Strength Unbounded

AU: *I do not own these characters or ideas, just the plot!*

Prologue – Finding a Friend

My life has never been a mystery to me. Always, since the day I was self-aware, I have known who I am and what my purpose is. I am Hitomi Takeashi, the second child of Rin and Seiji Takeashi, living in Sarayashiki District of Tokyo. I have always been extremely intelligent and studious, and I have grown like a flower whose only sustenance is learning. Someday, I believe my parents hope to see me as a university professor or perhaps a doctor. I have always been fragile physically, and fell ill often. Nobody expects much from me, not in that way. My mind is all I have. I am sixteen.

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My school was a fine one. Sarayashiki High School was not much different than the junior high school there, especially not since Takanakasensei had been asked to take a position there. My first two years there, I was in a class with all the same people as I was in middle school. But my junior year, by some mistake, I was placed in a different class. I didn't know anyone there, although I'd heard of the loud ones that sat in back. Urameshi and Kuwabara were easy enough to pick out. They were always reading manga in class and talking over the teacher. I noticed that they never came to gym. I might have felt embarrassed, paying so much attention to them and never saying anything, but I didn't know anyone. I only noticed them because they were the closest things to acquaintances I had there.

Not that having friends or not having friends matters. I still maintained excellent grades and was already receiving offers from several prestigious universities, some out of country and continent. Even so, I yearned for my old friends, or at least wished that I could make new ones, but I heard what they said when they thought I wasn't listening.

"Have you seen Takeashisan, who used to be in class 1-A?"

"Ooh, the egghead? Yeah, she's so stuck up!"

"Thinks she's too good for us. Nyeh!"

Though the voices were faceless, they were enough for me to keep my silence. How could they know me without ever talking to me? And was that truly the way I showed myself to be? Whether it was or wasn't, I kept to myself. I didn't want to bother anyone, and nobody seemed to want to bother me. All that was perfectly fine, until the first time I got sick.

I woke up on a Monday morning with a terrible headache. I still got up and tried to get ready, but things just kept piling on top of each other. I started sneezing and coughing, and my stomach churned so badly that I even pushed away the waffles my mother made us for breakfast. She followed me as I made my way to the door, fully dressed and satchel in hand. My father sat at the kitchen table still, even though all three of us children had left it already. He sipped nonchalantly at his coffee, eyes skimming over the International section of the Tokyo Times.

"Absolutely not, Hitomisan!" my mother said as I slipped on my shoes by the door. "You cannot go to school this way! You're too sick!"

"Truly, Kaasan, I'm fine," I insisted, swaying as a dizzy spell overtook me. My cheeks were flushed with fever, but it wasn't cold outside. I would be okay as long as I wore a coat.

"Hitomisan…."

Behind me, my older brother, Seiji the second, watched me as I argued with our mother. When I glanced at him, I saw his violet eyes were filled with concern. I looked away quickly, because his stare made me feel guilty. Finally ready to leave, I turned to my mother. "Good bye, Okaasan!" I said firmly. "See you after school." Then I turned around and breezed past Seiji onto the walkway. Almost as soon as I was outside, my knees buckled beneath me and I fell to the ground.

"Imoutochan!" Seiji cried, rushing to my side. "Are you okay?!"

Before I could answer, I vomited all over the sidewalk. My older brother picked me up carefully, wiping the remnants away from my mouth with the sleeve of his school uniform. He carried me swiftly to my bed, laying me there with the utmost care before removing his jacket and placing it beside me. His warm, spicy scent comforted me and cleared my head a little. He kissed my forehead gently, resting his cool hand on my burning cheek.

"Rest, Hitomi-imoutochan," he whispered. Before he even left the room, I was asleep.

I awoke several hours later, with strong, midday sunlight pouring discriminately through my lowered blinds. I wore light green pajamas and a cool rag was pressed to my forehead. My mother sat in the rocking chair in the corner of my room, carefully working at darning a tear in my little sister's weekend jumper.

"Ah, Hitomisan," she murmured, looking up with a tense smile. "You're awake. Doctor Iwamouto should be arriving shortly."

I sighed. Doctor Iwamouto—not our family physician, but specifically my physician. He was an immunologist, the one who had originally diagnosed my immunodeficiency. I didn't like him. He was the brother of Iwamoutosensei, who had been an untrustworthy teacher at Sarayashiki Junior High. I'd heard that he'd once framed a student (Yusuke Urameshi, coincidentally) for stealing an entire class's possessions, only to be found out when he had kept a very rare pen belonging to a student in his pocket for himself. Doctor Iwamouto was much kinder and gentler than that Iwamouto, but I still felt skittish around him. Also, whenever he paid me a visit, it always meant a lengthy absence from school. I tried to sit up, but it hurt my head.

"Now, Hitomisan," Mother scolded, "don't push yourself. Just wait for the doctor to come."

I obeyed, falling back to sleep fairly quickly. I awoke for Doctor Iwamouto's visit, long enough for him to say it was just another of my bouts and to excuse me from two weeks of school. He always excused me for longer than I needed, but this was only because stress could push me back into being sick, so I had to wait until the virus was completely gone to go back. I didn't like it, but what choice did I have but to obey? After he left, I went back to sleep and slept through the day until my mother knocked on my door.

I sat up groggily, my head pounding. "Yes?"

"Hitomisan, there's a girl named Keiko Yukimura here to see you. Should I let her up?" I could hear the smile in Mother's voice. She must have thought that Keiko was a friend. She was familiar to me—our class rep, I think. I thought it over for a second, weighing my horrible appearance with my desire for company.

"Please do," I called hoarsely, taking a swig from the bottle of water someone had placed on my bedside table at some point in the day. Thankfully, I also found my brush there, and took the chance to run it frantically through my tangled, curly, violet hair. I put the brush down and fluffed my pillows so I could lean against them just in time for the door to my room to slide open. Keiko, a short, brown-haired girl with a kind look about her, entered shyly, pulling a stool up to my bed so she could sit with me.

"Good afternoon, Takeashisan," she said demurely, smiling shyly at me.

"Keikosan," I murmured, my soft voice made even softer by my headache, "you don't have to be so formal with me." I smiled. "Call me Hitomichan."

"Then you must call me Keikochan," she answered, grinning a wicked grin. "I came by because you weren't in school today. I was worried. You're so studious; I thought something must be wrong for you to stay home."

"You were right," I replied, closing my eyes. "But I fall ill very often. I am not the strongest, I'm afraid. But I'm very happy you visited me."

"It's no problem at all," the class rep insisted with an embarrassed smile. "It turns out your house is on the way home for me, so I thought I'd drop in with your homework and let you borrow my notes from today."

"That's very kind of you, Keikochan," I stated, wide-eyed at the act of friendship. "Thank you very much."

"Yusuke and Kuwabara were going to come, too," Keiko let me know. Her eyes fell disappointedly to her lap. "But they, um, got caught up in some work they had to do."

"You'll have to thank them for me anyway," I said with a tight smile. "I thought everyone in our class disliked me, but to know that the three of you don't seem to makes me very happy." Keiko smiled, too, placing a hand over mine.

"Honestly, you seem very nice," she told me, squeezing my hand in a friendly way. "I'm glad I never listen to the stupid rumors people spread. Then I would have missed out on meeting such a nice girl!"

Then, suddenly, my mother knocked on the door. "Miss Keiko, will you be staying for dinner?" she asked politely. Keiko checked her watch, then shook her head.

"Sorry, I have to get home to help my parents mind the store," she answered apologetically. "But I'll come back to see you tomorrow, Hitomichan. And I'll bring Yusuke and Kuwabara, too, I promise."

"Thank you very much, Keikochan," I said, bowing my head respectfully. She gave me a quick hug before running out of my room, past my mother. In the distance, I heard the front door open and close.

"Well, she seemed very sweet," Mother commented, placing a hand on her hip. "Hitomisan, you never mentioned having a friend." I smiled to myself, surprised myself. I hoped she really would come back tomorrow.