Prince of Yesterday
Disclaimer: Applies to all chapters. I am a teenage drama queen with a demon Yuki the Rat plushie, the six English Furuba Mangas, all four DVDs, and a wall hanging of the Furuba gang. Plus other anime junk NOT related to Fruits Basket. I suppose you could sue me, but the point that it's FANFICTION should be warning enough.
AU: In a world built by technology and guided by magic, a young barmaid and her two friends, an assassin and a seer, find themselves tangled in the web of secrets surrounding the powerful Sohma family. Can they solve the puzzle before destiny destroys the land?
AN: Something akin to The Kingdom of Glass, here. Yeah, Most everyone should show up in this story, including Akito as a guy, sorry guys, I only speak/read English; it's the way I am. I noticed that there are very few dynamic AU's, in which the world was changed completely and the storyline entirely new, and this idea's been in my head for a while. I hope you enjoy the drama. New Science Fiction happens to be my forte.
Chapter One: Shadows on the Wall
There in the darkness no shadows linger.
It was an old saying, handed down from commoner to commoner, for a cloak can be cast aside, it's secrets revealed, so no one ever stayed in one place to long for fear of a guard passing by.
These were words the woman in the streets had taken to heart, for she tugged her shawl ever near and moved with a speed only a common person as lithe as she could maintain, for nobles were slow and elegant, but her posture, though showing a certain grace, was not exactly noble. Such things were irrelevant to her as she turned the corner off the main stone street and down a muddy alleyway, a more favorable path for the young brunette.
'I'm so late.' Her thoughts were rushed, paced well with each step she took, not bothering to lift her brown skirts from the mud, letting it slosh over her worn old boots. She turned down another alleyway, drawing back against the wall tightly when she noticed another person, fearing a guard may have found her. 'Oh, no, Mother, what am I going to do? Han will be furious if I'm any later. I'm sure Uo and Hana are worried about me right now.'
A moment's breathe as the figure turned out to be nothing more than a drunk; she passed on quickly, carefully avoiding that path. Another few turns and she came back onto the main road, crossing it to the next alley where a side door lead into the kitchen of a busy tavern. "I'm so sorry I'm late!" She gushed, hanging her shawl on a peg near the open fire, bowing to the main chef, a heavy set woman with black hair pinned sternly in a bun, not a strand set free.
"Again, Tohru? What's the excuse this time?" Without waiting for a reply, the woman added, "Never mind, I don't want to hear it. Just go help Alicia before she murders those men."
"Thank you, Han! I will, and I promise not to be late again!" Another bow and the girl called Tohru disappeared into the busy common room of the tavern called The Black Rose, suitably named for its notorious nature as a hideout of all sorts. A place safe from the guards of the corrupt city. She grabbed a tray from the counter, greeting the bartender with a smile, and danced her way through the crowded haze of the room, nodding to her harried counterpart, Alicia, on the way.
"Hey Tohru!" Arisa Uotani, one of the best assassins not employed to the elusive Sohma family, hailed her friend from where she sat with the seer, Saki Hanajima, in a forgotten corner of the room.
"Oh, hello! I'm sorry I'm late, I came as fast as I could." She cleared away the half eaten plates of her friends' dinner carefully, so as not to break anything. For everything around them was far too expensive for her to afford.
"What kept you?" Uo asked, her normally fierce blue eyes widened in worry for her closest friend since their youth.
Tohru simply smiled and waved her free hand dismissively, "I had some problems with my landlord but its all taken care of now, please don't worry about me." Silently, she added, 'If I keep my job, maybe I can pay that debt. Oh Mom, how did I get in so deep?'
"Indeed. I don't believe we shall ever stop worrying for you." That was all the black haired woman said, taking a careful sip of her tea. Then she was silent again.
The brunette's blank look was quickly replaced by a smile as she finished clearing the place and taking her loaded tray into the back, returning moments later with a beer for Uo and more tea for Hana. "What brings you two here when it's this crowded?" She asked cheerfully, normally the two were in and out before the rush, only stopping long enough to make sure Tohru had made it on time.
"Client." Uo ran her finger around the rim of the glass, bored. "He's supposed to be here soon, so we'll be gone as soon as we finish the details."
Not being one to ask of her friend's less than legal work, the girl simply nodded and turned away, clearing the evening meal from nearby tables. She came to and from the kitchen for well over an hour, pausing near their table to talk for only just a moment before rushing off to help until most of the evening diners had left and the rush slowed in the tavern. Still, Uo's client had not shown.
"Maybe he got lost." Tohru answered when Uo voiced her comment of his absence aloud while the maid was nearby.
"Maybe. It's not everyday the- er, I mean, someone like him comes to this side of the city." The blonde grinned, "Not to worry, he'll be here soon."
"Here he comes." Right on cue to Hana's soft remark, a cloaked figure entered the inn, looking slightly lost. Tohru greeted him and told him where to find the assassin before rushing off to whatever it was she did.
"So, looks like the prince finally found us." Uo greeted with her usual almost sarcastic nature, toning it down only barely for their client.
The figure removed his hood, revealing himself to be a man in his late teenage years, dark gray haired and violet eyed with fragile, almost doll-like features. Yet in the darkness there really was almost no way to see who he was unless they looked closely and knew what he looked like. "My apologies, Miss Uotani, it is not often I find myself in this part of the city. If I may ask, why here?"
"Why do you enlist the help of a street assassin and a seer when you have many of your own already under your command, my prince?" Hana replied cryptically.
The prince's expression remained calm, "All right then, shall we get down to business?"
"Sure, only been waiting all damn night." The assassin switched from her bored position to one that showed her usual aggressive energy. "Whatcha need? Hana and I do it all, we don't mind getting our hands dirty."
"I need information."
Suddenly Uo lost all interest and returned to leaning back in her chair. "How boring, we don't do that sort of thing. Now if you needed someone to conveniently disappear, we could arrange that. But information? Don't you have a spymaster for that?"
"Yes, but the information that comes through the city web often has information necessary filtered out of it. I need someone who doesn't first report to another member of my family, someone who reports straight to me." He answered calmly.
"So you're saying the spies you have aren't trustworthy and you think we are?" That was a laugh. She, Arisa Uotani, was the greatest assassin on the streets and most of her targets were high ranking nobles. There was no way she would faithfully assist the heir to the most powerful family in the city, unless he bound her word, then she wouldn't really have a choice but to keep the information between him and herself.
Which she doubted he would be smart enough to do.
"I know that you are a woman of your word and will keep it, therefore you are more trustworthy than the spies currently in my family's employment."
That put him about seven IQ points higher in Uo's book. "I see, then, promise me some action and a good sum of money and we have a deal." Here was where she'd really determine his intelligence.
"All right, if things go according to plan, you may become a key player in the most important events this city has ever faced." The prince told her, "It is not something you want to pass on to one of your street rivals."
"Considering we are talking about the Sohma family's wealth, my prince, I don't think I shall. I will gather the information and keep it confidential for a fee of thirty thousand."
"Far too high for a simple informant. Ten thousand is much more reasonable."
"Hazard pay, I have many enemies and people I must protect." Responded the blonde. "Ten thousand hazard and two thousand a month for the duration of our deal."
"Seven thousand hazard and one thousand a month. Final offer, Miss Uotani."
"Ahh, prince, but you wouldn't want word to leak out on the streets about the heir to the Sohma family engaging in secret business. Seven thousand hazard and two thousand a month."
"… All right then, Miss Arisa Uotani, I expect updates every two weeks at the location determined at our last meeting. We will meet here again in two weeks time."
"Then we are in agreement and our meeting is therefore finished. Good doing business with you, Prince Yuki." Uo stood at the same time her client did, shaking his hand to finalize the deal. The young man left just as quick as he came, leaving the two young women alone again. Uo grinning like the cat that swallowed the canary.
Tohru noticed and found her way back to them, smiling as usual. "Did your deal go well, Uo?"
"Quite, thanks for asking. It looks like everything's going our way this time. Now if only there were a little more excitement, then it'd be too good to be true."
"That's good." Her grin widened. 'Mother, if Uo thinks everything will get better now, that our hard times are finished, I have to believe her. It's been tough since you died, but it looks like things are looking up and I only have things to be grateful for, a good job, my home, and the two best friends a girl could want.
'Though something doesn't feel right, about that man and I really hope Uo doesn't get hurt. I don't know what I'd do if I lost Uo and Hana. Then I'd truly be alone.'
Ending Notes
Here we go. I think this could have been longer but I didn't want to drag it on. It's an introduction to the characters, next time we'll be moving on to more about Tohru and her life, as well as fated meetings that will set in motion events that will change the city in which they live forever.
If the entire chapter went over you head, pretty much Uo is an assassin, Hana's a silent seer, and Tohru's a barmaid/waitress. She's an orphan in a hard time in her life when Uo lands a job with the Prince of the City, Yuki Sohma, but Tohru doesn't know this… How long before she and the Sohma's cross paths?
Next Chapter: Tohru has a brush with death in the markets, only to be saved by a mysterious person. Who is he and what role does he play in the tale of the Prince of Yesterday?
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Later!
Lockea