Prologue

It was a wonderful day; the sun was shining, the birds were singing, and I was annoying my brother.

"Aoi, pass me the ketchup."

"No."

"But it's right in front of you."

"And? What's your point?"

"Can you just pass it to me Aoi!?"

I raised my eyebrows at my younger brother, who was 14, smirked, and shook my head no. He groaned in frustration and looked to our mother.

"Mom, she won't pass me the ketchup!"

"Sweetie, what did I say about you and your sister's disagreements?"

My little brother grumbled, " To solve it between us."

"Good," my mother said with a smile, turning back to the stove where she was cooking the food of the gods, bacon. Looking at her, she was beautiful with shoulder length, wavy, black hair and light gray eyes. Her face was soft but firm, and she was getting some wrinkles, but they weren't noticeable.

Life was going exceedingly well, but I knew it would get even better. Why, you may ask? Well, today, I had a student council meeting after school, where they would tell the members who the new secretary and treasurer would be.

Our President and Vice President told me I was a shoo in for the secretary position, and I agree if I say so myself. I was one of the top students in the school, and I was a great organizer.

Don't get me wrong, I don't usually flaunt how great I am, unless I'm with my family, because no one really cares at my school. I don't have people I could call friends, more like acquaintances, and the only one that knows this is my brother, who I consider my best friend and sibling. Sad, I know, but I don't usually let it get to me.

I finished eating breakfast when my dad finally came down from getting ready and my mom had finished cooking their food.

"Morning, honey," he said to my mom, giving her a peck on the cheek. He ruffled my brother's hair and kissed my forehead as he sat down at the table. My father was a handsome man, objectively speaking, he had slicked back, black hair, and green eyes that shined with emotion. He had all the characteristics of a CEO, except he wasn't. He was a banker, and contrary to popular belief, an amazing person and not at all focused on money.

I smiled at him, as he said, "I'm so glad it's finally Friday, this weekend is going to be great. I hope you'll be there to attend Aoi, Hikaru."

My brother and I both snorted at the continuing family joke. I stood up as Hikaru told our father, "We still live in the house Dad, we're definitely going to be there."

"Yeah Dad, plus you're our only mode of transportation, I don't think we could go anywhere else even if we wanted to."

He laughed as my mother brought their food to the table and sat next to him. She was smiling and shaking her head at him, "I think you kids should hurry up and go, it's already 6:25."

I nodded as my brother started speed eating, and I went to my room. I grabbed my bag and went into my brother's room and got his bag. I left his bag at the door and went back in the kitchen to say goodbye to my parents. My brother rushed out as soon as I came in and trampled up stairs. I rolled my eyes as I gave my parents a kiss on the cheeks.

My brother came down in a hurry yelling out, "I can't find my backpack!"

I rolled my eyes and smiled at him as I pointed to our doorway.

"Oh, bless," he says as he goes and hugs our parent's bye. We walk to school and take the park shortcut. It's a dangerous shortcut. But since we were together we really didn't mind. We got to school in 15 minutes and as we parted ways, I reminded him that I had to stay after school today. He nodded and I just went on to my first period because it's always good to be early and it had nothing to do with me not having anyone to hang with until the warning bell rang.

Nothing.

I stayed after for student council and our teacher sponsor just announced that I would be this year's secretary. I go up and give everyone a polite smile on my way to the front of the room, next to the other officers; I exude calmness, although I'm anything but on the inside.

You can hold it in Aoi. It's only for another fifteen minutes. You can DO THIS!

Fifteen minutes couldn't go any faster as everyone else was dismissed, but the officers had to stay back as our teacher said that we were to stay after school tomorrow for an officer meeting. We all nodded and said our good byes. Most of us went to wait for the after school bus, while the rest went to wait for their rides or get their cars, out front. Me and this other girl were the only ones walking, she informed me, but as soon as we were outside the school we went in different directions. We waved at each other until she turned left and I went right. I held in my excitement until I crossed my school's intersection/traffic light into this street that led to the park. As soon as I did, I was up running through the street with a big smile on my face.

It was at the park that I finally let out my joy over my new position. I was jumping around and whooping and running and as I tried to climb a tree, which I can't do, I slipped and fell on my back. It hurt, of course, but I didn't really mind since I was so freaking excited, plus no one was around so why the fuck should I be embarrassed.

If there had been people around though, I would feel exactly what Tsuna feels whenever he gets clumsy in front of others, I thought as I lied down, soaking in the sun. It was nice, it calmed me down, although my backpack was digging into my back uncomfortably. I stayed there though, soaking in the sun, watching the sky with its clouds working together seamlessly. It was nice, but I knew that I had to get home soon before Mom worried.

I got up, cleaned myself from any dirt or grass that stayed stuck on my jeans, and I made my way to the shortcut, or the 'deathcut' as we called it. Why, you may ask? Well, it was completely dangerous to walk on without a partner since the path went through this steep hill thing that curved at the bottom on both sides and was filled with water. Basically, two 'lakes' were on both sides and if someone slipped, well you better be a freaking damn fish because I doubt it was shallow. If you had another person with you, you could watch out for each other and in the worst case scenario, someone would call 911. The only thing that made it worth it for me and my brother was that it cut the commute to school to about 10 minutes.

I stared at the path for a few more seconds, trying to hype myself up, but once I was close enough to look down into the lake, I let out a small whimper. It was a long drop, but I needed to get home. I debated with myself, making some really good points, but in the end, a text from my Mom asking me where I was made the decision for me, I had to go through it so I could get home faster.

I took three deep breaths before I started walking through the not wide enough, grassy path. To avoid thinking about the water below me, I decided to put on my headphones and listen to music. It worked until halfway through I saw this huge cat in the middle of my path. It was sat down staring out at the water and I didn't want to step over it; just in case I hit it or it made me lose my balance. Maybe it'll let me grab it and move it behind me, I thought hopefully. I crouched down and held out my hand to let it smell me, and it slowly did. Once I sweetened it up with some scratches on its head and back, I grabbed it gingerly and slowly brought it closer to me. It wriggled a bit, but soon it started thrashing violently until it scratched me on the face.

"Oh, fuck," I yelled out in pain, "Fine, I'll put you down, you little devil."

I sat it down in front me and sighed in frustration. I decided that I'll just step over it and risk it, and halfway to standing back up, the cat rushed me and I stood up very quickly, trying to step away and avoid it. However, I forgot about the fact that I was on a narrow path and only felt nothing under my right foot. I had moved too fast trying to avoid the cat and lost my sense of balance. Futilely, I tried to regain it by swinging my arms backward, but my backpack was too heavy and soon gravity took a hold of me. I started falling, hit part of the downward hill, and started rolling into the water. I tried to stop myself but soon I felt something hit the back of my skull and excruciating pain bloomed and swept me as I continued to roll down. I don't know how long I rolled, probably not that long, but I felt it once I hit the ice cold water. I wasn't prepared, I didn't take a breath beforehand, so I wasn't able to really react. Water just came into my nose and I started thrashing, trying to get to air, but I had no sense of direction. I fought the water, tried to open my eyes, didn't know when I closed them really, but I was just being pulled down. I couldn't breathe, I opened my mouth, trying to get some air, but of course, that was a dumb idea because the only thing that happened was water coming in. I started panicking even more, started seeing black spots until finally, darkness took me completely.

Hey, guys, I'm back and touching these two chapters up before I start posting the rest of the chapters up. I apologize profusely to every follower of this story of mine. I have no excuses that will rid how long I made you guys wait, but hopefully the story will make up for it.