Chapter 1

The Bistro

Reiji liked his favorite French bistro and preferred things a certain way which only one girl could tolerate his picky tendencies. Her name was Oleta. He didn't know much about her except that she was redheaded with eyes so green, they reminded you of a fierce fairy rather than a human. She went to school at a good high school but not the same or high end as his, however, still reputable for getting into good colleges. He also knew that she was American but said nothing of her parents or how she came to live in Japan. Not that he ever really asked. All he knew was that Oleta made sure everything was the way it was supposed to be and tipped her well for it. If she wasn't there, he said nothing and left. Therefore, made it a point to know her schedule.

Then one day he had finished but chose to sit for a while, simply paid his check and told her to go. It was late after all. Then he saw her change and she looked quite different of course. She had pulled out her computer and started doing homework in the corner of the Bistro. They were still open for another hour so she ate something herself and was typing like mad to get something done, he saw that it was a computer programming book. She typed extremely fast and was suddenly pleased with herself when she said, "it worked...now I can email to the instructor just before the deadline." Suddenly, Reiji was by her, curious about what she was doing and it made her jump, "Mr. Sakamaki…!" He ignored her and adjusted his glasses to see what she was doing. "Um...it's for my computer programming class...it's really just a video game, bare bones really, but by the end of the semester I'm hoping for it to be a full fledge playable game with graphics. We have to layer it through the weeks ahead...and..."

"And you're a first year…?"

"Uh, yes."

"This is very advanced for a first year."

"Well, I'm in advanced classes," Oleta didn't like how he felt entitled to simply go through her work like he was doing. She was trying not to be rude because he was a good regular, rather difficult, but a good regular anyway. "Now that I'm done, I'll be getting home now." Instead he sat down in front of her as she started packing.

"Did your parents transfer here?"

She became quiet and sullen all of a sudden…,"my parents died when I was young."

"Then who raised you?"

Oleta was a little irritated, he didn't even say he was sorry to hear it or even show any kind of remorse, "I….really don't like to talk about it and should really be getting home." He grabbed her arm, "Mr. Sakamaki, please let me go. You're a very good customer but I don't know you well enough to tell you my life story."

"I asked you a question."

"I realize that. You're not very good at taking 'no' for an answer, are you?"

"Oleta…!" another male's voice rang through the air. It was her best friend David, "I'm here to walk you home. Eh, is everything okay?"

"Who are you?" Reiji stood at attention but wouldn't let Oleta go.

"I'm her best friend, David...can you let her go, please? And who are you?"

"A well paying customer," he narrowed his eyes.

"And what is that you think you're paying for?"

"David," Oleta glared at him.

Reiji finally let her go, looked down and then walked away. David huffed, "what a dick."

"I could have handled him."

"As small as you are? No way. Why were you being so polite?"

"He's a regular of mine and I'm the only one that seems to be able to wait on him. He can be difficult and entitled, but he's a Sakamaki."

"You mean of the Sakamaki Group? His dad is a total philanthropist and a doctor or something?"

"Yes," she sighed.

"His son could have some influence, open some doors."

She nodded, "yes, he could..."

"I messed up, didn't I?"

"A little but he still shouldn't have grabbed me like that, Sakamaki or not."

"I'm glad you agree with me on that. Let's go."

She nodded and made a sound of acknowledgment. David had always been her hero in one way or another. He lived next door to the orphanage she grew up. Her parents had been transferred to Japan, they were on their way home when a truck jackknifed and hit the car with the trailer. It was more a nice 'home for girls'. Between the money from the accident and her parents insurance policy, she was taken care of. However, the rest of the money wouldn't be given to her until she went to college. Because she was an American and an orphan with no real family left, she was often given a hard time...her red, red hair and very pale skin didn't help. It sometimes made her popular with the boys but hated by the girls, even the girls at the orphanage. One girl tried to cut it while she was sleeping but luckily the head mistress caught her sneaking out of her room. One day she was being severely bullied when David came to her rescue when he beat up one of the boys for picking on a girl, regardless if she wasn't Japanese. Ever since then, he stuck to her like glue. As she got older, there was no more bullying, just the comments on how pretty she'd become and her faithful guard dog David was ever diligent.

Oleta had her own apartment, the monthly stipend from the lawyer paid her rent and food, even a little spending money. However, she loved her computers and the part-time job and generous customers provided the money for what she really wanted to do...to become a computer programming engineer, just like her dad. But to keep up with the latest technology was a pain and took money. She built her own system with three monitors and a tower the needed three fans and it's own cooling system for not only gaming but hacking. No one suspected little Oleta of hacking into the school system and making some of her bullies have to go to summer school because she changed their grades. Whoops. Sometimes things just happened when you fiddled around with filing systems. She was a redhead after all, and you know what to they say about red heads…

David walked her to her apartment and was complaining about a guy at his job that was giving him a hard time. David was especially smart too and smart people did tend to collect targets on their backs in high school. She looked up innocently at him, "do you want him to have several traffic violations…?"

"He doesn't even have a car," David laughed

"The police don't know that," Oleta stated softly. "I can mess with his grades."

"No, Oleta," he sighed. "As tempting as it all is, he's not so horrible where he needs to have all that done, he's just a pain and lazy." They were at her door and he tapped her on the nose gently, "use your powers for good and get some sleep, we have a big test tomorrow."

Oleta smiled and went inside and showed her paper with a good grade to her the picture of her parents, "I got another 'A' mom and dad."

…

David felt like he was being followed all the way home but he didn't see anyone. Still, it was strange. He entered his family's home but no one was there. His parents were out of town on a small holiday, celebrating their 20 year anniversary. When he looked outside his bedroom window, he swore he saw eyes of a cat, light reflecting...but it was a man's height, a tall man and it made his hair on the back of his neck stand on end. Whatever it was, it wasn't human. His family was superstitious and believed in the supernatural. However, he wasn't a coward and opened his window, "Oi! Whose out there!" There was no answer but the eyes didn't go away either. David's heart was in his throat, he shut his window, locked it and then put down blinds. Hopefully it was just some stupid neighborhood kids.

….

Reiji followed David. Oleta was his territory. She had been serving him a while now and felt that the girl belonged to him in some way. Her little friend was going to keep his distance and learn respect. Once the boy put down the blinds, he smirked to himself. David's heart was still pounding, it was doubtful he'd sleep well. Now he headed to Oleta's and landed on her balcony, her glass door was open. The balcony didn't have a fire escape so she assumed it was safe. Reiji walked into room with no sound and saw her sleeping, taking the opportunity to go through the apartment. Her computer was well built, made to specifications he hadn't seen before. She liked technology, PC magazines were all over her coffee table. Computer parts were in bins, her books were on her desk...and she cooked.

Reiji went back to her room and this time he sat down next to her, his hand held her face. Oleta simply whimpered, "cold..."

"I'm sorry," he said softly and petted her hair instead. Then left just as quietly as he came, it was almost dawn and he needed to sleep, his little Oleta went to another school. Perhaps that needed to change, perhaps she needed a scholarship to his school where he could properly watch her. They had a better computer program anyway.

Oleta woke up all of a sudden as if she felt someone, she sat up but no one was there. Her glass door was shut, she even got up and looked around but there were no signs of anyone in her apartment. "I've been working too hard. It was just a dream. Go back to bed, Oleta," she told herself and did so until her alarm went off a few hours later.