Alice rode to school on her jet-black crotch-rocket, arriving in the parking lot, the other students staring.

"What a dump… Why would the government send me to a place like this?" She thought to herself as she took off her helmet.

Walking to the building, she caught a glimpse of some girls whispering bad things about her. Her eyes narrowed. Alice walked over to them and put her hands in her pockets.

"You know, it's rude to speak ill of someone whom you don't know," She scowled as the girls trembled in fear. Added to her cold tone, the fact that she had heard them at all was frightening.

She walked into the school building and down a hall, ignoring the scared and angry looks she felt at the back of her head, "This is not what I expected regular life to be." She thought to herself.

Alice was looking down at her schedule after she had gotten it from the principal's office, memorizing over her classes. Looking up from the paperwork, she sensed someone coming around the corner.

Before she could do much else, she was run into by a young blond girl running down the hall. Alice's body suddenly flew back, and she caught herself on the floor with her hand. She did a back-hand spring to avoid hitting the floor. Standing back upright, Alice glared at the girl on the floor.

"Hey! Watch where you're going You could easily get a concussion if you fall hard enough on the floor after a 'run-in' like that," She said sternly, picking up her papers.

She held out her hand to help the staring girl up, and suddenly felt another presence, "You know, you're not the king of stealth, so you may as well quite while you're ahead… Kai," Her eyes flashed as she turned around, smirking at a boy behind her.


"Crap, crap, crap!" Akira muttered feverishly to herself as she tore down the hallways of her high school. People plastered themselves to the walls to avoid being hit by the rushed teen, some choosing a few 'choice' names to call her.

She didn't bother to try and apologize to anyone today, since she had only thirty seconds to get to Biology and already knew she wasn't going to make it in time.

"It's not my fault I fell asleep in History; I hate it!" She thought miserably, "And Ben didn't even bother to wake me up!" Under her breath, she muttered, "Jackass…"

Akira rounded the corner at top speed, seeing one person in front of her but not having enough time to slow down. She crashed right into the dark-haired girl and stumbled to the ground.

As she fell to the ground, her mouth fell open. The girl she'd run into had just done a back flip to keep from falling! It took her a second to realize that a hand had been extended down to help her up. She quickly snapped her mouth shut and rubbed the back of her head nervously:

"S-Sorry about that!" She grabbed the girl's hand and hoisted herself up, "Thanks. I was kinda… In a hurry. Hm?"

Akira heard the girl say something about 'being sneaky' and saw her smirk over her shoulder. As she did, a tall and good-looking man stepped around a corner and smiled almost mystically back at the dark-haired girl. This guy definitely fit the stereotype "Tall, dark, and handsome." Just who WERE these people??

"Well, I can try, can't I?" The tall man said from behind the dark-haired girl in a low and smooth voice. He strode up to them with his hands casually in his pockets. Still, it almost looked like he was on guard… But what for? This was a public school!

Akira stood staring at the strange people before her for a few seconds before gasping loudly, "Oh crap! I'm SO late!" She then proceeded to dash past them and down the hall to her history class, throwing the door open just as the teacher was in the middle of role call. He closed his mouth and sighed as all the students turned momentarily to stare at Akira awkwardly after her abrupt appearance.

"Akira Hanabishi…" The teacher muttered with another short sigh.

"Umm… Here?" Akira responded with a nervous smile.

"Just take your seat," He shook his head.

"Yes, sensei…" Akira mumbled, taking her usual spot. She shot a dirty glare at Ben, who was sitting next to her. That jerk…


Kai glanced shortly over his shoulder at the blond-haired girl who had just darted past them and then turned around with a sharp and almost humorless chuckle.

"Quite different from the Institution, isn't it Alice?" He said quietly to his partner, knowing full well that they were not to speak of those years within the public's hearing radius.


"Kai! Do not speak of that place here! I agree that it is different, but all discussion of that should wait until we are back at the apartment. This school can definitely keep you on your toes…" Alice replied to Kai, realized that she had gripped him by his shirt.

"Man, that girl was strange; it was almost like I knew her," She said, puzzled as to where she had seen her before. Alice relinquished her grip on Kai's shirt.

Glancing at the clock, she realized she was late. Walking down the hall, Alice noticed her second class was biology. They had missed first period already, so they would proceed right to second. She walked into the classroom with Kai, and found the blond-haired girl at a middle desk, sitting next to a boy with spiky brown hair and emerald eyes. (He looked kind of like some random kid that might hang out at a mall)

The teacher glanced up to see Alice walk in, "May I help you Miss?" He asked, staring with a question in his eyes.

Alice looked at the blond-haired girl, then turned her attention back to the teacher, "I am the new student, sensei, Alice Cross. Forgive my tardiness. I had a 'run-in' with the wrong hall," She replied, holding out a piece of paper to him.

"Ah! You're the new arrivals; nice to meet you. I am Sensei Himura," He said, smiling and taking the paper and signing it. Mr. Himura handed the paper back to Alice, "I'm afraid the only seat I have left is the one in the middle, to the left of Miss Hanabishi," He pointed to the seat next to Akira.

Alice nodded and took her seat. Mr. Himura looked at the two girls with a curious expression on his face. Alice glanced up, an eyebrow rising, "Is there a problem, Himura-sensei?" She asked, rather annoyed with the attention from him and the rest of the class.

Mr. Himura blinked and suddenly asked, "Are you two related?" The two looked at each other with opposite expressions and glanced back.

"I'm an only child, Himura-sensei," Alice replied coldly.


"Ben Ishida," Mr. Himura called as he was finishing role-call.

"Here, Himura-sensei," Ben answered, smiling as he raised his hand. He looked over at Akira as she rushed in the door and sat down. He glanced over only to meet a truly icy glare.

"What? I was assuming you actually woke up for the bell. It's not my responsibility to wake you up," Ben said quietly, flinching toward her stare. He suddenly recalled something important. Gossips news.

"Have you seen the new students? There's that guy, I heard his name was Kai Hatake, and the smaller dark-haired girl who drives the crotch-rocket has an American name. I think it was, uh… Alice Cross. All the guys are nuts over her. Some of them noticed that she looks a lot like you," He explained, blushing as the thought of the two pretty girls crossed his mind.

He shook his head to clear his thoughts and looked to the front of the room to see Alice in the doorway, talking to Mr. Himura, "See what I mean? She looks a lot like you; except her hair and clothing style of course," He said in a husky whisper.

"Akira? What's wrong?" He asked in concern when he saw her sudden frozen stare after Mr. Himura asked about the relationship between her and Alice. Ben looked at her with a soft gaze, knowing Akira was an only child and orphan, and seeing a surprised and hurt look on her face after Alice answered.

"They are serving chicken yakisoba with miso and noodles today! That should keep you awake," He said jokingly, knowing that food usually made Akira happy.

He smiled, but sneaked a glance at Alice. Her face was almost exactly identical to Akira's. Not only in appearance either; there was a world of hurt in both pairs of crystal blue eyes.

"Who is she? Why does she look so much like Akira?" He thought to himself as the bell rang.

On his way out the door, he bumped into Kai, stumbling a little, "Oh, sorry… I didn't see you there," He rubbed the back of his head nervously, "Hey, you're the new guy, right?"


"Yeah, I know," Kai said as Alice held him up by the front of his shirt. He brushed himself off for no apparent reason after she let him go, following her with his hands in his pockets.

"My name is Kai Hatake," He said smoothly and politely after Alice had introduced herself in the classroom, "I'm also sorry about our tardiness."

There were some muffled squeals and whispers from various girls in the room after he finished talking. Although not used to that kind of behavior- girls at the Institution wouldn't DARE do anything like that –Kai maintained his composed nature. Listening to Mr. Himura say there was only one desk left made Kai raise an eyebrow.

"Himura-sensei…?" He asked.

"Oh! Hatake, yes…" Mr. Himura stammered, "I'm sorry," He said sincerely, "I'm afraid Miss Cross took the last desk."

"It's quite alright," Kai gave a mysterious smile that made the whole room fall silent, "I can stand in the back of the room"

"Are you sure?"

"It's no problem," Kai reassured, strolling to the back of the room and leaning back against the wall. Eyes followed him.

"I'll try and have a desk for you tomorrow," Mr. Himura said, beginning to go into a lesson for that day.

Kai's brow furrowed when the issue came up about the likeness between Alice and that girl Akira. He knew that Alice didn't like unnecessary attention, so it must have been frustrating for her. Though Kai couldn't deny how much their faces were alike. Especially those eyes…

Kai stopped thinking about it when he felt his face get warm and decided to pay attention to class.

He kept a firm stance after class was over as he felt someone bump into him, glancing behind to see a spiky-haired boy quickly apologize fretfully.

"That's alright. Don't worry about it," He said with a smile, "Yeah, I'm Kai Hatake," He turned around all the way, holding out his hand, "And you are?"


Akira continued to glare at Ben, "You do it every day normally, don't you?!" She whispered fiercely. However, it was clear that he was more excited about the new students when he turned towards her with gleaming eyes, pouring out the latest gossip.

"She's… American, then?" Akira questioned, glancing over Alice once, "She doesn't look it…"

Needless to say, Akira could help but cast a couple sideways glances at Alice when she came and sat down next to her. There was something so… Familiar about her, and yet they'd never met. She kind of leaned back in her chair when Mr. Himura kept staring at them, but then froze when he asked if they were related. Hearing Alice's cold response made her forget that familiar feeling she had. There was no way they knew each other. She didn't answer Mr. Himura.

Akira heard Ben's concerned voice from the side and made an effort to smile when he mentioned lunch, "Yeah, thanks…"

She had tried not to be so touchy about her lack of family, but sometimes it was very hard. Especially in instances like this where she was brutally reminded of it.

Akira didn't want to think much of Alice anymore, but for some reason she felt a connection to the girl that felt like it couldn't… Shouldn't be severed. And she didn't know why. They were polar opposites!

She tried not to think about it too much and just focus on the yakisoba she was totally having for lunch soon.

Author's Note:

I meant to upload this one faster, but it took me a while to procure the 'book' that actually holds this story in it… XP

Just so you know, this is written in a role-play type format. I write for Akira and Kai, and Saya writes for Alice and Ben. Just FYI!

I hope you all liked this one. I know it starts out slow, but that's to get all of the characters introduced and fleshed out. And don't worry; there will be plenty of character development along the way. :D

Our DeviantArt account is up, but it doesn't have any pictures on it yet. (I know; fail) But they will be uploaded very soon, so fear not!

Thanks again for reading! Reviews are much appreciated! :3