I closed my eyes, blocking out the sound of the crowd from my ears. This competition, it was vital that I placed. If I lost it would be the end of everything. I could not allow my nerves to get the better of me. That meant ignoring the crowd, and ignoring the fact that I knew he would be sitting in the stands.

My uncle, soon to be adoptive father.

"Morioka Nao."

I slowly drew a deep breath, then exhaled before opening my eyes. They immediately settled on the gym floor before me. I couldn't make a single mistake.

There was no one here but me.

After taking the few steps left between me and the mat, I was ready to begin. I gave a short bow then placed my hands above my head. Sliding my eyes shut once more, I reminded myself that I'd practiced until the movements were drilled into my body. I wouldn't have to think, just move.

The music started, filling the gym with the relaxing notes. I began my motions, smoothly flowing from one to another. The further I got into the routine, the more I felt myself begin to relax. A smile found its way to my lips as I swiftly leap forward, allowing my feet to touch the mat so that I was an inch from the outer line. My eyes flickered open as I bent into the next motion.

At that moment I saw him. My uncle's eyes met mine, the cold blue drilling those condemning emotions into my thoughts. I actually flinched, stumbling in my steps. I could hear a gasp from the crowd. A half-beat later I was back into the routine, but that was enough.

I knew that I wouldn't get the place I'd been aiming for.

I wouldn't be participating again after this event.

Ten months later

"Nao! Are you ready?"

I flinched, staring at the uniform laid out on my bed.

"Not yet," I called back, stepping forward to pick up the disgustingly yellow dress. Why did it have to be this color?

"I will not allow you to be late," Uncle Harou commented from the other side of my door. "Now that your adoption is official, you are not simply representing yourself at that school. You are representing the entire Morioka clan. I expect you to uphold that title."

"Yes, Oji-san," I answered, slowly beginning to dawn the dress.

"Otou-san," he corrected immediately. "In public you will refer to me as Otou-san. You are my daughter now."

"Yes… Otou-san."

"Be ready in ten minutes. The car is already outside and waiting."

Biting back a sharp response, I simply agreed and finished dressing. Uncle didn't handle back talk very well. Nor did he handle lateness well. Two things that I had a bad habit of. In the time I'd been living with him, which was almost a year now, I'd begun to pull these things under control.

Once I'd finished, I paused in front of the mirror, studying my appearance. Uncle didn't like sloppy looks anymore than he liked tardiness. I had to be perfect. My chestnut-brown hair fell just to my shoulders in slightly curly strands, although none of them were out-of-place. Chocolate brown eyes stared back at me, my face clear and natural, no make-up being easier for me to manage now that I didn't have a servant.

Uncle didn't believe in allowing others to do work this simple for you, no matter how well off your family may be.

My uniform, a yellow dress, washed out my skin making my slightly pale tone seem almost sickly, causing me to grit my teeth as I stared at it. That was the main reason I hated the color, yellow just didn't fit me. Shaking my head, I grabbed a cream-colored hair clip to make sure my hair would stay out of my face. Once that was on, I stepped away from the mirror to grab my things and start out the door.

I could feel Uncle's eyes on me when I reached the end of the hall. I knelt by the door, slowly pulling my shoes on. I couldn't help but test his patience by going about it as slow as possible without being suspicious.

"Do you have club activities today?" he asked instead of commenting on the time as I had expected him to.

I turned my attention to him in surprise, thinking over the schedule in my mind.

"No, I don't believe so."

"Very well. I'll be dining with business partners, so I won't be here later. I expect to hear that you practiced in the dojo since your club isn't meeting."

I simply nodded, raising so that I was standing straight and then giving him a short bow.

"I will make sure to do so. Goodbye, Otou-san."

Uncle studied me with narrowed eyes. His glasses he'd only recently acquired were reflecting the light, but I could see the skepticism behind his expression. He wasn't sure whether my respectful tone was real. I bit back my response to this expression and simply straightened, turned my back to him, and exited the door.

"It's them!"

I glanced up from my books as girls in the class began squealing about something. My eyes quickly found the reason, two boys that had just entered the classroom. Some part of me commented on the fact that this happened all the time, while the other part of me grew more and more annoyed with the impossibility of studying with all this noise.

I closed my eyes for a moment to work on blocking it out before returning my eyes to the books. If only those two weren't in my class…

Soon after their arrival Sensei walked to the front of the room and started class. Much to my relief things quieted down immediately.

"Are you going to practice, today?"

I paused, one hand poised with a book over my bag. At that same moment my eyes flickered up to the person who had spoken. It took me a full two minutes to recall the girl's name, Akamatsou Chie, let alone get over the fact she'd spoken to me.

After all, not only was Chie one of the most popular girls in my class, but she also happened to be one of the few ones that I could actually hold a conversation with. The only problem was that Chie, when we didn't have classwork to talk about, only discussed one or two topics, what boy she was currently interested in and what she was going to do after school was over. Neither one of those usually involved things that I wanted, or cared, to know about.

"Akamatsou-san," I greeted, going back to my previous occupation.

She gave a small sigh, placing a hand on my desk as I reached for the other book I would be taking with me.

"I was wondering if you were going to practice today," she said slowly.

After I'd placed the book in my bag, I looked to her again. Her blue eyes were focused on me and her face settled in some sort of expectant expression.

"There are no club activities," I answered, settling the last book in place.

"Then you're free?"

Now there was some sort of hopeful tone to her voice. Suspicion started to form in my mind.

"I plan on going home to practice."

"But you're free right now," Chie stated, watching me as I slung my bag over my shoulder.

Irritation flickered through me as I looked up at her, noting to myself that this annoying girl was at least half-a-foot taller than me. Although, to be honest, that wasn't her fault. I was smaller than most people.

"Yes," I replied.

Just as I'd begun to step around her, Chie placed a sweet smile on her lips and grabbed my arm. It was all I could do not to simply throw her off as I would have done a guy. Did she think that I was going to just do whatever she wanted like most of her friends did?

"Then you should come with me!"

In response I gave her a withering look and tightened my hand around the strap of my bag. That urge to throw her was getting stronger.

"No."

"You haven't even heard where I'm going yet," she complained, not moving her hand. "My other friends are all out today-"

Other friends? I wasn't her friend. My knuckles had turned white from how tightly I was gripping my bag. Just because we'd said a few sentences to each other didn't make us friends.

"-and I really don't want to skip out on my appointment at the club. At the same time, I can't go by myself, that'd be too embarrassing. So you could come with me and everything would be fine!"

I gritted my teeth, still resisting the urge to throw her. It was then that I realized that this situation could prove to my advantage. As much as I disliked the idea of attending some random club, this girl claiming to be my friend would be good. Harou had been complaining recently about how I, a representative of the Morioka family, didn't have any female friends. If it was reported to him that I was late coming home because I'd been assisting a 'friend' …

"Okay," I said suddenly, interrupting her attempts at persuasion.

"What?"

Chie looked shocked.

"I said okay," I replied irritably. "What club are you dragging me off to?"

Ignoring the tone of my voice, she gave me a bright smile and seized my hand with her own. This time it was easier to keep myself from ripping my hand away.

"Thank you so much, Nao-chan! And that should be obvious, we're going to the Host club!"