This will possibly be as cliche as hell...

XXX

Nine years ago:

Her father had told her to take the metro to school, that she was old enough now to go by herself. In denial, Matoi Ryuko squashed the trepidation in her heart and boarded with a forced swagger, her senses taking in her surroundings with the hyper-sensitivity of the nervous mind.

As usual, the public transport was dirty and noisy, and Ryuko looked around for a seat near a window, her mind filled with those bizarre fantasies one gets when surrounded by unfamiliar people - those fantasies about overcoming the social norm of perfectly articulate silence and striking up an outlandish and meaningful conversation with a mysterious but friendly stranger. She knew that the odds of such an experience were slim, but she was still young enough to believe in such magic, so she sat carefully next to a girl with sleek black hair who looked about her age, swinging her satchel full of books to rest on her lap and turning to study the girl silently.

Her eyes were sunken and staring, ringed with black, but she was otherwise flawlessly beautiful, her features sharp and unusually developed for a girl her age. Ryuko felt that the "mysterious" criteria of her public-transport daydream was sufficiently fulfilled, and so she puffed out her chest and steeled herself for the insane venture she was about to take, a feat comparable to talking on an elevator.

"Hi," she blurted, a little too loudly, "I'm Ryuko." She knew she should say something else, something to break the ice, but the silence had stretched on too long and her fear began to swallow her as the girl jumped and turned to look at her. She appeared to wrestle between exhaustion and disdain and an ironclad sense of appropriate behavior for the well-mannered. The latter must have won out, for she smoothly extended a hand and whispered in a hoarse voice.

"Satsuki. The pleasure is mine."

Ryuko gulped and took her hand, shaking it roughly.

"I'm going to school." she divulged hastily, regretting her commitment to the ongoing conversation. Satsuki looked like she didn't want to be disturbed, and the intensity of her gaze was making Ryuko nervous. "Where are you going?" she croaked, resolving to leave her seat-mate alone after the current exchange.

"Nowhere."

Ryuko blinked, surprised, but she had already resigned herself to silence, so she nodded and smiled awkwardly before turning away. Shame burned in her face and she faked a yawn so she had an excuse to put her head down on the bag on her knees to hide her redness. Normally she would have shrugged away her trepidation and barreled onwards, but something about the way that girl looked at her made her sad and nervous, and in her embarrassed contemplation of the stout weave of her backpack, Ryuko quickly fell asleep.

She awoke in a panic, scrambling to get a grasp on her hazy mind, smacking her head violently against something hard that shifted with a cry and a thump. She quickly realized that she had jammed her head against the elbow of the person sitting next to her, sending said person flying into the shifting, corrugated aisle of the metro.

"Holy hell, I'm sorry," she shouted, her voice sticky and her teeth tasting like nap. Even as she stood to help her seat-mate, her eyes frantically searched for some sign that she hadn't missed her stop. She had. By at least forty minutes. "Damn it," she growled before reaching for the girl she had pushed over. To her surprise, it was still Satsuki. "You're still here," Ryuko said, trying to mask her rude tone and placing a hand on the other girl's shoulder.

Satsuki resisted the touch with such violence that she knocked herself back onto hands and knees. All her weight rested on one hand that trapped her hair against the floor, and she groaned as she frantically tried to lift her head but was stopped by her own hair. A few seconds was all she needed to compose herself, but she still looked flustered as she lowered herself into her seat next to a thoroughly confused Ryuko.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," Ryuko kept muttering, holding her hands out in case they were needed but hovering awkwardly to avoid another spastic scene. Satsuki tucked her mussed hair behind her ears and closed her eyes for a few seconds, easing her breathing.

"No, no, it's quite all right. I'm sorry. I don't mean to alarm you." Ryuko breathed a sigh of relief and sat back in her seat.

"Damn," she muttered again, raking a hand through her messy black hair "I missed my stop." Satsuki cocked her head at Ryuko.

"That's too bad. Would you like me to call you a cab?" Satsuki asked, clearly trying to make amends for her odd behavior. Still, Ryuko stared at her curiously. A cab? Call her a cab? Ryuko wondered if she had seriously misjudged the age of the girl sitting next to her. She didn't look much older than fifteen, but her cadence and phrasing suggested she was much older.

"How old are you?" Ryuko blurted out before immediately blushing. Satsuki stared, then laughed softly.

"I'm fourteen." Ryuko cocked an eyebrow but said nothing, choosing instead to answer the previous question.

"Nah, I'll just ride back to my stop. Well..." she looked at her watch, "I guess I'll just go home." Eyeing Satsuki carefully, but judging the ice to be sufficiently broken, Ryuko abruptly asked, "Why are you going nowhere? I mean, everyone has to be going somewhere, don't they?"

The humor left Satsuki's eyes and she leaned back against the undoubtedly disgusting seat back.

"I can't go home." she whispered. "I can't take any more." Ryuko twiddled her thumbs, not knowing what to say. Her teachers had always talked in whispers about kids who had problems at home, but she had never encountered an example. Frankly, she was at a loss for words.

"Wanna come have lunch with me?" she asked. Satsuki's mouth dropped open, but, having talked herself out of a legitimate excuse, agreed. Something in Satsuki's better judgment twinged about going home with a stranger, but violent memories kept her from believing that some remote, uncertain evil could be worse than one so close at hand.

As best they could, the two girls chatted amiably through the remainder of the ride.

XXX

"Dad! I'm home!" Ryuko called as she stepped in the door, ushering her new friend inside. "I missed my stop and I brought a friend for lunch!"

From his desk, Matoi Isshin sighed and shook his head. Creakily standing, he refrained from berating his daughter in front of whatever stray she had found and shuffled into the kitchen.

"Fine, but you'll have to make sandw-" He stopped suddenly, his voice choking in his throat as he laid eyes on Satsuki. Nervously, she held her own hands and bowed.

"Good to meet you, Dr. Matoi. I'm Kiryuin Satsuki."

Ryuko watched in utter surprise and intense adolescent embarrassment as her father's eyes reddened and filled with tears. Furiously he wiped them away, only barely keeping himself from rushing to take now very uncomfortable Satsuki into his arms. Drawing himself up to his full (if stooped) height, he forced a trembling frown and pointed to the door.

"Young lady!" He boomed. "You will leave my house immediately! Go home!" Frightened and hurt, Satsuki rushed to do as she was told, barely giving Ryuko a glance.

"Dad!" Ryuko screamed as the door slammed shut.

"No, Ryuko!" he shouted back, his voice so powerful and serious that it stopped any thought of protest in his daughter's mind. Her chin trembling, Ryuko rushed to her room, slamming and locking the door behind her.

Dr. Matoi Isshin sank to the floor and cried.

XXX

Satsuki wandered the streets, exhausted. She had run from Ryuko's house with unashamed fervor, bowling over indignant sidewalk-users left and right. She had only stopped when her trembling legs refused to carry her anymore. After a short rest she had gotten up to wander, the churning inside her keeping her from being still.

A soft wind lifted her hair as she concentrated on her feet, trying to make them take her to a safe place without her knowing where that was. She shut her eyes for a mere second, closing out the world around her.

She jumped as a tiny hand threaded its icy fingers through hers. Her attempts to extricate herself resulted only in a bone-crushing force on her hand. Satsuki jittered in place, refusing to look at the little girl who had materialized beside her.

"Where ya been, Kiki?" The little blond asked in a high-pitched whine as she reached her free hand up to casually stroke Satsuki's hair.

"Nowhere," the taller girl muttered, still tugging uselessly at her hand.

"Well, mama wants you home. We've been worried about you. Honestly, you're lucky I found you first."

Satsuki grimaced, resisting the urge to dig her heels into the ground. The blond made several small tsk sounds, waggling her finger under Satsuki's nose.

"You're in such a bad part of town, too, and so far away! Were you trying to run away, Kiki? Mommy won't be happy to hear that, and she's already mad! What's she gonna do when I tell her you were trying to run away?"

"I wasn't running, Nui," Satsuki mumbled, a frustrated growl beginning to rise in her voice.

"It'll sure look that way when I tell Mom how you kicked and screamed when I tried to bring you home." Malice glowed from Nui's huge purple eyes as her mouth turned into a smug, close-lipped smile.

"What do you want?"

"Silly big sister. I just want to play with you!"

XXX

hmm... Not sure if I like third person omniscient... *shrug.* Stay tuned!