Note:

Prince of Tennis won't show up for a few chapters so please be patient. I do NOT own any characters from CLAMP or from Prince of Tennis but I do own the plot and my OCC.

PLEASE REVIEW! NO UPDATES UNTIL I GET AT LEAST TWO REVIEWS. IT'S NOT THAT MUCH TO ASK FOR PEOPLE! PLEASE! I JUST WANT TO KNOW IF MY STORIES ARE ANY GOOD AT ALL!

Thank you, now here's the story.

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I heard the clink of heels hitting the pavement, the soft voices talking and the occasional laugh or shriek that came with it. The smell of garbage and food from nearby restaurants assaulted my nose as the soft breeze made my dirty, ratted and dull blonde hair dance slightly at the tips. I slowly opened my blue eyes that were still clouded with the fogs of sleep and I looked around.

To my left and right were high brick walls that blocked the sun for now and only gave us a view of the vast and wide open blue sky. I sat up and leaned back against the wall that marked the end of the alleyway and looked in front of me where hundreds of people were passing yet none bothered to even look my way.

I ignored them as I normally do and look down to my right where my two best friends who were as close as brothers to me were lying. I'm the oldest of us three at twelve, with the other two being the ages of eleven and ten; I think. We don't really know how old we are but that's about the age we think we are. We all made our own birthdays since we also couldn't remember when ours really were.

The three of us have many things in common but the biggest one is that we are orphans. Our parents were all killed and we're now living on the streets. It's a hard life, but we manage…somehow. I look down once more at the one lying right next to me and I smile sadly before lightly brushing the hairs out of his face. He's the youngest out of us at the age of ten and has black hair and big grey eyes.

We both worry about him, me and the third boy in our little family. We worry about him both because he's the youngest and because he's been getting very sick recently. We're not sure why, but we know that he needs to see a doctor, sooner rather than later. I lightly place my hand on his forehead and sigh silently; his fever has probably risen a little bit overnight. I take my tattered and torn blanket and put it over him as well. I smile a little when he snuggles closer to me and lightly fists part of my ratty clothes in one of his hands.

I look at the one on the far right, the eleven year old, and see that he is starting to wake up. As I wait for him to wake up fully, I put my hand on the youngest one's shoulder and gently shake it, trying to wake him up as well.

He moans softly and covers his head with the blankets, muttering, "One more minute." As he does and then curls up into a ball and falls asleep once more. I smile and take the blankets off his head and gently say, "Come on, you can go back to bed in a minute but you need to eat something this morning."

After another moan and some groans, he's sitting up and leaning his head on my shoulder sleepily. "Here," I said and gave both the boys next to me a small piece of stale bread each before I also take one. It's the last of our food, which means that we're going to have to go out and find some more soon.

"I'll go and look for some more food later." I say as I finish my small piece.

"No, you went last time, I'll go this time." The eleven year old said, determination showing in his bright golden eyes and I know that I can't argue with him.

"Alright Suoh," I say with a sigh. "Just make sure to get back before the sun starts to set."

"I know." Suoh tells me and stands up.

"Good luck." The ten year old says sleepily with a small smile.

Suoh smiles back at him before turning and leaving. I watch as he joins the crowd and disappears from my sight before I turn back to the youngest who is almost back asleep. I spot the stale bread I gave him barely eaten in his hand.

"Aren't you going to finish?" I ask him, worried about how much thinner he's been getting lately from not eating all of the small portions we each get.

"'M not hungry." He says sleepily. "You can have it."

"Akira, it's not good for you to-"I stop midsentence as I realize that he's not hearing any of what I'm saying since he's already fast asleep once more. I sigh and lay him back down, covering him with the blankets once more before I gently run my hand over his ratty and greasy hair. Before I knew it, my world darkened and I joined Akira in the land of dreams.

Plink

"Uh?" I blinked open my eyes when I felt something wet land on my nose. I looked up at the sky and found dark and ominous clouds looming overhead, and the roar of the thunder nearly made me jump out of my skin. My heart was racing a thousand times per second when lightning struck right overhead with a sound like the crack of a whip.

I'm not scared of thunder storms but I didn't' know this one was coming and looked like a big one. I knew we needed to get inside somewhere but I looked around and realized Suoh wasn't back yet. I was worried for him and also for Akira. I looked down at the boy and found him clinging to me while shaking, his grey eyes staring up at me with fear.

He's terrified of storms like this; mainly because it was on a night like this that his parents were killed before his eyes. I think that he's not scared of the storms so much as terrified that the same thing might happen again, and he'd be alone once more.

I put my arms around him and looked left and right, trying to find something-anything that could protect us from the storms blind fury. On my right were many papers and old wrappers flying each and every direction, but nothing that would help. To my left was not much better. Garbage bags left to be picked up in the morning were sitting there and being ripped open; their contents flying around us and out towards the people rushing to find shelter.

I helped Akira stand up and together, we stumbled our way out into the street. Everywhere we looked; people were rushing into the nearest stores, businesses, hotels, or trying to flag down a taxi to take them back home.

"Nokoru!" I turned when I heard my name being called and found Suoh fighting his way through the mass of rushing bodies towards us. When he made it, he had to shout to be heard over the roar of the raging storm going on around them. "We have to find somewhere to wait out the storm! It's too dangerous to stay outside in this weather!"

"I know!" I yelled back, ducking from a rather large sign that had been torn violently from where it once stood. "Where can we go though?"

We both looked around frantically but all the stores were crammed full and the owners were locking their doors to prevent more people from getting in and overcrowding the place and to keep the wind from blowing the doors open and ruining everything in the store. The streets were gradually emptying until the three boys were the only ones standing out in the torrent of rain.

"What?" I yelled to Suoh who had tried to tell me something but was drowned out by the shot of thunder that had just sounded.

He came closer and put his mouth next to my ear before he yelled, "Let's try downtown! They probably have lots of abandon warehouses!" I nodded instead of trying to scream over the storm. We started making our way slowly towards the downtown area. Each step felt like trying to walk with fifty pound weights strapped to each foot, and the wind was against us, trying to hold us in place or blow us backwards with the sheer force it was displaying.

Two feet in front of us was nothing more than rain. No building could be seen and even if your hand was right in front of your face, you wouldn't be able to see it. Each step was a guess, each breath watery, and we were blinded by the rain and wind.

I could hear nothing, see nothing, and the only way I knew my friends were still with me was the small and desperate hands clinging to me, and the firm arm around my wrist that wouldn't let me go so I didn't fall away and get swallowed by the hungry storm.

I don't know how far we walked, or how long we'd been going, but I knew that we were slowing down. I knew the reason as well, but we couldn't' stop or we might be taken by the storm. We made it a few steps further before I felt the hands that were clinging to me loosen and fall away.

I stopped and felt a jerk when Suoh tried to go forward but couldn't' since I wasn't' moving anymore. "What's going on?" Suoh shouted and I could just barely hear him since the storm had died down a tiny bit so I could see a little further and hear at least a little bit when people were shouting. I didn't answer him but just started making my way back while trying to both feel and look for our missing friend.

"Akira!" I shouted, but received no answer. Suoh heard me because he came closer to me and saw just me, Akira was nowhere in sight.

"Where is he?" Suoh shouted as he looked around.

"I don't know! He was here one second and then he wasn't!" I shouted back; worry building up inside me as I held back tears. I was about to call out again when I tripped over something soft and fell, Suoh just barely caught me in time. When I regained my balance, thanks to Suoh, we both knelt down to look at what I had tripped over.

What I saw almost made my heart stop. Akira was lying on the ground, not moving, but what really scared me was the slight trickle of blood coming from his mouth and being swept away by the river of rain filling the streets and sidewalks. I let my tears fall as I picked up the younger boy and held him in my arms, letting my tears fall and mix with the rain.

Suoh was next to me and sadly brushing Akira's hair out of his face, trying to make sure the younger boy was alright. I'm not sure how long we sat there, and I barely noticed how the rain let up a bit but still continued to pour. I didn't' even notice when I stopped getting wet, and only looked up when a deep but kind voice asked, "Are you boys alright?"

A man was standing before us and holding an umbrella over us to keep us from getting wet, thought it didn't truly matter since we were soaked to the bone anyway. The man had on a black suit that looked expensive and had short brown hair and kind, light brown eyes. He was handsome and dressed nicely yet he didn't' seem to care that he was ruining the suite as he knelt down before us and looked at me and Suoh before turning his attention to Akira.

"Oh my," He said, and reached out a hand to gently touch his (Akira's) forehead. I held onto Akira tighter, and protectively incase he tried to do anything and he chuckled a little bit. "I promise I won't hurt him or you." He told me as he looked me right in the eye. "However, he does need to see a doctor." He seemed to think for a bit before standing up and asking, "Would you three like to come with me? I can help treat your friend and give you a place to stay from the storm."

I looked at Suoh who seemed hesitant to trust the man like I was, but we didn't have a choice; Akira needed a doctor, and he needed one now. We both nodded and I let Suoh pick Akira up so he could carry the younger boy and we followed the man to a very expensive looking car.

He opened the back door for us and we climbed in, very aware that we were probably ruining the seats by getting them all wet. He climbed in after us and sat in the seat right across from ours. The back of the car was spacious and had leather seats. Suoh and I sat in silence and listened to the man talk quietly into his phone for a minute or two before he hung up and smiled at us.

"The doctor should meet us back at my house." He said.

"Who are you and why are you doing this for us?" I demanded, wanted to get as many answers as I could from this guy before the ride was over.

He seemed surprised by the question and blinked a few times before laughing and saying, "I'm very sorry. Let me introduce myself. My name is Maxwell Johnson and I was born and raised in America. My parents were the late owners of the companies that I now run. I was voted one of the richest men in the world and my companies are most probably the richest in the world. As for why I'm doing this, there's really no reason. See, I love children and have donated quite a sum of money to many organizations around the world that deal with helping children who are sick and in need of medical attention. When I saw you, I couldn't' just pass on by and do nothing about it."

I thought about his answer for a few minutes before I said, "You're different than everyone else."

"Is that a good thing?" He asked me.

"I'm not sure yet." That answer made him laugh fully and right there, I decided that I liked the sound of his laugh. "Hey, mister-"

"Call me Max." He said with a smile.

I couldn't' help it, so I smiled back and asked, "Max, do you have any kids?"

"No, I don't. I've never married and haven't adopted so right now, I'm all alone except for my staff that are amazing and I don't know what I'd do without." Max looked sad when he said this, but also happy at the same time.

"Doesn't that get lonely?" I asked.

"Yes, most of the time." Max answered. "Though, because I'm rich, I'm afraid of what might happen if I do get married or have any kids." Seeing my confused look, he smiled sadly and said, "See, rich people get targeted a lot so there are many people out there who would love to hurt me. If I got married or had any kids, they would most likely be targeted as well and I couldn't' bear to think of what would happen if they got hurt, or worse."

"We know how you feel." I said sadly and looked down at the ground. "All our parents were murdered, and what made it worse was that we watched it happen. I don't' ever want to go through that again." Tears were running down my face and I swatted them away. Suoh put his hand on my shoulder, silently giving me comfort. I smiled weakly over at him and wiped my tears on my arm.

When I looked back up, I was surprised when I felt strong and warm arms wrap around me. I wanted to be strong, but I was tired of holding it all in and I broke down, crying into Max's jacket and getting it sopping wet. Something seemed to melt away inside me because I suddenly felt a lot better than I had in a long time. Feeling safe inside the warm arms, I slowly stopped crying as I drifted off to sleep. My last thought before I completely gone was 'He smells like lavender…I like that smell, it reminds me of mom.'

I slept on when the car stopped and didn't' wake up when Max carried me inside and placed me on a soft bed, or even when he pulled the blankets up around me and whispered goodnight. That night, I dreamed of my family, and how we used to be before they were killed.

It was the best dream I'd had in a long time, and also the safest, best and warmest I've felt in a long time and I knew it had nothing to do with being in the warm bed, but everything to do with Max. All I really knew at the time was that I was happier than I had ever been in the five years it's been since my parent's death, and I never wanted to lose this feeling again.