kneel, put one hand to the ground, and one hand to the wall. I thanked the authorities and……and……

I was seven again, holding her hands in mine, smiling at her, looking at her eyes.

“I will protect you, always.”

……………………………...

Kai:

It was the final game, and it was close. We still didn’t know who would win the match.

I jumped up to block the expected spike, but I miscalculated, and the opponent spiked the ball hard. The ball hit me full force on the head. I also felt myself hit the cement, head first. Then I blacked out.

I did not know for how long I blacked out, but I swear I heard these words in a deep voice:

Permission granted.

I felt my left hand grow warm. After that, I felt just capable enough to open my eyes. When I did, I saw almost the whole team over my head peering down. The coach spoke for all of them, “Kai, are you alright?”

Then I actually felt capable enough of sitting up. I looked around. They had put me to the side of the court, and the game had been stopped for my sake. “Yes, I am alright.” Funny. I could feel Kenji, but he wasn’t there himself. “Where is Kenji?”

“Something happened to Ricia, and he went with her to the clinic,” Leen explained. “Will you be okay?”

I nodded. “Did we win the game?”

“We will now!” the rest of the team smiled. “You rest here, and we’ll take care of the game for you.”

I stood up, much to my coach’s surprise. “Coach,” I asked, “could I please look for Kenneth? I won’t go far.”

“Well, if you feel fine enough to do it,” he said. “Have your head checked at the clinic while you’re there.”

I said yes, and yanked Leen to come with me.

I totally forgot about having my head checked when I saw Ricia sitting up in a bed. “Leen said you had to be brought here. I’m sorry you didn’t see the game. How are you?”

“Congratulations,” Ricia greeted us.

“We won?”

She nodded. “Someone called somebody on the celphone, and people started cheering.”

“Thank you, thank you!” I said, then looked around. “Where’s Kenji? I have to tell him something.”

“Well, he looked at his bracelet, then said he had to go out for a while,” Ricia told us. “He hasn’t returned yet.”

It was then that my hand got warm again at the star mark. I looked at it, and noticed it was flashing and glowing.

Something was wrong with my Guardian.

“I’ll go look for him,” I said and reached for the door.

“Let me go with you!” Leen called out.

I remembered that I was not tell anyone. “That’s alright, Leen. Stay with Ricia.”

My star mark continued to flash and glow as I went down to the lobby. If this was a sign, I guess it meant Kenji was not far from where I was. I ran outside the clinic, and ran toward the side. The mark flashed faster now. I was getting close.

I found him at the back of the building. He was lying on his side, with the wings spread out over him and covering him.

Oh…no…

I immediately came closer and turned him onto his back. He winced, but I got no other response. “Really sorry about the wings,” I said. Then I racked my brain for all the first-aid courses I knew. Check airway….breathing…..circulation…..

His breathing was still alright, if a bit weak. I sighed with relief that I did not have to do CPR. Still, something was really wrong. I called Leen on the celphone to get a doctor to the back of the building.

Then I panicked. The wings were not retracting yet. What if someone else saw them?

I grabbed his left hand, the one with the bracelet, with my left hand with the star. “Come on, Kenji. You have to wake up. You have to open your eyes. We have to keep the secret, right? I’m sorry for getting into trouble again. I promise I’ll be more careful. Now come on!”

I felt both his charm and mine grow warmer. I held his hand a little tighter, as I felt an indescribable something pass from me to him. But I did feel good doing this, finally doing something for him, after all the times he had done things for me.

The charms stopped glowing, and he squeezed my hand gently. “Kai. I am sorry I wasn’t there.” He turned to his side and drew back the white wings.

I smiled back. “I should be the one saying sorry, for getting into a scrape again. But it’s nothing, see? I’m fine now.”

Then it hit me.

“WHY DID YOU TAKE THE BEATING FOR ME? It was MY fault, MY mistake!”

“And my fault for not being there,” he whispered, and fainted again.

He was brought to the emergency room for some checkups. His head was fine, perfectly fine. The rest of him was fine as well. Still, he was made to rest in the ward overnight, just in case.

His mother came as soon as she could. We have never met, but I could immediately tell that she was his mom. She had that same angelic face that he had. “You must be Kai,” she greeted.

Away from the other people, I wrapped my arms around her and cried. “Mrs. Gabriel, I’m so, so, sorry! I should be the one lying there! I didn’t mean it to turn out like this! I didn’t mean to make his life as a Guardian so hard, I’m sorry!”

“There is nothing to apologize for, my dear,” she held my head. “In fact, I should thank you myself.”

“Huh?”

“He might have stayed unconscious for much longer, if it were not for you.”

“But, all I did was…..”

“In holding his hand, a little of your spirit passed from you to him, and saved him from unnecessary suffering.” She embraced me again. “Very few Guardians are willing to receive full punishment for the people they protect. Even fewer of the protected are willing to return the favor. I am glad my son gave the promise to you.”

I sniffed, and looked at Kenji asleep on the bed. “I am glad he’s my Guardian.”

…………………………………………

Chapter 4: The amendment

Ken:

I hated having my dad in my dreams.

My father was the romantic kind, that’s why my mother fell for him in the first place. But he was also lived for fast money. And when he fully realized that no major accidents would ever happen to him, he abused the contract. He made deals with shady men, knowing he can’t be killed. He fought people on the race track and gambling halls. Yes, he took my mother with him to those places.

I knew that because my babysitter was my aunt, who remained a full guardian angel. I begged her and begged her to let me know why my mother always looked so tired and spent every morning. Eventually she let me watch them from their places on the shady areas of town. I told my mom, at six years old, that I knew. She took me into her arms, and cried and cried. That’s when Mom and I started to be close to each other.

By the time I entered grade school, my mom had had enough. Consequences or no, she wanted to get away from him for a time. That was the summer when I was seven. That was the summer when I met Kai, and gave her the promise.

I was already an angry child at seven, but Kai saw me playing alone under a tree, introduced herself, and brought me to her grandmother’s house for juice and sandwiches. She played with me, and made it a personal mission to make me laugh. She eventually succeeded, and gave me the best summer of my life. So, in exchange, I gave her the promise, the most most most precious thing I had at that time. But life moved on, and I slowly forgot about Kai.

My dad got into a terrible accident – and my mom felt it for a week. Life had to go back to the way it was. Better that than having my mom die from accidents passed on to her because of the contract. Life went back to its terrible routine….of seeing my father taking advantage of who my mother was. It all ended just last year, when my dad died of natural, alcoholic causes. It was not taken against my mother, and she was finally free of the contract.

As I got older, my mother’s reminders of what a Guardian was supposed to be, increased. I could not believe that my mother still considered the contract a wonderful thing, why she wanted me to share in the experience. Fine. So I was to be a Guardian. But I was not looking forward to it. That is why I reacted so much when I saw Katrina Lim again. That meant my contract was still binding, and I had to keep it.

However, I would not let the things that happened to my mother, happen to me. I swore that it will not happen to me. I swore that I would not fall for the protected. I would do my job, without heart, without feeling. I would get my own life, choose for myself who I loved. I would not let the contract rule my life. Because it was a contract, and that was all it was supposed to be.

But Kai had not changed. She had only gotten taller. She was still the same kind girl that became my friend that happy summer. No matter how much I wanted to be annoyed at her, to not be emotional about the job….I could not stop the feelings that were welling up. I protected her……because I wanted to.

Exasperating.

I opened my eyes after what seemed like an endless dream, and saw Ricia. She patted my hand and smiled. “Good morning.”

“Don’t you have classes?” I asked, still rather dizzy.

“It’s Saturday, silly,” she grinned.

“That being the case, 7 o’clock is TOO early to be awake. You’ve been here all night?”

“Just a few minutes ago.” She pointed to a girl asleep at the foot of my bed, her head hidden in her arms. “But she’s been here all night with your mother.” It was Kai.

“Go get dressed,” Ricia said. “We’re going to the roof deck. I want to show you something.”

“What about Kai?”

“We’ll let her rest.”

She held my hand, the way I usually did for her when she felt a bit weak, and slowly made our way to the elevator.

I pushed open the large door to the roof deck, then she led me to one edge of the deck. She waved her arm at the buildings around the hospital. “See? They’re all there.”

I looked. Yes, the guardian angels, each standing on a building or lounging on a tree branch. They were all in their places. But I looked at Ricia. “You could see them?”

She nodded, then waved at one guardian standing on the opposite building, a girl just a bit older than both of us. The angel waved back. “She is assigned to me. We’ve gone on walks sometimes. And she is the reason why nothing serious happens to me.”

“How come I never met your angel in school?”

“That’s why she’s very happy I met you,” Ricia smiled at me. “It makes her life easier when you’re around.”

Then she frowned.

“I asked Marie about you last night.” She looked at me, eye to eye. “You are assigned to Kai, right?”

There was no use hiding any more. “Yes.”

She took my hands, and particularly held the bracelet. “I am glad we are friends. I will always treasure the times you are with me. But I don’t want you to feel sorry for me, to feel obligated to protect me.”

“But I WANT to protect you!” I protested.

“Marie will take care of me, so stop worrying. You gave your promise to Kai. Put all of your heart into protecting her.”

“But….”

She smiled again. “Stop lying to yourself. You like me as a friend. You feel sorry for me. But you love Kai.”

I stepped back and stared at her. “I do NOT feel sorry for you. I liked you even before I found out.”

“But you are using me as a reason to not protect Kai. No, Ken. I don’t want it to work that way.”

“But, Ricia….”

“I don’t want this to happen again, alright? Kai is still your first priority. Don’t worry about me. Don’t worry about hurting me. I understand. Really, I do. Besides, it’s a friend of mine that you have to protect. It will sadden me more if you let my friend get hurt, just for my sake.”

I brought her closer and wrapped my arms around her. “I do want to be the one to protect you.”

She answered softly. “That’s enough for me.”

I saw the bracelet glow slightly. I sighed. “We’ve been gone for too long. She’s starting to go ballistic.”

She chuckled and took up my hand. She waved goodbye to Marie and the other angels, then we starting to slowly walk downstairs.

…………………………………

Kai:

I panicked. He was not in his bed. He was not down the hall. He was…not there! “He disappeared! He disappeared! Where did he go? What if he, what if he….”

“Relax, Kai. He went upstairs with Ricia,” his mother explained, calmly seated beside the bed.

“Oh….with Ricia….”

Frankly, I didn’t know what to feel, and I had to process what little I did understand.

It’s like this. I do like Ricia. I am glad I am friends with her. She’s a really nice girl, and a really good friend. I even liked that she was friends with Kenji. He smiled more now, and he talked more now, and I know it’s because of her. Seriously, I even liked that they were a couple.

But….but…I know he’s just around me because he has to be. I know he’s being nice because he has to be. But…is that really all? Doesn’t he like it, even one little bit? Doesn’t he like…me…even one little bit? And….if he doesn’t…why should I force the issue? Why should I keep imposing myself on him….when he….likes Ricia?

I sat down beside his mom. “Mrs. Gabriel,” I asked, “is there a way to undo the promise?”

She shook her head. “The contract cannot be breached. It only ends when either party dies.”

I was not sure how to say what I wanted to say. “I mean, if he doesn’t like the idea of being my Guardian….you know…”

She placed an arm around my shoulders. “It is a risk we have to take, my dear. Like everyone else, we face the consequences of our choices, good or bad.”

I sighed. “But, he can’t get married if he has to be around to save me 24/7….”

“Unless he gets married to you…” she chuckled.

I blushed.

“That is what you want to happen, right?”

I blushed even more.

“Well, it’s not a bad plan, my dear!” she giggled and giggled.

I hung my head. With my friend Ricia around, that won’t happen. Again, not that I took it against Ricia…but…

“I cannot decide for my son, now, can I?” Mrs. Gabriel said. “But don’t give up on the promise, alright, Kai? It’s making him uncomfortable sometimes, but I can see it in his eyes that he has never regretted giving that promise to you, those many years ago.”

“Really?”

“Really.” I felt a hand over my head, and heard a tenor. I looked up, and saw him roll his eyes at me. “Now stop bothering my mother.”

“Oh, come on, dearest,” his mother said, “the last time I saw Kai was during that vacation. Are you ready to go home now?”

“Sure, why not?” he said, and settled back into bed.

I started to have a stupid, silly, idea. “I want an amendment to the contract.”

“Come again?” he asked. His mother looked at me as well.

I looked at Ricia. “At lunch and after school, he’s entirely yours. Going to school and going home, I’d like to keep my Guardian. When I’m safely home, he’s yours.”

“You talk about this like he’s my pet cat you want to borrow,” Ricia chuckled.

I felt the heat going up my face, but I could not stop until I was done. “I have Leen to watch me in class, then Gerard can keep an eye on me during lunch. It’s a good deal, right? Right? And I still want to be friends with you, even if….even if….”

“Kai, stop worrying,” she said. “We’ll work things out between us.”

“I just want to stop being a bother…” I continued.

He sighed and yawned. “You won’t be Kai if you weren’t a bother.”

“WHAT?”

“But I like being bothered by you.”

I suppose that was good, but I was not sure what to feel.

He took my hands, the way he did those many years ago. “….always.”

He drifted off to sleep again.

Ricia faced me and took my hand with the star mark. “He loves you. He will never admit it, but he does. He will keep the promise for as long as he can.”

“But, what about you?”

“What about me?”

“I mean…..”

“I will always be your friend, don’t worry about me, alright?”

“But it CAN’T be just like that!”

She gave me a sad smile. “So how do you propose we deal with this situation?”

“I want to amend the contract.”

“But, he already said…”

“Not with him, with you.”

And that is how things stand between us now.

He still doesn’t let me see his Math homework. He still gets annoyed by my chattering. He still doesn’t talk a lot. But now a big weight has been taken off his shoulders, and it shows in his face, and in how he now talks with our fellow classmates.

Gerard stays with me a little more, and now he talks to me more, not just with Leen. He is a nice guy, and I’m happy he’s in our group, and I figure he’s happy with it, too. But he and Leen still talk a lot about the things they like….and I have a suspicion that it’s Leen that he likes more than me.

I take a longer way home now. We walk to Ricia’s house first, then we go to my house. Yes, almost every other day, he yanks me back onto the sidewalk, and keeps me from getting run over by a bus.

And whenever I see a large bird with white wings fly over the volleyball court, I look up, smile, and wave at my Guardian.