She stood in front of the class terrified. On the outside, she was the poster child for poise and grace, but on the inside, it was a different story. Inside her knees were shaking and her heart felt as though it would beat straight out of her chest.

"State your name and tell us a little about yourself," instructed the teacher.

"Oh, okay," the girl removed her hands from behind her and allowed them to lay limp by her sides. " My name is Brinckmahnn Ai, I'm sixteen and I am half Japanese and half German. Despite that, this is the first time I have ever been in Japan. I moved here with my foster parents and their son and nephew. We moved here from Tianjin, China, a city close to the capital. I was born in Germany, then I moved to the states and then to China and now here to Japan. Because I moved from country to country I am now fluent in Four languages," she smiled with pride at the fact.

"Very impressive, welcome to Japan, Brinckmahnn-san. You may go take your seat next to Sagi. As Ai was taking her seat she oblivious to the two young men looking at her.

"She speaks Chinese too, Shen-kun. Maybe you will be able to talk to her in your native tongue. That could be fun," spoke one of the boys.

"I don't know. We'll have to see," spoke the other as she took her seat. He couldn't help but sense that there was something different about her.

"Well whether you do or you don't, she sure is cute."

"…"

Ai went straight to work, finding it easy and no challenge for her. She thought in skipping a grade or two would prove the work more difficult, but she has been wrong before. Despite the lack of difficulty, she continued to work well into the lunch hour, in which the rest of the class pulled out their lunches and socialized. She had come in the middle of the semester and had plenty of work to catch up on to keep her busy. She was in the middle of an algebraic equation when she was interrupted by the boy called "Sagi".

"Ya know, you've already impressed everyone with your language skills, no need to go overboard by skipping lunch to work," he spoke with a smile on his face and humor in his voice.

"Heh, I guess I didn't hear the announcement for lunch," she said putting her work away as to not be tempted to start again. She began to unpack her lunch and eat.

"Do you care if I eat with you?" She shook her head no. "I'm Sagi Hideki by the way," he said

"Brinckmahnn Ai," she said bowing her head slightly.

"So, Brinckmahnn-san, okay that's a mouthful, no offense. Mind if I call you Brink-chan?"

"Not at all, I like," she said laughing.

"So you moved here from China? Either we're suddenly really cool or china must suck."

"What do you mean?"

"Well you're the second person to move here from china this year. We don't get many transfers into class, transfers out are a different story," he chuckled a bit at his own joke.

"Really?! Are they in this class?"

"Yeah, you see those two guys standing next to the window? The one wit the dark hair and the green eyes is Li Shen. He has an attitude issue, but I've only spoken to him a few times. He can't be that bad considering he's friends with Hanajima Kaisei."

"The one next to him? with the lighter hair?"

"Yeah, he's a cool guy. No one has said anything bad about him."

As she was looking the boys over, Ai noticed something weird, they were both looking at her too. She looked away and faced Hideki.

"Sagi-san, do you think you could introduce me? I'm still a little homesick and I'd like to ask how he adjusted.'

"Sure let's go." He got up and walked over to the boys with Ai following up behind him. "Hey guys, 'sup?"

"What do you want, Sagi?" inquired Shen coolly.

"Oh, touchy. Calm down, or maybe I should say warm up since your being so cold. I just wanted to introduce our newest student to you personally. Brink-chan this is Li Shen and Hanajima Kaisei.

"Shen looked at her with sharp cool eyes. Kaisei's were much warmer and kinder.

"Pleased to meet you," she said bowing deeply.

"The pleasure is ours, Ai-chan. May I call you Ai-chan?" asked the friendlier of the two.

"Of course, Hanajima-senpai.,"

Kaisei chuckled at the formal title. "That won't do at all. Despite the fact that I am older, an upperclassman and this is a third year homeroom, you were put in here for a reason, so that makes us equals. And besides 'Senpai' makes me feel old. Please call me Kaisei-kun or Hanajima-kun," Kaisei spoke with a smile.

"Hao, Kaisei-kun. While I am glad I met you, Kaisei-kun. I was hoping to talk to you, Li-senpai," Ai spoke and looked up to the tall boy, who eyes had soften slightly and were now wide with shock.

"Eh?"

"Yes, well, Sagi-san said that you moved here from China as well and I was hoping you could give me some advice about adjusting, I seem to be having more trouble than usual."

"Oh, um … just stick with it and you'll get used to being here naturally."

"Really? Xiexie Li-Senpai," Ai bowed to him and suddenly Shen was cool and rigid once again.

"Sure. Lets go, Kaisei."

"But …"

"Now."

The two walked to into the hall and left Ai very confused. I wonder what made him so cold, thought Ai. Oh well, time to get back to work.

When the day was over, Ai left to go home without waiting to speak with anyone. On her way, she walked past a book store and stopped in front of the entrance. Suddenly a strange feeling overcame her and she went straight to a book. She picked it up and ran her fingers along the cover.

" The Clown ? What a strange name," Ai said as she moved to the register.

On her way home she kept asking herself why she would buy a book about clowns. She hated clowns.

When she entered the apartment she greeted Tai, the son, and Fang, the nephew.

"Hey, shortie, how was school?" she asked of the ten-year old boy. The only reply she received was a shrug. "Has anyone ever told you that you talk to much?" He shook his head.

"I don't think you ever will. How about you, Tai? College here okay?"

"School is school, no matter where you go. Knowing you, however, you probably had somethin' amazing happen that you wanna tell us," the older boy spoke with an easygoing, neutral tone.

"Actually, I met some new people, and there is a guy in my class who transferred from china recently too. Also on my way home today I went into this book store and bought a book. I don't even know why I bought it. It just called to me."

"What's it called?"

"The Clown," she said as she walked into the room dedicated to studying. She removed the book from her school bag and placed it on the desk.

"Are you sure you got the title right?"

"Yes, I know how to read. What do you think I am, an idio-," she stopped herself when she noticed that she had gotten the name wrong. Her fingers started to play with the lock, that confined the book to its closed position.

"Uh, I sorta added an extra letter, Tai. It's called The Clow," the lock came undone. Her fingers carefully moved to the cover and they gently ran across the detail of the cover. The book was red and gold with a picture of a winged beast, similar to a lion. Her fingers ran across the edge. Now, she was interested in the contents of the book, not the cover art.

"Don't open that book!"