Disclaimer: I do not own Kuroshitsuji nor do I own Fruits Basket
Prologue
"Ashley~ C'mon let's go!"
The short haired girl pouted and glanced up at the other beside her. "We don't want to be late for school right?" Her adorable pout transformed into a bright smile and she looped her arms around the other's arm, tugging forward. The other girl, Ashley gave a small twitch of the lips and peered down at her companion.
Ashley Higurashi, a tall half Japanese half American had a height that dwarfed any other. With strange piercing golden eyes and long, platinum blonde hair that flowed in tresses behind her she was a dominating figure that seemed to ward people away despite her cool beauty.
She nodded and walked forward, the smaller girl skipping with her.
The other woman that grasped her arm was Crystal Heartfield. A full American, she had warm baby blue eyes and golden hair that curled at the tips. Her bright personality drew people to her like honey and she was considered an 'idol' among her classmates.
Both were best friends since childhood, and both participated in the St. Katherine Catholic School. The school was placed smack in the middle of the dark woods. Yet it was one of the elite private schools that allowed only the 'superior' on their grounds. Students were required to excel in subjects including mathematics, science, English, the romance languages, latin, social studies, politics, arts, music, etc. The list went on and on and for most people, the workload was extremely strenuous.
The two friends were headed to school together, or really the lockers as they lived in the dormitory. Hand on arm, they followed the forest path for a few miles (the campus was enormous) to the lockers and began to the take the necessary items.
As soon as Ashley had opened her lock, a large almost flooding amount of letters burst forth from the locker and slid onto the floor. Crystal pouted once more.
"Muuu~ Ashley always gets a whole bunch of love letters, just like in anime! Even though everybody's scared of you, you get letters anyway… Just like in anime! OH! Remember in Fruits Basket, where Yuki also had that during Valentines Day? But you get it even when it's not a holiday." She giggled, probably thinking of all the other animes she had watched the night before.
Yes, Crystal was an anime/manga factic, an otaku as most commonly known. The school was actually very lenient with rules despite being a Catholic school. In fact, they weren't even religious. Most things could be brought in; the authorities didn't find that females brought in porn anyways. So Crystal lived her life with her room filled with anime posters on the walls, figurines decorating the tables and volumes of manga in the bookshelves, bed, and anywhere else available.
Her favorite anime though, was definitely Kuroshitsuji. And it was most definitely because of one of her favorite characters in that show. Which would be Ciel. Yes, those cold, blue eyes that had almost no emotion but irritation in them. That cute, chubby face that begged to be squeezed. The small, lean body oh so huggable. He was utterly too cute for that butler, Sebastion, of his.
Even thinking about the boy was too much, as the daydreaming girl began to grin and drool. Ashley noticed this and smirked. She tapped the still drooling girl on the shoulder and awoke her.
"I'm sure that you had developed this pedophilia as a teen, hopefully?" Ashley leered. Crystal gasped and replied with passion, "I am NOT a pedophile! Ciel is 13! It's only a 4 years difference!"
"Yes, yes. Now, if we don't hurry, we'll be late to class. Perhaps you should be aware of your imaginary ogling of the boy while in school, Crystal."
Ashley wasn't an otaku, but she had been told about the characters, plot, setting, all courtesy of Crystal. Her interests really lied in cooking and drawing; specialty being bakery and painting.
The petite girl ignored her friend with defiance and skipped merrily to class.
The day had ended quickly for both students. Ashley breezed through her classes while Crystal, though intelligent, settled for thinking of her beloved Ciel and ignored her teachers when possible.
The last class was finished, and the two met up at the lockers once more. Unfortunately, just as soon as they finished packing up, the cloudy skies had started to rain. It was a slight drizzle, but they had brought no umbrellas, and walking for a while with but a thin shirt and skirt/pants was not healthy. Therefore, they decided to wait.
It was too bad for them; the drizzle had then turned to a heavy storm that showed no signs of stopping.
"Do you think we should sleep here for tonight?" Crystal suggested. After a moment of pondering, Ashley agreed with a nod of her head. "I believe we should head for library. I remember there are sofas there available."
Crystal brightened at the prospect of a soft make-shift bed and nodded, tugging the other to the library.
Once they had arrived, they headed straight for the center where the sofas were.
But what really surprised them was the small item that sat alone on the mahogany table in the very center. Moving closer, Crystal gasped. Snatching the item, she observed it and spoke, "I-It's a ring!"
Ashley raised her brow and spoke, "Yes. And?"
Crystal continued, "I-It looks the exact same as the one Ciel has! The one that shows he's the head of the Phantomhive family!" She immediately grasps it tightly in hands and holds it close to her chest.
The other girl merely stared in confusion. Now why in the world was a ring that looked like that of an anime characters be doing here? Perhaps there was some other unknown fan of the show and had forgotten her replica of the ring here?
Ashley began to ask Crystal to let it go and return it to the table, but something extraordinary had happened.
The ring glowed brightly and Crystal cried out in pain before letting go of it. It dropped to the carpeted floor and the room flashed momentarily as the two shielded their eyes from the light.
Seconds later, the flash had receded, and the two were overwhelmed with a thunderous sound of the rain that pelted them, cold wind that blew harshly into their faces and the sight of no library; nothing but a forest path with trees surrounding them on both sides.
Stunned, Crystal stood up with some effort through her soaked clothes and muttered, "Where are we?"
Ashley, who had gotten up and glanced around took a moment before answering, "I have no clue. It must have been the ring… Do you have it?" Crystal shifted her hands through her clothes and stuttered, "N-No. I must have dropped it before…"
"…I see."
The two were now soaked to the bone and freezing.
"We need to get out of the rain." Ashley started, and began walking along the dirt path with Crystal right beside her. They followed the path, hoping to get somewhere with a cave or house for shelter.
After the first mile or so, Crystal began sneezing and holding her arms together in an effort to conserve warmth. Worried, Ashley wrapped her arms around the shivering girl. Smiling gratefully, Crystal leaned against her and they continued walking.
By the third mile, Crystal had closed eyes and heavy breathing. It was obvious she was getting sick. Now even more worried for the girl, Ashley had lifted Crystal up in her arms and began to walk quickly on the path. A slightest slip would not be good for them, prohibiting her from half-hazardly running along the slippery wet road.
Ashley had begun to feel tired and dizzy herself, so she quickened up the pace even more. Another few minutes passed before the road opened up to a large area. To her delight, there stood a large mansion.
Wasting no time, she flung open the gates and ran to the door. Banging on the door, she waited merely a second before it was opened by some strange man, dressed in butler drabs.
Stretching her arms out, Ashley begged, "Take care of her. Please." The man had a puzzled look on his face as he stared at her. But Ashley didn't notice, as she too succumbed to illness and lost consciousness; her vision fading to black.
Owari
A/N: This is my first Kuroshitsuji fic. I hope you liked it, though you didn't get to see Ciel or Sebastian yet. This was mainly to introduce the characters. They'll appear in the next chapter. Please review and give helpful critism on my writing! By the way, this is not yaoi (though I wish it was). Ashley will be with someone, as well as Crystal. Also, are the names too strange or not fit the characters?