1 Reincarnation

I sat against the wall, watching a small girl prepare bandages. The movement of her pretty, white hand looked smooth and well-rehearsed as her thin-curved brows and bright-red eyes were glimmering with worry.

"Seriously, Ge'Ge how can you be so reckless? Grandpa already told us to stay away from that forest. The Spirit Beasts there snack on disobedient children. A snack, Da'Ge!" The look of fear on the small, childish face made me laugh. (Note: 'Ge' means brother while 'GeGe' is a more affectionate form of brother pronounced 'geh-geh')

"Stop laughing, Ge'Ge! You really worried us. You have to promise me that you won't go back until you're strong enough." She was cutely pouting.

I stopped laughing and sincerely looked her in the eyes, smiling instead. "You're right. I shouldn't be laughing. Thank you, my little guardian Mantou."

She looked away, not accepting my apology.

I kept smiling. "I'm not changing it."

My words seemed to have caught her attention. Her frustrated and puffy cheeks once more reminded me why I called her a 'steamed dumpling.' "Call me Mei Mei or Meiqiu. A name like Mantou isn't cute at all, Ge'Ge!"

I said nothing, only letting the smile hang on my face. I did not worry that she did not understand, hearing her small 'Hmph.'

I guided the conversation away. "You have turned six today, Meiqiu. I guess this means we can take the Spirit Awakening Ceremony together."

No matter how hard the little girl tried to act mature and responsible, she was still a kid. She easily forgot the previous conversation and bubbled with excitement. "We're going to get awakened together, Ge'Ge. You don't have to wait on me anymore." Meiqiu had a slightly guilty look on her face as she said this, and I knew why.

Most kids will be spiritually awakened at 6 but I was freshly 8 this year. Hu Meiqiu's grandfather was a somewhat accomplished blacksmith named Hu Feng, although he known more for his 'wild' personality than blacksmithing skills, earning him the nickname 'Mad Tiger Feng' (Mad as in Crazy). Despite his questionable behavior, I was fond of him. This was because he took me in when he found me in the forest when I was 5. At the time, I could not recall anything about myself besides my foreign-sounding name, Madara. Although he has his flaws, glaring ones at times, he is truly a caring person. Since then, I've called him 'Grandfather' like Meiqiu.

He had even offered to awaken me when I became 6, but I had declined at the time. At that time, Meiqiu believed that it was because I did not want to abandon her, thus slowing my own development. I've told her many times that this is untrue, but she is unwilling to believe me.

And she was not really the cause of my hesitation. Instead, it was from a voice sounding out from within my soul, telling me to wait. I am unsure why, but I felt that this voice would not hurt me, and so I listened to it. It was only yesterday that the voice that used to be a broken record suddenly told me to head into the forest. I cannot remember anything that happened after I did, and Meiqiu apparently found me passed out at the exterior of the forest when she went to look for me.

That brings me to now, where she is bandaging some small scrapes that I likely got from branches and vines. While I do think that it is strange how everything played out, with no memory and no more messages from the mysterious voice, I could only give it up.

As a sweet scent permeated from Meiqiu who was hunched over my scraped arm, my heart raced in excitement for tomorrow when I would finally awaken my Martial Soul.