Author's Note: Please don't sue, I don't own RK and if I did, I'd make Sou-chan & Misao- chan fall in love w/ each other becuz they look absolutely cute together! Aoshi's alrite, but c'mon, the man must be more than 12 years older than her! Get a life! She's 2 bright for him and he's 2 dark for her!

:Dodges objects being thrown by Misao/Aoshi lovers: Sorry! Continue reading!

Chapter 1: Run for your Life

The night was cold, icy as the tip of an icicle in winter. The moonlight shone dimly across the ground as an eerie yellowish mist circled the moon. The streetlights were on, but none of them helped to make her way any clearer.

She slipped and fell onto all fours, holding back the groan of pain and the tears of frustration. Getting back on her feet, she looked over her shoulder but couldn't see anything except the dim light of a street lamp. She began to run again, her bare feet slapping against the wet ground as her heart pounded in her ears. She heard the whistles and the muffled voices behind her, some around her. Fear devoured her and she took the ignition of running faster, not caring for the pain in her legs.

"You hear that? I think she's over here!" A voice closer than before called out to his colleagues, his footsteps louder.

Faster, faster! Got to go faster!

Running blind by the darkness, she ran over the edge of the street, and fell into the river, which was only calf-deep. She gasped loudly as she fell and landed on her behind. She looked around and saw the silhouette of a bridge. She stood up and shifted towards the bridge, hiding underneath the arched construction. She pressed herself against wall of dirt, keeping quiet and listened to the voices of the people after her.

Almost at once, the footsteps gathered around her, the click of their heels sounding off from the street and from the bridge. Two of them stood on the bridge, looking around to find their prey, while the other three walked around the street, still loitering around the area.

"You smell that? White plums...She's around here somewhere." A voice called out, his footsteps right above her. Soon, more of the stalkers were there surrounding her with no way to escape.

"How in the world did you lose her! I thought you said you were right behind her!" A raspy voice barked, pacing on the bridge while the others walked around looking for her.

Her veins rushed with fear, her heart pumped furiously with apprehension and her soul raged with anxiety. Go away. Go away... She repeatedly prayed in her mind, her thoughts all based on the fear of getting caught.

"Oi, I think I found her!" A far cry told, getting their attention.

"You hear that, boys? Boss won't be mad after all!" The same raspy voice cackled as they all ran towards the voice, leaving behind a somewhat relieved girl.

She kept her senses sharp and waited until their retreating steps and voices were gone.

Her shaking calmed a bit but it wasn't gone, nor the pains in her legs and back. She let out a trembling breath of relief and quietly moved around in the water, getting away from the bridge.

The moon finally helped her, giving some weak light for her to see where she was and noted that she was between two streets that were connected by the low arched bridge. Climbing over to the street where the stalkers hadn't gone to, she checked with her eyes to see if anyone was around. She then turned around and ran once again.

Ran for her life.

The darkness took over and once again everything was black, she was running blind again. But that wouldn't stop her; she wasn't going to let a little darkness stop her so she continued to run. Bumping into walls, benches, street garbage and tripping over things wouldn't keep her from her goal, which was to keep her life.

She was wanted, wanted for crimes.

But what crimes? She didn't know what she had done.

In fact, she didn't know who she was.

All she knew was that the men who were after her, the same men who whipped her and beat her, wanted to kill her and even though she didn't know what life she led, she wanted to keep it.

Her body was pleading for her to stop, the abuse they had done to her and the running she was doing was taking its toll on her body.

What time was it?

Not a single person was outside and the moon was out, so it had to be midnight or early morning, she subconsciously thought.

If only she could just find help, everything would be all right.

Her legs and arms felt extremely heavy and her eyesight was getting blurry. Her ears rang and she was dizzy all of a sudden. Her head spun and she suddenly fell to her knees, her legs hurting immensely. She couldn't stop the black spots that came to view, nor how the world seemed to spin out of control.

"Help...Me..." She whispered to no one and fell into unconsciousness, darkness in darkness.