Full summary:
Eleanor Gassandra (or Nori, for short) knows that someone left her a long time ago, but can't remember who it was. It had been someone very important, though. The seventh Rozen Knight doll, Je-Muzu, makes her his medium-a definitely miserable position. Will she escape Je-Muzu's wrath-and find the person that ran away from her in the process?
Meanwhile, Vivi Faruqi, an average girl at first sight, is much more on the inside. She strives to know what life's meaning is, but can't seem to get the right answer. Then, the first Rozen Knight doll, Yuan, comes to her house, and forces her to be his medium. When she realizes what life's meaning is, will she help Yuan see it, too?

This is my first Rozen Maiden fanfic, so please don't flame if the urge comes (I've only seen the first season)! If you have criticism to give me (which I do appreciate), please give it in a positive manner! Please and thank you!

Disclaimer: I do not own Rozen Maiden, nor the original characters. I only own my interpretation of the Rozen Maiden dolls' personalities, and my own characters.

Again, this disclaimer will not be dragged through all the chapters. If you seriously want to read it (which I really hope you're sane enough not to do), come back here.

NORI

Chasing Yesterday

By: Lucas McDrake

Chapter 1-Je-Muzu

"Don't leave me!" I screamed.

"Good-bye," he whispered, smiling. He was so beautiful beyond imagination. His eyes were closed, and he seemed at peace.

"No!" I started running towards him. "Come back!"

He opened his eyes, looking down at me. Pain flashed across his face for one instant, then the mask came back over. "I'll come b-"

A flash of light, then he was gone.

I fell to the floor, screaming in agony as sobs vibrated through me.

As I woke up, I realized that I actually was screaming in agony, crying for his absence. I quickly silenced my cries, wanting no one to know of my pain. I sat up in bed, holding my legs close as I rocked back and forth, sobbing, suffering as silently as possible. I reviewed the nightmare once more.

As always, though, I couldn't remember his face. Even though this was a childhood memory that I had reviewed a million times over, I could never remember what he looked like. What his voice had sounded like. It was almost like, with his actual disappearance, my memories of him had disappeared one by one, until I only had this one left.

And I couldn't even remember his face!

My sobs increased in volume, no matter how much I tried to suppress it. I couldn't help it. I ached for someone that I didn't even know in memory anymore. From what I could remember, he seemed like a jerk.

But...there was more to him than those few seconds I could remember. I knew it. Somewhere deep down, I'd fallen in love. Maybe not as a child, but later on, during these eight years of his absence. He'd taken a piece of my heart. No, the whole thing.

And hadn't given his in return.

That was the only thing that kept me going now-hoping of finding him someday, and receiving his love in return at long last.

I sighed, knowing that it was a hopeless cause that I put hope in. But I couldn't really do much else. For, in my eyes, happiness was intricately intertwined with love in such a way that you couldn't have one without the other.

But, alas, I had neither. At least, for now.

So I hoped for something other than today. I wished for what tomorrow would bring.

And, in this way, eight years-however painfully slow-eventually passed by, so that I was fifteen years old now.

And nothing had really changed since I had been seven, and he left me.

Sighing again, I wiped away my tears, my fit of emptiness over.

I had to get my disguise up and running again.

As I got dressed, I eventually came in control of my emotions again. The mask that I prepared each day was near perfection, now. As I looked in the mirror, there were no detectable signs of the turmoil within me. No telltale risks to my secret. Mentally, the thoughts were already blocked by an impenetrable barricade.

I was prepared for today.

* * *

Yay, I thought, sarcasm dripping from my mind's voice. Last class.

I sighed, wondering why school had to go by so slowly. Finally, the last days were upon the students and teachers. Today was the tenth to last school day this year.

Promptly after the bell rang, the substitute for Mr. Johnson proclaimed, "Mr. Johnson told me to hand out these worksheets for you guys to do. When you finish the front side, you may...get into your groups for your 'Rube Goldberg' project, or whatever it's called."

I refrained from groaning in boredom. Could this day be possibly more dull?

As she started handing out the dreaded worksheets, I knew that the sheet would be a piece of cake. I knew Rube Goldberg inside out.

"You may also talk to your fellow students about the worksheet," she continued, bringing me back to the present. "but if you start talking about anything but Physics, then I'll take your privelages away."

Suddenly, nearly everyone stood up in unison to find their friends and make a social circle of sorts. Very few people weren't even fazed by her announcement, but those few included me.

I sighed, and started on the worksheet. I had nearly assumed that it would be on series circuits, but it was actually just a cartoon of a Rube Goldberg on how to sharpen your pencil.

Window opens, allowing kite to pull string. String pulls open cage, letting out...moths? Moths eat woolen coat, letting boot drop to hit switch. I stifled a guffaw over how long the process of sharpening a single pencil could take. Eventually, I finished elaborating every single step, and turned over the worksheet. The directions on the back side stated that you were supposed to draw a diagram of your Rube Goldberg project, and write the names of the five people in your group on the bottom.

I sighed. Who would I team up with? So far, it seemed that everyone was already filled in...

"Hey, Nori!"

I jerked my head up, turning my gaze toward the individual who had called my name. Jen happened to own the voice.

"Want to come and join our group? We have room for one more!"

Whoa. Runner-up for head cheerleader was asking me to join her group? What did she want with me?

Trying not to let the chaos that was suddenly wreaked within me show, I threw her a smile, and declared, "Sure, I'll join." I grabbed my stuff, and headed over to her circle of friends. Once seated, I looked around, and noticed that Jen's brother, Dave, and Vivi were also there. Only four? "Wait. There's only four people here..."

"Oh, Stevey's in here, too," Jen explained. It was too obvious how revolted at the prospect she was. A moment of assessing the situation later, she turned to Vivi, and urged, "I think that you might as well bring Stevey over right now. We'll need his smarts to come up with a way to dispense the hand sanitizer."

As Vivi turned around to call the autistic kid over, I decided to tune everything out, for now. That's one of my best tactics at non-humiliation. Speak only when spoken to, I reminded myself. That way, you won't interrupt their conversation, and waste their precious time.

I let my thoughts drift away to the subject of my mysterious crush. Couldn't I at least remember one detail about him? Where had he gone after the incident? Was he still there?

Would he accept me if I ever managed to find him?

I let myself tune back into the conversation to distract myself. I noticed Stevey's retreating back as he headed for the door. He must have been going to that one program that he always had to announce his exit to the teacher for...

"So...Who'll go gather everyone else up to go to your house?" I heard Jen say as I tuned back in.

"Who can drive?" Vivi asked. "I know I can't yet..."

"I can't, either," I immediately excused myself from the list of possibilities.

Jen sighed, "I should have assumed...only seniors are left."

"You guys are both seniors?" Vivi asked, startled.

"Yeah," Jen explained. "It sort of comes with...being twins."

Vivi's blue eyes bulged slightly at this. "Oh. I...never knew..."

"Anyways, I'm sort of short on gas money..." Jen brought us back to the subject at hand.

"So you're leaving it to me?" Dave nearly growled, throwing a cold glance at Jen.

"I didn't say that," Jen stated with a calm tone. "What's with the mood swing?"

He hesitated for a moment, then muttered a quick, "Nothing."

Jen hesitated for a moment before continuing, "Anyway, it would be appreciated if you did the carpooling."

After another moment's worth of irritation, Dave exhaled deeply, "Fine."

"Thanks," she stated. Then, she quickly turned to Vivi, and asked, "Your parents won't be home, right?" Her ploy to change the subject was nearly too obvious.

Vivi shifted nervously in her seat. "My brother won't be home."

"What about your parents?" Jen pressed.

Vivi hesitated, her nervousness rolling off of her in waves. "They died in a car accident when I was five."

An awkward moment of silence commenced as everyone seemed to jump back slightly at this unexpected confession. That meant that she was an orphan like me! What if... "Then why aren't you in the orphanage?" I asked.

"I...my brother had just graduated a month previous, and he has been taking care of me ever since the accident," she explained, seemingly still nervous under the sudden attention.

"I'm so sorry," Jen jumped in, offering Vivi some solace.

"It's all right," she quickly muttered. "Really. I never really knew my parents. I think the only person it affected very much was my brother."

Another moment of silence passed before Dave decided to cut in, and change the subject. "So...uh, where will your brother be after school?"

"He'll be at work," Vivi explained, obviously grateful about something, now. I personally thought that Dave's motion to change the subject should be questioned. What if Vivi still needed more solace, or something?

Silence overcame us again for another moment. "Uh," Dave intercepted again, his deep voice magnified by the silence of our bubble, "where does he work?"

I barely noticed a slight pink come to Vivi's cheeks, due to the fact that I was sitting right next to her. Oh, yeah, I remembered immediately. She's probably flattered that a quarterback is talking to her. I stifled another change of emotion coming to my face. She needs to learn that it doesn't really mean anything outside of the fact that they actually acknowledged you, because they never really remember chance encounters like that.

Then, Vivi spoke, bringing me out of my train of thought. "He's never actually showed me his office," she stated. "He works as a mental therapist." Her blush was threatening to deepen in hue...

Then, she was saved by the bell as it rang.

Wait, I thought. Why am I so concerned over Vivi suddenly?

I pushed the thought aside as Jen mumbled awkwardly, "So, um, I'll be picking up you guys up at around three fifty. Be ready with your stuff. Where was your place again?"

I headed out the door to get my stuff from my locker in the sophomore hall, and then back to the orphanage.

* * *

It was early afternoon by the time I got back to the orphanage from school. I closed the door quietly behind me, and started to walk to my room.

As I passed one of the many employees, he pressed, "Eleanor?"

Ignoring my annoyance at the use of my hated name, I replied, "Yes?"

The employee came up to me, and stated, "A package came for you today. It's waiting in your room."

Curious, I mumbled a quick, "Thanks," and quickened my pace. Why would someone be sending me a package?

I came in my room, and closed the door behind me, locking it before going to inspect the package on my bed. It was a cardboard box. It showed no signs of being handled too much. That was probably due to the orphanage's new policy, which said that they would respect every orphan's privacy, and not inspect any packages any further than sending them through a metal detector.

I tried to lift it, and found that it was heavier than I had expected. Carrying it across the room to my desk, I dropped the box on it, and opened the top of the box.

Inside, drowned in Styrofoam, was a suitcase. Pulling the suitcase out, I carried it back to my bed, and dropped it on there.

I hesitated before opening it. It looked very...elegant. Fancy. A little too much for me. The carvings on it included poles, clubs, swords, among many other things.

I set my fingers on the latches, my curiosity winning over, for the moment. I slowly clicked them open, and the suitcase popped open slightly. I slowly opened it, revealing a...doll?

You couldn't exactly call it a doll-it looked too...realistic. It was obviously masculine, with shaggy hair, and a flat chest. It wore a red shirt that seemed to have sleeves that were a little bit too big, bulging over the cuffs. It's black pants were also slightly baggy, and it's black sandals fit perfectly. It had blond hair, falling over it's ears, and barely out of reach of it's shoulders. It's eyes were closed, and it seemed at peace.

I pulled it out of the suitcase, finely lined with white silk on the inside, and inspected the doll further. Turning it over, I saw a keyhole in it's back. Looking back in the suitcase, I found the key. Picking it up, I inserted it into the doll's back, and turned it twice. Then, I pulled it out, watching what happened next.

It's eyes slowly opened, revealing terrifying ruby irises. I shrieked quietly, dropping it back in the suitcase.

"That's not the way you treat a doll!"

I looked around to find the source of the voice.

"Over here, imbecile!"

I glanced back at the doll, and saw that it was standing up by itself...glaring at me.

"Y-you...can talk?" I asked, making the connections instantly.

"Of course I can!" it yelled. It jumped out of the suitcase, and ran at me. Before my reflexes could kick in, it had rammed into me, pushing me to the floor. "Now, kiss my ring, and I'll give you mercy!" it cried, showing me the ruby ring it wore on it's finger.

A memory nagged at the back of my mind...from long ago...

"Do it!" it shrieked. "I'm losing my patience!"

My mind back in the present, I made a quick decision, and kissed the ring, not knowing why I had to, except for the immediate reasons-it would kill me if I didn't.

It laughed maniacally, jumping off me as a bright light filled the room.

"What's happening?" I cried.

"You'll soon see," it laughed.

I soon realized that the light was centered around my right ring finger. As the light subsided, it revealed a ruby ring, identical to the doll's, on my finger.

"What's happening?" I repeated, shrieking quietly.

"You're now my servant," he chuckled. He stared at me menacingly, daring me to defy him.

"You can't force me," I muttered, giving him his wish as I glared at him.

He suddenly jumped into the air, light forming around him. I suddenly became drowsy, collapsing to the floor. As the light subsided, it revealed that the doll had grown to become the size of an average human.

Grabbing me by the hair, he dragged me up to his eye level, forcing me to look into his eyes.

"I have access to your energy. You're now my medium. And there's nothing you can do to change that now," he muttered, smiling maliciously.

Too drowsy to ask what his outbursts meant, I gave into the darkness settling at the edges of my vision, suffocating in it.

Sorry to end on a despairing note...it does get better from here.

Did you like it? Hate it? Somewhere in between? Tell me all in your reviews! I'll be waiting for one! Did you hear that? ONE!

So...pretty please, could you be that one single person?

^_^

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