I guess I should start with an introduction, huh? My name's Keiko Chen. I have ridiculously long brown hair (wavy, but I mostly straighten it), that is equally pretty, and bright green eyes. I may look like a total sweetheart, but if you mess with me, you're just asking for trouble. I'm going tell you my story...of how I met the most wonderful people in my whole life...how sunshine was brought to my world of darkness...and how I fell in love...but let me reassure you that even with that, my life wasn't all butterflies and rainbows...

Thus begins the story...

It was another normal day...well...normal for me at least. I was sound asleep, when I heard a loud bang.
I shot straight up in my bed and came to face my mother.
Oh my evil mother, what to say about her is more than words...
Let me just get to the point and say that she's an abusive mother who hates me, her only daughter. She hits me more than you could ever believe and it hurts damn well.
She was staring at me with that same maniacal look in her eyes, the look I happened to receive from her every single day of my life.

"Get up, you wretched daughter of mine." She demanded, glaring at me, still clutching the hammer that she hit my bedside table with to awake me.

I decided that I didn't em want to listen to her though, I was just so tired. Stupid choice on my part, I must've still been half-asleep. The next thing I knew, there was a searing pain down the side of my arm.
I yelped out in pain and immediately rose out of bed and went straight to my closet to start getting dressed for school.

"Now em that's /em more like it..." She stated, smiling evilly to herself as she strode out of the room, slamming the door.
I went straight to my full length mirror and stared at my arm in shock. It'd been worse than I thought. Mother's nails had cut right through my skin and left a bleeding mess from my shoulder blade to my elbow. At this point I was holding back tears. But of course I didn't cry..I never cry. I probably haven't cried since I was like five years old, when my father died.
Oh how I'd loved my father...he must have been the kindest man in the world...he was always so wonderful to me, I was his little girl..until that fateful day. My hands curled into fists and I slowly looked back up at the mirror in front of me, just to face myself. I punched the mirror with great force, causing it to crack as it fell over. With that, I continued to the restroom to clean my wound and finish getting ready.

Yes. It was another day in school and nothing much had changed over the weekend. As always, at lunch time, I had no one to sit with and I would always seem to find a small corner for me to eat my lunch in. It seemed that for most of my life, people avoided me, looked at me and never looked back..that sort of thing. Anyway, after lunch I got bumped in the hallways as usual. No one gave a shit about me and I'd leaned to live with that over the years. I didn't need anyone anyway.
The only thing I liked about school, my sole reason for living, was the pure fact that I could escape my mother, even if it was just for a few hours. When the final bell rang to go home, I was devistated.

Back to the hell hole... I thought as I packed up my things and walked sulkily out the classroom door. When I got home it was the norm. I just threw my school bag down on the floor of my tiny closet-sized room, and laid down on my lumpy bed, wishing for a better life.
I mean, all I could do was wish, right?

"Shut the hell up, you ungrateful little brat!" My mother bellowed, slapping me across the face.

As expected, my mother and I had gotten into another argument as we did every day of my existence. This time she was yelling about how we were running out of food in the fridge, and how she didn't have the funds to go out and shop for more food until next week.
I replied to her ranting saying that I couldn't help that I was also a human, and needed to eat.
As you can see, she didn't take this so well, thus leading to a huge confrontation.
I held my hand to my face, and saw a trickle of blood out of the corner of my eye, knowing that her swipe across my cheek had left a long scratch.

"You don't ever talk to me that way, you damn selfish brat!" She screamed, grabbing my shoulders.

Well...she tried to make a grab for my shoulders, but I swiftly moved out of her way, sending her into further outrage.
It was best to stay silent in these situations, unless I wanted to inflict more pain upon myself. I kept my mouth shut, which was very difficult for someone like me, I might add.
She hurdled herself toward me, and missed, as I ducked out of her path once more.

Woah...she's really getting out of control... I thought, getting a slight bit concerned.
She usually just smacked me or pulled my hair, and stomped off to vent, but not this time. She made another attempt to tackling me but again failed.
She landed a face plant on the floor, and she stayed there, banging her fists on the carpeted floor.

"Damn you! Damn you to Hell, you stupid unappreciative step daughter of mine...if I had raised you I would've brought you up better than that no-good backstabbing father of yours!" She yelled, still sprawled on the floor.

Oh, I guess I forgot to mention she's my STEP-mother. Sorry. Since I've been with her these many years, I sometimes forget that small detail.
My real mother was wonderful, as I've heard from my father when I was a little girl. My mother had died in labor with me, which is why most of the time I felt guilty for her death. Soon after she died, my dad fell in love again...with her... How? I don't know... I looked angrily down at the woman who'd inflicted pain on me since I was in elementary school, who always looked at me with hate, who always laughed at me when I tried to do something and failed, and who prevented me from having friends.
I couldn't take it anymore...this time I'd leave. I'd go somewhere that I could be alone and secluded, so I could get to know myself.
Heck, I was old enough to have a job, so why not? I could support myself better than she ever could.
I wondered why I'd never thought of this before, as I ran down the hall and into my cramped room. I locked the door behind me, though for some reason she never attempted to get in. I looked around my room and decided that I'd pack all of it. I didn't have many things, but a few outfits and two pairs of shoes, along with some personal belongings and a special memory box I kept under my bed.

Yeah...it'll all fit.. I thought, eyeing the large briefcase shoved near the rear of my tiny room.

I had to sneak out of my window to escape without being seen, but that was easy.
Once outside, I noticed the beautiful moon was out in the crisp night air. I walked along at a slow pace, until I heard... her...
She yelled in outrage that could be heard even from outside, obviously.
Not wanting to be caught, I ran as fast as I could with that damn heavy briefcase in tow.
Good thing there were woods by my house...or rather...her house. It was easy for me to keep running without being spotted.
I ran and ran, not wanting to stop in case she would be right behind me to return me to her home.
When I finally figured I was far enough away so that she'd never find me, I came to my senses..where was I going? I didn't have anywhere to stay...and I knew it...there was no way I could survive without even a blanket to warm me, or a roof over my head.
I looked over some hedges, further into the woods, and was surprised to see a light just over those hedges.
I wandered so that I was close enough to see through a nearby window of the home.
A happy family it appeared to be, having dinner...talking...laughing...
I balled up my fists as I thought sulkily how I wished to have a family...a normal one...with love.
I gritted my teeth at the thought and peered over toward the side of the house..there was a ladder.

I could..maybe.. I thought as I stared up at the roof of the home.

It would have to do, I decided, as I grabbed my briefcase and headed upward.

I was a smidgen happy as I had found a decent place to sleep, at least it was better than the ground. I doubted that the family would find me up here, and I'd be gone first thing in the morning to find myself an apartment or something, so no problem. Plus, what kind of weirdo would come up to the roof at this time of night/p Well...let's just say that I met that weirdo...

I was just starting to get comfortable on the roof, I'd used my jacket for warmth on my body against the crisp air, and I snuggled against the ledge surrounding the top of the house, when I heard a bang.
It was the door that led to the roof, and someone had just slammed it.
I tried to make myself hidden under my jacket to no avail, when I felt eyes staring at me. I didn't dare turn to my other side to see who it was, they'd probably call the cops on me or something...

"Tohru, what are you doing up here?" A voice said.

I didn't know who this 'Tohru' person was, but I knew I had been seen. I turned my body over slowly to reveal who had addressed me...or addressed Tohru...whatever.

"Huh? Hey! You're not Tohru!" He said in shock.

All I could do was stare at him, since I didn't know what he'd do next. He could get me arrested if he decided to call a sheriff. I stayed still and stared into his red-ish eyes.

Wait... redeyes? Now I was starting to freak out. Who was this guy?

He spoke up again. "Okay roof-prowler...who the hell em are /em you!" He said threateningly.

I sat up a bit and decided if I wanted to get on this guy's good side (for my own sake), I had to try and cooperate with him, so I told him my name.

"Keiko.." I mumbled.

"What? Speak louder, intruder!" He demanded.

"I saidKEIKO, dammit!" I stated again, starting to lose my temper, I couldn't help myself. Sometimes my outbursts came at the worst times, this was one of them.

"Well Keiko...GET THE HELL OFF OF MY ROOF!" He yelled, also starting to lose his temper.

"MAKE ME!" I yelled. I knew by saying that, it was giving him an open opportunity to call law enforcement, but luckily, he was as hot-headed as I and continued arguing with me.

Suddenly, I heard another slam, coming from behind the guy I was arguing with. I looked over and saw three people standing in the doorway to the roof.
There were two guys, both pretty cute looking...and a girl, that looked pretty much like me, except with blue eyes.
The guy I was arguing with noticed me staring at something and turned around to face the other people.

"Kyo? We heard voices up here and--" The girl started.

"Hey who's your friend?" The first guy said.

"Friend! What do you mean by that?! I came up here and she was just here! I don't know who the hell she is!" Kyo stated.

This time, the second guy standing in the doorway spoke up. "Ooh! Another high-school girl! Fantastic!" He said, smiling.

This whole time, I'd just been standing there, glaring at this 'Kyo' person. He did the same.

"So...what's your name?" The first guy questioned me.

"Keiko." I said, not averting my eyes from the glaring contest I was currently in with this red-head guy. But this other guy seemed nice...unlike the asshole who started an argument with me.

"Ah, well, it's nice to meet you, Keiko." He said, shaking my hand, I broke the glare with this 'Kyo' person and attempted a smile at this seemingly-polite person.

"My name's Yuki." He said. I decided that this Yuki guy was trustworthy, a nice overall guy by the first impression.

Then the girl next to him stared at me for a moment, and then smiled warmly. "Would you like to come inside, Keiko? You look awfully cold!"

Kyo looked shocked at this. "Why would you offer to let a damn stranger come into our house!" He complained.

I once again glared at him and he returned to glaring back at me.

"Ah, never mind Kyo. He's just being...well...himself." Said the guy next to Yuki. "My name's Shigure!" He said with a chuckle.

I smiled and shook his hand also. These people were actually...nice...well...with the exception of Kyo.

"And my name's Tohru. Now would you like to come inside and warm up a bit?" The girl asked.

Should I really trust these people? I mean...they can't be all that bad...considering they're welcoming me to their home..but...no one can really be trusted. But it's so cold out...I need somewhere to at least spend the night. I guess I'll accept the offer...

"Yes..that would be lovely." I stated with a smile.

It was only one night anyway...what could go wrong?