{E A R T H} ||Atobe Keigo|| [Part1:Castilleja Linariifolia]

Earth-Atobe Keigo: Ryugasaki Sakura

Part 1: Castilleja Linariifolia[1]

The beautiful green patches of grass swayed back and forth as I rode through them on the back of the charming horse that I called my own. She is not mine, exactly, but I prefer to think of her as mine because I take care of her and ride her excessively while the owner does nothing but play tennis and find ways to make his ego bigger, which by the way is impossible. With my hands loosely grabbing the reins, I maneuvered the horse around the polo field, letting the wind blow through my brown hair. I laughed. This certainly was the life.

When my father first started working at the Atobe Estate as the caretaker of the family’s small collection of horses, our family decided that it would be a good idea for me to live in Japan as well so my dad doesn’t get too lonely. But I thought that it was pointless. Why bother letting me live in Japan and understand the culture when I rarely left the gates of Atobe’s massive estate? My arguments and protests proved futile when my dad dragged me from our darling home in Wyoming and made me settle into a house that…let’s face it, was 10 times bigger then my old house, and that was just the house that me and my dad shared with the gardeners that also lived in the estate.

Atobe Keigo and I have never exactly been on good terms. In fact, a few days after I moved in, I had my first encounter with him, which snowballed into him having a broken nose thanks to my fist. Let’s just say that my dad and I were this close to being shipped back to Wyoming on one of their private jets…and not the fancy one. It was his attitude that pissed me off the most, and his pompous nature. And let’s not forget his ridiculous nickname: Ore-sama (which he insisted, scratch that...forced me to call him…which I refuse to by the way). My dad has stopped supporting me since I almost cost him his job, so there’s no one to laugh at him with me anymore.

However, I have always been a personal favorite of Mrs. Atobe. I’m right under the personal shopper in special-ness, which may I remind you, is pretty high up there. She used to take riding lessons from me, which was how I made money under the table. She would come over to the house when her son and husband were fast asleep in their custom-made water beds, and wake me up for her weekly riding lesson. We had fun, talked about girl-stuff, and trail rode in the hills behind the mansion. But lately she’s been too busy to even tell me (via: text messaging) that she can’t make it. Which is why my father decided it would be a fabulous idea to take me to Wyoming for my “spring break” to visit my mom and brother. Being home schooled certainly has its benefits.

“Sakura, you need to start spending less time running around outside and more time in front of the mirror.” was the first thing she said to me when we got off the plane. “Look at you, you hair’s a mess, and oh my god! Are those your brother’s pajama pants?” My brother and I snickered before climbing into our family’s pickup truck. “You and I, young lady, are taking an emergency visit to Aunt Gemma’s and we are going to give you an extreme makeover so that when you go to Hotai, you won’t look like a country bumpkin.” You won’t believe how many times I’ve heard that from Atobe. “It’s Hyotei, Jenna.” My father corrected, “Sakura, I just spoke to Mrs. Atobe yesterday and she says that has enrolled you in Hyotei Gakuen, the same school that Keigo goes to. Isn’t that great?” Umm…no, that is not great. That is the exact opposite of great. That’s terrible. Me? Going to school is the exact opposite of great. That’s terrible. Me? Going to school with that spoiled brat is out of the question. But I smile and put on a good show for my parents.

Aunt Gemma owned a beauty salon/spa in town that was the escape for the rich wives whose families wanted to spend their days out in the wilderness of Yellowstone National Park. My mother visited it often and helped with the finances. Aunt Gemma reminded of Atobe-kun at times. She was arrogant, and a bit self-centered. She thought highly of herself, but cared about the wall being of others. Which is why my mother dragged me out to her house just as I was about to crawl into my very-missed old bed. “Change of plans, we’re going to spending the night at Aunt Gemma’s. Go get your coat. You can stay in your sleeping clothes.”

The drive to Aunt Gemma’s has been mostly in silence, but as we pulled off the freeway my mother broke the silence, “So I heard from Tyler you punched dad’s boss’s son in the nose.” Damn it, that tattling bastard. I opened my mouth to give her an excuse but I was in for a surprise when she took a cigarette out from her jean pocket and laughed. I had never seen my mother smoke in my entire life. “Y’know, you remind me of myself when I was young.” Now, my mother and I have nothing in common; she was a strict and firm person, and always tried to be as lady-like as possible. But seeing this woman sitting next to me, smoking a cigarette made me see what kind of person she was before she married my dad, when she was my age. She was feisty, rebellious, and she was the victim of a very overprotective and strict father, whom she still didn’t listen to, her first kiss was in probably in middle school, and she must have broken a lot of hearts.

When we arrived at Aunt Gemma’s, I realized that the place had not changed a bit. The actual salon and spa was next door to her house, which was a house, the color of Pepto Bismol, a nice bright pink. She rushed out when our truck pulled into her driveway in all her peppy, blonde, American beauty glory. She wrapped her arms around me, gave me an enormous bear hug and said to me in her recognizable southern accent, “Oh, Sakura, I’ve missed you so much. Don’t you worry, your Auntie’s gonna fix you up so nice, them boys won’t be able to keep their paws off yah.” I groaned. “I missed you too, Aunt Gemma.” I croaked. This was going to be a long “spring break.”

When my mom and I finally left Aunt Gemma’s I felt as though, I was a completely different person. It was like the most popular girl in my old school came and threw up on me. I had blonde highlights in my dark brown hair and my aunt erased my face and gave me a new one, one that kind of resembled the ones I saw on TV. She gave me a ton of makeup and told me to put it on everyday. “Oh but don’t worry, Sakura, even if you skip a day, you’ll still turn a few heads.” That’s just great. My aunt has turned me into a Barbie doll. She even took me shopping and bought me an entire wardrobe while my mom was back at home, throwing all my other clothes away. My brother didn’t even recognize me when I leaped out of the car. “Who are you? And what have you done to my sister?” I sighed and punched him in the gut. He seemed to recognize me after that.

My parents were going to Cheyenne to spend the entire day together for their anniversary so my brother and I had the whole house to ourselves. It wasn’t abnormal, we were home alone lots of times. Usually, we would wake up early and go for a long jog and then spend the day watching TV, playing videogames, and riding the horses. But today, Tyler decided to postpone the trail ride we had planned, and decided to go to a party. He insisted that I go as well. “Oh c’mon, of course they’ll let you come. You’re my sister.” He said. “But Mom and Dad said we weren’t supposed to leave the house.” I protested. “It’s kinda too late when we already jogged halfway to the next town and back.” He retorted. I was already changed into my riding gear and I was not in the mood to change out of it. “Tyler, do you know how much trouble we’ll get into if mom and dad found out we left?” I said putting my hands on my hips. “I’ve been planning on going to a party at Jessica Winston’s house since you were in diapers and I’m not going to pass up this opportunity just because you feel like being Miss. Model Daughter.” He shouted. I had never seen my brother this upset over something so trivial. Of course, everyone in the Ryugasaki family knew that our little Tyler had the hugest crush on Jessica Winston, the prettiest girl at my brother’s school. Of course, I felt a little bad so I gave in to his childish fit, “Fine.” I mumbled before storming into my room.

A few minutes later, Tyler and I pulled up in front of the Winston’s beautiful Victorian-style house. “There might be alcohol, so don’t do anything stupid.” He advised before slamming the door to the truck. My brother never mentioned anything about alcohol…but that’s what I get for listening to a lovesick high school boy. I jumped out of the truck and followed him into the house, where the booming music could be heard from outside. I straightened my shirt as we walked through the open front door, where Tyler was greeted by two of his friends. “You made it, man.” One of them said. “And you brought your sister…sweet.” He said looking at him and then me. I laughed nervously before squeezing my way through the crowd in and into the kitchen. This “party” certainly did not look like it was going to be any fun, as everyone was older then me by at least two years. People were drinking and dancing, and it sort of frightened me. I had never been to a party like this before in my life. Why my brother would want to go to something like this was his problem. “Hey, it’s a freshman. [2]” “What’s she doing here?” “Isn’t that Tyler’s little sister?” I could already sense the awkwardness, so I went to go look for Tyler. I had only been here for five minutes and I already wanted to leave. I searched the entire house for Tyler but couldn’t find him anywhere. I had already walked in on three couples and I was really starting to get irritated. I reached the last door of the hallway and when I swung the door open there, on the bed was Jessica Winston. She was wearing nothing and underneath her sweaty body was a boy. I was relieved when I saw his face and realized that it wasn’t my brother, but when I heard his voice call me from behind, and then I started to get nervous. “Sakura?” I turned around to face my brother. He was shocked, but not at me, but at Jessica. She looked up, embarrassed and then reached over and slammed the door shut; I could hear the lock click on the other side. Tyler grabbed my arm so tightly that I could see my skin turning white in the dim light. “Come on, Sakura. We’re leaving.” He declared. I was going to heave a sarcastic ‘Finally.’ But I decided to keep my mouth shut. Once we were outside, I could already see the storm clouds gathering up. It looks like it’s going to be raining tomorrow.

My prediction came true as the rain poured heavily on the windshield of the old blue pick up truck. Today, my father and I would be leaving for Japan. As my brother and I played cards in the back seat, our strange silence was picked up by our concerned parents, “Did anything happen yesterday?” My father asked. “No.” we both replied. “Are you- “Yes.” We interrupted my mother. She gave us a glaring look before turning back to the front. Tyler and I decided that it would be best if the both of us just keep yesterday’s events a secret. It would be better for him and me, if we just forgot about Jessica’s actions. It was easier said then done, especially for my heartbroken brother. Never had I seen him so depressed before. It sort of made me feel guilty too. I was the one who let him go to that stupid party. I knew my brother well enough to know that if I had put my foot down and said firmly, “No, we’re not going to that party.” None of this would be happening. I know that he’s the one that’s supposed to be protecting me, but sometimes, I feel as though that our roles are reversed.

The roaring of the plane’s engine still puttered and pattered on the roof of the airport as my father and I said our last goodbyes to my mom, Tyler and even Aunt Gemma who met us at the airport. I wrapped my arms around my mom and she hugged back, “Don’t get into too much trouble now, Sakura.” She warned, shaking her finger at me. “I won’t, Kaa-san.” It had been a while since I last called her Kaa-san. My Aunt stepped up and took my hands in hers. “Now, you listen here, pumpkin, you have a great time in Japan alright? Take care of yourself and your Pops, y’hear?” she said, I nodded and she brushed a strand of hair out of my face. We exchanged kisses on each other’s cheeks, and she shoved me towards my brother. We smiled at each other before he held his arms out to me. “I’m gonna miss you, squirt.” He said giving me a knuckle sandwich. “Me too, Onii-chan.” We pulled away and tied our pinkies together. “Promise you won’t tell dad?” he asked. “Promise you won’t tell mom?” I responded. We shared an innocent laugh before I felt something plop on to my head. It was his old baseball cap he wore when he played baseball in the Little Leagues. “Don’t lose this, or I’ll kill you.” He threatened while playfully pushing it onto my head. “I won’t.” I said looking back at him. “Last call for Flight273 to Tokyo Narita Airport.” The attendance sighed impatiently looking at her watch for the fifth time that minute. My brother pushed me towards my dad who was still locked in a tight embrace with my mother. “I’ll see you soon. Ok, honey?” he said before giving her a kiss on the cheek. We handed our tickets to the impatient attendant and she motioned for us to head down the walkway towards the plane.

~~~
[1]: Castilleja Linariifolia is the state flower for Wyoming for you confused people
[2]: I'm not sure about howthe way that Japan's schools work, but I'm prettysure that 3rd year junior high is 9th grade....so in America, Sakura would be a freshman in high school. But in Japan she would be a 3rd year junior highschooler. haha...oh man, I really have work on getting these things straight.