Sara knew she had decided to go home. She had homework to do, chores to finish, naps to take. Yet somehow, she found herself wandering around town, window shopping for some strange reason. Sara didn’t window shop much, but she guessed she didn’t really want to go home where her stepmother was worrying about her. It wasn’t like the woman was a bad person. Sara had no problem with her. Honestly, the woman, Himari, was a saint. She had graciously accepted the child of her husband’s one night stand with surprising ease. It probably helped that Sara was older than the relationship. Honestly the whole Tachibana family was welcoming, including her father, Kenji, and the twins, Shoto and Dai, her thirteen-year-old half-brothers who were menaces, but honestly their antics put a smile on Sara’s face almost 90 percent of the time.

They were all nice and the moment they found out about her mom dying and that she had no family in the states, they made room for her in their lives. Her father had flown over to help her figure out the legal stuff. The twins had moved into the same room without even having to be asked, so she would have her own space. Her stepmother had immediately started enrolling her in the same prestigious international school the twins were a part of [i]and[/i] found her a gymnastics gym. Her last name may have been Nicholson, but the Tachibanas were certain she was part of the family. They had even built a little shrine for her mom. And that was the problem. Sara didn’t want nice; she wanted to be left alone.

Which might be why she found herself inadvertently heading towards the mechanic’s shop. Before she even turned the corner properly, she could hear yelling. Excellent, maybe, probably, hopefully. With any luck Tatsuha would be distracted by the yelling and she could just slip in unnoticed and hide in a corner for a little bit. That way she could be ignored, but when she went home, eventually, she could tell Hiimari (As her stepmother insisted Sara call her) honestly that she had spent some time with friends. It even seemed like the whole gang was here. Tony was the one getting yelled at by Tatsuha. Darius and Mikazuki were jogging up. She thought Mitsuaki should be at work, but apparently not. Bakuto was here as a Shinigami. Was there a Hollow? Sara hadn’t got an alert, and she did try to do her part. No one seemed worried. Well, Tasuha was ticked, but not at her and that was good enough for Sara.

She was just in time to slip inside behind the others. No doubt Tasuha knew she was there, but she hadn’t drawn any attention to herself and was planning to make herself mildly useful. It was easy enough to put her bag down in an out of way spot and then start taking water to the other few normal human mechanics and listen why they explained something or other that went completely over her head. It took skill and knowledge to know how to fix a car. Sara would admit that she was very impressed by all of the mechanics’ abilities. Once it was clear that she would only be getting in the way she retreated by her stuff and pulled out her phone to watch more sword fighting videos. She was lucky she knew which end to hold. Now, that her life, and the lives of others depended on her skill in that area, she spent way more time watching sword videos online then she ever though she would.


[@Sho Minazuki]