Hello there! It's been a really long time, but a lot of things happened in my life and just been a mere teenager it was more that I could handle, so I took a really long break from writing. I think my writing style has changed a little and I'm remaking this story from a completely different point of view so I hope you like it and comment.

Kuriko-chan

Disclaimer: I do NOT own POT.

Narrating

"Speech"

Thoughts

Remembering, flashback

O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-OO-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O

Baby steps

While looking outside the airplane's window a girl with long twin braids let out a tear, her feelings were a mess and her mind was blank as she could do nothing more than remember everything she was leaving behind.

"…please let me live with my aunt in England."

Ah! That´s right, that was the start of everything, those were the words that turned my world upside down at the tender age of eight.

…

After I said those words everything happened so fast that the next thing I remember I had just arrived to England.

Night had settled already when the plane descended; it was cold and the moon was covered by dark clouds, leaving an oppressive felling. I came out of the plane and onto the arrival area, people looked at me strangely, almost as if they were admiring something, that was the only thing I was proud about myself, I had inherited the general characteristics of the Ryuzaki family; with flawless white skin, long auburn hair that almost reached the floor and a pair of big carmine eyes I had been told that I looked like a porcelain doll. But in spite of that, I was sure that at the moment I couldn´t look more than horrible because something was wrong with my eyes, something that was so notorious that even I became scared; where used to be a spark of cheerfulness now was replaced with a dull glow that transmitted sorrow and sadness, when I looked at the mirror all I saw was a lifeless doll with an expressionless face and eyes that transmitted such sorrow that it was scary. Even for me, the owner of those eyes, the one that was completely accustomed to thinking of herself as nothing more than a mere doll that was used just for decoration and that thought that all she was useful for was for showing a smile to please the people around her, found myself incapable of looking at myself in the mirror because the image that reached my eyes was terrifying….. I was shattering, I was starting to lose my only purpose, I wasn´t pleasant to look at, as a matter of fact I was puzzled as to why no one had yet run away from me mistaking me for a scary ghost or a possessed real size doll.

Those same ayes were the ones that watered after I remembered all the things that I left back in my home; the oppressive atmosphere coming onto my heart and squeezing it hard. Just when I was about to break down, a beautiful voice reverberated through the empty room where I was in.

"Hello dear" said the voice that I knew all too well. This voice belonged to a woman, one of the few persons that could make me completely calm with just been there, this woman with her beautiful auburn hair that seemed to never end, and a pair of deep black eyes that looked like two beautiful jade stones looked at me with delight as if telling me she was glad I was there.

She remembers me of mom so much.

That was what I thought after first seeing aunt Akari after two years. "Hello aunt" I said while politely bowing down. "Thanks for letting me stay with you"

"Don't worry about it Sakuno, I know why you´re doing this and I think it´s very nice of you" aunt said, at this I was shocked since I haven't told anyone about my reasons for leaving my parents behind yet she gave me a look that told me she understood me perfectly, I could bet that she even knew me better than myself, this reminded me that even I got a few people that truly cared for me and I felt a bit better, even thought I knew that was no compensation for what I had done to my parents it was good to know that even one person was willing to understand me .

"How have you…" she was asking when a shout interrupted her. "Sakuno-neechan" repeated the voice who shouted the first time, but now it was heard nearer than before. Just after hearing the second shout a little girl who seemed to have no more than 5 jumped onto me and made me fall.

"Sakuno-neechan, I missed you so much! How have you been? Have you improved in tennis again? Can you show me? Can we have a game? Can we? Can we? Can we? " Asked the hyperactive little girl that was sitting on top of me, not giving me time to answer nor the opportunity to get up.

"Hey Kiyoki, calm down, your crushing sakuno to the floor" Said a boy around the age of 9, walking towards us.

"I'm sorry Sakuno-neechan!" Said kiyoki while getting up as fast as she came down.

"There's no problem kiyoki-chan" I said as the boy helped me up. "Thanks kazuki- oniisan".

They really seem alike, even though their personalities are completely opposite.

I thought while seeing the changes that the pair had during the time I didn't see them.

Kiyoki and Kazuki Hoizuki, both with black hair and blue eyes, got more of their father's side than their mother's whom had auburn hair and black eyes, but the children got all of the Ryuzaki characteristics in the form of their faces and skin, so they also looked like dolls.

Kazuki Hoizuki; a nine year old boy, really mature for his age who always wore a serious face, was the older of the two, always been the voice of reason for her sister's madness.

Kiyoki Hoizuki; A five year old girl with a hyperactive attitude and a cheerful and crazy aura around her.

These two also make me feel safe, is comforting to know there's still people who like me, even if I just lost the trust of two of them.

"I missed you two, and I'm glad we meet again" I said trying to force a smile.

"Me too!" Shouted kiyoki, while kazuki just said. " Hnn"

"Ok kids, that's enough, I'm sure that Sakuno is tired for been in the plane for so long, so let's go to the house so she can rest" said a man who had just arrived to scene, and was now side-hugging aunt Akari. "Oh, and welcome here little Sakuno" he said with a smile.

"Uncle Haru!" I said and went to hug him." Hello, and thanks" I responded to him. But as expected uncle Haru felt that the thank you I just gave him was not just a respond for his previous words, instead it was for all in general and it was also directed to aunt Akari.

Haru Hoizuki; in his late 30's, he was a really handsome man, with the same eyes and hair as of the children but with a more masculine face instead of the doll one. He was someone I greatly admired, because of his skills in tennis and his warm personality; he is my most liked uncle, with Akari being my most liked aunt. He also understood me just fine which put him really high in my chart of really loved family.

While Haru returned the hug he said. "It's not a problem at all little Sakuno, I would rather think is a pleasure to have you living with us"

"So now, how about we get going? It's pretty late now, don't you think Haru?" Akari asked her husband while she started to lead kazuki and kiyoki to the exit.

"That's right, let's go now little Sakuno" he answered while taking my hand in his.

The entire family started to walk out of the airport, going through gates and gates, until we finally arrived to the exit.

When I took the first step out of the Airport, I marveled at the sight that was in front of me; it was full of light everywhere with a lot of colorful signs with words I didn't understand. At seeing these signs, I got a little scared and at the same time excited. Scared for being in a place where I didn't understand a thing, and excited to see more of that fascinating place.

After I recovered my senses, we all stared walking towards the car with little chat going around us.

….

The ride to home was quiet, all the kids sleeping in the back of the car, for being so tired. Or so the adults thought.

But the truth was that I was more than awake, and looking outside the car's window.

Am I really going to be able to live here without problems? I'm scared, this is too different from japan, I can't understand even a word of what they are saying! I have always been bad in English, what I'm going to do?! I miss mom and dad, I want to be with them…NO! Sakuno you can't think like this! You just arrived here, and you choose this yourself, so just keep going, you can't let mom and dad down now that you left them, you have to make them proud of their daughter.

While thinking all of this, I stared to go to dreamland too, tired because of all that happened in the past week.

….

When we arrived to the hoizuki home, I was shown to my room by Akari, and let alone to unpack my things but instead I decided to sit on my bed, finally allowing all the things that happened to me to sink in; I was now living away from my parents out of my own will, in a place where I didn't understand a thing and where I would have to face things all alone, but it was all for my parents happiness even if they don't understand it yet so I'm okay with it, after deciding this, I forced myself to believe just that and after wrapping my mind around it I accepted the reality and went to sleep with a stronger heart than I had before, promising to myself to grow up to be a mature person who could stand up on her own for her loved ones and accepted the start of my new life.

…..

When I woke up in the morning, the first thing that greeted my sight was a simple white ceiling, confused I rose up and looked around finding with surprise not my pink colored room but a white one instead, I was on top of a pink bed and there were also pink curtains, a little study table, a bookshelf and a drawer decorated the small room, there on the side of the dark colored door where five big boxes were "Sakuno" was read on.

At that moment I remembered everything from the moving to England, the sadness I felt when I left my parents behind, the oppressing feeling when I arrived and the promise I made to myself and decided that I had to follow it.

I stood from my bed and looked at the heart-shaped digital clock hanging on the wall, it read; 5:30 am.

It's too early but I should unpack my things and start helping out in the house.

Deciding on this, I put all my clothes in the drawer and my books and other things in the bookshelf and study table, after I finished I looked up to the clock that now showed "6:15 am" in bright red numbers.

It's still a little early to start making breakfast, for what I remember they wake up around 7 so I have time to take a bath.

I took a white towel that was resting on the chair in front of the study table and headed out of my new room, I tried to remember the explanation that uncle and aunt had made of the whereabouts of the things in the house, but everything was so foggy all I could remember was that the bathroom was behind one of the doors that were situated on the wall in front of my room.

After giving up trying to remember I just went with the idea of looking inside every door. In front of me where 4 rooms, I opened the first one- on the far left- and found myself in a multimedia room with all kind of games and movies lying around, seeing as how it wasn't the room I was looking for, I headed for the next one. Opening the door next to the multimedia room I found a study, with lots of canvases with variety of themes in them, every one of them more beautiful than the last one, at that moment I understood why my mom always said that aunt was, apart of been an excellent tennis player, also a genius artist seeing how every paint was painted so beautifully. I kept observing the paintings for a lot more time, I was captivated by the beauty of what was in front of me, at that moment a sudden urge of wanting to do something similar came to me and I promised myself to ask aunt Akari to teach me some painting techniques.

I know I won't make one even half as good as the worst of these ones, after all what everyone says is true; I aren´t good at anything, at the most I'm average, even in tennis a sport that runs in my family's blood, I can't win a single competition.

Those were my thoughts as I started to remember how I once heard my friends from school saying how I, though wasn´t bad at anything I also wasn´t good in anything, just average, even though I really loved tennis there were people who were much better than me even if they didn´t like it, or how even if I tried to study really hard there was always someone who ranked higher than me even if he or she didn´t study a half of the time I did.

Things like this got me depressed always, knowing that I wasn't good at anything, even if I had something I really wanted to achieve like in tennis I didn't seem to have the capability to fulfil my dream, I felt impotent not been able to do anything and failing at the things that I like.

But I reminded myself that I had already promised to change and I will do that, following the decision I made with the start of my new life; to keep working hard even if I didn't get any results, even if I keep failing and falling I will stand up and keep charging forward, I will not stop pursuing my dreams, I'll fight for them with all I got and hang onto them with teeth and nails, I'll keep pushing forward, no matter how hurt I get or how tattered I get until I can improve even a little, and then do the same over and over again until I become a person capable of standing in front of my parents in equal ground and face them properly.

For the sake of the new me, I knew I couldn't keep thinking of my insecurities so I decided to throw them away, even if it took me years, I would correct them one by one, until I could be confident of myself despite of what everyone else thinks about me.

With this I closed the door of the room where I would be spending a lot of my time in the next years and opened the next door hoping to finally find the bathroom but instead I found a music room with lots of instruments inside, unexpectedly the old violin in the corner caught my attention; even though it was beautiful it seemed it was just for decoration seeing that it was covered in dust, it somehow reminded me of myself so I made a thought in my head to also ask about learning a bit of music, remembering how lots of people hold music so close to their hearts it made me curious as to what it had in it to enchant a lot of people all over the world. It felt strange to suddenly have so many things I was interested in when it had been so long since I had had any interest in anything apart of tennis.

I closed the door of the music room and finally, after all that happened in my head in the silent corridor of my new house where I would be living from then on, I found my destination and took a bath.

It was already 7:30 am when I heard footsteps on the stairs and saw my aunt's surprised look when she saw me finishing making breakfast for all the family.

"You shouldn´t had done it Sakuno, I could do it for myself, you don´t need to worry about doing this sort of things, it´s my job as a mother and housewife to do it" She scolded me lightly.

"It doesn´t matter aunt Akari, I like cooking, so let me help you with it" I said giving her a small smile, the first true smile in a really long while, it felt kind of weird in my heart to give again a true smile after I had sealed it from who knows how long, it also felt awkward, but I knew it wouldn't be that easy to overcome my insecurities, so I just had to do it one baby step at a time.

"More importantly, about your paintings…" I started asking, taking another little step forward in the really long road that lay ahead of me at that time.

….

End of the chapter.

In the next chapter there will be more of Sakuno's past before starting with the story in "Tennis angel" I´m sorry if you get disappointed by my new story or if you liked the old one better, it's just that I read my old story after so long and though that it was very immature and unrealistic so wanted it to have better story and foundations, but if you don´t like it I can try continuing the other story though I don't really have that kind of writing style anymore.

Please review and tell me what you think.