Prologue
Date Masamune was always in a hurry. Every day for over two years, at the same time after the same class, he would be the first out the door and could be seen sprinting across his college lawn like an Olympic runner out for gold. His friends often called him "The White Rabbit" (or just Bunny if they wanted to be cute) because of his habit to always glance at his watch and mutter impatiently, "I'm gonna be late, I'm gonna be late."
His guy friends always said that he was in a rush to watch porn without anyone knowing ("as if I need to," he would scoff), but his girl friends would always reprimand them and remind them the real reason.
It was to see a girl. But, not just any girl. His girl; the one in Japan.
Date Masamune had come to America on a study program to perfect his English so he could continue working for his master degree in business. Unfortunately, this tore him away from everything he cared about in Japan; including his guardian like retainers, Katakura Kojuro and Kojuro's fiancé, Mouri Suzume. More importantly, Masamune was separated from his childhood friend and high school sweetheart, Kazehaya Rin, (a.k.a by his friends Mrs. White Rabbit).
For once in a long time though, his class let out early and it was just as he was packing his bag to go out when he glanced at his clock. He had just returned from another class, but obviously not fast enough. Shit! He's late again.
He threw his bag to the side and jumped over his bed to his desk to turn on his laptop. "Come on, hurry up," he muttered in English. "She's probably asleep by now."
He logged in to the website he needed and was relieved to see a tiny icon glowing still, showing that the user was still online. He clicked on it and it automatically connected to him, as if it were waiting for this call.
A familiar black haired girl filled the screen. She seemed to be asleep. He didn't really want to wake her up; she seemed so peaceful but… He wanted to talk to her. He needed to. This was the only time he was able to talk, as "in person" as possible, and he couldn't waste it.
To wake her up, all he said was, "Rin."
Her head was lying on the desk as if she were sleeping but at the sound of his voice made it shoot up to look at him. She smiled and said sleepily, "Good evening, Masamune."
He laughed, relieved to see her. He corrected, "I think you mean, 'good afternoon'."
"Eh?" she asked, confused. Sleep still seemed to be clogging her system, so she must've forgotten where he was. Realizing her mistake though, she smiled in her usual "how-stupid-of-me" smile and said, "Oh, that's right. Good afternoon, then."
He laughed again. He recognized the background behind her to be the old antique shop she now took care of. It seemed as messy as ever, and just from the small screen he knew that it was as full of unimaginable things as ever.
The two had rarely been able to talk during the time Masamune had been in America. Having a completely filled college schedule and being on two different continents on opposite sides of the world kind of did that to the two.
Masamune could literally count the number of times he'd been able to talk to Rin via camera chat on one hand. They'd sent many letters and emails to each other, but rarely had they ever gotten a chance like this to talk face to face. And it still wasn't enough.
She asked, "How are you?"
He shrugged, appreciating the simple talk. "Fine, how are you?"
"Sleepy," she laughed. "It's four in the morning here."
Masamune jolted, "It's that late?" She nodded and stifled another yawn and he asked in concern, "Then why the hell are you still up? You should be sleeping. I wouldn't have bothered you if I had known-"
Rin shook her head stubbornly, "But I wanted to see you…"
Masamune smiled as he asked half fearful, half hopeful, "Do you wait this late for me every night?"
Rin shrugged indifferently, "More or less. This is the most convenient time for you so-"
He sighed sighed in exasperation, "Rin, don't do that. It's not good for you to stay up so late every night."
"It's not every night," Rin said defensively. She yawned again, "Just most nights. And it's not like I'll be doing it for the rest of my life; just until you come back."
Masamune rolled his single, blue-grey eye, "Well, in any case, you should go to bed now. You can barely keep your eyes open."
Rin pouted, "Can too. See?" She used her fingers to stretch her eyes as wide as possible to make her point.
Masamune laughed. "Sleep," he said gently. "We can talk again some other time."
She huffed as she stifled another yawn. "Fine." She asked suspiciously now though, "You aren't cutting class by any chance, are you? Now that I think about it, now is usually the time you're studying."
He laughed and said, "Don't worry so much."
"Don't be cutting class," she said sternly, concern overpowering her drowsiness. "You're a big boy now Masamune, you're too old to be doing that like you did in high school."
Masamune laughed as he asked rhetorically, "Does that mean you're old enough now to actually have fun with me like an adult, like you didn't in high school?" Rin didn't answer. Instead, she pressed her lips together tightly; clearly not amused. She knew what he was talking about. Masamune grinned, "Anyways, go to sleep, you flake. I'll talk to you again soon."
"Promise?" she asked seriously.
He smiled and confirmed, "Promise."
Satisfied with his word, she huffed and said dejectedly, "Fine. But… One more thing?"
"What?" Masamune asked with mock impatience. "Geez, you're like a child who's up past her bedtime."
Rin stuck her tongue out at him. Then, more seriously, she paused as she tried remembering the phrase she had learned recently. She said hesitantly, "I… Love you…" He laughed and Rin jumped, afraid that she said it wrong. She asked timidly, "Did I get it right?"
Masamune stopped laughing and smiled at her almost perfect English. He nodded and said, "Yeah, you got it."
"Yay," Forgetting how exhausted she was, Rin cheered. "I'm so happy." Masamune smiled again. He wanted to touch her. Her cheek, her hair, her lips.
He reached out, forgetting that they were only video chatting and he was surprised when his fingertips hit the screen. Rin blinked in surprise and she smiled, automatically understanding his intentions. She wanted the same thing. She said gently, "Not long now, Masamune. Be patient."
He snorted and said sarcastically, "Because I'm so good at that."
"Mm," she waved sleepily, "Good night, you one-eyed pervert." Before she signed off, Masamune could see that she put her head back on the desk, as if she was just going to collapse right there at the desk she was talking from.
As a last comment he shouted, "And don't fall asleep at the desk!"
Too late, she'd already signed off, but Masamune knew she'd gotten the message, and he smiled to himself.
Not long now.
Five months later
At the airport, Masamune waited impatiently at his terminal in the airport.
It was a mistake of his to tell Rin to meet him at his terminal because now she was looking for him and who knew where she was now. The girl could get as easily lost in a public bathroom, who knew how she did in a gigantic airport like this.
She wasn't answering her cell phone, so he had no choice but to stick put until she found him. Otherwise she'd just get even more confused if she got there and he was gone. He sighed. Sometimes, he forgot how airy Rin could be when she wasn't being her tenacious self.
Suddenly though, he though he saw a flash of gold in the crowd of people. Was that…
"Masamune!" a voice called.
Midnight black hair and matching eyes; pale skin and a perpetually adorable confused expression. His spirits lifted, ah, yes, that was her alright. Even from here, he could see that she was wearing both ornaments he had given her back in their high school days. The first being a gold hairpin holding back her naturally straight, black bangs and the second was a small, silver pendant with the Date crest. He couldn't see the dragon at the very center of it, but the bright blue of its eye that flashed in the light was undeniable.
He shouted back, "Rin!" He left his on-board traveling case behind as he tried making his way to her.
He looked straight at the bobbing flash of gold and soon he saw her in full. Kazehaya Rin, the one and only. She hadn't seemed to change at all since their high school days.
She'd grown only slightly taller, but so had Masamune, so she was still just around Masamune's shoulders. Her black eyes still shone with the same innocent light as before and her bangs were still cut in the same traditional style across her forehead. Her hair was as long as ever; reaching to about mid back, and as fragile as she seemed, she still held herself with the same amount of dignity as before that told people that she wasn't as doll-like as she seemed.
With that same endearing look, she was looking around her like a lost puppy as she searched for Masamune. He yelled again, "Rin!" and waved a hand to get her attention.
As soon as she saw him, her face lit up. It was so bright, Masamune thought it would fill the airport. Rin rushed to him, stumbling here and there on her own feet. As soon as she made it she threw herself right at him. It was rare for her to ever initiate physical intimacies, even ones as innocent as a hug, so Masamune was grateful for it.
He held her tightly in his arms and she said excitedly, "Masamune! Welcome home~!"
She was almost like a child who had just seen Santa Clause for the first time ever. It had been over two years since they'd seen each other in person, and her eyes shone with delight. Nothing in the world would Masamune have given to lose that smile.
Instead of replying right away, he kissed her deeply, not caring who saw them. It was as if no time had passed between them at all now. That one single kiss seemed to wash away all those days when Masamune ached to hold Rin and touch her, and see her in person. It was as if he had never left her. When they broke away, Rin looked noticeably flustered but still exuberant about his return. He knew what she was expecting him to say.
He wanted to play a joke on her though, to make her even more flustered like he used to in high school by making the ever blatant sexual reference, but he thought against it. He knew it would only piss her off, and why ruin the moment?
Instead, he smiled and told her exactly what she expected to hear; "I'm home, Rin."
A/N: Aaaand here we are again, at the start of yet another series. Hello again, Jackal here.
This is the "first chapter"/prologue to the sequel of The Problem with Smart Girls. My plans are a little foggy for this series at the moment, but I had to post this first chapter because I'd promised in the final one of the last series to get it up as soon as possible.
Anyways, my goal is to make sure that this doesn't turn out as long as the last (I also wanted that in the last series, but that didn't really turn out very well) also for it it to become as popular and get as many watchers as before.
Eh... Oh, I also hope to see old readers again as well as new, and I hope you all continue the love of reading this fanfic.
Thank you all, よろしく,
- Jackal
(Uncreative title is uncreative).
