Pain…

There was only pain…

There was no light, no dark, no knowledge of what was before, or even a concept of what would come after…if there was even an after. . .

All there was, all there had been and all that will be was pain…

But then suddenly there was something else… something that was almost not there… almost hidden by the pain...

But yet it was still there….

A small something that called through the pain so quietly and yet so persistently… a feeling.

A feeling that something was waiting… that someone was waiting.

And no matter how much pain was there, that person would wait… no matter how long… they would wait… wait until the pain would disappear... This is what kept them fighting, more than the fear of death, or the need to survive for herself… the fact that someone was waiting for her…

…Her…?

Yes… she was her… but who was she…?

She had a name…but it was gone… lost in the pain that passed long ago… or was it only a few seconds ago that the agony took her name…?

As the pain reseeded a little…was it hours later…? Or was it moments before she lost her identity…?

Whatever time passed, the pain was no longer in the for front of her mind… something else became noticeable… something soft… and yet hard like a shell. Her hand tightened more on the object in it as the pain that she had been withstanding slowly made way for her senses, she could feel the cold breeze on her face… something cold and wet on her legs….leg? she couldn't feel one of them… but yet she knew it was there… her arms she could feel, they were slowly making themselves known, as they erupted into what felt like fames, and her memory of those hours she spent in pain came rushing back, making her gasp and flinch as the movement sent a new jolt of lava through her arms.

But as soon as she remembered the pain… she remembers the rest…and yet still nothing at all…

She remembers terror… the wind… not knowing what was happening but knowing she feared for….something… something other than herself.

And then came the pain again, and the feel of ruff sand agents her skin as she settled into it as images of the sky surrounding her… letting her fall…

She remembers the memory of something sad… sad and yet happy, almost expectant… but this confuses her, so she focuses on the now… on the pain… it is somehow much easier to process the pain…

Then she hears a voice… one she doesn't know… but then she knows no voice because there was only pain before… pain and fear…

"Do you think she's dead?" the voice asks in a language she knew, and yet knew it wasn't her own...

"No… I see her chest moving… should we help her?" another voice says.

"Where did she come from?" and third voice asks as she feels the ground around her move. "Do you think she's from the crash site?" the third voice is close now, and she can feel pressure on her arm, but this causes the lava to erupt tenfold, causing her to gasp again, only this time her eyes fly open as a small scream escapes her.

"HOLLY SHIT!" the first voice says as the broken girl on the ground closes her eyes again, seeming to have fainted from the pain.

"Eh…. L.A did you see that?" the third voice ask from her spot on the ground a few feet away from the girl where she had jumped after her sudden movement. "And her eyes… did you see them? Or am I just crazy?"

"I saw them… we have to get her to N. J.'s office, she's losing too much blood as it is, K.D. look for more survivors, check up and down the beach." The first voice, L.A. said to the second voice.

"But L… the crash site is over 200 km away… there's no way in hell she was a passenger on that plane… not unless she…"

"We don't know anything yet, don't make assumptions, and just do as your told K.D. M. V. you and me need to get this girl to N. J. now!" L.A said as she reached for the girl's arms, M.V. going for her feet. As they lifted her something fell from her hand, a small box, a ring box. K.D picked it up and was about to open it before a hand reached out to stop her

"No… I need that…please…" the girl said weakly reaching for the box in the other girl's hand, her voice broken, and the words sounded off, almost like they were accented. "He…he's waiting…" she pleaded as she passed out again, but before her hand could fall completely, K.D. took her hand in her own, handing the box back to the poor girl.

"It's yours dear… don't worry, no one will take it, N.J. will take good care of you, then you can go back to where ever you need to be." The girl said with a small smile as she let the other's hand go, and as she stood watching the poor broken girl be carried off of the beach and rushed to the small clinic on the edge of town, K.D. prayed that her words would not be empty and the girl made it through. As she looked at the blood socked sand at her feet, she smiled sadly. "Stay strong little lightning bolt… because you have a long road a head of you… good luck." With that she turned to search the beach for anyone else who might have been determined enough to make it to the only island in any direction for hundreds of miles.

She woke up numb… blissfully numb… and as her mind slowly worked through the fog of her body, and her memories, they all seemed to stop with pain, a feeling she quickly shields herself away from, she wanted to stay numb…

As her mind cleared the fog surrounding it, she became aware of the sounds around her. She could hear a ceiling fan spinning somewhere over head, and she could even feel the breeze it created if she tried hard enough. There was a soft sound of some sort that played at the edge of her memory, along with the sound of a pin scribing over paper. Slowly, she begins to feel again. Expecting pain she tenses, but it is for not, for there is no pain anymore. She feels the hard bed beneath her, the soft silk sheets covering her, and even the wrappings around her body, keeping her wounds away from anything that might harm them.

As she took a deep breath, she began to asses the damage done to her body, now that she was sure the pain would not come back. She started from the top rather than the bottom. She had a sinking feeling that she would not like what she found if she started from the bottom…

She could feel that her head had been wrapped and judging from the pressure she felt over her right eye, it was also covered. She still couldn't figure out how to open her eyes so she moved on. She could feel that her neck was stiff, but overall it seems ok, her right shoulder was heavily wrapped, as was her left arm, but she could still feel the fingers of both hands so she took that as a good sing. Her chest felt like it was under a lot of pressure, but she could still breathe, and although it hurt a bit in a few places, she was sure there was nothing terribly wrong. But the further down she went the more anxious she felt, she could hear the monitors hooked up to her start to beep faster and as her self-investigation reached her left leg, the monitors stopped completely for a full second.

Her leg…why couldn't she feel her left leg?

Her breathing accelerated and all she could hear was the beating of her own heart translated threw the beeps of the machines going crazy next to her. She could hear steps and voices around her saying things, but she could not disengage what was being said or who was saying what or even how many voices surrounded her. Her mind was in shock, still trying to come to terms with the fact that her leg seemed to be missing from its realm of existence.

Her leg…

Her left leg, the one that she had taken for granted, one that had been with her since her birth… it no longer existed….

Her eyes twitched as they tried to remember how to open, to confirm the horror her mind was still trying to deny. Her fingers itched with the need to feel for the proof that her mind was processing the truth. Just as her mind was beginning to remember how to move the muscles she needed, she felt a hand on her shoulder that froze her movements, and her thoughts as she became solely focused on the hand that was on her shoulder, and the voice that seemed to be connected to it. "Can you hear me?" the voice asked a bit loudly, from her right where the hand was. The voice was silky and warm, like tea… "Can she even understand you N. J. I mean they found her on the beach, how do we even know she speaks English? She could speak Chinese for all we know!" a different rougher voice urged from somewhere behind the first voice. This voice was louder, harsher, but she could hear an underling tone of concern as it drifted off.

"We know she can at least get her point across M.V., she spoke to L. A. and the girls when they found her, and besides it doesn't matter if she understands or not, I just need her to calm down and respond to my voice so shh." The first voice said as a hand gently took my own and squeezed. "Come now little water sprite, open you eyes, I know you want to, your probably worried about the state your body is in, but don't be ok? I promise it always feels a lot worse than a looks." A small laugh from behind the first voice reaches her ears as she tries to do what the first voice ask of her. Slowly she begins to open her eyes, with one she can only see black, but this dose not bother her as she knows it is covered, the other she has to blink a few times before the face that has to be connected to first voice comes into view.

The first voice she heard was soft and kind and yet demanded that you listen to what it had to say, much like the face of its owner as she slowly smiled down at her. She had a small round face partially hidden behind ash blond bangs that encircled her face, thin sea blue glasses framed bright brown eyes that seemed to shine gold as her smile became wider. "That's my girl" she said as she slowly helped her sit up and look around her. She was avoiding looking at her leg, or the absents of one that may be confirmed if she looks down, so she focuses on the rest of her surroundings, and she comes to face another equally beautiful but no where near as sweet looking as the face directly in front of her across the room scowling at her from its master leaning agents one of the opened windows. This woman also matched her voice, she had a large scar running down one side of her face but rather than make it look ugly, it seemed to enhance her high cheek bones and almost regal looks. Her eyes where dark green, almost brown but seemed to be rimed by a bright gold, almost yellow circle around the outer edge.

"Oh ignore M.V. she always looks like that, don't take it personally" the Woman in front of her said as she began to check her bandages and slowly move her muscles around in a way that stung but did not altogether hurt. "So my dear… what are we going to call you? Do you have a name? Oh how rude of me, my name is very long and hard to keep track of so you can just call me N. J. and don't worry, if you don't remember it, I respond to Hay You or Miss just fine." She said with a small smile as she moved down the girl's body.

The girl, for her part was still trying to figure out the answer to the question she had asked. Her name? Why couldn't she find her name? Why could she understand a language that she knew in her soul was not her own but she could not for the life of her remember her name! Was that simple, taken for granted thing that had been with her since birth also to be taken from her.

N.J. looked up from her work to when she noticed that her patent had gone ridged, and apology for hurting her on her lips when she saw a tear run down the poor girls face. "Oh no dear! Don't cry! I'm sorry if I hurt you!" she said as she slowly pulled the girl into a small hug that the girl returned in full force as she started to cry out right.

"Oi! N.J. is she ok? What did you do? I told you she couldn't understand you, you probably scared her!" the second voice said as it got closer. The girl berried her face in the chest of the kind doctor's lab coat as she tried to calm down again, and figure out how to speak, but for now she just shook her head to the soft question the doctor was asking her.

"So you're not hurt, and you can understand us? Is that what your trying to say Honey?" N.J felt the girl nod in respond as the heart monitors around her slowly began to beat normally again. M.V. breathed a sigh of relief as she sat down in the cot next to the one the girl was occupying At least she's ok, but then why the HELL was she crying?! I hate when they cry…. She thought as she looked on at the seen in front of her.

The girl took a deep breath and held on tighter to N.J.'s coat as she looked up and then out into the room before saying in a soft raspy voice that was obviously not use to being used let alone when forced to use English "I…d-don't have a name….and m-my leg…?" she slowly looked down to the spot that her left leg was supposed to be and the heart monitors stopped completely for a few minutes and then started up rapidly again after.

N.J. smiled sadly as the girl in front of her again began to cry, this time into her own bandaged hands, she knew that the girl would have questions, but she never assumed that she would be this emotional, and it seems like the bump on her head was just as bad if not worse than she feared. Pulling the girl into a tight hung yet again, N. J. was just relieved that at least one part of the girls obvious fears where laid to rest. "Yes, your leg is still there, and it still works Love, but you just can't feel it right now, give yourself a few days for the shock, and the sedatives I gave to you to wear off and you will, with any luck, be able to feel your leg again. Just remember that there was a lot of damage, and any feeling is better than no feeling." N.J. understood that this was a lot to take in so she let the girl cry for a bit and turned to M.V. "She's awake now, you can go tell the boss that she has nothing to worry about, and that she can come and...visit in a few hours, I want the girl to sit still and relax as much as she can before anyone else sees or talks to her"

As the fates would have it, as soon as N.J. said that, the door to the infirmary was thrown open and in came the two people who were least likely to let the poor girl get any rest let alone relax. "AUNTY N.J.! P.V. WONT LET ME USE THE JUMP ROPE!" one little ball of five year old energy yelled as she ran around the beds in the room holding the offending jump rope in her small hands as another little ball of energy fallowed, attempting to grab onto the end of the jump rope flying through the air.

"AUNTY M.V.! K.T. WON'T GIVE ME BACK MY JUMP ROPE! SHE RIPPED HER'S SO NOW SHE WANT'S MINE! BUT IT'S MINE!" the second ball of energy complained as he jumped over a bed to try to get in front of the girl running away with his toy, or at least he tried to, he ended up just jumping onto the bed, unfortunately for the poor boy he picked the only bed in the room that was currently occupied. As he rubbed his nose that had hit something hard, he looked up into the eyes of a very upset N.J. a sight he had only seen a few times, all of which ended with him under her care to get patched up. He backed up, but bumped into something, looking up he stared into one large brown eye that seemed to shine from a tear stained face. "Hay miss, why are you crying? Did Aunty N.J. give you the scary face too?" he asked as he attempted to make the "scary face" he was speaking of, making the girl laugh as she shook her head. K.T. came up running, jump rope forgotten on the ground somewhere behind her, to investigate who this stranger holding her P.V. was. As she came to the bed, she climbed up, ignoring N.J.'s protest as she crawled onto the girl's lap. "Who are you? Are you a new Aunty? You look too young to be and Aunty... you can be my new Big Sister if you want! I only have a few of those, and your pretty, even all bandaged up like that, you have really nice eyes, or the one I can see is nice anyway, what happened to your head? Why is your shoulder all bandaged up, did you fall? Is your arm broken? Can I sing your cast if it is? I don't know how to write my name real good yet but I can draw a pretty picture if you like and..." The girl put a finger to the little girl's lips with a smile.

"Mate Kudasai, My English is slow and very little... please understand" the girl said with a small bow, earning her a little giggle from of the children on her lap.

"Japanese!" a voice said from the door. "You're Japanese! I thought so, the plane that went down was coming from Japan, well welcome little one, welcome to my island." the voice said as it came closer, and as the girl looked up to see the source of the voice she almost gasped. The woman in front of her was just as beautiful as her voice implied. She had long golden white hair that seemed to shine even in the unflattering florescent lights of the small infirmary, her eyes shown blue like the deepest depts. of the sea with a ring of what almost looked violet surrounding her pupil. She smiled down at her with sad eyes as her eyes roamed over her body, taking note of every injury making the girl blush and fidget to be under such scrutiny from such a beautiful woman. The girl was sure that she looked a mess, now that she had the mind set to do so, she realized that her hair was all over the place and although she wasn't sure how she know, she realized that it was also considerably shorter than she used to wear it. "So…." The woman began as she took a few steps closer to the bed and placed her hand on the girl's leg. "From what I heard, you have amnesia, you are probably of Japanese dissent, you look to be about…I'm going to say any where from 17-20 because it is so hard now in days to tell with you young people." The woman said with a smile as she patted to boy's head as he crawled closer to her, carful not to hurt the nice girl's leg. "And from what I gathered of our investigation of the crash site, you are probably the only survivor of the plane crash that inevitably brought you here. This means, unfortunately, you are probably now all alone in the world…. But luckily for you, you swam to my island, and on this island, anyone who wants it, has a home. Just one rule, I'm the only boss here" She said with a wink and a smile.

The girl looked up into the woman's captivating eyes and then around at all of the smiling, or well most of the smiling faces with a sense of relief. She jumped a little as she felt a small hand on her face, bringing her attention to the face that her face was wet. "Why are you crying Miss? Don't you want to stay with us?" the little girl asked as the woman who had just asked the question that saved her walked over to the young woman and gently placing her hand on her head used her other hand wiped the tears that were starting to fall from the young girl's face. "You are free to leave anytime you want to, if you get your memories back tomorrow, or six years from now, you are always free to go. And as such you are free to stay even after you regain your memories if you wish. Now my little water princes, what will you do?"

The girl's eyes where shadowed as she thought through all that was being offered to her. A home. A place to feel safe and be with people who would care about her for real. She got the sudden urge to have something in her hand as she thought about people caring for her. N.J. saw that the girl was becoming a bit distressed and was looking around her bed and it donned on her what the girl was looking for. "This must be very special" N.J. said as she handed the girl a small jewelry box that she had placed in her pocket when the poor girl had finally let the thing go when she first came in. "Whoever gave that to you must be very important to you, it was the only thing they found in tact with you when you washed up on shore." N.J. said with a smile as she watched her patient visibly relax as she opened the box and confirmed that her terser was in deed in there. The girl smiled as gently touched the charm inside of the small box. She jumped a little as a hand ran into her line of vision, gently taking the box from her hand and pulling out the necklace to place it on her neck. As she touched the charm that was now hanging around her neck she looked up into violet eyes determined to give her answer and not be a bigger burden on someone who was determined to help her.

" I…will stay"

"WONDERFUL! Now about your name… we can't very well call you little girl all the time now can we. Or can we? Do you mind?" the woman asked as she sat down on the bed next to M.V.

"How about Spring Storm? Like her pendant, and her eyes! Her eyes shine like sun after a storm and are brown like the earth in spring, I think it's perfect!" said the little boy still sitting on her lap as he looked towards his boss. "Don't you think that's a cool name Boss? We don't know her full name or even her first name but Spring Storm fits her in right? Well S.S. do you like it?" he asked as he looked put at the girl.

"Spring….Storm…." she said slowly nodding and smiled as she got the feeling that that name was a lot closer than the boy had even realized he had gotten to her real name. "I…like it, Arigato" the girl said again with a little bow making the children giggle again.

"Ok you two now she needs her rest you come visit her later now off you go." The woman with violet eyes said as she hurried the kids out the door before her. "Oh and by the way, you can call me Boss, or Ninth, or even Valery. You rest up darling, you have a rough road ahead of you when you recover. N.J. get her on her feet again as soon as possible, M. V. you have that long to come up with a training regimen for the girl, no girl in my family will be vulnerable, but don't worry, M. V. is the best, so no need to be worried. You will get strong and you will get there quick. But for now just rest up and try not to push yourself too much." She said with a small smile as she closed the door behind her.

N.J. sighed as she shook her head at the door. "That woman, can't even let you recover before she's thinking about making you one of us, of well, like she said M.V. is the best and you'll be stronger than you ever thought you could be in no time." She said as she smiled down at the girl.

"Sleep Spring baby, you're ganna need it." M.V. said with a soft chuckle as she walked towards the door. "I don't go easy on any one, not even kids with amnesia so as soon as you're recovered, get ready for hell." She said as she let the door close behind her. N.J. mumble something about being too harsh as she helped Spring lay back down in her bed and walked away. For her part, Spring was still trying to get use to the name that had been given to her and the weird familiar feeling it seemed to give her. N.J came back with a glass of water and a small cup of pills she needed to take, and as she began to drift into sleep less dreams, Spring couldn't help but begin to get excited for the training that would be waiting for her on the other side of her recovery. For some reason still hidden to her, she felt that she would indeed need to be stronger than she ever thought she could be…

It took a little under two months for S. S. to recover enough to start training with M.V. and the rest of the girls her age, a rather small group that included the three girls who had found her, along with K.T. and P.V. It did not take S.S. long to figure out that the family that had taken her in was composed of mostly women and girls, all of which were capable of dispatching several men at the same time. It was a bit of a shock to find out she was taken in by a mafia family, but for some reason she got over it quickly and found her place in the family group looking after the two youngest members of the Hervarar family and helping them train. In only two short years, S.S. was fully capable of going out on missions for the family, even with her left leg failing her at times, S.S. was soon the best undercover agent that the Hervarar could ever ask for. She was capable of making the most elaborate devices and costumes in a surprisingly short amount of time along with being able to almost become invisible in the crowds of people who surrounded her. By the fourth year in the family, S.S. was promoted to one of the generals of the whole family, and to no one surprise the now nine year old assassins that she had helped raise became the first to sing up to be under her command. Soon she had a small and efficient group of assassins ready to go do any job that came their way.

S.S had still not recovered many of her past memories, but she didn't seem too concerned about it, and when asked why she would simply say "I will remember when I am meant to, no sooner, and no latter. Besides, why would I try and remember something that happened in the past when there are so many good things to come in the future." But the fates are cruel, and just be fore the anniversary of the sixth year S.S had become part of the family, things would be set in motions that would change her live for better or worse in a way that she would never see coming, and it all started with the whimsy of two troublesome little kids and their need to prove themselves to everyone in their family, especially their beloved big sister.

So... I blame Free! ... I am so sorry for the late update, but like I said the monster that is all consuming Anime took what little free time I have between work and homework... but I promise I will try to be better about my updates. Thank you all for Favoring and Fallowing, I really appreciate the recognition. As always the RRR is not required, but really appreciated. Thank you to those who have reviewed, it has all been really nice.

So in this chapter you get a bit of what happens right after the crash, but this is just to set up for what is too come. I will be working this story with a few flash backs so I hope it doesn't get confusing, but I thought it would be prudent to explain this part when it happens before skipping to the six years latter (ten years after the end of the future arch) that this story actually takes place in.

I own nothing of KHR except the concept of this story and any OC that may be introduced.

Hope you all enjoyed ^w^