"A-a flower...?" Big brown eyes blinked at the red rose before them, and then they glanced up to stare at the person giving the flower.

"Yeah," the other child replied, beaming brightly, their flushed pink cheeks a contrast to their bright olive-green eyes. "I mean... although you're a boy, you're really pretty, and you're one of my only friends... and we have lots in common." The kid smiled. "So... so, this is for you!" The blushed increased again and they shoved the rose into the other child's hands.

The boy blinked a few more times before smiling and leaning up to pat the taller kid's head. "Ga-chan," he said softly, and then gently took the rose from her. "You're so sweet. Thank you!" he exclaimed, giggling happily and hugging her waist tightly.

Blushing, the girl ruffled the shorter child's hair. "O-of course... you're welcome..."

O-o-O-o-O-o-O

The incessant beeping of her alarm clock and the agitating light filtering in from behind her blinds was what woke her up that day. Groaning, she put her arm over her closed eyes to block out the light. I can't usually remember my dreams, but... Removing her arm and letting one green eye flutter open, she mused, I feel like I had a very strange dream...

"Big sisteeer!"

"Oof!" Garren winced when she felt pressure on her body. "Guys, you're getting way too old for this. Get off of me," she berated with an exasperated sigh.

"Ooh..." the kids whined in disappointment as they rolled off of their big sister and sat at the sides of her bed.

Running a hand through her short light brown hair, she regarded her four younger siblings intently with a raised brow. "Well?" she prompted. "Why did you rush in here? I've known you guys since you were born, and I know you want something. What is it?" she demanded, staring them down.

"Sis'..." they all began simultaneously, and her guard was instantly heightened. They're in perfect sink. So, they've planned something... she thought warily as she scanned their guiltless faces. "We..." Hurry it up... "We want to join kendo(1) club with you!" they all suddenly shouted, and she jerked back in surprise. Well... I wasn't expecting that, she thought, blinking her wide green eyes a few times before sighing in annoyance. She wasn't good with these kinds of things...

"Okay, what's this about?" she asked, frowning. "None of you have ever displayed any interest in kendo before..." she commented slyly, hoping to wriggle an answer out of them.

The four kids exchanged nervous glances, and the two twins made eye contact before sighing and turning to Garren. "Neither did you," Sean muttered with a pout.

"Yeah," Seth, the younger twin, piped up, backing up his twin. "You only did it 'cause of those mean bullies!" he shouted, anger sparking in his eyes.

"We wanna help big sis' too," Sarah said vehemently, her pigtails bouncing up and down as she nodded decisively, and she nudged Christopher, who nodded shyly in response.

Garren regarded all of her siblings for a moment before shaking her head. "Don't be stupid," she muttered, pushing herself up and going over to her closet. "You guys don't need to fight; you have me to protect you, and I'll always be here to do so." She pulled out her school uniform, but had trousers instead of the customary skirt. As she pulled it on, she smiled at her siblings and said, "No need to worry, okay? Now come on, or we'll all be late for school."

The kids exchanged glances before sighing and following their big sister.

O-o-O-o-O-o-O

"Garren! You're here!" a voice shouted, sounding elated.

The brunette turned just in time to side-step a huge hug. "Yeah, I'm here, just like yesterday and the day before. No need to get excited, Drake," she mumbled with a roll of her eyes, unimpressed. Shoving her hands in her pockets, she made her way to her form room, leaving her friend in a crumpled heap on the floor.

"Well done, Drake," someone said, smirking at him, just pissing the blond boy off. He hated that guy's smug smirk! "You have, once again, failed. Congratulations." He chuckled and adjusted his wire-framed glasses.

"Shut the hell up, Rei," he snapped angrily, pushing himself up and glaring down at the Asian boy. "Garren takes kendo, so naturally he(2) has good reflexes!" he shouted defensively.

Rei pushed his fringe out of his eyes. "Which, may I remind you, is an Asian sport," he replied, his smirk firmly in place. "Besides," he said, pushing his loose glasses up again. "You just have clumsy movements. Well," he murmured, walking off. "I'll see you in class... unfortunately."

Drake growled and clenched his fists. "That guy really pisses me off," he hissed to himself.

"Excuse me..."

The blond boy didn't turn, just continued glaring at the disappearing figure down the hallway. "Yeah, what is it?" he grumbled.

"I'm new here... Could you possibly help me find my class?"

"Sorry, kid, but I..." Finally, he turned to face the speaker, only for his eyes to widen and his face to flush quickly. Standing there was a really cute girl with short black hair in a sort of wild style. She had brown eyes, but they weren't as dark as Rei's. Clad in the school's customary uniform, but with long socks up to her thighs, the skirt ending just above them, and a lose blouse with short sleeves, she looked... adorable, Drake thought, feeling his heart rate increase just by looking at her. "S-sure, I'll help you!" he blurted.

The girl beamed at him and clasped her hands together tightly. "Oh, thank you so much!" she cried joyfully.

Drake swallowed and smiled back at her weakly. She's flat-chested, but she's still really cute... "Shall we go? What class are you in?"

"Ah!" she exclaimed, making Drake jump. "I apologise," she said, bowing. "I didn't introduce myself. How rude of me. My name is Ryu. Ryu Kurosawa." Lifting her head, she smiled at Drake, and for a second, he thought he saw something sinister twinkling in those eyes, but he hastily dismissed it. I must be seeing things...

"I'm Drake Jones," he replied with the most charming smile he could muster, but she appeared to be unruffled.

"Well, I'm in year twelve, and I'm in form three(3)," she informed him, idly examining the posters on the walls, staring at one in particular. Some students in this school are in a band, hmm?

"Y-year twelve? But you're so..." he trailed off when he felt some kind of dark, menacing aura emitting from her. "E-eh... never mind," he said, laughing sheepishly. "You're in my class. I'll show you there." He offered her his arm, but she just began walking. This girl... he thought, eyes following her. She... is really cute! I can't wait to convince her to go out with me!

In front of him, Ryu was staring at the notice she had snagged from the bulletin board, smirking. This will be very fun. I cannot wait to see you again... Ga-chan.

O-o-O-o-O-o-O

(1) Kendo is a modern Japanese martial art of sword-fighting based primarily upon Japanese swordsmanship (Kenjustu).

(2) Although Garren is female, she's undercover as a male, and the reason behind this will be revealed later on.

(3) This is set in England, so it uses the English school system. In high school, you have years seven (which you join when you are eleven years of age), up to year eleven (when you're fifteen/sixteen). Then, after year eleven, you can choose to move onto a college or start work, or go into sixth form, which consists of years twelve and thirteen, and as such you're in sixth form for two years and leave for university or work when you are eighteen. In year twelve, you're around sixteen/seventeen (mostly the latter, but some of us are the babies of our years... like me).

Warnings: This story will move up to an 'M' rating soon enough due to strong violence, mentions and flashbacks of abuse and/or neglect, and later on includes sexual content, use of drugs, gangs (yakuza) are included within this story. Possible same-gender pairings. More warnings probable in the future.

Okay! Recently I have been inspired by a manga that had a feminine-looking boy and a masculine-looking girl, and it was just overflowing with cute (d-don't look at me like that! I usually read seinen and shounen! Action and martial arts manga like NARUTO, Bleach, DragonBall Z (in the past... man, I miss it), One Piece, Berserk, and stuff like that)... so I had to do something like this, although it will definitely be very different and a lot more dark. All of my stories are guaranteed to be angst-filled and dark.

The first to catch onto Ryu's plot will be... Well, who do you think it'll be? XD If you know any Japanese, it should be obvious... but even if you don't, it's still rather easy to guess. Oh, P.S.: This isn't yaoi/shounen-ai/BL/slash... but I might include some. XD; You never know...

Please review!