Author Note: Thanks for the reviews so far - I'm very gratified! For this chapter, I'm almost certainly playing fast and loose with the chronology. So... if you're the sort that really cares, just mentally adjust their relative ages by a few years until it fits.


Chapter 2: Awaken

Suzumi Tamao woke up early with cell phone, computer, people outside her door, all clamoring for attention. Three meetings here in Tokyo, look over some random budget problems (which weren't her business, anyway) with somebody's assistant, put in a congratulatory call to the original series writer. Tamao hoped she have time to pack.

Yes, her travel plans were all set. Tokyo Narita by 5:00, LAX by 8:30 the next day, taxi to the network - people would tell her what to do next there. No, her agent did not need to be there all day. She was aware that the executive associate producer would be late and that he is much more important than the head of the writing team (especially such a young, unknown one) and must not ever ever be kept waiting. Then there was a certain assistant director who had sent no less than twenty-nine emails, at least five of them completely contradictory, all between 2am and 3am Pacific Time. Tamao suspected the AD was actually several people. Or a robot.

American television production was certainly more hectic than anything Tamao had done before. I'll get used to it, though, she told herself. Besides, she was going to be adapting her favorite classical novel to international syndication. Tamao could hardly imagine anything more satisfying - even if the adaptation wasn't quite true to the original. Still, she could put up with a few obsessive assistant directors for the sake of art.

Tamao sighed happily. Those language classes really paid off, she thought. All those days and nights at Miator, studying English and French with Nagisa. Ah, her beautiful Nagisa-chan. Tamao suddenly remembered - Nagisa was in Los Angles, going to college or some such, wasn't she? Tamao grinned to herself. She would just have to drop in a time or two, if only for old time's sake.

Her phone rang again. "Yes, I'm on my way..."

* * *

It was Saturday and there was nothing to do, so Nagisa didn't get up right away. The sunlight - albeit reflected off the building next door - warmed her skin ever-so mildly. It was almost too comfortable to more. She slowly reached her arms out, eyes still closed. Shizuma was breathing heavily on her right, still asleep. Nagisa rolled over onto her back. She would open her eyes in minute or two. Well, maybe five minutes.

Or ten.

Okay, that was enough. Open the left eye, just the left one...

Oooo! Too bright! Nagisa pulled the covers over her head and groaned. She'd just have to wait a bit more, that was all. Except...

"Oh, no! Shizuma, Shizuma-chan! Wake up!" Nagisa jumped out of bed and promptly fell on the floor. "Ouch! Shizuma-chan! Are you awake?"

Shizuma sat straight up and rubbed her eyes, "Mmmm," she said, "What?"

Nagisa was back up again, leaning over Shizuma, "Your appointment, remember? You have to talk to the people from the grad school, oh, whatever one it was. You said this was the one you really wanted and it couldn't go all wrong like the last one, and..."

She stopped. Shizuma was pointing dramatically at the clock with her left hand, her right still over her eyes.

"And it's not until one o'clock in the afternoon. Get off my back." Shizuma fell backward onto her pillow.

Nagisa sat down on the side of the bed. It was just after ten o'clock. "Oh. Well, you probably wouldn't have gotten up by then, either. Besides, don't you want breakfast? And you need to get dressed and ready. And maybe practice a bit, too?" Shizuma responded with an indistinct moan.

Nagisa got up and put her slippers on. Shizuma didn't have to be quite so annoying - she was trying hard. She loved Shizuma so much. It wasn't her fault Shizuma was late for everything. Going to class, turning in assignments - getting her visa renewed - everything. Well, everything that wasn't a practical joke, impressing a pretty girl, or playing with her hair. She's just so... impetuous. She needs someone to take care of her. But Nagisa was used being taken care of herself - by her parents and her older sister through middle school, then Tamao at Miator. She'd imagined that Shizuma would be there to take care of her for, well, forever.

Shizuma hadn't been quite so interested.

Nagisa walked into the kitchen - really just the other half of the front room - and opened the fridge. Dry cereal and cold rice it was.

It had been Shizuma's idea to go to college in the United States in the first place, of course. "We'll get away from all of them - our families, everything!" She even managed to make it through the first half of her Comparative Literature degree - Japanese and French - without much trouble, even if she did spend most nights partying.

Nagisa decided to alter the 'cold' attribute of the rice to 'lukewarm'. "Shizuma-chan! Do you want your rice cooked?" Shizuma responded with a load grunt that might have been a yes. Nagisa scooped out two bowls and put them in the microwave - one minute each.

By the time Nagisa had graduated from Astraea Hill and joined her, Shizuma had been a failing wreck - it all had something to do with a certain Jennifer Z**, which had almost gotten Shizuma expelled. But Nagisa's arrival shook Shizuma up enough to turn her grades back around and make her eligible for some of the better graduate schools.

Nagisa smiled. She loved Shizuma-chan for that. She could be so utterly brilliant when she wanted to be. A real scholar. If only she wanted it more. Like the interview today. If it went well - and there wasn't any reason it shouldn't - Shizuma would have an excellent assistantship in one of the best Comp. Lit. programs around. It was all so exciting! And yet, and yet - Shizuma just wanted to stay in bed all day. And after all that fiddling with her hair the night before...

Nagisa sighed. Maybe it was her own fault, somehow. Her own academic record was - confused, at best. She'd tried biology, emphasis on botany - she did love flowers. But she hadn't counted on the amount of math or the amount of memorization involved. Now she was trying for some kind of art degree to limited success. Maybe Shizuma felt restricted, held back.

The microwave beeped. Nagisa took it out, set it down, poked at it with a spoon. The rice looked especially unappetizing like that.

No, Shizuma wouldn't feel held back, would she? She always seemed grateful for Nagisa's support, and wouldn't have gotten past junior year without her. So was it... what? She resented the interference? That didn't make sense either.

"Rice again, is it?" Shizuma entered half-dressed.

"Yeah."

Shizuma sat down and sniffed her bowl. "Better than nothing."

"Shizuma-chan, can I ask something?" Nagisa said.

"Sure, whatever." Shizuma started eating the rice by large spoonfuls.

"Please! This is really important."

Shizuma stopped with her spoon halfway toward her mouth. Her shoulders visibly tensed as she turned toward Nagisa.

"Yes, Nagisa?"

"Well, I was just wondering - worrying - you aren't mad that I'm so bad at school while you're so good at it? Or, I don't know - something else, that you didn't want to get up this morning? Are unhappy about something?"

Shizuma's shoulders dropped. She smiled.

"Don't be silly, Nagisa-chan. I just didn't sleep very well, that's all. Nervous, I guess."

"Oh. Well, I'm, I'm sorry I woke you up like that! I just wanted you to be on time to the interview, that's all!"

"It's okay. Should have been up anyway." Shizuma focused on her rice. For a second there, she'd thought Nagisa... but never mind that now.

* * *

On a airplane somewhere over the Pacific, a tired-looking woman with ultramarine hair stirred, then woke. Her mouth was dry, she licked her lips absently. The plane dipped slightly. She bent forward at the waist, barely touching her head to the seat in front of her. She looked at the snoring man on her left.

The woman sighed and closed her eyes again.