Ugh, mornings… I thought to myself as I woke up. I knew I had to get ready for school, but five more minutes would be amazing. Sadly, I knew I didn't have five minutes. I slowly opened my eyes.

Wha-wait. Is there someone in my room? I then did what any girl would do; I let out my loudest, shrillest girl scream possible.

"Ms. Takahashi! It's only me!" I heard Yuki shout, and I stopped.

"Oh! My! God! You gave me a mini-heart attack! Holy jeezus! What are you doing in here?" I asked, still breathing hard over being scared so bad.

"Actually, I came in here to wake you up. But you looked so peaceful, like you were dreaming, so I didn't want to interrupt." Still kinda creeper-like to watch me while I sleep… I thought to myself. Then, something that scared me even worse happened; the door suddenly slammed open, I jumped about a foot in the air, and there was Kyo, looking like he was about to kill someone, which he probably would.

"What's goin' on? I heard you scream from all the way down stairs. And what's the damn rat doin' here?!"

"Took you long enough to get here, stupid cat," Yuki said in what a normal person would perceive as calmly, but how I perceived it as was that he was as angry as Kyo right now. He just knew how to hold his anger in.

"What the hell are ya doin' in her room?! And why'd you scream?"

"If you guys would shut up for a minute I could explain!" They both looked at me like I'd just slapped them. "Oh, don't get your man-panties in a twist." I think that sentence alone stunned them even more. "Has no one ever told you to shut up before? Yuki was gonna wake me up. I woke up and saw him but didn't realize it was him, I screamed. The end. If everyone happy now? Cause I swear, if you guys keep arguing, I'm gonna kick your asses. Now if you don't mind…" I gestured for them to leave. Kyo just left with a scowl without saying anything.

"He doesn't smile very often, does he?" I asked, staring after him.

"No, not really. Sorry again for startling you," Yuki said with a smile, then left.

He should.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

When we finally arrived at school, everyone seemed to stare. Their whispered mumbles could be heard as we walked by.

"Who is that?"

"Is she new?"

"No, she's always been here. Her name's Takahashi."

"She's always so quiet."

"What are they doing with her?"

"Are they related or something?"

I simply ignored them. Who cares what they thought? The best part of it was seeing the Yuki fan club blanch as we walked by.

"Yuki, I have a feeling your fan-girls don't like me," I said, trying to hold in my laughter.

"Fan-girls?" he looked to where they were standing. "Oh, them. Well I guess they'll just have to live with it, won't they?"

As we walked into class, to put it simply, my friends jaws hit the floor; especially the twins. Hikaru actually got up while Hikari was still sitting, too stunned to do anything and walked up to me.

"Hey guys, I gotta borrow Ari-chan for a moment, so if you don't mind," he said quickly, linking his arm with mine and dragging me backwards out of the classroom. Yuki didn't object and just sat in his seat, but Kyo hesitated before I shrugged at him and left with Hikaru.

"What in the fuck was that?" Hikaru asked as soon as the door closed. I leaned against the wall and tried to think of something so this conversation wouldn't happen.

"Hikaru, we're gonna be late," I said, making a move for the door.

"Ari," he said. Putting his arms on either side of me so I was partially trapped; he was taller than me, so I could quite easily duck under his arms and hurry in, but then I would just have to do this later. "This conversation is happening, and you're trying to escape, so something is definitely going on. Spill. What's going on?"

To be honest, I trusted Hikaru a lot more than my other friends. Besides Rin, he was the only one who knew just how bad my mom was. He had been riding his bike alone one time, when I had hobbled out of my house right after a particularly bad beating. He had probably saved my life that day. He never told anyone, but only after I made him promise about a thousand times not to. It was through him that I'd met all my friends. I'd never lied to him in my life.

"Well, it's actually a really funny story if you think about it. I kinda, under a very special set of circumstances; this is the funny part, ended up, living, with, them…" I said, half mumbling the last part. His eyes widened and squinted at the same time, obviously confused.

"Wait, what? What the hell are you talking about? I mean, you hardly know them!" His voice began to get louder and louder, so I quickly clamped one hand over his mouth and one behind his head, to better hold his mouth shut. It meant I had to get on my tip-toes and had to pull his head down closer to me so I could get a good hold on his head.

(A.N. for this next part, I suggest listening to Adam Lambert's Sleepwalker)

"Don't yell! People are going to hear you!" I whispered. His eyes had widened again in surprise when I'd reached up and covered his mouth, but they now returned to normal size. He slowly reached up and carefully removed my hand from his mouth. I dropped my hand at my side as he stood there, both hands again on either side of me. He was still in the hunched over position I'd forced him into, his face still inches from mine. He continued to look at me, staring into my eyes. And ever so slowly, he leaned in and pressed his lips to mine. It was gentle, like a soft caress. It was over before I realized it had begun. I tried to look down to hide the nervous blush that had crept into my cheeks. I mean, I love Hikaru like family, but I wasn't sure if it was more than that. Not yet at least. I felt him bring a few fingers up under my chin, making me look up at him.

"You can ask people for help. You're not alone. I promise you that," he said, removing his fingers from my chin, and releasing himself from the wall. "I promise," he repeated. And with that, he left and went back into the classroom. Leaving me alone, to figure things out.

Hikaru…

He walked back into class, still nervous, but also excited after what he'd done; mostly nervous though. Upon entering, he received a knowing look from Hikari, which he returned, a curious look from Yuki and a glare from Kyo, both of which he ignored. He simply held his head high, not caring how they took it. They didn't deserve her. He was still having trouble controlling his anger at what he'd heard. Why would she live with them? He'd known her so much longer; he'd even saved her life once. Ever since then, he'd done everything he could to make her happy, to take her mind off things. To make her world as peaceful and happy as possible. Why didn't she let him help her?

Kyo…

He couldn't believe this guy. He had some nerve doing that. What is he to her? He found himself wondering. Wait- why do I even care? What the hell! It just pissed him off even more when the creep walked in with Ari, leaving her behind, while he comings in, looking pretty satisfied with himself. He just sat back in his chair behind Yuki, while Ari still wasn't back. He was tempted to take a swing at the guy, but he knew Ari wouldn't like it. If she wasn't back then something must be wrong, and punch her friend would only make it worse. He couldn't just let her sit out there if something was wrong. He quickly jumped out of his seat and ran outside just as the bell rang, surprising everyone. Especially Hikaru.

(A.N. And for this I listened to The Wanted's Glad You Came)

He found her in the same spot Hikaru had left her, except she had slid down the wall and was now just sitting there on the floor. The halls were empty except for a couple stragglers, who were quickly entering their classrooms. He knelt down in front of her, but she didn't look up at him; she just continued to stare down at her hands.

"Hey," he said, placing his hands on her shoulders; he'd felt more comfortable touching her since he wouldn't transform. "You ok?" she wiped the backs on her hand across her face to erase the tears which had just started to pool in her eyes. "I swear, I'm gonna kill that creep!" Kyo yelled, not caring who heard.

"No, it's fine," her voice stopped him. How does she do that? He thought. He could be completely enraged, but when he heard her voice just now, it was gone. She made him relax. He decided to blame it on how sad you could tell she was. He hated it when girls cried. "You don't have to kill Hikaru. He didn't really do anything, it's my own fault. I'm just being stupid." He let go of her shoulders and sat beside her, closing his eyes and leaning his head back against the wall. He reopened his eyes when he felt her lean her head against him arm. He hadn't really had any experience with girls, so he just sat there, letting her be. After a moment, she sprang upright.

"Hey, do you wanna get out of here?" she questioned kind of nervously, afraid he'd say no.

"Didn't expect you to be the kind to ditch class," he said with a grin.

"Oh, be quiet. I could really use some ice cream right now. You coming?"

"Sure," he responded. Getting up and helping her to her feet. He didn't let go of her hand as they walked out of the school; as Hikaru watched through the window in classroom door as they walked away together, as Kyo turned and looked right at him.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

"Well I already decided we're doing it, so we're doing it," I said to Kyo, with as much finality as possible; hoping to end the conversation.

"Why do we gotta pick up the damn rat? He has legs, doesn't he? He can walk home himself."

"Because I said so. Don't be a baby."

"I ain't a baby!"

"Them prove it by stopping complaining and coming with me," I said, hoping to corner him. It seemed to because he just mumbled something to himself and continued to follow me back to the school. We had gone to get ice cream from a vendor in town, even though it wasn't very warm any more, being winter and all. I still thought it was a good idea though, so I dragged Kyo along with me. We weren't really sure exactly what to do after that, so we really just walked around and did whatever we wanted. We went on the bumper cars in the arcade, which involved a lot of yelling and death threats from Kyo, and then we did something much more fun. It's a game that my friends and I love to do.

"Basically, the way we do it," I explained. "Is that we each take turns, and what we do, is when someone walks by, just pretend like you're sneaking glances at them and begin laughing to yourself. You get one point if they look up at you; two if they begin checking themselves over, like checking their fly; and three if it looks like they look like they're panicking and are trying to figure out what's wrong with them."

"And what's the point of this?" he asked, not sounding very interested.

"The point is winning and getting to legally harass people," I responded with a smile. "And, winner get's the loser as a slave for a day."

"Oh, you're on!" Of course making it a competition would pique his interest. I won, of course. He wasn't happy about it, but I certainly was. He would officially begin his slave duties tomorrow morning, and I would be sure that I wouldn't have to lift a finger.

We arrived at the school about 10 minutes before it would finally end. As we waited outside, I realized there was one thing that I had never really understood.

"Why do you guys hate each other?" Kyo didn't really seem surprised that I asked. "I mean, I get the whole curse thing. I get the story. But what does that have to do with you two? I mean you aren't them. That didn't actually happen to you two. Even if that's a true story, it was a long time ago; things have changed. But with you guys, it hasn't. Why is that?"

He seemed as unsure about the answer to that as I was. He never answered my question. We just sat and waited until the final bell rang and until Yuki came out, who seemed surprised, yet irritated to see us waiting.

"Did you guys have fun today?" he asked, and even though it sounded like a simple question, you could hear the hard edge of anger in it. I decided to ignore it.

"I actually did. We had ice cream and legally harassed people." Yuki looked up at me in utter confusion.

"I won't ask. Knowing Kyo though, he must have managed to get himself into some kind of trouble," he responded without looking at Kyo.

"Hey, you tryin' to start somethin'?!" Kyo yelled, and I situated myself between them, so (hopefully) no one would end up killed.

"Now that you mention it, his slave duties shall begin tomorrow at promptly seven AM. Seeing as I won at legally harassing people, he shall be me slave for one full day, and I don't plan on lifting a finger. And slave? I expect breakfast in bed at seven thirty."

"Stupid, lousy, game…" he muttered to himself.

"Oh, don't be a sore loser! I won! I'm a winner!"

"You tryin' to start somethin' too?!"

"Maybe I am!" I yelled back at him, standing on my toes to seem taller. "You gonna fight a girl?"

"Maybe I will!" he yelled back.

"Come at me! Bring it on!" He quickly threw a quick jab which I ducked and dodged, but then I saw his other fist coming at me, from angle that I wouldn't have noticed since I was focused on his other hand. I had to admit it, slave had skills. Then I felt another arm lifting me up and pulling me toward them, and another hand intercepted Kyo's fist.

"A gentleman doesn't hit young ladies, stupid cat," Yuki said, and I realized it was him holding me; I was balancing on the ball of one foot, but when he pulled me away so I wouldn't be hit, I was left being held under my arms against his chest.

"Yuki, I'm fine. You can let me up now"

"Oh. My apologies Ms. Takahashi. I wanted to be sure you were ok." He let me go and I stood up. I realized the bandages that were still on my hand had been slightly tousled and need some rewrapping.

"You didn't have to do that. I've had much worse than just a punch. Besides, it's not like he was trying to hurt me. Kyo, could you help me with this?" Yuki looked kind of lost.

"What's wrong with your hand?" he asked.

"Stray flying bottle. Ouch!" I winced as I tried to unwrap my bandages myself.

"Let me do it," Kyo said, reaching for my hand and unwrapping them much more gently than I had. I heard a small gasp as the gauze came off.

"A bottle? When did this happen?" I heard Yuki ask. He had obviously been left out of the loop.

"My mom threw it at me. Didn't Kyo tell you? Shigure knew," I explained as Kyo was carefully fixing my gauze.

"No, I must have not been there when this was explained. What do you mean? Your mother threw it at you? Why would she do that?" This is going to be fun to explain…

"Well, that part's kinda a long story. It kinda all began with me," I began, leaning against the wall of a nearby building. I hadn't told either of them the exact dynamics of my story, so all eyes were on me. "My dad never wanted a kid; so when my mom became pregnant with me, naturally, he was pissed. He left my mom and me to fend for ourselves. My mom's always blamed me for his leaving. Said it was my fault for being born. I've only met him once. It was my fifth birthday," I could feel the tears welling in my eyes and let them fall. "I didn't even know who he was at first. He said 'Happy birthday kid.' And gave me a little box. I opened it, and it had a small, intricately decorated pocket-knife in it. He said only to use it if I was sure. I didn't understand what he meant back then, I mean, I was only a kid. I later realized he was giving me an escape. A chance to free myself from my mom. I still have it. He said not to tell mom, and stayed for the rest of the day. He pretended to sleep on the couch until my mom was asleep. I heard a noise from my room. When I got up, I saw him leaving. He must have heard me, because he turned around and looked at me with a sad look on his face, then left and shut the door behind him. He literally walked out of our lives again. He never came back after that. The beatings got worse after that; mom said I wasn't a good enough daughter, so that was why he left. And I began to believe her. But then, I met Hikaru kinda by accident. He probably rescued me from that knife. He introduced me to his sister, and his friends, and everything slowly began to get better. The beatings didn't, but everything else did. I realized just how warped I had become." I could feel the tear steadily streaming down my cheeks, and there didn't seem to be an end to them. "And really, that's all there is to it," I finally finished. I looked up at both of them for the first time since before starting. They were both staring, and it even seemed like Yuki had the slight beginning of tears in his eyes, which made me smile a little. He wiped his away, but mine were still coming.

I got off the wall, but I was kinda shaky, so I almost fell. I felt a strong pair of arms lifting me off my feet and realized it was Kyo. I looked up at him.

"Let's go home," he said quietly, as I wrapped my arms around him and broke out in full on sobbing. Even when I was sure I'd soaked through his shirt, he just held me closer.