Prologue:

The steady hum of the motorcycle and the force of the wind loudly whipping my hair out behind me were the only apparent sounds I could hear at the moment. I looked towards my right, my eyes in a daze as I took in all of the houses, shrubbery, and surrounding people passing by me in a blur. Moving my head to lean against Aki's shoulder, I deeply breathed in his scent - he smelled strongly of leather, cigarettes, and cheap cologne. With a light sigh, I readjusted my grip, loosely interlacing my fingers together in front of his long torso.

Aki glanced back at me, "You're house is on the left of this street, right?"

I nodded into his back before raising my head to speak loudly over the sound of moving wind, "Are you sure I can't just stay longer with you? I really don't want to go home just yet…"

He slowed down the motorcycle significantly before halting to a stop right in front of my house. Ignoring my question, he paused to remove his helmet and shake out his sleek jet-black hair, responding blatantly, "Ah look, we're here already, Ai-chan."

I crossed my arms in front of my chest, annoyance evident in my voice as I watched him get off the bike, "Don't ignore the question, Aki."

His gaze steadily met mine for a second before closing his eyes, letting out a deep sigh, "Look, ya know I'm going to be with the guys' tonight, dontcha? I mean, they're gonna' be mad if I bring you with me to 'guys night' even though you are my girlfriend…"

I got off the bike, a scowl placed on my lips as I stomped past him still irritated, "Fine then. I get it so you don't need to say anything more."

"Hey, come on. Don't be like that, babe." He called from behind me, catching up to me to grab my hand, pulling me backwards into his chest.

I quickly turned around and pushed against him, "Let go, Aki! My parents are going to go psycho if they see us…"

He gave me a sleazy smile, "But I still need a good bye kiss. Please, at least that."

Rolling my eyes, I thought to myself, 'Oh, fuck it', and placed my arms around his neck giving him a deep, long kiss before pulling away with a smirk, "That good enough for ya'?"

He blinked a few times, stunned before responding slowly, "Yeah… I didn't actually think you'd do it though."

I scoffed, looking up at him, "Well I'm your girlfriend, aren't I? So you should be expecting more where that came from!" I gave Aki a wink at the end before escaping his hold on me.

We said our goodbyes and I watched him while he waved at me then jumped back on to his motorcycle, revving up the engine before driving away.

A feeling of dread spread through out my body as my head dropped and I slowly made my to walk towards the front door my house. Placing my hand on the door handle, I hesitated.

'My parents… hopefully they didn't see the two of us outside just now. I really don't want to deal with them, but that's inevitable seeing how I already am coming home when it's so dark outside…' I took my hand off the door, backtracking my steps cautiously, 'Maybe I can wander around and sneak in later when they're asleep… Yeah, that's right. I'll just do tha- '

Suddenly the door slammed open, my mother looking infuriated with her hands placed on her hips, my dad towering over her from behind with the same exact expression.

"WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN?! Get inside the house right now! It's past curfew so your reason better be good!" She exploded, as I flinched at the volume of her voice.

I walked into the house calmly, shutting the door behind me swiftly before locking it.

We stood, waiting in silence for a few moments before I moved my hand from the lock and casually spoke over my shoulder, walking into the kitchen, "Well if that's all, then I'll be getting the leftovers from yesterday's dinner in the fridge~!"

My mother looked flabbergasted and the two of them followed me into the next room, even more upset as my mom screeched, "Hey! We aren't done talking with you just yet! You haven't even answered any of our questions! Just where have you been?! It's eleven at night!"

I turned to face them, dryly answering, "I was just at a friends house. We were studying for the math test tomorrow…"

She glared at me, "BULLSHIT! You're grades have been horrible for months now! And we saw you with that boy earlier. We aren't stupid! We know what you've been up to!"

I smirked, expecting what was going to come next seeing as our fights happened nearly every night, "Oh? And what's that?"

My mother grasped her head in her hands, as if she were to pull out her hair and groaned, "I CAN'T STAND YOU AND YOUR ATTITUDE ANYMORE! IT'S SO IRRITATING! WHY CAN'T YOU JUST BE A NORMAL KID AND DO WHAT YOU'RE TOLD?!"

"And what have I been doing wrong?" I questioned innocently, quirking one of my eyebrows, somehow enjoying the fact I could act like this towards her since my father was here.

"This!This is all wrong!" She motioned at me.

She continued on in a rant, her voice getting higher and louder, "I understand why you've been acting out recently but this is too much! You're grades are horrible, you get in trouble all the time, you go out every night doing god knows what with who and where, you never give us any explanations, you've made no effort in making the right kind of friends, and now you play around with guys like some kind of slut! I can't believe that you've become like this! We always thought you'd be the pride of the family, but all you have amounted to is becoming a huge disappointment!"

I rolled my eyes in annoyance, 'What a joke. You never thought that I would be the pride of the family, it was always him… Who do you think you're kidding?'

She stood there panting but still looked angry as if she wanted to say more. My dad interjected, "Honey, I think that was a little much…"

I chuckled bitterly, mockingly speaking, "No, I actually think there's a little something more she wants to say to me. Am I correct, Mother?"

"Shut up, you ungrateful brat! I don't think you even get the right to act this way since it was you that-" She cut herself off knowing it was better not to say what she was about to say, especially not in front of my father if she really wanted to keep together this act she had going on.

At that moment something, an emotion, came over me so strongly I almost fell over.

My voice came out barely above a whisper, as my eyes became downcast, "What? It was me that what?"

"Nothing. Never mind." She replied, backpedaling. "It's-" She started to say.

I snapped my head up, my tone coming out scathingly cold, "No. What were you about to say?"

"It was nothing. I-"

I interrupted again, "Say it."

"I…Maybe I…."

"Just say it already."

"But…" She trailed off.

"SPIT IT OUT DAMNIT!" I shouted at her, unable to contain myself any longer.

"IT'S YOUR FAULT HE'S GONE NOW! IT WAS YOU THAT DID IT AND NOW HE'S GONE FOREVER! STOP ACTING LIKE A VICTIM WHEN IT WAS YOU THAT HAD RUINED OUR FAMILY!" My mother yelled right back at me, her whole body shaking from her outburst.

She dropped to her knees, falling to the ground, sobbing into her hands pathetically as my dad moved to comfort her.

After a few seconds she sputtered out from her place on the ground, tears falling from her eyes, "I just- I can't stand to be around you anymore even though you are my daughter…I-I can't help but wish at times… that it would have been you in place of him."

I stood in shock, just as I did every time after her outbursts, knowing that all her words were true since I've heard them before from her(just not with my father around), all except for that last phrase. I couldn't possibly defend myself now. For some reason, although I had believed that they had always thought it would be better if I had died, I never thought that she, my own mother, would ever say it aloud to my own face. I had always been constantly reminded that everything that had happened was my fault but I guess even though she always has had so much to say, she really was holding herself back.

My father looked at me with what I never expected - blank, unsympathetic eyes, his monotone voice uttering words that I wish I hadn't heard but sadly did, "I think you should leave."

That knocked me back into reality and I gasped loudly, like a fish out of water, "What?"

He corrected himself, "Ah, it won't be forever but just for a little while… I think it would all do us some good if we weren't together."

My eyes watered, "But I don't have anywhere to go… What am I supposed to do? Where am I supposed to go?!" I shook my head around, getting more and more upset, "You just want to get rid of me, don't you?! You probably hate living with such a horrible person- no, not even a person- a horrible thing like me!"

"Wait! No, that's not what we meant!" My father reacted quickly as I stomped towards my room, locking the door behind me.

'Stop lying… It was exactly what you meant. If Mother even says it to my face, then you must have been thinking it… Just leave me alone.'

My father banged loudly on the other side of the door, trying to talk to me out of leaving while I easily ignored him. Packing my things, I wiped at my eyes filled with angered tears roughly and stuffed whatever I could possibly fit into my duffel bag, making sure to have all my necessities: a pack of Marlboro cigarettes, a Gameboy, personal hygiene items, a thing of pepper spray, as many clothes as I could fit into my bag, some memorable things lingering about my room, my disgusting sailor suit uniform I had to wear for school, and a very, very small amount of money I had laying around(about three US dollars).

I picked up my jacket, putting it on, then moved to slip my duffel bag over one shoulder and my school bag over the other. I walked over to the door almost ready to open it when I remembered I had forgotten something.

Walking over to my closet, I stuck my hand in one of my old rain boots until I felt the item I was searching for in my hand and pulled it out. I looked at the silver flask for a few moments then unscrewed the top before taking a large swig of the whiskey inside and putting it away in my bag.

I left my room hurriedly, still ignoring my father while he followed me down the hall. Suddenly, he grabbed my arm to keep me in place so I'd be forced to listen to him.

"Airi, please just stay here! I didn't mean what I said back there, it was just in the heat of the moment and I'm sorry! Your mother and I both love you and we don't want you to leave just yet." He pleaded with me.

His words only amounted to creating a heavy weight on my chest as I looked to the floor, chin down so as to avoid his gaze, thinking towards my father, 'You're trying so hard… but it's okay. I know what I need to do.'

Interrupting my few moments of silence, my mother came between the two of us, pushing me away from my father, "Although you're my husband, you don't get the right to speak for me!" She directed towards me, "And as for you, I think you leaving us would be for the best, at least for now… So hurry up and get out of our home! We've had enough of you!"

Disregarding my mother's hurtful words, I softly smiled up at my father probably for the first time in months, "It's okay, Father. I'm not that ignorant and can understand when I am no longer wanted. I also don't want to be a burden on either of you, so as of now, I won't be apart of this household."

Walking off again to exit the house, my father stopped me again, "Wait, at least take this… I know it's not much but it's all I have on me right now…"

I looked down at the amount of money in my hand and gave my father a quick hug, "Thank you. I'll miss you so much."

He looked at me sadly as I opened the door with my back to him and walked out, shutting it behind me.

"I'll miss you too, Airi." The man muttered only for his ears to hear.

"Hey, this is Aki. Sorry I can't get to the phone right now but just leave me a message and-" With a loud, exasperated groan, I slammed the pay phone down on its hinges.

Disappointment flooded throughout my body as I fell into a heap on the ground leaning my back against the glass of the phone booth, resting my head on top of my arms that had wrapped around my knees.

I sighed deeply, murmuring to myself, "Damn it… What the hell am I supposed to do now?"

'That idiot of a boyfriend was my only place to go to and yet he didn't answer at any of the usual bars he goes to or even his own house phone… Just what is he doing? He should be back already…' I thought irritably.

Beginning to stand, I left the booth and started walking down the sidewalk towards a mini mart about two blocks away. 'Whatever. Since he can't help me there's no one to rely on but myself, I guess.'

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN FRUITS BASKET.

Hey guys! It's been awhile and I'm really really sorry for that… Anyways, this is my new story so hopefully you guys like it so far. Next chapter, you'll get to see Airi meet some of the Sohma's! As for my other story, 'Another Chance at Happiness', I have not given up on it, I am just simply taking a break since I have really bad writer's block. THANK YOU FOR READING AND PLEASE REVIEW!