Hey guys! I'm back, Yay! At least, that is what I hope you are saying. I would like it if my stories aren't so bad that I make mortal enemies when people read them. Well, at least you know where I am if I don't post for a while, right. Ha...ha...ha. Anyways, enough with the award laughing. On with the story!

Kaoru POV

Kaoru startled awake at the sound of her alarm clock. She looked around quickly, and slowly let down her guard. She was alive and awake. Why had she had that dream? It was a dream, wasn't it? To Kaoru, it felt way too real to be a dream. And the creepy lady? No thank you. All the gibberish about her family and how she was fighting for something Kaoru truly believed in was getting on her nerves. Not to mention the talk of her being chosen. She really needed to cut back on the fantasy games at night. Kaoru didn't think she had ever been more glad when waking up, or that she had ever woken up this early.

Kaoru glanced at her alarm clock, and groaned. It read 6:30, two hours before school started. She usually set alarms in the vain hope that she could try to get up on time. It was safe to say the tactic had never quite worked out. Usually Momoko would come early and pull Kaoru's sorry butt out of bed about 30 minutes before school started. That gave her enough time to get ready and, if she was lucky, scarf down some breakfast. What a surprise it would be for Momoko when she came to Kaoru's house and found that she was already ready?

Kaoru thought back to the dream she had. She remembered the fury she had felt and the want, no, the need to get revenge on her enemies. She craved the blood and the suffering on those who wronged Kaoru, and it terrified her. Had her subconscious made her feel this way? So far, Kaoru had no one she truly hated, not even the girls at her school who would pick on Momo, or the perverted guys that always followed Miyako around between classes. Though it seemed hard to believe, even to herself, Kaoru Matsubara had no enemies. Even the fights she got into were more like blowing off steam than real conflict.

So why had she been so full of anger? It was as if someone had done something terribly wrong, but Kaoru couldn't remember what it was. Maybe it was reminiscent of an old fight she had had between her and Momoko, when they still hadn't learned how to cooperate with each other due to their opposite personalities. Maybe it was her mind's way of telling her she was worried that another fight like that might happen again.

"Yeah, that must be it" Kaoru thought to herself, instantly relieved that she had found out what was angering her. But the sadistic feeling remained, inching its way back into Kaoru's thoughts.

"But what if it's not?" a small part of her asked. "What if you really are being chosen to receive something special like in the movies you allways watch?"

Kaoru pushed that part of her aside. It was ridiculous, thinking that maybe she of all people would get involved with something like this. Kaoru also didn't want to get her hopes up. Ever since she was a child, she had always wanted to have an adventure of grand proportions. Something along the lines of fighting a dragon to save her kingdom. She knew Miyako and Momoko always had too. The three girls had bonded in elementary school over the fact that they all wanted a more exciting life.

Kaoru smiled at the memory, recalling Momoko with braces and the days of moderate amounts of homework, and suddenly she felt a little better. Momoko and Miyako knew her better than anyone else on earth, and though she wasn't big on the touchy feely stuff, she figured they could help her sort out all of these questions. Or at least enthuse about what it might be like to actually be there in the dream.

Kaoru headed downstairs, new excitement for the day brewing in her mind. Her dad was usually up by now, and she laughed to herself about what her dad's face might look like when he saw his sleep obsessed daughter up at 6:45 in the morning.

Kaoru's mom had died years ago when she was in the wrong place at the wrong time during a bank robbery. According to her dad, Kaoru's mom had just saved up enough money so her family could go on a trip to the amusement park. Kaoru had learned from witnesses that when the men who robbed the bank came in, her mom had distracted them just long enough for the bank teller to call the police. The police later told Kaoru that her mom had probably saved the lives of everyone on the bank, seeing as they had found an explosive in the bag of one of the criminals. Kaoru's mom was considered a city hero.

But that didn't stop Kaoru from missing her. Even though she was only seven at the time, Kaoru had already constructed an unbreakable bond with her mother. They were practically the same person, besides the fact that Kaoru's mother had blond hair.

So Kaoru had learned to lock her emotions away. She didn't want to feel so lost, and alone. Instead, she kept everything hidden. Not even Momoko and Miyako knew.

There was one good thing about her mother being gone, however. Without the female touch in her life, Kaoru was raised as a boy. No dresses or skirts. No worrying about her appearance or who was dating who. Instead, there was soccer and martial arts. Jeans and t-shirts. It was pure bliss for Kaoru. Her father even worked around the clock, so she learnt to be independent and rely only on herself. Kaoru was tough, and she loved it.

But while being tough doesn't always mean that you're stupid, it certainly doesn't guarantee that you're abnormally smart, or insightful. Kaoru still couldn't figure out what the stupid dream meant and why she had had it. It was like an itch you just couldn't scratch, and it was starting to really get on her nerves. Not to mention it was a Monday, which meant a long week of school.

Kaoru sighed, and finally managed to exert enough willpower to actually get out of bed. The clock now read 7:00. Kaoru sighed again, and admitted defeat as she slowly headed towards her closet to get dressed. She just wanted to get through the day, so she could talk about her absurd dream with her two best friends.