First off, sorry for the ENORMOUS delay, in both this AND How Can You See With Your Eyes Closed (I'm working on the next chapter now!). I hope you guys can understand- I've been busy moving into my dorm, and now that I'm moved in I'm trying to make new friends, which isn't easy for me, being a shy person and all, though having an outgoing roommate helps with that. It also kind of sucks, though, because I'm afraid I'm gonna get left behind again. I just don't want college to turn out like high school. I mean, my roommate's awesome, but it just feels like she's the kind of person who's really hard to keep as a friend for someone like me. Any advice from people who've been there? Should I take it at my own pace or run to keep up?

One good thing about college so far? Two words- Liquid Diet. So far today I've drunk a 130 calorie hunger reduction shake (gross) and some powder lemonade. It saps my energy like crazy, but hopefully I'll lose weight quickly =) I've only got thirty pounds before I'm at the right weight, and everything after that is bonus =P

Stavri: Thanks =)

Tmj1395: Thanks =) And if I'm honest, I just don't like Nagisa, so I tend to forget her sometimes, so even though that idea is way better than mine, I don't wanna retconn and turn it around =( I'll find something suitable for Nagisa though =) Plus I wanna keep the romantic triangles intact, so I might find a way for her to be associated with Shizuma.

Obsidian and Cobalt: Thanks =) I'm just trying to keep everything in character =)

x-Rem-x: Thanks! I felt kinda bad about KanaMomo being wolves, but it was the only part that I could remember that suited them. I actually kind of have a storyline in mind from what happened in the Disney movie with the wolves.

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Thorns

Chapter Three: Meant for Saving

xXLiStLesSXx

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Chikaru sat on her bed, still in her Le Rim uniform, calmly awaiting a more proper invitation to dinner, though she had seen a positively gorgeous red and black dress hanging in the wardrobe. A knock came at the door, and Chikaru stood with a gentle smile, sure that her plan had worked, only to be greeted by a timid feather duster. "Chikaru-sama should really start getting ready now," she said nervously. "Master doesn't like it when things don't go according to plan."

"I don't think your Master likes it when things don't go her way," Chikaru noted with a small smile. She wasn't afraid of Shion, though she had heard from several of the…servants…that their master had a formidable temper. Chikaru was too good at reading people to be truly afraid of her. She knew Shion had a nasty disposition- so much was obvious by the scars marring her father's face. But she also knew truly evil people, and she didn't see that in Shion. Shion reminded her of a frightened puppy if she was honest, though she had no idea why the beast would act like that.

Suddenly the door slammed open, sending the nervous feather duster flying into Chikaru's waiting arms. A seething Shion stalked into the room stopping a few feet from the brunette. Chikaru noted with a small smile that Shion was dressed in a loose white men's shirt along with a pair of tight black dress pants. "Why are you still up here?" she growled at the brunette, who merely met her gaze mildly. "Dinner started half an hour ago!"

Chikaru raised an eyebrow. "I was waiting for a proper invitation," she said calmly, not phased in the slightest.

"A proper- didn't Yaya tell you about it?" Shion asked, her voice tinged with both anger and confusion. "I told her-"

"Yes, she told me about it," Chikaru interrupted, "but it's more proper to invite a lady to dinner in person."

"Proper?" Shion asked, her brows furrowed incredulously. "You…you…ugh!" she groaned loudly, raking a clawed hand through her long hair. "Be ready in ten minutes!"

"Not if that's how you're planning on inviting me," Chikaru shot back in the same calm tone, her lips quirking upwards as she saw Shion go rigid.

The beast lunged at her, effectively pinning the smaller girl to the bed beneath her. "You'll be ready in ten minutes, and you will like it," Shion growled into her ear, her hands clenching tightly around Chikaru's wrists. The brunette noted that they were shaking, almost as if Shion were trying hard to keep from seriously hurting her. "Do you understand?"

"I'm not going," Chikaru said, "until you say please." Shion growled. "And another thing- is this your number one technique for making people hear you out?" she asked, shifting her wrists slightly beneath the beast so that Shion understood what she was talking about.

Something flickered in Shion's eyes, but it was gone as quickly as it had come. "I have to," she said gruffly, pushing off of Chikaru and walking back over to the door. "They won't listen otherwise."

Chikaru frowned slightly, her head tilted as if she were trying to understand the meaning behind Shion's words. The beast seemed to notice this and decided to put a quick end to the thoughts that might end up with them both further in than they had ever wanted to be. "Please."

"Hmm?" Chikaru asked, blinking. She had been zoning out, her thoughts wandering to the blonde creature in front of her, and what could possibly have happened to make her like this.

Shion clenched her hands into fists, gritting her teeth. "I said please," she growled. "Please come to dinner with me."

Chikaru's thoughtful expression instantly lifted into a bright smile as she hopped off the bed, eager to don the beautiful dress. "I thought you'd never ask," she twittered as Shion slunk out of the room to wait for her down in the dining hall.

Several minutes later, Shion sat in the dining hall, slumped back in her chair with her arms folded tightly over her chest, one leg crossed over the other. Behind her, Yaya the flirtatious candle was turning on the charm for some of the many kitchen utensils. The doors burst open and Shion straightened slightly only to slump back down when the pink clock hobbled in.

"She looks beautiful, Master," Tsubomi said with a blush. Chikaru had taken a liking to the small clock and didn't hesitate to shower Tsubomi in affection whenever she was in the near vicinity. Suddenly her face turned sour. "What are you doing, Yaya-baka?" she asked, her face heating up in anger this time and, to everyone but herself and Yaya, at least, poorly concealed jealousy.

"Shh, Tsubomi-chan, you're killing my game," Yaya replied unapologetically. She was pressed against the wall, her metal arms looped over a giggling wooden spoon and a sultry metal ladle.

"Killing your- what?" the clock shrieked, and that was where Shion tuned them out. It totally wasn't because the most beautiful sight she'd ever seen had chosen that moment to step into the dining room or anything. She was just tired of the constant arguing.

Chikaru passed up the chair that Shion had presumed she'd take- generally two guests sat the table-length away from each other- and slid into the seat beside the beast, smiling gently. "Thank you for inviting me," she said with that same sweet smile.

Shion just sat there, her jaw dropped and her eyes barely blinking. Hadn't this girl just admitted to not liking her? What was going on? If this was just another game…

"Don't think my opinions change so quickly, Shion-chan," Chikaru chimed, as if reading Shion's mind. "I simply believe in proper etiquette."

Shion nodded slowly. "Okay," she said, then shook her head. "You look…pretty," she finished lamely, chastising herself in her head despite Chikaru's amused smile. Pretty? She needs to fall for you, and you call her pretty? "Sorry," she mumbled shortly afterward, stabbing at her dinner with a fork.

"Don't be sorry," Chikaru stated, amusement lacing her voice. "It was sweet of you to say. And you look quite handsome yourself, you know."

Shion scoffed. "Let's not overdo it, Minamoto-san," she mumbled, her appetite not what it usually was. She was eating less and less these days; her energy faded with every petal that dropped from that rose. "As you said before, I'm sure you haven't forgotten your place."

Chikaru frowned slightly, turning to the right to meet with an evasive look from Yaya and a sad smile from Tsubomi (who was currently standing in front of the candle like something of a guard dog, for some reason). Finally, she turned her gaze back to Shion, who was still prodding at her steak with blank, half-lidded eyes. "Why do you want me here?" she asked so quietly that Chikaru thought for a moment that Shion hadn't heard her. But the fork came to a complete standstill as the beast's hand tightened around it.

"Don't think it's because you're special or anything," Shion spat, still staring down at her plate. Chikaru frowned, leaning back in her seat- she hadn't been expecting such a hostile reply. "I couldn't just let him go, could I?"

"You could have," Chikaru disagreed. "You could have been decent and just let him go with a warning- without his face slashed and bloody." She kept her neutral tone, but her eyes flashed with barely concealed anger- she was tired of trying to befriend this monster who had hurt her father- who wasn't even trying to get along.

Her eyes flickered to Shion, who was now smiling somberly at her plate. "I knew you couldn't be as perfect as you seemed," she murmured, her voice hollow as if she were trying to sound smug, but failing. "And do I look like the kind of…thing…that could possibly do anything even remotely resembling decent?"

"Not with an attitude like that," Chikaru replied, never taking her gaze from Shion's hunched form. "I've lost my appetite," she stated after several moments of silence, standing swiftly and swallowing back the tears that threatened to consume her.

Shion's eyes flashed, and she stood as well, prepared to launch herself at the girl again, but the look in Chikaru's eyes rendered her immobile, her feet firmly planted to the ground. She'd seen that look before.

"Please, stop…"

"Not until you learn your lesson- you're a spoiled, bratty little girl, aren't you? And you can't even see it, can you? You can't even see how truly ugly you are. I wonder…what would happen if you had to see it every time you looked in the mirror?"

A flash of pain, a scream, another brand on a delicate body.

Despite the painful memory, Shion couldn't reign in her pride enough to let the girl go without a fight. Slamming her hands down on the table, forcing the girl to look at her once again, she snarled, "You won't eat again unless you come back down. I'll forbid the servants from bringing you scraps."

Chikaru simply stared into her eyes with her own sad, dull amber ones before she turned her back and left. Shion growled and threw herself back into her chair, arms folded tightly over her chest. From the floor, Tsubomi watched sadly- she recognized the look in Chikaru's eyes all too well. Suddenly she felt many degrees warmer, and found a pair of metal arms around her body.

Yaya had been the only other one to witness it- the only one she'd confided in, and Tsubomi had clung to her like a child would a mother ever since that night. The memory was fading- she'd almost forgotten what it was like to be human, and she'd been so young on top of that.

But she'd heard the screams, seen the angry red welts positively covering her young master, and she would have been caught if it weren't for a pair of strong arms belonging to a tomboyish brunette, the one she'd always seen with the maid, Hikari. A firm hand had been pressed against her mouth, and together they'd faded into the shadows, watching with bated breath as a single figure exited the room.

Tsubomi knew Chikaru was stronger than Shion had been, but the way her master was attacking her wasn't physical- it was emotional, Chikaru's strength and weakness. And she was going to destroy the poor girl before she ever got close to making her fall in love with her.

Chikaru lay face-first on the enormous four-poster bed. It wasn't as if she was upset, or even shocked by Shion's behavior. It took a lot more than that to break her, she was proud to say. It was just that she'd never dealt with anyone like Shion before- stubborn to the point of self-destruction, and damaged in some way that Chikaru couldn't see.

A soft tapping came at the door, and Chikaru raised her head to face the small pink clock from earlier, a gentle smile lighting her features when she took in the nervous expression on Tsubomi's face. "Um…" the clock began nervously, "I know Master is difficult to get along with, but please don't lea- please give her a chance! I know she's stubborn and pigheaded and oblivious and blind to the most obvious things in the world and hurts everyone who dares to come into contact with her-"

"Tsubomi-chan?"

The clock started out of her rant. "Hai?"

Chikaru cocked her head to the side, smiling gently at Tsubomi. "I thought we were talking about Shion-chan?"

"We…" Tsubomi frowned for all of five seconds before she seemed to get what Chikaru was hinting at and flushed beet red, realizing what she'd been doing. "Well…her too," she said, still red with embarrassment. Then her expression turned more solemn. "For all of us, but mainly for her. I know she seems awful, but she wasn't always. She just didn't really know how to express herself, and then one night-" The clock cut off abruptly, eyes widening as though she knew she'd said too much. "Just…please don't leave us- her, I mean."

Chikaru smiled sadly at the clock who looked close to tears and picked her up off the floor, kissing the wood that would have been her head. Tsubomi flushed again. "Things weren't always like this, were they?" she asked softly, and Tsubomi shook her head sadly. "She didn't deserve it- maybe a lesson, but not this…"

Chikaru nodded sagely, though she didn't understand anything at all. "Thank you, Tsubomi-chan- I won't be leaving any time soon." She paused for a moment. "And don't give up on Yaya-chan- she seems like the type who needs a little push in the right direction," she added with a wink, causing Tsubomi to squeak and shuffle out of the room, leaving that horribly empty feeling behind.

Sighing, Chikaru fell back onto the bed. If only Shion would give her something to go off of, something to help her…

"You can't help everyone, you know."

Chikaru blinked and turned to the door for the second time, this time facing an uncharacteristically despondent candlestick. "Yaya-chan…"

"Some things are beyond your control. Some things-" Yaya seemed to wince. "Some things can't be undone. Not everyone's meant for saving. Not everyone deserves it."

After several moments of confusion, Chikaru grasped some of the concept behind what Yaya was saying, though she doubted it had as much to do with Shion as it had to do with something that Yaya had done in the past. "Yaya-chan," she said softly, "I wish you wouldn't speak of Shion-chan like that. Nobody is beyond saving, not while there's still someone there who isn't willing to give up."

She watched Yaya's eyes for something- a spark, a flicker of recognition. But the blank look remained, save for a small flicker of masochistic humor. Whatever was eating away at the candlestick was something that she hadn't forgiven herself for. And judging by what Tsubomi had said earlier, the pink clock knew more than a little bit on the subject.

"Fine, waste your time," Yaya said, shrugging. "I was just letting you know."

Chikaru watched as Yaya disappeared out the door. The story behind the beast seemed far more complex than she'd ever imagined, and there seemed to be at least three sides already. She made a mental list in her head.

Tsubomi seemed to believe that despite Shion's character flaws at the time, she didn't deserve whatever curse had been placed upon her. The look behind the pink clock's eyes led Chikaru to believe that Tsubomi actually believed that Shion's condition had worsened by what Chikaru suspected was self-loathing.

Yaya appeared to be under the exact opposite impression- that forgiveness doesn't exist for some sins, though Chikaru wasn't quite sure if she meant Shion or herself.

And Shion- she hadn't managed to get a good reading on the blonde beast at all, and only a couple of things had stood out to her. Despite the scar on her father's face, Shion seemed to be relatively gentle, almost hesitant to step too close to what Chikaru could only assume appeared to be a fragile girl. Chikaru had also caught bits and pieces of guilt hiding behind Shion's violet eyes whenever they would flit down to Tsubomi, and a kind of mutual understanding when they'd rest on Yaya. Pack mentality was always a possibility- protect the weak or female, and fight with the strong or male. But something told Chikaru that there was much, much more to this story that was waiting to be told.

And that story began (and ended) in the West Wing.

Again, sorry! I hope this chapter made up for my lateness!