Chapter One: OMFGx2!
Kayami woke with a start. The angle of the plane had changed. Are we there already? she thought. Slightly disoriented, she reached out with her left hand. She started when a warm touch met her searching fingers.
"Are you alright, Kayami?" The American social worker held Kayami's hand in reassurance. Jade Burltan had very warm hands, and her voice was soft and gentle. Jade's voice reminded Kayami of the cat that she had before she had to leave New York City after her grandmother, Keyai Higurashi, died.
Kayami liked Jade better that the past three social workers that she had been assigned to. Part of this was due to the fact that Jade let Kayami call her by her first name, and Jade used Kayami's first name.
"Yes." Kayami turned her face away. "Are we nearly there?"
"Yeah. Are you excited to meet your relatives?" Kayami nodded.
For a few moments, Kayami kept holding onto Jade's hand. Then she squeezed it in gratitude, and folded her hands neatly in her lap.
"Will you tell me what you can see?" Kayami asked, her eyes closed, her face down.
Kayami felt Jade shift beside her. "I can only really see clouds right now…."
"That's alright. Please?" I don't know what clouds look like….anything will do.
Jade patted her shoulder. "Alright. Let's see, well, the sky is very clear, and looks like glass, the clouds are white and look like cotton balls….and I can see gray beneath them….that must be Tokyo beneath us that I'm seeing….can't really see anything, it's just a gray, sprawling mass." Jade took a breath, as if to continue.
"Thank you, Jade." Kayami leaned her head back. She felt Jade shift again beside her, probably getting comfortable again. Jade signed.
Ten minutes later, the flight attendant announced that they were approaching their landing destination.
"Please buckle up, and remain seated!"
Kayami started to fumble around for her seat belt, but gave up after a few moments. "Jade, I need help."
"Alright," Kayami heard Jade unbuckle and an instant later, felt the buckle tighten around her hips.
"Thanks."
"No problem, 'K'." Jade patted her shoulder, and Kayami smiled.
When Kayami's ears popped as the plane descended, she gasped and grabbed for Jade's hand, but grabbed her elbow instead. Shaking her head, she waited for the unexpected nausea to pass.
"Are you okay?" Jade's voice was concerned, and she had her hand on Kayami's shoulder.
"Um….yeah? Yes." Her voice came out as a croak. She released Jade's elbow, and sat back in her seat. Jade's hand remained on her shoulder, which was comforting to Kayami.
What was the queasiness all about? That didn't happen when I landed in California….? She put the event in the back of her mind.
During the past eight and a half months, Kayami had gotten very good at shoving stuff to the back of her mind. She'd gotten a lot of practice. Her mother had been killed in a hit-and-run accident, so she's gone to live with her grandmother, but then Grans had passed away from a heart failure. Then, it had taken two months to find her relatives in Tokyo and another to get everything settled for Kayami to live with these relatives.
She went over her 'new family' in her head. Youngest is Sota Higurashi, his older sister is Kagome Higurashi, and their mother is _____ Higurashi. _____ Higurashi is my Gran's brother, so he's kinda like my Grandfather….He said I could call him 'Gramps'....I never knew my grandfather....
Kagome, the fifteen-year-old girl, had written to her several times. She was always perky in her letters, as though trying to cheer Kayami up, but when she talked to Kagome on the phone in California, there had been a much older-sounding tone beneath the perkiness, as though she had known things that weren't meant to be known, things of sorrow and pain. Kayami wondered what that was all about. She had talked to Sota, too. He was excited about having a new 'sister'. Kayami felt that it would take her a while to get used to this happy-go-lucky sounding family, and having been an only child, and also considering her recent past, was sure that she wasn't going to be very sisterly. Out of all four members of Kayami's new family, only ____ had seemed to be affected by Gran's death. He had cried, and Kayami had let some of her sadness show, too. She cried for a couple of hours in the hotel bathroom after that conversation, but had managed to shove her sorrow and pain back into the darkness of her subconscious.
The plane landed with a few bumps, which jostled Jade's hand from Kayami's shoulder.
As soon as the plane coasted to a halt, the other passengers started talking. And the moment that the plane's engines cut out, the noise crescendoed with the sound of shuffling feet and hands grabbing for carry-on bags. Kayami sat still. When the sounds of the people had slowed to a trickle, Jade put her hand on Kayami's elbow and helped her stand up. Jade guided Kayami through the plane to the stairs. She stumbled slightly when the stairs into the terminal ended, but Jade's ever-ready and capable hands caught and steadied her.
"Thanks, Jade."
"No problem, Kayami. Now, let's see if I can find the Higurashi's anywhere…."
Kayami's stomach fluttered, but her face registered none of her nervousness.
"Oh! There they are! It's Mr. Higurashi and Sota Higurashi here for you, Kayami!"
Kayami smiled in the direction of Jade's voice. Her stomach heaved.
"Good afternoon, Jade-sama." An older man's voice greeted Jade. A coarse hand took Kayami's hand and she jumped.
"Kayami-san...." A gruff voice said softly.
Kayami's queasiness vanished as she recognized the voice.
"Mr. Higurashi - Grandpa?"
"Yes, Kayami. And just 'Gramps', remember?" He sounded extremely pleased.
Kayami took a hold of his arm so she could know where, exactly, he was standing. Once she was sure, she hugged him tightly. Grandpa Higurashi hugged Kayami like her Grans had. Tears started to come to her eyes, but she blinked rapidly to rid herself of them. When they released each other, Kayami's face was clear of any sorrow.
A smaller hand, less weathered that Gramp's, placed itself in hers.
"Sota?"
"Yeah, Kayami-neechan?"
Gramps laughed. "He's determined that you will be his new sister, since Kagome isn't home much."
"Oh?" Kayami reached for Sota's head. "I'll be happy to be like a sister to you. Do you know, I've always wanted a sibling, Sota? Why isn't Kagome home?" The last was directed at Grandpa Higurashi, even though her head didn't move.
There was a moments hesitation.
"She's usually out with friends. It was just coincidence that she was home those few times you talked on the phone." Grandpa said after clearing his throat.
"Come on, Gramps, lets just get Kayami-neechan home, already!!"
Kayami, Jade and Grandpa Higurashi laughed at Sota's impatience, but complied. Within moments, Kayami's luggage was stowed in the trunk of a taxi, her good-byes to Jade said, and she was on her way to a new life that would be unlike anything she had ever dreamed of.
