Author's Note: I try to refrain from placing these before the chapters now, but I felt this warranted it. This is my second stab at a story showcasing Makoto and/or Ami as the main character. My first attempted, "Summer", is still unfinished due to sever writer's block and I think I know one of the source of that problem. Not only did I switch the characters I was working with but I also tried to place them in a non-AU setting that I was vastly unfamiliar with. It won't be impossible to finish, but the story felt abundantly forced and I generally try not to force my writing. Ideally I wait, and think, until a seemingly interesting or funny idea comes to mind then put it into word processor. What comes out is generally not how it started in my head, but often far more rewarding.

Okay, enough rambling. I hope you enjoy this first chapter and please review when you're done. Everybody can use encouragement and advice, right?

On a last note, as I don't speak Japanese anything they say in it will just appear in English. Try to use your imagination or if you can speak the langue maybe translate it in your head.

Change Up

By: Haruka's Knight

Chapter one: Meet Makoto

New York, 2000

It was raining. Water poured over the houses and apartment complexes of New York in an ominous manner as the occasional lighting strike lit up the distant edges of the sky. With a sigh two green eyes watched the temporary water fall that the kitchen window had become. Raining days had normally seemed calming and little Makoto loved to walk in them with her parents, but something felt wrong today. She'd felt it all day and now as evening approached it was no different.

"Makoto." The voice calling her pulled the ten year old from her thoughts and caused her to look up toward the kitchen door. Her neighbor and baby sitter stood watching her with a warm smile and kind eyes. "Do you want to watch a movie?"

Makoto just shook her head mutely and turned back to the window. Before the woman could speak again however they heard a knock at the door. The two exchanged curious looks and both proceeded to the door. As the door opened they found a NYPD patrol officer standing on the step seeming a bit uncomfortable as he held his hat in both hands. His uniform was covered but a big yellow rain coat as he first looked to the woman at the door.

"Makoto Kino?" He asked. Something in the man's eyes just looked horribly regretful when the woman shook her head and indicated the ten year old standing to her right. He knelt down to bring himself to her eye level and swallowed hard. "Are you Makoto Kino?"

Southern California, January 2008

Green eyes watched the clouds warily as the young woman stepped out on to the stone steps of her home. She locked the door, cursing lightly at the fact that only the dead bolt still worked and grabbed her backpack from the couch which sat on the porch. It may be nearly noon but it was still far too early for the teen as she adjusted her jean jacket and took her first few steps from the home. If it hadn't been a school day the teen would likely have just hung up her phone when it rang and her friend's voice met her ears.

"Kino! Where the hell are you? You know that coach said he'll through you off the team if you miss one more team practice, right?" Was all that the teen bothered to listen to before she grumbled and hung up. Luckily school was only a few blocks from the sleepily seeming neighborhood she stayed in, so it didn't take long for her to reach the gates.

"Miss Kino." The guard at the gate gave her a stern look and she bit her tongue not to curse outright. Of course the head of security had to be watching the gate today, nobody else could've had the lunch shift. "Late aren't we?"

"Alarm clock malfunctioned." Makoto responded with a tight smile and watched the obviously unconvinced look she received. The guard wrote something out, handing it to her before pulling her radio from her belt.

"Office, this is Chaney. I'm sending Miss Kino over from the gate." The woman said as she continued to watch the younger woman before her.

"Late again?" The voice of one secretary replied over the radio in an exasperated tone. "Alright, I'll be waiting for her but she needs to come inside not to the window today."

"You heard her Kino." The guard nodded toward the office that was only forty or fifty feet away on the open air campus. Makoto grumbled a bit to herself but passed Chaney with out comment. She always thought the woman looked more like the Terminator cop from Terminator 2 instead of a school guard. Right down to her dark glasses, hand cuffs and polished badge. It didn't help her mood to notice that the slip she'd been handed was a detention notice.

"There you are!" The voice rang across the mostly empty front office as Makoto pulled the door open and stepped inside. The first thing she noticed was that the secretary seemed way too happy to see her, even if she was friendly. After that she noticed that there was a quite young woman sitting in one of the chairs normally used by teens waiting to be suspended. One brown brow raised a fraction at the sight because the girl didn't look at all like the type that normally sat there.

Very short blue hair framed a gentle face which currently stared intently into a novel. Her deep blue eyes moved behind a set of wire framed reading glasses and a pen was perched carefully behind one ear. Perhaps the most out of place thing about the young woman was that se actually wore the district school uniform. A navy skirt that looked to go half way down her calves, a pressed white dress shirt and finally a sleeveless navy blue sweater pulled neatly over the shirt. Makoto couldn't name a single student that wore any variant of the uniform after their first month or so of freshmen year.

"Makoto." The voice pulled her attention away from the other teen and back to the smiling woman who leaned on a counter before her. Makoto knew that look even as she leaned sideways against the counter herself. That look was something the brunette student dreaded and had to be thankful for at the same time. "What are we going to do with you?"

"Well, if they'd hand me a diploma and cut me loose you wouldn't need to ever ask that again." Makoto replied with a joking smile on her own face. She actually like most of the office workers and knew them all too well for her own reasons. Makoto held up the detention notice between them and meet the pair of brown eyes before her. "Since I doubt that though, why don't we discuss what I can do to make this disappear, Miss Kyler?"

"I'm glad you asked." Michelle Kyler wasn't much older than Makoto so she was a favorite with the students to begin with. She brushed some blonde hair from her eyes before taking the detention notice happily from Makoto's hand. "I can make this disappear, and even give up a free pass on the half day you missed if you'll so me a simple favor."

"You want a free burger again?" Makoto smirked but Kyler shook her head. "No? Okay, what can I do for you then?"

"Makoto Kino, I'd like you to meet Ami Mizuno." The blonde waved a hand toward the other teen even as two blue eyes rose when the name was mentioned. Makoto nodded her head politely toward the other teen. The secretary smiled even wider. "Ami just transferred here and I thought you'd be the prefect tour guide for her."

"Why?" Makoto didn't mean to sound as blunt as she did, but the girl didn't look like she'd travel anywhere near the same circles as Makoto did. Everything about this girl seemed to scream honor student while Makoto was a sort of friendly problem case. In fact, at this point Makoto would need a miracle to even graduate with her class.

"You're bilingual." Kyler smiled when Makoto's face became even more confused. "Ami just transferred from Japan and you're the only other student I know that can speak Japanese fluently."

"How do you know I didn't make that up when I said it?" Makoto questioned, truly not feeling like playing tour guide to anyone.

"You are a lot of things Makoto, but a lair isn't one of them."

Ami didn't bother to tell either of them that she spoke English as well. When she'd first entered the office she'd been so nervous about her new atmosphere and all the looks she'd drawn on the way in that she'd held out her papers and uttered out a common Japanese greeting. Before she could correct the mistake the older secretary she'd first met had just nodded and absently waved her toward a chair. And that was where she'd been waiting for the last several hours.

"Nice to meet you Ami, I'm Kino Makoto." Makoto's voice woke the teen from her thoughts as the Japanese words rolled from her tainted lightly by the New York accent of the taller teen. Ami smiled shyly and rather than shake the offered hand she bowed to the taller young woman before her.

"Nice to meet you, Kino-san." Ami replied in her native langue as well. She felt nervous, unsure what to expect of the young woman before her. Makoto wore what Ami guessed were clothes from the men's department. A pair of fading blue jeans that were a little baggy, a white t-shirt under a collared green shirt that matched her eyes and a faded jacket made of the same material as her pants. On her back was a simple, though large, green backpack and her green eyes peaked at Ami over a pair of blue sunglasses.

"Sorry, I'm a bit rusty at this so I may not be as fluent as Miss Kyler claims." Makoto looked a little embarrassed by the sound of her own voice compared to how well suited to the langue Ami's seemed to be. Ami just smiled, feeling a little less out of place if her new guide also felt a bit embarrassed. Makoto pushed her sunglasses up and opened the door. "Well, maybe we should go get some lunch before it's over."

Author's note:

I promise to make the next chapter at least a bit longer. Honestly right now I just felt like this chapter would be going nowhere if I tried to force it to be longer. Ah well, characters are introduced so that's a good first step I hope.