Disclaimer- We don't own Furuba. Don't sue us.
Simple and to the point. This is what defines us. No complicated plot twists or narratives that you can't understand.
We promise.
By the way, one of our great abilities is to lie with an air of sincerity.
But if we say we lie...does that mean we own Furuba? Oh, whatever. Just don't trust us, 'kay? AND PLEASE DON'T SUE. WE HAVE NO MONEY!!
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Summary- AU. Should have got that. Tohru is a girl with a special power- the ability to bring back the dead. Akito can kill any living thing with a touch.
Weird, huh?
Anyway, they get stuck in a stained glass window. Then Haa-san and Shii-chan find them when they are five (or six. Or seven. Can't remember.We'll work on that later) and umm...FALL IN LOVE. Anyway, this is not really a summary. But suffice to say that there will be lots to do with life, death and the Fates. People will die (I hear your moans of despair, fangirls) and people WILL GET REBORN.
That's right. You heard me. Well, you heard US. But anyway, on with the story.
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It was almost night time, and a high-pitched squeal could be heard filling the air, cutting through the still darkness like a sharpened knife. As it was mid-winter, the cold wind howled mournfully, and whistled through the bare, black branches of the silhouetted trees, which, it would seem, were almost strategically placed in front of the dark grey sky, as if the creator had tried to make as dreary a scene as possible.
It was on this day that the child of Akira and Ren Sohma was born.
Inside her room, Ren collapsed back on the sweat-covered sheets of her mattress, feeling exhausted. Her midwife held the child in her arms, its large, dark head supported in the crook of her elbow.
"Congratulations, Mrs. Sohma." she said cheerfully. "You -"
"Get on with it!" Ren was obviously not in the mood for pleasantries. She attempted to wipe sweat from her brow, but found her arm was too weak. She growled under her breath. All of this effort, for one lousy, good-for-nothing little-
Too late, she realised she had been muttering the words under her breath. Akira looked at her sharply, before turning to the midwife and uttering a few soft sentences, calming the woman down. She bowed shortly, and set about wiping the newborn baby clean. Akira sighed and leaned back onto Ren's bed.
Ren looked at Akira with something akin to pride - and love. She felt so happy that she, she, Ren Sohma, had fallen in love with such a kind, gentle man. She, a mere maid, while he had been the head of the Sohma clan! Akira had been nothing but wonderful, even though his health was obviously deteriorating, and had been for the last few years.
"It's a girl." The midwife announced quietly, turning around, having finished from cleaning up the babe.
"I can see that! What else would it be, a fish?" Ren snapped, her brief good mood forgotten. The midwife squeaked, and hurriedly pushed the bundle into Akira's arms, before exiting rather hastily, for fear of earning another admonishment. Akira stared after her for a minute, absentmindedly, before his attention was called back to his rather jittery wife. She was pulling at the sleeve of his kimono, making rather annoyed faces at him. Akira crouched beside her bed and tried to soothe the distraught woman.
"Please, Ren, calm down." Akira reprimanded her gently. The woman's face softened a fraction, and her hand reached out to touch his cheek. Her strength failed her, and Ren's upturned palm fell against the soft material covering her daughter. She jerked it away instantly, her face hardening again at the sight of the bunch in Akira's arms.
"Is that it?" she hissed, "I don't want to see it. I don't even want it in the room!"
"Ren!" Akira whispered in a pained voice, "Please, it's our first child! At least give her a chance." Ren's face twitched. Her mouth melted into a fake smile.
"Fine, Akira, if it is your wish. At least let me look at the brat." Akira held out his daughter for his wife to see. The woman narrowed her eyes with distaste. It was the ugliest thing she had ever seen!
They gave her a boy's name- Akito- at Ren's insistence. Akira, not understanding why, complied. Akito had ash-grey skin, deep, shadowy eyes, and a few wisps of dark hair, which in the light seemed purpley-black. She was not exactly a beautiful baby, but she was striking, and she promised to grow up into a lovely woman. Ren hated her daughter even more after Akira said that, and she would do anything to make sure that it didn't happen.
With her eyes darkening, Ren Sohma planned.
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She had never wanted to be pregnant. She loved Akira, yes, but Ren was always afraid that if they had a child, it would take her place in Akira's heart. So, she had schemed and plotted, used everything she could to delay an inevitable pregnancy. It had not worked.
But a few days after the birth, the devious woman had another plan up her sleeve. Surely, if the babe died, Akira would notice her again? No more Akito this, Akito that. No more screams in the night. No more baby. Akira would love her again…and only her. She would have him all to herself…
Ren pulled the dagger from her sleeve.
----A Few Years Later----
"Congratulations. It's a girl." The midwife smiled at them. Katsuya sighed with relief as his wife let go of his hand, freeing the poor thing from her crushing grip. Before today, Katsuya had had no idea that his wife could have reduced his whole hand to nothing but a bloody pulp. Well, maybe he had, but not to this extend. Katsuya gently massaged his throbbing arm, and looked worriedly at Kyoko, who was staring in the direction her baby had gone to be freshened up. She was jerking her hands nervously, obviously wanting to hold her child.
Giving up on seeing her daughter for the moment, Kyoko sighed and leaned back into her mattress, weary to the bone. The birth had taken a lot out of her, and Katsuya was worried that it might have had a permanent effect, though he knew she would bounce back. Kyoko always did.
He could never have known how wrong he was.
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A few minutes later, Katsuya and Kyoko Honda both gazed for the first time at Tohru, their daughter. Katsuya had chosen her name, and Kyoko had laughed when she heard his choice. Trust her strange husband to name his sweet-natured daughter something so masculine.
"You're weird." Kyoko whispered to him, after Midwife Shiyo had left them alone.
"Thank you." Katsuya smiled, enjoying their joke.
"It wasn't a compliment!" Kyoko said, giggling weakly. Her laugh turned into a hacking cough, and Katsuya gently took Tohru from Kyoko's arms, holding the child close to his chest. After Kyoko had recovered from her coughing episode, Katsuya held out Tohru, so that his wife could see her.
"She's so beautiful." Kyoko sighed. Her whole body was like wet parchment, weak and floppy, feeling as if it was liable to tear at any moment. She couldn't embrace her newborn child, so she let her husband hold their daughter as close as he could without falling on top of her. That may have been painful.
Tohru was a lovely looking baby- with round rosy cheeks, wide, expressive eyes the colour of the sea, and the most delicate, china-white skin. She was smaller than average, as she had been prematurely born, but healthy and smiling, and so her parents were happy.
Katsuya and Kyoko were alone in the room now, with the exception of Tohru, who was nestled in the crook of her mother's arm. It was dawn, and the rosy glow filtered through the glass in the window, bathing the walls in soft peach light.
"How are you feeling?" Katsuya asked her worriedly. His wife looked worn, drained, as if all of the life had left her body along with her child. She seemed small and feeble under the thin cotton sheets.
"Tired." She breathed, smiling faintly. "Very, very tired." Her eyes fluttered shut, and Katsuya left her to sleep, gently untwisting his sleeping daughter from his wife's arms. He looked at her one last time, brushed back a strand of her red-gold hair from her pale face, and left the small, cold room.
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The birthing room was silent. A shadowy figure opened the door, and soft light flooded into the room. Something was crying. She hurried to Kyoko's side, and shook her gently, glancing back into the room she had just exited every so often.
"Kyoko?" Shiyo poked Kyoko's shoulder experimentally, "Kyoko! Please wake up. I think there's something wrong with Tohru. She keeps on crying." The nurse looked confused and flustered. "Kyoko, please! Nothing I do will calm her! She just keeps crying and crying-" Kyoko did not respond. She lay there, as silent as the grave.
It was only then the nurse realised the waxy texture of the young woman's skin, the way it was cold to the touch, almost icy. She didn't move, didn't breathe. It was as if Kyoko were-
"No." The nurse whispered. "No, not again. Not another one!" Ah, the feeling in her chest. To know that another life had been taken away, right in front of her, and all because of that demon child from the Sohma house.
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He had been half-asleep when they had broken the news to him. At first, it didn't sink in. It wasn't possible. Kyoko couldn't be dead- she was too strong for that. Too lively, too sunny, too…alive. No, he refused to believe it.
But he had to, at the funeral. The only ones who attended were him, the midwife and Tohru. Even the priest reciting the prayers seemed to be in another world. Seeing her cold, dead body - so full of laughter and love when alive- it killed him inside.
But he remembered her. Their child. Tohru. No, he couldn't leave her in this cruel world, alone and unloved. God only knew what would happen if his sister got hold of her. No, he would keep her and love her, and he would never let her go.
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Akito hated her mother. Her family, in general. Everyone. It was all their fault she was this way. Had she chosen to be born with a strange gift? No. It was only her mother's murder attempt that had brought out the full effects.
Now everyone looked at her as if she was a freak. Well, she was technically, but they didn't have to know that. For now, they were the freaks and she was the only normal one.
Akito curled up into a ball and slept.
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"Tohru? Tohru! Tohru, come back! Don't go running off like that!" Katsuya hurriedly scooped up his child. She laughed and giggled, trying to catch the snowflakes on the tip of her tongue. Katsuya sighed, relief flooding his body like a tidal wave, knocking aside all other emotions that were crowding inside his breast.
"Tohru, please, don't do that. Papa gets so scared when you do that." Katsuya breathed. Tohru looked a little ashamed. "Do you want your Papa to get scared, Tohru?" Tohru shook her head, then held out her hand so her father could see the snowflakes she had collected. Her bright face fell when she realised that there was only tiny pools of water gathered in the crevasses of her palm. Her father chuckled.
"That's what happens to snow, Tohru. It melts." He said laughingly.
"But why?" Tohru wailed. "Why does the snow have to go? I don't want it to!"
"But after the snow, comes spring. You like spring, don't you?"
"Does that die too?" she asked softly. Katsuya's smile faltered.
"It dies, Tohru. But it comes back. It has to die to make way for summer. But it always comes back."
"That's stupid. If I was ruler of the world, nothing would die!" Tohru said crossly. "Everything would live forever!"
"Nobody can stop death, Tohru-"
"That's because nobody's tried to." His daughter pointed out. She grinned. "I bet I'll be the first!"
Katsuya sighed again. "Whatever you say, darling. Now, how about we go home, have some hot chocolate, and Nanny can put you to bed after reading you your story?"
"Yay!" Tohru cheered. "I love chocolate!" She became serious again. "Does chocolate die, Papa?"
All Katsuya did was laugh.
…
Fully awake, Akito looked out of her window. The bare branches of the tree outside her window rustled sorrowfully. She heard laughter, and scowled. What right did others have to laugh, when she was locked away? He had no company, no friends. And, especially, no laughter. Everyone had been banned from seeing her, even from looking at her. She was the Child Of Death- one who could kill any living thing with a touch. Maids came to deliver her food through the hole in her door, and she learned to bathe by herself. Occasionally, she caught snatches of whispers outside her window- gossipy maids snickering that Ren-sama had gone completely insane, and had had to be contained in a special room. One with padded walls.
She's confined. Like me. Though they don't give me any such luxury as padded walls, Akito frowned. There was more laughter today.
Why are these stupid people so joyous? Don't they know that there is a creature standing nearby that could kill them without thought?
A little girl came running in the direction of the window, laughing hysterically. Akito lived in a separate house, with only one room in it. It was separated from all the other houses in the Sohma property, right beside the wall lining the whole property, and so Akito got a clear view of outside happenings. The girl snarled noiselessly as she saw the cause for the disruption in her daily routine.
She was the one producing that atrocious noise. An adorable little girl, with an obviously devoted father trailing behind her. Akito hated the girl on sight. She hated her for being able to laugh, and for having someone who loved her, following her, caring about the child in a way Akito had never experienced. As she watched, the man that followed her scooped the child up into his arms, nuzzling her hair. Akito couldn't hear what they said to each other. She was just about to turn away from the window when she heard the man throw back his head and bellow with laughter. This was the last straw. If she couldn't laugh, then no-one should be allowed to!
The raven-haired child screamed, knocking everything off of the metal tray on which her food had arrived. She swung the tray as hard as she could, intending to smash the window and scare the noisy pair away. It was inevitable, however, that she should miss the panes of fragile glass. It crashed against the wall, falling to the floor with a large dent in it. As she picked up the tray for a second shot, she saw that the pair that had disturbed her so much in the first place was walking away, the girl giggling and pulling on her father's hand, the father following his good little girl, still chortling.
Akito collapsed onto the floor. She sobbed in anger and frustration, curling into a ball, tucking her head between her knees, her broken uncared-for nails scratching at her skin. What she wouldn't give to be that child right now, with no powers to stop her having a loving family.
Alone in her room, Akito cried.
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It might be hard to understand but bear with us. Not the best first chapter, but it's better than some we've seen. If you like the sound/look of this story, review us (hah. Like that'll happen) and add it to your alerts. We will love you forever.
Any mispellings? Apart from that? Was it good? Bad? Like it?
Tell us. We await your response.
By the way, I (dishrag-chan) don't really mind if we get no reviews. I live to write, not to read reviews. But they help, so...yeah. Don't expect quick updates. We all have exams to study for.
Random Quotes/Laws of the Chapter-
In Alabama it is illegal to...
-wear a fake moustache that causes laughter in church.
-flick boogers into the wind.
-wear a blindfold while operating a vehicle.
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