So this isn't technically the first K fic I published but it is the first one I wrote, or began to write. I love this, it just flows for me and I love writing it. I absolutely love this OC and while she might not seem that interesting now, she's going to completely change the longer this story goes and I'm hoping to fully make you all fall in love with her as much as I have! So please enjoy and feel free to leave a review with any feedback! I really appreciate them and I promise I'll always read all of them and respond to any questions if you leave them! Oh and happy new year everyone! I hope that 2014 brings good fortune to you all!

The rainy season in Shizume city was a rather dreary time. The air always seemed to have a heavy wetness to it, paired with the normal humidity of the time of year it almost seemed solid when breathed in.

Currently, rain was coming down in sheets outside the window of the bar. Izumo watched it for a moment before going back to polishing the glass he was holding.

"Ne, Kusanagi-san," the mentioned man turned to look at the slightly younger boy, "when was the last time it rained this hard?"

Izumo just shrugged so Tatara turned his attention to the lightly dozing man to his left, "King? When do you think the last time was?"

Mikoto just grunted, not really even bothering to open his eyes.

"Ha! I win!"

"Son of a bitch!"

"You're a god damned cheater!"

"Am not!"

The three looked at the ensuing argument over Yata's poker hand with faces ranging from amused to mildly irritated.

"This is the third time in a row you've won! Of course you're cheating!"

"I am not! It not my fault you guys suck at this!"

"Ah those guys; always arguing about something," Tatara chuckled.

Suddenly, there was a bright flash followed by a clap of thunder that seemed to rattle the entire building.

"I'll just say, I feel bad for anyone caught out in this," Izumo mumbled.

And, unfortunately, someone was.

'Run, run, run!' she chanted to herself as she weaved her way through the alley.

Her hair was sticking to her face and making her eyes sting, and her lungs felt like they were going to burst any second. The coppery taste of blood was in her mouth but Umeko wasn't stupid enough to stop and try to figure out why she was wheezing up blood. Not when she had to run like she did now.

Seeing another alley coming up to her right, she threw her weight to the side to make it around the corner without falling on the wet ground. Still sprinting, she looked for more side alleys to duck into but felt panic wash over her when she saw that the only way out was the opening to the street.

'No, no, no!'

Open space meant nowhere to hide- nowhere to hide meant that he'd catch her.

Blasting out into the open, Umeko skidded to a halt, looking wildly both ways, praying that she'd see anything through this goddamn rain.

"Umeko!"

Gasping, she whirled around to see a large body hurtling down the alley.

Looking franticly around again, she was about ready to weep when she saw the small light in the distance.

Taking off again, she pushed herself to go faster and faster as the sound of footsteps got closer and closer.

She was getting nearer to the light. It was a window, and she could see people moving around inside. Her mind flashed a warning of 'Don't go in! Whatever you do don't go in!', but she was so tired, and she knew he was right behind her.

Throwing herself up the steps, Umeko grabbed the handle and tripped inside.

Yata had Bandou by the collar by the time the door burst open and a small body slammed into the ground.

Izumo jumped, "What the hell-"

"Oi!" a voice called.

The mass turned over with a gasp as horrified eyes shot to the still open door. The tiny girl had barely opened her mouth to scream when a figure flew in and lunged.

The man grabbed her by the hair with one hand and with the other smashed a fist into her face. The girl flew back, all the members of HOMRA watching in horror and confusion as her head cracked against the ground and she stopped moving.

A growl brought all their attention back to the fuming man as he made to jump at her again.

But before he could get to her a hand grabbed the back of his shirt and threw him back.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Yata cried as he loomed over him.

"Get out of my way you fucking brat!" he howled as he tried to get back up. But by now Kamamoto and Shouhei had reached his side and with some effort were able to get him pinned down.

"Get off of me; let me at the bitch! Get off!"

Loading back, Yata threw all of his weight into his fist as he delivered a solid blow to the head. The man fell to the ground with a loud 'thud'.

"Che, bastard," he mumbled.

"She's got a pulse."

Everyone looked towards the bar, where Tatara had kneeled next to the girl's body and had a light hand on the side of her neck.

"It's faint but it's still there."

Looking closer he started to notice how her face was covered in bruises, and how her one shoulder seemed to be hanging funny.

"Shit," Izumo cursed as he noticed the blood pooling out from her head.

Confused looks were passed between the members as they tried to figure out what had just happened. Glances were thrown between the beaten body of the girl and the large man slumped on the ground, before looking back at each other.

Izumo rubbed the back of his neck as he looked around his bar. If this wasn't proof that life in HOMRA was never dull, he didn't know what was.

When Umeko woke up, she could hear voices.

'Am I in the hospital again?' she wondered. No, the hospital beds weren't nearly as comfortable as this, and hospitals didn't smell like wood and cigarette smoke.

Cracking one eye open, she saw that she was laying on a couch and there were two people sitting at a bar a few feet away from her.

The events of last night all came rushing back to her and she had to bite down hard on her tongue to keep from screaming. She was in the bar she ran into last night, and she had passed out around all these strangers.

She cracked her eye open again when she heard the pair move and watched as they left the bar and disappeared up a flight of stairs to the left.

As soon as she was sure they wouldn't hear her, she sat up only to hiss at the wave of pain that went through her body. Doing a quick survey she concluded that her shoulder had been dislocated and these people had popped it back in, and from the bandage around her head that she had split her head open when she hit the ground.

Letting out a quiet curse she swung her legs over and placed her feet on the ground. Putting bits of pressure on each foot, she sighed in relief when she found that nothing had been torn or broken. Standing up she padded to the door, giving one last look over her shoulder to make sure no one had come back. She sent the strangers a silent thanks has she twisted the nob but to her horror she realized that it was locked.

"Shit!" she hissed.

Looking around for other ways out her eyes locked on the window above the couch she had been on. Running over she reached up and undid the locks on top of the glass. Pushing it open she was hit by a gust of fresh air that sent a pleasant shiver through her. She sighed and shut her eyes as the breeze washed over her, not quite letting herself relax but releasing a bit of the tension in her shoulders.

"Hey what are you doing?"

Whipping her head right, Umeko jumped when she saw the two men from earlier standing there, this time with a third man.

He was taller than the blond one but slightly shorter then the one wearing glasses. His hair was a fiery red color and his eyes were a golden amber she had never seen before. His face was emotionless but his eyes had a smoldering look that left her breathless. She had almost forgotten what she was doing until her attention snapped to the shorter one, who had started to take a step towards her.

Without looking back (or down to see how far she was actually jumping) Umeko threw herself out the window. The fall (thankfully) wasn't more than a few feet and instantly she was scrambling up and taking off towards the street. If she could just get back to the alleys they'd never find her…

Suddenly two sets of arms grabbed her from either side and stopped her momentum in one solid tug. She couldn't help the yelp she gave as they pulled on her still tender shoulder and she heard a curse and a rushed apology. Fortunately, her small cry had distracted both enough for them to loosen their hold slightly, just enough that with a strong kick off Umeko was able to tear herself out of their grip and continue on her mad dash away from wherever and whoever they had been.

"It's not very polite to rush out without thanking the people who helped you."

That voice. Umeko turned her head and saw the red haired man from earlier leaning against the wall of the bar she'd been in, a cigarette held loosely between his lips.

Unfortunately, that two or three second of distraction had been enough for her to manage to trip over her own feet and slam into the ground. Again.

And, if the stinging feeling in her left knee was anything to go by, she had managed to cut that open as well.

"Hey! Are you alright?"

'No not more of them!' panic was starting to rush through her and she could feel her body start shaking once she saw how many of them there were. She quickly counted six, then adding in the other three behind her and…

'Oh god.'

There was no way she would be able to get away from nine of them.

As the group approached her they noticed the panicked, almost crazed look in her eyes.

With one last surge of energy Umeko jumped up and made a dash for a gap between two. But just like her last attempt, she felt arms wrapped around her middle and lift her slightly off the ground.

"No! Let me go! Please I swear I didn't mean to cause trouble just please let me go!"

All the members of HOMRA stopped in surprise at the terrified tone of her voice and looked at the struggling girl in Kamamoto's arms. She looked almost psychotic with fear, like some cornered animal ready to fend for its life.

Edging closer, Tatara slowly lifted a hand to reach for her, "Hey, we're not going to-"

Her eyes widen at his hand and she started to struggle with a new energy as her lips parted, "Please stop! Stop! Don't hurt me I'm so sorry! Please!"

Tatara stilled at her words. She sounded like she was begging for her life.

After a few more minutes of her crying pleas, she stilled and turned limp, shaking uncontrollably in Kamamoto's arms, the occasional whimper slipping out.

"Please don't kill me," she whispered, voice sounding broken and defeated.

Shock slammed into all of them like lightening as the weight of her request sunk in.

"You think we're going to kill you?" Izumo asked, stepping slowly into her line of vision.

She didn't say anything.

"We won't kill you. We don't want to hurt you either," Izumo said quietly.

The shaking seemed to lessen slightly and slowly, tentatively, she lifted her head to look at the group around her. The peach colored skin of her face was covered with bruises and her eyes were wide but broken looking.

"You're lying."

It was so quiet that only Izumo, Tatara, and Kamamoto were able to hear her.

Giving a small chuckle Izumo easily replied, "Are you saying I'm not a man of my word?"

Jumping, the panicked look returned and she shook her head violently from side to side.

"NO! No! I didn't mean to insult you! I'm sorry!"

"Ah I was only kidding!"

Her delicate brows furrowed down in confusion and Tatara jumped at the gap in her panic to ask, "Ne why don't we go back inside? It's better than standing in the street."

Much to his dismay the shaking started again but unlike before she stayed silent. He honestly wasn't sure if that was a good sign or a bad one.

Kamamoto lowered her slowly to the ground next to him but still kept a firm arm wrapped around her midriff. He felt her twitch slightly and, thinking it was her trying to run again, quickly tightened the arm he had around her. Through the baggy shirt she was wearing he could count her ribs.

Umeko kept her head down and her eyes on the shoes of the guy ahead of her.

"Watch your step," she heard the man leading her say and she nodded, walking carefully up the steps and back into the bar.

She was guided to the couch again and shook as all the men made a semicircle around her.

'Oh god. Oh god, oh god, oh god,' they were going to kill her, or torture her, or both for all she knew.

"Why don't we start with a name?"

It was the blond one talking again; he seemed to be the easiest talker out of all of them.

The members all watched as she brought her knees up and hugged them, burying her face in between her knees.

"Oh come on it's just a name," Yata said.

The girl jumped at his statement as fresh tremors racked her body. Yata shrunk back as glares were shot his way.

"-ko"

All the heads whipped back to the shaking girl, who still had her head hidden.

"Sorry, but could you say that again please?" Tatara asked, kneeling down in front of the couch.

Her head rose slightly as she repeated, "Umeko."

"Umeko? That's a pretty name," Tatara smiled. "I'm Totsuka Tatara. I apologize for jumping to such an unpleasant subject, but could you maybe tell us what happened last night? We're still a bit confused."

At the mention of the previous night's events, Umeko froze before springing up. The mad look had returned to her eyes as she whipped her head around, seemingly looking for an escape route.

"Oh no. Oh god no he'll kill me. I have to leave!" she made a move for the door but Tatara grabbed her before she could make it very far.

"No! No! No! I have to leave! He'll be waiting! He's going to kill me!"

"Umeko-san, whoever that man was he won't be able to hurt you again for a very long time."

Umeko turned her frenzied gaze to Izumo, "What do you mean?"

"We took him to the police, he's being charged with assault but from what you're saying attempted murder might be the correct charge am I right?" he said back.

The panic in her large eyes was clear as day, "Why would you do that?"

Izumo raised an eyebrow in confusion, "Because last night-"

"No! No I have to go get him! If I get him released he might not kill me but oh god he'll get out and he'll kill me if I don't go get him!"

Starting up her struggle again, Tatara was surprised when he realized it wasn't really that hard to hold her back. Lifting her slightly to try and make the kicking stop he was shocked by how easy it was to lift her; she had to be well under 90 pounds.

"Umeko-san who was that man?" Tatara asked her.

Umeko stopped kicked for a moment, but only for a moment, before she started twisting again.

"Oi."

Everyone froze at the deep voice that suddenly entered the conversation. Umeko turned to the bar and saw the red haired man lounging on one of the bar stools, cigarette now held loosely between two fingers, "He asked a question."

Now Umeko wasn't stupid, she recognized the power in this man the moment she saw him, and frankly it scared her. Which is how she knew that somehow or another she was going to have to answer the question. But instinct made her mouth stay clamped shut and she looked away.

Seeing that she was settling down, Tatara placed her back on the couch. He grimaced when he saw a dark stain start to bleed through the bandage on her head and looked back at her face with concern. Her eyes, a pretty cinnamon color, skittered nervously around the room but refused to make eye contact with anyone.

"Umeko-san, could I change your bandages please? The cut on your head in bleeding again."

She seemed surprised by his words, and lifted a hand to poke lightly at the white wrap, pausing on the patch of sticky liquid that had seeped through already. She brought her hand back around and starred at the red liquid coating it with an oddly detached look in her eyes.

"It's fine," she said, confusion lacing her voice and face as she looked at him. Immediately though her eyes darted back down and she brought the bloody hand to her chest, cradling it there.

"Why would you say it's fine if it's bleeding?" Tatara kneeled down again till he was eye level, but she just seemed to shrink in on herself more.

"I can still see straight. If I can see then it's not bleeding that b-bad," her eyes made contact with his for the briefest of seconds before she turned away, shaking lightly again.

Tatara wondered how many times she must have been hurt to the point of bleeding to believe that if she wasn't about to lose consciousness then she wasn't seriously injured. He reached a hand out to touch her head but she scooted away, looking terrified at the appendage.

"Umeko-san," he tried reaching for her again, "just because an injury isn't fatal doesn't mean it doesn't need to be properly looked after," she moved away again. He sighed and stood, backing away from the couch and the frightened girl on it.

The clicking of mary janes against the floor brought the frustrated blonde's attention away from the quivering girl and to the small strain approaching them. She held up a marble and peered at the girl, "Scared."

"Yes I think we know that much," Chitose muttered, and Dewa hit him over the back of the head. "Quit mouthing off to Anna!"

"To many people. She's not used to a lot of people."

This made everyone pause, and the girl's shaking seemed to get worse.

"Everyone out," Izumo commanded, and with the exception of a few resisters (Yata) everyone cleared out of the bar except for Izumo, Tatara, Anna and Mikoto.

Slowly, the small girl stopped shaking and sighed deeply. The claustrophobic feeling of being surrounded by so many people finally began to ebb away and she gasped for air gratefully. Tatara used this opportunity to kneel in front of her again, slowly reaching for her head. When his fingers brushed the smooth bandages, he was happily surprised when she didn't move away.

"Izumo, could you please get the first aid kit?" he hummed, not looking away from the girl. Izumo went behind the bar and shifted through some shelves until he found the white box. He walked it back to the table, where Tatara was piling the bloody bandages he was gradually removing.

"Well Umeko-san, I don't think that you need to get stiches," he inspected the deep gash, "Which is good because none of us here are any good at sewing."

He laughed at his own joke, and grinned when he saw the corner of her mouth twitch up as well.

"Okay, lets get the new bandages on and get some food in you, hm?"

She didn't move as he wrapped her head, and when he stood she brought a shaky hand to her head as she traced the material.

"Thank you," it was so small, so quiet, that for a second he wasn't sure if she'd even said it; but the light blush on her cheeks was proof enough, and he smiled gently, "You're more than welcome."