Going Wrong in the Right way

Chapter 1: Not Meant to Be

"Turn right…or is that turn left? Goddamn Japanese with everything being backwards…"

Standing off to the side a narrow country road wasn't exactly the way I planned on spending my Saturday morning. And being American born and raised wasn't helping my trying to interpret the rough directions the store owner in the next town over had given me. He made his kanji and katakana as nice as possible, but it took me nearly a half hour to translate it so I could understand it. And with most things being backwards in their language or just flat out in the middle going outwards, it took me forever.

Sitting on a small tree trunk by the side of the road, I was staring so hard at the paper I thought it may combust. A small beeping noise made me groan a little, my right hear softly chirping as I pulled the damned thing from my ear and opened up the tiny compartment. Dammit. The battery was almost dead. One of the things I needed most to survive any where with people was about to die on me. My hearing aide.

Did I mention I'm partially deaf?

Among a few other things…but that's not important…

"This is definitely turn right. About…hmmm…kyuu is 9 so…wait, never mind, that's one of the later directions. Or is that the number on the receipt?" Sighing, I stuffed it in my pocket, about fed up with my utter stupidity when it came to reading Japanese. I could speak it well enough, but reading it was a whole different story. Adjusting my large hiking backpack on my back, I continued walking, nothing but the sound of nature and my iPod permeating the quiet.

I had spent all of my college savings for the plane ticket to come here, as well at the universal laptop in my pack which could pick up wireless anywhere in the world with a view of the clear blue sky. Underneath that some where near the bottom of my pack was my wallet, which held my ID, and my debit card. I had roughly sixty grand to my name. That was it.

No family. They recently disowned me. Very little friends I considered to be especially close…

Right now, I was a stranger in a strange land and getting to this farkin' temple as fast as I could. I was 18 and still clueless about the rest of the world. My parents think I'm a disillusioned, klutzy little drama queen with no sense of direction in my life. My friends put me up on a pedestal, thinking I'm so great and kind and loyal and just…well, amazing.

I didn't believe either of them.

And with that thought, the temple steps were looming up to my right, climbing high up towards the sky. The dense overhead canopy (which made things fairly dark) kept me from seeing just how high up the steps went, but I had the feeling I would be soon regretting my decision to pack so much of my crap. I'm a materialistic person, what can I say. My possessions mean a lot to me.

Step by step I began to climb. It was hard at first because I was trying not to teeter totter over with my big backpack, but after a few moments I got into a rhythm and things got easier. Breaking Benjamin blared through my little earbuds, and would've seriously damaged my eardrums if they weren't already beyond repair.

As I walked, I pondered on the events that lead me to make this long pilgrimage over thousands of miles and through many hours of plane, bus, taxi and (on two occasions quickly regretted due to the perverted old men in both cars) hitch hiking. As I could start to make out the top of the stairs, I took a few moments to glance down at what I was wearing. Was this appropriate attire to be wearing to meet one of the most renown physics in the world?

When I travel, I dress to suit what I'm doing and where I'm going as well as trying to stick to my own sense of style. My dark blue bellbottoms and black boots, with a navy blue colored spaghetti strap. I wore a white plain baseball cap. In these type of clothes I was able to easily move around while still staying comfortable and still managing to look halfway decent. To answer my earlier question on whether this was decent enough or not…

I should've worn a dress.

No time to be fretting that now. I'm stuck with this, might as well live with it. The moment of truth. The time to shine. The Great revelation…!

I had reached the top of the stairs.

It was what I expected…and yet it wasn't. A traditional Shinto shrine, with the little pond off to the side and the small wraparound porch. Sliding rice paper doors, and I was only semi surprised to hear the sound of a classical music radio turned on somewhere to my left (if it was on my right side I probably wouldn't have been able to hear it).

I was barely standing at the top of the temple stairs for a few seconds before one of the sliding doors opened before me, and the great master herself came out.

She was old. Ancient really. Her hair was a scraggly and a greyish…pink? Red? Reddish brown? It was hard to tell, but it was predominantly grey now. She had some wrinkles, but what made her seem so old was in her eyes. They were a greyish, flinty color with a few shades of brown adding some softness. She looked mean. Tough. Hard knock, old school, kick-your-ass-before-she'd-hug-ya type of sensei.

I was immediately in love with her.

She stared over me for a few long moments, before hopping off the ledge of the porch and making her way towards me, her hands behind her back. I was surprised to see how steady she walked, wondering if osteoporosis made her that short or if she was just born that tiny. I felt like a giant when she finally made her way to me, scrutinizing me and giving me the stink eye. Then she walked around me, as I stood perfectly still, so she could get a 360 view of me.

Then Master Genkai stopped in front of me once again, and I noticed her features relaxed, but only slightly. Her voice was the first to break the silence over the soft notes of the radio in the distance.

"You've gotten bigger."

It was a simple statement, made casually and almost in a bored, I-could-care-less type of fashion. I looked down at her and slowly managed a smile. I went to open my mouth to reply but she abruptly turned from me and made her way towards the door she came from. "Put down that backpack on the porch. I made tea." Genkai didn't look back at me as she spoke, but she didn't need too. She knew I would come.

I walked over to where she was, set down my backpack on the ground in front of the porch, and stepped up, slipping off my shoes before I entered the room (as was the traditional way). She sat across from me, her short legs crossed, pouring us two cups of tea as I too sat down across from her. I murmured a soft thank you as she handed me my tea, and together in unison we took our first sip.

Though I nearly dropped my cup, letting out a yelp as the scalding hot liquid burned the tip of my tongue. Genkai snorted, not pausing as she drank her little cup in one long drink. I gave her a soft glare as she set down her cup and turned her eyes to me.

"Why did your parents send you here?"

"They didn't." I was fanning my tongue a little bit. "I sent myself." She paused, though my response almost seemed to be what she was expecting. Slowly, she poured herself more tea and casually asked, "Does that scar on your face have anything to do with why you're here?"

Shit.

SHIT!

She knew. Oh God how in the hell did she know?

I could feel the panic on my face, and if I could feel it I knew she sure as hell could see it. See it on my marred face, in the way my body tensed up and the hairs on my arms stood up straight as pins. I felt sick. I felt horribly, horribly nauseous as I asked, my voice a shaking whisper, "How did you find out?"

She rolled her eyes at me like I was a total dumbass. "Who didn't see it? It wasn't just local news Xannah, it made it all the way to international news."

I wanted to crawl under the porch and spend the rest of my life there with the rats and God only knew what other creatures slept underneath there. I started to take slow, deep breaths as she watched me slowly calm myself down about my little…ah, "incident". I ran my fingers through my thin dark blonde hair, watching as each strand fell between my fingertips. This simple gesture alone was enough to calm me down so I could function again.

Thinking about…that put me in such a severe state of panic I couldn't function. Could barely breathe and find my voice to speak again. Genkai was watching me with a critical eye, scrutinizing everything I was doing. Every gesture, every breath…

Finally the old sensei sighed, set down her cup of tea, and closed her eyes a little, suddenly looking very tired. Looking…well, looking like an old woman. By the time she opened her eyes again I was completely relaxed.

"Better now?"

"Peachy," I replied.

"Now back to the matter at hand Xannah…why here? Of all the other relatives you could've gone to, all of the other people who could've taken you in…you came to me. I have an idea why, but I'd like to hear it from you." Sipping her tea slowly, she waited for my reply. Which came rather swiftly because I had been thinking on this for a while.

"I've always felt safest with you. And here in Japan is as far away from home as I could get." Setting down her teacup, Genkai looked at me with an unreadable expression. Then she softly sighed. "I take it your mother put up a fight?"

I nodded, my voice turning slightly bitter. "She disowned me, Genkai. Saying I was going to ruin my life by coming here. By staying with you. So I took all my money I had to my name and got a plane ticket to come here." Genkai's eyes sharpened a little.

"You dimwit." I didn't flinch, but did manage a grimace. Then she stood up, looking down on me now from her slight elevation above me. "I'll let you stay here…"

I started to smile, feeling this day just got a little better.

"…on a few conditions."

Face fall. Why did I have the feeling these "conditions" weren't going to be all sunshine and sprinkles?

Genkai smirked very faintly. "First condition: You get a job. Second condition: You further your education in some form. College, the internet, cyber nerd, I don't give a damn. And third…"

"Oh come on!" A soft whine was in my tone. But she pressed on as if I hadn't spoken. "The last condition is that you let me see whether or not you have any sort of spiritual awareness. If you do, we're going to make sure you know how to sense it, be wary of it, and control it. Got it?"

I sighed but nodded in compliance. There was no use arguing with her. It wouldn't do any good. I looked up at the woman before me. And the more I looked the more I saw myself in her. My eyes were like hers. Wide, with the similar shade of brown only my eyes had small tinges of green in the depths instead of her flinty undertone. I was medium height, roughly 5'5, while she looked like a dwarf compared to me. Though we had a similar bone structure. It was ironic how much I looked like her when she was younger, only my hair was a dark brownish blonde.

"I'll show you to a room you can stay in and get comfortable. Then you're going to help me make dinner. I'm having some visitors tonight and I might as well make something decent." Her slightly demanding tone didn't bother me. It comforted me a little bit. For the past few months I've had people do nothing but baby me and coddle me and treat me like I was a piece of fine china. Genkai didn't do that though.

At least not yet. I wouldn't be surprised if she started doing it without realizing it.

"Thanks…grammy."

I heard a small snort. "Grandma works better. Everybody else calls me that already." Chuckling, I hoisted my pack onto my back and followed suit behind her.

I suddenly got this idea and just HAD to put it down on word processor! I'll update if I get a few reviews