"Resist me." She whispered in his ear. Her barbed wire hair scratched against his bare chest. Her hot thighs rubbed against his iron prick aroused by the suffocating heat and ubiquitous pain from persistent struggling. The leather straps tightened around his wrists like a second skin. Her hands were like rope burns around his neck. Her starved eyes intensified as she urged him to fight a futile battle.

"That's right. Resist me."

"Resist me with all your might."

She rode on his exhilarating convulsions and it excited her. She pressed herself harder against him so that she could experience the stimulating contractions of his thirsty muscles. She could taste his feverishness induced by the Panic.

Her hand brushed through his sweat soaked hair while her knee smashed into his groin. A hiss. A howl. He opened his stinging eyes to stare at those two black suns and that bewitching smile. "Try to get away, sensei... try to get away..." This girl was indeed the epitome of his darkest desires. 

• • • • • • •

"Is it true that Ikeda-san is living with Kim-kun?"

"I couldn't believe it at first but Hana-chan said she saw them leaving his apartment yesterday morning and the morning before that."

"Do you think they're in that kind of relationship?"

"She probably forced herself on him. He is too good natured to say no."

"I agree. She's probably that kind of despicable girl. I saw her hanging around the lounge with some shady looking men."

"I saw something like that too when Hana-chan and I went to the karaoke bar with Ito-kun and his friends."

"To think Kim-kun is friends with her. She's nothing but trouble."

"That's the problem. He's friends with everyone. But don't worry, the seniors will teach her a lesson."

"Shhh. She's here."

With a worn out book bag slugged over her shoulder, Ikeda Xinling floated down the aisle towards her usual seat in the back. She was a petite girl with the whitest skin in the entire school. Despite being small, she was far from innocent looking. She wore her skirt short and her shirt half buttoned even though she had no chest to flaunt. Her hair, dry, burnt, and damaged beyond repair, draped in tangles over one shoulder. She had no respect for her school tie, letting it hang around her neck like some cheap fashion necklace. Her nails were always painted bright red, the color of thinning blood. Her ears were full of piercings. At least five in each one. Some of the girls had seen her belly button piercing while in the changing room. It made them wonder if she had any other hidden piercings. They never dared to ask. Ikeda Xinling was a cold-blooded . Her personality and looks were equally foul.

There was a time when she was different. A good girl. But things change. And people change. Some say she turned out like this because she hung out with the wrong crowd. But in truth, she didn't hang with any crowd. Ever since her father moved their family from Taiwan to Japan, she had been a good quiet child. The company sent him overseas for work and that was when he met her mother. They married and Ryuu, her older brother of two years, was born. During her second year in grade school, the Taiwanese branch of the company closed and her father was forced to return to Japan with the whole family in tow. Adjusting to the new school was not easy. She gave it her best but efforts alone wasn't enough. Though she was a sweet child, her classmates still found her a little weird. She was too shy and avoided speaking whenever she could. In middle school, she never participated in any extracurricular activities. The girls invited her to join them during lunch. She tried to like them but couldn't. The next day, she went back to eating alone.

But now, things were far worse than a little weird... like flirting with the teachers. It was disgusting to watch.

A heavy book fell from the desk and its corner struck her toe. Xinling stopped. She bent down and picked up the book.

"Sorry. It just slipped out of my hands." The girl made her apology with a grin while the others around them chuckled.

Xinling returned the book to its owner. "You should really have those sweaty palms checked, Megumi-san. It's getting ridiculous. Things are always slipping out."

Megumi's face turned red. It shut her up for good.

A group of guys circled around Jaejoong. They were all curious about the rumors flying across the school. The one about him and the delinquent sitting in the back.

"Are you going out with Ikeda-san?"

"We're just friends."

"And she's living in your apartment?"

"She needed a place to stay and I had a spare guest room."

"You're just too kind. You shouldn't be mixing with girls like her, Jaejoong."

"We're saying this for your own good."

"Even so, I doubt he'll change his mind. Jaejoong's good to everyone."

All the students shuffled about, returning to their seats when their homeroom teacher arrived. The class rep stood up front to initiate the morning greeting.

• • • • • • •

A group of senior girls backed her up against the wall. Two of them twisted her arms and pushed her down to her knees. Another one took her book bag and threw it over the nearby fence.

"Know your place and stay the hell away from Kim-kun, you dirty ." The prettiest girl pulled out a large pair of scissors and tapped it against her open palm. "Consider this a friendly warning."

Xinling felt the blade rip through her hair. She looked up and caught sight of Jaejoong and his friends walking in the distance. He glanced her way for a second before disappearing into a building.

"Stop it, Mika." Someone came from behind and knocked the scissors to the ground.

"What are you doing, Sho? Don't interfere."

He snatched her wrist and dragged her away.

"Why are you protecting that ?"

"You just don't get it... I'm trying to protect you from her."

"Let go of me!"

"Trust me, Mika. You'll be thanking me later."

Without their pack leader, the other girls lost interest and dispersed, leaving Xinling alone. She curled her fingers around the pair of scissors and stood up. Her knees were in bad shape. The sharp bits of gravel had torn through her delicate skin. She stared with blank eyes at the open book bag and paid no attention to the blood trickling down her shins.  She looked down at the ground. Was she at Earth's End? Standing at the edge of a cliff with only the bottomless ocean below. It became increasingly hard to breathe. Had the Earth switched its axis? She felt as if she was being thrown forward and down as the world spun wildly out of control. She clutched at the metal bracelet around her thin wrist. Her fingers pressed against the familiar grooves of the engraved letters. "Fiction. Lies. Deception. This isn't real."

Xinling stumbled forward. She needed to find relief. Which should it be tonight?

"Park..." She made up her mind. "I'll go to the park." Xinling left her book bag where it was, on the other side of the fence, and walked towards the thread of space where she had experienced it... for the first time.