"Wake up!" A woman's voice harshly commanded.

I expected to hear the sweet voice of Aimi.

Instead, I awoke to see a woman with short black hair. She looked down at me from behind the yellow line, glaring.

I yawned.

"Here." She threw the bowl of food onto the floor in front of me. "Eat your damn food."

She then left. I looked sadly down at my food.

Aimi would always feed me herself.

Instead, I now used my vectors.

When I was finished, the woman returned. I set the bowl down as far as I could reach, and then slid it over the line. She looked at me detestfully. Like I was an insect.

"I can't believe they let you live." She hurtfully said. "They should of killed you with the others."

"What-" I began to say, confused.

"Shut up!" She ordered. "If I want you to talk, I'll ask a question!" She picked up the bowl. "We usually kill you freaks when you are born. It's just a waste of time to have you here."

She left. Her words bore into my heart.

Why didn't they kill me?

Why did they take me here to suffer?

I looked up to see Kurama. My heart began to beat faster. Nothing good happens when he's here.

"Suzy." He said. "We need to do some more tests."

I felt my heart skip.

Not more... If the first was that bad... Then...

"When..." I shakly said. "When can I go walk around?"

He looked at me like I was insane. I looked down, ashamed.

Stupid question.

"If you behave." He said. "And do what you're told."

I nodded sadly. I knew he was lying.

What was I thinking? They would never do that!

I watched as he left my room. I continued to watch him from behind the glass until the machine descended from the wall again. I held my breath, waiting for the large round bullets to come shooting out at me.

They finally came. The bullets started out easy to deflect with my vectors. I smiled, thinking that this was what they wanted.

They wanted me to deflect these things, right?

Of coarse not.

They wanted pain.

The force of the bullets kept increasing until my vectors couldn't withstand it. It blew straight through my vectors and connected with my body.

More and more impacted, causing me so much pain. Blood ran down my face, arms, and legs. My vectors were now gone, unable to reappear. The pain was unbearable.

But the bullets didn't stop.

My vision blurred. My head throbbed. Tears ran down my face.

I felt like dying.

Just kill me.

Kill me now.

The world faded around me.

And

I

Passed

Out

—

I entered through the doors of the preschool all alone. Kirai had left me alone. I nervously pulled on the bottom of my shirt as I looked around at the children. They all were running around the room, happily laughing. Nobody was alone.

A woman approached me.

"Hi, there!" She smiled. "What's your name?"

I looked down at my shoes, shyly. "Akuma..."

"Nice to meet you!" She noticed my hat. "Would you like me to take that for you?"

I grabbed the sides of the hat and pulled it down over my ears. "No." I answered, looking at the hornless children.

Kirai was right. Nobody else had horns.

"But we don't allow hats in the building." She tried to reason. She reached for my hat.

I backed up against the wall, shrunk down, and pulled it over my ears even more. "I said NO!" I yelled. The children stopped and gathered at a distance.

I looked up to see the woman crouched down in front of me. "Okay. I'll let you keep it, but you can't wear it."

"No!" I closed my eyes. "I have to wear it!"

"Why is that?"

I kept my eyes shut.

Kirai's words replayed in my head.

"You're really that stupid? Nobody has horns!"

I opened my eyes, suddenly feeling my hat being pulled from my head.

"See!" She said, looking at my hat in her hand. She slowed and looked at me in fear as her eyes spotted my horns. "It's...not...that...bad?"

The children exclaimed in both screams and laughter.

"Freak! Freak!"

"It's the devil!"

"Haahaa! It's got horns!"

"Freak!"

"Don't get too close!"

"It might be contagious!"

I buried my face into my hands. "Don't look at me!" I sobbed. "Don't make fun of me!"

It suddenly got quiet.

I lifted my head to find myself in a dark, endless room.

All the children were gone

Even the woman was gone

"Where am I?" I found myself asking, my voice bouncing off of the non existant walls.

"I'm not sure..." A similar voice replied. I watched as a girl walked towards me. She had no clothes on. Only bandages that covered her face. Only her right eye was exposed.

"Who-" I began.

"Oh, but who are you?" She butt in. "Why are you here?" She stopped in front of me. "I've been waiting to meet you." I detected a smile. "Do you notice now? How all these humans treat you? How they hate you?"

"Wha? They don't-"

"Your mother. Have you ever stopped to realize why she keeps her distance? Why she ignores you?"

"HOW DO YOU KNOW!" I shook my head and staggered backwards. "SHE LOVES ME! She loves me!"

"I know a lot more about you than you think." She stepped forward. "You think that she actually loves you?" Her sweetness disappeared. "Did you ever notice that she ignores you now?

Never cooks for you.

Never talks to you.

She's left you to die!

She is avoiding you!"

I looked at her blankly. "Yes...but.. She's... Just... Afraid I guess..."

"Quit lying to yourself. She hates you. Every ounce of you, and you can't accept it."

"You... You're wrong..." My hands curled into fists.

"She doesn't hate me!"

—

I woke up to see the woman. She held the hose in her hand.

"Oh, God." She cursed. "The freak's awake." I couldn't move. I was so sore. "Did you have fun?" She darkly laughed. "Because I did.

Did you see me behind the glass? Huh?" She sprayed me with the freezing water for not answering. "Fucking worthless..."

I groaned as the ice cold water covered me. It felt like icicles stabbing into my already wounded body.

"I enjoyed watching you suffer." She laughed again. "You deserve it."

Really?

Do I really deserve to be in this hell?

Damn woman.

One day I will get out of here, and you will be the first to die.

She sprayed me again. I shivered violently as she turned to put the hose away. I desperately wanted to use my vectors, but they wouldn't come out. I quickly spotted the ring of keys around her waist. Next to her pistol was the ring of two silver keys. I had no doubt that they were for my handcuffs. My body slowly warmed with hope. Somehow I had to get those keys.

She left.

I soon regained the ability to use my vectors. I stretched them out to as far as they could reach. The tips of my four vectors could only touch to the inside edge of the painted circle. I sighed.

I quickly got an idea.

If stretching your arms and legs caused you to be more flexible... Then if I kept reaching... Couldn't I improve the range of my vectors?

I smirked. It was worth a try.

Everyday I focused on reaching farther and farther. My reach improved very slowly. The tests continued every day, and I stopped using my vectors to protect myself.

"What's wrong, freak?" The woman asked. "Why have you stopped using your vectors?" I didn't bother to reply. My body ached from the last test. "Why do I care anyway? You're just a worthless thing. They don't even need you here." She sighed. "I will really miss torturing you."

I looked up at her, confused. "What?"

She laughed darkly. "Since you've stopped using your vectors, your pain limit has declined. You're loosing the will to live. And that's not what they want, so they're going to kill you!"

"When?"

"I dunno." She smiled. "But I hope it's soon."