Note/s: I decided to publish this first chapter, if you can call it that, of my Bad!girl/Nerd AU fic for the holidays. Life has been keeping me busy, but I enjoy jashi and sharing my stories, so here you go. Also, as per usual, the headcanoned last names for both Jack and Ashi (as well as Jack's first name) are chosen for reasons that have been explained in a couple of my other modern AU fics, just in case you're interested as to knowing why. Hopefully by next year, when my tasks are reduced, I'll have more free time to write. If there are any errors or typos, feel free to let me know! And please don't hesitate to share your thoughts!

The Long Weekend

"Ashi?" Ami's eyes widened as she opened the door. "God, is that really you? I hardly recognize you."

Her sister's surprise caused a corner of Ashi's mouth to quirk up.

"Really, Ami." She laughed. "You always say that when we video chat and how could you not? We have the same face."

"The way you dressed in high school? Hardly anyone believed we were related. Well, don't just stand there, come in!"

Ashi followed her sister with her small suitcase, her eyes taking in the inside of the house she had not seen for almost half a decade. Their mother's desertion had done the place good it seemed. No more tattered wallpaper or stained carpeting. No matter how much Ashi and her sisters cleaned back then, their home could never look spotless and their mother objected to spending money on the house. Ashi could still remember her signature sneers. "As long as the walls hold up, who cares what color you paint it!"

"The place looks amazing." Ashi said, graciously accepting the cup of tea handed to her.

Ami made a dismissive wave of her hand. "Bah. I didn't do anything major." Still, her eyes glittered in admiration at her own handiwork as they sat in the living room space. The walls were painted with a sandy color, which allowed the natural light from the windows (which had always been shuttered close) to pour in and open up the space.

Never in a million years did Ashi think she'd feel comfortable here. She remembered how cramped it used to be with wooden and glass cabinets full of useless junk lining the walls. Ironically a lot of them had been "lucky" figurines and knick knacks that were supposedly good for feng shui, which apparently meant attracting dust. Ami had gotten rid of all of them save for the decorative red plates that now hung on the walls along with framed pictures of all the girls.

"I'm glad you could come for the long weekend." Ami said behind her teacup. "The other girls bailed. Boyfriends, girlfriends, and the "finding myself" vacation excuses."

After high school, the girls had split off to different places in different schools and ever since then, it was a rare occurrence for all of them to be gathered completely. Ami had stayed behind to take up interior design. The girls had joked that their living conditions growing up had emboldened Ami like a character waiting to enact revenge.

As for Ashi…

"So, how's college?" Ami asked, allowing herself to sink into the softness of her plush velvet chair. "Are they still buying your goody good girl act?"

Ashi felt her face prickle with heat. "It's not an act!" Ami still would not let her live it down—entering a women's private college. Catholic. "It's one of the top schools and I'm one of the best students there. Sister Olivia even assures me that"—

"Stop!" Ami tossed her head back in laughter. "Please. The image is still too much! You...Ashi Mazoku...surrounded by...nuns! "

"Oh haha, laugh it up. You should be glad! I was able to come because of the religious holidays!"

"I am. Tell me, do you intend to join the convent afterwards? Your Shinto-born ass?"

"I'm not!" Ashi growled, leaning forward, as if ready to maul her own sister.

Ami didn't care, even when some of her tea splashed on her shirt. "I just find it so amusing after all this time. You. The wanna-be delinquent...ending up in a fucking Catholic school!"

"No swearing!" It was a reflex response, from all the mentoring and freshmen orientations she'd done, and as soon as the words flew out of her mouth, Ashi groaned in annoyance, dragging a hand down her face.

Ami ate it up with relish.

"No swearing? You're killing me! Oh God! Christ, Ashi! Oh wait, I shouldn't take your Lord's name in vain, should I? I'll do so in mine then. Amaterasu! Ebisu"—

"I'm going out for some air!" Ashi announced, slamming her cup down on the glass top coffee table, causing it to shake violently down to its metal legs. "Don't follow me!"

"Oh come on, Ashiiii!" Ami's half-hearted giggly whine followed Ashi as she marched out the back entrance of the kitchen. Her sisters always managed to bring out her temper, taking perverse pleasure from it. Well, she had changed! If it were the old her, Ami would have backed down easily.

She shook the thought away, and focused on less annoying things in front of her.

The backyard had always been small. From Ashi's recollection, it had basically been a rectangle of uneven concrete with weeds sprouting from the cracks. Ami had changed that as well. Now the unsightly concrete was replaced with red bricks and the perimeter lined with potted plants and flowers against the backdrop of an ivy-covered picket fence. Begrudgingly, Ashi had to give Ami praise. The girl knew how to clean up a mess.

Perhaps it runs in the family… She thought sardonically, glancing down at what she was currently wearing, a yellow-green crochet top tucked inside a patchwork skirt that was flowy and feminine. Running a hand through her hair, she noted how much softer it was now and how delicately it curled around her face. Ashi mentally shuddered, remembering the globs of hair gel she'd used in the past and how it more or less petrified her hair.

"Ashi!" A voice snapped her attention to the other side of the fence where the face of a small woman under a large floppy hat beamed at her, waving ecstatically. Ashi's stomach turned and hoped to hell— heaven —that her reciprocated smile did not look like a grimace.

"Hi there...Mrs. Minamoto."

"Ashi, sweetheart! Come over here! I want to get a good look at you without having to be on my tippy toes!"

Ashi absolutely did not want to do that. But telling the older woman off and scurrying back inside the house like a rat did not seem like the best option despite her gut telling her otherwise. Like the stereotypical good Asian child, she reluctantly crossed over to her side via the shared creaky fence gate that obviously had not budged in quite some time.

Ashi brushed away some leaves and wood dust from her person as Mrs. Minamoto loudly voiced out her appraisal. "Oh, Ashi!" She cooed, the brim of her hat flapping from her excited fidgeting. "Oh my goodness! You're so much prettier now! That hair! And your outfit! Forgive me for saying so, but I never thought I'd see you in any color other than black."

Ashi just smiled and nodded throughout the ordeal of being cosseted and praised. Mrs. Minamoto had the uncanny ability of correctly identifying each of the Mazoku sisters, no matter how they changed their hair or wore their clothes. It bordered on the supernatural.

The older woman kept going on and on, asking the standard rundown questions people always asked at gatherings. How are you? How are your sisters? How long are you staying? What course did you take? What year are you in now? Which school? How old are you now? Did you know (name of Asian acquaintance) is also in your area? Do you want their phone number? How was your commute here?

Ashi answered every question perfunctorily, hoping she could find an opening for a polite exit.

Unfortunately, that would not be the case as the door from the Minamoto household swung open.

"Mother." A deep and clearly masculine voice called out that instantly filled Ashi with dread. "Where did you put my old reference notes?" He stopped midway down the porch steps, noticing his mother was not alone.

Mrs. Minamoto smacked her hands together in glee. "Shinjiro!"

Shinjiro? Ashi tried not to gawk, especially at his appearance. He was wearing a wrinkled white shirt over gray sweatpants, his hair was wildly untamed and falling over his (really, really) wide shoulders, and to complete the sloppy aesthetic, he had a full-on beard.

Shinjiro is supposed to be abroad! What is he doing here?! Her inner thoughts clamored as though he had no right to visit his childhood home without her knowledge. As though privy to Ashi's own questions, Mrs. Minamoto turned to her saying, "He's here on break from grad school."

In quick strides, Shinjiro joined the pair of ladies, towering over them and nodding politely at Ashi. If he smiled, she did not see it, hidden behind all that face-fur, but his eyes did sparkle boyishly. "Hello, Miss Mazoku. Long time no see. Let me guess, is it Aki? Avi?"—

"No silly!" His mother snickered, giving his arm a hearty slap. "It's Ashi!"

Ashi saw it...Shinjiro's face frozen in momentary shock before dissolving into a scowl. There was a flash of white where his mouth should be, which Ashi rightfully assumed to be a snarl.

"Ashi." He said, his tone now devoid of any pleasantries.

Ashi tried to swallow her nervousness. "Sh-Shinjiro."

"He calls himself Jack now. My frazzled mind keeps forgetting. His foreign friends stuck it on him." Mrs. Minamoto volunteered the information with an amused giggle. "It suits him, don't you think?"

Ashi nodded dumbly, her gaze pointed anywhere but Sh—Jack.

"Well then!" Mrs. Minamoto squeezed Ashi's hand. "I'll leave you two to be reacquainted."

Before Ashi could protest, the older woman slipped away without so much as a glance back, fully convinced she was leaving two people to catch up and reminisce about the good times, completely oblivious to the animosity clearly emanating from her own son.

Mrs. Minamoto was the type of parent who could see no wrong in her only child, and why wouldn't she? When he'd been nothing but a stellar student and boy scout growing up? So if he decided to pursue a career of looking like a mountain man and growing a new species of black fern on his face, she'd fully support him with a watercan to his face (which appeared to have already happened).

The Sh—Jack she had known was different. Way different. Perhaps his new name was for the best because Ashi could not reconcile the fact that the mild-mannered nerd of the past and this aspiring caveman in front of her were one and the same person.

Ashi wanted to leave, but she did not want to give Jack the satisfaction of seeing her flee like a coward. So, tilting her chin up, she looked him straight in the eye and in the most nauseatingly cheerful voice she used to wheedle her nunnish instructors, said, "Shinjiro—err Jack! It's been so long! How are you? Oh wow, it's been forever. I can't believe it! Time flies! Ha ha ha."

Please, she inwardly prayed to the patron saint of her school, let him be taken aback by my new leaf...and make him forget how I screwed him over literally and figuratively in the past so that we can just be civil adults and sweep it under the rug.

Unfortunately, Catholic saints did not seem to heed the prayers of non-Catholics because Jack's glare wordlessly conveyed a message of "I did not forget how you screwed me over literally and figuratively in the past so don't expect we can just be civil adults and sweep it under the rug."

"Who are you trying to fool with that get-up?" He snorted, eyeing her from head to toe. "Did you bully a hipster out of it?"

Ashi's smile weakened by a twitch but she kept the obnoxious cheer in her voice. "Oh Shi—Jack! You are so funny! Such a funny sense of humor! And wow! Your new look is so...uh...very…" Disgusting. Gross. Unsterile. "...unique! It's so casual and"—

"Woman. Stop." Jack squeezed his eyes shut and brought a hand to his temple. "You're giving me a headache."

Ashi's smile instantly wiped clean off of her face, replaced with an angry frown.

"Gee," she mustered to keep her voice leveled, deciding he was not worth raising her voice for. "I'd have thought that your studies abroad would enrich your manners, not diminish them."

He rolled his eyes to the sky. "Oh, that's priceless coming from you."

"You know what? Your new look really does suit you." said Ashi mockingly. "It belongs in the past, where you seem to be wallowing in right now."

"Oh? Is that right?" His voice rose in feigned enthusiasm, and Ashi—for a brief second—almost saw him. Back in their old classroom. Shinjiro. The clean-faced, sweater-vest-wearing nerd she had known. But the next deadpanned words shattered the image and replaced it with an entirely unwelcome one.

"Wallowing in the past seemed to involve wallowing in my bed."

"Y-You—scum! " Ashi sputtered in outrage, her hands clenched at her sides. "I can't believe what a crab ass jerk you turned out to be!"

"And I can't believe what a pretentious poser you've become. Then again…" He rubbed his bearded chin as though in contemplation. "...That's not outside the realm of possibility considering you were one in high school."

Ashi made a beeline for the gateway that connected their family properties. She was not going to risk it. She'd worked so hard to get to where she was and she was not about to let this bitter mongrel get the best of her!

Clearly, it was better to leave him in his misery. Still, she could not help but toss him a parting shot. "You're nothing but a lowly soulless pig. Just being with you leaves a bitter taste in my mouth!"

And with that, she tossed her hair back haughtily and stepped back into her family property, smirking with satisfaction at how she handled the situation.

But Jack did not want her to have the last word.

"And being with you left a somewhat salty taste in mine."

He never saw the pot of succulents coming.