A/N: Oh my goodness, I got reviews. I love you all. I wasn't expecting as much of a response, so thank you to all who reviewed/favorited/followed! Keep this up and you'll have me writing nonstop! I'm already on my way with chapter three, actually. XD

**Side note, it was requested that I mark the changes in POV. While I am sorry that it was difficult for some to distinguish the changes, I won't be marking those changes because it just provides too much of a break in the story. When there are a lot of people in a scene, I tend to change views a lot. I'll try to make the changes more obvious, though, so please bear with me. ^^

Now, you all want chapter two, so imma stop talking now. :3

Chapter 2

Ramen Before Death

Rin let out a heavy sigh as soon as she closed the door to Music Room #3. That was certainly an experience that she could have done without. That Kyoya was far too intuitive for his own good. And too meddlesome. He was blatantly prying into her business, and that was the last thing she needed.

She shook her head with exasperation and turned down the hallway. In the end, it didn't really matter. The small amount of information he knew was insignificant, and she didn't plan on hanging around him any more than what was absolutely necessary. The Host Club was, unfortunately, the only place she could escape that group of annoying boys. It was a coincidence that she passed by the club, and it wouldn't happen again. Besides, she was going to leave in a month for her next tournament, and she would probably take off school before then to prepare.

Australia, Rin thought, her heart skipping a beat with excitement. This one was big. She'd been to the Australia competition only once before. That was a few years ago, and she'd lost rather terribly. She had two bad years since then in which she barely made it to the national finals, and then lost each time. But it was different this year – she was on her top game. Despite her recent injury, she had no doubt that she could win. She just had to fix her bike.

"Easier said than done," she grumbled to herself as she entered into the girl's locker room. She easily located her locker and pulled out the bag she kept her normal clothes in. With only slight difficulty due to her cut she changed out of her uniform and pulled on a pair of torn skinny jeans, a simple gray T-shirt, a pair of red Convers, and a black leather jacket. She left the new uniform in her locker and took the soiled one with her as she left the locker room.

The campus was mostly empty by now, but she still glanced around her to watch out for anyone passing by. She wasn't in the mood for confrontation, and if any of the boys from the Host Club saw her she doubted that her excuse to get them to leave her alone would hold any merit. No, she did not have a driver. But, she also didn't want a group of love-sick boys following her around.

Thankfully, she reached the entrance of the campus without running into anyone. It didn't take her long to reach her motorcycle where she parked it off to the side of the road. She smiled as soon as she saw its sleek gray surface and flashy orange highlights. She had bought it just this year; it was a 2005 Yamaha FZ-1 and just about the fastest motorbike on the market. Just her style. When she reached her bike, she glanced around, expecting her two irritating shadows to appear out of the bushes to yell at her. However, no such thing occurred.

They must have gone home already, she thought. She would have to talk to them as soon as she found them. Despite their irritation at her for running off in the opposite direction they had wanted her to, they hadn't entirely been smart themselves. She didn't know too much about it, but apparently the first group of girls to arrive at the Club had seen the two of them snooping outside of the door. She could be wrong, but the last time she checked, "staying hidden" did not mean being seen by twenty frolicking rich girls.

Rinsuke huffed as she opened the storage container under her seat. Her helmet was there; she took that out and replaced it with the bag holding her uniform. She then sat down on her motorcycle and pulled the black modular helmet over her head. She reached into her jacket pocket and withdrew her keys from its depths. She put they key in the ignition and the machine roared to life with a familiar hum that was like music to her ears. She smiled as she revved the engine a few times, then released the brake and screeched away from the curb.

The sensation of the tires coasting over the pavement was exhilarating, yet also calming. Rin could drive for hours and not get bored, especially when she had nowhere to be. Unfortunately, she did have somewhere to be. She had already spent way too much time at school. She should have been home hours ago, and she drove as such.

Though Rin was sure it wasn't the smartest idea to go too fast considering her wound had just reopened, she couldn't help but push the speed limit. As she came to more crowded streets, she rarely slowed down. She zipped in between cars, and earned quite a few angry honks. She didn't care: this was child's play to her. She only cared to slow down when the traffic signals commanded it, or if she noticed a police officer nearby.

With the rate she was driving at, the journey home passed in the blink of an eye. What should have been a thirty-minute drive was reduced to nearly half that. Rinsuke swung into her father's estate, barely giving enough time for the gatekeeper to open the black, steel gate that surrounded the property. She sometimes wondered why her old man needed such a precaution, but then again, who was she to question it? She was the one who requested the services of Youta and Kaito; both of whom weren't entirely necessary for her protection. Although, they had certainly come in handy on many occasions… today, she noted, was not one of them.

Rin drove her motorcycle at a speed probably considered reckless as she circled in front of the main building of the estate: a two-story mansion with too many rooms for her to count. It was a more modern building, as it had been constructed not three years earlier, with a slightly traditional Japanese twist. Her father had never been one to deviate too far from tradition. There were plenty of fountains and vegetation all native to Japan surrounding both the front and back of the mansion. Beyond that, there were many fields and gardens each with their different themes that centered on distinct terrain from other countries. Rin's father had way too much time on his hands, but lucky for him he had enough money to deal with it. So he had spent many long months designing this place until he thought it was perfect.

Off to the side of the main mansion was the garage; specifically placed there for Rin. That was where she was headed. She flew down the small road leading through rows upon rows of trees and decorative bushes, until with a circular sweep she screeched to a halt in front of the building. It wasn't too large, but there was enough space in its stone halls for a car, three bikes, and all of the tools she could possibly need to care for her vehicles. Plus a little extra room for her to work.

Rin powered down her motorcycle and pulled off her helmet as the white door slid smoothly open. She shook out her hair so it wasn't stuck annoyingly to her head, and stood before she paid any attention to the two young men standing in the entrance to the garage. Youta, as always, stood there with his arms crossed over his chest and his red eyes glaring in perpetual anger. Kaito stood next to his shorter counterpart, a little more relaxed, but he still had a stern expression on his face. Or at least what could be seen of his face – his mask covered all but his eyes. Rin smiled at the two as she stepped off of her bike and laid the helmet on the seat.

"Well, don't you two look just peachy to see me?" she asked in mock cheerfulness.

"Rin, why did you let those boys chase you?" Youta immediately demanded.

Rin's smile turned abruptly into a distasteful frown and she sighed. "Always have to cut to the chase, don't you?"

She didn't respond to his question, nor did she wait for an answer from him. She pushed past Youta and Kaito so she could get started right away on her repairs; she had minimal time to do so.

"Rin," Youta growled angrily as he and Kaito followed her. "It was a stretch letting you ride your motorcycle to school. I had suspected that you would at least try to avoid any troublesome situations, and that is the only reason I didn't take your keys away."

Rin snorted. "Is somebody forgetting who pays him?"

She started rummaging through one of her toolboxes. Youta had to wait to answer or she would probably pretend like she couldn't hear him. As soon as she found what tools she wanted, she walked over to her most prized possession: a dirt bike that she had designed and built herself. In its prime, it was a beautiful machine with vibrant colors: red, orange, lime green. No two parts were the same color, and it was honestly obnoxious to look at. She hadn't ever been one to hide in the background when it came to her bikes. Now, however, it looked little more than a hopelessly beat up dirt bike without any shine to its parts. She unfortunately didn't have the time to make another one, or she would have done that in the first place. She had to hope her repairs would be enough to hold her through the Australia tournament. If not, her season would end right then and there. That was something she could not afford.

"Your father pays us," Youta reminded her as she knelt down next to her bike and started fiddling with some of the parts. "It doesn't matter whether your name is on the contract or not, the money is coming from your father's pocket."

Rin didn't say anything; they'd had this argument before. Youta probably knew full well what she was thinking: her father paid for the contract then handed it over to her. That should automatically make her the boss of them, except it didn't. Before her father agreed to let her have them as her "hound dogs," as he liked to say, he had ordered that her protection came above even her own wishes, and that trumped anything she could come up with. She didn't agree, but was unwilling to argue further.

Youta leaned over her shoulder and said in an irritated tone, "Rin, just answer my question."

"It's Rin-sama to you, Youta-chan."

Youta rolled his eyes at the insult and straightened, his arms still folded. "Fine, Rin-sama. Would Your Grace be so kind as to answer my question?"

Rin remained silent for a moment longer before she finally replied. "I let them chase me, Youta, because unlike you I can't resolve all of my conflicts with violence. If I beat them up then they would tell their daddies who would cause more trouble for me than I care to deal with."

"So you ran away from them? How does that count as solving a conflict?"

"If I didn't run then I'd probably be in the hospital again. You and Kaito might have integrity, but those boys certainly do not."

Youta scowled down at Rin as she worked on her bike, systematically tightening and removing parts as she saw fit. The pile of broken pieces on the floor next to her seemed to be continuously growing. After a while of silence, Youta finally sighed and leaned back against a bike that was parked close by; it was an older model of a Yamaha that Rin had gotten some few years back. She couldn't legally drive at the time, but she was a very persuasive person when it came to any sort of motorbike.

"If you're going to continue to get hurt or harassed by people then you just shouldn't go," Youta bluntly stated.

Rin paused as she screwed a nut tighter to hold a part she just attached. The moment was brief – she continued working almost immediately.

"I happen to like going to school," she said. Generally, it was a nice, quiet break from her hectic lifestyle. Of course it would probably be more enjoyable if she had some friends. Or if she stopped angering the boys with her presence. She sometimes wondered what got them so worked up, but in the end it was fairly obvious. There were few people who knew about her father, but those that did… Well, they didn't often know because she or her father said something to them. They dug deep and uncovered all of the dirty little secrets she had been forced to keep. Truly, it was a wonder that her whole life story wasn't all over the campus, but even though her father had fallen out of many families' good graces, he still had some of his influence. For that, she was beyond grateful.

"Rin," Youta interrupted her train of thought, "You don't even know anyone at that school. What is the point of attending in your free time if you only show up a few days every couple of months?"

Rin frowned and pointed her wrench forcefully at Youta.

"I talked to plenty of people today, thank you, and I will continue to do so. I'm not a hopeless introvert."

"Perhaps not as hopeless as Kaito, but you're still not like the other girls at that school."

That earned Youta a dark glare from both Rin and Kaito, which he of course ignored.

"And oh yeah," Youta continued, "speaking of the company you kept today, your dad is going to be furious when he finds out that you went to a host club."

"So don't tell him about it," Rin replied dismissively as she went back to her bike. Youta just gave her a blank stare, no doubt wondering if she was being serious or not. Rin sighed and returned her gaze to him. "It's not like I did anything in there; I didn't even let them touch me."

"That really doesn't help your situation very much."

Rin paused, then held up her wrench in a mock salute. "I, Fukumoto Rinsuke, do solemnly swear that I will never set foot in such a terribly evil place again. I will burn my clothes and soak many hours in a bath to be rid of the dreadful amount of cooties I must have received from being in the presence of the opposite gender."

Youta rolled his eyes. "At least pretend to take this seriously, would you?"

"I was," Rin assured as she threw another broken part onto the ever-growing pile.

"I doubt that," Youta grumbled under his breath. Rin heard him, but chose to ignore him.

She glanced at him as she said seriously, "Think for a moment about who I am and what my heritage is. Do you really think that if I defend myself from this matter, it will make my situation any better?"

Youta paused, and his stern expression slowly melted into an almost nervous smile. Rin flashed her winning grin that she always gave to the cameras or her opponents as she passed by them during competition. Youta deflated further at that, and then some more when he thought about Rin's father. It really didn't matter what Rin said or did, most of the events she was part of were out of her control. Rin was right; she was doomed from the beginning. Still, Youta frowned as he realized something still didn't sit right with him.

"Even so, Rin," he said, "you could have left the club once the boys were gone. Do you have any idea how difficult you make it to protect you?"

Rin paused in the middle of loosening one of the parts that had been smashed during the crash. Her left side throbbed suddenly, and the memory of her stitches ripping from her wound filled her mind. It had been more painful than she had let on, and also the true reason she stayed at the club after she had redressed her wound. She needed to rest after such an expenditure, and definitely could not risk crossing the path of those boys again.

"No," she said quietly, "I couldn't have left."

Youta furrowed his brow in confusion, probably about to ask why she couldn't have, but Kaito beat him to it.

"Rinsuke," he said, his voice much deeper that Youta's. "What is this?"

Rin looked up to see Kaito holding up the plastic bag that contained her ruined uniform. Her eyes widened and she abruptly stood, looking past her bodyguards to where she had parked her Yamaha. It was not exactly a short distance away. She turned her eyes to Kaito who stared right back with his calming, blue eyes. Once, Rin's fire might have been extinguished by his overpowering composure, but not now.

"When did you go over there?" she demanded. "And why are you looking through my stuff?!"

Kaito narrowed his eyes. "Answer the question."

Rin stood there a moment with her fists clenched at her sides, but she knew this would not be an argument that she could win. She sighed and ran a hand through her long hair, probably thoroughly tangling it. Then, she held out her hand.

"Give me the dress, Kaito."

Kaito still stared at her through narrowed eyes, but he handed over the bag. At first, Rin had been planning to somehow remove the bloodstain from the uniform, but she doubted she could do that now that it had been soaking into the material for so long. She took the bag and marched to the back of the garage where two large trash cans served as her part disposal. She tossed the yellow dress in one and let the lid slam closed.

She heard Youta ask Kaito what was in the bag, and the older ninja obliged to tell him. When Rin returned to her bike and once again began to silently work, Youta resumed his firm stance, his arms crossed irritably over his chest.

"Tell us what happened, Rin."

Rin would have made another comment about how she was in charge of the two of them and therefore didn't need to tell them anything, but she figured that would only serve against her. This was not a subject she could simply avoid, and she would rather just say it than involve her father. If Kaito was worried about her, she had no doubt that he would go to her father if she refused to talk about it.

"My stitches tore while I was running," she finally mumbled and cringed in wait for the onslaught. This time, it came as expected.

"They what?" Youta practically shouted. "Rin, you were just starting to heal. Your doctor said not to do anything too rash, such as run down the hallway of your school or recklessly ride your motorcycle, and what do we let you do? Or rather, what do you force us to let you do? If you keep on like this then you'll never heal, and you won't be able to compete!"

Rin rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on, Youta. A little scrape like this wouldn't stop you from doing your job, would it? Well, it isn't going to stop me, either."

Youta let out an exasperated growl before he replied harshly, "Rin, you are sixteen and in high school. You have your whole life ahead of you. Don't ruin it because of an injury you received from being too proud to take a break."

"Too proud?" Rin asked, then snorted. "Yeah, I'm so proud that I purposefully got myself injured again today just so that I'll still be hurt when I go to compete. That makes perfect sense."

Youta took a step toward her, and Rin whipped her wrench toward him as though pointing a dagger.

"I don't want to hear any more from you," she hissed. "If I don't compete in this next competition then my career is over, you understand? My contract will expire and no one is going to sign on to the illegitimate daughter of Hoshino Ryuunosuke."

She said her father's name with the disgust that it deserved. Really, she didn't care that she was illegitimate. If she was born to a man with a different name and history, she probably wouldn't be worried about anyone finding out about it. She just had to be sired by the most disgraceful engineer in human history. In any case, her tone shut Youta up. He looked surprised at Rin's sudden and dangerous solemnity, and he withheld any more of the argument he may have come up with. Even Kaito was subdued by Rin's words.

When she was sure neither of the ninja were going to press the issue any further, she went back to diligently fixing her bike. Youta and Kaito remained in the garage a moment longer before Youta mumbled something about checking the perimeter and the two disappeared like ghosts that ceased to exist. Rin stopped working as soon as they left. She stared at the tools in her hands and then sighed; this year was definitely one of the hardest she'd had to push through. She only hoped she could piece herself back together in enough time for the competition. One month was not a lot of time.

Suddenly, a loud ring sounded from the area she kept her tools. She glanced up to the top of one of her toolboxes where she had carelessly tossed her now vibrating phone. She rarely brought it to school with her, considering anyone who needed to contact her first went through her agent. The only one who had her personal number was her mother. Despite her current emotional state, Rin couldn't help but smile as she dropped her tools and picked up her phone.

"Konbanwa, Mama!" she said cheerfully into the phone. "How are you today?"

"Konbanwa, Rinsuke dear," her mother responded in her usual tender tone. "I am doing fine, how about you?"

"Eh, okay I guess," Rin said as she leaned back against the counter that protruded from the wall next to her toolbox. "I finally went to school today."

"Oh, how exciting!" her mother said. She sounded more ecstatic than Rin herself. "Isn't this your first day this year?"

Rin glanced off to the side at a calendar that was buried underneath her many carelessly placed items. She could barely see the month: June. It had been nearly three months since the beginning of school.

"Yes, today was my first."

"And did you meet anyone new?"

Rin thought back to her time at the Host Club. She had completely ignored the other girls when they were introduced to her, so she didn't count them. It was her first time meeting Haruhi, though. She nodded.

"Hai. I met a nice boy today named Haruhi. He's in Class A and I think he said he's a first year."

"Oh, a boy. And a nice one at that. Is he cute?"

Rinsuke snorted. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

Her mother chuckled into the phone, and Rin could just imagine her dark eyes light up with glee. "I think I'll take that as a yes~ My Rinsuke has a crush~"

Rin rolled her eyes, but her smile didn't fade as she said indignantly, "He's a year younger than me, and also shorter than me. If I ever said he was cute then it would be because he's like a little brother to me."

She left out the fact that she hadn't really been paying attention to him anyway. Her mind was too preoccupied with the matter of preventing herself from yelling at her wound which, at the time, had been throbbing uncontrollably.

"That's what they all say," her mother hummed.

Rin just huffed and changed the subject: "How is work going?"

"Oh, you know, the horses are as stubborn as always."

"Of course, they're stallions raised to win, Mom. Did you expect any different?"

"I wouldn't dare."

Rin smiled. Her mother was a horse trainer and a vet; she trained horses to race and provided medical care to most of the race horses whether they were hers or not. Her heart was much too big to leave an animal suffering just so her own stallions would have a better chance to win.

And then, as if on cue, Rin heard a high-pitched whinny come from one of the nearby horses.

"Oh dear," her mother sighed, "That would be Stormy Breeze. I think he's upset with me; he hasn't been out of his stall all day."

Rinsuke had to physically stop herself from laughing at the name – she always thought that the owners of horses named them the silliest of things.

"Does duty call then?" she asked her mother.

"Yes, it does. I'm sorry honey, I'll talk to you some more tomorrow, alright?"

"Okay, Mama, give a kiss to Bo-chan for me will you?"

Bo was Rin's favorite horse of the ones her mother had trained, mostly because she had been there at his birth and got to name him. His full name was Bonaventura, which was a name of Italian origin meaning "good fortune." Bo had not been expected to live long past birth, as he was dangerously early due to his great size. He survived, and was now one of the top racehorses in the world.

"Of course," her mother said – it was almost a tradition for Rin to mention Bo. "Oyasuminasai!"

"Ja-ne, Mama!"

The signal cut off and Rin shut her phone, her happy mood lingering for only a moment before quickly subsiding. She stared at the phone and the small charm that hung off the end of it. The charm was a brown horse faded from age, and missing part of its tail. Her mother had bought the pendant for her eight years ago at her first horse race; a distant but still precious memory. Since then, Rin had barely seen her mother, because she started competing in motocross when she was nine. When her mother wasn't away with her horses, then Rin was training and competing in other countries. Still, she felt closer to her mom than to her father who was always close, but hidden behind one closed door or another.

She had only stayed with her father during the times her mother was away, and she hadn't even met him before she started to compete. In a way she felt that he only started paying any attention to her because she showed the promise of making him some cash, until recently when she hit her bump in the road. At the beginning of her career, it was nothing but gold medals. She hadn't seen that color after a competition since the last time she won the nationals three years ago. Even this year the highest place she got was silver, but even so she felt as though she might win this time around. Perhaps it was because she had to. It was gold or it was back to freelancing, which she couldn't afford. Despite what she had told Kyoya about her father paying for her "driver," she was mostly living off of her own money, and she intended to keep it that way. She wanted little to no help from Ryuunosuke.

"Focus, Rinsuke," she said suddenly to herself. On her phone, the time said 7:00. That meant that she had thirteen hours until school started again the next day. She could work another five hours on her bike, and then two or three on homework, depending on how much she had. That would give her three or four hours of sleep; a fairly decent amount considering how much time she lost due to how late she stayed after school. With a decisive nod, Rin set down her cell on the counter and stood up straight.

She stretched and twisted around to get herself ready for the long haul; she would not stop for a break until she accomplished a decent amount of repairs. Not even for dinner. Unless it was home-cooked ramen. She might stop for that…

Before she could act on her hunger impulses, she heard a slightly irritated meow from the ground. She looked down to see her father's overly plump tabby cat, Sayo.

"What do you want?" she asked the little beast, who growled in response.

Rin rolled her eyes, but bent down to hoist the cat into her arms.

"Oof, you are getting fat," she complained. The tabby didn't seemed to mind her insult in the slightest. He just nuzzled his head under her chin and started purring as she affectionately rubbed his belly with her free hand. She pet him for a few moments and buried her nose into his fur, relishing the soft comfort it gave her. The moment couldn't last for long, however. She needed to get back to work.

"Alright, enough of that," she said sharply, reverting to her hateful façade. She always told others that she hated the furry thing, and sometimes she really did, but then there were other times that Sayo appeared as if he knew exactly what she needed. He was probably the only one who knew every secret she had to keep, and he was the only one who didn't care about her family name, or her past failures. All he wanted was to cuddle, and sometimes to painfully tear his claws through her flesh. She was told it was something cats did out of love, but for some reason she doubted that.

After a minute, Rin gently set Sayo down on the ground, and she returned to her task with a little bit of her vigor restored. She had to admit, sometimes cat-therapy worked miracles. She was able to work diligently for the next hour or so, and thankfully she didn't have any interruptions. At about 8:30, she paused to take in all of the distress she had just caused her vehicle.

It was practically barren at the front and right side; the destroyed or twisted parts all in the pile that now stood several inches off the ground. Rin sighed as she realized that most of the parts were ones that she didn't have any spares of. One would think that being contracted to the damn Honda Company would come with some benefits: like free repairs. For some reason, it came only with enough money for very basic repairs, low-class travel expenses, and the entry fees for the competitions her managers chose for her. She hadn't a clue why Ryuunosuke ever agreed to let her sign on to such a horrible deal.

Nevertheless, she had to make do. And so she would probably have to go out and buy her own parts. She glanced outside and realized just how dark it was. It was difficult to tell when she was working; there were few windows to let the outside light in so the lights were practically always on. Rin knew that it was too late to go out part-shopping, so she would have to save that for tomorrow. At the least, she could make some repairs with the few spare parts that she did have.

As she was searching through her stores of various bolts and valves, a sharp pang stabbed through her stomach. At first, she thought it was due to her stitches, but soon she realized that it was her body crying out in hunger. She hadn't eaten since lunch. Her mind wandered back to one of her earlier thought trains, and she once again conjured up the image of a steaming bowl of home-cooked ramen. She really didn't have time to eat…

But, Ramen. Enough said.

"Youta!" she called against her mind's will. As she waited she grabbed a few of the parts she would need, and counted the seconds. She had just reached the number six when suddenly Youta slammed open the back door to the garage. He was looking around wildly, his hand on his katana, as he waited for his enemy to appear. By that time, Rin was crouched down beside her bike and fairly certain that her bodyguard couldn't see her from where he was standing.

"Rin?" he asked, slowly sliding his katana out of the sheathe on his back.

Rin did not look up from where she was hidden behind her bike as she ordered simply, "Go get me some ramen."

Youta's eyes finally landed on where she was working, alive and unharmed aside from the injuries she'd already sustained. His eyebrow twitched but he easily slid his katana back into its sheathe.

"What kind do you want?" he grumbled.

"Surprise me."

Youta sniffed. If he did that, he had a feeling she would scold him for getting her the wrong kind of ramen. Nonetheless, he was hungry too. So to the kitchen he went, leaving Kaito behind to watch over Rin, who was in her official work mode. The only thing that would stop her progress now was ramen or death. Preferably the first. Ramen always came before death.

Ramen aside, Rin took no breaks. She worked until one o'clock on her bike, an hour later than planned, but even then she didn't want to stop. Though she had a lot of things missing, she still found plenty of other things to tweak and test. Her bike couldn't have a single flaw or she could unwittingly cause it to fall apart during her races. It took a stern scolding from Kaito to get her to stop.

"Rinsuke, it's past midnight," he said as he walked into the garage. Rin had no idea where Youta was, but was happy enough to avoid his unnecessary shouting.

"I am aware," Rin responded in a monotone.

"Go to sleep."

"I will when I'm finished."

"You are never finished."

Rinsuke didn't respond. She wouldn't deny that she was never really satisfied with her work – she always felt that she could change something for the better and had a lot of fun testing out her theories – however in this instance she knew she could not stop until her bike was completely repaired. When it became clear that Kaito's observation didn't help his case, he spoke again with a slightly curious tone.

"So what exactly are you going to do about school tomorrow if you sleep in late again? From what I could observe from your teacher he wasn't overjoyed that you showed up when the school day was already half over."

Rin stopped, her eyebrow twitching. She hated when Kaito was right. Her agreement with the headmaster would only hold as long as she was studious when she did attend school, and she had already informed him that she would be there for a few weeks. She couldn't just skip classes or not show up at all; that would look extremely bad and make it harder for her to get away with things in the future.

"Fine," she said tersely and indignantly gathered up her tools. She didn't put them away neatly, just sort of threw them into separate drawers of her toolbox until they all fit. Strangely, though motorbikes were certainly her passion, she was never neat and tidy with her work. Her room was almost always spotless, and she organized her schoolwork impeccably. She hated having too many of her clothes dirty at once, and she always cleaned her dishes herself even though there were servants to do that. She simply hated being the cause of any untidiness… until it came to her garage. That was often very cluttered.

Rinsuke walked over to her Yamaha, which was still dutifully waiting for her outside, and she quickly moved it inside the garage. She waited until Kaito was outside and then she shut the large door. She exited out the side door, switching the lights off as she did so, and together with Kaito and Youta, who had apparently been waiting outside, she walked back to the main mansion.

There were few servants about the house this late at night, so Rinsuke didn't run into anyone. She coasted the wooden and paper halls with quiet efficiency. She hated being loud in her home, but still she wanted to avoid a run-in with Ryuunosuke. She walked quickly enough that she could dodge to the side in an empty room if she saw him approaching.

Luckily, though, the halls remained deserted aside from her and the two silent shadows following her. Sometimes they could be surprisingly quiet, and it was a nice break from all of Youta's smart-mouthing and Kaito's strict scolding. It left Rin more able to think, which she generally avoided doing while she was repairing one of her bikes. She liked to be able to have a blank mind when she was with her tools; it was easier than working with unending thoughts flowing through her head.

Once Rinsuke reached her room, she dismissed Youta and Kaito to do whatever ninjas do. She entered her room and looked around at the interior with slight distaste. Since it was Ryuunosuke's house, she didn't bother with decorations. That would make it feel too much like home.

She had a king-sized bed pushed off to the left corner of the room, a desk pushed against the back wall, and a walk-in closet off to the right with her clothes. Her shoes she kept at the front door; Ryuunosuke kept the long-standing tradition of indoor and outdoor shoes, though Rin's mother never cared. It had been a difficult habit to break, wearing the same shoes both in and outside the house. She had received many a scolding from forgetting this simple rule.

Next to Rin's closet was a bathroom that was stocked full with medical supplies. Rin had her frequent injuries to thank for that. She roughly grabbed a baggy T-shirt and shorts from her closet to use as PJ's, and then stepped into the bathroom with a quiet sigh. She was not looking forward to this.

She took her jacket off and hung it on the doorknob, then unceremoniously threw her dirty shirt on the ground. She stared at the bandages wrapped around her side with an evil glare. She could see a very small splotch of blood seeping through, but it had long since dried. Still, the fact that it bled through even a little was a testament to how poorly she had treated herself earlier running through the halls. Well, it was too late to be sorry about it now. Instead, she opened one of the drawers beneath her sink and grabbed bandages, antiseptic, and a clean washcloth.

With a grimace, Rin slowly started to pull away the bandages wrapped around her. As she suspected, when she was getting to the end some of the stiches caught on the material. It stung a little to pull them free, but it was not enough to reopen the wound or pull the strings out.

When she had successfully removed the bandage she tossed it in the trashcan, then inspected the wound in the large mirror. The stitches she redid were a little sloppy, but they seemed to be holding well enough. Rin still could hardly understand how she was able to do that herself; her hands had been shaking endlessly as she was doing so. But, if she alerted the Host Club members of her need to go to the hospital then she would be stuck there longer than necessary, and Ryuunosuke would probably show up simply furious. She didn't want that, and she especially wasn't fond of the chance that the boys in the Host Club might accompany her to the hospital if she needed to go there. She would have to give her real name, and then Kyoya would be even keener to probe into her business. She definitely couldn't let him find out her father's name.

That thought graced Rin's face with a scowl, but she shook her head. Now wasn't the time to be thinking of such trivial things.

Rin grabbed the washcloth and wetted it with warm water from the faucet. She then gently started scrubbing all the dried blood away from her wound. As she did so, the memory of the broken piece of metal slicing this sharp cut into her flashed through her mind. She gripped the counter angrily with her free hand and continued to scrub at her skin.

She would prefer never to think about what happened on that night, but she knew that this wound would provide a nasty scar in the future. That would be enough to bring the memory back every time she looked at it.

Her mood now thoroughly turned sour, Rin lost some of her control as she rinsed the washcloth and then resumed scrubbing again. She put too much pressure on the wound and a quick stab of pain shot through her body. She pulled the washcloth away and bit down on her tongue to keep from crying out. Her hand gripping the counter became sore as she vented all of her strength toward squeezing the granite into dust. When the pain passed, and it did rather quickly, Rin let out an irritated sigh.

"That bastard is going to pay for this," she hissed quietly to herself.

Rin finished washing her wound without further incident, and then gently rubbed some antiseptic onto the laceration. That done, she wrapped a few layers of new bandages around her waist, then proceeded to change into her pajamas. She threw her dirty clothes into the hamper at the side or her room, leather jacket not included, then grumpily made her way over to her bed.

As soon as she sat down on her soft mattress, her eyes caught the sight of a few open books on her desk. Rin hung her head with disappointment. After all that, she was so ready to fall asleep. But she hadn't done her homework yet.

Grudgingly, she stood and walked over to the work table with feet nearly as heavy as lead. As she sat down, she cracked her knuckles and stretched in an effort to wake herself up. Then, she diligently hit the books. At least the material she had learned today wasn't difficult; she should be done in an hour.

Or, should have finished in one hour. It took three. By the time she was finally finished, it was already five o'clock in the morning.

Rinsuke stared at the clock in disbelief. After all the effort Kaito made of trying to get her into bed early… Still, she was too tired to worry about it now. Her alarm would go off in an hour and a half. At least she would get some sleep.

However, come the time for her to wake, Rin practically threw her alarm clock out the window above her bed. She could tell without a shadow of a doubt that this day would be absolutely terrible.

A/N: Haha, poor Rinsuke. Even I don't have to suffer through only a single hour of sleep a night. I'm so cruel. Well, this chapter was mainly so you all could get to know Rin a little better, and I hope you all like her! My evil side also hopes you are just as in the dark as Kyoya is about Rin's father. Muahaha. Questions? Comments? The review box is just a click away! :D And again, thank you so much for reading my story. :)