This is the first part of the introduction of the fanfiction! I tried not to make it too boring to read but I can assure you that it will get better as the story continues on. So for now please bear with me.
I would never have thought, not even in my wildest dreams that I would have been chosen for something like this. My destiny, the very thing I had never thought of but subconsciously searched for, had been uncovered and now I have a purpose. I no longer am an empty shell with no reason to live. I have found the part I play in life. I don't know what's in store for me but one thing I do know is I'm going to make sure that in the end I'm able to protect the things I care for.
((Rebecca's P.O.V))
It was like any normal day, and when I mean normal I mean boring. I really hate my life. Every day is very predictable here in this quiet, boring neighborhood. I wake up, go to school, try to learn, go to an after school activity, go home, do homework, eat, go on my laptop, and then sleep. The only time I can get any excitement in my days is when I pick up a good book or watch something, but it's not the same if you're not the one who's actually experiencing all the adventures.
Today I thought was going to be no expectation, but surprisingly something abnormal happens. While I was making my way to the kitchen to get some breakfast before I went to school, I passed by the door and noticed a small box on the floor with a bunch of letters. I sighed as I started picking up all the scattered envelopes while quickly glancing at the names on the letters to see who they were sent to, making sure that none of them were for me. I had gotten through almost all of the letters and already came to the conclusion that nothing came in the mail for me. Again I was wrong.
I looked down at the cardboard box that I was holding which had my name on it and read it several times before opening it. It had been a long time since I had gotten a letter from someone other than the school. I had almost forgotten the feeling of receiving any mail. Inside the box was a silk cloth that I was guessing was covering the item inside for protection. My hands slowly started to remove the cloth from the item while hoping that it hadn't broken on the way here. I looked down at the object revealing it from the cloth. I stared down at it unable to react to its beauty.
Inside were two small charms that were tied by strings, each its own necklace, one being yin, the other yang. I placed the box down on a nearby stand then took the two charms into my hand. It was out of character for me to be so enchanted by something like a yin-yang charm. I had seen many before, seeing how I was Chinese, making it a normal thing to me to see. It was strange, I knew this but for some reason I could feel that there was something different about them.
While slowly coming out of my thoughts I noticed a small piece of paper inside. I placed the charms back down then took the paper, unfolding it before I started reading. It was a letter from my father, which wasn't really a surprise seeing how the objects were Chinese looking.
To my daughter Rebecca,
Hello it's been a long time! I'm coming over soon to see you and Alex. I'll be there at the beginning of March so don't make any plans. I found these objects when I was walking through an ancient temple and a strange man came and gave them to me. I was going to throw them away but I thought that you might like them. Before the guy left he said that it's meant for two people, so you can give one to someone else.
Dad
I placed the letter inside my jacket pocket, since I was wearing sweats instead of my usual pairs of jeans, took the yin-yang charms and placed them in the opposite pocket as I walked down the stairs toward the kitchen.
I grabbed a bagel from the table then walked over the refrigerator to get the cream cheese. As I was spread it over each side of the bagel I thought of all the possible people that might want one of the charms. I ran a quick list of people I knew that were close to me who would also like the gift. I had rounded off my top five which were my brother and four of my friends, all of whom were female. Then the thought occurred to me that two of them wouldn't really treat the charm right or never wear it at all. One of the other girls was a transfer student and would be returning to her country after the school year was over. Plus I didn't know her that well. That left my brother Alex and my close friend Brianna.
I cleaned off the knife then placed it on the drier before putting the cup of cream cheese back into the refrigerator. I took the bagel and broke it in half as I walked upstairs so that I could get my stuff and walk to school while I ate my breakfast. I walked back upstairs to my room, grabbed my bag, and took out my iPod. I put on the earplugs then pushed the play button, allowing the music to stream though my head. My eyes shot open as a loud roar of music blasted through my ear drums.
I screamed waking up Alex from his slumber as he opened to door to see what the noise was all about. I pulled off the earplugs as I turned the volume down. I let out a sigh relieved that it was over before giving Alex a quick glare. Despite his tall and broad body he was my younger bother, by four years. Many people could tell that we're blood related since we did have similar physical characteristics. Although our personalities were almost completely different, but for some reason we were incredibly close.
"Next time you borrow my iPod would you mind telling me," I told him in a slightly irritated tone. He shrugged his shoulders and said a quick and meaningless 'I'm sorry' before going into the bathroom to get ready for school. I sighed wondering why Alex was always like that in the morning, but then remembered that it was genetic since I wasn't any better in the morning, if anything worse. I quickly slipped on my favorite pair of Converse then placed the earplugs back into my ears before making sure that I wasn't listening to any of Alex's songs that requested me to download. After that I walked out the door, locked it, and then started to make my way to school with the cold morning breeze hitting my skin.
((OOOO))
I walked into the high school ready for another day of boring and sometimes meaningless lessons. Today's schedule was history, art, math, and science. I gave out a sad sigh hating almost every subject just listed. Most of the classes I had I didn't see a point in taking. History was boring and since it's US History it didn't make it anymore interesting. Science is pointless to me because I know that I don't want to be a scientist or doctor when I grow up. Meaning all the stuff I learn now would never be used in my life. Art is surprisingly slow because the teacher teaches us things that I already know, making me fall asleep from her speeches on how to draw a certain way. Math was the only tolerable subject because I had a group of class clowns making it seem somewhat more enjoyable, but that only happened half of the time.
I groaned to myself knowing that it was only the beginning of the school year and I was already complaining about the classes. I felt myself slump over when thinking that it might even get worse as the semester goes on. I tried to think of something else, hoping that it would distract me from my worries.
I went back to the subject of the charms and I thought who it would be better to give one to: my brother or Brianna? As I walked to my locker to get my things, I started balancing out on my imaginary scale the pros and cons of the two. I came to the conclusion that Brianna would be a better choice than Alex because I knew that he already had several charms from Dad, and I was pretty sure that he had run out of neck space. Although it wasn't just that, in the back of my mind I had already chosen Brianna as my first choice, the question was why? Why did I automatically choose Brianna without thinking it through? It was so out of character for me. Something felt wrong, I felt like I wasn't completely myself today.
While absorbed in my thoughts I had already reached my history classroom. I quickly sat down at my assigned seat and was soon greeted by my teacher. I smiled at him and said a quick 'good morning' before going back to my train of thought. I couldn't concentrate at all during class which was a clear sign that something was wrong with me. I couldn't shake this feeling, but the weird thing was I wasn't even quite sure what the feeling was.
((OOOO))
History had ended and the departing bell was heard throughout the hallways during homeroom. I quickly gathered my stuff and started making my way to the art room, on the first floor. I was one of the first to arrive because my homeroom was on the second floor. That and I was pretty fast and swift making it easy for me to get around crowded areas without a problem. I sat down at the far side of the classroom as I dropped my books onto the table making a thump causing the few people to stare at me. My mood hadn't got any better so instead of apologizing for the noise I just ignored them and pretended as if I didn't notice them all jump. I leaned against the chair and subconsciously put my hand in my right pocket and started playing with the string from one of the charms while staring into space.
It was only until I felt a familiar presence did I clench the charms into my hand. I didn't turn my head away from the wall but I could see from the corner of my eye that it was Brianna. I could recognize her from her brown hair and unnatural blond highlights, which surprisingly is rare in this school.
She seemed oddly cheerful today, even more so than usual. She gently placed her books down before sitting next to me then turned her body to face me as she gave me a warm smile.
"Hello," she said in a happy and cheerful tone.
"Hey," I said rather dully before quickly glancing at her so that she would know that I wasn't upset with her personally.
"What's wrong with you?" Brianna asked somewhat concerned but more confused.
"The hell I know," I said rather pissed making Brianna jump. I glanced over at her again and realized that she looked rather frightened. I rolled my eyes and mentally thought to myself that she truly was an idiot, since knowing Brianna she probably had misunderstood and thought that she had angered me in some way.
"Ah, I'm sorry!" She stammered as she waved her hands around several times.
"I'm not mad at you," I watched as Brianna calmed down and gave out a sigh of relief.
"Good," she said as she adjusted her reading glasses. "Cause you looked like you were about to kill me." I gave her a 'you're an idiot' look before looking back at the wall.
"Brianna if I wanted to kill you, don't you think I would have already done that a long time ago?" Brianna opened her mouth but stopped as she tried thinking of a comeback, but was unsuccessful.
"True, but you better not get any ideas!" she warned me in fear for her life but I knew it was in her usually joking tone.
"Hai, hai" I said still using a dull voice. Brianna had already gotten use to the fact that I like to use small Japanese phrases, normally easy to say. Some reason most people can't seem to follow me if I use any other word other than 'baka'. I shifted my hand and remembered that I had to give her the charm now since I didn't have any other classes with her. The only other time was lunch, but I didn't want anyone else finding out about it. The thought of the other girls whining to me, as to why I didn't give it to them, made my left eye twitch. I shook the thought from my mind and I took out the two charms and held them out for Brianna to see.
Her eyes immediately opened wide as she stared at the two charms that seemed to glow in the light. I motioned her to cup her hands before placing the charms into them so that she could get a better look at them. She examined them with her eyes and hands, like a little girl, although I myself also had to admit that they were eye catching. I could see that she really liked the black one, because you could just tell that she was enchanted by the dark black shine that would appear every time it hit the light. I took the white yin that was on her notebook placed on top of her knees and put it back in my pocket. This caused Brianna to look up from the charm after realizing that I had taken the other one back.
"You can keep it," I said as I looked at the charm in her hand.
"Really?" she asked holding it tight making it obvious to me that she wanted to keep it. I couldn't help but smile at the way she said that, she really was like a child.
"Yeah, and besides" I pulled the yin charm from my pocket and held it up "I only need one." She smiled down at the charm as if to say that it suited me. I leaned back against the chair then brought the charm under the light. I could see the white glare that was reflecting off of it making it seem even more breathtaking. "You know that white is my favorite color anyway," I said to Brianna but didn't take my eyes off the charm.
"Yeah, I know but still." I mentally sighed knowing that this was one of her many catch phrases that she often used, but I had already gotten used to them after having to hear them constantly. I was still staring up at the charm when I suddenly saw a faint blue glow that surrounded it. I quickly went to the edge of my seat as I stared down at it. I could still see it but it was very faint. I quickly glanced over at Brianna's charm and saw the same faint glow. She didn't seem to notice for she was too distracted by her drawing and was zoning out into her own little world. I looked back down at my charm, not even bothering with Brianna because I didn't want to explain or sound crazy to her.
It still had a slight glow but I could see that it was slowly fading away. I watched as it became fainter causing me to have to squint to be able to see it. When it looked like it was about to disappear completely it suddenly formed a pair of sharp eyes that stared at me. My eyes shot open when I had made contact with them, but it was for a mere second because it disappeared as quickly as it came.
I leaned back in my chair again trying to calm my racing heart. I had never expected something like that to happen. I closed my eyes which made the image of the mysterious eyes come into my head. I couldn't help but think that they didn't look like they belonged to a human. I knew that it had to be from an animal, but my mind was too shocked to operate correctly. When my heart finally seemed to be beating at a regular pace I opened my eyes and looked to see what was taking the teacher so long. I turned my head to the left and noticed that Brianna was looking around the room, looking rather frightened and confused.
"What's wrong?" I asked rather alarmed. She glanced over at me for a second then returned to looking around the room.
"I could have sworn I heard something roar," she whispered so that only I was able to hear her. While she continued to look around the classroom my eyes couldn't help but look down at the yang charm. I wondered if the roar had come from it, possibly like the eyes came from my own charm. I glanced back and forth between the two charms while my mind filled with questions that didn't seem to have any answers. I gently slid my charm back into my pocket afraid that I might see the pair of eyes again. The thought of them staring at me so intensely made my heart ache and caused me to feel confused. I then looked back toward Brianna and she had finally calmed down.
I wasn't sure if giving her that charm was the right choice, but I knew there was no turning back. I looked over at the desk to the yang charm that was lying on top of all Brianna's books. I continued to stare at it not expecting another pair of eyes to suddenly appear causing me to flinch. They were staring at me with the same intense look but they were different from the ones I saw earlier. They looked like the exact opposite, which I couldn't describe into words at that moment. They disappeared just as quickly as the other pair. As they vanished from my sight I saw Brianna jump up.
"There it is again!" she said terrified. I knew right away that she meant she had heard another roar. Without hesitation I took the yang charm from table and placed it back in my pocket. Brianna looked at me confused wondering if she had offended me in some way.
"I'll give it to you after school," I said glancing over at her just as the teacher walk into the room. "You can come over my place today and we can talk since it's been a while," I said trying to think of a good excuse to give her, so that I could buy some time and possibly figure out what was going on with the charms. The lie seemed to work because I heard her squeal as she nodded her head rapidly. "okay, then meet me at my locker after school."
Brianna wasn't able to respond because just as I had finished my sentence the teacher had announced that she wanted our attention. Brianna turned her body around so that she would be facing the teacher leaving me to my own thoughts. I didn't listen to anything the teacher was saying but tried to look like I was interested. After all it'd be perfectly understandable as to why my mind was filled with thoughts on the charms and the weird effects I kept seeing, that were obviously not normal whatsoever.
((OOOO))
"Damn it!" I kicked my locker door closed which created a loud slam, causing everyone in the hall to turn around and look at me wondering what happened, but I just ignored them. I leaned against the locker doors as I waited for Brianna to come down from the third floor. I had been unable to think of anything that might have been able to give me some clue as to why these charms weren't behaving as normal charms would. I shoved my hands into my pockets making the charms bump into my palm. I could feel the abnormal auras surrounding them but I didn't care much at the time. I took out the letter that I had in the opposite pocket and read it over again. The only thing that seemed to be out of the ordinary was that a stranger at a temple had given my father the charms and even stranger, for free.
I placed the letter back into my pocket and tried thinking of anything that might help me solve this mystery. It only took me about five seconds to think up that the stranger might have possibly been a local monk that lived there. Although it didn't really explain as to why a monk would give something away that might have belonged to the temple. Especially if the items were something as supernatural as this, but that also had to mean that the items weren't harmful since monks are peaceful people.
I was finally able to piece some things together and was hoping that it would lead into a possible clue, but of course that wasn't likely to happen. Just then Brianna came walking down the steps with her bag and several small books in her hands. I quickly turned and started walking down the hallway as I motioned her to follow me. Brianna struggled to keep up with my rapid pace. I watched her as she started walking down the steps to where I was and almost tripping in the process.
"Still tripping over her own feet" I muttered as I let out a sigh, "she'll never change."
That's it for part one.
