Chapter One: One Step Forward

Shiki: Hello, I'm Shiki.

Ai: Hi, I'm Ai!

Shiki: For those of you who don't already know, my friend here and I are sharing an acc and co-authoring our story 'Lost and Found, Free yet Bound'

Ai: This is our first story so we hope you enjoy it despite any small mistakes or typos you find! Please review and tell us what you thought of it!

Disclaimer: We don't own KHR, only the ocs we create


Raven Black looked at her reflection unblinkingly, taking in her appearance as much as she could. After today, it'll be, quite possibly, her last looking like her fourteen year old self. Tomorrow, when she boards that plane to Namimori, she would be Raven Black no longer. She would be Akukami Shiki, a blond and blue eyed, mixed male coming to Japan to learn more of his Japanese heritage. Raven glanced at the closed bathroom door where her best friend was in the other room thoughtfully, hands tightening on the towel wrapped around her lithe form. ' She's coming too...I hope we're doing the right thing moving to Japan...

The black haired girl glanced back to the mirror, her green eyes swept over her face, taking in all the features pensively.

Raven had dark emerald green eyes, with wild and feathery, jet black hair that's layered. It was a little longer than neck length; styled with the fringe beyond chin length on the left of her face, covering her left eye slightly. The shorter fringes spiked out away from her forehead, reaching mid nose before lengthening near the end of the right brow, and meeting beyond chin length again. Her hair also sported a small pony tail in the back. Her black lashes and pale pink lips heavily contrasted to her stark white and somewhat sickly skin.

She glimpsed at her thin body in distaste. She was about 5'3 in height and unhealthily skinny due to her junk food regime.

'I should eat better' She thought randomly to herself.

Her eyes slipped shut. She sighed deeply and pressed her forehead against the cool bathroom mirror. Things were changing again. It seemed so long ago when she was just a child...


Eight years ago...

Growing up as an only child of two newly wealthy parents, Fiacre and Akari Black, was a lonely thing for six year old Raven, despite the fact that they both cherished and loved her very much. Due to their work, that a lot of times caused them to break promises they had made to spend time with her, Raven found herself spending a lot of time alone, frequently reading manga and watching anime or helping with the accident prone servants that worked in the kitchen and around the manor.

Raven had no friends her age to play with because she was home-schooled, and her black clad butler/tutor was someone she most definitely didn't want to be playing games with, he was super strict and his closed eyed, Cheshire cat smiles were scary. Nope, he was a no-nonsense type of person, but he seems to enjoy bothering her musical tutor that came by every 4 days of the week-Who didn't seem like the type to play either. Maybe he wore an eye patch 'cause he poked it out playing pirate or something...

One sunny day, young little Raven sat, waiting patiently for the old grandfather clock to strike twelve. That was the time her parents promised to come home, in order to take her to the park down the street she often saw.

She had dressed prettily for her parents, sporting a blue frilled shirt with a cute satin white ribbon that went around her tiny waist and a smaller one around her neck. She wore black tights and blue bow-tied flats on her feet. Her black hair was pulled into two long pony tails on either sides of her head with two fuzzy black and white barrettes that looked suspiciously like cat ears hiding the scrunchies in her hair, courtesy of her black haired butler who patted her head with his white gloved hand and sent her on her way with that closed eyed smile.

And so she waited by the table with the phone next to the grandfather clock, as the hand ticked steadily away, growing closer and closer to twelve. Her smile faltered when it was eleven forty am. Her once bright emerald green eyes dulled slightly and was downcast. She began having doubts about her parents showing, her small heart began pounding in her chest nervously. She suddenly felt embarrassed to be all dressed up.

'Maybe they won't come again..But they said for sure this time!' Raven's eyes latched firmly on the clock daring it to tick slower so that her parents might come early. 'It's 11:54 am...' She thought glumly as that familiar sensation of sadness and abandonment clenched her heart.

Just then, Raven caught the sound of keys clanging together, a smile spread on her face and the feeling of elation grew as she ran through the short hall connecting from the living room to the front door. The door creaked open and Raven called out excitedly,

"Mommy! Daddy! Your home!" The black haired girl was met with the confused faces of her maid and gardener. Her smile trembled and fell into a thin line and her vision blurred.

The familiar sound of a phone ringing met her ears, but she made no move to go and answer it. There was a loud beep and a minute long pause, until a deep voice with a somewhat mechanical edge to it resonated off the walls, seeming to echo through the large home.

"Raven...," the voice began hesitantly, " Daddy and Mommy are very busy right now. We won't be able to come home until very late...We're so sorry sweetie, I know we promised but..Listen, Daddy can't talk right now, good bye sweetie." There was another loud beep, signifying the end of the message.

Raven clenched her fists and looked down, tear drops sinking into the carpet. She felt her stomach drop and her cheeks burn when the grandfather clock's hand struck twelve and loud hollow chimes wracked Raven's heart as though mockingly. Her servants looked at her awkwardly yet sympathetically, arms tightening around their groceries.

Tears of disappointment, knowing, and embarrassment ran down her cheeks as she fled the hall and out the front door, pushing past her servants and running down the street away from that embarrassing scene that had occurred. Raven finally stopped at the park and sniffled behind a tree by the pond.


Emerald green eyes snapped open and filled with faint annoyance. 'Of all the memories, THAT one comes to mind...Although' Raven's eyes soften slightly. 'I probably wouldn't have met Vanneda if it didn't happen though.'

She exhaled through her nose and closed her eyes again, concentrating on the white flames, and visualizing the male alias she would be.


Vanneda glanced at the bathroom where Raven was disguising herself and refocused on packing the last of her belongings for the international studies program in Namimori, Japan.

While her black luggage laid shut on her bed, Vanneda scuffled through the drawers and stumbles upon a picture that she treasures most: her family picture. Her fingers touched each of her parents face, including her brother's as tears start to drip from her brown eyes down to her cheeks.

She remembers the day where they all went to the park, and when the picture was taken. That day was her first family photo and the fateful day where she met Raven Black, her best friend.


Growing up as the youngest child of two children, Vanneda was more sheltered and always protected by her two parents, Tha and Sarim Chen. Vanneda spent most of her precious time with her parents and brother, and was happy to have her parents are around. They are a close-knit family that enjoyed most of their free time together.

On a bright and sunny morning, Vanneda and her brother, Hai, waited on the black leather couch for their parents to come home from work. That day was supposed to be the day they will go out together. As time passes by each minute, Hai, dressed in P.E black shorts and a Spiderman T-shirt, started to grow impatient and abruptly shuffled into his room.

Vanneda still sitting on the couch stared frequently at the wooden door which was located to the right of her. She kept glancing at the door hoping her parents would come. 15 minutes have passed since noon, and Vanneda, dressed in jeans with a black-patterned collar shirt, decided to just go in her room when,

"Ah! Vanneda, sorry we're late. We had business to take care of, and look what daddy bought on the way," Vanneda's mother apologized while gesturing to her father with an off-handed wave.

Her mother then set her purse on the couch, Tha emerged from the door and showed off his first camera! Vanneda looked in amazement while Hai rushed out of his room upon hearing noise and screamed in excitement. The Chen family proceeded to head out when they finished packing food for lunch in the park.

Holding her father's hand, Vanneda was thrilled to have a picnic and said, "Hurry up, mama and papa." Her brother was already skipping up ahead, and she hopped, still holding her father's hand. Then, they had finally reached the park.

Before going into the park, Tha had asked a bystander near a streetlight to take a picture of the four of them together in front of the beautiful park. The pedestrian agreed with a smile, and the Chen family posed together, huddled close. The mother and father stood behind their young children, Sarim hugged Vanneda close to her while Tha ruffled his son, Hai's little head. And then, the family smiled brightly for the camera. *SNAP*


They settled down under the large tree after setting up their picnic area. Vanneda sighed happily and bit into her turkey sandwich. Her eyes raked about the area and settled on the only other person at the park so far, why hasn't she noticed her earlier? She just ignored her and finished the last bite on her sandwich with a smile on her face.

"Mommy, I'm all done, can I go play now?" Vanneda asked.

"Sure, but don't go too far, just play where I can see you, okay?" her mother replied with firm look.

Proceeding on, Vanneda decided to stay near the tree and stared at the birds that flew in the sky. She began to check her surroundings again, and there
Vanneda looked curiously at the girl she just saw, swishing her feet slowly in the water. Vanneda took in her appearance she wore a blue frilly shirt with a white ribbon waist and a smaller one around her neck. She wore black tights and had blue shoes that had bow tie ribbons instead of the normal laces off to the side of the pond. Her black hair was pulled into two long pony tails on either sides of her head with cat ear clips on her head.

'She's all alone, where are her mommy and daddy?' She thought after a while. Deciding to go meet this girl, Vanneda skipped along and told her parents, "I'm going to be at the pond, okay?"

They both gave her a thumbs up in approval. She hopped her way to the pond, dodging the occasional rock, and skidded to a stop just when the other girl swiveled around.

"Hi!"Vanneda blurted at the surprisingly well dressed girl. The green eyed girl looked at her curiously, her feet resting in the water.

"Hello...Did you come to the park to play too...?" She asked delicately while clasping her ponytails in front of her.

"Yep! I saw you by yourself and wondered if you wanted to play with me?"

Vanneda asked excited at the thought of making a new friend, the cat eared girl blinked at her in surprise. Vanneda looked excitedly at her.

"Wanna go on the swings? Want to go on the slides? Do you like chocolate?" She asked rapidly in one breath.

"...Let me put on my shoes.." The green eyed girl said while pulling away from the water. "I didn't catch your name." She murmured shyly.

"I'm Vanneda Chen! What's your name?" Vanneda asked bouncing on the balls of her feet.

"It's Raven...my name is Raven Black."


Vanneda wiped furiously at her cheeks and shoved the photo into one of her duffel bags. 'It's one of my favorite memories, everything was much more brighter before that day...' She smiled a little and decided to go to bed early, packing was exhausting stuff. She sighed a little and ran her fingers through her dark wavy hair.

The brown haired girl looked curiously at the bathroom door and wondered why Raven was taking so long 'Probably perfecting the look...narcissist' She thought snorting to herself. She looked about the near bare room except for the drawer, the nightstand, and the bed. Vanneda yawned and clambered into the single queen sized bed.

Laying back and staring at the chipped ceiling Vanneda proceeded to have thoughts about her day. Their remaining guardian, Reno, had taken them to the park to hang out one last time before the three moved to Japan. The pink haired man took pictures every 5 minutes, with everyone and everything. Vanneda smiled when she remembered him taking a picture with a lamp post and the random pretty lady that tried to side step him to no avail. The green eyed male also stopped at the bus stop and talked to the various people exiting the bus, Raven was noticeably vexed by the time they returned to the apartment after.

After the rather strange time they had at the park, they entered the apartment to find almost everything gone. When they looked at the older man, he simply scratched his spiky pink hair and grinned cheekily at them and said he had moving men help ship the essentials to Japan, but left some of things behind so the girls could pack. There were mountains of stuff they had to pack. When they looked at Reno, he fiddled with his goggles and left the building in haste saying he was gonna buy some gum.

So both the girls found themselves sorting through the mess and packing away the things they needed. Raven had finished early because she was prepared beforehand and had been gradually packing ever since they given were full scholarships and placed in the Vongilo? Vongeri? V-something international studies program to Namimori by some shady small math professor they met in a corner of a café, his name escaped her.'He called himself a mathematical genius...' She still felt rather amazed at how they were lucky they were to have been the ones to be randomly chosen to go overseas.

Vanneda's eyes grew heavy and she soon found herself in a food filled dream.


Raven opened her eyes again after she felt the flames fade, looked at the mirror, and her reflection dropped her-HIS towel in surprise. There in place of her old self was a blond male that looked remarkably similar to one of her favorite vocaloids, Len. She was still the same height as her real appearance and still looked pale and thin. But now she had a refined smooth jaw, platinum blond hair, and a lean chest.

'My eyes are still green..' she mused. Raven pulled out a pair of colored contacts from a drawer below the sink and and put them on. 'Hello, Akukami Shiki.' She thought. She let out an uncharacteristic grin that looked different on her persona's good looking face, and inspected her slender fingers and her now blunt nails.

Her grin dropped at that 'My talons!' Ok, so maybe that's an exaggeration, but they were quite sharp and a bit longer then. She looked mournfully at her nails. They used to be perfect! All the times she spent filing at them to make them lethal...'I'll just grow em out again.' She thought offhandedly as her eyes trailed down.

Her head whipped back up and she blanched. She'd have to ask Reno how to use one of those...Raven smiled as an afterthought, at least there will be no more monthly surprises, as Reno describe them. She pulled her hair into a small ponytail 'Yep, definitely look like Len, I just need more sun, maybe lift a few weights, and...Healthy food' She thought frowning at the last part.

In the mean while...Raven just smirked maliciously and simply pulled on a pair of boxers from the pile of clothes Reno lent her and bounded into the bedroom where she slipped into bed and snuggled her best friend. 'I'll see Vanneda's reaction in the morning...Tomorrow I'm Akukami Shiki' She grinned a little and went out like a light.


Shiki: So guys, how do you think we did? I think you should also know that this story will be slow to develop in romance, the characters and our ocs may not even like each other all that much until later. I don't believe in characters that see each other one day and suddenly their eyes meet and there are fireworks and wedding vows are exchanged the next hour. Love is gradual here if you're willing to bear the wait xD

Ai: Did we do ok? Do review and tell us if there should be changes or mistakes to be corrected. Also, we'll be posting bits and pieces of our characters profiles maybe in the next chapter in our a/n and also other characters that make more frequent appearances.

Shiki: Remember to review you guys :) I'm talking to you see-but-don't-say people xD, go on, we don't bite...At least Ai doesn't tehehe. If you have questions, fire away, we'd love to hear what your thoughts are.