The one thing wrong with waking up at seven in the morning for classes was the internal clock set from the start of those classes that refused to die. In essence, it wasn't a BAD thing to wake up early in the morning, as a person could catch more of the day that way. But not at ten in the morning...and NOT on vacation!!

She groaned and roughly tossed the pillow over her head to block the light. That lasted all about two minutes until she started breathing in used air and was forced to move the pillow away before she suffocated.

Heaving a sigh, she rolled to her back and stared at the ceiling. Her ears perked up to birds chirping outside the window and found it at least pleasant to wake up to. SO much better than her alarm with that incessant BEEP, BEEP, BEEP -

A small groan sounded as a hand slapped her forehead. She growled. "I've been hearing that so much I can hear it in my HEAD!"

She smiled despite herself and lazily slapped her cheeks to wake up a little more. After that, she sat up and gave a stretch and yawn. Her eyes went to the clock, finding it twenty to ten and decided that was late enough to sleep in. As much as she'd like to sleep in more, she was awake. But that was a rather nice thing, sleeping in until one woke up of their own violation. It put her in twice the better mood than if she had to hop out of bed, sometimes straight out of REM, and turn that beeping off.

Still stretching her arms, she ambled to the door and opened it with another lazy yawn.

She couldn't complain about waking earlier than she wanted really...she had four days of waking on her own. That was paradise right there. Then add on that she slept in her old bedroom, now turned into a guest room specifically for these times, and she had two more days to spend with her mother.

A smile peeked through as she claimed the bathroom first and locked her mother out.

By the time she was awake and ready to get the day going properly, she opened the bathroom door and the smell of cooking pancakes hit her full force. It took all of ten seconds for her stomach to start growling. With a deep inhale, a dreamy smile spreading her lips, she hung up the towel from over her head to dry and shut the light off.

"Morning dear. I hope you left some water in those pipes for ME."

Rounding the corner found her mother still in her pajamas with a spatula scooping up the latest batch of their breakfast.

She eyed the spread in appreciation and hands itched to take one off the stack and devour it. Rarely did she manage to eat this good unless she was here. She was spoiled by her mother's cooking and that was fact.

She found the spatula in her hand and dumbly stared at the elder. "Be a dear and finish this batter up. I made a double batch because I know you'll eat at least five and I'll have about that too. The rest we can tear up and throw out back for the birds." She was given a small pat on the shoulder as her mother breezed past to get ready.

Her nose wrinkled. The birds INDEED. There wasn't that much batter left, and even if there was, no WAY were those lucky little feathered friends getting a CRUMB. She would make sure of that! A hand started reaching for the stack...

"And keep your hands out of the batter and the pancakes until I eat with you!"

Rats.

With a pouting look, hands pulled away and sullenly went to do her mother's bidding.

In the time her mother took, she had the rest of the pancakes fixed and set the table. She found a small plate of scrambled eggs kept warm in the microwave and set that out as well. By the time she had places, food, and condiments arranged, it could've rivaled the hotel's looks when she set up. Not much, but not bad. Hands went to her hips in amusement, spatula still in hand. Well, not quite, but it looked rather classy.

After a nod in satisfaction, she went to put the dishes to soak and hopefully sneak a pancake before her mother arrived. Not that she wouldn't dig in ANYWAY, but her stomach was demanding food and it wanted it NOW. Ironically enough, as she sat down, her mother arrived.

"Thank you for setting everything up dear. You go ahead and dig in. I know you're hungry."

She gave a nod of thanks and immediately snatched two pancakes and a large helping of eggs. These were the days she wished she was still at home.

"So what do you want to do today?"

She spared a glance off the plate, contemplating that. What COULD she do today? She spent almost all her time with her mother, doing enough sight-seeing and making sure to bring Sammy back something as requested. Like always.

Two days left...shouldn't she do something by herself in this city? Not that she didn't love spending time with the only real person she could call family, but -

'Four whole days.' She mused. 'I SHOULD do something by myself. I'm sure mom wouldn't mind being lazy, though she'll probably just clean the house in the time she neglected it.' A small smile appeared. She gained a little bit of her mother's cleaning skills and kept the house she shared with Sammy picked up. She felt she at least helped out a little more that way. It was nice that the place was generally kept up. She would hate for her mother to have to exert herself anymore than she already did.

The last thing she wanted to do was worry about that.

"I think...I think that today...maybe I'll take my bike on the nature trail." A small smile appeared. "I haven't done that in a year at least...it'd be nice to go and check the city out my way." There was a single nod and the two went back to eating again. She wondered if she'd hurt her mother's feelings, but didn't see any ill looks. She was glad for that. She didn't want to ruin the bond she had solely because she wanted to do something by herself for once.

She felt like giving herself a small knock on the head for that thought. Her mother was the one to help teach her independence in the first place! She gave a mental shake and stood to take her dishes to the sink. Just before she was out of reach, a hand snuck out and stuck a pancake in her mouth.

'One for the road.'

~*~*~

Despite the summer heat, the day couldn't be more perfect. There wasn't a cloud in the deep blue sky and although that didn't help temperature wise, it sure made the sky prettier to look at.

She inhaled and stopped under a tree on the concrete path. Her eyes looked around at the foliage and the hills behind it. Even fifteen miles or so away from the ocean, the city still had a minute smell of salt water. She had a small like for the smell, though she hated water. She liked the ocean...it was just a pity she never learned how to swim.

Heaving a small sigh, she pushed off and started on her journey again. Having gone a few miles, part of that through road with nothing under it, the shade felt nice. She wouldn't have a problem with staying all day, but then she wouldn't get to where she was going. And contrary to her first thoughts about this outing, there actually WAS someplace she had in mind to visit.

She inhaled the smell of the nearby ocean again and smiled. She was such a nature lover. It was sad how much she liked watching the ocean, but would never participate in it. She gave a small pout. 'Being a bookworm did me more harm than good during my summers off of school.'

Indeed... Having holed herself in her room, reading book after book, she never learned how to swim like other kids all through elementary and middle school. By the time high school rolled around, she gave up on trying to learn. And sacrificed many a day sweating when she could've been down at one of the many pools cooling off.

Her nose wrinkled and she absently pushed sunglasses higher on her face. It was so ironic that she lived in a city almost on the ocean and couldn't enjoy it. Sure, she sometimes sat where the waves rolled in, but nothing more than that. Her fear of drowning didn't permit her to enter water past her knees, for fear of being off-balanced and swept with the tide. She was too embarrassed about not being able to swim at her age, and not a lot of people knew about it unless she was forced to tell.

Shaking her head, she gained a little speed and removed her hands from the bars, gliding in precision as her arms swept straight out.

"Enough of those thoughts girl." She muttered, eyes briefly closing. The little amount of wind cooled off the sheen to her body and felt like heaven. When she slowed the bike started wobbling...but being so in tune with using her bike after so long, hands were already steadying it as her feet pushed off again. She removed them a second time and let them fall slack at her sides as she watched the path pass by. Every few seconds, her feet would kick off and give her another small bit speed.

She passed maybe a mile like that until her backside started aching from leaning on it so harshly and resumed her previous position.

She used that change to take a right off the trail and head into the city for where she was heading. Thankfully, she was nearly on top of it and the sun's glare on windshields could be seen. A grin tipped her lips as she sped up just a little more with the promise of getting back to shade.

In the few minutes it took to cross the park and hit the water arena, noises from inside hit her and she knew right away it was another busy day. That meant she shouldn't be as big a pest as she originally intended to be. As she chained up her bike, she grabbed her water bottle to fill. 'So be it then. I wonder if they still remember me...'

She didn't know whether or not she would be intruding at a place of business, especially since she didn't like people coming in just to talk when she should be working. As if she had anyone that would do that in Miami...

She reveled in the temperature difference and let her eyes adjust to the lighting in the bathhouse. There were two people on duty, one she recognized. Her lips slowly moved. "Oh SHERYL..." She singsonged, feeling a small emotion of trepidation as an auburn head whipped toward the source of her name. Would Sheryl recognize her? The last time they hung out was before she left for Miami and they hadn't really kept in contact... Would her high school friends remember her? She hadn't really changed in those short years.

"KALIE!!"

She needn't have worried.

That tall body nearly scrambled out from behind the employee area and shot to her, arms thrown wide, to embrace her and nearly lift her off the ground in a tight hug.

Oh the pains of being the shorter of the two...

She smiled and hugged the girl back, feeling a small bit of relief at the introduction. 'I guess...distance and time DOESN'T matter to some people.'

"Kalie Himmen...my god how have you been??" Sheryl rambled, giving a wide smile. "Come on back, I know it's employees only, but it's not like anyone cares."

Her hand was snatched up as she was led through the same door Sheryl exited from and plopped down on a padded bar stool. There was a glare from the water through the main window and she was momentarily drawn to it, squinting when it hit her eyes.

"So?? Tell me what's going on! I haven't seen you since...last Christmas maybe? Or was it thanksgiving before that? You haven't changed, you know that? Not physically at least." Sheryl propped her head up on the counter and stared at her. Hazel eyes waited in anticipation.

She smiled and leaned an elbow against the counter. "Well, I'm still at Florida State. Classes let out last Friday and I decided to take part of my two weeks off to spend with my mom. Sammy drove me here and I biked it on the trail up."

"Ah, Samantha Merth. That girl is a strange one." Sheryl's nose wrinkled a little through a good-humored smile.

She gave an evil grin. "At least you don't LIVE with her." She giggled, getting a wider smile from her friend. "All I hear her complain about is the heat and how hungry she is half the time. But at least she's a willing participate to my cooking antics."

Hazel knowingly twinkled. "You and your cooking fetishes... Last time you'll ever convince me to eat tuna, noodles, and mayo."

She laughed, her cheeks heating a little. "Hey...it's not ALL that bad. And you ATE it..." She defended. "Not to mention you were hungry and mom hadn't gone grocery shopping. There wasn't much food in the house. I had to improvise SOMEWHERE."

Sheryl leaned back and stretched. "Just don't improvise around me unless I know what you're making and can say no to it." After giving her legs the same treatment, the girl settled back and absently looked to the pool through the window.

"So...how've YOU been? How's Hall? He out there today?" Deep green went to the window as well, searching what she could see.

"Yea, he's guarding part of the deep end. But we get to call time in a few minutes, so you'll be able to go see him swim around."

Her gaze ducked to the concrete floor, fighting a small flush. "You are forever going to hold that over my head aren't you? I'm not going out with your brother!" She mumbled, fighting a sheepish smile.

"Though he's my brother, I'm going to shamelessly plug him this once."

A hand drummed on the surface until she looked up, feeling a little frustration rise. This was NEVER going to end...

"You've been friends with me and Hall since high school. That's five years at LEAST. During that whole time, my brother has been nice enough to you. He's kind, he likes animals, he has plans for the future, and you know he still has an interest in you." A tanned hand snaked out and rested over hers. "I persuaded you to go out with him once...why didn't you agree to a second?"

Green rested on the scenery past the window, mind screaming in frustration at how much she wished this never came about. She and Sheryl were pretty good friends, considering it being a high school friendship, and she was glad to be able to hang on to it when they graduated. But since then, all she'd been hearing was how she and Hall should go out.

Her lids lowered a tad. It wasn't that she didn't WANT to go out with Hall. He was everything his twin proclaimed. She just...she didn't know. At the time...she was still getting over Brad... She didn't WANT anyone that way. No one but Brad...

She stopped so suddenly with that thought and forced herself to be angry. 'No more. No thinking about your screwed up relationships. It's not like Sheryl really knows what happen...'

She rarely told a soul what happened with Brad. She didn't tell anyone how much he hurt her. Only Sam knew what happened, and that took a lot of prying, mostly when there was no other way to explain her behaviors. Sheryl and Hall knew she was going out with the guy, but they didn't know the pain she endured near the end.

Abruptly, she stood and twisted her gaze toward the front. She blinked upon seeing a few people leaning on the counter and no one up front. "You have customers." She muttered, pointing.

Sheryl made a frustrated noise, but headed up. "Where's that lazy bum when I need her? She was here when you arrived..."

Those few minutes gave her time to force resurrected emotions to the back of her mind, where they still lingered. She would stop thinking about the emotional pain she endured from that jackass. She pulled the hate from the depths of her mind and latched onto it. Her gaze narrowed as she swung around and glowered out the window, using the glare to hide her eyes' real intent. Never again would she fall for someone like that. She learned her lesson...learned it twice actually. She would never be used physically or emotionally, just because she wanted to be with a person. She would be her own person and not latch onto ANYONE or need them as much as she needed Brad and Arthur.

Inhaling a deep breath, she held it until her lungs burned and carefully let it out without anyone hearing. As she exhaled, she forced the bad away, making her clamp down on the happiness she felt upon seeing her high school friend again. 'No more dwelling on it...you have for too long already.'

"Alright...now that I had to get back to work after seeing my good friend in so long, I feel like punishing someone." Deep green caught Sheryl moving to the far wall, a small grin rising at that tone. "Attention swimmers...please exit the water for a pool safety check..."

She couldn't help chuckle. Nothing like forcing a whole lot of people out of cold water with little to no wind on a cloudless, hot day. That was true punishment indeed.

"Now, shall I go gain my brother and let you say hello?"

She smiled and hurried to catch up. "I'll go with you." About half a dozen splashes drew her attention to the deep end. She focused on the bodies heading to the other side, totally submerged, before surfacing for air and heading back the same way.

One body held her attention over all the others, even though all the male lifeguards were rather nice to look at. No...what made this body stand out was the cropped auburn hair, mildly toned body with the hint of a tummy, skin bronzed by many days outside guarding kids, and identical hazel eyes she just got done looking at, covered by sunglasses.

She smiled as he surface, already heading over. She stood mere feet away from the edge, smiling down as his arms propelled him off the side and paused. She knew he was staring - she could feel the tugging at her mouth to give a self-conscious, shy smile. They hadn't spoken since she and Sheryl had...it'd been so long...

"K!" That body eagerly hauled the rest of the way out of the pool and wrapped her in a sopping wet hug before she could protest his state.

"You're all WET Hall!" She screeched, though the water felt good on her skin. Not that she was going to tell HIM that.

Hall pulled back with a nearly sheepish grin, staved by the fact of seeing her again. His head dipped to take in her attire, what was now darkened where he touched her, and grinned wider. "You'll dry." An arm slung over her shoulders as he led her to his twin and the three headed into the employee area.

She heaved a sigh, fighting the heat at her cheeks in embarrassment.

"So tell me, what's been going on? You still at college? Still in Miami? What'd you come back for? Did you come all this way just to see me?"

"One at a time Hall." She helplessly mused, hands in front in defense. "I'll have to explain this again. You missed the first report to Sheryl."

'But this time...no digging into the past.'

~*~*~

"You have everything?"

"Yes mother."

"Are you sure??"

"YES mother."

"Well I don't want you to have to drive all the way back here. I know you're busy, even if you have a key."

"We'll be okay madre. If K forgets anything, we'll be able to come back. After all...we've both got another week off of classes before the fall semester starts."

"God bless time off!" She added, grinning. She grabbed the backpack and hauled it to her shoulder. There was a second of silence before she met her mother halfway for a hug.

"You be good now."

"I will."

"Study hard. Get good grades."

"I will."

"I'll miss you."

"I know."

"I love you."

She returned the small squeeze, giving her mother a kiss on the cheek in response. When the two pulled away, she rested a hand on a strap. "I'll write or call when vacation swings around." She quietly answered.

"Come on K; let's not drag this out like always." Sam pleasantly answered, clapping a hand on her shoulder.

Deep green sent a small glare, before sullenly nodding. Sam was right...as always. She DID drag it out too much, but it was just so nice to see her mother sometimes. As they headed down the stairs, she waved to her mother a final time and got in the car.

"So, what'd you get me huh? Anything good? Is it edible?? I suppose you're not going to tell me until we get back."

She smiled and reclined in the seat as Sam headed down the street. Deep green focused on the top of the car, mostly to keep herself from watching her old neighborhood flow by. She hated leaving - here was one of the few places she felt like she didn't have to be someone else. Not to mention she was away from school and all the responsibilities she'd taken. It was rather nice to let them all go sometimes.

The smallest of weights dropped in her lap and she looked to it in wonder. An envelope glared back at her as it caught the sun. "What's this?"

"The deed to my car. What does it look like?"

She tried to scowl at Sam's tone and turned the letter to see the address. Her eyes widened and a small excitement hit her veins. "It's...from Inaki!" A grin spread as she stared at his handwriting.

"No duh. Do you know anyone ELSE who sends you snail mail?"

As smart-aleck as Sam was being, she was right. Other than bills, she didn't get mail. Which was why she was beginning to like conversing with Inaki. Even if this was the start of their pen pal relationship. "When did this come?" She muttered, breaking the envelope open.

"Thursday afternoon. I thought I'd bring it with me so you could read it on the way back."

She smiled, already unfolding the pages. "Thanks Sam."

"De nada chica."

Spanish language will be translated under the Japanese when it appears together. This language will be correct, as I have half put half a decade into learning.

Translations: De nada chica-You're welcome/It's nothing girl

@~~~~~ Decided to put up a commentary every 10 chapters and explain a few things.

People have made mention of the eye color thing instead of me using he/she/her/him or names. There's a point to that. Especially with Kalie- one needs to know what her eye color is for later chapters and I'm stressing it by putting it down so much. Also a helper for Inaki - to help remind those which form he's in.

Some mentioned the plot. The story is going to go slow and chs will be about average length. Chs will be 11-12+ pages when I start unveiling the plots more. When I do, chs could be over 15, so expect a little length in the future - and I mean around ch 25-30. Until the MAIN plot starts going, characters will be original...as much as reincarnated characters are going to get. I claim Cam, Sam and all the Merths, Mrs. Himmen, all the Yamoi family and some of Inaki's personalities, and all of Kalie's personalities. The reader MUST pay attention to Kalie and her personality traits because you'll miss important plot hints in the future. I'm developing these characters rather thoroughly for that purpose..

As far as being mysterious and not giving out any or much information - as in this chapter - there're reasons for that. One - it makes the reader more shocked when they finally read it. Two - when reading the character's thoughts/movements when information is revealed (especially regarding Kalie), the words are easier to get dug into and relate to. When you think to yourself, 'Whoa...that's nuts! How sad. I can't believe it!' So will Inaki, Sam, etc You'll relate. ^_^

The only warning I'm giving over the next 10 chapters is this is going to start the first plot. I have maybe half a dozen planned out for sure, and maybe 2 or 3 more I don't know of. Next commentary will be over secondary characters - primary being Inaki and Kalie - and their connections to the primary characters. Also a few explanations over some people you probably don't like - like Cameron Blitz. ^^; ~~~~~@