Gonna say this one only...I no steal so you no sue comprende? Hope you enjoy This fanfic...this is just the teaser, if you will, to much bigger things to come...-

Hope Lies Hidden

Prologue:

The pictures on the walls were so happy. They showed smiling faces, faces who showed no pain or sadness, no regret nor guilt…they were just, happy. But she wasn't. She never could be again. Not really. Oh she could fake it well enough, but her heart would never feel joy…not again.

Akina moved about her room, packing up her few belongings in the last of the boxes, trying to ignore the pictures that filled her room. They were of no importance now. They were from a different time, a different life. A life she had left behind in a hospital in Yokohama. Now she was moving away…moving to Tokyo to live with a family she had never met, and had never really cared to.

Her mother had assured her that she would love it in Tokyo. It wasn't too far from where she was, and she could go to a good school, and lead a good life. A life her mother never could have provided for her. She dumped a few books into one of the boxes and crossed to her bed, dropping down onto it tiredly. She stared at the picture that had greeted her every morning when she woke up. It was her favorite one, of before her mother had been sick, when she still laughed. They were sitting on the beach, wide smiles on their faces as the sun shone on the blue sea behind them.

She pulled out the necklace her mother had given her, a beautiful purple shard of rock, entwined in golden threads, and began to fiddle with it. It had been the last thing her mother had given to her…the last thing she had left her daughter with…

Akina stared at the beautiful necklace in her hand with wonderment, watching the way the light bounced off its beautiful multifaceted surface. It was her mother's most prized possession, something that had been passed down generation by generation through her family, until it had been given to her mother. She would never give it up unless…

"Your aunt and uncle in Tokyo have agreed to let you stay with them." Said her mother quietly, making her daughter look back up at her.

Akina smiled slightly, rather confused.

"But Mom, why am I going to Tokyo? You are here in Yokohama…why would I leave you…?" She trailed off, slow realization dawning cool and clear upon her. But it couldn't be. Even in the sickly glow of the hospital light, her mother still looked perfectly healthy, her platinum blonde hair shining like her beautiful green eyes…no one would ever believe that she was so desperately ill…there was just so much life in her…"No Mom…"

"They will take good care of you Akina, until you come of age and can be on your own…"

"No, Mom, I'm going to stay here with you," she choked through a suppressed sob, "I won't leave you."

"You're not going to leave me darling," said her mother with a gentle smile, putting a hand to her face, "But I can't stay here forever."

"Mom…"

"I'm going to die soon Akina…whether I want to or not. There is nothing more anyone can do. So I am sending you to your father's sister so you can live a good life…"

"Please…don't talk like that Mom…your all I have left…" she clung to her mother's hand, her tears beginning to flow more freely "…Please don't leave me!" She flung herself into her mother's arms, holding her for dear life. "I love you too much to lose you…"

"Oh, my darling, your not losing me, I'll always be with you…You've got to be strong…you've got a life to live…don't morn me…live, please my darling, just live."She put her arms lightly around her daughter, holding her gently.

Akina wept for a few minutes before gathering herself enough to sit up. As she did, her mother's arms slid off her, falling lightly from her. Akina stared at her mother. Her eyes were closed as if she was sleeping, her hair spread out over the pillow…but there was no breath in her…and she was already so pale…

"Mom?" Akina whispered, afraid that the nightmare before her would be true. She brushed a hair from her face, and tried calling out to her again…suddenly the constant bip of the heart monitor became a steady scream…sending the doctors and nurses scrambling towards her…

"Oh, God…Mom…" she felt herself being pulled away…but suddenly she was fighting to get back to her mother…it just couldn't be true…

"MOM! NOOOOOOOOOOO! MOTHER! OH GOD NOOO!" she sobbed, as the doctor drug her out of the room.

The last she saw of her mother was the practitioner drawing the sheet up over her beautiful face…

Akina snapped the last latch of her suitcase and paused to take one last look around her now empty walls. She was leaving everything behind…but she would take her memories…she placed her hand over the place where her mother's necklace hung under her shirt and sighed. She took one last look around her room, then walked out and down the stairs to the waiting car, and walked towards her new life, a sad one, but a new life nonetheless.

And as the car raced toward Tokyo, Akina felt as if she had left more than just an old life behind…

She had left part of her heart.