Minako arose from her pretty yellow bed and stretched out her arms. She gazed out the window while the sun leaked through her curtains glazing her bureau with a golden light. She hopped out of bed and surprisingly the smell of blueberry pancakes didn’t meet her at the stairs. Her mother had always cooked pancakes every Saturday morning since she was little so naturally Minako was a bit uneasy.

“Mom? Are you here?” Minako said in a loud voice. Then she remembered that they had gone to a party the night before and had stayed out late. She realized that they were probably still sleeping. “Well, I’ll let them alone for a little while,” she thought. Just then Artemis arose from his slumber on her living room couch. “Good morning Artemis, how did you sleep?”

“Yaawnn.. Oh hi Minako, I slept great! I slept all through the night and even dreamt that we beat the Nega moon!”

“Hmm.. That’s strange, my parents didn’t wake you when they came in last night?”

“Now that you mention it, no they didn’t but I think I would have heard them come in.. that IS strange..” Minako, getting a bit nervous slowly went up the stairs leading to her parents’ room. The door was closed slightly and she slowly opened it and found their bed perfectly made with no one in it. A knot tightened in her stomach and she almost felt sick.

“Artemis! Quick come here now!” Minako could hardly get the words out.

“What? What is it? The Nega moon??!” now Artemis was nervous. He quickly lost the nervousness when he saw Minako just staring into her parents’ room, instead it was replaced with confusion.

“They, they aren’t here, something happened to them!” Minako was crying softly now.

“Minako, I’m sure they are fine, maybe their car broke down and they had to stay in a hotel for the night,” said Artemis trying to comfort her.

“No, no they would have called, they would have called,” Minako said still crying. Just then the phone rang which made Artemis jump. “Oh! That’s them!” Minako exclaimed. She ran to the kitchen to pick up the phone.

“Hi guys I was so worried about you!” But her parents weren’t on the other end.

“Uh, miss? Is this Minako Aino at 44 Shuubak street?”

“Yes, what is it..?” Minako was very confused now.

“Are you the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Aino?”

Now that was a dumb question thought Minako “Well of course I am! Why do you want to know?” The naive Minako was getting excited thinking that she maybe won something or her parents were playing a little joke on her.

“Well, miss I am very sorry but you’re parents have been killed in a car crash late last night. The child services will be coming to your home to put you in foster care if your parents did not select a legal guardian if something should ever happen to them.” Minako wasn’t even listening anymore, she felt her world close over her and all was black.

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