The Song In My Soul

Ch. 1 Rin

Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

The sound of the shower sounded loud in my waterlogged ears as I started to hum and try and remember the words to a catchy tune I had heard the other day and soaped up with my favorite shower gel, Mango Apple Twist. After Iwashed my light brown hair and turned off the water, I stuck my hand out of the shower door groping around for a towel. The knock at the door startled me and sounded so persistent that, assuming it was mom I got out, discarding my search for a towel for the moment and opened the door a crack to see what she wanted.

"Ye-DAD! I almost threw my arms around him when I realized my state: naked. "Just a sec dad!" I slammed the door closed and found on the other side of it a house coat which I flung on, not caring that it was on backwards. As I ran around the bathroom looking for a towel to keep my hair from getting my shoulders uncomfortably wet, I heard him say, a bit muffled, something about singing, shower, talent, and angel. I opened the door and hugged him tightly. "What did you say dad?", I said not letting go of him. "I said, still singing in the shower I see, do you expect some talent scout to have his ear pressed against the bathroom door at 9 am in the morning at your house angel?" I rolled my eyes. "Da-ddy! Cut it out! Why are you here so early anyway?" "I could ask the same question".

We both turned around to see my lovely mother wearing an old house coat and slippers, and her hair looking like some rodent had slept in it. "Hmm…..the bed head look. It suits you Lei." My mother made a swipe at him which he dodged grinning and said simply, "I just couldn't wait to see my angel and I saw it was such a nice day that I thought I would take her a bit early to breakfast, what do you think?" I squealed in delight then looked at mom expectantly. She nodded grudgingly. I smiled happily and ran to my room to get ready.

"A bit early Nakago, more like 4 hours early! I mean, what's with you, barging in here, on a Monday no less, and asking Rin to breakfast, without even asking me! For Pete's sake Nakago, you could've at least called! This isn't like you!" Lei ran her hands through her knotted hair and eyed her ex-husband suspiciously. They had divorced when Rin was 5, and though Nakago had wanted custody over her, the judge decided that, of course, the mother had the rights to the child. 'It's for the best Nakago, you may not see it now, but think reasonably. When Rin is older she's going to need her mother to teach her, certain, necessities that a man cannot', the judge had explained to a frustrated Nakago 12 years ago and, grudgingly, Nakago had relented. At least he could see her on weekends. Nakago had remembered when Rin was 10 and her mother had called telling him Rin had won a singing contest in her elementary school and he had been so proud he had given Rin a rose, which she still had, seeing as she had dried it.

She got more and more excited about singing and writing music as she got older and now, at the age of 17 she had sent her reseme to The Shikon University Of Music intending on going further with her singing and writing. Her father was extremely proud. However her mother just told her daughter not to get her hopes up. That university was the best in Japan! Also the most expensive. Not to mention it was in Tokyo, a far cry from their much smaller city. Rin didn't care. She was determined to get in, even if it meant working the whole summer just to get the money. Nakago was behind her 100 percent. Lei was about to say more when Rin came downstairs wearing a tank top,skort,shoes, and a brilliant smile. So did Nakago (AN/ The smile, not the skort, I'm not that weird. Oo). "Let's go angel!" Rin nodded and followed him to his red mustang.

I stared out the window at the trees whizzing by, in complete and utter bliss. "So, where do you want to eat? Wacdonalds?" dad teased. I gave him my best I-think-I'm-going-to-puke-look and he burst into fits of laughter. We both hated WacDonalds. He had taken me there once when I was 7 and that was enough. I even kindly left all the food there for the employees to clean up after my stomach decided it didn't agree with the food. At all. So, it simply ejected it. The wrong way( A/N I hope you know Imean throwing up). My dad did the same thing except he made it to a toilet." Alright then, how about...oh, I dunno, Munchin' Marties?" My dad was rewarded with one of my brightest smiles and a hug that nearly caused an accident. We pulled into my favourite resteraunts parking lot and entered the small but homey building.

After ordering what we wanted, we talked about this and that, how dumb a song on the radio was or how the new iMac computers were so cool. Nothing important. That is of course until my beloved dad tapped his fingers on the table, the way he always does when he has something important to say. I immediately shut up and stared at him expectantly. He cleared his throat and opened his mouth, no sound coming out of it. He tried again and failed. Finally he said,"Angel baby, I don't know how to put it. So, here, this is for you. Oh, and it was one of the reasons I came so early if you're wondering". He handed me a wad of bills, which I stared at. It was alot of money. And when I say alot, I mean so much, that 1000 dollars is peanuts compared. In my hand was 100 000 dollars. I was speechless. Shocked. I had never seen that much money in my lifemuch less hold it! Finally I found my voice. "D-dad how? This is alot of money. How did you- "When you were 9 you said you were going to that university. I knew you could do it. But only with help. So I began saving. And there you are!" My dad stated simply, as he always does. I looked at him with tears in my eyes. He had saved money for 8 years, all for me! I couldn't wait anymore. I ran over to him (A/N They were sitting across from eachother) and hugged him as tightly, without cutting off his air supply, as I could. "Thank you daddy! Thank you so much! You don't know how much this means to me!" I stated happily, still crying (A/N That's a bit odd Oo). "Well, you don't know how much it would mean to me if you gave your old man a kiss", my dad said, grinning. I laughed and kissed him on the cheek. "Aahhhh, that's better! Now Rin, put that somewhere extremely safe and; don't let your mother know you have it. She might..." I nodded sadly. Mother tries, but she can't hide that she has done drugs. Me and dad both know it.

What dad doesn't know is that mom always brings a new boyfriend home on the weekends, and they get drunk and do some scary things. Whenever that happeneds I lock my door and go outside through the window to walk in the park, or something like that. I don't tell dad because...I know mom's trying and happily she hasn't had a new boyfriend for a month, and has tried to stop doing drugs. I'm very grateful. Dad does have a point though. If mother knows I have this kind of money, she probably won't do anything, but if she hooks up with a new boyfriend, and while she's drunk she let'st it slip... If the boyfriend knows, I'd be in major trouble because most of my mother's boyfriends are total druggies and they would do anything to get that kind of money for drugs. To put it short: my mom's life is screwed up and she's trying to put it back together. It would be best if she didn't know. I nodded again and put the money in my purse in a hard to see pocket just as the food arrived. Mmm! Pancakes!

"Bye dad! Love ya!" I blew a kiss to the red mustang that was pulling away from our driveway and skipped inside after I saw his hand wave through the window.

"Huh? He left? But what about when he's actually supposed to come like in 2 hours? I thought he'd probably take you till 4:30! It's only 11! Honey, what is Nakago up to?" My mom sounded exasperated so I told her the excuse dad and I came up with, which was partly true. "Dad came early because he got a call from the office saying they needed help with some paperwork that had just come in from Tokyo. He couldn't stay longer although he wanted to and I told him I understood, but he SO owed me. He laughed at that." I pretended to act grumpy at the last comment. Dad had laughed when we practiced what to say and I had pulled that face. Mom just shrugged and began to make breakfast for herself. Now fully dressed, my mother was a pretty attractive women. Her dyed hair hadd been combed(A/N Thank goodness) and fluffed a bit, she wore a sassy top that always made me want to make sure everyone knew we weren't related, or laugh. Usually it's both. It was indeed sassy, or something, saying, ' My face is up there' written right across the-um, upper abdomen with an arrow pointing to her face. She also wore tight black jeans with a red studded belt and sandy colored platform sandals that tied to her ankles. She looked like she was in her twenties, which was how she looked everyday. Her job was at a bar and she wanted to look good.

I went upstairs and decided to go onto GarageBand on my iMac PowerBook G4. I loved the fact you could make up songs and print out the notes so you could play them on real instruments. Scratch that. I love everything about it! After about 2 hours on that, I got bored and surfed the internet. An hour of that and I'm in the same predicament. So I write in my journal. Unlike most people, I write everyday. I like it. And I have practically no social life, so I have time. Another reason to want to get in to The Shikon University Of Music. Start over and maybe make some friends. At the very least.

After writing the days events, I locked my journal up. I don't use those pathetic locks that come with them that can be opened without the key, I actually bought a small padlock and had the key around my neck. I was especially grateful for it today. I didn't want mom finding out about you-know-what. 2:30 p.m. I sighed. Then I got up and started correcting notes and lyrics on my songs. Sort of, self assigned homework. Man, I am a geek! After correcting 2 songs I glanced at the clock: only 5. I growled and decided to get something to eat. I snuck downstairs, grabbed a bag of chips, and ran back upstairs. I then turned on the radio and flopped onto my bed. 5:00 and he still hasn't called. Sigh.

Somewhere else

Nakago slipped the package into the mailbox, praying it would be sent in time. "I hope this helps you with your dreams my angel", he said softly, slid into his car, and started driving.

Back with Rin

After hearing the same song on the radio for about the one millionth time,and telling her self that she could do soooo much betteras she heard it,Rin switched it of and glared at her furry pink phone. 'Dad promised he'd phone! He was going to tell me something else he'd forgotten! Grr! If this is some sort of a way to, make me patient, I'm going to kill him' Rin thought this, but she knew she never would actually,duh. She loved her dad so much and the thought of... Oh brother, this was pointless, talking to nobody. Suddenly a quiet knock on her door snapped her back to reality. Rin crossed the room and threw the door open to see her mother standing there looking so serious and worried, Rin thought the police were here again (long story, don't ask). "Rin honey, um, sweetie? I-I don't know how to tell ou this. Your father he-" Lei swallowed and continued slowly. "Rin, your father...is dead".

Ha! Thought I'd give you a cliffy because that ALWAYS happens to me when I'm reading a good story. AND I want you to review. I need atleast 10 reviews before I update, so if you like the story, recommend it or something, cause I shan't update is you shan- I mean, don't review :P. Tell me what you think!

Hershey kisses-Foxy