Sumi's POV

The man's claim shocked me, I couldn't help but run up to him. That is, until I was cut off by Mamoru throwing him to the ground. I had to get to the bottom of this mystery. That wasn't going to happen though, Mamoru shouted, focusing all his rage on this man. "What makes you think that you could get away with something like that!?"

The mystery man looked confused, his eyes widened as he questioned. "And your talking about?..." Mamoru was going to respond when Nozomi cut in, "Your not Masakazu's son.."

Everyone seemed to be angry with him at the moment, or at least those two were, Itai couldn't care less, Takai was curious, and I just wanted to know if it was true or not. The 'son of Masakazu' replied "I can prove it, ask me anything, I can tell you everything!" We all looked to him in disbelief. "Everyone knows everything about Masakazu, he's famous!"

This is where the man's face changed to one that showed victory. "Everyone thinks they know everything, see Yuriko had another son, before Hiroshi, but I was kept a secret because I'm only half-Remarian, father was embarrassed by it.." Takai and Itai looked to each other in thought as Nozomi shouted back. "Masakazu would never keep a secret from our father! They were best friends!"

Everyone looked shocked, including Nozomi for her outburst. Takai paniced and replied to her comment. "Nice going Nozomi....now he knows!" He walked toward Nozomi in annoyance before Itai said in a calm tone while smirking. "Well if he didn't, he sure knows now.."

The half-remarian was speechless for a moment. Looking from each of our faces, he knew that his assumption would correct. He replied with a voice filled with curiousity. "...You mean, your father is-" I interuppted him in the middle of his guess. I'd grown tired of all the arguing. "Shigekazu and Yoshiko are our parents."

The man stood in shock looking at all of us, he backed away slowly almost as if he didn't believe it at all. Takai noticed instantly and quietly said. "That's why we don't believe you...We were best friends with your 'fathers' family."

He thought more seriously now, knowing that we were closely connected with Masakazu and Yuriko's family.  "You were never in my house though, and if you were mother wasn't there, was she...?"

Aggitated, Mamoru spat back a reply. "What does that show? I think I would have noticed news about YOU..." He wished to continue, but Nozomi walked to Mamoru and put a hand on his shoulder, replying with a new thought. "But, if what he's saying is true then there wouldn't have been news, and plus, he does have a point, I've only been to their house once, and Yuriko wasn't there. Even when we visited the village, she wasn't outside. The only time I saw her was when she came to Maori with Masakazu."

Takai joined in agreement while looking back to Mamoru and Nozomi. "Maybe he is Masakazu's son..." He then looked from them to the mysterious man, and then toward Itai and I, unsure of what he was saying. Mamoru was growing more and more angry by the second and yelled out of frustration. "He can't be! Masakazu's only son died in that building fire! Sumi was there that day...remember?" He pointed in my direction, and everyone's eyes followed.

Itai's POV

Mamoru looked at all of us, he did have a point, I wasn't there for it, but Nozomi and Takai had explained to me about the day when Hiroshi (Masakazu's son) and Yazuma (Shigekazu's son, and Takai's twin) had died. My thoughts were soon cut off, by the half breed shouting. "*looks to Sumi* You were there...when Hiroshi died?"

Sumi didn't say a word, she simply turned her face away from everyone and looked down the road. Sumi never really said much to begin with, but I suppose this would be hard to talk about. This is when our stranger made his next mistake, he ran up to Sumi and picked her up by her shirt, lifting her off the ground while shouting at her. "TELL ME!!"

Mamoru and I ran up to the nameless man, Mamoru punched him as I caught Sumi, but she wasn't looking at us still. Her eyes showed that they were looking into the past, into what happened that fateful day. My attention was turned back to Mamoru as he screamed at the top of his lungs. "DON'T YOU EVER TOUCH MY SISTER!!" He was scared, and his eyes were wide. Stuttering, he tried to reply. "But she-"

Sumi's POV

Before my brother could murder the remarian, I had decided to finally speak. Stepping out of Itai's arms as I spoke."It's true, I was there. The building collapsed on the both of them. When Ronin attacked our village, we hid Hiroshi and your brother Yazuma in a house, Takai wasn't there that day because he was sick, so he was with Nozomi. My father saved me and told me to get Hiroshi and Yazuma somewhere safe. But when I got there, the house was on fire, I ran toward the house to get them out as the building started to collapse, but Mamoru stopped me. If I went in, I would have been killed too...I'm sorry, my brother was in that house too."

Anger filled his eyes, along with confusion. He questioned. "Then why didn't you go in sooner....or at least try harder!?!?" Nozomi stepped forward, answering his question in my place. "There was nothing she could do!" But that was when he turned on her, demanding answers yet again. "And where were you!?"

This time Mamoru interuppted, determined to put an end to this futile argument. "She was getting Takai out of the village!" It wasn't going to end, the man turned to Mamoru pointing an accusing finger at him as he shouted. "And you! why did you stop her!?! Maybe if you had let her in or maybe if you had gone, they would have survived!"

The fighting and arguing continued as I walked over to Takai, who was surprised that Mamoru and Nozomi were so calm toward the man. Ignoring the fighting, I turned to Takai as he spoke. "So you believe him?"

It took me a moment to answer but,"*nods* Yes, don't you?" was my reply.  His reply was instant, with no hesitation. "Well, I guess so...I didn't want to get yelled at, but when you called Hiroshi his brother, I knew you thought the same thing I did-" Nozomi suddenly spoke out, causing Takai to break from his thoughts. "Don't even try that excuse!!"

Mamoru shouted back, losing all calmness in his voice.  "Your both 17!!, if she could do it then you could have too." I just simply sighed, and returned to talking to Takai saying,"If only THEY could figure it out before nightfall..."

Takai replied. "Yeah..." He turned to look at Itai and asked. "What about you Itai? Do you believe him?" Itai thought for a moment, giving an honest opinion as he shrugged. "He really hasn't given me any reason to think he's a liar. And who are we to tell a man we don't know who his father is..."

My younger brother became confused, unable to comprehend everything Itai said, he questioned. "huh??" Itai gave a look and I cut in, answering for Itai "Take it as a yes Takai, Itai believes him to."

He then understood what Itai meant and said. "oh...good" he turned his attention to the three in the distance fighting, and continued. "HEY GUYS! Cut it out! Don't we have somewhere we have to be?"

This caused Nozomi to stop arguing and think for a moment, before saying, once again calm. "...He's right, Mamoru we have to go, forget about this liar, we can't walk after nightfall." The eldest brother nodded his head and agreed. "Your right" He turned to me and continued. "I'm sorry Sumi, we'll make up for the lost time..."

I nodded in agreement and turned to leave, but we were again interrupted by something mysterious, or at least me. This unknown force seemed to only be affecting me. Something told me to stop, and as I was trying to understand the power, Nozomi spoke.

Nozomi's POV

After we got Mamoru to give up on the poser, we were finally able to continue our journey, well at least until Sumi stopped. Something was bothering her and I had to find out. I asked. "Sumi... are you alright?"

Sumi didn't answer, she simply turned to face me. I replied worry filling my voice. "Sumi? Mamoru!! I think something is wrong with Sumi!" This of course made Mamoru's eyes widen as he shouted in a mixture of fear and anger. "What!?"

Mamoru ran over to Sumi and me, but before he could get to her, she walked away from me and headed straight for that man. I thought that maybe he put her under some spell so I ran to catch up to her. Itai beat me to it though, he appeared in front of her in the blink of an eye. I often forgot this Cryian had foreign powers. He was able to move quickly toward his destination no matter where it was.

Itai looked her in the eye and asked her in an unemotional tone. "What are you doing, he could be dangerous..."

Sumi ignored him and walked right around Itai like nothing was there. I was going to stop her. But when I noticed that Mamoru was emotionless, I stopped. He knew that she would be ok, and if he thought she was safe, then she was as safe as anything. But one question floated through my mind. "What is she doing?" I voiced my thoughts, never taking my eyes off Sumi. Mamoru doing the exact same thing, answered me. "I don't know, but I hope she's going to slap him." Takai walked to us to join us in our conversation, saying. "But why? He can't do anything to us!" Mamoru knew he was no longer a threat, but he replied. "It was only a hope Takai..."

Takai shrugged it off as everyone turned to watch Sumi. I still wasn't sure why, but at least no matter what it was, she wasn't going to get hurt.

Itai's POV

I tried to stop Sumi, but she just walked around me. She quickly made her way toward the man, but everyone else was just watching. I couldn't help but wonder. "Sumi are yo-"

That was when her voice cut through the air, and into my ears. At first is sounded like her but I soon remembered that I wasn't home. It was Sumi's voice, asking "Will you be my guardian?" It was the way that Sumi asked that question, that made me think of her, made me want to go home.

The half-remarian answered in astonishment. "What?" Nozomi also shouted "Are you serious!?" at the same time.

Sumi's POV

I walked past Itai and headed toward the man, but when I asked him to be my guardian, I got what was to be expected for a reaction out of my siblings. Instantly, Mamoru stepped forward to speak his mind. "Sumi, are you sure? I mean, he's a liar, and a stranger." As much as it might have seemed true to him. That wasn't my opinion. "Well, I believe him."

The man was outraged"A lia- Wait, you believe me?" I simply nodded, there was no reason to really respond. Nozomi, still shocked walked over in confusion.

She leaned over to whisper in my ear "Are you sure? You don't really know him all that much.." I simply responded outloud. "Well, I guess this is the perfect way to get to know him then...so, sir I ask you again, Will you be my guardian?"

He didn't seem to think about what his answer would be "Well...y-"

???'s POV

"Before you answer" The one known as Mamoru quickly said, he ran over and whispered to me. "Know that her life becomes more important than yours...it's the code of the guardian...you fight for her as much as possible and if Nozomi or I say to run, you run with her, keep her hidden, and don't let her get harmed, your needs no longer matter once you become a guardian...."

The look on his face told me that he'd wanted to me to deny Sumi's offer. I looked to the back of my mind, searching for an answer. After a few moments I turned to face Sumi" Sumi...right?" She returned the look and knodded back. I continued  "I'll be your guardian..."

Sumi eye's showed that she was glad I'd accepted. The other girl of the group seemed to have a different opinion. "What!? Why? you two just met!"

Then the youngest one, jumped up and cheered. "Welcome to the team! uh..." I wasn't paying attention to what he wanted to know. Instead I answered Sumi's female guardian.

"She's the only one who trusts me! Of course I'll accept!"

She seemed angry with my response, as she opened her mouth to speak, Sumi interupted. "...Welcome to our team..." She started to walk down the road as they were before I'd crashed into her. But must have forgotten something because she stopped walking and said "oh" She turned back around to face us and walked up to stand before me again. "your name?"

I was hestitant with telling her at first, but I figured since I was to be watching her, she had a right to know my name. "...Raidon."

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