Raising the Hero

By: Sinead

Chapter Three:

Rodimus’ Gate . . . Trinity City . . . Northwest Quadrant . . . Cybertron

It was another four years that passed, seeing Optimus change gradually, coming to respect Yuki and Ken after his initial, brutal and thorough thrashing by the sister. Not to mention in front of all three siblings of his own, and their own three other siblings.

And almost all of the arena.

“Ah, blast it, Tekk, that wasn’t fair!”

“C’mon, Optimus, you weren’t looking! It was blasted perfectly fair!” the now-thirteen-year-old replied. “Just because I caught you with your pants down–”

“I am sick of your human phrases! What the slag is that supposed to mean, caught with my pants down?!”

Kenrei shook his head and turned away from Optimus and his younger brother, his frame completely filled out now that he was at the age of twenty. His voice, as his mother had predicted years ago, was now an imitation of his father’s, just as Tekk’s was starting to do.

Unwillingly, his mind flew into memory, and the sadness and grief of two years ago resurfaced.

“Can’t we do anything to save her?”

“I’m sorry. It’s fatal.”

“No! Mom has to live! I can’t let her die!”

“There’s no cure!”

“I won’t accept that!”

“Your father has; your siblings have!”

“Yuki isn’t giving up on Mom that easily, either!”

The doctor shook his head. “You don’t understand. You can’t save her by willpower alone. There is no chance.”

“I. Don’t. Accept. That.”

“Boy, you’re the hottest, most obstinate hard-headed brat I’ve had to deal with in the longest while. What more can I tell you, eh? I’m sorry, but I can’t save your mother. There is no cure for what she contracted. Just learn to let her go. There’s nothing you can do. Besides. You’re only a kid. What can a kid do?”

The next thing Kenrei remembered was being held down in a chair by Lumius, whose own face was suffused with grief. Optimus and Graius were beside their elder brother, ready to help, but it was Yuki, small, child-sized Yuki, who climbed into his lap and embraced him, sobbing, asking him to come back from his rage . . . it was she that broke the spell his blood had cast over him.

“What did I do?”

Lumius smiled sadly, releasing Kenrei’s arms. “Nothing damaging. Landed that arrogant motor-head a smart clip on his chin, though. I thought that you needed that much stress relief.”

The older brother set about calming his sister, whispering, “I’m scared.”

Graius leaned against the chair he was in, while Optimus stood by the door. Graius spoke. “We’ll stay with you until things blow over.”

“What are the repercussions?”

“Nothing, actually,” Optimus replied. “Of course, everyone here wishes that they were the one to knock that fool out, but then again, nobody wanted to argue with a berserk Pred.”

“Was I that bad?”

“No,” Yuki whispered. “I just couldn’t get through to you. Your mind closed off. I don’t want to feel that alone again.”

“Matrix and Primus . . . I’ll try not to go that far again. I . . .”

“It’s not your fault,” Yuki replied. “I wish that I could have seen you land him one on his mug, but . . . well . . .”

“What is it?”

“Dad said that he wanted to see you once you were back.”

“Ken?”

Startled out of his reverie, The Predacon looked at Optimus, silent. He spoke less and less around people, instead letting a gaze or a body motion reply to something. Only Yuki and Sora could get him to laugh and smile. And his father would always talk to him, getting responses and full replies out of his son. Optimus smiled a little sadly. “You all right?”

Ken nodded, his face not coming out of the now-constant frown.

“There’s a few visitors here. Humans. Said that they wanted to learn from a master, and were brought to me. I’m thinking that you’d work better with them, since you grew up with their kind.”

“Biased?” Ken asked.

Glad that he got even a one-word reply, Optimus shook his head. “Not in the least. I just don’t know how to deal with them. Don’t know how they’ll react or what their limits are.”

Kenrei nodded again, thoughtful. He turned to see his two brothers watching him. Tochi was as silent as he was, but not in the anger-type of silence. Even at the age of ten, his silence was more thoughtful. “Tochi, you teach them stretches. Tekk, beginning moves; blocks and parries.”

“You’ll take them after we’re done?” Tochi asked.

Kenrei nodded once.

“What do we get out of it?” Tekk demanded.

Sighing, Kenrei shrugged. “What do you want?”

“Can we choose together?”

Another nod.

“Then we’ll tell you once we’re done with them.”

“Good. Go.”

They scurried off to where Optimus said the humans were, Tochi running through Lumius’ legs as the Maximal opened the door, while Tekk ran by his side, eager to please their brother. Lumius chuckled, and looked at the solemn twenty-year-old. All at once, his cheer belly-flopped and hit bottom. “I don’t know what’s wrong with her optics. I’ve tested, I’ve done everything, and Primus blast it, I can’t pin the problem.”

Kenrei sighed. “Does she know.”

“Yes. She’s old enough to hear something like that. She accepts it, or at least says that she does.” Lumius sighed deeply. “You don’t know how sorry I am that I can’t understand this. I’m blasted frustrated. She’s one of the best friends I’ve had in a long while; her and you both. This completely baffles me.”

Kenrei reached over to punch Lumius’ shoulder affectionately, and the large bot looked up to see a small, gentle smile play briefly over the younger’s face. His voice rasped. “You’ve done all you can. No-one can blame you or say that you didn’t do enough.” Sighing, the smile faded from his face, but it still lived in his optics. “And I am honored that you call me your friend. I have to get to Yuki. She won’t release her anger or her sorrow around anyone else.”

“Go, then. I have to talk with your father about other things.”

Kenrei nodded, walking. Optimus caught up with him, and asked, “Mind if I tag along?”

“She won’t open to you.”

“I know, but someone has to keep Sora busy while you take care of Yuki. I’ll take her out on to dinner. You know how much she likes me.”

Snorting a chuckle, Kenrei looked at Optimus. “She’s devoted to you.”

“Yes, well, I’m not complaining.”

“She’s ten.”

“And she’s like a sister to me. Besides. You know that I’m going to marry Tronia next month. You’re in the wedding, blast it!”

“Better be that way. Can’t have you doting upon my youngest sister all the time.”

Optimus laughed, and the moment they were at Kenrei’s home, Sora launched herself to hug Optimus, who immediately asked her where she wanted to go to eat. She looked at Kenrei, seeing him nod once, telling her silently that she could, and the two left, but not before Sora whispered to her brother that Yuki had locked herself into her room. The house was empty, their father at the arena. Kenrei walked up to his sister’s room and sat against the door, not wanting to open it until she invited him in. “Are you in there?”

“Where else,” was the bitter reply.

“Tell me.”

“He said he was going to talk to you after he spoke to me.”

“And he should be talking with Dad right now.”

“Oh, freaking great. Now I’ll have both of you pity me.”

“When have I pitied you?”

Sighing, Yuki ordered the door unlocked, and Ken turned to open it, still not entering the room. She was sitting by her window, her face angled towards the sun, catching its warmth. “You haven’t.”

The sun also caught her tears, tempering them into glittering diamonds that dripped to Yuki’s hands. Ken walked over to her, picking her up and cradling her small form against his chest. “But he tried. You know he tried.”

“But why can’t the problem be found?”

“I don’t know, Yuki. I really don’t know.”

“I want to see, Rei. I want to see your face, not feel it with my hands. I want to see Sora’s smile and Tochi’s angry pout when Dad tells him to stop teasing Tekk. And I want to see Tekk and how he does those sword-tricks that I can’t follow. I don’t want to be like this for the rest of my life, stuck in a child’s body, unable to see faces and people.” Her tears fell faster, and Ken wiped them gently, hearing her voice thicken with emotion. “If I can’t see for the rest of my life . . . I . . . but I want to see! I . . . oh, Primus, Rei, I want to see . . .”

“Hush, now. You’re working yourself up into a tizzy. Quiet, now.”

“Nothing’s been the same since Mom died . . .”

Kenrei sighed, his breath shuddering with unspent sobs. “I know. I want her here, too. I want her back, but she’s . . . you know that she’s in a better place, Yuki.”

“You’ve never forgiven yourself from berserking . . .”

“I might never get around to forgiving myself. I feel horrible.”

“But Dad said that it was all right, that you were pushed into it by that idiot doctor. Mom said that it was all right. She said that she loved you, that she was proud of you that you would forget all training to try to find a cure, to defend her.” Her tears slowed, and she clung to her brother, feeling safe in his arms. “And I’m proud of you for not giving in to hopelessness when everyone else did.”

“You didn’t.”

“Because you didn’t.”

Kenrei sighed, holding his sister tightly for a moment. “Come on. Optimus brought Sora to her favorite spot. My treat.”

“You’ll be talkative, though, won’t you?”

“I can never seem to shut up around you, Yuki.”

“Good.”

Chuckling, Kenrei set his sister upon her feet, but she wrapped her arms around his neck in an embrace before he could stand, whispering, “And I think that you should pay more attention to that girl that’s been following you around the arena lately.”

“Who, Qantri?”

“No, silly. The one that was from Funabashi, northeast of TÇkyÇ. Kirishin.”

“Her?”

“Yes, ‘her,’ Rei. She likes you.”

“I thought that you didn’t want me to marry and leave you alone.”

“Slag, bro! I was ten when I said that!”

He chuckled, letting her know he was teasing her. “I don’t know just yet, Yuki. I’m still grieving. I don’t want to impose upon her.”

“She’s already come and talked with me,” Yuki said softly, her face aimed forward.

“About?”

“Just that she worries for you. She’s your age, Rei, and she’s also lost a parent, even though that was years ago for her. She was only thirteen when her mother died.”

Kenrei sighed. “So what do I do, then?”

“I’ll invite her over for just ‘girl-time,’ and you, being your usual male self, burst in at some random point to ask something of me.”

“You’ve been plotting about this.”

“Yep.”

Chuckling, Kenrei brushed his elbow against his sister’s upper arm, and she caught it with years of experience of doing so, letting him lead her out the door and to where Optimus and Sora were to be.

“So you . . .” Yuki laughed.

“Yeah, I know. And it’s so lame, too. ‘Hey, he’s gorgeous,’ I said to you, and–”

“‘He is? Blast it, but why doesn’t my brother tell me anything anymore?!’ Hah, well, he’s not known to be tactful, either.”

“Yuki!”

“What?! He’s male, Kiri. And you know how tactless males are.”

“But can’t you be nice about it?”

“Uh, no? He’s my elder brother, not my father. Now Dad has tact.”

“No, we’re not changing the subject. We’re talking more about your brother.”

Yuki laughed again, moving around her room easily to start cleaning her desk from the parts of litter that had accumulated over the last few days that had been filled with making a small holographic projector. So far, she hadn’t gotten it right. “All right. What do you want to know?”

“He was born in Osaka?”

“Wrong. TÇkyÇ. As was I. The rest of the family are Osakans.”

“Ooh, am I glad about that.”

“Really.”

“There won’t be the TÇkyÇ-Osaka rivalry thing.”

“Good. Next question?”

The door opened, and Kenrei ended up being genuinely shocked that Kirishin was sitting at the window. He didn’t expect Yuki to ask her over so quickly. Recovering almost instantaneously, he asked, “Yuki, where are the twins?”

“With Dad at the arena. Did you forget about the humans that were training here?”

“Not at all. I’ll be completing their training schedule soon, and I wanted to know how far along they were.”

“Then why would you need the twins?”

“Tochi’s teaching them stretches. They’re hopeless. Know nothing in the least of martial arts. And I wanted to ask Sora where she hid the books I ordered.”

Yuki snorted. “You’re evil, brother dearest, by making them suffer through Tochi. And your manga is under your bed. I had Sora put it there so that the boys wouldn’t get their grimy fingers all over the pages, ruining the kanji before you could read them to me.”

“Thank you. I’ll start reading them to you tonight. And Tekk is training them in blocks and parries after Tochi’s done.”

“What.”

“You blasted well heard me,” Kenrei chuckled. He sobered slightly. “I told them that they can each have something that they want once they’re done. They’ve been behaving since.”

“So that’s what they’ve been up to,” Kirishin said, snapping her fingers. “They brushed me right off last time I asked a favor from them. Tekk, that is. Tochi’s too sweet to refuse a lady a favor.”

Kenrei shook his head. “He refuses his twin and elder sister easily enough.”

“You’re talkative today,” Kiri said unexpectedly.

“Get in here, bro, we were talking about you,” Yuki added.

The older brother sighed. “I have paperwork–”

“That isn’t due for a while, if it’s for the research paper on forging two metals that aren’t supposed to be able to be changed into an alloy that you’ve been working on. Come on, stop being so stubborn.”

Wincing, the bot walked in, leaving the door open.

“Close the door. Don’t want Tekk walking in on us. I know he’s home.”

Obeying, Kenrei asked, “What the Pit are you two up to?”

“Well, I just wanted to know why you’ve said more in the last few cycles than I’ve heard you say in three weeks combined,” Kiri said, casing a sidelong glance at the guileless Yuki. “But she apparently has other plans.”

“Always does,” Kenrei griped. “Well, sister?”

“I want you two to shut up for a moment,” she said, sitting upon the cleared part of her desk. “To hold off your questions, I’m being matchmaker.”

Dual groans emitted from the pair. Kiri spoke first. “You told him.”

“No, I indicated to him.”

Ken hid his face in his hands, unable to meet either Kiri’s look or Yuki’s gentle touch upon their bond as siblings.

“And he’s about to pass out. He never was good at dealing with any girls other than me and Sora. Breathe, onii-chan!”

“I’m going to knock you into next week,” Kenrei growled out, standing from where he had leaned upon the wall, his face a jumble of emotions. “I-I . . . Primus, you . . . but . . .”

His hand was upon the door, but Yuki’s voice. stopped him. “You going to leave her hanging? You’re not that cruel. Tell her why, at least, you don’t talk. Why you’re ignoring anyone but your students.”

Kenrei’s hand fell from the door, and he swivelled on his heel to let his back hit the wall, suddenly too weary. He never could argue against Yuki, and never could disobey her when she spoke reason. His sigh nearly broke Kiri’s heart, but his voice was strong. “I don’t want to revisit old memories that I want buried. Is that sufficient?”

“No.”

Kiri looked at her hands, then sighed, coming into the conversation completely. “I did that, too. But Kenrei . . .” She looked up, locking her optics upon his. “You have to, at some point, come back to face reality. I had to.”

Turning his face away after a long silence, the brother shook his head. “It’s too hard. I’m weak. I have to get stronger so that I can deal with this better.”

“You have your sister, right?” Kirishin asked.

“I’ve always had my sister. She’s–” And he smiled for the first time in Kiri’s presence. Her throat caught up at the expression, which seemed so foreign, yet so completely real upon his face. It was the first real expression that she knew she had seen from him, and hoped that it wouldn’t be the last. His gaze found hers again, after breaking it away from watching his sister. “She’s been the only thing keeping me sane at times.”

After lowering her gaze to be modest for a moment, she looked back up. “Would . . . would it trouble you too much if I offered to help as well? I know what you’re going through, and I hate seeing people unable to recover. I really want to help, but . . . I also want to know you. You, the older brother, the protector . . . whatever your siblings see you to be, I want to also see the same. I don’t want to see the emotionless sensei leading a class in drills. I want to see you, Kenrei, as who you are and who you’re supposed to be.”

This was too much for him to handle, to take in. The love that shone from Yuki’s Spark was overwhelming, even when he was so completely used to it, but Kiri’s love . . . he knew he felt it. He could see it in her face.

The complete trust.

The want to know him.

The wistful hope that he would let her into his world.

And his fragile emotions snapped, his hand reaching up to press against the top of his nose, trying not to let her see, but both femmes came over to him, Yuki to hug him, Kiri to reach up and rest her hand on his shoulder, taking his left hand in hers. He swallowed, then gathered up enough courage to meet this Maximal’s eyes.

And in them shone a question, which she voiced a moment later. “Can I at least treat you out to dinner once? So my romantic impulses will be satisfied that I’ve had a date in the last year?”

“One date?” Kenrei managed to say.

“Er, well . . . I’ve been busy training . . .”

“Don’t let him get to you, Kiri, he’s never been on a date in his life. Unless I don’t know about it,” Yuki grumbled.

Kenrei gripped Kiri’s hand firmly, pulling his sister to him in a hug that spoke of times before they had lost their mother. And he looked back up at Kiri’s face, nodding, feeling her loose her hand from his, but only to wrap her arms around both siblings in such a way that they forgot that she was someone from the arena, their initial instinct telling them from similar hugs that it was another hug from their mother.

Which thus caused both of them to weep helplessly at the priceless treasure that had been lost because the doctors had insisted that they didn’t have a cure. And Kirishin was there throughout the final outpouring of grief that the brother and sister shared.

Click here for chapter 4