I'm back! Dun dun dunnnn! Thanks to everyone who reviewed! Look at the end
of this to see your prize, an author's note and any announcements!
Well, onto the story!
{Thoughts} ---|Song Lyrics|----- /Sounds/
~Uselessuselessuslessuslessuslessuselessuselessuslessuseless~
Yuuhi yawned and stretched. He looked out the window, hoping to see sunshine. Darn. It was still raining. Oh well. He began to get dressed, smiling as he found his cooking getup. He had heard of this new recipe that he had wanted to try out on Aya. Maybe she'd like this cooking as much as she had last night...
-----|All that I did was walk over|------
Oh yeah. Toya. Yuuhi sighed. He had been able to forget Toya for the moment, but not for long. He slowly opened the door to Aya's room. Aya had apparently already gotten up and dressed. The bed was unmade, her nightgown on the floor. Yuuhi walked past all of this and went to main room, and into the kitchen.
-----|Start off by shaking your hands|------
To his surprise, there was somebody already in there. Toya was at the stove, making okonomiyaki*. Yuuhi stopped dead in his tracks, his eyes wide. Then they narrowed to slits and he stormed out of the room, his hands balled into fists.
-----|That's how it went|-----
Toya was distracted momentarily by the stomping noises leaving the room. He turned around, catching a glimpse of that boy, what's his name....oh yeah, Yuuhi. Toya sighed as he turned back to his okonomiyaki. Poor boy. It was obvious he cared for Aya, even though she didn't know, or didn't care.
-----|I had a smile on my face and I sat up straight|-----
{Well, I won't be here long anyway.} Toya thought as he turned over his food.
-----|Don't talk words against me|-----
Yuuhi stomped into the hall. That was HIS territory! It was one of the few places he actually felt at home. And cooking was one of his few pleasures in life. Toya had already gotten Aya, and now this?! What more could he possibly take?
-----|Oh, yeah, yeah|-----
Aya, who had just come back from checking on Suzumi, heard Yuhi from the hall. She raised her hand in greeting.
-----|I wanted to know you|-----
"Good morning Yuuhi!"
-----|I wanted to show you|-----
He brushed right past her, mumbling "yeah hi". He then entered his room and slammed the door so hard it shook.
-----|You don't know me|-----
Aya watched him, puzzling over his strange behavior. {What's up with him?} She turned and went into the dining room. {Maybe Mrs. Q told him about how late we came home. I'll ask her later...} She entered the kitchen, sniffing the air.
-----|Don't ignore me|-----
"Toya, you know how to make okonomiyaki?! I can't wait to try it! Maybe you could show Yuuhi how to make it too..."
-----|You don't want me there|-----
S~C~E~N~E~~C~H~A~N~G~E~~S~C~E~N~E~~C~H~A~N~G~E
-----|You just shut me out|-----
/Fwapp!/ /Fwapp!/ /Fwapp!/
-----|You don't know me|-----
Yuuhi whipped his metal chopsticks across the punching bag, making it swing up. He finished it off by kicking it as it came down.
-----|Don't ignore me|-----
/Whump!/
-----|If you had your way|-----
Yuuhi snapped his metal chopsticks together, spinning around as he did so. His fists were a blur as he furiously attacked the various obstacles around him.
-----|You'd just shut me up|-----
/Powpowpowpowpowpowpowpowpow!/ /Thwack!/
-----|Make me go away|-----
"HYA!"
-----|No, I just don't understand why|-----
/Thud./
-----|You won't talk to me|-----
Yuuhi stood, breathing heavily. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and headed towards the bathroom to wash up. Working out his frustration always felt good. When he was little and still in the Aogiri's mansion, he had always tried his hardest to be the best cook there ever was, better than his mom. When his half-brothers had teased him, when his stepmother insulted him and his mother, when things weren't good, he would cook, trying a new recipe or struggling to make the best cake.
-----|It hurts that I'm so unwanted for nothing|-----
Because deep down inside, he had hoped that someday, his mother would come back for him.
-----|I wanted to know you|-----
And when she did, he wanted her to be proud of her son, her boy, her little cook.
-----|I wanted to show you|-----
It wasn't until that fateful day when he ran away from the Aogiri mansion that he knew his mother would never come back for him.
-----|You don't know me|-----
~F~L~A~S~H~B~A~C~K~~~~~~~~~F~L~A~S~H~B~A~C~K~
"Where are you going servant boy?"
A young boy around 9 or 10 years old looked back at the woman who addressed him with such scorn.
"I'm going to Satoru's house to play. It's by the mall. I'll be back around 5:00."
He made his way to the door. The 40 or so old woman quickly blocked his way.
"Oh no you're not. You need to cook the food for the family today."
"But I do that every day!"
"Well since your wretch of a servant mother left you, you're just going to do it yourself. Good riddance if you ask me. I wonder why she didn't take you with her. Probably because she didn't love you."
"That's not true! She loves me! She will come back!"
"Then why isn't she here, hmmm? If she loved you, why did she leave you?"
The boy blinked back tears. He had no answers to the questions she asked.
The woman smirked, knowing she had hit a weak spot.
In one swift movement, the boy pushed his stepmother aside, opened the door and ran out into the cold October afternoon.
The woman was caught off-balance and fell to the ground. She called after him.
"Get back here you little brat! You'll pay for that!"
The boy ran and ran, not knowing where he was going, trying to keep the tears that were threatening to slip out inside.
When he stopped, he found he was in the park, a few blocks away from home. He wandered until he found a small bridge over a river. He stood in the middle of it, burying his face in his arms.
{This is the place.} the boy realized. {Where she took me before she went...}
~A~~L~O~N~G~~T~I~M~E~~A~G~O~~5~Y~E~A~R~S~~A~G~O~
His mother smiled at the 5 year old boy as he balanced on the railing, sticking out the tip of his tongue as he concentrated on not falling. He reached the end and jumped off, spinning around with a flourish.
"Taa-dah!"
His mother clapped for him as he took bows.
"Oh, that was wonderful Yuuhi! You're such a wonderful boy! And so grown up!"
She took him in his arms. He protested at first, but quieted as his mother looked out across the river.
"Whadda ya lookin' at Mama?"
His mother gestured at the stream that flowed merrily under the bridge.
"See that stream Yuuhi? See how it flows, never staying in one place?"
The boy squirmed in his mother's arms as he tried to get a closer look at the river.
"Yea, I see it."
His mother gazed at the water.
"When things get tough for the water, like if there is a rock blocking its way, what do you think it does?"
The boy though for a minute, and then got a determined look in his eyes.
"Smash it hard! Nothin' can beat the water!"
The woman laughed. "You are truly a fighter Yuuhi. But the water has another way of getting around a rock."
The child looked up at his mother. "What is it?"
She smiled down at him. "The water can flow around it. It can run away."
She set him down and put both hands on his shoulders, kneeling so that she was at his eye level. She stared hard into his eyes.
"Promise me Yuuhi. Promise me that you will never run away from your problems. Promise me that you will be the water that crushes the rock. Promise me this one thing."
The boy nodded obediently, confused, but willing to do whatever his mother told him to do.
"I promise."
The woman's face broke into a smile.
"That's my brave little cook. Now, we have to go home now. I have to cook dinner tonight."
"Can I help? Pleeease?"
She took his hand and led him out of the park.
"Well, okay..."
~~B~A~C~K~~~T~O~~~T~H~E~~~F~L~A~S~H~B~A~C~K~~
The boy cried and cried, shoulders shaking as he sobbed into his arms.
{How could she think that I would want to stay here? Why didn't she take me with her? Doesn't she love me?}
He cried aloud to the world, asking anyone for the answers to these questions.
No one replied.
It was in that instant that he knew that his mother would never come back for him, no matter how much she loved him. She was the water that flowed around the rock. She would never come back.
"Be the water that crushes the rock..."
The child looked around for who had spoke. After a moment, he realized that he had said it. All of a sudden, he understood what his mother had told him the day she left, five years ago.
"Oh..."
He had to be the person who his mother could never be. He had to overcome everything his mother couldn't. He had to be strong.
The child wiped his tears on his sleeve. He stood up and started for his home.
~E~~N~~D~~~F~~L~~A~~S~~H~~B~~A~~C~~K~~~E~~N~~D~
-----|Don't ignore me|-----
Yuuhi lingered in these thoughts as he walked through the halls of the house. He stopped at the doorway of Toya's room. He peeked in and gasped.
-----|You don't want me there|-----
Clothes were strewn all over the floor. A suitcase that was half-full sat on the bed.
----|You just shut me out|-----
{I guess he's leaving tomorrow. I wonder if Aya knows...}
-----|You don't know me|-----
Shrugging, Yuuhi continued on.
-----|Don't ignore me|-----
~~A~Y~A~S~~R~O~O~M~~~~~~~~A~Y~A~S~~R~O~O~M~~
----|If you had your way|-----
/Knock knock/
-----|You'd just shut me up|-----
Aya was just finishing her homework for school when she heard a knocking on the door.
-----|I tried to belong|-----
"Come in!"
-----|It didn't seem wrong|-----
Toya walked in. "Umm, can I see you for a minute outside?"
-----|My head aches, its been so long |-----
Aya smiled brightly. "Sure! What do you want?"
-----|I'll write this song|-----
"Well..."
-----|If that's what it takes|-----
~Uselessuselessuslessuslessuslessuselessuselessuslessuseless~\
~{AUTHOR'S NOTE}~
Well, that's it! This is originally supposed to go out on Tuesday, but I didn't have enough time, so here it is! My entire family, save my mom, who wasn't sick at all, and me, who is a little bit sick, has had the stomach flu. Of course, when everybody else is well enough to go to school, I come down with the sickness. Ironic, isn't it? So I'm here at home on my computer with my chibis for company, who won't come out because they don't want to get sick, and I feel so sick...I think I'll go back to bed after this...
~{DISCLAIMER}~
Don't own Ayashi no Ceres or Unwanted by Avril Lavigne.
~{REVIEWS}~
I got reviews! Can you believe it?
~Shira Hime~
Wow! Thanks for the compliment!
Ummm, I use Word to type these fics. For some reason, underline, italic and bold don't work when I put them on FF.net. So all you Word users, tell me please! And I'm not allowed to download stuff \_/.
Thanks!
You get Yuuhi's metal chopsticks! A collectable!
~link-smitten~
Thanks! There will be lots of romantic parts for you in later chapters! And I mean, a lot!
You get a picture of Yuhi and Aya kissing! Lucky you!
~Yuhi~
Thank you so much! I'm continuing it all right! Altogether, there will be 16 chapters! Yes, 16 chapters!
You get a Ceres doll!
~RainbowSerenity~
Arigato Gozaimasu! What a cool name! I wish I had one like it...oh well, I won't copy you.
Aren't Aya and Yuhi perfectly suited for each other? They are so cute together!
You get a Aya doll! Cool huh?
~Rosa Aquafire~
Yeah! You go! GO YUUHI!
You get a Yuuhi doll! ^__^ Another true fan!
~Emily Hato~
Well, part of the reason why I can't find it is because I am too far away from most manga and anime bookstores. I read most of the manga from either borrowing it from my friend or placing a hold on it in the library. The library doesn't have it, my friend doesn't have it either...oh what am I to do?
You get Yuuhi's headband! Fortunally, it can come off if you want it to.
THANKS TO ALL!
~{UPDATES}~
Well, I'm on a new schedule now to update my fics more. The first Tuesday of the month I update Sacrifice. Next Tuesday is Promises. After that, I work on The Cat's Instinct (A Ranma ½ fic I haven't published yet, but will soon.) And the last Tuesday? Free day! Yay! And I also have been checking out Inu-Yasha from the library. Love that manga!
See ya all later!
~Soraoathkeeper~
Well, onto the story!
{Thoughts} ---|Song Lyrics|----- /Sounds/
~Uselessuselessuslessuslessuslessuselessuselessuslessuseless~
Yuuhi yawned and stretched. He looked out the window, hoping to see sunshine. Darn. It was still raining. Oh well. He began to get dressed, smiling as he found his cooking getup. He had heard of this new recipe that he had wanted to try out on Aya. Maybe she'd like this cooking as much as she had last night...
-----|All that I did was walk over|------
Oh yeah. Toya. Yuuhi sighed. He had been able to forget Toya for the moment, but not for long. He slowly opened the door to Aya's room. Aya had apparently already gotten up and dressed. The bed was unmade, her nightgown on the floor. Yuuhi walked past all of this and went to main room, and into the kitchen.
-----|Start off by shaking your hands|------
To his surprise, there was somebody already in there. Toya was at the stove, making okonomiyaki*. Yuuhi stopped dead in his tracks, his eyes wide. Then they narrowed to slits and he stormed out of the room, his hands balled into fists.
-----|That's how it went|-----
Toya was distracted momentarily by the stomping noises leaving the room. He turned around, catching a glimpse of that boy, what's his name....oh yeah, Yuuhi. Toya sighed as he turned back to his okonomiyaki. Poor boy. It was obvious he cared for Aya, even though she didn't know, or didn't care.
-----|I had a smile on my face and I sat up straight|-----
{Well, I won't be here long anyway.} Toya thought as he turned over his food.
-----|Don't talk words against me|-----
Yuuhi stomped into the hall. That was HIS territory! It was one of the few places he actually felt at home. And cooking was one of his few pleasures in life. Toya had already gotten Aya, and now this?! What more could he possibly take?
-----|Oh, yeah, yeah|-----
Aya, who had just come back from checking on Suzumi, heard Yuhi from the hall. She raised her hand in greeting.
-----|I wanted to know you|-----
"Good morning Yuuhi!"
-----|I wanted to show you|-----
He brushed right past her, mumbling "yeah hi". He then entered his room and slammed the door so hard it shook.
-----|You don't know me|-----
Aya watched him, puzzling over his strange behavior. {What's up with him?} She turned and went into the dining room. {Maybe Mrs. Q told him about how late we came home. I'll ask her later...} She entered the kitchen, sniffing the air.
-----|Don't ignore me|-----
"Toya, you know how to make okonomiyaki?! I can't wait to try it! Maybe you could show Yuuhi how to make it too..."
-----|You don't want me there|-----
S~C~E~N~E~~C~H~A~N~G~E~~S~C~E~N~E~~C~H~A~N~G~E
-----|You just shut me out|-----
/Fwapp!/ /Fwapp!/ /Fwapp!/
-----|You don't know me|-----
Yuuhi whipped his metal chopsticks across the punching bag, making it swing up. He finished it off by kicking it as it came down.
-----|Don't ignore me|-----
/Whump!/
-----|If you had your way|-----
Yuuhi snapped his metal chopsticks together, spinning around as he did so. His fists were a blur as he furiously attacked the various obstacles around him.
-----|You'd just shut me up|-----
/Powpowpowpowpowpowpowpowpow!/ /Thwack!/
-----|Make me go away|-----
"HYA!"
-----|No, I just don't understand why|-----
/Thud./
-----|You won't talk to me|-----
Yuuhi stood, breathing heavily. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and headed towards the bathroom to wash up. Working out his frustration always felt good. When he was little and still in the Aogiri's mansion, he had always tried his hardest to be the best cook there ever was, better than his mom. When his half-brothers had teased him, when his stepmother insulted him and his mother, when things weren't good, he would cook, trying a new recipe or struggling to make the best cake.
-----|It hurts that I'm so unwanted for nothing|-----
Because deep down inside, he had hoped that someday, his mother would come back for him.
-----|I wanted to know you|-----
And when she did, he wanted her to be proud of her son, her boy, her little cook.
-----|I wanted to show you|-----
It wasn't until that fateful day when he ran away from the Aogiri mansion that he knew his mother would never come back for him.
-----|You don't know me|-----
~F~L~A~S~H~B~A~C~K~~~~~~~~~F~L~A~S~H~B~A~C~K~
"Where are you going servant boy?"
A young boy around 9 or 10 years old looked back at the woman who addressed him with such scorn.
"I'm going to Satoru's house to play. It's by the mall. I'll be back around 5:00."
He made his way to the door. The 40 or so old woman quickly blocked his way.
"Oh no you're not. You need to cook the food for the family today."
"But I do that every day!"
"Well since your wretch of a servant mother left you, you're just going to do it yourself. Good riddance if you ask me. I wonder why she didn't take you with her. Probably because she didn't love you."
"That's not true! She loves me! She will come back!"
"Then why isn't she here, hmmm? If she loved you, why did she leave you?"
The boy blinked back tears. He had no answers to the questions she asked.
The woman smirked, knowing she had hit a weak spot.
In one swift movement, the boy pushed his stepmother aside, opened the door and ran out into the cold October afternoon.
The woman was caught off-balance and fell to the ground. She called after him.
"Get back here you little brat! You'll pay for that!"
The boy ran and ran, not knowing where he was going, trying to keep the tears that were threatening to slip out inside.
When he stopped, he found he was in the park, a few blocks away from home. He wandered until he found a small bridge over a river. He stood in the middle of it, burying his face in his arms.
{This is the place.} the boy realized. {Where she took me before she went...}
~A~~L~O~N~G~~T~I~M~E~~A~G~O~~5~Y~E~A~R~S~~A~G~O~
His mother smiled at the 5 year old boy as he balanced on the railing, sticking out the tip of his tongue as he concentrated on not falling. He reached the end and jumped off, spinning around with a flourish.
"Taa-dah!"
His mother clapped for him as he took bows.
"Oh, that was wonderful Yuuhi! You're such a wonderful boy! And so grown up!"
She took him in his arms. He protested at first, but quieted as his mother looked out across the river.
"Whadda ya lookin' at Mama?"
His mother gestured at the stream that flowed merrily under the bridge.
"See that stream Yuuhi? See how it flows, never staying in one place?"
The boy squirmed in his mother's arms as he tried to get a closer look at the river.
"Yea, I see it."
His mother gazed at the water.
"When things get tough for the water, like if there is a rock blocking its way, what do you think it does?"
The boy though for a minute, and then got a determined look in his eyes.
"Smash it hard! Nothin' can beat the water!"
The woman laughed. "You are truly a fighter Yuuhi. But the water has another way of getting around a rock."
The child looked up at his mother. "What is it?"
She smiled down at him. "The water can flow around it. It can run away."
She set him down and put both hands on his shoulders, kneeling so that she was at his eye level. She stared hard into his eyes.
"Promise me Yuuhi. Promise me that you will never run away from your problems. Promise me that you will be the water that crushes the rock. Promise me this one thing."
The boy nodded obediently, confused, but willing to do whatever his mother told him to do.
"I promise."
The woman's face broke into a smile.
"That's my brave little cook. Now, we have to go home now. I have to cook dinner tonight."
"Can I help? Pleeease?"
She took his hand and led him out of the park.
"Well, okay..."
~~B~A~C~K~~~T~O~~~T~H~E~~~F~L~A~S~H~B~A~C~K~~
The boy cried and cried, shoulders shaking as he sobbed into his arms.
{How could she think that I would want to stay here? Why didn't she take me with her? Doesn't she love me?}
He cried aloud to the world, asking anyone for the answers to these questions.
No one replied.
It was in that instant that he knew that his mother would never come back for him, no matter how much she loved him. She was the water that flowed around the rock. She would never come back.
"Be the water that crushes the rock..."
The child looked around for who had spoke. After a moment, he realized that he had said it. All of a sudden, he understood what his mother had told him the day she left, five years ago.
"Oh..."
He had to be the person who his mother could never be. He had to overcome everything his mother couldn't. He had to be strong.
The child wiped his tears on his sleeve. He stood up and started for his home.
~E~~N~~D~~~F~~L~~A~~S~~H~~B~~A~~C~~K~~~E~~N~~D~
-----|Don't ignore me|-----
Yuuhi lingered in these thoughts as he walked through the halls of the house. He stopped at the doorway of Toya's room. He peeked in and gasped.
-----|You don't want me there|-----
Clothes were strewn all over the floor. A suitcase that was half-full sat on the bed.
----|You just shut me out|-----
{I guess he's leaving tomorrow. I wonder if Aya knows...}
-----|You don't know me|-----
Shrugging, Yuuhi continued on.
-----|Don't ignore me|-----
~~A~Y~A~S~~R~O~O~M~~~~~~~~A~Y~A~S~~R~O~O~M~~
----|If you had your way|-----
/Knock knock/
-----|You'd just shut me up|-----
Aya was just finishing her homework for school when she heard a knocking on the door.
-----|I tried to belong|-----
"Come in!"
-----|It didn't seem wrong|-----
Toya walked in. "Umm, can I see you for a minute outside?"
-----|My head aches, its been so long |-----
Aya smiled brightly. "Sure! What do you want?"
-----|I'll write this song|-----
"Well..."
-----|If that's what it takes|-----
~Uselessuselessuslessuslessuslessuselessuselessuslessuseless~\
~{AUTHOR'S NOTE}~
Well, that's it! This is originally supposed to go out on Tuesday, but I didn't have enough time, so here it is! My entire family, save my mom, who wasn't sick at all, and me, who is a little bit sick, has had the stomach flu. Of course, when everybody else is well enough to go to school, I come down with the sickness. Ironic, isn't it? So I'm here at home on my computer with my chibis for company, who won't come out because they don't want to get sick, and I feel so sick...I think I'll go back to bed after this...
~{DISCLAIMER}~
Don't own Ayashi no Ceres or Unwanted by Avril Lavigne.
~{REVIEWS}~
I got reviews! Can you believe it?
~Shira Hime~
Wow! Thanks for the compliment!
Ummm, I use Word to type these fics. For some reason, underline, italic and bold don't work when I put them on FF.net. So all you Word users, tell me please! And I'm not allowed to download stuff \_/.
Thanks!
You get Yuuhi's metal chopsticks! A collectable!
~link-smitten~
Thanks! There will be lots of romantic parts for you in later chapters! And I mean, a lot!
You get a picture of Yuhi and Aya kissing! Lucky you!
~Yuhi~
Thank you so much! I'm continuing it all right! Altogether, there will be 16 chapters! Yes, 16 chapters!
You get a Ceres doll!
~RainbowSerenity~
Arigato Gozaimasu! What a cool name! I wish I had one like it...oh well, I won't copy you.
Aren't Aya and Yuhi perfectly suited for each other? They are so cute together!
You get a Aya doll! Cool huh?
~Rosa Aquafire~
Yeah! You go! GO YUUHI!
You get a Yuuhi doll! ^__^ Another true fan!
~Emily Hato~
Well, part of the reason why I can't find it is because I am too far away from most manga and anime bookstores. I read most of the manga from either borrowing it from my friend or placing a hold on it in the library. The library doesn't have it, my friend doesn't have it either...oh what am I to do?
You get Yuuhi's headband! Fortunally, it can come off if you want it to.
THANKS TO ALL!
~{UPDATES}~
Well, I'm on a new schedule now to update my fics more. The first Tuesday of the month I update Sacrifice. Next Tuesday is Promises. After that, I work on The Cat's Instinct (A Ranma ½ fic I haven't published yet, but will soon.) And the last Tuesday? Free day! Yay! And I also have been checking out Inu-Yasha from the library. Love that manga!
See ya all later!
~Soraoathkeeper~