1Ch. 1 The Reunion
18 years into the past in a hospital somewhere in the heart of Tokyo, twins are born…well at least one of them is.
"You're doing great, Mrs. Shiori. Here comes the first one," told the doctor encouragingly to the in-labor mother.
The doctor had a huge smile on his face as he held the first one. "It's a boy!" He exclaimed handing the just-born crying baby to the nurse. "Now, for the next one."
A few minutes later, the doctor's expression went sorrowful as he couldn't get the baby to scream.
"What's wrong? What's wrong with my baby?" Asked Mrs. Shiori in worry.
"I'm sorry, Mrs. Shiori, but…..this one didn't make it," he answered sadly.
Mrs. Shiori started crying as her husband hugged her for comfort.
The doctor left the room with the new born's body to give the new parents a little time to themselves.
A few minutes later, the nurse walked back in with the first baby and handed him over to his mother. Mrs. Shiori held him close to her.
"What will we name our son?" Wondered her husband trying to be happy about them having at least one son.
"We'll name him, Suichi," she answered with tear filled eyes.
"Suichi. Suichi Minamino. That's perfect," smiled her husband.
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Present time, somewhere in the depth regions of Demon World.
"Damn it! They got me this time," he thought lying beat up on the ground staring down at his faded hand prompting himself up with the other arm.
"Am…..Am I really going to die this time?" He sadly asked himself as he noticed his hand was a little more faded than usual.
The teenager was always fighting, always at the top of his game…until the flashbacks came to him. This is the first time this has ever happened in the middle of a fight.
"No," Akihito told himself trying to get up. "I won't die, not until I defeat him!"
The words of the demon who cursed him into this state of being a ghost run through his mind: ("You will forever be a wandering spirit until you fight the one exactly like you.").
Akihito slowly got up with the help of a nearby tree, not entirely standing on his own. He sluggishly limped over to a big tree and sat against it.
He thought to himself, "I'll have to lay here until I regain my strength….after all, the 2nd Demon World Tournament is coming up in a few months. I have to trai-" his voice trailed off as he fell fast asleep.
He hated sleep. Every-so-often in his dreams, he would be haunted by what could happen to him if he never broke the curse. Akihito feared it most of all. He didn't want to die a ghost. He wanted to be alive again and have a chance to leave Demon World just once.
Sometimes, things seemed so down that Akihito thought he would never be alive again or leave Demon World. That feeling faded in and out for him constantly.
At the same time in Human World….
"Of course, Mother. Everything's fine," Samora reassured her mother.
"I'm sorry, Samora. My plane should be in Tokyo by this afternoon. How did everything go with your new principal?" questioned Mrs. Mimi on the other line.
"Everything went through. Today's my first day," she answered with a smile on her face.
"Good. Well, we're about to take off, so I have to go. Goodbye, Samora," sighed Mrs. Mimi.
"Goodbye, Mother, be safe," farewelled Samora.
"I will. And, Samora?" Mrs. Mimi trying to catch her daughter before she hung up.
"Yes?"
"I just wanted to say, I'm very proud of you," smiled Mrs. Mimi.
"Thank you, Mother." Samora hung up as did Mrs. Mimi.
Samora and her mother were moving back to where they really called home, Tokyo. It's been a long 10 years since they've been gone.
-"It feels so odd….being back in our old home…..without Dad and Hero."- Samora thought to herself.
Her father and brother went missing 10 years ago. After their disappearance, Mrs. Mimi moved with Samora to America hoping to ease the pain.
Samora shuck her head a bit trying to get rid of the bad thoughts of her past.
"I don't have time for this. I'll be late if I don't hurry."
Samora looked in the mirror and separated her hair long from short. She had short (little past the chin) black hair and underneath it was a long (to the knees) pink braid. Both were natural of course. She was just born with it.
Samora quickly brushed her black hair and ran to get her bag.
Samora was already dressed in her uniform. She quickly grabbed her book bag and ran out the house locking the door behind her.
She stopped dead in her tracks as she looked to her left and saw she was in front her neighbors' house.
"I wonder if Suichi still lives there….."
Samora turned her head forward and began to run again.
It took her 20 minutes to get to her new school even with running the whole way.
Samora screamed as she entered the gates.
"I'm so late!"
Samora ran through the school till she made it to her class. She paused trying to regain her composure.
After calming down, she knocked.
"Come in." The teacher, a thin tall woman, looked to the door as well as every student in the room.
Samora opened the door and ignoring the fact everyone was looking at her bowed to the teacher.
"Hi, I'm sorry I'm late; yet I'm a new student here." Samora looked at the teacher.
"Oh right, Mr. Saiyako told me we were getting a new student." The teacher smiled and stuck out her hand. "I'm Mrs. Maia."
"Samora Higrashi." Samora shuck Mrs. Maia's hand.
"Now, where should we put you?" Mrs. Maia turned to the class.
Samora did the same and finally noticed just about everyone was giggling.
"Look at her uniform." One of the preppy girls laughing.
Samora looked at her uniform and looked at the other girls……hers was completely different. Instead of the red shirt, dark skirt, dark tights, and brown shoes; Samora was wearing light pink collared sailor blouse with baby blue kerchief, baby blue skirt, white knee-high socks, and black shoes.
Samora tried to ignore the rest of the class's comments and looked around observing the class. Her eyes set on two boys.
One (on the opposite side of the room) with light red or hot pink (she couldn't tell) reading a book ignoring everyone else; and the other (on the same side of the room as her) with brown hair.
His hair wasn't what caught Samora's eye; it was the fact that he stared at her like he couldn't believe his eyes.
Samora looked back at the red head. Something was about him. Something…….special.
Samora was happy about what she felt...besides the fact that she thought he was totally hott. She had such a good feeling, she began to blush and couldn't help but smile about it. She lowered her vision to the floor with her hair in her face.
-"Wha…What is this feeling? I've never felt this way before."- Samora couldn't hear the other students as her mind began to race with what it could be.
-"Could he be…."-
"Ms. Samora?" Mrs. Maia trying to get her attention.
"Yes?" Samora looked up, her face not flustered anymore….or at least she wasn't showing it.
"I'll have you sit over there in front of Mr. Amia." Mrs. Maia pointed to the empty seat on their side of the room.
"Yes, ma'am." Samora walked to her seat.
-"Man, I really wanted to sit by the red head."- She thought to herself looking over at him again.
As Samora neared her seat, Amia, who was also the boy who was staring at her, shot up from his seat.
"Ar-Are you Samora Higrashi?" Amia seems intense.
"Yes, that's my name." Samora was a little confused by his question and at the fact his face lit up after she answered.
"I-I'm Sai Amia. D-Did you go to Tokyo Elementary f-for kindergarten?" Sai was very nervous.
It took Samora a sec to understand his question.
"Yes. Yes, I did. You must be Sai from class D." Samora smiled at her old lost crush.
"Y-Yes It's been a long time." Sai was trying to keep this conversation short for the teacher wouldn't yell at them.
It was obvious Sai really wanted to talk to Samora as long as he can without getting in trouble. It was also obvious that he had a crush on her both in the past and now.
Samora, who was oblivious to this, nodded and took her seat with Sai sitting right after her.
For the rest of the class period, actually, for the rest of the day, Sai's attention was on Samora. He really missed her.
Samora's attention, on the other hand, was somewhat stuck on the red head.
Who is he? What's his name? Why do I feel this way around him? were the questions that ran through her head.
The deeper into the day it got, the more Samora on thought of those questions, which for her made the day drag on forever.
Finally the end of the day, which felt like the end of a year to Samora, came; and everyone was sent home.
Samora was so deep in her mind by the end of the day, she didn't even realize someone was calling her name and walking right up to her.
She finally snapped back into reality after hearing his voice and seeing his shadow.
Samora turned her attention to him; and much to her surprise, he was the red head!
"Do you live this way?" He seemed very polite.
Samora nodded with an "uh huh"; trying to keep her attention off him was impossible.
"Good, then maybe we can walk together from now on." He smiled.
Samora stopped; just the thought of it made her whole face turn red.
"Samora?" He stopped and turned to her. "Are you alright?"
"Fine." Samora just smiled acting like nothing happened.
She started sinking into her mind again.
"Suichi." The red head introduced himself.
Samora stopped again and looked at him. "What did you say?"
"My name. My name is Suichi Minamino." He introduced himself again (real name Kurama/human name Suichi).
Samora's eyes went big.
Was she hearing things or did he really just say he's her old neighbor? That's it! That's the feeling she had about him. He's her old friend...and first love!
Kurama just looked at her waiting for a different reaction.
It finally clicked in Samora's mind, and she couldn't help but smile.
"I'm Samora Higrashi." Samora didn't tell him anymore thinking he probably didn't remember her.
"It's a pleasure, Ms. Samora." Kurama smiled...he knew exactly who she was.
"Same." Samora kept walking with Kurama right beside her.
For the rest of the time, they didn't say a word to each other. They were both just lost in deep thought.
Before long, they came across Kurama's home. Kurama was about to wave and bid Samora farewell when he saw a car parked in his neighbor's driveway.
"My mother's home early." Samora muttered to herself.
Just as Kurama was about to tell her something, his mother came out of her home.
"Hello, Suichi, welcome home." Mrs. Shiori was always happy to see her son.
"Hello, Mother." Kurama started walking to her.
"Who's your friend? You never bring someone home." Mrs. Shoiri kindly asked.
"She's new to our school. Her name is-" Kurama was cut off by his mother gasp.
Mrs. Shiori stared at Samora for a moment or two then smiled at her. "Why, Samora. It's been forever since I last saw you."
"Yes, ma'am. It really has been too long." Samora walked up to her.
Mrs. Shiori embraced Samora in a hug as she got near. "And look at you. You've grown so much. You turned out to be a very beautiful young lady."
"Thank you, Mrs. Shiori." Samora smiled. "Has my mother visited yet?"
"Yes, in fact, your mother's inside. Please, come in. Your mother and I were just in the kitchen making some brownies." Mrs. Shiori led Samora and Kurama into the kitchen and was almost overwhelmed by the fact her old friends were finally back.
"Wow, nothing has really changed since I was little." Samora looked around.
"I think the house is perfect the way it is, right, Suichi?" Mrs. Shiori looked at her son.
"Yes, Mother." Kurama said with a half a smile.
Mrs. Mimi, a brown haired woman, was in the kitchen just taking out a fresh batch of brownies.
"Oh, Samora, welcome back from school. How was your first day?" Mrs. Mimi turned to them placing the brownies down on the counter.
"It went very well, actually." Samora still had a huge smile on her face.
"The brownies will be cool in a few minutes. Would you want one, Samora?" Mrs. Mimi looked at her daughter.
"No, thank you. I'm not hungry for a snack." Samora assured.
"What about you, Suichi?" Mrs. Mimi turned to him.
"No, I'm fine, thank you." Kurama said returning her kindness.
"Shiori, lets give Samora and Suichi some time alone. I'm sure they have a lot of catching up to do." Mrs. Mimi smiled.
"You're right, Mimi. Suichi, why don't you take Samora up to your room; so you two can talk?" Mrs. Shiori said turning from Mrs. Mimi to her son.
"Of course, Mother." Kurama started for the stairs. "Samora."
"Coming." Samora bowed to the mothers and followed Kurama...still with that huge smile on her face.
As Kurama took Samora upstairs, both mothers looked at each other and smiled.
Samora loved being over by Kurama's house. She had such good memories here. All good memories.
Kurama and Samora walked into Kurama's room; and as Kurama shut the door, Samora went straight out to his balcony which was directly across from hers. The balcony also had the best view to both Kurama's and Samora's gardens which lie in between the houses. Kurama went onto his balcony as well.
"It's been 10 years since I've last seen our gardens. And hey look, mine's still living." Samora laughed.
"I've been attending to it in your absence." Kurama looked at her with a little smile on his face.
"Thank you. Hmm?" Samora noticed he had only a little smile on his face.
"What?" He asked.
Samora smiled and moved his lips so it appeared as if he was smiling big. "There. Much better."
Kurama laughed. He couldn't help it. He really thought she was funny.
"A lot better." Samora commented.
Kurama only looked at her.
"It makes everything a lot better when you smile. Like...Like all your troubles go away for a moment." Samora said with a little sadness in her voice turning back to face the garden holding onto the railing.
Kurama stood right behind her and leaned over to where he would be basically on her, so he could place his hands on top of hers.
Samora's face went red again. "S-Suichi?"
"Now, when was the last time we stood like this?" Kurama asked.
-"Right. When we were young we always stood like this...except..he wasn't quite this close."- Samora thought remembering and a little embarrassed.
"It's really nice being back, Suichi." Samora added. "I'm very happy we're back. I mean, I get to see you now." She was smiling again.
Kurama only smirked with a little "heh".
Kurama and Samora just started staring at their gardens basically into space lost in their own minds...this last for about two hours.
The sun was set with the stars shining brightly; and as Samora and Kurama were watching it together, Kurama's younger brother Kokoda walked into the room.
"Hey, Suichi, Mom says to come down stairs. I think Mrs. Mimi's leaving." Kokoda informed his older brother.
As Kurama and Samora turned around, Kokoda realized Samora was right there.
"Hey, Suichi, who's she?" Kokoda had never met Samora before.
"My name's Samora; I'm a close friend of Suichi's. What's yours?" Samora asked.
"It's Kokoda Maoiji. I'm Suichi's younger brother." Kokoda walked up to her (she was now inside Kurama's room).
"Kokoda Maoiji. That's a very nice name." Samora grinned.
"Thanks. Well, Mom wanted both of you." Kokoda added as he started walking toward the door.
Samora and Kurama both followed Kokoda down stairs to find Mrs. Mimi, Mrs. Shiori, and Mrs. Shiori's new husband all standing by the door bidding each other farewell for the night.
"Suichi, who's that?" Samora asked untrustingly as they neared the parents looking at the man.
"That's my step-father. He's Kokoda's real father." Kurama answered assuring her it was ok.
"There you are, Samora. Are you ready to tell everyone bye?" Mrs. Mimi smiled at her daughter.
"Yes, Mother." Samora said kindly.
"Who's that astonishing young woman?" Mrs. Shiori's husband questioned as Samora approached them.
"Oh, Honey. I don't think you've ever met Samora. Samora, this is my husband, Nato Maoiji." Mrs. Shiori introduced him.
"It's nice to finally meet you, Samora. Your mother's told me a lot about you." Mr. Nato kindly added.
Samora simply nodded.
"It seems time has flown right past us, Shiori. I'm sorry for the overly stay." Mrs. Mimi turned to Mrs. Shiori.
"No problem. You're welcome here anytime. And you too, Samora." Mrs. Shiori smiled at both of them.
"Thank you, Mrs. Shiori. It was nice meeting you, Kokoda. And you two, Mr. Nato." Samora bidding them farewell.
"Same to you, Samora. Good bye, Mimi." Mr. Nato bid Mrs. Mimi and Samora goodbye as well.
"Bye. Good bye, Shiori. I'll see you tomorrow." Mrs. Mimi started walking away.
"Bye, Suichi. Meet me in front at 5:45?" Samora asked.
"Sure." Kurama smiled. "Good night, Samora." He waved as she started walking off with her mother.
She waved back as she caught up with her mother.
When they got inside, Mrs. Mimi headed for the kitchen.
"I'd better write down that recipe before I forget it." Mrs. Mimi said to herself. Then she noticed Samora was just standing there in the hall looking at the floor.
"Samora, is everything ok?" Her mother asked concernly.
"I'm just going straight to bed. I've had a long day." Samora answered heading towards the stairs.
"Are you sure you don't want anything to eat? You must be hungry since lunch." Mrs. Mimi was more concerned.
"I'm fine, mother, but thank you." Samora went up stairs to her room.
Truth be told, Samora hadn't eaten anything that day...or anything since she arrived in Tokyo yesterday morning.
She walked into her room to find it all nice and clean...this is the first time she's been back in her room. The previous night she had collapsed in her brother's room.
Samora plopped her school bag on the floor near her dresser and laid down on her bed. Within five minutes, she was out cold. Not eating made Samora a little weak.
Deep into the night, Samora began to have a strange dream...
It was pitch black...you could see nothing no matter how long you squented your eyes for.
All you could hear was the sound of the leaves brushing against the wind...was she in a forrest? If so, then why was it so dark?...
A sudden feel of loneliness came over her. Samora started walking hoping not to run into anything and to find light.
She heard something and stopped to listen...nothing. Whatever it was came and went.
Samora started walking again...till she heard a voice in her head.
"Hello?" Asked the voice.
It sounded like a man's voice.
"Is someone there?" Called out Samora hoping for an answer back.
"Who are you?" The voice sounded concerned.
"I'm lost and can't find my way out...I can't even see." Samora started to get creeped.
"Don't worry. I'm here." The voice assured.
"Please, can I get some help?" Samora looked around trying to see where the voice was coming from.
"Why are you here?" This time the voice sounded a little kind.
"I don't know how I got here." Samora replied. "Please, where are you?"
Samora turned around frantically trying to find him.
Wait. She saw something. A gleam in the back of her eye.
She turned back and saw someone up against a tree in a light!
"I see you!" Samora yelled happily as she ran towards the light...
But the moment she got in the light, she realized the person was dead and...
"Whoa!" Yelled Akihito jumping from his sleep. He was heavily breathed and sweating as an after effect of his dream.
-"Who...Who was that girl?"- He thought remembering her voice.
Akihito looked around seeing as there were no demons were near yet...not even close to where he lay still prompted against his tree.
He laid his head back down on the trunk. He sighed...
-"I wonder if she's going to bring anything?"-
Akihito continued to lie there thinking on what he had to do...and what he dreamed.