Alexandra slowly walked down the hall of her school, laptop held to her chest. Her long white hair was held behind her in two braided pig-tails and her bangs hung in her face, hiding a healing slash over her left eye. The spiked collars around her neck and wrists felt unnaturally tight, as did her usually loose, low-rise dark purple, long sleeve shirt. Her midnight black hip huggers and combat boots felt sticky from blood leaking from un-closed gashes on her legs. Everything was falling apart around her. Her twin brother and her cousin, the only friends she'd ever hand, were in acoma, her stepmother had come home drunk, again, and had decided to use Alexandra for a pin cushion, or, in this case, a knife cushion, she was failing world history and home ec., and she was getting blamed for Alex's comatose state.

"Hey! Stop it! Leave me alone!"

She turned in the direction of the yelling. A girl, about her age, with shoulder length brown hair that seemed to stick out to the side was cornered against her locker with several boys around her. Alexandra recognized one of them, a boy with bleach blond hair, which poked out of his head in spikes. "Martichu!!"

The boy looked up from his taunting,"Well, well, well, if it isn't my favorite enemy, 'Kick Ass Als, the rabid wolf of Sakyoru High. How's your brother doin'?"

Alexandra's red and purple eyes flashed dangerously,"That's low, Martichu, very low. But, then again, that's all you gang slime know, low. You couldn't give a proper insult if the script was right in front of your face, even if you DID know how to read."

Martichu glared menacingly at her,"Atleast I didn't put my brother into acoma was a stupid game!"

"Why you!"Alexandra charged, knocking the boy off his feet with a well placed punch to the face, which really hurt considering the fact that her fingerless black gloves were lined with metal. The oher boys, about five of them, tried to attack, but they were all repeled with a few simple kicks and punches. Before anyone knew it, all six boys were laying in a pile next to the principal's door.

Alexandra turned back to the girl,"You ok?"

"Yeah."she smiled,"Thanks."

"No problem."

"My name's Amane."

"Alexandra."

"What's up with the nick name?"

"My brother gave it to me, and it just stuck. Kick ass Als is prety much self explanatory, the rabid wolf thing came from one of my sketches and my ugly temper."

"I can tell."Amane smiled and pried open her locker,"What's your next class?"

"Alegebra."

"Same here. I hate any kind of math, I'm failing right now, and if I don't get my grades up soon, my parents are gonna take away my computer privleges, which means no playing The World. The only subject I'm good at is world history."

Alexandra's eyes sparkled,"Hmm, I've got an idea. You help me in world history and I'll tutor you in math, how 'bout it?"

"Deal." the two girls shook hands and made their way down the hall to class, bouncing from one subject to the next.



Amane chewed on the end of her pencil in annoyance,"Ugh, this is ANNOYING!"

Alexandra looked down at her from her branch-top perch,"Ok, I'll agree with you, finding intrest is a pain."

"Hey, wanna go get something to eat? I'm starved."Amane suggested.

"I guess."Alexandra shrugged and jumped out of the tree,"Ice cream sound good?"

"Cookie dough?"

"Is there any other kind?"Alexandra teased,"Come on, we can take my motorcycle."

"Aren't you underaged?"Amane asked.

"So?"the two girls raced across the school soccer feild and out into theparking lot. A black motorcycle with a white wolf painted on the side was propped up against a wall. Alexandra quickly jumped on and pulled a key out of her pocket. She revved up the engine,"Hop on!"

Amane looked at her like she was crazy,"No way!"

"Come on, it's fun."Alexandra smirked,"You haven't lived till you've taken a ride with one of the Soluna twins."

Amane finally gave in, and climbed on, wrapping her arms tightly around Alexandra's waste for fear of falling off (GET YOUR MINDS OUT OF THE GUTTER!!!) and Alexandra shot off towards the road. Amane latched on tighter, digging her face into the back of Als' shirt to muffle her scream. Alexandra shot in and out of the afternoon traffic, weaving between the cars. They suddenly came to a patch of road work. Amane tried to yell for her to turn, but, instead, it came out as a terrified shreik. Alexandra pulled the motorcycle into a wheelie and used a nearby sports car as a ramp, sending the two girls flying over the construction.

Amane dug her face deeper into Alexandra's back, making the driver cringe in pain,'Oh my god I'm gonna die!'

"We're here." Amane looked up to realize they were at the town ice cream shop.

Amane shook her head, then realized there was something sticky on her face,"What the?" She ran a finger across her cheek to find a red liquid on it,"Tell me this isn't..."

Alexandra slapped her hand over the stunned girl's mouth before she could scream,"Yes, it is. I'll explain in a minute. Go wash your face off and I'll get our ice cream."

Amane nodded and walked off in the direction of the restrooms. She quickly wasked the blood off her face,"Oh my god, there was blood on the back of her shirt!"

Amane dried her face off and looked at her shirt, there were a few blood stains on her white t-shirt too,"Oh brother."

"Catch!"she spun around just in time to see a black t-shirt come flying at her, coming from the hands of Alexandra, who was somehow holding onto two ice cream cones as well. "Sorry, I probably should have warned you."

"Yeah."Amane pulled her shirt off and put the one Alexandra had given her on, then took one of the two ice cream cones she had,"So, are you gonna explain or not?"

The two girls walked out and sat down at a table. Alexandra tooks a bite out of her ice cream, then began her story,"It's pretty simple really. My blood doesn't clot very well, it's a blood disease I inherited from my father. My mother died giving birth to me and my twin brother, Alexander, and, few years later, dad remarried, then, just about a month after the wedding, he was killed in a fire at his office, leaving me and Alex with our stepmother. Right after that she started drinking and doing drugs. A few years later, she started beating me and Alex, taking everything she could find to us, knives mostly, hence the blood on my back. I try to banadage it up, but the blood seeps through and I can't change the banadages at school of the teachers will start to worry."

Amane nodded,"Wow, I've heard stories like that, but I never imagined it really happened."

"Yeah, that's why Alex and I have part time jobs working where ever we can. We have to support ourselves and our stepmother. It's a miracle we have enough time to go online, but, that's probably gonna stop for awhile, now."

"Why?"

Alexandra shook her head,"Alex and I ran into some trouble in The World, and now Alex is in acoma. It's completely my job to support us now. The only other family we have is my cousin, and he's been in acoma for almost a year, an accident in The World. His father, my uncle-in-law, keeps trying to kill him."

Amane nibbled away at her ice cream,"Maybe I can help. I've got some friends in The World that are already semi-invloved in this stuff, they'd love to help, not to mention one of them can't log out. His name's Tsukasa, atleast, I think it's he, Bear thinks he might actually be a girl."

Alexandra spit out the bite of ice cream she'd been swallowing,"Tsukasa?!"

"Yeah, why? You know that name?"

"Oh, yeah, I know it."