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Chapter 6: Seventeen Moons
…Bri…
I couldn't decide whether to be elated or furious. Okuro was being intelligent for once and staying out of my way. Hiei, Kurama, and he had gone outside to play ball. I honestly didn't care if Okuro told Kurama who he really was. Koko kneeled beside me, chewing on her lip. I decided that instead of being elated, furious, or indifferent, I would simply be calm, cool, and collected.
"Kokomo. I made a simple request before I came back."
She bit her lip harshly and nodded quickly.
"Do you remember what it was?"
"T-That we kept Kurama away from you."
"You didn't do that. Did you, Kokomo?"
She shook her head.
I sighed. "I'm not angry. I should be, but I'm not. I know it wasn't your fault. And Keiko is oblivious, so it's not her fault. It's no one's fault but my own for coming back."
Koko glanced at me sharply. "You're not going to do anything, are you?"
"I'm just going to keep my façade up," I said, shrugging. "If Kurama wants to keep coming by to see Kuronue, I'm going to have to grit my teeth and bear it."
And bear that pain over and over again.
The age he was at…it was the same as when I left, almost. He was nearing it. I was three years old. That same look of unrecognizing, it was the same one as when I went to the past because of Tsuki. The same one. I couldn't help but think how much he hadn't changed at all. It hurt. It hurt because I knew that I hadn't had any impact on him whatsoever in the other life. It was him changing me.
Not that I ever wanted him to change, but…
Koko sighed. "So you're just going to pretend like the past didn't happen, Bri?"
"That's right," I said, my tongue a little sharper than I'd intended. "Because it didn't happen, Kokomo."
CRASH!
I jumped up from my seat at the table. It had come from outside. Koko beat me to the window and picked me up when she realized I couldn't see out it. Damn tiny body. I glanced straight down at the boys, who were looking across the street. The baseball lay forgotten on the grass. I couldn't see what had made the sound, nor did I ever find out.
Across the street was a moving van. The house there had been empty forever, even in the other time stream. Who could be moving in? Some hot shot, that's for sure. That was a foreign car, although I admit I have no clue what kind it was. It was one of those really expensive sports cars, pink.
For some reason, I felt as if this was a bad, bad omen.
Out of the car jumped a sharply dressed man. Everything about him reminded me of a shark. Pointy, dorsal-like nose, wide, thin mouth, ears pressed firmly against a sharp black widow's peak hairstyle. A small girl, no more than my age, leapt after him. She was the spitting image of her father, sharp black hair falling into slim eyes.
"The Junana family," Koko said. "Dad told me they bought that house, but I didn't think they'd ever actually move in. Junana owns a really rich law firm near southern Hong Kong, China."
"I kind of got the 'really rich' part from his car," I said dryly. Well, as dry as you can get a three-year-old's voice.
"I didn't know he had a daughter. Something must've happened to her mother."
"Might as well go downstairs and meet them, then," I sighed. "I'm going to have to attend elementary and junior high school with her if they stay here. By the looks of it, that's pretty likely."
"I still say you should drop the illusion, Bri, and bring your own self back."
"That would be the illusion," I said. "I'm not that person any more, Koko, you know that as well as I do. I'm a new person."
She muttered under her breath, but I still caught it. Sometimes it helped to have fox hearing. "Yeah, and you got stubborn, too."
"I'm merely protecting myself and you from a lot of heartache."
Koko sighed. "No, you're just…never mind."
I could tell what she was going to say. She was going to say I was just being selfish, and maybe I was, in a way. But at the same time, I knew that any relationship that I might build with Kurama would be purely that of family friend, like I had with Gina and Keiko and Hiei. He would never think of me the same way he had in the other time stream. I was much too young for him. In fact, I laughed inwardly, I had been too young for him in the other time stream, too.
One thousands years of difference made no difference then.
But it was different now.
We were both reborn, in the human world. And I wasn't even old enough to go to school yet. He was heading to college next year! It was a ridiculous idea that I would ever be with Kurama again. With a sigh, I followed Koko down the stairs, out the front door, and onto the grass. The little girl from across the street was already talking to Okuro, Kurama, and Keiko. Hiei was nowhere to be seen, which was to be expected of him. Even around his own mate, he was elusive. Or, at least, I thought so.
"Bri! Bri!" Okuro waved wildly at me. "Come on and meet Yue!"
Yue…Yue was Chinese for moon. I blinked at the blatant reminder of Tsuki, but shook it from my head. I wouldn't let that affect my relationship to this girl. I'd only just met her and not even that, really.
"Hello." Her lip curled upward into a smirk. "You must be Bri. I've heard so much about you from your slightly dimmer-witted brother."
Scratch that. I can let that affect every part of my relationship to her.
"Thank you," I said coolly. "Are you planning on staying long?"
The smirk deepened. "Of course. Daddy says that if I live here, I will get a better education, so I can get into Meikou High."
"My dad teaches at that school," I said. "And so do my aunts, uncle, and several family friends."
"I know," she said. If possible, her smirk deepened. "Isn't that great?"
I nodded slowly. "Yes. Great."
"Yue! We need to unpack! You can play tomorrow!"
"Daddy's calling," I said. "We can play another day."
"We will," she said.
I don't like Yue Junana.
…
…
…
Okay…blatant. Very much blatant. I basically konked you over the head with it, didn't I? Just so's you know, Yue is Chinese for moon, but Junana is Chinese for 17 (although it is used in Japan anyway). The reason I used that number was NOT to point to Android Seventeen, however many people like to point that out. (author grumbles) It's a very personal number for me, because that's how many people I've known who have committed suicide.
So now that we've got that depressing thought out of mind…On to answering reviews.
From Chapter 4 Reviews:
Peeka-chan: No need to sneak him in, as you can see. :D The real part of the story that you sweet romanticists are looking forward to doesn't pick up until Bri is in high school…
SilverDragon: Of course Kuronue's evil…he's too cute to be anything but a little monster…lol I still want that couch….
Sillylittlenothing: Thank you…you sound like me when I was reviewing Matchbox, and that just makes it all the more special to me. I used all of my money to buy the YYH discs up until the episode where Shura and Yomi fight during Yusuke's "King of Demon World" tourney…
Kuramafan: Laughter is the best medicine and SHOW ME THE FMA PIC!
Princess Kandra: Sorry, that isn't it… Don't worry, you'll see soon enough. I think. Keep guessing, it's amusing to see who gets the answer.
Lucifer: No worries!
Black Cello: I'm certain I know this review, but it was under a different name earlier…O.O My rents gave me video games if I got "A"s as a kid…Now they want me to get a job just so I can go to school, lol. College. Lovely, eh?
Chapter 5 Reviews:
Kuramafan: Yeah, that was supposed to be Kurama's first clue. I got the idea from my baby bro, who started drawing shortly after I did (at ten), when he was three. At that age, I was reading Edgar Allen Poe. I know, weird.
Princess Kandra: lol, no, I'm going to wait until she's in high school to spring it back into action, but there are a few more stops along the way.
Lucifer: Er…soon as possible? (looking at the date she last updated) Er…well, it's better late than never, eh?
SilverDragon: Nah, she's only mad at herself. Bri can be very hard on herself, as you've seen. Kurama is going to have a lot of this so-called "déjà vu-ness", but I don't describe much more of it after this.
Sillylittlenothing: Kuronue wants Bri's happiness, so I don't think he's going to help or hinder her either way. And you'll just have to see how all this "works out".