A girl in a bright red shirt stepped off the plane, her dark green eyes scanning the crowd in front of her. Her black-brown hair swayed with her graceful movements as she stepped into the large room where she was to be picked up. All around her people were talking, mostly in Japanese, but some in English as well. She did not understand their conversations, but she was not paying close attention. Her gaze wandered around, looking for the family that was to take her in.

After a few moments, she saw them and strode forward with a polite smile on her face. A girl about fifteen, the same age as herself, stepped forward.

"Bara?" she asked. The girl she addressed smiled wider.

"If you mean Rose, yes," she said in English. "Bara means that in Japanese doesn't it?"

"Yes," the other girl said, grinning.

"Then you must be Tsuki?" Rose asked. "It is nice to meet you and your family."

"Let me introduce you to them," Tsuki said excitedly. "This is my brother Yuji and my mother and father."

"*Oaidekite ureshiidesu*," Rose said with a small bow. (*nice to meet you*)

"+We should go+," Tsuki's father said softly to his daughter.

"Come Rose! We have school tomorrow and I have not shown you my house!" Tsuki said excitedly as she grabbed Rose's hand. With a laugh, the girl followed her.

~

"*Ohayo gozaimasu*, Tsuki, I see you have brought your friend from America with you today," a tall man said with a smile as he looked down on the two girls. (*good morning*)

"*Ohayo gozaimasu*, Mr. Moto-sama. Rose, this is Moto-sama, he teaches English here. Moto-sama, this is Rose from America, she arrived last night," Tsuki explained. (*good morning*)

"*Ohayo gozaimasu*, Moto-sama. Nice to meet you," Rose said with a small bow. (*good morning*)

"Do you not have a uniform?" Mr. Moto asked, looking at the girls garments that consisted of stone-washed, bell-bottom jeans and a dark green top that brought out the brightness in her eyes and hugged her lithe torso with the bold expression 'armed with attitude' written on its front.

"None of mine fit her, sir, she is too small," Tsuki replied when Rose said nothing after a moment.

"Hm, I see," Mr. Moto said. "We you should get to class before you're late."

"*Argato gozaimasu*, Moto-sama," Tsuki said. (*Thank you*)

~

"+Who's she?+"

"+It must be the American girl.+"

"+Where's her uniform?+" (*Where's her uniform*)

Whispers flooded the hall as Tsuki and Rose passed by students as they spoke to eachother in small groups. Tsuki glared at some of them when their words were less than polite.

"What are they saying?" Rose asked, looking straight ahead with a small smile on her lips.

"Nothing."

"I know that it is more than nothing, but if I hear it again, I cannot guarentee that my actions will be as peaceful as my voice," she said placidly. Tsuki looked over to her American friend with an odd look on her face. Suddenly, Rose stopped dead. Tsuki had heard it too, but had hoped she had not.

"Don't do anything foolish, Rose," Tsuki warned Rose turned to face a group of boys, who were laughing hystarically. Rose's eyes were hard and piercing as she stared at one of the boys with dark hair that stood on the outskirts of the group. She advanced forward slowly.

"Rose....don't! He's far older than you!" Tsuki said in a whisper, looking around, searching for teachers who might witness what was sure to be a spectical. The American steadily advanced, until she was facing the boy. A smile glazed her lips, and her arms were crossed smugly, but her eyes bore onto the boy harshly.

The boy noticed that his friends had stopped laughing and looked up to see the one he had tormented from afar not so far from him.

"+I heard that,+ Baka Kusotare," Rose said, her smile growing wider. (*I heard that stupid asshole) The boy looked around uneasily, before straightening and looking down into the dark green eyes of the girl in front of him. She stood only at his shoulders, and he straightened to make himself more intimidating, staring down on the girl.

"+What are you going to do about it?+" he asked smugly, crossing his own arms.

"What did he say?" Rose asked Tsuki.

"He wants to know what you're going to do about it. Rose you really shouldn't.." Tsuki translated. But she didn't get to finish as Rose grabbed the boy's collar with one hand and shoved him against the lockers behind him with a bang. The hall fell silent. The boy groaned and sagged in her strong grasp.

"I do /not/ like being insulted," she said quietly, sweetness in her voice, her smile still on her face, but her eyes blazing with hot anger. "And I don't like my abilities questioned. You know, in America, boys learn to respect the girls, or else they end up on the ground."

"Nani?" the boy asked, his eyes dazed and his face twisted in pain as his hand went to hold his head. Tsuki translated for him hesitently. (*What*)

Rose smirked and shoved him to the ground, watching as he squirmed under her gaze. He started to mutter a curse but Rose put her hands on her hips and he decided against it, hiding it with a cough. She looked to the locker that she had slammed the boy into.

"Hn, only a small dent, but still, too bad, I didn't want to mark it," she said, running her fingers along the metal surface. From the corner of her eye she saw a movement and a suited figure walking towards her as students scurried out of the way. Suddenly, she stepped away from the door and looked toward the boy. She offered her hand.

"I'm sorry I made you fall like that. Give me your hand and I'll help you up," she said with a sinister smile. The boy backed away on his hands and heels before getting up himself. Tsuki translated what Rose had said.

"What's going on here?" the teacher asked in English, walking up behind the girl. Rose turned around and smiled.

"I accidently made this boy fall and I was helping him back up," she said as the boy rose to his feet and dusted off his uniform.

"I see. +Get to class+, Yoshi," the teacher said, turning to the boy, who nodded and fled.

"I'm sorry for causing a commotion, sir. Please forgive me, I must get to class," she said with a small bow and a smile, turning and leaving the teacher to tell the other students to get to class.

"Why did you lie like that, Rose? Don't you think that Yoshi will tell a teacher what really happened?" Tsuki asked, watching the amazed faces of the surrounding students. Rose just kept smiling innocently as she walked down the hall.

"I know human emotions very well. They wont tell, or they too will get caught. I hardly ever fight a battle I do not know for sure I can win. And if I do, then I find a way were I can get out of the punishment." She chuckled. "People underestimate me far too often."

*

The two girls went to their classes without mishap, even if they did recieve whispers in their wake and feirce glares behind their back. The school day passed and the girls walked back to Tsuki house.

"What you did today was really impressive, Rose. I wish I had enough courage to do something like that," Tsuki said as they walked down the street.

"In America, you are taught to be bold and show your true feelings, or remain silent so you don't become the victim if the situation were to turn around," she explained.

"B-b-o-ld?" Tsuki questioned, testing the new word on her tongue.

"Yeah, it means like, couragous, with courage," Rose said, gesturing with her hands to get the point across.

"Oh!"

"As you can tell, I am both of these. When I do not become angry, I am silent and don't say much, but when I do get angry, well, you saw what happened," she said with a small chuckle.

"Yes, I see."

"Tell me, Tsuki, are there many wolves around this area?" Rose asked after a pause. The other girl looked at her, but the girl's eyes were looking straight ahead, at something in the distance.

"Umm, no, not here in the city," she said. "Why?"

"I was just wondering," Rose replied, quickening her pace.

"Hey, wait up!" Tsuki said, rushing to keep up the with her. They walked in silence for a few moments, Rose's eyes straight ahead of her, following a white figure in the distance. They were steadily advancing upon its slinking form.

"+Get a hold of that rope!+"

"+Don't let go!+" came the shouts from a near-by construction site. They were working at the top of a tall building. Some people turned their heads at the shouts, but most ignored the commotion.

"+Look out!+"

"+Its going down!+"

"+Get out of the way!+"

"+Get the slack of that rope!+"

"+Try to stop it!+"

"+There's nothing we can do!+"

Desperate and horrified shouts came from the top of the building, making Tsuki look up to see what was happening. Rose saw the danger, and her eyes darted back down toward the white dog that was sniffing the ground beside the building. She shouted once, but her own cry was a whisper to the screams and shouts that came from the surroundings. She bolted forward, sprinting at a speed most would think impossible for the girl in her tall shoes. She pushed the white creature out from under the falling metal beam just as her shoes slipped under her feet. She fell on her stomach with an 'awwff'.

The world seemed to fall silent, and she turned her head to see if time had indeed stopped. The large iron beam fell slowly, and she was powerless to move. Her eyes opened wider and her mouth fell agape. With realization, she closed her eyes and waited as the metal fell heavily on the back of her neck. There was a sickening crack as the beam hit the girl.

Tsuki stood and stared, unable to move as she watched the beam fall in the American girl. She gasped heavily and winced as she heard bone breaking against the brutal force of the iron. Finally, she found enough streangth in her legs to run forward, tears beginning to brim in her eyes.

"No, no. This can't happen. I've known her for years and the first time we really meet... No, this can't happen!" she wailed, kneeling beside her friend. People began to swarm around the site, whispering and talking, some demanding others to call an ambulance. Tsuki threw down her school bag and tried desperately to move the beam. Without saying anything, two boys came and helped her lift the beam off Rose.

"No, no. This can't be happening. No," she moaned, kneeling by Rose's head. "Rose, wake up. Please wake up. Your going to be okay. No, no. You have to wake up, Rose!" Tears streamed down her cheeks and she covered her face with her hands. After a few moments a couple of people came and picked the weeping girl up gently from the ground.