Disclaimer: I don't own Reborn! It belongs to Amano Akira.

Chapter Four: Nostalgia

"Excuse me, miss can you-"

The girl shook her head frantically and hurried past the horde of threatening looking men.

There goes lady number eight, I thought as I sipped my lukewarm tea.

For the past hour I had been lazing at a cafe, waiting for Akaya to show up with his Italian buddy. He thought it would be an enlightening experience for the both of us as it was such a rare occurrence to meet someone from another country. It was so we could exchange cultures and all that jazz. At first, the wait hadn't been too bad, I had time to contemplate about the past week. To wonder about how perhaps Hayama-chan was the canon character Dokuro, Chrome. She certainly had the indigo-blue hair and eyes. She was also around the same age Chrome had to be at this time, ten years old. Her demeanor was similar to Chrome's as well; she was quiet, shy, and a little meek.

That and her name was Nagi.

But it didn't matter. I had no solid proof she was the Chrome, and I had no guarantee she would turn into her either. It was possible I could have landed in a parallel world where Chrome never met Mukuro. It was possible Mukuro didn't even make it out of his captivity in the vendice prison. It was possible I had ended up in the majority of worlds where Byakuran became a crazy dictator.

I stared at the textbook in my hand, I really hated quantum physics.

Stupid parallel worlds.

I grimaced as I combed my hand through my small ringlets, in exasperation.

I heard a small squeak as a teen-aged girl breathlessly dashed into the cafe. I looked outside to the distraught men in suits again, that makes lady number nine.

I rolled my eyes as I watched the the mob of Caucasian men yet again try to initiate conversation with the local women. It wasn't too odd seeing non-Japanese people roaming around, Kyoto was after all a large tourist attraction. However the men were large in comparison to what most were used to, their faces didn't exactly look friendly either, and their stature was a bit daunting at first glance. It was understandable why most of the women ran away.

Then there it was, a small twinge of pity tugging at my heart. I gripped my book tightly as the unwanted feeling grew.

Because this was not me, I wasn't the type to help strangers.

I wasn't the type to be kind towards people I didn't know.

It wasn't me at all.

It wasn't what Cassidy Harada would do.

But it was certainly what Midori Harada would.

I was guarded, I didn't trust people easily. Who was I to know if they were honestly just tourists who needed help? They could be kidnappers or pickpockets, or maybe even gangsters from another country.

But she was trusting, she always gave the benefit of the doubt. They could be extremely nice gentlemen who were misunderstood. They could be people who would never even hurt a fly, men who had a mean face but had a heart of gold.

I needed a distraction, I couldn't stay sitting here any longer. I needed to get back to the house and watch American sitcoms. I needed to return some part of normalcy I had before the switch happened. I quickly glanced at my watch. Akaya was extremely late anyway, screw it. I was going home.

I grabbed my books, and shoved them in my bag. Briskly I got up to leave, I wasn't going to stay a moment longer as the unwanted feeling raised in my chest.

Quickly exiting the cafe I made my way to the crosswalk, only to have the red walk signal halt my get away.

Come on, come on! Hurry up you stupid light. Shit I see them approaching!

"Excuse me," I cursed silently when I felt many pairs of eyes suddenly direct their attention on me.

I was approached by the man who seemed the most friendly. He was a middle aged Caucasian who wore glasses, with a pair of a intriguing eyebrows hovering above his thick frames.

Yes! I cheered silently as the crosswalk signal switched to walk. Pedestrians zoomed around the big mob, ignoring the commotion.

I turned around ready to deny him. I was going to do it, I really was but-

He looked so hopeful.

Stupid Midori, and her stupid kind heart and will to help everyone.

I grimaced as I asked, "Do you need help?"

The group seemed to exclaim excitedly as I was bombarded by questions in broken Japanese from the crowd.

I sighed before I asked, "I can speak in English if that would be better."

The man smiled gratefully at me and in heavily accented English said, "Thank you very much! We've been trying to find Ki-kinkyaku."

My questioning stare led him to elaborate, "A temple, made out of gold!"

I nodded in understanding, "Oh, you must be referring to Kinkaku-ji."

He also nodded, and I smiled slightly at his relieved face.

SLIGHTLY.

Not a big 'yay so happy I am able to help' smile. Nor was I glad to help, I was just a bit relieved that they would no longer terrorize all the women, they had been frightening.

It was like a small twitch of the corner of my lips, you got it?

I smiled slightly.

Glancing at the group I waved them over as I told them to follow me as I offered to guide them.

The man was actually enjoyable to talk to, he spoke of how he was on a business trip with his associates. However they had lost sight of the president of their company who seemed to have poor directional sense. I would have been alarmed, however they spoke nonchalantly about it. A few men even laughed and chortled fondly about their president in a language I didn't understand, as if it was an everyday occurrence. I was a bit curious, but decided to dismiss it. It wasn't like I was going to see these men again anyway.

As we walked along the road, surrounded by the small tiled shops that lined the historical alleyways of Japan, I advised them about the ins and outs of Kyoto.

"You should visit To-ji as well, it's a beautiful temple but their flea market is superb. It's the hidden gem of these streets and it's fairly popular, what do you think?"

Quizzically, I turned around as the friendly gentlemen hadn't replied to me.

I twitched slightly as I stared at empty space.

Where'd he go?

Wait, where did the whole mob of tourists go?

How did I even miss that!

Maybe they had gotten lost somehow? Or distracted by one of the vendors? What if they needed help!?

Turning on my heel, I began to search for them-

Only to halt mid-step, as conflicting thoughts swarmed in my head.

Why did I need to look for them?

If they got lost, it was their fault right?

I was already being nice, I was doing my job of showing them their destination just fine. If they decided to wander and if they got lost, it was on them.

I didn't need to go out of my way to help them more than I already have.

Right?

I tugged on a curl, slightly stressed out, as I attempted to reaffirm my decision to go home.

However I was stopped short, when I was unexpectedly roughly pushed down onto the ground by a heavy weight.

As I landed harshly on the floor, I cursed Midori and her idiocy.

You know what? This is what I get for trying to be nice to someone. Pushed down into the dirty pavement, scraping my hands, and having a big oaf of a guy on top of me would never have happened if I had just gone home in the first place.

Stupid selfless feelings, stupid, stupid, stupid.

The weight was lifted off of me, as the guy who had fell on top of me scrambled to his feet. I could only spot a shock of dirty blonde hair, before I was temporarily blinded by the sunlight making me incapable of making out his features. As my hand quickly covered my distressed eyes, I silently cursed again.

Why was this day getting worse!?

He crouched down and with a slightly accented voice I heard him ask in worry, "Are you okay?"

I waved him off with my other hand, just go away I want to be alone. However he gently grasped my hand in his own and helped me to my feet.

"I'm really sorry for bumping into you. Are you sure you're okay?"

Stupid tourists, asking me dumb questions like if 'i'm okay'. Do I look okay? You just bulldozed into me a few seconds ago, of course i'm not you idiot!

I felt a spitefully retort sneak it's way into my mouth, as he was going to unjustly be on the receiving end of my increasing foul mood, but my breath hitched as I lowered my hand to look at my offender. I froze as I stared into dark chocolate hued eyes belonging to a very nostalgic face. But it wasn't the same type of nostalgia I've been experiencing recently. It wasn't the nostalgia I felt when I was with Akaya or from my walks in Kyoto. It was the nostalgia I felt when I thought about my home.

My real home.

"Robert?" I whispered quietly. I stared at him in disbelief, he wasn't supposed to be here!

The last time I had seen him, was when he moved away right after high school graduation.

What was he doing here in Japan?

I stared a while longer, as if in a trance.

But did it matter?

He was here, in the flesh, and right in front of my very eyes for the first time in years.

He was familiar, wistful, and reminiscent.

I missed you.

"Alessandro! There you are, I was looking for you." I blinked out of my rapture as I recognized the voice.

I apologized quickly as I withdrew a trembling hand I hadn't realized I'd placed on the stranger's face.

Yes stranger, because of course he wasn't Robert.

It was stupid and unreasonable to think he'd be here anyway.

I turned around slightly to wipe my watery eyes. No I was not about to cry! My eyes just felt a little prickly from the early sun exposure. I wasn't getting emotional or anything like that!

It was the sun exposure, you understand?

"Oh, Midori! You're here too, hope we didn't make you wait too long!" Akaya said as he took strides toward us. I nodded, careful to keep my sight away from the Robert-look alike.

"Right, Alessandro?" Akaya blinked as his friend didn't respond immediately.

I quickly glanced up to look at him, at Alessandro. Maybe I had hallucinated that he looked like Robert, maybe my brain was making up images to cope. I looked up only to lock eyes with him.

I breath hitched again, nope I wasn't hallucinating. He really did look like him, as if his doppelganger was standing in front of me.

Akaya jokingly waved his hand in front of the Caucasian male, "Hellooooo, anyone in there?"

The blonde jumped slightly, our eye contact breaking, as he glanced at the Japanese male.

"Man, you've got to stop being so spacey around here. I don't want to leave you with terrible memories of Kyoto because you get robbed." Akaya said as he good naturedly smacked the other male on the back.

"Where'd you go by the way?"

"Sorry, I got a bit lost." The blonde sported an embarrassed smile.

Akaya sighed exasperatedly at his friend's answer and then directed his gaze to me. "Anyway Midori, we were just going to meet you." Akaya said.

"Well you're late." I said with a touch of annoyance. I glanced at my watch, "By an hour and thirty minutes."

Be mad, not sad! I thought as I was trying to hone in on how irritable I had felt during the day.

"That was my fault." I didn't have to look at him to know Alessandro had said it, his accented Japanese was a dead give away.

Be mad, be annoyed, everything crappy that's happened today was because of him!

Be angry, be angry, be angry-

Then he sheepishly laughed, and it sounded so similar and cute to the way Robert laughed and oh god I couldn't do this anymore!

"I need to go." I said suddenly.

The males blinked as I sprinted away without so much of an explanation to my sudden disappearance.

I took in steady breathes as I tried to control my emotions. After I finally arrived home-

Midori's home

and reached my room-

Midori's room

Everything was her's, nothing was mine. Nothing in this world was Cassidy Harada's.

I crumpled on the floor and tears started to stream down my face, as I finally cried for the first time in years. The last time I had bawled was when Robert-

I sniffled, at the mere thought of him and buried my head between my knees.

Today sucked.

AN: Sorry for the wait! I'll probably be able to start writing more as it seems my writer's block has taken a temporary leave and is hopefully on vacation.

I hope you all know who Alessandro is supposed to be! I think it's painfully obvious. Next chapter will be: Adapting.

Anyway if you have any questions, comments, or constructive criticism leave a review!