Aedan Connors's Story

The sights and sounds of the bus had been no different from the years before; students chattering – most without speaking – to their friends about their expectations for the year ahead, shy students huddled into their respective bubbles, and the bus driver doing his best not to seemed surprised with new addition and their... distinctions.

“So Connors,” The driver greeted, happy to see a familiar face. “Voice any better?”

Aedan smiled, giving a gentle shake of the head as he brought up the note pad and badge. The driver smiled but gave an understanding nod.

“Eh, what ya gonna do? Bet your music's getten good.”

It was idle chit-chat and Aedan would simply let it go in one ear and out the other as he took a sit. Taking out his iPod, he put in both his ear-buds and wrapped himself in his music. Closing his eyes, he drowned out the conversations of the world around him and allowed the colors of the notes to swirl in the darkness his mind provided.

= = = = = = = = = =

When the bus lurched to a halt in front of the school, Aedan's eyes opened and turned their attention to the campus. This was to be his home for the next year, and it was a welcomed sight. Near the gate sat a familiar man dressed in a sharp suit with the name CONNORS scribbled on a small bit of cardboard. This was his translator Maurice.

Maurice was an interesting looking male, or at least Aedan thought. He was tall and showed every amount of Native American blood his people had provided him with. Maurice even had a tattoo of the symbol of his tribe tattooed on his forehead.

Stepping off the bus, Aedan adjusted his backpack. His luggage and guitar had been sent a week prior, so he didn't really have a lot to carry in.

“Hey Aedan!” Maurice greeted, taking the boy into a well deserved hug. The two were close, possibly closer than Aedan and his own father. “Did you have a good summer?”

The blonde smiled and gave a light nod before taking out his notebook and scribbling a simple sentence.

Have you seen the list yet?

Maurice looked down at the lined paper, giving Aedan a stern look. It was apparent the boy hadn't been studying his Signing.

“Yeah, you're in the same room as last year. Seems your parents want you as comfortable as can be, Kid.” He smiled, gently patting the blonde on the head before taking the boys backpack and heading towards the Boys dorms. “Though, you've got a room mate this year.”

Aedan jumped slightly, looking a little caught off guard by the statement. All the years he had been attending Yamaku, he had never gotten a room mate. Yes, he had his own secrets to keep and most of them were to be kept from prying eyes that would risk bringing his families status down. Or at least that's what his parent's were concerned with.

Do you know who?

Maurice gave a light shake of his head as he handed the list back.

"I didn't get a chance to look at the name, the other translators needed a turn."

As Maurice continued to talk, most of the words coming out of his mouth chastising the younger man for not taking the time to learn Signing, Aedan turned his attention to the students around him. There was some crazed Skater girl who was possibly gonna kill some one if she wasn't careful, awesome. The spoiled brat could have recognized her anywhere, not that they actually knew each other; but he had seen her around during the previous years.

As the pair reached Aedan's dorm, the over head quickly came alive with a small crackle.

“All students report to the main hall for the opening ceremonies.”

“Looks like you better get goin' kid.” Maurice smiled, taking Aedans bag and setting it on the bed that became a holding place of his belongings. He would have to tend to them when he got back. Nodding obediently, Aedan took a moment to adjust the red clips in his bangs. There was nothing in the school's student hand guide about hair clips, and he wasn't going to tolerate any of the stickler teachers trying to take them from him.

Giving himself a nod of approval, he turned on his heel to leave.

The halls were crowded, as expected on the first day. It wasn't the people that bothered Aedan, but rather the noises they made. Shoes squeaked against the tile floor, suitcases scraped on the carpet and the voices grew louder as children tried to talk over each other. Once again his eyes picked out that familiar peach colored hair. But this time it was accompanied by a man with a blindfold, and another young man. It wasn't an odd sight at all.

Finding nothing too interesting going on, Aedan made his way to the main hall. It was almost as much of a zoo as the hallways; children finding ways to sit next to their friends, and translation getting lost between those who couldn't understand Sign or what have you. Finding a few spaces open in the back, Aedan moved to take a seat.

Quickly, he was joined by a few of his 'groupies', a delighted mixture of a few boys and girls, some from the years before and some new faces mingled in. Through his years of attending the boarding school, Aedan had grown quite known for his music and his looks. He wasn't as brawny or built as the other boys at the school, but what he lacked in size he made up for in beauty and attitude. His girlish figure and nearly flawless (due to the piercings he gained on his lips) skin made him look like one of those Japanese BJD's all of the girls where carrying around.

Crossing one leg over the other, Aedan pulled his iPod out of his pocket once more and began searching through his apps. Settling on some Memory game, he began to play; gray-blue eyes glued to the screen. Though his attention was on the game, his sharp ears continued to scan the room for any conversation of interest or the screech of the mic that signaled the starting of the Opening Ceremonies.

The fight was certainly something to watch, and caught the young man’s attention almost immediately. It was surprising, though, that none of the staff even considered interrupting until the end. Well, with Azalea, that was probably the smarter of the choices. What was even more interesting was that in the aftermath, the blindfolded boy and the other male followed shortly after, one looking rather unconscious in the arms of a teacher.

Were they headed toward the infirmary? Smirking lightly to himself, Aedan gave a light shake of the head. After a run-in with the Tunnel Snakes, it was probably the best of choices. Giving a long stretch, Aedan stood and began to make his way back toward the dorm. The ceremony wasn’t going to start for a while, not until the teachers had this under control at least.
Standing up on the chair itself, Aedan scanned the sea of people for a familiar face. Eventually, he found Maurice and passed him a simple sign. Doctor.

Pulling out his phone, he made a casual stroll to follow the excitement. If anything he could get a couple neat pictures to sell to the school newspaper, or possibly check up with the nurse to see if his meds had arrived. Thanks to the poison he had contracted as a child Aedan was now the slave of a few choice prescriptions. He had no idea what they were, but they helped keep the spots and the swirls away. Luckily they only had to be taken once a week as well. But still, they were important.

"Azalea," she said. Then, lifting her right breast, she said, "Danger. Angel," she said the latter whilst lifting her left breast. "You may address them accordingly. And you are?"

Well. This girl just kept getting more and more interesting didn’t she? Smirking quietly to himself, Aedan watched the show from the door. Not because he was trying to creep; oh no. He was simply waiting for the overly busy nurse.

Leaning on the door frame, he turned his attention down to his previous game, his ears perking to the conversations in the room. Nosey boy. But he had nothing better to do, so why not?

"I'm Alexander, it is a pleasure to meet you. I'm mute, so don't expect me to be able to speak. Me communicating with a blind girl is going to be quite hard, don't you agree?" the note read. Azalea held the piece of paper in her hand, putting it aside and looking at the boy who was Alex.

"I can speak for you," she told him. "It must be difficult writing when you're..." Azalea cocked her head to the side, as a bird might when watching a human. "In pain." What a strange concept, she thought.

"Azalea, wasn't it? I'm so sorry if I inconvenienced you in any way. Those boys didn't hurt you, did they? I'm sorry," Hana, she'd learned, said.

"Do I look 'hurt'?" she asked, wiggling her fingers who were attached to broken bones she'd reattached herself and gesturing to the dark, violet-tinted bruise that painted her jaw and the flowering colours that painted her nearly colourless eyes. "They shoved me into a wall, punched me a bit. Nothing I couldn't handle," she said with a shrug. "You should see the beating they took." Azalea gave Hana a dark, sardonic smile. "I only wish I'd gotten there sooner. The best weapon's your body," she said, staring dazedly out the infirmary window. The one between your legs.

The door swung open, Azalea spun around, clutching a pen she'd snatched from the table and preparing to throw. Her body loosened and she placed the pen back onto the desk, beaming at the girl and clapping her hands together. "Thank you for bringing Zeal!" she said cheerfully, ignoring the guilt that crawled into and nested within her gut. She'd left him. She'd been so caught up in making sure the boys had paid for their actions that she'd forgotten about him, Kora and Blind and Sexy. God, she was horrible. Why do I care? she thought harshly, giving herself an internal shove.

"Help us?" she asked Alex as she walked over to Zeal. She didn't look at Mr. Takahashi. Maybe if she pretended he didn't exist, he wouldn't - eventually.

When Zeal laid unconscious on the infirmary bed, she tucked the blanket around him and under his chin. "He'll know you saved him," she told girl who'd brought him in. She was beautiful. Her hair was deep burgundy and she had warm golden brown eyes. Beautiful people seemed to make up the student population.

Azalea turned her attention to Zeal, gently picking up his arm and analysing his left hand. Gently, Azalea, she reminded herself. She always had to remind herself, that other people felt. "He crushed his hand," she muttered, almost to herself. "Dislocated index finger... Mmm..." Azalea held his hand to the light, leaning forwards and squinting at the bones of his hand. The guilt wrapped around her neck and crushed her windpipe, she pushed it away. "Where's the nurse?" she asked no one in particular, annoyed.

"Sorry," she whispered to Zeal, for the second time that day. Azalea held his index finger and pulled, shoving it back in place. She hoped he wouldn't wake up from the pain, but he probably would. She'd read up on pain and the things it did to people, rendered them unconscious, shocked them awake. Due to her... Condition. It was helpful for her to know the basics of healing, so she didn't walk around with crushed bones and infected wounds. Things that had happened before.

His knuckles were ruined, and she had idea how to fix it. "It's all my fault," she whispered quietly, before biting her lip and replacing her misery with anger. Anger she could cope with. Anger she could fix. Azalea stood abruptly, walking out of the room.

---

Bones peeked from her knuckles.

Azalea shut the infirmary door behind her, glancing at the nurse who was now in the room.

"You reattached his finger quite well, young lady," the elderly woman said. She was plump, and motherly-looking, Azalea didn't trust her. "Will you help me bandage his hand?" she asked, standing from Zeal's bed and rummaging through the cabinets. "I'm Mrs. Osaka, by the way," she said with a gentle smile, looking at all the students in the room. "Lots of injuries on the first day, huh?" she chuckled.

Azalea said nothing, taking the gauze bandage where Mrs. Osaka had left them. She noticed the bones in Zeal's hand were no longer visible, rather they were bloody and dark, as if stained in shadows. Mrs. Rupert had rubbed a yellowish ointment over his hand. She wrapped the gauze around and around his hand, pinning it in place, and grinned.

"Casualties are all part of the fun," she said cheerfully, hopping away from Zeal's bed. "At least we'll get to miss that bloody assembly," she said with a roll of her eyes. "The damned thing inspires suicide."

"You think so, Miss...?"

"Azalea Fray, at your service," she said with a curtsy. "Zeal the Brave, Sweetest Hana, Alex the Valiant, Beautiful Burgundy Angel," she said with a smile, introducing them in turn.

"Well, it's lovely to meet you all," she said with a smile that emphasised the happy wrinkles by her eyes. "You're new, I can tell. How are you enjoying Yamaku Academy?" she asked Azalea.

"The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education," Azalea said sweetly.

"Stop lurking," she said suddenly, turning to the door and raising an eyebrow at a... She tilted a corner of her lip upwards. He had hair as dark as obsidian and blue-grey eyes that reminded her strangely of her own, but they were mysterious and deep, whilst hers were infinitely light like broken glass. "Life is not too bad if you have a good physique and not too much imagination," she purred, referring to him, leaning against a desk and urging the beautiful creature to come to her with her eyes.

She would have him.

"Azalea Fray, at your service," she said with a curtsy. "Zeal the Brave, Sweetest Hana, Alex the Valiant, Beautiful Burgundy Angel," she said with a smile, introducing them in turn.

Aedans eyes drifted to those whom she mentioned and he made a mental note. They were all either young or new, or else he hadn't taken the time to notice them last year. Then again, who could really notice anyone with a crowd of four or five fans badgering you for an autograph or something every ten minutes.

"Stop lurking,"

Drat, he had been found out. Aedan smirked at his own little comment. This young lady before him was beautiful indeed, independent as well. But he knew her type. Dolls almost. A painted on face hid the worries and scars from within. Putting his phone back in his pocket, he eased himself from the post.

Aedan’s movements were very much like a cat, his stride elegant and forceful all at the same time. It was only expected. He had an image to uphold, did he not? His eyes took a moment to take in the wounds the girl herself had sustained from the fight; a soft glimmer of white had caught his eye. Bone, and she was still walking around and smiling.

"Life is not too bad if you have a good physique and not too much imagination,"

The smirked lightened. Quick too. How lovely.

Pulling a notepad from his pocket, which apparently were like some kind of bag-of-holding or something, and laid it on the nurse’s desk.

A good physique may get you far, but it’s the imagination that allows you to transcend your mortal restraints and force Life to bend to your will alone.

When the note was finished, he simply stepped toward the girl, getting comfortably close as he slipped the note into her hand. His eyes never left hers, as a gentleman never turns his back on an enemy. His hand departed hers with a light stroke against her skin, a teasing smile playing his lips. Turning abruptly on his heel, he turned his attention to the motherly nurse.

With his years of having been here before, there was no doubt she knew what to get him. But, as protocol commanded, he produced an I.D. from his breast pocket and placed it delicately on the desk along with a simple wave of greeting.

Today was turning out to be rather eventful. Looking back to Azalea, he grinned, crossing his arms over his chest as he awaited her response and his medicine.

Azalea asked him to help, so he complied. He had no idea what to help with though, besides knowing how to release strain inside of someones body by pressing pressure points. If he was ever forced to fight and he couldn't escape, then he would simply go for a person's solar plexus and easily manage to escape without causing too much harm to the person who would force him to fight.
He wondered who Zeal was, but he wasn't going to ask due to the subject not being interesting enough. He waved at Mr. Takahashi, he could never pronounce his name even if he could speak and this saved him from an embarrassing moment. He looked at the kid named Zeal and wondered what he did to get hurt that badly, but Alex thought that perhaps the kid was as easy to be damaged physically as he was. When Azalea asked where the nurse was, he quickly signed a response. He forgot that the girl might not know sign language, but he didn't bother with writing his response down due to him being tired. Alex winced slightly when Azalea pushed Zeal's finger in, since it looked quite painful and agonizing. He noticed the nurse coming in and smiled politely at her. He would introduce himself by talking, but he simply can't talk at all and it occasionally got him in trouble at formal gatherings his family setup. He hoped the nurse would know sign language or he would be wasting his energy signing to no one. "Hello madam, my name is Alexander of the Tores family, it is a pleasure to meet you." He forgot that you weren't supposed to be so formal when in school, but his parents made it a habit for him to act like this. He noticed the kid in the doorway and he decided to sign to him as well. "Hello, my name is Alexander, but you can just call me Alex. I'm guessing you're mute as well? Anyways, nice to meet you…." He hoped the kid who introduce himself, so he wouldn't have to use pronouns in place of the kid's name. He thought that maybe this kid would know more about this school than Alex himself knew, since the kid seemed to be older than Alex. "Do you know how the translators here work? Sorry for bombarding you with questions, but I haven't really had a chance to go to the assembly or ask anyone questions."

Alex had an orange with him that he bought at the store the day before, but it was quite a challenge for him to find any bills other than hundred dollars bills. Buying things was quite difficult, since most stores didn't have the change necessary for him to be able to buy things. He would constantly have to go to ATM machines and exchange his money for lower values, but even then he wouldn't be able to hold all his money in one wallet. He didn't have to worry about money in the future, since he already had many things patented and he was making a lot of money for his family's company. He would however have to worry about managing to survive and reach the age of an adult, since he could die from a hard enough hit. Very little people knew that the technology that a lot of the teens these days use was created by Alex himself, but those who did know couldn't believe that such a young child could create such complex machinery. He didn't blush when the girl called him Alex the Valiant, since he wasn't interested in the girl romantically or lustfully. He might be interested in her later, but there would be many choices for him to make later on that could influence who he loves. If anyone was unlucky enough to love him, then they would be the first to see the sad child that hides under the facade of happy kid. Besides his dorm mate of course, since his dorm mate would see what Alex is like on the fifteenth of September. No one besides the person he will love and his closest friends would know his history.

He heard about student councils online and he thought that he would be of the most use there, since he would be able to easily go through piles of paperwork in under a couple of minutes. He began peeling the orange and managed to peel it in under a minute, but he remembered that there were other people in the room. He checked his other pocket and he saw that he had an extra orange, so he decided that he would spare the other orange and only eat a bit of the extra orange. He handed a half of the orange to Azalea and the other half to the blind girl, since it would be rude to not give them any. He began peeling the other orange and once again managed to peel it quickly. His parents forced him to constantly be sanitary, so people wouldn't have to worry about stuff like that. He gave a half to the kid who was lurking earlier and he gave the other half to the girl who helped bring the other hurt kid in. So far he gave away two oranges, but it would be easy for him to go to the store and buy oranges there later.

Azalea raised a sculpted brow when Lurker stepped towards her, close enough for her to strangle or kiss. His blue-grey eyes burned into her own blue-grey eyes, one deep and never ending - she would drown in his eyes, if she didn't watch herself - and the other pale as light but revealing nothing.

"Well, this is strangely arousing," she found herself whispering for the second time that day. Who was she kidding? Everything turned her on. She was like Estrogen and teenage hormones on Ecstasy and crack.

She smirked when he pressed a note into her hand, 'accidentally' brushing his hand over her skin as he stepped back. No one had ever dared step so close to her before; she wasn't exactly the least intimidating person in the world. She was the sort who'd sleep on the teacher's desk - naked - just because it was a little more comfortable than dressing and sitting like she had an iron pole down her spine. Those ballet lessons she'd been made to take were wretched enough. She was the sort who broke noses and made people blush.

No one came so close to her by their own free will without trying to kill her. It was weird.

Azalea looked down at the piece of paper, feigning nonchalance. "A good physique may get you far, but it’s the imagination that allows you to transcend your mortal restraints and force Life to bend to your will alone," it read. She lifted her head, bringing her eyes up to meet his. She cocked her head to the side in the assessing, bird-like way she always did. What? He was a poet now? Charming, she thought half sarcastically, half... With an emotion she hadn't even known existed, whatever it was.

Oh it was on.

She ran her fingers through her thick waterfall of pale pink hair, the daisies she normally braided into her hair had fallen out, apparently, thanks to her little hustle and tussle with the four boys. Azalea dropped her head so her hair cascaded over her shoulders and became a curtain over her face. She pretended to look at the note, her fingers skimming the edges. She lifted her head - slightly - and smiled.

"Azalea," she said softly in her sultry, honey in zero gravity voice. She stepped towards him, gazing at him through large eyes like shattered glass. "Danger," she purred, taking his hand and running it down her right side - skimming her right breast - so it rested on her hips. "Angel." She did the same to her left with his right hand. Then she hooked her wrists behind his neck, leaning back so her arm straightened and she was pressing herself against his hands. "But you already know that because you've been stalking," Azalea whispered against his ear. She stepped back, turned, and chuckled to herself.

I'll have him begging by the end of the week, she told herself. He would be a challenge, this one. He had I-have-my-own-fanclub written all over him, the bastard. God, he was hot. But I'm hotter.

"All these guys are prettier than half the girls in the school, huh?" she said with a smile at the girls in the room. Azalea sighed, sashaying to Hana's infirmary bed. She sat, swung one slim leg over the other, sighed, and threw her body backwards so she was lying half on the bed, half on Hana. "Oh my god, why is my life so complicated?" she groaned, flipping her body around and burying her head into the tops of Hana's skirts. "You know what?" she said abruptly after a long moment of silence in Hana's skirts. She popped her head up and stared at Hana. Then abruptly dropped her head back onto her lap. "I just forgot."

"Here you go, Aedan," Mrs. Osaka said, handing 'Aedan' his medication, Azalea supposed. What a fitting name, she thought grimly.

"Oh my gooood," she groaned, her words muffled by the cloth.

"Are you quite alright, Azalea? Azalea, may I call you Azalea? Does your head hurt?"

Crimson tongues lick the walls, screeching their songs of death.

"Yes. It hurts. I sold my mind on eBay and then I got lost in thought. It was unfamiliar territory," she said through clenched teeth. "And yes, you may call me anything you wish. Except Raisin. Just, just, ew. Why would you? It's like a wrinkly grape, but not like old-people-wrinkly. Because old people are cute."

"I'm glad you think so, Azalea," Mrs. Osaka the supposedly cute, old lady. "Do you have a student ID card, Azalea?"

"No, it grew little plastic legs and ran away." Azalea dug into the pockets of her very short shorts, tossing a card in the general direction of the nurse's voice. Surprisingly, Mrs. Osaka caught it. Azalea still had her head buried in Hana's skirts.

"Mama!" I cry, clutching the white bunny to my chest. A garland of daisies sits on Mr. Snuffle's head.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Osaka took a long look at her card, then at the bones that peeked from beneath her skin. She took in the cuts, burns, bruises, the oddly set wrist, and pursed her lips. "Azalea?"

"Grajkdjsgfl," the pink haired girl groaned back.

"Would you like your medication?"

"No, it doesn't work," she mumbled.

"Would you like me to patch you up?"

"Hnngh."

"I'm sorry?"

Azalea slid to the floor, reluctantly, and picked herself up. She was bored. BORED. She stood, holding out her hands for Mrs. Osaka to see. The nurse took a long look, before looking up at Azalea. She had a question in her eyes. Azalea gave her a shrug, I don't care, it said. Mrs. Osaka gave her a soft smile, took a bottle from the cabinets and handed it to Azalea with a cone of water.

There is a place without joy. It is the end of everything.

"For the pain," the nurse said pointedly. Azalea narrowed her eyes, taking the water and pills and swallowing them. The nurse took her hands, and pulled, shoving her bones back in place. Azalea pursed her lips at Mrs. Osaka's insistent dabbing of her wounds. Azalea flinched at the nurse's slow, soft dabbing. Just, just, just, why. Azalea took the bottle of alcohol, poured it in a swab and scraped at her wounds.

"Yay, all done. I'm dying of old age. Argh," she said quickly, grabbing her ID card and turning to Zeal. He's like the prince from Little Mermaid, she thought. Guilt snaked its way around her waist, threatening to rip her in half, she looked away. "Well, nice to meet you all and all that. I'm sure my irresistible, charismatic personality has charmed you all," she said sarcastically. "I play for both teams," she purred at the beauty with red-brown hair, tossing her a wink.

Suffocating, suffocating, suffocating.

Azalea bent over Zeal's unconscious body, her hair falling past her shoulder and tickling his face. Azalea tucked her hair behind her ear. "Wake up, Pretty Boy. Who's going to model for M.A.C. if you're here?"

 "Hello, my name is Alexander, but you can just call me Alex. I'm guessing you're mute as well? Anyways, nice to meet you…." He hoped the kid who introduce himself, so he wouldn't have to use pronouns in place of the kid's name. He thought that maybe this kid would know more about this school than Alex himself knew, since the kid seemed to be older than Alex. "Do you know how the translators here work? Sorry for bombarding you with questions, but I haven't really had a chance to go to the assembly or ask anyone questions." 

Aedan's attention turned to the other mute boy as he was addressed. He watched as the boys hands whirled with the sentences, his eyes barely able to keep up with them. But he understood. Smiling politely, Aedan gave a light nod before trying out his own bit of signing, granted it was equal of that of someone who had just learned the skill.

Hello, I am Aedan. My translator is Maurice and I sure he help you. Come after here. Me.

Somehow he hoped that the young man would catch his meaning before he wandered off to visit one of the girls. Turning his attention back to Azalea as she made her advances.

Resting his hands on the girls hips, he gave a soft grin as he was introduced to the whole family. This girl was going to be a handful, and he figured he could deal with that. At least she'd make an interesting body guard. When she let go with the little “prettier than girls” comment, Aedan tried his hardest to look offended. But... It was true.

Here you go, Aedan," Mrs. Osaka said, handing 'Aedan' his medication.

Aedan smiled and nodded a polite thank you before downing the pills with a bit spit. He had gotten used to taking pills dry, especially the tiny ones like these.

 "Well, nice to meet you all and all that. I'm sure my irresistible, charismatic personality has charmed you all," she said sarcastically. "I play for both teams," she purred at the beauty with red-brown hair, tossing her a wink.

Catching the last bit of that lovely conversation, Aedans ears perked slightly. Looking over toward Azalea, he gave an almost wicked grin before winking at her.

Seems like I'm not the only one.

Hoping the message would translate, his attention then turned to the blindfolded man at the door. Seemed another lost sheep had found his block. Thanking the nurse once more, he scribbled her a note asking her to leave his information with the younger mute before taking his leave. Maurice was going to be furious with him, and it was better to take his punishment now rather than later.

Satomi was still in shock a little from the pink haired female picking up a pen almost as if she would use it before apparently deciding that the deaf girl wasn't a threat. Her waves and curls of red-brown caught the sunlight and emphasised just how contradictory the hue was. It certainly wasn't average but on the same token it wasn't as out there as Miss Pinky. But as someone new came in she frowned for a brief moment before realising the very short...boy...had been eavesdropping. There was then what she assumed was a flurry of verbal exchange from person to person and Satomi backed away just a little as she stopped trying to read their lips. Notes exchanged between Pinky and the new male and Satomi began to feel slightly left out.

Everyone could hear what the other was saying...this was a situation that made her feel a little bummed out. Her expressive eyes looking a little sad before she felt someone tap her shoulder. She jumped a little and blinked before looking up at a boy with obsidian eyes and hair. Her gentle eyes going down to his hands as he signed a question to her. She frowned a little before nibbling on her full bottom lip and then proceeding to sign back.
"I don't know, I found him after everyone else had gone. I had to follow the blood trail and then I harassed the last teacher in the staff room into helping me get him here. Thanks for tapping me on the shoulder instead of yelling...can't hear you even if you yell. My name is Honoka Satomi, what is yours?" She ended the signing with a question and tilted her head up to give him a sweet smile and then extended her hand out to him for a handshake.

Would these people be her first new friends? She certainly hoped so, after the less than warm memories of her previous school she wanted a completely clean slate. It was strange because moments ago she had been slightly saddened and now she was almost too happy. She unknowingly made an overjoyed squeaking sound and tucked some of her wayward hair behind her left ear. She looked down at her dark metallic red and pearly white painted nails for a moment before wrinkling her nose in a slightly cute expression as she decided she would change the colours when she returned to her room. It was a slight pity that she had missed the opening ceremony, but the more she thought about it the more she realised it would be pointless as she wouldn't have been able to see the sign language version of the principal's address or any such messages. She let out a soft tinkling laugh as she knew that it would have been a time of endless futility which would have befallen her if she had attended the ceremony.

She blinked and for just one single moment she hoped she looked as pretty as the pink haired girl. Her logic was that beautiful people were attracted to others that were also physically attractive. After years of being told she was below average in the looks department and having to hide her outgoing side up until now. Satomi truly wondered if now was the time to be bright and cheery with so many people injured. But she had to try and bring some sort of brightness that the pink haired female couldn't offer. Satomi's light wasn't entirely overshadowed by things that would blind her to the plight of others. She had sensed the fact that the poor boy she'd helped wasn't supposed to have been left behind...surely someone had to feel some semblance of guilt because of that.

However when she looked to the side and spotted the pink girl wink at her she tilted her head like a confused puppy. She then decided that it was best to be direct. She cleared her throat and although she couldn't hear it she stared right at Pinky and said in a softly lilting voice: "I'm afraid that I must tell you this now. I cannot hear a word that you are saying, maybe someone can sign for you?" She blushed and was about to turn back to the young man that had been signing too her, looking down at her feet nervously for a moment before signing with slightly shaky hands. "My voice...did it sound alright? I've forgotten what it sounds like...a year and a half without hearing-..." Her fingers stuttering to a complete stop and she peeked up at him from beneath her fringe, hoping that she hadn't embarrassed herself severely.

"Alex said 'I don't know, since my body is weak I might not be able to come to school tomorrow. It's fine though, since I'm used to being hurt and having to be hospitalized. This is better than you dying of an asthma attack, but I'm not sure if you can die from an asthma attack. I guess I just overreacted when carrying you here,'" Azalea read from the paper he'd handed her, her strange mix of a British and Greek with a faint Italian accent more evident than it normally was.

"Can you read sign language? If so, can you translate what I sign instead of me having to write down everything constantly?" Alex's note said. She pursed her lips, furrowing her brows in annoyance at herself.

"I apologise," she said to him. "I can't sign, but I will learn."

She smirked when Aedan winked at her. They were going to have a lot of fun together. She slipped her fingerless gloves over her hands, clenching and unclenching her fists to make sure they still worked. They did. The bruise on her jaw would most likely turn uglier, and she was annoyed that Aedan looked so frustratingly perfect when she looked like she'd fought four mountain trolls. Which, she supposed, she sort of had.

Azalea soon realised the burgundy haired girl was deaf. She pulled her phone from her pocket. It was a cheap, plastic thing that was about a million years old. Most others might've been embarrassed but humiliation was not something Azalea felt very often, if at all. She typed into her phone, "Come, sit. You must be tired from dragging Zeal here. What's your name?" She held the phone out to the girl and patted the seat beside her, where she was now sitting on Zeal's infirmary bed. She'd made sure she wasn't sitting on him and that her movements didn't jostle his injuries.

"Would you like a book on sign languages, Azalea?" Mrs. Osaka asked her.

"That would be wonderful. Yes," she replied. The school nurse handed her a thick book and Azalea exhaled, taking it in her lap and opening to the first page. This is going to take a while, she thought. Azalea began to read.

Mario hopped from platform to platform, using his mystical Italian powers to control the flow of gravity. Though he couldn’t reverse it completely, the manipulation of weight was an easy concept on one as large as him. With a sickening crunch, another mushroom creature crumpled under the plumber’s increased weight. The small boy controlling him laughed. “Stupid Goomba’s, you cannot escape me!” The flag had come into view, a dark black figure against the blue pixel sky. Suddenly, Mario yelped in pain as he was struck by a green blur, falling into the ground.

GAME OVER.

“Awww c’mon! I was almost at the end!” Zeal frowned, he had been stuck on the same level for an hour now and the frustration was beginning to get to him. His six year old brain couldn’t comprehend the hidden block needed to reach the flag and end the level. Quite bored of the game, Zeal made his way to the balcony of the apartment. The breeze was soft, just light enough to ruffle his already dishevelled hair. They lived on the third floor of a six floor apartment building or, more specifically, apartment 306. His dad worked a lot to make sure they could stay here but Zeal didn’t mind, his imaginary friends kept him company.

Larry the purple dragon who shot candy instead of fire, Gorotaki, the happy-go-lucky gorilla who always carried around a large barrel, a gift from his brother Donkey, and Sir Peasley, prince of the bean-bean kingdom. These were the only friends Zeal needed. When the other kids ran away or called him names, the three of them were always there to console him. They would play games like Simon Says or Mind Reader but Zeal always suspected they would let him win. Even now, Larry was telling him to run inside. The balcony was a dangerous place for kids so little. With his innocent smile, the small boy followed his friends advice and went back inside.

Then, the earthquake came.

At first, it was barely noticeable, just a slight feeling of dizziness and a loss of balance. Over the course of three seconds, that all changed. The ground shook in a violent spasm, knocking over the weaker buildings easily. Zeal, scared and confused, hid in the bathroom. The building began to tip as the shakes grew worse, knocking huge chunks of ceiling on a journey through the floors, only stopping if they break in half or splatter a family’s brains across the floor. Covering his head with his hands, Zeal began to cry. With a screeching hiss, the piping burst from the roof of the bathroom and swung down directly into the face of a young, black haired boy. Darkness clouded his vision. He was going to die.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

White, that was all Zeal saw. The world around him was empty, devoid of existence unless he counted himself, which he didn’t. Barely audible whispers filled the space around him, mentioning fights, angels and danger. ‘I must really be dead.’ Suddenly, a voice broke through the silence, a voice he recognized all too well.

"Wake up, Pretty Boy.” Azalea’s voice echoed. Small lines began to spread throughout the world like thin ice crackling under weight. From the lines sprouted bright pink flowers, each giving off their own pleasant aroma. Plucking one of the flowers from its crack, Zeal pressed the plant to his nose and took a deep whiff. ‘These are…. Azalea’s…’ The universe shattered around him, shards of memories once thought forgotten. Flashes of his life appeared in the reflective glass. The hospital, the therapist, coming to Yamaku, it was all there. When the last of the memories faded away, Zeal fell.

……………………………………………………………………………………………..............................
With a groan of pain, Zeal’s eyes fluttered open. The room was foreign to the young teenager. Where was he? How did he get here? Images of Azalea, pinned against the wall, popped into his mind. “Is Azalea alright?” he asked shakily, still taking in his surroundings. Sure enough, there she was, looking a little worse for wear, sitting next to a beautiful burgundy haired girl at the foot of his bed. Another girl lie in the bed beside him, accompanied by a large dog. The blind boy was nowhere to be seen and was replaced by a black haired boy with a notepad. He looked nice, though Zeal thought everybody without tattoo’s and piercings looked nice. A blonde boy stood by the doorway, a sly smile on his face. Only one word could be used to describe this boy. Handsome, and he didn't even like boys!

“How did I get here?” He asked quietly, the failure of his rescue sinking in to his skull. Small tears began to form beside amber eyes. ‘How can I protect people if I can’t even take one hoodlum? I’m a useless friend.’ The worried expressions on everyone’s faces unsettled him. It was a face he’d only seen a few times in his life. It meant people cared about a pathetic waste of space like himself. The very thought made Zeal sadder than before, there concern could be put to much better uses.

To assure them of his wellbeing, Zeal tried to sit up. Waves of pain crashed into his body and sent him straight back to lying down. With a heavy heart, Zeal turned to look at his new acquisition. His hand was mangled. Knuckle bones stuck out through pasty white skin and his fingers were coated in dried blood. Any small movement induced a little gasp of pain from his lips, something he wish no one was around to hear. The tears had begun to flow freely now, small streams of emotions that soiled his cheeks.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” Zeal mumbled.

Allowing the friends to catch up on their own, Aedan took his leave. Making his way down the hall, he reveled in the occasional silence that graced the halls. It was the first day, so everyone was out either getting their rooms ready or familiarizing themselves with the grounds. Classes wouldn’t start until tomorrow.

It was amazing, how such a heavenly place could turn into such a battle ground. But, every heaven has it’s Snakes. Aedan smiled at the thought, giving a gentle shake of the head. This was a school; a special school, but a school all the same.

There was going to be bullies, be them as extreme as the Tunnel Snakes he could only guess, and there was nothing he could really do to stop them. They were vermin, always multiplying in the darkest of places and never stopping until they had an army under their control. Luckily dark spaces were a rare privilege around here.

“Hey there, Doll,” Aedan froze. He knew that voice. He knew the cruel shudder that danced up his spine every time it’s holder used that cruel nickname.

“I’m a little upset, you didn’t even come and say hello after you got off that damned bus of yours.”

The voice belonged to Wolfgang, the lead singer and manager of their band, as well as the star pitcher for the school’s baseball team. To anyone Wolfgang was a star. He held the looks alright, with his bleached white hair, bright blue eyes and… chiseled body. No! Snapping his eyes quickly back up to the males face he gave a look of mock apology.

Wolfgang smirked, stepping forward to gently catch the smaller boys chin between his fingers, forcing him against the white-washed wall.

“Now you know those little quips of yours get you into trouble… Or has the luxury of your damned family make you forget that little part?”

The smaller boy quickly shook his head, panic over riding his blue-grey eyes. This wasn’t anything new. Aedan knew how to play to Wolfgang’s power trips. He knew the rules, and he knew how to get himself out of trouble.

“Oh really now?” Wolfgang sneered, cocking his head slightly to the left, his hands slowly trailing from Aedan’s shoulders and working their way down his arms. “Are you sure we don’t have to have a little repeat of last year…?” Again, Aedan shook his head, goosebumps appearing up and down his arms. He hated the way his body reacted to the man, every touch was like cinnamon to the tongue; burning but pleasant.

Wolf was in control, and Aedan was letting him have it. Again, this was nothing new. Wolf had treated most of his band-members this way, well… Not to this extent. He was an outward guy, delivering Corporal punishment when he thought it was needed, but Aedan was different. Adean was beautiful, smart, and talented. Aedan was essential, and Wolf was going to do everything to keep his prize close by and obedient.

Wolfgang glared down at the younger male, a light smirk riding across his face and giving hints at the pair of filed canines he had. The blonde boy was trapped between his arms and he wasn’t about to let him get away.

It was this sense of power he craved. Yes, his other little lackies obeyed and feared him, but Aedan was a special kind of power. The boy couldn’t scream, or call out if he got hurt; and that made everything a bit more fun.

Leaning down, Wolf gently grazed his fangs along the ivory flesh of Aedan’s neck.

“Ya know,” He started, using his weight to keep his catch pinned against the wall. “I expect to see you at practice tonight. We’ve got to weed out the… riff-raff.” He chuckled to himself as if there was some cruel joke hidden within the sentence.

Aedan squirmed, giving a slight buck as the breath was slowly crushed from his lungs. How he hated this… Every moment of it.
But then, the offender stopped, as if listening to something.

“Well,” He chuckled against Aedan’s ear. “It sounds as if someone else is skipping class.”

Aedan struggled to turn his head, listening vainly for whatever it was that had distracted Wolf for the moment.
Straining, he could make out two shadows at the end of the hall. So? It was probably just a pair of freshman or…

The soft whispering snapped to his ears. That had been Azalea’s voice. Even when muttered, he could still pick it out of the halls, not that that was a surprise or anything. With his voice gone, his hearing had picked up.

Wolfgang watched the male below him for a minute, an insane glower dancing over his grin.
“Someone you know, Doll?”

467. 466. 465. 464. 463.

Azalea counted backwards, her eyes shut. This was the way she'd dealt with Sage since she was a child: counting. Did it work? She didn't know, but when in the presence of her brother, she lost all motor control, apparently, and counting was all she could think of to do. She couldn't lose herself in numbers but at least it gave her mind somewhere else to be. Distantly, she felt someone's lips and body pressed against hers and someone's fingers in her hair. Sage's, of course. But she didn't feel any of it, at least, that's what she tried to convince herself.

She wasn't very convincing.

452. 451. 450. 449. 448.

“Ya know, I expect to see you at practice tonight. We’ve got to weed out the… riff-raff.”

Azalea was breaking through the water, the muffled noise of the ocean growing louder. No. 447. 446. 445. 444. 443. Azalea forced herself to pull under. She didn't want to wake up and face a world she couldn't and be trapped in skin she didn't want to have, in a body that wasn't hers and never had been. Vaguely, she heard the bark of a dog, Hana's dog? She wanted to tell Hana to have her dog keep quiet - or bite Sage's leg off - so she wouldn't have to be awoken. Azalea wanted to laugh then, because she imagined Hana's dog to be her Prince Charming come to save her, Sleeping Beauty. He would slobber all over her and she would awake from a hundred year long sleep.

“Well, it sounds as if someone else is skipping class.” She didn't like the way the voice sounded - condescending. But no, it wasn't Sage. She would know if it were Sage.

No, no, no. 442. 441. 440. 439. 438. Let me go. She felt as if she were awakening from much needed sleep, she knew she should wake up, but she didn't want to. Couldn't. Just a little longer, she told herself, sinking deeper into oblivion.

“Someone you know, Doll?”

Azalea awoke. With a gasp, her eyes snapped open, her dilated pupils shrinking to accommodate to the light. She took a deep breath and stared at Sage's wide, gold, dilated and slightly crazed orbs. She was panting because Sage's 'kisses of love' were hard work. She heard it all now, the relentless barking, the whispers of conversation from the nurse's office and vaguely, the direction of the voice she'd heard earlier. She thought she should check it out but to do that, she'd have to get out from under her brother.

Courage is not in never fearing but in doing even though you fear.

So she took a deep breath and without letting herself think about it, she looked straight at Sage and said, "Get off."

"Excuse me?" her brother said with a raised brow.

"I knew you were a dick but I didn't realise you were deaf too," she said and wanted to cheer because she sounded... Relatively steady. Azalea raised a sculpted eyebrow of her own.

"No need to get hostile, little sis," Sage said with a condescending smirk, holding up his hands in mock surrender and stepping back.

"Don't call me that unless brothers are meant to fuck their little sisters," she said with a snarl. She shoved against his chest, not very hard, but enough to send a sort of message. She had so much more she wanted to say but at the same time she just wanted to cower in a corner and beg for forgiveness. Azalea forced herself to step past him, keeping her head held high and throwing her shoulders back.

"You don't talk like that to me," Sage said coldly and before Azalea even noticed, he'd backhanded her. She felt nothing but her eyes widened at the realisation, she'd stumbled from the impact. A real snarling came then and she turned, blinked, and stared at Hana's dog. It was growling menacingly at Sage, its great sharp teeth snapping at him. Sage threw her a glare, turned, and walked away.

"Thanks," she found herself saying to a dog. Could it even understand her? She didn't know. She'd never had a dog. Azalea reached out and scratched it behind its ears. She'd heard dogs liked that. She knew she wasn't meant to randomly touch dogs because they might bite her hand off before she even noticed but this dog had saved her, hadn't it? It wouldn't save her to kill her. Or maybe it would. Maybe this was some well thought out tactic to charm her into letting down her guard before it ate her in her sleep. Did dogs think that far? She didn't know. She supposed not... Maybe.

"Hey, I'll get you back to Hana ASAP but you seem to have a natural gift for scaring demons," Azalea said with a sardonic smile. Her brother was most likely a full fledged Hell-dweller. Azalea turned, not sure if she should put one hand on Hana's dog to make it follow or just walk. She chose the latter, heading in the direction of the voice she'd heard earlier. The voice that was beautiful in every way, but that she disliked. Most likely because it was as perfect as Sage's was and equally as condescending.

She was quite surprised at what she found. Or who. It was Aedan the Flirtatious Hottie she was going to bed and another infinitely taller and equally as mesmerising - had she been capable of being mesmerised - man. He had snow white hair - perfect like Sage's - and intense blue eyes that reminded her of oceans with ghosts that would drag you down and drown you. Azalea always felt like she was drowning. He looked strangely familiar, this man, but what bothered her more was the way he seemed to be cornering Aedan.

Azalea forced her previous weakness in Sage's presence away, making herself tilt her hip to the side and place a hand on her hip. She drooped her eyelids and raised a brow: lazy, nonchalant, curious, intimidating if you could get over the fact that the man was much larger than she was. Hmph, she'd beaten men double his size before, she could do it again. But somehow, she couldn't feel it in her to fight. She was tired, she'd broken her wrists thrice and she'd had to deal with her brother. This man was just about as frightening as strawberry shortcake to her right then.

Azalea strutted over to the two, closing the distance and wedging herself between the two men so she faced the huge man who strangely reminded her of a White Wolf. She placed a palm on his chest, taking a step forward to urge him further away from Aedan. Azalea tilted the corners of her lips in a flirtatious and threatening smile. Even with her body made of bruises that looked like flowers rippling beneath her skin, she was beautiful in a way that was similar to this man's otherworldly beauty.

"What a nice catch, Aedan," she purred, still staring into the White Wolf's bright blue eyes. "I'm hurt. I thought we were well acquainted enough that you would invite me for threesomes," she said innocently, as one might speak of a date in the library. She tossed her wildly organised, unnaturally soft pale pink hair over her shoulder, letting it sweep over her body. Her silver eyes sparked with the same wild ferocity as her hair and she let her fingers drift down the White Wolf's body.

"I have a knee and you have balls," she whispered in her honey-sweet voice, batting her long eyelashes in mock submission. "You get my drift?

"Then again, you have boy parts and I have girl parts. We could do that too," she said with a wink.

Bump-bump….bump-bump….bumpbump…bumpbump..bumpbump..bumpbump…

Why the heck….? Oh….OH YEAH….Silly me.

There comes a time when forgetting something can cost you dearly, and Razeluxe had forgotten to take his blood-pressure medication, which meant that his heart was fairly active when it shouldn’t be. Quite honestly, he could go on all day like this – provided he didn’t engage in any strenuous activities – but that was not really healthy, and his parents – were they to find out – would have a very serious fit over the matter. He’d be disobeying them as well if he didn’t take his meds.

Sadly, this meant he had to make the trek to the Nurse’s office to retrieve said medication, for he couldn’t simply carry it around with him at school. The good thing was that he needed only take the blood-pressure meds at morning, once a day. This meant that once he took it, he’d be good until tomorrow morning, and by then it would be resting on his counter for him to take when he awoke. Thusly, he had to bid a temporary farewell to Peachy, to his dismay.

“Hey Peachy… I’ll be back very shortly, I just need to go do something real quick.” He announced to the pink-haired woman. “Save my seat, will ya?” he smiled kindly, stood up, and then promptly left, headed off towards the office. He should have enough time to go there and back before all the official stuff started, so it wouldn’t be any problem.

His heart would beat at an accelerated pace while he walked. It didn’t hurt; it was just annoying to feel as if you had just ran somewhere. As he continued past some students in the hallways and towards the nurse, he placed his hand upon his chest, feeling it. It beated. He wasn’t sure what he was expecting from doing so, since he could pretty much feel every beat of the muscle. A student caught sight of him holding his chest, and instinctively, Raze pretended like he was scratching it. The student passed by without another glance. Good.

Quite honestly, he was glad his parents had forced him to go on a tour of the school a week ago. He was never really one with a good sense of direction, and in these twisty hallways, he’d imagine he’d get lost fairly often had he not had that luxury. Maybe he could do well and help others who hadn’t taken a tour, for he was pretty sure he wasn’t the only new kid in school. Pretty sure, though it’d be a very big surprise if it was found otherwise.

Finally reaching the damn place, he turned the nob and stepped in. Why were there so many people in this place? A quick glance around told him there was even some people actually hurt, as if they had just gotten into a fight or something. Surely that couldn’t be the case though. You would have to be outright looking for a fight to get into one on the FIRST day of school, BEFORE classes had even begun. Raze couldn’t imagine people who were that low, but he did accept they were probably in existence somewhere. He hoped to believe that any injured were simply because of an accident. Yes… that would explain…. That.
Instead of continuing to look at the other people, he searched for the Nurse. Where was that purple-headed man when you needed him? Razeluxe didn’t know, but he needed to get back here so that Raze coul-

"I'm hurt. I thought we were well acquainted enough that you would invite me for threesomes,"

Quite literally, the Brunette’s jaw dropped open in…whatever feeling it was he was having. He couldn’t think of a correct word to describe it. He couldn’t think. Did she really just say that? And like that? He was surprised because it sounded as if she were serious. He could not tune into whatever it was this coincidentally pink-haired beauty said immediately after, but after that, he definitely caught it.

"Then again, you have boy parts and I have girl parts. We could do that too,"

Dear god, she was teasing this man. Who happened to have a head of white hair. Did having normal-colored hair lose popularity in Japan? This school was making him feel like it, with two pinks and one white. Now he was waiting for the green. This man had rougher features, but the most notable was his lack of two eyes. Poor dude, Razeluxe thought.

Of course he only briefly thought that because some words by a seductress had definitely made him red, regardless if they were to him or not. Razeluxe was never introduced to jokes about sex or the sort, so this kind of thing…. Well, he didn't take it as ‘well’ as he should. In response (when he could finally get himself to do so) he coughed, clearing his throat to hopefully maybe embarrass the girl or something to stop all this talk about sex. Or he might've just done the opposite and invite her to do the same on him. He only just realized this AFTER he coughed, a flaw of his. Why do all the important thoughts come after the actions?

No no, he was alright. She… definitely knew these two, right? Just hitting on random boys like that! Haha, Raze mentally laughed at himself. Then he stopped.

Why was her cheek red?

Someone cleared his throat.

Azalea tilted her head curiously to the side, still looking into White Wolf's eyes, or, well, eye. They reminded her of azure easter eggs. She turned her gaze to the side, spotting a handsome brunette man, she smiled, the cupid's bow of her lips dipping lower. She had faint dimples on each cheek.

"Well, hello," she said. Her light pink waves fell over her shoulder to shield her right eye, where a bruise was flowering on her temple from where she'd been punched while kicking male ass. She batted her long eyelashes and tucked her hair behind her ear. "There's no point in standing there lurking, my beautiful chocolate man." Azalea laughed. God, she'd always wanted to say that. "Oh you and Aedan will get along quite well," she said, glancing briefly at the dark haired boy. "He's a bit of a stalker too."

Azalea rubbed Hana's dog's ears absently, stroking his thick fur and thinking. "I'm named after a flower but the three of you are prettier than me," she joked. "My self esteem," she said with a dramatic sigh. "If you wore a bikini, you'd pass for a girl." Azalea wiggled her eyebrows suggestively, looking straight at tall, dark and handsome., dipping her gaze below his waist. "Forgetting your manhood, that is.

"Oh, this is unreal. There are three of you, one of me and a really empty hallway." Excluding the dog. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" she asked, smirking. She held her breath and let a dramatic moment of silence stretch. "Mad animal sex followed by a tub of ice-cream and the creative use of it."

Hana's dog growled.

"Azalea."

She flinched, clutching the dog tighter and turning slowly, slower, stop. She wiggled her nose as if she smelled something wretched, or pretended to, anyway, Sage smelled like wood and cologne, she hated him for it. "Sage," she said with a roll of her eyes, imitating his condescending tone.

"Who are your friends?" he asked, raising a brow at the three men who surrounded her.

"Unfortunately, no one," she said curtly, crossing her arms and shielding her chest. Sage's gaze dropped to her breasts.

"Sluts don't tend to be very popular with those of the straight female persuasion, last I checked," he said with a sweet smile.

"Dickheads don't tend to be very popular with sisters, last I checked," she replied.

"Oh, you like it," he said, referring to her constant supposedly offensive 'dickhead' insult.

"I didn't realise you were a mind-reader on top of being a savage beast," she replied steadily. She noticed then that she'd taken a step back; Azalea swore inwardly.

"I thought you liked it rough, little sister," Sage said. Azalea clenched and unclenched her fist, tittering on her heels. Stay still, stay still, she repeated to herself.

"Go away, Sage," she said, her voice smaller than she would've liked it to be. There was a spark in her brother's eyes, a flare of barely controlled fury. Azalea shoved her trembling fingers through her hair, then decided to braid it.

"You shouldn't have, Azalea," he said, his tone possessive, promising violence to come. Her name rolled from his tongue as if it were made for it and she was made for him. Azalea was nothing without him and she existed only as his plaything. She was inferior.

433. 432. 431. 430. 329.

"You and White Wolf here were made for each other," she said, patting the white haired boy's backside and nodding, agreeing with herself. "I hope you make lots of borderline psychotic, beautifully horrific babies."

"Duly noted," Sage replied, reaching out and running his fingers over her red cheek. "Oh, what happened here, love?" he asked innocently, feigning ignorance and concern. Azalea opened her mouth to retort but shut it when Sage's nails pressed into her jaw.

"I did get shoved into a wall by a bunch of guys," she said through clenched teeth. "Don't worry, though, my caring, sweet brother. I did get to kick them in the balls and pound their heads into floors, after which they begged for mercy," she said, imagining doing what she did to the four boys earlier today to Sage. It was a difficult thing to visualise.

"Pity," he said. "Make sure you look pretty tomorrow."

Azalea pulled away from him, turning to look at the handsome brunette who seemed to be clutching his chest. She gasped and clasped him on the shoulder, squeezing compassionately. "Cramps, huh?

"Don't worry, my beautiful chocolate man. TAMPONS! BLOOD. BLOOD EVERYWHERE!" she yelled loudly glaring at Sage until he rolled his eyes and turned to walk away. "Let's take you to the nurse, man who is very obviously a woman," she said, then pursed her lips because it made no sense. "Go, go, go," she urged, waving her arms at the other two, White Wolf and Sexy Beast. "It's okay," she whispered, patting the small, dark haired boy and gasping, sniffling in pretend empathy. "I can see that your FEMALE PARTS are in pain." Obviously, White Wolf liked it rough, she told herself, throwing a glare at the light haired man. "It will not always hurt," she said, patting Aedan again. "Trust me. Just be glad he's not a sausage through a hallway."

“Are you alright, Azalea?”

She froze, looking over her shoulder to make sure Sage hadn't heard, turned and found herself staring into infinitely deep blue eyes. She quickly dropped her gaze. Alright? Was she alright? He towered over and she wanted to shrink into a corner and beg for forgiveness. Azalea searched, scratched at and ran for the remains of her humour, because that was the only thing that had ever kept her afloat.

“No,” I whimper. “Please.” His hands shake as he fumbles with his belt. I shut my eyes like I did when I was little. Little? Still little. Too little. Too big. Too existent. Too awake.

"Do I look alright?" she joked, forcing herself to roll her eyes. Azalea wiggled her fingers with their bruised knuckles. "We should probably head to class," she said. Her eyes flickered to the small window that revealed the world outside those double doors. Sometimes she wondered if this was all a computer simulation and that was why she felt more of nothing that she did of anything. Sometimes she dreamed of a prince on a white horse that would swoop it and save her, maybe he'd have a sword in his hand, maybe he'd kill her.

There is a place without joy. It is the end of everything. A hollowed tree filled with needles and lighters, nails and razor blades and cigarettes embedded in rotten lungs.

"I think Sage is in my class," she said absently, choking on the word 'Sage.' Such an innocent word it was, Sage, the herb, a wise man, her brother, a rapist. "Maybe I'll bribe him to do my maths homework."

I can’t breathe. A sweating weight is on me and in me and I can’t breathe. I can’t. Don’t you dare let him see you cry.

"Mr. Takahashi really doesn't like me; I think he's jealous of my hair," she said. "So, funny story. Someone told me I was a passionfruit because on the inside I have lots of seeds and on the outside I'm hard and hairy." Azalea wiggled her nose. "I don't think that's a compliment unless you're a-" She dipped her gaze below the brunette's waist again. "You know.

"God, I'm too innocent for this."

The knob turns and the door creeps open, the scent of him drowns the room. I stare into the splashes of darkness behind my eyelids and stay still – he has the eyes of Medusa, he is always watching, he has the eyes of Medusa, he is always – “Good girl,” he coos.

Azalea shuffled from foot to foot, looking over her shoulder, searching for Sage and not wanting to find him. She wondered what being skinned alive might be like, she wondered if it would hurt the way people told her pain might feel. Could anyone describe pain? Azalea wondered if she was lucky.

Tears spill from my eyes, dragging my spirit away from my body as they pull their limp forms across the skin that is not mine. A hand like a hammer to my cheek whips my head aside, tomorrow a bruise will burst and flower like a bud unravelling withered petals. He growls, “Stop crying! You’re acting like I’m hurting you.”

Sometimes she imagined a prince on a horse.

Or just the horse.

"Still waiting for the bucket of ice-cream," she said, shoving her wandering memories and thoughts aside and burying them 60 feet under. "Definitely still waiting for the mad animal sex. Didn't you need to see the nurse?" Azalea asked with a tilt of her head. "Oh!" Azalea turned to Aedan then.

"Goodbye, I'm a fish," she signed. "You eat Chinese girls."

"On a scale of one to ten, how great are my signing skills? Wait, nope, don't answer that," she said. She pulled out the humongous Sign Language for Dummies book from her messenger bag, flipping through the pages. "I'm pretty sure I just told you you were a Chinese girl. Hey, that's actually not too bad. I'm a natural." At insulting the deaf.

Wolfgang was intrigued by this new comer. Well, not knew. He had seen this girl many times passing through the halls or ramming people over on her skate board.

When she came him and his prize, a light, curious snarl slipped through his lips. No one had dared touch him! But… In a way, he didn’t really want to waste him time on the lass. She looked battered and bruised already, and a fight would ruin his chances for tomorrows introduction concert.

"I'm hurt. I thought we were well acquainted enough that you would invite me for threesomes,”

---
Aedan’s face turned a light shade of red as Azalea wedged herself into the already tight space between the two. Granted, he had no problem with a piece of choice ass pressed against him, but it was the way Wolfgang glared at the offer.
“Threesomes, Doll?” He asked, a light grin spreading over his face. “Have you missed me that much?”

Aedan grunted lightly, crossing his arms as Azalea pushed the offender away. His body was still trembling, a bit of blood staining the white of his collar where Wolf had left his marks.

"Then again, you have boy parts and I have girl parts. We could do that too," she said with a wink.

Now that caught him off guard. The both of them. Aedan smirked, looking a little eager to have Azalea take his place for the day. Or the moment at least. Wolfgang, however, mearly scoffed at the offer, like a dog that had been offered the bone of a cow, but instead wanted Filet Mignon.

When the brunette made himself known, and Azalea dropped the "Oh you and Aedan will get along quite well cuz your both stalkers" bomb, Aedan’s face turned a bright red, almost matching the red strip in his hair. Oh how he wished he could talk!

Wolfgang couldn’t help but laugh at the blonde for a moment before turning his attention towards the brunette. He was cute, in that new student kind of way; as was the other boy who seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. A brother perhaps? A twin? It didn’t matter, at least not to Wolf.

His thoughts were torn when he suddenly he felt his rear being patted by the pink haired girl.
"You and White Wolf here were made for each other," she said, patting the white haired boy's backside and nodding, agreeing with herself. "I hope you make lots of borderline psychotic, beautifully horrific babies."

“Please,” Wolf scoffed, looking back toward the pink-haired boy. “He ain’t my type.”
---
When the two were shoo’d away by the massive amounts of Azalea fun, Aedan smirked.
"It will not always hurt," she said, patting Aedan again. "Trust me. Just be glad he's not a sausage through a hallway."
Aedan gave a soft laugh, pulling out his phone to reply. With a KWAM (Keyed Words a Minute) of over 100, it didn’t really take that long.

Well, at least not until tonight.

Giving a wave back to the brunette, he gave him a reassuring look. Hopefully Azalea wouldn’t harm him too bad.

When he was called to attention by the pink haired beauty, he watched as her hands went through a flurry of signs.

"Goodbye, I'm a fish," she signed. "You eat Chinese girls."

This sent Aedan over in a fit of giggles, his body racking with the almost soundless laugh. Regaining himself, he gave an apologetic smile and held up three fingers.

“Aedan, come,” Wolf snapped, turning on the heel of his Italian leather shoes and making his way for the band room. He wasn't about to sit around and watch someone who didn't need Aedan steal him away.

Aedan sighed softly, biting his lip as he debated wither or not it would be a good idea. He could follow Wolf, like a good little Doll, and not get in trouble, or he could hang around with Azalea and this cute freshman and possibly have a chance at making friends.

“Aedan. Now.”

Deciding bruises and more scrapes may be a bad thing he gently pulled Azalea’s head towards him and placed a kiss to her cheek before doing the same to the male.

Scribbling another note, he gingerly placed it on the girls head before turning to promptly follow Wolf.

The both of you are invited to Band Practice. Room M003 near the assembly hall. Seen you two hotnesses later.
~ A. C.

While he was not convinced she was completely alright, he would have to settle on the fact that she was able to continue joking around, and that would be enough to keep him from overly worrying about her. He smiled, this one more relaxed than the last, without that tinge of worry he had in his last, and spoke. “Of course you look alright.” Came a small compliment in hopes of changing the mood. Again, he was forgetting how she was.

It didn’t take long for Azalea to swing back into her supposedly normal mood once Sage had disappeared. This of course manifested itself in the form of another sexual joke… and Razeluxe found her staring at his lower side once again. Damn, and the blush was just leaving too. Well, now it was back again, his inability to take these jokes with a straight face as apparent as he was tall compared to her. If he was going to be going to school here, he would be better off learning to deal with these, but for now that task was impossible.

Again, she joked, but immediately afterwards, she reminded him that he needed to see the nurse. Here he was procrastination with a hot woman who seemed to want to pull someone’s pants down and mount them. His mother would kill him if she heard what Azalea was saying. Not her, just Raze. It was Razeluxe’s fault for whatever reason, she would probably say…. After stabbing him.

“Y-yeah…” he mumbled, and as she turned to interact with the others, he found the nurse. He ended up getting an assistant nurse, rather than the real deal. She was a bit older, around 30, maybe, and had black hair that fell down to her waist.

….

...

He had kept the conversation quiet enough to where the other kids in the office did not hear about it, and when he was handed his pill case, he stuffed it into his deep pockets. This was around the time Azalea had mentioned calling the black-headed female a Chinese girl. Should he have even returned? What was she talking about? It then hit him that the young girl couldn’t speak. Oh, he thought embarrassedly. He could’ve made it worse, he the figured.

But it was about time to get going and he didn’t really want to be late. The white-headed man had ordered the black-headed…wait….Razeluxe took a better look. Was that a guy? Yeah, it was. With cat-ears too. What was wrong with him? Well, aside from his lack of voice. He seemed to try to laugh, but because it was impossible to do so, it was silent. The White-headed man would press once more before Cat-guy caved in and listened, and this is where things got really, really uncomfortable.

He gave Azalea a kiss…. And then Razeluxe too.

As soon as the man had his back turned, Raze wiped his…..his whatever off in pure disgust. No no, Raze did not swing both ways, only one. Raze also disliked being touched in general, and in such a way was… uncomfortable. The suggestive note he left on Azalea’s head also shook him a bit. It was not grounds for Razeluxe to hate someone, but now he felt… nervous. Like he should watch the boy. And he would.

“…Well, I will see you later, Azalea.” He said after a small silence. “It was a great pleasure to meet you. Don’t be afraid to speak to me if you so wish.” He told her, even if he doubted that would ever be a problem. She didn’t seem to mind talking about sex as if it were the weather, so he figured she wouldn’t hesitate to stop and talk to him if it was her want. Either way, it was a courtesy. For now, he simply needed to get back to his seat before the ‘horde’ prevented him from doing so.

As he stepped out of the Nurses office, offering one more warm smile to the girl who hid her lust only in fables, he found that the horde was preventing him from doing so. Shit. He had stepped out, and the many students rushing to get there had swept him away, almost like a wave in the ocean. The unintelligible talking of the students muffled his cries for help (which were simply “hey”) and he was dragged back to the room with which he had left Peachy. Of course, he couldn’t even make it back to her. Now he was going to have to apologize.

But soon the principle started speaking, giving out his introductory speech to the whole of the student body, giving Razeluxe some of the best news ever. No class. For one, whole week, not a single bit of class so that the students may better get familiar with the campus and their new home for however long they were to be enrolled here. Such a godsend, it was. He smiled.

Hopefully this place would be bearable.

The note read: "The both of you are invited to Band Practice. Room M003 near the assembly hall. See you two hotnesses later.
~ A. C."

"Sure, bro. Give us a place, don't give us a time. I'm a woman, hence, I'm psychic," she said sarcastically, reading around the handsome brunette and tucking the note in his back pocket. She would admit her hand lingered on his backside for a little too long. He had a great ass.

"C'mon, doggy, let's get you back to my cute little Hana," she said, having already claimed Hana for herself. "To the nurse," she said for Brunette's sake as she ushered the dog forward to his mistress. "What's your name, besides Tall, Dark and Handsome?" she asked with a light smirk.

---

"HANA~" Azalea squealed, dashing into the nurse's office at an incredible speed, she slapped her hand on a chair, double flipping into the air and tackling Hana onto the bed. "Woooooo!" she yelped, sitting on the young girl, her legs tucked around Hana's torso. Azalea bent down and pressed a kiss right over Hana's lips. "Hana Banana, goooood morning," she cooed, taking Hana's face in her hands and wrapping her in a suffocating hug.

"Your dog is a saint and you are a Goddess," she announced, squishing her red cheek against Hana's soft, round ones. "We are naming your dog Saint Dog and I'm building a tent and calling it St. Dog's Chapel," she proclaimed.

"Oh my god, my feels," she gushed, jumping off of Hana and getting ready to pounce on Zeal.

"Azalea," the nurse said in a warning tone. "Most people can actually feel." Mrs. Osaka pursed her lips then, realising what had just slipped through her lips. Mrs. Osaka hadn't wanted them to know, Azalea having a very, very long record of being beaten or tortured by other students. 'Make the unfeeling girl feel' seemed to be a ritual initiation that all new students had to go through. She hadn't wanted that to happen to Azalea.

"You killed my funk," Azalea whined with a pout as she crossed her arms over her chest. She jumped off the beds and bounced on her feet. "Oh wow, I'm so sleepy!" she said with wide eyes as she jumped up and down. "CAFFEINE!" Her gaze snapped over to the jar of lollipops Mrs. Osaka kept in her office then.

"Azalea!" Mrs. Osaka yelled as the pink haired girl snatched a lollipop from the jar. "You shouldn't!"

"I'd like to see you stop me," Azalea snarled, snapping her teeth as she slipped behind a desk, dodging and avoiding the grasp of the ancient school nurse. Then, suddenly, she dropped to the floor and bounced back up, slipping around a surprised Mrs. Osaka. Cackling loudly, Azalea ran out of the room - but not without slapping a kiss on Satomi, too.

"I'm going for the lesbian look this year," she said hastily. "Can you tell?"

Azalea popped the lollipop into her mouth, sucking and licking at it suggestively. "Oh, this is oh so small," she said with emphasis on 'small.' "I could use something big."

"Azalea!" Mrs. Osaka gushed with a furious blush. Oh, Azalea did so love making people feel awkward.

"Ooo, this is strawberry and cream flavoured," she said. "Like my strawberry hair you could totally run your fingers through during s-"

"Azalea Kristin Fray!" the nurse exclaimed.

"Retreat, retreat," Azalea gasped, pretending to speak into an imaginary walky-talky. "Mayday, mayday. Angry nurse alert." She laughed, stepping backwards and slipping out the door. Azalea's sneakers slapped against the polished floor as she ran down the hallway. There was a loud boom as she slapped the double doors open. Soon she found herself at the assembly hall. She caught the last snippets of announcement.

"Make friends."

No, she was not going to 'make friends.' She had the misfortune of having Sage as a brother and as she lost all motor control around him and he happened to be very, very good at ruining lives, she wasn't going to bother. In fact, she hoped nobody even liked her. Azalea turned to the female washrooms then, slipping in and standing in front of the mirror at one of the sinks. She pulled out a large bag from her already large messenger bag. She washed her face, scrubbing madly at her skin and lips to get Sage's scent and touch out of her. Azalea pulled her tank top over her head, everything, she took everything off, even her shoes.

After she'd towel dried her body - she was practically naked but what the hell, gracing people with her nudity was as good as community work - she pulled pulled on her best hooker-lingerie. She'd had the school's green skirt altered so it was incredibly short, covering enough to be decent and no more. She was grateful for the school uniform's long white sleeves, they covered the finger marks all along her arms and the burn she'd received from scraping her arm along the floor when she tackled Zeal to the ground. Azalea combed out her pale pink hair, its waves fell perfectly around her now, each strand falling like gold and silk. Without a strand out of place, she began on the makeup. Azalea covered the bruises and cuts with the precision and speed of someone who did it everyday.

By the end of it, she was perfect.

Not a single injury could be seen on her and one would think she were a pampered rich girl or a model from the looks of her. Azalea tied the black ribbon under her collar, it sat perfectly between her collar bones. Her wavy hair brushed past her skirt and skimmed her black thigh-high socks that had been stretched out over her long legs. Her shoes shone almost as brightly as her hair. Azalea briefly considered letting all her injuries show, but decided otherwise. She didn't want to have to deal with Sage. He liked to see his sister perfect.

She stepped out of the girl's bathroom and when a boy turned to stare at her, startled, she saw herself through his eyes.

She saw her large, intense, light silver eyes; her crimson lips; her pink hair streaked with gold and crimson and her hourglass figure sculpted as if from an artist's vision of an ideal woman. She was flawless. She was Azalea.