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 Posted: Fri Apr 24, 2009 3:46 pm
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Okay, this is my first post on this guild, and I hope I'm doing things right . . I'm a little confused on how to update chapters, but we'll get to that when it happens smile
This is a story I have been working on for . . . well, quite a few years now. It is finally reaching it's final "evolution" you could call it, and I'm very proud of it. I will, however, take constructive crit smile Mind you, I have ever detail of this story planned out, and hopefully no loose ends. If something doesn't make sense, keep waiting. It'll be explained. Keep note: While this story does stay within the PG-13 raiting, it is intended for mature readers. This is not a giddy little love story, folks. Do not flame me in later chapters because it isn't going how you thought.
All feedback is welcome biggrin
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In daylights, in sunsets, in midnights, in cup of coffee
In inches, in miles, in laughter, in strife
In five hundred, twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes
How do you measure a year in the life?
How about love?
Seasons of Love
There was something exciting about spending your first semester of college in a foreign country. To begin with, there were no automatic friendships or enemies - you immediately become a stranger to each and every person, and the chances for friendships are formed. It was exciting to be in a different place in a different culture, and ultimately would affect your person for the rest of your life.
Unless, of course, your friends from the former country came with you.
“Your room is bare,” Caleb Motomiya announced, taking a quick glance around the small college dorm room. The boy tossed a bag on to the bed and turned to face the girl standing in the doorway. The look on her face was supposed to be murderous, but only sent Caleb into a laughing fit. “You’re cute when you’re mad, do you know that?”
Sara Adams didn’t give him the honor of a reply, instead she dumped her own luggage near his feet. It had been a long and stressful day already, and she wasn’t in the mood for any of Caleb’s antics, playful though they might be. “I might remind you, Caleb, that you’re not even supposed to be in this dorm. Take a good look at these bare walls - it’s probably the last time you’re going to be seeing them.” She collapsed on the bed and stared up at her best friend. “Do you seriously think I’m going to be okay here? I’m not going to be too homesick or lost?”
Caleb frowned. “You’re already worrying about that?”
“I’m three thousand miles from home. Why shouldn’t I be?” Just the thought made her stomach ache.
For all her hard work to be accepted into the school, Sara was now having second thoughts. She had been too caught up in the possibility of an adventure to realize the task that was now set before her. The first semester of college, she’d heard, was always the toughest one to get through. Now she would have to face it alone.
No, not quite alone. Caleb had come with her.
She took a quick glance at the young man beside her, who was too busy examining her section of the room to notice her staring. Over the course of the past year, Caleb had filled out a little more, a few extra pounds of muscle starting to show under than lightweight frame. He’d gained back the weight he had lost during his brief stint in the rehab close to her house - he looked healthy. He’d come a long way from the rebellious kid with a growing drug addiction.
Caleb frowned at the walls, and shrugged. “You need some color before I leave this room. We’ll fix it up all nice and pretty and girly. I’ll even help you staple whatever Hello Kitty crap you have in your bags to the walls.”
Sara rolled her eyes. Caleb knew how much she hated Hello Kitty. The cartoon cat had been cute until a mutual friend of theirs had worn her out for the both of them. It was a wonder how Joseph had been able to stay with her for so long. Sara knew the offer to help her put her room together was a sign of Caleb’s own uneasiness. Despite being half-Japanese, Caleb was as much of an outsider in Tokyo as she was.
With that thought, she hauled herself to her feet and pointed toward the large duffel bag next to his feet. “That holds my sheets and comforter. I think a few pillows got stuffed in there as well. Just as long as we get my bed together I’ll be happy. I have to call my mom as soon as we finish, though. She’ll be wanting to know all the details of the campus .”
Caleb tossed a pillow at Sara’s head, which narrowly avoided hitting her in the face. She gave him a glare that he shrugged off and took a glance around the now bare side of the room. “Have you found out who your roommate is going to be yet?”
“I haven’t had the chance,” Sara said, more sharply than she intended it to be. “Caleb, you’ve been with me since the moment we left the United States; when in that period of time would I have had a chance to meet my roommate?” She rearranged a pillow and leaned back against it. Caleb gave her a side glace and sighed.
“You know,” he started slowly. “You have a bad habit of getting snappy when something is stressing you out. I understand you’re nervous about joining a new college and being in a different country. Hell, I am nervous and this was where I was born. But you act like you’re going at this alone and you’re not. You have me, you’re going to have your roommate, and you have that family that you grew up with. I doubt they’re going to let you drown. Pick yourself up, Sara. You’re going to be fine. We both are.”
He was right, and she knew it. Still, that little doubt of what have I gotten myself into lingered in her brain.
Maybe it was the fact that Sara still wasn't quite perfectly fluent in the Japanese language that had her nervous. She could carry on a decent conversation with Caleb, and she had passed the test to enter the college with flying colors. But as she was finding out, the Japanese she had studied in school and at the community college close to her house, and the dialect here were two different things.
It also could be the family that was hosting her stay in Japan. The support of the Ichijouji family was one of the major reasons Sara's family agreed to let her stay in Tokyo for a year of college. The Ichijouji's had been friends of the Adams family as long as Sara could remember. She had grown up with their eldest son, but her memories of him had faded over time. The last time she had seen the boy, he was a tall, skinny and awkward, with glasses too large for his face. He was no longer the annoying little boy in the backyard that pulled on her pigtails, or tried to gross her out with bugs (which he somehow found absolutely amazing). He was older, and mature for his age.
But all contact with him had stopped at the age of thirteen, and Sara was almost positive the ten year old boy she had once known, and this now almost twenty-one year old man were two completely different people.
She was shocked back into reality as a small cell phone landed on her lap. She glanced up to find Caleb grinning at her. “You said you needed to call your mother,” he explained. “There is no sense in you wasting our calling card when you can just call from my phone.”
“Does it even have service here?” Sara asked skeptically. She punched a button, surprised to find that it had service. She gave Caleb a grateful nod. He mouthed ‘I’ll be back later’, and took off down the hall. Even a few feet away, Sara could hear Caleb’s loud voice echoing down the hallway as he met other people.
Amanda Adams picked up on the second ring. “Sara? Are you okay?”
“Yea, I’m fine.”
For the first time, Sara noticed the sleepiness in her mother's voice. It dawned on her that while it was almost five in the afternoon in Tokyo, it was only one in the morning Oklahoma. She swallowed. "Sorry, Mom. I forgot the time difference."
A small chuckle came through the phone line, still laced with weariness. "Don't worry about it, baby. I take it you got in safe? Are you all checked in to the dorms yet?" She listened with patience as Sara explained every worry that she had about her new life in Tokyo, and Sara could almost feel her mother rolling her eyes through the phone. "Sara, you're nineteen years old. While that isn't wise in years by any means, you have the common sense to make it on your own. I've never worried whether or not this was a bad decision - I know you're going to be fine. Have you called the Ichijouji's yet?"
"Haven't had a chance. Caleb just got my room set up." At this moment, Sara couldn't even begin to tell anyone where their number was.
"How is he?"
Sara snorted. "Caleb's having a blast. You can tell Mr. Motomiya that he doesn't have to worry; I'll keep a good eye on his eccentric, wild, child."
"I doubt that's going to make him feel any better." Mrs. Adams had a point. The one and only time Caleb's father had left him in the hands of a friend to take care of him, Caleb had overdosed. Though Caleb had had his life straightened out for almost a year now, his past behavior was on everyone's minds. It was Sara's (and probably the Motomiya's) worst fear that Caleb would choose the wrong group to hang out with at the college. He had come too far for Sara to watch him waste his life away again.
A yawn caught Sara's attention, and she smiled. "I'll let you go, Mom. I just wanted to tell you that we got in okay and I'm all set up in my dorm."
"Thanks, sweets. Call me some time when we're both awake." Mrs. Adams said gently, making Sara feel horrible once again for waking her mother up. "And call Rika. She e-mailed me yesterday, and she's very excited to have you. I know you'll be wanting to see her son again. Osamu, wasn't it?"
"Yes. And Mom, we were ten the last time I saw him. I've changed a little."
"In good ways."
Sara resisted the urge to blush. "I'll talk to you later, Mom. I love you." She flipped the small cell phone closed and leaned back against the bed. If Caleb's registration and move in to the dorms took anywhere as long as Sara's had, he would be gone for quite a while. She sighed, and grabbed the stuffed bear next to her pillow.
Had this really been a good idea to go to college three thousand miles from her home? At the time, it had seemed like a great plan - it was a chance to experience the culture, and have the adventure of a lifetime. With friends of her mother's supporting her, what could possibly go wrong?
But now, alone in the tiny dorm room at the School of Fine Arts, Sara wondered if it had all been a huge mistake. For the very first time in nineteen years, Sara felt completely, and utterly alone.
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Posted: Sun Apr 26, 2009 1:10 pm
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Posted: Thu Apr 30, 2009 5:26 pm
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Okay, well i hope I'm doing this whole chapter update correctly . . I thought I'd at least give it a shot. BEFORE ANYONE MENTIONS THIS; YES, I AM AWARE OF THE SHOW THE LAST NAME ICHIJOUJI COMES FROM. And yes, I am also aware that there was a character named Osamu on the show. I chose the name Osamu because of the meaning, and the name tends to fit the character. I assure everyone here, as soon as I find a new last name for him that I like, I intend to change it. Until then, please no comments.
Orientation for the new students of the college was scheduled for ten the next morning. Sara dragged herself from the rather comfortable dorm bed and attempted to keep her eyes open. The jet lag had finally caught up with her body, and Sara was feeling the effects from it. She stifled yet another yawn as the college president droned on about the new school semester, and how he had high hopes for each of the students.
It had taken Sara a long process since junior year to get entrance to the School of Fine Arts. It was a school designed especially for students of the arts, and had a growing reputation in a small district of Tokyo. To be accepted, the student had to show a growing promise in some form of the arts, anywhere from a musical talent such as singing, or playing an instrument, to acting or writing. Auditions were scheduled, interviews were held, and only five hundred people were accepted every year. To be invited was a great honor, and Sara would have been a fool not to think the Ichijouji's had something to do with her acceptance.
The Ichijouji family was one of the oldest and well known families in the district. It was a family well known for their wealth, brains, and good looks. The family was mostly made up of boys, with all the girls marrying into the family. Their most recent claim to fame, Sara had found, was Ichijouji Osamu, the child prodigy of the district.
Ichijouji Ryuu, the father of the current Ichijouji elder, had purchased the building to the school years before hand. After watching his youngest son become interested in music at a very young age, he envisioned a school where artists of all kinds could come and learn. After his death ten years ago, the school had gone to the oldest son, who sold it.
To be sponsored by the Ichijouji family was a great honor, but it also added to Sara's stress. If she messed up, it would look bad on not only her, but on them. Her breath quickened as she felt a wave of panic rise in her chest. Caleb gave her a glance from the side, then reached over and squeezed her hand.
A banquet was scheduled after orientation, but Sara found herself too nervous to eat. She swallowed and looked at the sea of students, her stomach in huge knots. Caleb stayed close at first, but he soon became a social butterfly and left Sara to fend for herself. She found herself in a corner of the banquet hall, sipping on fruit punch. By God, she wished she could get over her shyness.
"You look lost."
A deep voice from behind her brought her out of her daze. She started and took a glance behind her. A young man stood behind her, looking far too tall for his ethnicity, and amused. He took a sip of his own drink, and gestured to the floor. "Why aren't you mingling?"
It took Sara's confused mind a few seconds to process he was speaking to her in English.
"I'm not good with crowds," she explained. "They make me nervous."
The young man regarded her quietly for a few moments, and then nodded. "I understand what you mean. I can speak and act and do interviews without batting an eye. But when it comes to talking in crowds with actual one on one conversation, I don't like it." He shrugged. "Just my personality."
In the silence that followed, Sara took a long look at him. He was tall - at least a foot taller than she - and was more thin than could be healthy for his height. Nevertheless, she could tell there was some serious muscle behind his figure; it was always the skinny ones that surprised people. His black hair reached the nape of his neck, cut in such a fashion that was made to look shaggy, yet sophisticated at the same time. He peered down at her from beneath thin glasses, and Sara suddenly felt very insecure.
He took another sip of his drink. "You're Sara Adams."
The way he said it, he wasn't asking her. He was telling her who she was. Sara blinked.
"Yes. How did you know?"
"Your looks haven't changed much since you were eleven. You're taller," his eyes scanned her form. "And you've filled out more. But I have a feeling you're still the shy, yet loudmouthed Oklahoman girl you always have been."
She flushed, feeling stupid and slightly embarrassed. She recognized the young man now - it had been so obvious before. It might have been ten years since she had last seen Ichijouji Osamu, but the similarities were still there. The glasses had definitely gotten smaller.
He chuckled, obviously amused. "I've been keeping track of you since you left the United States yesterday afternoon. I've been waiting for a chance to speak with you. My mother is ecstatic about your being here."
She let out a chuckle as well, except hers was one of insecurity. "I hope I live up to your family's expectations."
The look Osamu gave her this time was serious. "I do too."
Thank you, Sara thought bitterly.
Caleb bounded up at that moment. He stole a glance at Osamu, and at Sara, and then raised an eyebrow. "Is there a problem?"
"None at all," Osamu answered for them both. "I must be going, actually. I'm supposed to meet with reporters. Apparently, it's a big deal that the founder's grandson is attending." He rolled his eyes in an exaggerated manner. "It was nice to see you again, Sara. I hope you enjoy your school year here." He left without another word. Sara couldn't help but feel as though she had just been dismissed.
"What was that about?" Caleb asked, frowning in Osamu's direction. He took a sip of the fruit punch, and held it out to Sara. "Want any more? I'm done with mine."
"I don't want your germs." Sara muttered, ignoring Caleb's slight flinch. She took the cup anyway, and tapped her fingers against the cup. It was silly for her to assume that Osamu would be the same as he was when they were children. After all, it had been almost ten years. Still, she assumed he would at least be excited to see an old friend again.
Maybe it was just her nostalgia coming into play.
It wasn't long before the dean was calling everyone's attention to the front of the reception hall, and began his long introduction to the school. "We are pleased to have the grandson of our founder, Ichijouji Ryuu, attending our school this year. Ichijouji Osamu is a brilliant young man, one whom everyone would do well to look up to. This is his second semester of college, and the first at our institution. He will be studying theater. Please, all do your best to make him welcome."
Sara joined the clapping, and turned to Caleb, who rolled his eyes. "They certainly do think a lot of him, don't they?" he whispered.
"Be nice." She jabbed him in the side.
Osamu stepped to the podium, and gave everyone in the room a tentative smile. "Good evening, fellow students. It is a great honor being able to be here, and speak with you tonight. I'm not going to make this formal - I feel as though I'm among peers. I'm one of you. I too had to fight my way to get into this school, and it took me over a year to do so. Being here, though, has brought back a lot of memories. I remember being a child and visiting my grandfather in his office. He would show me around campus, and I was fascinated by the beautiful sounds that were emitted from the rooms. Artwork from the students always hung in his office. He loved this campus more than I think he loved life itself sometimes. He would be proud to see how well it has done these past ten years. I look forward to joining you in the classrooms."
Sara had to snort - the style of Osamu's speech was exactly the same as the ones he had given when they were children. Forward and straight to the point.
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Classes started the following Monday, and Sara found herself swamped under the pressure of classes and homework. Ichijouji Ryuu had believed the importance of general education as well as the arts, so Sara had mixed classes. They ranged from mathematics and history, to ear training and the business of music. Studying had never been one of Sara's stronger points, and she found herself struggling.
"I feel like an idiot." She complained to Caleb one evening , as he crashed in her dorm room "Everyone seems to know what they're doing. All I'm good at is playing the violin. Don't even get me started on Ichijouji . . ."
Caleb made a sound that Sara took to mean disgust. "Screw him, Sara. Don't let him make you feel like you're worthless. You're smart girl, and a brilliant musician. If he wants to act like the world has done him some great injustice, then let him. I fail to see how this is your problem."
It wasn't a problem, but his attitude bothered Sara. Osamu hadn't just been ignoring her - he was avoiding her. If she made a move toward him, he would go the opposite direction. If she nodded to him, he pretended she didn't exist. If she got the nerve to talk to him, he said as little as possible in return.
Sara wasn't naïve enough to believe they would be best friends again. That had ended when Osamu moved away at age six. Maybe, though, she thought he could at least show her around, and help her out. Instead, it was becoming obvious that Osamu wanted nothing at all to do with her. It wasn't something Sara understood - had she done something wrong to make him hate her? Something she was never aware of?
Caleb seemed to sense her thoughts. "Sara Michelle," he grumbled, pulling out the middle name. "This isn't our fault. If a stuck up jackass like Ichijouji can't accept you for who you are now, then fu- "
"Caleb."
He rolled his eyes, but nodded. He was used to Sara constantly correcting him on his language. "Then screw him." When Sara said nothing in return, Caleb crossed his arms and gave her a sharp look. He finally sighed and grabbed a book beside her table. "Did your roommate ever show up?"
"No," Sara answered, and restrained a grin. The entire roommate situation had been an ordeal in and of itself. On Saturday, Sara returned to her room to find the second half of the room cluttered with things. A note on the desk clearly told Sara she was to stay completely away from the other girl's things, or there would be hell to pay. The next time Sara returned to her room, the things were missing. The RA of the hall had told her the girl had required a room transfer, and she would be set up with a second roommate.
That situation never worked out either. The second roommate had dropped out of the school without further notice, and it once again left Sara alone in her room. The RA had just shrugged when Sara asked if she would be receiving another. "I can't tell you for certain." She said, clearly not interested in what Sara was asking. "If you don't, be glad. Many girls on this floor would kill for a room of their own."
It made Caleb's frequent visits easier though. Her best friend had made Sara's dorm room his unofficial one, and spent more time in hers than he did his own. "I don't care for my roommate too much," he grumbled. "He's more set for a science major than an arts one. He rambles on day and night about stuff I really could care less about. He's also jealous of your genius friend."
"Ichijouji?"
"Who else? He seems to be the talk of this school. Anyway, my roommate hates him with a burning passion. If I didn't really know better, I would think he had a crush on him or something." Caleb gave a little half grin, one that made Sara's heart flutter ever so slightly.
A knock on the door caused them both to jump. Sara gave Caleb a confused glance, but the boy just shrugged, and lifted his body from the bed. "Does anyone know your room number?"
"Unless I suddenly have a new roommate, no." Sara wasn't ruling out the possibility of a new roommate. She cracked the door open and found herself staring face to face with Ichijouji Osamu. He nudged the door open with his shoulder, and took a look around the room. His eyes came to rest on Caleb.
"You're not supposed to be in here."
Caleb frowned, and clenched the book he had been holding tighter. "You aren't either, technically."
Osamu flashed a piece of paper in front of Caleb's face, one that Sara could barely make out. Osamu smiled. "I got permission from your RA to meet you in your room. Technically, Mr. Motomiya, I could have you written up for even being in here. I won't – I have better things to do with my time." He turned to face Sara, and gazed down at her through his glasses. "My mother sent me here to find you. She has invited you to dinner tomorrow evening at seven. Unless you have something you have to do, I expect you to be there. My family has spent a lot of money and a lot of time getting you here, Miss Adams. Please don't disappoint them."
Without another word, Osamu turned on his heel and pushed his way through the door again. Sara stood still for a second, before turning around to meet Caleb's gaze. "Can you believe the nerve of him?" she spat. "Ordering me around like I'm some minion of his!"
"His money got you here. What else do you expect? I told you he was a prat."
Sara gritted her teeth, and resisted the urge to follow after Osamu and throttle him. Her nails dug into her fingers palm and she closed her eyes, taking a few deep breaths before turning around and facing Caleb. "I'm going. If nothing else, I will go for his mother and father. It's not their fault their son is a jerk."
"Maybe it is."
She shook her head. It wasn't Shin and Rika's fault – she remembered them as good people. But then again, Osamu hadn't always been this way either. Her stomach was in knots and she took another deep breath.
"I'm going,” she repeated “And by God, I am going to figure out what I have done to make Ichijouji Osamu hate me so much."
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Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2009 8:31 pm
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