Searching: part
one
By Uozumi
Author’s
Notes: Well, Angela Space Pirate Ryoko,
this is for you. I think that a continuation is in need of merit since this is
the first AU fic, and it can go into chapters. I had previously uploaded an AU
high school fic, but no one reviewed so that went away, but I think you guys
might like this reincarnation fic. I
own nothing.
----
Chapter One
She tied her
bow carefully, and then double-checked the mirror, making sure that she looked
presentable enough. Running a comb
through her shoulder-length dark hair, she paused every now and then,
preoccupied. Again she had had the same
dream, and again she had woken feeling a mixture of emotions she had never felt
before. Tonight she woke feeling very
safe and reliant on the person in her dreams - the same person every
night. Ever since she had turned
seventeen, it was as though someone desperately needed her attention. Someone with dark hair, brown eyes . . . .
"Imoutochan!" a voice called up the stairs,
"Aisha-chan, you'll be late!"
Instantly the
brush was discarded on the counter, and the girl was down the stairs without
thundering, but down just as quick. It
was a marvel at how she could run, walk, jump, or do anything without making a
sound. Her sister joked that that meant
that Aisha was a cat in her previous life.
"Day
dreaming?" a smiling face greeted the girl when she hit the bottom of the
stairs.
"You
wish," she retorted, glancing at her older sister. The young woman was only four years older,
and was much taller, and was always there for her "imoutochan."
Laughing
warmly, the sister followed Aisha into the kitchen where their mother was busy
making breakfast. "Over sleeping,
Aisha-chan?" the woman smiled.
"No, just
planning what to take to school," the girl helped herself to an
American-style breakfast.
Her mother just
smiled brighter, "Today is the last day of term, isn't it?"
"Yes,"
Aisha nodded.
"Then
let's do something - you want to meet up with my friends and me?" her
sister inquired.
"I have
prior commitments," Aisha spoke.
"You and
your 'prior commitments,'" her sister sighed, then glanced sideways, a
mischievous smirk gracing her features.
"Is it a boy?"
"Gaiya-neesan!" Aisha fought her blush.
Gaiya just
laughed, and then rose, "Well, I'm off to college. Good luck with him, imoutochan,"
winking Gaiya laughed as her younger sister slid down in her seat.
How could she
have good luck? The boy that she was
thinking of was only in her dreams!
Sighing, Aisha
finished her breakfast, thanked her mother, and then walked to school, still
wondering about the mysterious boy from her dreams.
"Remember,
Leigh," a tall man spoke to a fifteen-year-old girl with very long blonde
hair and dazzling innocent brown eyes, "we only have one year, so make the
most of it."
The girl looked
up at her father, and then nodded. She
had a feeling that her destiny laid ahead of her, but how? She knew that her destiny was connected to a
boy she had seen many, many times in her dreams. Yet, how could she possibly find him in Japan unless he too was
going to be studying abroad when she was.
He was an intriguing boy with eyes the color of jadeite, and blonde
hair. He was unlike anyone she had ever
met, encountered, or even saw in passing.
She figured that he was a construction of her psyche since she had no
luck with boys, but she didn't have bad luck with them, just no luck.
"I'm just
glad that I was accepted into a high school nearby - I can't imagine riding the
train to school and home!" she commented as they showed their passports to
the people at the boarding booth.
"Are you
sure? It seems as though ever since I
told you about our move, you've been preoccupied. If you don't want to, you can tell me. It's not good to lie just to make someone happy. Sacrificing the self helps no one."
"I'm fine,
Dad," Leigh sighed, "Just tired.
I keep having reoccurring dreams again."
"What
about?" the man inquired interested.
His moustache drew a bit of attention from a woman across the way who
instantly swapped seats with her son so she might be able to strike
conversation on the plane. There's one
on every flight. Luckily, this one
could wait without jumping in unannounced.
"Oh
nothing really . . . not like the last one," the girl stared out the
window. She knew what the woman
wanted. Her father had a knack of
attracting weirdoes, he was a very nice person and very tolerable. He didn't attract the psychotic maniacs, but
just you average weirdo who wanted to talk to a stranger throughout a long
plane trip.
Feeling sorry
for her father, Leigh closed her eyes, falling asleep for the first few hours
of their trans-Pacific flight.
Aisha walked
down the sidewalk away from school, pausing, her unique green eyes
darkening. No one is sure how she
received them, all knew that she was the child of her father and mother, and
was positively 100% Japanese, but the eyes . . . .
All the mystics
who saw her during New Years always pointed to reincarnation. They said that her eyes were not a genetic
fluke but a sign that her soul wasn't down on this earth and that she had
unfinished business. It unnerved Aisha
slightly - she didn't like the idea of being put here not on her own terms, but
sometimes when she woke, she wondered if that mysterious Japanese man was the
reason she was here again.
Yet, how old
would he be? He was at least nineteen
in her dreams, so he would be what? In
his thirties now? Forties? That would be so gross . . . .
"Aisha,"
a girl greeted her calmly, slight smirked greeting her features.
"What do
you want Feiyoko?" Aisha narrowed
her eyes in suspicion.
"Why do
you always act like I'm going to hurt you?" the upperclassman
inquired. "Just think we're going
to be a third-year and a first-year in just a few short weeks. Doesn't that excite you?"
"I suppose
. . . " Aisha admitted, "but what is your real reason for suddenly
walking with me?"
"You act
like I'm working on my own agenda."
". . .
"
"I'm hurt,
Aisha, I really am. We've know each
other - what? Since you were but a
kindergartener running around in one of those ridiculous pink smocks?"
"Yes, and
I know you're after something."
"Like
what?"
Aisha didn't
answer, she wouldn't know what. It
varied.
"Ha! I got you again!" Feiyoko laughed, then stated, "You're
right, I do need something - or more likely I need to tell you something."
Aisha glanced
at her, "What could you possibly tell me?"
"I listen
- I'm good at that, and I'm in tight with the office, so I know that there is
an American coming here soon," Feiyoko explained, "Naturally, since
you have the best English and Japanese grades in the school, you will be
showing her around and tutoring her."
"That's
nice," Aisha quipped. “Why bother
telling me? I'll know before the next
year starts."
"Of
course, but I have a picture," Feiyoko whipped out a photo, "I swiped
it, but look - you are always looking at boys with these kinds of eyes . . .
" she handed it over.
Aisha took it,
glanced at it, and then shrugged.
"She looks American."
"I know
that! What I'm saying is that I think
she's what you've been looking for."
Aisha stopped
and turned on her heels to face her antagonizer usually mistaken for her best
friend by many peers and teachers, "Feiyoko! I'm not -"
"Gay? Yes, I know," Feiyoko stuck the picture
into her shirt pocket, "but sometimes you never know," and then she
parted to go towards the trains.
"I'll see you around," and then the young woman was gone.
Aisha watched
her disappear, and then made her way home.
Feiyoko was just playing with her again. She had once entertained the idea that Feiyoko might like her,
but she knew that Feiyoko was surprisingly straight even though she liked to
torture the girls.
***
"Now,
Leigh," her father spoke as they entered the modest apartment, "I
don't want you to get too far away from the house. As long as you stay within the block, I'll be happy. I have to take the train into work, but I
trust that you'll be all right," he set the grocery bag down.
"Have fun,
sweetie," he hugged her.
"You too,
Dad," she nodded.
Then the man
was gone, and his daughter was left to stock the groceries away and then to do
whatever until her father returned at ten at night. Looking out the window, Leigh sighed, then perked. There was a beautiful park so close, and in
the range her father had given her!
Pulling on a
windbreaker, she zipped it up, then stepped out into the March afternoon.
It was March
eighth, and it was a little before six-thirty in the evening.
To be
continued...