All Usual Disclaimers Apply

"Hold still. Close your eyes. It will only take a second."

"Come on. We must do this quickly."

"I know that! Can't I at least say some sort of goodbye?"

"Let's do this now!"

"Whatever happens, boy, just watch the skies."

"—karu."

"Hikaru."

"HIKARU!"

His blue eyes snapped open, waking from his dream. His head was throbbing from the jostling it took when is head rested against the side window of the truck.

"Wake up Hikaru," a man in his mid forties, with short black hair, and a thick black beard demanded. "Dozing off again?"

"Sorry," Hikaru's soft voice apologized as he adjusted his black beanie, that covered his long blond hair that was tucked in. "I didn't get much sleep last night."

The man next to him looked annoyed, "Those dreams again? What happened to those sleeping aids we bought for you?"

"They…don't work."

The older man sighed, "Next week we'll take you to a doctor. I can't have you dozing off when doing this type of manual work. It's dangerous. And you're already clumsy enough as it is."

Hikaru could only nod, "I appreciate it Mr. Musashibo."

Mr. Musashibo turned the corner and drove up the street, staring at a rather quiet area surrounded by trees. It seemed a quiet neighborhood. Out of the way of the busier suburban areas.

"Here it is," he said. "Now this is a shrine owned by a good friend of mine. Be on your best behavior."

He pulled the truck up in front of a series of steps that led up a hill, a Torii gate arching over it. He left the car running and waited only a little while before a young man bound down the steps to greet them.

Mr. Musashibo rolled down the window, "Hello, Manabu."

"Mr. Musashibo, good afternoon. Hold on a sec, let me open the fence so you can roll up."

Hikaru watched the young man disappear up the steps and moments later the electronic fenced gate that led to the dirt and gravel driveway of the residence and shrine slid open. Mr. Musashibo drove up and turned up the driveway. He stopped the car.

Waiting for them was two people. One was a man wearing traditional shrine clothing and beside him was his daughter, also wearing traditional clothing.

"Come on, boy," Mr. Musashibo said as he opened the car door. Hikaru opened the other side and went about opening the bed of the truck to get the landscaping tools as Mr. Musashibo went over to talk to the owners of the shrine.

Yui Kusanagi stood by her father as she watched the contractors drive up in a red pick-up truck with letters on the side reading "Musashibo Contracting: Landscape, Contracting, Plumbing, Painting, and Delivery."

She knew Mr. Musashibo for as long as she remembered but they weren't very close. The bearded man usually did odd services for her father in helping maintain the shrine. Most of the time he brought with him two or three well-built workers to help do the heavy work. For smaller work, like delivering supplies, he came by himself.

This time, however, a young man stepped out of the truck. She hadn't seen him before, and yet he seemed so familiar. He was most definitely foreign. He was tall, wearing a black sleeveless shirt that showed of his strong arms, dirty cargo pants and work boots and beanie that more than likely hid an abundance of hair. Blond hair if it was the same color as the rather thick mess of whiskers on the young man's jaw and upper lip.

In spite of the strong physique and facial hair, he seemed to be her age, if not younger.

Yui squinted trying to get a better look as he rummaged in the bed of the truck, trying to pinpoint where she may have seen him before.

Beside her, her father greeted Mr. Musashibo, "Good afternoon." He shook the bearded man's hand and they both bowed to each other. Yui bowed as well.

"Good afternoon."

Mr. Kusanagi glanced over at Hikaru and said with a serious tone, "Is that him? The boy they found by the river a year ago?"

Mr. Musashibo glanced over his shoulder, "Hikaru? Yes he—"

He was interrupted when they heard a crash by the truck. Hikaru was on the ground, landscape supplies strewn all over the ground. He had tried to pull a surveying vector out, but it was stuck under shovels and posts and various other equipment that toppled over.

"Hey!" Musashibo yelled, "Be careful with that!"

"Y-yes, sorry," Hikaru said nervously as he straightened and dusted himself off before scrambling to put the supplies back into the bed of the truck.

"Just make sure you get the package out carefully."

"Yessir," Hikaru grabbed a large cardboard box from the truck and hoisted it in his strong arms. Meanwhile, Musashibo sighed and grumbled.

Mr. Kusanagi blinked, "I do need to ask if you could take a look at the shrine while you are here. There's been some leaking."

Musashibo nodded glancing at the foreign boy, who approached the group with the box and asked, "Where should I place these?"

He sounded polite, but still Musashibo gently pressed his hand against the back Hikaru's neck forcing him into an awkward bow, "Show some respect. You've been here a year and you still don't know how to greet people correctly."

"I'm sorry," Hikaru apologized again, looking sincerely upset at his mistake. He bowed properly, "It won't happen again."

Mr. Kusanagi and his daughter didn't look at all bothered by his social blunder. Mr. Kusanagi had heard of the young man's story so he could understand that he was not accustomed to the social norms here. Yui Kusanagi could see quite plainly that he hadn't meant to be rude at all, so his lack of proper greeting didn't come to mind. 'Hikaru' seemed rather lost.

Her father beside her smiled softly, "I'm glad to meet you. And this is my daughter Yui…"

Yui bowed at her name, giving extra politeness as she usually did for acquaintances.

"Nice to meet you."

Hikaru bowed his head, "Nice to meet you too."

"She's decided to help run the shrine. So far she's given her full dedication. Unfortunately I can't say the same for her brothers."

Mr. Musashibo laughed, his great chest heaving as he did so, "At the very least we'll have someone capable to take care of this beautiful shrine."

Yui couldn't help but blush. Hikaru even smiled gently, more relaxed that Mr. Musashibo wouldn't scold him again. He blinked a few times finally getting the full image of the young girl in his head. Had they met before? This was his first time going to the Kusanagi shrine. Other times, Mr. Musashibo brought on men who were on contract with him to take care of the shrine.

Hikaru had worked with Mr. Musashibo on other projects in other areas, just not here. So why did he think he knew this Yui Kusanagi from somewhere else?

He felt a nudge and he jumped. Mr. Musashibo elbowed him lightly in the shoulder to get him back to reality. "Don't be spacing out, Hikaru. Where do you want those talismans, Kusanagi?"

The shrine owner pointed by the stone walkway that led up to the shrine, "The shed behind the shrine is where we keep all our supplies. We have no room in the shop right now. Yui can go show him."

The young lady nodded, "Right, follow me."

"Take a look at that leak while you're there, Hikaru," Mr. Musashibo instructed. The young man nodded, "Yessir."

The two older gentlemen watched as Yui led Hikaru to the supply shed. Mr. Musashibo sighed, "Poor lad."

"He's only been here a year…or at least only a memory of it," Mr. Kusanagi replied trying to see the bright side of Hikaru's rather obvious struggle to fit in with society. "And there are still no clues?"

"Not a one," the bearded man replied. "He's got complete amnesia. Couldn't remember his name, where he's from, who he is. He knew no one and nobody's claimed him. The authorities checked with all European embassies to see if they have gotten any reports of someone from their country missing here and nothing. What can you do with a situation like that?"

Mr. Kusanagi chuckled, "Find someone like Yumiko to name and adopt him."

Mr. Musashibo didn't look amused, "This is a woman who can't leave stray cats behind. She only asked me if I could find him a job. And we didn't adopt him, he's just…living under our roof and we take care of some of the expenses for his needs."

To Mr. Kusanagi that sounded a lot like adoption. Of course Ken and Yumiko Musashibo hadn't signed any legal tender that stated that this mysterious foreign boy was their legal son. And it was only a year. If the young man was around Yui's age, he would be well on living a life on his own, but for someone who was still just trying to get the basics of Japanese society down, there was no way he could survive without some help.

Mr. Musashibo rubbed the back of his neck, "He's a good kid and works hard but…he's just not all there. He daydreams a lot and lately he's been staying up all night which is throwing off his sleep cycle."

"That can't be good in construction or landscaping business," Mr. Kusanagi adjusted his glasses with a frown.

"It's not," Mr. Musashibo replied, his brow furrowed in worry, "Hopefully he'll get over it."

Yui walked the short path to the shed behind the shrine with the taller boy beside her. For some reason she dreaded that shed. Recently she began feeling a twinge of emptiness when she stepped in it and she could never explain it. However, with the boy next to her, she didn't feel as empty as she usually did when she opened the rickety door.

Hikaru eyed the door and mentioned something about it needing oil.

"You can put that anywhere," Yui told Hikaru and he nodded with a lopsided smile. He placed the heavy box on the ground and pulled his utility knife to slice open the tape at the ends of the box. It was a small and inconsequential gesture but most of the people who he delivered for were eternally grateful for that. It made opening boxes on the fly easier. At this point he got into the habit of slicing the tape open, unless it was something perishable.

"Alright," Hikaru straightened putting the knife back in his pocket. He turned to the junior shrine keeper. Yui's brow furrowed struck by his face. He was incredibly handsome, that much she knew even from a distance. But those blue eyes. Yes, they were the most beautiful blue eyes she was sure she had ever seen, but once again she was sure she had seen them before.

"There was something about a leak?" he asked catching her staring at him with a confused look on her face. He would have been bothered by it if he wasn't trying to get a close look at her himself.

"Oh," Yui snapped out of her staring, "Yes follow me."

The two walked over to the physical shrine itself. Yui unlocked the back where most people weren't allowed to step in. Only when she and her father or the workers were there to do maintenance or fix something was that area opened. She removed her zori sandals and Hikaru removed his steel-toed work boots, following her example. As he unlaced them he heard a distinct crow coming from above. He glanced up finding two black crows or ravens perched on top of the shrine staring at the both of them. He heaved sigh and thought nothing of it.

Inside the tight space, Yui pointed to the area where the ceiling was leaking water on the floor, "It's been like this for a few weeks. We at first thought it was minor, but I'm afraid of water damage."

Hikaru bent down and took a look at the floor, "Not yet but I'd put a tarp over that area. There is this sealant that prevents decay you can find at any hardware store, but for now we can put something down until we fix it."

He glanced up and found a small crack in the wood in the ceiling, "Oh, yeah, there's the culprit."

He reached up with his long arms and tapped the crack, feeling the damp area, "I'm more concerned here. Water seeping inside the wood is harder to prevent damage, but the crack isn't uncommon."

"How do you mean?"

"Tectonic shifts and foundation settling can cause cracks. It's unavoidable unfortunately. Something like this isn't hard to repair though."

"So, wait, is there a crack in the foundation?"

Hikaru shook his head, "No, but I'll check of course, but it's just a small crack as the shrine moved. We can fix it when we come back and trim the plants and mulch the beds."

Yui felt relief. Hikaru seemed rather confident in his analysis, and with Mr. Mushashibo at helm, at the very least the shrine wouldn't crumble. Just Yui's divine luck that after her family keeping the shrine for generations it would fall to pieces under her watch.

Hikaru turned to face her with those bright blue eyes.

Blue as the Northern Seas.

That analogy sounded so familiar.

Hikaru's brow furrowed, "Are you alright, Kusa—er...Kutanagi?"

The foreign boy shook his head in defeat. Japanese names were always heavy on his tongue. With the exception of Musashibo, which he had all the time to practice and the few standard surnames, more complex surnames seemed be torture on his language skills. That was the first clue that whatever his past life was, he sure didn't know Japanese very well. He learned fairly quickly the basics from the Musashibos but his accent was heavy and sometimes not understandable. So he kept his words small and succinct, which, Hikaru was aware, made him sound rather dumb to the ears of the native speakers.

"Kusanagi," Yui replied slowly. Internally she shrugged, "Just call me Yui if it will help."

"Yui," he said. In truth, he appreciated being able to call someone by their given name. Most of the time he had to show social respects to seniors and had to call them by their surnames. Never had he had the chance to have a peer. Not that it was anything. She was just a client.

A client with a very familiar face.

He pressed a hand to his broad chest, "Call me Hikaru. Mr. Musashibo is still having a hard time when people call me by his last name."

Yui's eyes narrowed. Did he have no last name? True it was strange that a Nordic looking young man would have a Japanese name. She never questioned it. In fact she thought it was rather appropriate.

She became very aware as Hikaru's blue eyes narrowed on her, staring intently. It made her a little uncomfortable, but perhaps Yui shouldn't be complaining, as she was sure she was staring at him as well.

Hikaru cleared his throat, cheeks going red, "I'm sorry. I just think…I've met you before. I know I'm wrong bu…

"You're kidding," she replied, eyebrows shooting to her hairline. If he thought they'd met once before as well then perhaps she wasn't going insane. "I feel the same thing, but for the life of me I cannot for sure remember where or when. You'd think I'd remember if I met someone like you."

Hikaru's thick blond eyebrows drew together, his heart pounding in his ears. He couldn't just lay on this young woman the want and need for her to remember, but if she thought she met him before, perhaps she was key in finding out who he truly is.

Yui watched as Hikaru ran a hand over his whiskers, jaw muscle quivering as something heavy was on his mind. Whatever was bothering him, he didn't say. He just sighed, with a disappointed look on his face, "Regardless, we have met now, right?"

Yui nodded and Hikaru ducked under the doorway to step out. He pulled on his boots and carefully walked around the perimeter of the shrine silently searching for cracks. Thankfully he found none and gave Yui the good news.

"I don't see foundational damage. So that's good."

"What happens if there was damage?" she asked.

Hikaru shook his head, "It depends on the extent, but we'd likely have to dig deep underground to get to the problem. Rather unsightly and extensive work. I don't know how it would affect your visitors."

Well now they didn't have to worry about that, thankfully. As the two walked back to the two adults who were looking at some rather gamey hedges, laying out all the work that needed to be done in the upcoming days, Yui asked Hikaru, "Does Mr. Musashibo's work you hard?"

Hikaru sighed but nodded, "Yes, but it's my job. He's trying to make me tougher. I'm just…fairly useless."

"He didn't say that did he?"

"Well, yes, but it's fine really. I owe a lot to him. I'm not smart enough to do much else and I'd be homeless, I assume, without him."

"Still to call someone useless—"

"It's fine," Hikaru assured with a small smile as he shoved his hands in his pockets. He glanced up seeing Mr. Musashibo beckoning him over.

"Did you take a look at the leak?" he asked.

"I did. It's just a small crack in the roof."

"Right," Mr. Musashibo sniffed, before smiling at Mr. Kusanagi. "Well, Kusanagi, we'll see you in a couple of days. I think we can get this all done in a matter of two days tops."

"Very well, thank you Musashibo," Mr. Kusanagi bowed. Yui did the same. Mr. Musashibo did so likewise and Hikaru followed suit.

As the two workmen strode towards the truck, Yui noticed Hikaru stumble slightly over his feet as he stepped onto the driveway. It wasn't peculiar. He just hoisted his pants up a little before opening the door to the truck.

But when he tripped over his own feet, Yui knew definitively that they had met before.

Hikaru and Mr. Musashibo filed into the truck and waved goodbye to their client. As they pulled out of the driveway, Hikaru's eyes were one the young woman, following her form as the truck pulled further away, his hand lingering in a waving pose.

Mr. Musashibo caught young Hikaru gawking at the young woman. Rather than scolding him, he didn't say a word and pulled into the road not noticing a helmeted figure in a purple jacket follow after them on a speed bike.

Hikaru's mind was on Yui Kusanagi and where they may have seen each other. Hikaru didn't go to school so she wasn't a classmate, and Yui said herself that she would have a hard time forgetting a face like his. Whatever that meant. At some point, Hikaru resigned himself to thinking it was just a matter of being at the same place at some point, though where and when escaped him. He didn't live anywhere near here and the only time he'd been to the neighborhood was to do a simple plumbing job with Mr. Musashibo a few weeks back.

After a few minutes of silence, Mr. Musashibo reached behind him, eyes still on the road, rummaging to find something specific. He pulled the week's newspaper up and said happily, "Weather's looking good tomorrow Hikaru. Which is good for us. It'll be smooth seas when we set out for that U.S carrier tomorrow."

Hikaru was silent, his mind blank as he watched the road.

"Hikaru?" Mr. Musashibo asked. "You like sailing don't you?"

"Hunh? Oh, yessir, I do."

With one hand on the steering wheel, Mr. Musashibo rubbed his bearded chin, "Remember it's an early morning tomorrow alright?"

"Yessir. I know."

After Musashibo left, Yui followed her father inside their home, where her mother was folding her brother's laundry.

"The whole thing isn't going to collapse, is it?" Mrs. Kusanagi joked.

Mr. Kusanagi laughed, "Hardly."

Yui went into the kitchen to pour some water for herself and her father when she heard him talk to her mother about the foreign work boy.

"You remember that boy Musashibo told us his wife took in?"

"No-Oh wait. The one the police found by the river? The foreigner?"

"Yes," Mr. Kusanagi nodded. "He came by with Mr. Musashibo today. Poor kid."

The water forgotten, Yui listened intently trying to gain a big picture about Hikaru.

"….well if he's lost all memory I can't blame him for struggling to adjust."

Mr. Kusanagi chuckled a bit, "He'll be fine. The Musashibos are taking good care of him I'm sure, but it is strange that it's been a year and there are absolutely no clues as to who he is. It's like he...dropped out of the sky."

Yui held her tongue, wanting to question more. But was that right? Would being interested in this person's mysterious origins sound suspicious? She could imagine the teasing she'd get from her brothers. But what if she truly had met Hikaru before, before he lost his memories. Then wasn't she at least culpable in helping him remember. The problem was she couldn't quite remember herself.

She shrugged a little, finishing her glass and moving to the dojo to practice her kendo until dinner was ready.

A/N: Trust me. Things are not going to go as you think.