March 11, 2011

The date was March 11, 2011. Ichigo was at the local Japanese arcade, beating her high score at a game similar to Dance Dance Revolution, along with a few friends. " Haha! This sure beats lounging around the house with my brother all day!" she exclaimed. All of a sudden, the ground shook. "Whoa! Did anyone else feel that?" Her friends shook their head. Ichigo shrugged & kept dancing, her amber eyes focused on the screen as her legs hit the right arrows. Then the ground shook again, this time knocking everything & everybody down. " 男、それは何でした か？! (Otoko, sore wa nanideshita ka?!)" "What was that?!" she asked, dodging a falling TV. As she ran out of the arcade & into the street, that's when she saw it. A HUGE wave was rising from the coast. As her amber eyes grew wide, she immediately thought. " ビッグブラザー (Bigguburazā)." "Big brother." . Fearing the worst, Ichigo sprinted towards her brother's house, the wave at her heels. But she didn't get far, because soon the wave engulfed her.

She slowly opened her eyes to see a nurse. As she looked around, she noticed she was in a make-shift hospital room. " Wha-wha-what happened?" She asked, her voice hoarse. "The earthquakes. The city. The nuclear plant. The tsunami......Japan........." the nurse muttered. Ichigo grew impatient at the nurse for not explaining what happened tto her clearly. "Where's my brother?" she said, her amber eyes scanning the room. Inside it lay many people, injured from what waspossibly what the nurse was talking about. "Ichigo!" a familiar voice rang. Ichigo looked around to see her older brother, Kiku, his chest wrapped neatly in bandages along with his usual white pants & black shoes, running towards her. "Kiku! Over here!" she said, waving her arms. "Kiku, what happened?" The earthquake....it triggered a tsunami & it hit Japan, practicarry wiping out Tokyo......the nucrear prant.......the nucrear prant's reaking out nucrear waste as we speak.......... Kiku said, his voice breaking.".........No......I WON'T BELIEVE IT!!!!!" Ichigo screamed. ITS NOT TRUE!!!!!!" . Ichigo screamed. Kiku rested his hand on his sister's arm. "Hai, it is very true......I'm sorry Ichi, but Tokyo's in ruins."

~Present Day

Ichigo walked through Tokyo, her city. Its was slowly rebuilding herself, and she was proud. The earthquakes & tsunami left scars all over her body, but she didn't care. As long as her city, country, and everybody she loved was okay, she was satisfied. She sighed as she walked over to the arcade that she loved, or what USED to be the arcade.

"Qingwen, aru. Qingwen." Jin Wang muttered beneath his breath as his shoulder continuously brushed against someone else's. He was used to bumping into people because of how busy cities were in China, but he felt strange running into people in Tokyo. He felt...out of place. After all, the Chinese and Japanese were very different, much to many people's disbelief. He was holding a panda bear as he walked, dressed in his usual attire of red silk with golden lining.

He finally came to a small clearing, noticing a girl standing nearing a broken down arcade. He tilted his head, recognizing this girl as Ichigo, or more commonly known as Tokyo. They were both the capitals of strong nations, so they shared something in common. Parting from the rush of people, he moved closer to her. "Err...ni hao, Ichigo." He greeted her in a quite voice. He seemed bashful and he looked down, shuffling his feet. He seemed to grip Jing, his panda, closer. "I-I mean, konnichiwa, aru."

Ichigo sighed & turned towards a voice in alarm. "Uh..konnichiwa? Aren't you Beijing?" she asked, raising an eyebrow & noticing how much he looked like Yao and his attire. She coughed & fixed her jacket to hide her scars.

He looked up, the small blush still evident upon his cheeks. "Shi," He answered with a nod. He then gave her a small smile, tilting his head slightly in the process - it had been a rather cute gesture. "But you can call me Jin." As he finished his words, he noticed she was adjusting her outfit. He blinked, watching as her jacket was pulled to hide some of her scars.

He frowned when he found her eyes again and said, "I am sorry about what happened here, Ichigo..."

She shrugged. " Te wa ikemasen." "Don't be." she said with a dimpled smile. "It was bound to happen anyway, since Japan is along the Ring of Fire.....I just never thought it'd end up like this....." she said, her voice trailing off as she sat down on the sidewalk. " Tonikaku, how's Yao and the others?" she asked.

Jin couldn't argue with that. Tokyo, along with many towns, were all at great risk because of their location. As she sat down, he became flustered once more, unsure if he should sit beside or not. "My father is doing well - my siblings I have not heard much from recently, but I assume they are well too, aru." He pulled his panda close, bitting into his bottom lip. "Erm...may I sit with you? I don't mean to be a bother. I just thought, maybe you'd like some company?" He asked.

Laughing a bit at his reaction, Ichigo patted the spot next to her. " Mochiron!" she said happily. "Uwa~ you panda is soo kawaii!!! What's its name?" she said, poking the panda's forehead.

Jin gave a small chuckle and sat down next to her, smiling as she poked his panda's forehead. "Tā de míngzì, Jing." He answered. He realized he answered in his native tongue and shook his head in embarrassment, soon hanging it as he closed his eyes tightly. "I meant, his name is Jing."

" Sore wa kūruda!" "That's cool!" she said, smiling widely as she kept pokint the panda. "I learned one day, that Pandas are commonly found in Asia, mainly China. And that they eat Bamboo and are NOT in the bear family, but I still call them Panda Bears," she said, making a face like this, X3

"Xie xie," He thanked her in his native tongue, not realizing he had spoken in it yet again. His smile brightened and he giggled at her comment, holding his index finger up. "Actually, you must have been mistaken with the Red Panda. A Red Panda, is not a bear; however, the Great Panda is most definitely part of the bear family. There has been a debate about this for a long time - some still claim the Panda is not a bear, but I believe him to be. He is an ursa-mammal, after all." He seemed to enjoy talking about this subject, having a certain fondness for information and debates.

Raising her eyebrows, she asked, " There's a Red Panda?" . Red was by far, her favorite color, seeing she helped also with the creation of the Japanese flag. She was curious to know, for she liked learning new things about different cultures. "I thought all pandas were black & white"

Jin nodded with a small smile. "Shi, there is a Red Panda. It is much smaller than a Great Panda. It is said to be part of the raccoon family, too. They are very adorable animals, aru. But no, not all Pandas are black and white, but they are commonly those colors." He informed her.

Ichigo nodded. , "Oooooh" So, are there any more cool animals in China?" she asked, very curious, since her home had its share of cool animals.

Jin tapped his finger against his bottom lip while he was in thought. "Let's see...ah, we seem to be well known for our Xiamen Tiger. It is an endangered species, however, and we only have a few left in the wild." When he explained this, he seemed to frown, having a certain fondness for animals. He didn't like knowing one the species of tigers in China was endangered. Looking at Ichigo, he asked, "What are some neat animals in Japan, aru?"

Ichigo thought for a minute. "Well, we have these monkeys, Japanese Macaques to be exact, that commonly are found in the mountains. she started off. "These monkeys are HIGHLY intelligent, considering the fact that they are sometimes caught in the hot springs , & if you're not careful, they'll snatch your food & snacks away from you while you're walking, with no remorse!" she said, laughing. God, she hasn't laughed or had fun like this since the earthquake & tsunami. She was actually enjoying this, considering her friends died during the tsunami & earthquake, either from drowning or being crushed by the arcade they were inside.

Jin listened with fascination as she spoke of the rare animal within her country. His eyes widened in surprise near the end, and he watched her as she laughed. He figured it was rare for her to do such a thing, since the earthquake had caused a tsunami to hit her home. He smiled and began to chuckle, holding his panda close. He found himself standing and offering her a hand. "Come with me, Ichigo." He told her, possessing a gentle look.

"M'kay, and just call me Ichi, like everybody else." she said, getting up. "It means 'one' in Japanese." she said with a soft smile.

He smiled brightly at her, his smile seeming to make his face glow. "Okay, Ichi." He proceeded to tug her along gently, his pace picking up as he neared the place he was wanting to take her. His panda hung loosely within his arm. Turning a corner, he remembered an ice cream shop he had visited once before when he had traveled here. And now, he had found it again. It had suffered damage during the earthquake, but had been rebuilt - thankfully, it hadn't been hit like the arcade had. Glancing back at Ichigo from over his shoulder, he said, "I was wanting to take you to get some ice cream. Want some?"

Ichigo's eyes lit up. "Yes please! Arigato Jin-san!" she said, smiling brightly & trying to not glomp her new Chinese friend. Ichigo REALLY loved ice cream....like, REALLY loved it. "Could I have Vanilla?"