Ugh! Noties: I must stress that YES, this is a Hiiro/Usagi story!!!!! Things are not always as they seem, so please, stop worrying about it and be assured that this is and will be Hiiro/Usagi. And about the whole having Amy wrong thing, come on, Amy is a VERY common name. And she's NOT Ami Mizuno!!!!! This Amy could be anybody. She may actually have no ties to Usagi whatsoever. BUT, that's my whole point. I think I've stated before that I mean to confuse everyone. But I'm happy to say that ONE of my reviewers has it figured out!!!!! Yay You!!!!!!! Sorry, but I can't put your SN up here, or everyone will go read your comment and figure it out, but I promise that when I reveal it all, I'll give you due credit. I hope that you know who you are, though!

Disclaimer: Blah.

~*~~*~~*~ ~*~~*~~*~ ~*~~*~~*~

That morning, Amy woke up unusually late. She could tell by the light and temperature that it had to be around noon. She seized a pair of her cutoffs and a T-shirt and padded across the hall to the bathroom to shower. Fifteen minutes later, she returned to her room to get her book, pet the cat now lounging on her unmade bet, and put on her sandals.

As she stepped outside, she tilted her face to the sun and breathed deeply before running off into the field. The hayloft was off limits at the moment, not only would it be unbearably hot right then, she wasn't going to risk bumping into the new hand again. Instead, she found a clear, sunny spot about five minutes into her walk and settled there to read, but found it hard to concentrate. So, she reminisced and tried to resolve a nagging feeling that told her that things were going to start happening again. She remembered it from they night they left. Before she had even known, she had known, in a sense. She had had a bad feeling that night, one that was confirmed, and her entire life had turned upside down.

~~Flashback~~

She was lying quietly in her bed, trying to shake her anxiety, and almost about to fall asleep. Suddenly, her door swung open and banged loudly against her wall; she shot up in her bed, hair blocking her vision for a second as her heart pounded hard, echoing in her ears. Her father strode purposefully into the room, not bothering to turn the light on.

"Get up, we have to leave. Pack only what you need." He spoke harshly and quietly.

"Demo." She started.

"Iie 'Demo's'. Do exactly as I say and hurry. Get dressed."

"What about Kaa-chan? And Itouto?"

"Don't worry about them, they're already gone. Now hurry, no more questions!" And he left the room for a minute

This time, she did as she was told, and dressed quickly, for some reason noticing exactly what she was wearing; black velvet jeans, a green T-shirt, a pink sweater that her friends had given to her. She remembered that her father would want them to travel quickly, and she had a feeling that they didn't want to be recognized. Hesitating for only a moment, she grabbed a kitchen knife that she had used on an apple hours before, and quickly sawed it through her hair just above the shoulders before she could change her mind. She watched the hair that she had been so proud of spill to the floor in a silken puddle around her feet. She collected it, so that no one who came to her room would know that she cut her hair, and, tying the long strands into a knot, shoved it in a bag. Then, she scooped some clothing into a backpack, a hairbrush, make-up, and a toothbrush. The moonlight glinted off of something from the corner of her eye and she grabbed it without thinking about it. She pulled on boots and left to find her father.

"I'm ready." Was all she needed to say. He nodded, and they headed for the car out front, engine running. Her father must have broken every speed and driving law on the way to wherever they were going, and she, having been correct in her assumption that they needed to not be recognized, made use of the bottle of spray-on hot pink temporary hair dye that she had gotten as a birthday present. For a moment, her father softened, and reached over and fingered her newly shorn, raggedly cut, brightly hued hair.

"You were so proud of it." She just gave a half-smile and shrugged.

"Some things are more important." He nodded, and handed a few papers to her.

"That's your new passport and information. You are now Amelia Carrie Thompson, and I'm Ken. Get used to it; those names are what'll keep us alive."

"Can I just be Amy?"

"Sure." Pulling into the airport parking garage, and abandoning the car, she followed her father in and stood by as they checked their bags and boarded a red-eye flight.

Once they were on the plane, she spoke up again. "Where are we going?"

"America. And you'll have to help me out; you speak English better than I do."

"Okay. Have Kaa-san and Itouto-chan gone on ahead of us?"

"Iie."

"Then..."

"They're dead." The pain in her father's eyes was evident as he said this, and in shock, she spent the rest of the flight in silence.

~~End of Flashback~~

She sighed and looked at her book. It was in despair and loneliness that she had turned to books, and found solace. She wasn't allowed to make contact with her friends, and all she had ever been told about her mother's and brother's deaths was that they were murdered by OZ soldiers. Her father never said why. Slowly, though, Amy had adjusted to a life in which she was very isolated, and started to enjoy her solitude. She made some friends, but she was still largely alone, because no one knew who she was. All they knew was Amelia Thompson, Honor Roll student, exemplary citizen, talented athlete, all-around nice girl. They never took the time to see through her ruse. Slowly, she drifted off to sleep, laying back in the dirt and old corn husks, book in hand.

Later that evening, Ken told Hiiro to go look for his daughter; it wasn't like her to stay out past sunset. He figured that since she wasn't in the hayloft, she was in the field. He set Hiiro to one side, himself to another. After about ten minutes, Hiiro found Amy lying on her back in the field, one arm under her head, the other lightly holding a page open in a book, resting on her abdomen, fast asleep. Even in the dusky light, he could tell that she had a helluva sunburn and was going to be quite upset when she woke up. He nudged her foot, to no reaction, so he bent down and shook her. Groaning, she opened her eyes, and winced as she felt the taughtness of her skin.

"Get up." She glared at Hiiro. "Your father's looking for you." That seemed to be all the initiative she needed, and she sprang up, worried about worrying her dear father. Cursing herself for not wearing sunblock, she felt her dried out face and made a promise to herself to apply some Aloe Vera lotion later.

"Sorry to worry you, Daddy," she said as they met Ken coming back out of his side of the fields "I fell asleep in the cornfield."

"Now you'll be up all night." He laughed. She looked sheepish. "Well, I gotta take care of this sunburn. It's pretty bad." She hugged her father, and left to go inside the house.

That night, as Hiiro collapsed onto his bed without even bothering to change, there was a light knock at the door.

"It's open." Was all he said, and, uncertainly, Amy entered, looking very out-of-place. He just raised an eyebrow, and she blushed.

"Ummmmm... I couldn't help but notice that you wear the same thing everyday. Do you have any other clothes with you?"

"No."

"Well, tomorrow's the one day off that you get during the week, so I'll take you to get some more if you want." He considered for a moment, then decided.

"Okay." So she left and he fell asleep.

~*~~*~~*~ ~*~~*~~*~ ~*~~*~~*~ Well, at least this puts together some stuff, I think. Or it just may make things more confusing. I hope that the length of this chappie outweighs how long it took to get it out! FYI, its 1,257 words/4 pages long!!!!!! Okay, REVIEW!!!! And tell me what you think!