The Whole Picture

Prologue

"How could you? You of all people?" Niou demanded, His golden eyes watering with tears. "I trusted you, more than anyone else!" His companion looked away from him, tears trickling down her cheeks, her black bangs covered her face as she looked down.

"Haru," she began, but Niou interrupted her.

"Don't! I don't want to hear it! You had no right! No right!" his voice grew louder and louder. "I was supposed to be there beside her! Not you! You had no right Satsuki! None!"

"Haru, I-I'm sorry," said Akashi, her lower lip trembling as she spoke. "I, I'm so sorry, I don't know what I can do to make you even forgive me-"

"Forgive you!?" Niou sigh exasperatedly. "I can't believe you!" An incredulous smile appeared on his lips. "I can not believe you," he repeated, more to himself than anyone else. He took and step towards her and looked her in the eyes, the fear was evident, she knew what he was going to say.

"Haru-"

"I will never forgive you," he said cutting her off coldly. "I hate you, I don't ever want to see your face again Akashi Satsuki, ever. Get out of my life," with that he turned and walked away, leaving Akashi alone.

"I, I'm sorry," she said in a whisper, even though Niou could no longer hear her. She stood still as the words sunk in, her world was falling apart. Satsuki felt her knees weaken as she lower herself to the ground and hit the floor, she never really had a family, friends were a foreign concept, however she had a friend, just one. In a short span of time, she'd just lost the two most important people in her life, the only important people in her life.

Akashi buried her face in her hands and laughed, tears rolling down her cheeks, however the laughter turned into sobs and she cried alone.

Chapter 1

Niou Masaharu looked at his reflection as he fixed the blue school tie around his neck. His eyes were bloodshot, he hadn't been able to sleep well the night before as he was dreading the school year to come, it'd been just months ago when he told Akashi he didn't want to ever see her again, she'd been silent during the break but he knew she would pester him once school started. He could never forgive her, he told himself, he never wanted to see her again, he'd told her, but he knew she'd come after him with full force regardless of his wishes, she was that type of person, as much as she loved him, she loved herself more. No doubt it was that 'Better you die than I' trait that resulted in her having so few friends, he chuckled at the thought of those memories, how she used other students as a shield in a game of dodgeball, how she twisted facts to make others the guilty party.

"She's better out of my life," he said to his own reflection, but his resolution waved as he struggled to get the ties straight, she was the one to also fix it for him, she was the one who bleached his hair and dyed it silver. She'd pierced his ear using a safety pin, an apple and a cigarette lighter. Niou sighed. The start of the school year didn't come quickly enough it seemed, unlike the years before, this particular holiday was especially dreary, however he knew Akashi absence wasn't the only reason.

There was a knock on his bedroom door accompanied by the voice of a young girl. "Masa-chan! Mom said breakfast is ready!"

"I'm coming," he replied picking up his school bag and pulling it over one shoulder. "Blue skies and sunshine," he said to himself.

Niou yawned as he closed the front gate behind him as he headed off to school, he check his watch, usually he was still asleep at this time, even with his vacation training regimen, he slept in during the day and trained at night. He tugged at the tie around his neck, the knot was chaffing his skin so he pulled it down lower, even if he got in trouble once he pasted the school gates at that moment, he didn't really care.

"Yo!" greeted the pink haired Marui Bunta as he appeared out of nowhere and threw his arm over Niou's shoulders. "What's up?" Trailing not far behind him was Jackal Kuwahara, his bald head and dark skin standing out as usual.

"Puri," Niou said absent-mindedly as he turned his head and looked around, it was around this time that the trio met up with Kirihara Akaya and Akashi, the two of them lived close to each other and it'd become almost a tradition for them to walked to school together. Niou remembered hearing her complain and about how he fell asleep at the breakfast table and his mum would spend a good ten minutes waking him up, eventually Akashi got so fed up with him she brought with her a bottle filled with a mix of water, lemon juice, peppers and mustard and sprayed it up Kirihara's nose and down his throat. They were never late again.

"Senpai!" shouted the familiar voice of their junior, Kirihara's bouncy curly hair cropped out of nowhere and into their line of sight, he maneuvered his way around the other students and made his way towards them. "Good morning!"

"Morning," Marui and Kuwahara replied, Niou's eye suddenly lost interest, he was alone.

"Hey," Marui said as he elbowed Niou gently to get his attention.

"What!?" Niou demanded harshly, startling the pink head.

"The hell is up with you?" he asked his voice hurt, Niou sighed and ruffled his hair.

"Nothing," he replied almost apologetically as he reached for his phone.

XXXX

Akashi Satsuki took a good look at herself in the mirror, her long black hair was greasy, her blue eyes bloodshot from lack of sleep and her night out drinking and dancing at night clubs. She reached for the eyedrops from beside her bathroom and placed a few drops in each eye, with her eyes closed she reached for the can of dry shampoo and spray it into the roots of her hair and rubbed it in with her fingers. Opening her eyes, she took another look at herself, she placed some concealer on her dark circles and on the flaws around her face, using her finger again she gently patted it in before finally setting it with some powder.

Akashi took a third look at herself, while inside she was tired, hungover and groggy, at least she didn't look it, having just faked a good night sleep, she tried to warm up her face with a smile but it just looked forced and awkward, she shook her head and tried again, this time it look believable at least.

"Blue skies and sunshine," she said to herself before picking up her school bag from the ground. Just before she walked out the door Akashi took one last look at her reflection and fixed her bow tie. The uniform looked strange on her, or perhaps she just wasn't used to seeing it on, she was thankful that the brown tones brought some color to her pale skin. "Blue skies and sunshine," Akashi repeated to herself as she walked out the door.

On her first day at a new school and a few steps into unfamiliar territory and it seemed she was already lost, different from the usual fashion as she knew perfectly well where she was but yet had no idea how to get to her destination. Akashi found herself squinting at the map which hung above the ticket machines at the train station, she'd forgotten to put her glasses in her new school bag and some of the words were ridiculously tiny.

"A ticket is gonna cost you 150 yen," said a voice behind her, she turned around to see a tall guy with silver hair, he had those round puppy dog eyes that Akashi'd seem so many girls try to imitate with make up.

"How do you know where I'm going?" she asked. The male smiled and indicated to her clothes and then his own.

"We match for a reason," he answered, Akashi looked to see his Hyotei uniform and a small smile spread across her lips, she felt her cheeks flush from embarrassment. "You might want to hurry up," he added, he moved slightly so Akashi could look over his shoulder to see the long irritated line.

"I guess so," she agreed, embarrassed she quickly bought her ticket and left.

"Hey wait!" The Hyotei student called out to her as he hurried ran to catch up to her. "We're headed off to the same place anyway, do you need a guide?"

Akashi guarded her own expression as she took a good look at him, he seemed harmless enough, cute as well, there was a 'I want to please everyone and everybody' look in his eyes which brought the conclusion that he would have helped her regardless of any external factors.

"That sounds lovely," she replied with a smile. Instantaneously a bright smile appeared on his face.

"Great! Well, first off, you're going the wrong way, our stop is in the other direction," Akashi looked up at the signs and squinted, he was right, she looked around to see him already walking in the opposite direction, without a word she quickly followed. As she moved she felt her phone vibrate which indicated she'd received a text, suddenly it occurred to her that she could have used the internet to find out how to get to school. She checked the text message; while fighting the urge to find the nearest pole and hit her head repeatedly against it; it read:

Let's talk, come see me after school

No hello, no name, nothing, it was just like him, Akashi sighed as she hurried towards the stairs where boy with the head of silver had stopped and waited for her to catch up.