Dreams & Memories
Part 7
By: Tisha


	Chris let Akina have the next day to herself, and he risked going back the day after that. It was 
a Wednesday so he knew she wasn't working until the dinner shift. He knocked quickly and waited 
longer than usual. Akina came to the door. Her hair was tied up and she was wearing old clothes. He 
peeked past her and noticed boxes around the apartment.

	"Akina?"

	"Chris. Come in."

	He looked around. "You're leaving?"

	She sighed and nodded. "I have to go back to Tokyo. I have to know. I'm leaving Friday."

	He looked into her eyes and could tell she really needed to do this. He nodded slowly. "What 
about your stuff?"

	She looked around at everything and wiped sweat off her forehead with the back of her hand. 
"I'm selling it to a used furniture store. There are only a couple things I'm taking."

	"Well how will you live there?"

	"I'm hoping to find someone who could tell me who I am."	

	Chris sighed. "A him someone."

	Akina smiled and nodded. "He's the only person I remember. And even if I'm not so lucky I've 
already called Hiroshi. He's still got an extra room and he'd be happy to have me."

	Chris hugged her quickly but warmly. "Well good luck. Call me sometime."

	"I will." She looked around at all the boxes. "I really need to get back to packing. The people 
are coming to pick up the furniture tomorrow...I'll come and see you on Friday to say goodbye."

	"All right. Don't forget though." They both smiled and Chris let himself out so Akina could get 
back to work.


•••••••••••••••••••


	Akina looked out the airplane window as they descended toward Japan. She was filled with a 
mixture of hope and fear. How could she possibly find one person by a first name in all of Tokyo? And 
what if she accidentally ran into whoever or whatever had been trying to kill her in her early 
memories.

	The pilot clicked on and announced that it would be ten minutes until they landed. Akina was 
planning to get a hotel room in Tokyo for a week so that she could look for Mamoru. If she still had no 
luck then she'd go to stay with Hiroshi. She had gotten lost in her thoughts and now realized that they 
had landed. She gathered her purse and carry on as she followed the line of people from the plane. 
The flight attendant welcomed her in Japanese and she realized it was nice to use the language again.

	She had the airport send her boxes to the hotel she had reservations at as she immediately 
went out into Tokyo. She wanted to know who she was and she wasn't going to wait. It was a long 
walk to get into downtown but she made it. She looked around at how many people and buildings 
there were and sighed. She could never find someone in all of this by having a picture in her head and 
a name she wasn't even sure was right.


•••••••••••••••••••


	Minako was leaving the arcade as she stopped suddenly, her eyes glued to a blonde woman 
on the other side of the street. The woman was dressed very classy in a black suit. Her hair was short 
and half of it was pulled back into a barrette.

	"Snap out of it Minako, now you're even seeing things." She subconsciously talked to herself 
as she tried to convince herself this woman could not be who she looked a lot like. Besides, the hair 
was way too short. Usagi would never cut her hair. Still, Minako couldn't take her eyes from the 
woman, who was looking around almost hopelessly.

	The woman suddenly ran across the street and she walked almost right passed Minako. 
Minako got a glimpse of her eyes and thought that it had to be Usagi. She couldn't help herself from 
grabbing the woman's arm. "Usagi-chan?"

	The woman looked at her with her mouth open, staring at her face.


•••••••••••••••••••


	Akina looked at the woman that had grabbed her. She seemed eerily familiar but Akina pulled 
her arm away. "Usagi? My name is Akina."

	The blonde looked disappointed but Akina couldn't stop looking at her.

	"I'm sorry...miss. I just thought you looked like my friend who disappeared two years ago. I'm 
so sorry."

	Akina bit her lip. "Two years ago?"

	The other girl nodded but didn't say anything. "You just look so much like her...and I hoped..."

	She trailed off and Akina had a creepy feeling that she knew this girl. She tried to remember. A 
memory flashed into her head and she realized it was the dream she'd had two years ago. The 
memory of someone trying to kill her. She gasped and backed away from the girl. "I don't know what 
you're talking about." She quickly turned and walked into the closest building.

	Looking around she saw that it was an arcade, and it appeared to be a popular hangout for 
younger people. She thought she might as well give it a try. 
She saw a young blonde man behind the counter and went up to him. "Do you happen to know 
anyone named Mamoru?"

	The man looked at her startled. "Usagi?"

	Akina swallowed the lump in her throat. Could it be possible that two people call her the same 
name by mistake? Probably not. The bad memories overpowered the good ones for a minute and she 
thought maybe she didn't want to find out who she was. She slowly started to back away but the man 
pointed behind her.

	"There's Mamoru."

	Akina swallowed hard and turned to find a man staring at her. It *was* the man in her 
memory. She could tell he recognized her too.

	"Usako?"

	"Usako? Is...that my name?"

	Mamoru exchanged a look with Motoki and looked at her. "You *have* to be Usagi...right? 
You can't be anyone else."

	"Usagi? You're the third person to call me that." She started chewing on the inside of her lip as 
tears started to collect in her eyes. "You...you're the only thing I've remembered so...so I must 
be...her...or me...or whatever. But...but I still don't remember."

	She looked up at Mamoru and was shocked to find him with a wide smile across his face. She 
looked at him, confused, as he continued to smile.


To be continued