Life's Circle
Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho or its characters.
This is the start of my new story. I'll still be doing My Misadventures (Uh, if I tried to stop, my friends would murder me in my sleep -.-) and all, but I've been needing to make some actual Texas kid's stories. So I could relate and all! (I know My Misadventures is literally my friends and me, but I wanted to do this for awhile!)
Couples: Hiei/OC, Kurama/Botan, Yusuke/Keiko, Kuwabara/Yukina and possibly more (If I get the idea and put it in the story, I'll try to remember to add it!)
Warnings: OC couple. Possible OOCness. Shuichi's little brother's name will be spelled Shuuichi, so readers won't be confused, as well as I'm quite sure that's how you spell it. I'll try to follow the series line but I might not know something and I'll have to ask you people. And most of all: Randomness from my characters.
Request: Please, at least five reviews to get a new chapter!
Summary: Two Texan girls are going to Japan with a mission: Make an impact. And that's exactly what they do! Between the broken bones, blood stains on the Minamino's carpet, and the permanent affection and scars on the Reikai Tantei's hearts, there is no way anyone will forget the names AbbigailMontgomery and Sterling Maholley!
Texas and Japan Collide
Abbigailsat in the middle of class, her desk flanked by her friends Sterling and Rebecca, and sitting her behind her was her other friend Trent. She sighed boredly as her thoughts drifted from today's history lesson to the note the principal had given her this morning. He had told her not to open it until after school and that when she opened it, Sterlingwas to be there. 'I mean come on! You give it to me, then tell me not to read it?! What kinda shit is it about?!'
She couldn't take it any longer. Her had slid into her backpack and pulled the envelope out. Taking her long thumb nail across the sealed top, she easily sliced it open. Then she pulled out the formal white letter she got about fourteen times each school year and for many different reasons: Skirts are too short, fighting, disrupting class, failing a class during the three week average (Which she had yet to do this year!), failing physicals because of her eyesight, getting to many detentions, skipping to many detentions, and her favorite and most frequent, inappropriate language. She scanned the words on the letter and let her mouth fall open and hang there.
"Abbs? Abbs, what's up?" Rebecca whispered. She saw the gapinglook her friend was givingthe letter in front of her and thought it must be somethingabout her parent's divorce or the custody was finally decided and she was running through so many horrid situations that could happen if Abbi were to leave. Sterlingwouldn't smile and would get expelled…out of her second school. Trent would start closingoff to everyone again. Sandra would probably start cuttingherself again. Jailey might start tryingto kill herself again. Damn! Who knew this one happy girl could make so much a difference in their family in just a year? Not anyone who knew this close knit family.
Actually, everyone worried about Abbi leaving. It wasn't just Rebecca. Sterling worried. Trent worried. Sandra worried. Jaileyworried. Their whole orphanage worried, as well as most of the school. Everyone knew how dependent everyone at the orphanage was of each other. If one left, the whole thing fell apart. But if they kept contact, like they knew Abbi's parents would never let her, it would be okay after a few months.
As all these thoughts swirled in Rebecca's head, it was hard to contain the shocked noise that rose from her throat when she read what the letter said. "Holy shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit!" Rebeccascreamed out in the middle of Mrs. Holder's sentence. She snatched the paper out of Abbi's nearly shakinghands, shot out of her chair, which fell on its side and reread the letter again. "Abbi…Abbs, you…Damn! How did you…?" The corners of her lips started curling upward. "You…and…Damn! How the hell?!" She was near hysterical now and Abbi remained frozen.
"Ms. Tarango! Is there some reason you're disrupting my class?" Mrs. Holder shouted at her, not having the best of days with her eight different classes. Ugh, why did she ever decide to become a teacher?
"Yes there is, ma'am!" She finally snapped out of the daze of hysteria and started to read off the letter,
"Dear Ms. AbbigailMontgomery and Ms. Sterling Maholley,
We are pleased to announce that the board of Meiou high and the Japanese council are awarding you the honor of being the foreign exchange student program.
Hearing your triumphs over all your difficult times and the strength you've both had during all those times made you two the perfect candidates for the program this year.
Your packets to fill out for the exchange of schools were sent to The Home for Troubled and Homeless Teens and your plane tickets are within this envelope. The ticket will tell you the time the plane leaves, the gates you will leave and arrive in, and your expected time of arrival in Japan.
You will both be placed in the same home, seeing as it doesn't seem right to break such a strong bond of friendship. Your surrogate family will be the Minamino family. The oldest son is Minamino Shuichi, an upperclassman, who will be your tutor and guide around the city, as well as your 'big brother'.
When you arrive, your new family will be waiting outside the arrival gate with a sign that says both of your names.
Your books, school uniform, and anything you send ahead of you will be at the Minamino house by the time of your arrival.
The district you will be placed in (Meiou), as well as the cities surrounding, Sarayashiki, Tsukai, and Odo, have a mostly bilingual population and will correspond with English language so you will be able to speak easily to locals and have the advantage of learning a new language.
We congratulate you both on becoming our exchange students for this year, and hopefully, seeing your circumstances, a new resident of our city.
Sincerely,
Ladi, dadi, da!" Rebecca finished with big eyes and a huge grin on her face.
Sterling's jaw dropped and she hopped up out of her seat, making it topple over. "Sweet mother of Jesus! I'ma goin' to Japan!"
"No, baby!" Abbi jumped up, making her chair the third to fall over, and hugged her short friend. "We goin' to Japan!"
The class bursted into yowls and yells and cheers. "Mah twins goin' ta Japan! I can't wait 'til ya guys start sending meh pictures and writin' us letters and tellin' us how awesome Japan is! You are gonna do that, ain't cha, girls?!" Trent wrapped his strong and tanned arms around both of his friends' necks. "Y'all better be writin' me a letter every month, send two pictures every month, sending me love letters every other week and somethang as a present to all us that lived with y'all at least once every two months! Ya read me, y'all!?"
"Uh huh. Mushy and gushy every other week, letters and two pictures per month and presents every other month…I think?" Sterlingstarted glancing around as if the walls had the answer. "I don't know. I'll just do the same thang I've done my whole life: Whatever the hell I want!" Everyone in the roomed either laughed or cheered, all except two people.
"Are you hearing this, Lori?" Nicole, more commonly known as Coco, sneered at the group from the orphanage. Those kids from the orphanage were annoying as hell in Nicole's and Lori's books. They were either Goth, emo, bisexual, just plain homo, or some other kind of freak! How could anyone stand them? "How did they get it? They're terrible! How could they win? The get in trouble way too much, they're freaks and they failed at least one class!"
Lori grimaced at them. "I know. But they're worthless. It doesn't matter. They won't last more than a month in Japan. Not with their fighting, annoying whining, and the therapy they require. They'll be sent back here as soon as their asses land in Japan. Then everything will happen as it should."
"Yeah. Just like it's supposed to." She nodded and they leaned in and spoke to each other about what was to come when Abbigail and Sterling ended up right back in Andrews, Texas and they fell right into Lori's and Nicole's plot.
Shuichi was rather happy that he was going to get to meet the exchange students from Texas. All the way from America! He was so happy his family had been chosen to take the two kids in. He figured it was because of his grades, but he really didn't care. He hadn't really met anyone out of the country, seeing as the only times he'd ever been out of the country were on missions for the Reikai Tanteiand most of the time the just went there to kill people. His mother, father, and little brother seemed happy about getting to keep the two kids in their home.
"I can't believe it! I'm going to have sisters!" Shuuichi laughed and ran into the guest room – soon to be his sisters' room – to help his mother fix up the room for his new family members. He'd always wanted to have a big family and with these two Texas – Texas! – girls, he would have a big family!
Shioriwas just ecstatic about having more girls in the family! She couldn't wait to have a daughter! She'd always wanted a daughter, especially since Shuichi was to be a girl and ended up being a boy. But now she was going to have two daughters and two sons! How delightful!
"We are now starting our descent into Sarayashiki, fasten all seat belts and vacate the restrooms." And sweat drop. The restroom door opened and out came an airsick and green faced Sterling. She sat down in between Abbi and some dude that had complained about her the whole damn time! Could she help it that this was her first time on a plane and that her stomach decided to completely empty itself of its contents? No. It wasn't her fault! Stupid upset and annoying stomach! Ugh…
They were waiting for two girls to walk off the plane when a bunch of the passengers trying to get off the plane were rushing and shouting as they stumbled out. Then, they came. One clutched her stomach and held a hand over her mouth while the other patted her arm, readjusted to two backpacks she carried on one shoulder, and tried to sooth her friend.
They saw a drop dead gorgeous redhead holding a sign with both their names on it. "Damn, look at his hair, Ster!" Abbi whined. "I mean, his hair is so much prettier than mine! No fair!"
"Calm down, Abbs. No one is as pretty as you, gorgeous red locks or not." Sterling flashed her friend a smile as she took her backpack from her. "'Sides, baby, you know ain't know boy in the world – except some homos and boys we lived with – that would like at that before it would look at you!"
They stumbled up to the redhead and grinned. "Hey, you must be Shuichi!" Sterling had to practically yell to be heard over the rest of the airport. "Nice to meet you!"
Abbi blinked. "So…You the oldest son in Minaminofamily, huh?" She asked, grinning. "Cool! Its gonna be cool stayin' with some boys fur a change! Back home, all we gots was four boys! And we had ten girls! Funny, ain't it?"
Shuichi laughed with her as they walked back to his family. When they got there, everyone in the family had a smile on their face. The motherly smile sent to them by Shiori brought tears to both the girls' eyes and the one with dyed grey hair muttered, "Monster trucks, man. Think about those monster trucks and don't think about last time you saw yo mamma." It was meant for her ears only but the brunette nodded and wiped the back of her hand across her eyes.
"Nice ta meet 'cha!" Abbi grinned, suddenly perky and the dyed grey haired girl copied her example. "I'm Abbigail Montgomery! This here is my best friend in the whole world, Sterling Maholley!" The shorter Sterling just grinned and waved when her name was said. "But you guys can call us our nicknames: Abbi or Abbs and Ster or Star!"
"It's nice to have you joining us for the school year, girls. I'm Shiori; this is my son Shuichi, my husband Hakana, and my youngest son, Shuuichi. It's also nice to have some girls in the family. It's always just been me." The mother they already liked, Shiori, smiled at them again.
"Uh…" Sterling tugged on the collar of her shirt and looked a bit uncomfortable. "I can't assure that I'll be like a girl, but Abbs might be a bit more…girly than me."
Shiori smile just got bigger. "Don't worry. It's just nice to have girls in the family now."
The family led Sterling and Abbi to the luggage pickup, where they both picked up a small suitcase of the same style. "Ah, I gotta 'nother thangI gotta get." Abbi nodded over to the pickup area and ran back there. The family just listened to Sterling humming tunelessly until Abbi ran back with a small instrument case in her hand.
"You play the violin?" Shuichi asked as they walked to the car.
"Uh huh. 'Bout the only thang I can do. Didn't do well with any woodwind or percussion. Violin really got the Texas spirit, though." She shrugged a shoulder. "I ain't very good…Just practice a little."
Sterling rolled her eyes and shook her head. "I like your playin', Abbs. You're good." It was just then did the Minamino family notice the two girls' accent. They cut their words short, said made up words, and squished their words together. Abbi was a better at sayingactual words, but Sterling must've been born in Texas, raised there, and always stayed there. They had a hard time understanding what she said!
On the car ride to the Minamino residence, the two girls bounced up and down and laughed and kept saying random things, some words Shuichi was pretty sure that it was Spanish. "Wanna know what I'ma gonna miss from back home, Abbs?" Sterlingjust popped out of nowhere with.
"Whatcha gonna miss?" Abbi asked, though she knew the answer.
"The vakas. 'Member when we used ta sneak out late and go for some rodeo-ingof our own?" Sterling interlocked her figures and put her hands behind her head and rested against them. "I 'member the time I broke my arm. That was 'cause I was on a buckin' one and he shot me clear cross the field and onto the fence."
Shiori, Shuichi, Shuuichi, and Hakana all winced while the two girls just laughed at the memory. "Hey, remember the time we were sittin' on the roof with Sandra and Trent and Jailey and Rebecca and we were jumpingoff the roof onto the trampoline and when I went to show off, I went to do a handspring and when I was landing, I flew off the tramp and shattered my ankle?" They both laughed againand once again, everyone else winced.
"Did you two do a lot of painful things like that?" Hakana asked, worried about his two new daughters. Sure, it sounded like they were fine and didn't mind hurting themselves constantly, but he still didn't want to think about all the pain that must have come with those idiotic things.
"Uh…" Sterling looked sheepish at first, then, with a slight blush, she grinned and nodded. "Uh huh."
Right after they got home, Shuichishowed them around the house, helped them unpack their things in the room they were to share. The first thing they did after putting their clothes up was push the two twin beds together and grin at each other. "There!" Shuichi shot them a questioninglook and Sterlinglaughed. "We joined at the hip, Honey! Can't separate the twins!" Then, they started grabbing posters to put on the walls. They had one of Kenny Chesney, one of Wicked the Musical, one of Dolly Parton, and a few other bands that Shuichi hadn't heard of. The last poster was handmade and said, 'Our all stars! Have fun in Japan!' Then had fifteen signatures signed all around the main words. Then they got pictures with people's names written underneath their photo. And last but not least, they threw about a dozen stuff animals each up on the bed.
"'Kay, room personalized!" Abbi giggled and linked arms with Sterling. "Now…Shuichi, wanna go downstairs so we can look at that photo album I saw on the way up?" Shuichi flushed, which she just grinned at. "Aw, ain't that cute? His face matches his hair. Now…Are there but-naked pictures of you as a baby in that album?" He nodded and their grins got bigger.
"So…Why we still standing up here when we could be lookingat naked baby pictures of our new big brother?" Sterlingasked, just grinning like the absolute ditz she was. She sighed and pulled her arm out of Abbi's. She turned Shuichiaround and pushed him toward the stairs. "Moving along!" She called out happily while she kept pushing Shuichi down the stairs and Abbi followed the both of them laughing.
Shioripeeked from the kitchen to see the two girls sitting on either side of Shuichi, lookingat the photo album as he turned to pages. It was so adorable! Then both girls threw their heads back and laughed at the same time. Sterling added a 'Yee-haw!' and Abbi added a 'Woo-hoo!'. Shiori figured they must haveseen his naked baby butt! It was the cutest dimpled thing anyone had ever seen!
Shuichiremembered something and smacked himself on the forehead. "I forgot my friends were coming over today. I guess today is as good as any to meet them." The girls exchanged a look then each raised an eyebrow at him.
"You gonna be embarrassed by your new sisters?" Abbi asked, wondering if she should be hurt that he didn't want her to meet his friends or if she should be glad that she won't have to push them away so not to be hurt…Again.
Shuichi shook his head with a smile. "Of course not. I just haven't even told them that you're going to be here for the next year. I just thought that I could tell them before they ended up walking in here and shooting questions about who you are."
Both girls smiled. "Okie dokie!" Sterling grinned, and then an idea found its way through the maze that was her complex mind and thick skull. "They stayin' here fur dinner?" Shuichi nodded and she hopped up. "I'm gonna help yur mammacook! It's one thing I'm damn good at!" She practically bounced in there to help his mother cook.
"Shuichi, could I bring down a radio and some CDs and maybe my violin to play for a few?" Shuichi smiled and nodded and with that, Abbi romped up the stairs. About two minutes later she came back with ten CDs, her violin in its case, and a radio. "Do you like Dolly Parton?"
"I've never heard of her." And immediately he regretted opening his mouth.
"Never? You've never heard of Dolly Parton?! Sweet mother of Jesus, boy, Backwoods Barbie is my favorite song! You ain't never heard Better Get To Livin'? How about Rascal Flatts? You heard of them?" Shuichi just shook his head and she went on, earning only a shake of his head to each question. "Taylor Swift? Michael Martin Murphey? Kenny Chesney?! Carrie Underwood?!" Finally she gaveup naming bands and people and just asked, "Do you just not listen to country music?"
Shuichishook his head once again. "I don't listen to much of any music. I'm not really into any kind."
Abbi just blinked at him. "You're a freak." Then she grinned at him as he chuckled lightly. "Hey, could I play my violin for ya some?" Her smile got wider when he nodded and she pulled out a cherry red violin, tuned it, then closed her eyes, and played. (Here's the song she played: /watch?v=M_FZWAzcumw&feature=channel Start on 0:34 seconds) She swayed a bit to the music and he heard someone humming the tune from the kitchen.
Shuichi just gaped at her. How could she not think she's good? She had Shuuichi and Hakana staring at her from the bottom of the stairs, Shiori peeking from the kitchen and she had him completely entranced by the melody. Someone clapped and everyone looked over at who it was. Grinning, Sterling laughed and stopped clapping, then walked back into the kitchen.
"How was I? I think I messed up on alotta notes! Did it sound as bad as to you as it did to me? Something was just off…" She frowned at the ground and sighed.
Shuichi shook his head. "It was wonderful! How do you think you play bad?"
"Well…" She lifted a shoulder then dropped it. "I play the violin, the cello, and the guitar and I play the violin the best and for some reason, lately I've been real bad at all three." She shrugged again. "I don't know what it is, but it's sounded real bad."
Shuichi opened his mouth to say something when the doorbell rang and Abbi gasped, "I need to go put makeup on! You go on and answer the door; I'll be down as soon as I'm pretty!" She turned to run up the stairs but stopped and threw a box at Shuichi, who caught it with ease. "Give that to Ster!" Then she disappeared up the stairs.
Shuichi walked into the kitchen and was about to open his mouth to tell Sterling about the box when she caught sight of it, grinned, then snatched it from him and said, "Thank ya very much, Shuichi!" And then she turned back to help his mother with whatever it was they were cooking.
The doorbell rang again and he hurried to open the door. "I'm sorry I took so long." He moved out of the way so Yusuke, Keiko, Botan, Kuwabara, Yukina, Genkai, Koenma (In teenage form, of course), and Hiei could walk in the house. "Today has been a bit…strange." Was there a better word for his two new Texan sisters? Not likely.
Everyone filed into the living room and sat down on the couch, the floor, and the one recliner chair. Botan sat by the radio, and CDs. "I didn't know you listened to country music, Shuichi. It just doesn't seem like you." She held up a CD that said 'Fearless' on the front with a picture of a girl with curly blonde hair and green-blue eyes.
"I-I don't." He threw a look at the stairs when he heard some footsteps and every one of his friends looked the same way. When the person stepped into their view, the person vaguely looked like the same Abigail that Shuichi had just seen about two minutes ago.
Her really wavy brown hair was pulled up in pigtails, her bangs framed her face and were a bit farther down then her cheekbones, separated a little to the left and on the right side was two heart clips. Her eyes were an amber-hazel color, bright and happy, but for some reason, everyone in that room figured she was covering something with that happiness. She had a white long-sleeved shirt that puffed out at the shoulders and wrists underneath a bright green vest that was buttoned to the last one right across her breasts, which were quite prominent, and at the collar of her buttoned undershirt was a bright orange bowtie with a huge bow. She had a plaid skirt the same color as her vest and knee high black socks that came up on part of her thighs, most of which were exposed by the shortness of her skirt. No one could really tell if she looked strong or not, not able to tell if the chunkiness on her thighs was muscle or just fat. Either way, it didn't make her any less pretty. All of her exposed skin had a light tan to it, not really what Shuichi had expected from a Texan. The girl was about 5'7", making her taller than everyone except Kuwabara.
"…You just gonna stare at me or introduce me to your friends?" Abbi blinked, not understanding that Shuichi was trying to grasp how she did that in less than five minutes and everyone else was trying to figure out what they hell she was doing in Shuichi's house. Botan was hurt that he had another girl here, seeing as she was probably a fan girl. Everyone knew she had a crush on the redhead. Well, everyone except the certain redhead, that is. "Well, seeing as Shuichi is acting like I grew another head, I'll introduce myself. I'm Abbigail Montgomery! I'm from the States, but I'm here on an exchange student program thang and Shuichi is gonna be my big brother for my year here."
Shuichi was about to open his mouth when, for the third time that day, something cut him off. In the kitchen, everyone heard a loud thud, followed by a "Mother fucker! My fucking nose! Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit!", and an "Oh dear! Are you alright!?"
"Sweet mother of Jesus! It didn't even take ya two hours, Sterling!" Abbi ran into the kitchen and, even though she tried hard, she couldn't help but throw her head back and laugh. Her best friend sat on the ground holding her bleeding nose, while Shiori was rushing to get a something to stop the bleeding. "Woo-eee, you sure broke that thang good this time, didn't ya, honey?" Abbi took the washcloth from Shiori and moved her friend's hand and replaced it with the washcloth. "Hold that on there while I find somethang to make sure your nose don't go crooked on us."
Abbi dashed through the living room and back up the stairs, returning a few minutes later with a fairly large white box. She moved the washcloth from her best friend's nose and pushed her nose gently back into place to make sure it didn't stay crooked…or more so than it already was, and put two layers of medical tape on her friend's swelling and bruised and already crooked nose. "Keep the rag on my nose for a few to stop the bleeding?" Sterling muttered as Abbi handed her the wash cloth back. Abbi nodded and walked out the room to explain what happened.
"Sterling walked into a walk and broke her nose…again, but she'll be fine once the bleeding stops!" She laughed and scratched the back of her head nervously.
So...How's it? I know it probably is a crappy beginning, but I have a good plot in mind! Please review! I'd like five before I post the next chapter!
Up next:With a newly broken nose, Maholley makes new friends and an enemy, while Montgomery just tries to stop the two bakas from thinking she's a whore. Whoa...I wonder who's not surviving this meet-n-greet?