Ok. So, it's been a while since I've updated but I would LOVE to point out that it wasn't my fault! I was going to a week ago but the stupid library computer completely deleted THREE PAGES OF MY WORK! Gah. Anyway, I just hope that I can get this up today and get more readers.
Oh, big thanks to CookieCrusader. She is my new, and so far, unofficial Beta reader. I'm not sure exactly HOW we make it official but I'm working on that. So….ON WITH THE SHOW!
Disclaimer: I still own nothing…I just like to pretend. *Pouts*
Yoko sat on a rock in the middle of a pond in lotus position with her hands turned towards the sky and resting lightly on her knees. Slowly, she breathed in and out. Yoko was much like her father in to many ways to count. The most obvious being the hair trigger temper that was never too far buried. But deep down, Yoko had just enough of her sweet and patient mother to allow her to be quite masterful at meditation….when she wasn't completely pissed off of course.
It helped her to think when she was confused and figure out answers to important questions. Once, it had helped her decide which boy to take to this one dance, and another time it helped her discover she was actually pretty girly when she wanted to be…she was just lazy. But, now, it helped her concentrate on the strange appearance of Akira Sohma, the long lost son, it seemed, of Akito and Shigure.
Yoko thought on it for awhile and noticed that during the course of the conversation with the man, Akira had mentioned that Akito had died. She knew that during her younger life, Akito had been at least partially mad. Was it possible that, in the end, she'd returned to that "black" state?
And, for that matter, what happened to Shigure, the perverted yet extremely complicated man who'd loved Akito since their childhood, despite that Akito had been raised as a male and he (Shigure) had lived as if Akito meant almost nothing to him for years? Surely Shigure would not have allowed his son to believe that her father, Uncle Yuki, and Uncle Haru had done the terrible thing they'd been accused of. If half the stories that Yoko had heard were true, unless Shigure had something to gain by doing something he would more than likely not do it. Could Shigure stand to gain something out of this?
And, where did she get the feeling like she had met Akira before? It was very unlikely…Unlikely, but not, she supposed all that impossible. So many different questions, no answers. Yoko sighed.
Having not concentrated on the things around her, Yoko didn't hear or feel the person coming up behind her…until he pushed her into the pond. "GAH!" When she resurfaced, sputtering and coughing, all Yoko heard was chuckling. After standing and clearing her eyes of the water, she recognized the source of her current problems: Akira Sohma.
"WHAT. THE. HELL? What'd you do that for?" She screamed. Her already oversized light blue sweater hung limply on her thing athletic frame and her soft cloth shorts slapped wetly against her thighs. "That's a nice look for you." He stepped into the relatively shallow water and reached over to push her hair out of her face.
Yoko grabbed his wrist and slammed her free hand into his shoulder to force him down onto his knees. He grunted, but did not fall. With a couple of moves so fast that Yoko couldn't see them, Yoko's back was slammed close against his chest and she was trapped in his embrace. "Let. Me. Go." She said through her teeth.
"Hmmmm….No, I don't think I will." Akira breathed into her ear. They stayed like that for several moments; the only sounds were the sounds of their heavy breathing and the ripples of the pond water they stood in. "If you don't let me go," She whispered, part of her not wanting to ruin the moment. "You might lose something very important to you." Yoko emphasized her threat by raising a foot to kick him in the thigh. Akira chuckled.
"You're a feisty one, aren't you?" He said, and then let her go. Yoko instantly put space between them and stepped out of the pond. "You shouldn't even be here, Akira Sohma, much less trying to make grabs at me" Yoko glared at him. "I am only 17 I hope you know."
Akira openly looked up and down Yoko's dripping body. "Trust me, darling, it doesn't look like it. But, yes, I know. And, I just happened to be taking a nice friendly stroll through the Sohma estate. You father and uncles took very good care of this place, even if they didn't steal it."
Yoko started wringing out her clothes, as she knew if she went inside her home dripping water everywhere, her mom would kill her. Or her dad would FOR her mom. "Of course they did. They love all the members of this family and take great care of them. And never doubt that!"
The two stood glaring at each other for a few more seconds before Akira said, "Well, I've got a…pleasant meeting with you're family to get to and you've got you're clothes to dry. I'll be seeing you later, Miss Yoko." Yoko said nothing, only glared at Akira's leaving back.
Akira Sohma entered the meeting with pure confidence about himself. He was sure he was right. Positive.
Though Akira'd had loving parents during the beginning of his childhood, the last several years had been challenging. When he'd been 12, his father Shigure had been in a car accident. It hadn't killed him, but Shigure had been in a comatose state ever since. Akira's mother Akito had sat in the hospital with Shigure for days without coming home, often times forgetting Akira completely.
At first, this didn't bother Akira because he loved his father too. But after a year of hardly ever seeing his mom, he started to resent him. Akira had been a mamma's boy, and Shigure had taken her from him. Akira started calling his dad Shigure and completely hated him by the time his 14th birthday came around.
Akira turned 16, and soon afterwards Akito had gotten sick with stress and worry over her husband. He had sat with her in her own hospital bed. Unfortunately, Akito's body wasn't as strong as Shigure's and gave out about three weeks later, just after Akira's 17th birthday. As she laid on her deathbed, she confided in him her final dying wish. "Akira, my son..." Akito breathed, "It is you who is the true leader of the Sohma family. I was forced to give up my power to Yuki, Kyo, a-a-and Hat-Hatsuharu Sohma. G-go reclaim your birthright." Then, breathing her final breath, she departed, leaving Akira confused… and alone.
Akira decided to blame the Sohma family for his mother's early death. If they had not forced her to relinquish her control over the family, then she wouldn't have gone mad over Shigure's condition. So, Akira devoted the next several years to studying the Sohmas; the leaders and their families in particular. He knew of Yukino's trouble in behaving and of Sakura's off the chart I.Q. The most fascinating and interesting project to Akira was Kyoko "Yoko" Sohma.
She was gorgeous, that he could tell. Looked just like her mother with her father's bright orange hair. Somehow he knew that the photos on the internet did not do that hair justice. With each new photo, his desire to run his fingers through it grew and grew. He wanted to konw if her brown eyes were any deeper than they already were in the pictures. Akira wanted to, for some reason stare into those eyes for hours on end. However he knew that his feelings for Yoko, whatever they were needed to be kept away from his thoughts.
Still, the many stories on her fascinated him. One was about her martial arts championship, while another told about the fights she got into with her claiming she'd been protecting her cousin and best friend, Sakura. Then still another showed her in her school's fashion show in a floor length white ball gown. There seemed to be so many different sides of her, and Akira longed to explore each one of them….But he knew he could not.
Akira shook his head slightly to clear it. Right now, he could not be distracted by a girl in tight wet shorts with long legs. "Akira, I'm glad you were able to be here." Yuki said. He'd always been the people pleaser. Akira shook hands with him, Kyo and Haru and sat down across from them on his knees at the table.
"Look, I don't know exactly what Akito might've told you but-" Kyo started.
"She told me you three forced her to give up control of the family." Akira glared at the people across from him. "My mother never lied to me. She told me the truth, Always! Even in her dieing breath."
"Ok. Ok. Calm down." Yuki said. "Just be calm. We'll get to the bottom of this." Kyo burst out, "Where they hell is Shigure?" wanting to know why his perverted cousin would allow his son to believe this. Even Shigure wasn't that twisted.
Akira's face darkened. "Shigure Sohma is in, well, a coma. He has been for many years." The three men were shocked. "Wh-why weren't we told?" Yuki asked. "To the very end, my mother believed it was only a temporary state and refused to notify anyone. The name of the hospital is the Tsurumara ((Just pulled a random japanise last name. Not a real hospital)) Hospital in Kyoto's outskirts. You can check records to know that Shigure has been there for years and that my mother died there."
"Hm, well, I don't know how much of your story is true and how much of what your mother told you that she actually believed…But we've been running this family for over 20 years." Yuki said. "Yeah, and we've raised our kids to run it after us." Haru finally spoke up.
"Haru, play nice." Yuki said, then he turned back to Akira. "Why don't you stay here for awhile. Um, watch what we do. Make sure this is what you want, them I'm sure we can figure something out."
"Fine." Akira said. "I get to stay on the estate?" Yuki nodded. "Yes, you can stay with one of us, though," Yuki said with a smirk. "You might not want to stay with Haru. They-eh let's just say that their house is…well, I'm not going to finish that sentence."
It wasn't so much as what he said but HOW Yuki said it plus the blank expression on Haru's face ((Insert that I'm-bored-and-oblivious sort of look that Haru sometimes gets. Lol)) that made Akira believe Yuki. "And," Haru piped up. "You probably don't want to stay at Yuki's house. Every one is so quiet. I usually send my son to his house just to liven it up."
"Oh, no." Kyo said, eyes wide. "Not my house. Yoko and him would be at each other's throats in two minutes!" Yuki rolled his eyes. "Remind you of anyone?" Kyo sighed. "Fine. Akira, you can stay at my house. We have a nice guest room and Tohru would welcome you tremendously." He looked wary. "Please don't fight with my daughter all that much. Tohru hates fighting pluse I would hate for one or both of you to end up dead."
Akira nodded and smirked. Well, well. Look at this. He just killed two birds with one stone. He could take over the Sohma family And get to know Yoko at one time. Perfect.
Ok. So that's FINALLY done. I hope you like it. Anyway, read and review. Let me know! Oh, and the next chapter will be beta'ed by CookieCrusaider so it should be better with spelling, grammar and stuff. Gotta GO! Bye!