Wow… I've been pestered by more readers than I knew I had, to repost this… Anyway, I've had some troubles with floppies lately, and have lost the first 9 chapters of the story, so it'll be rewritten. Please, if you're reading this for the 2nd time, Review! Please, it would really mean a lot, and the story is going to be slightly different, mainly because I can't remember what happened. (Also, here's a note of things I don't want to hear mentioned in reviews unless you want a whole chapter that's just a rant at you: the fact that I spell names the Japanese way; my characterisation: I need you guys to read between the lines a bit in some cases, especially it seems, when it comes to Buruma)

Chapter 1-And thus, I have returned to thee

Buruma stared out the window of the bus as it bumped its way down the hill towards her first day back at school. Crystalline droplets snaked their way across the dirty, faintly yellowed window before her face as the dreary grey heavens opened up above. She sighed heavily. What fitting weather for such a day. She had received a notice over the holidays that she was to skip a grade, an event she had managed to talk her parents out of until now. She didn't want to go up a grade, to leave behind all her friends.

The bus rolled slowly to a stop, on account of the ancient brakes, and Buruma stood up, swinging her bag over her shoulder and smoothing out her uniform. Her life had been getting complicated lately, she noted as she stepped off the bus. She'd broken up with Yamucha, whom she'd been dating for 3 years, since she was only 12. She'd come to the conclusion that, as she actually had gotten interested in boys as more than friends, she'd been growing apart from Yamucha, to her he could only ever be a friend, and nothing more. Lately, in fact, she'd developed a crush on a specific guy, for the first time. She'd always felt awkward, being the only one who wasn't infatuated with a certain guy, but now, despite the discomfort she'd discovered was associated with having a crush, she felt more 'normal'.

Normal was something Buruma strived very hard for. She'd had trouble fitting in all through her school life. She was a genius, she was rich, she had funny coloured hair and she was Japanese. Consequently she'd spent most of her life trying to convince her parents to keep her in the same grade as her friends, buy her slightly cheaper stuff and to speak in English, especially when they were in public.

Her delicate face split into a grin when she spied one of her best friends waiting for her at the entrance to her school. Chichi. Now Chichi was someone Buruma could really relate to, despite their obvious differences. Chi was Vietnamese; her family had come to Australia ((a/n: yes, Australia)) when she was around three with nothing. Absolutely nothing. She had come with her father; the tiny family still didn't know where her mother was. Chichi dealt with being absolutely poor, the opposite of Buruma's problem and between the two they managed to make themselves look fairly normal on the money scale, pooling money whenever they went shopping. Chichi also looked different, not so noticeably as Buruma, but she still looked Vietnamese, and spoke with a slight accent.

"Hey Buruma!" Chichi smiled, timetable clutched in her left hand, already a crumpled mess. "I got in some classes with Goku! We're both doing home economics, and are in the same social education class, it's his best subject, you know." Buruma smiled weakly.

"I know, Chi-chan. You're always telling me how good he is at it." In truth, Buruma was not very good at that class… by her standards anyway, she averaged a B, B- simply because she didn't like it. Maths and sciences were her forte, in particular maths and physics. She didn't bother unfolding her timetable to show her friend, it didn't matter, with her being in a different year level this year.

In any case, she feigned pleasure at Chichi's good fortune, and linked arms with the other girl, "Come on, let's go find Juuhachigou."

--

The tall blonde leaned up against her locker, scanning her class schedule. She hadn't looked at it when it had arrived with her report in the mail. She'd simply shoved it in her school bag, to look at when school finally started. She hadn't been pleased with her report, she'd done pretty well, all around the A and B mark, but that just wasn't going to cut it with her. She wanted to be a doctor and a B in biology didn't get you into medical school. So she'd decided that this year she would really knuckle down and work hard. No more slacking off with Buruma and Chichi. She couldn't afford to do that, they could. Buruma was a genius and Chichi wanted to be a chef.

Her brow furrowed slightly and she shoved her timetable back in her bag just in time to see Buruma and Chichi walk up, arm in arm and giggling hysterically. They looked up and waved to Juu in unison before collapsing into another fit of giggles. Juuhachigou sighed. They were her best friends, but sometimes she found the pair endlessly annoying. Fortunately she was saved from more schoolgirl hysteria by the abrasive sound of the bell. Chichi continued laughing but Buruma's face fell instantly, that was when they both remembered she'd been skipped a grade. There was an awkward silence for a few moments before Buruma shifted her weight, smiled and walked off, apologising briefly.

Buruma felt like shit. "'Congratulations on moving up'," she muttered to herself, "'more enjoyable' my arse." She scowled and stormed off to her first class.

Hmmm….. I don't remember the first chapter of this originally, but I have a feeling it was nothing like this, please don't kill me. Anyway, tell me what you think… this would be so much easier if it weren't for the stupid broken floppy disk….

Review or die, I'm warning you, dude.