Disclaimer: It's just not mine.
AN: Yay! More reviewers! Thanks y'all, you're the best... est? Lol. So the homework's being piled kinda high, getting ready for highschool this year, gotta hate grade 8. I love September though, fall's great. Okay, so back on topic, it might get a little confusing here, but bear with me, any twists were most likely planned. R&R please!
Black Hair and Gray Eyes
Chapter 3
Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Aki watched as they two people worked on their laptops across the room from eachother. Whenever the spacebare was hit, though, it made an odd tapping sound. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. She rolled over and over on the hotel bed. Along with the raindrops, the tapping rythm made a low lullaby, almost. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Click. Her coffee was ready (AN:Yes, twelve and already drinking coffee. They can do it!). She poured out a cup and some cream with sugar.
"I don't think kids you're age should be drinking that stuff." Relena said calmly, never taking her eyes off the screen. Akira rolled her eyes and poured two more cups, adding some cream into one of them. She walked over to Relena with the one with cream, and gave Heero the other one. "Thank you, but I'm still thinking of banning coffee from your system."
"Party pooper." Aki replied as she took a slow sip. Saturday mornings were never her forte. "I won't drink it much, just when I need it."
"Which is?"
"When I'm tired." Aki smiled as her mother laughed a bit.
"So, I'm tired of this work, do you want to go somewhere?" Relena turned in her chair to face her daughter. The small girl arched an eyebrow.
"Sure, why don't we go picnicing?" She gestured to the rain outside their window. Relena laughed. This was going to be interesting indeed; her daughter seemed to have so many different personalities.
"No, I mean shopping or something. I know it must be boring to watch us all day." Aki shrugged and Relena rose to get her coat, as did Heero. Akira didn't have a coat yet.
"He's coming too?"
"He's our bodyguard, he has to come. You'll get used to it." The three of them walked outside, with Heero following behind them, and Aki looked at her mom curiously; didn't it look like they were a family?
*~*~*~*~*
"None?" Relena looked at the pale blue dress then back at her daughter. "You're sure?"
"Yeah, I'd rather not wear dresses, the always did seem awkward." Aki was holding three pairs of jeans, six t-shirts, and two sweaters. She was looking through some sweatpants when Relena appeared with some dress shoes, dress pants and a neat little shirt.
"For when you have to come with me for this and that, trust me, not much." The younger one shrugged and took out a pair of navy sweatpants. Then she went on to the tanktops, immediately skipping the pink ones.
"Do you still have that pink limo?" The question had caught her off guard, and she slowly shook her head no. "Good. No offence or anything but, I always thought blue was a better colour for you."
"Yeah, me too, all that pink seemed too childish." Aki nodded in acknowledgement as she picked out a plain white tanktop.
This entire time, Heero stood at the doors of the shop, looking at some knives the sold in the store beside them. He mildly noted that the two women had paid, and were now walking up to him
But when he turned, he saw only Relena. Seeing her look past him though, her turned to his other side to see Aki looking admiringly at a few army knives to the side. Then, she pulled something out of her pocket, a switchblade.
"Too bad they don't open like these." She flipped to blade in her hand and pressed something, then a thrre-inch blade popped out of the sheath.
"Those are illegal!" He whispered harshly and pulled it out of her hands. She shrugged and walked off, noting that Heero was studying it appreciatively.
"Good weapons though." He grunted and sheathed it before stuffing it roughly into his coat pocket. The handle fitted well too... "If you need any, There's lots more where that came from." Reaching into her boots, she pulled out two more and tossed them to him. "We don't need them anymore." What had Relena gotten herself into?
Aki grabbed her mother's hand and walked off, letting Heero follow behind and glare at the young girl's back, and wondering how Johnathan wold deal with her. 'Not as well as I would if she was my daughter.' He frowned and shook his head a bit. 'where did that come from?' Still, she'd be an interesting aquaintence.
*~*~*~*~*
In the airport, Aki stood nervously beside Relena.
"Is this your first time flying?" Relena was carrying her breifcase, and Aki was holding a bag of writing tools for the trip. Heero was buying another ticket for Aki, and had only his laptop with him.
"Yeah." She nervously fingered the end of her long ponytail as they sat, waiting for their flight. Opening her bag, Akira pulled out a large sketchbook and began to draw. Relena sat with her paperwork, reading quietly. There was nothing more to say between the two, an awkward silence over took them.
"You'll love it at the Sank, and everyone's will like you too." Relena assured her daughter as she saw tension when the speaker sounded.
"I'm not worried about that." She was a terrible liar, at least from what Relena could see. As the announcement ended, Akira relaxed; it wasn't their flight.
"Then why are you so tense?" A moment of silence.
"Quiet." She smiled kindly at her mother, to show her she was only kidding. Relena brushed her hand through her daughter's hair and smiled.
Heero watched the exchange silently, though he wondered how many more personalities the girl was going to have. He had already seen six; cold; kind; sarcastic; mature; mysterious, and innocent. Cold when he had just met her, kind when she had played with those children at the orphanage, sarcastic at the hotel, mature as she talked with Relena at the store, mysterious as she gave him those knives, and innocent was now, waiting nervously for her first flight on a plane. She was so confusing.
Their flight was announced and she tensed again, hesitantly walking for the exit as Relena assured her quietly. Heero followed behind, keeping watch for possible threats, and noting very many of the people who boarded the shuttle with them, as well as those who were coming off.
He watched as Akira looked about the shuttle in awe. Smiling, Relena had giving her the window seat. His window seat. He raised an eyebrow but she simply shrugged, mouthing "It's her first time." to him. He supposed it was excusable enough. He sat down on Relena's right with Akira on her left. The girl was staring out of the window before the flight had even started.
Innocence, he nearly laughed. She was about a innocent as any other soldier, yet she seemed so normal. Why was it that she had so many different personalities? Why was she so complicated? What was she trying to keep secret? His musing were cut short as the flight attendance began to speak. Hopefully, this flight would have a better pilot than the last.
*~*~*~*~*
"Stop pacing." Sally was getting dizzy. They were all impatient to see what the commotion was about, but it was no reason for both Duo and Wufei not to sit down.
"For two who fight so much, you do have a lot in common." Hilde stated in irritation, which probably clouded her reason, or else she wouldn't of said a thing, normally. Wufei glared at her but kept pacing.
Heero and Relena would be back any moment, and Trowa, Quatre and their women would be arriving soon too. There had been rumors of Relena having a daughter from the colonies, and as her friends, they wanted to know for themselves. But then again, if anyone had touched Relena the wrong way, Heero would know about it, nd the threat would probably be dead.
Then there as the slimmest of probabilities that Heero was the father, but there was no chance really, no one believed in anything between the Vice foreign minister and her bodyguard besides a small friendship. Then again, there was Johnathan, Relena's current man, but they were still together, unmarried, and he was still alive, so it probably wasn't him.
There was also the case that no one had seen any signs of sickness or anything, but they didn't get to see her regularly, so there was a chance that the rumour was true, although no one wanted to believe it. Of course, Heero saw her regularly, but he wasn't one to share any problems with other people. Wufei hadn't seen anything either, on his trip to the colonies, but there were always chances.
So for hours, Sally, Wufei, Duo, and Hilde sat in the Peacecraft livingroom, waiting for their friends to arrive.
*~*~*~*~*
"How many more stops now?" She had his window seat again. But then again, he always saw the stars like this, and her first time was suppose to be special, right?
"It's non-stop to Earth now. Anxious?" She nodded slightly and Relena smiled. Heero, on the other hand, worked on his laptop, ignoring everything around him, Aki noted.
"What is he? Who could possibly work for five hours straight? It's like he's in a 'zone' of his own." she eyed him curiously. But Aki was right, he didn't seem to acknowledge a word she had just said.
Relena laughed and smoothed her daughter's head. "Don't be fooled, he knows everything that's going on right now. I bet he could easily tell me the name of anyone within three seats from us." It didn't take Einstein himself to know she was teasing him, but there was a bit of truth in it.
"I'm not complaining about his work exactly, but he's been staring on that screen for practically the whole travel time, and it's just a bunch of words, boxes, black and white." She cocked her head to the side and looked into the screen. "I can't even look at it for a minute without getting bored."
"And how do you suppose I drag someone stronger than me from their work?"
"Wouldn't hurt you, he's your bodyguard, remember?" As she said it, she leaned over her mother and poked him in the arm, testingly. He gave her a quick look and turned back to his laptop. She raised an eyebrow. "Man, workaholic. Doesn't even take the time to ask me anything." He grunted and she sat back down, seemingly content at his "answer".
Just then, the snack cart rolled by. Relena ordered a coffee with extra cream, Heero, black coffee, and Akira, tea. They sat there, only Heero drinking any of his drink, looking busy. When the cart rolled out of eyeshot, the two ladies switched.
"I can't believe you drink as much coffee as Heero."
"I can't believe you actually drink with your pinky in the air like that."
No response.
*~*~*~*~*
"Duo, you're are not allowed to drink that much coffee! You'll go all hyper and I won't beable to keep you in line!" Hilde scolded her husband as he stood over the coffee pot the second time that day. He gave her a puppy face bt she didn't give in, having known first hand what Duo was like with too much caffein in his blood. "Jeez, sometimes I think a twelve year old could be more mature than you." She muttered to herself.(AN: I couldn't resist the irony.)
"Hil, Don't worry so much, this is Relena's house." He didn't have to continue, for Hilde already knew what he had meant by that.
"And even she would have to have us pay for some of the things you might smash." Duo gave a awkward nodd of his head in hesitant agreement. She always had better points than him.
The doorbell was heard and in came Quatre, Trowa, Dorothy, and Midii. They all already knew whom Midii was, after a slight meeting at the reunion a year ago, and a few visits inbetween for the most part. They asked around for a bit and sat by the fireplace.
It was at least another fifteen minutes before Relena could be seen at the door, chatting with someone. Had Johnathan picked her up? Wufei was the first to walk over to her.
"Woman, who is this 'daughter' everyone is talking about? People have been saying you've been having an affair with someone, most say Heero. Tabloids have been talking about that daughter you're rumoured to have from here all the way to Mars!" Hilde and Sally walked up behind the chinese man, and waited patiently for her answer.
Which opened the other door to the mansion, along with Heero close behind. She looked at all the people in the room, and blushed a bit before composing herself. "Um... hi?"
Wufei gaped. "The hell? Who is this?"
Relena gave a long, big sigh and tapped him gently on the head. "This is Akira Darlian-Peacecraft. I adopted her. For god's sake I was opening an adoption centre and you still didn't put two and two together." She picked up her two cases, nodded a brief hello to everyone, and led the girl up the stairs an out of sight.
Heero went to stand by the fireplace, waiting for the two to come back down. Trowa walked over to Duo and tapped on his shoulder, and Duo looked at him indignantly before handing a few paper bills to him, with Trowa saying 'I told you so'. He'd have to hurt them afterwards.
*~*~*~*~*
She nearly gagged. The room was huge! There was a plain bed, pale blue walls, and empty closet, but still, it was huge! She looked at the woman beside her. "Were you going to buy a pet elephant or what?"
"No, most of the rooms here are this big. Make yourself at home and come back downstairs, we'll decorate next week." She smiled at Aki and walked to her own room to unpack some things.
She dragged her suitcase to the closet and began to unpack. She then walked around the room a few times, in awe from it's size. She could probably room her entire group from the streets here.
The bed was soft, and the walls were practically steel. She setting her drawing and writing tools on the beside table and walked downstairs.
Thank goodness she had a room close to the stairs. Aki looked down the halls and began to wonder how many people had gotten lost in the giant maze. She descended the stairs until she reached the main entrance, which was as big as the meal hall, and Aki began to realize that the great balls that were held here probably were as grand as the paper and magazines said.
Attached to the great hall was an office underneath the stairs, and a smaller halway lead to the kitchens, laundry room, and a few more locked rooms, one probably being the security center.
Then there was a dining room to the left of the great hall, and the living room to the right. She walked in there to see all eyes on her.
"Can I help you?" She said a bit too shyly for her liking. She was showing a weakness in front of strangers, her mother's friends or not. A tall man with odd bangs stood up and walked over to her, inspecting her features carefully with his one visible eye. For a brief moment, she thought she saw reconition in his eye, which confused her. She had never seen him before, and she would most likely remember his bangs, out of all things.
"Is there something you want to know from me?" He didn't answer, but averted his eyes from his face and turned to her locket. She realized why he thought she looked familiar. She had been told about him from the only other person who had a locket like hers. He knew.
"Arika?" Her hand flew to her locket and opened it, slowly. He knew Arika.
*~*~*~*~*
Well, How'd ya like that? Wondering who Arika is? You gotta wait till the next chapter!! You gotta hate cliffhangars, eh? Put the watermelons down... Everything will be explained in the next chapter... just be patient... R&R please!
AN: Yay! More reviewers! Thanks y'all, you're the best... est? Lol. So the homework's being piled kinda high, getting ready for highschool this year, gotta hate grade 8. I love September though, fall's great. Okay, so back on topic, it might get a little confusing here, but bear with me, any twists were most likely planned. R&R please!
Black Hair and Gray Eyes
Chapter 3
Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Aki watched as they two people worked on their laptops across the room from eachother. Whenever the spacebare was hit, though, it made an odd tapping sound. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. She rolled over and over on the hotel bed. Along with the raindrops, the tapping rythm made a low lullaby, almost. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Click. Her coffee was ready (AN:Yes, twelve and already drinking coffee. They can do it!). She poured out a cup and some cream with sugar.
"I don't think kids you're age should be drinking that stuff." Relena said calmly, never taking her eyes off the screen. Akira rolled her eyes and poured two more cups, adding some cream into one of them. She walked over to Relena with the one with cream, and gave Heero the other one. "Thank you, but I'm still thinking of banning coffee from your system."
"Party pooper." Aki replied as she took a slow sip. Saturday mornings were never her forte. "I won't drink it much, just when I need it."
"Which is?"
"When I'm tired." Aki smiled as her mother laughed a bit.
"So, I'm tired of this work, do you want to go somewhere?" Relena turned in her chair to face her daughter. The small girl arched an eyebrow.
"Sure, why don't we go picnicing?" She gestured to the rain outside their window. Relena laughed. This was going to be interesting indeed; her daughter seemed to have so many different personalities.
"No, I mean shopping or something. I know it must be boring to watch us all day." Aki shrugged and Relena rose to get her coat, as did Heero. Akira didn't have a coat yet.
"He's coming too?"
"He's our bodyguard, he has to come. You'll get used to it." The three of them walked outside, with Heero following behind them, and Aki looked at her mom curiously; didn't it look like they were a family?
*~*~*~*~*
"None?" Relena looked at the pale blue dress then back at her daughter. "You're sure?"
"Yeah, I'd rather not wear dresses, the always did seem awkward." Aki was holding three pairs of jeans, six t-shirts, and two sweaters. She was looking through some sweatpants when Relena appeared with some dress shoes, dress pants and a neat little shirt.
"For when you have to come with me for this and that, trust me, not much." The younger one shrugged and took out a pair of navy sweatpants. Then she went on to the tanktops, immediately skipping the pink ones.
"Do you still have that pink limo?" The question had caught her off guard, and she slowly shook her head no. "Good. No offence or anything but, I always thought blue was a better colour for you."
"Yeah, me too, all that pink seemed too childish." Aki nodded in acknowledgement as she picked out a plain white tanktop.
This entire time, Heero stood at the doors of the shop, looking at some knives the sold in the store beside them. He mildly noted that the two women had paid, and were now walking up to him
But when he turned, he saw only Relena. Seeing her look past him though, her turned to his other side to see Aki looking admiringly at a few army knives to the side. Then, she pulled something out of her pocket, a switchblade.
"Too bad they don't open like these." She flipped to blade in her hand and pressed something, then a thrre-inch blade popped out of the sheath.
"Those are illegal!" He whispered harshly and pulled it out of her hands. She shrugged and walked off, noting that Heero was studying it appreciatively.
"Good weapons though." He grunted and sheathed it before stuffing it roughly into his coat pocket. The handle fitted well too... "If you need any, There's lots more where that came from." Reaching into her boots, she pulled out two more and tossed them to him. "We don't need them anymore." What had Relena gotten herself into?
Aki grabbed her mother's hand and walked off, letting Heero follow behind and glare at the young girl's back, and wondering how Johnathan wold deal with her. 'Not as well as I would if she was my daughter.' He frowned and shook his head a bit. 'where did that come from?' Still, she'd be an interesting aquaintence.
*~*~*~*~*
In the airport, Aki stood nervously beside Relena.
"Is this your first time flying?" Relena was carrying her breifcase, and Aki was holding a bag of writing tools for the trip. Heero was buying another ticket for Aki, and had only his laptop with him.
"Yeah." She nervously fingered the end of her long ponytail as they sat, waiting for their flight. Opening her bag, Akira pulled out a large sketchbook and began to draw. Relena sat with her paperwork, reading quietly. There was nothing more to say between the two, an awkward silence over took them.
"You'll love it at the Sank, and everyone's will like you too." Relena assured her daughter as she saw tension when the speaker sounded.
"I'm not worried about that." She was a terrible liar, at least from what Relena could see. As the announcement ended, Akira relaxed; it wasn't their flight.
"Then why are you so tense?" A moment of silence.
"Quiet." She smiled kindly at her mother, to show her she was only kidding. Relena brushed her hand through her daughter's hair and smiled.
Heero watched the exchange silently, though he wondered how many more personalities the girl was going to have. He had already seen six; cold; kind; sarcastic; mature; mysterious, and innocent. Cold when he had just met her, kind when she had played with those children at the orphanage, sarcastic at the hotel, mature as she talked with Relena at the store, mysterious as she gave him those knives, and innocent was now, waiting nervously for her first flight on a plane. She was so confusing.
Their flight was announced and she tensed again, hesitantly walking for the exit as Relena assured her quietly. Heero followed behind, keeping watch for possible threats, and noting very many of the people who boarded the shuttle with them, as well as those who were coming off.
He watched as Akira looked about the shuttle in awe. Smiling, Relena had giving her the window seat. His window seat. He raised an eyebrow but she simply shrugged, mouthing "It's her first time." to him. He supposed it was excusable enough. He sat down on Relena's right with Akira on her left. The girl was staring out of the window before the flight had even started.
Innocence, he nearly laughed. She was about a innocent as any other soldier, yet she seemed so normal. Why was it that she had so many different personalities? Why was she so complicated? What was she trying to keep secret? His musing were cut short as the flight attendance began to speak. Hopefully, this flight would have a better pilot than the last.
*~*~*~*~*
"Stop pacing." Sally was getting dizzy. They were all impatient to see what the commotion was about, but it was no reason for both Duo and Wufei not to sit down.
"For two who fight so much, you do have a lot in common." Hilde stated in irritation, which probably clouded her reason, or else she wouldn't of said a thing, normally. Wufei glared at her but kept pacing.
Heero and Relena would be back any moment, and Trowa, Quatre and their women would be arriving soon too. There had been rumors of Relena having a daughter from the colonies, and as her friends, they wanted to know for themselves. But then again, if anyone had touched Relena the wrong way, Heero would know about it, nd the threat would probably be dead.
Then there as the slimmest of probabilities that Heero was the father, but there was no chance really, no one believed in anything between the Vice foreign minister and her bodyguard besides a small friendship. Then again, there was Johnathan, Relena's current man, but they were still together, unmarried, and he was still alive, so it probably wasn't him.
There was also the case that no one had seen any signs of sickness or anything, but they didn't get to see her regularly, so there was a chance that the rumour was true, although no one wanted to believe it. Of course, Heero saw her regularly, but he wasn't one to share any problems with other people. Wufei hadn't seen anything either, on his trip to the colonies, but there were always chances.
So for hours, Sally, Wufei, Duo, and Hilde sat in the Peacecraft livingroom, waiting for their friends to arrive.
*~*~*~*~*
"How many more stops now?" She had his window seat again. But then again, he always saw the stars like this, and her first time was suppose to be special, right?
"It's non-stop to Earth now. Anxious?" She nodded slightly and Relena smiled. Heero, on the other hand, worked on his laptop, ignoring everything around him, Aki noted.
"What is he? Who could possibly work for five hours straight? It's like he's in a 'zone' of his own." she eyed him curiously. But Aki was right, he didn't seem to acknowledge a word she had just said.
Relena laughed and smoothed her daughter's head. "Don't be fooled, he knows everything that's going on right now. I bet he could easily tell me the name of anyone within three seats from us." It didn't take Einstein himself to know she was teasing him, but there was a bit of truth in it.
"I'm not complaining about his work exactly, but he's been staring on that screen for practically the whole travel time, and it's just a bunch of words, boxes, black and white." She cocked her head to the side and looked into the screen. "I can't even look at it for a minute without getting bored."
"And how do you suppose I drag someone stronger than me from their work?"
"Wouldn't hurt you, he's your bodyguard, remember?" As she said it, she leaned over her mother and poked him in the arm, testingly. He gave her a quick look and turned back to his laptop. She raised an eyebrow. "Man, workaholic. Doesn't even take the time to ask me anything." He grunted and she sat back down, seemingly content at his "answer".
Just then, the snack cart rolled by. Relena ordered a coffee with extra cream, Heero, black coffee, and Akira, tea. They sat there, only Heero drinking any of his drink, looking busy. When the cart rolled out of eyeshot, the two ladies switched.
"I can't believe you drink as much coffee as Heero."
"I can't believe you actually drink with your pinky in the air like that."
No response.
*~*~*~*~*
"Duo, you're are not allowed to drink that much coffee! You'll go all hyper and I won't beable to keep you in line!" Hilde scolded her husband as he stood over the coffee pot the second time that day. He gave her a puppy face bt she didn't give in, having known first hand what Duo was like with too much caffein in his blood. "Jeez, sometimes I think a twelve year old could be more mature than you." She muttered to herself.(AN: I couldn't resist the irony.)
"Hil, Don't worry so much, this is Relena's house." He didn't have to continue, for Hilde already knew what he had meant by that.
"And even she would have to have us pay for some of the things you might smash." Duo gave a awkward nodd of his head in hesitant agreement. She always had better points than him.
The doorbell was heard and in came Quatre, Trowa, Dorothy, and Midii. They all already knew whom Midii was, after a slight meeting at the reunion a year ago, and a few visits inbetween for the most part. They asked around for a bit and sat by the fireplace.
It was at least another fifteen minutes before Relena could be seen at the door, chatting with someone. Had Johnathan picked her up? Wufei was the first to walk over to her.
"Woman, who is this 'daughter' everyone is talking about? People have been saying you've been having an affair with someone, most say Heero. Tabloids have been talking about that daughter you're rumoured to have from here all the way to Mars!" Hilde and Sally walked up behind the chinese man, and waited patiently for her answer.
Which opened the other door to the mansion, along with Heero close behind. She looked at all the people in the room, and blushed a bit before composing herself. "Um... hi?"
Wufei gaped. "The hell? Who is this?"
Relena gave a long, big sigh and tapped him gently on the head. "This is Akira Darlian-Peacecraft. I adopted her. For god's sake I was opening an adoption centre and you still didn't put two and two together." She picked up her two cases, nodded a brief hello to everyone, and led the girl up the stairs an out of sight.
Heero went to stand by the fireplace, waiting for the two to come back down. Trowa walked over to Duo and tapped on his shoulder, and Duo looked at him indignantly before handing a few paper bills to him, with Trowa saying 'I told you so'. He'd have to hurt them afterwards.
*~*~*~*~*
She nearly gagged. The room was huge! There was a plain bed, pale blue walls, and empty closet, but still, it was huge! She looked at the woman beside her. "Were you going to buy a pet elephant or what?"
"No, most of the rooms here are this big. Make yourself at home and come back downstairs, we'll decorate next week." She smiled at Aki and walked to her own room to unpack some things.
She dragged her suitcase to the closet and began to unpack. She then walked around the room a few times, in awe from it's size. She could probably room her entire group from the streets here.
The bed was soft, and the walls were practically steel. She setting her drawing and writing tools on the beside table and walked downstairs.
Thank goodness she had a room close to the stairs. Aki looked down the halls and began to wonder how many people had gotten lost in the giant maze. She descended the stairs until she reached the main entrance, which was as big as the meal hall, and Aki began to realize that the great balls that were held here probably were as grand as the paper and magazines said.
Attached to the great hall was an office underneath the stairs, and a smaller halway lead to the kitchens, laundry room, and a few more locked rooms, one probably being the security center.
Then there was a dining room to the left of the great hall, and the living room to the right. She walked in there to see all eyes on her.
"Can I help you?" She said a bit too shyly for her liking. She was showing a weakness in front of strangers, her mother's friends or not. A tall man with odd bangs stood up and walked over to her, inspecting her features carefully with his one visible eye. For a brief moment, she thought she saw reconition in his eye, which confused her. She had never seen him before, and she would most likely remember his bangs, out of all things.
"Is there something you want to know from me?" He didn't answer, but averted his eyes from his face and turned to her locket. She realized why he thought she looked familiar. She had been told about him from the only other person who had a locket like hers. He knew.
"Arika?" Her hand flew to her locket and opened it, slowly. He knew Arika.
*~*~*~*~*
Well, How'd ya like that? Wondering who Arika is? You gotta wait till the next chapter!! You gotta hate cliffhangars, eh? Put the watermelons down... Everything will be explained in the next chapter... just be patient... R&R please!