It had been fifteen minutes since Kyouhei, Sunako, and the kids had left the park. Sunako's eyes kept drifting to Kyouhei's hand. She fought the urge to hold it until they arrived at the mansion.

She looked forward only to see the mansion getting closer and closer. She sighed, relieved. Some distance between her and Kyouhei would quiet her hormones. Kyouhei pulled up the long drive way and parked. Sunako got out as everyone followed.

"What is this place?" Keiko asked, somewhat impressed by the size of the white mansion that sat before her in all of its European glory.

"The mansion," Kyouhei answered.

That answer stopped everyone else's questions. They had all heard the stories. The bloopers and the mistakes. The games and the fun. The relationships and the drama.

Speaking of drama

"What are we doing here?" Seiji asked as they walked up the left staircase. Sunako pulled out a set of large keys. She had gotten them from Aunty herself a few days ago.

The doors crept open to reveal furniture covered in white sheets. The rooms were spacy and European. Kyouhei led them to kitchen. Memories flooded his mind as he removed the sheet from the table and removed the chairs from the top of it and placed them on the ground. He put two chairs at the head, one for him and one for Sunako.

Keiko and Uhei sat next to one another on the left and Etsu and Seiji sat next to one another on the right.

"You haven't answered my question," Seiji stated as everyone settled down and made themselves comfortable.

"We're here to share some memories," Kyouhei finally answered; an arm wrapping around Sunako's waist under the table. Because the lights were dim, no one could bear witness to his sweet gesture as he held Sunako close.

I love dark rooms. Sunako thought, extremely pleased.

"What's so special about this bleak mansion, anyway?" Etsu asked; eyeing the hugeness of the rooms and the dust with distaste.

That look brings back memories.

"Well, Takenaga knocked up Noi upstairs," Kyouhei deadpanned.

Sunako smacked his chest. He rubbed the spot she had hit before squeezing her side. She laughed before putting her right hand on top his left hand. He couldn't help but grin himself.

Keiko blushed as Seiji chuckled.

"I wish you wouldn't talk about the night I was conceived like that, Kyouhei-san," Keiko said quietly.

Kyouhei glared at the girl he considered a daughter. Sunako squeezed his hand. Had she always read his mind like this? He sighed before calming himself down. He so desperately wanted to smack some sense into the deranged 14 year old. He felt like he wanted to throw up.

"In what way should I talk about it, Keiko? I used to babysit you, change your diapers, and read you 'The Princess and the Pea' just to get you to fall asleep. You're my goddaughter," he stated. She needed to understand that he was a father-figure in her life, not another man she could wrap around her under-aged finger. He belonged to someone else, he has since he was 15 years old. And he would never ever in a million years look at his best friend's daughter that way. It was disgusting, it was wrong. She needed to realize that her attempts at dating older men only told him one thing: I want my father to love me more.

Keiko glared at the floor as she clenched her fists.

You're no father.

Seiji looked at his sister awkwardly before clearing his throat. Uhei eyed Keiko discreetly. Annoyance hid itself in his eyes. He was smart enough to know to keep his emotions from showing on his face, but he couldn't stop his thoughts.

I see how it is. He looked at Kyouhei approvingly. Nice way to shut her down, sir. He thought while mentally saluting. His inner voice laughed bitterly.

This isn't funny.

"What do you two mean by 'Share some memories'?" Seiji asked, desperate to move on. He knew that his sister was a touchy subject for his longtime friend, Uhei.

"We should go ahead and tell them the story, Sunako," Kyouhei stated, trying to retain his smug and detached tone as she rubbed her thumb over his knuckles. I want to kiss you, Sunako.

Sunako smiled before nodding, the memories flooding her mind as Kyouhei began to relay to the story.

….

Four boys sat at a table in a well-kept rose garden. All of them could be models for their looks could be rivaled by no other group of teenage boys. One was sipping tea delicately as he read a book. A serious look adorned his face as three others sat around him, lackadaisically doing nothing. Finally, the blond and best looking one of them all sighed; a certain conversation with an old hag returning to his easily stressed mind.

"So, the Landlady is sending her niece to live with us?"

The black haired young man nodded before closing his book: "If we turn her into a proper lady, we'll get free rent for the next three years."

The boys sighed dreamily, imagining a stress free life as they went through high school and their first year of university without necessarily needing money. Yuki, the cutest one of the bunch, interrupted their day dreams as he sat a wireless phone on the glass table gently.

"Was that Oba-san?" Takenaga asked, remembering that he had been conversing with their land-lady over the phone the entire time.

Yuki nodded, "Her niece is arriving today. I prepared her room last night and the movers took care of the rest of her things this morning," he added.

Ranmaru grinned as he stood up from his seat and danced over to the rose bushes, plucking one delicately. He twirled around dramatically and sniffed the flower; posing queerly as he held the rose to his nose delicately, "I bet she'll be just like her Aunt! It shouldn't be too hard of a task. No girl can stand up to me and my charm. If that doesn't work-which is impossible-We'll just say that her reward is a kiss from Ky-ou-hei," the red haired teen sang.

The other two nodded while Kyouhei glared mercilessly at the ladies' man, "I won't kiss some random girl," he said through pearly white and clenched teeth.

"I'll buy anything you want for the next three years…" Takenaga offered, not bothering to look up from the book that he had begun to read again. He knew what his friend would say.

"Sold! It shouldn't be too hard, as long as she doesn't ask for sex or anything like that," Kyouhei said. Images of store bought fried shrimp and chocolate invaded his brain. He giggled as his cheeks glowed in the sunlight.

"Don't worry, we'll immediately inform Oba-san of her behavior if that happens," Yuki stated.

Suddenly, someone stood up in the bush that Ranmaru had been dancing around. The four boys screamed and jumped back, hiding behind each other as they looked at the scary and horrific form of a girl. Her aura was dark as she stood with slumped shoulders.

They yelped. She wriggled around as if possessed. She reached out for them and they cried. Yuki screamed girlishly while burying his head in Kyouhei's shoulder: "I don't want to die young! I'm still a virgin!"

The girl withdrew her hand. She continued to stand before them, thorns stabbing her ankles as the boys quivered awkwardly.

"Don't serial killers usually do the deed by now?" Ranmaru asked.

The other three nodded before Takenaga's head snapped forward in realization.

"Yuki? When did you say Sunako-chan was coming?"

He cutely put a finger to his chin, forgetting his fear and the girl in front of him.

"Today."

Takenaga gulped, "A-are you?"

The girl (creature?) nodded. The boys couldn't help but question her humanity.

Ranmaru sized her up-this was the first time that he's ever had to force himself to check out a girl-his eyes scanned her entire being from head to toe.

She fashioned a stained, tattered, and awkwardly lengthened skirt. Its material had sickly grey flowers littering it like pieces of trash on the side of the road. Other than its design, it was orange.

Her shirt looked like it was from the men's section at Wal-Mart. It had a dark brown stain on the collar-Ranmaru hoped to God that it was from some sort of food or drink-Her hair was long, black, and tangled! It looked like someone had taken an automatic mixer and used it on her hair! And those bangs! Those god-forsaken bangs! They were long enough to completely cover her forehead and eyes. Leaving no possible way for them to see if she was pretty in the face or not.

She also had socks (again for men) that reached her ankles, and tennis-shoes that were tattered and far from the original white that they had once been. She was….she was a Nightmare!

Yuki began to cry his eyes out, he was terrified. He liked sweet, cuddly, and cute things…everything that this girl (creature?) is not.

"Nice to meet you, Sunako-chan," he managed to squeak out, remembering his manners.

She nodded quickly, making the boys flinch: "Nice to meet you, too."

….

"What did I just hear?" Etsu asked. Her eyes were wide with disbelief as she tried to imagine the gorgeous woman before her wearing the disgusting clothes that had just been described.

"That's how I met your parents and Kyouhei," Sunako stated as if it was the simplest thing in the world.

Keiko scowled. Don't say his name so casually. She shook her head, "Are you saying that she was a freak or something? I don't understand your description of Nakahara-san."

"Yeah, what did you mean by 'scary' and 'couldn't help question her humanity'?" He asked.

"When Sunako was a teenager, she was a horror lover, anti-social, and delusional. For example, every time we opened her door, we would be scarred by scary images of illegal horror films that had been banned in several countries. She would cackle so evilly when she was excited about anything horrific that the whole entire house could hear it. She also had anatomical mannequins in her room and she considered them to be her best friends. What were their names again?" He asked.

"Hiroshi, Josephine, Akira, and John," she answered.

The kids stared at the woman in disbelief.

Sunako sighed, "I also hated any clothes that could be called 'cute' because I considered myself to be a 'creature of the darkness.' This was my own nice way of saying, 'ugly.' Obviously, Kyouhei and your parents were 'creatures of the light' or 'extremely attractive people.'" She added.

Kyouhei rubbed her hand this time. This has always been an uncomfortable topic for the two of them.

"I still love horror," she mumbled cutely.

Stop being so adorable, don't you know that I want to kiss you?

"Anyway, I'll tell them the next part," she added.

….

I hate that my Aunt sent me to this sanctuary of the light! She knows that I don't like being around pretty people. I wish she would accept me for who I am. It hurts that she's done this. Does she really hate who I've become? The person that I prefer being?

I walked around my room. It had been two days since I came here, and all those stupid boys could do was barge into my precious dark sanctuary without permission. I hate them all. They pretend to be nice, but I know that they only care about their deal with Aunty. I'm their ticket to free rent. They want to change who I am, too.

I wish they would be themselves…

I twitched when I heard someone knock on the door. I didn't answer. I didn't feel like being blinded and exposed to rays that could melt me right now. I wanted to be left alone with my dreary thoughts.

Apparently the person who knocked doesn't care if you answer or not; because they had already opened the door and walked in.

Kyouhei, the brightest one of them all, was standing a foot or two away from me. His arms were at his sides as he eyed me suspiciously.

He was shirtless with light blue jeans adorning his bottom half, a towel hung loosely around his neck; his hair wet due to recently taking a shower. Because of this, water was slowly dripping down his face, neck, and chest. What a chest.

I gulped. This is not good! My nose is going to bleed! They can't know that I get a nosebleed every time I see an attractive male! They just can't! That's too embarrassing!

I crawled over to my bed and quickly covered my nose with my hand. My attempt to hide my especially disgusting habit didn't exactly work. The blood started to drip down into my palm until it crept through my fingers, down my wrist and arm, finally running onto and definitely staining my skirt. Not that I cared, the thing was incredibly ugly anyway.

I mentally rejoiced since it was too dark for the creature of light to see. Yes! At least he couldn't see my "problem."

"Oi! What's your damage! All we've done is nice things for you! It's been bothering me! Why are you so…weird?" Kyouhei harshly asked. His arms now crossed, his eyes giving me an accusing look that rivaled my own critical stare. Except he looked more like an angry gang leader, while I came out looking possessed every time I glared at someone.

"It's none of your business! Just get out!" I yelled; I so desperately wanted him to leave so that I could clean myself up and successfully maintain my secret.

He scoffed while stepping forward. I flinched.

He stopped when he noticed my discomfort, which was surprising. He stared for a moment as if it was his first time looking at me. He couldn't really see because the lights weren't on and the windows were thoroughly covered by thick, black drapes. But he still eyed me, stared at me. I shivered.

My thoughts were interrupted by the other three. They were running down the hallway, deciding to intrude as well.

"What's wrong?" Takenaga asked. The smart one of their little "group."

"Is everything ok?" The supposed sweetest one of them all asked in-between breaths. They had been running with all of their might, apparently. I rolled my eyes at the dramatic notion.

"Everything is fine! All of you just get out!" I yelled.

Takenaga put his hand up to his chin as if he was trying to solve a difficult mathematical equation. Until his eyes flashed and he shot a knowing look in my direction. Though I doubt he actually figured anything about me out.

"Have you had bad experiences with men? Did you get abused and that's why you become so mortified every time we get within ten feet of you?" He asked seriously.

Yuki piped up, "Really? If that's the case, then we'll try to be more careful-"

I cut Yuki off, "No! I just don't like you! It's that simple, so stop bothering me!" I yelled, my voice venomous. I winced, I hadn't tried to sound so hateful. But they made me so nervous that I didn't know how to act or talk civilly around them. That blond one was the worst.

They glared at me, shouldn't they have cowered away in fear like they usually do?

"We were just being nice, but I guess that doesn't float your boat," Ranmaru hissed.

"Yeah, it wouldn't kill you to show at least a little kindness," Yuki stated while crossing his arms.

Kyouhei glared daggers at me, " I hope you realize how rude you've been to us these last couple of days," he sneered.

"Come on guys, she's not worth the trouble," Kyouhei continued as he turned to leave, the others followed before slamming the door.

I removed my hand from my nose before fidgeting guiltily. Maybe I was being a little too harsh. I mean, even though they're getting offered free rent, they were still nice to someone as ugly and strange as me. I sighed; I have to apologize.

After about ten minutes, I finally changed clothes. I got up and slowly opened my door, thankfully, it didn't make any noise. I walked out and left it open. I examined my surroundings, trying to remember how I got there. I easily figured it out and soon found the kitchen, which is also where they were. I gulped nervously as I hid behind a nearby wall, trying to gather my courage.

Kyouhei was standing in front of the stove, failing miserably as he tried to prepare the water for fish stew. I decided to wait a little longer before I went in.

"I still can't believe how rude she was!" Yuki exclaimed.

"Well, it just proved my hypothesis. Something did happen to her, and it was caused by a man," Takenaga bitterly stated.

Ranmaru smacked the table, "What exactly happened? What could possibly turn a girl into a hideous monster that doesn't dress right?" He angrily asked.

Kyouhei suddenly dropped the pan and scolding hot water spilled onto his hands.

"Ow!" He yelled while running around in circles.

Images of the food that they had been bringing me swarmed my mind. I realized that none of them could cook because everything had been store bought.

I sighed; I barged into the kitchen, the boys hid behind the table as they watched me pick up a knife. They began to hurriedly voice random apologies, their words dripping with fear. I rolled my eyes and walked over to the fish and got to work. They screamed as they watched me slice it up; probably convinced that I was only doing this to freak them out. I finished cleaning and cutting up the fish and started working on other dishes. They quieted down and I felt their stares burning holes into my back.

I finished everything up and set the table. They quickly sat down before suspiciously taking a bite. They screamed before munching and gulping down the food like a bunch of wild animals.

"So good!"

"This is like heaven in the form of Japanese food!"

"I can't stop crying!"

"Hey, don't take all of the meat!"

I waited for them to finish, and when they did I spoke up quietly. It was loud enough for them to hear because they all stopped what they were doing and looked at me.

"I'm sorry about earlier. But I have a hard time saying things nicely because you intimidate me. I realize that none of you can cook, and I noticed tons of mess as I walked here. So, as an apology, I'll do all of the cooking and cleaning from now on," I explained, avoiding their eyes.

They stared at me for a moment, and then they looked at one another.

"It's fine, just please try to be a bit…nicer," Takenaga said.

I nodded. Ranmaru smirked and stepped forward, "So what happened with you and said 'Man?' You know, the one that ruined you," he said, his tone suggestive.

I backed away, "Nothing-"

They cut me off. Zooming towards me, "He called me ugly!" I yelled while covering my head and bending down to the floor to defend myself.

They stopped dead in their tracks, "That's all?" They exclaimed.

That's all? That's all? "You don't understand! I loved him! And the day I finally confessed, he laughed in my face and told me that he hated, 'ugly girls.' Beautiful people will never know what that can do to a person. I'm sure that if one of you loved someone and confessed that they would accept, even if they weren't interested! None of you can ever understand rejection like I do," I hissed.

Kyouhei scoffed while glaring at me, "Maybe not, but you'll never know what it's like to be stalked, molested, and groped by strangers of all ages and sexes," He shot back. His voice bitter with hate. Personal experience flashed in his eyes, almost as if the situations he had implied where playing in his mind and reflecting against his auburn orbs.

My eyes widened, Ranmaru elbowed him in the chest.

"Anyway, let's see what's under those…bangs," he added while evilly smirking and inching towards me.

….

"Wait, what happened next?" Etsu asked.

"Kyouhei jumped on top of me, trying to tie my bangs back. I tried to slide from under him, but he was too heavy so all I managed to do was awkwardly and quickly slide around the kitchen floor until I hit a cabinet. Kyouhei tied my bangs back before some flour fell and covered my face," Sunako continued.

"Yeah, but we all thought that she looked really, really, really pretty because it covered up zits and facial blemishes," he continued, shivering at the memory.

Well, she's gorgeous now. Kyouhei thought as he slowly let his eyes rake over his long time best friend. And sexy.

Seiji and Uhei looked grossed out as they eyed Sunako in a new way. Keiko rolled her eyes and Etsu found herself believing it. Sunako was wearing a black blouse, a black skirt that went mid-thigh, black tights (despite the summer weather), and black flats. Wearing all black only told Etsu one thing:

I'm insecure.

"Now, let's talk about how I met your moms," she stated with mischievous look in her eyes.