"Poor Kayla," a fifteen-year-old girl, with light brown hair and
green-blue eyes, was looking at a very old picture frame as she was packing
up her room. "She never got a good chance, you know," she said to her
companions.
"Lia out of everyone here, Trista would probably agree with you the most," said Teresa, 15, who looked a lot like Lia.
"Really guys, we should be happy for Lia, and Teresa, you should not read the books, but pack them." Trista was the oldest out of the bunch, 17. "Kayla never did get a chance, but she had a great time while she was here." Trista thought of her younger sister that died at age six, eight years before. Now, Kayla's best friend Lia was the little sister. Trista smiled to her self. An odd pair the two girls had been at the time, Lia was the neighbor's daughter and the only other kid Kayla's age. The two girls bonded quickly even through their many differences. The big ones were Kayla was small, petite, and soft-spoken. On the other hand Lia was loud and very active in everything other than ballet. Ballet was what Kayla loved most.
"Hey Trista! Snap out of your trance and tell me what you think about the guitar and keyboard," came Lia's voice from the closet.
"Oh. Uh, why not leave them here till you get settled and we'll send them later."
"Ok, Tris." Lia said. 'I hope Trista will be ok. She lost Kayla with me, then she lost my mom and dad with me. Now she's losing me in a way.' Lia was thinking about the trip that she was making to meet her family. She was going to Japan. 'Wow. How long has it been?' She thought, 'Eight. Definitely eight years since I've seen my cousins. Kennie would be who old now? Sixteen, seventeen? Sammie would nearly be an adult. Wow so much time has gone by.' Lia stopped working and looked out the window at the darkening sky and sighed. A girl with pink hair worn in buns, like Rini's in Sailor Moon only the rest of her hair just hung down her back to her waist, came over and touched her shoulder.
"Thinking about Japan, or Taylor?" she asked.
"Well, Bunnie, both. I've been hoping Taylor will be able to see me off when I leave in three days, but the nurse I talked to said that he'll probably be out in four at the earliest."
"We know he's going to make it if he can." Bunnie, 14, left her friend and went to go to the kitchen and check on dinner. 'Taylor has to see Lia off. He's been her friend the longest of us all.' That was true she and Taylor, the only wanna-be Goth she ever befriended had met through Lia. He was sorta Goth when the rest had met him, but Lia met him in St. Jude's Hospital right after Kayla had died. She was wandering the halls of the children's ward when she had seen the small boy crying in his room.
"Hey there. Why are you crying?" Lia had asked.
"I gotta have my tonsils taken out and I know it's gonna hurt!" Taylor replied her.
"No it won't, I had mine out two months ago. It doesn't hurt at all," she smiled at him.
"Really?"
"Really!"
"Excuse me, Taylor it's time. Ok?" said a nurse by the door.
"Will you wait here for me?"
"Sure Taylor. Oh. My name is Lia." 'Was it really eight years ago? And who would have thought that Kayla's death helped me meet one of my best friends.'
'Maybe her parents' death will introduce her to more, We don't know for sure. Lia has been getting ready for her trip to Tamachi for a while. Unfortunately, when her cousin, Ken, came up missing, that totally messed her up. Man, I've never seen her look so sad.She would just sit in the garden or parlor, red-eyed and very quiet, but when they found him we couldn't get her to shut-up,' thought Bunnie.
******************************************************
"Oh, I don't see him!" cried Lia.
" You worry too much, mon ami," said Rei, 15, a girl that resembled Bunnie just slightly, but without the pink hair. Her hair was black and spiky.
"Oh really, Rei! Have some compassion!" said Ami, 11, a girl with short brown hair that always seemed to bounce.
"Maybe we should go look for him?" said Teresa.
"No! Then you'll miss boarding call!" exclaimed Lia. "I got you all here so none of you will leave till my plane's in the air! Ami, Rei does have compassion she just chooses not to use it. And Teresa, you of all people should stay."
"Why?"
" Because you have the cameras!"
"Oh yeah! I do, don't I."
'What am I gonna do with out them?'
"Flight 3115 is now boarding. Please report to gate A-17. Thank you!"
"That's my flight!" Lia hugged everyone at least six times, then,
"Lia, you can't forget me can you?" came a voice from behind her. Lia turned around and there was Taylor, on crutches smiling big. She gave him hugs, grabbed her stuff, and took the cameras that belonged to her, and boarded her plane, tears in her eyes.
**********************************************************
"Hurry up! Come on Mama, Papa, you too. Lia's plane is gonna be here soon!" a boy with long purple hair was saying. "She's gonna get off the plane and think we forgot her!" 'Who could forget the smile she wore. I never saw her frown or cry. I just know that everyone will like her. I hope she hasn't changed too much.'
"Ken now you're holding us up by day-dreaming," said his mom. "We can leave and make it to the air port with fifteen minutes to spare."
"If we have that much time dear, maybe we could pick up some flowers for her on the way," said Ken's dad.
"Alright! Mom, Dad, come on we gotta get going!"
'Wow! Already we're getting ready to land. I can't wait to see Kennie, but I can't seem to sense Sam. That's ridiculous! I know he'll be there waiting for me with Ken, Aunt Ellis, and Uncle Mikhail. There's no reason why my extra sense should pick up or not pick up Sam. I haven't seen him in forever, maybe that's it,' all these thoughts were running wild in Lia's mind. Lia was always able to tell if someone was ok or not. Ever since she walked right to Taylor in the hospital, she knew she was special. Later on she was able to sense if something good or bad was coming, be it news or people, she knew to certain extent that it was coming. Right now she was doing something she had never done and that was ignoring her gift. 'Have a little Faith, Lia Ichijouji. Wow! That's my name now it sounds so different from the American names I'm used to. I think the only two of us that has always had a really weird last name was Te, with Mitzumi and Bunns with Mizuno.'
"Lia! Over here, Cuz!" Ken cried, waving his hands high for her to see them. 'Wow, she looks great! She's fifteen now, and probably going to be the center of attention around my friends. It'll do her good to be accepted so quickly.'
'Oh My God that's Ken! Teresa would love him!' "Kennie!!" Lia ran as fast as her luggage would let her. He met her half way and they hugged. "Wow, Ken, you look great! Tell me, will I stick out here in my American clothes?"
"Are you really that concerned with your clothes?" Ken asked shocked.
"No, but I figured I would start off all preppy and then surprise everyone by being completely opposite. It didn't work did it?"
"No it didn't. Did you here about Sam?"
"That he's dead, yeah, it happened not long after my friend Kayla passed away."
"Sorry about that," Ken said. "How do you feel about parties? Wait before you answer, here is a little welcome present from us."
"Oh, Kennie. They're so pretty. Konichiwa Aunt Ellis, Uncle Mikhail. How have you been? I hope you have room for my stuff that's still at the house."
"Really dear, what do you still have to bring over?" asked Aunt Ellis.
"Some posters, a box of photo albums, pictures, and my two instruments."
"What instruments do you play, Lia?" asked Uncle Mikhail.
"I play the keyboards and the guitar. I also sing. The girls and I used to enter contests all over the country." Lia smiled proudly she had all the pictures of her and her friends receiving awards for different things. She left the awards at her house to be with Trista.
"Hey, Li, you never answered my question. What do think of parties?" It was Ken's turn to smile. He told his friends not to make plans and be prepared for an e-mail from him saying there was a party at his house for his cousin. Matt and Izzy were desperately trying to find a friend they had over the internet who had moved to Japan. They said they could stop and come if the party was on.
"You mean to tell me that you have a party waiting for me if I say yes right Kennie?" asked Lia who had her eyebrows arched and an amazing grin on her face.
"How come you always know my surprises before I reveal them?"
"I guess I will stop making educated guesses about stuff like that" Lia replied smoothly. 'You don't need to know the truth Ken, at least not yet.'
"Ok. You've got yourself a party, Lia. These are all good friends of mine and I think you will get along well with at least one of them, I'm sure." The two cousins didn't notice Ken's parents looking at them smiling and shaking their heads at the pair.
"Well, Mamma? Will this outfit do for the party?" A flushed Lia came out of her room and twirled before her new "mom".
"Well dear I am no fashion expert by any means, but I think you simply marvelous," was the reply.
"Is that Lia there in that pretty outfit? I hardly would recognize you in a crowd," her new "dad" just came out of Ken's room from helping Ken put in a new lightbulb on the incredibly high ceiling. Lia blushed. She was wearing a jean skort that had flower trim and a flower trimmed leotard. She was so happy, she had only been in Japan for a few hours and she already felt as though she'd been there for months.
"Lia are you rea..Oh you're already dressed. You look great as usual." Ken said this as he entered the living room. "Well, everyone should be arriving soon."
"Ken, Lia we're gonna leave now take care. Bye dears!" said Mom as she and Dad left the apartment.
Ten minutes later, two blond boys, a girl with brown hair, and a boy that looked like her, but older showed up and greeted Ken with happy shouts and hand shakes. This was their first time doing something unrelated to the DigiWorld with the young genius and thought that he was really beginning to open up to all of them. Then, Ken introduced them to Lia. The blondes were Matt, 15, and T.K., 11. They are very close brothers and good friends with Kari and Tai. Kari is eleven and Tai's younger sister. Tai is fifteen like Matt. Then, a boy with blue hair arrived with a red head boy, a brown haired girl, a girl with light purple hair and a small boy with dark brown. They were Joe, 17, Izzy, 14, Sora, 15, Yolei, 12, and Cody, 10. They greeted Ken happily for the same reason as the others, when they were introduced to Lia they complemented her clothes and asked about America. Lia smiled and answered all the questions politely and full of information. Then a boy with maroon hair ran up to the door and greeted Ken, "Hi, Ken. Sorry I'm late, I didn't mean to be, but for everyone's sanity I had to lose Jun in the park on the other side of town. You must be Ken's cousin, Lia," he said when he saw her come up to say hello.
"Yes I am. How are you?"
"Fine, I'm Davis. How are you?"
"Fine, thanks. Please come in." Lia replied with a delightful smile. 'Wow everyone is so nice. It's a lot like home!' she thought.
Soon everyone had meet and had a chance to talk to Lia about her hobbies, friends, anything and everything. When she thought everyone was done, she was going to ask Sora about soccer teams for girls when Matt and Izzy approached her at the same time. "Hi, Matt, Izzy. Are you enjoying yourselves?" she asked politely.
"Actually we were wondering if you had e-mail, so we could keep in touch easier," said Matt.
"Of course. Just let me get some paper to right it on, okay?" she said. Lia grabbed her pocket notebook and dream writer pen. "It's chibi_horned_angel_13@members_only.net ."
"Did you say chibi_horned_angel_13@members_only.net?" asked Izzy.
"Yeah. It's been my e-mail for years."
"Then you're the pen pal that moved to Japan!" exclaimed Matt.
"Wow! That means you're Rckstr_1@members_only.net and Prodigious_27@members_only.net. Wow! I never thought I'd meet you guys!" She said excitedly.
"And we never thought we'd meet you!" the boys said in unison. 'Wow! Friends already. This won't be so hard. And Matt's real cute too!' she was putting her mind at ease. Odaibah wasn't gonna be that bad.
"Lia out of everyone here, Trista would probably agree with you the most," said Teresa, 15, who looked a lot like Lia.
"Really guys, we should be happy for Lia, and Teresa, you should not read the books, but pack them." Trista was the oldest out of the bunch, 17. "Kayla never did get a chance, but she had a great time while she was here." Trista thought of her younger sister that died at age six, eight years before. Now, Kayla's best friend Lia was the little sister. Trista smiled to her self. An odd pair the two girls had been at the time, Lia was the neighbor's daughter and the only other kid Kayla's age. The two girls bonded quickly even through their many differences. The big ones were Kayla was small, petite, and soft-spoken. On the other hand Lia was loud and very active in everything other than ballet. Ballet was what Kayla loved most.
"Hey Trista! Snap out of your trance and tell me what you think about the guitar and keyboard," came Lia's voice from the closet.
"Oh. Uh, why not leave them here till you get settled and we'll send them later."
"Ok, Tris." Lia said. 'I hope Trista will be ok. She lost Kayla with me, then she lost my mom and dad with me. Now she's losing me in a way.' Lia was thinking about the trip that she was making to meet her family. She was going to Japan. 'Wow. How long has it been?' She thought, 'Eight. Definitely eight years since I've seen my cousins. Kennie would be who old now? Sixteen, seventeen? Sammie would nearly be an adult. Wow so much time has gone by.' Lia stopped working and looked out the window at the darkening sky and sighed. A girl with pink hair worn in buns, like Rini's in Sailor Moon only the rest of her hair just hung down her back to her waist, came over and touched her shoulder.
"Thinking about Japan, or Taylor?" she asked.
"Well, Bunnie, both. I've been hoping Taylor will be able to see me off when I leave in three days, but the nurse I talked to said that he'll probably be out in four at the earliest."
"We know he's going to make it if he can." Bunnie, 14, left her friend and went to go to the kitchen and check on dinner. 'Taylor has to see Lia off. He's been her friend the longest of us all.' That was true she and Taylor, the only wanna-be Goth she ever befriended had met through Lia. He was sorta Goth when the rest had met him, but Lia met him in St. Jude's Hospital right after Kayla had died. She was wandering the halls of the children's ward when she had seen the small boy crying in his room.
"Hey there. Why are you crying?" Lia had asked.
"I gotta have my tonsils taken out and I know it's gonna hurt!" Taylor replied her.
"No it won't, I had mine out two months ago. It doesn't hurt at all," she smiled at him.
"Really?"
"Really!"
"Excuse me, Taylor it's time. Ok?" said a nurse by the door.
"Will you wait here for me?"
"Sure Taylor. Oh. My name is Lia." 'Was it really eight years ago? And who would have thought that Kayla's death helped me meet one of my best friends.'
'Maybe her parents' death will introduce her to more, We don't know for sure. Lia has been getting ready for her trip to Tamachi for a while. Unfortunately, when her cousin, Ken, came up missing, that totally messed her up. Man, I've never seen her look so sad.She would just sit in the garden or parlor, red-eyed and very quiet, but when they found him we couldn't get her to shut-up,' thought Bunnie.
******************************************************
"Oh, I don't see him!" cried Lia.
" You worry too much, mon ami," said Rei, 15, a girl that resembled Bunnie just slightly, but without the pink hair. Her hair was black and spiky.
"Oh really, Rei! Have some compassion!" said Ami, 11, a girl with short brown hair that always seemed to bounce.
"Maybe we should go look for him?" said Teresa.
"No! Then you'll miss boarding call!" exclaimed Lia. "I got you all here so none of you will leave till my plane's in the air! Ami, Rei does have compassion she just chooses not to use it. And Teresa, you of all people should stay."
"Why?"
" Because you have the cameras!"
"Oh yeah! I do, don't I."
'What am I gonna do with out them?'
"Flight 3115 is now boarding. Please report to gate A-17. Thank you!"
"That's my flight!" Lia hugged everyone at least six times, then,
"Lia, you can't forget me can you?" came a voice from behind her. Lia turned around and there was Taylor, on crutches smiling big. She gave him hugs, grabbed her stuff, and took the cameras that belonged to her, and boarded her plane, tears in her eyes.
**********************************************************
"Hurry up! Come on Mama, Papa, you too. Lia's plane is gonna be here soon!" a boy with long purple hair was saying. "She's gonna get off the plane and think we forgot her!" 'Who could forget the smile she wore. I never saw her frown or cry. I just know that everyone will like her. I hope she hasn't changed too much.'
"Ken now you're holding us up by day-dreaming," said his mom. "We can leave and make it to the air port with fifteen minutes to spare."
"If we have that much time dear, maybe we could pick up some flowers for her on the way," said Ken's dad.
"Alright! Mom, Dad, come on we gotta get going!"
'Wow! Already we're getting ready to land. I can't wait to see Kennie, but I can't seem to sense Sam. That's ridiculous! I know he'll be there waiting for me with Ken, Aunt Ellis, and Uncle Mikhail. There's no reason why my extra sense should pick up or not pick up Sam. I haven't seen him in forever, maybe that's it,' all these thoughts were running wild in Lia's mind. Lia was always able to tell if someone was ok or not. Ever since she walked right to Taylor in the hospital, she knew she was special. Later on she was able to sense if something good or bad was coming, be it news or people, she knew to certain extent that it was coming. Right now she was doing something she had never done and that was ignoring her gift. 'Have a little Faith, Lia Ichijouji. Wow! That's my name now it sounds so different from the American names I'm used to. I think the only two of us that has always had a really weird last name was Te, with Mitzumi and Bunns with Mizuno.'
"Lia! Over here, Cuz!" Ken cried, waving his hands high for her to see them. 'Wow, she looks great! She's fifteen now, and probably going to be the center of attention around my friends. It'll do her good to be accepted so quickly.'
'Oh My God that's Ken! Teresa would love him!' "Kennie!!" Lia ran as fast as her luggage would let her. He met her half way and they hugged. "Wow, Ken, you look great! Tell me, will I stick out here in my American clothes?"
"Are you really that concerned with your clothes?" Ken asked shocked.
"No, but I figured I would start off all preppy and then surprise everyone by being completely opposite. It didn't work did it?"
"No it didn't. Did you here about Sam?"
"That he's dead, yeah, it happened not long after my friend Kayla passed away."
"Sorry about that," Ken said. "How do you feel about parties? Wait before you answer, here is a little welcome present from us."
"Oh, Kennie. They're so pretty. Konichiwa Aunt Ellis, Uncle Mikhail. How have you been? I hope you have room for my stuff that's still at the house."
"Really dear, what do you still have to bring over?" asked Aunt Ellis.
"Some posters, a box of photo albums, pictures, and my two instruments."
"What instruments do you play, Lia?" asked Uncle Mikhail.
"I play the keyboards and the guitar. I also sing. The girls and I used to enter contests all over the country." Lia smiled proudly she had all the pictures of her and her friends receiving awards for different things. She left the awards at her house to be with Trista.
"Hey, Li, you never answered my question. What do think of parties?" It was Ken's turn to smile. He told his friends not to make plans and be prepared for an e-mail from him saying there was a party at his house for his cousin. Matt and Izzy were desperately trying to find a friend they had over the internet who had moved to Japan. They said they could stop and come if the party was on.
"You mean to tell me that you have a party waiting for me if I say yes right Kennie?" asked Lia who had her eyebrows arched and an amazing grin on her face.
"How come you always know my surprises before I reveal them?"
"I guess I will stop making educated guesses about stuff like that" Lia replied smoothly. 'You don't need to know the truth Ken, at least not yet.'
"Ok. You've got yourself a party, Lia. These are all good friends of mine and I think you will get along well with at least one of them, I'm sure." The two cousins didn't notice Ken's parents looking at them smiling and shaking their heads at the pair.
"Well, Mamma? Will this outfit do for the party?" A flushed Lia came out of her room and twirled before her new "mom".
"Well dear I am no fashion expert by any means, but I think you simply marvelous," was the reply.
"Is that Lia there in that pretty outfit? I hardly would recognize you in a crowd," her new "dad" just came out of Ken's room from helping Ken put in a new lightbulb on the incredibly high ceiling. Lia blushed. She was wearing a jean skort that had flower trim and a flower trimmed leotard. She was so happy, she had only been in Japan for a few hours and she already felt as though she'd been there for months.
"Lia are you rea..Oh you're already dressed. You look great as usual." Ken said this as he entered the living room. "Well, everyone should be arriving soon."
"Ken, Lia we're gonna leave now take care. Bye dears!" said Mom as she and Dad left the apartment.
Ten minutes later, two blond boys, a girl with brown hair, and a boy that looked like her, but older showed up and greeted Ken with happy shouts and hand shakes. This was their first time doing something unrelated to the DigiWorld with the young genius and thought that he was really beginning to open up to all of them. Then, Ken introduced them to Lia. The blondes were Matt, 15, and T.K., 11. They are very close brothers and good friends with Kari and Tai. Kari is eleven and Tai's younger sister. Tai is fifteen like Matt. Then, a boy with blue hair arrived with a red head boy, a brown haired girl, a girl with light purple hair and a small boy with dark brown. They were Joe, 17, Izzy, 14, Sora, 15, Yolei, 12, and Cody, 10. They greeted Ken happily for the same reason as the others, when they were introduced to Lia they complemented her clothes and asked about America. Lia smiled and answered all the questions politely and full of information. Then a boy with maroon hair ran up to the door and greeted Ken, "Hi, Ken. Sorry I'm late, I didn't mean to be, but for everyone's sanity I had to lose Jun in the park on the other side of town. You must be Ken's cousin, Lia," he said when he saw her come up to say hello.
"Yes I am. How are you?"
"Fine, I'm Davis. How are you?"
"Fine, thanks. Please come in." Lia replied with a delightful smile. 'Wow everyone is so nice. It's a lot like home!' she thought.
Soon everyone had meet and had a chance to talk to Lia about her hobbies, friends, anything and everything. When she thought everyone was done, she was going to ask Sora about soccer teams for girls when Matt and Izzy approached her at the same time. "Hi, Matt, Izzy. Are you enjoying yourselves?" she asked politely.
"Actually we were wondering if you had e-mail, so we could keep in touch easier," said Matt.
"Of course. Just let me get some paper to right it on, okay?" she said. Lia grabbed her pocket notebook and dream writer pen. "It's chibi_horned_angel_13@members_only.net ."
"Did you say chibi_horned_angel_13@members_only.net?" asked Izzy.
"Yeah. It's been my e-mail for years."
"Then you're the pen pal that moved to Japan!" exclaimed Matt.
"Wow! That means you're Rckstr_1@members_only.net and Prodigious_27@members_only.net. Wow! I never thought I'd meet you guys!" She said excitedly.
"And we never thought we'd meet you!" the boys said in unison. 'Wow! Friends already. This won't be so hard. And Matt's real cute too!' she was putting her mind at ease. Odaibah wasn't gonna be that bad.