None of these Characters belong to me at all, they belong to Rumiko Takahashi and the creators of Grave of the Fireflies. Well, at least the story belongs to grave of the fireflies. I changed some stuff from Grave but it's not all that different. The characters are all Takahashi's though- . So without further adieu, here's my story.. be sure to bring kleenex's cuz it only gets sadder. This fic mostly centers around Nabiki, and Akane. Gosunkugi is a vital to the story, but he comes in the later. For those of you who have not seen Grave, don't read this till you watch it cuz it'll spoil the movie for you, I mean unless you wanna read it ofcourse, I don't care ok, on with the shooowww!!
-Where Angels Fear to Tread-
-LMG-
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There is a quick flash and they're back in the past. Nabiki is holding onto Akane for dear life. Her Mother was pulling Kasumi towards the shelter and Kasumi was holding onto Nabiki.
Nabiki had Akane tied to her back. She gritted her teeth.
Danm Americans.... Daddy, I hope you get those assholes!!
Soun Tendo had been drafted to war. He was in the navy and Nabiki's never been so proud of her father in her entire life.
Someone pushes Nabiki and she starts to fall. Kasumi almost loses her grip on her little sister.
"Biki-chan!" Kasumi screams.
Nabiki quickly balances herself and regains her footing.
"It's alright sis- I'm fine! It's just 'Kane I'm worried about!"
Little Akane had her eyes sqeezed shut and her hands over her ears. She was so afraid of the sirens and the screams of the people she started to cry.
"Biki- I'm scared!"
Nabiki tried to calm Akane down.
"It's alright Akane I'm scared too!" She admitted truthfully.
There were so many people pushing and shoving their way through the crowd to try to get into the shelter. They were knocking each other down and trampling over one another.
Nabiki watched in horror as an old couple got ran over by a huge cart. Their screams echoed in her young mind. She quickly threw a blanket over her back protectively shielding Akane from the hideous scene.
Akane whimpered underneath the soft covers.
Kasumi looked back at Nabiki. "Biki-chan, we're almost there!"
Nabiki could barely make out her mother's form as the older women surged through the crowd to get to the safety of the shelter.
Nabiki beamed, at least that was some good news right? She half-way turned her head towards Akane.
"Ya here that 'Kane? We're almost there!"
Akane nodded profusely not wanting to open her little eyes. They were almost there! They were almost at the shelter!! There they would be safe! Just as she thought those words, and airplane flew overhead.
Nabiki's eyes widened with fear.
Oh god please not now!
They weren't the only ones to spy the airplane.
The mob of people behind them could hear the plane coming from a mile away.
Everyone started to panic.
They began pushing each other. Akane started to cry in fear. Everything started to get tighter. It was harder to squeeze through the crowd.
"Kasumi! Hold on to your sisters!! No matter what don't let go!!!" Her mother screamed at her.
Kasumi winced at the sharp pain in her wrist, but she nodded. "Yes mother! I won't! I promise!!"
Kasumi turned her head. She could see Nabiki out of the corner of her eye. "Biki-chan- don't let go!!"
Nabiki grimaced in pain. Kasumi was holding her wrist so tightly. She felt her arm start to go numb.
"I know Kasumi! I won't let go!!"
As they meandered through the rough crowd, someone dashed by Nabiki.
It was a man in his mid 30's. He was bigger and stronger than her. He shoved Nabiki to the side. The smaller girl lost her grip on Kasumi.
Nabiki's mouth opened.
Her eyes glazed over with fear and the thought of being trampled to death.
Kasumi had enough time to turn around to see Nabiki disappearing in the madness.
"Mom stop!! Nabiki, Akane!!!" She cried out in alarm.
Her mother stopped. Her heart thundered through her ears. "No! Nabiki! Akane!!" She screamed.
She got one last glimpse of her two daughters holding onto one another before a cart dashed their way crushing her two daughters.
Her mother screamed a heart wrenching cry. Kasumi was in tears.
The crowd kept pushing them away from Nabiki and Akane.
Nabiki was glued to her spot.
She was afraid that if she moved, she wouldn't see her mother.
It was a foolish idea, but she couldn't help it.
Fear and trepidation kept her sealed to her spot. Suddenly out of nowhere a runaway cart came crashing by.
Nabiki only had seconds to react. She forced her legs to buckle and dived out of harms way just as the cart careened past them and into the crowd behind.
There were many screams of pain and anguish.
Nabiki tried desperately to block those sounds out of her ears.
Akane was crying out loud. She was so scared. One moment she saw Kasumi and Mama, then all of the sudden she was alone with no one but Nabiki.
Nabiki tried to hush her little sister as she pushed past the crowd to get to her mother. In the back of her mind, she knew that Kasumi and her mother were probably far away and couldn't reach them, but no matter what, she still had to try.
Just as she thought those words, a plane dived down low.
It dropped a couple of bombs their way and ran itself into a nearby building.
Nabiki ran as fast as she could to a nearby underpass and ducked in.
There were bombs falling everywhere and Akane was screaming now.
Nabiki rocked her little sister back and forth trying to soothe her.
There was a raging fire that was getting out of hand. Nabiki swallowed.
The fire was getting close. She had to get her and Akane out of there now!
She looked for an escape route and found none.
She looked at the sewer drainage in the middle on the underpass. There were rats crawling out from there. She grimaced.
I don't wanna do this, but it's not like I have a choice, it looks like the only way!
She held on tightly to Akane and told her sister to hold on. She went over to the drainage pipe and rattled on the metal grate.
It was flimsy enough that it broke.
She crawled into the sewer and was knee deep in human feces. Akane stopped screaming but she was still in shock.
"Eh.. it it smells in here Biki-chan!" She sobbed.
Nabiki nodded. "I know 'Kane, but there's no other way. I swear once we get through this mess we'll go find Kasumi and Mama ok?"
That seemed to calm her down.
Nabiki wiped the sweat from her face and tried not to breathe in the stench. It was overbearing and she even threw up a couple of times.
It seemed Akane did the same.
"Biki- I threw up all over myself an your jacket!"
Nabiki smiled. "It's alright sweetie, besides this jacket isn't mine, it's Dad's! See, it's too big to be mine!"
"Oh." Akane said with an "O" face.
Step by step they slowly made their way through the canal. It seemed like hours before they hit the end of the canal.
Nabiki could see the light coming from the end of the tunnel and ran towards it happily.
She got to the edge and looked up at the sky.
From where she was standing, the sky looked clear. She slowly made her way out of the sewer and onto the ledge. Below them was a lake of sewage water, there was no way she'd take a dive into that!
She looked up and could see another ledge. Nabiki climbed up and stood at what seemed to be the edge of hell. She couldn't believe her eyes.
The sight was too horrendous to bear.
What once was Nerima, was now nothing but a heap of ashes and smoke. She stood there mouth open gaping with shock.
"Biki-chan what do you see?" piped up a curious Akane.
Nabiki shook her head. "I-It's Nerima!"
Akane squirmed. "I wanna see Lemme down Biki I wanna see too!!"
Nabiki untied her sister and let her down so that she could see. Akane's eyes were wide with fear.
"Biki, it's all gone!" she said it like a whisper.
Nabiki grabbed her little sister's hand and squeezed it.
"I know 'Kane, I know.... "
She pulled Akane along. "Come on little sister, we gotta go and find out what's going on..."
-End-