Paper Hearts

A/N: New storyyyyyy.

Disclaimer: I don't own Prince of Tennis.

Day One:

Dear Journal,

Summer. SUMMER. Suuuuuummmer.

Time for sleeping for twelve hours continuously, eating inconspicuous but large amounts of junk food, reading or more like devouring books and anime. ANIME. Mom wants me to study too, but meh, who got time for that? I've got through a year of hell- complete with devils for teachers and fire-spewing, evil classmates- so it's only fair I get to make up for all the episodes of Fairy Tail that I missed. Dad keeps on talking about camping trips and father-daughter bonding, but does he not get the fact that I am the only one in the family that lost out on the freaky enjoying-physical-exercise gene? I am the shame of my generation when it comes to sport, and although one would be embarrassed of that, I wear it proudly like the otaku I am. Trust me, I am no Yowamushi Pedal kid.

Mayumi is going on and on about her boyfriend, sparkly pink nails, and her precious Zac Efron posters. How much ever I love her, if I hear one more word about Zac Efron's abs, there will be murder in the house. She's so excited about the whole road trip thing- how is dad even letting her go, everyone knows it's going to be an alcohol induced party with loads of sex (yes I use the word sex in my journal because it's mine and screw people who think I'm an angel, they obviously haven't heard me swear).

Anyway, Mayumi has been gushing about nothing else for the past few days, and it's seriously getting on my nerves. Dinner goes like this every day-

Me: Mayumi, pass me the ketchup.

Mayumi: I am going to be travelling across the country in a few days.

Me: Cool. Now pass me the ketchup

Mayumi: Roaaaaaad trip!

Me: I don't care. Ketchup. NOW.

Mayumi: It's going to be hella fun.

She used HELLA of all words. I have officially lost my older sister to the vapidity of teenage girls. Why must you punish me this way God? I guess I should have lain off a little on that beautifully delicious, tastes-better-than-the-sight-of-Benedict Cumberbatch ice-cream yesterday. God's obviously jealous.

I asked mom if she would let me go through teenage rebellion today- you know by letting me dye my hair purple or something, and watch me go all punk. I was inspired by Green Day's lyrics- I was feeling badass. She told me by asking her for permission, I was defeating the purpose of rebellion. Then she laughed at my face.

Yeah that backfired. She then said that if I did go punk, then I shouldn't be sorry if she and dad stopped funding my anime addiction.

I took back my words immediately- no need to risk losing out on the money that sustains me in this world.

My mother is sort of cool I guess if you ignored her obsession with buying stuff on sale. But we all have our quirks don't we? At least hers isn't embarrassing me in front of my friends unlike my king-of-dad-jokes Dad. Urghh I fear the day that man meets my crush- I will never be able to get through another day of high school.

Okay I have to go and watch another episode or another season of this new show I found on Netflix.

Till the next day of summer, journal.

~Akiko

Note to self: Grow some balls (well since you're a girl that's physically impossible, still use it as a metaphor) and ask Sam out. Natalie told me that he's into anime too, and he's cute. You'll both have beautiful babies.

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Day Two:

Remember how I said summer was going to be brilliant? Well no. It's going to suck. SUCK I TELL YOU.

Dearest mother came to my room last night. The moment I heard a knock through my blaring Imagine Dragons' music, I knew something was up. Her sheepish grin did nothing to improve the gut-something-bad-is-going-to-happen-feeling.

Guess what? I'm going to Japan in five days. JAPAN. IN FIVE DAYS. Why? Because mom wants to show us our roots.

Darling mother, I assure you I watch enough anime to be aware of my ancient ancestral roots. I probably know more about Japanese customs than you do.

But mom wants to hear nothing of that sort- she's so bent upon going that even my attempt at bribing her with the reminder of all the summer garage sales she would miss, failed. Mom not wanting to go to a garage sale is a pretty ginormous thing- so I don't think I can squiggle out of this. Never have I been more jealous of Mayumi in my life.

I asked her why she didn't tell me earlier, to which she responded by saying that she and dad didn't want me sabotage their plans or something. Dammit, why do they always think the worst of me? I'm a goddamn angel. And contrary to what mom thinks, I was not at all thinking of breaking my hand or something to stop us from going.

But even if I'll miss out on hanging out with Natalie and our plans of sabotaging every summer party thrown by resident school bitch Sasha, watching anime with Sam (dammit there'd better be some hot otakus in Japan) and Rick's birthday, I'm sort of hypocritically excited. I am excited because ANIME. I'll get to get actual first editions of manga and stuff. Eeeeep!

People will be SO jealous when I come back with sexy cosplay costumes (or more likely Natalie will be jealous, but meh). And I'm going to learn to be a super cool ninja so I can use my skills to mercilessly torture her-bitchiness Sasha when school starts.

So yes, I am excited.

But the larger part of me is dying at the thought of leaving home to a random country for the entire bloody summer. Random as in, I may be half-Japanese, but I can barely read kanji and talk fluent Japanese. (Funny how people of Japan are called the Japanese and speak Japanese too- so when I say I'm Japanese, I might be saying I am a language, I am letters of the alphabet too. Hehe.)

Plus we're staying with the Dragon Lady. The Dragon Lady is this old lady- who I swear has lived for more than a hundred years- who was my mom's neighbour in Japan or something. When she came to stay with us here for a few days, she successfully made me cry a total of ten times. (I was seven, don't judge me). She loves Mayumi and Ethan, not me. Duh, I'm too sassy for my own good. We clash too much.

Hell is what awaits me, both after and before my death.

The only minutely good thing of this trip is that Ethan's going to be there. I've missed him. Ever since he decided to take the year off to travel the world (again how did he get parental consent- I think my older siblings are hiding some voodoo magic from me) I haven't seen him much. He missed Christmas too which is weird because he adores Christmas.

He's meeting us in Tokyo, so yay! I have someone to protect me from the Dragon Lady, even if my knight is a bony, lanky, weak nerd with a penchant for animal rights and vegetarianism.

Damn just thinking of him, makes me want to talk to him. I've always had a weakness for my older brother, since I'm the youngest and he's always supported me whenever I've fought with Mayumi. Plus he pampers me. I love him for that- he strokes my bloated ego so much.

I think I'm going to Skype him now.

I AM GOING TO JAPAN, JOURNAL. BE EXCITED AND SAD FOR ME.

~Akiko

PS. When I skyped Ethan, he didn't pick up, which made me mad. So I sent him a long message, stating exactly why he was the world's worst older brother. He called back immediately being the sweet human being that he is. Apparently he was hanging out with his 'girlfriend'. I didn't believe him, so he sent me a picture of this gorgeous Italian girl. I told him that liars never prosper to which he sent me a picture of them kissing. What is with my siblings and them sending me pictures of their various exploits with their opposite sexes? Mayumi does it all the time! I think they have a secret pact going on to make me feel bad.

Great now even my nerdy, older, I-love-the-earth-and-animal-rights brother has landed himself a girl. And adorable me hasn't got a boyfriend yet. What is life?!

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Day Three:

Dear Journal,

I packed all day. Apparently Mayumi is coming to Japan too. Dad wanted her to come with the rest of us, but she threw a big tantrum (which involved a lot of 'if you love me, you won't do this') and she's joining us a week later. She's pounding loud music in her bedroom, which is right next to mine. If she thinks Rihanna's songs symbolise her sadness, then I think I've lost all faith in her music tastes.

Yes I am an indie music lover.

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Day Four:

I packed once more, and watched thirty continuous episodes of How I Met Your Mother. I will miss Netflix more than I can admit on my trip. He'd better not cheat on me.

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Day Five:

Dear Journal,

I am currently writing this at 3:34 a.m. Why am I writing this in the middle of early morning? Well, jet lag is a bitch, bitchier than queen bitch Sasha and I don't, under any circumstance, want to die because of it in Japan, so I'm adjusting my internal body clock by staying awake the entire night and sleeping in the morning.

I am running on three cups of coffee, a bottle of Coke (which, by the way, is way better than Pepsi) and four bars of chocolate (Mars bars). You could say I'm hyper, but I'm not any more hyper than I usually am.

Because darling, I define hyper.

Note to self: Next time you decide you're going to stay up all night, make sure you tell mom, because she woke up at 12:00 a.m. and freaked the shit out of me with her face mask.

~Akiko

PS. Tell mom, that face-masks are the biggest lies created by the cosmetic industry. They make you look scary not pretty.

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Day Six:

I am leaving to Japan today. Hurrah?

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Day Seven:

Dear Journal,

Japan is sexy. Or at least the airport is.

I am currently balancing my book on my knee as I bend down proposal-style to write. I have a strange feeling that people think I'm proposing to my dad. Urghh that is wrong on so many different levels.

Mom is hyperventilating, waiting for our luggage to arrive. I don't blame her; the Matthews family has incredible bad luck when it comes to luggage.

Last summer when we went to Italy, we were the last people to get our bags, and it was only after we left the airport did we realise that Mayumi didn't have hers. My darling older sister began screeching like a banshee, uncaring of the looks she was garnering, and in the end we reached an agreement that she would shut up if we bought her new clothes.

Somehow I think she was very happy with the loss of her bag, because she was beaming rainbows and sunshine when she and mom came back to the hotel carrying five designer label shopping bags (dad had a near heart-attack when he saw the bill though)

We've never got our luggage on time, or have always lost something. So mom's eagle eye on the conveyer belt is expected.

Mom is also looking out for Ethan who was arriving from France at roughly the same time. And she's also making sure I'm always in her sight, because according to her, I have a habit of wandering way. Bullshit I say- it was one time that I got lost. ONE TIME. (No the fact that it took four hours for them to find me, and that I was lost in the middle of a busy market does not count. Hey there was this cool book and I couldn't help but read it!)

Mom is the queen, no, king, no, GOD of multi-tasking. She can cook, watch T.V., scream at the T.V, read the newspaper and make me feel like an idiot, at the same time. Making me feel like an idiot takes priority though. Such is the life of the youngest child.

Dad's leaning against the trolley, trying to act cool. I have no doubt he is, at the moment, trying to make up some lame dad joke for Ethan, since he's the only one in the family who appreciates them.

I shudder at the thought of it.

The flight was good; I slept for a majority of it, to match Japan's sleep patterns. Dad and Mom thought I was crazy, but hey, I can laugh as much as I want when they'll be suffering through the messing up of their body clocks. Cue evil laughter and rubbing hands together.

Oh look there's Ethan. Now I must leap into my brother's arms and enjoy the smothering and love that is about to be showered on me.

Toodles!

~Akiko

PS. WAIT DID I JUST WRITE TOODLES? Shit.

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Day Eight:

Dear Journal,

Japan has a lot of pretty boys. Lots of them. So at least I'll have more guys to oogle at than Natalie. HA!

The rule about pretty boys is that when you see one, you must stare, and then follow, and then get thrown into prison for stalking. I haven't gone that far yet because that would make my mother sad. And I have no idea how Japanese prisons are. And it would look bad on my super-hero profile.

Tokyo is amazing, just pretty darn amazing. And so is snuggling up to Ethan- I have missed his warmth. The first thing I did after hugging him, was to ask him if he did the 'act' with his girlfriend, which made him blush such a bright red that he looked like a cherry. A very cute cherry with glasses.

Dad made his dad jokes which made me want to groan, pull at my hair, pull all the hair off, become bald and run away to Tibet to become a Buddhist Monk. Becoming a Buddhist Monk has always been one of my dreams because achieving Nirvana sounds so cool. Somehow giving up everything unnecessary in life to achieve a greater state of being seems like what the purpose of life should be. But I don't know if girls could do that. Screw you patriarchy!

I am writing this on my queen sized bed, of my very own room with an attached bathroom. As much as I hate Dragon Lady (who, the minute she saw me, began ranting on my posture, hair and dress- I like my Slytherin T-shirt very much, so shut up fire-breathing old lady) she was filthy rich.

Apparently, Mom used to be incredibly rich too, but her parents disowned her when she married Dad in America. That was so awwwish that I felt like puking-especially when Dad and Mom shared a look that could only mean one thing.

I never knew the trip to Japan would be enlightening as well.

Anyway, Dragon Lady owns this HUGE house in the heart of the poshest district in Tokyo. I'm not sure whether I can walk around wearing old band T-shirts and shorts here. Seems too fancy.

Dragon Lady was wearing an actual kimono when she greeted us in an actual tea-room, complete with paper walls and a tea-table. I have never felt more uncomfortable than that moment when I realised I might have to stay in a room with paper walls. Luckily the rest of the house was normal, and I got a first floor room with a balcony.

I escaped quickly, but Ethan's still stuck with her. Poor poor him.

I went down to get some food sometime back, when I heard snippets of conversation between my mother and Dragon Lady. I heard my name, a boy's, clothes, classes, and manners.

Somehow, I think my summer is going to epically suck from now on.

~Akiko

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Day Nine:

Dear Journal,

I met the biggest, most pretentious douche-bag in my life today.

Atobe Keigo, thou art a bastard.

Note to self: Next time you go exploring, try avoiding anyone with purple fucking hair.

~Akiko

A/N: WRITING THIS IS SO MUCH FUN. Yes I am aware I have shit-loads of stories to update (or more like three) but I cannot help but submit to the wishes of plot bunnies.

READ AND REVIEW? :D