Anthy was about to turn away and go...

Home.

She had no home. Not anymore. She had left her past, her brother, the house... - everything she used to call home. To search for something better. Someone better. And while she had been searching, the road had been her home. She would wash dishes to pay for her food and the dusty, cramped rooms in which she stayed not longer than a few days.

And she still wore the same clothes she did when she left. She had washed them over and over again, but, no matter how clean they were, after all that time they still looked like rags.

She had left with nothing. And so here she stood, with nothing.

She had found the palace where her heart longed to reside, but the night would be falling soon and she would need to find some accommodation.

But before she could will her eyes away, she saw them emerging from a narrow building next to the sports ground. The prince from her dreams had changed into casual street wear and the leopard had draped her arm possesively around her shoulder. The girl's arm around the young woman's waist seemed to validate the claim, and together they walked towards a sports car.

Together.

It hurt. It hurt so much, more than any pain any blade or hand had ever inflicted on her. It was a pain she could neither run nor hide from.

She hurried to get a cab to follow them. She did not care about a bed for the night or her empty stomach. She had found her. And now she was leaving with someone else. She needed more information. They left together and she needed to know where they were going. Even if that meant to torture herself. Emotionally, and physically, because the nights would be cold this time of the year.

The sound of a sporty engine being revved up startled her out of her reverie. Her body sprang into action, she could feel the nervous tension in every muscle screaming for release and she started to run and...

She could hear the screeching tires and another rush of blood as she froze and stared into the widened eyes of...