For her tenth birthday, all Leiko Tanaka wanted was the black and yellow bike she always saw in the shop window in the nice part of town. The expensive bike was just a bit too big for her tiny frame and definitely cost more money than her parents would be willing to spend on her, but that didn't prevent her from giving it a longing glance every time she passed the store on her way home from school, dreaming of riding it down the street as fast as she could.

She dropped hints about wanting the bike for her birthday, but it was no surprise to her when the date finally came around that her parents hadn't gotten her anything. Leiko was pretty sure the two of them didn't even remember it was her birthday anyways. Those thoughts didn't keep her from giving the two adults expectant looks (maybe they were planning a surprise?) that slowly turned into disappointment as the day went on.

Her parents were fighting a lot that day, more than usual, and her upset looks were enough to send her father over the edge into his full blown fury.

"And just what the fuck is your problem, you ungrateful brat?" her father demanded.

Leiko cringed.

"Well it's just that, um…it's my birthday today, and I was sort of hoping I was going to get that bike I talked about or something…" she mumbled, shrinking into herself more as her father towered over her.

She got something, but it wasn't what she had hoped for.

Confused and already aching from the bruises forming where her father's fists and boot covered feet had collided with her small frame, Leiko crouched against the wall until the man's attention went to her mother, and then she ran to her room.

That was the last time she asked for anything.

A few weeks after her thirteenth birthday, Leiko's mother wordlessly left during the middle of the night, and from that point on she never saw any side to her father except for the enraged one.

She held her arms over her face the next morning as he screamed profanities at her and beat her, face blank as she took the abuse from him, then packed her backpack and went to school. That night she avoided coming home until 7 pm, and her father was drunk in front of the TV.

"Where the fuck've youbeen. You tryna leave this family too?" he slurred, getting to his feet.

"I was at a friend's." she replied, deadpan, eyes narrowed at the man in challenge. She'd made a decision that day that he would never lay his hands on her again.

He didn't like that look in her eyes.

Fist swinging at her, she scoffed and moved back, watching him stumble, which only made him angrier so that he charged.

At that, she ran.

Speeding up the stairs, she took them two at a time as he bolted after her. GoGo headed straight for her room and slammed the door, locking it with a satisfying click.

"You fuckin' bitch! Get out here right now, I'm yer fuckin' father, you don't slam the door in my face." he snarled. His fists pounded against the door for a while before she heard him let out a belch and ambled away, the creak of the stairs letting her know he had gone back to his booze and shitty movies.

From then on, Leiko learned that she needed to run from her troubles.

There were two things seventeen year old Leiko knew she excelled at. Building vehicles (especially fast ones), and riding them as fast as she could. She'd started building her first motorcycle at sixteen, hidden away inside of an old warehouse in the shitty town she lived in. She'd designed an engine that allowed her to max out at more than 250mph without overburdening her speed machine, and she'd sneak out of the house at three and four in the morning to blaze down forgotten interstate roads.

In those moments of unimaginable speed and exhilaration while riding the black and yellow vehicle, Leiko felt free.

All of her time was dedicated to her learning everything she could and building or test driving the motorcycle. She was obsessed with physics and engineering, and had secretly graduated high school a year early (something she hadn't told her father). She'd already applied to an engineering program at a university far away in San Fransokyo and had been accepted on a full scholarship, and she planned to start classes there in two months. Now it was just a matter of leaving her father behind.

She had no friends, only a journal to talk to, and that book of paper was almost her downfall when she forgot it at home one night as she left for the warehouse. Leiko got back at four am and found her father waiting for her by the door, clutching her journal. He knew she had a motorcycle, he knew she planned to leave, he even knew she was a lesbian.

"You think you can just walk out on me like your ma did you fuckin' dyke? I don't think so. I'm gonna have the scrap company pick up your stupid ass motorcycle tomorrow, and you can just fuckin' forget about going to that fancy university in San Fran-Sok-Yo. You're stayin right here and working for my company and can start picking up the fucking slack around this household!" he shouted, grabbing the small teenager by the arm and slamming her against the wall.

Leiko had long ago hidden herself behind a mask of apathy and isolation, but something in her snapped in that moment as she imagined her dreams being crushed, the idea of never leaving this nightmare filled town haunting her.

"I'm not fucking staying her with you, you fucking prick! And you will never…"

Her knee slammed upwards into his crotch.

"Fucking…"

He keeled over and she shoved him away from her, causing him to fall to the ground.

"Touch me again."

Adrenaline pounded through her body and she forced the cacophony of panicked voices in her head to go silent as she blazed up the stairs, headed for her place of solace for the last time as she slammed and locked the door, grabbing her backpack she had had prepared in case of an emergency like this. She grabbed her wallet, motorcycle keys, and her red helmet.

A slam against the door made her heart skip a beat.

"I'm going to fucking kill you, you whore!"

Her father had recovered a lot faster than she thought he would.

Well, she'd need another way out then.

Looking to the window, she blinked, and ran for it without a second thought, tugging it open and tossing her backpack out of it onto the roof. For once she was grateful for how tiny she was as she sidled out of the small opening, picking up her backpack and dashing to the edge of the roof, putting the back on and then sliding down and over the edge until she was clinging to the gutters. She braced herself, then released her hands, dropping to the ground with a grunt.

She ran for the warehouse.

Jerking the door to the warehouse open she ran inside, putting her red helmet on and leaping on the bike, revving the engine. She could hear her father shouting from a few blocks away and popped a piece of gum in her mouth, chewing on it as she flipped down the visor and then revved one more time before blazing out of the warehouse. She let out a an excited shout as she sped past her father at 80 miles per hour, giving him the bird as she headed for the interstate. In that moment, she felt invincible.