"Rin-chan! Where did ya go?" A little blonde haired boy asked. He walked around a small pond, looking inside it, as if hoping to find someone inside it. He frowned; the only thing he saw was his own blue eyed, blonde, five year old reflection. The oak tree behind him, which was over ten, hell, maybe twenty feet high, was easily seen in the pond reflection. The boy saw something else.

Someone else to be precise. A little girl, round about five years old, with blonde shoulder length hair, while sporting a cute little white bow, was sitting up in the tree. The boy turned around to face the tree, and the little girl. He knew he's find her eventually.

"Rin-chan, Mama Lily says that dinner's ready! She wants you to meet the others." Yelled the little boy, his hands cupped over his mouth. The little girl , called Rin, shook her head at him.

"Nuh-uh! I don't wanna meet the other people Len! They scare me." She called.

"Rin-chan!" Len called miserably. He wasn't persuading her much. He wanted extra banana's in his dessert, and the only way to get it was to get Rin down from the tree. Which, from the state of things, was impossible.

"Leave me alone."

"But Rin-"

"NO LEN-KUN!" screamed little Rin, crying. Len was taken aback. He didn't know that a little girl could have such a huge voice. Well, there was only one thing to do now. Len walked over to the tree, and started climbing it. It wasn't hard to climb, seeing that there was a rope ladder attached to it. He sat next to her on the tree branch.

"Rin-chan..." Len said softly. Rin was looking down at her lap. She didn't want to see the other kids: the Kaito boy had shoved ice down her top, much to her dislike, and her dislike of leek had already gained her an enemy, a cute little guy called Miku. She wanted to go home, well, whatever home was.

"Rinny... Hey Rin, look at what I can do!" said Len excitedly. He stood on one leg on the edge of the branch, perfectly balanced. Rin looked up. She was actually quite impressed with this, seeing that he could easily balance like that without falling to his potential death. Rin giggled a little, finally feeling happy in this place. And that was good enough for Len.

X-x-X-x-L-E-N-X-x-X-x

Len woke up, feeling slightly dazed, his head was throbbing dangerously. Ugh, he thought to himself while rubbing his head, never have a party on a school night Len. It was a Monday, and, his first day of the 11th grade. Oh how he dreaded it. Len hated high school for so long that he started to skip school when he could. He wasn't the only who did it, there were even worse people! Dell would usually smoked in the class, in front of the teachers. Teto attacked the teacher with a roll of bread a few times, and Neru... well, Neru was just downright scary. He was about to fall back to a somewhat blissful sleep when the bedroom door burst open.

'Len! You best get your lazy butt out of bed now! You're the fifth person in five minutes!' A woman yelled. Len sat up in his bed.

'When you get changed, I want you to clean your room. It's too God damn filthy!' yelled a woman, with long blonde hair that reached her hips, bright blue eyes glistening with rage. The so-called "manager" of this so-called "foster home".

'Ya know Lily, why don't you just... let me have a day off or summit.' Len yawned, lying back down in his bed. The next thing he knew, the bed covers were ripped off him, and he fell onto the floor.

'Ya know Len, why don't you just... get dressed before I kill you.' said Lily in a sweet voice, but Len could sense a threatening aura around her. He started rummaging through his drawers, and pulled on a white top and a pair of black jeans.

'Look, I'm dressed. Ya happy now?' Len grumbled.

'Very.' replied Lily, a smirk on her face. Len had just walked out of his room when he heard-

'HEY LEN, GOOD MORNING!' Len smiled to himself deviously. He turned his head to see a red haired boy with matching eyes, called Akaito, who was very red in the face, and was staggering a little. He was wearing a dark red shirt and the same jeans as Len.

'Last night... that was... a really... really... really...' Akaito frowned to himself; he seemed to be momentarily lost for words.

'A fun night?' suggested Len.

'That's it!' said Akaito triumphantly. The two boys made their way downstairs into the kitchen/diner, where the other foster kids, or, to the others at high school, the "problem kids" were eating. Len and Akaito sat next to another boy, who had silver hair in a ponytail like Len's hair, and blood red eyes, who was reading a book: How To Deal With Great Arrogance In YOUR Friends

'Are you trying to say somethin' Dell?' asked Akaito, aghast. Dell looked up with a blank look on his face.

'Maybe I am Akaito. You'll have to find out for yourself.' he replied in a simple tone. He returned to his book. Len couldn't care less if Dell thought he was arrogant, and he couldn't care less about Akaito debating about how not arrogant he was and that he was anti-arrogant to Dell. He was waiting, waiting to see his friend, his good companion, to see her.

X-x-X-x-R-I-N-X-x-X-x

Another nightmare, Rin thought to herself as she woke up. It was 7AM, and she guessed that she was the only person who was awake in the girls side of this damned place. Thanks to that dream, she couldn't go back to sleep either. So, she got dressed. She wore a white dress with pale yellow leggings underneath with black pumps. She brushed her short, golden hair, placed her barrettes in and put her old bow in her hair. She looked around her room. Neru had left her underwear in a far corner of her room (yet again, the dozy thing, thought Rin), and Miku was sleeping in the far corner only in her bra, a blanket covering the rest of her naked parts. How she got there, Rin didn't know, and she had the feeling that she actually didn't want to know. She made her bed slowly and cautiously, not to wake Miku up, and then she sat on her newly made bad and chose a book from the shelf. She was reading for a good five or ten minutes until Miku sat up and said in a grouchy tone,

'Get out of my room nerd!' Rin didn't look up from her book; she had just gotten to the best part of it.

'Actually, Miku, you're in my room. Your room is next door.' said Rin coolly. Miku glared at her. They never really got along well when they were kids, and they were even worse with each other now. Miku looked down under the blanket, and went beetroot red.

'ACK! WHERE'VE MY UNDERWEAR GONE?' She shrieked. And on that note, she grabbed the blanket and rushed out of the room. Rin smirked to herself. Serves her right, she thought. She carried on reading her book when the door opened slowly. A girl with bright gold hair in a side ponytail that reached her ankles, with matching eyes, was standing in the doorway. She wore a black tank top with a very short black mini-skirt trimmed with gold, and black ankle length boots. She looked around sheepishly.

'Heh-heh, hey, Rin... Have you seen my-' the girl asked blushing. Rin forced herself to remove her eyes from the book (she was in the middle of an intense sword fight that was against a swordswoman and a young boy) and smiled.

'They're in the corner Neru.' She laughed. Neru smiled at Rin gratefully.

'Thanks Rin. I got really pissed last night-'

'Pissed?' Rin asked, a little bit confused. OK, she knew that "pissed" meant "drunk", everyone did, but how could she be drunk last night? She was with Neru until ten o'clock... at least; she thought it was ten o'clock...

'Yeah, you went bed round about nine-ish, so Akaito went down to the shops and got us some drinks.' Neru said, jumping on Rin's bed so powerfully that Rin was lifted off the bed itself. Rin climbed back on and sat on the bed, her legs crossed.

'But all the clocks read ten when I saw it.'

'They're an hour quick Rinny.' Neru laughed.

'Oh hush up, Ne-ne.' Rin giggled. Neru was actually Rin's best friend: Rin came a few days before Neru, who was just as timid as Rin was on her first day. Rin started reading again. Neru glanced at her.

'Hey, Rinny, what're ya readin' this time?' she asked.

'It's "Paradise of Light and Shadow".' replied Rin.

'Oh, is that from the series "Synchronicity" then?' asked Neru, tilting her head slightly.

'Yup.' replied Rin, not looking up from the book.

'You do realized it's been cancelled for a long time now.' said Neru. Rin closed the book with a deep sigh.

'I know. Teto was really upset when it was cancelled. She said it was like her mom dying all over again.' She said sadly. Neru nodded slowly.

'I wonder why they cancelled it.' She said softly.

'Maybe the author couldn't write it anymore. Or maybe... maybe the author died.' muttered Rin. The series were cancelled round about the time she came to the foster home. The door opened to reveal another girl, who had dark pink hair that was in drill locks on both sides of her head, and blood red eyes. She wore a white long-sleeved shirt and a long dark pink skirt with sandals.

'Hey guys, Leon says breakfast will be ready in half-an-hour.' said the girl. The girl sat on the window seat.

'Were you a good girl last night Teto-chan?' snickered Neru. Teto raised an eyebrow at her.

'Just to let you know, Neru-chan, I could hear you and Akaito perfectly last night while I was trying to sleep. Hopefully, you didn't forget the condom.' she said. Neru blushed.

'Shut up.' she grumbled. Rin returned to her book, and finished it within twenty minutes of Neru and Teto debating about who they had a crush on, and sat there silently.

'Dell isn't a bad person, Neru. He's a good guy-' Teto said, blushing a little.

'And neither is Akaito! He helped me with my Biology homework one time, he was so sweet that day-' said Neru wistfully.

'Was that when you had that giant "F"?' snickered Teto. Neru threw a pillow at Teto, which hit her full on in the face.

'Hey! I fluffed that pillow too many time for it to be thrown around the place!' snapped Rin, getting off the bed and retrieving the pillow.

'You two are just like twins!' grumbled Rin. Neru and Teto glanced at each, and grinned deviously at Rin. This can't be good, Rin thought.

'You know, Teto, Rin hasn't told us who she had a crush on when you think about it, has she?' said Neru.

'Now that I think about it, no she hasn't.' replied Teto. Neru and Teto rounded on Rin, who looked terrified of what was coming next.

'So who do you have a crush on?'