An Everly Tale Chapter One By A Shot of Amber

Hi! I'm back with a new story. This one takes place in an alternate universe where the scouts don't have any powers. Instead of living in Japan, they live in a made up country that I came up with out of mid air. Anyway please be kind and remember to read and review or send all comments, questions, suggestions, and flames to Saphrians_Water_Reflection@hotmail.com. Thank you!

An Everly Tale Chapter One

The apartment was a lot bigger then she thought it would be. For the small sum of money that was due every month on rent Serena was getting a nice place.

She walked in the door and set down her purse on the floor. The foyer hallway was tiled in a very nice black and white tile, it could almost be marble but it wasn't. Still it did look nice against the powder blue walls. Serena ran her hand over one of the walls and smiled. She would have to make a note to thank the land lord on how nice her apartment was.

A couple of hours later she wasn't in such a cheerful mood as before. After a quick tour of the place she had gotten down to business. The truck was parked outside and with the help of the moving men she had gotten her furniture and boxes of belongs up four flights of stairs and into the foyer of her new apartment. It had taken two hours and a lot of grumbling on the part of the moving men but they had finally finished leaving Serena to sort everything out.

To cheer herself up, Serena had located and set up her stereo so she would have some music to listen to. Now the heavy sounds of Japanese techno filled the room giving her something to dance to while she set up her bedroom, if you could call making a bed and rearranging a dresser dancing.

Serena smoothed out the last sheet on the bed and moved to pick up the blanket that would go over it when someone knocked at the door. She looked up to see if her ears were playing tricks on her but the person at the door knocked again, this time louder. Serena left the blanket on the bed and stepped over and around the boxes leading out of the bedroom. The person at the door was very impatient because they knocked again this time even louder then before.

"I'm coming!" Serena yelled stepping over a small box leading to the door. She unlocked the chain lock and opened the door. In the hallway stood a cheerful looking blond girl with large blue eyes holding a small cactus plant in her hands. Behind her stood a tall brunette girl holding a plate of cookies.

"Welcome to the building!" They said together holding out their gifts.

Serena took a step back one hand flying to her throat then to the bandanna tied over her hair. "Visitors at a time like this?" She muttered then smiled. "I'm sorry I wasn't really expecting anyone at this time."

"Its okay we understand!" The blond girl replied as she walked in and handed Serena the cactus. "They are really easy to keep since they need very little water."

"Oh it's lovely," Serena replied searching for words.

The blond girl smiled and turned to her friend. "See I told you she would like it."

"Okay fine Mina. I relent, but how can anyone say no to cookies?" The brunette turned to Serena and held out her plate of cookies. "They are fresh baked gingerbread. When I saw you pull up I knew you would be our new neighbor so I started baking immediately so you could have something to snack on while you unpacked."

"Thank you," Serena shifting the cactus to one hand and taking the plate of cookies in the other. "That was very nice of you."

"See," the brunette nudged the blond girl. "I told you she would like them."

"Yea well everyone likes cookies," the blond girl replied.

Serena watched as the two walked out of the foyer into the main room which was still filled with boxes. She sighed and closed the door with one foot before turning to the two girls. "Well since your obviously staying," she muttered to herself then in a louder voice asked, "Would you like some coffee?"

"Yea! We'd love some," the blond girl, Mina," replied turning back to Serena.

"And maybe you could tell me your names since I didn't catch them." Serena walked past the two girls into the small walk in kitchen and set down the cactus and the plate of cookies.

The brunette smiled and walked over to the counter separating the kitchen from the main room. "Sorry I guess we forgot the do that in the rush of first meeting you. Anyway I'm Lita Kino and my roommate over there," she gestured to the blond girl, "is Mina Anio."

"Well it's very nice to meet you," Serena replied giving Lita a smile as she put a filter into the coffee maker. "I'm Serena "Usagi" Tuskino and I just moved here from Japan."

"Wow your from Japan?" Mina asked turning from the where she was standing in front of the fireplace.

"Yea, from Tokyo."

"Wow! I've never met anyone from Japan. Can you say something in Japanese?"

"Um," Serena looked up at the ceiling then back down at the two girls. "Konichiwa Mina-san. Dabijobu?"

"So what did you say?" Lita asked.

"I just said hello Mina and how are you? The san part is to show respect." Serena closed the coffee maker and pressed the on button.

"That is so cool," Mina sighed walking over to where Lita sat and took a seat on one of the stools. "So tell me, why did you move here to Basalt?"

"I got a job as a columnist with a local newspaper out here," Serena replied shifting through a box for coffee cups.

"What's your column about?" Lita asked leaning forward a bit.

"Fashion." Serena laughed. "I'm the new fashion columnist!"

"So you left Japan to move here to a strange country all for a job?" Mina asked changing the subject.

"Yea, I worked for a couple years at the Tokyo Press but I wanted to work on a smaller newspaper. My boss actually found this job for me." Serena pulled three coffee cups out of the box and set them down on the counter. "I was kind of shocked to get the job saying I only had about two years of experience but I got it and here I am!"

"So you moved out here and got an apartment in the same building as us?"

"Yea."

"It's fate," Mina snapped her fingers and smiled. "Fate brought you out here to make friends with us. We were meant to be together."

Serena smiled and shook her head. "I don't believe in fate but as for being friends I would like that. It would make this adjusting to a new country and a new language a lot easier."

"Don't you know how to speak English well?" Lita asked.

Serena shook her head. "I know enough English to get me through daily situations but otherwise no. My school didn't teach me enough."

"Then you'll need Mina. She's great with the English language."

Mina nodded in response. "I can help you with any language problems you have."

Serena smiled. "I think moving here was a very good idea after all."

"Of course it is! With friends like us nothing is a bad idea," Mina replied happily.

Serena smiled and picked up the coffeepot. Maybe moving to Basalt was not such a bad idea after all.

* * * * * * *

The next morning found her in bed fast asleep in a dream land where she didn't have to look forward to a day of unpacking. The dream was perfect until the ringing of the phone woke her up.

Serena didn't hear the first ring but she did hear the second. It was loud and persistent. Serena groaned something in Japanese and reached over for the telephone.

"Moshi moshi? I mean hello?"

"Serena? Are you still asleep?" It was Lita. Her calm voice filled the line.

"Oh hi Lita. I always sleep in on Sundays," Serena replied shifting onto her back.

"Oh well Mina and I were going to go out to breakfast and we thought you might want to come with us. You know get a look at the town."

"If you give me half an hour to wake up and get dressed I'd love to."

"Great! We'll pick you up at your place. See you then." Lita hung up the phone.

Serena smiled and placed her phone back on the hook. She stared at the ceiling for a minute before climbing out of bed and heading towards a box of her clothes. It was going to a busy day.

A half an hour later Serena sat on the couch sipping a cup of coffee she had made to wake her up while she waited for Mina and Lita to pick her up. The apartment was crowded with boxes but when everything was unpacked Serena had a feeling it would still feel empty. The apartment was at the top of the building. It was rather nice, a big loft apartment with one bedroom, a main room, and a smaller den and bathroom. What she loved most about the place was the large bay windows along on wall that gave her a view of the city and the river that was near by.

Basalt was a small country between the border of France and Italy. Serena had never heard of it until she got the job at the local newspaper. Before she had moved to Basalt she had thought she would always be at the Tokyo Press. That was until her boss told her about the job. It was a long shot but she wanted it and she won. She got the job and after a tearful goodbye with her parents Serena had climbed onto a plane and came to Basalt. Her new boss, Helen had lined up the apartment for her so she would have someplace to live when she got there.

Serena was excited to go to work tomorrow. On the phone her boss Helen had seemed like a nice person. She was excited to have Serena start out there and promised to go easy on her.

"Don't believe what the others will say about me. I'm not really an ogre." Helen had said when they talked on the phone.

Serena smiled at the memory. That had been in Japan before she left. Now here she was in a new country, in a new home about to go out with her new friends. Serena took a sip of her coffee then stopped as she heard the knock on the door. She quickly set down the coffee cup on the table in front of her and got up.

"I'm coming!" Serena called as she picked up her purse from the hallway table and walked over to the door. Mina and Lita stood on the other side both looking wide awake and happy. Something Serena wished for, the wide awake part that was.

"Are you ready to go?" Mina asked happily as she stepped back while Serena shut the door.

"Yea I am. So where are we going?"

"I thought we would go to this small café we like, Café Benot. They serve breakfast the way it should be made," Lita replied.

"The Basalt way," Mina added.

Serena laughed and followed the two girls towards the stairs. "It sounds great. I've never had breakfast the Basalt way before."

"Then your in for a treat. You know Lita works there also."

"Really? Are you a waitress?" Serena asked turning towards the taller girls.

"Actually I'm a chef," Lita replied blushing slightly.

"A chef? Wow that's really great. I can barely boil water." Serena smiled in genuine interest. "If you ever want to come to dinner you can see how bad of a cook I really am."

"Then I'm afraid I can't come. You see cooking is my first love and I would hate to see someone kill it," Lita replied good-naturedly.

Serena smiled and turned towards Mina. "So what do you do?"

The girls walked out the front door into the sunshine with Lita leading the way to the restaurant.

"Well I'm a model and a singer but for now I work as a secretary in a day care center."

"So your doing all three?" Serena asked as they stopped at a street corner.

"No she's just a secretary and she hates it." Lita replied.

"I can't stand kids, they are so annoying but the job pays good," Mina added as they crossed the street.

"So you took a job you hate?"

"I had to, my singing career isn't doing so good. I had to take what I could. Its not easy to be a singer in today's world."

"So that's your dream? To be a famous singer?" Serena asked turning away from the building she was looking at.

"No I want to be more then a singer. I want to an idol. I want to act and sing and model and make people's dreams come true through my dreams." Mina stretched her arms out wide. "I want everyone to know my name."

"Wow, that sounds like a great dream," Serena replied honestly.

"I hope it can come true someday," Mina sighed dropping her arms to her side again.

"I'm sure it will. If mine can then yours can most definetly." Serena turned to Lita. "Since were on the topic of dreams then what is yours?"

Lita smiled and blushed. "Mine is no where as big as Mina's but someday I want to open a restaurant of my very own."

"Lita is one of the best cooks you have ever seen and tasted. She does all the cooking at our place since I can't do anything remotely resembling cooking," Mina added.

"Are you going to be cooking for us at the restaurant?" Serena asked.

Lita smiled and shook her head. "I have the day off today so I'm afraid not. Instead Eddie will be in charge, but he's a great cook to so don't worry."

Serena smiled back at Lita and looked up at the restaurant. It was a small brick building with an outdoor café section screened off by a metal fence and filled with small white tables underneath forest green umbrellas. Because it was full inside the girls got a table underneath one of the umbrellas at small table.

Lita knew everyone who was sitting around them including the waiters and waitresses that walked past. The three girls ordered a pot of coffee and food before going back to getting to know each other.

"You should let us take you on a tour of the city after breakfast. Basalt is a really nice place to see in the spring."

"I would love that but I have so much unpacking to do still I'm afraid I'll be busy all day," Serena replied sheepishly.

"Then at least let us help you." Mina replied persistently. "It would make the work go faster."

Serena shook her head and took a sip of coffee. "That's really nice of you to offer but I'll be okay. I can get it done by myself and any way I'm sure there are other things you do then helping my lug boxes around all day."

"Yea, we'll let her unpack by herself, I'm sure we'll just get in the way," Lita added.

"You just say that because you don't want to help," Mina shot back.

"Guilty," Lita replied holding up both hands, "but I'm sure Serena would know where she wants to put things better then we would."

"That's true, it may take longer but at least I will know where I want everything to go and anyway I don't mind if it takes me awhile, it will give me something to do."

"Well it was just an offer," Mina replied as the waiter came over and set down their plates.

"And it was very nice offer too," Serena replied as she picked up her fork and smiled at her new friend.

Mina smiled back then turned to her breakfast. The three girls moved onto other topics while they ate including talking about the royal family of Basalt.

"Did you know that their main residence is here? I think the royal family is even living there right now."

"Mina's interested in that kind of thing. You know a rich royal family and all. Me personally, I could care less. I think its all over hyped about them and their many scandals," Lita added taking a bite of her scrambled eggs.

"They have a lot of problems?" Serena asked looking across the table at Lita.

"Well their son does, he's forever getting into trouble. They say he can never be alone, he has a million girlfriends."

"Sounds like he's got intimacy issues," Serena muttered.

"He probably does, I don't know," Lita replied as she added more sugar to her second cup of coffee.

"You know I once had a friend like that. He was forever sleeping around with anything in a skirt. Then one day he got a girl pregnant." Mina stopped and looked up from her cup of coffee at the other two.

"So what happened to him?" Lita asked.

"Well," Mina set down her cup on the table top and folded her arms. "Her father found out and they were forced to get married. The last I heard about him was that they were still married and she was expecting their third child. Of course," Mina tapped her chin with one finger, "that was about five years ago."

"Well the royal prince hasn't gotten anyone pregnant yet but he's had his share of scandals. They say he will never settle down and run this country properly," Mina sighed.

"What I heard and what I learned was that the royal prince will only become king once he finds and settles down with a proper wife. Is that right?" Serena asked turning to Lita.

"Yes that is," Lita picked up her bagel and took a bite. "Only I doubt he will ever find anyone. The girl that he will marry better be pretty special for him to stop his roaming ways."

"I wonder," Serena mummered resting her chin in her hand, "what kind of girl that will be."

Please remember to read and review or send all comments, questions, suggestions, and flames to Saphrians_Water_Reflection@hotmail.com. Thank you.