Discovering Abilities
“Shinki, take Norio outside to play.”
Shinki nodded towards his father, gently lifting Norio, “Alright father, we’ll be in front of the house.”
With a nod from his father, Shinki carried Norio out with him. He was excited to show Norio the outside of their house, his mother had been strict about Norio being brought outside. She claimed the sun was too harsh for his baby brother. He made sure to bundle him up just in case, to protect his skin.
“Welcome to our home Norio, don't look at the sun, ok?”
He glanced down at the small boy as he placed him on the sand.
“This is called sand.”
Norio smiled up at him tossing sand into the air with his small hands, “Sand Shinki!”
Shinki chuckled as he sat beside his brother, “Yes, sand. Want to build something with it? We can build a castle!”
Norio nodded excitedly as he crawled closer to his brother, “Castle!”
Shinki laughed nodding slowly starting to show Norio how to move the sand into a pile. The two happily played in the sand for an hour before everything changed.
“Watch out!”
Shinki jumped at sudden shout from down the road. His green eyes widened at the sudden crash that followed the shout. He had heard the noise before when an explosion went off the year before across the village. His small frame moved on its own as he launched himself over his baby brother to protect him. He squeezed his eyes shut holding Norio to his chest waiting for the pain of an explosion to hit his back.
“Shinki!”
His green eyes peaked open at the sound of his mother's panicked shout. He quickly glanced over his shoulder and stiffened when he came face to face with a wall of iron sand. It had shielded him just as he protected his brother.
“What did you do?!”
He blinked at the sound of his father's question. The sand fell to the ground joining the regular sand around him.
“There was an explosion, I was protecting Norio.”
He didn't know why, but he was sure that the sand was his doing.
“Get inside, now!”
Shinki stiffened at the tone his mother used, she sounded angry. His green eyes slowly took in his parents, when he met their eyes he saw a look he'd never seen before in them. The look was aimed at him, and he wasn't sure why, but it made his chest hurt. He quickly glanced at Norio and immediately calmed when he met Norio's normal happy blue gaze.
“Yes Mother.”
He took Norio back into his arms and went into his home. The air inside felt heavier, but he figured it was just because he had been so close to his baby brother being hurt.