Hikaru's say: Hello all! Thanks to all of those who reviewed, and sorry for
not putting a note in the first chapter. Here's a just a few things that'll
be handy to know as you read this fic.
This fic takes place a year after the events of Gravitation.
Since I've seen the subbed version of this and have little to no interest in seeing the dub, I'll be using the titles san, kun, chan and sama in the dialog. I think most of you will know what they all mean, but if you don't, say so in the review and I'll explain in the next chapter.
To those of you who hate original character fics (and with good reason) don't worry, there are only going to be two original characters. I can also see your point since I hate fics where the new original character saves everyone from impending doom, is perfect and loved by everyone or has more issues then a newspaper.
Thanks for the spelling tip on Seguchi, when I was getting the correct spellings off my friend I misheard.
Well, now that that has been said, I'll keep the chapters coming if you keep the reviews coming. Later! **********************************************
"Now are you sure you don't need me to take you there?" Tohma asked for the thousandth time. "You might get lost, being your first day and all."
"I'll be fine," Lily said with a laugh at his concern and put her shoes on at the front door.
She was setting out for school in her new uniform with her bag weighed down with new textbooks.
"Are you sure?" Tohma asked for the last time as he opened the door for her.
"Positive," Lily said with a confident tone. "I guess I'll see you tonight?"
"See you then," Tohma said with a smile and Lily set out.
"Now I take a left here and then turn right at the chemist," she mumbled to herself as she made her way through the streets of Tokyo.
As she walked, she could feel the little hairs on the back of neck prickling. She looked around, but the streets were quiet and she couldn't see anyone lucking in a dark corner.
She walked on and saw a car moving at a slow pace out of the corner out of her eye. She turned her head ever so slightly and could see the Mercedes badge glistening on the black car. The windows were tinted so any hope of seeing the driver was erased.
Lily picked up her pace just a little bit.
The car increased its speed.
By now Lily was regretting her rejection at Tohma's offer. Things were getting just a little creepy. She turned the corner in a hurry and disappeared from the driver's view.
The car drove around the corner in pursuit. Lily was nowhere in sight. The Mercedes halted for a minute before it was beeped at by several cars behind it. It took off and vanished down the street corner.
Lily took a step out of the CD store and looked around. The car had gone and she gave a sigh of relief. Japan was getting stranger by the minute.
*********************************************
"Class, this is Barton Lily, a transfer student from America. Please make her feel welcome," Lily's new teacher said as he and Lily stood at the front of the class.
The class applauded and Lily made a small speech about herself and her interests. She then sat down at the back of the class, right next to a window.
The class set to work on some mathematics and Lily wasn't even through the third question when the door burst open.
"Good morning!" came a high pitched cry. Lily looked up to see a girl about her age standing at the door, one hand held high in a gesture of greeting.
She had two long, black pigtails that were tied up high on the sides of her head and was about two feet taller then everyone else in the class. It was hard to ignore the huge round glasses she was wearing since they covered half her face.
"So nice you could join us this morning Nickson san," the teacher said dryly.
"The star of the show always arrives late," the girl chirped brightly and made her way to her seat.
Lily couldn't help but smile, it was nice to see someone this energetic in a school room.
The day was going smoothly, but just before lunch, things took an interesting turn.
Lily was steaming through her science work when something shone in her left eye. She jerked her head and started to look for whatever had done it.
Her first assumption was that someone had a plastic ruler and was intentionally annoying her, but she realised since she was next to a window on her left, the distraction had to of come from outside.
With a quick glance at the teacher who was still correcting papers, she looked out the window.
Her classroom was on the third floor of the five story school building and had a great view of the gardens and the entrance gate.
Parked outside the gate was a black Mercedes. A feeling of dread filled Lily's stomach as she peered closer, wishing she had a telescope. She could just see, glinting in the sun, was a pair of binoculars.
"Aren't you coming?" someone asked from beside her.
Lily screamed and spun her head around.
"Wow, you're intense with your science," the energetic girl called Nickson said.
"Huh? Oh sorry," Lily said and gave the parked car another quick glance.
"What's so interesting?" Nickson asked and looked out the window. "Oh wow! Cool car! I bet a really hot guy drives it!"
Nickson was now leaning on Lily's head to get a better look at the Mercedes.
Then, rather suddenly, the car sped off down the street and out of the girl's sight.
'What the heck is going on?" Lily thought as her neck held up the other girl's weight.
"Hey are you coming to lunch or what?" Nickson said, interrupting Lily's thoughts for a second time.
"Oh yea, I guess I didn't hear the bell," Lily said sheepishly.
Relief flooded down Lily's spine as Nickson stopped leaning on her head.
"To the cafeteria!" she cried dramatically pointing out the door in a pioneering stance.
She then grabbed Lily's arm and ran out the door, with Lily being dragged behind her.
**********************************************
"Name's Nickson, Joan Nickson. I like my orange sodas in cans not glasses," the energetic girl said as she and Lily stood in the cafeteria line.
"I'm Barton, Lily Barton. I like eating pizzas from boxes not plates," Lily said with a smile. "I'm guessing Nickson isn't a traditional Japanese name?"
"That's right baby! You're looking at five generations of English heritage!" Joan proclaimed and she slammed her tray down on a vacant table. "Why my family was at the Battle of Hastings and I'm a distant of Guy Fawks! You know, the guy who tried to blow up parliament house?"
"Really?" Lily asked awe struck.
"No but it sounds impressive doesn't it?" Joan said with a mouthful of rice. "By the way, do you have a best friend yet?"
"I only arrived in Japan three days ago," Lily pointed out.
"Great! Then I'll be your best friend!" Joan said and hugged Lily tightly.
'What am I in for?' Lily thought as Joan smothered her.
**********************************************
"So how come your family moved to Japan?" Lily asked as the girls walked out of the building after the final bell.
"Well there were several reasons actually," Joan said trying to look thoughtful with her amount of brain capacity. "Dad got offered a really wicked business deal, I won a scholarship, Japan has cutting edge technology and many other cheese-filled reasons."
"Cheese-filled?"
"Yea but the real reason was..."
Lily held her breath in suspense for the conclusion.
"The anime."
Lily fell over backwards in disbelief.
"You mean to tell me that you and your family relocated halfway across the globe just to support your anime addition?"
"Yep. Besides, when you read and speak fluent Japanese, you've only got three options. One-spend your weekends fansubbing black market anime, two- post scandelations on the Internet or move. Which sounds best to you?" Joan asked.
"I see your point," Lily admitted and got up. Fansubbing might make you popular among anime fans, but it also meant sitting in front of a computer for most of your life and swearing at broken equipment.
They continued to chat as they made there way to the gate, then Lily saw it.
The phantom Mercedes was back. Parked across the street with the windows wound up, silent and waiting.
Lily couldn't tell it the driver was in there due to the tinted windows but she wasn't taking any chances.
"Guess I'll see ya tomorrow Lily chan," Joan said.
Lily grabbed her arm and pulled her back with a jolt. Joan's glasses came off from behind one ear and she looked at Lily with her usual clueless look.
"Can I come over to your place?" Lily asked as she squeezed Joan's arm tighter.
"Sure. I can introduce you to the wonderful world of anime and we can have orange Fanta if ya like," she said brightly.
"Cool, let's go,' Lily said eagerly and the two friends departed.
*********************************************
The driver of the Mercedes lowered his binoculars and was about to grab the ignition key when the driver's side door was yanked open.
"Hey what's your." he then saw who was standing on the kerb and screamed.
A tall blond man with green eyes yanked the driver out of the car but the front of his shirt and slammed him against the car.
"What the hell do you think you're doing stealing my car?" the blonde man demanded.
"It's not like that brother I swear!" the driver stammered as his brother gave him a look that could be clearly read by anyone who walked by.
It said: "I'm gonna kill you and leave your corpse to rot in the sun for a week before I bury you in a cornfield where no one will ever find you."
"No one ever touches my car, Tatsuha, ever," the driver's brother hissed dangerously, moving his face closer to Tatsuha's. "Shuichi is lucky if he gets to even sit it."
Tatsuha gave a small feeble whimper. His brother could just make out the words, "I'm sorry."
The man released his grip on his brother causing him to fall to the ground.
"What are you doing here anyway?" the car owner said impatiently as he looked down on Tatsuha. "Even you aren't sick enough to be picking up junior high students."
"I missed my darling older brother."
"Cut the crap."
"I came to see that girl," Tatsuha said honestly as he stood up and tried to straighten his shirt.
"How did you know about her?" his brother asked suspiciously.
"Tohma san told me. So I decided to come and see her for myself. They don't look alike really, just a similar feature here and there," Tatsuha said.
"Are you aware that stalking is illegal?" the older man said, his green eyes giving out a piecing glare.
"Well umm.."
"Oh just shut up and get in the car."
**********************************************
"Well here we are," Joan said cheerfully, holding her friend's hand.
"You live here?" Lily said, completely awe struck.
"Not too shabby eh?" Joan said and pressed the intercom.
They were standing in front of what could only be described as a mansion. The front porch was held up by two stone columns, the garden had been designed by a group of specialists and every inch of the mansion glistened in the sunlight.
"H-how many rooms do you have in your house?" Lily asked, not averting your eyes from Joan's home.
"Only about fifty," Joan said in a modest tone.
"Fifty?" Lily squeaked in disbelief.
The huge iron gates then swung open as someone from inside hit the button to operate them and Joan wandered in casually.
"Come on Lily chan, we've got ninety two episodes of Rurouni Kenshin to watch, times a wasting."
**********************************************
Tohma straightened some papers on his desk when his phone started to ring.
"Seguchi Tohma," he said in a professional tone.
He was silent for a few seconds before he spoke again.
"I thought you'd call," he said with a smile. "I take it you're curious to see how your daughter is doing?"
**********************************************
"If you'd have wanted to have played at your friend's you should have asked Tohma or myself this morning," Mika said as Lily and herself shared a cup of tea that evening.
"Well something unexpected happened," Lily said, trying to defend herself.
"Such as?" Mika asked as she put some of her long hair behind her ear.
"I was stalked all day by some nutcase in a Mercedes," Lily said and sipped her tea.
Mika went off her rocker. She leapt up and started screaming about this and that so fast that Lily couldn't keep up. Not that she would have been able to if Mika had been speaking English anyway.
The only few words that Lily could make out were; police, danger, help and for some odd reason, yogurt.
"Yogurt?" Lily asked with a frown.
"What?" Mika asked as she stopped dead in her ramble.
"Oh sorry, I think I might have mistranslated that one."
Mika left the room and came back a few seconds later, carrying what looked mike an ATM card.
"Tohma had this made for you but I didn't think you needed it," she said handing Lily the card.
"What is it?" Lily asked mimicking Joan's regular expression-completely clueless. "It's a security card for the NG Company building," Mika said as she sat back down. "From now on it's best that you go there straight after school to meet Tohma."
"Don't you think this is a bit much Mika san?" Lily asked as she looked at the card in her hand.
"Don't bother arguing Lily chan," she replied, raising her tea cup.
Lily took her advice and finished her tea before going to bed.
She didn't fancy the idea of sitting outside Tohma's office writing essays every weekday afternoon, but she didn't have much choice really. When Mika put her foot down, she really put her foot down!
Lily flicked of her lamp and closed her eyes. In no more then three seconds the globe lit up again and Lily jumped out of bed.
Without turning on any of the other lights in the house, Lily crept into the lounge room and switched on a small lamp.
It glowed red and huge globs floated up and down.
'I can't believe a man as cool as Tohma owns a lava lamp,' she thought it disgust. 'This is a pretty bad way to relive the seventies.'
She then started to calculate how old Tohma would have been in the seventies, but gave up halfway out of lack of concern.
Lily quickly grabbed the Bad Luck CD and headed back to her room, turning off the horrible lamp on the way.
She sat down on her bed and slipped the cover out of the plastic case.
At the bottom of the legal mumbo jumbo and trademarks, the Lily could see the NG company logo.
'All right then,' Lily thought to herself. 'When I go there tomorrow after school I'll find Shuichi and tell him the truth about my Dad.'
This fic takes place a year after the events of Gravitation.
Since I've seen the subbed version of this and have little to no interest in seeing the dub, I'll be using the titles san, kun, chan and sama in the dialog. I think most of you will know what they all mean, but if you don't, say so in the review and I'll explain in the next chapter.
To those of you who hate original character fics (and with good reason) don't worry, there are only going to be two original characters. I can also see your point since I hate fics where the new original character saves everyone from impending doom, is perfect and loved by everyone or has more issues then a newspaper.
Thanks for the spelling tip on Seguchi, when I was getting the correct spellings off my friend I misheard.
Well, now that that has been said, I'll keep the chapters coming if you keep the reviews coming. Later! **********************************************
"Now are you sure you don't need me to take you there?" Tohma asked for the thousandth time. "You might get lost, being your first day and all."
"I'll be fine," Lily said with a laugh at his concern and put her shoes on at the front door.
She was setting out for school in her new uniform with her bag weighed down with new textbooks.
"Are you sure?" Tohma asked for the last time as he opened the door for her.
"Positive," Lily said with a confident tone. "I guess I'll see you tonight?"
"See you then," Tohma said with a smile and Lily set out.
"Now I take a left here and then turn right at the chemist," she mumbled to herself as she made her way through the streets of Tokyo.
As she walked, she could feel the little hairs on the back of neck prickling. She looked around, but the streets were quiet and she couldn't see anyone lucking in a dark corner.
She walked on and saw a car moving at a slow pace out of the corner out of her eye. She turned her head ever so slightly and could see the Mercedes badge glistening on the black car. The windows were tinted so any hope of seeing the driver was erased.
Lily picked up her pace just a little bit.
The car increased its speed.
By now Lily was regretting her rejection at Tohma's offer. Things were getting just a little creepy. She turned the corner in a hurry and disappeared from the driver's view.
The car drove around the corner in pursuit. Lily was nowhere in sight. The Mercedes halted for a minute before it was beeped at by several cars behind it. It took off and vanished down the street corner.
Lily took a step out of the CD store and looked around. The car had gone and she gave a sigh of relief. Japan was getting stranger by the minute.
*********************************************
"Class, this is Barton Lily, a transfer student from America. Please make her feel welcome," Lily's new teacher said as he and Lily stood at the front of the class.
The class applauded and Lily made a small speech about herself and her interests. She then sat down at the back of the class, right next to a window.
The class set to work on some mathematics and Lily wasn't even through the third question when the door burst open.
"Good morning!" came a high pitched cry. Lily looked up to see a girl about her age standing at the door, one hand held high in a gesture of greeting.
She had two long, black pigtails that were tied up high on the sides of her head and was about two feet taller then everyone else in the class. It was hard to ignore the huge round glasses she was wearing since they covered half her face.
"So nice you could join us this morning Nickson san," the teacher said dryly.
"The star of the show always arrives late," the girl chirped brightly and made her way to her seat.
Lily couldn't help but smile, it was nice to see someone this energetic in a school room.
The day was going smoothly, but just before lunch, things took an interesting turn.
Lily was steaming through her science work when something shone in her left eye. She jerked her head and started to look for whatever had done it.
Her first assumption was that someone had a plastic ruler and was intentionally annoying her, but she realised since she was next to a window on her left, the distraction had to of come from outside.
With a quick glance at the teacher who was still correcting papers, she looked out the window.
Her classroom was on the third floor of the five story school building and had a great view of the gardens and the entrance gate.
Parked outside the gate was a black Mercedes. A feeling of dread filled Lily's stomach as she peered closer, wishing she had a telescope. She could just see, glinting in the sun, was a pair of binoculars.
"Aren't you coming?" someone asked from beside her.
Lily screamed and spun her head around.
"Wow, you're intense with your science," the energetic girl called Nickson said.
"Huh? Oh sorry," Lily said and gave the parked car another quick glance.
"What's so interesting?" Nickson asked and looked out the window. "Oh wow! Cool car! I bet a really hot guy drives it!"
Nickson was now leaning on Lily's head to get a better look at the Mercedes.
Then, rather suddenly, the car sped off down the street and out of the girl's sight.
'What the heck is going on?" Lily thought as her neck held up the other girl's weight.
"Hey are you coming to lunch or what?" Nickson said, interrupting Lily's thoughts for a second time.
"Oh yea, I guess I didn't hear the bell," Lily said sheepishly.
Relief flooded down Lily's spine as Nickson stopped leaning on her head.
"To the cafeteria!" she cried dramatically pointing out the door in a pioneering stance.
She then grabbed Lily's arm and ran out the door, with Lily being dragged behind her.
**********************************************
"Name's Nickson, Joan Nickson. I like my orange sodas in cans not glasses," the energetic girl said as she and Lily stood in the cafeteria line.
"I'm Barton, Lily Barton. I like eating pizzas from boxes not plates," Lily said with a smile. "I'm guessing Nickson isn't a traditional Japanese name?"
"That's right baby! You're looking at five generations of English heritage!" Joan proclaimed and she slammed her tray down on a vacant table. "Why my family was at the Battle of Hastings and I'm a distant of Guy Fawks! You know, the guy who tried to blow up parliament house?"
"Really?" Lily asked awe struck.
"No but it sounds impressive doesn't it?" Joan said with a mouthful of rice. "By the way, do you have a best friend yet?"
"I only arrived in Japan three days ago," Lily pointed out.
"Great! Then I'll be your best friend!" Joan said and hugged Lily tightly.
'What am I in for?' Lily thought as Joan smothered her.
**********************************************
"So how come your family moved to Japan?" Lily asked as the girls walked out of the building after the final bell.
"Well there were several reasons actually," Joan said trying to look thoughtful with her amount of brain capacity. "Dad got offered a really wicked business deal, I won a scholarship, Japan has cutting edge technology and many other cheese-filled reasons."
"Cheese-filled?"
"Yea but the real reason was..."
Lily held her breath in suspense for the conclusion.
"The anime."
Lily fell over backwards in disbelief.
"You mean to tell me that you and your family relocated halfway across the globe just to support your anime addition?"
"Yep. Besides, when you read and speak fluent Japanese, you've only got three options. One-spend your weekends fansubbing black market anime, two- post scandelations on the Internet or move. Which sounds best to you?" Joan asked.
"I see your point," Lily admitted and got up. Fansubbing might make you popular among anime fans, but it also meant sitting in front of a computer for most of your life and swearing at broken equipment.
They continued to chat as they made there way to the gate, then Lily saw it.
The phantom Mercedes was back. Parked across the street with the windows wound up, silent and waiting.
Lily couldn't tell it the driver was in there due to the tinted windows but she wasn't taking any chances.
"Guess I'll see ya tomorrow Lily chan," Joan said.
Lily grabbed her arm and pulled her back with a jolt. Joan's glasses came off from behind one ear and she looked at Lily with her usual clueless look.
"Can I come over to your place?" Lily asked as she squeezed Joan's arm tighter.
"Sure. I can introduce you to the wonderful world of anime and we can have orange Fanta if ya like," she said brightly.
"Cool, let's go,' Lily said eagerly and the two friends departed.
*********************************************
The driver of the Mercedes lowered his binoculars and was about to grab the ignition key when the driver's side door was yanked open.
"Hey what's your." he then saw who was standing on the kerb and screamed.
A tall blond man with green eyes yanked the driver out of the car but the front of his shirt and slammed him against the car.
"What the hell do you think you're doing stealing my car?" the blonde man demanded.
"It's not like that brother I swear!" the driver stammered as his brother gave him a look that could be clearly read by anyone who walked by.
It said: "I'm gonna kill you and leave your corpse to rot in the sun for a week before I bury you in a cornfield where no one will ever find you."
"No one ever touches my car, Tatsuha, ever," the driver's brother hissed dangerously, moving his face closer to Tatsuha's. "Shuichi is lucky if he gets to even sit it."
Tatsuha gave a small feeble whimper. His brother could just make out the words, "I'm sorry."
The man released his grip on his brother causing him to fall to the ground.
"What are you doing here anyway?" the car owner said impatiently as he looked down on Tatsuha. "Even you aren't sick enough to be picking up junior high students."
"I missed my darling older brother."
"Cut the crap."
"I came to see that girl," Tatsuha said honestly as he stood up and tried to straighten his shirt.
"How did you know about her?" his brother asked suspiciously.
"Tohma san told me. So I decided to come and see her for myself. They don't look alike really, just a similar feature here and there," Tatsuha said.
"Are you aware that stalking is illegal?" the older man said, his green eyes giving out a piecing glare.
"Well umm.."
"Oh just shut up and get in the car."
**********************************************
"Well here we are," Joan said cheerfully, holding her friend's hand.
"You live here?" Lily said, completely awe struck.
"Not too shabby eh?" Joan said and pressed the intercom.
They were standing in front of what could only be described as a mansion. The front porch was held up by two stone columns, the garden had been designed by a group of specialists and every inch of the mansion glistened in the sunlight.
"H-how many rooms do you have in your house?" Lily asked, not averting your eyes from Joan's home.
"Only about fifty," Joan said in a modest tone.
"Fifty?" Lily squeaked in disbelief.
The huge iron gates then swung open as someone from inside hit the button to operate them and Joan wandered in casually.
"Come on Lily chan, we've got ninety two episodes of Rurouni Kenshin to watch, times a wasting."
**********************************************
Tohma straightened some papers on his desk when his phone started to ring.
"Seguchi Tohma," he said in a professional tone.
He was silent for a few seconds before he spoke again.
"I thought you'd call," he said with a smile. "I take it you're curious to see how your daughter is doing?"
**********************************************
"If you'd have wanted to have played at your friend's you should have asked Tohma or myself this morning," Mika said as Lily and herself shared a cup of tea that evening.
"Well something unexpected happened," Lily said, trying to defend herself.
"Such as?" Mika asked as she put some of her long hair behind her ear.
"I was stalked all day by some nutcase in a Mercedes," Lily said and sipped her tea.
Mika went off her rocker. She leapt up and started screaming about this and that so fast that Lily couldn't keep up. Not that she would have been able to if Mika had been speaking English anyway.
The only few words that Lily could make out were; police, danger, help and for some odd reason, yogurt.
"Yogurt?" Lily asked with a frown.
"What?" Mika asked as she stopped dead in her ramble.
"Oh sorry, I think I might have mistranslated that one."
Mika left the room and came back a few seconds later, carrying what looked mike an ATM card.
"Tohma had this made for you but I didn't think you needed it," she said handing Lily the card.
"What is it?" Lily asked mimicking Joan's regular expression-completely clueless. "It's a security card for the NG Company building," Mika said as she sat back down. "From now on it's best that you go there straight after school to meet Tohma."
"Don't you think this is a bit much Mika san?" Lily asked as she looked at the card in her hand.
"Don't bother arguing Lily chan," she replied, raising her tea cup.
Lily took her advice and finished her tea before going to bed.
She didn't fancy the idea of sitting outside Tohma's office writing essays every weekday afternoon, but she didn't have much choice really. When Mika put her foot down, she really put her foot down!
Lily flicked of her lamp and closed her eyes. In no more then three seconds the globe lit up again and Lily jumped out of bed.
Without turning on any of the other lights in the house, Lily crept into the lounge room and switched on a small lamp.
It glowed red and huge globs floated up and down.
'I can't believe a man as cool as Tohma owns a lava lamp,' she thought it disgust. 'This is a pretty bad way to relive the seventies.'
She then started to calculate how old Tohma would have been in the seventies, but gave up halfway out of lack of concern.
Lily quickly grabbed the Bad Luck CD and headed back to her room, turning off the horrible lamp on the way.
She sat down on her bed and slipped the cover out of the plastic case.
At the bottom of the legal mumbo jumbo and trademarks, the Lily could see the NG company logo.
'All right then,' Lily thought to herself. 'When I go there tomorrow after school I'll find Shuichi and tell him the truth about my Dad.'