Upside-down

By:
Darkness VII

= This chapter, I'm sorry to say, does not have much to do with Shohoku High (in the first few parts). It's mainly about Kim's life back in America, how Kaede copes with his everyday life without his girl friend. Takes place one week after Kim left and, for all you Ryo/Aya fans out there, Ryota and Ayako are dating. Don't worry, It won't be THAT long, this story is going fast again, so don't worry about waiting for the next chapter=

CHAPTER 4- America

In Katakura manor (the really huge one) we find Kim and her dad talking, no, it's more like arguing when Kim's dad is the bargain person and Kim is the person who complains. "Gym, gym, gym. That's all I do. I'd rather be a gypsy than contort my body into different geometrical figures" Kim complained to her dad. "Well Kim, being a top-class ninja has it's upsides and downsides" "I never thought that being a ninja would mean doing triple back flips in two seconds" "But you can, can't you?" "Yes" "Well, better get going to practice then" "Sure, sure" and she ran as fast as the speed of light but then stopped half-way. "Whoops, dropped this" She bent down and picked it up. It was the picture of her boyfriend in Japan. "I miss you" she mumbled and put the picture back into her jacket pocket.

"Yes, that's the way to do it, Kim!" her coach yelled. Coach Jane Thorbert, the best gym trainer in all of LA. She was coaching a school that Kim's dad was sponsoring for the tournament and Kim was forced to join the gym team. "Kim, can you show us that back-flip kick again?" Kim just shrugged. In Hollywood, where they've never heard of Rukawa Kaede, there was no point of being nice to people so she had that protective shell around her again that protected the vulnerable inner layer of her personality. She was again this loner that didn't want any contact with the outside world.

She did as she was asked to do and did a back-flip kick. She ran towards the wall, jumped on it and kicked, flipped and fell back to the ground. It was halfway of practice already and Kim hadn't broken into sweat yet. One of the girls was already complaining that practice was too hard. Another was complaining because all the guys were staring at Kim and not at her. This girl was obviously a popular one and was used to all the guys staring at her.

"What a bitch" she whispered among her friends "And the coach really is fond of her" another girl whispered "Hey, Debbie, maybe we should make acquaintance" whispered another. "Sure". All five of them walked over to where Kim was standing, drinking her water. "Excuse me, are you new here?" the leader, Debbie, asked "Hn?" she said as she looked over her way. "What?" "Yes" she said in her cold tone "What's your name?" "Kim" she answered "Kim, huh? I'm Debbie. This is Angela" she pointed at the blond one. Debbie herself was blond. "This is Cera" pointing at the brunette "This is Kathy" she pointed at another brunette "And this is Kara" she said, pointing at a red-head "So?" "What!?" she asked, flaming red with anger "So?" Kim asked again "What the hell do you mean by 'so'?" "So what?" Kim asked "Come here and say that, bitch!" Debbie yelled "Yare, yare" Kim said and raised her hand and she instantly floated halfway to the ceiling.

"What the hell?" "Ninja technique, 'Spider'" "Ninja, huh? Well come down here and show what you're made of" Angela yelled. The coach was out so they had the guts to fight. Kim made a fist and she fell back to the ground in a perfect landing. "What?" Kim asked. "Fight me" Angela challenged. Kim closed her eyes and suddenly there were about ten Kims. "What the hell?" Cera asked "Ninja technique, 'Multiplication'" she answered Angela tried to punch an illusion of Kim and fell to the ground.

Angela got back almost instantly as soon as the illusions were gone. She came running back to Kim, packing a punch. Kim jumped and flipped back kicking Angela's back. She fell to the floor and started whining. "No, no, no" and pounded her fists on the floor. "Yare, yare" Kim said while scratching her head. The boys, who were watching the whole time, came up to Kim and started asking her stuff like, "How did you do that?" "How can you float like that?" and for the really curious ones, "What does 'Yare, yare' mean?". Kim just shrugged and jumped out of the crowd.

Sheesh, and to think that I came to Japan for some peace. I can't believe I let dad talk me into this. She went out of the gym to her car to pick up her bag that she carried all the time. She took out her cellphone and clicked on 'baby' which rung Kaede's cellphone. It was four in the afternoon in LA so probably in Kanagawa, it would be approximately one in the morning. "Moshi-moshi?" he answered the phone in a sleepy tone "Sumimasen, Kaede-kun, this is the only time I'm free to call you. It's Kim" "Kim? Hey baby. Don't worry. It's alright, I didn't feel like sleeping anyway" "Are? Are you sure you're not sick, baby? I mean you of all the people, not wanting to sleep?" "Daijobu, Kim-chan. I'm fine, really"

"I'm really sorry if I had to call you this time of the morning. I'll just call you later" "Damette, Kim-chan. Daijobu, let's talk now. I insist" "Oh, okay. My dad brought me here for a gymnastics tournament and I don't think I be home for quite a while. Tell me, what's happening there?" "Well, Miyagi and Ayako are dating now. I guess what I told him really did do something" "I knew it'd work" "Tell me, how come you wanted them to be together?" "Nothing really, I just want to see my friends happy" "That is so like you" "Well, I gotta go, my coach is calling me. Love ya" "Love ya too"

"Kim, come on. Let's get back to practice" "Yes, coach" and both of them went into the gym. There, they saw Angela still on the floor and pretending to be hurt and her gang surrounded her. Of course, it wasn't that bad because Kim went easy on her. If Kim didn't, then she ought to be paralyzed already. "Angela, what happened?" Coach Jane asked "Well, coach, Kim kicked her at the back and she's hurt pretty badly" Kara answered in a very fake tone, of course, it wasn't all that obvious, but Kim was sharp enough to notice "Kim? How could she? I just saw her outside near her car. How can she do this? She can't be in two places at once, right?" "Um, yeah, I guess...but..." Kara said "That's about enough from you five" "But..." "Ninja's have a cure for that" She grabbed Angela by the wrist and made her stand up. She did the funny finger thing and then slapped Angela's back lightly and muttered something like "Sha". "There" Kim said finally.

"See coach, she's doing it again" Kathy said in a tattle-tale voice. "I'm sure that has some explanation, right Kim?" "Yes" "What's with the one word answers Kim?" Debbie asked "Nothing, really" "So Kim, would you care to explain what you just did?" "No" "What do you mean 'no'?" "'No' I wouldn't care to explain" "I want you to explain" "You said it." "Explain" "IF she was in pain, 'Sha' is a mutra that help cure or endure great deals of pain." "Oh" Coach Jane said. "I don't really see why I did it, because her pain was fake anyways" she muttered in Japanese. "What did you say, Kim?" "Nothing"

All went well for gym practice for the next two weeks, practice went smoothly, but in the Katakura household, everything was not fine. For one thing, Kim's dad was dating again, another thing, Kim was getting fed up with gym and wanted to go back to Kanagawa where all her friends were. So, when Kim got really fed up, she did something drastic. Something I doubt your parents will ever forgive you if you did it. But she had to. Her friends were missing her and she was missing her friends. She went back to Japan without telling her dad first.

Is it called running away? I mean running away is like going out of the house and not showing up ever again or even showing signs that you're still alive. So she wasn't really running away because one, she was going to their house in Japan. Two, she left a message in her dad's answering machine and three, a lot of people knew that she was going back. So it isn't running away, right?

She was in the airport and wanted to call her dad. His cellphone was busy as usual so she decided that she'll just call him when he's at home and after she arrives in Japan. "All passengers bound for Narita via American Airlines please proceed to boarding gate number five for final head counts and boarding" The P.A. announced. "Well, Mrs. A., I guess we have to go" Kim told her nanny. Kim's nanny, isn't 'Mrs. A.', or at least that's not her name. Mrs. A. is actually Mrs. Arthwater, Kim's nanny ever since she was a baby and her legal guardian when her dad isn't around. After fifteen minutes, the P.A. announced "American Airlines flight 552 now boarding passengers with infants, small children and senior citizens" Then "All first and business class passengers may now board the plane" that was Kim's so she and her nanny boarded the plane which took off fifteen minutes later.

^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^

By now you may think that it's going fast again. It is *nods*. I think I might put some Ryo/Aya in here too. Probably. *laughs evilly* Don't you worry. I promise, the next chapter will be all about how happy they are together in spite of some minor technical problems "Mission control to your battle stations" Check ya later! My destiny awaits. *walks away* Ja, ne! *trips* Owww...

~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^

~15 hours later, Shohoku High, practice time~ "Tadaima, minna-san!" yelled a perky, cheery voice "Kim, okaeri. It's good you're here. Rukawa. Something happened" Ayako said "What!?!?"

A/N:
Hahahahaha! Cliffhanger! I do love them. I think I'll leave it like that for a while. Thanks for reading anyway! R&R please! Domo Arigatou! Sorry if I didn't do what you expected, but I'm currently working on the next chapter with a lot of Ryo/Aya. Don't give up. I'll be back. Please R&R!

ALP (Author's Last Pleads)
Read this, a dumb joke, but none the less...
Man: Hey miss, you wanna go out?
Woman: No, I'm lesbian.
Man: What's lesbian?
Woman: That means I like sexy girls
Man: Well then, I'm lesbian too.
Woman: Really?
Man: Yes. I like sexy girls too.
Okay, so it wasn't all that funny, but still, I wanted to share it with you.
My destiny awaits!
Fair the well! *salutes*
Till next time!
Ja, ne!

Darkness VII