A/N:
This particular fic has been a couple of years in coming as I had lost this on my computer a while back.
("lost" as in "got distracted and forgot about it"... ^^; )
Anyrate! This is not a "blunt fanfiction", meaning it's not with the canon characters but instead is with the dreaded "OC"s, so read at your own risk!
No crossovers, no plotline-ripoffs, just me and my OCs, baby ;) Since I couldn't put the carrot-brackets around the languages that are being displayed in English but are in actuality being spoken in another language, I made do with the rectangle-brackets, these: [] so! Predators, Aliens, killing, dying, and annoying disposable army people awAAAaaaaAAaait! ;p
(actually you wont find any of those things in this chapter, I was just being a dramatic moron... morOOOoooOOOon)
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~story title~
"Never to Obey"
~chapter 1 title~
"The Rotten Egg"
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It was quiet throughout the dark house, but not too quiet. The sound of one resident stirring could barely be heard in the hall just outside the room. There was a sign on the door with scrawlings on it. A name, accompanied by faded crayon scribbles that, long ago, were happy smiling suns and grinning flowers. They were very poor quality, even for a child, and it was obvious that someone else with more patience wrote the name.
Shifting around in discomfort for a few moments, her eyes flew open and she gasped, almost screaming. But after waking that way the first time in years past, she learned not to.
It would wake him in the next room.
Panicking, she sat up and vigorously rubbed the sleep from her eyes as she staggered through her room quickly as possible.
She had to hurry, she had to get there first! It wont be like yesterday! It wont! She wouldnt let it! Never again-she'd be first in line from NOW ON!
The sun had barely touched the sky and she beat her alarm clock, shutting it off before it could start shrieking at her and possibly wake him.
She checked herself in the mirror in almost the same flash that she had dressed and groomed herself in. Not even stopping as she passed the glass, she gave her image a blown victory kiss and slipped out her bedroom quietly.
For most tasks, she listened to her music either aloud or via head phones e ear-buds, but in the mornings she had to keep an ear out... she had to be sure she had won. That she didnt get caught too soon!
She skated through the house as if her socks were roller blades, sliding about the kitchen like a ghost under a vow of utter silence. Nuns in a covenant werent so quiet as she was this day.
She grinned to herself like a cat the whole time-she had won today! It was still early, only once she had breakfast ready and she woke him up would she know for sure of all was going to plan, but it was something she told herself every day even even if it turned out to be the opposite.
She won, she won, she won! And tomorrow she'll win again!
In all her years of this "competition" she has trained herself to be able to cook in silence, even somehow stilling the scent of the food to keep it from being noticed until she could taste it as her victory meal. What better way to start each day as a champion? By being a winner the moment you wake up!
The meal set with place mats for two, she snuck up the stairs like an axe murderer, almost unable to stifle her giggles as she approached her victim's door, still innocently sleep on the other side. Nothing saved him from her but a big piece of wood governed by a doorknob, now...
Mute as a grave, she slunk in, leaving the door open rather than take the time to carefully close it behind her. She froze when she saw the figure in the bed. It was... foreign. She was stunned and somewhat scared.
Covered from head to toe by the sheet was someone stretched all the way out, their arms sticking out the top like droopy cartoon rabbit ears as they slept.
This... was wrong... who was this?!
Moving from shock to anger, she started poking at the person under the sheet with her fingers like someone who didnt know how to type at a computer keyboard would do; their index fingers pointed out sharply with all other fingers folded into two relentless fists.
Her brow furrowed just as relentlessly,
"Yoo'rr not my brother! Get out of his bed, you ultra-pervert!" she demanded in English, a language obviously not her own.
The figure grunted in discomfort a few vague times before starting to squirm, finding it harder than she had to just hop out of bed. Apparently "ultra-perverts" weren't morning people. This one still wasnt aware that he was being prodded like a questionable piece of food by some kid saying "do I haf'ta eat it, mom?"
"Who are you! Why do you sleep in other people'zz beds!" she was failing to raise her tone at the end of questions.
The man finally responded, his voice jumping in strain from being jabbed with needle-like fingers,
"uu-U-uuu-U-nnn... ! U-umeko-O~! eigo o hanasu-sanai... mudabone ...!" he gluttered in their true tongue of Japanese, his words slurring some from drowsiness.
He wasn't against the English language, but he knew she only spoke it when she was fangirling and you dont shove a non-morning person into a room with a ranting fangirl in the early hours. Bad for everyone's health.
He felt the sheet flip off his feet and she gasped with glee upon seeing the toes curled up,
"Kanaye-kuuuuun! An'ta wa desu!" she returned to her native language, pulling his leg up to hug the connecting foot. He didnt even open his eyes.
"Jyaaaaaaaaaa..." he feigned enthusiasm along with her, "[yay, I am me. Now you go be you. In another room. For at least another hour...]" continuing in sluggish Japanese monotone.
"Iie! [Breakfast's ready, lazy brother Kanaye! Dont let it get cold!]"
With that, she skipped from his room, her victory officially complete. Nothing could ruin her day now even if that classroom diva made her look bad at lunch again. Course, Umeko got some revenge, but she had to cut her socializing time in half to get it done. And her friends were worth more than that attention-whore, Keiko Sato.
Kanaye let out a low, half-dead, groan. He knew she had him. Once she announces she had prepared something for him, he couldnt stop himself from going along with it. She went through all the trouble of cooking, it would be immensly rude to let it get cold. And not just because it was the way of their culture to honor any true gift... Kanaye remembered each time the silent promise he made her so long ago. He attributed her strides to get ahead of him as part of her usual competetive, loud nature.
It was a daily race to who got home first to start the chores.
Who got up first to start cooking breakfast.
Who got to the dryer first to start folding the clothes.
To her it was a relay, for him it was responsibility. He was her legal guardian, living in a house afforded on his income. She should have chores, but he still thought she should be focused more on her schoolwork than idle tasks. Only a graduates degree would allow her to stand on her own in the world and where Kanaye would love to care for her for the rest of his life, hers was a soul obviously meant to sprint towards something with the force of a hurricane. There are never two hurricanes, only one big one that absorbs smaller ones.
As with almost every day, "Hurricane Umeko" beat him to the alarm clock and made breakfast.
With his new motivation, he quickly got up and started getting ready for the day like a zombie. Each motion mechanical and immediately forgotten once completed in full. Thankfully, only his second job required that he wear a suit and tie, so he didnt have to struggle with the hateful neckties that fought him even when he was fully awake and coherent.
Dressed, he exited his room and strode past hers, unconsciously touching the name tag as he went by. It was irony that her name was "patient" and his was "zealous one", when they were the opposites at them.
In the end, the meaning of their asian names would be what got them both in trouble at different times, over the same thing, and it all starts on a day like any other.
The day started normally for the trophy demon as well. Despite pursuing death of all kinds, even the demon would face a number of unexpected surprises before his safari ended.
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~end chapter; to be continued~
~next chapter title~
"Little Intermission"
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WELP! chapter one starts on getting to know the main characters. The only spoiler I'll give is that this is in no way a romance, so no human/ yautja coupling at any time in this story. I'm not against such a thing (quite the opposite, actually, they's smexy...!)
The meaning of this title is from the phrase "last one (to cross the finish line) is a rotten egg!" in races, since Umeko considers this a competition.
Originally I just looked up which Japanese names were popular for 2013 T.T but when I found them and started using Kanaye and Umeko I found that I couldn't find the kanji T^T these terms were ONLY in baby name websites! So, having bonded with the names already, I decided to keep them and say their parents were eccentrics, and Kanaye and Umeko always spell out their names in kana rather than kanji. That's not to say I havent given them kanji ;)
I have come to regard the authors comments a great way to get to know the author and their attitude, so I'll add something random about myself as I'm sitting at my computer;
I am wearing my socks (which I wear with sandals BAHAHA! eeeeviiiil) but I want to take the socks off... it's hot here in July and my feet would greatly appreciate some breathing time... oh, HOW appreciative they would be...
...
...
...
[takes socks off]
... now that you all feel dirty as flipflops, go take a shower. And dont mind the invisible Predator behind you... he's only there to wash your backs. Promise ;) Now the xenomorph is another story... even though you see him with a luffa.