A Day for a Picnic

"Mn" Kenji softly opened his eyes as the sun peered through the window and shined on his face. He sat up looking around and realizing he was the last person awake which was unnatural of him to get up late. Damn, what time is it? Kenji got off his bed sliding on his shoes. As he walked towards the door he smelt cooking and peeked out of the room door. In the living room which was now made into a kitchen he saw Iris and Sam making breakfast while Ivy saw at the table fixing some gears. Kenji stepped out from outside the door and into the living room.

"What time is it?" They all turned there heads towards him and Iris spoke

"Good mor- oh my god." Kenji looked confused as they all stared at him. What are they looking at, is there someone behind me? Kenji put his hand on his knife ready for a surprise attack when Sam spoke.

"Kenji, since when was your hair white?" Sam spoke with his mouth wide open and his egg starting the burn. Kenji's face went pale and he dropped to the ground behind the table where they couldn't see him. He hadn't noticed that his hood had fallen off when he had woken up and he didn't have a wig on so they saw his pure white hair. Ivy turned to Kenji and laughed a bit since she had already known. Kenji stood back up and pulled out a chair next to Ivy sitting down next to her. Ivy whispered

"Lucky they didn't see the eyes, that would freak them out. They would think your some kind of experiment." Ivy giggled a little. Kenji looked at her and smiled as Iris called out.

"Is that a smile I see Kenji? See I knew he was a softy." Kenji frowned and like usual didn't say a word as he crossed his arm.

"I wasn't smiling." Iris smiled as she brought plates to the table.

"Today's breakfast is waffles, scrambled eggs, and strawberries. Prepared by yours truly, Sam and I." Sam walked to the table with drinks.

"Coffee for Iris, and Kenji, and juice for Ivy. Iris and Sam sat down and they all began to eat.

"Ivy and Sam could you guys run to the store after this and buy me some stuff? Today's a special day." Ivy nodded and Sam smiled, Kenji looked confused, but decided it wasn't his problem and he kept eating until Iris spoke again.

"Kenji you'll help me with the cooking, since you can cook right?" Kenji looked up at Iris slowly.

"Who's says I'll help you and why should I?"

Kenji's getting mad again.

"Because that's what family's do! They help each other!" Iris snapped back at Kenji, I think her and Sam were almost fed up with his attitude.

"I'm not your family. None of you will ever be who or what I consider to be my family!" Kenji stood up slamming the table. Sam looked annoyed but I felt bad, I was the only one who had spoken to Kenji and read the letters he passed with his friend. I know if I was being honest none of us were really family, we didn't actually know anything about each other, but it's not like we knew much about ourselves either. In the end we were all just a bunch of run aways who ran into each other a stuck together for some reason. I guess I did get why Iris saw us as a family though we hardly been with each other for very long.

"If you don't consider this a family than leave!" Iris yelled back. Kenji gritted his teeth but I spoke before he could.

"Ah! Kenji, you don't need to consider us family since we hardly know each other but couldn't you at least help cook? I doubt your cooking is that bad right?" Kenji looked at me and got quiet sitting back down at the table.

"Fine, I'll help cook but don't expect much." Ivy looked at me surprised and I'm not sure why, it's not that difficult to be nice.

"Uhm, well then. Sam, Ivey, can you guys head down to the slums and buy a few things for me?" I got up from my chair and so did Sam.

"Yeah, do you have a list and some money? I don't think Ivy has any money and I know I don't have any." Iris checked her purse and handed Sam some money and a list

"Its not much so you guys should finish quickly." I peeked over Sam's shoulder looking on the list.

"What's on it?" Sam read the list out loud while Kenji left the room to the bathroom.

"Blanket, flowers, and some juice." Me and Sam left the dorm after that and began to head down the stairs.

"So Sam, why did you run away? Or I assume you ran away like the rest of us…?" Sam's eyes widened then he scratched the back of his head.

"Shit, you're right I haven't been home in a few days mom's gonna kill me!" I was surprised that he was worried, maybe it was his first time.

"First time running away?" Sam shook his head as we walked past a board of missing posters.

"No, I've done it tons before, I even gone with my older sister a few times before. Just that last time my mom told me if I ran away again her and my step father would send me to boarding school in a different kingdom." I was surprised, but parents could never do that right? How could anyone just send their kid away to a whole different kingdom.

"I'm assuming it's your first time running away?" What, how did he know, does he know me or something?!

"How would you know that!" Sam smiled as we walked into the slums.

"Because your face was on a missing poster over on that board over there. Once you've ran away enough times they stop looking and just wait for you to come back." Wow so he really had run away a lot before huh?

"H-Help me!" I jumped as a girl ran and held on to Sam's arm. It was the girl from before the one in the orphanage of the slums who hid in the shadows outside reading.

"Ahh!" Sam screamed as she squeezed him. Two boys came out from the shadow while yelling. "Running away to your little boyfriend? He's not going to protect you. You stole from us!" The girl was dirty and in a dirty white dress, she smelled and had blonde hair but it was very dirty.

"Ew, take her we don't know her." I grabbed Sam and pulled him away then I kept walking and he followed, the girl fell into a puddle of mud as the boy went and kicked her. I turned away, she really wasn't my problem. As we kept walking Sam spoke.

"Wasn't that a bit cold Ivy." I scoffed

"Me? Cold? Those two guys would have kicked our asses if we got involved. It was better for us to just leave, didn't you learn anything from being with Kenji the longest?" Sam looked away he looked pitiful. Once we arrive at the convenience store Sam and I split up, I went to look for the juice while he looked for the blanket. I wonder what kind of juice Kenji liked. Hm, I thought for a while before picking up apple juice and a beer. I don't know why but it just seemed like Kenji liked alcohol. Going to the cashier box I saw Sam standing with a red and white blanket, seemed pretty basic.

"You ready? What's the beer for?" I shrugged and then we paid. Once we left we started walking to Lampton, since everyone knew they had the best flowers.

"You never answered my question." Sam mentioned.

"What question?" Its not that I had forgotten I just didn't think he was referring to the beer.

"Why did you buy beer? Don't tell me you're an alcoholic." I shook my head aggressively, was this boy crazy?

"Me an alcoholic? You're crazy." There were an awful lot of guards protecting the gate for Lampton.

"I guess everyone's still pretty shook up about the bombing." Sam spoke. Now that I thought about it even the whole slums seemed to be pretty panicked about the whole blowing up the base thing. Most people were trying to get into the kingdom probably to visit family or just to check it out.

"Reason for entry?" Shit, I was shocked. I didn't expect them to ask me. I looked at Sam and he looked like he was shiting himself as much as me. We has no pass to enter, if I said I was from the orphanage they would send me back and I assumed Sam didn't want to go back home.

"There my siblings. We are going home after coming back from another kingdom." I felt an arm wrap around my should and I turned to look, just to see Kenji.

"May I see an ID." I was scared, Kenji's name was on so many dead list how would we get in.

"Here you go sir." The soldier looked Kenji up and down then smiled.

"Welcome Mr. Cam." Cam? It clicked quickly. Of course he used a fake ID. He had a brown wig and green contacts on. We walked into Lampton city and I turned to Kenji.

"What are you doing here?!" Kenji sighed.

"I was- I mean… Iris was getting worried about you guys taking so long so she sent me to look for you both." Sam pushed Kenji's arm off and walked away. Kenji let go of me and spoke

"You go with Sam to the flower store, I have some things to do." As Ivy left to follow Sam, Kenji walked towards the gate that led into the middle class section and he got in line waiting for his turn.

For a kingdom in such high alert they don't check us very well. This cheap wig doesn't even match the color of the one on my ID card yet they left me in anyways. Then Kenji reached the front of the line

"Name, identification, date of birth, and reason for visit?" I handed him my ID, the easiest way to enter is to just have confidence.

"John Cam, August 7, and I'm just on my way home to visit my mother since I'm from kingdom X019." These soldiers would never actually attack or search you because they know you're the culprit. They will if you're suspicious, like the man who's behind me. I can tell from the way he's looking around and tapping his foot that he is extremely nervous. Whether he's innocent or not they will drag him to the dungeons if he doesn't quit that act. I walking into the middle class section with not even a whiff of suspicion meanwhile the guy that I mentioned was screaming a crying in the background that he hadn't done anything. I checked my wallet to see that I had and it was almost empty. I would probably have to find some work soon since I only had 15 monas left and I had been spending time at the dorm. I walked through the city until I reached closer to the neighborhood and stopped at a 2 floor townhome. Walking up to the door I felt a bit nervous, what would my mother think I left for around 3 days with no contact. I sweated as I turned the handle and opened the door. The house was dark all the curtains were closed and the house seemed creepy. I quietly shut the door behind me and walked down the hall into the kitchen, the fridge was open, the light was off and there was no cold air. The food had gone bad, there were dirty dishes in the sink and broken glass on the floor. Then I heard quiet sobbing coming from upstairs, I turned around a bit panicked that my mother might have hurt herself so I rushed up the stairs. The hallways was a mess except for the one picture of my mother, Ivens mother, Iven, and me on my 14th birthday. It was the only picture I never burned simply because my mother hid in the bathroom with that picture crying and begging for me not to burn it. The crying began to get louder and I went into my moms room and there was paint all over her floor and her bed was a mess. I had checked every room in the house except for my own so I could only assume that she was in there, I felt my heart drop to my stomach as I slowly approached the doorway to my room and looked inside. My mother had torn my room apart she was on the floor holding all the stuff that she could find while she held a photo album in her arms bent over sobbing. Iven's mom was next to her consoling her.

"Karian I'm sure Kenji's okay. It's only been 3 days and today's not even over yet." I felt horrible and after the bombing I knew I couldn't stay around here and I wouldn't be able to come back for a while.

"Mom…" My mom turned her head around faster than I had even thought possible as she shot up to her feet yet her legs were weak she stumbled towards me and fell.

"Mom, please calm down." I bent down as she held on to my arms and shirt while sobbing.

"Karian please, you need to sit down." My mother refused to let go of me and me and Iven's mom had to walk her to my bed where I sat down with her. I sat in silence and my mother didn't speak she just hugged me and cried. After a while my mom fell asleep in my lap and me and Erika put her on my bed.

"Kenji can I talk to you in the kitchen please." I just nodded in response and went to the kitchen with her. She sat down at the table and commanded me to sit. Iven's mom was a lot stricter than my mom in the sense that she gave orders rather than requests. I sat down across from her and she began to go on the same rant as the last 3 times I had disappeared.

"Kenji, do you not care for your mothers well being? Huh?! Leaving her like that and going quiet for 3 days." Erika wasn't so strict before but when Iven and I died or well I ran away but he died. My mom and Erika were told that we were missing. All they had was each other since Ivens dad had died when he was 11 and like I mention my dad was long gone before I could remember. It especially hurt Erika when I returned years later and Iven never returned. I had to break the news to her about his death. It was really hard on the three or us and my mother was so worried that I had died. Erika took time to get over her sons death but she was a strong woman and good at hiding her emotions, so every time I would disappear she would be there for my mother. Since she lost her son she's made it her mission to make sure my mom never loses me.

"Kenji, are you listening?! And take off that stupid wig and those contacts. You're always trying to hide yourself. You know your mother loves you for who you are." I slowly lifted up my hand and pulled off my wig.

"Erika… I'm, I'm sorry about Iven." She got quiet, hardly anyone ever mentioned her sons death to her because they knew she was suffering terribly, but I had to tell her.

"W-what…" I looked up at her and spoke as softly as possible.

"I know you're not over his death and you act like you are but you aren't… and I'm not either." I knew this was a sensitive topic and I was on thin ice so I was trying to put it lightly but Erika was a difficult woman who only Iven and her husband knew how to deal with.

"YOU'RE NOT HIS MOTHER! HOW COULD YOU NOT BE OVER A BOY YOU ONLY KNEW FOR 5 YEARS. I KNEW HIM ALL HIS LIFE." Erika stood up and screamed at me waking my mother up who came running down the staircase.

"What's wron-" I don't know what came over me, but for her to act like Iven's life shouldn't have mattered to me struck me in the wrong place and I stood up and screamed back at her for the first time.

"TOUGH SHIT, YES YOU ARE HIS MOTHER SO WHAT. I LIVED WITH HIM FOR 3 FUCKING YEARS. SLEEPING IN THE SAME ROOM, EATING THE SAME SHIT, SPENDING OUR BIRTHDAYS TOGETHER. I SAW HIM DIE, I WATCHED HIM GET KILLED. I-I saw all the blood and how injured… an- and how dirty he was… I WAS THERE, I… I saw his body in the hospital when he died. I didn't, I didn't see you there." I started to feel light headed and stumbled backwards into the kitchen counter holding on to it to keep myself from fainting. Erika got quiet and just looked down at the floor shamefully as my mom ran towards me.

"Kenji!" My mom grabbed me trying to help me walk to my room but I pushed her away softly trying not to hurt her.

"Mom please. I'm sorry but I have to go. I'll be gone for a while so don't wait up on me." My mom's face went from worry to panic as she began to cry uncontrollably again.

"Kenji, why, why are you leaving? Why do you want to leave again… please." I looked at Erika as I stood near the doorway and my mom held on not letting go of me. Erika looked at me and though she was upset and I understood why she understood me. She walked over and held my mother.

"Karina, you have to let him go." My mom looked at Erika shocked that she didn't take her side.

"Erika, I- I don't want to lose my son! He's all I have." Erika held my mother as she cried and I put my wig back on. Putting my hand on the door handle I looked at my mom one last time.

"I'll be back mom, I promise. I'll always come back." My mom cried and screamed trying to push out of Erikas arms as I opened the door leaving the house.

Sam had seemingly been ignoring me the whole time we picked up flowers and some other extra stuff for the dorm.

"Sam what's wrong?" He looked at me then sighed.

"I just can't stop think about the girl who begged us to help her. I regret leaving her like that." I felt my eyes roll to the back of my skull.

"It was her or us. Plus like I said didn't Kenji teach you any better?" We slipped out of the Lampton city gate and began to walk back. Sam turned to me and questioned

"Hey where did Kenji go?" I looked around and before remembering what he told me.

"Oh he said he had some stuff to do." Sam and I mostly walked in silence as we left Lampton and walked towards the slums as we entered the slums we heard a cry and Sam looked at me.

"What's that?" I shook my head.

"I'm not sure what that was." Sam and I kept listening to see if we could hear more. As we walked closer to the cries we were back and the orphanage from the slums. The cries got louder as we walked through an alley to the back of the orphanage we peaked and saw the little girl from earlier she was getting beat by the boys who were yelling before.

"That's what happens when you take our money!" They were kicking and beating her though they were around 14 or 15 the were hitting her so roughly. I felt a hand on my shoulder and turned to see Kenji. When I saw his face I felt a shiver go down my spine he looked scared and angry I couldn't tell what he was feeling. I looked at Sam as my heart dropped and Sam was looking at Kenji with the same feeling as me. He pushed passed us and I tried to tell him not to do anything but I couldn't speak. I felt terrified about what he would do and I was scared that if I tried to stop him I would get in the crossfire. Kenji picked up a rusty metal pipe that had been left on the ground and started with the taller boy first. Before the boy could reacted the pipe had been swung at his head. Kenji didn't stop there he just kept hitting him. Bam. I had never felt more scared in my life. Bam. Though the attacks weren't directed at me. Bam. I felt as if I was just prey that was soon to end up in the same place as those boys. Bam. He just kept hitting them. Bam. Over. Bam. And over. Bam. And over. Bam. And over again. Bam. There was blood splattered all over him and the little girl who was badly bruised. The blood reached my shoes and splattered on the walls, my hands, my legs, my clothes, and my face. I was frozen, I didn't know how long we'd end up being here until Sam pulled Kenji's arm back.

"Kenji Stop It!" When Sam said that was when I snapped back into reality. Kenji was covered in blood. He looked back at me and Sam while his expression slowly changed back to normal. Sam looked scared but he was brave enough to get in the way. Kenji turned to the girl and walked to her crouching down while standing in the puddle of blood from the boys.

"Marry, you okay?" His voice went back to monotone when he spoke to Marry, when he spoke it looked like she had a realization.

"K-Kenji?!" She began to sob like a child.

"W-where have you been? You promised you sniffle you would come back!" The girls once dirty white dress was so drenched in blood it had turned a shade or reddish pink. Kenji took off his cloak and put it over Marry putting the hood on her head.

"I know, I left a lot of people a long time ago." Kenji picked her up in his arms, she was barefoot then he turned to Sam and I.

"Let's go back to the door guys. Let Iris know to bring out the med kit." Sam hugged me I was shocked.

"I'm sorry for getting mad at you. Now I see that you were just trying to protect us from getting hurt." When Sam let go he took my hand and started walking me back to the dorm. A lot of shady stuff happened in the slum so seeing two kids covered in blood was kind of normal to them. Once we made it back to the dorm Iris was worried sick.

"You guys are finally back! I was worried sick. Where's Kenji? Why are you guys covered in blood?!" Iris ran to Sam and wiped some blood off his face.

"Ivy you too?!" As Iris turned to me cleaning blood off of my hands Kenji walked into the dorm drenched in blood why holding a very injured sleeping Marry in his arms.

"Oh my god… Kenji what happened out there?! Who's that girl??" Kenji walked passed Iris with his usual numb expression and he entered the bedroom, placing Marry down on the bed then he left the room.

"Iris, please take care of her. She's badly injured. I'll drop her off back at the orphanage tomorrow." Iris was shocked for a moment but was quick to follow orders and got a med kit while heading into the bedroom then closing the door. I walked to the dining table and sat down still in shock from what I saw Kenji do. Sam got a small cup of water and a towel meanwhile Kenji walked into the bathroom. Sam sat across from me and used the towel to wipe the blood off my face as he spoke to me.

"I know what those boy's were doing to that girl was wrong… but did Kenji have to injured them like that?" I didn't respond. The moment kept replaying in my head over and over again. Every thump and bam that I heard when Kenji hit the boy's.

"If I'm being honest I don't think those boys survived." Sam sounded nervous as he spoke while cleaning the blood off of me. Once he was finished he went to the sink to clean the blood off himself. Some blood got on the flowers so Sam threw them away. I just sat at the table spaced out until Kenji left the bathroom. It was then when the tears just started flowing. Sam quickly turned his head and Kenji looked at me too. Kenji walked towards me and put his hands on my face as Sam also quickly walked towards me.

"Are you injured? Are you okay?" Kenji questioned with a minuscule sound of panic in his voice. I wasn't even sure why I was crying, I wasn't hurt, no one had put there hands on me, and no one I knew died. I just kept crying and Kenji wrapped his arms around me squeezing me tightly.

"It's hard at first I know. Doing the things I do isn't easy." Sam stood next to me and Kenji looking slightly annoyed. Once Iris left the room Kenji let go of me a turned around.

"How is she?"

"She will be fine she just needs to rest, lucky her there are no broken bones." Iris walked into the kitchen and started to put the food into a bag, including the drinks and the blanket, Iris picked up the can of beer and turned to me, Sam, and Kenji.

"Who's this for?" She spoke with a smug look on her face.

"Oh, I got that for Kenji…" I felt a bit embarrassed.

"It just seemed like he would like beer." Kenji looked surprised and so did Iris.

"I uhm, I do like beer actually. I used to drink a lot of it with friends. Back when I was in school." We all turned our heads to Kenji as if he was lying and Sam said what everyone had been thinking.

"You have friends? I thought you were always just a loner?"

"I had a group of friends!" Iris laughed. "Really then? What were there names?" Kenji took a step back and stuttered.

"W-well I don't really remember, it was so long ago…" Iris laughed.

"Well anyways we should get going." I got up and questioned.

"Where to?" Iris handed the bag to Kenji.

"Just follow me." Iris left the dorm and the rest of us followed. She took us to the woods that led to the slums.

"Are we going to the slums?" Sam asked.

"Can't you guys just me patient?" Iris sighed as we walked through the woods. The woods were very beautiful now that I paid attention to them, the trees were evergreens so even during winter it was nice and green in the woods. Before we reached the slums Iris turned into another path that turned into the woods. Grass covered the ground showing that nobody had been here in a long time.

"Just over here we're getting pretty close now." We all followed Iris to a beautiful surprise.

"Wow." Sam said. It was a small flower garden with a well. Iris placed the blanket in the middle and took out the foods placing them on to the blanket.

"Here we go! A group picnic." In that moment a small wind blew and it flowed through Ivy's skirt. She had seemed to have calmed down, the wind blew through Kenji's wet hair he also seemed calmer than usual. The wind almost blew Sam's hat off and he smiled while holding it down. They all looked at Iris as the wind blew through her dress and she stood holding her sun hat. That time was really good, it was one of the first times I got to see Kenji smile, he might not have laughed like the rest of us but I could tell it had been a long time since he was happy.