Okay. So I'm here in the process of remaking the story. Things could be a whole lot better.

Prologue: When We Were Young

"Ikumi-chan! It's so nice to see you again. I haven't seen you since college. Oh, right! This is my husband Kosuke and my youngest daughter Mizuki. My sons were too lazy to come here and Mitsuki decided to stay with them," my mother said as she continued to talk continuously, barely giving my father and Ikumi-san's husband a chance to say a word. I felt bad for them as well as myself. I wonder why I decided to come instead of stay home with Sukinee-san. Oh, that's right. Mom said that if I came we would have spaghetti. She rarely makes it, and I love it. So of course I would come.

"It's nice to see you again, Sara-chan. I see that you've been doing well. This is my husband, Daichi and, wait, oh where did that boy run off to now? Keiichiro-san, can you have Ryou come down and meet the guests? I'm sure I told him what time they were arriving," Ikumi-san said as she looked back and shook my father's hand before then crouching down to my level. "Hello, Mizuki-chan. It's nice to meet you!"

"It's a pleasure to meet you too, Ikumi-sama," I said with a slight bow. I couldn't help but think about her son as I heard Ikumi-san talk about me being polite or something like that. That was probably the reason that my mom wanted me to tag along. So that Ryou-kun, was that his name?, wouldn't be alone with all of the adults. I can't blame her. If she told me then I would have come without being bribed. Hm? They mentioned him again. Is he here? Oh! That must be him there, I thought as I looked past the Shiroganes to a blue eyed, blonde-haired boy who was chasing a beautiful dog. Wait, is the dog's name Daisuke? Like Uncle Daisuke in the states?

"Ryou! There you are. Didn't I tell you to come back at two to meet the Ogawas?" Ikumi-san gently scolded Ryou whistle wiping some dirt off of his cheek. He looked slightly irritated and embarrassed that this was happening in front of us. "Anyways Ryou, this is Kosuke Ogawa, Sara Ogawa, and Mizuki Ogawa. Everyone, this is Ryou," Ikumi-san said as she pointed to each of us respectfully. He made eye contact with each one of us before saying something similar to what I had said earlier. It sort of unnerved me that he had the courage to look adults in the eye like that. It always freaks me out, like they're going to find something just by looking me in the eye.

With that the parents took their leave to the house, leaving me and Ryou alone. "Umm…Hello. It's nice to meet you. Ummm…" I stated nervously as I shifted my weight from one to foot to the other.

"Well, Mizuki-san? Right? There's this creek nearby. There are a lot of cool things to do down there. Do you want to go? With Daisuke with us of course," he calmly asked me. In his eyes I could see a spark of hope and nervousness. He's nice, I thought as I agreed and smiled. We had a lot of fun with the water fight and hide and seek. When we came back though, we were dirtier than Daisuke.

We were back at the Shirogane house one last time before going to the states to visit Uncle Daisuke and Aunt Matilda. Mitsuki was talking with Takao about one thing or another while Tadao was zoning out as per usual. Since the parents were talking, Ryou and I decided to go outside and play. Tag was the game that we were playing. I was so eager in playing that I wasn't paying attention to where I was going. The end result was that I trip over a rock and tumbled off a ledge. It was rocky down there, and I ended up covered in cuts. The worst one was on the top of my knee, and it caused some trouble for me to move.

Ryou came down and, after much argument, got me to agree to allow him to carry me back by piggyback. On the way back to the house we stopped by the creek so that he could wrap the cut on my leg. He used the only thing that he had which happened to be handkerchief he started carrying after he met me. I never realized that I was that klutzy.

"Ryou, you better not forget me," I said as I got back on his back to trek back to the house. I would be really mad if he forgot me since he was such a good friend.

"You're not going to be gone so long that I'll forget you. It's only a couple of months, right?" he asked as we heard Daisuke start to bark.

"Yeah. You're right. I'm gonna miss you when I'm gone. You know that right?"

"I know. And I'm going to miss you too."

That's the beginning of the remake. Check out my profile to see what's changed with Mitsuki, now Mizuki, and her past.

~~MNRS