Born of Wind and Ocean
By: Honest Beauty
Chapter 1: The Winged Girl
Haruka arose at dawn. Not unusual for her, as she was fond of her daily early morning flights. Rising from her nest of bedding, the 5'11" tall, well shaped and well built seventeen year old carefully stepped out of the bed, stretching her arms as she did so. She longed to stretch her wings as well, but seeing as her wings were six feet long each, stretching them in her bedroom wasn't the brightest thing she could do. Those wings, and the strange, dark blue symbol on her forehead, were the reason why Haruka Tenoh was shunned by her family and lived alone in a huge, luxurious, isolated house on a cliff beside the Pacific Ocean. Haruka, whose parents shunned her since birth, had moved to their penthouse at the top of their main business building in the city when she was only seven. The teen, walking over to her closet, sighed as she saw the picture that was hung on the wall.
Emi and Hiroshi Tenoh. How I miss them. They were my parents, for all intents and purposes. Emi had been her nanny, school teacher, and mother figure. Hiroshi had been her butler, physician, gym trainer and father figure. Haruka had been named by the older couple when Haruka's real parents had made it clear that they were not going to even name the 'freak' they had given birth to.
They also taught me something even more important: how to love and be loved. Haruka thought, the usual ache in her heart whenever she thought of the couple. Both Emi and Hiroshi had died together when Haruka was fifteen, and Haruka missed them fiercely. But thanks to them, Haruka knew how to read, write, figure, set bones, and how to heal herself if she got injured in any way. Hiroshi had once told her that she healed about five times as fast as a normal human did, but Haruka had never had a chance to prove that statement, not that she wanted to.
Haruka pulled on her dress, carefully avoiding her wings. The dress was more like a backless, sleeveless leotard with a skirt sewn on than anything else. The dress fastened around her neck, choker style, and there was a supportive, built in bra in the bodice. The bases of her wings were on either side of her spine and down most of her back. The 'shoulder' joints were about where the middle of her shoulder blades were down her back, and the thin, tough skin that covered the wing bones was attached to her body from where her wing sockets were to her waistline. The skin was on either side of her spine all the way down to where the wing skin ended at the point on her back where on the front, her bellybutton was.
The wings themselves folded up compactly enough. The first segment was folded down, so that the bone was parallel to her spine and the first wing joint was pointed at the ground. The second segment folded upwards and the last segment folded down, like the first.
But even folded up the wings were still too big for her to cover them up. The wings could fold flush against her back, the first elbow joint reached to the middle of her butt and the second wing joint reached the base of her neck. Her feathers themselves were the same color as her hair, a sandy white, and were like a bird's: primaries, over a foot long each and three inches wide at their widest, secondaries, down feathers etc.
Padding barefoot from her bedroom to her living room, Haruka caught sight of her reflection in the hall mirror. Startling dark teal eyes below messy off-white bangs stared back at her. Peeking out from underneath the bangs was the faintly glowing, dark blue Uranus planetary symbol that she was born with. The woman in the mirror had high cheekbones, medium set eyes,
and a sharp chin. The thin yet shapely lips twisted as Haruka directed a wry half smile at her reflection and continued on.
Passing the empty master bedroom, Haruka's face twisted into a snarl as usual. Katashi and Rin Wakahisa were her biological parents and their names suited them. Shunning and then abandoning their only child, the two of them were co-CEOs of Wakahisa Enterprises. They dealt mostly with scientific research and development and had many connections to the military and other big businesses. The couple didn't want to have it known that they had spawned such a freak, so they paid for all of Haruka's expenses, provided internet, delivered food and supplies (though it was always by helicopter and Haruka was always to be away from the house and hidden from view went the deliveries came), and even provided a decent stipend for Haruka, in return Haruka must never reveal herself to the public, or at least never as the daughter of Katashi and Rin Wakahisa. Haruka didn't miss them at all, but she still resented and was hurt by the fact that they couldn't even accept their daughter or offer her any affection at all.
Entering the huge living room, she gazed through the ornate French door that lead from the room onto the large, deep balcony that Haruka used as her launch and landing pad. Stopping in the center of the room, the teen carefully opened her wings to their fullest, stretched them, and then fluttered them briefly to shake out any dander or loose feathers before briskly flicking them and snapping them closed against her back once more. Walking into the kitchen, Haruka grabbed a cup and filled it with water. Drinking it quickly, she set the cup down and walked to the French doors, pushing her bangs away from her eyes impatiently as she did so I really need to trim my hair when I get back. She thought as she opened both doors.
Closing them behind her Haruka walked to the center of the balcony and stretched her body briefly. She then crouched slightly flexing her powerful legs. Pausing a moment to close her inner eyelids, which were clear membranes that protected her eyes from the winds and small particles in the air, Haruka shoved against the hard concrete, launching herself joyfully into the clear blue morning sky. Catching a thermal, the winged teen rose through the air swiftly. Dancing through the sky weaving, diving and performing complex maneuvers, Haruka felt the tension, gloom and loneliness drain from her body. Haruka could never truly relax mentally unless she was flying; it was her one release from all of her troubles and loneliness.
Hundreds of feet below the airborne teen, unseen by even Haruka's keen vision, two brothers observed her from the cover of the forest that surrounded the hill and cliff which Haruka's house was on.
Footnotes
# – The first segment is one bone, like the bone in a human's upper arm, and is attached to the wing 'shoulder' socket and the first wing 'elbow' joint. The second segment has two bones in it, like a human forearm does, and is connected to the first and second wing joints. The third and final segment of Haruka's wings has only one bone in it, but that bone is shallowly curved for better flight, and it is only connected to the second wing joint.
Meanings of first and last names so far:
Haruka – Distant
Tenoh – Sky King
Emi – Beautiful Blessing
Hiroshi – Generous
Rin – Cold
Katashi – Firm/Hard
Wakahisa – Forever Young
HB here. What do you think? Please leave a review! Sorry about the lack of any real plot, but I had to give the setting, background, descriptions etc or you would be confused. The plot will move faster after the second chapter, which is called "The 'Mermaid'". Till next update!
Warning, this story will probably be slow even though I already have the whole plot mapped out. I will be starting college next week and this is going to be my first quarter of my first year. Yikes! I'm scared and nervous!! Wish me luck!
Edit: based upon an excellent suggestion by hellebores, I have changed a few things. Namely I moved the more in depth descriptions to the bottom of the page as a footnote so they don't interrupt the flow of the story and/or confuse people. I've down the same thing with the meanings of the names. Thank you again hellebores!
Edit # 2: okay, I changed Haruka's hair color. It is now a sandy white, not blonde, like in the manga. Picture the color of white sand and you got her hair color basically.