Sorcerer Hunters Fan Fiction ❯ Reincarnation ❯ Introduce Me ( Chapter 1 )

"Carrot, get your butt out of bed." The young, black-haired boy wheeled back as the lumped up blankets suddenly writhed and seemed to explode with a tangle of arms and legs. At first glance one might feel a stab of fright, believing the seething mass of blankets to be a hitherto unknown form of life, but then one would realize that was silly and go on with life. From the depths of the seemingly living comforter a rather vivid litany of curses could be heard. Omi grinned, picked up a shoe amid the ever increasing junk on the floor, and threw it at the blankets.

"Crap! I'm so gonna kill you, Onion-brain," the blankets declared. Moments later a tousled head of black-hair appeared, and after that a sleepy and annoyed face. The girl blinked blearily at the grinning face of her younger sibling. "What the hell do you want? It's too early."

"It's twelve thirty. You've been sleeping forever."

"Shut up, Onion-breath. It's Saturday and I don't have to do anything." Her head disappeared under the covers again and she turned her back to him. The boy picked up another shoe and lobbed at his sister's unprotected back.

"What is it, Onion-butt?" The girl pulled down the covers and glared with baleful menace at her younger sibling. "Why don't you go chase some girls, or something?"

"Oh and you don't chase the boys? You're such a loser, Carrot."

"I told you not to call me that!"

"Mom always calls you that. Why can't I?" the boy demanded.

"Because you suck, Onion-feet."

"Mom wants us downstairs now, Carrot," Omi, declared with a grin.

"I told you not to call me that!"

The boy stuck out his tongue and fled the room in front of a barrage of teen magazines thrown by his enraged sister.

* * *

Kauri stumbled down the stairs, of which there seemed to be more every morning, and wandered with aimless intent towards the kitchen with the air of someone who has looked into the depths of eternity and not cared much. She held onto her loose pajama pants with one hand, as the other opened the refrigerator so she could decide if anything looked edible. After several moments of perusing the selection, she closed the door and turned around. She found her brother and mother regarding her with copious amounts of amusement.

"What?" she demanded plopping down in a nearby chair.

"How long were you planning on sleeping, Carrot-chan?" her mother demanded as she fixed several bento boxes. She hated that nickname, Carrot, but she couldn't very well tell her mother that. It had all started one Easter, her and Omi's dad had been alive then, when she fell into a bucket of orange food dye while trying to color her egg. Ever since then her mother had called her Carrot, as did her brother, but he most likely didn't remember why.

"Until I woke up," Kauri replied, scratching her head. A muttered "loser" came from the direction of her brother, but a glare prevented any further remarks. Her mother shook her head and placed the lid on the last bento.

"I have been thinking of moving back home," she announced suddenly. Her two children regarded with similar looks of comedic bewilderment. Both knew she had never considered any place but Japan as a home. Personally they preferred the US for the simple reason that they didn't know any Japanese.

"What?" Omi shrieked.

"You can't. What about us?" Kauri cried suddenly alert. The older women blinked in confusion. The nostalgic serenity the thought of her 'home' always brought was swiftly fading.

"What you mean?" The two children flinched. They were both intimately aware that whenever their mother forgot to speak in her overly proper English, she was royally upset.

"Nothing," they muttered in unison.

"Then it is settled. I will call my sister on Monday."

"Wait, how long have you planned this?" the girl demanded slamming her fists on the table. There was no way she was going to throw away everything she knew because her mother wanted to go 'home'. She had a life too. And what about Omi, the Onion-freak? He would probably have an even harder time in a new country.

"My sister, Miyuki, invited me back shortly after your father's accident."-she always referred to their father's death as his 'accident'-"But I decided I would try to make a living here."

"So what changed?"

"Omi-chan, please go outside now." The boy jerked in surprise when he found the focus of his mother settle upon him.

"What? Why?"

"Omi."

"Yes, mom." Noisily he pushed back the chair and stomped indignantly from the room. Both females watched the boy leave before turning back to each other.

"So what brought this on, mom?" The girl was alarmed to see a sudden blush sweep across her mother's cheeks. Suddenly twenty years dropped from her lined face and she looked like an embarrassed, young girl. Kauri had a sinking feeling about the whole situation.

"My sister has informed me that one of my old friends is newly divorced and he-"

"This is about a guy? What's wrong with the men here? Why do you have to go to another country to find one?"

"Kauri," her mother barked sharply. The girl gulped and sat down quietly. "I stay here so my children have good American education. I not want to live off sister's charity. I…" She paused a moment to calm down. "I did not want to go back and impose upon my sister. I can support two children easier here than in Japan, but my friend and I had this agreement before we both got married. If we ever found ourselves single and with children then we would marry.

"My sister called me a week ago and told me that he has gotten a divorce. I have thought upon this matter for a week and I have decided to move back."

"And what about Omi and me? What are we supposed to do? We don't even know Japanese," Kauri persisted obstinately. The older woman tossed several pamphlets onto the table. The girl picked on up and choked. "'Learn Japanese in two months'? 'Japanese made easy'? 'Japanese: Classes for beginners'? What is this?"

"Your lessons start tomorrow afternoon, Omi-chan's too."

"And what about Omi? He's the 'man' of the house; he has been since dad died. Shouldn't he have some say in this?"

"He may be the man of the house, but I am his mother." And that was all she would say of the subject.

"And just when are you planning to move?"

"As soon as school is over." The girl sought out the calendar in the room and did a quick calculation.

"That's in three months. You need more time than that to sell a house and do stuff like that."

"Perhaps we should start soon, yes?" her mother remarked with a remarkably cheerful smile.

"Is he cute at least?"

"You will see, Carrot-chan."

* * *

"Change of plans." The siblings let the currently empty boxes fall to the ground, and stared with mouths gaping at their mother. They looked at the envelope she was waving about in her hand and the slightly embarrassed, but happy smile on her face.

"He has decided to come here instead."

"What?" Kauri demanded leaning against a wall. Around her feet various packaging materials lay strewn and crinkled with the slightest movement on her part.

"Did we just do all this packing for nothing?" Omi cried sitting down.

"Apparently yes. My sister neglected to tell me that he had decided to come over here, but I just received his letter. He thought I already knew. This is a bit embarrassing."

"And just when is he coming?" the girl demanded wiping sweat from her forehead and smearing dust across instead.

"He should arrive during the afternoon of your last day of school, Carrot-chan."

"So he'll be here in a month? Why that long?" Omi demanded as he began popping some bubble-wrap.

"He has to settle his affairs there. That reminds me, I have to call the real-estate agent and the movers. While I do that, you two unpack the boxes."

"Does that mean we don't have to take those Japanese classes anymore?" Omi asked hopefully.

"Of course not, you should learn the language of our guests, as it is only polite to do so."

* * *

"I don't want to go home. I don't want to go home." The black-haired girl banged her head against her desk in time with her chant. Several classmates paused to stare at her while the rest continued to pack up their stuff for summer vacation. Those that had paused soon became disinterested, as it proved that the girl wasn't going to anything else that might be considered interesting and therefore worth watching.

"What's the matter, Kauri?" a soft voice asked by her elbow. She stopped abusing her head to answer. She met her friend's worried eyes behind his large glasses.

"As soon as I go home my life will be over," she moaned laying her head on the desk.

"Is this about your mom's friend?" Tiran asked with sympathy.

"Yeah, he's gonna be there when I get back."

"That sucks. I could walk home with..."

"Hey, is that Kyle? He has a tan already!" Kauri exclaimed as she leapt from her desk and plastered herself against the window. She waved enthusiastically at the handsome senior walking past. The guy ignored her and continued on. "He's always doing that. Must think he's too good for me. That jerk."

"Kauri..." Tiran rapped the boy-crazy girl across the head and dragged her back from the window.

"That hurt," the girl complained as she rubbed her head.

"You deserved it," Tiran replied primly. "Now what are you going to do about your problem at home?" The girl scratched her head and cracked her neck.

"I'm not going home. Wanna get a latte?"

"S-Sure." Kauri regarded her lightly blushing friend with interest.

"Are you okay?"

"L-Let's go." The boy grabbed her hand and pulled her from the classroom. The girl barely had time to grab her backpack.

* * *

"Darling!" Kauri choked on her mocha latte and ended up spraying a good portion of it across the table and onto the boy across from her. Tiran's attention was torn between removing the brown stains from his clothing and trying to help his friend escape the ravenous clutches of his older sister.

"Get off of me, Chocolatte. I don't like you that way. I don't like girls that way period!" the girl shrieked, desperately trying to get the clinging female off of herself.

"Sister," Tiran hissed in crimson embarrassment. "You're making a scene." The redheaded girl paid no heed to her younger brother and continued to cuddle the struggling Kauri.

"What are you two on a date?" The redheaded boy blushed deeply and started to stutter a denial. "Good. Darling, I heard all about your problem at home and I just want to tell you that if you need a shoulder to cry on then I'll be there for you."

"I-I'll keep that in mind." The girl finally managed to free herself and kept a careful distance between her and her admirer. Her cheeks heated as she caught the many odd glances people were giving her little group. She really wished Tiran's sister would desist from her amorous attacks. They had been friends up until the eighth grade when Chocolatte had decided that she wanted to be more than just friends. Kauri put up with her because she still thought of the older girl as a friend, a strange friend, and she didn't want to offend Tiran.

"I think I should get home or my mom'll be madder than she probably already is," the girl told her companions with a distraught shrug. Chocolatte emitted a shriek of sympathy and promptly threw her arms around the black-haired girl. With a sigh Kauri struggled towards the door of the cafe, ignoring her clinger-on. Tiran followed uncertainly behind, making unhappy little noises and trying to avoid the puzzled stares of passersby.

"Oh my god. That guy is so hot! Hey, dude, over here!"

"Darling, what are you doing?"

Tiran sighed and pretended to be invisible.

* * *

A leaden sky battled with the determination of a summer afternoon and won. Gleefully the slate-gray clouds hurled their liquid burden onto the mostly unsuspecting and wholly unprepared passersby below. Grumbling angrily, summer retreated for the time being and plotted its revenge, of which a temperature in the upper nineties featured a key role and possibly a drought for good measure. That would certainly teach that pesky sky a thing or two.

Kauri stood at the driveway of her house and contemplated the water droplets striking her head. First she attempted to count how many hit her and, failing that, tried to determine exactly how much water her T-shirt would hold. She did all of this in order to hold off the inevitable confrontation with her maybe-future father in law and his son. Yes, she had just found out about her 'new' sibling a week before hand. Suffice it to say it had caused a great row between her brother and she. Neither had wanted their mother and her 'friend' in the same room, but by the same token neither wanted to share a room. Kauri, being a girl, had won and Omi had to share his room with the son while the man took the guestroom.

By the time she had trudged the eight feet to the front door, her T-shirt had exceeded its maximum water retaining capacity and the liquid dribbled off despondently. Another couple of minutes found her standing with her hand around the knob and a look that fluctuated between determination and cowardice on her damp face. Finally she screwed up her courage, straightened her shoulders, and decided to run over to Tiran's house, even if his sister was a little crazy. Unfortunately the door swung open before she could take the appropriate amount of steps away.

"Kauri," her mother exclaimed in surprise and barely restrained anger. The girl knew she was in trouble whenever her mother dropped the pet names and terms of endearment like '-chan'.

"I got caught in the rain," she explained with a look and an attitude to match that said she knew how lame she sounded. "And I met some hot guys..."

"Oh, wonderful!"-Kauri blinked in confusion-"Come inside before you catch your death. Hurry up now, Carrot-chan. Oh my, you are soaking wet. Go upstairs and change. You can meet our guests after you dry off and change into something warm." Her mother smiled with forced cheerfulness and shoved her bewildered older child towards the stairs.

"But I..."

"Hurry now. We do not want to keep our guests waiting long." The force behind her mother's pushes increased, revealing her anger, until the girl nearly tripped as she tried to speed up.

"Weird," she muttered as she climbed the stairs and listened to the strangely cheerful voice of her mother. Even with her door shut she could hear her mother's overly loud laugh and an answering one of a masculine nature. Her mother sounded…different, more animated perhaps. The girl didn't know whether she approved or not. She had a nagging doubt that had to do with whether or not her mother was betraying her father. Besides what kind of relationship did her mother and that man, Mr. Matsuyama, have before she had met Kauri and Omi's father and moved to the US. It didn't sound, if the raucous laughter was any indication, like they were, or had been, just 'friends'.

"Weird," she repeated as she pulled off her wet shirt and tossed in the general direction of the clothes hamper, but, like so many of its comrades before, it fell decidedly short. The rest of her clothing soon followed, all falling short of the intended destination. Cursing the cold and the messiness of her room, not that she had the slightest inclination to clean it up, she began a frantic search for clothing; she had already acquired the necessary undergarments, of which no more needs to be said. Finally she managed to wrestle a pair of jeans from an overstuffed dresser and a T-shirt from the stack of clean laundry by the door; she had been too lazy to put it away.

Finally dressed, she navigated a floor made treacherous by CD cases, clothing, shoes, books and other such objects. The door proved another impediment and she was then forced to clear an arc of the floor, which would simply fill in again once she closed the door. And to think it had only taken a month for the room to look the same as it had been for the past...well, she really couldn't remember a time when walking through her room wasn't an adventure.

At the top of the stairs she paused, one foot hovering in the air in preparation for alighting upon the first step. The voices of the adults barreled up the stairs and dragged up a queasy feeling in her stomach. She had the irrational sense that some great, world devouring creature awaited her at the bottom and if she started to descend then there would be no turning back, the waiting maw the only option. Something important would change and she wasn't sure she was ready for that.

* * *

From S-girl:

I hope this fic isn't too confusing for you all. Most of the characters from SH, both manga and anime, will be included, but their names will either be different (Check out the knick names) or tweaked. I wonder if anyone can guess who each character is. So they've all been reincarnated, but there has been a slight error and not all of them are the way they were before, i.e. some have switched genders. There will be OOCness because the characters have grown up in a completely different environment than that of the original series, plus some of them aren't even the same gender as before, as was mentioned above. It's all about open-mindedness.

Anyway, I hope you liked it. So please review, and I would appreciate it if you restrained yourself from flaming me. I have my reasons for this, but for now they're a secret. However, if you absolutely must flame me or suffer a horrible demise, then send all flames to this address: DarknessOrchid@aol.com . Not my address on my profile, but I check this one more often.

Much love.