Stay awake with the sound of my voice
I'm restless from the silence in the air
I want to be somewhere I can see the roads
A place where every time you breathe a wish comes true
I want to be where love is real
And memories of distant days come to life again

Far past these roads there is a place
Where all of our precious dreams remain
Someday I know
I'll find a way
To keep myself from holding on.

-The Longest Story by Daphne Loves Derby

Safe, In Your Arms

Chapter 1: I Should Learn Japanese


Oh God, I love my life.

Well, actually, I did. That is, until I stepped in this damn school.. And it's becoming quite annoying due to the fact that I'm lost. Lost in a forest? That's okay, but lost in a school? People would laugh at me; I bet that you're laughing right now. I should have taken that job as a comedian..

I'm one of those people who pretends to be able to read the map while reading it upside down.

I'm clueless. But most of the time, my brain/heart just doesn't have enough capacity for me to care.

My name? You don't need to know for now. All you have to know is that I'm stuck here, trying to find the office of this school. Why didn't I ask directions? Well, I don't speak Japanese… And yes, I am in Japan, could you believe that?

I can't.

Besides, people tell me that I resemble a guy. Women are always supposed to ask for directions while guys just walk straight down the road with their egotistical minds. Yup, that's me.

For all my life I believed that I was Chinese, or Vietnamese, but not Japanese—no offense to Japanese. My mom died of breast cancer when I was barely ten years old and it broke my heart. I've never been so close to my dad, not that he was some kind of drunk but because he cared too much about money. He always worked and never came home. Of course, my mom never suspected him to have an affair but his obsession with his company was too unreal. Well, at least he made a great deal of money off of it.

I've been spoiled for God-knows-how-long and I shouldn't even say that because I don't even believe in God. My family was never invited to church, we were "too greedy" to go there because if we did we would "bring sin". Exact quotes from the minister dude.

Since I never learned anything about religion, I've always been dreaming about magic. When I was five years old and I wanted to be a princess when I grew up. But now… I don't care. I'm a nerd. Anyway, back to the damn school.

The stupidest thing is that, well, there's no one in the hallways right now!

Turn right. Walk straight… left… left…

Mhmm, a glass door, that could be a sign. I knocked three times and waited. The first trait that I received from my mom: politeness. Only useful for first impressions.

When I heard someone mumble an order, which I have no clue what it meant, I just opened the door. I mean, come on, what did you expect me to do?

Luckily, I did find the office, but unfortunately there seemed to be a problem, the secretary didn't speak English, French, Chinese. Or Spanish. I know, I'm crazy, I learned all those languages because of my parents; they forced me to. You know why? Because they wanted me to become a translator. Scratch that, my dad wanted me to work for his company and be the manager of international trading. Fancy name. That wasn't a bad idea, I love to travel and all but still, I wasn't ready to decide my career. But the truth is, after not practicing those languages, I forgot most of them anyway. I'm only fluent in English. French and Spanish were just my awesome dad's idea. And Chinese… I gave it up after my mom died and I never learned how to write it. My dad was never too fond of China.

So where was I? Yes yes… Well, I was about to learn Japanese but hey, guess what, I was ordered to go in Japan. Apparently my dear father abandoned me and married some white lady who was 15 years younger than him. I know, pure joy. I'm still angry at him for that. I'm not yet ready to forgive him. But at least I'm glad that he didn't marry right after my mom died. In fact, my mom died five years ago and my dad just got remarried last week. I guess that he stayed loyal for a bit and I'm at least glad for that.

Least, I could think of this "trip to Japan" as a vacation, I haven't even met that wife of my father's. She was probably one of those Britney Spears wannabees and considered her twirling batons as trophies.

The thing is, I've never really lived with my dad, he really loves New York and I hate noisy cities. I've been living with my mom in Salt Lake City and when my mom died, my father's ex-secretary (who retired three years ago) became my guardian.

Oh gosh, I was lost in my thoughts again, sorry about that.

"Hello, miss. Um, I'm new here," I said politely.

Kasoghibnoabihsg.

Really, that's what I heard; I have no clue what she just said to me.

"Do you know anyone who speaks English?" I asked, hoping.

"I speaks Engrish," she replied, smiling.

I was so happy at that moment.

"Thanks so um. I'm new here, I wonder if I could get my schedule, timetable… whatever you call that. And perhaps a map of this school? And in English?"

She looked at me quizzically and scowled.

She hollered really loudly and I flinched. What the hell? Don't you have this impression that Japanese people speak too quickly? Yeah… I'm experiencing that a lot.

An elderly-looking man came out of a room. I guess that he was the principal.

"Hello, miss. Yes I received an email about a new student. And I guess that's you," the man said with a Japanese accent.

"Oh God, thank you. Finally someone who speaks English," I paused, as I noticed his quizzical expression. "Um sorry, yes I am the new student and I wonder if I can get all my… stuff," I said, unsure of what to say to the old man.

"Sure thing," he replied as he mumbled some quick words to the secretary. "What classes do you want to take?"

"Um, I suppose that I want to take as many language electives as possible."

"Alright, we offer English, German, French, Chinese, Spanish and Russian. You have two elective spots, which courses do you choose?"

"Um, English and…," I mentally asked myself: French or Russian? Or maybe German? No wait, not German. Mhmm. "Um, French?" I replied. Hey, it should be in my genes. If my dad speaks French, I should too.

"Sure, and I believe that you learned those languages before," I nodded, "then we will put you in advance classes," I nodded again. My head is starting to hurt after all that nodding.

"Alright, I believe that you will go in the lower Japanese class," he said.

What? I mentally slapped myself. What did he mean by that? That I'll be stuck with mentally challenged students or maybe young kids? Oh joy, oh joy to the world.

"Okay," I said, sighing.

"And I will need to test your math skills to place you in a math class. And also, do you have any sports interest?"

"Swimming," I mumbled.

"Right, you can tryout for the swim team tomorrow after school, I will inform the coach. So for tomorrow, you will take regular physical education. I shall give you your math placement test right now. And don't worry; I have an English version just for you."

The way he said just for you made me feel special but I scrubbed that feeling off of me. Like a principal would care for me. Or maybe he just welcomed me because I was a "strange" person. Maybe he never saw half-white people before, yeah, that must be right.

"If you make the swim team, you will not take physical education which means that you will have a free period because swimming is before school. Would you want a free period or take another elective?"

"Um. I, well, I guess that I'll take an elective."

By now you must think that I'm crazy. I want more classes? Well the thing is that I don't exactly have a place to stay yet. I live in a hotel and today, after this school registration thing, I'll go find an apartment or a room or something.

"Which elective?" he asked me, snapping me out of my thoughts. I hated when people did that.

"I don't know, something fun."
"Perhaps cooking?" I grimaced, "maybe not… well, photography?" I shook my head, "Music?"

I thought for a few seconds and smiled.

"Of course, sir," I replied, being polite again.

"Then it's set, your classes are Japanese, English, French, physical education, and math. And if you make the swim team, we will take out physical education to add music."

I nodded and thanked them.

"And, your name is Laura Fan?"

I blushed a little.

"Um, well yes that's my formal name but no one calls me by that—"

Oh God why did he have to interrupt me?

"You can let your teachers know of your nickname. We cannot register a fake name into our databases," the old man said. "By the way, I'm Mr. Arahata, the principal."

"Okay," I muttered, slightly embarrassed.

The secretary stood up, grabbed a stack of papers that were on her table and the principal gestured for me to follow the lady. I did so.

She took me to a nearby classroom and knocked on the door.

She exchanged some non-understandable conversations and I just stood there, blinking.

The teacher, who was a middle aged looking man, gestured me to come in. He pointed to a seat at the back of the class and I looked at him quizzically.

"Please sit thele," he said.

I nodded and began to make my way there but the secretary stopped me. She handed me the stack of papers that were in her hands. I glanced at the first page of the papers. Math Placement Examination, it said. I sighed. I haven't prepared for this! Oh well.

I slowly strolled my way to the back of the room, ignoring curious glances from others and sat there flatly. The secretary waved goodbye to the teacher and closed the door with a click. The teacher, I think, told students to resume to whatever they were doing and he started writing stuff on the board. Right away, I recognized that this teacher taught French because of the writings.

I decided to ignore them for now. I guess that I'll have this teacher, oh well, he looked nice. Nice as in nice personality that is. My hormones aren't that bad.

I looked around me once again and noticed several guys talking together. Apparently the whole class was doing a group activity. I couldn't distinct what they were saying because of their heavy accents, but it seemed that they were trying to have a conversation about… nothing in particular. That was odd. Oh well. Who cares. This class sounds interesting.

I scanned over the guys who sat most close to me. There were a guy with blue-black hair, his hair was long and was tied with a ponytail. I rolled my eyes, guys with longhair? Eww. Then I looked at the person sitting beside him, there was another guy with longhair but this one, his hair was raven black. He wore a white bandana and his hair was tied up in a thin and long braid. The third person had blue-and-slate hair—oh joy another blue-headed dude, maybe I should dye my hair blue too—he had blue triangles painted on his face. Is he trying to be Indian? That was weird. He looked rather… bored, he yawned three times already. Then the last guy, he had blonde hair. Oh yes! Blonde hair, someone normal! His hair wasn't that long either! I hope that he speaks English, oh please.

I let my eyes wander at the group of guys for a while and I noticed one of them—the boy with the slate hair—pock an eyebrow at me quizzically and annoyingly. I rolled my eyes and finally started working on my math placement test.

Now you probably wonder what my name really is. Well, I guess that I could tell you right now since you stayed around quite a while. Everyone calls me Forrest. Mainly because of my green eyes and the fact that I love the fresh air. I really adore camping even though I'm allergic to mosquito bites (resulting into chaos after every camping trip). But hey, that can't stop me!

I'm pretty energetic…and I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not. The weird thing is, I don't get high because of sugar, or drugs, if you want to know; it's just natural. I just tend to ramble a lot when I'm energetic and such. I used to scare people away. Too bad.

Mhm. Well. It's about 10:20 now and I've been working on this test for 40 minutes. And I was on the last two problems. Personally, I'd say that it wasn't bad. I liked math. I know, don't freak out. I'm … not exactly a nerd. You probably think that I am since I know so many languages and all and I like math. It's not that, it's just that since my childhood, all my math teachers have been brilliant and they taught me math the way that I enjoyed doing math. I'm not exactly good at it, but I ask a lot of questions and I learn from my mistakes.

Well, there you go. I finished the test.

I walked up to the teacher and opened the door to step out of the classroom. Before I got out, I couldn't help but to say a merci beaucoup to the teacher, which surprised him. I grinned and closed the door without a sound. I walked again in that deserted hallway but this time, I wasn't lost. I felt… somehow proud of myself. I knocked on the door leading to the secretary and entered without her replying.

I handed to her the test and smiled.

"Thank you," I said.

She half smiled and gave me another stack of papers, luckily, I sighed, it wasn't a math test. It was a stack of forms that I had to fill out… in Japanese. Oh joy. Still, I thanked her again and walked out of the office. I didn't feel in the mood to talk to the principal. First I had to find an apartment.

I walked out to a big street and waved my hand to a passing cab. The driver steered the wheel really quickly and it screeched as he made a U-turn to stop at the sidewalk near where I was standing. I showed the driver my address and he nodded. Now I hope that he doesn't make an extra detour because then I'll kill him.

Okay, I'm not violent and I don't care much about money mainly because my dad sends me a lot each month. Yes, and that's also why my father married a woman 15 years younger than him. He is rich.

Rich.

A filthy word.

I hate that word.

It destroyed my life.

My father owns several hotels in the world. And guess what? I'm living in his hotel right now! Joy, right? Oh no. That's why I'm finding myself an apartment. I can't live in his hotel, I'd be taking things for granted and I don't want to do that. Believe me, I don't, not at all. Well, most of the time, I don't. Yes, I'm a hypocrite.

I paid the cabdriver and stepped into the hotel.

"Hello, miss," a middle aged woman said to me.

"Hey, thanks for waiting for me. I got the school things taken care of. And did you find me a Japanese tutor?" I asked.

"No, sorry miss. Not yet."

"That's alright. Now, since you're better in Japanese than I am, I want you to help me find an apartment in this city."

The person nodded.

Oh yes, I forgot to tell you this, she's my assistant. I won't dare to call her maid; she's like a life manager for me. She takes care of everything and she speaks Japanese! Now, why didn't I bring her to school with me? Well, I actually thought that people would speak English, but I guess that I was really, really wrong. And ah, her name is Theresa.

"Thank you."

She went to work and I decided to take a swim in the pool. After all, I needed a lot of practice for the tryout tomorrow night.

Now that I'm calm and I'm swimming I can tell you more about myself.

So my name is Forrest Fan—with two 'r's, I'm 15. Yes I'm fifteen! Well, almost sixteen. I just started my sophomore year.

Now you probably also wonder why my last name is Chinese if I told you that my father was white. Well, to tell you the truth, I was born before my parents got married. But yes, I was my dad's child. It was just that they didn't have enough time and my dad kept traveling around so my mother never got her marriage until I turned 7. By then, I already got used to my name so I decided to not change it. My father cared less, he always thought of me as a miscarriage. How nice of him.

I'm not big on my social life because nothing interesting ever happens, and I mean that.

Being the smart ass that I am, I was about to start calculus this year. Don't give me that look; I'm not what you think that I am! At least I'm not in advanced calculus, I remember a friend of mine who is taking that. Crazy, heh? Speaking of friends, I have some. The few friends that I have tend to be long-term; I'm really bad with short-term relationships. That's also why I never even considered dating anyone. Crushes are fine… but… I get over them in a month max. Alright, maybe a little more.

I sighed. There was no one in the pool; once again I was alone. Actually I didn't mind because I was often alone anyway. Shrug. Who cares? I like peaceful places, soft music and slow dances. Everything smooth, slow and steady. Yes. Suave is love.

Everything that contains a routine is also good for me.

And I hope that I can find a routine here, in Japan.

Author's Notes: I'm going through all the chapters and taking out many AN's.

Shayna Tanaka belongs to elementBLUE and Namiko Hunter to Hikari Konoshiro. Thanks for letting me use your OC's :)

Disclaimer: This is for the whole story: I don't own Beyblade and don't make me repeat it.