Author’s Note: I don’t own anything.

/own thoughts/
italics – past lives

 

Past lives live in us, through us.
Each of us harbors the spirits of people who
walked the earth before we did, and those
spirits depends on us for continuing existence,
just as we depend on their presence
to live our lives to the fullest.
-John Edgar Wideman

Dara squinted against the intruding light and groaned as the alarm by her bed continued its shrieking. She briefly wondered if she had enough energy to throw a pillow at the clock as she checked the time.

"Dammit, I still have two hours before my first class."

As if on cue, Bom chose this moment to poke her head into her sister's room. "Get up, Dara. Youngbae's leaving, and Chaerin's gone already." she barreled on, anticipating her sister's next question. "Oh, and Youngbae set your alarm, I think. Something about being sick of waiting for you."

Grumbling darkly about her lack of a car Dara dragged herself out of bed. Bom decided wisely to refrain from commenting on her sister's shadowed eyes. /Looks like I'm not the only one with bad dreams.../

Feeling guilty about being happy that her sister was feeling just as bad as she, Bom offered a perky grin. Held it there even as Dara's eyes threatened pain.

"Whatever," Dara mumbled. "Tell Youngbae that I'll be right down. Give me five minutes." She opened one bleary eye and risked another look at the clock. "Give me ten minutes."

Bom shrugged and bounded down the stairs, wincing as her sister's agitated voice followed her. "And for the love of God, Bom, WALK!"

Bom took a much needed detour and poured herself a bowl of cereal. Munching on her breakfast, she walked slowly into the hall. /Might as well give Dara some more time to get ready/

Youngbae met her there and raised an eyebrow, juggling the keys in his hand. "Still sleeping?"

Noting that he had been giving her searching looks as of late, the younger girl simply stared at her brother for a bit, not noticing that he had spoken.

"Bom?"

"Oh! Right." Bom nodded and rolled her eyes for emphasis. "She'll be down in a bit, Youngbae-oppa. She's in a mood."

Youngbae, having grown up with three sisters, was wise enough to let that statement go unanswered. "Well, she's got fifteen minutes, and then I'm leaving."

"Then it's a good thing that I'm a fast dresser, ne?" Dara panted as she streaked down the stairs. Their mother's sleepy voice demanded that they lower the noise level or face much pain. Dara's face lit up with a smile, as Youngbae slung her over his shoulders and stalked to the car muttering about sleepy sisters. /God, I love mornings/

And the one who watched her smiled along.

Dara pinched herself hard, wincing as the nail nearly broke the flesh. But she knew that if she didn't shape up, she would be in danger of failing her philosophy class. And it didn't help that her teacher had decided to grace her with extra reading assignments. In reincarnation. How bogus was that? What the hell was she doing in a philosophy class?

/ Stupid Chaerin and her stupid nagging./

Her dark thoughts were interrupted when the professor cleared . "Park."

The class had cleared out. Dara started, blinked sheepishly and raised her eyes to the expectant teacher. "Yes?"

"I have more reading for you to do. Copy these page numbers down."

Biting her tongue lightly to keep the groan from spilling out, Dara dutifully copied the numbers down, promising herself that she would actually try to skim the chapter this time.

It wasn't her fault, really, that she wasn't reading the material that the professor was giving only to her. She had, in fact, picked up the heavy book many a night, with every intention of reading the text.

It was just that something inside her made her close the book and walk away.

I need no false hope from silly scrolls. I am no longer a girl who sighs at horoscopes.

Dara shivered, her eyes troubled as the voice whispered through her mind again.

The professor took off her glasses and rubbed pale fingers over the bridge of her nose. "Dara. I know that it might seem a little unfair, giving you so much more reading than your classmates. You must realize, however, that I am your professor. I have my reasons."

"Yes, seon saeng-nim." Dara bowed respectfully. /Like causing me to die from sleep deprivation./

"You are dismissed."

She bowed once more, excusing herself as she collected her things.

The professor turned blindly back to her desk, collecting her briefcase and papers, reminding herself to stop by the market and pick up some milk. She smiled. Minho had to have cereal for breakfast.

Still, her hand paused on one particular test paper. Park Dara. A bright and beautiful girl with wonderful parents. Even though one of them had to be the most unnerving man she had ever met.

Chuckling while she remembered the last open campus meeting with Park Hyun Suk, the professor brushed a hand lovingly over the nameplate that rested proudly on her desk. She made a mental note to have the plate changed. After all, she was now a married woman.

"Suzy-ssi, your husband's on the line."

She glanced up, smiled at the elderly psychology teacher. "Thank you, seon saeng. I'll take it."

As she reached for the phone, she paused and looked out the window. There she spotted Jiyong, sitting dejectedly on a campus bench, watching the girl she had just given about thirty pages of reincarnation research to walk away.

Oh, Jiyong. I've done all I can.. Its up to you now.

She turned away pick up the phone and speak with her husband.

Don't let it all be for nothing.

Dara rushed to the campus café, her overburdened book bag thumping painfully against her leg. /Stupid extra reading. Stupid teacher. Stupid fox of a sister who can't remember her own stupid books to save her stupid life./

Needless to say, when an unsure Jiyong stepped in her path, the result wasn't pretty.

"You!" she snarled, eyes lighting with black fire as she was forced to stop or crash into him.

"Dara-ssi," Jiyong figured that this wasn't getting off the way he wanted it to. "I wanted to talk to you about something."

No.

"I'm a little busy right now, Jiyong sunbaenim." Dara huffed, desperately looking over the older man's shoulder for any form of rescue.

"I'm afraid that this really cannot wait."

Dara had the urge to break this pretty boy's nose. Instead, she clung to calm and brushed past him, failing to see the way his hand has lifted to his temple, as if to massage a headache.

"Listen, mister, take a freakin' number."

She gasped in indignant shock as a hand s out to grip her elbow. Her backpack dropped to her feet, spilling her philosophy book at her feet. Her initial words of outrage faded as he lifted his gaze to hers. /Gold?/

She found that she couldn't speak as he pulled her towards himself. His gaze was almost hypnotic.

"I grow weary, Dara, watching myself let you walk away." His voice was smooth with underlying currents. "I let you leave me once, jagiya. I never repeat the same mistake twice."

"I-I barely know you," she breathed, her eyes falling shut as he ran a calloused finger lovingly over her bottom lip.

Don't you? This is G-Dragon. This is the one who broke you in the end.

Dara's eyes snapped open, and she raised shaking hands to push vainly at Jiyong's chest.

"I...please," she stammered, faltering as he only brought her closer. Black clashed with gold as she flexed fingers trapped in between them. "Don't."

"What are you afraid of?" His voice would have been amused if not for the glitter of desperation in his gaze. "Are you afraid of me?"

She tried to shake her head, stifling a gasp as his grip increased in pressure.

"Then why..."

Dara eyes softened as she saw the utter sorrow in the fierce golden depths. Unknowingly, she had raised her hand to cup his cheek. Her flesh was splashed with his tears.

"Why can't you..."

He kissed her.

A chaste kiss, but an earthshattering one. She didn't know when his grip had softened into a caress, or when her hands had stopped pushing to rest, helpless against the wave of emotion, against his chest. All she knew was that the world had tilted under her feet. Her fingers had clenched in the fabric of his coat, her eyes closed gently against the sensations.

He wrenched himself away, his eyes tormented with memories she couldn't begin to guess at. She raised shaking hands to her cheeks, startled by the wetness on her skin.

He cupped her face in his trembling hand and bent to touch his lips to her quivering throat. His breath puffed, warm, on her skin, and she closed her eyes, nearly missing his anguished words.

"Why can't you remember me?"

"Youngbae-oppa!" Chaerin tugged on her brother's sleeve as he placed their tray on the table. "Where's Dara?"

The boy shrugged thoughtfully, his shoulders tense. "I don't know. She should have been here by now."

Bom sipped at her soda, her gaze distant. "She had philosophy before this. Maybe the professor kept her after to.." The girl's eyes popped open, her words trailing off.

"Yes, that must be it. That teacher always does keep Dara after," Chaerin nodded as she stirred her coffee, satisfied. She glanced at her sister, her brows furrowing as she noted the girl's look of absolute shock. "Bom? What's the matter?"

Bom could only point and sputter.

Annoyed, Chaerin shot a look over her shoulder. Her spoon fell with a clatter.

Dara and Jiyong were kissing in the middle of the quad. He was crushing her to his body as if attempting to have her melt into him.

In the middle of the quad.

Both sisters were so startled that neither noticed the growing rage that quaked behind them.

Soohyuk stalked out of the office, his eyes darkened with annoyance. So they hadn't seen her, had they? Hadn't anyone on this godforsaken campus seen her?

I need to see her.

So he started to run. The bit with the jasmine flower had jarred her, he mused as his feet pounded the ground. It was a start, but he knew that she still fought the memories that plagued her dreams. She still fought the knowledge buried deep inside that made her wake, tired and frightened.

He smiled, his eyes lighting with a kind of triumph.

I bet Dragon hasn't seen her sleep as I have.

Chuckling over the fact that he had one upped his loathed enemy once more, Soohyuk nearly missed the couple embracing in front of him.

Once he had gotten rid of G-Dragon, he vowed, his pace never slowing, he would hold Dara that way. It would be him touching her cheek, not him. She would look at him the way the girl was looking at the man who was whispering to her.

G-Dragon who was whispering to her. Soohyuk stopped abruptly.

Wait a minute.

Dara inhaled sharply as her abused arm was gripped once more. But when she saw who had grabbed her, she fought the urge to scream.

"Dara, you can't run from me," he whispered to her, his eyes cold as he brushed a gentle hand through her locks. "You cannot deny me."

She gasped in pain as his hand fisted in her hair, forcing her to look up into his gaze. "Whether or not G-Dragon comes for you, know this..."

He kissed her then, and her stomach turned. Tears pooled at the corner of her eyes.

"You are mine now. For always."

Soohyuk smiled at the look of wide eyes panic that she sent him. This was good, he knew. It meant that she was beginning to remember.

"Dara."

Jiyong reached and grasped her other arm, his very being radiating possessiveness. "Soohyuk.. I told you to stay away from her."

Soohyuk smirked, his countenance at once lazy and defiant. "What can you do about it, Dragon? I marked her. A slash on her stomach. A scar from a wound she's never received."

Dara felt her knees grow weak as he grinned cockily at her from behind tinted shades.

"She's mine."

Jiyong's eyes went nearly black in his anger. "She's mine, Soohyuk. She was mine before you dared touch her with your filthy hands, before you dared take her away from me. She will always be mine."

Soohyuk snarled, opened his mouth to retort when someone cleared his throat, smiling dangerously when the two turned to look at him.

"Actually, gentlemen? She's mine."

As the two men turned to look at him, Youngbae briefly entertained the fact that he had stepped into a parallel universe where men suddenly fought in the middle of the quad over his twin sister.

"She's my twin sister. And you," he began, jabbing a finger in the direction of the black haired boy, "You are just weird. Let go of her. Now. And you!" Youngbae sent a glare over his shoulder to the openly smirking Jiyong. "Wipe that smirk off your face. I'll deal with you later."

Dara stifled a grimace as her twin yanked her out of the mini tug of war. Youngbae's voice was low and serious, his face grim as he viewed both men warily.

"Stay out of this, Park," Soohyuk warned, his eyes narrowing behind his shades. "Don't concern yourself with things you cannot hope to understand."

"The only thing that I don't understand,"Youngbae snapped, "Is why YOU are kissing my sister in the middle of the quad!"

Jiyong's eyes went wide as Youngbae pointed an accusing finger in his face.

"Omo?!"

"Oh, shut up!"

Dara wrenched her arm out of Youngbae's grasp angrily, bending down to scoop up her back pack before stalking to the café. Three very confused and irritated men stood, shocked, watching her leave.

Youngbae turned, finding the creepy man had left. He raised an eyebrow at the remaining boy, who was frowning in concentration, touching a long finger to his temple.

"Hey. Didn't your eyes used to be gold?"

If I ever leave you, how far would you go to bring me back?