Aiko: Rise of The goddess of War

Chapter One

New York, 2019.

Aiko slammed her school locker shut after grabbing her books for the next class then made her way through the noisy hallway filled with high schoolers doing their thing. She side eyed the group of boys who were suddenly looking at her and whispering amongst themselves. It wasn't anything new to her, ever since she was little, she was always talked about by people of different ages because of her physical appearance.

She didn't understand why people judged her based on the color of her eyes which were light blue, her extra long hair that stopped at her knees but was always tied up in a way that didn't bother her. She had on numerous occasions cut her hair but it always seemed to grow fast in a few days. Even when she was adopted from the orphanage center, the kids there always called her names and bullied her.

In one of the homes on her arrival, two kids had gotten sick from the same illness and died, there was always a financial problem almost every year which made them so glad when her new parents adopted her, effectively stopping the bad luck her former family had, according to news from neighbors.

"Aiko?" Someone called from a distance while she was deep in thought. "Aiko?!"

Aiko turned around and saw her best friend since kindergarten—Troy Bakers. She waved sheepishly at him when she realized how everyone in the hallway stared at her then waited impatiently for the blonde haired teen to approach her.

"What's up?" Troy asked the moment he stopped in front of her.

Aiko looked up at her tall and fit friend and smiled softly at him. Then gasped when he wrapped his strong arms around her shoulder before they began to walk to their classes.

"Are you coming to the swimming competition this weekend?" He asked and she rolled her eyes.

"You know how much I hate being in public places, Troy. I can't do that," she replied and he held her arms and made her face him.

She looked into his brown eyes and tilted her head back when he moved closer. Her eyes traced his face, his sharp jawline and the glasses resting perfectly on his nose.

"I know but you've never come to any of my swimming competitions and this one is huge. Please, Aiko. Do this for me? And yes, I understand that people can't stop looking at you because you're Japanese and have weird eyes. I understand that but they can only stop talking when they constantly see you," he said and dropped one of his hands to touch her face.

Aiko looked around and tried to ignore the fact that they were in the middle of the hallway and that people were looking at them again in a judgemental way. She gasped when he snapped his fingers in front of her face.

"T-Troy?" She whispered.

"I've talked about this, Aiko. You are beautiful and there is absolutely nothing wrong with you. Stop listening to what people say about you. I met you before you were ever adopted and I've heard what those kids who you called your siblings used to say and I knew that you'd grow up to be who you are now," he said and moved back a little.

"I know but there's nothing I can do about it. Stop trying to force me," she said and backed away then turned around and walked her way to her class. Once she got in, she rushed to her seat that was by the wall in the back. She immediately rested against the wall and hugged her body while she stared deeply into space.

Her mind was filled with reasons why she was just too different from everyone. Why everywhere she went, bad luck immediately followed. And why she never got to live her life like a normal seventeen year old.

"Ah," she groaned when a sharp pain hit her temples before she began to see things in twos then sat up straight to hold the edges of the wooden locker. She placed her hand on her chest when she began to breathe irregularly while beads of sweat began to roll down her face and back. She opened her mouth to call out for help but it felt like her tongue was sloppy and heavy to do so.

"No, not-" she fell to the floor and everything went dark.

Shiromizu...

Nine year old Aiko ran around the field of her village and laughed out loud in glee as she hopped on the grassy slope by the beach of her small village, Shiromizu.

She suddenly paused when she saw something glitter on the sea from where she stood. She walked to the bank of the ocean to see it more clearly. Aiko raised her dress with her small hands as she walked towards the round white light coming from the ocean. Aiko knelt and touched whatever it was with her bare hands when she got close.

She gasped when something gripped her wrists. She struggled with the grip but couldn't release herself.

"Aiko, avenge thy father. Rise to claim your birthright, they have begun their plots against the prophecy. Rise Aiko," a hushed feminine voice spoke around her head.

Aiko groaned in pain when there were stings all over her body, like someone continuously poked her skin. She felt her hair come loose from their confinement, then it felt as if someone ran their fingers through her hair. A sharp stabbing pain hit her lower waist before she screamed.

_________

Aiko watched as her body moved without her consent through her small village. She looked down at her body, her hair was snowy white, her skin glowing and her body encased in water. She watched as her hands raised at their own accord, then water snakes coiled out of her hands and clashed against tables and shops around. The people screamed in horror.

"Let the people of Shiromizu and those who fear the return of Hachiman-Shin, realise that the prophecy has begun," she found herself saying in an echo of thousands of voices.

Aiko gasped when she levitated into the air. The water encased her in a ball like form, then a sharp pain hit her in the spine, making her roar. The water increased and released itself towards the villagers. Everything went dark afterwards.

_____________

Aiko woke up when she turned ten, her mother had narrated to her that she had been asleep for months after her destruction at the village.

"What?" Aiko asked.

"Yes, Aiko. You were something else, you almost wiped everyone out and the Empress wanted to burn you alive, saying you practiced black magic. But I pleaded for a better punishment," her mother said.

"Which was?"

"To live by the beaches of Shiromizu. The village is on the opposite side of us," she replied.

Aiko clenched her fists in some unknown anger and gritted her teeth when it felt like she wanted to lay a curse on them, especially the Empress.

_________

New York

Aiko let out a gasp as she rose up from her lying position on the floor. She breathed heavily and lifted her eyes to look at the concerned and irritated faces of her classmates that surrounded her. She swallowed then flipped her hair that had somehow come undone out of her face then staggered her way to her feet and hissed due to the sharp and throbbing pain she always felt on her lower back whenever she passed out.

"Are you done being dramatic?" Someone asked and she gritted her teeth.

The dark haired teen, held back a retort as she made her way to her desk. She sat down and covered her face as flashes of what she had seen came to her mind again.

"Why do I always pass out and find myself in a different place? It always feels so real, like it has to do with a part of me that is yet to be uncovered. I feel so close to these people I see whenever I pass out. Like dejavu," she whispered and stared down at her hands.

Aiko furrowed her brows when she saw mud in her short fingernails. She brought her hands close to her face and sniffed.

"Smells like the ocean," she said and shook her head. "Maybe that's because I passed out or I touched someone's dirty shoes in the process. Yeah, that's true."

"Hey, weirdo!"

She glanced to her right where she saw the person she hated most in school, Emelie Foster. The school's head cheerleader and a complete nerd. Aiko always wondered why such a combination worked when it was supposed to be segregated, especially from the books she read and movies she has seen.

"What do you want?" She asked and put her hands in the pockets of her sweatshirt.

"We were wondering when you're ever going to donate your hair to people who need it?" The chocolate skinned teen asked.

"Okay," Aiko replied with a shrug and faced the class and ignored the shocked looks on those who always joined Emelie in their usual mockery thrown at her.

"Ugh," Emelie said with a grunt.

Aiko simply rolled her eyes and made a double take when she saw a hooded figure under the tree a few feet opposite the window she was close to. The figure was in some sort of brown cloak with a symbol that resembled a dragon and fire on the left side of his chest. His face was darkened from the hood of his coat and his gloved hands were the only thing visible. Her eyes widened in curiosity when he began to raise his head.

"Attention class," the teacher said, making Aiko look away on instinct and by the time she looked back at the tree, the figure was gone.

"This is the fifth time I've seen this person," she said and relaxed on her chair.

___________

"How was school?" Came her mother's question as she walked past the kitchen.

"It was fine, mom. We have some kind of a swim competition soon and an orientation by next week. Parents are invited," she narrated in a monotone. "I'll be up in my room, I have homeworks."

She looked away from her blonde mother who stood by the kitchen sink in an apron and walked up the grand spiral steps, through the hallway that was designed with expensive decorations and pictures then got to her room and locked the door.

She rushed to the bathroom where she stood in front of the mirror and raised her sweatshirt up. She turned halfway to stare at the tattoo she always had ever since she was a baby and according to her first foster parents, she had always had it and that was one of the things kids her age always bullied her with.

Aiko was about to drop the shirt when her eyes saw a new tattoo on the lower left side of her old tattoo. It was the exact same symbol she had seen on the stranger's cloak and immediately, she dropped her shirt and pushed herself against the wall of the bathroom as her heart beat increased.

"H-How?" She stuttered. "It can't be possible, no. It can't be. How did that appear on my back when I never put it there?"

She leaned away from the wall and played with her hands while she eyed almost every corner of the large bathroom.

"Why do I always have this strange and supernatural occurrence? Why can I not understand why these things keep coming to me?" She asked and stared at herself in the mirror. "Why do I see someone else's life?"

She rubbed her temples softly, eyes shut and her head got instant flashes of what she had seen during her unconsciousness. she stood up straight and stared at her reflection then glanced out an object, trying to understand the cloaked figure she had seen under the tree. When she got nothing, she shifted her gaze back on the mirror with a furrow of her eyebrows.

"This is not normal. Who are these people and why do I get a dejavu feeling from all these dreams?" she whispered and clenched her hands before walking briskly out of the bathroom.

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