Third Beginning

Awakening

**** This is a sequel to a previous story 'True Friends'. I highly recommend reading that story first before heading to 'Third Beginning', but if you would rather be a rebel that's fine too.****

The sweet aroma of the flowers in the garden wafted through the air as two sisters walked through the stone pathways between the flower beds. They giggled together as their red hair floated in the cool breeze that brushed past them.

The smaller girl hooked her arm through a brown woven basket as she skipped towards a bed of yellow and purple daisies. She plucked a single yellow flower and held it up proudly. "Look at this one, Hinata! Isn't it pretty?"

Her older sister, Hinata, walked up beside her and knelt down. Her golden eyes were beaming as she looked at the flower in her sister's hand. "It's perfect Kairi," she told her with a smile. "You should wear it in your hair."

Kairi shook her head. "Nu-uh! This one is for mommy!"

Hinata laughed. "Oh alright, fine. Mom can have this one. What about Grandma?"

Placing the yellow flower in her basket, Kairi gazed around the garden and pulled on the sides of her white dress. Widening her eyes she pointed towards a rose bush and exclaimed, "What about those?"

Looking where her sister was pointing, Hinata shook her head and informed her, "No, those are roses. They have thorns."

"What's a thorn?" Kairi asked, skipping over to the roses anyways.

Hinata shook her head as she followed her younger sister. "Thorns are little spikes that will hurt if you touch them."

Kairi approached the bush and lifted her hand in the air proclaiming, "Thorns won't hurt me!" Before Hinata could stop her, she wrapped her hand tightly around the stem of a rose. "Ouch!" she cried out as she swiftly retracted her hand only to be greeted with tiny beads of blood forming on her palm.

She looked over at Hinata with water welling up in her eyes as Hinata shrugged. "Don't say I didn't warn you."

"Hey Hinata."

They turned towards the voice and saw two boys approaching them. A young boy with spiky red hair reached them first with a large smirk.

"Isa and I were wondering if you wanted to spar with us?" he asked.

"More like you were wondering, Lea," Isa noted as he approached, fiddling with a long wooden weapon strapped to his back.

Lea waved him off. "Yeah, yeah, but really. Do you want to?"

Hinata smiled at her friends before shaking her head. "Sorry guys, I'm watching my little sister this afternoon." She pointed behind her and looked back but Kairi was nowhere to be found. Groaning, Hinata said, "Oh no, not again." She spun around as she scanned the garden looking for any sign of her sister. All she could see was the basket left on the ground in front of the roses. Turning back towards Lea and Isa she asked, "Can you guys help me find her?"

"Sure thing!" Lea grinned with a thumbs-up, while Isa sighed deeply behind him.

"Thanks, she couldn't have gotten too far." Hinata turned back around to the garden.

She took a step forward when a strange dark blue creature appeared right in front of them. It twitched on its four pointed legs, glaring at the group with two red eyes.

"What is that thing?" Hinata jumped back.

Lea reached into his orange vest and pulled out two bright frisbees with flame insignias on the top. He placed his fingers in the inner rims of both of them and spun them in anticipation. "I don't know what that is," he admitted. "But it doesn't look friendly."