Ronin Warriors

The Ugly Duckling~ Prologue

By ~*Angel*~

Heyas all! I decided to start up a Ronin Warriors fanfic...^_^ Oh yes...if you are reading this, then you must also know that I have decided to finish off Going Co-Ed first since it has almost one hundred reviews so after that, I'll simply go to work on the next story that has the highest number of reviews...Back to RW, this inspiration came to me while I was at the Valentine's Day dance at my school...^_^ I was real proud that I did my hair myself but some other girl came in with her hair in the same style and with roses and baby breath entwined in her curls...so, that sort of ruined my spotlight...~_~

Oh dear...I keep on getting off subject! Anyways, as I was saying, this inspiration came to me when I was bored out of my mind at the dance...^_^ Hopefully, you guys like it...

Prologue

A mousy haired girl with glasses falling down her nose rain through the hallways. Her morning had started out awful. First, she was up late so she had to hurry and catch the city bus. While waiting, some kids from her school had started chucking snowballs at her which left a big red welt everywhere on her body. Then she couldn't find her change to get on the bus so she had to search through every bag and that took ten minutes. After she was done, the people on the bus gave her a dirty look. She had also learned that her mom and dad were going off to Paris for a long time...two years to be exact. She didn't know what they did, just that they worked for a company that made them travel a lot. Usually, it'd be a week or two and a month at the most, yet this time, it was going to be two years and this time, she was going with them. This is your last day here...be strong. They were leaving tonight too. Forgetting about home troubles, she worried about the ones that were about to come her way now. She had to get to class before the students in there closed it on her. They found it funny to tease her just because she didn't care to look like them. The door closed before she got there. "C-c-could s-s-someone p-p-please open up the door?" The guys, especially, started making faces into the window of the door at her. She felt the tears burning in her eyes. "I'm j-j-just asking you to please open up the door for me..." She meekly murmured.

"WHAT WAS THAT????" A guys voice clearly rang out.

The guys behind him started laughing but she didn't think it was all that funny. "Could you open the door?" She said a bit louder.

"SURE!" He grinned. He opened the door an inch and she started to step in but he shut it on her again. The door hit her toe pretty badly.

"Ow!" She yelped as she held up her foot. The tears were threatening to run down her face now.

"Awwww...did we hurt little Miss Mia????" A girl mocked. Her name was Lindsey. One of the most popular freshmen in school and she knew it. She was Mia's tormenter. She was beautiful and graceful but downright despicable. She had opened the door up.

Mia dared not to let the tears run down. She could control them. She had done this many times already. "No. I just stubbed my toe."

Lindsey smirked. "I'm glad to hear that." She cleared the way to let Mia in.

Just as Mia was walking in, Lindsey snapped out her foot in front of Mia making Mia sprawl several feet in front of herself, throwing her paper and books everywhere.

"Ow! You almost broke my toe you slut!" Lindsey said loudly.

Mia tried to gather her books and paper off the floor quickly before Lindsey through a book at her.

"You bitch! I said you almost broke my toe!" Lindsey growled.

Ow... Mia blocked the book from hitting her head. "It's impossible to have broken your-,"

"Shut up! Just shut up! Ow...can someone take me to the nurse? My toe is killing me..." Lindsey cried fanning herself.

"I'll go with you Linds..." Her boyfriend Jim offered. He passed the desk where Mia had put her books up and knocked them down. Mia grimaced and went to pick them up again.

Three-fourths of the class giggled and the other fourth looked away. They didn't like the way Lindsey was acting but they couldn't say anything. She and her friends owned this school.

Mia finally sat down in her seat. The bell rang and the teacher arrived.

"Good morning class. Uh...where's Miss Lindsey?" She quickly questioned. The girl was a total ditz in her opinion.

"Miss Dorrington, she had to go to the nurse because Mia almost broke her toe," A kid answered.

"Oh that's nonsense! Unless Mia took a wrench and forced it to break or Miss Lindsey snapped it against something, then it'd break." Miss Dorrington answered.

Another kid spoke up. "She purposely tripped over her foot."

"Now Matthew, who obviously would be stupid enough to?" She questioned narrowing her eyes at him.

"Obviously Mia," John murmured. The people around him who heard started snickering.

"One week of lunch and after school detention." Miss D said in a no-nonsense voice.

"WHAT??? I didn't do nothing!" John argued.

"Two weeks." She stated monotone.

"But-," John started.

"Would you like to go for three weeks?" Miss Dorrington was one of the most favored teacher at school yet one of the most hated.

John clamped his mouth and pointedly stared at Mia.

Mia turned around and snapped right back after seeing his red face.

"This is your own fault. Remember that." Miss Dorrington said after seeing the exchanged looks.

John looked out the window.

"Okay...open your books to pages one-oh-eight. This unit, we're going to study and read where fairy tales originated from, as you can see..." Miss Dorrington kept on explaining.

Mia had tuned her out. She would probably get attacked with snowballs or something even worse after school...and this was her last period.

~*~*~*~

Mia noticed John hanging out at the doorway with a bunch of kids. She also noticed a flash of white in their gloves. Better if I get this over with. She opened the door and was immediately bombarded with snow. The guys kept on picking up snow and chucking it at her.

"THIS IS FOR TWO DAMN WEEKS OF DETENTION YOU GAVE ME!" John yelled as he kept on bombarding her with them.

The tears started flowing down her face. She wimpered when she was pelted with them each time. She hated this school. She hated it so much. She quickly ran up into her bus and sat down. The guys kept on throwing snowballs at the window. She flinched. They stopped when they saw a bus monitor coming up by the sidewalk and quickly ran away. Probably called by the bus driver... Mia took off her glasses and wiped the snow off of them. She wiped the snow off her body and her tangled hair. She couldn't wait to get home. She'd meet him there and explain why she couldn't wait for him.

~*~*~*~

Finally at home, Mia had donned her school equipment and set the tub up for a bubble bath. She couldn't believe how good it felt. She closed her eyes. "Why Mia? Why do you let yourself be walked all over by them? Why?" She groaned as she felt a bump the size of a golf ball in the back of her head. She didn't have any real friends or any friends except for Cye but he was her cousin. Her sweet and popular cousin. He was in the same grade but obviously not in the same classes as she was in. She'd usually get a ride from him. He'd drop her off and then drive off to his own home. "Dammit!" Mia hit the water and quickly clasped her mouth. She never swore. The tears started falling down her face again. She was exhausted emotionally and physically. At least one thing good was happening...she had was going to Paris for two years with her parents. Arrangements had been made with her school teachers already. She'd miss Cye though. The phone by her suddenly rang. "Hello?"

"Mia, I'm calling from my car, is there any reason why you didn't wait for me?" A familiar voice came from the other line.

Mia winced. "Sorry Cye, I sort of remembered I had to catch someone on the bus and they wouldn't let me off after I had gotten on,"

"Oh, okay! Then it's alright with me...um, you sound like you've been crying...is it just the connection or is there something wrong?" Cye asked.

Mia winced inwardly. "It's probably just the connection! Um...hey, I've got to go, I'll see you later 'kay?"

"Of course! I have to see off my favorite cousin don't I?" Cye said.

Mia chuckled. "Cye, you are too good to me,"

"I'm suppose to be! Anyways...I have to enter the tunnel soon, I'll see ya! Ja!" The connection went dead just as Mia uttered her 'good-bye'.

Mia put the phone on the hook. She was happy. She was glad when she was going to a country where she could speak the language fluently, then there was the fact her parents signed her up for a special all-girls boarding school. She didn't know what the name was but her parents replied that it was very well-known for it's programs. The no-boys part wouldn't be so bad. After all the years of being in the same school district, she had lost all respect for guys except Cye. She admired him. He was strong and he would've fought back against those guys. His family was also great in wealth but he didn't let that go to his head. So why couldn't she? "Maybe it's because I'm weak." She sighed as she laid down. This bubble bath felt completely great now.

~*~*~*~

Her belongings had been packed one week in advance and someone had come to pick them up for her. She was surprised. She figured her and her parents would carry their bags in their car. They weren't taking their car either. The company had sent a limo down. She never expected this. "Where do you guys work?" She asked her parents.

Mr. Koji's phone rang. He picked it up. "Before you say anything, thank you Mr. Yamaguchi for this wonderful ride. It wasn't necessary,"

They haven't asked my question yet. Mia looked at her mom. She was obviously occupied with a call of her own. A light bulb had gone off in Mia's head when her dad mentioned the name. She had heard it somewhere but she couldn't remember...oh where had she heard it?

~*~*~*~

"MIA!" A familiar accented voice called.

She barely heard it but she recognized it well. "CYE???" She smiled for the first time in the day and quickly looked around for him. She finally spotted him. He had hurried up to her and gave her a bear hug. "I'm going to miss you so much," She grinned as she ruffled his hair.

"I'm going to miss you too! Now," He handed her two bags. One was a black messenger type bag and the other was a small one with decorations all over it. "We can stay in contact through these,"

"What are they?" Mia asked him as she looked at them.

"The one in the small bag is a blue Nokia cell phone and the one in the large bag is your very own, and one of the most modern laptop I could find. I figured you need a good one since you love computers so much," Cye said grinning. "So...do ya' like?"

Mia squealed as she hugged him. "Oh my goodness! Thank you!"

"And don't worry about paying for the phone bill," Cye said.

"No Cye! I simply cannot have you pay for it!" Mia frowned.

"I was going to do that but your parents offered to," Cye smiled mischievously.

"My parents?" Mia arched her eyebrow at him. "These are the same parents we're talking about right?"

"Yup!" Cye nodded.

Mia was puzzled. First of all, her parents had always taught her saving up money was good. It taught her responsibility and it would also teach her to become a conservative person. Now they were paying for her cell phone bills?!

"Anyways..." Cye notioned at her parents with his head. "They're waiting,"

Mia felt tears coming to her eyes. She hugged Cye again. "Thanks,"

Cye patted her head. "See ya cous,"

"Bye!" Mia called over her shoulder before disappearing in the walkway.

Cye looked through the window. The plane took at most 15 minutes to lift off. He waved bye to it. He respected Mia. She had always been the sister he never had and they were the best of friends. "See ya in two years cous," He said to himself as he watched the plane disappear in the sky.

~*~*~*~

"Mom...Dad...is there something you want to tell me?" Mia asked. She held up the blue cell phone. "Like, why are you paying for the phone bills on this?"

Mrs. Koji looked at Mr. Koji. "Should we tell her?"

"We did promise to on this trip," Mr. Koji answered.

"Tell me what?" Mia asked.

"Mia, have we ever told you where we worked?" Mr. Koji asked.

Mia shook her head. "No...I mean, you'd figure I'd ask but it never came up until that limo showed up...where do you guys work?"

"You know Mr. Yamaguchi?" Her mom asked.

"I remember his name from somewhere but I can't remember where..." Mia answered.

"He's the owner of Yamaguchi Enterprises and we're the CEOs of his company," Her dad answered in one short sentence. "That's why we have to go to France for two years. It's a job transfer,"

Mia racked her brain. Something snapped inside of her head and her eyes turned as wide as saucers. "Wow! Mom! Dad! That's so awesome! Now I understand why you guys always had to travel! That's so sugoi!" She remembered reading a paper about Y.E. The stock market had run off the grid when the interest levels were lowered. Yamaguchi Enterprises had gone to well over one thousand dollars a stock. The company was a multi-billion business in Japan and it was expanding all over the world.

"Wow, I wasn't sure how you'd react to this," Mr. Koji commented.

"Well...I don't have a reason to be mad or anything," Mia said.

Mrs. Koji gave Mia a kiss on the head. "That's good honey,"

Mia grinned. Two years in France. This was going to be wonderful. Absolutely wonderful.

First of all, this is set in Japan. She's going to France but I'm not going to explain the whole two years. Mia's character was changed a bit because I just couldn't figure out what she would say. Yes her parents are dead in the original story but they aren't in this. Second, I'm sorry if this chapter was rushed. It's because I sort of had gotten tired of typing so much and I was getting somewhat impatient with ending it. ^^;; I'm not going to beta-read this because I simply do not have the energy to. I was sick with a fever of 105 a few days ago and I'm simply feeling the after effects of them...Um...I know this sucked but that's because I was in a hurry to explain a lot of things and with people asking for more stories, I had to put this one out. If you all would like, I can make a GW version of this story though things are going to have to be changed. I'm so very sorry this stunk. I can feel the stench. _ Well...hopefully it isn't as bad as I say it is...^_^;; I'm very hard on myself...thanks minna! Ja!

~*Angel*~