A/N: Okay peeps! I may not be able to update as soon as everyone would like me to, but bear with me. I'm a teenager and have studies to attend to, no matter how much I may love to write.

Anyways! On to the story! (Reviews & Flames welcome!)

Temporary Oasis

Prologue

"Please, stop... I'm begging you! Please... Leave me alone!" I reached behind me, desperately grabbing for anything I could use to defend myself against him. There was nothing. My mind scrambled, leaving me without an answer. He stared into my eyes, intending to do horrid things to me... just like every other guy my mother brought home.

"No can do, Princess; you're gunna be mine, now..." The man licked his lips, a malicious glint shining in his ice blue eyes. The eyes that reminded me so much of my mother, and how she's not much better than he was. The man inched closer to me, reaching out to touch my hair, "My, my... what beautiful hair you have."

Bile arose in my throat. And then it hit me! There was a switch blade in my back pocket! I had started carrying it today, once I recieved my fake I.D. from a classmate, which enabled me to purchase one. It must have slipped my mind, not that the gash in the back of my skull was helping much, though. If I didn't want this to happen again, I had to keep it with me. You know, to protect myself. Slapping his hand away from my face, I swiped my blade into my clammy palms, swiftly and without notice. I pretended to be scared just a little bit longer. If he even so much as layed a finger on me, then I would use it.

Surprise overshadowed his angular features, and then fury. He pinned my wrist up against the counter top that was effectively cornering me. Suddenly, as if my rogue limb had its own plans, my knife was revealed and held to his neck. Narrowing my eyes and wiping away my scared facade, I leaned forward so that my mouth was close to his ear. Lowering my voice to a whisper, I warned him threateningly, "Leave this house, and leave my family alone or I will not hesitate to kill you."

Looking straight to the black heart of this man, an overly portrayed cockiness played out on his face, but not in his eyes. "You're bluffing," he sneered simply. Hah. He said that as if he knew me. By his statement alone I knew he did not know what he was talking about. At all.

"Try me," I harshly demanded, adding more pressure to the knife, my conscience being subdued for the moment.

The man's thoughts played out on his face, and he stuttered out, "F-fine! I...I'll leave! B-b-but please, let me just say this one last thing!" He was practically on his knees, pleading with me. I slowly nodded at him, and he straightened up. Every inch of his body loomed near me, his fingers ghosting my sides. Convincing myself that the contact was harmless, I constricted the rage that built up inside of me. "You, my dear Saki-chan, should think up a stage name," I was momentarily confused, that is, until he clarified himself. "'Cause you're gunna be joining your whore of a mother up on that p-" Before he finished his sentence, the knife swept across his jugular in a thin, clean line.

"That's NOT my name," Low clarity rang in my voice, ice cutting more into his wounds. Or so I imagined.

I stared down at the body that was now on the floor, bleeding erratically, the gash gushing out blood. Oh my... I couldn't finish the thought, because that's when horror struck my body. My conscience struck back, taking me back to that... No. Don't back there, Sakura. He wouldn't want you to...

Shaking my head of my intruding memories, I wheeled around. Wide eyed and stricken, my mother stood in the doorway, watching my every movement. Shock and shame bit at me and socked me in the gut. That's when my blade clanked noisily to the ground. "Mom..."