A/N: Okay, so I know that the last thing I need is another story to work on, but this was written a long time ago, about the same time as 'Just One of the Guys' actually, as the partner story for my character Fern Carlson, who just showed up in 'Just One of the Guys', however I was disgusted with the horrible quality and didn't post it on FF, but have been trying to refresh and fix it on my Quizilla account all the while and now that I am mostly satisfied with the quality I want to post it on here. I did change the title and a few other things so it isn't exactly the same one I posted on Quizilla, but I hope you guys like it since I have tried to improve it a great deal from what it once was.
As a side note I'd like to tell everyone that 'Just One of the Guys' is written from Saita's pov, while this story is in Fern's, even though the two are connected. So a lot of Fern's adventures away from Saita and the Seireitei are in this story, not 'Just One of the Guys'. Sorry if this confuses everyone, but since Saita and Fern live two very different lives, I didn't want to mesh them up completely into one singular story, as I thought it would be far too confusing. This story is listed as a Friendship/Adventure story, but it will also have romance, eventually. Who whom, well I'm still debating that, but if any of you have a specific male you want her to be with, be it either a human, Shinigami or even an Espada, - even though I cannot see her with any of the Espada - just tell me and I'll consider him and see if they make an okay couple.
Warning: This story like the majority of my writings is rated highly mature, due to excerssive bad language, touchy subjects, sexuality with the possibility of explicit sex scenes and general stuff like that. Also as another warning, this one has a lot of OC's, but I will limit all that I can without messing up my original image of this story. This warning goes for all of my stories, and I feel like a right idiot for not saying so sooner, also I do not own the manga or anime of Bleach in any way, shape or form.
Take care, and enjoy,
-SugarLandBabyGirl
Prologue
"Fern, I need to talk to you." Her mother's monotone voice called from the kitchen, as she walked in through the front door from school. Her backpack was slung lazily over her left shoulder and her flaxen hair was thrown up in a messy bun, while her hands were shoved into the front of her faded blue jeans pocket. Her iPod was inside the right back pocket while the headphones rested on her shoulders as 'Isn't She' by Carolina Rain played.
Fern let out a loud mushroom sigh and walked into the kitchen. Her mother was sitting at their round red oak kitchen table, stirring something that looked like batter. She only glanced up at her disinterested daughter for a moment before motioning for her to sit down. 'Blueberry Muffin's…' Fern thought after catching a whiff of the batter. She then proceeded to pull out the closest red oak chair and turn it around so the back was facing the table before she sat down. Fern heard her mother let out a sigh of disapproval at her improper way of sitting but she said nothing knowing that it would only cause an argument.
Fern's mother, Iyona Saiki-Carlson looked younger than her true age which was thirty-six, with her waist length flaxen blonde hair, piercing indigo eyes and her young early twenties looking body. Most people, especially men thought that she was Fern's elder sister instead of her mother. Sometimes it really bothered Fern when guys only two years older than her would hit on her mother, right in front of her. It was truly disgusting and wrong, but her mother would always calmly and politely tell them that Fern was her daughter and that she was a widow and that they were way too young, not to mention immature. Fern had always been thankful that her mother was always truthful about her father and her age.
"Fern," She started with a softer voice as she finished pouring the batter into the muffin pan. "I have decided to take my old job back." Iyona turned to the stove, with the muffin pan in hand and after setting the proper heat she turned back to her confused daughter. "Okay." Fern said slowly, giving her mother a confused look. 'Why would she need to tell me this like it's something life changing?' Fern silently asked herself with a flat, bored expression, as she drummed her fingers lazily on her bicep. School had been boring, but she was looking forward to hanging out with her friends after changing into something more comfortable and getting a well deserved shower.
"No, Fern it's not the one at the Bank. An old friend of mine called me a week ago, well we got to talking about old times and the subject of us visiting came up… and then, the subject of us moving came up and I had been thinking about it anyway, so I called my old employer up and he told me that my job position was still open, even after all of these years and I've already gone ahead and made all of arrangements, so we will be leaving… tomorrow." She looked up at Fern with a straight face, which meant that she wasn't joking.
Fern froze and just stared at her mother hoping to God that she would crack a smile or something, but nothing. After a moment the only thing Fern could do was whisper, "Where?" She gave her daughter direct unwavering stare and spoke, "Karakura Town, Japan." Fern's blue-gray eyes glazed over with tears, she shook her head violently before she jumped from her seat and screamed at her mother. "Why? Why now… why now of all times? I'm happy, and you're ruining it like you always do!" Fern was nearly in hysterics, as the ripping pain in her chest began to worsen to an almost unbearable state. "Fern lower your voice." She told her angry daughter sternly, yet patiently before continuing. "We are moving because I feel that it will be a good move for the both of us and because in three weeks Bemis will be closing, for good."
"But, why Japan?" Fern asked breathlessly as angry tears cascaded down her lightly tanned cheeks. Her fists clenched and released as she stood in front of her mother. Fern didn't know what to do, she felt like running, but what good would that do? She promised her father she would never leave her mother and she never broke a promise if she could help it. "Because Fern, that is where you were born and so was I. It is also where Alexander and I were married. The only reason we left Japan was because of your Father's job required that he move and since we were a family he didn't want us to be separated so we decided to move everyone." Iyona spoke directly, her face remained stern but her eyes were flashing with so many emotions that Fern couldn't keep up with them. Her mother was perhaps the most confusing person Fern had ever come in contact with.
"Do you understand now Fern?" She asked with a softer tone, when she saw Fern's facial expression go from surprised and angry to sad and blank. Iyona hadn't wanted to hurt her daughter, that was not her intention, but she had despite herself. Fern was intelligent, strong willed and independent to the core, but she was also very sensitive. Words cut her deeper than a blade ever could. They were so much alike that they clashed more often than not. "Yes." Fern muttered quietly before she turned and ran out of the kitchen, up the stairs and into her room, slamming the door loudly.
Downstairs in the kitchen Iyona sighed sadly as she watched her heartbroken and angry daughter run up the stairs and away from her. She hadn't wanted to hurt Fern, but this was going to be a better life and new start. Well that was what she had been trying to convince herself for the last week. Leaving so suddenly was a shock to Fern's system, but it was for the best. She knew that it was hard for Fern, especially after Alexander was killed five years ago. It was hard on both of them, but Fern had always been so close to him and his death was harder on her than it was on Iyona. After all, death had been her life before she met Alexander.
"Things will get better," Iyona sighed sadly as tears leaked from the corner of her eyes. She tried to stop the tears, but she couldn't and they fell down like a waterfall as she cupped her hands over her face and quietly sobbed into her hands. In all of Fern's life, she had never once cried in front of her daughter. She had to be the strong one, for them both. "They have to, they just have to," She sadly whispered over and over again into her hands. Iyona had heard the upstairs shower being turned on only a couple of minutes after Fern had slammed her door closed and an hour later Fern emerged from her room. She was dressed in black and silver Bermuda shorts, black flip-flops that had 'Smokin' Ace's' written on them in white letters and a white wife beater. Her long hair was now in a neat pony tail and her face looked only slightly blotchy from her crying. Iyona noticed that her daughter was heading to the front door and asked, "Fern, honey, where are you going?"
Fern's hand had just reached out to grab the door handle, but when she heard Iyona ask her where she was going, her hand froze in mid air and her head bent down. She didn't answer for a minute, but then she picked her head up and looked over at Iyona and said, "I'm going to say good-bye to my friends." Iyona watcher her heartbroken daughter open the door and then disappear completely as the door closed. "I'm so sorry baby. I didn't mean to hurt you." Iyona whispered sadly, still staring at the closed door sadly. Fern probably wouldn't be back that night and knowing her daughter like she did, Iyona knew all of Fern's things were already packed.
After leaving the house Fern pulled out her silver iPod and turned it on. 'All These Lives' by Daughtry came on and she turned it up so she could drown out the world. She decided that since she was leaving for Japan tomorrow, she had better go and see her friends one last time. Patrick Willingham, Nichole Harris, Colton Blake, Chance Reid and Hannah Reid along with herself made up the group. They all went to High School together and they had the same classes. They'd all been friends pretty much since Kindergarten. Fern could still remember the first time she met all of them. She was friends with Patrick and Colton first.
Patrick was a small and sickly looking boy back then and he had a right to be. He was born two months premature. The first time that she saw him he was getting pushed around by Michael Duncan, Thomas Gardner, Brandon Eads, Joel Anderson, Cody Ruffin and Justin Ruffin on the playground. She felt sorry for the poor auburn haired, green eyed freckled face boy, so she decided to be nice and help him out. They ended up in a minor fist fight and somewhere in the middle of the fight Colton Blake an onyx haired, blue eyed boy jumped in and started fighting along with her. After the Teacher's broke up the fight they introduced themselves and shared a bloody lipped smile and things just fell into place.
Then about two months later Chance and Hannah Reid moved to Dallas, Texas from Austin, Texas. Colton, Patrick and Fern instantly befriended the new comers. Chance had brunette hair that was always in a Mohawk with chocolate brown eyes and Hannah being his twin had shoulder length brunette hair and the same chocolate brown eyes as her brother. Then about a week later Nichole Harris, moved from Houston, Texas to Dallas, Texas. She had strawberry blonde hair and sky blue eyes. She was shy and hardly ever talked, but all of them befriended her nonetheless.
Thinking back on it, Fern never would have guessed that they had made lifelong enemies and partial friends on rare days with Michael Duncan, Thomas Gardner, Brandon Eads, Joel Anderson, Cody and Justin Ruffin. But alas their fate was sealed when Colton and Fern threw their first punches. Fern grinned remembering that she had knocked out Michael's front tooth in that fight, but it was a baby tooth and thankfully not permanent. Times had changed since then, but they hadn't, not drastically at least. Patrick grew a backbone around his ninth birthday and fights back now. He isn't small any more either being six foot five inches tall and has the body of a lifeguard, which he should, considering he is a lifeguard at the local swimming pool. He has a more jock-like appearance and attitude, but with a punk twist and he usually wears the clothes from Abercrombie and Finch. Fern always faked a gag, as an old joke, when he started wearing that brand.
Colton is still as bad-assed as he was back then, but now he is an even six foot tall and has his hair spiked up and he is constantly dyeing the tips of his spikes every color imaginable. His current color is a bloody red, and he wears the darker, gothic styled clothing. Ironically Colton works at Hot Topic and now has his ears pierced four times each. He was the one who pierced Fern's earlobes when they were twelve. Her mom had nearly lost her cool that day that was for sure. Nichole was still shy around other people, but now the freckled face girl is a knock-out beauty. She is five foot six inches tall and works at Abercrombie and Finch. Not surprisingly she also wears that brand more often than not. She's been dating Greg Summers, the quarter back for the football team and real idiot if Fern ever saw one, but it was her choice, so Fern hadn't said anything.
Chance now styled his hair with some sort of mega hold gel that makes his hair look like he just got out of bed. In Fern's humble opinion, he'd look better without the gel. He is now five foot eleven and has a body similar to Patrick's only a little less muscular. He works at his Uncle Ben's car shop and race's his dragster every Friday at the local track. Thanks to Colton, he has also pierced his right ear but only once. He is currently dating a cheerleader, Nancy Richman, who is about as dumb as Greg Summers, but they're cousins so Fern guessed that stupidity runs in the family.
Hannah, dear sweet Hannah, was probably the most changed out of all of them. She managed to get sucked into the sixties, somehow and now wears the old 6o's type of clothing and much to Fern's disbelief, dons a feather in her long frizzy brown hair. Sometime or another around her tenth birthday Hannah fell in love with the hippies and she quickly 'converted', as Fern called it. She is five foot seven now and has both her ears pierced twice. Hannah like Fern doesn't have a job. However, unlike Fern, who was lazy and just didn't want one, Hannah kept getting fired for some small thing or another. Usually it was her wardrobe that got her axed, but Hannah didn't seem to mind. She was always the persistent one of the group.
Their lifelong enemies changed as much as they did, well some of them anyways. Michael still had his choppy cut blonde and onyx colored hair, but now the only difference is that his eyes are covered. He is an admirable six foot five and a half inches tall and has his bottom lip pierced twice, with his left ear pierced six times and he has the most awesome body Fern had ever seen on a straight man. But since he is her enemy, she doesn't try to find him too attractive. Thomas didn't change anything about himself either, but is now five foot ten inches tall and works on his grandfather's Ranch. Fern thought that he wasn't such a bad guy, since he ended up living a few houses down from her. Since he was her enemy they usually kept up appearances when their groups were around. Strangely enough he was a really good baseball player and they had played a few games together, secretly of course.
Brandon was still unfortunately sporting his infamous mullet. Fern wanted to gag every time she saw his hair; thankfully he now dons a white cowboy hat to hide that stringy mess from view. He stopped growing around six foot one and is learning how to Bull Ride on his cousin's Ranch. Currently he is dating Samantha Riggings, who is actually a really nice girl, very smart too, almost too smart and good for someone like Brandon, but if they were happy then Fern would let it be. Fern knew Samantha from study hall, as they were often partnered up to help Fern and the rest of the students catch up on their work. Fern actually owed her highest grades in all but three of her classes to Samantha's constant, patient help.
Joel hadn't changed his hairstyle, but he converted into a surfer dude like attitude and surf's whenever he can. He is now five foot ten and works at the local Wal-Mart. Being a bit of a ladies' man, he had several girlfriends. Fern still couldn't see what all those girls saw in him, other than his impressive six-pack abs and enviously natural olive complexion anyone would kill for. If there was anything Fern actually liked about the boy, it was his gorgeous complexion. Cody and Justin still looked just like they did when they were young, but only now they are both an even six feet tall and currently dating the twins, Amanda and Rachel Barnet, respectively. They weren't that bad either personality wise, but Cody's obnoxious superiority complex annoyed the hell out of Fern on most days.
By the time that Fern reached their usual hang out it was around 5:35. Their preferred hang out was the local skating rink, called 'Skater's Paradise' or SP for short. The place had good food, music, games and seating. Not to mention every Friday night they let local bands play live. That was always a good time to be there. As soon as she walked through the tinted doors, the first thing she heard was 'Rockstar' by Nickelback blasting through the giant speakers and the unforgettable smell of sweat, pizza and popcorn. Fern inhaled deeply and a grin made its way to her lips. She loved this place.
Miranda Hustler, a violet haired, lime green eyed woman of twenty-two was working the front desk as usual. After Fern greeted her she asked where everyone was. The older woman pointed to the back where the billiard tables were. Fern thanked her friend and ventured to the back, bypassing several bad skaters along the way. When she got to the back, Fern saw that things were going exactly like she had predicted. None of them had seen her yet so she snuck over to Hannah's table, snatched her last cheese stick, dipped it into the warm sauce and quickly shoved the whole thing into her mouth before Hannah tried to snatch it back.
"That was mine!" Hannah wined as Fern swallowed the cheese stick, with a smile. "Yeah, that was true, but this was probably your what third basket? And besides I was hungry." Fern shrugged good-naturedly and sat down in the booth beside her, watching as Chance roller-bladed into the table making the eight ball roll into the pocket. Colton quickly lost the game and his money due to that incident. Seconds later Colton dropped his billiard stick, jumped over the table and chased after Chance who was grinning guiltily. "Hey Fern," Patrick waved as he pocketed the money and walked over to the booth she and Hannah were sitting at. When he reached the booth he slouched down into the orange and black seat, with a pleased sigh. "Hey, Patrick, how much did you win?" Fern asked him with a friendly smile. "About forty seven bucks, Colton wanted to bet fifty, but turns out he didn't have fifty so we just went with what he had on hand." Patrick smiled and patted his pants pocket that now held his victory money and probably the next batch of his energy drink stash.
"You damn bastard! You made me loose all of my money! I'll kill you!" The unmistakable deep voice of Colton James Blake could be heard over all the noise, while he chased after the laughing Chance. Chance, being the goof that he is, was rollerblading around another booth, before he caught sight of Fern and waved rather gaily before rollerblading as fast as he could towards their booth. "Help me Fern! He's goin' to kill me!" Chance huffed playfully before making a mad dash under the booth they were all sitting at. The whole table laughed, but Chance wasn't too far off the mark. If Colton was angry enough he could put someone in the hospital. He'd done it before, but that was under difficult, unmentionable circumstances.
"Hey Fern," Colton greeted with a small smile before his face went back to anger as he tried to pull Chance out from under the booth by his leg. "Get out here so I can beat your ass!" Colton hissed angrily, while yanking on Chance's leg. Chance yelped and whined in pain, but didn't let go of the pole which bolted the table to the floor. "Alright, Colton that's enough. I think he's paid enough for his crime." Nichole said as she bodily shoved the much larger Colton out of the way so she could sit down beside Fern, "Hey Fern, how long have you been here?" She asked in her soft almost motherly tone. Fern loved her voice, as strange as it sounded, but Fern wished her rough accented voice was a melodic as her best friend's. "Oh, not long. Just long enough to steal Hannah's last cheese stick and watch Chance make Colton lose forty seven bucks." Fern answered with a chuckle and a smile. "Again," She laughed and Fern nodded, the whole table shared another laugh at Colton's expense.
After a few minutes Colton settled down and roughly plopped down next to Patrick. Chance hopped over the back of the booth to take a seat on the opposite side of Patrick, where he was safest. Fern grinned, Patrick was always the referee. He was the most even tempered of the guys, Chance came in second and Colton, poor Colton came in dead last. "Hey, guy's… I have something important to tell you." Fern said after everything had calmed down and settled into a comfortable lull. She sighed as all heads turned to her. They immediately knew that something was wrong. Her voice was never that serious unless it was important. 'God, how do you tell your best friends that you're moving away to another continent tomorrow?'
"I-I'm moving… tomorrow." She whispered her eyes downcast, but everyone heard her loud and clear. For a moment it seemed like no one moved or even breathed. "What?" Colton asked in a cold serious tone. "I'm moving tomorrow, my mother just told me today, just after I got home from school." She muttered not looking at any one. "Where are you moving to?" Hannah asked softly. Fern could tell by the tone in her best friend's voice that she already knew that the move wasn't going to be just across town. It was much, much farther than that. "Japan." She breathed shakily, trying to hold back a river of tears. No one said anything for several minutes, until Chance suddenly burst, "Japan? Are you fucking serious? What the hell is your Ma thinkin'?" He growled. Fern knew he was angry, because he never used the f-word unless he was pissed. Heck he hardly ever cursed at all.
"Well apparently I was born there and Mom's business is going to close down soon and some boss she had before she married dad told her that her job in Japan was still open, so… she took it." She told them sadly. "I'm really sorry guy's, I mean I just found out about an hour ago. She threw this on me too so, please don't be mad." She begged as a warm tear fell down her face. They all looked like they had been betrayed and it hurt her to see them like that because of her. It hurt because she knew that the chance of ever seeing them again was one in a million and she didn't want to lose her best friends.
"Hey don't cry Fern, we aren't mad… we're just," Nichole started, as she hugged Fern with a sniff. She was almost in tears as well. "We're just shocked, and worried." Hannah finished, while hugging Fern tighter. "Yeah," Patrick, Colton and Chance agreed in unison, as they watched all three of the girl's start tearing up. "Why tomorrow?" Hannah cried, while still hugging Fern in a death grip. "I don't know." She answered softly. "She should have given us more time! It's going to harder to say good-bye this way!" Nichole sniffed, but fought back her negative emotions as tears wouldn't help any of them or change the fact that they were losing a dear friend. Fern felt awful, her friends were in pain because of her, because of her mother's stupid decision to move to Japan. "Guy's it's never good-bye remember? It's always 'see you later', right?" Fern asked them with a sad smile, quoting their famous saying. Everyone returned the smile and answered, "Yeah."
"So… if you're leaving tomorrow, can we spend the night at your place, all of us, together? You know like a sleep over, it would be a going away party, just for us. Do you think that your mom would go for that?" Hannah asked, after a moment of silence. "I don't know she might. I can call her and ask." Fern told them, before she went fishing for her cell phone, before she remembered she left it at her house in her blue jeans pocket. "Hey, Colton do you think that-" Fern started to ask. "You could borrow my phone, right?" He asked with his usual sly flirty smile, continuing her unfinished question. "Yeah, could I, please?" Fern asked with a smile. "Sure, here." He passed her his black Motorola Razor phone.
Fern quickly dialed her home phone and waited. First ring, second ring, third ring, "Hello?" Her mom's voice asked politely, in the typical mom tone. "Hey Mom it's me… No nothing's wrong. Yeah, could the guy's stay over for tonight? Okay, thanks… No you won't need to cook we'll stop by Pizza Hut or something. No, we'll stay down in the den… Alright, later," She hung up, gave Colton his phone back and passed happy a smile to everyone. "It's a date," She said with a wink and a halfhearted smile to which everyone returned. "Well, if this is our last day together as a group, then let's go out with a bang." Colton suggested with a wicked grin as his mischievous gaze narrowed in on everyone at the booth. "A-men brother, let's do this!" Chance whooped loudly and the ragtag group of teenagers quickly exited Skater's Paradise.