Disclaimer: I do not own anything.

So somebody said they liked my AU stories. So I randomly pumped out an AU. I've only written 8 chapters at the moment but I have all chapters planned out.

It's based loosely on fairy tales. Each character has a fairy tale character that I steal ideas from basically. Most of them I think fit, except Dororo and Koyuki's.

Don't get excited for them basically because I couldn't think of much and got lazy.

The first two chapters are kind of slow in my opinion? But idk what you'll think.

Special thanks to my beta reader RunwithscissorsXXXbattlescars who I'm making edit this.


"Sis... are you sure this is the right way to go?"

Dressed in rags and finally getting cold, Fuyuki's idea of adventure seemed to be dying down into just boredom.

"It... It might be..." Natsumi clutched Fuyuki's hand and gave it a tight squeeze. They had both been through a lot. It made sense for everything to finally be catching up to him. "We'll be fine. I promise."

She had to accept the facts, though. They were lost. Lost in a terrible forest, one that they'd sought as shelter, and now with no way out.

"We'll find Dad soon. Maybe he went into the same forest." Natsumi smiled at Fuyuki, trying to cheer him up.

"And Mom, too, right? We'll find Mom, too..." Fuyuki shivered for a moment from the cold.

"Yeah. Mom, too." Natsumi agreed. She lifted up her skirt to step over a log.

The two of them were alone without parents. Almost like that one story, "Hansel and Gretel," lost in a forest, abandoned by everything. That was them.

Except silly fairy tales like that don't exist, Natsumi thought to herself. If they did, I'd be more ignorant of our situation.

She wasn't oblivious, but she also still had hope. Which, if things proved to be going as badly as they were, would prove to be Fuyuki's and her downfall.

I can't think about that right now. I need to get Fuyuki to safety, she thought, clutching her brother's hand tightly.

She had never done much for herself. She had always been handed everything on a silver platter. Natsumi didn't know how to keep her brother from any threats, especially the threat of a bad sense of direction.

She had always wished for freedom in her old life, but never expecting to get it quite like she had.

She, of course, never dreamed the previous day that she would become dressed in rags and lost in the woods with only her brother as a companion.

She hadn't prepared at all. Hadn't researched any maps, didn't know a thing about surviving a forest. It hadn't ocurred to her until now that those things might be useful.

A couple of birds landed on a tree to look at her, maybe to gawk about the sad condition she was in as she approached a stream. She wondered if she should wade through it or follow it.

Would she get her dress wet? No, it didn't really matter if she did. It wasn't like her gown of rags was important to her. She had grabbed it on the fly.

Scram, birds, she thought to herself. She didn't want them to mock her in her pitiful state. It already felt like they were watching her every move.

"Hey, look! Birds!" Fuyuki stated. "At least we know that there are bugs here. We won't starve if something happens and we stay lost."

"Gross. I'm not eating bugs," Natsumi refused. "I have a much higher palette than that."

"But it might teach us more about the world around us if we could experience the same world - "

"This isn't a fun little tour. We're frigging lost, Fuyuki!" she finally snapped, admitting she had no idea where they were going.

"Maybe... Maybe that's a good thing," he said quietly. "If we got lost in this forest, after all, the soldiers will surely be lost if they follow us."

Natsumi quieted down. She knew what Fuyuki said was right. Being lost might have just saved their lives.

"Do you want to stop for the night? I'm pretty tired," he said. Natsumi nodded numbly. It had been the longest day in history for her.

And she was out of any idea of how to get out of this forest. She didn't want it to be her new home, but that would be much preferred over death.


She used to be something. Something important. Something loved by the people.

That was what Natsumi thought about as she stoked the fire with a stick. She stayed quiet, not knowing what to tell Fuyuki.

"It'll be okay, sis. We'll find Mom eventually," Fuyuki tried to calm her. Natsumi tried not to cry.

"Of course we will. Of course we will," she agreed.

"You saw her run off, right? From the attack?" Fuyuki smiled. "Mom was strong, so she'll find us in no time."

"Same as Dad." Natsumi gave him another grin. It was their thing that had just started up after their escape, reminding each other about the other parent. It was their teasing game. And the game that kept them reminded of their family.


She had been walking through the courtyard when the attack happened, dressed in her usual fine dresses. No bell was rung to signal an attack. Nothing warned them that the servants in their home were being slaughtered.

It just happened.

There was nothing majestic about it. No magic saved any lives, no hero came and saved Natsumi at the last minute.

Instead she had to watch, and finally flee. She managed to catch up with her brother and escape.

Running, turning their backs on everything they loved, was the only thing that saved either of them.

Natsumi still remembered the cold, heartless face of the man who had led the attack. She knew it would haunt her nightmares.

They weren't simply lost. They didn't even know where they were going. They were just running. Perhaps they'd be running forever. Natsumi did not know. She just wanted safety again, and to live the fine life that she once lived.


Fuyuki yawned, "Maybe it's time for you to go to bed. I'm going to see if I can hear any cool animal noises during the night. I'll tell you if I see Mom, okay?" Fuyuki told her, sitting by the fire.

"Okay. Tell me if you see Dad, too," Natsumi reminded him. He nodded, and Natsumi closed her eyes.

A tear drifted down her cheek.

She couldn't tell Fuyuki about the truth of that morning. It would kill him.


Walking through the courtyard, Natsumi sniffed at a flower. It was the morning before the attack.

"What a beautiful flower, Natsumi. Do you want me to have it picked for you?" her mother, Aki, asked, looking at her lovely daughter.

"No. I'm fine. I just like looking at them. They're put in a place that keeps them safe, yet all the plants look so free and beautiful. I envy them," Natsumi admitted.

"You're freer than most, Natsumi. You're quite privileged," her mom reminded her. Natsumi nodded. She continued walking with her mother in their usual mother-daughter stroll.

They had walked all the way back to the archway when Natsumi curtsied to the soldiers guarding their home. "Good day." She smiled at the strong soldiers she very much admired.

Instead of answering, they fell over. Blood was seeping out of their armor as they let out one last gurgle.

"AHHH!" Natsumi jumped closer to her Mother, but her Mother instead pushed her away.

"Run," she ordered. Natsumi's mind stalled for only a few seconds until she saw the enemy soldiers storming through the hallways and coming down the stairs of the archway.

Her mind in panic mode, she heard rustle of a bush behind her. Natsumi did as her mother had asked and ran, only looking behind her for a moment.

"Remember me?" a voice spoke to her mother.

Natsumi knew she would never ever forget that man's face. As she looked behind her, down the stairs, she saw her mother getting stabbed through the back by a man who would have been otherwise beautiful by her standards, with long luxurious purple hair and some strange glass circular object covering his green eyes. But what she would really never forget about him was his deranged smile as he murdered her mother in front of her. He stabbed her repeatedly in the back, no amount of stabbing being enough for him. All he did was laugh.

She ran, crashing into Fuyuki as she fled, and taking him with her on their flight to get out of the kingdom.

The sight of her mother's blood splattering over her dress dress would never leave Natsumi's mind. But the least she could do was spare Fuyuki of the thought.

She needed to keep Fuyuki happy, to keep him free and filled with hope.

He could not know that their mother was actually dead. Half of his hope about their family would be gone.


"F-Fuyuki?" Natsumi couldn't get to sleep as she rolled over.

"Hmm?" he murmured.

"Who... Who do you think attacked us?" she asked him.

"I heard from a servant that it was a conquerer from another kingdom. He rules over his kingdom like a dictator," Fuyuki answered. He always had all the answers, and was such an honest boy.

"Why... Why do you think he tried to hurt us?" Natsumi asked.

"Some conquerors want more power. He probably wanted our land," he told her. "Go to sleep, Sis. We need our strength to navigate out of this forest in the morning. And to find Mom."

Natsumi turned away from Fuyuki. She felt tears come down her cheeks. "And Dad," she added. "Dad, too..." Their Dad was the only family member alive; she knew this, but she would keep the secret from Fuyuki as long as she could.

"Dad, too." Fuyuki agreed, not having heard the cracking in Natsumi's voice.

And he let his sister go to sleep, with dreams of her former life.


Please review and tell me what you think.