A/N: Please read and review! I would love to hear what you think of this chapter! Thanks and enjoy! :D

Chapter 1: Parental Love

"Oh! Isn't this exciting?" her voice was covered in enthusiasm that the blonde girl sitting next to her did not share. The girl was sticking her face out the window to 'smell' the Japanese air as her thick brown curls bounced in the wind, "I've never really been back to Japan since I was just a small child! I hope to meet all your friends and family!" she continued to coo in her Italian language. Izumi sighed pulling back her hair into a ponytail as she slid the rubber band around it. The sound of the train tracks continued to rumble beneath them as they sat through the next several stations. The summer breeze didn't really help the heat that was pouring through the open windows as more train riders got on and off at each stop. The blonde girl peered out the windows with squinted eyes as the sun glared and blinded her for a brief moment and the movement caused something silvery to fall out of her pocket. The small clink of metal caught her friend's attention as she picked it up and looked at it with sparkling eyes. "Mios dio, Izumi…" she sighed touching the locket.

It was a beautiful crafted little locket that was shaped into a heart. The outside was encrusted with pink and purple amethysts that glistened so that it seemed like they were dancing. There was some sort of symbol on either side of the surface, but to one side it had a keyhole. Izumi hurriedly took the object away from her friend and stuffed it back into her pocket, her friend pouted. "Dolcissima… Where you get that from?" she asked. She didn't know that Izumi had any boyfriends that would send her such a lavish gift nor did she ever see her interested in those kind of jewelry.

Izumi looked up and gave her a small smile, "I'm sorry, Aoi… It's nothing really. I don't know where I got or who it's from. It just showed up at my front door in the dorm hall one day." Izumi shrugged kicking her feet at the ground. Her friend, Aoi, just sighed as she sat back down on the bench. It was the truth about the locket, Izumi didn't know where she got it from. When she inquired about it from her R.A. all she found out was that it came in the mail. The small box was addressed to her with no return address, at first she had assumed that the mailman had gotten it wrong. It wasn't until she opened it and a small white paper fluttered out that she knew it was for her. It didn't say anything except for one symbol, and it was one that she recognized very familiarly with. In the middle of the blank card was the ancient sign of 'wind', the same one she was labeled with back in the digital world. It still didn't make sense, the world was safe, wasn't it?

Izumi didn't want to take any chances and bought the next ticket home from Italy where she was studying abroad in. It was a good thing she was on summer break or else she wouldn't have had the time to come back home. The problem was that… She hadn't been home in over two years. She told herself that she would study hard in Italy before coming home, and with that goal in mind she hadn't realized just how long it had been since she left Japan. She called her parents as often as she could and they would always ask her if she was coming back for the holidays, but she always had to reject the invitation as much as it saddened her. But sometimes she wondered if it was because she wanted to run away from her feelings that she had developed in Japan with a particular boy. She didn't really say a proper good bye and he never saw her off like the rest of her friends did so their friendship ended up in a stalemate condition. He never wrote to her or called her, so she decided maybe it was time to move on from their childish feelings for each other.

She took out the locket and played with the klatch where the keyhole was. The box didn't hold anything else, just the locket and no key. She tried prying it open with pliers, but it didn't work. If she had to be honest with herself she had hoped that it was from him, but she didn't want to get her hopes up too high. She'd just have to figure it out when she gets home.

How her friend, Aoi Nakamura, ended up on the trip with her was just out of curiosity. Aoi was a native to Japan until her parents moved to Italy when she was just a baby and so she grew up as an Italian with the looks of an Asian girl. When she found out that Izumi was coming back to Japan, she wanted to come with to visit her original backgrounds. Though it was a good thing that her parents spoke Japanese to her at home or else there would be a serious language barrier between her and her friends back home. Speaking of which… She wasn't sure she was ready to face them yet.

Aoi tugged at her sleeve and pointed to the blinking sign that read 'Shibuya Stop' that popped her little thought bubble. "We're getting off here right?" she asked excitedly and Izumi nodded with a chuckle. It was like watching a five year old open presents on Christmas day. Both girls grabbed their luggage and strolled out onto the platform as a people shuffled left and right of them trying to dodge their large suitcases. "Are we waiting for the genitore?" Aoi asked with a happy smile itching to explode onto her face. Izumi quirked her eyebrows and laughed, she didn't understand why Aoi thought it was so exciting to meet her parents.

"Izumiiii!" a shrill voice echoed above the busy station as she recognized her mother's voice. The blonde was suddenly thrown into a tight embrace when she was attacked with kisses from her mother, "Oh honey, I've missed you so much! And look at you! You've grown into such a beautiful young lady! I can't believe it's been two years since I've seen my baby!" her mother cried as she hugged her again. Izumi returned the hug, the nostalgic smell of her mother really made it that much more real that she was finally back in Japan. Finally, her father came up to her and picked her up into his arms like she was still daddy's little girl and kissed her on the forehead.

"Mi piccola… You're finally home," he said happily, "Papa's missed you and so has your mother, you have to come home more often or else you'll break your mother's heart." he joked messing with her hair as Izumi brushed his hand away.

"I know, papa… I'm sorry it took so long," she replied. She pulled Aoi from the side and introduced her to both her mom and dad, "This is Aoi that I was telling you guys about that's staying over at our place for the summer. She speaks both Italian and she's pretty fluent in Japanese so feel free to speak either one to her," and Aoi nodded in agreement as Izumi's father picked up their luggage and headed towards the car with her mother talking animatedly to Aoi about Izumi's studies in Italy. Izumi carried her duffel bag and began to hang back slowly, away from the noise that was the city of Shibuya. Her father that shared only her green eyes peered down at his only daughter and chuckled which caught her attention, "What, papa?" she asked in a soft voice.

He shook his head allowing the sandy brown hair of his to fall messily across his eyes, "You don't seem happy to be home, what's wrong, mi piccola?" he asked with a small fatherly smile, "We've all missed you terribly at home," Izumi sighed and bushed her bangs back not knowing what really was bothering her. Was it her nerves or was it was something else? Something else that felt like it was bigger than anything she's ever had to deal with? It felt like a little of both. The look on his daughter's face said a lot, being her father, he knew when something was making her upset. He said gotten really good at picking up times when she's unhappy due to the fact that she used to throw temper tantrums back when they lived in Italy. He blamed only him and his wife for spoiling her since Izumi was their only daughter. But during the course of one summer, she suddenly changed. She was a lot more… Mature. "Is it about Takuya?" he asked so suddenly that Izumi stumbled slightly from surprise of that question.

"What?" she asked incredulously, her eyes large with some sort of shock that her father didn't really comprehend, "Why would you ask that?" she sputtered nervously looking away. But the pain her eyes saddened him, as a father it wasn't something you want to see in the eyes of your child. Something that would seem like her heart was breaking. That was the one thing that they, as parents, were supposed to protect their daughter from: unnecessary heartbreak and pain.

"The day you left… When you found out that he wasn't coming, you seem dejected and your mother and I saw the unbearable ache that was in your eyes and seeing from your reaction from the question, I'm guessing you guys never kept in contact?" he inquired softly, he didn't want to upset her even more.

Izumi shut her eyes; she suddenly wanted to cry. He was right though- he had hit a sore spot that has been bothering her the last two years. A subject that she chose to ignore because she couldn't and didn't want to face the truth that was the relationship that had broken between her and Takuya. She had kept in contact with the others, but Takuya… She couldn't bring herself to call or write to him. The fact that he would ignore her would be too much for her to handle. She stopped and opened up her duffel bag, and inside were bundles of letters. Her father looked at her with a quizzical expression. It was when she took a letter our that he realized that they were all addressed to the same person: Kanbara, Takuya.

"Izumi…" his voice cracking the tension around them, "Why didn't you send them?"

"I tried… I really did." she murmured so softly that her father had to kneel down to hear her. Izumi shook her head, but it was the expression that she wore that really broke his heart. Her eyes were brimming with tears that was near spilling over and the fear in her emerald eyes was unbearable. She dropped the bag and latched herself onto her father, "I was a coward… Too scared to figure my own heart out and too afraid that he would reject me. Papa… I think I've broken something that I can't fix," she said in between hiccups. She felt her father rubbing circles on her back to calm her down, something he's done since she was a little girl.

"Honey… If you love someone enough, you shouldn't be afraid to apologize. If they understand your feelings and where you're coming from I don't see why he won't forgive you and if he doesn't… Oh well, you tried and you were able to say sorry. Both of you need to convey your feelings for each other in order for you guys to communicate with each other. There can't be communication if you don't understand each other first." he said softly giving her a hug, "I think it's time you go see him, Izumi…" he pulled away and looked up at her, "Can I count on you?" he asked with a smile.

"Thank you, papa… I don't know what I would do without you and mama," she whispered giving her father a hug again. Her parents may be like all other parents: nosy and weird, but when you really need advice and guidance- they were always there for her regardless of how she's treated them over the years. Parental love… It's a great thing to have.