Author's Note: This chapter is kind of vague I guess you could say but it's the perfect opener for the story (at least I think it is). More will happen later on as more characters are introduced. If at any time you have some ideas that you want to give feel free. I'll take any ideas that are thrown my way.

Disclaimer: I do not and I repeat I do not own or have any type of claims to Escaflowne or any of the songs that are to be used in this story.

Summary: Being passed from home to home is hard and high school is rough enough as is, but it gets even worse for a young girl that is currently in the foster system. Not only is she unhappy in the system, she can't seem to find a family that makes her feel whole again. Has she finally found one now? Has she finally decided to tell what happened to her?

Key: Anything that is in double quotes is dialogue that is said out loud and single quotes and italicized is internal dialogue. The XXXXXX means that there is a change in the scenes

This is the edited/changed version.

Prologue: Signed Away

Summer is usually the one time of the year that teenagers always look forward to. No school, staying out late, hanging out with their friends, the occasional party (with alcohol when the parents are away at least), family trips with friends, hitting the beach, but above all what teenagers loved about the summer was all of the freedom. As for their favorite place to be well that was obviously the pool and/or beach. Girls get the chance to really show off what their "dieting" has done for them and for some how well their doctor's appointments had gone. In the middle of summer vacation teenage girls are out spending as much time as possible in their new (and generally extremely skimpy) bathing suits enjoying their long break. They wouldn't have to see any of their teachers or the cursed thing called homework for another three months.

But break wasn't that great for everyone. There was one teenager that was actually glad that summer break was now over.

This one young teenager stood out amongst all the now depressed teenagers. Standing in front of a large beautiful blue two-story house with a large green front yard and a white picket fence was a formally dressed businesswoman. Her crisp business suit screamed that she was a professional that had done this many times and meant business. On the other hand her face screamed that the girl that was standing arrogantly behind her had caused her many problems. She had gone through this too many times with this particular girl and they had all ended the same way. Heaving a sigh the stressed blonde woman rang the gold doorbell that was to the right of where she was standing in the entranceway. It only took a few minutes for the fancy wooden door to open.

In the now open doorway stood a dark haired middle-aged woman. She was dressed in a light pink shirt with black pants. The woman smiled when she saw who was on her doorstep. Standing aside she motioned for them both to come in, "Please do come in."

The golden haired woman gave a terse almost forced smile, "Thank you."

The girl that had been standing behind the gold and black haired woman hesitated. She knew clear well what going into that beautiful house would mean. Receiving a glare from the older woman that she was accompanying the girl quickly walked in. She wasn't stupid, that was for sure because she knew not to push all of the kind woman's buttons, and after all they were trying this in a different city. Pushing her buttons too much would result in near death.

The inside of the house was quite cheerful. Too much so for the teen to take, she tried not to gag. The woman led them into the light blue living room. On the center wall was something that was hard to miss. There was a gigantic marble fireplace. 'That's it these people definitely have got money.' On top of the fireplace were dozens of pictures. 'Probably family.' There was also fine china displayed on the mantle of the fireplace. 'It's official they have lotsa money.' Walking in as slowly as possible the younger girl saw the blonde sit on the large blue denim love seat. The dark haired lady sat on the opposite side of the glass coffee table on a matching denim couch.

"Thank you for coming Miss Saneira."

"It's no problem for me. I just need to find these children good homes. But I must admit that I am amazed that you and your husband had chosen this young woman here. She can be quite a handful." 'Ouch! Just cut to the chase why don'tcha? You make me sound like I'm a criminal or somethin'.

"I'm quite sure." The young girl had by now sat herself down next to Ms. Saneira, the social worker at the Adom city adoption center. Normally Ms. Saneira tried to find her foster homes in cities other than Adom but there was finally a home open for her in Adom.

Ms. Saneira gave the young teenager a long side-glance. She prayed that this girl would be able to last longer than two weeks in this home. If this went on any longer she would have to be sent to the orphanage until she turned nineteen, most kids that were in the Adom system didn't go through as many homes as this girl had. Nodding her head she took out some papers from her small briefcase that she had at her side. Handing them to the woman she let her read over them before she had her sign them. She couldn't help but smile as she thought that this would most likely be the one place this girl would stay. 'She is a very good girl if you're around her long enough, hopefully they will give her a chance to become herself again'. Ms. Saneira said a quick prayer to herself that the woman before her would have enough patience and love in her to look past the teenager's dark looks and personality. That was the purpose behind all of this, for her to find someone to save her from herself.

She knew that she was receiving glares from Ms. Saneira. She couldn't help but smirk. This morning she had purposely done her make-up this way. In the last eight months she had been placed in twelve different foster homes, supposedly wanting to be adopted so that the adoption agency center wouldn't have to send her to the city orphanage because she couldn't be adopted.

"I will just need to have you sign these final papers, Mrs. Uchida." She took out a black ballpoint pen from her briefcase and handed it to Mrs. Uchida once she saw that she had looked over the necessary papers that she would have to sign in order to foster the teenager.

All she could do was watch as she was signed away yet again. She almost snorted ruefully. She would be sent back in two weeks or so. No one was able to tolerate her. It happened all the time. Never had it been otherwise. She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't realize right away that the two women were looking at her almost expectantly.

Miss Saneira was looking at her with urgency in her blue eyes, "Come outside with me." Getting up she made sure that the girl was actually following her. Standing in the doorway outside where she had been at least an hour ago she looked hard at the orphaned teenager. "Now listen closely. I want you to be on your very best behavior. You never know, maybe the Uchidas will be the one that you need and possibly even adopt you. They also have a teenage daughter; Mrs. Uchida says that she is sixteen as well. Mrs. Uchida says that her husband will be back later tonight and so will their daughter. So please, promise me that you'll try your best to stay here. They're sweet people, you'll love them." Hugging the girl she gave her a sincere and hopeful smile. "Good luck, sweetie." Turning away she walked through the picket fence.

Sighing the girl walked back towards the house that she would be living in for God only knew how long and went inside. Coming into the front door's hallway she saw Mrs. Uchida standing there with a very pleasant smile on her face. "Would you like me to show you to your room so you can unpack and rest? My husband will be back before our daughter Yukari. So until then you can make yourself at home."

'She seems friendly enough, maybe I might have a chance.'

"So if you want I'll take you to the room you'll be staying in now?"

The girl nodded, a little rest wouldn't hurt. She would need it if she was going to be staying here for any length of time. Following Mrs. Uchida she picked up her suitcases. The bags weren't as big as most girls would have them, but then again that was because she never had much to begin with anymore. Following Mrs. Uchida closely she was led up the stairs and down the left hall towards the room that she would be able to claim as hers for a while. The room that she was taken to was much larger than she thought that she was going to get. The walls were a creamy white. Looking around she saw that the room was moderately furnished. It was obvious that the Uchidas were waiting for someone to use the room before they furnished it thoroughly. The room already had the basic necessities, a large queen sized bed, dresser, desk and to her surprise a large bay window. Overall it was a nice bedroom; however the white walls were not a keeper for her though. 'Those will have to be covered.'

Mrs. Uchida stood behind the girl as she examined the room to see if she liked it. She was quite pleased to see the young woman nod her head in approval after she had looked around the whole room. Mrs. Uchida was pleased with herself as well. Granted she didn't know what color the girl would want but she still thought she and her husband had done a good job at least changing it from grey to white. The room surprisingly only took five days to finish. Their daughter had helped them pick out what kind of furniture they should get for her based on the fact that the girls were the exact same age. Yukari had settled for a light brown colored wood for the bed, desk and dresser. None of them were from the exact same company but amazingly they all matched well.

Looking closely at the girl that was in front of her walking around still she smiled happily. "If you need anything I'll be downstairs. My husband should be home by four. Get as much sleep as you want." Stepping out of the room she turned around before she closed the door behind her to give the teenager some privacy. "I hope you enjoy being here. All of us are glad to have you with us."

The girl smiled as the door was closed quietly. She would definitely make herself at home. Who knew how long it would last though. Opening her bags she started putting things away as she tried to hide the horrifying thought of having to go back to the adoption agency center again. Sighing contentedly as she put the last of her clothes in the dresser drawers she walked over to her new queen sized bed. Pulling off her favorite boots she fell back on her bed and closed her eyes. Days like these were always hard and very tiresome. Letting out another sigh she let her mind be conquered by the realm of dreams. Later she would meet the rest of the Uchidas.

Author's Note: So what do you think? Any idea on just who the girl is? It may surprise you and then for some it may not. Let me know what you think.