Summary: a girl from Dallas, Texas encounters an unknown booth in a popular theme park during a school event. For the fun of it, she goes through with the stranger's little game. One week later, she wakes up and finds herself on a plane and landing in Japan as a foreign exchange student and staying with a familiar family. Who knew writing down eight sets of initials would be so life changing?
Eight Initials Chapter 1"Come on Nicky! I wanna get to the rides before the lines get too long," a long, brown-haired girl shouts out as she waits for the black-haired girl to catch up.
"I'm coming, I'm coming! Why do you have to walk so fast, Ashley?" The ebony-haired girl, Nicky, pants out as she trudges up the hill to the entrance of the large theme park with a large group of students who were lucky enough to go here instead of class.
"Sorry. It's not my fault my legs have a default of power walk. Come on, let's go so we can dump some of our stuff in a locker before they're all taken," the brunette known as you apologizes when Nicky catches up. They continue up to the entrance and show their season passes as they go through. They get their bags cleared and put away in a locker before heading over to their first stop.
"Excuse me ladies, would you be interested in playing my game?" you two hear and look over to see a young man in a booth motioning for them to come over.
"I guess, depends on what the game is…And how much," You shrug as you walk over to him.
"As my first customers for the day, I'll let you play for free. The rules for my game are simple. All you have to do is write down the initials of your four favorite males and four favorite females of any TV series of your choosing that contains a school on these papers, along with your first name and last initial and the first letter of each word in the series title. It doesn't matter if the series airs anymore, as long as it was once on TV in any country or language you want. You will keep one of the sheets and I will keep the other sheet. One week from now, you will find yourself as an exchange student and staying with one of the characters from that series, no worries about misunderstanding them as you will be able to understand them and know how to talk and read their language as if it were your native language. Now…Would you like to play?" The man asks again.
"What should I do if one of the characters have secret identities and thus two names or don't have last names?" You question the man.
"Simply put the first name as what they go by for their secret identity and the last name as the one they were born with. Then just put one letter for those with no known last name or place the first letter of any title they may possess as the first initial," the man explains
"Why Not? After all, what harm could it do? What about you Nicky?" You comply and take a pen and paper to jot down your name.
"No thanks. It's not really my thing and couldn't really happen anyways," Nicky refuses.
"Suit yourself," You shrug and jots down the letters: HJ, KM, YU, KK, Y, LM, MG, SK, and YYHGF. You then rip off one of the colorful sheets and hand the man his pen and sheet, stuffing the other in your pocket.
"I thank you miss. Have a nice day," the man compliments and smiles at you as you walk towards the ride you were previously headed for. The two of you continued your day of fun as if it didn't happen and soon return home when school was nearing an end.
…One week later-Friday night…
You logged off and shut down your computer as you took a big yawn. Today had been a long and uneventful day filled with the usual weekly grocery shopping, TV, computer surfing, and calculating everyone's fitness age on the new Wii you'd recently gotten for Christmas. You climbed to the upper bunk of your bed, too tired to change into pajamas, and turned on your mp3 to get some rest. Something told you tomorrow was gonna be different and something big was gonna happen, so you needed to be well rested.
…The next morning…
You woke up to the sound of some unknown noise, and the loss of noise from your music. You rubbed the sleep out of your eyes and tried to regain focus on your surroundings. Even blurry eyed as you were, you knew that you were not in your room. For one, you were in an uncomfortably plush chair with your head leaning on something cold, like glass. You knew this for your butt was sore as if you'd been sitting on it for hours and your neck and one spot of your head were uncomfortably positioned to your right like you would do to try to lean on a window and rest in a car. Second, the colors around you were more of an off white with blobs of random colors, as opposed to the lavender shade of your bedroom walls with blobs of color to represent your cluttered yellow dresser, wooden door, and 20" television.
As soon as you could see clearly, you looked around to see a large amount of the same chairs in rows of twelve, neatly divided into three columns of three, six, then three chairs to form aisles to walk through, similar to what the inside of a plane would look like in a movie. You mainly referred to a movie due to never actually being on a plane. You looked to your right to see that you were leaning on a window and looked out of it to see a blue sky with clouds and the wing of the plane in your sight. You furrowed your eyebrows in confusion as you put on your glasses and gently tapped the shoulder of the person next to you who appeared to be eating some breakfast. The man who appeared to be in his thirties turned to you and swallowed his food while you shyly asked what the loud speaker had announced, realizing that was what woke you.
"Oh, it just said we'd be landing in the Tokyo airport soon. I think about 10 or 20 minutes," the man informed you kindly. You thanked him and grabbed your red purse from the floor between your legs. You shuffle through it and find three papers that catch your eye. One you recognize as the sheet you kept from the man at the theme park last week while the other two were a map of Japan, specifically Tokyo, and an envelope you don't recognize. You remove the two sheets inside the envelope and read over the letter written on one of the sheets.
'To Ashley Silica,
We are pleased to inform you that you have been chosen as the international exchange student and will be attending Meiou High School for the remainder of your high school education while staying with a volunteer family enrolled in that school. They will meet you at the airport with a sign carrying your name. This envelope also contains a copy of your schedule as well as a plane ticket. Your uniform will have been sent to the family before your arrival. We hope to see you in school as soon as possible, and trust your journey to be a safe one.
Sincerely,
The American and Japanese educational boards'
'A-Are you saying that what that man said actually worked?! T-Then, does that mean I'll be living with the Minamino family?! I did put Kurama's initials with his human last name…-sigh- I guess I'll find out soon enough…At least I now know I don't get air sick,' You thought upon finishing the letter. You placed the letter back in the envelope and looked over your schedule a few times, trying to memorize what classes you would be taking while pronouncing and storing away how to state the teachers' names in your mind and their location. 'That's weird, only two room numbers. Oh, that's right. The teachers move around from class to class. We only move to go to gym. That's why the only lockers seen in anime are the shoe lockers and gym lockers,' you think. You nearly groaned when you saw that you were going to be taking P.E. almost immediately after lunch. 'Great, now there's even more reason for my metabolism to speed up more that it already goes, and more reason to eat more food and be falsely accused of being physically fit,' you thought sourly, placing the schedule back in your purse. You picked up your mp3 that lie in your lap and placed it in your purse as well before zipping it closed.
Soon after, the intercom comes on and tells everyone to put on their seat belts and turn off any electronic devices so they could land. You made sure your phone was off and pulled on your seat belt. Not too long, you felt the direction change as you got the slight sinking feeling one gets when going down. When the plane landed, you grabbed your purse and pillow and looked on the racks to see if you had any bags up there and grabbed them before getting off.
You looked around yourself in the airport as you dragged all your stuff behind you. Surprisingly, it was only two suitcases, your purse, and your large, blue backpack that you'd used for school back home. you examined the crowd around you as you walked towards the exits slowly, searching for some sign of Kurama's bright red hair. You soon found it and saw him holding a sign with your name on it and standing with his mother, stepfather, and stepbrother. You grinned when you saw them and headed in their direction quickly.
"Excuse me, My name's Silica Ashley. Are you the family I'll be staying with?" you ask them hesitantly as you try out the new language that seemed to come to you as easily as English.
"Yes of course. It's nice to finally meet you dear. My name's Minamino, Shiori, but you can just call me Shiori," Kurama's mother introduces and bows politely. You bow to each family member in turn as they all bow back at you, introducing themselves. Kurama and his little brother offer to take your bags and you thank them while handing the two suitcases to them, giving the lighter one to Shuuichi.
"Man, this thing isn't even that heavy. What do you just have some tank tops and shorts in here? I know you're from a warm state but doesn't it ever get cold there?" Shuuichi asks as everyone walked towards the car.
"Of course it does. I don't usually wear shorts. I think that one's filled with all my clothes while the rest of my things are in the other one and my backpack. Maybe you're stronger than you think Shuuichi-chan," You explain to him.
"Why do you have so few clothes? I would have thought both were filled with them, or at least one and half of another," Kurama questions.
"I figure, if I'm gonna be staying here for a year or two, I'll just bring some clothes to remind me of home, but enough to last for a while before I run out, and I'll just use what money I have to buy some clothes from here. Gets me souvenirs and helps with me fitting in better while I stay here instead of sticking out like a 2-by-4 in a crystal figurine shop," You shrug and puts your backpack in the trunk of the car.
"I don't think I've ever heard a comparison like that before. Why did you compare yourself to a piece of wood, I wonder?" Kurama comments as everyone slips in the car, you in the middle back seat, and his stepfather starts it up.
"I dunno, really. It just came to my mind and I didn't feel like using the phrase sticking out like a sore thumb. I'm not really hurting in any way. I just feel awkward and a little uncomfortable being in a different country, especially without my family or friend's back home in Texas. Plus, I just had my first flight on an airplane. No telling what my brain's gonna be like after that," You continue to explain.
"You still shouldn't label yourself as a piece of wood dear. It doesn't suit someone who looks as nice as you," Shiori scolds lightly.
"Thanks, Shiori-san. I guess I just don't feel as elegant as all the beautiful sceneries and creations that are here in Japan. Here you have Sakura trees abundant, back home some of the more beautiful wide scattered plants are the state flower bluebonnets that are against the law to pick," You thank slightly embarrassed.
"Hey Silica-san, what's it like back where you're from? What kind of foods do you have?" Shuuichi asks enthusiastically.
"Shuuichi, you should show that much enthusiasm and interest in your school work," Kurama suggests brotherly. You laugh softly at Shuuichi's pouting face.
"It depends Shuuichi-chan. We have a wide variety of foods. I don't want to end up offending you by accident so could you tell me if you are herbivore, carnivore, or omnivore?" You ask him slyly. Shuuichi stares at you questioningly open-mouthed as you hear a small chuckle to your other side. You turn to see Kurama hiding a smile with his hands and his shoulders shaking slightly. "What's so funny Shuuichi-kun?" You ask him, still smiling.
"Nothing, I just thought it was quite clever how you slipped in that science question in your conversation with my little brother, though I'm not sure if he's learned about those in school yet," Kurama comments.
"We haven't. They said we're supposed to learn about something called food chains, energy pyramids and food webs next week," Shuuichi pouts, looking out the window as the car pulls up into the driveway.
"Then you should learn what those three terms are any day as long as you pay attention in class. I'm not going to tell you about the different foods until you can answer my question and I suggest you be sure about it before you tell me. Oh, and you guys can just call my Ashley. It feels a little weird if someone calls me by my last name other than a teacher or administrator," You inform him as you follow Kurama out of the car and to the trunk.
"Ashley-san, I almost forgot, you're uniform came in the mail a few days ago but we're not sure if it'll fit you. If you like you can try it on and if it doesn't fit, then tomorrow we can have it tailored and maybe buy you some new clothes like you suggested earlier," Shiori informed you.
"Sure that'd be great Shiori-san," you agree and sling your backpack over your shoulders.
"Would you like some help settling in Ashley-san?" Kurama offers and grabs your suitcases.
"Thank you so much. You don't have to if you don't want to Shuuichi-san," You accept, following him to your room. When you two reached your room, you looked around to see that it was quite large and had a bed with a night stand, a desk with a chair and a computer, a dresser with a mirror, and a bookshelf along with two doors on one wall and a window above the desk. All in all, it was nice, simple, and just needed some things to show it was now inhabited.
"Let's get started, shall we?" Kurama suggests and lays your suitcases on your new bed.
"Sure, but just one thing. Where's the bathroom before we start?" You ask and set your backpack and purse down beside the bed.
"Of course. Mother thought you should have some privacy so she gave you the guest room with it's own bathroom. It'll be that door on the right, the left one's your closet. I'll see if I can't get us some snacks while you're in there," Kurama points out and heads downstairs to the kitchen after you thank him again. While in the bathroom, you try getting over your shock so you don't do anything drastic and embarrassing that could give away your knowledge of his secret.
As this goes on, you just stand there in silence for a while until you hear Kurama come back in your room and say muffled, "Hello Hiei. To what do I owe this visit?" You jerk your head up and walk closer to the door, listening intensively.
"Hn. I thought I'd warn you that Yusuke and the two idiots are planning on making a visit today along with Yukina. Also, I sensed an unknown spirit energy in your house…Another of your human family members staying here fox?" Hiei informs indifferently.
"Actually, it appears I'll be having an exchange student staying here until she finishes high school. A girl from Texas by the name of Silica, Ashley will be staying in here so I would appreciate it if you told the others to remember to call me Shuuichi. I don't know much about this girl but she's quite bright and I don't want her catching any slip-ups. The same goes for you too, Hiei. I expect you'll be coming with them as well and I would prefer you didn't call me fox around them," Kurama informs calmly. Hiei replies with his monosyllable before you hear a very soft click that was probably from your window.
You wait a minute to soak in what just transpired and not cause suspicion before flushing the toilet and walking out of the bathroom. You see Kurama sitting in your desk chair with a plate of rice balls sitting on the desk next to him. You grab one of them and plug in your mp3 to the computer speakers as you both head over to your things. You open up the smaller one that you had Shuuichi carry to the car and see all your pants, with a couple of black pants you wore for school that looked more like regular pants, lots of your shirts both new, unrecognizable and old, familiar ones, and your pajamas and undergarments/swimsuits partially hidden under the rest of your clothes and socks.
"You call this some clothes to remind you of home?" Kurama asks amusedly.
"Yeah. You just be glad it doesn't take up five suitcases and five more of whatever junk I threw in the other one. My family are all pack rats and I'm no exception," you retort and bring it over to the dresser. You quickly shove your underwear in a small drawer and your socks in another as Kurama joins you. You both quickly get your clothes put away as the songs change from 'Legend of Mermaid' to 'Let it Die.' You close the suitcase and stash it under your bed while Kurama opens the other suitcase.
"Hm? What's this, Ashley-san?" Kurama asks you, motioning towards the square, limp package on top of everything. You grab the wrapping paper and unfold it carefully. You show Kurama the smooth red and white fabric with a smile on your face.
"It's just a cheap Kimono I bought with my allowance some time ago. I mean, the obi itself is Velcro," You explain simply and fold the paper back up neatly, lying it down on your bed. Inside the suitcase were mainly boxes, books, and plastic bags from the store to make sure all your things didn't break. You took out what few pillows you had and remove them from the vacuum-sealed bag, tossing them on your bed. You two then started unpacking your dragon wind-chime and statues when Shuuichi came in.
"Shuu-nii, some of your friends are here," he informs.
"Alright. Tell them I'll be down in a second will you?" Kurama requests. Shuuichi nods and heads back downstairs.
"I didn't know you had friends coming over," You lie, looking at him with fake curiosity.
"Yes well, I just got a call saying they might drop by today when I got a snack. I guess with all the unpacking, I forgot to mention it. I'll go down and explain to them that you're here and why before I introduce you to them. I'll be back up in a bit," Kurama explains and heads out.
"Fine by me. I'll just start decorating with my statues and see where some posters can go," You wave away as he leaves your sight. You place all of the books in the suitcase on the empty bookshelf. You then grab a few of the statuettes the two of you unwrapped and place your dragon statue/lamp on the nightstand before heading over to your dresser to start arranging them. As you're doing so, the song changes over to 'Life is like a boat' and you start singing with it as you place a few small statues on your desk's elevated shelves, your back facing the door.
As you sing the last note, you turn around with your large black pillow in your hands to fluff up, a gentle smile on your face. When you open your eyes after finishing the song, you see Kurama standing by the door with Yusuke, Botan, Kuwabara, Hiei, and Yukina. They all start clapping, minus Hiei who just stands there and Yusuke who whistles and cheers a bit, while you hide your face in the big pillow you held.
"Shuuichi!! How could you?! Why didn't you tell me you guys were there?! How much did you hear?!" You shout angrily once you show your face to them again.
"I'm sorry Ashley-san. I didn't want to interrupt you. You seemed to be enjoying yourself and sang quite well I might add," Kurama apologizes amusedly while trying to hide his smile and amusement at my reaction behind his hand and failing.
"Hardy har, har. My reactions are gonna be your new personal entertainment during my stay here now, aren't they?" you question a tad sourly. Kurama shrugs with his cute and innocent 'I don't know what you're talking about' look. You wave it off and continue, "Well, aren't you going to introduce me to your friends K-Shuuichi?" You mentally curse yourself for your stupidity, almost slipping and referring to him as Kurama. You glance at his reaction then the others' quickly while not causing suspicion. You almost sigh when you take note that none of them seemed to notice, but kept your face in a curious gaze towards them, as far as you knew, Hiei and Kurama still could have noticed.
"Yes, of course. Ashley-san, I'd like for you to meet my friends Urameshi Yusuke, Kuwabara Kazuma, Botan, Yukina, and Hiei. Everyone, I'd like for you all to meet my new guest, Silica Ashley," Kurama introduces, gesturing to each person in turn. I bow politely and greet them, Yukina and Botan following the gesture while Yusuke and Kuwabara wave and Hiei just uses his monosyllable.
"Come on shrimp! Is that all you have to say?! You could at least show Silica-san some respect," Kuwabara shouts at Hiei. Hiei merely sneers at him and replies with his monosyllable again.
"Speaking of which, Ku-Shuuichi, you never said this foreign exchange student was gonna be a cute nerd like her," Yusuke complains to Kurama.
"Hm. Not sure whether that's a compliment or and insult…Oh, well. You called me a nerd so I'll take it as a compliment," you say thoughtfully.
"Why would you take being called a nerd as a compliment instead of an insult?" Yusuke asks you confused.
"I'd rather be known for what little talents I possess instead of what I look like. I don't really make a big fuss about my appearance or what others think of me," you explain nonchalantly, pausing your mp3.
"What do you mean 'what little talents' you have? You're really intelligent, enough so to be able to go to Shuuichi's school. You can sing, you're beautiful, and I'm sure there are more talents you have too," Botan praises in protest.
"This is all true to some extent, but there are so many things I can't do that matter more in this world. And while I do have brains, a voice, drawing skills, and a little bit of writing skills, I'm not elegant, I can't dance worth anything, and I have no money or means to protect myself. Seeing as I don't know martial arts, I can't possess a gun here and I'm not an ace shooter anyways, and I don't even have a simple pocket knife or bottle of mace or pepper spray. Not to mention, I'm just a rather weak human. I don't have any super or demonic powers and I've never encountered anything radioactive other than the everyday cell phone. Lord, take mercy on all who receive brain cancer from such and end their lives and suffering quickly," You continue to explain as if it were as clear as day with no detectable emotion in your voice, pushing your glasses up in the classic nerd fashion.
"Hn. The onna has a point. She wouldn't last ten minutes before she became food or a toy to someone over there. She's even weaker than the buffoon over here," Hiei agrees, gesturing to Kuwabara on the last bit.
"What did you just say shrimp?! I'll show you weak!" Kuwabara threatens angrily and grabs the collar of Hiei's cloak and scarf.
"Guys, Guys!…," You shout to get their attention. They ignore you as they continue to argue. "CHILDREN!! Stop before you take this too far! I will not allow you to fight in my room, much less the residence of this family! If you wish to fight each other so badly, then go down the street and fight, but you're not doing so here! I may be weak, but I can use force to stop you if necessary!" You shout at them, getting everyone's attention. You weren't really ever one to be loud, but if you were pissed off enough, you could be. They just happened to be irritating you enough for you to be somewhat louder than normal right now.
"And how exactly would you go about doing that onna?" Hiei questions mockingly. Knowing you wouldn't stand a chance against him in an actual fight.
"I know plenty of ways using pressure points and such. I may not be able to knock someone unconscious by simply adding pressure to one, but I can at least stop Kuwabara-san from trying to hit you. More or less, I can cause pain to someone so that they are distracted by the sudden wave, and thus no longer thinking about what they were doing or going to do beforehand for a few seconds," You explain.
"Why me?" Kuwabara asks dejectedly.
"Simply because I can tell that he would be more guarded, thus, harder to deal with. Plus, you were the one that was showing signs of violent actions. Hiei-san, more or less looked like he was merely trying to state 'truths' to mess with your head, and was being quite successful with it as well," You tell him simply, using air quotations for "truths."
"-Cough- Ashley-san, perhaps you should try on your uniform to make sure it fits. Mother mentioned that it would be a good idea if you tried it on now so she knew what she needed to get done tomorrow," Kurama intervenes.
"Oh, um, right. I'll go do that. If you guys want, you can just hang out here or whatever. I'll be out in a little bit. Oh! Botan-san, Yukina-san, could one of you help me tell if this uniform fits properly?" you ask a little embarrassed.
"Of course. Just go put it on and come back out here. We'll help you out, no problem," Botan complies cheerfully as you head into the bathroom after grabbing something from your drawers.
"Thanks you guys," you thank and close the door to change. When you come out, you're wearing the red sailor suit top with the knee-length, pleated skirt and knee high socks.
"Oh, Silica-san you look gorgeous in that. You look so much more beautiful in a skirt or a dress than in those pants. And you've got a wonderful pair of legs that flatter you," Botan compliments endlessly as you just stand there with your hands clasped behind your back.
"Um…thanks?" You reply confused and embarrassed. You notice the guys had left and thank that they hadn't seen your current disposition.
"You do look quite nice Silica-san. And it looks like it all fits you ok. Does it feel fine?" Yukina asks, more attention on what they had originally been asked to do while still slipping in the compliment.
"You guys can just call me Ashley. And I think it's ok, except I think I might get the sleeves a little longer and make the shirt long enough to tuck in where it stays in while my arms are up, I don't really like it when my stomach shows. Maybe I'll get the skirt a couple inches longer too," you input as you examine yourself.
"Oh, S-Ashley-san, I noticed you got something out of your dresser. What was it exactly?" Botan questions, returning back to reality finally.