Yuki: This story takes place in the Naraku no Chibi Neko time frame. Once I finish that, I will update this more. By the way, this came into my head MONTHS ago. I just found time to write it, plus I thought it appropriate because I just talked about it in World History today at school.

I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOREVER FOR THIS PERIOD OF TIME!!!

Anika: O.o You help your mom with her homework (Microbiology course- one report of which was on Bubonic Plague).

Ring Around the Rosies

Historians say that the children's nursery rhyme of 'Ring Around the Rosies' come from the period of time when the Black Death swarmed through most of Medieval Europe.

In 1349, in London, England, a small boy died at age 12 after suffering years of blindness, social isolation, and discrimination. His name was Andrew Amos.

1342: Andrew's POV

Everything is blank. Aaron says that when I was born, my eyes were made wrong. God said that I wasn't supposed to be able to see so I can't...

Did I do something wrong?

"..." No one answers me.

What did I do?

"..."

Why can't I see?

"..."

---

Aaron's POV

He's brooding again, sitting on his bed and staring at nothing... How does he sleep? How does he dream? Can he see in them or is it scented and sweet and soft in his dreams?

I slam my fist against the stone wall of our house. Andrew jumps slightly, then relaxes back into his unseeing world.

When Andrew was born, our mother died when the midwife told her that her third and final child could not see. Our father left us with our grandfather Solomon, whom died just last year... Why are we always alone?

Is it Andrew's eyes? Not only is he blind, but his eyes are red. A bloody red that can gaze into your very soul and know what kind of person you are on the inside, if he could see.

I knock on his door in a special rhythm that will let him know I am going inside. Tap-thump-tap. I open the door and look at the five-year-old in the makeshift bed. His eyes were glazed, unfocused, though looking in my direction.

"Aaron?" Andrew grabs a slender, but solid, stick that he uses to feel his way around as he walks. "Brother?"

'Oh, Lord, how could you be so unmerciful,' I am thinking, 'not letting this child see the world, for if he could see, he might be able to put his beautiful voice to use?'

My brother makes his way off the bed to stand next to it, careful not to get his unseen white clothes dirty. "Brother?" I walk over and stand in front of him.

---

Andrew's POV

My Aaron smells like roses... he says that Mama liked that smell, flowers... I wonder what they look like. Aaron says his own eyes are purple, like my sister's, and the three of us have hair that is three different colors: red, black, and some yellow...

My brother moves and he puts his hands on my face... "Andrew, are you ready?"

I know he's in front of me, but I can't see him... "Yes, I am ready."

He trails one of his hands from my face, down my arm, and to my hand, wrapping it up tight in his.

"It's time to go to church." Church... I like that place that Aaron just said. It feels clean... and I bet there is light there, like the Sun, but not as dangerous, like Aaron said the Sun's light was. He doesn't let my eyes try to look at the Sun. He says it will hurt them more... How can I hurt them more?

"And I go get baptized, right?" The church didn't want to baptize me when I came out of Mama. They thought because I couldn't see, something was wrong with me. That was Father Peter, though. He died a while ago, when Aaron said that leaves change color and fall from trees. I put a daisy where he was buried, sad that he had to leave before I got to know him well.

---

Roxana's POV

My brothers, both my juniors in age, come into our eating room. I set plates in front of both of them once they were sitting down. Andrew waits as I explain and show him, while holding his hands, what is on his plate. A boiled egg gives in as I drag Andrew's fingers over it and a bit of chicken is devoured when I let him get a taste of it. His eyes, though unseeing, show a bit of happiness in them. I think he's glad he can taste it, since he cannot see it.

Andrew, Aaron, and I attend church once a week. We always sit near the front so my baby brother can hear. Today, Andrew is getting baptized. I have never seen him so excited. Aaron watches him as he eats, making sure he does not get dirty. Andrew knows, like a noble, to tuck a kerchief in the collar of his white robe, but he also took the precaution and laid a second kerchief on his lap.

Andrew is such a bright child, so kind and innocent... why do people shun him from their activities?

"Sister, we're done." Aaron gets out of his chair before standing and grabbing Andrew, who I notice carries his seeing stick.

"Should he have it today?" It's that and Andrew's eye condition and color that makes him stand out, it's what makes some of the other children push him into the mud and soil his clothes, knowing he cannot complain because he cannot see who they are... is the world that cruel?

"Andrew, you can't take the stick with you today," Aaron says, as he gently removes it from the child's grasp. I smiles at the accepting look on my baby brother's face... I don't like it, but that's how he will live his life.

Always accepting and never asking why.

"It's God's will." "He's cursed by the Devil." "He is a witch's child." "He is a living corpse." All of that, people say based upon his tri-colored hair, blood eyes, and pale, milky skin. I hate it, I cannot stand it.

Why did God want this child to suffer? WHY?!

Yuki: Okay, I looked at random English names on the internet at school and stumbled upon the name of Andrew, then Aaron, Roxana, and Amos. Try and figure out who everyone is.

Anika: We'll update soon, as soon as Yuki's parents stop being so SUSPICIOUS of everything I write. (groans in frustration)

Yami: Read and Review.

Yuki: O.O Where did you come from?

Yami: :)

Anika: No, don't d-

Yami: Somewhere over the rainbo- (mouth is covered by Anika)

Anika: NO!

Yami: :(

Yuki: READ AND REVIEW... Please ;-;