Disclaimer: Pfft. I wish.
Chapter 11: Secrets Seals Hide
Nibbling at her bottom lip nervously, Tohru dithered in front of her bedroom door while Amina worked quickly, fluffing a bit here and arranging a bit there, until she looked perfect.
"Amina-san, I'm really nervous. What if Kagura-sama doesn't like me?" questioned Tohru, wringing her hands worriedly.
"Don't worry, Tohru-san! Kagura-sama is quite kind. Most Sohmas are," assured the mermaid, curling a lock of hair just so. Beaming, she whispered, "Back straight," before pushing open the heavy door.
"H-hello, Kagura-sama!"stuttered Tohru, bowing deeply. She heard a surprised tinkling laugh, light and airy.
"Ah, no need for such formalities, Tohru-chan!" Tohru looked up, surprised. Instead of the elegant middle-aged woman she'd been expecting, Kagura was actually a cute girl around her age, with dark hair and dreamy gray eyes. Wearing a simple green top with white sleeves, she could have been mistaken for an ordinary Japanese girl, if it weren't for her green tail with streaks of pearl white.
"Eh?! You're Kagura-sama?!" shrieked Tohru, utterly amazed.
"Ano, you don't need to call me Kagura-sama, Tohru-chan! If, by the slimmest of chances, that Aya's plan succeeds, we're going to be related!"
"EHH?! R-RELATED?!" shrieked Tohru, even louder.
Kagura stared. "You're here, right?" After Tohru nodded, she continued, "And I'm here to teach you how to be a princess, right?" After seeing Tohru nod again, she continued, "And you're going to show off those skills at the upcoming ball, right?" Tohru nodded, slightly more hesitant. Kagura beamed. "Then you're going to win Yuki's heart and soul, marry him, and ruin Akito's plans! Yay!" Tohru was still standing there, blinking and trying to process the information thrown at her. After a few seconds of Amina and Kagura starting to worry that she blew a brain cell, it clicked and, once again, she screamed, "EEEEH?!?! M-MARRY Y-YUKI-KUN?!"
Kagura giggled at her disheveled appearance, immediately taking a liking to this girl, even if she was a bit slow. Appearently, Tohru had never thought about what Ayame meant when he said "capture Yuki's heart." Deciding to stop teasing poor Tohru, Kagura immediately launched into her lesson.
"All right, Tohru-chan! This is our battle plan!" said Kagura, pulling out an array of unfamiliar items. "These tools are used to teach the importance of poise. Now, when you enter a room, all eyes are going to be on you, so you have to be elegant, graceful and dignified," explained Kagura as she picked up some rectangular foam blocks. "See these? These will help you balance. Now, stand up straight."
Tohru snapped to attention and Kagura placed two foam blocks on her head, then picked up a long pointer.
"Okay, Tohru-chan! I want you to swim around the room once and if the blocks fall, you'll have to start over."
Tohru was perfectly still, scared of even breathing, fearing the blocks would fall.
"Tohru-chan? Let's start."
Stiffly, she started to inch across the room, while Kagura occasionally tapped her lightly with the pointer. If Tohru stumbled, Amina and Kagura would yell advice at her, followed by a tap.
"Keep your back straight!"
"Don't swing your arms!"
"Keep on smiling!"
"Flick your tail with more spirit!"
"Keep your chin up!"
Pretty soon, the information overload confused her so much, she somehow tripped and landed in an ungraceful heap on the floor.
"Tohru-san, are you all right?" asked Amina as she helped her up.
"Huh? Yeah! Never been better!" she exclaimed, jumping up. Oh no! I probably look like a big idiot!
Kagura smiled kindly and said, "Try again okay? We want you to be able to balance at least three blocks!" After saying that, she picked up six and stacked them neatly on her head, then effortlessly swam around the room two times.
Gaping, Tohru exclaimed, "Uwah! That's amazing Kagura-san!"
Amina said, "All the princes and princesses have perfect poise. They've been training since they were around twenty."
"Hm...wait. WHAT?!" shrieked Tohru. "D-did you say t-twenty?!"
The two mermaids stared at her, confusion evident on their faces. Kagura said, "Well, yeah. That's usually the age we begin to really start swimming."
Amina realized that Tohru, being the half-fin she was, was probably used to the humans??quick ways of aging. Amina blurted out, "Ah...um...Tohru-san! Can we talk privately for a second?"
Still dazed, Tohru nodded, so Amina herded her to a corner while apologizing to Kagura. During these past two days of being Tohru's lady-in-waiting, she had been ruder to the Sohmas than she had her whole life!
"Tohru-san, mermaids age way slower than humans! Twenty years old here is equivalent to around... "Amina's face scrunched up in concentration. "four or five years old? Shark fins, you humans die really fast."
She brightened in understanding. "Really? Then Amina-san, you're..."
"Eighty-three. Now come on!"
Amina tugged a shell-shocked Tohru back to a slightly impatient Kagura.
E-eighty-three?! Higiwaki-san in my neighborhood is eighty-one, b-but she looks nothing like Amina-san! Tohru snuck a glance at the curly-haired mermaid, who had bright black eyes and radiant skin. Eighty-three...wow. If anything, she looks younger than I do! I thought she was only seventeen!
A/N: Remember, in this AU fic, Tohru's 20!
Tohru was snapped out of her daydreams when the hated blocks were--once again--placed on her head. While she was slowly struggling across the room, Kagura gave Amina the pointer...and the task of treating Tohru like a piñata. Kagura kept up a steady stream of chatter. "Now Tohru-chan, we want you to make a good impression on Akito-sama! I heard he was quite set on having Yuki marry someone else." Tohru had gone on for five seconds without Amina tapping her (a personal record), but when she heard that, she dropped all her blocks. "What? Who?"
Kagura smiled, overjoyed that Tohru was curious about the plans for Yuki's arranged marriage. "Well, like Ayame said, our city Furuba had a disagreement with a few other cities, particularly Urumai, around a century ago. Our memories and grudges are long and hard, so Akito realized that it would be wise to unite the cities by marriage! He has researched the King's Thirteen for the other cites, and invited the most important ones to the upcoming ball. It's his idea of matchmaking, and he's planning to force Yuki to marry Her Royal Highness the First of Urumai, Machi Kuragi." Kagura sighed and twirled around so quickly that her thick dark locks smacked her face. "Luckily, Akito's not planning to marry me off anytime soon, since I'm the second-to-last of the King's Thirteen."
Tohru gasped visibly upset. "Oh, Kagura-san!"
Kagura giggled, "Don't worry! I don't wanna get married anytime soon!" Then, her face darkened. "However, I'm afraid some random hussy will snap up my poor Kyo-kun."
Timidly, Tohru asked, "Kyo-kun?"
Amina piped up, "Kyo-sama is the last one of the King's Thirteen, but he's quite well-liked by the duchesses and countesses."
Kagura growled, "If any one of them dares to even look at my darling, I'll--!" here she pantomimed wringing somebody's neck. Fortunately, she had already given the pointer to Amina, or else it would have been crushed into splinters.
Tohru cowered back slightly, surprised at this violent side of the seemingly calm girl. After a few minutes, Kagura reverted back to her sweet side and asked Tohru to try again. Tohru sighed, and placed the blocks on her head again, and Amina added another one. As she started around her room again, Kagura started a fascinating conversation about princesses.
"Tohru-chan, what do you think a princess is?"
Biting her lip out of concentration and thoughtfulness, Tohru slowly said, "A princess is...someone who is very...amazing?"
Kagura pursed her lips together and said, "Bzzt! Wrong answer! A princess is someone who is merciful and absolute. Someone who rules. And someone who protects."
Tohru nodded slightly, painfully aware of the teetering pile on her head. "...Wow. Kagura-san, that makes me scared. What if I don?�t do well? Just thinking about all the power is overwhelming!"
Kagura smiled and reassured her. "Don't worry, Tohru-chan! I know that you have the potential to be a true princess."
Blushing and stammering how it wasn't true, Tohru managed to bump into her desk, drop all her blocks, and knock down Amina in her wild tumble.
"Oww...Amina-san, are you all right?!"
Amina straightened herself up, wincing slightly when she probed the bump on her head. "I think so. Tohru-san, Kagura-sama has to go. Her tutor will be wondering where she is."
Kagura gasped, "Ah! You're right! Shona-sensei will be really suspicious and we have to keep this secret, ne? Good-bye Tohru-chan, Amina-san!"
While Tohru waved to Kagura's quickly retreating figure, Amina gathered up all the blocks, pointer, and other items, and shoved them into one of the drawers. Turning to Tohru with a cheery smile, she said, "Is Tohru-san hungry? You've been working really hard, after all."
As she was opening her mouth to protest that she wasn't hungry and it would be too much trouble, her stomach let out a terribly unladylike grumble.
"Aah!" Wrapping her arms around her middle, she glared (or as close as Tohru can get to glaring) at it. Traitor.
Amina giggled. "I?�ll take that as a yes." Pulling out her own shell phone, she whispered 'Kitchen' "and ordered a snack of flutterbye fritters.
Curious, Tohru said, "Amina-san, I thought you had to say a person's name to talk to them, but you just said 'Kitchen.' "
"Oh! This is the standard castle-regulated shell phone,"she explained, handing it over to Tohru. Upon closer examination, she discovered that this one was a little bit smaller than her own, and had an official-looking wax seal stamped on it. Seeing Tohru finger it, Amina explained, "This is the Sohma family' crest. Isn't it pretty?"
Tohru looked. It was a circle within a circle; the outside was evenly divided into 13 parts, and there was a different symbol inside each section. There was also an intricate symbol in the smaller circle. Amina said, "Each symbol stands for one of the King's Thirteen, and that thing in the center stands for the king."
Tohru breathed, "...Wow." Then she frowned, peering at the small seal. "Amina-san, look! The two circles don't fit perfectly inside one another!" Indeed, there was a small gap between them. Squinting even more painfully now, Tohru asked, "What are those things connecting the outside circle to the king? They look like...chains?"Suddenly, she could examine the seal no longer, for Amina had snatched the shell phone away.
Barely concealing her unhappiness, Amina choked out, "Sorry Tohru-sama, but I have to go pick up your flutterbye fritters. I'll be right back." And on that curt note, she slipped out quickly, leaving Tohru with a sad empty feeling in her stomach, and this time, it wasn't from hunger.
Felix Adler once said of family that it is a school of duties, founded in love. Poor Tohru has not yet realized that for the Sohmas, it is a school of love... founded in blood.
A/N: woot! Done with this chapter! I haven't updated in a long time, right? urg. xP sorry! The last sentence is totally ripped off from the summary of Adi88's story, Founded in Blood, one of the greatest stories on check it out if you have time! You can find it under my favorite stories section or search for it using the cool new search engine box!
-end of shameless advertising-
okay. I lied. One more! please read my friend (in real life & one step's fics! she's new and doesn't have many reviews, so go check her fics out! You can find her under my favorite authors section (since the lame search engine box won't show her name... :P)
-end of shameless advertising (for real this time)-
I need a new summary for this fic! The current one is so lame I can't believe all my awesome readers/reviews clicked on it... please leave any suggestions you have via review!
It's official! I have been a member of for more than a year now! I want to thank all of you who made my first year of a fanfiction-writer so much more fantabulous! -huggles-
okay! please drop a review before you leave!
ja ne!
mimi-chan
xxfirebubblesxx