• She paid no attention to the overly obsessive testosterone enraged boys staring at her, for she already knew that her mini-skirt and neon pink leggings were going to attract such attention. Aiko could not decide if today was either just as bad or worse than the days preceding today. About a week Aiko's father announced that she, her mother, her father, and dreadfully sick grandmother would be put on a ship that was headed towars the Americas. She knew in the back of her mind that this was right considering the fact that a war was about to start and her hometown was a main target, but she couldn't help the resist the urge to scream at her father for making her do something so drastic.
    This would mean that Aiko would have to leave behind all of her possesions and her friends including something or someone she couldn't go a day without. It was her lover for almost a year Kiyoshi. He had been recruited and could not join her on this voyage, not that their parents would allow it anyways. Kiyoshi had asked Aiko's father for his daughter's hand in marriage, however Aiko's father thought very strongly that if he were to betrothe his daughter that he would have no financial stability to support her or even a house, on this Kiyoshi's parents agreed.
    As Aiko realized that her life had already been altered and it was too late to be changed back she painfully accepted the fact that her hometown of Hiroshima with it's Cherry blossoms always in full bloom and her lover Kiyoshi were never destined to be a part of her future. And as she took her first step onto the Boat named " Dragon's Honor" she was already feeling the pains of a heartbreak. That night the captain personally approached her to tell that this voyage was extremely dangerous and that they may not survive, completely oblivious to the horror he was unraveling. The boat ride was not as dangerous as the captained portrayed it, on most days it was actually peaceful and the crew were able to throw Japanese celebrations without worry.
    It was only a week after she had arrived at a San Francisco harbor and a man named Jack taken them into his half apartment half store building. that she was alerted of the Atomic Bombing on Hiroshima. That very night she lay in tear soaked pillows and weaped herself to sleep. It was not the fact that her lover Kiyoshi was dead, but the fact that she was the only one in her amily who seemed to care about all of these happenings. From that day on she naught , but talk with a sorrowful tone and kept indoors and constantly avoided others, while commiting suicide had become a daily option.
    Only on this one day exactly one year from the Bombing did a certain man appear into the store his face was narrow and sleek and full of joy, and his hat dipped so low it covered his face. And as he began to talk a sudden awareness alerted Aiko, for she knew that face and she knew that voice and as quickly as she had noticed it she screamed with joy as Kiyoshi removed his hat and quickly embraced her. They kissed long passionate kisses before finall stopping to discuss all the events that had occured since Aiko's departure. As it turns out Kiyoshi had been station in Aomori in the Northern region of Japan far away from the atomic blasts. After the war had finished Kiyoshi had returned home to discover the tragic remnants of his childhood and began to feel as deprerssed as Aiko. He had snuck onto a boat headed to California and by sheer luck landed in San Francisco where he visited with relatives who had also voyaged to the Americas. It was then that they told him about Aiko and her family and where he could find them it took him a month to find the shop, because he knew othing of the english language and it's alphabet.
    After Aiko and Kiyosi had discussed all of their epics and ere exhausted from such storytelling, Kiyoshi looked around and listened for any eavesdroppers and in the american way knelt down on one knee and asked for Aiko's hand in marriage. She was delighted and immediately replied YES, but also stunned to know that her father had allowed Kiyoshi to marry her considering he had nothing before the war and now anything he did have was burnt to a crisp. KIyoshi told Aiko of how his army pay and a month's worth of savings from working at his family's shop had allowed him enough.money to gain his soon-to-be father-in-law's trust that he would support Aiko. With this knowledge Kiyoshi put together a relatively small wedding within a few weeks and wed to Aiko and they lived happily ever after..... THE END :]