I believe, I believe there's love in you.

Gridlocked on the dusty avenues.

Inside your heart, just afraid to go.

I am more, I am more than innocent.

But just take a chance and let me in.

And I'll show you ways that you don't know.

-x

You know when I thought of my death I always thought I was going to be reunited with my family and friends that had already passed on. I had lived a fairly long life and as the time for me to pass on to life's next greatest adventure came, I greeted death as I would have an old friend. As i laid on my death bed, surrounded by my godchildren and the children of my close friends. I was surrounded on the day of my death, with what I had craved my whole life. Love.

I was loved and I had loved. I had lived a full and happy life. Full of laughter, tears, sadness, joy and precious memories that I would cherish forever. I had no reason to be afraid of death, for I had no regrets. I had no children or even a husband. But I had no regrets. I had everything anyone could possibly wish and hope for. I had raised my godson well and watched with pride as he became as great of a man as his father was. I considered him my son and was blessed as he presented me with grandchildren who were not of my blood but were as close as. And as I felt my eyelids get heavier and heavier and my heart beat slower and slower. I smiled. One last smile for the greatest gifts that the fates had decided to gift me with. One last smile for my family, the family of my heart.

-x

I felt like I was floating, floating in warm water. I attempted to move and moved my arms. Yes, definitely water. I was trapped in a place with warm water and couldn't open my eyes. So i tried harder, trying to find a way out. Was this how death was supposed to feel like? If so, death is tiring. I kicked around, tried to push my self to every corner trying to find a way out. Just when I was about to give up, I slid out of some opening and the warm water left me. It felt so weird, the feeling of slipping out of something. Ugh. I felt cold, so cold. I was too weak to open my eyes so I tried opening my mouth to complain. But what came out shocked me.

"Wahhh" Well, that was definitely not what I was expecting. At first I thought I heard a baby crying which was weird. Because why was I hearing a baby cry in my death? This was just a whole new level of weird. I closed my mouth as soon as i was placed on something soft and warm. I wiggled around, trying to get more comfortable. Then I heard a soft giggle.

"Isn't she so cute?" A soft feminine voice questioned. Her voice was beautiful, soft and gentle. It was a very pleasant sound.

"Of course. She's our daughter after all" A masculine voice answered back and made me almost jump in surprise. Daughter? No way. I had been reincarnated, Me! This was so not what I was expecting. This was not it at all, I was supposed to go to either heaven or hell. Preferably heaven because who wants to go to hell? I was supposed to discuss philosophy with Remus, crack jokes with Sirius and finally get to talk with my parents. And now I probably won't see them again for an undetermined amount of time. Way to crush a girl's dreams.

"Ne, Akihiko-chan. Want to hold your new little sister?" Aki- who now? And before I knew it, I was placed in tiny little arms.

"Now remember, support the head and hold her close" Sure, hand me off to someone who doesn't know how to hold a baby.

"I know that kaa-chan!" A squeaky voice indignantly piped up. I was held even closer to the small body of a little boy, I could tell even with the squeaky voice.

"Wahh. She looks just like you kaa-chan!" I felt a small chubby hand run their hand through my at the moment minimal hair. Great, I had no teeth, and now I was bald. Severus must be laughing his arse up there in heaven.

"Yes, she's quite beautiful isn't she?" My 'father' stated with pride. I tried opening my eyes. I wanted to see my new family, I wanted to see the world I was reborn into. I wanted to see my mother, my father, my brother. My new family that would hopefully have a better future than my original one. So i tried to push all my strength into opening my eyes, which was harder than i thought it was going to be.

"Look look! Ryotaro! She's opening her eyes!" My mother squealed.

I had opened my eyes, and looked up to see my new brother. He was cute I would admit. Straight, smooth black hair that covered hazel colored eyes. Soft looking pale skin and delicate asian features. He was pretty. I looked towards my mother and nearly cried. She looked so much like my own mother, beautiful, fiery red hair that flowed down in delicate curls. But while my mother had piercing green eyes, my new mother had hazel eyes like my brother. Nonetheless, she was beautiful. My father was tall and muscular. Very strong looking, a little different from my first father who was a little more shorter and skinnier. My new father also didn't have on glasses, thank god. I would love having perfect vision.

"She has your eyes dear" My mother told my father, who puffed up in pride and looked down at me with what was clear love and affection. This made me happy so I waved a small fist in his direction which made him positively beam. He grinned in happiness and wiggled a finger towards me, which i grabbed and tugged as hard as my new born self could. Which was not very strong, but he smiled even wider. I looked at my father's eyes and smiled slightly. If I had his eyes than I was certainly lucky. My father had these gorgeous eyes that looked like liquid gold that was mixed in with shimmering emeralds, and if you blinked the two colors swirled and shifted. They were gorgeous.

"Well then Himena-Chan. Welcome to this weird, crazy, wonderful world"

-x

This world was strange. No doubt about it, people could appear out of thin air. They could breath fire, spit water, break the ground with their fists and split trees open. It was indeed a weird and crazy world as my mother had said. I was now a year old and could finally babble some words. Just simple ones like 'kaa-chan, or tou-chan and nii-san'. My dad was a complete dork, he almost cried when he heard me call him 'dad' for the first time. It filled me with happiness whenever i saw my family, I had come to accept that this was my life now, this was my FAMILY. I couldn't wait to get older though. There is only so much embarrassment I could take from having my diaper changed and sucking on my mum's- you know.

Everything was so exciting though, everything was new and there was so many things that I wanted to see. I lived in this gigantic eastern version of a castle. The ceilings were high and the floors made of the finest wood and polished to perfection. My nursery was huge and was everything I could have wanted for myself when I was younger. I was dotted upon and loved unconditionally. Life was great.

"Himena darling! Now why are you giggling to yourself?" My mother bent down in front of my crib and smiled at me. I gurgled and waved my hand at her while attempting to stand up with the help of the bars.

"Kaa!" I shouted in my embarrassingly high pitched voice.

"My sweet darling daughter! You're so cute!" My mother (Kanna) picked me up and twirled me around, making giggles spill from my lips. She stopped twirling me around and brought me close to her chest, and swayed side to side while walking towards the door.

"C'mon princess, let's go see your papa. He's probably drowning in paper work right now" My mother giggled and bounced me up and down in her arms.

My mother walked towards my father's office, I loved bring held by my mother as we walked around the palace and even to the town. The workers of the palace bowed as my mother walked passed the and I waved at all of them, giggling when a few of them made funny faces. My mother was everything I wanted to be when I was older. Although we were of obviously higher status, my mother never belittled anyone and acknowledged everyone as we walked passed them. My mother was elegant, kind, graceful, and she was a goddess in my eyes.

"Daimyo-sama, may we come in?" My mother jokingly asked my father as she opened the door and entered anyway. My father looked up from the mountain of paper work he was working on. I adored coming to visit my father in his office. He had not nearly as many books as the library but it was enough that I could live here. I adored reading books and ever since I was born into this world I was craving to read all of the books that this world had to offer. My father wore his formal robes as he worked, sitting behind a gigantic desk that just seemed to be growing with even more paper work by the second.

"My queen and my princess! You've come to save me from this torture!" My father came running towards us with open arms and tears running down his face. He was so silly.

"Tou! Tou!" I reached out towards him with my tiny arms and was rewarded with a blinding grin. My father let loose that boisterous laugh that I had come to love and held me close to his broad chest as he stroked my hair. He kissed the top of my head, and I laid my head on his shoulder, content and aware of my mother fangirling at the sight of the two of us.

"My precious little princess came to say hi to daddy huh?" My father questioned although he was answered by my mother.

"Dear you know she can't answer, but you know that she adores coming here" My mother walked up to us and snuggled to my fathers side. They were such a lovely couple.

"She's my princess, of course she adores me. Don't you darling? yes, you do" AND there is the baby talk. I was content to just lay my head on my fathers shoulder and just listen as my parents conversed. I could stay like this forever. The only one missing was my dork of a brother. I thank god each and every day for this chance at a new life.