rose w/o thorns
being a story of mirrors, quests,
and keys to the heart

...

The Oh-So Exciting Prologue
In which some basic principles are explained
in a clear and concise manner.

It is important to note that the Sohma family had an unlucky tendency of getting cursed. It was not as if they wanted to go out and have generally unhelpful, inconvenient spells cast upon them, but it just sort of happened. A lot.

Take the case of Shigure Sohma, for example. Shigure was an internationally renowned author of children's books until he bumped headfirst into Wanda, the moderately Wicked Witch of the West District, on his way home from a book-signing convention. Wanda was so upset, and because she was oh-so-moderately wicked indeed, she hexed Shigure Sohma with Writer's Block, a curse that disabled Shigure from writing anything worth mentioning. This by itself wouldn't have been so bad if, on the following day, Shigure hadn't run into Glenda, the generally Good Witch of the Northern Alliance of Pink Bubble Transportation, who was determined to alleviate Shigure's misfortune. (Glenda was a huge fan of Shigure's writing, after all.) While attempting a counter curse on Shigure with an Inspiration Spell, however, she sneezed, and Shigure ended up instead with Procrastination.

Naturally, the combination of Writer's Block and Procrastination did not bode well for Shigure's writing career, and in the middle of what was certain to be another internationally best-selling and critically acclaimed novel, Shigure Sohma and his unwritten books disappeared from the public eye. Then again, some people didn't believe that the end of Shigure Sohma's writing career had anything to do with either so-called curse and insist that Writer's Block and Procrastination were, in actuality, results of Shigure's laziness.

Cursed? Ha!

If you are one of those people who think Shigure's bad luck was really his bad vices, perhaps Hatsuharu Sohma's curse would be more believable. While visiting a good friend named Dr. Jekyll, Hatsuharu Sohma mistook a beaker of Highly Dangerous and Possibly Toxic Potion for a glass of lemon iced tea and ended up with a split personality. One personality was friendly, polite, normal Hatsuharu. The other personality was a not-so friendly or polite Hatsuharu with violent tendencies.

There were critics of Hatsuharu's curse, as well. They said Hatsuharu was merely throwing a temper tantrum, and it was all because his parents allowed him to walk around with "that crazy hair and all those wild piercings. A travesty, really, what today's youths get away with. Why, we never would have allowed such nonsense when I was a child [blah blah blah…] "

Cursed? Double ha!

(Ha ha.)

Curses came in all shapes, sizes, trends and fashions in the Sohma family, and almost all of them could be explained away as personality quirks. Almost all. There was one in particular that wasn't so easily explained.

CHAPTER 1
In which Hana has the unexpected pleasure of meeting a runaway piano
and we are briefly introduced to members of the Sohma family.

It all started one sunny and generally idle Tuesday when Saki Hanajima stepped out of her apartment at five minutes to noon instead of precisely on the hour. If Hana had left exactly on time instead of five minutes early, she wouldn't have put herself directly in the raging warpath of the runaway piano. Really, the following story can be partially, if not entirely, blamed on one Saki Hanajima and her lack of punctuality.

You see, Hana lived halfway up (or halfway down, depending on whether you yourself were going up or down at the time) of a very tall, very steep hill. At the top of the hill (which was always at the top no matter from which direction you came; unless, of course, it was Friday, which it was not, because it was Tuesday, as mentioned above), there lived a little old lady who used to be a world-famous musician and, for sentimentality's sake, wanted to move a piano into her house. Because of the new floor she had installed downstairs for her Thursday yoga classes, and because of the very narrow and somewhat rickety stairway, the little old lady employed the help of a local moving company to lift the piano through a series of pulley systems to the second floor and in through the large second-story window.

It was a good plan in theory, but in reality, it wasn't. The movers managed to lift the piano all of two inches when the ropes snapped and dropped the piano back onto the sidewalk. Then, rather slowly at first, the piano began to drift listlessly downhill while everyone argued about the best kinds of knots to use when tying ropes around pianos. By the time anyone noticed what was happening with the piano, it had already gained so much momentum that no one could really do anything but watch the piano roll downhill and hope that it would stop at the bottom.

Yes, if Hana had left five minutes later, none of what is to come in the following chapters would have happened. As it were, however, Hana happened out the door to her apartment right as the piano began rumbling down the hill in a dangerously fast and loud manner, playing dissonant chords as it jitter-jumped over cracks in the sidewalk.

"Watch out!" one of the movers frantically cried from the top of the hill.

Hanajima glanced up in the direction of the voice and took in the following information:

1. Piano.
2. Sidewalk.
3. Mud puddle.

In the next instant, Hana had neatly sidestepped the runaway piano and landed herself into a large mud puddle to the left of the sidewalk. Consequently, Hana and the hem of her dress were soaked in mud, and because of this, Hana went back inside to wash her ankles and change into something clean. As a result, Hana ended up leaving her apartment at 12:17.

Note: As for the piano, it continued to travel downhill, but it did not stop at the bottom like the movers had hoped. Instead, it continued travelling West for another few days until it was captured by a group of rogue piano rustlers. The piano eventually escaped with the help of a friendly bass clarinet, and after several improbable musical adventures, they found their way back together to Enchanted Hill and the house of the little old lady, where they all lived happily ever after the end.

Because Hana left at 12:17, she missed the magical pumpkin that would take her over the river and through the wood to her grandmother's house. Because she missed the last magical pumpkin, Hana had to walk instead. Because she had to walk, Hana decided to take a shortcut through the Relatively Dark Forest. Because she took the shortcut… well…

Because this is the abridged version, suffice to say a lot of… odd events occurred, and Hana was none too happy by the time she entered the large gate that led to a large rose garden and a sort of largish Japanese-styled house. When Hanajima passed the garden and finally reached the Japanese-styled house, she knocked, wary that another odd event could be formulating right then. Fortunately for her, a harmless-looking, yukata-wearing man opened the door instead.

Hana, who had been raised to be polite and show good manners, bowed.

"I'm sorry to intrude," Hana began. "But I--"

"Ah! What would such a young and lovely flower such as yourself be doing out here in the middle of the mysterious and frightening Relatively Dark Forest?" Shigure Sohma asked, bowing politely as well. As you may have guessed, Hana didn't know this was Shigure Sohma, famous author extraordinaire, but there he was.

In any case, Hana continued talking as if she hadn't been interrupted.

"—took a wrong turn, and believe I am lost," Hanajima finished coolly, straightening up.

There was, after this statement, a brief silence in which a cool breeze swept across the area, causing the hem of Hana's dress and cloak to billow out around her.

"Y-yes! It's very easy to get lost in this wood," Shigure said knowingly, waving a hand in the air to indicate "this wood."

"I suppose I should escort you back to civilization," he continued with a Handsome Smile. "I couldn't let a young lady travel alone, after all. The woods can be dangerous, and you may need someone to protect you."

"That won't be necessary," Hana replied.

There was, again, another brief pause in the conversation. Apparently ignorant to the awkward silence, Hana absently glanced about herself with mild curiosity as Shigure continued to stand, rather more stiffly than before, in the doorway.

"Well," Shigure rallied after clearing his throat, "I could just give you directions, if you wanted, although --"

"That would be…" Hana interrupted, then paused as if searching for the right word, her eyes drifting back up to Shigure.

"… nice," she finished.

Wow. Her eyes were really…

Shigure opened his mouth in reply, but whatever he was about to say was lost in the general whump-ing sound of a large, heavy-looking book hitting his face.

To be clear, it wasn't Hanajima who hit Shigure with the book. She wasn't the sort of person who went around hitting strangers with books, and even if she were, Hana didn't have one handy at the moment since she just finished reading a series called Fruits Basket (which I highly recommend you read, too) that very morning and was, therefore, currently bookless.

No, the person who smacked Shigure with a large, heavy-looking book was a boy name Yuki. Yuki was, like Shigure, a Sohma. He had a few curses placed on him, as well, but that wasn't important at the moment. At the moment, it was only important that he had suddenly appeared in the doorway beside Shigure and hit him with the above-mentioned book.

"I'm sorry," Yuki said to Hana and not to Shigure, whom he had hit and not her. "My cousin wasn't bothering you, I hope?"

"Not at all," Hana replied evenly. "I simply needed directions."

"And I wath juthd aboud do gib dem do her," Shigure said as he rubbed his nose where Yuki had earlier smacked it rather hard. In a more coherent fashion, he added with injured dignity, "Really, Yuki, you always assume I'm doing something bad."

"That's because you always are," Yuki said acidly. Then, turning his attention back to Hana, Yuki said in a much more pleasant voice: "Where are you headed?"

"To my grandmother's house, who is mysteriously ill," Hana replied. She held up a picnic basket no one had apparently noticed until now and added, "... I'm to deliver bread and wine, you see?"

It was very odd, considering it was the beginning of summer, but another cool gust of wind blew through yet again, causing the roses in the garden to nod up and down and a few scattered leaves to swell up into the atmosphere behind Hana.

"Yes, we see," Yuki and Shigure quickly agreed simultaneously.

"You're not very lost. Just go back the way you came," Yuki continued quickly, knowing that most grandmothers lived over the river and through the wood from the city, "Until you hit Yellow Brick Road. Turn left, then take the second path to the right and go straight on till evening. You should get there before dark."

Behind Hana, the wind died down, and leaves settled themselves back on the ground. Nonetheless, a brisk chill remained in the air. Yuki absently rubbed his bare arms and wondered if it would rain soon.

"Are you sure you wouldn't want anyone to go with you?" Shigure asked. "There are all sorts of strange things in the forest."

"I'm sure I won't meet anything stranger than you," Hana replied politely.

Reluctantly, Yuki agreed with Shigure.

"It would be safer…" he began, but he trailed off as Hanajima merely looked at him for a long moment.

"I wouldn't worry if I were you," she finally said. "Thank you for your trouble..."

She bowed, and the two men did the same. Without another word, Hana turned, her cloak swirling around her in a nicely dramatic fashion as she headed toward the gate.

Ah, but if Hana had only left five minutes before! If she had left five minutes earlier, she wouldn't have run into Kyo.

...

Moral of today's story: Be punctual.

Author's Notes

1. Listen and repeat: I do believe in fanfiction authors who finish their stories. I do, I do!
2. Thanks to everyone who reviewed the first and second incomplete drafts of this story. Your input and comments were encouraging, helpful, and inspiring. Ready for round three?