Disclaimer: Don't own YGO but I practically own everything in this fic……
A/N: Well, back with chapter one! I have a basic idea where I want this fic to go but for now I'm just kinda winging it so…. I hope this turns out well and I'll probably add in new ideas as I go. Anyways, hope you like it.
Title
Chapter One
From Sky to Higarish
The coffee in my hands has gone cold as I stare blankly at the wall in front of me. How many more questionings must I go through before these fucking cops realize that I don't know anything? I wish they would just leave me alone and I know I should fake a smile as the cop sits in front of me but I don't.
"Miss Fallon…… we're terribly sorry about what happened to your family and your cousin, Tea Gardner tells me that you're growing tired with the sessions but let me assure you, we are doing all we can to bring these people to justice."
"Thank you." I reply as I put aside the cold coffee. "But I've told you all I can. I don't know why my father was killed and I don't know who did it." The officer nodded. "How is the investigation going?" He sighed and shook his head.
"We've managed to get some information from some terrified people who were working for whoever killed your Father but it's not much to go on and they refused to reveal the name of their boss." He replied and I nodded, trying not to cry. You'd think that after two months of rigorous questioning I would grow immune to all the talk about his death but I haven't and for some reason I feel weak.
"So you have nothing?"
"One of the suspects said something about them wanting an inheritance but were not sure of it's yours. Another said something about a double-crossing and a deal gone bad but that's it. We don't even know what the deal was about………. or if it was even legal…." The implication was clear and I narrowed my eyes at him.
"My father was not a criminal." My voice was colder then I meant it to be but I knew in my heart that my Father was not a bad person.
"We never said that Miss Fallon." He assured calmly. "We're just trying to gather information." I nodded and rested my head in my hands before turning and looking at him.
"Can I go now?"
"Well, there's no point in keeping you here." He replied, standing up. "We'll call you if we find out anything new."
"Thank-you." I answered, getting up and walking out of the room and into the street where my chauffeur was already waiting for me.
"Hello, Miss Fallon." He greeted, holding the door open for me as I climbed inside of the car which Tea had taken the liberty of making bullet-proof. It seemed everyone still thought that I was in danger. And it might well be true but I wasn't sure if I even wanted protecting.
"I told you a hundred times before, Harold…" I said as he climbed into the driver's seat. "Just call me Fallon."
"Of course, Fallon." His nature brought a small smile to face for a reason I wasn't entirely sure of. He was meek and something in his manner was comforting. After a few moments of silence he glanced in his back mirror and offered a small smile to me. "Not that I was listening in or anything but I overheard Tea saying to Mai that she had gotten you something… a surprise I think."
"Oh really?" I asked suddenly interested. "Any idea what it is?"
"No." He answered, turning a corner. "I don't, sorry."
"Don't be sorry." I replied, smiling a little. "You just have to learn how to eavesdrop better."
"I wasn't eavesdropping!" He protested and I chuckled, shaking my long dark brown hair out of my face.
"I know, I'm teasing you." He laughed a little as we turned into the manor and I waited for him to open my door. Not that I was happy that he had to do it but I had been born and raised the daughter of a wealthy family and it seemed second nature to me. I stepped out of the car and walked into the immaculate home of my two cousins, Mai and Tea who were as you might have guessed, sisters.
"Good, you're back." Mai said walking towards me. "Any new leads?" I shook my head as I sunk into a chair in the living room.
"Just a bunch of dead-ends." I replied. "Something about a deal that may or may not have gone wrong and something about an inheritance that may or may not be mine."
"Sounds….. confusing." Tea added as she entered the room.
"It is." I answered as Tea grinned at me.
"So…… Fallon…… me and Mai have been meaning to tell you something….." She let her words trail off and I raised an eyebrow thinking that this must have been the surprise Harold had tipped me off about.
"Oh?" I asked coyly. "And what is that?"
"Come with us." They walked out of the room and I followed them, thoroughly intrigued now. "Now I know you're going to be angry with us but….. we got you a bodyguard." At this I stopped dead and stared at them.
"A what?" I asked, crossing my arms. "I don't need a bodyguard!"
"I know you think that but Fallon, it's possible that we're not the only ones who know who you are or that you're here. You don't exactly have a common name and whoever killed your father wants you dead too. You said so yourself that you heard one of them say 'find the girl'. You're in your last year of high school and we just don't want to leave you vulnerable." Tea replied, placing a hand on my shoulder. "If something happened to you that we could have prevented, we'd never be able to live with ourselves."
"She's right." Mai added, purple eyes shimmering with concern. "Face it, Fal. You're a lover not a fighter. Your strength in your brain, not in your fighting ability. If they really wanted to hurt you, they could." A part of me wanted to stay mad at them but when I looked in their eyes and saw all of the concern, I just couldn't.
"Lead the way…." We continue walking and they took me into the other room that looked like a living room but as for guests.
"Fallon…… this is Caleb." My attention was turned to the man sitting in a chair and the first thing I noticed was his amber eyes. I think that's what is most memorable about him - his eyes that look almost cat-like.
"Hi." I said, smiling a little and offering my hand which he seemed to take almost reluctantly. "You probably already know but I'm Fallon S - Higarish." I corrected myself before I let the name 'Sky' slip out of my mouth. Even after two months, my alias still sounded strange to me.
"Caleb Miro." He replied and I noticed that his voice was almost gruff sounding. He let go of my hand quickly and continued fidgeting with something in his lap. My eyes widened and I had to bite my lip to stop from screaming out when I realized it was a gun. I still couldn't look at one.
"He's going to be your bodyguard from now on, Fallon. He'll take you to and from school, escort you when you go out, stuff like that." Mai informed and I smiled at her.
"Thanks." I wasn't sure if I meant it or not but it sounded genuine anyway.
"We'll get out of here and let you two get aquatinted." Tea said, leading Mai out of the room and looking back at me. "You guys are probably going to be seeing a lot of each other." The door closed behind us and for a few moments there was just this long stretch of very awkward silence. What are you going to say to someone who your cousins have paid to watch over you?
"Ok….. before this gets anymore awkward…"
"When does the baby-sitting start?" He asked and I just stared at him for a moment, not knowing what to say.
"Uh….. baby-sitting…?" Oh ya, real articulate Fallon. Of course he's talking about watching you. "Tomorrow I guess. I have to go to school - and you're not baby-sitting me."
"Well, being paid to watch over someone - what do you call it?" I remained silent. Already the earliest stages of dislike were starting to settle in around me. I was about to open my mouth and reply when he cut me off before I had even said anything. "How old are you anyway?" He looked over at me and I couldn't place it but there seemed to be something strange about him. Something in his mannerisms maybe?
"Eighteen." I answered and he nodded offhandedly. "What about you?"
"Twenty-four." He answered calmly, still playing with the gun in his lap. Finally I had to say something about it. It was making my nerves feel like they were guitar strings.
"Can you…. please put that away?" I asked softly, dutifully avoiding looking at what I considered a weapon of mass destruction. "I just…. I can't…."
"Guns scare you?" He inquired and I nodded, still not looking at it. He put it away and I instantly felt myself relax a little.
"Bad memories…" I muttered, looking over at him again. I couldn't imagine why he was going to be working as a bodyguard when he was perfectly good looking. His face was sharp and angular with high cheekbones and a narrow nose. He had longish hair that was brown but had some blonde flecks in it with bangs that fell into his amber eyes. And he looked as if he was plenty strong enough.
"Ya…. you're cousins said something about someone trying to kill you - that's why you need me."
"Something like that." I answered, leaning into the comfortable chair. More silence went by and, while he seemed to be perfectly comfortable with it, I felt awkward and on edge. "So….. why are you working as a bodyguard anyway?" He shrugged.
"Someone I knew told me that some rich person was looking for a bodyguard so I applied." Caleb answered casually. "That's that."
"I guess it is….." He seemed like he was about to say something when Tea and Mai knocked on the door before entering the room.
"So how's it going?" Mai asked, looking between the two of us and suddenly making me feel very self-conscious.
"Fine." I replied. "We were just getting to know each other a little." I smiled at Tea just as Caleb got up and stretched his arms over his head.
"Well, I'd love to stay but I've sitting in this chair for god knows how long. I'll pick you up in the morning at eight thirty." He walked past me and out the door.
"I'll show you out." Mai offered when he shook his head.
"I'll let myself out." He replied. "It seems I'm going to be practically living here anyway, might as well get used to the place."
"Oh……ok." She said, watching him leave. As soon as we heard the door closed she turned back to me, a gleeful expression on her face. "So, what do you think?"
"He needs social skills." I answered honestly and she waved her hand impatiently.
"Oh, forget about that! What about his looks?" I inwardly rolled my eyes. Leave it to Mai to drool over the guy who was supposed to be working for us.
"Yes, he's hot." I replied with a sigh.
"I though so too." Tea agreed, her emerald eyes practically sparkling. "It's just what you need to cheer you up!" At this I raised my eyebrow.
"A hot guy with no social skills following me around day and night?" Mai just grinned and flopped onto the couch beside me.
"I'm sure he'll grow on you." She assured. "He doesn't seem that bad. Granted, a little distant but not that bad." She reached out and took my arm, leading me out of the room. "Come on, I'm sure supper's almost ready by now." I sighed and followed her into the dining room. There were just some things that you didn't argue about with Mai and her taste in men was one of them.
Next Day.
The alarm clock rang out, loud and annoying as my eyes flew open from the high-pitch beeping sound. I groaned and shut it off as I rolled out of bed and hopped into the shower. From the shower I got dressed in my school uniform, not really minding that it was a skirt. At least it was a nice shade of navy.
I brushed and then blow dried my long dark brown hair that fell over my shoulders and put it into a high ponytail before starting to apply my make-up. Lately I had been wearing it slightly smudged, I don't why but it seemed to fit my mood lately. I finished up and then made my way downstairs. It still seemed so strange to me to be waking up in a different room with different smells and colors. For the moment, I felt like I was living in someone else's life. Not a bad one, just one that was different from my own.
"Good Morning." I said, taking my place at the table as the servant placed a plate of food and a large cup of coffee in front of me. "Thanks."
"Morning Fal." Tea greeted, smiling at me as she adjusted her top. Naturally they weren't getting ready for school like I was but were getting ready for work. Tea was a lawyer and Mai was an assistant in a very wealthy fashion business. "Everything going ok so far?"
"I'm fine, Tea." I replied with a small shake of my head. "I've barely been up half an hour. The most that could have happened to me was tripping and falling out the shower or stubbing my toe."
"Well, did you?" Mai asked as I chewed a bite of my toast. I chuckled and shook my head.
"No, but there's always tomorrow." She giggled and continued fixing her hair in the mirror just as someone knocked on the door. "I got it." I got up and went to the door, spying through the little peephole before opening the door and revealing Caleb.
"Well, are you ready to go?" He seemed almost annoyed and I nodded.
"Hold on one moment." I turned my head towards the house and called for someone to bring me my bag. A few seconds later Harold came and handed it to me. "Thanks." I replied, giving him a smile as Tea and Mai showed up.
"See you later, Fallon." I nodded at them and walked down the large driveway. We stopped at a black Rolls Royce and I nodded in appreciation.
"Nice car."
"You've probably see better." He said, slipping into the drivers seat and I didn't know whether I should go in the back or the front. "What with the being rich and all."
"It's not my fault I was born into a wealthy family." I replied, still standing outside of the car. If I sat in the back, it could make it seem like I was being deliberately distant, if I sat in the front, I could be being clingy…..
"Whatever. Are you ever going to get in the car?" He asked and I instantly felt stupid, something that rarely happened to me. Not caring about it anymore I sat in the passengers seat as he started the engine. "Better do up your belt…… they would have a fit if we got into a crash."
"Oh, right." I replied and fastened the belt as we back out of the driveway. I waited for a few minutes for him to talk, to start a conversation of some sort but it never happened. Instead, I did the painfully obvious attempt at starting one for him. "Not much of a talker, are you?"
"Not really." He answered as we turned a corner. A few more moments of silence and for once, he was the one who actually said something before I forced him to speak. "Look….. I'm not here to entertain you, and I'm not here to amuse you. It's my job to baby-sit you and make sure you don't do anything stupid or get yourself killed. That's it - so don't expect me to start being your friend." I was so shocked by his words that I almost couldn't speak for a moment.
"Well….fine then…" I said, suddenly feeling at a loss for words. For some reason, this hurt me. I felt like he hated me although he barely knew me. "Just don't expect me to keep attempting to be nice to you."
"I won't." He replied easily and I leaned back in my seat, folding my arms over my breasts. The rest of the ride to my school was set in a silence that seemed to last forever even though it was probably only a couple minutes. When he finally came to a stop I grabbed my bag and got out of the car without saying anything at all. Feeling hurt I made a show of slamming the car door harder then I really needed to and walked off towards the doors.
"Jackass." I hissed under my breath as I opened my locker and gathered my books. I could just see what being guarded by him would be like - nothing but headaches. Call me nieve but I just couldn't get my head around why he was being so rude when I was just trying to be friendly. "Oh well." I muttered to myself as I slammed the locker shut. "What does he matter?"
As usual, I went through school not really bothering to talk to anyone or make myself known and at lunch I was predictably solitary. It wasn't that I didn't like people or thought that people wouldn't like me it was just that lately I was having a hard time feeling like I could connect with anyone. I always felt like I was on the outside looking in.
Besides, I had to take all of my time to complete the piles of homework that they were giving me. I knew that Japanese schools were harder, but I hadn't expected them to be downright impossible. You just weren't allowed to be average in this country. You couldn't even just be plain good - you had to be exceptional. I had been working so hard lately that my brain felt like it was going to explode by the time that the final bell rang.
I wordlessly gathered my books, placing them into my bag and adjusting my knee-high socks before I walked outside. It seemed unusual to me that I felt so utterly alone and isolated when there were swarms of people around me but I figured that after what had happened to me, the feeling of being cut off from people was probably normal.
A horn honked loudly, making me jump as I looked for the source of the sound. Predictably it was Caleb who was making all the racket.
"I'm coming, I'm coming." I muttered, walking towards the car. "Relax. It's not the end of the world." I said as I slipped into the passengers seat.
"Whatever, just try not to almost break my door this time." I sighed and closed the door gently, turning to him with an annoyed look of my features.
"Happy?" He didn't reply, just shifted gears and started driving. This silence was really starting to get to me and I couldn't understand why. Maybe it was because I knew he could say something, he just chose to be deliberately irritating.
"Hey Princess - you sure you want me to drop you off at the mall or something?" I glared at him, narrowing my eyes into tiny slits.
"No - and I'm not a Princess." We fell into another of the those long awkward pauses while I racked my brain trying to come with excuses to talk to him without him having the opportunity to shoot me down right off the bat. So far I wasn't having any luck.
"So……. Princess, what's your story?" I looked over him, trying to show too much shock in my face. Was this guy bipolar or something?
"Since when did you care?" I shot back, knowing that I was being downright mean. All of my so called 'proper breeding' told me to apologize for my straight-out bad manners but I sealed the words inside my mouth. Something told me that he would only laugh at me for doing it.
"Well sor-ry for being curious." He replied, a slight smirk playing around his features. "I won't be making that mistake again."
"Good." I retorted, folding my arms over my chest as I stared resolutely out the window. My eyes scanned over the people that were just going about their business normally and I secretly wondered how many of them had had their lives changed at some point, or what would happen to change it.
It seemed the concept of changing circumstances and why thy changed was a subject that I was mildly obsessed with for the moment. I guess maybe I was just trying to figure out my own circumstances, find out what I had done to earn this. I didn't even realize the car had stopped until Caleb's voice brought me back into the waking world.
"We're here you know." I suddenly came to and grabbed for my bag.
"Oh ya, thanks." I wanted to smack myself for saying that to him but instead of making some snide remark he just remained silent and I was slowly learning that he about the emotional range of a rock. It was either quite or sarcastic. I stepped out of the car and shut the door behind me before turning back to face the window. "I'll see you tomorrow…" He backed up and before I knew it he was driving down the road without even a second look at me. Not even a first one.
I sighed and turned, walking into the house and placing my things on a chair before instantly starting right on my ungodly homework pile. As far as I was concerned it was official - he hated me. To him I was probably just some annoying little kid that he was forced to be around.
I took and deep breath and tried to resolutely put him out of my mind. He was just some flunky that had to run me around - why should anything that he thought or said matter?
A/N:
Well, this is my starter chapter - I hope it wasn't too boring. Anyways, there's the intro of Fallon's love interest but don't worry it's not going to be as easy as you might think. I'm actually planning on this whole romance being a little confusing but it might take awhile to develop. Anyways, as I said before Please, please, please leave a review!
