A.N: There was a NikoSashaWeek a while ago, which is why some of these are going to have the word "day" and a number in front of the title, but pay it no mind. I don't know yet if I'll publish the whole week in order or if there's going to be something else than NikoSasha between them, but they'll all end up here eventually. Theme of the first day was reincarnation, so we'll start with that!

Day 1: Reincarnation

Sasha was exited. She wouldn't have cared all that much about coming to the city, but Jean had promised to take her and Connie to a seafood restaurant. She had never eaten seafood before, but she knew what it was and was eager to try it. She was sure it'd be tasty!

"I want to eat already; Jean should hurry up!" she thought with a sigh "Just how hard is it to pick a necktie, anyway? Men and their shopping obsessions!"

"I'm telling you, this one's better!" Connie said, holding out a necktie with a picture of a sun on it "Put that boring thing away!"

Jean was holding a dark blue tie in his hand, Sasha saw. She thought that the one Connie picked was funny, but it wasn't really Jean's style. Wanting to get this over with, she voiced her opinion, getting Jean to pick the dark blue tie. Finally.

"Food!" Sasha cheered. Finally, the best part of the day.

XXXXX

Nikolo fought the urge to hum as he cooked; he had been made fun of for that before. He just couldn't help it sometimes; cooking, especially seafood, made him so relaxed that sometimes he started to do it without realizing it.

"Gross" Nikolo glared at the man who had uttered the word on reflex; that was not a word that should be uttered by a cook in the kitchen. Just what was gross?

"Do you think she has no table manners in general or does she simply not know how to eat a lobster properly?" another one asks. Nikolo can see them staring out in to the dining space of the restaurant, making him realize that they're simply speaking about the eating habits of a customer. That made sense.

Deciding that it had nothing to do with him, Nikolo returns his full attention to his cooking. However, he gets distracted as he notices that all of his colleagues' peek in to the dining hall every now and then, some amused, others disgusted. Curiosity getting the better of him, he abandons his position the moment he's sure nothing will be ruined, wanting to see what everyone else has seen.

Just like some of the others, he's more disgusted than amused at what he sees. The woman in front of him has absolutely no table manners, that's the only explanation he can think of, as he stares at the uncivilized being. Normally, Nikolo didn't like using the word "gross", but now it really fit.

…

So why the hell couldn't he tear his eyes off of the woman? He'd seen what he wanted; he should just go back to work before he lost his appetite for the rest of the week from watching this brute. Cute brute, he would admit, or at least would be cute if she ate in a proper way, but still. She was by no means the first cute customer they'd had, yet she was the only one this had ever happened with.

And then their eyes met.

XXXXX

Sasha felt like she was in heaven; the food looked, smelled and, most importantly, tasted just heavenly. It had gone beyond all her expectations!

"I wonder if whoever cooked this is good at making other types of dishes as well?" she thought, her eyes trailing off from the food for a while to peek in the kitchen from over the counter, locking eyes with one of the chefs looking her way.

And after she did, she could no longer look away.

She didn't understand why; the guy didn't look special… or did he? Why else would she get stuck like this? It's just that… something about seeing him stirred something inside of her, something she couldn't place. Like a memory she knew for sure was there, but had no idea from when and where.

"Where? Where have I met him?" she wondered, her meal entirely forgotten. Had they been classmates as kids or something? …No way; she'd gone to a very small school, she'd remember. Had he perhaps been starring one of the cooking shows she'd watched?

"Sasha?" she heard Connie say as he tugged at her ponytail lightly, getting her attention as she looked away from the man "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, nothing at all!" she said quickly. Not that she was lying; there was nothing wrong, just something weird is all "Why?"

"You were staring off to the kitchen instead of eating; that's not like you" Jean said, turning to look to the direction Sasha had been looking at "Did you see something interesting?"

"No" Sasha said, her eyes following Jean's. The man she'd locked eyes with was gone "Nothing at all."

XXXXX

Nikolo's heart was still pounding fast as he prepared to go home. After his eyes had locked with that woman's, he'd been paralyzed, he hadn't been able to move. He had no way to explain it, but somehow, he'd been taken over by this irrational feeling of longing when looking at her eyes. He'd wanted her, but not in the perverted way mind you. He'd just wanted to see her closer, hear her voice, perhaps touch her hand… and he had absolutely no idea why.

"Get a hold of yourself, idiot" he told himself "You'll probably never see her again anyway."

With that in mind, Nikolo walked out of the back door of the restaurant, ready to forget the whole thing-

Only to come face to face with the woman he'd been watching at in the restaurant. He almost got a heart attack as he yelped in surprise, taking a few steps back. Just what was she doing here!?

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you" she spoke. Her voice stirred something in Nikolo as well, something he couldn't name. He hated the fact that he wanted to hear more. Shaking his head slightly, he managed to get out: "It's fine. Can I help you somehow?"

"Ah no, it's just…" Sasha stuttered, wondering how she should say it. She'd wanted to ask him if they'd met before, but now she was chickening out, so instead she said: "You're one of the cooks here, right? I just wanted to say that your food is delicious! Especially the sauce on the clams!"

Nikolo blushed; he had made the sauce. He told her that, not intending to brag or anything, but he was glad he did when he saw the awe on her face.

"Really?" she asked "You're a genius!"

"Mister Nikolo, you're a genius!"

Those words jolted a memory in Nikolo's mind, but for the life of him, he couldn't remember from when and where. Unable to help himself, he asked: "Have we… met before?"

Sasha's eyes widened; he remembered something?!

"You think so, too?" she asked, adding hurriedly: "I mean, I felt like we've met before, but I couldn't put my finger on it so I thought I was imagining it, but if you know- "

"I don't" Nikolo interrupted, wondering if she'd been waiting here for him specifically. The idea should've been worrying, freaky even, but instead he just felt warm inside "I just felt like we'd met before."

"Oh" Sasha let out. It was quiet, awkward. She didn't know what to say and part of her just wanted to leave, but a bigger part of her didn't. She needed to know more, needed answers. Sticking out her hand, she said: "I'm Sasha."

Nikolo took the offered hand.

"Nikolo" he said, and as soon as their hands touched, a crying face stuffed with food surfaced in his mind. It was Sasha, but Nikolo had no idea when this had happened. Startled, he let go, surprised as he saw Sasha staring at him with wide eyes.

"…What?" he asked.

"We've met before" Sasha whispered "I remember you in a very old looking kitchen, working on pizza…"

She did? It's not like he never made pizza, but he could only recall using modern kitchens-

"You idiot, it needs to go to the oven first!"

…What the heck was that? Why did he suddenly have a memory of Sasha, yes, definitely her, reaching out for an unbaked pizza? This was weird, too weird, Nikolo just wanted to go home and forget-

His eyes met Sasha's again. No, he didn't want to forget. Ever. He really had no idea why, but he wanted to be by her side, he wanted to be there forever.

"Holy shit Nikolo, you just met her!" he told himself, a blush raising to his face "The fuck are you thinking of a shared rest of your lives for already?!"

Or at all; he knew nothing about her. Unknown to him, Sasha had similar thoughts.

She wanted to hug him, hug and never let go. The desire was growing, but obviously she held herself back. Instead, she said: "You know… I'm kinda hungry."

"Huh?" after how much she'd eaten? Really?

"Don't look at me like that; I waited here for hours!" she said, defensive, puffing her cheeks. Again, what she said should've been alarming to Nikolo, make him think he had a stalker, but all he could think of was how cute she looked "So… can we go get something to eat?"

Sasha was afraid he was going to say no, she was pretty sure he would because he'd think it was weird, but she had to try. She had to know more.

"Sure" Nikolo said, ignoring the voice in his head that sounded oddly like his friend Grior that told him to refuse. But he couldn't; he wanted to know more, wanted to know her "Any place in mind?"

"I'm not from around here" Sasha said, trying to hide her surprise to his agreement "Lead the way?"

Nikolo smiled, taking her hand on reflex, only realizing what he'd done after he was holding her hand. But to his surprise, she didn't pull away. He could see her blushing, making him sure he was blushing as well. This situation just didn't make any sense-

"Whatever" Nikolo cut himself off "Commonsense is often overrated anyway."

He had no idea who this woman was but, with time, he'd get to know her… but oddly enough, he already felt like he never wanted to let go.