It's A Secret
***
By: Ryoko
***
Track 02:03:00 ~Epilogue~
***
"Da~dy!" A silver-haired girl bounced through the doorway, kicking off her shoes as she did so.
"You're home er- WHOA!" Hatsuharu yelped just as he was being glomped rather tightly.
"Can we go out now?! You PRO~MISED!" Ashura begged.
"Sure. Go get changed and meet me outside." The oushi grinned, picking himself up off of the floor.
"YAY!" The teenager bounced out of the room the same way she'd come in, hopping up the staircase like a rabbit.
***
After that fateful Christmas night, nine years have passed. The once depressed and abused child, known as Ashura Minamoto, had now become Ashura Sohma, a genki fourteen year old with the same heart of gold her adoptive father had.
A beautiful and popular girl, she'd become, with bright eyes that were full of life, and a smile that could NEVER fade. Her physical scars healed, and her emotional scars locked away, Ashura was free of the life that she'd once been doomed to live.
After he'd turned eighteen, Hatsuharu moved out of both of the Sohma estates, moving into a small house on the edge of Tokyo, where he planned to spend the rest of his days. Only on the holidays and special occasions did both Hatsuharu and Ashura visit the rest of the family, and never ONCE did Ashura see Akito. She knew well who he was, but never saw him.
***
"All set!" Ashura announced, appearing in the doorway in her "street" clothes. This outfit, unlike her others, consisted of ONLY black. . . a black, short, t-shirt that was somewhat tight on her, and a pair of black, baggy, imitation-leather pants.
For some odd reason, Hatsuharu couldn't bring himself to tell her not to wear outfits like this, only because she looked more like a teenager, than a WOMAN, so things like this were kept out of her face. Plus, it was probably something she'd picked up from HIM, back in the day when HE dressed like that.
"Where to tonight?" the juunishi asked, locking the front door.
"Umm. . . " she put a finger to her chin, in thought, while tapping her foot on the pavement. "Umm. . . oh. . . I can't think. . . !"
"That's alright. Let's just walk around for now. Besides, no matter HOW many times we walk this place, we always find something new ANYWAY." He covered his stomach to muffle the growling, but failed to muffle it ENOUGH. "But uhh. . . first. . . can we. . . uhh. . . get something to eat? I haven't eaten all day!"
"Hehe. Of COURSE! C'mon!" She took him by the arm, leading him away from the house and into the city limits. "And then. . . KARAOKE!"
"Again?"
"Uh huh. And this time, YOU'RE gonna go FIRST! You fraidy-cat, you!"
***
"Good night, Ashura." Hatsuharu smiled softly, kissing the girl gently on her forehead. "Sweet dreams." He whispered, straitening his back and turning to leave the dark room.
"Hey, daddy?" the girl's voice stopped him suddenly.
"Yeah?" he turned around, re-opening the door a little more.
"I love you. Thanks."
"Thanks?"
"For being my daddy. I love you!"
"I love you too." He winked, closing the door for the night.
***
As the man lay half-asleep in bed, he stared blankly at the ceiling. Suddenly, he heard whimpering from across the hall.
Alarmed, he ran to the girl's door, opening it quickly, but quietly. Sighing, he almost laughed at the thoughts disappearing from his nervous mind.
"Only a dream. . . whew. . . " he smiled, walking silently into the room and gently resting his hand on the girl's arm.
"Huh? Oh. . . daddy?" she mumbled, looking up at him with groggy eyes.
"It's alright. You were just having a bad dream." He sat on the side of the bed, pulling the girl, blankets and all, into his lap. Cradling her against his chest, as he'd done so many times before, the two of them fell asleep without a care in the world.
***
GAME OVER.
***
A/N: Damn. . . that story took A LOT longer than planned. . . I was rather satisfied at the outcome though. . . thanx to everyone that bothered to review! It really means a lot to me and keeps me going faster than normal! A very SPECIAL thanx to Yuri too. . . since you happened to be the only one that actually CARED that I was on the edge of DYING over here. Umm. . . lessee. . . what else? Oh yeah. . . at the end of these stories I usually tell you what song(s) I was listening to as I was writing the last chapter. . . so uhh. . . here they are:
Gravitation (Kotani Kinya) – "Time In My Heart"
Gravitation (Nittle Grasper) – "Angel Dust"
Wild Adapter – (Opening) *Too lazy to rename it. . . so it stayed that name*
That's all I got to write. . . for now. . . ^_|||; Umm. . . and one more thing. . . I drew a CG Art of Ashura . . . (Little Kid form . . . from the first 20 chapters or so) but, because FF.Net is a total BITCH, it won't let me type in the address and SHOW it…so in order to SEE this picture (Instead of clicking a link, as planned) you'll have to email me in order for me to send the address. I apologize for their insolence…and sorry again that there was no Yaoi, poor Yuri. Was there anything else? Uhh . . . nope . . . thanks again to everyone that reviewed. . . and if you haven't reviewed already. . . WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU WAITING FOR?! (Giggle Giggle)