Hatred Because Of Love

     “Coming, Brightmask!” I called back to her. After taking a last peek in the petpet shop window, I scampered back to her.

     “Honestly, Xena_Alinae,” laughed Brightmask, taking hold of my paw, “if I do not hang on to you, you and your curiosity will be all over Neopia before you could say ‘mikan_girl94’.” She ruffled the top of my head fondly, “You’re already so fascinated just walking through Neopia Central. Well, I guess that’s how newly-created pets are. Especially with a blue Xweetok like you. You’ll have fun with your siblings this summer vacation.” She smiled. I looked up at her with my blue eyes. “Brightmask, what are my siblings like? What are their names?”

     “Let’s see now,” she started as we turned around the corner down a street, “your sister Raventail is a Kougra. She’s a nice girl, a bit tomboyish—probably rubbed off from her older brothers, she’s always happy to share, she likes angelpi, and she has a funny tendency to yell at her homework when she overworks.”

     I giggled at this, I liked the sound of Raventail. “And my brothers?” I asked.

     “One of your brothers, Seamus, is a Lupe. Your most likely impression looking at him would make you think he’s a rough’n’tough sort of person. But when you get to know him, he’s actually quite different. Oh—here we are!” We stopped in front of a cheerful looking neohome with a green lawn and a few tall trees around it. Brightmask unzipped her messenger bag and dug through it. “Let me get my—” I dropped her hand and excitedly ran up the porch steps and grabbed the door handle, “—key,” she finished off lamely. As Brightmask walked over to the door, I hopped aside, swishing my blue-striped Xweetok tail in anticipation. “Now,” she said as she opened the door, “don’t—” she pulled me back as I was about to dash in, “—run around just yet. Come on, let’s eat those hot dogs that we picked up from Hubert’s.”

     After Brightmask sat me down at the table in the dining room, she started setting up our late lunch. I looked up at the clock next to the entranceway of the room. The time was 2:40 PM (NST). “So when will they get home?” I asked as Brightmask set a chili hot dog in front of me.

     “Um, usually a little after 3:00, I think. So we got some time to eat.” She plopped down in the seat across from me and took a slurp from her smoothie. A little over twenty minutes ‘til they get home! Ho boy, now I really was excited. I squirted some mustard onto my hot dog and took a big bite out of it. “Mmm! Dis is gud!” I said with a mouthful of food.

     “Glad you like it. Just cover your mouth when you try to talk while eating.”

      I gulped a few more bites down, took a drink from my smoothie to cool my mouth a bit, and looked at Brightmask. “Mom?”

     “Mmhmm?” she replied as she gathered up her paper plate and smoothie bottle then took them into the kitchen and threw them in the trash can.

     “You haven’t told my about my other brother yet.”

     “Oh yeah! Right.” She came back into the dining room and sat down across from me. “Your other brother is the oldest of the pets in this family. He’s a Xweetok like you, and his name’s Deyna.”

     “Wot’s he like?” I said as I stuffed the last bit of my spicy chili hot dog into my mouth.

     “Deyna is usually the type who likes to joke around and is really sporty and active. But lately—“ Brightmask’s sentence was cut off by the excited barking of a petpet which had just dashed into the room. I slid off my chair and crouched down on the floor to see an anubis run up and greet me by licking my paw happily. “Xena, this is Jabor, Deyna’s petpet,” said Brightmask.

     “He’s so cute!” I squeaked as I scratched him behind the ear.

     “Hmm, he’s usually not so carefree around a pet he doesn’t know. You know, I really think that petpets can smell when there’s a family related pet. I think that pets that are created by the same owner have the same scent, but we can’t smell it. Though, apparently, petpets sure can.”

     Brightmask stood up and walked over to the window, looking out. “Oh, they’re back! Come on, Xena, let’s go meet your siblings.”

     I followed Brightmask to the front door and stood beside her, listening to two neopets talking to each other.

     “Ack! Math summer homework AGAIN,” I heard a girl’s voice say.

     “Don’t worry about it, Raventail, I’ll help you with it later, okay?” I heard a boy say back. The door opened, and in came three neopets. A Christmas Kougra came in first. She wasn’t a lot taller than me, but she looked like an energetic neopet that was probably strong for her size. She was talking to a tall blue Lupe behind her. It was true what Brightmask said; the Lupe did give the impression of being a tough person. His height helped, and his arms were pretty strong looking. Not to mention his slightly messy fur, but he seemed good-natured looking enough. Behind the two neopets followed up a starry Xweetok. He was even taller than the Lupe; he almost reached up to Brightmask’s shoulder! I could already tell that he was built differently from most Xweetoks. I didn’t need a book to tell me that. Aside from being really tall, he was also broad-shouldered and lean.

     “Besides,” continued the Lupe to the Kougra, “I—“ the three neopets stopped short when they saw me.

     “Guys,” said Brightmask, “this is your new little sister, Xena_Alinae.”

     I smiled brightly at them. “Hi!”

     “Hi,” said the Kougra, but she didn’t smile back.

     “Oh,” started the Lupe. “Um, hello,” he said awkwardly. “I’m Seamus.”

     What’s the matter with them? Did I do something wrong? I looked at the Xweetok’s reaction, and my face fell fast. He was glaring at me angrily and with disgust written on his face. Intimidated by the big Xweetok, I shrunk back close to Brightmask. He shot a look of fury at her, and ran, and I mean RAN past us, up the stairs, into what must’ve been his room, and slammed the door all in about three seconds.

     “Oh dear,” said Brightmask looking up worriedly at the shut door. I saw my other two siblings exchange glances with each other. I stared at my feet unhappily, what could I have done that made him so mad?

     “Hey.” I looked up to see my Kougra sister’s gray eyes watching me with concern as she rested a paw on my shoulder. “Don’t mind him, Xena. By the way, I’m Raventail.” Raventail looked up at Brightmask. “She’ll be sharing my room, right?”

     “Yeah, can you show her up there? I already set up the bedding for her and stuff.”

     Raventail nodded, and then turned back to me. “Come on up, you’ll like it.” I followed her up the stairs, and turned back to look at my owner and Seamus.

     “We’ll talk and show you around the place later, okay?” Seamus smiled at me.

     “Okay,” I replied. “See you later, Mom,” I said to Brightmask and lightly ran up the rest of the stairs after Raventail.

     Raventail walked into the room at the end of the upstairs hallway. Feeling uncertain, I silently sprinted past Deyna’s shut bedroom and stopped in the doorway of Raventail’s and my room.

     “You can come in, you know,” said the Christmas Kougra, sitting on the edge of her bed. “Oh, and this is Frostfire,” she said, petting an angelpuss on her lap.

     I smiled at the little purring petpet. Then I stepped into the room and closed the door behind me. I looked around the large room curiously. The floor was a nice light blue colored plush carpet. On the right side of the room across from where I stood, Raventail was sitting on a bed with sky-blue bedding. Next to her bed was a petpet house that doubled as a scratching post. A short cabinet sat at the end of Raventail’s bed. On my right (or the door’s right) there was also a sky-blue wardrobe. I then looked to the left of the room. A bed with lavender bedding mirrored the position of Raventail’s bed. A small end table sat next to the bed. Also near the bed, there was a lavender colored desk. It had a lamp and a few books lined up against the wall on it. On my left, a big bookcase caught my eye. I walked over to it, and scanned the many titles. “Did you read all of these?” I asked Raventail incredulously.

     “No, I haven’t read many of them. I’m not too much of a reader. I have a different hobby,” she said as she hopped off her bed and put Frostfire in the petpet house.

     “Well then, what do you like doing?” I turned to her.

     “C’mere, I’ll show you.” She crouched down in front of the cabinet at the end of her bed and opened it. I kneeled down on the carpet next to her and was amazed at what was inside. There were lots of adorable plushies!

     “So you made these?”

     “Yep.” She smiled. The plushies were more detailed than the ones I had seen in the shop windows I passed by earlier that day. I picked up a white-colored Kougra with gray stripes and eyes. “This you?” I asked.

     “Yeah, I didn’t make a Christmas outfit for it because I almost never wear mine, so neither should the plushie.”

     “Are all of these modeled after real pets?”

     “Several of them are. Like that blue Kougra there is my friend Jenara,” she pointed, “that one’s Seamus, and that one is Deyna.”

     “Wow,” I said in amazement.

     “You like ‘em?” she asked me.

     “Yeah, they’re great!”

     Raventail smiled, then got up and walked over to the wardrobe. “Oh yeah, and just because this is blue, it doesn’t mean it’s specifically my wardrobe. It’s yours too.” She opened one of the doors and reached into the right half of it (from where the wardrobe stood, my side of the room was to the right of it) and carefully took something out. “You can have this,” she said and handed me a blue Xweetok plushie.

     “It’s beautiful!” I gasped. It really was. I knew it wasn’t modeled after me because Raventail hadn’t met me yet. But it did look somewhat like me, yet a little different. Its expression seemed mature in a way, and its eyes had a more intelligent look in them. Its smile gave it a friendly knowing look, and its fur was silky smooth. It had a pleasant, fresh scent, but subtle. I could see that Raventail was very scrupulous in making this. “Thank you, Raventail.” I smiled happily at her and carried the plushie over to my bed. “I’ll decide what to call her later,” I said as I set it on top of my pillow. Raventail got up and opened the bedroom door.

     “Come on, Xena. Let’s find Seamus, and we’ll show you around the house.”

     ***

     After an afternoon touring the house and backyard with Raventail and Seamus, we later went inside for dinner. While Brightmask, Raventail, Seamus and I chatted, Deyna just ate his meal in stony silence. I feel embarrassed to admit this, but frankly, I felt scared to talk to Deyna. When I glanced at him from the other side of the table, I got a spiteful “What, kid?” So I avoided him throughout the meal.

     It was 9:30 PM (NST) by the time we all went to our rooms. Brightmask insisted on tucking me and Raventail into bed.

     “Are you comfy, Xena?” she asked me as I snuggled beneath the soft covers.

     “Mmhmm.” I nodded. “Brightmask?” I asked as she was getting up. “What scent is this?” I lifted up a corner of my blanket and breathed in the faint fragrance.

     “Lemon blossom,” she said softly. “Goodnight, girls. Sleep tight.”

     “Don’t let the bed bugs bite!” piped up Raventail from under her blue blanket. Brightmask laughed, switched off the light, and closed the door as she left.

      Lemon blossom, that was the same smell that the plushie had. I placed the Xweetok plushie next to my pillow, “Raventail…”

     “Mm? Frostfire keeping you up?” she mumbled. An indignant mew sounded out of the petpet house. “Guess not,” said Raventail.

     “Why doesn’t Deyna like me?”

     “Oh, he’s just being difficult.”

     “Oh,” I said, though I was pretty sure that wasn’t the answer. Thinking of the hatred I saw in my brother’s bright blue eyes made me feel unsettled, so I hugged my Xweetok plushie and closed my eyes. With the rhythmic breathing of Raventail and softness of the sheets, I fell asleep with the comforting smell of lemon blossom.

     ***

     The next three weeks passed with lots fun. Raventail and I played all sorts of games together. A couple of them involved dressing up in costumes and venturing into the forest at the back of our house. Adventure games are awful fun, you know! But then came the next Friday and Raventail had gone over to her friend’s house for the weekend. She offered me to go, but I didn’t want to butt in. So I stayed home.

     It was around 4:00 PM (NST). Brightmask went out on a few errands, so it was just Deyna, Seamus, and me. Even though Deyna didn’t leave his room very often, I didn’t exactly feel comfortable being near him. I didn’t like how every time he looked at me there was anger burning in his eyes. It was especially worse that I couldn’t figure out why.

     Feeling extremely small in the silent neohome, I went out to the back and near the forest fringe. I saw Seamus sitting underneath the shade of a particularly big tree with Sammy, his puppyblew, running around. The sunlight that shone through the leaves came out a light green color, dappling the forest floor. I skipped over to my Lupe brother, looking at the shadows playing on my fur, and flopped down next to him. He was sketching in his book.

     “You draw a lot?” I asked curiously.

     “Yeah, I like drawing, just like Raven likes plushie-making.” He laughed.

     “What are you drawing now?”

     “Well, you see the outlines of three neopets?” he pointed with his pencil.

     “Yup,” I replied looking at how the ones on the sides seemed to playfully lean against the middle neopet.

     “Well, I’m trying to draw a picture of me and two of my best friends. The Xweetok outline on the left is my friend Redstrike, and on the right, the Kougra, is Tangaloor.”

     “Seamus, why do you like being around the forest so much?”

     “Simple.” He looked up and smiled at me. “I like plants and growing things. They aren’t people, but they’re alive. I find that amazing. Brightmask noticed that, so she’s bought a couple of bottled earth faeries for me to release. But I only use the powers they gave me sometimes. I’m not one for the Battledome, but they’re helpful in emergencies.”

     “Seamus, there was something else I wanted to ask…” I started uncertainly.

     “About Deyna, you mean?” he asked as he pulled Sammy onto his lap.

     “How—?”

     “I can tell,” he said, stroking his petpet.

     “Why does he hate me?” I said, dropping my head. Seamus paused for a moment and looked up at the tree canopy of the forest.

     “It’s a little hard to explain, Xena. I know you really want to know the reason why he seems to hate you—“

     “But he does hate me!”

     “—but I think he himself is the one who’s best to tell you. And he may, in time.” I looked into my older brother’s eyes. I knew he was giving me his honest answer, not a made up one so I wouldn’t bug him.

     “Thanks, Seamus,” I said, and got up. “I think I’ll go back inside, now. See you.”

     “Yeah, I’ll see you later,” he said and went back to his drawing.

     ***

     I was about to go through the back door of the house until I saw an anubis rolling around happily in some mud next to the flower patch. Sighing, I walked over and picked up the mud-covered thing, “Jabor! You’re all dirty and sticky now! Come on, I’ll wash you.” In reply, I got a happy lick on my cheek. “Oh goodness, your tongue’s cleaner than the rest of you! I’ll need to use a lot of that petpet shampoo.”

     Holding Jabor far enough away from myself so as not to get dirty, I carried him to the upstairs bathroom and washed him off. Then I toweled him down so his fur was nice, soft, and dry, if a bit tousled.

     I didn’t know why, but after talking with Seamus, I felt motivated to try and make things better with Deyna. So picking up Jabor, I quietly walked out of the bathroom and stopped in front of Deyna’s bedroom door. I took a deep breath, and knocked on the door.

     “Will anybody just leave me alone?!” I heard him get up, walk over, and he opened the door. “What do you want?” the tall Xweetok said threateningly to me, his yellow-striped tail swishing agitatedly. I gulped nervously, I started to think that maybe my idea wasn’t such a good idea after all.

     “I—I—Jabor was all muddy, so I washed him and thought I should give him back to you,” I said in a rush of words and held up the anubis. If Deyna felt anything different after I said that, he hid it well; his eyes were still hard. He took Jabor and looked at me icily, “Whatever, kid.” And he shut the door.

     Tears pricked my eyes and I ran into the bedroom I shared with Raventail. Closing the door behind me, I then climbed onto my bed and dropped my head onto my pillow. I rubbed my eyes as I drank in the soft scent of lemon blossom. “I don’t understand,” I said quietly to the blue Xweetok plushie on my end table, “What’s his reason for hating me? It has to be something that makes sense.” The plushie did not reply. And I knew as real as she looked, she was just a toy. I sighed heavily. “Why won’t anyone tell me?” I thought, and drifted into sleep.

     ***

     I woke up in the dark bedroom, trying to remember when I fell asleep. Probably around 5:30 PM. I crawled off my bed and headed for the direction in which I remembered where the desk was. Feeling over the surface of the desk, I found the lamp and switched it on. I looked at the clock on it. “7:00 PM?” I walked over to the bedroom door to find a note underneath it. Frowning, I pulled it out. “Seamus and I have gone over to a neofriend’s house. We won’t be back ‘til late. ~ Brightmask” read the message.

     With nothing else to do, I left the bedroom and walked along the hallway. I stopped in front of Deyna’s room. The door was open. That was odd. I peeked around the doorway and saw him sitting at his own desk staring at something. As if something were tugging me along, I surprised myself, and lightly walked over and stood behind Deyna. Wow, I thought, he was even tall when sitting down, because even then I still was shorter.

     “Deyna?” I said meekly. I braced myself for a sharp reaction, but needlessly. For when he glanced at me, he was silent, and his eyes weren’t angry, but sad. I followed his gaze as he looked back at something on his desk. It was a photo of two neopets. There was a grinning green Xweetok in it, probably near my age, and he looked extremely familiar. “Is that you?” I asked Deyna.

     “Yeah, that’s me,” he said softly. I looked at the other neopet, and gasped. Playfully hugging Deyna, was a beautiful blue Xweetok girl.

     “That,” said Deyna, “is my older sister, Xena.”

     “What happened to her?” I asked.

     “A year and a half ago, she got a scholarship to go on this trip to Mystery Island. Somehow, she and the other pets that got the scholarship got kidnapped on an expedition through one of the jungles. We tried to find her, and tried and tried again. No one knows where they are, or even if they’re still…” Deyna’s voice trailed off. “I’m still trying to find her. She may have been taken off the island after all. But I felt like Brightmask bringing in a new pet was her acceptance of Xena being gone. Especially since she made you the same color and species, and gave you the same first name.”

     He turned to me. “I hated you because I loved her. She was one of my best friends, and my sister. In fact, I still love her and she is still my sister and my best friend. She’s just not here…”

     He picked me up easily and sat me on his desk. “You know, you really do look a lot like her. And you are like her too. You try to do good things, help other people, try to learn, many things you have are similar to hers. I think Jabor likes you so much because you’re a lot like her.” For the first time, he smiled at me. “You’re even starting to pick up that lemon blossom scent that she liked to wear. I heard you ask Raventail about those books. Books were the kind of thing that caught her attention too. And yes, those were all Xena’s.”

     From my desk view, I looked into Deyna’s face with a new understanding. It all made sense! His anger, his refusal to call me by my name, the Xweetok plushie, the books, Jabor’s quick liking for me, and the lemon blossom scent on some of my things. I smiled back up at my big brother. “I’m guessing lavender was her favorite color?”

     “You got that right.” He laughed, and then sighed. “I’m never going to forget her. And I’m sorry for the way I treated you. Can you forgive me? Can we start over?”

     “Of course,” I replied in answer to both questions.

     He smiled and hugged me. “Thank you, Xena_Alinae.”

The End

This is my first story into the NT! Hope you like it. And I'd like to thank my friend carys1994 for her encouragement.