A/N: A little note here... I have read the manga of DN Angel, not seen the show. Just so you know. OH! And what is his name?! The boy who's always with Takeshi and Daisuke! I've been through the manga, searched all over the Internet... and still don't know his name! If anyone would be kind enough to tell me who it is I'd REALLY appreciate it. Relax, read, and uh, if you feel like it coughs review. Please?
Disclaimer: If I really owned DN Angel... I'D KNOW WHAT THAT BOY'S NAME IS! FOR GOODNESS SAKES! IT'S BEEN DRIVING ME NUTS...! keeps ranting
Forsaken
"In the truest sense, freedom cannot be bestowed; it must be achived."-Franklin D. Roosevelt
Slowly she stretched her muscles and ignored the dull ache from her right shoulder. The thing was such a pain.
It was nearly midnight she guessed looking out her small window, through the bars. The moon had risen high into the dark night sky.
Aeris whole body went rigid, surely, it could not be... but she was never wrong... "What do you want?" She could feel his presence before she heard or saw him, his mere presence sent anger rolling off of her in waves.
"Is that anyway to greet someone after five years? Where are your manners?"
"Oh, where would I have learned them? You've kept me in facility after facility which is just a fancy word for prison." She spat.
The man sighed and sat on the edge of her tiny bed, "Surely you still do not maintain that ridiculous claim that you're innocent-"
"I am innocent!" Aeris snarled, "You and your corrupt family were probably the ones that framed me!"
He sighed again. "I am not here to discuss that matter I'm afraid. I am here to discuss your vow however."
She raised her eyebrows. "You know I've not broken it. If I had you all would be dead, I assure you."
"We know that you have not broken it, however... we feel it is time to release you from the facility. You should be able to go to school like any other child, you are bright."
Her eyes widened. "You're releasing me...? I'm free...?" She breathed.
"No. We will keep a close eye on you. But to some extent- yes, you will be free. You will have your own place to live, attend a normal school, and that abomination you call a pet will accompany you."
Aeris couldn't believe it. After an eternity in a cage all this time, they were practically throwing opening the door and telling her to stretch her wings for flight. "Why?"
He didn't look the least bit surprised. "What do you mean why? I thought you'd be thrilled,"
"You were right, I am bright. So tell me, why now, why release me now, now that I've stopped pleading and crying and begging?"
He laughed. "The tides my dear, I fear are about to turn. Besides, we have a way of making sure that you will harm no one."
"You know, before I never would have harmed anyone for any reason. Once I was convicted of it, I began to dream of nothing but it. Well done, you all have effectively ruined a person." Aeris crossed her arms and leaned against the wall. "So tell me, now that I've become what you said I was, how are you going to prevent it?"
From the folds of his jacket he pulled a silver chain, and on it hung a single silver ring. He held it up so she could see it better. "On this chain, lies a very old ring. And carved into the band is your vow."
She smirked. "What, you want to hang a reminder around my neck?"
He smiled. "Something like that. Once this chain goes around your neck, it cannot be removed. You're bound to your promise for all of eternity, just like you swore."
"Cannot be removed, do you mean that literally?" She questioned staring at the shiny ring upon its chain.
"Well, it can be taken off, but I assure you that you wouldn't want to." His smile twisted. "So I suggest that you never take it off."
"Thus is your choice. To be kept in this cage as you call it, or to be free with just a little bit of restraints."
She bit her lip then bowed, moving her hair out of the way so he could clasp the choker chain around her neck.
"Collect your things, I'm taking you to your new home." He rose from the edge of the bed and walked to the door, his fingers were already turning the knob when she spoke.
"... Don't tell me your starting to believe me now, and that's why all of this is happening." Aeris's voice was low and suddenly shook with emotion.
He stopped. "I never believed you did it whole heartedly." Then he opened the door and closed it behind him, leaving her in almost utter darkness once again and she raised her eyes to look through the window to see the sky.
Soon she would be able to watch the moon rise and fall without blasted bars in the way. She would be free!
"I hate these uniforms..." She mumbled tugging at the bottom of her skirt. The Principal of Azumano Middle School had blatantly told her she would not be admitted if she didn't wear it. If there was anything she hated most, it was being forced into something. 'Like this stupid uniform.'
Sighing she picked up her book bag and slugged it over her shoulder. She had 10 minutes to walk to school so she'd be able to get there early.
Just before she left the house she stopped and looked at the mirror hanging in the hallway.
Her hair was a little different from most girls. Around her head her hair was chopped short, to about her chin at the longest, but in the back it reached all the way down to her thighs in a jet black braid. Long bangs that reached halfway down her nose forced her to look through them because basically...barrettes were, in her opinion, a big hassle.
Deep sapphire eyes with long lashes blinked at her reflection. 'Well... at least this thing's useful for something...' She mumbled tugging down the sleeves so the scar wouldn't show.
It always hurt, and she supposed it would for the rest of her life. It carried with it not only physical pain but terrible emotional as well. 'They didn't have to carve it into my shoulder, I got the damn point.'
Silently she left the house, though she didn't know why, it was just her anyway. 'Free...'
By the time she arrived at school, class hadn't officially begun, but most of the students were in their seats anyway. The teacher and just about everyone in the class looked up at her when she entered.
"Ah, you must be Aeris Shimensoka. You may choose your seat." He smiled at her and she nodded, going all the way to the back of the room to sit in the empty seat by the window. 'Gods, are they still staring?'
Aeris peeked through her bangs to find that only some of the students still were. One boy in fact... near the front, was looking at her intently...
"Hi, Aeris right?" She quickly looked up to see a girl standing in front of her desk, smiling. "I'm Riku Harada."
"Oh, hi."
"Just move here?" Riku had moved her bag to the seat next to her causing Aeris to blink.
"Yup, just got in last night." 'She's nice.'
"Well no wonder you got here just now, you must've had a whole lot of unpacking to do." Riku exclaimed.
"Uh... just now? What do you mean?"
"Aeris... school started hours ago, this is the last class before the end of the day." Riku said kindly and Aeris's jaw dropped.
"Whoa! You mean... I slept..." Looking at the clock she saw that it was almost 2 o'clock in the afternoon. "Oh no."
"Through almost all of your classes!" Riku laughed, "Don't worry about it, it's okay."
The teacher silenced them and class begun, while Aeris was still in a daze. 'How could I have slept that long...?'
For the next few days, things went past in a blur. She decorated her small home with jars of origami stars and hung strands of origami cranes around her bed in hope that sleep would come peacefully.
She'd come to be fast friends with Riku, who had brought over her own jar of origami stars as a home warming gift which she'd placed on her dresser.
But something was bothering her. She kept seeing the same boy over and over. Walking home from school she'd see him, when her and Riku left to go get ice cream he was eating one near them, and from her window she could see him in his own apartment.
His was directly across from her own and she felt it; for some reason he was watching her. 'Could they have hired him to watch over me? But why? The necklace would do the trick...'
Perhaps the thing that bothered Aeris the most was that she wasn't all together bothered by his presence. She merely thought it strange. Once the final bell had rung Friday afternoon, Riku and Aeris walked out to the front of the school together. Most of the students had yet to leave when she felt someone's eyes on her.
Turning her head, she saw him. It was the same boy from before; the one who'd been staring at her in class, 'that damn boy is everywhere!' He was really good looking, with large blue eyes behind glasses with light blue hair. "Who's he?" She asked Riku.
"Hm, oh him. That's Satoshi. He doesn't talk much, kinda antisocial. He really pays attention in class, is- I think he's coming over." Riku sounded surprised; as did all the other girls around them when he walked up.
"Hello. Satoshi Hiwatari." He bowed. "Are you walking home?"
"Yes, I don't live far." Aeris was completely caught off guard. If he only kept to himself, what did he want to talk to her for?
"Allow me to walk you home." He held out his hand for her book bag, and she slowly handed it to him noticing he wasn't wearing one.
"Oh, thank you."
Aeris could feel everyone staring at them, so she turned to Riku quickly. "I'll see you Riku. Good-bye."
"Bye Aeris..." Riku said in a slight daze, obviously still shocked Satoshi was really walking her home, waving slowly.
"You just moved here, correct?" He asked once they had started walking and were alone.
"Yes, I got here last night." A small 'kyuu' sound was heard and Satoshi's eyebrows shot up and they stopped. "Oh no! I almost forgot about you Chuu!" Gently she reached inside her book bag and pulled out a small white-bunny looking creature. "I'm sorry!"
Satoshi's eye widened behind his glasses. "Is that your... pet?"
"Oh yes, been with me since... all my life." She held her in her arms and he looked at it intently.
"I've only seen one like it before-" Satoshi reached out slowly and petted it gently on her head. "So his name is Chuu?"
"Um, her name, yes."
"Oh, sorry."
She shrugged and as they continued to walk she studied him out of the corner of her eyes. He reminded her of someone... but she couldn't remember who it was. "Why are you walking me home?" Aeris blurted out without thinking.
Satoshi merely glanced at her. "I don't know if you've noticed, but we live near one another... and you shouldn't walk home by yourself."
"I didn't mean it like I didn't want you here, it's just-"
"You were surprised."
"Yes." He wasn't so bad; well he wasn't bad at all really. Just quiet. And hell, she liked quiet. However a nagging suspicion still lurked in her mind. "But that's not why your walking me home, is it?"
"It's part of it. Someone informed me that you would be living here. He said I should keep an eye on you."
'Uncle.'
Now he eyed her out of the corner of his eyes. "Have you done our literature homework yet?"
She shook her head to clear her thoughts. "Oh, no not yet."
"...Would you like to work on it together?"
Aeris smiled slowly. "Okay."
A/N: Okay, if anyone's wondering about her last name... it'll be explained later on. So?! What did you all think? coughs Since we're not um, mentally linked you have to review lol. I've got the whole story all planned out, terribly complex with lots of twists and turns! Will you stay and enjoy the ride?
