Wrong place.
Wrong time.
That's what this was.
Wrong place.
Wrong time.
She fell into the rhythm easily.
Load an arrow, breathe, pull back, breathe, fire. Repeat.
The methodical thumping of the arrows piercing the foam dart a hundred feet away was the only sound in her ears. The familiar pull of the string, the strain against her fingers, the ache in her arms. They all brought her a sense of security. It's a feeling she had not felt in a long while.
Load an arrow, breathe, pull back, breathe, fire. Repeat.
He cuts through her routine with his gruff voice.
"Abigail. You're going to be late. Get ready."
Abby opened her eyes, blinking as she took in her surroundings. She's in her grandfather's armory, her bow in hand and arrow knocked against the string. He's standing in the doorway, a disapproving frown on his face at his adoptive granddaughter's early morning practice.
Her mother was his adoptive daughter whom had supposedly meant the world to him.
"I told you, Nonno. Don't call me Abigail," She huffed as she grabbed her arrows and resheathed them. She didn't need to look at him to know he was glaring before he moved away and closed the sliding door swiftly.
She didn't have time for worrying over her attitude. She had to get ready for school.
Which meant the uniforms.
Damn.
She could handle the long sleeve. The tie. The vest even.
But she drew the line at the skirt.
First day of school she was not wearing a skirt. She threw on an old pair of jeans and her boots before getting on everything else. Shirt, vest, tie. The works.
In honesty, she could make it work. Who cares if she got in trouble for (what the school thought was most likely) improper attire? She slipped her gloves over her hands, the worn leather a familiar hold on her skin as her fingers slid through the holes. They still smelt like smoke.
She grabbed her bag before the memories could come back and fixed her hair, taming the wild brown waves into something more tangible. She caught a glimpse of herself. Spitting image of her mother, same brown hair and teal eyes. She remembered how much she used to love to think she would grow up to be like her.
A child's dream.
Enough reminiscing.
She grabbed her bag and headed back for downstairs, grabbing an orange on her way out as she dashed out the door and unchained her bike from the rack. She pedaled down the busy streets of Tokyo, weaving in an out of traffic and past colorful signs of advertisements. She was fortunate enough to have been taught Japanese when her grandfather took her into custody all those years ago. Did it mean she was thankful for being forced out of New York and into Japan?
No.
She pedaled down into the quieter parts of the city, where the trees were more visible along with the cherry blossom trees that littered their bright pink petals in the street. She slowed down when the crowding group of students got closer and she hopped off the seat. After wheeling and chaining her bike she dug into her orange using her teeth and nails without caring at the looks the others gave her.
She threw away the peels and wiped her hands on her jeans just as the bell rang for class to start. She filed in with the others and hurried to her first class. As soon as she was about to walk in, a hand grabbed her shoulder and she was turned to face The Head of Directory.
The tall man gave her a once over and frowned, dark eyes trained in her as he spoke in quick Japanese.
"Young lady, that is not appropriate school attire."
Abby huffed and quickly made up an excuse for her outfit.
"Sorry, Sir. But my dressings were too small when they came and I was forced to wear these. I'll have to until I get the right sizes reshipped."
He seemed to believe that, giving a nod before waving her into class.
"I shall send a notice to your guardian of this situation."
She thanked the man and bowed respectfully, then walked into class and took the only open seat left. She didn't care about some of the looks she got, or the whispers and brief glances over to her.
Nope. She stopped caring about that. She stopped caring about a lot of things a lot time ago.
"Excuse me?"
She was snapped from her thoughts by the new voice and turned her head, coming face to face with a girl with dark hair and bright eyes.
The student smiled at her gently, giving a small wave before saying, "You must be the transfer. From America, yeah?"
Abby nodded. "Yeah. I'm from New York. My names Abby." She said with her own wave and a small grin. Her grandfather did tell her to try and get along with the other girls in her school.
The purple haired maiden smiled wider, showing rows of gleaming teeth. "I'm Kusanagi Yui! But you may call me Yui."
Yui, as the girl's name would happen to be, seemed like the type Abby didn't always tended to associate herself with. She was too happy, trying too hard to be everyone's friend. But something about her put the brunette at ease and made her grin.
"Yui. Isn't that a type of weed?" She asked while laughing, causing the other to blush some and give her own nervous giggle.
"Eh, it may be!" She cleared her throat and looked at her again while asking. "I can show you around the school if you'd like. I'm sure it must be hard in a new school. Especially in a completely different country."
Though she would get around just fine, she had a map and everything, Abby wouldn't mind the company. Plus having someone she could consider a friend already seemed like a win-win. There was just something about Yui that she liked.
"I'd appreciate it, Yui. Thanks."
Yui waved off the thanks and simply said it was the polite thing to do with a new student. That if anyone were in the same situation, she was sure that Abby would do the same. The brunette wasn't sure but said nothing.
For the entire day, Abby followed Yui around the Campus. It was bigger than she had imagined, bigger than most schools in New York no doubt. She let the purple-haired girl lead get around and introduce her to her two friends who were quick to take a shining to the transfer student.
At the end of the day, Abby didn't even ride her bike home. Deciding to walk with Yui, she walked her bike next to her with the other on her left. They shared stories about their lives, well Yui did.
The other noticed how reclusive the brunette was about her home life, especially her parents and why she was living with her grandfather. She didn't press though, deciding to drop it and change the subject by asking, "Hey! Do you want to come spend the afternoon with me? All I have to do is some chores and it would be so much better with someone else there to talk to."
She pondered her answer, never ceasing her walking but tightening her grip on her handlebars. It would be nice to get away from her Grandpa for a while. She was tired of that scrutinizing gaze of his always on her. Strange to think she remembered once adoring the man whenever he came to visit on rare occasions with candy for her.
"Know what, Yui? I think I will."
The taller female clapped her hands together happily, beaming at the other as her amber eyes seemed to glow. "Oh, that's fantastic! You can meet Mama, and papa and my brother as well." Her over excitedness actually caused Abby to full out laugh, a sound she hadn't made in a while.
Yui joined in and they were just a couple of friends enjoying themselves and it was good.
It was a good feeling. A great feeling.
Another twenty minutes spent getting Abby's bike up the stone steps, and parking it next to the shed and then she was with Yui again. The other let her have a minute to change out of her uniform, sporting a simple black tee when she came out of the bathroom. They talked while helping her mother, joked while spraying each other with water from the sink.
"Yui!" Her mother called from the front of the store. "Can you go to grab me the sack of flour, please?"
"Sure, Mama!" Yui said after turning off the water. The two girls went outside and to one of the storehouses, Abby heaving the bag onto her shoulder with ease. Archery made her shoulder and arm muscles lean but strong, the hundred pound bag of flour hardly a weight on her.
"I'm impressed!" Yui said as she pointed to the sack. "All my years of sword practice and I can't even do that yet!"
Abby shrugged with a grin and fixed the bag on her shoulder before walking out, pausing to let Yui lock the storehouse.
It was then she heard it.
The low humming from somewhere. Almost like a generator but not as loud or mechanical. She looked around for the source of the noise, her eyes landing on a different storehouse with a bright blue light filtering from beneath the doors.
"Uh..Yui?" She called as she set the flour down. The other turned and made a noise of surprise from seeing the light. They approached it carefully, pulling open the door to reveal a long thin box on a work bench in the room.
The box was open and floating above it was a blade of intricate makings. It was beautiful, the sword no doubt would have gleamed if polished correctly and handled with care. But now it glowed an eerie blue coloring, low hushed whispered making their way into their ears and calling them forwards.
As if under a sort of spell, the two slowly inched forwards, Yui's arm outstretching to touch the sword. The sudden sound of wind in their ears brought the girls out of their trance too late.
The sword illuminated everything in a blinding blue and in a bright flash of light, the girls were gone.