Hey everyone! Welcome to the story! Just a couple of things before we get started… First off I would like to thank you for checking out this story, secondly for now it is rated T… but it is subject to change… and lastly I am a full time college student and I also work full time. I will try to update weekly but if I miss a week or two… please don't hate. Thank you :)
Also: I am not the best speller so if you find some mistakes, please don't hate me for that either :)
Okay so let's get on with it, shall we?
You know the drill I must say this; Disclaimer: I do not own any Inuyasha characters, only characters I own are the ones I make/made up.
Feeling both nervous and excited, Lydia Williamson stepped off of the plane and entered the Tokyo International Airport, her very first steps onto Japanese soil. After months of waiting and dedicated research, she had won the international student trade scholarship. She will be spending one year in Japan, spending her senior year of high school experiencing a different culture and learning more about the history of Japan. And thanks to the scholarship, it's completely free.
Running a hand through her thick and wavy red hair, she read the paper she held in her hand. 'Entrance 6B… So there's supposed to be a cab waiting for me?' Lydia thought to herself. She proceeded to walk toward the entrance as written in the instructions. Lydia exited the airport and looked around, it was a beautiful day. The sun was golden in color and warm and the sky was as blue as her bright blue eyes. "Oh!" It was then that a man walked up to her, startling her a little. He was a middle aged man, about 50 or so, he had gentle dark eyes and graying hair. He wore a soft smile as he spoke.
"Hello, I didn't mean to startle you. But are you Miss Williamson?"
"Its alright." she replied with a small smile "Yes I am."
"Ah. I am Mr. Hiroshima. I was assigned to take you to where you will be living for the next year. You're host family is the Higurashi family correct?"
Lydia looked to her paper to check. 'Yep, right there Higurashi' "Yes, that's correct."
"Good. I didn't want to bring you to the wrong host family." he said with a chuckle "My cab is parked right over there." he pointed to my left, he was parked the second to the last car in the row of cabs along the curb. I wouldn't have seen him if he hadn't come up to me.
"Here, allow me to grab that bag for you." he gestured to my carry-on duffle bag.
"Oh you don't have to. I can manage thank you." I politely said
"Well alright. Don't strain yourself now."
Lydia smiled at the kind man 'It's not like I packed rocks' she thought to herself and they both started for the car.
The entire cab ride consisted of Mr. Hiroshima talking about his grandchildren, wife, and some of the stories of what Tokyo was like back when he was younger. It was about a 40 minute drive, mind you the traffic played a factor, but finally Lydia had arrived. She looked out the window on her right, she could see the long flight of stairs that lead to a shrine. 'Huh? A shrine? Will I be living here?' Lydia thought to herself as she opened the door of the cab. The redhead grabbed her carry-on duffle and cross body handbag and fully exited the cab.
"Well it was nice to meet you Lydia. I hope you enjoy your time here in Japan. And good luck with your studies." Called Mr. Hiroshima.
"Thank you very much!" Lydia waved back as she closed the door and the cab drove off.
"Hmm… so I will be staying here for a year? This will actually be pretty cool. Living at a Japanese shrine." Lydia spoke aloud to herself.
"Hey!"
"Hm?" Lydia looked toward the direction in which the voice came from. There she saw a young boy with Dark hair and chocolate brown eyes. He had on a backpack and wore a school uniform and he looked to be about 8 or maybe 9.
"Hiya! You must be Lydia! My name is Sota and I guess you'll be living with me and my family for a year." This Sota kid said cheerfully.
"Hello. It's nice to meet you too Sota." Lydia replied with a smile
"Well come on. I'll show you to the house." Sota spoke as he started to ascend the stairs leading up to the shrine.
There at the top of the shrine there was a two-story white house, a few different sheds and a huge tree with some sort of papers wrapped around it. It was a very beautiful shrine and everything seemed well kept and spaced out. A bit different from the rest of the crowded city. It was… nice, refreshing even. They walked into the house and Sota immediately took off his shoes, then turned to Lydia and told her she should take her shoes off too. Lydia nodded and left her shoes by the door. Then Sota shouted "Mom! I'm home! And guess who else is here?!"
Then a kind looking woman enters the hallway where we stood. She had short, wavy black hair and shared the same chocolate eyes as Sota. "Oh hello Sota, did you have a good day at school?" She spoke to Sota. "It was good. This is Lydia, you know that American student who is going to be living with us for like a year?"
"Yes, of course. Hello there Lydia. It's very nice to meet you in person. I'm Mrs. Higuarashi, I'm Sota's and Kagome's mother." The kind lady introduced herself as Sota's mother.
"Hello Mrs. Higuarashi. It's very good to meet you too." replied Lydia.
"You didn't have any trouble finding you're way here did you?" asked Mrs. Higuarashi
"Yeah you were just standing there at the bottom of the steps… you didn't get lost did you?" Sota asked
"What? Oh. No I didn't get lost. I had only gotten dropped off a minute before you came along." Lydia gave an ensuing smile.
"Oh well that's good" Sota said
"I'm glad there wasn't any trouble for you then." said Mrs Higuarashi "How about I show you your room?"
"Okay." Lydia nodded and followed Mrs. Higuarashi up the stairs. Mrs. H. Showed Lydia the second floor. "This is Sota's room." she pointed to the first room on the left after the stairs. Then continued about halfway down the hallway she stopped "And Right here is the bathroom." She then pointed to the room at the very end of the hall and said "That room is Kagome's." And right across from the bathroom she opened the door and stepped in. "And this will be your room. I see your checked in luggage has already been delivered." "Yes. They had to put it on an earlier flight" Lydia replied and she followed Mrs. H. into her room.
Lydia stepped into her room and looked around. It was a decent sized room, not too small and not too big. It was perfect for someone who is just staying a year. The walls were a simple shade of cream, a double sized bed sat in the corner of the room with a light blue comforter. There was a big window that sat on the opposite side of the room's entrance. To the left, adjacent to the entrance there was a closet with a body-length mirror on the door, and a desk and chair sat on her right.
"Well I'll leave you to unpack and settle in. If you need anything I'll be downstairs making dinner, it should be ready at six." Mrs. H said
"Okay and thank you again Mrs. Higuarashi." Lydia said
And with that, Mrs. H left Lydia to unpack and to her thoughts. 'Well this might turn out even better than I had originally thought. And to think I'll get a whole summer to enjoy Japan without having to worry about school work. Well I probably should start unpacking' Lydia thought with a big smile on her face as she set down the bags she was carrying on the bed. She looked at the two other big suitcases filled with clothes, books, and other necessities by the desk and got started. She began to unpack the big suitcases; putting some of her clothes on hangers and placing them in the closet, and the rest in the drawers that were inside the closet. Then, just as she finished unpacking the two big pieces of luggage and was about to onto move to the bags on the bed, there was a knock that came from the open door behind her.
There standing in the doorway was a teenage girl with dark hair and the same chocolate eyes as Mrs. H. and Sota. She had on a red,white and green school uniform and was carrying a yellow backpack. She smiled and said "Hello. I hope I'm not interrupting anything but I just wanted to introduce myself. My name is Kagome." Said the girl.
"Hi Kagome, it's v very nice to meet you. My name is Lydia."
"Wow. That's a really pretty name." Kagome commented.
"Thank you. But so is yours." Lydia smiled back.
"Well I just stopped by and introduced myself. Oh, and mom said that dinner is almost ready." Kagame smiled at the thought of her mom's home cooking.
"Great! I'm practically starving haha." Lydia laughed. She didn't even realize that it was almost six already.
"Well I'll be down in a few. I'm just going to drop off my bag in my room." Kagame said "Mom is making Udon and Samma (fish and noodles basically) and miso soup."
"Wow." Kagome gave Lydia a confused look. "Well, it's just, this is my first home cooked meal here. I'm just excited to experience all of this." Lydia explained as if reading Kagome's mind. Kagome gave an understanding nod and walked to her own room.
Lydia got up and went to the restroom to wash up a bit before dinner.
mmmmmmMMMMMMMMmmmmmm
As Lydia walked down the stairs, the over powering aroma of dinner reached her nose. 'It all smells so good.' she thought. She then walked into the kitchen where everyone was sitting at the table, about ready to start eating. The table was filled with food that looked as good as it smelled. That's when her stomach rumbled. Realizing at that moment how hungry she really was. She hadn't eaten a thing since breakfast on the plane earlier that day. And all of this good-looking and delicious smelling food was only making her more and more hungry.
There was a man sitting at the table. He was older, a bit older than the cab driver, Mr. Hiroshima. He had grey hair, of what hair he had and it was pulled into a small ponytail. He seemed like a grandpa. "Oh Hello. So you're Lydia?... I'm Kagome's grandpa. You can just call me grandpa. Everyone else does anyway."
"It's nice to meet you... grandpa..." Lydia tried not to laugh at his last comment.
"Here Lydia, you can sit here next to me." Kagome said
"Okay, thanks." Lydia took the seat to the left of Kagome.
"Here want to try using these?" Kagome asked handing me chopsticks.
"Sure. I love using these at Chinese restaurants back in the States." Lydia said.
Dinner was as delicious as it had smelled and looked. Most of the talk at the table went back and forth between grandpa's stories and questions for Lydia about herself and about what life is like in the States. Lydia also learned a bit about everyone there. She learned how Sota was in the third grade and was in the top ten students of his class. How Kagome was getting ready for an entrance exam for high school, which Lydia thought was strange the way they had to apply for high school here. She also learned about some of the family stories about the shrine. And toward the end of dinner they Kagome started asking Lydia about her family.
"So Lydia, what is your family like?" Kagome asked
"Well... My mom, dad, and younger sister all... they're all dead. They died about three years ago." Lydia answered quietly.
"Oh. I'm so sorry Lydia." Kagome said sadly.
"It's okay." Lydia shook her head with a soft smile. "But too answer your question, my mother was very kind and wise, and my dad was strong and hard working. My little sister, Sophie, well she was cute as a button but very annoying at times, like any younger sibling would be." Lydia finished and Kagome smiled.
"It's good to remember them like that." Kagome said
"Yeah it keeps them alive in a way." Lydia said
"Exactly." Kagome smiled. "Well. I don't know about you but I'm stuffed. Have you been shown around the shrine yet?"
"No I haven't."
"That's a great idea Kagome. You can show her around the shrine then if you two wouldn't mind running to the store real quick? I forgot to pick up sandwich bags for your lunches tomorrow." Mrs. H. smiled.
"Of course." Lydia and Kagome answered at the same time. They both looked at each other and smiled. 'I think me and Kagome will become great friends.' Lydia thought.
And so, I will leave it there. It just was starting to feel a bit long. Well I hop so far you're getting to know Lydia a little. Right now it might be a little slow but things will start to kick off in the next chapter… I promise :) Anyway thanks again you guys. See you next time.