Author's Note: A little something different. I've attempted Kamen Rider stories twice, now, and haven't been happy with either attempt. For some reason, it's easier to write Super Sentai... *shrugs* At least for me...

As they say, third time's the charm... I hope... Updates will be slow in coming, I really want to see about finishing some (a lot) of my older stories... Or at least getting them off hiatus status... For my Gundam Wing readers, that should make you happy. :o)

Disclaimer: I don't own it, I just love it.

Kamen Rider OOO

Bring Me to Life – Part I

Izumi Aia wasn't a shy person. But she kept to herself, most of the time. If she had something to say, you could be damn sure she'd say it, whether or not you wanted to hear it. And sometimes it was inappropriate or just plain rude. This didn't earn her a lot of friends, but she wasn't in the business of making friends. It didn't make a good impression on her teachers when she was in school, either. Oh, she had an above average intelligence, but she was lacking in social skills. Not that it mattered to her, anyway.

It wasn't that she preferred solitude, or the introverted lifestyle. Aia just didn't like people. She didn't trust them. She'd been hurt too many times in her twenty years of life. There were only two people in the world she could honestly say she trusted, her two 'uncles', Hino Eiji and Gotou Shintaro. She couldn't even say she trusted her father completely. At least, not like her two uncles.

She knew her father, Shingo, had had a rough time raising her alone, after her mother, Chiyoko, and her aunt Hina died. But there were only so many times she could forgive broken promises and extended unexpected and unexplained absences.

Eiji, she could forgive. Yeah, he was gone for long periods of time, but he called every night and always sent emails and pictures. Aia knew Shingo's absences were because of an undercover operation of some sort or another. But when Eiji was home, he was home, and Aia was the center of his world. When Shingo was home, his mind was still at work, running through whatever case he'd been working on. Aia wondered sometimes if he even knew she was in the room.

Aia realized that burying himself into his work was his way of coping with the deaths of his wife and sister. But that didn't excuse him for his neglect of her. She didn't resent him for it, not completely. She just didn't feel like she could trust him. At least, not with some of the secrets she felt like she needed to talk to someone about. That was where Eiji came in.

She was grateful he would be in town that afternoon. He was always easy to talk to. And what she needed to talk about… well… Eiji was least likely to think she was crazy.

She was already an outcast because of her trust issues. On top of that, people would say she looked rather odd. Her father was dark-headed, as was her late mother. But her hair was a light blond, save for one very bright red streak down the front right side. The odd part was that this was a natural occurrence. And every attempt that her parents made to bleach it to blend in with the rest of her hair was futile.

There was also an oddity with her eyes. Everyone else in her family had dark colored eyes. Her eyes literally shifted from one end of the spectrum to the other, depending on her mood.

She sat in the airport lobby, reading a book on her iPad while she waited for Eiji's plane to land. She tried to keep her concentration on the iPad, but she could feel the stares of the people passing by. It didn't matter how many times she'd been here, or now many times they'd seen her. The looks were always the same.

She wasn't unusual at all to them until they found out that the eyes and the hair were natural phenomena and not the work of contact lenses and hair dye. It seemed it was normal for people to dye their hair unnatural colors, and wear lenses that changed their eyes different colors. Hell, she'd seen some use contacts that made their eyes look like cat's eyes. But she was NOT normal?

Yet another reason why she didn't like people. At any time, without warning, they could turn on you. And sometimes there didn't need to be a reason.

Not Uncle Eiji. He never judged – which was why she could tell him anything – and he always kept his promises – just sometimes he was a little late. The phrase "better late than never" was an extremely important philosophy in dealing with Aia. She could forgive tardiness, but not broken promises. If Eiji could make time for her, with as busy as his research usually kept him, her father should have been able to. She wondered, sometimes, if he even wanted to spend time with her. She wasn't the cute little girl she used to be, in spite of her oddities. She wasn't a little girl at all, anymore. She grew up. Kids tend to do that. And except for her uncles' occasional presences, she'd done it alone. People scared her, people hurt her. She needed some kind of rock in her life, and that's what Eiji was, and sometimes Shintaro. On a rare occasion, even Date Akira gave her something to smile about. Maybe her father just didn't know how to deal with her, but she couldn't forgive him for not even trying. Eiji was everything to her.

She hated the waiting when she had something to talk to Eiji about. She hated the stares. Yet she learned the first few times she'd come to wait on her uncle's plane that telling people off was the wrong thing to do. Though, in retrospect, she might have been a bit too violent about it. There had been a thorough apology to airport security by her father, and her written promise that it wouldn't happen again. She needed this, to be here when her uncle Eiji got off the plane. Despite the anxiety, being the first one her uncle saw when he came home was important to her.

This time, she was a little more impatient than normal. The sooner she got to talk to her uncle, the better. The anxiety of waiting was bad enough, but that added to anxiety of what she was going to talk about… She fought hard to keep her attention on her iPad and off of the world around her. It was to the point that she was just reading the words, none of them really sinking in. She knew the story by heart, but she just couldn't get into it, she was so stressed out.

She usually always had an escape in her stories, either reading or writing them. Yeah, it was a fictional world, but different didn't always mean bad in those worlds. In fact, different was usually a term to describe the hero of whatever story she was reading. But that escape wasn't possible in such a crowded place. She could hear the whispers, she could feel the stares. And she knew it was all about her, because if she looked up from her iPad to look around, everything was silent and peoples' attentions were suddenly elsewhere. She shouldn't care what people thought about her. But she'd been hurt way too many times to ignore them.

The anxiety was so heavy, and steadily getting worse, she was almost shaking by the time Eiji walked up. He hadn't even gotten out a hello before she had her arms wrapped around his waist in an almost crushing hug. She had her aunt Hina's strength. And when she failed to control it was when Eiji knew she was stressed out. But he was too polite to let her know that it hurt him. He knew it was something else she was self conscious about, just another oddity that people whispered about.

He suppressed the urge to cry out in pain as he thought he felt a bone or two snap. Instead, he forced himself to remain calm, concentrating a moment on keeping his breathing steady as he wrapped his arms around her. People stared, but Eiji didn't care. He never cared about being seen with his underwear on display like a flying banner when he travelled. So why would he cared about being seen with Aia. True, her appearance wasn't "normal". And Eiji had always sworn he felt a sort of aura from her… something painfully familiar. But he would never alienate her because of her oddities. Sometimes he didn't understand why people had to be so insensitive and hurtful as they'd been to Aia. And, there were many times, he had to be the one to prevent Aia from beating someone to a pulp because they'd been brave (or stupid) enough to say something to her face.

It was unnerving how much she sometimes reminded him of another blond, hot-headed individual.

He smiled softly as he felt her begin to relax after a moment or two in his embrace. And he was relieved that he could finally breathe easier as she did. He took another moment to find his voice.

"Aia-chan, breathe… I'm here. The flight was delayed or I would have been here sooner. Gomen…"

He let her take a few minute to wind down before he pulled away from the hug, still holding on to her.

"Now… tell me about those dreams you mentioned in your email… Okay?" Eiji knew when she was as stressed as she was, she'd want to talk about it as soon as possible. Plus… because of his delayed flight, he didn't have much time with her before his meeting with the president of the Kougami Foundation. And he'd rather her get through what she needed to tell him than hold on to the anxiety for a few more hours while waiting for him. That had happened before, and the result hadn't been pretty. He just hoped he could keep his attention on her. He knew she needed him, but he'd been having his own dreams lately, and he couldn't keep his thoughts from wandering. But he smiled down to her, anyway when she looked up to him.

She finally managed a small smile at her uncle and she held his hand tightly as he led her out of the airport. Each step was a little easier, as was each breath. Eiji made everything okay. Suddenly, the odd looks, the whispers… they didn't mean anything anymore. Eiji had that effect on her. He was the calm in the storm. He was the reminder that there were still good people in the world. But when he left again, she was continuously reminded of how much she depended on her uncle Eiji. But she had to depend on someone…

"It's the same as always… the nightmares… but… there are elements that weren't there before. Or if they were, I just didn't notice them. The nightmares don't seem so frightening when they appear. Well… they're still frightening, but in a different way. My senses in the nightmare seem dulled, except for these things. They just… stand… out…"

Aia frowned as she looked up at Eiji, who seemed preoccupied with something else. She noticed he had released her hand, absently reaching into his pocket. It didn't take a genius to figure out what it was he was reaching for, grasping tightly. She'd heard the story a thousand times… the Greeed that used to possess her father… and the broken medal he left behind… She knew he was important to her uncle. She often saw him turning the two pieces over in his fingers, his brows furrowed in deep concentration. But he usually gave her his full attention when she was in the room, putting everything else away. Out of sight, out of mind…

For him to keep losing focus on her, something had to have happened, either during his research or something he's meeting with Kougami about. She suddenly felt very selfish for placing another burden on him. So she went quiet, keeping her eyes down on the pavement in front of them as they walked. She shoved her trembling hands into her pockets to keep them out of sight as anxiety started building in her chest again.

There were several minutes of silence that Eiji hadn't seemed to notice as Aia's anxiety continued to build. Her hands closed into tight fists in her pockets to fight the tremble. In her mind, the familiar nightmare began replaying, memories of a night she'd much rather forget, but something won't let her. Dealing with them was getting easier, that was until the new elements started appearing.

The ringing of Eiji's phone made them both jump as they were pulled from their thoughts. Eiji pulled his hand from his pocket as he released the two halves of the broken medal, but they didn't make it back into the pocket. Instead they fell to the concrete, and Aia froze as the sound echoed in her ears. The sound was one of the two new elements of her nightmare, continuously ringing throughout the dream. She suddenly saw the second element, a bright red feather blew in from somewhere down the street, landing on top of the two medal halves on the concrete.

Aia reached down, picking up the two halves as well as the feather. As long as she'd known about the broken taka medal, this was her first time touching it. She stared at it while Eiji was on the phone, running a finger over one of the broken edges, then the other. She felt an instant connection with it, and she didn't think she wanted to let it go. But she knew it didn't belong to her. And when Eiji finally finished his call, she reluctantly held it out to him.

He gave her a very apologetic smile as he placed his hand over hers, but not to take the medal.

"Gomen Aia-chan… I got distracted… I didn't realize how far behind my flight was. And I need to get to my meeting." He frowned as he stared at the medal in her shaking hands. He had tried to pay attention to Aia, but he couldn't help but let his thoughts wander. He always tried to be completely there for her, because he was the only one that was there for her. So he knew when she was as stressed as she was, not paying attention to what she had to say was a mistake.

He gave her another small smile as he patted her hand. "Why… why don't you hang on to this for me? That way, you know I won't be too long… Okay?"

She frowned at the medal for several moments before looking up to Eiji. This was something very important to him. She knew he wouldn't part with it easily. But she knew she was also important to him, he wanted her to be able to continue trusting him. So he would trust her to take care of the broken medal, which was a promise that he'd be back, maybe not as quickly as he hoped, but Eiji kept his promises. She smiled, though it was a little shaky, and nodded.

The smile didn't stay on her face long after Eiji hurried off. She knew Eiji's meetings with Kougami could last for quite a while. She probably wouldn't see him until later in the evening, probably even after dark. By that time, the stress would have built up to the point she wouldn't be able to talk. Shintaro would have been her next choice, but he would likely be with Kougami, if the meeting was as important as Eiji seemed to think. But it was always easier to talk to Eiji. And she needed to talk to Eiji this time. Especially since it was apparent this medal he trusted her to hold on to played a key factor in her nightmares.

Now she just had to deal with the stress until Eiji's meeting was done with. There was only one stress reliever that she felt did the trick, and it fueled her occasional desire to beat someone to a pulp. The only problem was that it wasn't exactly legal. She usually wouldn't resort to the underground fighting when Eiji was home. There were only so many excuses for bruises and broken bones. And she was quite certain that neither of her uncles nor her father needed to know about the place, or the fact that she was participating.

But that's how bad the anxiety was, sometimes. She needed that physical outlet. And even though the medal pieces gave her some comfort, it just wasn't enough to suppress the growing anxiety. She put the medal halves into her pocket before she resumed her walk down the street.