Things you should know about before reading: this is an alternate universe where Mei and Yuzu have never met before, certain characters have slightly altered backgrounds/motivations for the story, and death occurs.

Also, I'll occasionally post updates on my profile for if there will be delays in writing, etc.

Disclaimer: I don't own Citrus or its characters

Chapter 1

A young, raven-haired woman stood quietly in a small, dim hospital room, soaking in the heated exchange between a tall man and an elderly person. The woman observed the angry gestures the tall man displayed with his hands, and she observed how the elderly man, who lay on a bed, waved away his concerns.

"You're being ridiculous! You would pass up the opportunity of running this great and prosperous company, just so you can explore the world? I never thought my son would become so pathetic and weak," the older man snarled as much as his frail body could muster. "Imagine how the media and our consumers would view us if they knew the authority of the business skipped an entire generation. The Aihara's would gain a terrible reputation!"

"I fail to understand how passing up on this opportunity would be negative for our family," the younger man said in frustration. "Surely, the media and our consumers wouldn't care about that. They only care about a running company."

"That is where you are wrong." The old man coughed viciously. "If you were to bail, then what would everyone think when the power of the company is delivered into the tiny hands of a little girl? They wouldn't trust her! They'd think that the company will be doomed to fail! Not to mention the lies and mischief the media will spread."

"Mei is perfectly capable of managing the company! I have taught her everything she needs to know," the younger man said with a raised voice.

"Sho!" the old man bellowed, then coughed severly as he gasped for breath. "I don't doubt that Mei is qualified to run the company, but I can't guarantee that others will think the same way.

The young woman, Mei, sighed as the two continued to argue. And to think she had thought that today, while her grandfather was on his deathbed, there wouldn't be any trouble or any arguing. The woman heard her father groan in frustration and saw him head towards the door.

"Mei, we are leaving." Her father opened the door and left without looking back. Mei said her goodbyes to her agitated grandfather, and closed the door behind herself. She followed her father through the halls of the complex, out the main entrance, and into a waiting limousine. In the now-moving vehicle, Mei looked out the window in silence, soaking up her father's mumbling about the inheritance of the family business and how inconvenient and unfair this was for him.

"Sensei, what do you plan to do?" Mei faced her father, who was now stroking his chin.

"I don't know. I'd really like to pursue my own dreams and go travel, but I also don't want you to carry the burden of the family legacy." Sho sighed. He looked out the window and contemplated for a minute. "As much as I don't want to say it, I think I have to put aside my dreams for now."

Mei nodded in response, then looked out the window again at the passing cars, buildings, and trees. Before, she was concerned that her father would abandon her and thus make her feel pressured and stressed to look after the family business, but now she can rest easy knowing that her father was now taking on his responsibility.

"How's Tokyo so far, Yuzu-chan?"

A bright, cheerful woman with dyed hair had her phone pinched between her cheek and shoulder, and was in the middle of a call with her childhood friend. While talking on the phone, the woman with blonde hair set out to move and organize several boxes in her new apartment.

"So far, so good!" Yuzu replied, moving a big, heavy box into her bedroom. "The city is wonderful, and I'm so excited about all of the job opportunities here!"

"I hope you can find a job really quickly!" Yuzu's friend, Matsuri, said.

"I hope so, too." Yuzu agreed. Yuzu then moved some smaller boxes into her bedroom.

"Well, hopefully I can visit you relatively soon! I really want to see the big city, as well as your new house!"

"Too bad you're starting your next semester in college very soon, right?" Yuzu spoke into the phone while moving several boxes into the dining room.

"Yeah. That sucks. Can't wait to graduate from this place," Matsuri muttered.

"Well, you first have to get through the pain of studying for all those exams." Yuzu giggled at her friend's misfortune.

"Yeah, yeah. I got it. Well, I'll let you finish whatever you are doing. I'll talk to you soon!" Matsuri said through the phone.

"Talk to you soon, too! And good luck on your studies!" Yuzu ended the phone call and slipped her phone into her pocket. She hummed to herself as she organized her belongings and occasionally wiped off the sweat that glistened on her forehead.

Putting in all the energy into rearranging her boxes and furniture made her feel hot and enervated, and as Yuzu lay back on her couch to rest, she noticed that the clock mounted on her wall read that it was nearly noon. As if on cue, Yuzu could feel her stomach grumble in hunger, and Yuzu figured that now was a good time to do some grocery shopping. She picked up her keys and locked the front door upon exiting. Since she lived on the higher floors of her building, she took the elevator down, whilst taking out her phone and scanning the list of things she wanted to buy. Upon reaching the lobby, Yuzu exited the building and into the bustling streets of the city.

"I can really get used to this lifestyle." Yuzu beamed as she stared at her surroundings with excited eyes. And with that, Yuzu halted her expedition of getting ingredients and food to explore the various eye-catching stores nearby.

Mei and her father had received a phone call that her grandfather passed away not long after they left the hospital. Now, standing before a crowd of people outside, Sho made his way to the podium on an elevated stage. He cleared his throat, and, while the flashes of cameras constantly bombarded him, he began his speech.

"Not long ago, I found out that my father had passed away. While he and I had opposing views and beliefs, I will honor him by taking up the mantle of the company he founded," Sho spoke with clarity. Nearby, Mei watched and heard her father make promises saying that he would not let down his father or the company, and that he would take great strides to execute his father's visions.

"I assure you all, as the successor, the integrity of-"

A loud gunshot exploded in the air and echoed down several blocks in the city. Screaming quickly ensued, and the many people in the audience ran amok, pushing and shoving to escape the area.

Mei, who had her eyes shut and her ears covered, slowly looked around. She gasped in horror as her father lay on the stage, with blood oozing out of his head. Mei stood still in shock, finding herself unable to move a muscle. All she could do was stare at the puddle of blood that grew larger with every passing second.

"Aihara-san!" Mei immediately snapped out of her trance and focused her attention on a man she recognized in the meetings her grandfather had held before. "Aihara-san, we must get out of here! It's no longer safe!"

As Mei's acquaintance tried to usher her out of the press conference, another gunshot rang in the air. Mei heard the sound of the impact, and could only watch helplessly as the man next to her fell to the ground and lay motionless. In the midst of the the commotion, out of the corner of her eye, Mei noticed another man in business attire approach her. Mei assumed that he was one of her father's acquaintances who was trying to help her escape, but Mei, instead, was met with a man holding a sharp, glistening knife. As the man walked closer and closer, preparing to thrust his knife into Mei's defenseless body, a gunshot once again rang in the air, but this time from a nearby policeman. The body plummeted to the ground, and Mei finally found the courage to run, sprinting as fast as her legs could move away from the nightmare. Following a pack of screaming people, Mei noticed that several police vehicles had just pulled up to suppress and apprehend any assassins.

A policewoman approached Mei, urging her to enter a nearby police car in order to get to safety. Mei followed her without question, situating herself in the backseat of the vehicle. The driver quickly stepped on the pedal, and they drove away. Mei took her time to breathe and collect her mind, wondering how today had turned for the worst. She wiped off the sweat of her palms on her skirt, and she tried to convince herself that she was now safe.

Mei looked out the window to see...that she was being taken further and further away from the closest police station. Confused, Mei gauged the policewoman's reactions in the rear view mirror. The woman upfront had a calm expression, and Mei feared for the worst.

"Excuse me, but aren't we going in the wrong direction?" Mei asked, keeping her eyes on the rear view mirror.

"Don't worry, I'll handle everything," the policewoman simply replied.

"Please stop the car. I'd like to get out." Mei inched towards the door to her side. "By now, we should be far away from any danger.

The policewoman complied, slowing the car and pulling up to the side of a somewhat empty road. Mei waited for the car doors to be unlocked so she can exit, but the locks remained as they were. Instead, the driver stepped out of her side of the car and made her way to Mei. Mei furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, then felt her heart stop when she noticed the woman's hand sliding towards her pistol. Mei quickly slid to the opposite end of the vehicle and manually unlocked the car. She exited the vehicle and kept her head low to prevent the hostile woman from seeing her. Mei heard footsteps approaching her right, so Mei quietly crawled towards the left around the car. Knowing that she wouldn't last long in this game of cat and mouse, Mei made a break for a nearby building and ran around its corner, causing the perpetrator to growl in frustration after missing her mark and instead shooting the wall of the building.

Mei panted as she weaved in between buildings, lamp posts, and other structures. She quickly looked behind to see that she had somehow distanced herself from the policewoman, and as Mei focused her attention back to where she was running, she felt herself come into contact with another person and fell to the ground from her momentum. Mei shook her head to ignore the pain she felt after colliding her head into something, and she shook her hands to ignore the pain after bracing herself. Soon, Mei realized that a person lay beneath her; the blonde woman on the ground groaned in pain and looked up into Mei's eyes, then at her bags of ruined ingredients and food.

"I'm so sorry, but I must get going," Mei said apologetically as she got off of Yuzu. Before she could run, several bullets flew by, barely missing her flesh.

"What the heck?" Yuzu exclaimed after hearing several gunshots. The sounds of shouting and screaming shook the area, and the people around them started running in every direction. Mei looked towards the perpetrator, who was now awfully close to them. Fearing that the woman she tackled would end up getting targeted by the hostile officer and the other assassins, Mei dragged Yuzu up onto her feet and started sprinting hand-in-hand.

"We have to get out of here! You're no longer safe," Mei said, while Yuzu looked confused. Yuzu looked back and forth between Mei and the angry police officer, and she connected two-and-two.

"You're a wanted criminal, aren't you?" Yuzu exclaimed, stopping in her tracks and causing Mei to slow down.

"No, that's not it at all. If I were a wanted criminal, then that officer wouldn't be shooting from a distance in such a crowded place and risk shooting innocent bystanders," Mei replied, dragging Yuzu again as they rounded several buildings. Yuzu took in Mei's arguments and found them to be logical, and she decided to trust the raven-haired girl.

"Where are we going, then?" Yuzu inquired.

"I don't know. We just have to lose her and hide someplace safe. Once we do so, I'll explain everything I know."

Mei and Yuzu hid behind the safety of bushes and the shade of the trees in a park. Both of them squatted down and scanned their surroundings for any sign of the policewoman, or any other suspicious looking people, and after examining the environment for a minute, they breathed a sigh of relief knowing that they were safe for now.

"So, want to tell me what's going on, Miss…" Yuzu began to ask.

"Aihara Mei," Mei answered. "A little while ago, at a press conference my father was holding, there was some shooting, and...my father was killed."

"Oh, I'm so sorry-" Yuzu gasped before being interrupted.

"Someone tried to shoot me, but ended up killing someone else, and another man approached me with a knife," Mei continued, gaining a shocked look from Yuzu. "I was then approached by that policewoman you saw earlier, and she went and tried to kill me."

"Thank goodness you somehow survived all that, Aihara-san," Yuzu breathed out. "Will you return home, where you will hopefully be safe?"

"I suspect that someone who hates my family hired some thugs to take us out, so I do not think I should head back to where I live. For all I know, this person could be very familiar with my lifestyle and residency." Mei looked around the park to make sure that they were still safe.

"Can't you reside with the police? They'll surely protect you until this case is closed," Yuzu suggested.

"I do not think that is a good idea for me. I fear that more people within the police force were bought out and would only kill me if I came into their care," Mei replied. "So as of now, I am on the run."

"Well," Yuzu thought for a moment, "you could stay over at my place. We'll just stay there and hope that the situation will be handled quickly."

"Thank you, I will gladly accept this opportunity. I am indebted to you." Mei bowed her head. "And I apologize for accidentally dragging you into this dreadful situation.

"You shouldn't worry too much. Oh, and please call me Yuzu," the blonde happily said. "Well, let's hurry on over to my place!"

Mei and Yuzu stood up from their hiding spot and exited the serene park. They followed a trail back to the crowded streets and walkways, all while being wary of potential assassins. Yuzu pulled up a map on her smartphone to navigate her way back, as she was still not too familiar with the city. Eventually, they arrived at a tall, wide building, and they walked through the automatic front doors. Yuzu walked towards the receptionist's desk towards the side, and requested in a hushed voice, "Excuse me, if anyone says they are searching for me or my friend, do not tell them we're here."

The receptionist nodded, and Mei and Yuzu walked towards the elevators. They stepped inside and arrived at Yuzu's floor, and Yuzu led Mei to her apartment. After entering, Mei noticed the several boxes on the floor, and soon realized that Yuzu had just moved here.

"Please make yourself at home!" Yuzu said with a smile, but was interrupted by the raven-haired girl.

"Do you have an alarm system for the front door?" Mei asked in her usual serious voice.

"Umm, yeah, I think so. I'll go set it up now." Yuzu said, her smile beginning to falter. While Yuzu was operating on the alarm mechanism for the front door, Mei proceeded to close the windows and shut the blinds for each of them. "Aihara-san, I managed to set up the alarm, so if anyone should open the door, we will be alerted." Yuzu walked towards Mei, who had just finished closing all the windows.

"Good. And no one should be able to see inside this place from the outside." Mei pointed towards the cardboard boxes scattered the apartment. "As payment for your hospitality, would you like me to help you organize your things?"

"Yes, I'd really appreciate that," Yuzu replied. "For now, take the box in the kitchen and place the silverware in the cabinet, and then I can make us some lunch with the ingredients that I…"

Mei looked at Yuzu's horrified look and remembered that the groceries were all destroyed and left behind after they collided.

"I apologize for ruining your plans and your day." Mei bowed again. "I will make it up to you someday."

"Don't worry about that." Yuzu composed herself and started digging through her purse. Soon enough, she revealed four snack bars. "I have these four protein bars, so while they may not completely satisfy our stomach, we'll at least have something to eat."

"What about dinner?"

"Well…" Yuzu contemplated, "we can each take one bar for lunch, and save the last for dinner. As for tomorrow, unless we don't go shopping, we'll starve. But then again, there's also the risk of running into some dangerous people..."

"We will decide on what to do about the food situation later. For now, we can check the news for any updates, and hopefully we won't have to worry about starving and getting killed," Mei said.

Yuzu nodded in agreement. She walked towards the TV, grabbed the remote to turn it on, and switched it to the news channel, while Mei organized the utensils and dishes in the kitchen. Afterwards, they grabbed their protein bar for lunch, sat across from the TV on a couch, and ate while watching the news. To their disappointment, while the reporters stated that one assassin was killed, and two others were arrested, the motivation and identity of the employer of the assassins remained a mystery. The reporter also said the police suspects there are many more hired thugs in the city and that they all seem to be targeting the Aihara family.

"Ugh, nothing has changed. We're still in danger from these crazy people." Yuzu groaned, leaning back in the couch and flailing her arms. Mei remained silent and kept a stern face, incredulous at the lack of progress in the crime investigation. Mei remain absorbed by the TV screen, while Yuzu left to finish sorting and arranging her belongings and furniture. Hours flew by, and when Yuzu returned to the couch, the news reporters revealed that the police was still at a loss with the events that occurred today.

The light of day soon faded into the dark of night, and Mei and Yuzu both finished their second and last snack bar. Yuzu headed for the bathroom to shower, and when she was done and dressed in her nightwear, Mei used the bathroom. Since Mei and Yuzu did not plan for the raven-haired woman to stay over for an unknown amount of time, Yuzu lent Mei a shirt, a pair of shorts, and, embarrassingly for Yuzu, her underwear. Fortunately for them, they wore the same-sized undergarments, and after Mei finished using the bathroom and changing, they decided to go to sleep.

"Aihara-san, you can sleep in the guest bedroom across from my room." Yuzu pointed Mei towards where she would sleep, and Mei opened the door of the room and stepped inside. "If you need anything, just let me know, okay?" Mei simply shrugged her shoulders in response and kept her back faced towards Yuzu. "Oh yeah, Aihara-san, is it okay if I just call you Mei?" Yuzu asked, wanting to get closer to the raven-haired girl and make her her first friend in Tokyo. Mei didn't answer back, causing Yuzu to feel downcast. Yuzu sighed and slowly closed Mei's door. "Good night," Yuzu whispered through the door.

An obnoxious, constant beeping noise resonated throughout the apartment, causing Mei to flutter her eyes open. Staring straight into the darkness, Mei turned her head to look at a digital clock on the nightstand beside her to see that it was twelve in the morning. Suddenly, the almost-silent sound of footsteps outside the room caused Mei to instantly face the door, and her eyes widened in terror. A shrill scream filled Mei's ears, and Mei quickly turned over onto her stomach, reached for the home phone on the nightstand, and dialed the emergency services number. Once the call was picked up, Mei heard her bedroom door slam open, snapping her attention. She felt her blood rush out of her body, and felt goosebumps grow on her skin. Before Mei was a shadowy figure, taking haunting steps towards her, holding onto something very sharp.

Mei dropped the phone, crawled out of her futon, and tried to back away from the pursuer. She crawled to the corner of the room and looked up at the killer, who was now standing above her. Shaking uncontrollably while holding in her breath, Mei braced herself with her arms and shut her eyes tightly. She shed a tear, and she waited for the impending blow. However, she heard the sound of spraying, shortly before hearing the agonizing scream of the killer. Mei opened her eyes and peered between her still bracing arms, and saw in the darkness a person falling to the ground, and another figure reaching her hand out. Mei realized that it was Yuzu, who probably had pepper spray and used it on the assassin.

"Come on! Let's get out of here!" Yuzu said with urgency, pulling Mei up to her feet. Mei stared in shock at the groaning man next to them, but Yuzu grabbed Mei's hand and started running. "It won't be long before the thugs recover from the pain. Come on!"

Mei and Yuzu ran to the front door, quickly put on shoes so they can run more comfortably, and left the building. As they passed by several streetlights outside, Mei couldn't help but notice something off about Yuzu. Taking a closer look at the blonde, Mei noticed the bruises on her cheek, and Mei found herself unable to tear her eyes from Yuzu. The blemish on Yuzu's skin made Mei feel a sense of guilt, and Mei could only wonder if that bruise would be the last of the consequences of this event, or foreshadowing for more darker, more horrid tragedies.

Thanks for readings, and sorry to all the Sho fans :)