*Alrighty, so now we're here at Chapter 1. Welcome to the story everyone. Luckily, I had some time to write during college. Our teacher didn't show up. What luck… So here we get to the real thing, not the teaser and we bring in a character we all love right? Meiko is fun to write, I think she's rather out there and doesn't give a care. So enjoy ladies and gentlemen…

Lion

Kasane Teto and Yokune Ruko

By: Setsuna Revolution

Chapter 1: Guided by the Constellations

"Anybody home!" Meiko shouted, disrupting the tranquility of the quiet house; following closely behind her, a girl with red hair, pulled tightly into drill-like pigtails carrying suitcases. Meiko ruffled her messy brunette hair before dropping her arm to her side in a defeated manner. Either everyone was gone, doing more important things or they were all home, but ignoring her.

Either way, she was getting pissy and was in desperate need of a good, satisfying drink…and not the non-alcoholic type. She turned to the young girl she had brought home with her.

"Sorry, Teto-chan, usually everyone's pretty hospitable, but…" Meiko paused for dramatic effect. "Everyone's got more important business, it seems!" she added, screaming as loud as she could in the seemingly empty house. Teto cringed; she really didn't care for loud noises.

A low thud could be heard somewhere close by. Meiko put her hands on her hips; a smug look written on her face. A few seconds later, a blonde-haired girl burst out of the hallway like she was ready to kill. "Hey, Rin-chan," Meiko smiled; she knew she was pissed.

"Why are you yelling?" Rin asked, rubbing her temples. "I mean, I'm kind of busy in there, can you please keep it down." Rin was furious, hadn't anyone realized she was busy.

Len's birthday present wasn't going to compose itself, and she was wasting precious time. She turned back to the room, ignoring both her older sister and the new housemate being brought in.

"Don't work too hard, birthday girl," Meiko responded. Rin waved before completely disappearing back into her room. Teto set her luggage down carefully; she was sure she was in for quite a hectic living situation.

She nervously shifted her weight between her legs. Really, she just wanted the woman, whom she was told to call "sis," to just show her to her room so she could relax a while. Unfortunately, things were never that simple, Teto learned.

"Listen, Teto-chan, you think you might be able to do me a favor," Meiko asked politely. Teto nodded; anything for big sis, she smirked. "I have to take care of something here, and I know it's your first day here and all, but do you mind running to the store to pick up a few things."

Teto stared dumbfounded. Seriously, she was asking her; someone who just moved into the house and hadn't ever been to this city to go shopping all by herself. 'How stupid,'Teto thought.

"Great, I knew you'd agree," Meiko said, a little too excitedly for Teto's taste. Wait, when had she agreed? Meiko left the room briefly only to return with a full list of materials and some cash for Teto to use to obtain said items. "The store's right down the street, past the empty stations, you can't miss it. Oh, and buy yourself something, too. Thanks."

And just like that, Meiko was gone, somewhere in the depths of the unfamiliar house, leaving Teto, someone she barely knew, standing there holding a list and a wad of cash. Teto couldn't help but wonder if the older girl was truly stupid or insane…or both.

Teto left the house immediately. She should just take the money and run, but that wouldn't be right after all. She silently cursed her older brother. If he hadn't left to pursue his own dreams, she could still be living with him. Instead, she was stuck feeling left out and not to mention, pissed.

There was no welcome wagon like he had told her, no cheery people to talk to, just herself. Teto walked the way to the store easily enough, feeling very lonely and cursing Ted's name the whole way.

xXxXxXxXx

A few hours later, Teto found herself exiting the store with two big bags of groceries; she became Meiko's errand girl, anyway. She took a minute to adjust the semi-heavy bags, while pondering the odd assortment of food items in the paper bags. There were onions and ice cream, bananas, oranges, even an eggplant, which was nearly impossible to find in the store. Some sort of alcoholic drinks were on the list as well, but Teto didn't even attempt, she was too young to buy it.

"Who the hell eats this weird assortment of crap?" Teto said aloud to no one in particular. She placed the bags carefully on the ground, pulling out her prize for all her hard work; Meiko did tell her to get something for herself.

She tore a piece of the French bread, reveling in its sweet taste. It almost made the day better. For the first time, she took a good look around the city. A nearby sign notified her that she was somewhere downtown, but it didn't make too much difference; she was bad with direction.

She took another bite of the delicious bread, fully intent on enjoying every last crumb, when something caught her attention. There was a melodious tune sounding close by. She looked around; a few people took notice and began to seek out the source. Teto put away her bread, grabbed the bags and did the same.

It was coming from the abandoned stations that Meiko told her of earlier. Teto, entranced by the sweet and soft melody followed it until she came upon an open space; what she presumed to be the old loading dock for passengers.

There she marveled at the sight. There was an older man drumming a soft tune, switching between a well-used bucket and the stony ground. There was another man, younger and better looking, who was whistling a sweet solo to the off-beat of the makeshift drums.

There were others. Older women and men, singing along, around ten that she could make out, there were kids dancing and mothers chasing them with smiles. A number of people crowded someone in the center of the space. Some were throwing coins into the middle.

Radiating a beautiful song, there stood a person. Very tall with raven hair. Her ragged appearance indicated that much like the others playing to the offbeat of her beautiful song, she was undoubtedly without a place to call home. Her arms were outstretched, bringing in the crowd more. Her eyes were tightly closed and sung with all her being. Teto stared intensely, even after the song was finished and people were leaving.

Now one thing that Teto could pride herself in was the fact that she could sing really well. It ran in her family. However; the moment this odd girl in front of her began to sing, Teto immediately felt entranced, and a little self-concious of her own supposedly great singing voice, but this girl sang with such passion that she couldn't even imagine.

The battered girl lowered her arms; her song long since over. Her new friend, the older man from the first night she arrived came close, giving her a rewarding pat on the back before grabbing the loose coins from the ground and trudging off to his corner. She watched the retreating figures of the pleased crowd, until her eyes reached the crimson orbs of a younger girl still facing her.

She attempted to shrug this off; she was used to being stared at. If it wasn't her unusual height or her mismatched eyes, it was her dirty, worn out clothes. The problem was she couldn't break her eye contact, something about this girl was mesmerizing.

Teto's uninhibited eyes focused on this marvelous girl's aqua and crimson orbs. The beautiful song she sang did no justice to the girl's stunning prescience. It was, by far, the most breathtaking thing she had ever witnessed…

Guided by the constellations, our eyes met...

A/N: It's a little short, I know, but I still wanna see if you guys are liking this story. If you want a better feel for the exact atmosphere. The song Ruko is singing here at the end of this scene is called Place For Us. Look it up on Youtube; it's very pretty. Let me know if you like, til next chapter, which will have much more dialogue and the beginning of these two and their relationship. See you soon…