Years ago, God announced a race to be held between the twelve animals of the zodiac: the Rat, the Ox, the Tiger, the Rabbit, the Sea Horse/Dragon, the Snake, the Horse, the Ram, the Monkey, the Rooster, the Dog, and the Boar, plus the excluded Cat. They…
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Shut up. We already know that story. But, have we been paying attention to the respect-demanding, beautiful rebel: the Eagle? Unlike the cat who was left out on purpose, the eagle decided to drop out of the race. She knew she could have won if she wanted, but she found no point in doing so. Thus, she flew freely above the snowy, towering mountains of Japan, watching the lesser animals from above.
Also unlike the cat, the eagle was not even included in the beginning of the legend. The fact that she ever qualified for race was forgotten by most of the animals once they had crossed the finish line. Yet, someone is still cursed by the eagle to this day. One unusual girl bears the title.
The nineteen-year-old goes by the names of Aya, Kamiko, Kimiko, Mari, and Naomi. Being an orphaned child at the age of five had its downs, especially when you wanted the perfect name. So, she selected the five, yet she mostly goes by Kimiko, or Kimi for short.
The teenager is a rebellious figure, who demands respect, like the bearers of the eagle before her. Despite her rough personality, she was a beautiful being, with a warm fire deep inside her, hidden by gathered layers of hurt and suffering. But she ignored the soft spot beneath the layers and went about her ways.
Kimi struggles to earn a living with her sad job of a waitress, although she does know of her prosperous relatives, the rich Sohmas a few miles away. Her father, Mamoru Sohma, told her everything he knew of the family when she was at the age of four. The man did as much as he thought possible for his special little girl, wishing to give her the dream life every young girl wishes to have. Although her mother, Fumiko Sohma, was disgusted with their child, he had protected Kimi and given her as much love as possible, hence his name. (A/N:Mamoru means protector) But when he died of cancer a few days after young Kimi had turned the glorious age of five, Fumiko had done what she had yearned to ever since Kimi was born. She dissowned her, dragged her into the Saneshi Forest, tied her to a tree, and fled.
Anyways, on with the story shall we?
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Beep! Beep! Beep!
A tanned hand shot out from under a black, heavy-cotton blanket and slammed onto the metallic silver alarm clock.
"Morning again. Always too early," Kimi murmured as she sat up on her black futon after pulling off the heavy covers while she stretched and yawned. Rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, she took a look around her small cabin, just like every morning since she built the structure when she was eight, with the help of her feathery friends of course.
As the girl looked around, she took in everything, just like every morning. As usual, Kimiko saw the rich, red-brown, mahogany log walls of her steadily-growing cabin and the lighter brown, oak flooring. Even if she was a run-away, she had a few important connections. Her father had been a successful businessman, one of the few reasons her mother had actually stayed in the relationship, with plenty of important people depending on him. The five or six she knew helped Kimi from time to time, but the teen did not depend on their help for she did not want to be seen as the vulnerable, helpless girl who relies on others to survive. Nu-uh. Kimi was not about to lose her dignity just for the sake of surviving. She lived the hard-way, only asking for help when it was absolutely unavoidable and after she attempted everyway possible. As you can tell, Kimiko is a proud, stubborn girl.
As usual, Kimiko saw the several pearl-white frames that hung on the mahogany walls. Within the frames, the girl had placed every picture of her father that she was able to salvage all those years ago and other amazing moments. Whenever she stood infront of those frames, she remembered the day so long ago so clearly.
!Flashback!
"Mama? Where are we going?" The young girl asked while looking at her mother through her brown and white hair that was starting to gather infornt of her face while the woman with the jet-black hair dragged her swiftly through the city and into the dense area off the path of Saneshi forest.
"Shut up you little…" The women growled but stopped when she figured there was no use in speaking to the girl she considered a disgrace.
Once the two were deep into the forest, Fumiko halted in her path, pulled out a role of rope from her extremely expensive pocketbook she bought with her deceased husband's money, and pulled the girl until she was about two inches away from a cherry blossom.
"I have no idea why your father even bothered to raise a cursed creature like you so dearly, I should have just killed you like I orginally planned," the woman mumbled to the cute little girl while tying ropes around her wrists and securing her tightly to the tree. "At least I can get rid of you now once and for all," the beautiful woman continued as she proceded to do the same to her ankles.
The young child started to understand what her mother was doing. So she started to thrash in place trying to jerk the woman away. "Get away from me Mama!" She exclaimed.
The woman chuckled darkly before turning around and swiftly running back towards the city, leaving the girl behind. The child had tears in her eyes by now as she did all she could to loosen the ropes trapping her.
"Papa! Papa! Help me! Please!" She cried out before biting on a piece of rope. As she was beginning to loosen the piece securing her right hand, three huge, graceful brown and white birds flew into the forest and landed at the girl's feet. "Please, please help me," she sobbed to the birds, as if they would understand her. Surprisingly, they did as they were told, the amazing birds tore away the ropes without scratching the girl one bit. Out of joy, she ran up to each one of the birds, sobbings "Thanks you"'s into their feathers.
Afterwards, she ran the way she had come with her mother towards the city. Somehow, she did not fall and trip along the ragged path. Finally, she arrived at her mansion of a home, only to find it being consumed by enormous, greedy flames. The girl ran into her home avoiding the bright fires. She hurried up the stairs and stormed into her room. She gathered everything precious to her, including the multiple photographs that held her father and a necklace that he had given her for her fifth birthday. Once she had gathered what she could, she had bounded down the steps and out the grand doors for the last time.
End FlashbackKimi got up from her cozy spot and headed over to her hand-made, wooden closet. She grabbed a work uniform and hurried to put it on. She slipped on the navy blue dress first, then secured the gold belt on to the mid-thigh high dress. Much to her dismay, the uniform just gave perverts more reason to mess with her. Kimi was not very fond of the uniform, but it was one of the few things required to work at Golden Japan. She turned so she faced the mirror that hung inside the closet door.
Kimi ran a brush through her hair, which was a dark brown at the roots, faded into a lighter brown towards the middle and faded into white at the ends. No matter what she did, the strands of hair on her head were always straight. After tying a golden ribbon around her hair to form a long, multicolored ponytail, she grabbed a rice ball from the mini fridge she bought and walked to the city from her cabin in the forest at the base of a sky-scraping mountain.
"Hey Isamu," Kimi greeted her friend with a nod, who gave her a wink in return. Kimiko just rolled her eyes.
"Late again Kimi?" Isamu joked as he served a family coming in for Saturday breakfast.
"Haha," she said sarcastically at the register before heading off to wait tables herself. She settled on taking her ordering pad to wait on a rather large group.
"Heya! Welcome to Golden Japan! Ready to order?" Kimi asked. She never said "May I take your order?" it made her feel to servant-like. She looked over the group she was serving on. There were two calm looking teen boys,one with black and white hair and steely grey eyes, the other one with purpleish hair and intrgueing amethyst eyes. Next to him was an innocent-looking teenage girl with long brown hair and large blue eyes. Beside her was another teenage boy, only this one looked intense and had blazing orange hair and brown eyes. Next to him was another teenage girl with medium lengthed dark brown hair with dark brown eyes trained on the boy beside her. Next to her sat an older, but joking man with black hair and dark eyes. Beside that man, were two others, one goofy looking one with long, white hair and green eyes and a serious one with black hair and stormy eyes. Beside the serious one was a young, cheerful boy with blonde hair and brown eyes. Next to the boy were two younger children one sarcastic boy with blonde hair and brown eyes and a gentle girl also with blonde hair and brown eyes. At the other end of the booth was a nervous looking man with long blonde hair and brown eyes.
Oh no.