Author Note:

I want to start by saying that Special A is, and has been for many years now, one of my top five favorite anime/manga. It is up there with Skip Beat, Chi's Sweet Home, Love So Life, and Sailor Moon/V. That being said I am currently rereading it so I hope that you can forgive some things being ooc. I am also happy to say that though I would be happy to know if anyone is enjoying reading this I am rewriting this story (or making it much newer and updated) for myself.

Thank you for letting me go on about myself and let's begin.

The Light of My Life

Chapter One :: Safety First

Hikari Hanazono had always dreamed that there would be a moment as this, but she had thought it would be something trivial such as a ping pong match or something with bodily restrictions, something that was a defined challenge. She had not expected to log into the admissions page of one of the top colleges in the world to see the admission rankings as:

#1 Hanazono, Hikari
#2 Takashima, Kei

Hikari stared at the rankings again and grinned as she scrolled through the hundreds of names. This wasn't done in alphabetical order. She clicked on her score and saw that she had done perfect on the test and paperwork, but had blown them away with her personality and her essay. That was how she had a .75 mark lead on him.

"I told you," she grinned to him as she stood up, "I told you that I'd beat you Taki-" she smiled proudly. She could probably do it now once he admitted his defeat, she could still see the astonishment in his…his dreamy smile always caught her off guard.

"Congratulations, Hikari or should I say number one," Kei smiled up at her happily. He watched the rest of the group watch him. They still had two more months left so what could they do now Hikari wasn't trying to be number one in anything.

"Tha-Thanks, Kei" she smiled, blushing over using his name but it made her feel so happy. She could now face herself and see herself as his equal.

Kei smiled happily hearing her say his name, he thought for a moment before grinning up at her. "So, how are you planning on proposing to me?"

Hikari took a step back in shock before smiling in determination, "Just you wait. I'll propose in a way that you will never be expecting. It'll be a proposal you'd never dream of saying no to," she laughed.

Kei smiled peacefully, "I don't think that's too hard," he said before taking a photo on his phone of her beating him. He looked at it. He had never been so happy to not be the number one ranked score, he was just a little confused about how it did happen.

He was about to suggest something to Hikari but she was running out.

He'd definitely be looking forward to this surprise. He liked to compete as much as she did, but now it might mean that he could become her husband too and then as her husband there were many things they could compete for and achieve together.

"You shouldn't be smiling so much, I'm sure my angel Hikari expected you to be in a state of defeat," Akira said as she looked towards the door that Hikari had exited.

'You should cry' Megumi wrote down but Kei was already in too much bliss.

Hikari was going to become his fiancée and then his wife.

Outside Hikari was running down the street when she heard the sirens and saw the smoke. It was next that she heard the screams for help. She couldn't get her 'propose to Takishima plan' off to a good start if she didn't go to help. It looked like a hostage situation and she was there to help.

Three Years Later

Her name was Hikari Hanazono. She had been eighteen years old when she had been drugged, abducted, and brought to this dungeon. Although, this wasn't a dungeon. She had broken free of dungeons, she had defeated handfuls of men at a time and she had been in here for so long she had forgotten count.

How long was it since the last time she was forced to sleep with one of the gang members? How long was it since she had had any kind of food that wasn't from the leaky faucet? She was going to die here wasn't she, or she was going to drive herself mad. Maybe if that happened she could at least think about her happy places, her friends and her family instead of the mirrors, the bathroom, the bedroom, the entrapment.

She seemed to remember that there had been a plane involved in the beginning.

Yes, she had been in high school and was doing something…planning some kind of event and…then it had happened and nobody had found her. She curled herself into a ball and ran her hands down her arms. She pulled back in fear as she saw a syringe in her arm with something flowing through it. Was this what was keeping her alive?

Yanking it out, Hikari sat and felt light headed for a moment. She pushed herself back on the bed before hearing footsteps and noises. She shivered, she just had to do her work and then if she was good she would get food and maybe another blanket, if they were displeased with her then she would be hit or beaten.

Hopefully they still liked her. Over time she had gotten to be good at what they had ordered her to do to them.

The footsteps sounded different, more gentle, but even those who seemed gentle had a possibility of some kind of a gruesome psychological mess beneath the surface.

If she was going to get through this she had to remember him.

Kei. That was a name that she had never spoken aloud since the day that she had been abducted. It was a special name because it belonged to the person who had loved her the most. He had always been there for her wanting to keep her safe, to protect her. She just had to imagine this man as Kei and she would become limp and oblige him however he wanted.

"So, you've never been down here?" a young man asked as he went down to the basement, "I'm sure that our company wants to know if there are any skeletons in the closet."

Hikari smiled to herself, she was doing a good job. It was funny to have such a familiar voice in her head and it had never been this clear before. She could remember him praising her, looking after her.

"What is this?" the man growled, "There are people down here, that man is he dead? Did you know there were people down here?" he growled. "Get me a police officer now," he said and he paused on the staircase.

There weren't people down here, there was just her, that's what she had always been told but then it was funny, in these rooms you really could only see or hear a snippet and the noises weren't heard from inside. There must have been people surrounding her for a long time.

This person was new, he didn't want to hurt her did he? Would he be happy to see the skimpy maid outfit she had been forced to wear under a bright pink robe. She coughed and looked at the shoe. It was brown and nicely polished, he was probably some kind of reporter. Maybe this would be her ticket to freedom.

She was surprised to see the man turn in her direction before his body shook. The next thing she knew was that the man was outside her prison. Why was he outside of hers? She wasn't exactly gorgeous or rich or anything, she was young as well. Maybe not as young as she once was, but she was young enough, they'd want someone with more experience.

"I'm sorry," she heard the words, "I'm so sorry."

She just had to think of the guy she loved, she had to think of his happy face, his laugh, his voice, his…the man came towards her and put his hand on her forehead. She flinched away but started to take off her robe.

"Wha—What position?" she asked as he seemed to draw back.

"I am," the man adjusted with his glasses, his blonde hair was a mess and his face looked like her kind Takishima's. She was doing such a great job of imagining him here. "I am really sorry, you just…look like her, I don't mean to scare you."

Hikari looked up at him, he was frightened and anxious and didn't seem sure of himself at all. She would definitely have to pretend more to make him into Kei.

"Did you want oral?" she asked looking down as he stared at her as if she was some weird kind of zombie. She knew that she had dark marks and scars all over her body and her hair was a mess, but he had chosen her.

"No. We're getting the police officers in here as soon as possible, could you tell me your name?" he asked trying to be very kind and understanding, but he kept fiddling with his glasses. "Oh god, you look just like…"

"My name is Hanazo-" Hikari said slowly as she felt the hands on her again, he was holding her to him before she had even finished saying her whole name.

"Hikari," he said desperately, the sound of his heart breaking evident in his voice. "Will you let me pick you up? Will it hurt you if I do so?"

"I'm sorry?" Hikari asked as she looked into the face of the twenty-one year old. He was so desperate and frightened, she had disturbed him hadn't she? She had made things worse somehow. "Who are you?" she just needed a name, she could continue imagining him, but she wanted to hear a name. He knew her name.

"You don't remember m-" the guy started before sliding a hand down his face and covering his mouth. He looked just like Takishima did when he was trying to figure out a plan. "It's okay. I just want to get you to the hospital. My name is Takishima, Kei. We used to be…friends…" he said awkwardly, "or something like that, we got along pretty well and I just want to get you to a hospital and then you can talk to a police officer about this if that's okay?"

Hikari reached out for his hand and flinched as she did so, he almost pulled his hand away but she held on. "Kei?" she asked, "Takishima?" She started crying as he watched her, unsure what to do. "Of course I know my…boyfriend, but…"

"Everyone thought you were dead," Kei said. It looked like he was about to yell, but he reminded himself of what was happening at that moment and stopped trying to calm himself. "I let them make me stop looking. I believed you…I am so sorry. I can't forgive myself. If I had kept looking. I should have kept looking."

Hikari blinked hard as she looked at this older form of her boyfriend or wait – was he somebody else's boyfriend now? How old was he? She had missed out on being his girlfriend if he thought she was dead. He most likely would have married but he didn't have a ring on his finger. Maybe he was an unfaithful husband?

"Your wife?" she asked as Kei looked at her confused, "girlfriend," she corrected herself. "Does she make you happy?"

Kei sniffed and took off his glasses, she hadn't seen him before like this. She had seen him sad and with a cloud following him around, but nothing like this. He just didn't seem to be him anymore.

"I don't know," he said calmly, "I've only ever had one proper girlfriend and I thought she had been murdered and her body a mess of mutilation. I've never loved a second person like her, she's my number one and I still love her."

Hikari crawled towards him, her body turning stiff and rigid but the man could touch her very gently and soon she was in his arms. "I love my boyfriend," she said as he nodded.

"They must have brainwashed you to say that, but I promise that they won't lay a finger on you again," Kei swore. "What's your boyfriend's name?" he asked between clenched teeth. He had forgotten how she had referred to him as her boyfriend, that was years ago. Dressed like this there must have been someone who had forced himself on her.

"I think his name is Kei Takishima," she said as she looked up at him.

Kei smiled, "well he is a very very lucky man to have you as his girlfriend," he said as he held Hikari in his arms. As soon as his hands were around her though her entire body went rigid and limp.

'I promise whoever did this to you will suffer' Kei thought to himself as he just let the girl he loved sit with him. Nobody could dream of getting away with this.