Chapter 1

It was a dark night and the air was calm with not a single breeze. The moon hung low. It was full and everyone knows the strangest events happen on a full moon. Not a single living thing stirred- not a bat, cat or dog. The mist swirled around the trunks of trees. A lone girl came walking out of the mist. She wandered aimlessly.

The girl- perhaps 16- had her golden blonde hair done in a loose bun. She carried a bag slung over her shoulders and wore a pair of blue jeans and a light pink short-sleeved top. After a while she stopped and collapsed. "Who am I?" she whispered. "Does anyone know?" She picked up her head. A breeze had started. She let the gentle fingers of it caress her tired face. "Do you know who does, dear wind?" All of a sudden she caught a whiff of stir-fry. The girl looked at her stomach and clutched it as a wave of pain washed over her. "So…hungry…" She began to wander towards the source.

In front of her stood a large estate. Foreboding gates loomed above her. The girl turned to leave but caught another whiff of the food. She turned back to the gates and concentrated hard. How would she get in? Could she climb? Or maybe ring the doorbell and ask for food? She laughed silently at the latter. "Please, just open, gates. All I want is a place to stay and food to eat." A great moaning made her jump and the gates swung open. The girl glanced around curiously but soon entered.

She followed the path to a large house. She smelled the food again and a fresh wave of hunger pains washed over her. She ran towards the door. She raised a hand to knock when a wave of dizziness came over her and the world went dark.

Yûhi whistled as he stirred the food. Silently he checked the rice. It was almost finished. In the next room he could hear his sister-in-law, Suzumi, his best friend, Aya, and her boyfriend, Tôya, and Mrs. Q talking. He heard them laugh over a joke Mrs. Q had made.

It had been a long year. Many events had happened, a lot of friends were made and lost, and things were just becoming normal again. All of a sudden a guard was heard rushing in. "Ma'am," he panted to Suzumi, "the gates are open. We have reason to assume an intruder is on the grounds."

"Thank you for letting us know. Monitor the grounds and update us if you find anything." Yûhi listened to the guard's footsteps fade away. Yûhi took out his chopsticks and set the heat off. No way was he letting his friends get hurt- especially not Aya now that she's pregnant. He new the only exit he'd be able to sneak through with out Suzumi noticing was the exit in the kitchen that leads straight to the road. Silently he tried to open the door but it was barely moving. He gave a great push and felt whatever that was blocking the door tumble to the grass. He poked his head outside.

"Aah!" he gave a shout. On the ground lay a girl with pale hair and skin as white as the moon beam shining upon her. A mark was on her cheek like the imprint of a door. Oops, he thought, she must have been what I pushed when I opened the door.

Yûhi bent down to pick her up. He placed his arms gently around her shoulders and waist and hoisted her up. He gave a start. She was light, extremely light compared to Aya. He carried her in and burst into the dining room where the others sat waiting for their food.

"Yûhi! Finally we can all-" The sentence Suzumi was about to say faded on her lips. She was staring at the girl Yûhi had in his arms.

"Who is she?" asked Aya quietly.

"Maybe a foreign movie star who lost her way!" prompted Mrs. Q, which received quite a few glares.

"Well, she's most likely the intruder on your property," said Tôya thoughtfully.

"She doesn't appear like she'd hurt anybody," Aya noted.

"She looks starved, that's what she looks like," replied Mrs. Q.

"Unh…" The girl in Yûhi's arms stirred than opened her eyes. Yûhi was looking into a pair of gray eyes.

The girl awoke to see a man's face above her. He had soft hazel eyes and cropped brown hair. "Who- who are you?" she asked.

"You know, we could ask the same thing," the man answered. The girl blinked a few times till her vision cleared. It wasn't a man but a boy, little older than herself that was holding her.

"Could you put me down please?" she asked quietly. The boy flushed and set her down gently. The girl gazed intently around the room. There was an elegant lady in a pink satin kimono with a heron on the side sitting to her right, with another woman -at least, she thought it was a woman- wearing servant clothes. To the left was a pretty girl with bleached hair and holding a round belly. Pregnant, the girl realized. Behind her sat a man with unusual purple hair and a grim set face. "Who are you?" the pale girl repeated.

"I am Suzumi Aogiri," answered the woman in the kimono. "This is Mrs. Q, Aya Mikage and Tôya." Suzumi pointed to each in turn. The girl looked behind her.

"And him?"

"He's Yûhi Aogiri, my brother-in-law. He found you and carried you in."

"I'm sorry I've been a bother. I smelled food and was hungry and walked her and then the gates opened and then I walked to a door and then- and then I collapsed." The girl's words came out in a rush.

"No need to worry. Yûhi's cooking is the best in all of Japan," smiled Aya.

"Japan?"

"What kind of imbecile doesn't know where Japan is?" muttered Yûhi. The girl gave him a death glare.

"I know where Japan is!" she shouted, "I just don't know where I come fro or who I am! Not even my name!" The girl burst into tears.

"Come now, don't cry," soothed Mrs. Q, "Maybe after a warm dinner you'll remember more. I'll go unpack this bag."

"No need, I can do it," volunteered Yûhi.

"And let you touch her undergarments? NO WAY!" shouted Mrs. Q.

"It really doesn't matter," murmured the girl, "All I want is food. Let him unpack it if he wants." Mrs. Q reluctantly let the boy named Yûhi take the bag and hustled into the kitchen to fetch the food. The girl watched the Yûhi walk off with her bag.

Yûhi whistled as he brought the girl's bag to the spare room. He was happy for a change. It had been a while since Aya had moved out of the room next to his to live with Tôya. He slung the Adidas bag onto the ground and opened it.

Yûhi took out a two pairs of jeans, ten shirts, a formal blue dress, a black dress, and a pair of capris. The rest of the bag was empty. He put the clothes away in a dresser. And Mrs. Q was worried, he thought. He grabbed the bag and tried to fit in the closet but it was too long. Yûhi tried to fold the bag in half but something was blocking it. That can't be, he thought, I'm sure I emptied it! He reached in again. Nothing. He began raking the bottom. Still nothing. Then his finger caught on something. He pulled.

Put of the bag tumbled a false bottom and a few papers. Yûhi gathered them up. His eye was caught to one paper. It was folded and in neat writing said: Lua Himmel. "Lua," Yûhi repeated before picking up the pile of papers and heading to the dining room.

He barged in and dropped all the papers onto the table. Suzumi gave him her What-do-you-think-you-are-doing-face but Yûhi didn't care. "I found this in your bag!" he exclaimed excitedly, "It has documents and a letter addressed to a Lua Himmel."

"Lua…Himmel…" the girl repeated. She stared at the papers. Yûhi, impatient as always, put the letter in her hand. Slowly the girl opened it.

Dear Lua,

By now you will have realized you are in Japan and that you have no idea who you are. The documents you have found are everything you need to attend school. This also includes your social security number, your health insurance, your passport, and your Canadian citizenship.

You are Lua Himmel. You were born on May 1 and you are now 16. Your hair is naturally blonde so don't worry about dye jobs. You were born in Canada and are fluent in English, German, and Japanese.

Your family and I are extremely sorry for the trouble this is causing you. We cannot allow you to continue living in North America. There are too many people who know about your...'unique abilities'. Be wary of them. They will try to harm you and your new friends.

I apologize for not being able to further help you find your memory. That you will have to find yourself. For now, it's best you have no memory. Go to school, explore Japan, make new friends and, maybe even find a boyfriend.

Love Your Best Friend,

Bianca Ueada

"Oh," whispered Lua.

Lua looked at the letter again. This explained enough. It gave her the power to lead a sort of normal life, but there was much she did not understand. Who is 'they'? What does she mean 'unique abilities'? Lua held a hand to her head as a dull throbbing began behind her eyes.

"Well, we best be off. Tôya and I will visit again next weekend, 'kay?" Aya stood up with the help of Tôya and they walked out the front with Mrs. Q accompanying them.

"Lua…that name seems familiar," spoke Yûhi.

"I believe it means moon in Portuguese," answered Suzumi.

"And Himmel? What does Himmel mean?" questioned Lua anxiously.

"Don't you know? You are fluent in German." Lua went quiet. The look of surprise was obvious on her face.

"It means sky or heaven," Lua said quietly. Yûhi was staring at her. She turned her head to meet his eyes. "What?"

"I…uh…I find it weird that you know so little about your past yet you can translate a language you should've forgotten in the process if it wasn't your first," Yûhi stammered.

"Things happen." Lua took in a deep breath. Something was hurting her in the side. Carefully she raised her shirt high enough to see the side of her stomach. A large bruise was apparent. "Now how did that happen? I didn't have a bruise when I first woke up." Suzumi glanced at Yûhi. His face turned beet red.

"My bad," he answered, "I thought a rock or something was in front of the door so I pushed hard and probably ended up hurting you." Lua looked at the blue and purple mark again. She raised to fingers to her lips, kissed them, and brought them down on the bruise. Slowly the mark began to fade.

"What the-" started Yûhi. Lua's eyes widened as she saw the mark was gone.

"How did I do that?" she cried out.

"Celestial powers."

"WHAT?" shouted Yûhi. "You can't mean that this foreigner has celestial blood like Aya!"

"That is exactly what I'm implying," answered Suzumi steadily, "I believe she may possess celestial blood and powers. That would explain some of the letter." Yûhi glanced at her.

"Celestial powers?" whispered Lua. The throbbing behind her eyes became worse. "I- I'd like to rest. This is a little too much for me right now." Suzumi nodded.

"Tomorrow is Sunday. We can figure out more then. I'll enroll you into Yûhi's school. You'll be a grade below him, but at least I can rest assured that if there's a problem you know someone there."

Yûhi led Lua to the room adjacent to his. "This is your room. If you ever set foot into mine I won't hesitate to hurt you even if you're a girl." Yûhi stalked into his and slid the screen shut behind him.

"What an odd boy," murmured Lua. She stripped down and put on a nightdress that Mrs. Q had left her. She snuggled into the cot and shut her eyes. Perhaps tomorrow I'll understand.

Yûhi lay on his bed with his eyes wide open. He had the music on his mp3 on full blast. He let the words flow through his mind and calm him down. "Lua," he whispered. Violently he shook his head. He couldn't understand why the name wouldn't leave him. Ever since he saw it on the letter he's had a nagging in his mind as if he should be remembering something but he can't. He rolled over onto one side.

On his nightstand stood a picture of him with all his friends: Chidori, Shuro, Tôya, and Aya. He sighed. Yûhi knew it was hopeless even to think about Aya. She was going to marry Tôya as soon as she turned 18. She was having his baby. Yet all Yûhi could think about was her. A picture of Lua's face in the moonlight flashed through his mind.

Yûhi turned off the music and closed his eyes. There was no use thinking about it now; that could wait till tomorrow.