Disclaimer: Haruka & Michiru belong to Naoko Takeuchi. Everything else belongs to me.

CH 1: Orphaned

Maybe it was because she was a loner, orphaned at an early age that she really didn't know how to communicate with others. Every home that she was sent to would always send her back to child services. If her memory served her correct, her personal best was a mere 3 months, before they sent her packing. She never really blamed the families. Who would want to take in a stranger? Much less one that was as "unique" as her. Even though child services stressed many times beforehand to the family that they are indeed getting a girl, she never did conform to the social stereotype of what a girl looked like. Nope. With her short blond hair, tall stature, and dark teal eyes, she looked more like a boy than she did a girl; but that was never a problem, she was being true to herself, whether the foster family liked it or not.

Being shuffled in and out of child services really takes its toll on you, but after toughing it out for as long as she can remember, she left the orphanage at the tender age of 16 for the very last time, knowing in her mind that she would never have to return to this Hell hole again.

On the outside the orphanage may have looked quite nice and cozy, but on the inside, all Hell would break loose. The housing and living quarters were extremely dirty and cramped, though that was the least of your worries. Behind closed doors, there were abuse, assault, neglect, and the most heinous crime of them all: rape.

She once shared a room with a bunk mate, her name…she couldn't recall, though she would never forget that horrendous day. She and her bunk mate were the only ones left in the room; all the other children had already washed and were out the door. Waiting for her bunk mate to get dress, the door of their dorms suddenly flung open violently, with such force that the doorknob made a deep dent in the cheap drywall. In stepped the Administrator of the orphanage, though to us orphans, he was nothing short of a monster, undeserving of a human name. Today was different though, accompanying him was a man in his mid 40s, maybe 50s, in a nice black pressed suit. Compared to the shaggy Administrator, the stranger looked prestige and well groomed; though life has taught her better than this, to never judge a person solely on their looks. Today day was a reminder of just how true this lesson was.

"Looks like there are only two left, which one do you want?"

"I'll take the girl in the blue dress. I like girls with long hair" the stranger sneered.

"And how would you be paying today?"

"I don't want any paper trails, cash is fine."

"Excellent choice. There is a private room in an isolated ward you can use. Personal privacy at its best".

With that, the monster violently grabbed my bunk mate by her arms and viciously pulled her away with him as he walked farther and farther away from me. I was young but not ignorant to what was going on here. I tried my best to grab her other arm, yelling for help at the top of my lungs. I knew if I let go, she would never be seen again. I held on and as hard as I could, pulling the bed stand of the bunk for added reinforcement, but it was a futile. One quick swift kick by the stranger to the stomach and I was curled on the floored, hurling last night's watery cabbage soup. As I laid there on the floor, I couldn't help staring at my bunk mate, as she was being dragged down the hallway into oblivion.

As the stranger was about to turn down the hallway, following the lead of the monster, he stopped dead in his tracks and turned his sinister face towards me, staring right into my eyes. In a calm and cool voice, he said in a low whisper: "If you're good, maybe next time we can play". With that he disappeared down the hallway, never to be seen again, my bunk mate disappearing with him as well.

She was so young, approximately that same age as me: 8. It was from that day forward that I made a promise to myself, to never let myself fall and become a victim, to rid this world of its injustices. Most importantly, to rid this world of sick fuckers that prey on the young and the weak.

"Haruka Tenoh!"

Hearing the sound of her name snapped her out of her flash back. Haruka slowly approached the glass plated window.

"Print name here, sign here, and date here. Please check off all your personal items, make sure you have everything. If everything looks like they're in order, you may leave."

She looked down at her so-called personal belongings; they were nothing more than a wallet, a stainless key, and a pendant whistle. The wallet had so much adhesive tape holding it together it didn't even look like a wallet anymore. A key. She didn't even have a place to call home, what was she suppose to do with a worthless piece of steel. Many times she thought about throwing it away, but what was the harm in keeping it a bit longer, it was the last thing in her possession that she could call her's. Her pendant whistle, the only prized possession that Haruka owned, it belonged to her mother. Although she doesn't remember what she even looks like anymore, every time she felt lonely, she would blow on the whistle, and as if magically, the wind would rustle, and it would feel as if she was with me, my guardian angel.

Putting the pendant around her neck, and grabbing the remainder of her belongings, Haruka headed for the doors. Just as she was about to push the door open, a familiar voice reached her ears.

"Leaving so soon already Tenoh? Too bad we never had time to get truly acquainted. You're not quite my cup of tea."

Haruka felt the blood in her system boiling, to the point that she thought she was going to stroke, right then and there. Haruka was not going to give the monster the satisfaction he was so desperately searching for. Instead, she took a deep breath, and said to him what she had hoped to be the last time.

"Go fuck yourself."

With that, Haruka left the Hell hole she had come to call home for the last time. She didn't turn back, not even once. Remembering the promise that she made to herself, she looked up into the beautiful blue sky, determination in her eyes, to fulfill that promise.