Okay, so for those of you who have this story on alert... I'M SO SORRY I HAVEN'T UPDATED IN SUCH A LONG TIME!

So much has been going on in my life, and I needed to take a break. But guess what? I'm rewriting it, making it better, with better flow, and so on. So go back and read the first chapter because it's changed a little bit ;)

I'm going betaless on all my fanfics currently, so if there are mistakes, I'm sorry :( I'm trying to get them all, but it doesn't work too well sometimes.

Anyway, read, review, and enjoy :) I hope this chapter doesn't confuse anyone... I tried to make it less confusing than before. Let's hope it worked.

~Sunechirei


The sun seemed to mock her. It shone brightly that day in a nearly cloudless sky, reaching down and touching all with it's plentiful warmth. But she wanted anything but that. Her black dress absorbed the sunlight warming her when she wanted to be cold.

Even the tears splashing down her face were hot, burning her skin as they trailed down her cheeks. A sob racked her body.

Knees curled up to her chest, she sat on the lush grass and stared longingly at the pitch black tombstone in front of her. Sniffling, she her tears away with the sleeve of her dress, then glanced around.

When she saw no one around her, the tears came harder.

"Mommy," she mumbled through the wetness. "Come home, Mommy. Please come home." She began to sob again. Every breath she took came in painfully, and left harsher. She no longer wanted to breath. "Don't leave me alone with them." Her voice softened to a light whisper.

About then a thick cloud covered the sun, and the girl looked up, not realizing how cloudy the sky had gotten. The darkness calmed her beating heart, making her feel like she could actually be sad without someone mocking her again.

A sudden drip of water startled her though, and she blinked, wiping the cool water off her face. More droplets fell, getting heavier with each minute that passed. She began to cry again.

Her brown pigtails hung damp by her tear stained face, dripping water onto her dress.

Before her, the tombstone turned darker, being stained by the falling rain. Even though she barely knew how to read, she knew the words written on the stone better than any other. Her father had read them to her every time they visited.

Yuka Yukihara

1780-1803

23 years old

Loving wife of Izumi Yukihara,

and mother of Mikan Yukihara

"Mikan!" The girl jumped at the harsh voice, a shiver going up her spine. The women's voice always scared her, no matter how long she lived with the women. She stood and turned to face the woman, shrinking back when she noticed the vicious glare.

In her hands was a small bouquet of white flowers. The petals drooped pathetically, reflecting the child's feelings.

"What the hell are you doing over there?" she snapped, rushing forward. "Your father was just put into the ground and you go off to see this woman's grave? How insulting." She grabbed the girl's arm and yanked her forward.

"I-I'm sorry," Mikan whimpered, shaking from the cold, and from fear. "I won't do it again!" The vicious pain in her arm brought a sob to her body, which stopped the woman in her tracks.

"Shut up," she spat. "You don't have a right to cry, you ungrateful brat. You don't have a reason to cry."

Yes I do. Mommy and Dad are gone. I'm stuck with you. You're always so mean to me even though I've never done anything. Mikan wanted to say this, but she didn't, knowing it would only cause more problems. For a child, she knew much about the world.

"I'm sorry." Her voice came out so insignificantly.

"Yes you are." The woman yanked Mikan forward again, dragging her though the grave yard easily, and without regret. The look of hate and pain in the woman's eyes made it impossible for Mikan to hate her, no matter how much she wanted to.

Why is she so mean to me, but she loves Dad so much?

Eventually they came to a stop, and the woman threw Mikan to the ground, not caring that the others were watching. They wouldn't say anything against one of the richest women in the country. Especially not at her second husband's funeral.

Mikan crawled to her hands and knees, blinking water and mud out of her brown eyes. She wanted to reach up and wipe them, but if she did, her step-mother might do something else to her. A bright, high pitched giggle sounded next to Mikan, and she looked up, staring into the harsh eyes of another little girl.

No sadness appeared in the girl's expression. A foolish grin spread across her face, and her pale white hands twirled her umbrella, sending droplets of water everywhere. Even though her perfectly styled hair and fancy dress stayed dry, everyone around her ended up with splatters on their clothing.

Mikan's eyes narrowed. She found she couldn't hate her step-mother, but her step-sister was a different story.

Then her eyes traveled to the boy standing behind the girl. His head was bowed, and he wore all black as well, matching the rest of the people in the area.

"Andou, Luna, don't just stand there. Pay your respects to your father," the woman said suddenly, glaring at Mikan. Both kids nodded, much to Mikan's annoyance, and finally the boy looked up, glancing down at Mikan. She shuddered.

There was a look in his eyes that said, "that man is not my father." When he broke the gaze, Mikan glanced over at the newer headstone, and her eyes widened.

Izumi Yukihara

1766-1806

Age 40

Husband of Hana Yukihara

Father of Andou, and Luna Yukihara

A tinge of bile rose in her throat at the sight of her rather's tombstone. Her step-mother's obsession with him, and her obsession with getting Mikan and her real mother out of the picture. She went far enough to leave their names off the headstone.

Before Mikan could gain control of her body, she retched, throwing up whatever was left in her stomach from earlier that day.


"What does this mean?"

"It's exactly as I said, Ma'am. 'If anything were to befall me, I, Izumi Yukihara, leave everything, my entire fortune to my only daughter, Mikan Yukihara.' Those are his exact words."

Leaning against the slightly open door to her father's study, Mikan smiled, wiping her eyes from the earlier tears. Even though her bath from earlier had cleared up most of the red swelling, the eyes still itched from how much she'd cried.

She could tell her step-mother wasn't happy, and that pleased her. Something was wrong with her father's will. It would benefit Mikan, but not Hana.

"This is impossible!" Hana screeched. "I'm his wife. Luna is his daughter. Not that freak of nature! That... that horrible child is the spawn of his first wife, if you can even call that women his wife. Leaving him alone like that... Mikan doesn't deserve any of what he's left behind. I do. Luna and Andou do. Not her!"

Mikan flinched, anger rising, and she became tempted to open the door all the way and tell her step-mother off, but the single cut running down the side of her face stopped her in her tracks. The moment the "family" had made it back to the mansion that evening, Hana had turned on Mikan, screaming at her for throwing up in front of her father's grave, telling her the behavior from earlier had been unacceptable.

Then she slapped her.

Mikan's hand traveled up to her cheek, and she closed her eyes slightly. Her mother had never hit her before. Neither had her father. Hana had though, and that confused the child.

"Wait a moment, Ma'am, there's a note at the bottom here," the lawyer's silky voice called out suddenly. Opening her eyes again, Mikan listened closely to see what the lawyer would say.

"What?" Hana sounded excited, and Mikan felt a tinge of regret for smiling. Karma hated her, after all.

"'If, however, something were to happen to me before Mikan is eighteen, everything I own shall be in the hands of whomever is taking care of my daughter until the day she turns eighteen.'"

"It says that?"

Oh no. Why Daddy? Why did you say that? Even though she didn't want them to come, fresh tears blurred her vision, and she bowed her head.

"That means I have everything until that brat is eighteen... that's ten years from now!" The excitement in Hana's voice scared Mikan enough that she began to crawl away from the door. If she made any sound, she would get in more trouble, and already she felt like she wanted to die. Anything else might push her over the edge.

"Yes," her lawyer replied as Mikan crawled away, "but you have to keep her with you until then."

Hana's response was so vicious and cruel, that it stopped Mikan in her tracks:

"So? I know exactly what I can do with her."


"Twenty, twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-three," Mikan chanted, counting the amount of times she was able to jump over the rope. All around her, children chattered, laughed, and ran around, enjoying their small, fifteen minute break from the relentless school work that plagued their day, but none of them seemed to care about Mikan and her jump rope.

Breathless, she paused with her exercise, wiping sweat from her brow, and glanced around. Even though the rest of the children refused to talk to her, she always found a way to entertain herself at school. She wished she could talk to the other kids, but she wouldn't let Luna know how much it hurt her.

After a minute of waiting, Mikan began jumping agin, counting loudly.

"Mikan, give me that rope." Luna's voice came out of nowhere, causing Mikan to stop in her tracks. "I want to play with it. So give it to me."

"No. It's mine. Get your own," Mikan snapped, pulling the rope close to her body. If Luna wanted the rope, she would have to fight Mikan for it, and they both knew which of the two girls was stronger.

"Uh uh," Luna countered with a smirk, grabbing Mikan's slightly bruised wrist. "Everything you have is mine! Mom said so." She reached forward and grabbed at the rope, trying to pull it out of Mikan's grasp. Determined not to let Luna win this time, Mikan kept a firm hold on it, though, and glared.

"I don't care what your mom says. She isn't my mom, so I don't have to listen to her." With a single yank, she pulled the rope out of Luna's hands, but Luna didn't want to give up, and grabbed at it again.

The shouting of the two girls had attracted the attention of many other students in the courtyard, and they all began to gather around, curious by the events that were occurring. They knew the two girls were step-sisters, and they all knew the girls didn't get along, but this was the first time there had ever been an actual fight at school.

Luna glanced around at all the other kids in the courtyard, then grinned. She let go of the rope and shoved Mikan, laughing as the girl fell backward onto her butt. All the kids around them laughed, and Mikan's face turned bright red from embarrassment.

"Guess what?" Luna taunted, reaching down to grab the rope. "My mom is the only adult you have, so you have to listen to her. Your mom and dad are dead, after all."

Absolutely furious, Mikan clambered to her feet. "I don't care that they're dead. Your stupid mom won't ever be able to tell me what to do! I won't listen to her, or you, or Andou, and you can't make me."

"Don't call my mom stupid," Luna snapped, shoving Mikan again. This time she held her ground. "My mom isn't stupid, unlike your mom. She's still alive, after all. And you have to do what we say. You're our slave."

Angry, Mikan grabbed Luna's hair and pulled down on it. She hated everything about that girl. If there was anyone she could get rid of in her life, it would be Luna. At least Hana left her alone if she didn't do anything to annoy the women. Luna, however, started fights, then ran to her mommy when things got out of hand. This time would be no different.

Mikan didn't care.

"Ow! Let me go!" Luna screamed, struggling against Mikan's hands. The rope lay by her side, forgotten.

All around the two girls, students cheered and whooped, encouraging the fight, even though yells of teachers told them to stop. Mikan didn't care what everyone else was saying. All thoughts were on how she was going to get back at Luna for everything she'd done over the past few years.

Suddenly there was a loud bang, and the entire courtyard went silent. Mikan and Luna froze, staring in the direction of the parting crowd. Wanting to know what just happened, Mikan let go of Luna and stared at the young girl revealed.

Cold purple eyes and short black hair. The only person Mikan knew who looked like that was the new girl, Hotaru Imai.

"Why are you guys fighting? It's annoying," she said, holding a small gun in her hand. Mikan couldn't take her eyes off the weapon, not sure what to think of an elementary school child carrying such a thing around. "What?" Hotaru continued when no one answered. "Nothing to say? Well then scram." Everyone moved to leave, including Mikan, but Hotaru held the gun up in her direction. "Other than you, pigtails. You stay here."

Luna glared at Hotaru, clearly wanting to tell her to leave and never come back, but she didn't speak. The gun probably scared her. Instead, she hissed, "I'm telling Mom about this," at Mikan before storming off after the other kids.

The moment everyone left, Mikan sank to her knees, terrified of Luna's words. She shouldn't have stood up to her. She should have just left things the way they were, given her the rope, and moved on. But now she wouldn't be able to do that.

Tears streamed down her face, and she shuddered.

"You okay?" Hotaru asked, crouching down to Mikan's level. "I saw what that weirdo was doing to you and it pissed me off."

"Thank you for getting rid of her," Mikan muttered. Hotaru let out a laugh and stood up again.

"I like you. It's decided. You're my new pet project."

Mikan blinked and looked up at her. "Huh?"


The cool, musty night air was refreshing, Mikan decided as she walked through the grounds towards her small house. At the same time, however, it was sad. Chirping crickets played a low, melodramatic tune that contrasted the warm wind blowing, and the trees had begun to turn yellow, showing the unfortunate change of seasons.

Mikan let out a low sigh and began to hum a low tune, matching what the crickets were chirping. Even though winter used to be her favorite season, now that she lived in the uninsulated shack at the edge of the servants housing, she'd started hating it.

The winter months brought ridiculously cold weather, which brought illness, and with the illness came more punishments for having a fever.

A large hand suddenly wrapped around her upper arm and she gasped, instinctively pulling away from the perpetrator. Unfortunately, whoever it was wouldn't let her go, and seemed much taller, and stronger than her.

"You seem abnormally happy for someone who just had to clean my sister's room," the deep voice of Andou muttered. Mikan glanced up at him, all calmness gone. Her heart beat escalated, and her struggles became more insistent.

Andou laughed.

"Stop fighting me, Mikan. You're just a kid. I'm eighteen already, so stop fighting me," he said, twisting Mikan around so she faced him. Her response to this was to turn her head so she wouldn't have to look in his eyes.

"Please, Andou, let me go-"

"I told you to call me Tsubasa!" Andou yelled, squeezing Mikan's arms tighter. She let out a small cry of pain and stopped struggling against her step-brother. "I hate that name, and you know it."

"I'm sorry," she whimpered, the pain really getting to her. Finally, he let her go, letting her fall to the ground without even bothering trying to stop her.

"Whatever."


"He's gone, Hotaru. He's finally gone."

"Who?"

"Andou. He's gone."

"Really? So the guy's finally gotten his ass out of your house, huh?"

"Hotaru! Your language- wait, no never mind. Yeah. He's gone."

"Where did he go."

"I'm not really sure. Hana said something about the palace, so I think he's going to work there."

"I didn't think he was smart enough to do that."

"Don't say that here! Luna could be listening."

"Yeah? What's she gonna do to me?"

"..."

"Exactly. Anyway. I'm happy for you, Mikan. I know you really hated that jerk."

"Mhm."


"Hotaru! It's the first day of high school!" Mikan cheered, nearly tacking her best friend. Hotaru rolled her eyes and smacked Mikan over the head. The other people in the school grounds gave the two friends strange looks, then continued on with their way.

Mikan smiled at how ridiculous they could be. They clearly didn't get what having a best friend meant.

"Stupid. You shouldn't be excited about that," Hotaru said, pushing Mikan off her.

Mikan giggled, rubbing her head lightly. "I know, I know. But it's a new school, with kids who don't know Luna yet. Maybe people will actually be nicer here. Maybe they won't deal with Luna's nonsense." While she knew it was a long shot to hope things wouldn't go the way they had in elementary and middle school, she still did. The worst that could happen was have her hopes crushed.

Amused by her friends enthusiasm, Hotaru shined a rare smile. "Yeah, I guess so."

"Or, maybe I'll find someone who... maybe likes me. Maybe I can have a boyfriend, like everyone else our age."

"I think dating is pathetic."

"You're also a weapons designer for the military," Mikan said, laughing. "You don't have to worry about money, or love, or anything. If you want it, you can just have it whenever you want."

"Yeah, I guess that's true." Hotaru scanned the courtyard, then grabbed Mikan's arm. "What about him? He seems like he could be your type?"

Eagerly, Mikan looked to see where Hotaru was pointing and spotted a young man with blond hair and blue eyes carrying a small white rabbit. Slowly, her excitement faded, and turned into disbelief.

"Uh... Hotaru?"

"Yes?"

"He's a teacher."

"..." Hotaru was speechless as she examined the guy again. "Oh."

Mikan let out a hearty laugh, but her enthusiasm was quickly falling. "Yeah... I hope he's a nice teacher though. I don't want to be stuck with more horrible ones."

"Agreed."

Even though all the teachers always like Hotaru at first, they eventually came to dislike her abnormal intelligence and the fact that she didn't care about anyone but herself and her best friend. Mikan guessed Hotaru acted like this so the two girls could spend more time together, and that made her extremely happy.

"Well, let's go into our homeroom! I'm so excited to see what life as a high schooler is like!" She linked arms with Hotaru and the two girls headed into the school.


"Miss Yukihara, your test scores are extremely high, but the fact that you don't do your homework is really affecting your grades."

Mikan's head was bowed, looking at her calloused hands. "I'm sorry, Mr. Nogi," she muttered. Ruka Nogi let out a low sigh, and shook his head. Mikan hated being called in after class. Especially for topics like this.

"It's alright, Miss Yukihara. Please promise me you'll do your homework from now on," Mr. Nogi said, crouching down so he was eye level with the sitting Mikan.

She really wanted to say she would, but she knew deep down that was impossible. Every evening, she did her own homework, then was forced to give it to Luna the next day. For two years of high school this had been occurring, and now, as a sixteen year old, Mikan was already in danger of failing out of high school.

Mom would be so ashamed of me, Mikan thought, blinking back tears. Giving up my own life for that bitch of a girl. I can't believe I haven't told the teachers about this. No. I can. They would talk to Hana, and things would just get worse.

"Miss Yukihara, will you answer me please."

"I'll do what I can," Mikan replied, standing up. "May I go now?"

"I think it would be best if-"

"I have to go now. My mother is waiting for me. Goodbye." Mikan snapped. She grabbed her bag and rushed out of the staff room before her teacher could say anything else.

Mom. Dad... I'm so sorry.


My breathing was heavy as I ran through the forest, my dress tearing in the brambles, my hair trailing down my back. Somewhere along the way I'd lost my mother's precious hair piece. I desperately wanted to go back and search for it, but if Luna and Hana made it home before I did, I would never see the light of day again.

If I made it home, at least then I could go searching for the hair piece the next morning.

As I neared the house, I thought back to the events of the evening, from when Hotaru showed up at my house with a dress, shoes, which were now in my hand and nearly destroyed, and a make up kit, telling me I was going to the ball, to the moment the clock struck midnight.

I could feel my face heat up at the thought of being so close to the prince, to the guy every girl wanted to be with, and even the fact that he'd tried to kiss me sent my heart in a frenzy. Of course, that could be from the running.

But why would he talk to me? I was nothing special, only a girl in a dress and a jeweled mask. I honestly could care less about the prince, there was just something about dancing with him that made me feel all weird inside.

I shook my head violently, then noticed I was outside the small hut I lived in. As quickly as I could, and without a sound, I wrenched open the door and stumbled in. I threw the shoes under my bed, and stripped myself of my dress, tossing it into the trunk on the other side of the room, then slammed it shut. Just as I did this, I heard the loud voices of my step-sister.

She was, of course, complaining.

"That girl was not pretty at all! I'm so much better a dancer than she is. Why would Prince Natsume over look me like that?"

"I don't know," the dangerous voice of Hana said. "But whoever that girl was, she certainly knew how to charm him. We need to watch out for her in the future."

I laughed. If the two of them figured out it was me Prince Natsume had chosen to dance with, I'm sure they would both have a heart attack.

But I could never let them know I had been at that dance.

Never again would I be allowed to leave the house, or see Hotaru, or anything if they knew I had disobeyed a direct order.

"Don't leave the house," Hana had ordered me before she left. At first I was just planning on listening, and not going anywhere, but then Hotaru showed up...

Luna's footsteps made me freeze. She was coming up here!

Not caring that my night gown wasn't on yet, I climbed into bed and pulled the covers over my head, just as the door creaked open. I held my breath, hoping Luna wouldn't notice anything odd.