School got canceled again! Here's the epilogue as promised! I'm hoping to make it really long but I haven't decided if I'm going to add the tributes at the end or make another chapter for them. If it's another chapter, it will only be for the tributes, not an actual storyline chapter. Depends on how long this epilogue is.
Disclaimer: For old sakes times! I don't own Ouran but I do own Akari (I just figured that out, I can be really dense at times xD)
Epilogue, Akemi POV
"Akemi! It's time to go!" I heard mother call me from the house.
"Coming mommy!" I yelled but didn't move from my spot. I'd been playing with the fish in the stream that ran by our little house in the woods, as I liked to call it. The fish were mixed in color, some gold some silver. Others would be like a red or black while another may be green or blue. I liked to play with them because they seemed so pretty, just like mommy.
Mommy didn't always get to play with me because the chores around the house or sometimes she went into the city nearby. Daddy didn't come home that much, or if he did it was after I'd gone to bed. Mommy said he had major work in the city but he always did like to see my face when he came home. I always smiled when she would tap my nose and twirl my golden hair in her fingers. Then she would send me off to bed.
I looked in the river to look at my features now. Mother said I had a rare combination, with golden hair and golden eyes to match. I believed they were more a honey brown like daddy's than gold. I had received my hair from mommy and my eyes and tanned skin from daddy. Sometimes I wished I had auburn, almost red hair like daddy. It was a pretty combination in my opinion.
"Akemi?" That was my father calling me now. I jumped with glee at the chance to see him and immediately left the stream to go see him.
"I'll be back tomorrow!" I called to the fish and took off at a sprint. When I got to our little house in the woods, mother took one look at me and sighed.
"Were you playing with the fish again?" She asked with a slight smile that grew when I nodded firmly.
"I like playing with them! Sometimes they'll suck on my fingers when I'm drawing patterns in the water. It tickles," I giggle as I explain.
"But it tears up your clothes if you sit at the wrong angle on the rocks," Daddy said, sighing as he took in the condition my clothes were in. I looked down to see my pants were torn at the knees and the cloth around me ankles were all wet. My shirt had faded out from wearing it so much and the sleeves around my wrists were wet as well.
"Oops?" I shrugged my shoulders, attempting innocence, slightly giggling at the looks they gave me.
"We were thinking of bringing you into town to see your aunt and uncle, along with childhood friends but if you choose to look like that..." Mommy trailed off, knowing the affect it would have on me.
"Really? I'll go change just wait for me!" I exclaimed and ran inside to change. I heard slight chuckling behind me and whispered words exchanged between my parents. Honestly, every time they got together it was all lovey dovey with them.
"Oh, if only they'd told me sooner!" I sighed, trying to figure out what to wear. I had never gone into town because one of them would always stay behind to look after me if one left. I never knew I even had an aunt or uncle because mom would always grow sad when I asked her about other family members. She would also make sure I steered clear of the back side of the house but I wasn't quite sure why. Not wanting to upset her, I always complied.
I finally chose white pants, a golden belt to accentuate my eyes, and a red shirt like vest. Mommy said it was her favorite outfit on me and I often agreed saying it was my favorite outfit, just maybe not on me. I grabbed my necklace with the sun symbol on it along with some red tennis shoes and ran back outside.
"Help me?" I pleaded to one of them. They both laughed and moved to help me. Daddy helped tie my shoes while Mommy helped connect the clasp of the necklace. "Now can we go?"
"Yes Akemi, my little ball of sunlight," Daddy whispered and picked me. He let me ride on his shoulders and I wrapped my hands around his head to hold on, careful not to hold too tightly.
We walked quite a ways, making me happy that Daddy let me ride on his shoulders. I often found myself playing with his locks of hair while he and Mommy discussed what they called business talk. I didn't see the appeal and it made me happy I was only 8 years of age, for that stuff was years away from me. Mommy and Daddy were the same age, both hitting 33 years of age.
It always made me wonder how long Mommy and Daddy had known each other. From their stories, they had met when they were 15 at a school called Ouran. It was supposedly for the rich and beautiful, only accepting the most gifted of children along with a few scholarships. I never liked the part before they met because Mommy's life had been sad. She'd been ignored and hadn't had any friends and a fake family that only wanted her for her special properties that I had yet to know of. I couldn't imagine what that kind of life would be like.
Mommy would the explain how she met the group Daddy had been with and I would always laugh at the bizarre stories she would tell. She then would tell me how her dead beat brother helped her find this place and she'd regained her memories. That part always made me confused for I thought she had a fake family so how could she show affection for a brother that she called names like she didn't care? And what did she mean by regaining lost memories? How had she lost them?
She always said it was a sibling thing and that I would understand until I had one. I wondered when I would, I always dreamed of having a baby sister or brother. It would be nice to have another playmate around.
As I'd been drifting in my thoughts, I hadn't realized we broke through the forest clearing and walked in on a scary looking sight. Instead of green grass, the ground was gray with yellow lines and green signs telling things I couldn't understand. There were scary looking monsters going up and down the gray ground, zooming by in a hurry causing a lot of scary sounds.
I hugged Daddy tighter while he and Mommy went to a nearby monster that wasn't moving. A man with midnight black hair and silver moon eyes to match. He looked like an angel of the night to me.
"Akemi, meet my dead beat of a brother," Mommy laughed when she saw his reaction, "Your Uncle Uragari."
I looked down at him from Daddy's shoulders and then cowered behind him. I sensed the man was frowning from my shyness but I didn't care.
"She looks like the exact opposite of me. I'm dark while she's light," He murmured, as if he didn't realize he wasn't alone.
"Well that is why we call her Akemi, it means sunlight," Daddy explained.
"Long time no see Kaoru, I sure missed your presence but your brother has been doing his best to make up for it," Uncle Uragari said, shaking hands with Daddy politely. I found myself peeking out from behind him to get a look. When Uncle spotted me, he gave me the brightest smile he could muster, making me giggle and wave back. Mommy was smiling at me with affection.
"Shall we go see the others?" Mommy asked, receiving a nod from Uncle. Daddy pulled me off his shoulders and sat me beside Mommy. He then got in the front seat with Uncle who seemed to control the monster onto the gray ground.
"Scary," I mumbled and received an explanation from Mommy.
"It's not a monster Akemi, it's a vehicle. Can you say 'vehicle'?"
"Bee-hickle!" I exclaimed, earning shouts of laughter from everyone.
"Close enough honey. A vehicle is a moving machine that can get us to places faster. The gray ground is what you would call the road specifically made for the vehicle to drive on. The yellow lines are there to keep anyone from crashing that would end up with everyone having a big booboo." I giggled at the last word and nodded in understanding. Road, vehicle, crash, big booboo!
I ended up getting my hands on a sheet of paper and crayons to draw patterns on. Mommy said I was an excellent drawer for my age but it was just lines and circles with clothing to me.
"Look mommy! It's everyone!" I exclaimed happily, showing her the picture of me, her, Daddy, and Uncle. She stared at the picture for a while and then showed it to Daddy who in turn showed it to Uncle. I huffed, wanting my picture back.
"Wow, that looks exactly like you Kaoru. You could have told me she could draw," Uncle said after seeing the picture.
"Can I have it back now?" I whined, jumping up when they handed it back. I flipped it over and wrote everyone's names a little sloppily but I didn't care. It was special to me.
"I think she's able to draw so well because she has an excellent memory for scenery and looks, even if she only just met them or saw it," Mommy thought aloud and received nods from Daddy and Uncle. I stared out the window and I felt my eyes bug out upon seeing the first huge building. It seemed to touch the sky! It also seemed to be made of glass, just like our windows.
"That's a skyscraper Akemi. Pretty cool huh?" Daddy explained upon seeing my face. I nodded enthusiastically. We passed by many more skyscrapers, I made a note to draw them later so I could remember, before finally stopping at a huge house if you wanted to call it that. I stared up at the building, memorizing the pillars, windows, measurements, the grounds, and the faces that stood in front of the door. I counted 6 in all, only spotting one girl.
"Akemi, you ready to meet our friends? Along with your other aunt and uncle?" Mommy tried to ask me, but I'd already jumped out of the vehicle. I ran up to an exact look-alike of Daddy and stopped to stare at him.
"Daddy!" I exclaimed while pointing up at him, receiving several laughs and a smirk from the man who looked like my Daddy.
"Hello Akemi. I'm so happy to finally meet my niece," The man said to me.
"Akemi, this is my twin brother, also known as your Uncle Hikaru. The woman next to him is his wife, Haruhi," By this point, Daddy had caught up with me. That's when I noticed his arm around the girl I'd spotted, leading me to the conclusion of her being my aunt.
"Auntie!" I exclaimed and hugged her legs, earning a slight sigh. I frowned at the reaction and looked up into her big brown eyes. Her eyes widened upon meeting my gaze, as if she was surprised.
"She looks like a rare crossover," She mumbled, causing my frown to deepen. I'm not a crossover! Whatever that was. I hmphed and let go over her legs, going back over to Uncle Hikaru. I looked up into his honey golden eyes, an exact match of Daddy's, and received another smirk. I was starting to get annoyed of that smirk.
I motioned for him to come closer, and he complied by bending down. To my happiness, that smirk was still there. I motioned for him to get closer and as he was inches from me, I raised my hand and slapped him. To my glee, the smirk was slapped off of his face.
"Yay, I got rid of his smirk!" I shouted while everyone looked on in astonishment. Uncle Hikaru raised his hand to touch the part where I'd smacked him and then bringing back his hand to stare at it. At this point, Mommy was laughing like crazy.
"Hikaru that was the most hilarious thing I've ever seen!" Mommy shouted with glee and everyone else seemed to be laughing as well. That's when everyone turned to stare at a man who seemed to resemble Uncle Uragari a little but he had black eyes instead of silver with glasses. He was laughing as well.
"Akemi made," Uncle Hikaru started to my confusement, only saying half a sentence.
"Kyoya-senpai," Daddy then said next, making me gaze up in wonder at the perfect entrance.
"laugh!" They both finished at the same time, making me clap.
"Do it again! Do it again!" I yelled and ran around everyone. By accident, I ran into a big pair of legs, landing on my bottom with an 'oof'. I looked up to apologize to whoever I'd run into and was greeted with a scary looking man with spiky black hair with almost charcoal eyes that had a hint of gray. I immediately backed up in fright but froze when I spotted a bit of blond by his side.
"Honey-senpai! You've grown since the last time I saw you!" Mommy exclaimed and ran over to hug the blond haired boy. He was holding a pink bunny along with a hand from the scary man. I looked up at the small boy that seemed like he could have just graduated high school.
"Akemi, this is Mori-senpai and Honey-senpai. They are actually 2 years older than us," Daddy explained and I stared in bafflement at the boy.
"Not true. He looks like he just got out of high school! Not true, not true!" I pointed and shook my head, trying to prove to them that they were wrong. There was no way he was 35. He and the scary looking man just smiled at me.
"It is true, Akemi. I'm Honey and this is my friend, Mori. We're really happy to meet you," He said and I looked up at Mori. He grunted and it was at that moment that I saw the softness in his eyes. I walked over to him and held up my hands. He seemed to sense my thoughts for he picked me up and let me ride on his shoulders. I stared down at everyone who seemed to be miles away.
"So tall," I giggled and wrapped my arms around his head like I had with Daddy earlier. I sneezed sometimes when his hair tickled my nose so I tried to flatten some of the spikes down. To my frustration, they refused to cooperate.
"You guys forgot me!" Another blond haired man seemed to whine. I looked over at him and instantly knew I didn't like him.
"Akemi, this is Tamaki-senpai. I like to refer to him as boss as an inside joke from high school." Daddy introduced us and Tamaki bowed low.
"Princess, it's nice to meet you," He said.
"He's the King!" I exclaimed, pointing at him in the process. He seemed to glow at my name for him.
"Thank y-"
"Of brats!" I finished, stopping him from saying what he'd been about to say. Then he seemed to go into a brattish mode by running his hands through his hair and making weird sounds from his mouth that seemed full of fangs. As if by some magical force, there were effects behind him like lightning and he seemed to deflate.
"What a brat," I heard him mutter and I huffed in indignation. Everyone laughed again, even Mori and Auntie.
"Definitely your child," Haruhi said to Daddy, making me smile in pride.
"Shall we go inside?" Kyoya motioned for everyone to go inside. I stared down at him, feeling as if it was a demand instead of a request. He must be powerful for even Auntie to comply. She doesn't seem like the one to take directions that well, I thought to myself.
Everyone seemed to slightly forget about me when they all sat down in a room full of chairs and tables. The walls were pink with a carpet that seemed black. Several lamps were turned on but no actual lights. There was a TV on the wall with a big speaker system. The room seemed to be built for big groups of friends.
"I remember this room," I heard Mommy mutter but it seemed I was the only one who heard. Mori had set me down and I was crawling on the soft carpet. I saw several sheets of paper along with tools to color and draw. I instantly grabbed them and began to draw the house with everyone in front.
Several hours must have passed but I didn't hear a single word, too focused on the drawing. I felt presences in the room but chose to ignore them. When I was done, I held it up to the light to see it better and smiled at my handiwork. At that moment, I felt several people surrounding me and instantly huddled into a ball.
"Woah Akemi, we won't hurt you," I heard a voice say quietly and peeked out from my cover. I was greeted by the man they had called Tamaki and felt safe to come out.
"Looks like she picked up her mother's habits," Kyoya said, writing something down in a black notebook. I found myself wondering what it was.
"Can we see the picture you drew Akemi?" Honey asked me politely, crouching down on his knees to look me in the eyes. I looked back at my drawing and slightly nodded. He picked up my drawing and stared at it like Uncle Uragari had with my earlier one. He then passed it around and turned to look at me in wonder. After each person saw it, they did the exact same thing.
"Looks like a good talent that could be put to use," Uncle Uragari said, making me slightly afraid at his tone.
"I'm not letting my daughter be used at this age!" My mother seemed to shout, making everyone jump away from me.
"She's barely 8 years old, no way are we letting her out of our sights," Daddy said, wrapping his arms around Mommy in agreement. Everyone had sat back down at this point and didn't bring up the topic again. I saw a window on the far wall and walked over to it. What greeted me seemed like the perfect place to play.
"Can we go out there? Please!" I asked, wondering how to get outside. The twins looked over at me and followed my gaze. Their eyes softened and nodded.
"Sure Akemi, it would be nice to go see it one more time," Auntie Haruhi said, already getting up and leading the way. I clapped in happiness and ran to catch up. I heard everyone else get up and follow the two of us.
When we got outside, I looked at everything around me once again. I memorized the basketball court, the tree house, the yard, and the position of the building. Then I climbed up the ladder to be greeted with pictures of everyone below, but much younger, around their teens. They were all smiling and having fun.
I found a room full of sleeping bags along with a balcony filled with chairs and activities to do. There was another room like that but inside along with a snack room. I spotted more coloring spots but left them untouched for now. I wanted to explore more and see more of the grounds.
I walked out onto the balcony to be greeted with a splendid sight. The sun was at its highest point in the sky, casting little shadows except for around trees. I spotted a maze with a huge center that held a giant tree, almost as if it was beckoning me to come play hide and seek. I spotted a pond that had lots of flowers, birds, and fish around or in it. I felt as if something romantic had happened there, blossoming into something much more. I looked back down at the basketball court and was greeted with a memory that wasn't mine. It had several boys playing around, occasionally looking up at something in the tree. In the tree was soft talking and laughter, along with the movement or furniture. It brought a smile to my face.
I walked back inside the tree house and looked at the photos on the wall. I easily made out the hosts but I couldn't figure out who the woman with black hair and silver eyes was. She looked like Uncle Uragari, but a girl version of him. Again, I heard that laughter as if it was from a time I did not know of. I hoped to one day have a time like that of my own.
I heard shouting from below, real ones this time. I hurried to see what the commotion and found a sight I would never forget. Uncle and Auntie were hugging and kissing while everyone else was laughing and hooting. They seemed to be playing a game. Tamaki and Kyoya were holding hands and occasionally bumping shoulders. Honey had somehow climbed on Mori's shoulders and he was amazingly holding him there. Mommy and Daddy were the closest couple, what with Mommy leaning against his chest and Daddy's arms wrapped around her waist.
I looked back at the pictures and spotted the black haired woman and looked at her smile, confused. I looked back at Mommy's and then it clicked, that's what Mommy had looked like. Maybe that's how they were related.
"Akemi come down here!" I heard someone shout and I climbed down. Everyone was smiling like they had been in the pictures, making me smile in return.
"Looks like you found our old photos," Daddy said, already guessing at what I'd been doing. I nodded sheepishly but I didn't deny it.
"Could you draw one of us now?" Honey asked me, looking down at me from Mori's shoulders. I beamed with happiness and nodded enthusiastically. I rushed to head back up the ladder but Mori stopped me.
"Wait Akemi, I want you to have this. I loved it as a child and thought you might like it too. You have to promise to take care of him though, his name is Usa-chan," Honey said, letting Mori hand me the pink bunny from earlier. I looked down at Usa-chan who seemed to be smiling at me with a blush. I smiled back shyly, not caring that it was only stuffed.
"I promise I'll take great care of Usa-chan!" I said and ran back up the ladder. I grabbed the drawings from the spots I'd discovered earlier and sat down to start. I would occasionally talk to Usa-chan and pretend he talked back. I drew pictures of the back yard, of everyone playing nowadays, sometimes drawings of the photos from back then. I drew several for me and my favorite was of me talking to Usa-chan while coloring.
I often heard others talking about why I drew so good. There was one theory they all liked to stick to, something about properties running in my blood. I chose to ignore it because I didn't understand. By the time I was finished, the sun was setting. I swore to draw another one at home about us leaving with the setting sun.
"Akemi, you ready to go?" Mommy called to me.
"Almost, just let me finish this!" I shouted down and went to go hang up the drawings next to the photos. I stared at the comparison, young next to old.
"Perfect," I said and grabbed Usa-chan.
"Don't you think, Usa-chan?" I made him nod in agreement.
"I think so too. Maybe I'll have my own friends one day to bring back to this place and add more photos to the wall,"
"Akemi, hurry up!" Daddy called to me.
"Coming!" I hugged Usa-chan closer and headed down the ladder to go back home.
Eeeeeeeeh, I loved this chapter! What did you guys think of Akemi? I thought she was a sweetheart, with a few choice of actions. I'm going to have the tributes in a chapter after this one. It will be strictly author notes but it will be dedicated to everyone, and I will mention everyone that I met throughout the story. I hope you guys will enjoy it.
Here's some news! I'm thinking of writing two stories but after ending this one, I'm thinking about continuing it. Kind of like those series fanfics. It'll focus on Akemi's highschool life but I haven't figured out the details. Of course, I'll need OC's! I'll post the application on my profile but I'll also include it at the end of this A/N. DISCONTINUED!
Thank you guys for staying with this story and me, it's been super fun and probably a pain for some of you. If you guys would post your reviews on what you think and feel free to PM me, I promise I don't bite. Unless you seriously piss me off xD I'll see you guys next time with the dedications and I hope to see you in my future stories!