Hero of the House

     Two Lutaris were walking up Shenkuu’s exotic mountain. One was a Pink Lutari, the other Red. The sun was blazing but the sky had a slight orange wash as it was late afternoon.

     Xana DiLanche, Team Shenkuu’s goalkeeper, held her brother’s wrist to help him over a particularly steep part of their path home. A Buzzer flew past their heads.

     “You know Mother doesn’t approve of you leaving them, brother. Our grandfather grows those beans himself, you know.”

     The seven-year-old Red Lutari looked at her, scrunching his face up in disgust. “Don’t care. They’re gross.”

     Xana sighed and stopped to brush some dry mud off his T-Shirt. She saw how dwarfed he looked compared to the large brown backpack his was wearing. It was at least half the size of him. “How did you get muck on your shirt this time, Kiosho?”

     “Wesley pushed me over on the playground again,” he mumbled, readjusting his bag on his shoulders.

     His twenty-year-old sister gasped (but sounded more dramatic than she actually felt). “That was mean of him!”

     “Yeah, he is a meanie.”

     “Well,” Xana began, leading the way again, “have you spoken to your teacher about this?”

     “Yeah, but Wesley only gets sent to the corner.”

     “Don’t let him hurt you, brother. If he does, I will speak to your headmaster myself.”

     She was serious about that. Kiosho meant the world to her and she always wanted to ensure that he was looked after.

     Kiosho stopped and leant forward with his hands on his knees to catch his breath. “Can I sit down for a minute, Xana? I’m pooped.”

     Xana took the bag off his shoulders and told him to sit down on a patch of grass next to her. “You need to exercise more, dear brother.”

     “I don’t like exercise!” he complained, crossing his arms and legs.

     Xana ruffled his scruffy black hair and grinned cunningly. “I thought you wanted to be a superhero like Judge Hog or a famous Yooyuballer like me?”

     Kiosho’s face lit up like a lantern at night. “One day I will be a hero! Everyone will remember Kiosho DiLanche – Shadow Ninja Boy of the Night!”

     Xana giggled. “Well, every hero eats their vegetables. You should know that.”

     “I’m not a hero yet,” he pointed out blankly. He then beamed; “But I will be.”

     “Just because you aren’t a hero YET doesn’t mean you can avoid eating green beans with your dinner.”

     The young boy stuck his tongue out at her.

     Xana stood up and held his school bag for him. “Come on. We only have ten minutes left of the walk home. You can manage it.”

     Reluctantly, little Kiosho followed her home.

     * * *

     After dinner, Kiosho went to his room to play with some toys. For a long while, he pretended to be Judge Hog from the Defenders of Neopia. He wore a black cape and raced around his room pretending to rescue Shenkuu from mutated Mortogs.

     He eventually got bored of that game and picked up an Inflatable Yooyu.

     Now he was Kiosho DiLanche – star Yooyuballer!

     He slammed the ball into his wardrobe (the goal) and whooped excitedly, jumping around the room hyperactively.

     Xana appeared at the door of her brother’s room and smiled as she watched him playing his own version of Yooyuball.

     “Heehee! You’d make a great Forward, Kiosho,” she giggled, snatching the fake Yooyu from the air. “When you’re older, maybe you should try out for the team?”

     The younger Lutari paused and considered this for a moment. “D’ya think Mirsha would let me? Last time she said it was too dangerous.”

     “It is dangerous,” Xana remarked childishly, sticking out her tongue at him because he did the same to her earlier. “But that’s why I said you should try when you’re OLDER.”

     “But that’s AAAAGES away!”

     “Trust me, have all the fun now and try to hold onto it for as long as you can. You have no idea how fast time flies when you’re older.” There was truth in her words. He really didn’t want to know the real scary things in Neopia at that age. The Pant Devil was nothing compared to the scrutiny of thousands of Neopians worldwide judging a Yooyuball star.

     Kiosho had stopped listening and had a vacant expression. That was until he exclaimed, “I WANT ICE CREAM!”

     Xana folded her arms defiantly. “You aren’t allowed ice cream after what happened at Grandma’s.”

     Her brother scowled. “No fair! I just wasn’t tired. I didn’t wanna go to bed at that time.”

     “I’m sorry, but even SUPERHEROES know that bedtimes are important.”

     That tactic wasn’t going to work this time, though!

     “Xana... It’s been a week...” he moaned.

     “I bet you haven’t done your homework yet, either?” she asked knowingly.

     “I’ve just been at school!”

     “I know, brother, but we ALL went through school. What homework do you have to do?”

     Kiosho sulked and plonked himself down on a Judge Hog Bean Bag. “I want ice cream. Don’t wanna do homework...”

     Xana came up with a compromise. “Work on your spelling and then I’ll bring you some ice cream.”

     The Red Lutari did not buy this. “No. Ice cream.”

     His sister strolled over to him with her hands on her hips. “You know... little children who don’t do their homework are more likely to become the villains than the heroes.”

     “But it’s boring!” he cried, slamming his hands angrily on his bean bag. “Boring, boring, BORING!”

     Xana sighed and picked him up gently. He struggled, but she was stronger than him.

     “Listen closely, Kiosho. No one ever escapes getting homework. I mean, take my friend Mirsha, for example...”

     Kiosho smiled. “I’ve met her! She’s cool.”

     “Yeah, she is. But Mirsha’s Captain of our land’s Yooyuball squad and she still gets homework.”

     He gasped in shock. “Don’t you get homework?!”

     “Yes, I do. All of us have to keep on top of practice and fill out forms and stuff for the Altador Cup Committee. Sometimes that can be dull.”

     “Yeah, but you don’t have to do spelling.” He pouted, leaning into her shoulder as she carried him to his bed.

     Xana smiled and shook her head. “Oh, dear brother, you are naïve... It was spelling that helped with my application form for the tournament. It was all that spelling homework that gave me a chance to become a star! Spelling helped those artists in those comic books you read to make the stories fresh and exciting! Kiosho... you have no idea how much it will help you in life.”

     Kiosho bit his lip and pondered this for a moment as he sat on the edge of his bed.

     Xana sealed the deal. “Work on your spelling, Kiosho. Be a better speller than me! And I’ll be back later with ice cream.” She walked out of the room but not before saying, “If you don’t do any homework, you won’t get any. Laters!”

     Kiosho sighed and stared at the posters in his room. He had collected all the posters of the Defenders of Neopia and had several of his sister’s Yooyuball team pinned on the wall. Some were autographed.

     How did THEY get through their homework?

     He didn’t believe that superheroes or Yooyuballers ever got homework. Homework was for kids like him.

     But everyone grows up, right?

     Kiosho unzipped his backpack and took out his stationery. He carried over to his wooden desk and opened his spelling book.

     * * *

     Xana returned to her brother’s room and beamed when she saw him with his head down, filling out some scrolls with lots and lots of Shenkuuvian words.

     She placed her hands on his shoulders and said, “You can put down your pen now, Kiosho. You’ve been working very hard. Come join me in the garden and we’ll share some Disco Ice Cream by the pond.”

     This immediately grabbed the younger Lutari’s attention and he threw his arms tightly around his sister’s waist.

     “Yay! Thank you, Xana!”

     She ruffled his hair for the second time that day. “Hard work earns dessert.”

     They went to the kitchen and helped themselves to a Disco Ice Cream cone each. Candles were already lit in the kitchen because the light outside was beginning to fade.

     * * *

     The lanterns around the DiLanches’ pond had been lit as the sun was beginning to set. Lightmites and other petpetpets skipped across the water.

     Xana and Kiosho were nearly finished eating their ice cream. They had been chatting for a while about school, Yooyuball and the Defenders of Neopia, because those were the favourite topics Kiosho liked to talk about.

     “Xana,” Kiosho began, licking some ice cream off his lips. “Do you ever think I’ll be a hero?”

     His sister hardly had to consider this. “I believe that if this is the path you wish to follow, you will be guided there like the petpetpet to the candlelight.”

     “I think you’re a hero, sis,” he added, looking at her admirably.

     “You do?” Xana was touched.

     “Yeah... You face ALL those Neopians in the stadium, and you get scared... but all the time you guard that goal and never give up. My classmates think that you’re a weak-link in the team but I don’t see it like that... I think you’re the strongest one.”

     The Pink Lutari reflected on this for a minute before asking, “Stronger than Mirsha?”

     “No.” He laughed cheekily. “Mirsha’s a Forward. But you’re stronger than the pirate’s goalie!”

     “Garven?!” she asked in alarm. “No way. And don’t let him hear you say that.” She also giggled.

     “No, really. I think your weakness is your strength, Xana.”

     Before she could thank him for his compliment, they both heard screams coming from inside the house!

     As the siblings raced into the house, their mother stopped them before entering the kitchen.

     “Children!” the Faerie Lutari exclaimed frantically. “Back outside! FIRE!”

     Kiosho quickly glimpsed the inside of the kitchen as they were pushed back outside into the fresh air.

     “Mother! What happened?! Xana asked in a panic as Kiosho was struck by a sudden idea that involved him racing around the garden looking for something.

     As their mother frantically explained that the curtains had caught alight when a lit candle fell off a kitchen shelf, Kiosho had found a bucket!

     The little Lutari dunked the whole bucket into the pond and ran back into the house with it.

     Xana had clocked him doing this and hurried after him. “Kiosho, no!” she exclaimed, gaining on him.

     Kiosho had already entered the kitchen with the bucket of water and used all of his strength to throw the water onto the burning curtains.

     Xana gasped as most of the flames had been put out but she still saw some of the fire burning the rest of the fabric. She stole the bucket off her brother and filled it up with water from the sink tap.

     Once full, Xana extinguished the remaining flames with the water and sagged breathlessly, dumping the empty bucket on the floor. She hugged her brother tightly.

     “Kiosho! That was reckless!”

     Tears welled up in her brother’s eyes. “I – I only wanted to help!”

     “I know,” Xana said shakily, checking that he was okay. “But what if the fire was MUCH worse?”

     “No, I saw it when Mother took us outside. It was only on the curtains.”

     Xana sighed and took his hand to lead him back outdoors where their mother was distraught with worry.

     “Kiosho DiLanche! NEVER run into a burning house AGAIN! You could have been taken to join the spirits,” their mother yelled, glaring furiously at her son. “It’s a good thing that your father is not home!”

     Kiosho began to sob and Xana came to his defence.

     “I already explained about fire safety to him, Mother, but he did put out the fire. It did not spread and there is minor damage,” she explained calmly. “Kiosho saved us!”

     Mrs. DiLanche was still fuming with anger and worry but recognised that her son had done a good deed. She relaxed and crouched down, opening her arms to invite Kiosho for a hug. “Come here, my son. You will not get in trouble for this. You have prevented a great fire and I thank you.”

     Xana smiled happily as she watched her brother embrace their mother.

     “Kiosho,” Xana began, grabbing his attention. “You’re already a hero. You’re the hero of our house.”

     Kiosho returned a grateful grin, tears still running down his face.

     Mrs. DiLanche kissed him on the head. “My dear son... Don’t ever enter a burning house again. But you can take the day off school tomorrow.”

     Kiosho liked that! He dried his tears and kissed his mother on the cheek. “Thank you, Mother. I won’t do it again.”

     Xana made a mental note about this event, and before she went to bed that night she wrote a special letter to the Defenders of Neopia Headquarters in Neopia Central to recommend her brother to the Junior Defenders League.

     One day Kiosho would gain acknowledgement from his idols for this heroic deed, and she couldn’t wait to see the look on his face when he would receive that honour from DoN themselves.

The End

Author’s Note: Introducing Kiosho DiLanche, younger brother of Xana DiLanche. This is the first of many tales you will hear about the little Lutari, so stay tuned! :)