AN: So sorry but I didnt edit this yet! I just had to post it kiddies! Love you all, hope you can all comment on the first chapter of my sequel!
Disclaimer: I do not own Yugioh!
Waking up is a constant battle between my body and brain. I knew I needed to get up, especially with that being the first day of my new school. However, both my body and brain seemed to be aware of that fact as I forced myself to get out of bed and out of my pajamas. The slightly cool air chilled my bare skin quickly and I eagerly put on the dreaded uniform of my imminent torture. I frowned when I saw my reflection in the mirror, whoever had devised the girl's uniform was clearly daft. I brushed my hair and put some eyeliner on quickly before heading down the stairs to the storefront.
I sorted about three large bags and set them to wash in the large machines, the humming being a pleasant noise I looked forward to hearing. I grabbed a bottle of water out of the nearby cabinet and the book bag I had set close to the door before I saw Nima walking slowly by the large glass window on the left of the storefront. I saw her waving to our neighbors who were just opening up their own stores. I unlocked and pushed the door open so Nima could walk in.
"Morning, Nima!" I said warmly, enjoying her smiling face as she greeted me. She nodded and rubbed my cheek with her hand as she walked through the threshold of the door.
"You'll be late for school, Atsu-chan," she said, not wasting time to pull the other bags of dirty laundry from the waiting area and into the back.
"Hai," I said, bowing slightly before taking off into a sprint once I had gotten out the door.
I had quite the bit of endurance and stamina as I ran up three steep roads. I always enjoyed running, and as a result, I was extremely fast and could go very long distances without needing to stop. Girls hated me in gym class, then again, they hated me anyways. As I began to make out the white structure that I would soon despise in a matter of moments, I slowed down as I thought of the one that had come before it. Once I had reached a normal pace, I began to come up to other students walking into the school grounds. Looking at my watch, I saw that I had made it in under eight minutes, even though it was closer to a twenty minute walk. I touched my forehead, my fingers sliding underneath my bangs, and was not surprised to find that I had not even broken a sweat.
As I drew closer to the hordes of unfamiliar, staring faces that would ultimately decide my fate there, I began to close up. I kept my head down and I tried to ignore the whispers I was already hearing as I made my way through the double doors and into the sleek hallway.
"Who's that"
"Look at her hair"
"She must be that crazy chick that transferred"
Aha, here we go. I knew it wouldn't be long before I would start hearing the term, crazy. As I reconsidered the weight of what that word actually meant, I examined the numbers on the doors I passed. I internally sighed praying that today would go by as quickly as possible.
By the time I had gotten through the second set of double doors, I was already regretting getting myself into this mess in the first place. I tried to keep my head down as much as possible while looking for the main office, I would have asked for help if I had half a brain but I have always enjoyed keeping to myself. Luckily I found it towards the end of the hallway and opened the door slowly, hoping that I would be the only student in there. A young looking woman sat at the desk and barely looked up as I entered the quiet office. It was nice to be away from all of the commotion in the halls, but it was almost eerily silent in there, the sound of her voice almost scaring me.
"Name?" she asked in a monotone voice.
"Tanaka, Amaterasu" I responded, mimicking her tone rather expertly.
"New?" she asked, finally glancing up at me for the first time, lingering a little too long for my taste, at the tips of my long hair. Like many of the females I had already seen so far this morning, her hair was kept very short and I assumed that I was breaking some sort of fashion code everyone but I had been following.
I nodded at her question and she soon found the folder she barely looked for and pulled out my schedule. Without another word she went back to typing the moment the paper was thrust into my hands.
"So…" I started.
"You'll be late if you don't start heading to your first class," she said rather abruptly.
I did my best to reel in my anger as I spoke, "Which is where..?"
"The class numbers are on the paper," she said, not bothering to look up from her typing.
"And since I don't know where anything is, that information doesn't really aid me in such a quest," I said loudly, cutting her off. Just as her eyes paused at her typing before glancing back up at me, I bowed slightly and said a quick "Arrigato!" before bouncing out of the door.
I know I had anger issues but that chick definitely had it out for me the moment she had laid eyes on the length of my hair. As I headed out into unknown abyss of Domino High in a slight panic, I collided with another student, that in turn, collided with yet another student who ended up on the ground.
"Aya!" I yelled, desperately attempting to help her back up. I quickly expressed my sincerest apologies to both, although it seemed to fall on deaf ears.
"I'm so sorry but I..do you know where this is-" I asked, pointing to my first class on the paper. Rubbing her head, the girl that was formerly on the floor raised her other hand, pointing frustratingly to the door behind me. I laughed as I apologized just one more time before walking into the class just as the bell rang.
I've always seemed to make everything by the skin of my teeth. Hopefully my enamel doesn't wear out anytime soon.
A few students rushed by me as I struggled to find an empty seat. Again, I hid my face as best as I could as I saw people lean in towards each other and whisper, blatantly glancing back at me every so often.
I hate being the new girl. I hate being on an entire school's radar.
I started to get comfortable in my chair and hoped that the teacher would somehow not bring me up. Just as I had begun my silent prayer the teacher had called out for the class's attention and introduced me.
Well, so much for that.
I stood up, rather begrudgingly, slightly bowing my head and masking my face with my hair as I sat back down. And so, that's how each class went more or less for the rest of the day. Lunch, of course, being an excuse for me to hide in the library and eat my crackers in peace. Then I found my next class early and waited till the bell rang before I headed in. I found a seat in the far corner of the room by the windows and sat, exhaling as I realized that this would be the last class of the day for me.
As the others filed in, I kept my nose in one of my books as I felt the oppressive eyes of a strangers blaring into me. No longer able to take anymore abuse at the gaze of others, I glared up and saw a mane of white. The hair was heavily shading a pair of dark orbs, and even though I wasn't sure whether or not we were actually making eye contact, something about his hair and the dark features made my blood run hot and cold all at the same time.
I can't really explain what happened after that, because I seemed to get suddenly overwhelmed by almost everything and had I not already been sitting, I would have collapsed.
I could feel my hands starting to sweat and I looked down briefly to see them shaking. My mouth felt dry and my jaw locked in place as the boy continued to stand there, facing me, staring at me, perhaps..
His head raised slightly and he looked at me with a strange expression across his face - as if he recognized me. It wasn't too far fetched, I supposed, he seemed awfully familiar as well. However, for him to instill such emotion within me, I couldn't make heads or tails of it. Even when he finally took his seat next to me, he kept his left eye on me while I had my right locked onto him.
When the teacher introduced me to the class I hadn't even heard him, he proceeded to call my name enough times for me to suddenly jump out of my seat and bow, apologizing with the excuse that everyone had thus far gotten my name wrong so I wasn't ready to hear it pronounced correctly.
I heard the rumble of laughter roll through the class as they enjoyed my obvious embarrassment while I sat back down. I glanced slightly at the white haired boy next to me and saw that he seemed to be transfixed on the hair that I moved out of the way in order not to sit on it. His eyes lingered there, at the tips of my hair that fell around my hips and I could have sworn I saw him lick his bottom lip just slightly. Self consciously, I smoothed my skirt down a little and began a long braid that I hoped would avert his eyes to a nobler sight.
My literature classes were always my favorite, but I really never learned anything in them. So instead I racked my brain for the whereabouts of the mysterious boy who seemed so familiar to me. I knew I knew him, but whatever memory I might have had, seemed to have vanished.
The teacher began a serious onslaught of questioning which the entire class had no clue to answer.
I raised my hand tentatively and gave the right answer once he called on me.
"Very good, Amaterasu. Now, who can tell me what period did-"
I raised my hand again.
"19th century," I spoke in the same quiet voice as I did before.
"Looks like you're going to give Ryou here, a run for his money," the teacher challenged, gesturing to the boy next to me. He seemed noticeably uncomfortable at the mention, and I smirked at hearing his name. The teacher smiled as he continued on with lecture, while I wondered about the boy's last name. When the bell finally rang I breathed a sigh of relief as I quickly gathered my things. I looked up to maybe say something to the white haired boy, but he was already gone.
Well, that was an interesting day. I didn't even bother to look for my locker today, I thought as I slowly made my way out of the school.
The image of the boy named Ryou was etched in my mind and I had trouble thinking of anything else for some reason. Overall, today could have been worse, I mused, as I looked forward to being home once more despite the laundry and homework awaiting me. I couldn't put my finger on it though, it felt as though someone was following as I had lost myself in thought. I stopped and looked around discreetly, but could not see anyone except for the occasional passerby. Either I was imagining things or I already had a stalker. I snorted out loud at the thought that any teenage boy could be attracted enough to follow me home and not expect a serious physical injury by my hand. I continued home in my usual fast pace, and had gotten back in time to see Nima finish her last load of laundry before I took over.
"Had a good day at school, Atsu-chan?"
"Hai, arrigato Nima-sama," I smiled happily at her, hearing her little pet name for me always made me feel warm inside. Closer to the family environment I would never get, and barely had.
"I made some soup, there is enough even for your appetite," she smiled back at me as she gathered her things and righted a pile of laundry that was tilting over. As she walked past me towards the door, she stopped and rested her hand on my cheek once more.
"The last bag is sure to be particularly stubborn, but try to focus on your studies tonight," she said, pinching my cheek slightly before I giggled and waved her away.
"Night, Nima," I smiled.
"Good night Atsu-chan-" she said, beginning her leisurely pace back home. Nodding warmly to our neighbors as she passed them.
I sighed, locking the front door of our little shop and dragged the final bag of laundry into the back with my book bag still on. As I sorted the clothes, I realized that Nima was not exaggerating
whatsoever and I grinned at the task ahead. These clothes would need to be scrubbed out the old-fashioned way, with a washboard and a tub. It was still warm enough outside to do it, so I placed my book bag down, knowing I'd get to it eventually, and headed upstairs for some soup.
The business was all I really had left of my family, and I was determined to keep it up, regardless of the financial reasons why I needed to.
As soon as I rounded the steps up to the apartment, I smelled Nima's soup permeating the air. I quickly ladled the steaming concoction into a large bowl the moment I got into the kitchen and grabbed a pair of chopsticks on my way out. Slurping my soup as I picked up the washboard and headed back downstairs, I actually looked forward to the task at hand. I guess I was an old soul; I always preferred the hard way of doing things. The results are always more satisfying, I suppose.
Dragging the board with me as I carefully held my soup with my other hand, I walked out the back door and into the yard, the large tub sitting right in the middle. I leaned the washboard against the tub and rested my bowl on the trunk of the tree I once had the genius notion of using as my impromptu stool for this task. I grabbed the hose to fill up the tub and looked up at the setting sun.
It goes so quickly, so bright and then fades faster then I can possibly understand. I went back in to get the laundry and dumped it all in the tub once I had gotten back outside.
I picked up my soup up once the tub was filled and began slurping my noodles once more. Nima always made the best food, although I learned a great deal from her and could therefore hold my own. Casting all my stress to the farthest part of my brain, I sat down and pulled the washboard in between my legs. I was still wearing my skirt but I knew there could be no one watching me and the board basically covered the area anyway.
After scrubbing a few items, I returned to my soup, which was now noodle-less. As I drank the broth and relished in the sound of wind whistling through the silent moment, I couldn't help but feel the same eerie sensation once more: someone was staring at me. I looked around, but there was no one around. The walls that secluded my property were high and the only way someone would be staring at me is from the roofs of the buildings. The only way someone could be watching me is from the trees, further down the yard. They lined all the properties on this street, almost like a narrow strip of forest that I used to love to run around in when I was a child. I loved the sound of dead leaves crunching beneath my feet as I pretended I was running away from some horrible monster, and jumping onto branches to climb up to get away from him.
Now, I had begun to understand that I would need chase the monster away with any means necessary. For some reason, unbeknownst to me, I had already stood up and felt the rough texture of a rock in my hand. I threw it with all my strength and to my surprise, it went far enough for me to lose sight of it within the trees. I held my breath and strained my ears but there was nothing but silence. A few seconds passed and I felt the wind whip by me again while I remained as still as possible. My hair began to move into my face and I lifted my hand slowly to place it back behind my ear before sitting back down. I hadn't hear anything after I had chucked the rock, but as I continued my vigorous scrubbing, I no longer felt a pair of eyes boring into me.