~Start~
Her parents hated her, but she loved her parents nonetheless. She always hoped that one day, just one day, they would see her as their daughter and love her like a daughter is supposed to be loved. However, the chances of that happening were close to none. Afterall, her parents never took her to birthday parties, took her to see the movies, bought her toys when she was a child, and never gave her anything for her birthday or Christmas. Yet, she just couldn't seem to find herself hating her parents, it just wasn't possible to her.
And that's where she rests now, on an airplane with her parents to Karakura Town to start their new lives. The new life Stephanie hopes to live with her parents as a true, loving family.
Her striking violet eyes scanned the region beneath the giant metal bird that she was riding in, on the path to a different world and a different life. Stephanie could feel something lightly pressing against her left leg, and so she tore her eyes away from the miniscule view of the town, and looked ahead of her. The older man that had been sitting in front of her reclined his cushioned seat backwards, pushing against her legs. Her eyebrows furrowed lightly at the snoring senior. It irritated her that people would act in such a rude and carelessway, as if they ruled the world. She couldn't stand them one bit.
Without reluctance, she tapped on his shoulder. "Sir, would you so kindly move your chair up a bit? You're resting on my legs," her angel-like voice softly asked the elderly man in an innocent tone. The man heard her voice, and instantly moved his seat forward and reversed the recline he had his chair in.
"Sorry, ma'am," he replied and went back to sleep after he moved his red velvet chair in its original place. She nodded to him and also returned to her previous position as well. Her violet eyes were getting somewhat heavy from the long journey from America that they had taken to arrive in Japan to start their new lives and new jobs. Her parents, Marrie and Richard, landed new jobs that they would specialize in. America didn't have room for people who were good at planning for the longevity of the human race. They studied the way bodies take in food and ways to elongate lives by merely seconds. Now they wanted to improve their studies so that lives can be preserved for years.
Looking to her right, the odd haired child examined her parents, seeing them talk to each other quietly and never once turn their attention to the daughter they had created. A deep sigh left her throat as she returned her gaze outside the window at the colorful town now underneath them. She was excited; her hands were getting shakier by the minute. It wouldn't be long before she stepped upon the soil that she could proudly call her home.
After they had safely landed, Stephanie politely picked up her parents luggage from above them and offered to pack it for them. Without even a smile, they nodded as turned away from her. They may have been cold to her, but she never seemed to be affected by that. She loved them to the very end.
The door opened, and a gush of wind flooded the airplane. Violet hair flowed smoothly in the gentle breeze. By the smell of the fresh air, she knew this was where she belonged. No pollution, no worries about space, no evils; everything was perfect. She took the stairway down, her bright pink sneakers softly applying themselves to the paved runway. And just like the family planned, there was a taxi waiting for them by the entrance. The taxi looked brand new from the most expensive company in Japan, but knowing her parents it probably was. Their driver was a blonde haired man with vibrant green eyes. Stephanie was sure she'd instantly fall in love with this man; if it wasn't for the fact he had a cigarette in between his soft lips. She had this thing about people that did drugs: she couldn't stand them after being pure her whole life. The man took her parents' and her own bags and put them in the trunk as they all piled into the car. Her parents both sat in the back, leaving her no room to sit down. She was once again forced to be separated from her parents. With saddened eyes, she made her way to the passenger seat beside the driver who was now putting out his cigarette. Stephanie's eyes drifted up to him as he started the car and began to drive towards their new house.
A single hour seemed like an eternity before they finally found themselves in a smaller, less populated part of the neighborhood. It was a lively one, with lots of families outside with their young children only a few years old. A soft smile played on the violet haired girl's lips as a father lifted his small daughter into the air playfully and pretended to act like a bird of some kind. It made her so happy to see families like that, she almost started to cry. Her eyes got teary and threatened to pour, but she quickly blinked them away as she returned her attention forward. The driver saw how the parents acted to their beautiful daughter, and he felt a bit bad for her.
"This is a really pretty neighborhood," her soft, seemingly shy voice said out loud, breaking the awkward silence in the air. The driver turned his striking eyes to the girl, traveling up and down her body. She was so fragile looking, like the lightest touch could break her. He then turned his attention to the parents, afraid if they saw him admiring their daughter. He looked into his mirror and saw that they hadn't even heard the girl speak; they were listening to an iPod while both being on a laptop. He shook his head; what inconsiderate parents. They may be rich, but that's no way to treat a girl.
"Yeah, I grew up around here," he spoke, his husky compared to Stephanie's. "It's been the same size the whole time. There hasn't been a new house built from the time I was born to the time your house was built," he explained to them, telling how quiet and slow the neighborhood is. "But I heard you're not the only new people," he then said. Stephanie's eyes moved towards him and looked at his smooth face to confirm that he was telling the truth.
"Really?" she asked, her hands curled together between her knees. The driver nodded. She then looked ahead, seeing their future home up ahead. But then something caught her attention. Something appeared in her vision as she quickly looked towards the sidewalk. On the sidewalk was a young girl, but she was very pale, almost translucent looking. Lightly squinting her eyes, the violet haired teen tried to get a better look of the fuzzy image. Stephanie was puzzled as to why a girl like that was just standing there.
Suddenly, the small girl on the sidewalk walked out into the road directly in front of them. Stephanie's lavender eyes suddenly widened as she desperately grabbed for the wheel. She needed to avert running over that young girl. She grabbed onto the wheel and swerved to the opposite side of the street the girl was on, barely missing her as the window missed her head by centimeters. The driver quickly put the car back into the right side of the road as the violet haired girl looked into her rear-view mirror and saw the girl was gone. It made no sense; how could she suddenly disappear like that after nearly running her careless butt over?
"Hey! Are you trying to get me killed?" the driver shouted as he held onto the wheel with both hands, his eyes gazing down worriedly to the violet haired girl. She looked up to return his gaze.
"You almost hit that little girl!" she cried, putting her hands to the dashboard as she looked back. The man rose an eyebrow at her, worried about her mental health.
"There was no one there, I swear," he assured her, putting a hand on her shoulder sympathetically. He then looked back just to make sure no one was on the streets, and saw they were empty. He then turned his attention to the parents, seeing that they hadn't even lifted their eyes once to see what was happening. With a shake of his head, his emerald green eyes returned to the lilac haired girl. She truly was something amazing to him. 'If only she wasn't losing her mind,' he thought in his head.
"Then what?" she suddenly blurted, her eyes fixated on the road in front of them. He blinked a few times, unsure of what she was talking about. 'What?' he once more said in his head.
"You said if only she wasn't losing her mind, and I asked 'then what'," she explained to him. His eyes widened. 'It's almost as if she's reading my thoughts,' he whispered in his head, looking ahead towards the road. There was a small silence for a moment. Stephanie said nothing, until she sighed lightly, looking out her window at her soon to be neighbors.
"I am reading your thoughts," she admitted. "It's a curse I was born with," she whispered quietly, still not looking at the blonde boy with looks that kill. He was handsome, but she had seen a few good looking men as well, but never told one about her powers.
'So you can hear exactly what I'm saying in my head?' he asked to himself, making sure to look ahead onto the road. The violet haired girl nodded.
'Yeah, I can even talk back,' she replied to him through her mind. 'It's very easy for me to do, and it's hard to control what I don't hear,' she confessed as her cheeks began to grow a pink tint to them. She never admitted much to anyone, having the fear of what the person would think of her. Would they fear her? Would they try to destroy her? Would they shun her? It's all happened to her. Throughout her entire 15 years of life, not one person has ever said anything kind to her or acknowledged her powers. Doctors ran away in fear, scientists refused to test her, and towns people attempted to kill her. At the flash flood of memories, a small, warm tear slid down her heated cheeks; however, she quickly wiped away the evidence of her dismay. 'But it's nothing to worry about, I'll quit talking to you like this,' she finished as she returned her striking indigo eyes to the man beside her, most likely a few years older.
"Alright, but I think it's pretty neat how you can do that," he told her with a soft, almost sad voice. Her eyes widened and her heart fluttered as she stared blankly at the man.
"R-really?" she asked him, looking straight into his eyes to see if he was telling the truth. His eyes showed nothing but pureness and guarantee. Had she really found the one she'd been looking for? Someone to make all her dreams come true? He was handsome, tall, old enough to have a job, and already knew more about her than her own parents. Her parents knew she could read minds, but they didn't know she could talk back. How Stephanie learned she could talk back is an interesting story.
She was walking down her street when she found a bird lying in the grass. She walked up to the bird, telling it she wasn't going to hurt it. "Oh you poor thing," she said as she kneeled beside the small blue bird. 'What will I do?' she said in her head, thinking of a way to get the bird to safety or help it.
'You can get me some water. That would be nice,' the violet haired child heard a voice in her head. She turned her head around to the left and then to the right; there was no one around her. So where did the voice come from? 'I heard your voice, so I answered you,' the voice said. Suddenly looking down, she looked at the bird to see it looking up calmly at the shocked teen. Her lavender eyes widened.
'You can hear me?' she replied to the injured bird. It nodded to her, and she knew that she could talk to animals that knew human language. Then the creature's request reappeared in her head and she quickly retrieved some water in a bowl for the bird. Ever since that day, she has been able to talk to some animals. Not all knew human language. Like dogs; the only thing that goes through their minds is what you said. It's like hearing your echo.
Back to the present, the violet haired girl found herself in front of a large, two story house with a basement and whitewash fence surrounding the fresh, healthy green grass. A large metal gate was placed at the end of the driveway near the sidewalk. The house was snow white with a dark grey roof. On one of the rooms upstairs, there was a balcony that stretched out to look over the entire neighborhood. It looked like a house built for a king and she was gifted enough to be in such a palace.
As the car came to a stop, Stephanie's eyes couldn't help but admire the house. Looking to the house next door, she saw it as much smaller, but well kept. This let the girl know that people around did their chores and kept good care of their homes. Looking back at her home, she saw how the lawn was freshly cut and the paint looked as if it had been coated that same morning. She then returned her attention back to the blonde driver with gorgeous emerald eyes.
"I never introduced myself," the girl quietly said, extending her hand out to the man. "I'm Stephanie," she kindly said, a small smile on her face as she gazed into the man's magnetizing green eyes. His soft hand took hers and squeezed it lightly.
"I'm Tokashi," the blonde man replied, smiling to the girl. His teeth shined snow white, a perfect smile that could make anyone melt. She could easily have fallen in love with his man, if only it wasn't for his smoking habit. She couldn't stand that about people. It only made their lives worse, and she didn't want people to live lives full of misery and always having that unfulfilled life. But she still liked his name. It rolled off the tongue in a nice way. He then let go of Stephanie's hand and got out of the car, walking around to the back to get the bags. She lifted on the handle beside her and the door opened. With the driver door opened, a rush of wind filled her face as her hair whipped around once more like at the plane. Violet streaks were pushed into her face as she stood up from the seat. Her legs were slightly sore from riding in the car for over an hour, so she stretched them out along with her back. She sighed with relief when her back felt freed from any pressure. The wind died down to a soft breeze as she looked back to Tokashi who had all the bags in his hands. A smile formed on his face as his mesmerizing emerald eyes locked onto her lavender ones as he headed to the front gates. It seemed he needed help, so Stephanie walked over to him.
"Can I help you carry those?" she asked him, seeing his muscles strained. He simply shook his head, his soft hair flowing as he did.
"Nah, I'm good. Thanks for the offer though," he said as he straightened his back and kept walking forward, three suitcases of luggage in every hand. Steph's parents were already at the front gate opening the large doors for them to go into. The driveway wasn't very long, so they could easily walk to the house. Her eyes scanned the area around the house, seeing a swimming pool in the back by a small garden filled with flowers.
She followed her parents up to the front door, where Tokashi set their bags down gently at the doorstep. His melting smile returned to Stephanie as he opened the large white door for them. Inside, the entire house looked as if it had been made from marble or another rare stone. But it still looked like a normal house on the inside. There was a living room with a large TV and dark brown leather furniture. To the left was the kitchen with marble counters and hardwood floors. The fridge was the fairly simple in today's technology. Looking back towards the living room, she saw a staircase leading upstairs and another staircase leading downstairs.
"You can have a room upstairs if you like," Richard said to her without even making a facial expression to her. Her face lit up brightly. She'd never had a room upstairs before, so this was exciting for her. She picked up her bags and literally ran up the stairs. The staircase was quite long, but she didn't want to stop yet. When her feet landed on the top floor, she looked down the hall to see three doors. She moved towards the first door and opened it, seeing it was just a closet full of towels and blankets. Moving to the next wooden door, she opened it and looked inside to see the large, luxury bathroom. It had deep blue and white tiles with a cream color on the walls. There was a large shower next to a bathtub big enough for six people. Looking closer, she saw the bathtub was also a hot tub. The shower curtain was a dark blue with flower designs on it while the shower could hold three people easily, and it was a walk-in shower with a spot where you can sit down if you needed to.
Leaving the bathroom, she moved toward the final room, knowing it was the bedroom. And by the way the door was farther from the other doors, she knew it was big. As she opened the wood door, she gasped at what she saw. The room's walls were bright white with light pink wallpaper about knee height with sakura blossoms lining it. The queen sized bed was next to a window at the back of the room. It looked one a princess would sleep in. It had silky white curtains that hung from the ceiling and circled the bed. The sheets on the bed were black with white circled designs coating it. There was a small table in the corner on the opposite side of the room and along the left wall was a large wardrobe of clothes. With a cheerful smile on her face, she set her bags down and hurried back downstairs. After she was once more on the bottom floor, she stopped beside her parents as they spoke to Tokashi.
"How do you like your room?" Tokashi asked Stephanie as she was shaking lightly with excitement. This was the house she knew would change her life forever.
"It's amazing!" she cheered, unable to contain her happiness inside her. He chuckled lightly at her reaction.
"Really? I decorated it myself," he explained to her. Stephanie's eyes widened widely as her mouth dropped in awe. This man she figured was only a taxi driver had turned out to be the expert decorator behind it all. She had no idea of his true artistic ability.
"You did a very good job," her lips turned upward into smile to the creative man. He nodded to her, seeming to bow lightly as he did. Everything about him was caring and amusing to Stephanie. She had never seen a man before that this perfect. But this perfect just seemed to be getting better and better by the second. And she figured he lived somewhere in Karakura Town. Now it all started to register to her. Perhaps people from Karakura Town would be more compatible for her rather than American's.
"So Tokashi, would you like to join us for dinner?" Marrie asked the young man in front of them. His eyes seemed to glow as she asked him the question. Stephanie's heart began to race. Was he really going to be coming back that night to see her once more? She really hoped he would join them for their first meal in a new home.
"I'd love to," he said as a small formed on his lips as well. Stephanie's heart jumped into the air as her body filled with butterflies. So not only was he amazing, but now he was going to be seeing them tonight. He would spend more time with Stephanie than other men have. Maybe living here wouldn't be so bad.
That night
It was almost time for dinner and Tokashi had yet to arrive. He gave Marrie and Richard his cell phone number in case they ever needed something. But they knew he would arrive sooner or later. Stephanie was up in her room putting on an outfit she discovered in the closet. It was a small black skirt with a white blouse. In the front of the blouse there was a small bunch of frill that covered her cleavage. After that she put on a pair of tights that made her legs look a bit darker than usual. When her clothes were on, she went into her massive bathroom and combed her hair, making the part off to the left slightly. Then she found a pair of black high heels with straps to help keep them on better. She slipped them on and walked down the stairs, fortunately without falling. As she turned around at the bottom of the stairs, she saw Tokashi walking through the door with black slacks and a bright green button up shirt. With a cheesy smile playing on his lips, Stephanie couldn't help but giggle. His hair was still a loose mess, but she was sure he didn't care.
With that, she walked over to him with her hands innocently together in front of her. "Hello, Tokashi," she greeted him. Behind him the sky was dark blue as stars filled the night sky with a bight city underneath them. She loved the view.
"Hello, Stephanie. You look sexy," he smirked playfully to her. Her cheeks started to burn as she gasped quietly. No one had ever called her sexy before in her life. This was a complete turnaround from her old life. Seeing her expression, Tokashi smiled to her and wrapped his arms around her as he pulled her into a warm hug. Her eyes were wide. Now he was hugging her? No one hugged her, not even her own parents. Not sure what exactly to do, she mirrored him and hugged him back. "I'm pretty hungry," he whispered huskily into her ear as his hot breath brushed against her skin. She flinched lightly, letting out a small breath as her face burned up even more.
"We're eating corn beef and cabbage tonight for dinner," she replied to him, not getting what he was hinting to. No one hit on her, so she had no clue what he was speaking about. And that registered to him as she slowly let her go. His emerald eyes shone brightly into hers.
"That sounds great," he replied as he followed the violet haired girl into their new kitchen. He wasn't sure how she would react if he held her hand. But perhaps he was getting a bit too far ahead of himself. He decided not to do anything and just follow to the meal they had already served. Marrie and Richard were sitting at one end of a square table. Tokashi sat next to Richard while Stephanie sat beside Tokashi, away from her parents. She once tried to eat dinner with her parents, but that only ended up with her being moved to the other side of the table, being very far from her parents. But now she had an excuse to sit by them, and she felt great. She felt as if things had already been fixed for the better. And she had a feeling things were only going to get better.
After Dinner
Stephanie took all the plates to the sink where she filled it with warm water and soap before she put the dishes in. She always let the dishes soak before she washed them. It just made things better. After she set them, she felt something on her hips. Turning around, the teenager stood in front of Tokashi who had his hands in his pockets. There was a smile on his face, and he had something unique to show the girl.
"Come with me. I want to show you something," he said as he gently grabbed a hold of her wrist. Her face started to blush again as she followed Tokashi upstairs towards her bedroom. She had no idea what he was going to show her, but she was very ready to see whatever he was going to show the girl. When they made it to her room, Tokashi walked into her room still holding her hand. He showed her some curtains. Then he pushed them aside and revealed the balcony behind the curtains. Stephanie's heart raced as she opened the double glass doors outside into the cool, crisp night air. Tokashi pointed towards the city. Everything glowed as the girl gasped in awe. The night sky looked as if it was a blanket being held up by the city and only a small portion of light could escape. The trees next to the buildings and homes made the perfect setting for a small town. It was peaceful and lively. It was perfect.
"Welcome to your new home, Stephanie."