Winds of Autumn

Summary: (AU) After promising her mother she'll make something out of her life, Suzuhara Misaki attends the prestigious college, Deus. There begins the tale of six unlikely people bound to fall in love.

Es Tanicao! Hey, people! I kinda lost interest in my last story, so I decided to give Angelic Layer a shot. Anyway, my second fanfic, my second idiot child! Ah well. Please enjoy nonetheless, and whether you do or don't, please review! The speed of the story depends on them!

Oh, and just for the note, all the characters are Angelic Layer characters. Even though I stole some of the last names from Magic Knight Rayearth, they aren't those characters and they aren't related to those characters. But some needed last names, and those seemed the most appropriate.

Disclaimer: I'm not four people and my drawings and plotlines suck. CLAMP is four people and their drawing and plotlines are amazing. So, that means I'm not CLAMP, and that means, I don't own the characters or Angelic Layer.

"Misaki-chan… Misaki-chan…"

Fifteen-year-old Suzuhara Misaki closed her eyes. She didn't want to hear it.

"Misaki-chan, your mother wants to see you." Misaki opened her eyes slightly. Her mother, who never had time for her during her life, finally wanted to speak to her in her death. It was unbearable, unfair. Why should she have to listen to the final words of someone she owed nothing to?

But still, Shuuko was her mother and a great lady. And Misaki was kind. Nodding and trembling, Misaki went into the hospital room where her mother lay.

"Mother…" she said softly.

"Misaki-chan, I think I may have caused you some great pain during your life."

Misaki didn't respond, but then again, her mother didn't expect a response.

"But… please… listen to my selfishness one last time," Shuuko whispered. "Misaki-chan, you will be attending college in three years, yes?"

Misaki scowled. "Two years, Mother; I skipped a grade."

Shuuko smiled a broken smile, half-ashamed, half-sad. "Yes, yes… of course. I'm sorry I had forgotten. But please… please will you go to Deus? It's one of the greatest colleges. I never got to go; we never had enough money. But you're smart and athletic and I know you could make it, Misaki… please… Misaki-chan… please… I know you'll make something out of your life."

Misaki frowned. She wasn't really thinking about college. Yes, she was considering places to go, but she didn't want her decision to be set in stone, not when she still had time. But… she looked at her mother's hopeful face, her soft eyes praying to her. Misaki smiled.

"Of course, Mother, I promise."

Chapter 1 – Deus College

"This is it…" Misaki muttered, looking down at her directions sheet. "This is it, room 3012, Deus college."

Lugging her bag behind her, Misaki put the key into the lock and leaned, resting herself against it for a second, but only for a second as the door opened and Misaki fell down, her bag on top of her. Looks like someone else had beaten her to the room.

"Ow… Misaki muttered. "Ow, ow, ow…" She sighed. This was not the greatest way of starting out college. Already she had missed her bus stop and forced to walk dragging her bag behind her, and been mistaken for thirteen. Life sucked to be short. It looked like she could expect a lot of bullying this year. Everyone at Deus that she had seen seemed to be super rich and super glamorous. Everyone was gorgeous, everything so model-esque. She looked at her perfectly furnished room and at her roommate's suit case. Again, she sighed. Looked like her roomie was as rich as the rest of them.

She didn't know her roommate since she had never met her. Misaki had never seen a picture of her, a description of her, what classes she shared with Misaki, if she did track like Misaki… no, her name and Misaki's name had been randomly plucked out of a computer and slapped together, and all the two knew about each other was their names.

Misaki looked at the sheet again. "Shidou… Hikaru…" she sounded out. Misaki was terrible with names, so terrible she had scrawled her roommate's name on her direction sheet. She was nervous, and was secretly prayed that Hikaru wasn't as uppity as her suitcase.

"Shidou Hikaru!" she said loudly. But no response. It seemed her roommate was currently unavailable. Misaki smiled. At least that gave her time so that her roommate didn't have to see that she wasn't as rich as the rest of them. She began to unpack.

As she did so, she surveyed the room. Hikaru had chosen the room closest to the bathroom meaning Misaki was stuck with the room closest to the window. Looking out the window, Misaki gulped. The grounds seemed even bigger from the window than she had assumed they were. She was a shrimp. She wasn't good with directions. And she was so not prepared to get lost while a bunch of people assumed she was thirteen.

Too bad for her.

I should check the grounds out later, Misaki thought. After all, that would give me some time to get associated. And classes don't start until tomorrow.

With her last clothe article put into the closet (and her clothes didn't take up nearly as much space as Hikaru's), she snatched her room key off the desk, put it into her pocket after locking the door and went out onto the grounds.

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"Wow," she gasped. "The grounds look even bigger than they did out the window!"

All around, college students were associating left and right, talking and gossiping and bragging. Most of them, save the ones who bumped into her, completely ignored her. Actually, even some of the kids who bumped into her still ignored her. She gulped. The amount of bruises she was going to get from just running into people this year would probably turn her skin from peach to purple.

Blushing slightly, Misaki thought of her height. She was always teased for being small, just like her mother everyone had said. But Misaki never really got to know her mother. She loved her and everything, but her mother was dead, and the only thing Misaki had to do with her was going to this college, her mother's last dying wish. Everyone who knew Shuuko said that she was wonderful and brilliant, a mother to be proud of, a woman who, despite her small size, accomplished many things in the medical department. But still, Misaki was small and she wasn't exactly wonderful or particularly brilliant, and her small size was a handicap she'd never get over. It was the reason for her constant bullying, shyness, and the result of both was she never had a boyfriend.

A boyfriend, Misaki thought bitterly. I have more important things than boys this year!

Blushing ferociously, she continued walking looking at the various activities on the grounds. Bored, she decided to go up to the room when someone tapped her on the shoulder.

"Excuse me?"

Misaki spun around and hello, gorgeous! Behind her was definitely the most handsome guy Misaki had ever seen in her left, perfectly parted hair, tall, and bright blue eyes. Looking at the tag on his jacket, she noticed he was a third year. Forget blushing, her whole face now resembled a really bad case of sunburn.

"Um, y-yes?"

The boy smiled and Misaki tensed more; he was even more handsome when he smiled. Still smiling, he said, "I believe this is yours." He handed Misaki her room key. Misaki looked at it for a second, slightly embarrassed, but then smiled. That was really sweet.

She returned his smile. "Thank you very much!" she said.

For a second the boy looked slightly surprised, but then smiled even more brightly.

"I take it you're a first-year? Or are you a visitor to your family?" he added.

Misaki sighed. Would it ever end? "No, I'm a first-year," she said firmly.

The boy grinned again. "Ha, ha, no offense meant! You're pretty cute anyway. You do any sports?"

Blushing again at his previous comment, Misaki smiled slightly. "Yup!" she said brightly. "I do track!"

"Really?" the boy asked curiously. "I do, too."

Misaki stared. "Really?"

The boy laughed. "Really. And basketball."

Before Misaki could say anything else, another voice came into the conversation. "Hey, there you are! We've been looking all over for you!" Misaki and the boy turned around and saw a group of guys calling to him. With a final smile and a wave, he turned to greet them. Misaki waved back, smiling. Maybe, college wouldn't be so bad after all.

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Misaki sighed as she walked up. The elevator was broken and she was never going to get used to the steps. Finally she opened the door (which was once again unlocked) and prepared to fling herself onto it when she saw that the other bed was already occupied by a beautiful girl. Inwardly, she groaned. Why did everyone but her have to be absolutely gorgeous?

"Shidou Hikaru-san?" she asked and the girl smiled and nodded. She had short hair, layered and chopped, as well as unusually red-brown eyes. Misaki bowed. "I'm Misaki, Suzuhara Misaki." Misaki blushed. "I guess that makes me your roommate."

Hikaru frowned for a second, but it soon turned to a laugh. "Good afternoon, roomie!" she said cheerfully. "Sorry, for a second there I thought you were just a messenger or had the wrong room or something" – Misaki felt absolutely crushed – "but, now I see that you're pretty, too pretty to be thirteen!" Crushed? Forget that, Misaki had just been pressured down to a pancake.

Laughing, Hikaru shot Misaki an earnest grin until she saw her crestfallen face. "Ah, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings – I mean I…"

To Hikaru's surprise, Misaki laughed and sent her a smile. "It's okay. I get it all the time. I guess that's what I get for being small."

Hikaru smiled again. "No it's not. I'm really sorry. So, I guess you're eighteen?" she asked.

Misaki shook her head. "No, I'm seventeen, just turned seventeen. I skipped a grade."

Hikaru's eyes widened. "Seriously? Oh my god, that's so funny!" At Misaki's questioning look, Hikaru sighed and said, "I was held back a year. I'm nineteen."

Misaki looked at her, trying to hold back her question, but Hikaru luckily didn't notice. "Anyway, that was along time ago, and I managed to scrape up good enough grades for this dump. And Dad and Mom really wanted me to go here, so I-"

"Really?" Misaki asked. "My-my mom really wanted me to go here, too! Even though I really didn't want to, but I…" Misaki faltered.

"Seriously?" Hikaru asked. "Your mom forced you to go? That's even funnier!"

Misaki blushed. Forced was kind of a strong word to use on a dead person, especially a good dead person. "Well," Misaki muttered, "I mean, my best friend, Tamayo-chan is here, too. She attends the community college nearby, and I really wanted to see her. I haven't seen her since I was fourteen."

"Huh? Oh, that's cool. Yeah, I live near here, too, but I kinda wanted to get away from my parents; they were sort of sick of me. I live about an hour away." Hikaru was quiet for a second then said. "It's funny. I used to be an hour away from him, but as soon as I'm within five minutes of him, I dump him. I guess that's pretty funny, too."

Misaki frowned. "Excuse me?"

Hikaru blinked and snapping back into reality, she explained, "Oh, I just dumped my loser boyfriend, Kobayashi." Misaki frowned when Hikaru said, "He was a sweet guy and everything and most girls would be super lucky to have him, but he was a year younger than me, doesn't attend college, and just not my type. My, my, I seem to be running through boyfriends lately. Well, whatever. Not my fault if there isn't a guy good enough to last me two weeks."

"Anyway, I met him at orientation, and it seemed like a good idea at the time, but dating a karate dojo instructor is so not my thing. Anyway, I have to head out later and check out the campus. I was crashing here for a while. Maybe I should go look for a job." Glancing at Misaki, she asked, "What about you? You have a job yet?"

"Actually," Misaki said, "I do. I have to go there at five 'o clock today, but it's only three now."

"Cool," Hikaru said. "Where do you work?"

"Chobit," was the reply. "The electronic store. I used to work there back home, but since they have one close by, I also got offered a job here, too. The owner of the Chobit Company, Icchan-san was a friend of my mom."

"Cool," Hikaru said again. "Well, see you later Misaki-chan!" She jumped out of bed and left.

"Yes… bye, Hikaru-san." Misaki let out a breath of relief. Hikaru wasn't so bad, at least not for a person with a thousand dollar suitcase. College definitely wouldn't be so bad after all.

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The new Chobit was much bigger than the one Misaki worked out in her old town. But just like the other one, it was big and colorful and full of the newest, neatest technology mankind had ever known. There were a bunch of people there already working. The boss, just a grumpy old man everyone called Manager, had been notified of Misaki's arrival and put her to work immediately.

"You already know how to do everything, so get working! Do your job! I'm not paying you for nothing!"

Misaki nodded and meekly added, "But, sir, I have no clue how everything is organized."

"You don't? What did you do at your last store?" he demanded.

Blushing, Misaki said, "Well, the materials were put into different places. I know how to work and fix everything."

For a second, the old man's face reddened, but added, "Right. Hey, Wizard! Get over here! Give this girl a tour of store!"

A college-aged student came rushing over, and not to Misaki's surprise, he, too, was gorgeous with a nice height and equally nice spiky hair. He bowed at Misaki slightly which she returned.

"Suzuhara Misaki, meet Harada Wizard. Harada Wizard, meet Suzuhara Misaki. Show her around the store. Anyway, Suzuhara, Harada attends Deus, second-year. Harada, Suzuhara also attends, but a first-year as you can tell. Now, hurry up and work!" With that, he left.

Wizard rolled his eyes and said, "Suzuhara-san."

She shook her head and said, "Please just Misaki, Harada-san."

Wizard nodded. "Right. If that's the case, Misaki-kun, you call me Wizard. No one calls me Harada anyway. What a stupid last name. Now come on. Let me show you the ropes."

"Okay, Wizard-san."

As Misaki followed Wizard she thought about hot guys, gorgeous girls, huge stores, and a great school where she'd get a great education all at once. Yup, Deus definitely, definitely was a good idea.

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Author's Note: Ahhhh! The first chapter! I'm begging you! Please, please, PLEASE review! All comments and criticism are greatly appreciated!