A/N: Never done a Code Lyoko Fic before… Don't know if it'll be good, but we'll see! Love the show, I still watch it all the time! It's one of my all time favorites. Anywho, this story contains pairings that some of you may not like, and to all ye who judge me, I say: Don't like, don't read, don't flame. No lemons will be written, and if there are, I will warn you beforehand, so DO READ MY AUTHOR'S NOTES! IT MAY SAVE YOUR INNOCENCE! Anyway, Disclaimer: I own no characters except my OC(s), nor do I own the show, or anything affiliated with it. That privilege belongs to other people.
Chapter One: First Encounters
Faye POV
I looked at the principal, smiling half-heartedly. He was droning on about how he was sure I was going to be very happy at Kadic Academy, and for all I knew at that point, I was, but I simply wasn't in the mood to listen to this. It had been quite a long plane ride, and then a long ride here. Mr. Delmas smiled as he bragged about how some of the brightest students in the country attended this prestigious boarding school, and how my grades seemed to reflect that I'd do well here as well. I sighed. Yeah, I was brilliant. So what? I doubted it would matter much. I wouldn't have any friends. Finally, Mr. Delmas stopped talking about the school, and the phys. ed. teacher, Mr. Morales, was called into the room.
"Our Gym teacher, Mr. Morales, will be happy to show you to your room now, Miss Ishiyama," he said kindly. "I will inform your uncle about your arrival as soon as possible. I'm sure Yumi will be excited to see you." He smiled as Mr. Morales led me out of the room.
Not likely, I thought to myself, walking beside the gym teacher as he led me across campus. I haven't seen her since we were babies. We won't even recognize each other. Or, she won't recognize me at least. I would recognize her. My family had a picture of her in the living room, next to the pictures of other various relatives. I never really understood why, since our families didn't really talk anymore, beyond Christmas cards containing family pictures. Yumi's father was my father's older brother. They had had a falling out when my father married my mother, who was a white American woman descended from mostly English ancestors, not Japanese at all. They eventually made peace, but it was a cold peace. When I was born, they tried harder to be more warm towards each other, for Yumi's and my sake, but I was even less welcome around my uncle than my mother was, due to the mixed heritage I possessed. Eventually, getting sick of watching my uncle's upturned nose whenever I was around, my father finally ceased most communication and visitation to him. I don't know that my aunt was ever so close-minded, but that hardly mattered. I just hoped now that my cousins would be a little more understanding than my uncle had been all those years ago.
"So, you see much of Yumi?" the gym teacher asked, jarring me from my thoughts.
"No, sir. I've not seen her since we were very young. It's kind of hard with our family so wide spread," I said politely.
"Oh, well she's a nice girl, your cousin. Runs around with a bunch of troublemakers though," he said.
"I'm sure her friends are nice, too," I said, diplomatically. "I'm sure she rubs off on them."
"Right. Well, here's your room," he said, dismissing my comment. Truly, that didn't matter. I honestly had no clue about Yumi or her friends. "You don't need to worry about calling me Sir or Mr. Morales, the name's Jim, okay? If you need anything, call on me, alright?"
I nodded and smiled. "Yes, Sir—er—Jim. Thank you."
As he walked off, I unlocked my door and walked in. The furniture was mirrored on both sides, beds with drawers on the bottom, closets, and then on the back wall a computer desk. The right side of the room was covered in pink, however, so I assumed it was taken and set my stuff down on the other side. There were pink sheets on the occupied bed, as well as a pink bunny poster pinned to the wall. The closet door was opened and I could see only pink inside of it. I winced. I hated the color pink. Keep an open mind, Faye. You could learn to like it, I told myself optimistically. Then I glanced back at the bunny poster. Or at least learn to live with it, I added, dryly.
"Honestly, Aelita, I don't know anything about her. I haven't seen her for years," I heard a voice say as two people entered into the room. "Oh," she said upon seeing me. "Hello." She was tall, with black hair and dark, nearly black eyes. Her hair was short and parted to one side, and she wore a midriff-bearing, long-sleeved shirt and black pants, with black shoes. Yumi.
"Hi," the other—I think I'd heard Yumi call her Aelita?—said. She had pixie-cut pink hair, green eyes, and wore a dark pink dress, pink boots, and a light pink long-sleeved shirt with two fuzzy pull strings.
"Hi. You must be my roommate, and you must be Yumi," I said, looking at each of them in turn, and extending my hand towards the pink-haired girl.
"Yeah, my name's Aelita. How'd you know I was your roommate?" she asked, shaking my hand.
I gestured at her side of the room then at her outfit. "I saw all the pink," I said simply. I extended my hand towards Yumi, nervously. "It's nice to see you again, Yumi."
"You, too, Veronica," she said, smiling and shaking my hand. "It's been years." And, just like that, the nervousness inside me vanished. I smiled back.
"Would you like help unpacking?" Aelita asked. "I've been so excited to meet you."
"Um, yeah, sure," I answered, a bit taken aback by the friendliness. "And, I prefer Faye, Yumi." I smiled at her as I said this, then opened one of my three suitcases and started pulling out clothing. The two of them helped me start hanging them.
"Wow, I love this top!" Yumi said, holding up a silk kimono-inspired shirt with long sleeves. It was red and even had the tie around the stomach.
I grinned. "Do you? I got it in Okinawa when my mother and I were visiting last year. We were going to see Grandma and Grandpa Ishiyama. Dad couldn't go because he had some work come up right at the last second."
"It's beautiful," Aelita said. "Not really my color though." I laughed.
"Sorry, I don't own anything pink," I said, smiling.
"Well, that's alright. We probably aren't the same size anyway," she said, looking at me. I was taller, and my chest and hips curvier. I frowned.
"Yeah, probably not," I agreed. I looked down at my usual outfit. It was practical: durable stone washed jeans, a red tank top and a cropped, short sleeved black leather jacket. My shoes were just black sneakers. Nothing I had would suit her style or size.
"So anyway, how come your parents opted for you to be a boarder instead of having you stay with Yumi?" Aelita asked.
"I guess they didn't want to impose," I answer, not looking at Yumi. I didn't know if she knew about her father's feelings towards my family and me in particular, but I didn't want to bring it up.
"Our parents don't talk much," Yumi added, closing the subject with her voice. "So, did you guys hear about the new Subsonics concert? It's supposed to be the best one ever," she added.
"Who are the Subsonics?" I asked, looking at them.
"Only one of the best bands ever," some boy answered, coming into the room. I quickly shut my suitcase, hiding my bras and panties. He had blond hair gelled into a spike with a purple dot in the middle, and wore some kind of weird two-toned purple pants and a purple long-sleeved shirt with a pink one under it and brown shoes. Two others followed him, looking less colorful by comparison. One was really short, blonde, wore glasses, a blue sweater, short khaki pants, and black shoes. The other was taller than the other two, brown-haired with brown eyes, and wore a dark green shirt over a light green shirt and cargo pants.
"Faye, this is Odd, Ulrich, and Jeremy," Yumi said, pointing at each of them in turn. "They're my our other friends," she added. "Guys, this is my cousin, Faye."
"Nice to meet you all," I said, waving from where I stood.
"I thought your name was Veronica?" Jeremy asked.
"That's my first name, yes, but I like Faye better. It's one of my middle names," I explained.
"Oh, that's cool. So you live in Japan?" Odd asked, plopping down on Aelita's bed. I moved my suitcases off of mine so that there would be more room for seating, which the others took happily, Yumi, Ulrich, and I sitting on mine, and Aelita and Jeremy joining Odd on Aelita's.
"Well, yes, but not always. My mom travels a lot, because she's a Major in the United States Army Nurse Corps," I said with pride, "so, sometimes I get to go with her to other places. Just not always."
"Oh that's really cool. I didn't know your mom did that," Yumi said. I smiled.
"Yeah, she is really cool." I smile. "My dad's nice, too. I think you'd like him. He does some kind of electrical engineering. We live near a very important army base called Torii Station, near Okinawa in a small village called Yomitan. My father works in Okinawa, and my mother obviously works on base."
"So do you get to see a whole lot of fighting?" Ulrich asked. I chuckle a little bit.
"No, Ulrich. Mostly the base is pretty peaceful. They also tend to a lot of civilian needs."
"So do you see grandma and grandpa Ishiyama a lot then? Living that close to Okinawa?" Yumi asked.
"Oh, yes. I used to see them quite a bit. Not from here though." I get up and start continuing to unpack, books and personal belongings going neatly into the drawers under my bed. I emptied one suitcase of books and posters, setting the posters aside to hang up later, as well as an ornately decorated dagger knife that had been in my family on my father's side for generations. I laid my sketch pad next to it and continued unpacking.
"Hey, what's that?" Yumi asked, pointing at a silk object in the bottom of the suitcase.
"It's a Kimono. Traditional Japanese attire," I added to Ulrich and Jeremy's confused faces. "It's sort of like a dress," I add, pulling it out and holding up the smooth red fabric. It was beautiful deep red with black and gold accents.
"It's beautiful," Yumi breathed, appreciating the culture of it as well as the actual beauty. Aelita and Odd both agreed, though Jeremy and Ulrich's agreement seemed half hearted.
"Thank you," I said, smiling. "I'm really proud of both sides of my heritage. It's just easier to get some of the traditional stuff from the Japanese side, since I live there."
"Oh, so you aren't fully Japanese?" Ulrich asked.
"That's why you're paler than Yumi!" Odd said. "Not that that's a bad thing at all!" he added.
I just smiled at him. "No, it's not. Like I said, I'm proud of both sides. My father is Yumi's uncle, and completely Japanese. My mother is America, and her ancestors were mostly English, with I think some Scottish and Welsh mixed in. So yeah, I'm only half Japanese. But I like it. I mean, I like to think that it's had a good effect on my appearance and my openness to other cultures. My parents have to work around blending their cultures so much, it's taught me to be really tolerant and respectful. Some people… well, they just don't think it's right for races and cultures to clash and mix like my family, but I think it helps us to be more cosmopolitan."
"That's really cool, Faye," Aelita said.
"I'm Italian. My entire family's Italian. I never really got outside that box until I came here," Odd said, stretching out. "It must be cool to grow up with such different parents."
"Like I said, it isn't without its challenges, but I love how my family is."
"Do you eat with chopsticks at home?" Ulrich asked.
"Not always. Depends on whether we're eating Japanese food or American. It's hard to eat a hot dog with chopsticks."
Yumi smiled at me. "I can imagine."
I nodded. "I did try it once though, just to see if I could. My parents weren't around, you know. It, um, didn't work as well as I'd hoped."
"So do you do Christmas?" Jeremy asked.
"Um… well, my mom and I do. We're Christians. But my father's not. He respects it and everything, and he celebrates the gift giving and decorating and food, but as far as the church service and the religious aspects, no."
"Does that make it difficult? If my parents disagreed on something like that, it would cause a terrible argument," Yumi said.
"No, it doesn't really. I mean, we're respectful of each other. Each of us is entitled to be unique," I said finally emptying the last of the stuff out of my suitcases. I laid two Japanese fans on my bed next to the dagger and sketch pad.
"That's cool. I think maybe I'd like your family's way of thinking better than mine," Yumi said, smiling sadly.
"I don't know. I think your family just wants to preserve what they feel is being lost," I said. "There's merits to both ways of thinking, and I don't know that either is right or wrong. They're just different. Like everything else." I scoot around the wall side of the bed and hold one of the open fans up, gently tacking underneath the sides of it, holding it open and on the wall without puncturing it. I do the same to the other one.
"Hey, if we don't hurry up, we're going to miss dinner!" Odd exclaimed looking at the clock on his phone. "It's meatballs and gravy tonight!"
"Odd, how do you stay so scrawny if you're always thinking about food?" Yumi teased.
Odd's face took on a look of indignation. "I am not scrawny! I'm svelte," he said.
"Alright, let's go," Ulrich said, rolling his eyes at Odd as he got up and went outside. Yumi followed, as did Jeremy and Odd. Aelita stopped in the doorway and looked back at me.
"Are you coming?" she asked.
"Uh, yeah. Sure," I say smiling. We made it to just outside the cafeteria before Yumi stopped us.
"Well, I've gotta go now. My parents will be wondering where I am," she said. "Since I'm just a day student, I don't eat dinner here," she explained to my bewildered expression.
"Oh, alright. Well, it was really great seeing you," I said, smiling widely.
"You, too, Faye. I can't wait to see you tomorrow. I think you'll probably be in most of my classes," she said.
"Yeah, I think Mr. Delmas said I would be," I replied.
"Great," she smiled back, just as widely. "We'll talk more then." To my astonishment, she hugged me, then the others said goodbye to her and she left. As soon as she was out of sight, some girl with black long black hair and a midriff bearing tight shirt walked up. She had long pants on with a skirt over them and wore a headband and makeup.
"Ulrich, honey, did you find someone better than that string bean Yumi?" she asked, eyeing me. Her voice was high pitched and irritating.
"Shut it, Sissi," Ulrich said, glaring at her.
"Aren't you going to introduce us?" Sissi asked, looking at me. "No, nevermind. I can kind of see a resemblance. You must be the other Ishiyama girl."
"Yeah. Why?" I asked, folding my arms over my chest.
"No reason. Just thought you should know who the prettiest girl on campus is," she said, flipping her hair. "I'm Sissi, the principal's daughter."
"I'm Faye Ishiyama, and I'd think the prettiest girl on campus wouldn't need so much makeup," I said, smirking as her cheeks flushed in anger.
"Just you wait, Ishiyama, you'll see who the boys all fawn over," she said.
"Every boy but the one you want anyway!" Odd laughed.
"Can it, Della Robbia!" she yelled.
"What can I say? I don't like a girl with no personality," Ulrich said as we walked away.
"What's her deal anyway?" I asked, wondering why she attacked us.
"Oh, that's just Sissi for you. She's rude, and her head's all full of air," Odd said.
"She likes Ulrich, and is jealous because he spends so much time with Yumi," Aelita added.
"Alright. Noted," I said, taking my tray and going through dinner.
I listened a lot at dinner, not really talking much, preferring to hear about the others' classes and such. Aelita even offered to help me find my first one, since we'd be headed in the same direction the next morning. I thanked her and told her I'd really appreciate it. After dinner, we went back towards our rooms. Aelita and my room was on a different floor than the boys' so we sort of dropped them off first, offering good night wishes, then went on to our floor. After we got into our room, I finished tacking up the dagger and a couple sketches, then put the sketch pad away and laid down on my bed.
"Hey Aelita?" I asked, kicking off my shoes. "Where's the shower?" I asked, turning to look at her.
"At the end of the hall on your right," she said helpfully. "How long do you think you'll be gone?" she asked, sitting on her bed.
"I don't know. Not very long. I just want to relax," I say smiling. I quickly change out of my clothes and into a robe, then walk down to where she directed. I take a quick, ten minute shower in scalding water to relax the stress away, and then pull my robe back on and head back into my room. When I get back, Aelita's wearing an oversized pink T-shirt with a red letter A on the front, and white socks. She's reading. I quickly change into a black tank top and red plaid short shorts for bed, choosing to sleep barefoot.
I sit on my bed, facing Aelita as she reads. Despite all the pink, she really is a nice person, I think to myself. Kind of pretty, too. Her hair's cute. There's a cute little elf doll on her bed next to her that I had missed earlier. Somehow, that seemed to fit her really well. She finishes her page, marks her place, then lays the book down and turns to face me.
"Sorry. I've never had a sleepover before, so I don't really know how to act," she said apologetically.
"You don't have to act at all. For the most part, I think what you do is just talk and eventually fall asleep," I say, laying down under my blankets, curling on my side in a ball.
"Oh, well, what do we talk about?" She asks, as if this were a social experiment.
"Anything you want. Typical topics are boys, clothes, school, and family."
"Oh. Well, I still don't know. Maybe I should think about it and we can talk tomorrow, since I don't know what to say," she said, yawning as she slid under the blankets, making me yawn, too.
"If you want," I say softly, my eyes drifting shut.
"I think that it is," she answered, but I was already half asleep, too tired to answer.
A/N: I know it was a pretty boring first chapter, but it should get better as it goes along. This was mostly one of those 'Introduce-A-Character!' chapters. Is okay though. Want to review? Yay! Don't want to review? Alright, fine. :-P