Well, yet another story. Before you start to scold me, I know- finish your older stories first. I will, when I figure out where they are going. Until then, I'll be doing stuff on the newer ones. So, about this story... I've decided to do this one primarily in first person because it will get the story across better. And if any of the emotions seem just a bit too raw, its because that parts of this are what I've actually been through. With that in mind, please note, this starts out as a sad story... but because I don't like sad stories, you should realize that things will not end sad... I hope.

Oh, yeah! I forgot to tell you, the first few chapters aren't going to have any Bleach characters in it because it takes place in the human world in the United States. However, they will begin to show up in the next chapter.

Sometimes, things aren't simple. Sometimes they are very complex to the point of seeming like the hand of fate. On occassion, these things can lead us to a better life or a better place in our world... and sometimes fate can become incredibly cruel. Fate was cruel to me.

That's what turned me into the monster that I am now. I am a Arrancar, as it was explained to me Aizen-sama. I am a hollow that broke the barriers between them and soul reapers. As far as strength goes, I'm not as strong as the Espada, but I'm good enough that I am still alive... Dead? I'm still not too sure about that. I suppose that it doesn't really matter. However, the reason that I became a hollow... that's an intersting one for you. Allow me to relate to you the last of my life before I go on to my state as an Arrancar.

I was a normal girl, not too pretty and not too plain. I had no major enemies and I had more than a few friends. My life was totally normal, filled with school work and friends. Things were so much simpler than they are now. I was happy then... for a time.

Unfortunately, things wouldn't stay that way. They never do. Not even in fairytales. And for me, things would become like a fairytale, to the point where I thought nothing would go wrong. How wrong was I?

My fairytale romance would turn into a horrible nightmare. And it would be the end of me... at least, as a human.

It all started the day I met HIM. He was perfect. Charming and sweet, the perfect gentleman. His sandy blond hair was always perfect. And his eyes, those beautiful blue eyes that could pierce my soul and make me do almost anything.

It was the spring of my Senior year of high school. I was going off to college in the fall and it would be only the beginning. I was looking forward to my future and getting out of this little backwoods town. I had plans for the future- I was going to make a difference in this world. I would suceed... but all of that vanished in an instant... with a single mistake, I was forced to leave those dreams behind.

I was sitting in class when he walked through the door, about 15 minutes late. The teacher looked up, furious and about ready to give him a telling off, when she realized that he was a new student. Immediately, her attitude changed- maybe she thought he was as perfect as I did. What ever the reason, we had never seen her act so sweet. You see, Mrs. Sandiaz was never a nice woman, but here she was, trying to impress this new student. She moved over to the boy and said, "Welcome to Algebra II. I'm Mrs. Sandiaz, and you are the new student, yes? How about you introduce yourself to the class, and then we'll find you a place to sit and a text book."

All eyes in the class were on him, and yet, he didn't seem to be frightened in the least bit. He looked as if he relished all of the attention. As if it was exactly what he wanted. Maybe that should have been my first clue. With a lop-sided grin, he introduced himself to our class. "I'm Marcus Stuart. I just moved here from San Diego and I look forward to getting to know all of you."

I could just hear the popular girls behind me swooning over him. They were already scheming to get his attention and I could see them in my mind moving their gigantic purses out of the one empty seat at their table so that he could sit down there. In just an instant, he had captured their hearts... Not that I was much better... but unlike them, I knew that I didn't have a chance.

"Well, Marcus, here is your book, and you can sit anywhere you like today." I was shocked when I heard Mrs. Sandiaz say that. She never lets anyone sit where they want.

Marcus scanned the room briefly and his eyes quickly adverted from the preppy table as they waved to him. I got the feeling that he wasn't used to being popular... but how could I know? I had never been popular, so I brushed the feeling off. He looked over at the table of outcasts, but there was never an empty seat there- the outcasts were a close-knit group in my classes. No one ever talked to them, and they returned the favor.

His eyes stopped on my table. I was sitting alone. My two best friends weren't there today. Lauren was off to see her older sister get married and Jessica was sick with the flu. So, there were three empty seats at my table. With a quick grin at the teacher, he moved to sit beside me. We spent the class talking and I found out that he was in most all of my classes. Little did I know that this would be the beginning of my troubles and that I would have less than three months to live.

My classes went by in that strange slow and yet blazing fast way that time seems to move when one is stuck in high school. Every time that I saw Marcus, I felt that my face was going to catch on fire. I was blushing the entire time, and I couldn't stop. I was a high school girl, and I had fallen in love at first sight.

He seemed to pay attention only to me, something that seemed to upset a few people. But, at the time, I could care less. I enjoyed every minute that I got to spend with him. Some how, it felt to me that I had known him my entire life... that he understood everything about me. I should have known it would be too good to be true. But I didn't. I was foolish. And I managed to piss off some of the worst people in my school. Namely the preps who had sat behind me.

That very day in my last class- the one class that I didn't have with Marcus- I was tormented by the preppy girls. That was the first time they had ever bothered me. I was confused but I did my best to keep from reacting. By the end of class, I was tired of their insults and I confronted them.

"What the hell is wrong with you all? What did I do to you?"

Marueen, the leader of their little group, sneered at me, "You stole his attentions. All freaking day. And now your going to pay, you little slut."

"What are you all talking about?"

Sarah, Marueen's number two, slapped me, "You have been with Marcus all day. You never let him spend any time with the rest of us!"

I was confused even worse. They were acting like this over a boy? One who had only been here for a day? "Don't both of you already have boyfriends?"

Nichole, the last of the group, was the one who answered me, "But I don't. And I want him."

That explained a little to me, but I still didn't know how I had caused all of this. "I wasn't trying to 'steal' him. I was just helping him learn his way around. Last time I checked, that wasn't a crime."

This pissed them off even worse. I had been unimportant to them until Marcus sat beside me. Now I was "Preppy Enemy Number One." They would have actually begun to beat me up, I think, had Marcus not walked into the room. I have to say, he saved my life then. He came over to me and asked me if I was ready to go for the day. I was and once we were out of ear shot of the three pissed preppy girls, he asked me a question. "Where did that red mark on your face come from?"

I swear, I wasn't sure what to tell him. However, before I could stop myself, the truth slipped out. "Sarah... slapped me."

"That little bitch, why?" I think that was the first time that I had heard Marcus curse.

"They think that I was 'stealing' you. But, I just want to forget about it, ok?"

He frowned at me, something that honestly looked gorgeous on him. "I'll drop it, but no one is ever going to hurt you again." And the subject wasn't brought up again... until one day...

From that first day forward, Marcus became an important factor in my life. I trusted him beyond anyone else. He was so supportive of me... and we spent more time together than I ever had with anyone. My friends seemed to like him, but there was something about him that they wouldn't tell me- how possessive they thought that he was becoming towards me.

They didn't tell me, and I was too blind to see it. Without that knowledge, I was blindly following him. So, a month into knowing him, he asked me out. I was shocked, but I managed to stammer out a yes. This would be the beginning of my last relationship.

Things went well for that first month... as long as I would spend every moment with him. Whenever I wasn't there, he would become depressed. Somehow, he had managed to become obsessed with me in such a short while. I was his possession and no one else got to share me. When I would want to do something else with someone other than him, he would threaten suicide. When I would talk about my future plans, he would become pissed. When I would try to talk him out of it and explain how I felt, he would hit me. I became scared... this wasn't my fairytale romance. I didn't know what to do... and I became afraid to confide what was going on with anyone. Marcus was not entirely sane... and he was trying to drag me down into that pit with him. I despirately wanted to leave him, but I was afraid that I couldn't bare having his death on my hands.

At the end of that first month, there was a day that made things so different. After he got angry at me for talking to Jessica while I had class with him, I couldn't believe it. I told him that he had a temper problem and that I wasn't his possession. We argued for the first time in public.

"Akira, you have been ignoring me all day! Why don't you want to talk to me anymore? Am I not good enough?"

"Marcus, you are acting like such a jerk, I spend 15 hours a day with you."

I think that my words may have not been the best choice I could have made. I was trying his patience, and it wouldn't take long for his abusive side to come out- like it always did. He was livid, and I could see it in his eyes."And you spend most of them talking to your freaking friends..."

"I can talk to whoever I want. Jessica is my friend! And I've known her far longer than I have you..." I was trying to keep my voice calm, but I couldn't stop it from shaking. I was tired of the way that he had been treating me.

Marcus interupted me, "So she is more important to you than I am?"

"I didn't say that! You just shouldn't expect me to give up my friends just because I'm your girlfriend." I could feel the tears starting to come to my eyes. I tried to hold them back, I didn't want him to see me cry... but I couldn't. "Am I not allowed to have friends?"

He saw my tears, and that only made things worse. "You care more about your fucking friends than you do me. But you'll learn."

I was terrified of that phrase- "You'll learn"- because everytime that he would use it, I knew that he was going to abuse me. And sure enough, his hand was coming towards my face. I could see it as if it was in slow motion, but I couldn't dodge it. If I did, he would just hurt me worse when he finally did connect.

"You are MY girlfriend. And you will learn that I am your Master. And you will do what I say!" Those were the last words that I heard as he hit me.

Out of my mouth, came the words that I had longed to say for so long. "I'm not your girlfriend anymore."

I must have been out for some time because I woke up in the nurses office with a spliting headache. As I tried to sit up, I felt hands on my shoulders. Instinctively, I flinched.

A comforting voice spoke to me, "Its alright, Akira. You're in the nurses office. Marcus is not here. He's going away to a psych ward for a little while. He's gone. You'll be ok."

"But.... he'll come back for me... he won't just give up." My voice was small and feeble. I was disgusted with myself and what I had become.

"He is not going to hurt you. Your safe now." I finally realized that the voice that I had heard was Jessica's.

"Jess, I'm so scared."

"I know... but were here with you." That was Lauren's voice, so she was here too.

"I don't know what I would do without you guys."

Author's Note: I hope that you enjoyed it. And that you'll stick with me. Bleach characters will begin to appear in later chapters.