Pillars collapsed under the weight of a damaged house. Debris littered the driveway of a mansion set on fire. These were the signs of a recent sabotage movement against the rich families. This, however, was significantly more damaging than the previous sabotage attempts. The mansion's main door burst open.
This is bad. This is really, really bad.
A woman with long auburn hair ran out desperately, her boot clad feet hitting against the stony pavement hard. In her hands was a small bundle of pink cloth, held close to her chest. On closer inspection, it was a small baby girl with flushed cheeks.
A group of men and women, dressed completely in black were chasing them, guns and knives aimed at her. She was a good distance ahead of them, but it was still unsafe.
A couple of shots rang out, and the woman stumbled. She somehow managed to catch herself, and tried to run faster to make up for the stumble.
However, it was clear that she could not run any faster. Her shortness of breath made her dizzy, and she stumbled once more. She pulled the cloth bundle as close as possible and crashed onto her shoulder. She stayed down for a moment before she got onto her knees and tried to get up. A knife flew at her, landing beside her after cutting across her uninjured shoulder. She flinched at the sudden pain, before she started running again. Her energy seemed to spike as the treeline of a forest came into view.
Her face showing her renewed vigour. Her eyes shone with hope, and she almost let out a grin. She entered the forest, and let out a short laugh as she heard thuds behind her, making the group following her lose two members.
Everything seemed possible now.
She held the baby girl close with one hand, and gripped a key around her neck with the other. The moment she reached a clearing, she turned around quickly, and with a pull of the key, dissappeared.
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Mikan sat in the corner of the orphanage's common bedroom. No one tried to talk to her anymore, and none of the people who had come to adopt kids approached her. Mikan's heart was deflating by the minute.
She let out a sigh, pulling at her hair. She looked at all the happy kids who were talking with the people that visited the orphanage. A woman with dark hair was talking animatedly with the caretaker. Mikan bent her head down again, pulling a paper and crayons towards her to draw.
She was just finishing a picture of a stuffed bear when a pair of feet popped up at the corner of her eyes. She looked up, curious to see who it was. A boy around her age stood there, looking at her with dull, bored red eyes. He had really messy black hair. She smiled at him.
"Hello," she said.
He remained silent. His eyes were studying her from head to toe. She waved. He opened his mouth, and Mikan moved closer to him expectantly.
"Ugly."
Mikan's eyebrow twitched. She glared at him. She studied his face for a moment. Then she grinned.
"Short-eyebrows."
The boy glared at her, and Mikan let out a squeak at the glare. He opened his mouth for another insult, but a woman's voice stopped him.
"Already harassing her, Natsume?" It came from behind the boy.
The boy turned and Mikan looked around him, still seated, to see the dark haired woman from earlier. She had one hand on her waist, and the other holding her bag over her shoulder.
A very young woman, by the looks of it. She was a sight for sore eyes to Mikan as all Mikan ever saw were tired old ladies, the ones that worked at the orphanage. Mikan reduced her grin to a smile.
"So, you're Mikan Sakura, correct?" Asked the woman.
Mikan nodded.
"Well, you're coming with us."
Mikan stared. What? She was adopted?
"I... I'm adopted?"
"Well, not really. Technically, you're taken in. You'll be keeping your name and everything else, but you'll be living in our mansion. You see." The woman took the boy by his shoulders. "Natsume here has been really bored recently so we decided that a child of his age could keep him company... he doesn't have many friends."
Mikan looked back at Natsume. He glared at her instantly.
"Now, now, be kind to her." The woman's red eyes twinkled.
He let out a small grunt before going away and out the doors.
The woman extended her hand to Mikan. "The formalities have to be taken care of in your presence."
Mikan put away her paper and crayons quickly before she took the woman's hand and followed her. They went into the adoption form room, where Mikan was instructed to sit ina couch to the side as the woman sat in front of the main table.
The caretaker, who was on the other side, pushed forward a file, and told the woman to look through it properly and do as needed. Mikan looked around the room she had seen a million times, but she was finally inside the room, instead of outside.
An hour of boring formalities later, Mikan found herself and her small bag of possessions outside the orphanage gates for the first time. She was outside the orphanage.
"How old are you, Mikan?" The woman asked kindly.
"Seven, ma'am."
"Oh, I see. And call me Kaoru."
"Okay, Kaoru. But isn't that rude?"
"Not to me, or my family. But if you want to, call me auntie."
"I'd like to do that, please."
"And now we go home."
Mikan's heart swelled with happiness at the word home. She had a home. She had a home!
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Yeah, I'm back to this account, under a different name. I've written and deleted alot of stories, but I'll stick with this one to the end, I promise. I worked on this idea for so long, I won't be able to leave it alone.