Here's Chapter Seven! Please enjoy it! There might be slight Cameron bashing, if one could call it that. My brother [Mr. Raberba 04] came up with the joke, and I just incorporated into my fic. I don't hate Cameron, I just have a strong disliking towards him, and I am trying to be nice.

~Lady Une-chan

In Love and War

By Lady Une-chan

Chapter Seven

January 10, UC 0080

London, England, The United Kingdom of Great Britain, Earth

The Noah Residence

Mirai awoke suddenly from some awful dream that she couldn't remember. Unfortunately, that startled Bright, who had also dozed off.

"Sorry," said Mirai, rubbing her eyes.

"It's okay," replied Bright, turning to look at the clock. "Whoa, it's eight o'clock A.M.!"

It was at this time that Sayla entered the room. "Good morning," she called.

"I'm hungry," Mirai told her.

"Oh, yeah, I ate your toast as a snack because when I came back you two were snoozing. I can go make you some more, and I assume that your hungry too, Bright, so I make you some as well," said Sayla, and she left the room.

"Bright, could you bring me my suitcase in here?" asked Mirai, "I want to brush my hair and brush is in there."

"Sure," said Bright, easing off the bed. "I'll be back." He exited the room for a brief moment and quickly returned with her suitcase.

"Thanks," said Mirai, taking it and setting it on the bed beside her.

Bright yawned.

"You're still sleeply?" Mirai teased as she opened up the suitcase, and took out her brush. "Hey, I forgot I brought this!" she exclaimed, pulling out a book from the suitcase.

"What's that?" asked Bright.

Mirai handed him the book and started to brush her hair.

Bright opened it. "Oh, it's a photo album!"

"Hai," answered Mirai, still brushing her hair.

Bright arched his brow. "Is that Japanese for 'yes'?"

"Sorry. I haven't actually spoken Japanese for in a long time. I can't believe I just randomly started to speak it again. Yeah, 'hai' means 'yes'." Mirai sat her hairbrush down, and motioned for Bright to sit back down next to her.

"It's okay. Sometimes I find myself speaking with a British accent, which I lost a long time ago." Bright moved the suitcase so he could sit next to her.

Sayla re-entered the room, carrying two plates of toast and a glass of water. "I didn't know what you wanted to drink, Bright, which would have to be milk or water, because that is all you have in this house!"

Bright smirked, and took the plates Sayla handed him.

"How are you feeling?" Sayla asked Mirai, handing her the glass of water.

"A little sore."

"Understandable," said Sayla, picking up one of the medicine bottles off of the nightstand, "You were asleep when you were suppposed to take your painkiller." She opened the bottle and handed a little white pill to Mirai. This pill was way smaller than the antibiotic.

Mirai swallowed the pill and shrugged. "Sorry."

"The amnesia hadn't probably worn off by then, so it's not your fault," said Sayla, putting the lid back on the bottle and setting it back on the nightstand.

Bright handed one of the plates of toast to Mirai. "Could you get me a glass of milk please, Sayla?"

"Whatever you say Mr. Bright," said Sayla, sarcastically and rolling her eyes.

"Hey! I said please!"

"That reminds," started Sayla, "You definitely need to go the supermarket or whatever you call here in Britain."

"The grocery," said Bright.

"Yeah. Anyway, I could go there and buy us some food, because there is none in this house," said Sayla, mockingly.

"I didn't know that I was going to be feeding extra people," said Bright in his defense.

"Anyway, Bright! I will go buy us some food. However, I am in need of a car."

Bright fished his car keys out of his pocket and tossed them to Sayla. "Be careful; remember we drive on the left side of the road in Britain."

Sayla nodded and left the room.

"Does she know where to go?" asked Mirai, puzzled.

"She's part Newtype; I bet she does."

Mirai shrugged, and pointed at the photo album. "There's me when I was a baby."

Bright looked down at the picture. "Ahhh. You were so cute."

Mirai kind of giggled and turned the next pages, all filled with "Baby Mirai." Then the baby grew up a bit in the next couple pages, and a professionally taken photo showed a portrait of the Yashima family. It was kind of eerie looking at this photograph, just like it's eerie to look at the family portrait of the Romanovs of Russia. A tall General Yashima, in his Earth Federation army uniform, was standing behind his seated wife. Standing beside the chair was a six-year-old Mirai. They were all-smiles. Mirai and her mother was wearing matching yellow dresses. Little Mirai looked just a younger version of the way she was now. In fact, Mirai had grown up to look just like her mother, despite the fact that her mother had a 1950s style hair-do.

Bright heard Mirai snuffle. He put his arm around her shoulder. Mirai turned the page to show her and her mother wearing traditional Japanese kimonos. The picture was also a studio portait. They were both wearing matching pink kimonos, the same color of Mirai's military uniform. The long, flowing gowns were embroidered in gold, depicting cherry blossoms and other flowers.

"I miss my family, too," said Mirai.

"I'm sorry," said Bright. "I'm sorry I snapped at you for going into Elizabeth's room."

"Was that your sister's name?"

"Yeah."

Mirai turned the page.

"And what's this picture of?" asked Bright, pointing a photo of young Mirai dressed as a fairy, but she had a jacket on, so all you can see is her wings. Standing next to her was Cameron, dressed as a... flower. Cameron was completely dressed in green with a flower on his head.

"Well, it's a long story..."

"Let's hear it. I want to know why Cameron is dressed like a flower."

"Well, about ten years ago, when I was eight, our school put on a play. The drama teacher was a little nuts, and the play was really about nothing, and the cast was a flower, a couple fairies, and a devil. She decided to make a pun of Cameron's name, so she made him the flower."

"And how is this a pun of Cameron's name?" asked Bright.

Mirai rolled eyes and said, imitating the drama teacher, "Bloom, Cameron, bloom!"

Bright started to laugh uncontrollably.

"No, no, no! That's not it! I was the chief fairy, and the devil was supposed kill me! But we only practiced my 'death' once, because the teacher wanted it to be impromptu. So we're performing the play for the parents, and I have no clue when this devil thing is going to 'kill' me. About five minutes into the play, the devil comes down and pokes me with a plastic pitchfork. Unfortunately, that made me laugh, and the teacher said 'Die, Mirai, die!' So, I fell down, but I was still laughing, and the devil told me to shut up."

Bright continued to laugh, but Mirai smacked him on the shoulder, telling him to knock it off.

"Anyway, after I 'died,' Cameron was supposed spin around and dance. The teacher called, 'Bloom, Cameron, bloom!' Well, Cameron, 'bloomed' alright. He pushed a button, which caused the petal on his head to expand. Cameron had steped to close the devil, so when he 'bloomed,' he hit the devil in the head, and knocked him off the stage. Cameron, 'Die, devil, die!' Of course, I was still laughing the entire time!"

"Do you have this on tape?" asked Bright.

"Unfortunately, no. Too bad, ne? Anyway, after the play, we went backstage to change back into normal clothes. However, I had arrrived in my costume and a jacket, so I was stuck being a fairy. Then Cameron's parents came up and snaped a picture of us. After that, his mom took me aside and told me that my behavior during the play was unacceptable. I told her that the play was very impromptu, and that my laughing was very impromptu too. And with that I marched out of the building."

"I was just wondering, but what did your costume look like?"

Mirai's eyes narrowed. "Why?"

"Well, was it a toga?"

"Bright!" Mirai smacked him on the shoulder again. "I was only eight! God! Get your mind out of the gutter!"

Bright rubbed his shoulder. "Sorry."

Mirai laughed and turned the next page to a picture of her and serveral other girls dressed in kimonos. They appeared to be at a Japanese festival of sorts.

"Who are these people?" asked Bright, still rubbing his shoulder.

"These are my cousins Naoko, Megumi, Megami, and Nikoru. When I was nine, a came back to Japan for a short visit with my uncle's family. We're at the aunnal Cherry Blossom Festival. That was the last time I went to Earth before the war."

The telephone suddenly rang.

"Hello?" asked Bright as he anwered the phone.

"Where are the cookies?" asked a voice on the other end.

"Cookies? Is this Sayla?"

"Yes, this is Sayla, and I can't find the cookies!"

"They're called 'biscuits' in Britain! God, Sayla. And they in tins, okay. Look tins labeled 'biscuits'," instructed Bright.

"Okay! 'Bye."
Bright hanged up the phone. "That was random."

"Everything is random," said Mirai, flipping through the pages of the photo album.

"Hey, I haven't looked at those pages yet!"

"You don't want to see them," warned Mirai, cluthing the book to her chest.

"Why not?"

"Because."

"Okay, fine then. I'll won't look at them."

Mirai smiled and opened the book to a page that showed a picture of the White Base crew.

"Ta, da! Here we are!" said Mirai.

"Didn't Kai take that picture?" asked Bright, as quickly turned the page back.

"Hey! You said you weren't going to look at them!" Mirai pouted.

"It's just your prom picture," said Bright not understanding we Mirai didn't want him to see it.

"But Cameron was my date!"

"So?"

Mirai snatched the book back. "No more photo album for you!" She put the book back in her suitcase.

"I'll be right back," Bright said and he left the room. Mirai realized that she forgot to eat. Picking up a piece of toast, Mirai examined it. It was a little browner than she liked it, but decided to eat it anyway.

"Here we go," said Bright, entering the room once more. He handed a book to Mirai.

"What's this?"

"My mum made a scrapbook for my nineth birthday," said Bright reclaiming his seat.

"Ha! You said 'mum'!"

"Just because I don't have a British accent doesn't mean that I don't use British terms. I do use some American terms, like I say the 'trunk of the car' and and most Brits say the 'boot of the car', etc."

Mirai opened the book. "Oh, look, it's chibi Bright!"

Bright gave her a quizzical look. "Chibi?" he repeated.

"In Japan, that's the term for 'small' or 'little'," said Mirai turning the pages.

"Okay," said Bright.

"But you just call anyone 'chibi'. People take it as an insult if you call them that and you are a stranger to them. In fact, you can only people 'chibi' if you are close to them."

Bright still looked a bit confused.

"Close as in friends, Bright. Not phyiscal distance. Anyway, I just was refering to how little you are in the pictures." Mirai sighed and shook her head.

Then they could here a car pulling up in the driveway. "Well, Sayla's home," said Bright, getting up from the bed. "I'll go help her unpack the groceries."

"Okay,' said Mirai, intent of just looking at the pictures. Bright left the room, shutting the door quietly behind him.

Most of the pictures in the book were on Bright when he was about two or three. Apparently, one of his parents most of had a lot of free time then to take all the photographs. Eventually he got older and his little sister was in the background in a lot of pictures. Elizabeth Noah also had black curly hair and often sported a pink ribbon in it to match all of the pink dresses she wore. Finally, Mirai came across a picture on of the Noah family sitting in front of a fireplace that Mirai reconized as the one downstairs. Bright's father looked like an older version of the Bright that Mirai knew. He had the same black hair and square jaw. Bright's mother had light brown, shoulder length hair, and was very beautiful. Elizabeth was wearing a pink dress and was seated by eight year old, Bright. That was the last photograph in the scrapbook.

Mirai quickly turned back to the front of the book. Sure enough, it said, 'To Bright on his nineth birthday, Love Mum, Dad, and Elizabeth.'"

The door opened and Bright entered. 'Well, Sayla has decided to make a real breakfast!"

Mirai handed him his scrapbook. "I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault, Mirai."

Mirai adverted her eyes in order to avoid eye contact.

Bright sat back on the bed and began to play with Mirai's hair. "You know, I've never seen your hair up."

"I don't really have enough hair for a ponytail," said Mirai, handing him her hairbrush.

"Yes, you do," said Bright, brushing back into a ponytail and then holding it in place. "See?" he said pointing to the mirror on the wall.

"I guess so."

Bright let go her hair and handed her back her brush. "I think I like it down better, though."

"As do I," said Mirai, brushing her back into place.

The door opened again, only this time it was Sayla, holding a platter of food.

"Ta da! A better breakfast then just toast!" Sayla sat the platter on thr bed.

Bright and Mirai looked over at the food. Included was a German sausage, a Belgian waffle, an English muffin, a piece of French toast, and a small pitcher of syrup, from Vermont, Amercia, respectfully. The food was set up in the same configuration of the real world.

"Look," said Sayla, stabbing the sausage link with a fork, "The German sausage invaded the Belgian waffle." Sayla prodded the waffle with the sausage, "accoring to the Schifflen Plan, which, of course, involved the Germans invading Belgium in order to attack France." Sayla pointed to the French toast. "Well, the English muffin steps in to help the Belgian waffle, because Belgium was neutral, due to the Congress of Vienna."

"I'll have you know that the English muffin is certainly not English. We eat scones--" started Bright, but Sayle interrupted.

"Anyway, the French toast attacks the German sausage--" Sayla slid the sausage off the fork and placed it next to the toast-- "and then the German sausage sunk the ship the Lustania, so the Americans join in." Sayla picked up the pitcher of syrup and poured it over over the food. "And there we have World War I."

Bright and Mirai stared blankly at Sayla, sweatdropping.

"Wait until lunch! I've got sushi to do World War II!" and with that, Sayla left the room.

"Hey!" Bright called after her, "Whatever happened to my milk!"

Mirai shook her head. "I think Sayla left her common sense somewhere."

Bright laughed and put his arm around Mirai's shoulder. Mirai lended her head on his shoulder.

"This time don't fall asleep," said Bright, teasingly.

"I promise I won't." Mirai was quite content just to sit there for all eternity, but deep down, she knew that something was going to happen. Something-- no, someone-- was coming here. Someone from her past... Cameron.

Owari-- for now! And yes, Cameron is coming into my fic, and I promise to be nice to him, okay, and there will be no further Cameron-bashing, not even another slight joke.

So stay tuned for Chapter Eight of "In Love and War"!

~Lady Une-chan

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