That night, Akiyama stood in front of the mirror in her bedroom, donned in only her underwear, scrutinized herself. Thin, boney body, pasty skin, so flat she could just barely make a B cup a possibility, hips that would probably break just by thinking about childbirth, long, poorly dyed auburn hair, thick, unkempt eyebrows. The last thing her eyes were carried to was her torso. The skin around her ribcage and stomach twisted and knotted by all the thick scars.

"Forget about that future of yours..."

Her fingers traced one of the scars by her belly button and she shivered from the cold.

"What a freak..."

She used her hands to cover her dozens of scars and pretended for a moment that her skin was smooth like marble, strong enough to never be cut.

"Maybe you should stop playing volleyball..."

Hands gripped the skin under them, clutching onto whatever they could as her nails stuck into her, a numb pain.

"I doubt you'll ever have someone."

She felt a stab in her side and looked over at the scar that sat in it's place. She closed her eyes.

"Who're you?"

Silence. It had been so long since that day, that day when Tsukishima had saved her life. After her first game ever, the girls on the other team got some people together and had attacked her. Some of them had knives. She was sure that, if she wasn't found, she would have died there, bruised black and skin stained red in the pools of blood underneath her.

And it was the last thing she remembered. The cold ground under her ripped up jersey, the smell of rust in the air and taste of metal in her mouth, the sound of feet quickly shuffling away. Then all of her senses went black. When Akiyama had woken up, the first thing she heard was a soft, rhythmic beeping. She was alive. To the right of her hospital bed was a boy with short blonde hair and glasses. He had headphones over his ears as he looked on to the outside of her white room.

She tried to call to him, and only a strangled noise came out, but still he looked back at her.

"Good, you're up," he said.

Akiyama adjusted herself, "Wh..." Her voice croaked.

The boy sighed and pointed at himself, "Tsukishima Kei." He paused, "You shouldn't talk... Do you know what happened?"

Akiyama looked down at herself and gritted her teeth, balling her hands into fists, seething. Despite her looks, her height, she couldn't do anything to stop what had happened to her. So, in her eyes, maybe that was her own fault. Every cruel remark and twisted look she had ever given only led her here; in the hospital, IV in her arm, bandages around her body, and saved by a boy she didn't even know.

Akiyama nodded slowly.

"Then get some rest." Tsukishima said to her, eyes locked on her IV.

With those words, he left. The next day he would visit again, and he would visit at least twice a week until she was out.

That spring, when her first year in senior high began, she decided she would become the person she had been before her father died.

Akiyama opened her eyes and look at herself again. Slender body, dazzling white skin, chest just the right size for her, hips that could fit into sizes that a model would envy, long, beautiful auburn hair. The last thing her eyes were carried to was her torso. The skin around her ribcage and stomach just as beautiful as it should be for a survivor. She was not the person who still had two loving parents anymore, she was also not the Court's Devil, and she would never be again. She was Akiyama Naru, and she finally realized just how strong she truly was.

The next day, Akiyama came to class with her head high. She had started using contacts, she answered questions without pause, and now, at break, she was sitting on the roof with Tsukishima Kei and Yamaguchi Tadashi.

"How's Nishida doing?" Yamaguchi asked, taking a sip of his juice.

Akiyama look up from her sandwich, "much better."

The freckled boy nodded, "so, why did you want to eat up here with us?"

This comment had also gained the attention of Tsukishima, who had been doing his best to ignore the two.

"I want to play volleyball with you again."

The statement startled Yamaguchi, who ended up swallowing his juice the wrong way, practically wheezing from the sudden, improper, intake of vitamin C.

Akiyama continued, "I want to move past what happened but, Kei," she paused, waiting for him to look at her, "this whole time you've been supporting me, even if others think that you were just cruel. You didn't like who I was trying to be, but you still supported my choices. So, I owe you a lot more now." Tsukishima raised his brow, "Kei, don't let me forget what happened."

"Uh..." Yamaguchi voiced, "what did happen?"

Akiyama smiled and looked down on her friend, finally explaining to him why she had quit a sport she loved so much, why Tsukishima had done so much for her. After her explanation, she lifted her shirt up to show him the scars all over her body, but he couldn't say anything. Yamaguchi sat there, tears brimming in his vision as he looked at Tsukishima and back to his childhood friend.

The girl pulled her shirt back into place and took Yamaguchi's hand into her own, "You don't need to worry about me anymore."

"Gross," Tsukishima voiced.

Akiyama whacked her hand over the blondes head, "You ruined the moment, Kei!"

Authors note:

So I think that I'm getting over the block with this story? There might be like... two more chapters after this, maybe one? Either way I really hope you enjoy it. I would have gotten it done earlier today, but on my way home (from a place like, 2 hours away from me) I got lost and somehow ended up at some random public school which caused me to take 4 hours to get home. I was really freaking out though. I accidentally took the highway east instead of west which is like? the main reason I got lost but the 3rd time I got lost on my way home...

not that you really care but like? I don't know.

Comments, criticism, and compliments and story ideas are always awesome for you to leave for me, I read them all at least twice each.

~ Chris