Hey!

Thanks to the wonderful Totidem Verbis, here is the revised chapter 2.

If none of you have read her stories, GO READ THEM! They are the most amazing thing you'll ever read in your life!

Disclaimer: I own nothing

I would like to blame the sunlight blinding me in the eyes for waking me up, but it would be a lie. The truth is that it was my bladder. You know that morning bladder pain you have when you really need to go, but you're so tired that you don't want to get up, and then the pain just gets more and more intense. You try ignoring it and hoping that the feeling goes away. It's like having a stitch in your side. Every time you move, it pulls. Painfully.

After relieving myself, I shuffled back into my room to get dressed for the day. Now, I should describe what the interior of my house looks like so you can get a good mental picture. I explained the kitchen yesterday, so let's start with the living room. When you walk in the front door, you're greeted by a hallway that's about six feet in length and three feet wide.

The living room is pretty big. I think it measured out to be around sixteen feet by sixteen feet, so there's plenty of space. It has a couch, a loveseat, and a huge recliner. The couch and loveseat sit at an angle from each other, with a side table separating them. The recliner is parallel to the loveseat. The couch and loveseat are a deep black, and the recliner is a soft gray. A TV sits in the middle of an entertainment center, which holds a collection of music and pictures. A fireplace is nestled on the far side of the room behind the loveseat. The kitchen door is directly behind the recliner, and the hallway that leads to two of the bedrooms and one of the bathrooms is three feet from the fireplace. The three doors are as follows: the first door is the one leading into the art studio, across from the studio is the bathroom, and next to the bathroom is my room. There's a door that connects my bedroom to the bathroom as well, so there's two doors that lead into the bathroom.

(I know this is boring to read, so just bear with me for a little longer.) The other bedroom and bathroom are located on the other side of the kitchen. That was my Daddy's bedroom.

There is a mirror hanging up in the hallway across from my bedroom, and there's a table-slash-dresser thing under it that will play host to a vase of flowers. After I get some flowers. Once the moving truck gets here, I am going to hang pictures up in the hallways and living room of different nature scenes. As well as pictures of me and my dad, of course. The biggest picture is going to be above the fireplace. It's a waterfall cascading into a river, and it's one that I painted myself. Daddy said it was important that it be displayed to the open public, so that's what I'm going to do.

I got dressed in a pair of jean shorts and a tank top, because it's still freaking outside. Remember that? All of the heat and grossness? I pulled my hair up into a ponytail after it was brushed out, of course, and grabbed some socks. For some reason, I have a thing about colored socks. I don't like white socks; I gotta have some kind of color. So I pulled on a pair of black and purple socks before slipping on my dirty black tennis shoes.

It was 8:45 in the morning by the time I was ready, and the moving truck with all my stuff from the States was scheduled to arrive around 11:30. That left me three hours until they arrived. Grabbing my purse from the side mantle in the living room, I did a quick look around and then left the house after making sure that the front door was locked.

Now, I love my car. It's a red Suzuki, very sleek and girly looking. You would think living in Tokyo meant I wouldn't need a car, right? Well, I live on the outskirts of the city. In the more rural areas of the city, so I have to drive a few miles to get into the actual city part. The neighborhood I live in is pretty scarce with people. There's only six houses on this stretch of road. The side of the road my house is on has woods not even three hundred feet from the road. So my backyard is close to the woods. Of the six houses, they're a few blocks apart and only a few of them are actually inhabited. The house next door to mind is about two blocks away, and it's the only one with someone living in it besides one other one that's on the opposite side of the road about a mile down the drive.

Confusing? Okay, picture a stretch of road about three miles long. The first two houses on either side of the road are empty, and they're spaced about two blocks apart. The right side is lined with forestry behind the houses. Go another mile and you have two more houses, spaced the same as the previous two, only this time the one on the left has someone living in it. Go another mile from there and you come to next set of houses-mine and my neighbor's. You will pass mine first, because both of these houses are on the left side of the road. The right side has land for sale, but that's it. My neighbor's house is a large two-story with a huge fence-like hedge surrounding the property.

I guess all of the houses are large. Mine is about 2800 square feet. Yeah, it's large and only story. What can I say? Daddy owned his own shipping company and wasn't hurting for money. (He was rich.) I resigned all rights to the company over to his trusted partner when Daddy died. I wanted nothing to do with it, even if the money was good. I never knew it, but Daddy had a bank account set up for me that I didn't know about. In my daddy's will, he gave all of his belongings to me. Including the company, but I gave it to Carl.

Back on track! I drove to the city to buy some white paint for the fence, because it's in bad shape. After exiting the freeway, I made my way through the crowded streets and just drove around because I had absolutely no idea where to go. I forgot where everything was here, okay? It's been a few years, so cut me some slack. After driving around for another hour, I pulled over in front of what looked like a flower shop. Climbing out of the car, I walked up to the front door but stopped short to look at a cart of flowers. Fuchsias, gladioluses, and azaleas to be specific. They smelled absolutely gorgeous. A different cart had another assortment of lilies and peonies.

"Wow, who would have thought these types of flowers would grow at this time of the year," I mused aloud as I ran a fingertip along the petal of a calla lily.

"You can make just about anything grow if you know the secret of how to make them live." The voice came from behind me, a masculine voice, and I turned to look over my shoulder. The man standing behind me had long red hair pulled back into a low ponytail, and the most exotic emerald green eyes I have ever seen met mine. I barely even noticed the water can in his left hand and the pair of gardening shears in the other.

"Is that right? Tell me then, what is the secret to making plants grow and live out of their season?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at this pretty boy in front of me. He gave me a smile as he set aside his watering can and shears, and he walked over to where I was standing. He extended his hand and caressed the petals almost lovingly.

"Why, love and devotion is the secret. Any plant can survive, in any place, if given the proper care and attention," he informed while glancing down at me. I stared at the plants for a second longer before withdrawing my hand and dropping it to my side.

"Indeed," I agreed halfheartedly. The man stared at me for a minute before going back to pick up his watering can and shears again.

"I have more flowers inside if you would like to see them," he told me as he walked inside the shop. I looked at the plants once more as a thought struck me. I followed the man inside the shop and froze just inside the doorway. It was like I had stepped into a miniature tropical paradise. Awestruck, I looked around the shop in amazement.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" The female voice came from my right, and I looked over to see a young woman with light brown hair and blue eyes. She had an apron on that had the shop's name stitched across the front; Floral Paradise. She dusted her hands off on her apron, and I noticed her slightly swollen belly. She looked to be about five months pregnant.

"Hi, my name is Etsuko," the woman said, extending her hand in greeting. I shook Etsuko's hand and gave the woman a smile.

"I'm Natasha. I recently moved back to Japan and I'm kind of lost," I said shyly as I looked back around the shop. "The shop is very beautiful."

I moved to look at a display of roses and smiled. Roses are my favorite flowers; their beauty is something that nothing can ever be compared to. I traced a white rose gently with my fingertip, moving from the soft petals and down to rub its stem. As if reacting to my touch, it bent backwards just a smidge for me to have better access to its stem. Flowers can't move on their own though, so that's just crazy talk. Maybe the sun really did fry my brain yesterday.

Etsuko came up beside me and silently watched the rose move and bend around my finger. Her eyes were following the movement, so I know it's not just my imagination. She turned her eyes down to glance at me before looking back at the rose.

"They say that flowers can tell when a gentle and pure spirit is around them. They will act in kind and move to the owner's will," Etsuko explained as she picked a dead leaf out of the display and tossed it into a nearby trashcan. She turned back to face me with a gentle smile and asked, "Now you said you were lost. May I be of some help?"

I took my hand away from the rose, which looked to be pouting in loss of contact from me, and turned to look at Etsuko with my full attention. She was a tall woman, five-seven at the least. Her gentle blue eyes held a lot of emotion in them, and at the moment they were full of joy. Looking down at her stomach, I could see why she was so happy. After noticing my gaze, Etsuko placed a hand on her stomach and gently rubbed it.

"I see you noticed my pregnancy. At only four months, I already look about seven months," she said with a hint of sadness.

"That just means your baby is growing healthily. A woman who shows early during her pregnancy looks more radiant to me. Don't think of yourself as fat but as an expecting mother with a growing healthy baby," I told her. Hopefully I gave her some reassurance. Etsuko smiled at me before caressing her stomach again.

"I'll keep that in mind." I cleared my throat and sighed, because it's time to move things along.

"I'm actually looking for a department store. I moved into my old house here, and the fence needs to be repainted."

"A department store? There is one around the corner from here. It's called Woollies Paint n Things." The man from earlier spoke as he came out of nowhere and made me jump a little. He smiled and quickly apologized, "Sorry. Didn't mean to scare you."

"It's okay. Um, around the corner?" I asked and looked out the window of the shop.

"Yes, you can't miss it," the man said. "I'm Shuichi, Etsuko's husband and owner of the shop."

"Hi, I'm Natasha," I told him, reaching out to shake his hand. The moment my hand touched his, I felt an electrical shock run up my arm. I quickly pulled my hand back and looked up at him in shock. His face remained impassive, but his eyes had wonder in them.

"Natasha? That's an unusual name," Shuichi stated. His voice was calm and collected, as if nothing just happened.

"I'm originally from America." I spoke while wishing I could escape his calculating gaze.

"America! Oh wow, I bet that was an exciting move. You speak Japanese fluently though?" Etsuko asked, breaking whatever spell Shuichi had on me. I looked at her and shrugged.

"My dad was from here. He moved to America after he met my mother there, during a business trip. He just thought that it would be a good idea for me to know both of my heritages," I explained.

"That's good. Did your father stay in America with your mom?" Etsuko asked. I don't know if it was because I cringed at her question or if it was the welling sadness that clouded my eyes, but Etsuko gasped and shuffled forward to touch my arm. "It's okay if you don't want to tell me."

"Both of my parents are dead," I told her in a flat voice as I stepped out of her reach. I quickly dipped into a short bow and said, "Thanks for giving me directions. Have a nice day."

After making a quick retreat, I hurried outside and went straight to my car without even glancing at any more flowers. Climbing into my car, I took a deep breath to collect myself before starting the ignition and driving off to find the department store. Hopefully I'll get home before the moving truck arrives.

…With Etsuko and Kurama…

"Kurama, there is something strange about that girl," Etsuko said as she watched Natasha drive off. She turned to find her husband standing beside the roses that Natasha was looking at earlier. "They reacted to her as well."

Kurama nodded at his wife's assessment and touched his plants to get their thoughts on the girl. His brows furrowed at the energy signature that lingered on the roses, and his next words were quiet. Nearly mumbled so that Etsuko could just make out what he was saying.

"She is strange indeed. Though I felt nothing from her, she left a hint of spiritual energy on the roses." Etsuko sighed and moved to wrap her arms around Kurama.

"Don't read too much into it, okay? You'll probably never see her again," she told him, giving him a light squeeze and then releasing him back to what he was doing earlier.

"You're right as always, Etsuko," Kurama said as he turned to look at his wife.

"Of course I am. Now hurry up and get back to work, mister. We are having dinner at Yusuke's tonight, and we don't want to be late." Kurama chuckled and placed a light kiss on Etsuko's cheek before returning to his work.

If only they knew that they would indeed meet Natasha again.

PLEASE READ!

I'm planning on having all 13 chapters revised before uploading chapter 14. So hang in there with me.