• Chapter One




    The rain was pouring down so hard, it was almost impossible to see a foot in front of anything. It was dusk, and the streetlights were on, lighting the way. Stray cats scurried to find the nearest shelter, instead of trying to find much needed food.

    A girl sat in an alley, soaked, hugging her legs to her chest. Her light brown hair was now almost black because of the rain. She had no shelter, nor did she want any. She sat there in her black t-shirt and jeans, with blood running off of her arm, and the blood soaked razor in the opposite hand. Rain, tears, and black eyeliner streamed down her face as she sobbed and buried her face on her legs.

    The rain suddenly stopped beating down on her. She looked around her, seeing that it was, indeed, still raining. Her gaze trailed up to an umbrella over her, then to the man holding it. The smile on his face was so innocent, and the look in his eyes was warm and inviting. He asked her, "Why are you just sitting here with no umbrella? You're going to catch a cold. You don't want that, do you?" The girl only stared at him with confused and bloodshot hazel eyes, not knowing what to say. He spoke again, "If you want, you can come with me to my place. I'll get you warm clothes and food there. How does that sound?" he smiled again to her and held out his hand. She hesitantly took his hand and stood, still confused.

    He led her back to his car and opened the passenger door for her. She slowly got in and he closed the door, walking to the driver's side and getting in himself.

    The drive to the man's house was silent, except for the humming of the car's engine. The girl would occasionally glance over at him to try to get a feel of what he looked like, but the darkness wasn't doing her any justice.

    They finally arrived at the home. It wasn't big, but not small, either, looking like it could house quite a few people. By now, the man had already gotten out and opened the door for the girl. Once they stepped inside, she took her chance to look at him. He had on a blue band t-shirt, though she had never heard of the band, and blue jeans. His black hair would have been about shoulder length, had it not been styled, and his face had an Asian look to it. He looked back at her curiously, "Is something wrong?" She only shook her head and turned away. "Come with me," he continued. He took her upstairs into, what looked like, his bedroom. She felt uncomfortable being brought there and stopped at the doorway. He looked at her again, "Don't worry, I'm not like that. Hold on a moment." He searched his closet and took out a thick blue robe and threw it onto the bed. "What's your name?"

    "I-it's Katrin," she replied shyly.

    "Well, Katrin, how about you go and take a quick shower? If you stay in those damp clothes, you'll get sick. I'll wash your clothes for you, and after you get out of the shower, you can put this on while your clothes wash. Is that okay?" Katrin nodded, also thinking it was a good idea.

    "And, if you want, there's a lock on the bathroom door. Oh, the bathroom is right next door." Katrin nodded again, grabbing the robe and going into the bathroom. She heeded his advice and quickly locked the door. She stepped into the shower, feeling relaxed, yet still uncomfortable, showering in a stranger's bathroom. Soon, voices could be heard outside the door:

    "Hey, who's in the bathroom?" it asked.

    "I'll introduce her to everyone later. Don't---"

    "HER?! Dude! Good on ya!"

    "No, no, that's not what I meant. Come here and I'll tell you."

    It had sounded like the stranger and, probably, a friend of his. She looked down at her wounded arm. The blood had washed away, the cuts were cleaned out, and only a few scars were left. She continued her shower, thinking to herself.

    Once she got out, she dried her hair and put the robe on. She was glad that it wasn’t at all revealing. As she opened the door, she yelped at the sight of a tall, red haired man leaning on the doorframe. “Hi,” he said to her, “It’s Katrin, right?” Katrin nodded nervously. She noticed that he also had some Asian in him. Was this house full of Asian men? Rather handsome ones, she noted mentally.

    The stranger finally came to her rescue, “Die, back off. Give her some room.”

    “I was just trying to be friendly.”

    The stranger sighed and turned to Katrin, “On my bed, I have some flannel PJ’s if you want them, and you can change in there.” Katrin smiled a little and nodded again, heading into his room and closing the door. The stranger turned back to his friend, glaring. “Don’t crowd her. She’ll be leaving here by tomorrow at the latest, so there’s no reason to be all over her.”

    “Then why are you doing it?” he replied with a raised eyebrow.

    “I’m not. I’m helping her.”

    His friend only gave him a look, and proceeded to walk downstairs. He sighed and rolled his eyes, now a little flustered. He heard the door open behind him and he turned around to see Katrin with a very shy look on her bright pink face. He smiled, “They’re not too big on you. Well, I have some friends over. How about I introduce you to them so you can at least feel a little better about knowing who’s here?”

    “S-sure.”

    “Oh, and my name is Toshiya. It’s nice to meet you.”

    “You, too.”

    Toshiya led Katrin down into the living room, to find four other Asian guys sitting around watching TV. The house was, in fact, full of Asian men. They all simultaneously looked back at Toshiya and Katrin. Toshiya smiled and pointed to each person as he said their name, “This is Kaoru, Die, Shinya, and Kyo. Guys, this is Katrin.” Katrin glanced at each of them and smiled. She decided that, with the way his hair was styled, Kyo looked like a muffin. He also looked like the kind of person you didn’t want to piss off.

    Shinya seemed rather quiet and shy, and Kaoru and Die only smiled warmly at her. Toshiya turned his attention back to her, “I think it would be a good idea for you to stay here for the night. Though, I’m not sure how much sleep you’ll get since they are all staying here, too.”

    “A-are you sure? I don’t want to intrude…”

    Toshiya rested a hand on her shoulder and reassured her, “Yes, I’m sure. We don’t want you going back out into the rain.” He thought for a moment and continued, “I have a guest room you can stay in for the night. It’s right at the end of the hall here,” he pointed, “You can either try to sleep now, or stay up and, maybe, join us.” Katrin smiled timidly, “I’m not really tired, so I can stay up with you guys.” She stopped and remembered something. “Umm, when you put my clothes in the wash, did you take anything out of the pockets?”

    Toshiya seemed to hesitate with his answer. “Yes, it’s all lying on the dryer, and nothing was touched.”

    “Thanks,” she replied. She knew he most likely saw her razor. Her eyes traveled to the TV after a while and she couldn’t take them off of it. Toshiya laughed to himself, “You know, you CAN sit down.” She nodded and looked at the two couches for a place to sit, immediately seeing Die pat a spot next to him. She sat down, still looking at the screen, “What’s this?”

    “Not sure, anymore,” Kaoru replied. He started to search the channels until he came across a movie. “Hey, Suicide Club is on. Anyone want to watch it?” Everyone nodded eagerly and he switched it on. It was about ten minutes into the movie.

    During the whole movie, it seemed like Die was expecting Katrin to cling to him at the scary parts, but she never did. It seemed to amuse her more than scare her.

    The movie finished, it was about 10:15, and everyone except Die and Katrin had left the room. Katrin ended up falling asleep on Die’s shoulder. He smiled a little and tried to nudge her to try to wake her up. “Hey, Katrin, the movie is over.” Katrin slowly opened her eyes and looked up at him, “Huh…?” She realized her head was on his shoulder and quickly sat up. “S-sorry! I didn’t mean to fall asleep on you… I didn’t think I was that tired.” Die laughed, “It’s okay. Do you want help walking to bed?”

    “N-no, I’m fine,” she said as she tried to stand. She felt light headed and started to fall, but Die stood and caught her. “Are you sure?” he smiled. Katrin felt her face get warm and she turned her head away, “Maybe not…” Die picked her up and stared down at her with a grin on his face. Katrin seemed a little frantic at first. “W-wait, Die, you don’t have to carry me!”

    “Maybe I want to,” he said, as his grin grew wider.

    “O-oh…” She wasn’t exactly sure how to react to his enthusiastic response.

    Die started to carry her to the guest room, but Toshiya stopped him. "Die, what are you doing?" Die stopped in his tracks and set her down. “She’s really tired, and I thought I’d be nice and carry her to bed, since she can’t walk too well.”

    “She’s fine. Let her go to bed.”

    Die growled a little and headed upstairs. Toshiya waited until he heard a door close and turned to Katrin, “He didn’t try anything, did he?”

    “No, he just wanted to help me.”

    Toshiya grunted and went silent for a moment. “Follow me.” Katrin nodded and was led to the guest room. It was cozy, with a bed and a small night stand. “It’s not much, but at least it’s something.”

    “Trust me, it’s fine,” she replied with a small smile. She sat on the bed and turned on the lamp. Toshiya sat next to her. “If Die starts to bother you, tell me. He will hit on any living, breathing girl.”

    “He seems nice to me.”

    “Yes, ‘seems.’ Just try to steer clear of him.”

    “Why? He—``

    Toshiya quickly forced a kiss on her before she could continue. He realized what he had just done as he slowly pulled away from her. “I-I’m sorry…” He quickly stood and left the room, leaving Katrin to sit on the bed in utter confusion. She gently touched her lips, thinking she had imagined it, though her lips were still warm. Katrin lay down and covered herself up, still wondering what he had been thinking.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    It was morning and the sunlight shone through the windows. Katrin pulled the cover over her head and groaned. ‘I don’t want to get up. I kind of… don’t want to leave here.’ She finally sat up and stretched, looking out the window. Her eyes traveled down to the clock. It said 8:21. Not a moment sooner, a knock was heard on the door, with, what sounded like, Toshiya’s voice asking, “Katrin? Are you up?”

    “Yeah, you can come in.” The door opened slowly, revealing a very smiley Toshiya holding a breakfast tray with scrambled eggs, bacon, toast and orange juice on it. “Good morning! I made you breakfast.” Katrin only stared at him with wide eyes. “You really didn’t have to do this. I don’t usually eat breakfast, anyway.”

    “What?! You should! Besides… this was mainly meant to apologize for last night. I don’t know what I was thinking and I’m sorry.” Katrin couldn’t exactly say, ‘It’s okay,’ so she only smiled as he handed her the tray. “Well,” he started, “I’ll leave you alone, then.” Toshiya seemed a little upset as he started to leave, so Katrin stopped him, “Toshiya?”

    “Yes?"

    “Are you okay? You don't look happy. Did I do something?”

    “Ah... No, it’s nothing. Don’t worry.” Toshiya hurried out the door before she could reply. Katrin sighed and looked at the food in front of her. Toshiya had put the eggs in two piles next to each other, and the bacon under it, like a face. She smiled as she started eating it.

    Toshiya walked into the kitchen, grabbing a cup from the cabinet. “Still trying to suck up to Katrin?” Die asked from behind him. Toshiya turned to glare at him, “I’m not sucking up. I was apologizing. I’m trying to be nice.”

    “What were you apologizing for?”

    Toshiya started to answer, but he decided not to say what he was thinking. “I-I was apologizing for you for last night.” He went to the kitchen to grab some milk, and poured it into his cup. Die growled and replied, “I told you, I was trying to be nice. Besides, she didn’t mind it.”

    “Seems like you were the one sucking up…”

    “I WAS NOT!”

    Kaoru walked into the kitchen staring at them both strangely. “So… What are you guys talking about?” Toshiya grunted and put the milk back into the fridge, “Nothing.” He walked into the living room and sat on the couch, turning on the TV and setting his milk on the end table. Kaoru changed his glance over to Die, hoping to get an explanation. Die only sighed and shook his head, walking back upstairs to get dressed into normal clothes.

    Kyo came stomping down the stairs, glaring at Toshiya. “TOSHIYA, DAMNIT! WHERE ARE MY CONTACTS?!” Toshiya yelled back at him, “DID YOU CHECK THE CABINET??”

    Silence. He ran back upstairs, tripped on one step, and checked. The next thing Toshiya heard was, “Sorry!” Toshiya grunted again and continued watching TV.

    Katrin slowly walked into the kitchen, hoping Kyo wasn’t in there. She was a little intimidated by him. She put her dishes into the sink and started to wash them without thinking. A hand was put on her shoulder and she turned, seeing Toshiya. “Oh, hi,” she smiled. Toshiya raised an eyebrow as he smirked at her, “What are you doing?”

    “Umm… washing dishes?”

    “Katrin, you’re a guest. I’ll wash them, okay?”

    “Oh, right. I’m just used to doing them...”

    “Well don’t worry about it,” he smiled to her. Katrin smiled timidly and walked into the living room to leave Toshiya to the dishes. Kaoru turned to him, “When are you taking her home?”

    “Pretty soon. If I keep her here for too much longer, Die will get a hold of her.”

    “You know,” Kaoru leaned closer to him and murmured, “she kind of reminds me of Die’s last girlfriend. Maybe that’s why he likes her so much.” Toshiya gave him a weird look. “I thought he broke up with her?”

    “No. Other way around. She left him for someone else.”

    Toshiya nodded, not really knowing what to say after that.

    About an hour later, Toshiya came into the living room to see Die sitting right next to Katrin, as he expected. “Hey, Katrin, if it’s alright with you, I’m going to take you home.” Katrin sighed a little and said quietly, “S-sure. Whenever you’re ready…”

    “I got your things in a bag and a few other things for you to keep,” he said while holding it up for her to see. Katrin stood and tried to smile to him, “Let’s go.” Kyo, Kaoru, and Shinya walked in to say bye to her. “Hopefully we will see you again, Katrin,” Kaoru smiled. Die frowned, “I wish you could stay longer… but we had fun having you here.”

    “And I had fun here. I’ll be sure to visit.”

    Katrin noticed Die was jotting something down quickly. Kaoru stopped him, “Die, please tell me you’re not writing down your number…” Die slowly looked up at him and out the pencil down. “No…” Toshiya sighed and turned to Katrin again, “Let’s go,” and led her out the door.

    Toshiya opened the passenger door for her, and closed it when she was in, then proceeded to get in the driver side himself. He rubbed his temples a bit before searching his pockets for his keys. Katrin glanced at him, “Are you okay?”

    “Die just… he tries too hard and it irritates me.” He turned on the car and backed out of the driveway. “So, which way am I going?”

    “Oh, uhh…” Katrin guided him towards her place. They were both fairly silent for the trip, except for Katrin giving directions. Toshiya turned the radio on. The silence was nauseating. He looked over at Katrin, who seemed scared. She was nervously rubbing her hands together and fidgeting with the bottom of her shirt.

    “Katrin? What’s wrong?”

    “Huh? Oh, nothing.”

    Toshiya sighed, “You didn’t seem to excited to go home, that much I can tell. Why don’t you want to?”

    “Really, Toshiya, it’s nothing. Oh, my house is right there,” she pointed. Toshiya’s jaw dropped at the sight of the house. “That house is huge! Why would you want to run away from that?!”

    “Umm, well…” she looked at the driveway of her home, seeing a blue truck there. ‘Uh oh…’ She turned to Toshiya, “Well, thank you for looking after me last night. I don’t know how I can thank you for it.”

    “It’s no problem, but…”

    Katrin quickly got out of the car, bag in hand, and said her last words to him, “I would rather you not stay here too long. I don’t want…”

    “Katrin!” someone called from behind her. He had scraggy, brown hair. Quite frankly, Toshiya thought he looked like a bum. No clean clothes on, hadn’t looked like he had showered in months, and holding a beer in his hand. He looked a little drunk, as well. “Where the hell were you last night?!”

    “M-Matt, I’m sorry. I was going to come back.”

    “Like hell you were!” Matt raised his hand and struck her across the face, hard enough to knock her on the ground. Toshiya immediately got out of his car and yelled at him, “What the ******** do you think you’re doing?!”

    Matt glared over to him. “Who the hell are you?”

    Toshiya ignored his answer and looked down at Katrin. She had a large red mark on her cheek and tears streaming down her face. “What the hell did you hit her for?”

    “That’s none of your business. She’s not your girlfriend.”

    “Wait… what? Katrin? He’s your boyfriend?!”

    Katrin turned away in shame. Toshiya glared back at Matt and walked towards him. “What gives you the right to hit a girl?!”

    “It’s none of your business, pretty boy.”

    At that point, Toshiya had his fist clenched. He pulled back his fist and let go into Matt’s face, knocking him to the pavement. He then grabbed Katrin’s wrist and pulled her up, and towards his car. “We’re getting out of here.”

    “W-wait, Toshiya! What are you doing?”

    “Just get in my car.”

    Matt stumbled to get back up and started to stagger back to Toshiya, “Where the ******** do you think you’re going!” Toshiya kicked him in the stomach, putting him back on the ground. Katrin stayed silent as she watched Toshiya go into her house for a few minutes, and Matt follow him. When he came back out, he was carrying a bag of things. Matt kept trying to take a hold of Toshiya, but Toshiya kicked or punched him down each time. Matt fell to the ground again and watched as Katrin and Toshiya sped away.

    Katrin wasn’t sure what to ask or say to him, so she kept her eyes on the road. Toshiya let out a sigh. “Katrin, I’m sorry, but I had to get you away from there.”

    “Why didn’t you leave?”

    “And leave you with him? There’s no way I could do that.”

    Die sat on the couch lazily, watching TV. ‘I wonder when Toshiya is going to get back.’ Kaoru grabbed the remote and started searching the channels. Die took it back, “Hey, I was watching that!”

    “Not anymore,” he replied as he grabbed the remote back again.

    Die leapt at Kaoru, wrestling him for the remote. Instead of making it hard for him, Kaoru stuck the remote down his pants and grinned. Die stopped for a moment, grinned back and started undoing his leader’s pants. “You think that’s going to stop me? We’ve known each other for too long.”

    Out of the corner of his eye, Kaoru noticed a car pull into the driveway. “Hey, Toshiya’s back.” Die got up and stood by the window. “Wait, Katrin is with him.”

    Kyo over heard him and walked into the living room, “I thought he was taking her home?” Kaoru shrugged and replied, “I guess we’ll ask him when he gets in.”

    Kyo noticed something in Toshiya’s hand. “Why is he carrying a bag? Did he have that before he left?” Kaoru leaned over Kyo a little. “I don’t think so.”

    Toshiya walked in and set the bag on the couch. Katrin came in slowly after him and sat next to the bag. Die looked up at Toshiya, “So… what’s in the bag?”

    “Some of Katrin’s things. She’s staying here for a while.”


    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



    .....Yup. That's it. Not very well written. And why is Toshiya such a bad a**? Well...... I'm not sure. He'll be more like his cute, dorky, hyena-laughing self in the next chapter, though lol.

    But I DO need comments so I know how I did. And if you can give me some tips, that would be helpful, too ^^ I don't care how brutally honest you are. I can take it X3 I CAN TAKE IT LIKE A MAN.... I mean... WOMAN

    [a/n] There IS one part here that kind of sounds wrong... but I won't point it out lol. But if you caught it, please don't comment about it. I did not intend to make it sound like that. I just want opinions!

    [Oh, and if something doesn't make sense, tell me and I will fix it or clarify for you lol]