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She was running again. But…where was she running? And why? She couldn’t remember. She kept running all the same.

There was only one thought going through her mind, a thought that held so much desperation, so much urgency in it, that it caused her leg muscles to tighten and her speed to quicken. And if she hadn’t been running so fast, it would have brought tears of fright to her eyes.

Run, run… I have to escape! I’ve got to… get away… leave, leave! Run away… D-don’t stop… keep going!!

So she ran even faster, not looking back for fear of whatever it was that she was running from. She had no clue as to where it was she was headed, or what--who?--she was running from, nor why. But her body--the same body that had red hair sticking to her neck and whipping against her face and eyes, and her face was near frozen for the tears of fear that had been shed and dried by the cold wind as she ran--somehow knew where she was going. That thought, that feeling, was oddly comforting.

Even if she didn’t know where she was headed, somebody else must know.

And, for some unknown reason, she thought--she knew--that this place where she was going--wherever it was--was safe.

And that, after all, was all that mattered.

--

When she finally stopped running, she could not make sense of her location. Her head was spinning and her mind, having completely blanked when she had been running, offered her no answers. There were no recollections of the path she had taken to arrive wherever she was, nor was there any landmarks that she could easily connect to any place that she knew.

Her breathing was irregular, coming in harsh gasps and pants, shallow and quick. Her heart pounded in her chest, and felt as if it was going much too fast and pounding much too hard. She felt it in her throat, and tasted the metallic flavor of blood as well.

She leaned over, her hands on her thighs and her bag’s weight against her calf, as she panted and tried to force air into her lungs. Her legs seemed to be restless, adrenaline still rushing through her veins as she struggled to regain her breath. It still felt as if she were running, the feel of the ground moving underneath her.

She opened her eyes and they darted left and right as she tried to make sense of her current location. But her eyes moved too quickly over the surroundings, not taking in any more than the black pavement beneath her feet and the fading light from the setting sun.

Stars seemed to dance in front of her own eyes, and multi-colored lights followed them. yellow white orange red green blue yellow green orange-- she couldn’t name them all. The moment that she could figure the color of the light, it seemed to flash again into a completely different color.

Her chest still heaved, and her mouth still gasped, and the pounding of her heart made her taste the blood that seemed to be rushing down her throat. Her eyes slipped shut and tears slipped from beneath the lashes, rolling down her brightly pink cheeks.

She tried to breathe, but every time she drew in a gasp of air, she immediately needed another one. She couldn’t remember why she had been running. Why? Why couldn’t she remember? And… where had she ran to? She couldn’t recognize this place, it was too dark. What little light had been lingering from the setting sun was now gone, and the moon was in the sky, but obscured by clouds. She could see nothing more than the gravel beneath her feet and what she could make out in the dim light of the stars above her.

Reaching an arm out, she thought she felt something rough scrape against the tip of her finger and she walked slightly towards it. Yes, she felt something there. Something hard and rough… With a small gasp, pressing her palm flat against the surface, she realized that it is a tree that she had almost ran into. And next to that another, and another, and another…She followed the line of trees until she was pressing herself against cool concrete, and her hand reached into empty space.

Opening her eyes, she could not prepare herself for the sight that she was met with. Something that she had thought that she would not see for a very long time, or at least, not of her own free will.

Even in the dark, the large house could be made out. There was a wooden deck that went around at least the entirety of the front of the house, and the walls seemed to be paper-thin. Kanna knew that they weren’t. They were simply designed that way, and were sturdy and wood. The lighter color of the house was supposed to be a tan color, but years of dirt and grime have caused it to be only a lighter brown than the wood of the deck. She knew that the doors would be slightly hard to open, but if you knew how to open them, and lifted them just right, then it was very easy and simple to do. And when you went past the doors, the floor would be dark wood all the way through the house.

There were lights coming from the upstairs window. Or rather, one of the upstairs windows had light shining through it, as if it were beckoning to her. She knew that window, almost as well as she knew this house. Both of them were connected so intricately in her memory, neither of them could be separated from the other, nor from a third thought, a third memory. A memory of the person who had, once upon a time, lived here.

Yes, a house that she had almost called her own, with warm people in it who loved her, and a love that she carried for almost every member of the family that had lived here. It was not easily forgotten. And the feeling of betrayal and sensation of trespassing was not easily overridden.

This was their house, they had no right to be there. They were not the Mikazuki clan. They were surely not Kanna Nichibotsu, nor Kyori Cho. There was no way that it could be Yume Mikazuki, that was for sure. That much, that much she had to be certain of.

If it wasn’t Yume, and it wasn’t Kyori, nor Kurenai, or Momo, or any other member of the Mikazuki clan, then who was it? She had to find out. She had to make them get out of here. It’s not their house, not their shelter.

It isn’t the place that had long since become the only place that they had felt safe. No, it was her place. It was her safe haven.

It couldn’t be the place where their best memories were. It was the place that she had had the best moments of her life. When she had been introduced to every member of Yume’s family, from little baby Momo all the way to the Grandmother who’s name she forgot, but she had never called her anything other than Grandmother.

It wasn’t the place where she had been allowed to hide in when they were feeling scared. It wasn’t the place where they hid from their mother when she decided that she was going to go farther than she usually did. Not the place where they had hid when their father decided to pay attention to them long enough to notice that they weren’t home.

No, this was her place.

It was the place where the people who lived in it had once promised her safety. The place where she had hidden, curled up in a ball on the floor in the hallway, waiting for somebody to decide that she was safe enough now. It was the place where the people in it had told her that she wasn’t going home tonight, not while your mother had lost her cool long enough to cause you to break that many bones.

It was where the people had decided that they loved her enough, and she was less trouble than she was worth, and of course you can stay here for another day, Kanna. Better that than going home, don’t you think?

For her, it was all these things and more. It had been where she got her first kiss, where she had gotten her period for the first time, and blushed furiously when Grandma had told her that it was okay, there was a reason that she was bleeding, and Grandma had chuckled and explained it patiently, even as Kanna got redder and redder and stuttered out questions that she wouldn’t dare ask her own mother.

It was the place that she had felt the most at home in, until somebody had to come along and blame some horrible thing on the family, and then the family had been murdered, with only one survivor. Her beloved Yume, who she would have given up her life for many times, if ever she was in need of it. The girl who had taught her that she could live without fearing every little thing, that every woman was not out to get her.

And in that room that was lit up, on the second floor, that was where she had spent the most of her time. She had sat in there and had nightmare after nightmare, and woken up time and time again to the comfort of a loving embrace and kind words, and a best friend or two who loved her almost as much as she loved them, and would do anything to make the tears stop.

Where she had woken up time and time again, hearing Yume cry out in her sleep, reliving the night that she had watched her entire family be murdered, and had been helpless to stop it. She had been there long enough to cry herself to sleep when her first boyfriend broke up with her for reasons that she still didn’t know about, but she didn’t care about them either. And long enough to make sure that Yume never, ever cried herself to sleep again, not while she was there.

So, now, staring up at the window that she had spent so much time peeking out of to make sure that her mother wasn’t coming down the road, or coming to get her, and the same window that she had stared up into when she didn’t feel like walking to the front door to get Yume’s attention, she felt a rightful sense of anger. She felt that her anger was completely justified as she stared into the room that had not been lit up in over a year, and very nearly repeated the process that she often went through, back in the time that she was not courageous enough to enter the property on her own. When she felt that, no matter what they said, she had to tiptoe around everything and obey every rule, and she was not yet wanted enough to drop in on the family uninvited.

She remembered herself and that she was older now, old enough to enter this place as she had thousands of times, with no invitation and no warning, and no notice. Just walk in and find out who was intruding on that private sanctuary, and maybe yell at them, and then, if they leave, then you might be able to leave to. Or hide out here like you did when you needed a place to stay and the family was out on a vacation, to a far away place that you never got to go to.

She took a step forward and felt all the nervousness leave her as she was once again in familiar territory. Here, at least, she knew the rules. She knew where everything was and how to get around it without making noise or hurting herself. She knew that, no matter what, she was still welcome here, and that the moon that always shone so brightly over this place and this family would remember her well enough to ensure her safely for at least a little bit longer.

She calmly walked to the door, skipping over the creaky, unsteady step that was on the stairs, and padded softly across the old but still sturdy wood of the deck. Pausing with her finger tips resting against the edge of the door handle, she listened for any strange noises of the night, but found none. She wrapped her fingers around the handle and turned it, hearing a ‘click’ as it was opened. It nearly startled her in the near-complete silence of the night around her, but she did not jump as she would have any other time.

She was here because it was permitted, after all. She was allowed to be here, whoever was upstairs most definitely were not supposed to be here.

Without fearing much worse than... well, she feared whatever was in there, just about as much as she was angry at them for being in her best friend's house. But, she couldn't let that get in her way now, not when she was on a quest to see who ― or what ― was intruding on her best friend's space. And also because she had no place left to go.

Oh god , it hit her. She really had no place to go now. Her house was not safe ― that was where her brother was, and where her mother would be. She would not ― could not ― intrude on Kyori, simply because she did not want to trouble her, and she would end up being some sort of trouble for Kyori, no matter what the older girl said.

This was about the only place that she had to go, seeing as she would not impose herself on any of her other friends, and she did not think that they would be able to understand why she needed to be hidden away, as quickly and completely as possible. The only of her friends that had ever, and would ever, know about the “relationship” between Kanna and her mother were Kyori and Yume. And both of them had provided a shelter for her time and time again ― more often than not it was Yume who had hidden Kanna away in her house than Kyori, but the other girl had helped her often as well ― and Kanna trusted the two of them with her life. Which would be a very bad thing if that was not what she trusted them with, for she had been saved by them many times.

She would not tell any of her other friends about it. For now, she had to stay in this house that was once her only escape from her life. Alone. With nobody else there, except for the ghosts of a family that had once been hers and the trespassers that she did not know. She would trust these “ghosts” of the Mikazuki family, simply because she had known them when they were alive, and because this was their place, and she could be just as much a trespasser on them as those others that were in Yume's bedroom at that very moment.

She did not know what to think of the trespassers, nor what to do about them, until she had met with them face to face. Maybe then she would not be quite so afraid of them. But until then ― until she met them ― she would not trust them, or trust that they were not frightening and that they did not mean to harm her, or trust anyone who happened to cross their paths.

She stepped into the house, feeling the coldness inside through her hooded shirt and pants, and almost wished for a light. She rethought that, however, because she did not want to alert the trespassers of her presence, although she was sure that they already knew she was there. She could have been seen from that window, in the driveway, after all. Though, depending on the kind of people they were, it was all up to chance if they had seen her. She usually tried ― not that she actually tried anymore, it was second nature, and she did it without thinking nowadays ― to remain as hidden as possible. If they can't see me, they can't hurt me.

Everything she had grown up on had been around that one thought. Or nearly everything. She could plug just about anything into that thought: If she can't hear me, she doesn't think I did anything wrong. If she can't see me, she can't say I was in her way. If I stay as far away from her as possible, I can't do anything wrong. If I do everything right, I won't have to worry. If I don't lie, I don't have to remember anything. If I do everything to please her, she won't be unhappy anymore. Just about anything she could think of, anything to please her mother, could be put into that context. Simple ― cause, effect. “If I don't do this―then she won't do that“ and just about anything could be fit into there.

She knew this house since she had met Yume, and had been able to move around in dim lighting many times. Of course, she didn't know where everything was located now ― not when she hadn't been in it for a long time, and not when she had no clue where the furniture was anymore. But she knew the walls, and she knew where the stairs were, and where the lights were, and where everything was that could not have been changed, unless there was major reconstruction of the house in the past. And she knew that there hadn't been, because everybody thought that this house was haunted, just because of the strange noises and the creepy looks that Yume had--

But don't go there, Kanna. No, don't you dare tread those waters yet. You aren't ready to face the truth; little human girls who aren't ready shouldn't think that far ahead. But where had being human come into play, she wondered?

It didn't matter. Soon enough she found the edge of the staircase that would lead her upstairs, to where Yume's room was, where the trespassers were. Where the strange people were that she knew she had to see.

Why did she feel like she was being drawn to them? This burning rage, this meaningless fury that she felt, just at somebody else being in Yume's house. Why did she feel that today?

She didn't know, but she thought it might have something to do with that...

Dark blue eyes stared into her own, a fury burning in the dark depths. They were staring out at her from a face that she should recognize, but she couldn't place it. Where..? Where had she seen this face before? “Why are you here?!” and the voice was soft and hard at the same time, cold and furious, yes. She recognized it, but couldn't place it. Where...?

She pitched forward as she tripped over the slight raise in the floor before the first step, and the vision was gone. Where had she...? Why did she see that face? She shook her head, smiled a small smile to herself, and continued carefully up the stairs. It wouldn't do any good for her to lose her mind now, would it?

She stopped two steps from the top, hearing muffled voices. A scraping noise came afterward, and a few lazy footsteps. More voices, and a slight giggle, followed by a murmur. She glanced around and realized that it was coming from the door that had a bit of light filtering through the crack where it was left slightly ajar. She moved ahead quickly.

“...sorry... I...” giggle, shuffle, sigh. “Where...you...her?”

The voice was soft, and very feminine. There was just a little bit of an edge to it, but it was relaxed. And curious. Too bad Kanna couldn't hear her any better. The voice was far too soft, even if it was only a door ― Yume's door ― that separated them.

The second voice... all she could hear was a murmur. Just a little bit of a change in the sounds around her, no words or any tone. But then there was another giggle, and a gasp. A surprised sound, and then something that sounded... content?

“Oh...” Kanna blushed. Was that a moan, or something less than innocent that met her ears? It certainly sounded it, but... and then she was speaking again, and Kanna had to listen closely. “...the door... y-yeah.” breathy voice, shuffling, and then...

The door opened. Kanna was looking into deep blue eyes, darker than dark, almost as dark as the sky at midnight in the country, where there were no lights to get in the way of the sky itself and the way that it truly looked. No piercings were on that face, not a tattoo in sight, but them dark eyes and that dark hair. Black, and short, bangs brushed from the face at the moment, and length barely past the nape of her neck. Angry expression, brows furrowed.

Did I interrupt something?

But Kanna couldn't have interrupted something, not that she knew of, anyway. The girl was looking like she just got a bad grade or something, not like she had been interrupted when she had been planning a romantic evening for two--in my best friend's abandoned house!!--that had taken her a very long time to get everything right. No, she couldn't have interrupted anything, but...

“What are you doing here?”

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