Emiko Gabriella Lazzarani

I guess my life begins with my parents meeting and falling in love. My dad was a soldier in his younger days and spent a lot of time traveling from Europe to Asia. He was originally from Italy, which I guess explains most o f my name. He met my mom on a trip to a small island off of Japan. He was only scheduled to be there for a couple of weeks. He was a goofy young romantic type of man, what you'd normally expect of an Italian, actually, and my mom was a traditional Japanese woman. She was prudent and stubborn, and didn't want to give her heart to the foreign soldier. She just couldn't resist. Even though my grandparents from Japan weren't happy about it, my mom packed her things and ran away, eloping with my dad. About a year later, my older brother, Ren, was born.

Ren was two years older than me, but he got sick when I was about eight and passed away. My mom took it really hard and fell ill, herself. She didn't have the strength to get out of bed for a really long time, and my dad was always working, so I learned how to take care of myself at a really young age. My dad being a man of the military, he felt it was necessary to teach me how to fight. He taught me what he could of regular melee combat, and when I mastered that, he hired a skilled martial artist to train me in more agile forms of battle.

We lived in a small village off of the Mediterranean Sea, so I spent my free moments staring out at the deep water. It was the only thing that really brought me any comfort. You see, I have a very complex personality. While my father was very strict and prudent, my mother had always been a very free spirit. They were exact opposites, and I somehow became a cross of the two of them. Generally speaking, I have a very strong set of morals and values that I absolutely refused to break. Because of this, even when I hate someone, I still do what I can to help them if they need me. I don't give up on people, and it's a pretty big weakness. At the same time, I'm also a bit closed off emotionally, and I don't really like to be approached by people I don't know. Then again, when I do get approached by a person, if they seem relaxed enough, my own tension fades away and I'm not the least bit shy. Once people make it past my social awkwardness, I'm actually a very fun person to be around. I'm creative, smart, and even a bit goofy sometimes. Even so, I'm still stuck in my ways and if people around me start to do things I don't think are right, I'll be sure to let them know. I guess I'm cross like my dad, but caring like my mother.

With that said, I can tell you that, after Ren died, I didn't make many friends. He was like a clone of my mom and always had tons of friends, and they were my friends by association. After he died, though, I felt like I was intruding on his memory by keeping his friends, so I gradually stopped talking to them. My whole childhood was focused on training and taking care of my sick mother. If it weren't for my mother, I would have probably been completely alone, all the time.

It wasn't until I was seventeen that this really began to bother me. I knew most girls my age were planning their weddings and how they would manage their own homes, but me... I knew I was going to still be stuck taking care of my mother, and while I had a pretty face, my cold anti-social nature drove the boys away, so there was no luck for me ever getting married. At the same time, strange acts of arson began to plague our village and the ones surrounding it. It made life seem all the more gloomy, as everyone was either in a panic or sad because they'd lost people they cared about.

One evening, I was sitting out on the beach practicing some basic moves with my chakrams, singing to myself as I usually did. If I could master my techniques while distracted, I figured they'd become second nature to me, and I also found that I did things better while singing a tune I really liked. Yet, for some reason, tonight, the sadness within my heart and coming from my environment seemed to make my circular blades too heavy. I stopped in mid-form and held them limply at my sides as my dark eyes stared out at the sea again. I drew in a deep breath and, contrary to my father's scolding, I felt tears rise in my eyes. Before they could even fall, an unfamiliar voice sounded from behind me, and I turned with wide eyes.

"You're a pretty good singer- oh! What's wrong? I didn't mean to make you cry!" It was a tall boy with red hair. He had nearly made me jump out of my skin, and he'd heard me singing. I immediately turned bright red and blinked away my tears as best as I could without letting them escape my eyes and scowled at him.

"I'm not crying!" I exclaimed loudly, clutching my chakrams tightly. How embarrassing. Such a cute boy seeing me get all teary-eyed. It was not one of my prouder moments. But, to my surprise, he just smiled.

"I see," he said, rubbing the back of his head. Even his eyes were smiling- or his eye, because I couldn't see the other one underneath his eye patch. I was still embarrassed that he'd heard me singing. I wasn't sky, but I wasn't the type to enjoy the spotlight, either. "Well, I still think you have a really pretty voice," he added, as if reading my mind.

I jumped again, a little surprised and even more embarrassed that he would make that the center of the conversation again. Without saying anything, I just looked down at the ground. He seemed to finally get the hint.

"I'm sorry," he chuckled. "I guess I'm being rude. My name is Lavi," he said, his arms falling down to his sides. Curiously, I looked back up at him. Why on earth was he still trying to talk to me? What did he want? Still, I decided not to be rude, after all, he seemed to have approached me out of good intention.

"Emi," I replied, feeling the sting in my cheeks die down a little bit. "What are you doing here anyways? You're not from around here," I said, eying his uniform.

"Ah, so you noticed that, huh?" he said, looking down at himself before shrugging. "I'm actually here to investigate the arson attacks in this area. What do you know about them?" he asked me.

I blinked. Why was a boy roughly my age doing investigating arson attacks? I just looked at him and shrugged. "I don't know much about them. The only one that's happened here was at one of the farmer's barns on the north end of town. I can take you there if you'd like," I offered. I had no idea what I was getting myself into.

It didn't really take us long to get to the barn, and Lavi began his questioning right away. He didn't really get that much information, but I invited him back to my home for dinner, since my father was out of town on military business again and it was just my mother and I. Ren's room had long ago turned into a guest bedroom, and that's where Lavi slept. Well, for a few hours anyways.

I was woken up by a really strong smell of something burning. As my eyes fluttered open, I realized that my room was full of smoke, and I lived on the second floor of my home. My mother's room was on the main floor. In a panic, I jumped up from my bed.

"LAVI!" I screamed as I flew down the stairs. His door flung open a second later and he leap over the railing, beating me to the main floor. He kicked open my mother's door, but stopped, his eyes shrinking into the back of his head a little. "What's wrong? We gotta get my mom- oh my GOD!" I screamed.

What I would learn was an akuma floated above my mother's bed, surrounded by flames. Where was my mom? I just didn't understand! Then I heard an odd buzzing sound.

"Emi! Look out!" Lavi yelled. Befor eI knew it, he had bent down and wrapped his arms around my knees, tossing me over his shoulder before diving out of the room. He kicked down the front door of my house and fled the building. My curly hair was covering my eyes, but it didn't stop me from seeing the massive hole blown in the side of my house and the akuma float out. The smoke piled out after both of us and everything I owned was devoured by flames.

"Lavi! W-where's my mom!?" I cried as he put me down.

"That thins IS your mom, I think," he said, reaching over his shoulder to grab his hammer.

"What!? How could it be my mom??" I asked, half panicked and half pissed.

"Emi, you said your mom's been sick in bed since your brother died nine years ago. I think your mom's been dead for a long time you've been caring for an akuma!"

With that said, he jumped in the air, yelling for his hammer to grow, and his battle with the akuma ensued. I stood in shock. I just didn't understand! How could my mother have died? But it all made so much more sense when he had time to explain it later.

He defeated the akuma, and came to pat me on the shoulder. "Things are going to be okay, don't worry," he began to say, but from over his shoulder, I saw several other akuma rising from the forest and heading straight for us. "What? Aw, you gotta be kiddin' me! Why would so many becoming here!?" he wondered. Then, he turned to look at me. "Go find somewhere safe! If you get shot by one of these things, it'll kill ya for sure!" he said, and then he was off to fight them all on his own.

I watched from where I stood. Once explosion after the next made me believe that Lavi was doing just fine on his own, but I was never one to stand around and be helpless. I felt the determination rise within me and my hands balled into fists. Before I knew it, I was running back into my burning house to get my chakrams. I just felt that, if my mom had really been one of those things, that I was responsible to help get rid of them. Her spirit, I felt, had lured them to our village, and if it wasn't for that, Lavi wouldn't have to fight them.

The smoke made me cough, and the fire was extremely hot, but I got my weapons and fled the house. After catching my breath, I looked up at the sky. Lavi was still in battle, and I was about to be, too. Raising one of the large circular blades high above my head, I brought it down before throwing it like a disc. it whistled as it spun through the air, striking one of the akumas. I didn't know that normal human weapons were useless against akuma, so when my chakram did exactly what I expected and blasted through the akuma I threw it at, I was shocked to see the surprised look on Lavi's face. My weapon made its round, striking two more akuma before returning to my hand. The battle was over, and Lavi landed lightly on his feet before me.

"Emi, how would you like to become an exorcist and come back to the Order with me?" he asked excitedly, taking my hands in his. I immediately turned red again and looked down at his big hands holding on to mine. With my mother gone, and my dad too busy to realize I existed anymore, I didn't have much more to lose. Lavi was the only person who ever gave me the time of day, and my afternoon and evening with him had been full of laughs, which was odd for me. It was nice to be able to relax around someone.

Unable to speak, I just looked up at him with a pink face and gave a small nod. He let go of my hands and threw a fist up in the hair as he cheered. "Alright! It's about time we get another cute girl at the order! I'll send Komui a letter right away! Uh- I guess you really don't have much to pack..." he said, blinking back at my smoldering home.

"Yeah... I guess not," I agreed with a sigh. We went and checked into the inn and, the rest of the night, Lavi told me all about the akuma and what the exorcists did, and a little about the Order. I was excited to go to my new home, but when we arrived a few days later, most of the other exorcists were out on missions. During that time, I latched onto Lavi. I don't think he really realizes how much I've come to like him, but I know I can't really contain my interest and know that everyone else around me seems to realize that I follow him like a lost puppy. Constantly.