Looking Into an Angel's Eyes

Pairing: Yaya x Hikari

Genre: Romance/Drama

Disclaimer: I do not own Strawberry Panic or any of its characters.

Author's Note: Hello! Well, here's another Strawberry Panic story, this time featuring Yaya x Hikari. Yep, I ship them as well as Yaya x Tsubomi. Now, I'm noticing that this pairing's stories have expanded just a wee bit over the years as well, but not as much as Nagisa x Tamao's stories, perhaps. Anyway, I'm writing this one on this pairing because, well . . . I feel the same way as the Nagisa x Tamao pairing. Not that I don't like Amane or anything or maybe I just don't like her all that much, but I really ship Yaya x Hikari. Enough said. Also, this story is kind of similar to "The Rich and the Poor", but a little different. So, please, enjoy the story. ;)

I hate this. The house, the family, everyone else. But mostly, my life. Why does it have to be this way? I'm not very close to my family at all, and school is just a wreck. That's why I prefer to be alone all the time, so that no one would ever bother me nor try to talk to me. But to be honest, my life didn't start out like this. Though I was an only child and was about 4-years-old, I was once really close to my parents. We had some very good times together. But then . . . my parents passed away from a car accident caused by a drunk driver. I was then raised by my step-parents, who were not as nice as my original parents were. While my step-brother is being really annoying, my step-parents were cruel and vicious to me. They make me do all the chores and work around the house while they just lie around, doing whatever they want. It's been going on for the next 11 years. My life was never the same since my parents passed away. It's not just at home, though. During school, with me not talking to any body, most people consider me stuck up and cold. I didn't want to talk to them because I want to be alone. Having to be with vicious step-parents is bad enough and I don't want others to treat me the same way if I ever talk to them. They might not understand what I'm going through for the past 11 years. So, every night, after I'm done with my chores, I use my time to look at the stars and pray that I want to make one good friend who is always by my side and understanding. But . . . nothing happened each time I did that. So, every day, it was pretty much the same.

One morning, while I'm cooking everyone breakfast, my brother, Kai, just sits impatiently at the kitchen table, tapping the floor repeatedly with his foot.

"When's breakfast gonna be ready?" he says with a hard sigh.

"It's not gonna be done for another five minutes," I reply as I flip the pancake.

"5 minutes is too long!" Kai says.

"Hurry it up, Yaya!" my step-father says. "I have to be at work by 9:00 today!"

"Yes, Father," I say, calmly. The timer rings as soon as the pancake is done. I set it on the plate, put a little syrup on it and serve it on the table. "Here you go, Father. The pancake is ready."

My step-father just sits down and digs in, not even bothering to say "Thank you". Rude. I look around for my step-mother who is just coming down the stairs.

"Yaya," she says, sternly. "Where's the laundry that you were supposed to take out? You know that those had to be sorted before bedtime."

"I'm sorry, Mother," I apologize. "The clothes were taking too long to dry and I have school today."

"That's no excuse," my step-mother says. "That should've taken care of. Do I have to do everything myself?"

"No. I'm very sorry. It won't happen again."

"It better not. Now hurry up with breakfast. The bus is gonna be here in 15 minutes."

15 minutes!? I must have been so tired that I fell asleep a bit before Kai came downstairs. Still feeling fatigued, I still cooked some breakfast. But how will I cook breakfast for everyone, including myself in 15 minutes? Ah, no matter. I'll just make myself some toast while I'm at it. I quickly insert some bread into the toaster while cooking the rest of the pancakes. I serve both of them to Mother and Kai as the toast pops up. I quickly put in some butter, eat it up and is about to leave when Mother calls me.

"Yaya," she says. "You better be home right after school. You got some more chores to do when you get home."

"Yes, Mother," I say. "I'll remember that. I'll see you after school."

"Hey, don't forget my laundry!" Kai blurts out. "You know how smelly it is, right?"

I just sigh inwardly. He's the one who plays soccer, which means that there's bad odor in those clothes, which I really didn't like at all. That's the worst part of doing everyone's laundry. I'm really not looking forward to that when I get home today.

By the time I arrive at the school, I just casually enter the school with other people whispering gossips at each other.

"Look, isn't that Yaya Nanto?"

"Yep, she is. Though she doesn't talk much, she can be kind of cute."

"Yes, but I heard that she lives with her dreadful step-parents. They can be very mean to her and even have her do everyone's laundry."

"Wow. Is that why she doesn't talk much?"

"Maybe. But she's too stuck up to even tell us. Let's just leave her be for now."

"You're right."

This doesn't happen every day, but whenever there's an opportunity, some of the people would bring up the subject. Usually, I would just ignore them, feeling that it's the same old thing over and over when they talk about me like that. Still, some of the rumors are hurtful. I just keep on walking down the halls and into homeroom. I sit down on my desk and take out my materials for the lesson. While the other students enter the classroom, I just look over at the window and stare at the bright sky. I really hope I would make just one friend. That would totally make my life much happier. But, I'm sure that nothing like that would ever happen.

"Um, excuse me?" a quiet, soft-spoken voice says from my right. "Is this homeroom?"

I turn and look up at a shy girl with long blonde hair and teal colored eyes. Wow, I think to myself. What a cute little angel. Wait, angel!?

"Miss?" the girl says, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"Oh! Y-yes! Yes it is!" I answer quickly.

The blonde girl sighs in relief. "That's good. For a second, I thought this was the wrong classroom." She takes a seat next to me, pushes some of the strands of her hair behind her ear and gets out her materials for the lesson. I continue to stare at this cute girl while feeling a bit warm on my face.

"Hey," I manage to say. "I never seen you here before."

"Oh, I'm new here," the girl replies with a smile. "So, I guess you could say that this is my first day here."

"Wow. Well, I would like to welcome you, then," I say as I smile a little.

"Thank you," the blonde girl says, giggling. "That's very nice of you to say that."

I can feel myself blush after she said that. No one ever had the courage to even talk to me before, let alone giving out nice compliments. Maybe something good has come up after all! The bell rings as the rest of the students rush in the classroom and take their seats. The teacher comes in shortly after and sets down her stuff on the teacher's desk.

"Good morning, everyone," she says. "Before we begin, I would like to introduce a new student to you all. Would the new student stand up and introduce yourself?"

The blonde girl stands up, walks over to the front of the class and puts a cute smile on her face. "Hello, everyone. My name is Hikari Konohana. It's a pleasure to meet all of you." She bows after that.

I see. So her name is Hikari. What a cute name for an angel. Ah! I did it again! Someone like me shouldn't even be calling her an angel, if that's possible! I don't even know why I'm calling her an angel in the first place!

"Make sure to get alone with Miss Konohana," the teacher says. "She's new here, so please make her feel welcome." She turns to me. "Miss Nanto, would you like to show Miss Konohana around sometime today?"

I gasp and feel myself blush. "Oh! S-sure!" Man, does this day keep getting better and better? Not only Hikari is kind enough to speak to me and sit next to me, but the teacher is offering me to show her around as well!

As Hikari walks back to her seat, she turns to me, smiling. "This is great! I can't wait for you to show me around!" She holds out her hand. "I hope we can get along, Miss Nanto."

I gently smile as I grip her hand. "We will get along. But . . . you can just call me Yaya. Yaya is fine."

"Alright!" Hikari says. "Nice to meet you . . . Yaya-chan!"

I blush again at what she said. I have a really good feeling that the two of us will get along perfectly, considering how kind Hikari is. Maybe life isn't so bad after all once I realized that there are good people in the world. And that good person is Hikari.

A/N: Before you say anything, let me say this: even though I like this series, I like to be a little creative and not follow the actual plot. For me, it's a pain trying to recall certain events that happened and put it into the story. But, I'll try and keep the character's personalities the same, so I apologize if Yaya is a little OC.

Feel free to give out any suggestions, questions or concerns and don't forget to review! ;)