Chapter 1

She woke up in an empty alleyway in the rain, not knowing what had been going on. She was wearing some sort of uniform? It was just a black coat with more black clothes underneath. She looked up at the cloudy gray sky and collected herself.

"What am I doing here?" She asked herself. "Oh yeah, those weird things attacked me…I guess they knocked me out…" Then she thought about her situation a little more. "But didn't the weather channel tell me that it was going to be sunny this week? Guess they were wrong."

She got up and made use of the hood that the uniform came with. Then she walked over to the nearest newspaper stand and read the weather report. Rainy all week, and the week after, and the one after that…

"What is it with all this rainy weather? It isn't the rainy reason, because that doesn't come until June or July…" She looked at the date, which read…July. "What!? How can it be July!?" She put the newspaper back and walked off in a random direction. "How can it be July? When I ran off, it was somewhere in January…"

While pondering her thoughts, she ended up sitting down in a nearby swing set at the park. For roughly half an hour, she went back and forth trying to figure out why she couldn't figure out what happened for six and a half months. Then she remembered something.

"Oh no! I have to get back home! If I've been gone for six months then they must be really furious when I get back there!"

She ran back home, and where she thought her house would stand, instead had an empty shell of a house coated with graffiti and large cracks in the walls. In some way, she felt relieved, but at the same time, she felt emptier than the building in front of her. She dropped to her knees.

"What happened here? Did everyone just leave me?" Then she mentally slapped herself. "So what if they left me? I can just start up a new life somewhere! Yeah!"

After a few moments of standing in the pouring rain with her fists in the air, she took a deep breath and screamed.

After walking to an empty playground, she sat down on a swing set. She was confused and didn't know what to do. She just went back and forth on the swing.

"What happens now?" She asked herself. "Things never turn out the way I want it to. What's the point of—ACHOO!" Realizing that she never had her hood on, she thought about putting it on, but then she stopped herself. "On top of everything, I'm getting sick! Everything is going horribly wrong." She slowly looked up at the gray sky, and closed her eyes. "At least…the rain is relaxing. This feels so familiar…"

"So I'm not the only one."

She slowly turned to her left and found someone on the other swing. A young man with short blue hair that covered his right hair that had an emotionless face. To any other girl, they would think about him as either handsome or cute, and that they would blush as soon as their eyes met. But for her…

"STALKER!" Immediately she kicked him off his swing and ran off with his face on the ground.

She quickly ran away from the ominous young man until she could no longer see the playground. As she caught her breath, she looked back.

"There was something weird about him…" Then she scratched her head. "Maybe I'm just hungry. But I can't give up!" She pointed out into the sky. "I will not lose hope!"

She tried walking over to various hotels and tried to see which one of them had open rooms, but every time she checked, they all didn't have any room for her. After checking the 9th one in the city, she deemed herself crazy and tried to see if an apartment would buy her story and take her in.

"Oh well, here it goes…" She went through the door and found herself in a small room with cozy furniture and a desk being managed by someone with rather strange orange hairstyle with a part of his hair at the front standing straight up. Unfortunately, the man was sleeping.

She walked over and tapped the man on the shoulder. He only grunted and went back to sleep.

"Um…excuse me…" She tried waking him up again, but to no avail. "Excuse me. I would…um…" The man lifted his head, which also raised her hope, but then the man went back to sleep.

She was a bit depressed to find that he went back to sleep, and so she tried to raise her voice, but when she opened her mouth, someone else spoke out.

"Wakka, I thought I told you to watch out for whoever walks in." An eerie voice sounded out.

"GAH!" The man sat straight up, and then he looked straight at the girl in front of him. "Wow. Never thought someone would walk in our hotel like this, eh Lu?"

"I told you…" When the girl turned around, she was shocked to find an eerie woman wearing a black dress. "Call me Lulu. And whenever we have potential guests, you are supposed to help them out." The eerie woman turned around and looked at the frightened white-haired girl. "Sorry for the improper introductions. As you may know by know, the man at the desk is Wakka. I'm Lulu."

"N-nice to m-meet y-you!"

"This is the kind of hotel you can stay in for as long as you want to and check out whenever you want." Then Lulu pointed to an elevator. "But, you need to pull your own weight around here. That means you get yourself a job or two, and use the money you get out of it to pay the rent."

"I've never worked before, but I'll do my best!"

"That's all I needed to hear."

"Oh sure, lose the ghost with that kid around…" Wakka muttered.

"What was that?" Lulu glared at Wakka.

"N-nothing!"

"I'm pretty sure it was something." Then Lulu went ahead and threw what looked like a doll at Wakka. "Like it or not, you are my husband. And husbands aren't supposed to insult their wives!"

Not minding their argument and reasoning out that this place was as good a place to start as any, she brought herself to the elevator and sighed as the doors slowly closed. She thought about what was happening to her. She thought that this wouldn't be so bad. Upon leaving the elevator, she took the first door to her right, which had a luxurious room. Basically, the room fit her needs with dazzling furniture, her own computer, cable television, fully stocked fridge, closet already filled with clothes, and a CD rack filled up with her favorite artists.

"If I knew life would be this good, I would've come here a long time ago! Sure, I have to work my butt off but nothing is free in this world except the air I breathe!" She shouted while collapsing onto a comfortable bed. "But…I can't help but feel that something's wrong, or missing."

She rolled around on the bed many times over, falling off several times and messing up the blankets. After that she tried sitting upside-down on a chair, sticking her head out into the rain and hammering her head against the wall.

"Maybe it would come to me while I relax! That always comes through!"

As a result, she picked up a random book and curled up in bed. Unfortunately, the only things that popped into her head were the random facts that she read in a trivia book.

"So pounding your head against the wall can burn ninety-five calories per hour?" She asked herself. Then she sighed, "This isn't working. Wait a—I got it!" She jumped onto the bed and pointed her finger in the air. "I'm hungry! That's it! I need to eat until I can't eat anymore! Ramen time!"

She jumped off the bed and checked the kitchen, only to find out that there wasn't any ramen. She remedied this by changing clothes.

"Ramen time! Ramen time! Woohoo! Things are looking up already!" She skipped out in the rain.

Noticing the very small ramen-ya restaurant that only had six seats, she went straight over.

"Irasshai!" The cook greeted.

"I'll have one Shoyu ramen—" She noticed one other customer that was already eating ramen, and recognized him. "It's the stalker!"

The so-called stalker just took one look at her, and then he slurped up some noodles from his ramen. No longer seeing him as a threat, she calmly sat back down and waited for her noodles. But she was only calm for a moment because she suddenly flooded her mind with questions she thought she would never know the answer to. Who was this person?

"Um…who are you?" She nervously asked.

"To tell you the truth…" The young man swallowed down a small clump of noodles before continuing. "…I don't know."

"You…don't know?"

"Nope. But I intend to start up a new life. Doesn't seem that hard."

"It's harder than you think. Because you have to get a job so you can get money so you can get a house and furniture and clothes and—"

"Are you worrying about me?"

"Wha—"

"Sorry for the wait! Here's your ramen!"

A bowl was set in front of her, so she instinctively picked up a pair of chopsticks and started eating. Unfortunately, that meant that she forgot her question to the ominous young man.

"This is so yummy! By the way, I was wondering—" She looked to her left and saw that the man was gone without a trace other than the half-eaten ramen he left behind. "How strange, but oh well! Ramen time!"

After eating, she asked what time it was, and found out that it just passed noon. She left shortly after that.

"Technically I just ate lunch." She stretched her arms out. "When it's this wet and rainy outside, you can always lose track of the time!"

She decided not to go back to the hotel just yet. Instead, she just wanted to walk about randomly. But instead of walking about like she thought she would, she was drawn to a certain area. The said area was a tunnel underneath a not-so-busy road. Both the road and the tunnel were at a far side of the city where there were hardly any visitors. Despite the fact that she was alone in the rain by this place with an empty feel, she was comforted by the fact that she had been here many times before.

"I haven't been here in a while, but I'm just happy no one else is here." She said to herself.

She silently walked through the dimly lit tunnel over to the other side, where she found a steep cliff. Despite the fact that the cliff could give way at any moment, she didn't mind, and she sat down at the edge, overlooking the city and its many colorful lights. To her, the lights reminded her of firework. The city itself blended in the bray sky and the rain that fell from it, so all the lights that were scattered into the sky made everything glow. She thought of it all as beautiful.

"I'm so glad that this place belongs to me. I don't have to share it with anyone and no one else can disturb me." As she spoke to herself, she closed her eyes and looked up. "This is so peaceful and wonderful. But in a way, this makes me feel somewhat sad. I wonder why. Maybe this means someone else has been here?"

She lied down on the soft and grassy cliff, and continued to keep her eyes shut. She dismissed her previous thoughts and replaced them with intentions of making the moment last before going back to her new home. She was saddened by the fact that this would not last forever, as she hoped it would.

"But that's childish." She mentally slapped herself. "Everything can't last forever. If everything did last forever, then we wouldn't appreciate the things that aren't supposed to last. Everything that's good always goes away at some point, unlike the bad things in the world. Hmm…with that said, does that mean I'll stay lonely for the rest of my life. This is just like that time…" She felt a small spark of warmth inside her, almost as if there was something familiar about her situation, but then it quickly went away. "…What time? I must be imagining things."

After the little ramen bout, the ominous blue-haired young man wandered the empty streets.

"So…was she worrying about me…or not?" He scratched his head. "Maybe it's part of her personality. I'm a complete stranger to her, and there's no other explanation…"

Like her, the young man wandered the streets. He didn't know why, but he was fascinated with everything he saw in the city. He guessed that it was probably because he didn't remember anything, besides his name, from before that morning. He had lost all his memory from anything prior to seeing a white-haired girl sitting alone in a playground.

"I felt so drawn to her." He looked up in the sky again. "Why?"

"That's because you love her!" A voice called out.

"Who's there?" He turned around to find someone wearing the exact same clothes as him. A black hooded leather cloak and black boots.

"You mean you seriously don't remember him?" Another voice called out. The owner of said voice stepped out of a portal of darkness.

The two ominous characters then took off their hoods, revealing a man with spiky red hair and two markings underneath his eyes. The other was a blonde teenager with blue eyes who had his hair sticking straight up on the right side.

"Talk about blank with a capital 'B'." The red haired man sighed. "Hmm…I feel as if I've said this before."

"Never mind that, Axel. Let's just get this over with." The blonde interrupted.

"Alright, alright…" With a wave of Axel's hand, a bunch of creatures in white jumpsuits appeared from the ground. They looked inhuman in many ways, lacking facial features, moving and twisting in a nearly impossible manner…

"What's going on?"

"We can only tell you after you've come with us." Roxas sighed. "Sorry …"

"Hmm…" Axel put his hand to his chin. "This may be easier than I thought it would be…" He snapped his hands and the white creatures went away.

"Axel, what are you doing?"

"Don't worry, Roxas." Axel turned towards Zexion. "Hey, if you're looking for some answers…you can just come with us!"

Zexion was put up with a tough decision. If he went with Axel and Roxas, he would be able to answer the questions he was asking himself. But then something else ran through his mind.

"That girl…" He thought a little harder. "I'm pretty sure she's important to me, but…in what way…?"

"Like I said before, we'll be able to answer everything if you just come with us." Axel put up a grin.

"Don't worry…I will never leave you."

"Promise?"

"I promise."

"Promise…" She said upon opening her eyes. She rubbed her eyes. "Did…did I fall asleep?" She looked up, and the sky was still gloomy and gray, not to mention rainy. "I wonder if it's ever going to stop raining…" Her mind started wandering. "What was that I said before? Hmm…a promise? Who did I make a promise with?"

Unable to come up with an answer, she took a deep breath. And then she figured that her answers would come to her in time. All she had to do was wait.

"But for how long?" She sat up and let her arms support her weight. But then she sighed and then she let her hands slide out from underneath her. But then she felt something on her right hand. When she looked over, she saw a simple blue umbrella, with a note attached.

"It isn't good for you to catch a cold. I hope this helps the both of you." She read out loud. "Well, whoever left this sure was nice! But…I wonder what they meant by 'both of us'…"

After another ten minutes of sitting on the cliff, she got up and walked off back into the streets of the city, with her new umbrella gift. On her way home, she started hearing a tapping sound. When she turned to her left, she saw the ominous young man coming up the sidewalk.

"Oh! Hello—" Suddenly, the man just rushed past her. "Wait—" Suddenly, white creatures rushed past her as well, which left her spinning. "Wh-Wha-What w-were those?" She asked herself as she stumbled to the ground. When she saw two more men approaching, she quickly got up, dodged them to the side, and threw her umbrella ahead of them, which made them trip.

"What the hell—?" Axel shouted upon recovering.

"I thought those stunts on TV aren't supposed to be imitated by the people watching…" Roxas muttered.

"Never mind that, Roxas! Who left an…umbrella?" Axel picked up said umbrella, and it was immediately snatched out of his hand from behind him. "Huh?" Both of them looked behind themselves and found an angry-looking white-haired girl.

"You! I thought you were dead!" Axel immediately got up and pointed.

"Never thought we'd see you again so soon…" Roxas soon got up as well. Then he stared.

"It's rude to point and stare!" The girl immediately got her umbrella and whacked them…hard. Which sent them both headfirst into the asphalt.

"What…the hell…was that?" Axel mumbled.

"I think we were 'owned'." Roxas answered.

"We were not owned!"

"Axel…seeing as she's here, shouldn't we leave and come back later?"

"Why should we do that?"

Roxas responded by whispering into Axel's ear. Axel then grinned and he got back up.

"Good point there." Axel said. "We'll be going now…" With a wave of his hand, he conjured up a portal. "We'll be back! So don't worry!"

She tried to stop them from leaving, but Roxas and Axel left silently, with Axel giving a wink. She was left flustered as to how her day got even stranger. She picked up her umbrella and opened it up again. She began walking in the direction of the strange creatures and the young man.

"Those creatures really were strange…were they monsters!?" She panicked and began running, but in her blind panic, she ran into a pole. "Ouch…"

She decided that it was safer to walk instead of run, but then she worried about the blue haired young man and ran into a pole every other minute. To anyone else, it would automatically label her as strange, weird or maybe even scatter-brained. But to her, all that mattered to her at the moment was making sure he was all right.

"I really hope he's okay…" When she finally found him, he was poking the corpse of some dead animal in the playground. "Oh. Thank goodness…" She sighed and her legs gave out from beneath her.

She was very, very tired from running all that way, so she decided that she would just lie there or another five minutes. She smiled at the thought of the umbrella being wasted on her. Because she would certainly get sick now. But instead of feeling the rain, she didn't feel anything. When she looked up, she was staring up at the blue haired young man.

"It wouldn't be good if you caught a cold."

"What about you?"

"I don't know if it would matter."

"Let's go to my…home. We can both get something warm there."

"Sure."

"We have a second guest? Two in one day? A new record." Wakka said upon looking at the two that just came through the doors.

"That's our first record." Lulu remarked.

"Nice to meet you—" The blue haired young man was but off by Lulu suddenly wagging a finger at him.

"You will work your weight here, and will pay for your own rent."

"I was expecting that. And yes I will agree to your terms." He bowed.

"I like the fact that you're well-mannered." Lulu turned behind her. "Unlike some people."

"Did you say something Lu?"

"Never mind." Lulu sighed.

He had already chosen his room, and not surprisingly it was right next to her room. His room had the same features as hers, but he had his own small library. When he went to take a shower, he didn't tell her, so his room was quiet. But with his room being quiet, she thought something happened to him again. She probably wouldn't worry if she heard the shower, but he took a fairly short shower.

"Is something wrong?" She asked upon entering his room. "Hello?" She walked around his room some more. She panicked and checked the areas of his room, including the bathroom.

The door was slightly ajar, so when she ran through the door, she fell over. Luckily she didn't fall to the floor. When she looked up, she was in his arms.

"Is anything wrong?" She immediately started blushing.

"N-Nothing's wrong!"

"Did you get a fever or something—"

"I'm fine!"

"Are you sure—" He was cut off by her slamming the bathroom door.

She trudged back to her own room. And leaned against her closed door.

"What was that? M-My heart was p-pounding! It was…unreal!" She placed her hand over heart. "What was going on? This day keeps getting stranger and stranger…" She slid down to the floor. "Dealing with this may not be as easy as I thought it would be…"

She jumped when she heard a knock on her door. She opened it up to find him.

"I'm fine, so you can…go away now." She said in a lowered voice.

"It's not that." He scratched his head. "Well, I thought that we could get to know each other, seeing as we should be seeing more of each other."

"Um…fine…"

She let him in, and they both sat on the bed.

"So…umm…" He struggled to think up a good question for her. "Err…what's your favorite color?" He smacked himself in the forehead. "That was stupid…"

"Blue."

"Eh?"

"Blue is my favorite color. So what's yours?"

"Umm…my favorite color…black."

"Black?"

"Umm…yeah…"

"Well I think it suits you."

"You think so?"

"For me it's just a hunch."

"So…anything else you want to talk about?"

"Umm…when do you think the rain will stop?"

"Actually, the rain stopped already."

"It did!?" She smacked herself in the forehead, in the same manner that he did earlier. "I'm such an idiot."

"Hey. You should look at this." He was already out on a balcony, and he motioned for her to join him.

"So what are you looking at?" She asked upon going outside. "Oh! I forgot all about this!"

"Forgot all about what?"

"It's a special event." She looked up in the night sky. "Once a year, on the same night, two stars will align with each other. There was even a story about it."

"Can you me about the story?"

"Sure!" She smiled at him, to which he responded with looking away. "The story is about two lovers who were never supposed to have met. Orihime, the princess wanted to marry Hikoboshi, but they were both on opposite ends of the Amanogawa River. Orihime's father, Tentei, took pity on her, so he allowed them to meet once a year by commanding the birds to form a bridge."

"You think…that there's probably more meaning to it than what people think?"

"What do you mean?"

"Dismiss the thought…"

"Hmm…maybe you're right."

"Eh?"

"Maybe this event could symbolize the day we first met! It could mean that!" She waved her finger in the air triumphantly.

"Hmm…I guess so."

"I was wondering…"

"What?"

"What's your name?"

"My name? It's…kind of weird…"

"Don't worry, to you, I bet it can't be any weirder than my name."

"Ienzo."

"…"

"…?"

"I think that's pretty neat! I'm Yukina Sakuya!"

"I think your name is nice."

"You think so?"

"Of course."

((Kind of a crappy first chapter, but I'll try to make the others a lot better! I promise! And once again I apologize to everyone for having a crappy final chapter on my last fanfic. I'm sorry. In all honesty, I just wanted to get it over with…so I humbly ask for your forgiveness.))