AN: Standard disclaimer applies. I don't own Sky High, Tenchi Muyo, or McDonalds. Each chapter will be in one of four P.O.V.s. Yuri (the OFC), Layla, Will, and Warren. It will say who's P.O.V. it is at the beginning of each chapter so as to avoid confusion.
Top Notes:
1. Ryoko is a space pirate demon from the anime Tenchi Muyo. She was created by a genius mad scientist and was imprisoned in a shrine for 700 years. After being released, she fell in love with the main character, Tenchi. She flies, phases through solid objects, teleports, and wields both laser-energy blasts and a laser-energy sword.
In my version, Ryoko is the original character's great-grandmother. As her power did not pass onto her children, it was thought to not be in the transferred DNA. Ryoko is called 'Aunt' because she feels 'grandma' and older make her feel ancient.
2. Kanji are Chinese characters used in Japanese writing. They are part of the Japanese written language.
Rewrites of chapters one through six are in progress. During this time, all but the rewritten chapters will be taken down, to be reposted after the rewrite is complete.
Enjoy and please review.
Starting Over Sophomore: Yuri
I sauntered into the mad science lab, third period, on the first day of junior year, dropped my things, and turned to my assigned lab partner. As was my custom, I said, in a parrot imitation, "Hello Oreo" and smiled. Not such a good idea, as it turned out, since she ended up staring at me like she wondered if I had mistaken the school bus for the shuttle to the mental hospital.
After a few moments' worth of silence, I sighed, blowing my hair out of my face and wishing I'd remembered a rubber band. "Okay, sorry, start over. Hi, my name's Sayuri, Sayuri Yoshimi." So saying, I held out a hand to shake.
My lab partner looked at me for another second before smiling, "Um, hi. I'm Layla. I'm a phytokinetic." The red-head took my hand and we shook.
"That's cool, controlling plant life," I mused, pulling a spiral notebook with stickers like "ABUNAI!" and "Death by Golf Cart!" out of my chocolate corduroy tote; gifts from friends, what can I say. "I fly, phase through walls, and use laser beams…well, the laser beams are only sometimes. Actually, I'm not very good at controlling them yet. In fact, I sort of suck," I began talking to myself, chewing on my lower lip.
"I'm sure you'll get better." Layla busied herself with readying her things for class. "So, who did you get your powers from?"
"Oh. Um…you see." I took a deep breath and rolled my eyes, "Well, my parents are actually kind of normal. It's my Aunt that's a super person. And I hardly ever see her. I visited their farm this summer for the first time in years, she's, well she's actually a space pirate and she's not exactly my aunt, I'm not quite sure how we're related. Like…she's a registered Hero now, in Japan, but she's actually demon created by a mad scientist who…" I trailed off at the look of confusion on Layla's face. "Um…Ryoko(1)?" I offered weakly.
Realization dawned. "Oh," Layla smiled. "Yeah, we covered that whole…epic last year in Hero History. I see where you get the yellow cat eyes."
"Yeah. I've been wearing tinted contact lenses most of my life to hide them." I pointed to my eyes. "But now," I smiled, "no more."
"So…I've never seen you around before…" Layla prompted.
"Yeah. Like I said, I was visiting the farm and my aunt noticed I'd inherited some interesting genetic traits, so she called here right away. My apps had to be rushed and Aunt Ryoko tutored me in as much stuff as possible; I'm still behind a grade," I smiled weakly and shrugged. "But what can you do?"
"Well, I'm sure you'll catch up fast. I mean, as long as you don't bomb out in P.E." Layla sighed. "Hey, why aren't you in Hero class? I mean, if you have Ryoko's powers, wouldn't that be enough?"
I smiled sheepishly again. "I missed power placement. I forgot about the time difference between Japan and here so I totally missed the first day of school."
"Ouch," Layla winced. "Don't worry. It's not like labels matter anyway."
I opened her mouth to reply that, at my old high school, I was something of a geek anyway when Dr. Medulla walked into the lab.
"Good morning class. I trust you've all had an eventful summer. Regrettably for you, we must resume our foray into the world of Mad Science. I am passing out a cumulative review of the topics covered last year so we'll all be on the same frequency when I begin my teaching." As he spoke, he handed out test booklets to the front rows of the class, motioning for them to 'take one and pass it back.' "You will have the whole class period, meaning exactly fifty-five minutes, so use the time wisely. You may begin."
I stared down at the sheet of fifty-odd questions in front of me and sighed. Assuming that you are building a transmutator ray, which of the following parts will give you the most efficient end product? I scanned the list of do-dads and whatchamacalits before muttering a few choice curses under my breath and picking up my pencil.
When the lunch bell rang, the students filed out of the lab quickly, intent on getting to the (safety of the?) cafeteria where food was for sale and friends were gathered. Translation: there were so many damned people in that hall that a can of sardines would seem roomy.
I hurriedly tapped Layla on the shoulder, simultaneously attempting to keep on my feet while being jostled by the crowd. "Hey, are we allowed off campus during lunch?"
Moving to the side, Layla paused, "I'm not sure."
I thought for a good long while, well, as long as one can while going against the raging hordes, before making up my mind. "I'm gonna chance it. Do you want anything from McDonald's?"
Layla shook her head. "I'm a vegetarian."
"Oh. Okay, I'll see you later," I leaned against the wall, preparing to leave.
"Hey," Layla stopped me. "There'll be no space in the cafe when you get back. Look for me, I'll save you a seat."
I looked around at the crowd and realized she was totally right. With a wave and a "Thanks!" I made sure no one was watching and melted into the wall.
Upon entering the din, I realized that Layla had been right. The place was packed. Standing on my tip toes, cursing my genes for petite-ness, I searched for Layla's lime-green sweater. Getting fed up with the ruckus and not seeing anyone familiar, I was about to turn and leave when someone called my name. I turned to see Layla waving me over from the other side of the madhouse. Waving and pivoting on my heels, I headed for their table.
Layla, a guy I might refer to as a 'jock', a punky girl, Surly-With-Attitude, Mr. Hip-Hop, and a skinny kid with glasses who could only be termed a 'geek' were all, seemingly, sitting together. 'The Odd Couple' popped into my head. But, settling down on the edge next to the kid with glasses, I waved hello to everyone while rummaging in my bag for my lunch.
Layla motioned vaguely at me, "Guys, this is Sayuri. She's my lab partner this year."
The guy sitting across from her smiled. "Hey, I'm Will Stronghold. I'm, uh…super strong…and I fly." Aha, the prodigal son. Meaning that this was the group of 'misfits' that had saved the school the previous year. The world was right again. Not that I'm against inter-clique mingling, but this was quite extreme.
Ms. Punk, she had awesome purple streaks in her hair, looked over at me. "Magenta. I shapeshift into a guinea pig," she stated, briefly nodding in my direction before going back to her, what I assumed was, math homework. Of course, I hadn't had math yet that day and it might have been some sort of engineering instead.
Layla kicked Surly under the table. "Ow!" He glared at her. Looking extremely put-off, he rolled his eyes and turned his head in one smooth motion, staring pointedly at 'new girl.' Aww gee, I felt so honored to have the man boring holes into my skull. "Warren Peace." He then turned back to whatever he'd been doing. I could have giggled; it was so 'resident rebel.'
"Well, I'm Ethan," said kid with glasses sitting next to me. He held out his hand and we shook. "I melt into a puddle."
"Yo, I'm Zach and I- French fries!" Hip-Hop exclaimed in mid-sentence, glee emanating from him as he started to give off a faint yellow-green light. "Dude, can I have one?"
I couldn't help a slow smile. "Sure." I handed him the bag, looking over at everyone. "Um, I'm Sayuri, most people call me Yuri, and I inherited my powers from my Aunt Ryoko, the space pirate-demon."
Everyone nodded to show they knew who I was talking about, thank God because I hate explaining it, and continued with their lunch. I opened my cardboard box of chicken nuggets and started searching the myriad contents of my tote for the sweet 'n sour sauce.
"So, I assume you're Japanese?" Ethan asked after I'd settled down with my chicken nuggets.
"Yeah, full," I replied, peeling the silly plastic foil from the sauce container. "Well, except for the part which is alien on account of my Aunt. But…okay she's not really my Aunt, I don't know how we're related exactly, but…" I realized I was getting off-topic and apologized as I tend to talk a lot. "Yeah, I'm Japanese."
"Fascinating; so, what does your name mean? We got our History research assignments and my country is Japan so I'd like to get some first-hand accounts," he explained.
"It's 'Little Lily'; and something of a curse as you can see by my shortness," I smiled, standing briefly. "The 'sa' is part of chiisai, which means small and the 'yuri' means lily. You write it like this." I took out my notebook and flipped it over to the back where yet another sticker was pasted, this time with the Japanese characters of my name.
"Interesting, do each of the symbols have a different meaning?" Ethan inquired politely.
"Yeah," I was about to explain the meaning of each different kanji(2) when someone across the table spoke.
"Ni bai he."
Ethan and I looked over to see Surly giving my notebook a sidelong glance. "What?"
He did the head turn again and gave me an are-you-stupid-or-what look. "Ni. Bai. He." When I continued to look confused, he sighed. "It's Small Lily in Chinese."
"Oh." I looked from Surly, Warren, his name is Warren, to my notebook. "Really? Cool." I was pretty much the only Asian at my last school. "Are you Chinese?"
Sur- Warren's jaw twitched. "Yeah." This seemed to signal the end of the conversation as he returned his attention to his own notebook and the mysterious goings-on that happened within. Or maybe he was just studying up for Calculus or whatever. Still, with brooding males, you could never tell.
"Did I say something wrong?" I whispered, concerned, to Ethan.
The bespectacled boy shook his head. "He's just like that sometimes. You get used to it."
"Yeah," Zach added around a mouthful of…well, it looked like a hamburger, but with cafeteria food, you have to be on your guard. "Like this one time, last year, Will mphf-"
"Please excuse him," Magenta sighed, covering his mouth (eew, with all the food chunks in there?). "Sometimes my boyfriend says embarrassing things he shouldn't. Just…don't get on his bad side before you get to know him." She smiled sweetly in Warren's direction.
He smiled unconvincingly back before glowering at her.
"Warren!" Layla kicked him again. "Be nice."
"Stronghold," he threatened to the unfortunate Will, sitting next to him, "keep your girlfriend under control."
Will shook his head, laughing. "Hey, I'm not getting you out of this one. And it is your fault, you know."
Warren grumbled, clearly defeated.
I had to laugh. No matter where you go, friends will be friends. High school will be high school. And as far as this one was concerned, it looked pretty good.
Love, SeraphStar
