I came up with this story after watching Rent. So after some brainstorming I figured out where I want to go with it. The characters are mostly ones I created, but don't worry there are still the originals. It's going to be sad and realistic so don't look here if you want happy and funny. Enjoy.

She sat there holding her Styrofoam cup of coffee. It was her third cup in the last five minutes. She was nervous. She was nervous about being in this city that she had never been to before and not knowing anyone there. Not to mention that of all places to meet new people she had to come here. She wanted to just run out of the room, slam the door, and catch the next flight back to Japan, but she knew she wouldn't do that. She couldn't face them for once. She then, as she often did during the day, began mentally beating herself up for being so foolish and naïve.

She hadn't told anyone she was leaving. She just left a note explaining why, and then drove herself and some of her belongings to the airport. At first she hadn't known where to go. England had sounded nice, but then she realized that she knew people there even if it had been years since she talked to them. Hong Kong was her next pick, but she knew she couldn't face him. He was already disappointed in her for one thing and if he found out about this, well he would just be crushed. She couldn't do that to him. Finally, she decided she would pick a place where she knew no one she knew could find her—New York City. Sure it was a cliché, hopping on a plane and flying all the way to New York to start a new life, but hey it worked! Once there she rented out a cheap apartment in Brooklyn and gotten a job as a court reporter. It wasn't the most glamorous life, but it worked for her. As long as she got her medicine and bills paid she would be fine just fine. Nothing could bring her down. Or that was what she had thought until she had a breakdown one night after work. A breakdown that was so bad the ambulance had to come to her house and talk her out of shooting herself.

The doctors at the hospital recommended she seek help. Since she didn't have enough money to see a shrink three to four times a week she looked to group therapy. Oh how fun this was going to be. All of these people just sitting around the talking about their problems and how it sucks to be them. Oh yes, this would indeed be loads of fun.

The group leader walked into the room then. He cleared his throat and the people talking silenced. They knew the drill.

"Welcome everyone. I hope your week has been fine. I see we have a new face joining us today," he said, looking her up and down in a friendly way. "Care to tell us your name and why you're here with us?"

All of a sudden, she wanted to lie about her name and her past. Lie about everything that had ever happened. She wanted to live a lie and be someone, anyone but herself. She wanted to so bad, but when she opened her mouth the truth came tumbling out of her.

"Sakura Kinomoto. I'm from Japan so my name may sound unique to you, but it's really quite common over there."

"Nice to meet you, Sakura," everyone greeted.

"Now tell us why you're here," the leader urged.

"I think you already know why," she whispered, not wanting to push the subject any farther.

"Yes, but saying why helps us to accept the fact faster," he smiled.

Sakura sighed deeply. This guy wasn't going to give up on her and it seemed like no one else was going to either.

"I'm here because I made a bad choice and I ended up getting AIDS," she said quickly.

"Good," the leader urged. "It's a start. Here though we prefer saying we're HIV positive or that we have the Human Immunodeficiency Virus."

"It helps make the disease not look as terrifying," the woman on her right to her said. The woman looked to be her forties and Sakura thought she looked awfully similar to her late mother.

Sakura found herself wondering what her mother thought about her now. Was she ashamed of her? Could dead people even be ashamed? Did she still love her? Did she wish she could have done something to stop her from spiraling out of control?

"Alright let's begin. I'm Jake," the leader said, interrupting Sakura's thoughts.

"Christina," a skinny blonde hair girl with big blue eyes said. She looked a few years older then Sakura.

"Bill," a bald man in his forties said.

"Tom," an African American man who resembled the one on Law and Order said.

"Maggie," the woman next to Sakura said.

Sakura looked around the room at all of them again. All were different, yet they all had at least one thing in common. They were dying. It was a hard fact, but it was true. There was no way they could win this fight.

Jake looked at Sakura. She looked back at him, right in his eyes. She knew he was going to make her speak.

"Tell us why you're here, Sakura."