Disclaimer: Sadly, I don't own DNAngel. If I did, Satoshi would have ravished poor little Dai-chan looooong ago. xD But I do own Sato-sama, seeing as he's tied up and locked in my basement. My Bishie! No touchie:hisses: ;; Alright, alright, I don't really own him…I just kind of…um… Borrowed him without asking! ;; But I do own the plot line of this fan fic, so…you steal, and I set a team of vicious Neko-youkai lawyer-folk on you. o-o

Chapter 1: Don't forget me...
By: Rae-chan

The flames seemed to dance with glee as they hungrily devoured the last bit of my home that was still standing. In the darkness of the shadowy corner of the lot where I stood, you almost couldn't see the tears streaming down my face or how red and splotchy my cheeks had become with the realization that ka-chan wouldn't be coming back…

"I'm so sorry Akira…There's no easy way to say this…" Karyn, my mother's best friend, had begun, her voice beginning to falter. "Y-your Okka-san…she… Oh, kami, Aki, I'm so sorry!" she'd said, flinging her arms around me and sobbing, leaving me very confused.

"Karie…?" I asked, wrapping my small arms around her neck cautiously. "W-where is ka-chan, Karie…?"I asked, growing more alarmed when Karyn looked up at me, tears still shining in her eyes and a sad smile on her face.

"Aki…I'm so…so sorry. Your ka-chan…she…she didn't make it out…" Karyn stroked my hair and hugged me, trying desperately to comfort me, but it did little good. I was in a state of shock, not quite comprehending what she had just said.

Ka-chan…is…gone? I thought. And that's when I finally began to really cry.

"T-takashi-chan…? I heard a timid voice from behind me. I whirled around upon hearing my name. Wasn't that…

"Hikari-san…?" I replied, trying and failing to hold back the tears that threatened to fall in torrents from my eyes.

"Takashi-chan…I'm really sorry…I heard what happened…" He said, and I could tell by the look in his normally frosty eyes that he meant it.

I lost control at that point, throwing my arms around him and sobbing into his shoulder, barely noticing when he stiffened slightly. "Hikari…She's gone, Hikari…! Ka-chan is gone…" I said, somewhere in between a hysteric whisper and a strangled cry.

He hugged back slightly, trying to help comfort me while Karyn attempted to compose herself. Hikari had always been there for me. He was my one and only friend and had been since before I could remember.

"I-I'm scared…Hikari, where am I going to go…?" I asked, my voice timid and thick with tears. He hugged me a little closer as if to say everything was going to be okay and Karyn knelt down beside me with a reassuring smile on her face, eyes still slightly damp.

"Aki…" she began speaking very slowly as though she was choosing her words very carefully. "I…I know I could never replace your ka-chan…but I thought that…well…maybe you would like to stay with me?"

I thought about this for a moment. The answer seemed obvious- but the decision was harder then it seemed. Karyn had been down here in Tokyo to visit, but the young woman lived in Osaka- roughly six and a half to seven hours outside of Tokyo. To go and live with her would be to leave behind-

I glanced over to the boy and felt a pang of guilt at the thought of leaving him here all on his own. Hikari had always been a bit of a bookworm and was therefore teased and bullied unmercifully- but I'd always done what I could to help. If I left him now I would be abandoning my one and only friend in the world… But somehow, at that moment I just couldn't think about that. And though I know it was wrong- though I know I shouldn't have abandoned him- my body betrayed me and I looked up at Karyn's smiling face…and nodded yes.

One week later found me waiting at the train station, small hand clutching Karyn's as we waited for the train to Osaka. Hikari would be coming soon…he had promised to see me off, since we both knew perfectly well that it was probably the last time we would see each other.

As if on cue, I saw the blunette swiftly making his way through the crowd toward me- just as the whistle signaling that the train was about to disembark blew. We had just enough time to hug goodbye quickly before I was tugged lightly by the hand onto the train.

I stared after him as we began to pull away and I tried to memorize his every feature- sure that I would never be seeing my best friend again. But I was determined to keep my promise to him, I thought, remembering his last whispered words to me.

"Please don't forget me, Takashi-chan…"

-o0o-

I awoke rather unexpectedly, feeling a bit dazed. After a second or two I came fully to my senses, chuckling lightly to myself. It had been ten years ago today since I had last seen Hikari-san. I was fourteen now, and Karyn and I had since moved back into Tokyo. Tomorrow would be my first day attending Azumano Middle School.

Since I last saw Hikari, I hadn't had much communication with him. I had written him a few letters around the age of five, but he had never responded and I had always assumed that he was mad at me for leaving…

In all honesty I doubted very much that Hikari-san would recognize me now even if he did see me again. In the years we had been apart, I had grown into a bit of an "Ugly Duckling"

My once long black hair was now cut short and streaked red. My eyes were a very peculiar shade of emerald green that reminded me, rather depressingly, of grass. My skin was an almost unhealthy shade of ivory, and I was oddly flat chested for my age. My arms and legs looked like one day they had suddenly decided to grow about 3 inches and had neglected to tell the rest of my body.

I had become quite the sarcastic tomboy, always preferring GI Joes to Barbie's in my childhood, and I had an unhealthy obsession with a black eye-patch Karyn had bought for my birthday during my pirate-phase.

Yeah. I was a far cry from anything resembling beautiful- not like the girls I had seen around the city on my few excursions to the park.

Glancing at the clock, I saw that it was only 1:00… five and a half hours until I had to be to school. With that, I turned on my side, snuggling back under the covers, thoughts of Hikari-san sending me back to sleep.

-o0o-

A/n: I appologise if the grammer in this if horrible. ; Sorry this turned out so horribly...I promise it's going to get better! This was necessary to give a little background on Akira. (And yes, Aki is FEMALE. x.x I realize that Akira is a boys name...I did this on purpose, to sort of reinforce the whole "tomboy" image.) I'm trying my very best to prevent Aki from turning into a Mary-sue, so please feel free to let me know if you feel she's headed for that fate. >.> And relax, I'm not going to make Satoshi-sama's life even more complicated by giving him a sappy mary-sue of a girlfriend. If you noticed the pairings listed, Aki/Sato is one-sided. Why? Because Satoshi loves Dai-chan, of course! - I'll give everyone fair warning here- this story WILL CONTAIN SHONEN-AI in later chapters! Please don't flame me for this- if you don't like it, just don't read it. Simple as that. Now, review, darn you! >.>