DISCLAIMER: THE CHARACTERS (MOST OF THEM AT LEAST) BELONG TO GOSHO AOYAMA

AN: I am actually fixing this fan fict in order to conclude it

4am was what was showed on the alarm clock when Emiko opened one of her eyes and it was not even a minute later when she smashed it off covering the ground with its pieces. Usually she wouldn't jump out of her bed especially this early in the morning but this day was different.

"O-HA-IO" The pronunciation was completely horrendous and the face coming with it wasn't any better. Anyway she was full of energy, ran like a tornado passing her mother only to jump into the shower, which left her mother bewildered in the corridor. After a quick shower she carefully brushed her long curly dark brown hair. The girl hesitated a while on which makeup to use or if she should use any but finally decided to go bare faced. It wouldn't last for the whole flight anyway and it would probably mean that she'd have to start all over again. After slapping her face with both hands she quickly headed downstairs through the wooden stairs which made a lot of noise.

"Gosh Emiko! What's with all that noise? It's not going to go well for you in Japan with such manners." Ran ended her sentence with a long sigh.

From the weight of her 33 years old she knew life wasn't always going as planned, it was written all over her face as well. The young woman had a tired face which was probably caused by years of hard work trying to climb the professional ladder while raising her daughter by herself. She never had the time to take care of herself, doing the bare minimum when it came to that. Thus she kept a style close to her high school years even though she would tie her hair in a way that gave her a strict look.

No need to expect an answer from Emiko she was already miles away, if not in another galaxy. The teenager was totally in her thoughts, her "Japanese for dummies" pocket edition in one hand while slowly eating her corn flakes with a spoon with the other. As for Ran, she was wondering if it really was a good idea to let her daughter go. It surely wasn't an easy thing to to do, letting her baby go so far away, especially for a full year.

The idea came to Emiko when one of her friends went abroad to study for a year on an international exchange program. She just thought it would be nice and asked many, many times her mother. Ran always said no until Emiko's 16th birthday when she was given a plane ticket to Tokyo Haneda. Emiko was on a high since that day while her mother was worried, it was hard for her to imagine a life without her daughter since they always just lived together. Although her biggest fear wasn't loneliness but her daughter's desire to go back to her roots and look for her father.

It was the true quest of Emiko, to find answers about her origin, any attemps so far had remained vain because her mother never talked about her time in fact that it was the perfect opportunity to find out about him was obviously somewhere in her mind and of course it wouldn't be bad to have a bit of fun on the way.

Emiko took most of her stuff downstairs in a relative silence, Ran was only occasionally asking questions to make sure they didn't forget anything. It wasn't a habit, when together they would usually talk a lot or most likely Emiko would speak and Ran would listen. Of course Ran would give her opinion but only when she was asked to do so. Despite not being super close they were definitely very devoted to one another.

The teenage girl was trying to take a mental picture of Mayfair since she wouldn't see it again anytime soon. She took an even closer look of their third floor flat, a very decent one in a very expensive part of town, maybe it was a bit small but since they were only two it didn't really bother her. Other than her friends she was going to miss her room which was actually bigger than her mother's. It was the first time that Emiko got a bittersweet feeling since the plan was set in motion.

She had about 40 minutes to say goodbye to London on her way to Heathrow. Both of them stayed silent inside the car, from time to time Ran would look at her daughter who was totally day dreaming. Of course Ran was sad to let her Emiko go but she decided to keep it in, it had been a long time since she stopped showing how she truly felt. Anyway she showed her brightest smile, she didn't want to share her concerns, it had to be Emiko's best day.

The Mouri family sat on a bench drinking their favourites Starbucks iced coffee. Ran was staring at her daughter, she could see how grown up she was, she could see her reflection in her, she could see him too, in that young confident and joyful woman. Of course she sometimes wondered if things could have been different, if she really made the right choice when she chose to leave Tokyo and decided to raise her child alone. The past never comes back, the only thing Ran could do now was to pray for the best.

As the gate was announced Ran suddenly asked "You'll be careful in Japan, huh?"

"Mom" Emiko growled slightly annoyed.

"Don't do anything stupid there, ok?"

"Mom..."

"And be gentle with your grandparents too."

"Mom! I'll be fine okay?" She held her mother tightly, Emiko was at least as worried as her mother, in fact she was scared to leave her alone. What would her mother become without her? The two never left each other's side, it had always been the two of them. Ran never married, never brought a man home either. She didn't trust men, she didn't have time for them either and maybe she was also scared to share her daughter.

But now, now it was time to let go. The gates were opened, it was time to say goodbye. They had long passed the so called "passenger only" zone when they proceeded and hugged tightly for what seemed to be an eternity. Emiko felt so many emotions while passing the gates with her boarding pass in hand, she was somewhere between extreme excitement and extreme sadness. Emiko waved once at her mother and never looked back.

Emiko knew the international airport pretty well from her previous trips abroad although this time she was going way further than Spain, France or Italy. It took an extra effort to pass through the duty free stores without buying anything but she quickly found her way to her plane's gate. Emiko had picked her seat as soon as possible, although she knew that she wouldn't be able to stay awake the whole flight Emiko still wanted to sit at her favourite spot which was at one of the wing window. Emiko was obviously the closest one from the porthole, next to her she noticed the charming accent of a 30 years old American man, he wasn't looking bad with his 3-day beard. As she kept starring for a little bit too long the man eyed her as if to quickly scan her, it was at this exact moment that she realized that she looked like a Japanese girl who had never seen a blond guy before. Emiko quickly looked out at the window pretending that nothing had happened. In fact it was the thing that bothered her most, it never really mattered before to look Japanese but living in Japan will surely be a twist. Unlike the others foreigners she will look like a local and this sounded totally awkward already.

The flight went well, time literally flew by as Emiko skipped half of it sleeping, when she finally woke up she instantly tried to read some Japanese but her vision seemed blurred and she just couldn't do it. Emiko let out a "shite", punched the side of her seat making the American man stare at her once again. Emiko was almost disappointed to have given away her non so secret British nationality. She continued to mumble the word "great" for a little while and decided to listen to some J-pop that she sort of borrowed from her mom's old stuff. It sounded a bit old but nothing too bad, one good thing was that she was already feeling familiar with the sound of the language. It was that kind of moment when she felt like "Easy, I'm sure I can do it!" but the "that's impossible" time was never too far.

The airbus landed before midday, Emiko was euphoric which made her look pretty energetic for someone who had to sit still for half day. During the landing she kept looking all around repeating "this is Japan, this is Japan..." The feeling was just amazing.

Even though her mother said yes to her request Emiko still had not believed her for a long time, there was no way that she would be going this far. The sight of the huge airport was absolutely breathtaking, it was as if she had just ran a marathon. The girl needed to take a hold of herself, after all it was just a normal airport. She then thanked whoever made English an international language and simply followed the signs all the way to her luggage.

It was then that she felt awkwardly British for the first time ever, when she faced a very confused immigration agent frowning while holding her Japanese passport. After walking through the last security check , she finally got to the exit where her grandparents were waiting for her. It didn't take more than 5 seconds to spot a huge "EMIKO" placard with at the end of it a 58 years old Kogoro Mouri and his wife both looking very happy. The man's hair was fully grey just as expected for man of his age. However he looked very good and had clearly made an extra effort when dressing on that day. Meanwhile Eri was elegant as ever, in a single glance Emiko noticed how her mother reassembled her grandmother and it was probably a good sign for the future. She walked towards them in a quick pace while looking at the ground just to think about what to say, what to tell them.

She remembered the moment her mother called her grandparents to asked them if it would be okay for them to take care of her while she was in Japan. Before she had actually dialled Ran was looking at the phone while mumbling and sighing. After she finally did, her daughter realised that she had barely heard Japanese in her lifetime. Thinking about it she wondered why she had not been taught any Japanese, most words she knew were dish names. She had never talked to her grandparents, only saw them on very few pictures and the girl wasn't even sure if Ran kept in touch with them.

Anyway, despite her lack of practice she had to go for it. "Ohayo" Emiko tried with a large smile on her face.

Eri hugged her while Kogoro started to speak in Japanese, Emiko wasn't quite sure who he was talking to and stayed silent, when Eri broke the hug she started to say something in Japanese and with this Emiko was sure that it was to her. Then the girl realised that she might have picked the wrong strategy.

She hit her face with her palm and then gave them a blank look, as a result the couple started to exchange a look. Kogoro grabbed the suitcase while Eri put her arm around her granddaughter's neck before asking politely "Shall we get going?"

Emiko nodded and followed them to the rental car, as soon as Kogoro started to drive through Tokyo Emiko's eyes didn't know where to look anymore. The skyscrapers, the buildings, the cars, the traffic and this massive crowd it was nothing like London. The teenager couldn't actually believe that she was from that city, not only she was Japanese but she was also a pure Tokyoite. At least that was what she learned from the very few things Ran let slip away occasionally, indeed she didn't know much about her mother's life in Japan. Sometimes it felt like she didn't even know who she was, as if both of her parents went missing.

When she snapped out of it she spent a few minutes trying to decode what Eri and Kogoro were discussing, one word or two seemed familiar but she wasn't quite sure yet. They soon spotted her looking at them.

"Are you learning?" Eri turned to Emiko

"Yes... I didn't mean to interrupt your conversation or intrude, I didn't get a thing anyway" Emiko responded quite embarrassed.

"It's not like you missed anything" Eri giggled making Kogoro mumble something. "Do you enjoy your trip so far?"

"I love it, although I just got here and I didn't get to see much yet."

"Tour, tour, tour!" started to scream a joyful Kogoro which surprised both Emiko and Eri.

"That's right we will guide you through the city another day" Eri winked.

They quickly made to the detective agency, the couple climbed the stairs first while Emiko stood still, trying to take her hundredth mental picture of the day, of the day, even doing the gesture with her hands. Emiko was extatic, it was the place where her mother grew up. Realizing she was looking totally stupid she ran up the stairs to catch her family up.

The agency part looked a bit old fashion, there was something, maybe it was the atmosphere. She didn't know why exactly but she loved that place already. Emiko quickly noticed lots of newspaper covers on the wall, all she could read was her own family name, it was only then that she noticed Kogoro's face on the pictures. Nonetheless she was taken to her room by Eri before being able to comment anything. Eri opened the bedroom's door and invited her in.

"It was your mother's room, it didn't change, and we barely touched a thing... You see when Ran left she was so young we thought that she'd come back." Eri seemed to be dreaming away for a little, her eyes turned to Ran's portrait.

Emiko sat on the bed next to her suitcase and stared at her grandmother "I'm sorry". She suddenly got up and hugged Eri tightly against her.

"Feel free to make that room yours" with that Eri kissed her forehead and left to prepare lunch.

The teenage girl Sat on the bed and looked around the room for a while, the room's colours perfectly fit her tastes, most of the room was painted in off white, and there was also a touch of purple which was nicely reminded on the bed's sheets. Facing the bed, just next to the door was placed a huge wardrobe no wonder why her mom had a room full of it in London. Ran's old desk was right next to it, everything seemed to be in order. A picture stood on the right of the desk, from that distance Emiko could see two persons on it, they seemed to be young, a boy and a girl. Emiko didn't need to get closer to take a strong guess on that it was her mother with some other guy. Something else had caught her attention, she saw it the very first second she came in: a huge London poster. To her it seemed like her mother had a thing for London already back in her Tokyo days. She stood up and made a few steps toward the poster, it represented the most famous places of the capital along with some clichés, it was nothing fancy Ran could have bought it in any decoration store in the world. She dragged the chair backwards, sat at the wooden desk. She passed a hand on it, it was perfectly clean just like the whole room, someone had fully cleaned it and it was most likely Eri.

So far she had not found anything surprising about her mother. She let out a heavy sigh before letting her head fall on the desk a bit too violently and rested there for a while. Emiko turned her head towards the picture and finally opened her eyes to take a look at it. Her mom was in a blue coat while the boy had a green jacket over his sweater, they were both doing what seemed to be an extremely old fashion pose although the boy overdid it, they were standing in front of a castle with a bright smile on their faces. "What a moron..." Emiko whispered. Ran looked so happy back then, she apparently had nice friends. Emiko wondered hat had happened to her?

Ran didn't look sad or depressed, nothing like that but rather she was totally jaded. For a split she'd look happy and the following second she'd be gone in her little own world, it was like nothing could really touch her. How many times her daughter witnessed it, wondering what was on her mind. Emiko secretly wanted what everyone wants in this world, which is a family but along the years what she wanted was to see her mother stop living vicariously. Ran kept herself busy with work, never took time for herself, never hanged out with friends neither men. Although Emiko knew that she saw one or two men, she never got to meet them.

Soon it was time for lunch, the three of them ate in silence a delicious dish that for once Emiko couldn't even name. This long silence felt really awkward for the British girl still she couldn't do anything about it, it wasn't like meeting your grandparents for the first time at the age of 16 in a far foreign country was normal. She gulped some water to ease her throat but she couldn't bear it any longer.

"So you're a detective?" she suddenly asked looking at Kogoro.

"Euhm... I... Yes I am" he stuttered.

"Oh that's cool, like in the movies and books. I am sure you were even better than Sherlock, right?" Emiko was so excited, her eyes seemed to be shining even brighter. Much to her surprise her compliment seemed to make her grandmother laugh seeing how Eri couldn't catch her breath.

"Sherlock Holmes, him?" She asked pointing her finger at her husband, she laughed so hard that she even started to cry. She was quickly cooled down by Kogoro's angry look "He was very famous in Japan a few years ago, he was called the "sleeping sleuth"..."

"Was?"

"Now I am a teacher" Kogoro quickly bounced back.

Seeing his struggle Eri felt like giving extra precisions "Actually ever since he got tired of celebrity he became a teacher at the police academy but he still uses the agency as a study."

"Oh I see" Emiko's fingers had started to dance around her glass while listening. She then dreamed away trying to imagine that old man as a skilled detective but something wasn't working there. "And you? What is your occupation?"

"Oh me?" she continued after a little pause to think about her sentence, it wasn't like she was speaking English every day and Eri clearly lacked practice. "Actually I'm a teacher too, I teach law at the university. I was an attorney before that..."

"The best... You were the best" Seeing his wife embarrassment Kogoro excused himself and left for his study.

Emiko quickly imitated her grandfather as she left to go back into her room, she was a bit too tired to keep on talking and besides that she had plenty of time to catch up with her family. She locked herself in and passed the afternoon unpacking her stuff, while putting everything in the wardrobe she discovered several dresses and a kimono which maybe could prove to be useful if she ever feelt like fighting a bunch of yakusa. The teenage girl opened the window and looked outside for hours, observing the street it wasn't the most beautiful scenery she ever saw but she was still very pleased to enjoy it for a year. She then listened to her walkman while lying down on her new bed, she was trying to overcome the jet lag but the excitement wasn't enough anymore to keep her awake, instead she was just in some sort of trance staring blankly at the ceiling. Emiko went for a shower and announced in her night clothes that she was going to skip dinner and sleep a bit earlier. She kissed her grandparents goodnight, locked herself in her room and sat at the desk her mobile phone in hands. Her first day in Japan was done, it was about 8 pm in Tokyo and midday in London and in no way her mother would answer the phone at that time. Emiko merely sent her a text before heading to bed.

"Sweet dreams Okaasan!"