"Kinu-chan! Wake up! You'll be late!" Her mother's voice trails throughout the otherwise quiet house.

Kinu turns over onto her back and stares up at the blank ceiling, watching the blades on the ceiling fan turn. Reaching over to the other side of her bed, feels around until her hands make contact with her phone hidden underneath the crumpled up blankets. She grips the android phone with both hands and holds it up above her face, wincing as the bright screen shines in her face. She is definitely awake now.

Her background sports a picture of her and Michelle taken last week right before she got on her plane to leave. A message from Michelle pops up on her screen, wishing her a great first day. A yawn escapes her mouth followed by a cheerful smile. After reading the message, she suddenly becomes energetic and pushes off what little blankets she hadn't already thrown off of her in the middle of the night.

She hops enthusiastically out of her bed and softly lands on the cold, hardwood floor. As she stretches, she turns her music on and slides across the floor over to her dresser. She ups the volume as she places her phone into the docking station sitting on the top of the dresser. Korean pop music starts blaring out of her speakers as she opens her top dresser drawer pulling out her underclothes. She strips out of her sleeping clothes and tosses them into the laundry basket in the corner of her room. Dancing to the music, she steadily changes into her school uniform: a black pleated skirt, white sailor top, white knee high socks, and a red tie.

Kinu stands in front of the vanity mirror attached to her dresser and straightens her collar. Once she is happy with it, she shuffles back and forth in front of the mirror, brushing out her long, black hair. She pulls her hair back into high pigtails and straightens out her bangs with her brush. After double checking them to make sure they're even, she places her brush back down on the dresser. She removes her phone from its station and turns her music off. Slipping it into her skirt pocket, she hops down the stairs as the aroma of cinnamon and brown sugar fill the airs. Her mother actually took the time to make breakfast for once.

She quickly crosses the living room to reach the dining room, following the heavenly smell of breakfast. On the table are two sets of dishes already filled with food and drinks. She pulls out her chair and sits down at the table taking a pair of chopsticks in her hands. She brings her hands together saying itadakimasu (literally I humbly receive). Her mother comes into the room and sits down at the table next to her.

"Ohayo, Okaasan," Kinu says as she takes a bite of her already cut French toast.

Her mother smiles at her and tells her good morning. Sipping her coffee, she stares into her tablet reviewing her schedule for the day. Kinu quickly finishes off her breakfast and pushes back from the table. She stacks her dishes and takes them to the kitchen where she softly places them in the sink. After rinsing them, she dries her hands on the towel hooked onto one of cabinets and walks back into the dining room.

"I'm going to school now. I should remember how to get there from here." She leans down and kisses her mother on the cheek. "Make sure you eat," she says in a stern tone as she leaves the room.

Her mother looks up from her schedule and says in a joking tone, "Hai, Okaasan!"

Kinu picks up and slings her black messenger bag across her body. She slips on her black maryjanes and opens the door leading outside. Birds, nested in a large tree in her front yard, chirp serenely as she takes in a large breath of fresh air. Skipping down the cobblestone walkway leading to the street, she pulls a set of Hello Kitty earbuds from her bag and places them snuggly in her ears. She reaches into her tight skirt pocket and pulls out her phone, plugging in her headphones in the top slot.

She returns to her music player searching for an appropriate playlist for her day and decides to leave it up to fate by pressing the shuffle button. Rock music, that she enjoyed listening to with Michelle in America, blares in her headphones as she opens the white gate and exits her front yard. Song lyrics flow from her mouth with perfect accuracy as she sings along with the song. Making sure she is headed in the right direction, she opens up the GPS app on her phone and types in the school's address.

As she strolls down the sidewalk, she admires the houses of her neighbors. They all are similar to her own and scream out upper middle class. Her neighborhood is one of the nicest with one of the lowest crime rates in town. Her mother had worked hard and used her position in the company to acquire such a nice house.

Turning onto the next street in her quiet subdivision, she continues singing with her songs as her shuffle switches to a pop genre. She skips down the road dancing to the music and ignoring the dirty looks from her snooty neighbors. Her GPS beeps at her and informs her in English, which she is still more comfortable with, to turn down the next street. Without paying it much attention, she quickly looks to both sides for vehicles. When all she sees is an empty street, she steps off the sidewalk onto the road and starts crossing. The loud sound of brakes echoes through the street as she looks over to see a car heading towards her. Her eyes grow wide as fear plants her to the concrete road. Instinctively, she throws her arms up in front of her face and tightly closes her eyes to brace herself as the car turns to the side revealing itself to be a limousine. To her relief, it comes to a screeching halt a couple of feet from her person.

She drops her arms and pulls out her headphones as she sighs with relief, sweat trickling down the side of her face. A disgruntled voice is heard from the car as the back passenger door opens. A tall man steps out of back of the car and brushes off the pants of his obvious high dollar suit that accents his defined muscular structure. His gaze turns to her as his icy blue eyes cut through her even at a distance. He runs his fingers through his brunette hair, and he turns his attention back to the driver of his car who has stepped out of the vehicle. The second man rushes over to her and examines her.

"Are you okay? You came out of nowhere." The driver, a head taller than her, looks at her with green eyes filled with genuine concern.

Her blue eyes, filled with fear and relief, meet with his creating a blush across his cheeks."Yes, I am okay," she says hesitantly making sure she speaks in Japanese and not English.

"That's great," he says, happy that he didn't hit the girl with the limousine.

"Why are you worrying about that girl? She's of no concern to us. The car is fine so lets go. I was making sure she didn't dent it," the man says impatiently as he settles back down in his seat before shutting the door.

Shocked replaces the fear in her eyes as she turns her attention back to the rude man in the back of the limousine. 'Why that asshole...where does he get off saying that he was just making sure I didn't dent the car?!'

Anger begins to swell up visibly in her heated face as she stomps over to the vehicle and taps on the window. He presses a button on the side of the door, his tinted window slowly sliding down into the door and revealing his face to her once again.

"Do you need something, girl?" he asks in an irritated tone.

"Well, for starters asshole, my name isn't girl. It's Kinu."

Her blue eyes lock with his as anger continues to build. She can't believe that someone can be so self absorbed and more worried about their car than another human life. To him, the car being dented is more important than her being hurt. Who does he think he is?

The driver slowly inches his way back over to his side of the vehicle as her aura turns to an anger filled one. Sparks seem to fly between her and this man as tension fills the air around them.

"Hmph," a smirk forms on his face, "Fine. Kizu-chan, I have somewhere that I need to be and you are in my way. Move along so that you don't dirty up my car in case we hit you. Sayonara." He presses the button again bringing the window back up as his driver gets back into the car. "Lets go, Ninomiya-kun. I will be late for the beginning of classes today."

She yells at him through the window, but all he picks up are muffled noises. The driver puts the vehicle in drive and starts straightening it out. Kinu backs up, away from the vehicle, as it starts to move. She watches them drive off and proceeds to gracefully show off her middle finger as they do so.

"That asshole. How dare he call me that? I am not a blemish." She looks down at her phone still in her hand and notices the time. "Oh no! I'll worry about him later. I'm going to be late!"

Kinu runs the rest of the way to school, making sure to pay more attention to the roads that seem to spawn phantom vehicles from nowhere that contain pompous assholes. She makes certain to double check before crossing roads regardless of how quiet they seem. Once she reaches the school's outer gate, she stops running and places her hands on her knees as she bends down to catch her breath. After her breathing balances out, she stands back up straight, looking at the rather large building in front of her. A clock stands high above her in the distance attached to the top of the white, multi floor building. She walks down the stone pathway in front of the school, admiring the large fountain in the middle of the courtyard. The fountain, full of life, continuously flows crystal clear water into the base from the top.

The sound of cheering echoes through the courtyard, pulling Kinu's attention away from the fountain. Crowds of female students surround the school entryway, clearly excited by something that Kinu can't see. She inches closer to them, curious about what is going on. As she reaches the back of the large crowd of screaming teenage girls, she stands on her toes to try to see what the commotion is about, but her vision is blocked by waving arms and bobbing heads.

The girls let out one more loud scream in unison, "WE LOVE YOU, KAIBA-SAMA!"

They all go quiet as the person that seems to have caused all of this ruckus has left their vicinity. Pacing behind the crowd that has still yet to acknowledge her existence, Kinu wonders why the name sounds so familiar to her. By the way those girls are acting, he has to be a famous celebrity. Is he a singer or an actor that maybe she's heard of once before. Confusion takes over her face as she continues to rack her brain for the information she's seeking.

Someone taps on her shoulder, startling her, and pulling her from her thoughts. Behind her stands a tall girl with one hand placed firmly on her hip. Her uniform differs from Kinu's with a longer skirt of and a plain white, collared shirt with a black tie instead of the regulation sailor shirt. Her short, bleached silver hair shines in the morning sunlight along with multiple ear piercings. She examines Kinu, looking her up and down before giving her a smile and introducing herself to the younger girl.

"The name's Katana. I'm a sophomore here. You must be new. I've never seen you before."

"Umm...yeah. I just moved here about a week ago. I'm Hikoboshi Kinu."

The girl's silver hair mesmerizes Kinu as she stares at it wondering how she managed that shade of silver. Taking her pigtail in hand she mentally compares the colors. Her old school never allowed any color that wasn't considered a natural color, and she always wanted to do something crazy with her hair, even if every girl at her old school seemed jealous.

"I thought so. I figured you were new since you weren't acting brainwashed like all of those airheads."

She tilts her head, motioning towards the girls in front of them who are standing around chatting amongst themselves about the person that just left. A couple of them, in the back, stop talking when they hear Katana speak and look over at the two girls with venom in their stares. How dare she talk about them like that?

"I was a bit confused by that. I didn't know what was going on. Who is Kaiba-sama, anyway? Is he a celebrity or something?" she asks the older girl.

Katana smirks as she feels the heated stares from the girls standing behind Kinu. Raising her voice purposely, she responds, "He's really not that important. Definitely not deserving of the 'sama' honorific. He's some rich brat that took over the school. He's not even much older than us. Maybe early twenties? No one knows for sure though. He never really talks about himself much. Unless you can count him reminding us everyday why he thinks he's so much better than everyone."

The girls' faces turn red and fueled with anger as they have enough of Katana's insults. They close in the gap between themselves and her and begin yelling, gaining the attention of their surrounding schoolmates.

"You're just jealous that he doesn't grace you with his presence like he does us," a very unnatural red haired girl says as she flips her layered hair out of her face.

"Yeah. He tells us every day that he loves us and would love to be with all of us," the brunnette responds with a smug look on her face. "You're just jealous because no one would even consider being with you."

They both cross their arms in front of their chests, make direct eye contact, and smile cheekily, proud of themselves for their personal achievement of telling her off. Katana closes her lips tightly as nasally snickers leave her. She attempts to hold back fits of laughter but her tightly closed lips cannot withstand the force of her laughter. Their smiles vanish, replaced by scowls as Katana laughs in their faces.

Katana scoffs, "Ha! You wish. He'd sooner suck a dick than be with any of you."

Silence waves over the entire crowd of listening students as they stand flabbergasted by what just came out of Katana's mouth. Both girls huff with defeat and frustration as they are rendered speechless, unable to respond to her crass language. Kinu hides her forming smile behind her hand and thinks to herself how amazing Katana is to tell those girls off like that. She had completely caught her off guard with her use of language.

"Well, Katana-senpai, I can see that we're going to get along great." Kinu holds out her hand to the girl who takes it firmly, shaking it as the bell signaling the students to file into the school rings.

Katana pulls her hand away from Kinu's, "Well, that would mean it's time for class. Which class are you in? You called me senpai so I am guessing you're a freshman?"

"Yeah. I'm in class 1-A. This is a lot different from my schooling in America," Kinu says as she makes sure her phone is silent. The last thing she needs is her phone taken for going off unexpectedly during class. Michelle messages her when she gets the chance during the day, but the sixteen hour time gap causes a multitude of problems as far as time is concerned.

Katana perks up when she hears America and says, excitedly, "America? I definitely have to talk to you about that some time!" She clears her throat and returns to her normal tone of voice, "Lucky for you, I was in the same class last year. Your homeroom teacher is Yamaguchi-sensei who is pretty cool. He'll let you sleep in class as long as your grades are high enough."

Katana grabs Kinu's hand, leading her into the school and up a flight of stairs as she tells her about which teachers are the most lenient and which to avoid at all costs. As they step off of the stairs, Katana pauses in front of the first open door with a sign above it that confirms it to be the right room. Before she leaves her, Katana instructs her to wait outside of the room for Mr. Yamaguchi to arrive so he can do a formal introduction, and reassures her that she will come get her during lunch hour.

As Kinu watches her new friend rush to reach her own class, she leans her back up against the cold wall connecting to hers. Staring up at the ceiling, she patiently waits for her teacher to show up so she can enter the classroom. The sound of students carrying on meaningless conversations seep through the thin wall. She taps her foot anxiously on the tile floor not sure what to expect in the classroom behind her. They all seem to be acquainted with one another. How will they react to a new student? Will they welcome her with open arms?

A man shuffling through pages sitting in his arms walks swiftly down the hall, his short, black hair fighting a defeating war against the gray peeking through. In his peripheral, the sight of a body catches his attention causing him to look up from his unorganized papers. He shifts the weight of the pages to his dominant arm, freeing his other one to push his glasses back up the bridge of his nose. His eyes readjust, clearing his vision to see the girl properly this time.

Feeling like he has seen her before, he searches through his paperwork for a bright file suffocating underneath the massive stack in his hands. He pulls on the file at the bottom of his stack and situates it halfway out before his papers leap from his hands and scatter across the floor. Cursing life, he drops to his knees and scrambles to retrieve his pages.

Kinu, completely lost in her thoughts, jumps at the sound of the man cursing. She places her hand against her chest, feeling the quickening beat and taking in deep breaths to calm herself back down. She turns her head to the side staring at the older man moving around on the floor surrounded by a sea of papers. Coming out of her daze, she quickly runs over him and offers her assistance. He gladly accepts it as he stacks the pages on the floor.

The file that created this entire mess, lied open on the floor, facing up. Kinu reaches out for it, noticing a familiar picture paperclipped to the inside. She examines the file realizing it contains information about her transfer. At least this proves that she remembered the right room if he was carrying her file around. As her previous pleasant mood from the morning returns to her, she reveals her naturally kind smile pushing out the negative, restless feelings. She picks up and closes the file handing it to the man as he lifts himself up from his degrading position.

He thanks her for her help to which she responds by smiling brighter. She bows awkwardly to him, still not used to the custom of greeting her teacher this way. Her long, pigtails swish past her rosy cheeks as stands back up straight. As she mentally perfects her response, she asks him how class introduction works in their school. Studying her, he remembers the file, now lying on the top of his neatly stacked papers. He opens the file and looks up at her, readjusting his glasses once again. He flashes her a perfect smile that she doesn't expect from a teacher of his age.

"Just follow me into the room, and stand at the front. I will do your introduction then," he says, closing the file shut and walking the last few steps up the hall to his classroom.

Silence overtakes the previously rowdy class as Mr. Yamaguchi stands at the front with Kinu at his side. Heat rises in her cheeks as the eerie silence and crowd of eyes watching her create another nervous sensation inside of her chest. Students lean over to one another whispering while staring at her. A now visible blush overruns her cheeks as her eyes dart down to the floor.

"Now, now class. Settle down. Today, we have a new student joining us." He places the foot tall stack on his desk and says, as he holds his hand out motioning to her, "Please introduce yourself to the class and tell us a little bit about yourself."

Her eyes slowly work their way back up until the crowd of students still staring at her filled her vision once again. "Umm...hi. My name is Hikoboshi Kinu. I just moved here to Domino City a week ago. I have lived in America the past ten years." She glances over at her teacher who gives her a rolling wave of his wrist instructing her to continue. "I like reading, Korean pop music, anime, and cooking. I'm a bit of a dork."

Her hand moves behind her head as she bites down on her lower lip nervously. She isn't sure why she added the last part into her conversation about herself, but she knows that it is too late to change it now. If they don't like her then there isn't much that she can do about it at this point. She bows to them and as she comes back up, she is greeted by applause and cheers from her fellow classmates. A sigh escapes her as she smiles, glad that they seem to be okay with her.

"Now, that our introduction is out of the way," he scans the room and points out a seat in the back corner of the room positioned right next to an opened window. "You can sit next to Kusuhara-san."

Nodding her head and following his gaze, she walks down the aisle between the row of desks on that side of the room. A boy with a fair and smooth complexion, similar to that of a girl's, looks up at her from his book, his dark eyes locking with Kinu's as she stands next to her seat. The sunlight filtering through the window brings out the hidden highlights in his swooped hair. A smile creeps across his face as he tell her good morning in a voice that sounded smooth like butter, unlike the harsh sound that came out of the mouth of the jerk from earlier that morning.

Kinu sits down in her seat and responds good morning as she pushes the thought of him from her mind. She finally recouped her great mood, and she isn't about to let that asshole ruin it again by invading her thoughts. She decides to only concern herself with the cute boy she was lucky enough to have been placed next to.

Time flies throughout the day and before she knows it, lunch time is already arriving. The bell rings, a swarm of students hastily leave the classroom to buy lunch before it is all gone. Kinu reaches into her bag and pulls out a pink bento box decorated with rabbits and carrots. Running her fingers across the top, she remembers the day that she and Michelle picked it out from the local Asian marketplace. A sad smile encroaches on her face as she removes the top, setting it down on her desk and out of the way.
Before she can even take a bite of her delicious smelling food in front of her, the rattling of desks being rearranged next to her pulls her attention away. A group of girls in her class circle their desks around her, curious looks on their faces. It is obvious that they have things they want to ask he, but each of them awaited for the other to speak up first.

A girl with short, black hair breaks the silent tension forming among the girls, "So, did you really live in America most of your life? What was it like? You must speak English very well."

Taken aback by the odd questioning she clears her throat and responds,"Yeah. I lived in America for the last ten years. It was pretty cool, but that was mainly because I had an amazing friend while I was there. We went to the same schools and were in the same classes every year until now. And yes, I do speak fluent English."

"Wow. That's so cool! You definitely have to help me in English class."

The group of girls around her nod in agreement to her statement. Kinu's face lights up as she realizes that all of her previous worrying was for naught. Her classmates seemed to show a genuine interest in her and more importantly, they seemed to like her already. A heavy weight lifts off of her shoulders as she engages in idle chit chat with them.

The girls grow quiet as a girl with silver hair places her hand on one of their desks, smiling devilishly at them. By the looks in their eyes, you can tell that they aren't too happy about her presence being there. Kinu waves at her friend who picks her bento box up from her desk placing the lid back on the top.
"I told you that I would come get you at lunch time. Come with me."

Katana grabs Kinu's hand and lifts her out of her chair, leading her out of the classroom. The group watches them leave, their expressions unchanged. They converse among themselves curious about how Katana and Kinu know one another. How does the former yankee (female gang member) know her, and what does she want with her?

Kinu and Katana burst through the doors leading up to the roof. They cross the gravel covered floor as Kinu looks around excitedly. This is her first time on a roof so high in the air and the view is wonderful. She leans against the protective railing that stops at her waist as the sight of the outstretched city catches her eye. Buildings stand tall in the middle, surrounded by nice neighborhoods and large houses. She spots her house from the roof and jumps excitedly as her face brightens. Katana giggles as she watches Kinu react like a child in a candy store.

"Wow. It's lovely up here," Kinu says as she continues to take in the skyline, a breeze flowing across her face.

"Yep. It's why I always come up here during lunch. It's a great way to stay away from the stupidity in the school. I don't have many friends anymore so I always found it peaceful here."

She plops down and leans her back up against the metal railing. Kinu sits down next to her as Katana hands her the lunch she was unable to eat due to the conversations being had in the classroom.. She positions her chopsticks in her hand and removes the top taking in the scent of her lunch that she is extremely excited about finally getting to eat. She takes a bite of her rice and swallows it before asking the older girl why she doesn't have many friends anymore.

"Well, it's a bit complicated. I guess you can say it's because I'm a weird person. Most of my friends from last year graduated already. Plus, people have issues with me because of my past." A lighter in hand, she strikes it watching the flame dance until the breeze puts it out.

"Well, the past is the past. I don't hold anyone accountable for their past if they are trying to be a better person and have learned from their mistakes. Nobody's perfect."

Katana looks at her, shocked by her response, and laughs loudly, "You've definitely never lived here long then. People in this city are so stuck up and prude. If you do anything out of the ordinary they treat you like the plague." She kicks a rock with her foot sending it flying across the roof.

Finishing her lunch, she places her chopsticks back in their pouch on top of her empty bento box. Light snoring comes from Katana who has fallen off into a light sleep. Kinu quietly places her box onto the ground as she stares up at the white, fluffy clouds floating across the bright blue sky, covering the sun and creating a nice shade for the girls.

Loud cheering sounds through the courtyard waking up Katana instantaneously. She jolts forward and stands up sharply, looking over the edge of the roof as a man with multicolored hair walks through the courtyard. A small group of teenagers crowd around him, grabbing on his arms and yelling indistinguishable things at him.

Katana, whose face resembles those of the girls below, looks down at him intently with sparkles in her eyes. Her heart thumps fast in her chest reminding her of the feelings she has yet to get rid of. Kinu, curiosity filling her, stands up next to her companion and looks down at the group below them. A short man, roughly the size of the girls fawning all over him, stands in the middle of the crowd talking to each girl individually. The wind picks up flowing through his spiky hair that seems to resist the wind's futile attempts to make it unruly. Once the wind dies down, his hair stands perfectly tall, defying all laws of physics and gravity that Kinu has ever heard of.

She thinks to herself that this school is definitely more lenient about hair colors than any other one she has seen before. She makes out a multitude of varying layers of colors: blonde bangs and streaks, black base color, and tinted red ends. It is definitely the oddest hairstyle and array of colors she has ever encountered on anyone before, much less a guy. Curious about how he had managed to do that to his hair, she stares at him intently with Katana who misinterprets her stare.

"Isn't he just great? He's so out of the ordinary and always wears gothic clothes. Plus, he's a four time champion in dueling. He's so much better than Kaiba-san."

"Four time champion in dueling?" Kinu whispers to herself, jogging her brain for the information that she should know. When her mind comes up short, she asks, "Who is he?"

Katana lets out a depressing sigh and sits back down as he follows a group of girls into the school, "That's Yami-sama. He's the vice principal. He's the man that I love that I can never be with."

"Oh. I see." Kinu parks herself back down next to her friend and places her hand on her shoulder rubbing it lightly. "I know how you feel. I left a guy in America. He wasn't mine, but I loved him. He is happy with his girlfriend. I didn't even tell him I was leaving so I didn't even see him my last few days there. I avoided him. I didn't want some stupid goodbye or him saying something stupid to make me feel better about my feelings."

They both sit in quiet understanding of one another's feelings as they gaze back up at the clouds, finding random shapes and formations. The wind roars across the roof as it picks up unexpected speed, ripping golden leaves from their respected trees and swirling them around the courtyard. Kinu grips her bento box as she stands up, her skirt flying in every direction. Katana grips the railing, using it as a crutch to stand up straight. The door to the roof creaks as it opens and slams into the neighboring wall. Both girls jump and look over, caught off guard by the banging sound.

The silhouette of a man takes form in the doorway. He walks out into the sunlight, removing his flashy sunglasses from his pocket and placing them over his eyes. His brunette hair, completely unaffected by the wind, shimmers brightly in the sun as it peeks its way from behind the clouds. He flashes them both a condescending smile as Katana shoots him an evil glare filled with her dislike of him. Kinu's face falters as her eyes widen at the sight of the man in front of her. What is he doing here?