Chapter 2 Beginnings part 2
The kitten suddenly looked up at the girl. It let out a small purr as it nuzzled her hand then jumped into the lap of its mistress. Ayano petted the small cat gently and looked at Tsubomi with a sudden thought. Tsubomi caught the older girl's gaze and lowered her head, her eyes falling to her lap again.
Ayano was going to do what her family had done for years, Tsubomi realised. Whenever any member of her family looked at her it was with that face that showed that they were annoyed with her, hating her presence. The only way to make it stop was to look down and pretend that she was invisible, uttering no evidence of the sadness she felt inside.
Only her sister saw through the invisible wall.
Hana Kido, the first born and heir to the Kido fortune. She had bright red hair and black eyes but she never ever hid herself like Tsubomi, opting to be as loud as she could to protect her younger sister. But this strong girl that everyone admired was plagued with an illness brought on the Kido family like a curse that lasted for many generations. Her father was the only one out of his siblings to not inherit the illness and had thought his offspring would also receive the immunity he possessed. He was wrong and soon Hana showed the symptoms of the incurable disease, Tsubomi, although with her pale complexion, was never sick but lacked the better qualities that her sister had to allow their parents to give her the protection and love she needed.
And now she would never get it. Not from her parents or her sister.
"Tsubomi-chan? Are you alright?" A hand against her cheek brushed away a stray tear. The kitten had moved from Ayano's lap and was now looking up at the younger girl, its paw touching Tsubomi's hand in such a manner that seemed as if the cat wanted to comfort her.
"I'm ok" she said her voice not betraying the pain she felt.
"Hey Tsubomi, can I cut your hair?"
"Huh?" The young girl looked up, wondering why Ayano was asking this. Ayano just smiled at the confused face.
"Please? Kaa-san won't let me touch hers and my brother's is too short to do anything with it" Ayano said with a hopeful face. Tsubomi just nodded then Ayano got up and pulled Tsubomi with her, the little cat trailing behind. They entered a bathroom and Ayano nodded towards a chair next to the sink for Tsubomi to sit in. The young girl settled herself in the chair wiggling her feet a bit as the fur of the kitten, who had decided to take a nap below her chair, touched the soles of her feet.
"Alright, let's get started!" Ayano said, popping up behind Tsubomi's chair holding a pair of scissors with a determined expression on her face.
"Uhm…h-have you e-ever cut someone's hair before?"
"Nope" the older girl replied with a grin that scared the younger just a little.
"Don't worry I'm just going to trim the edges a bit, ok?" Tsubomi slowly nodded for her to proceed then watched as Ayano drag a comb through the green mess that was her hair.
"A-Ayano?"
"Yes, Tsubomi?" the older girl said with her eyes focused on getting the surprisingly difficult tangles out of quiet girl's hair.
"D-did y-you" the girl stopped to clear her throat "Ahem…Did you say you have a brother?"
"Yep, his name's Shuuya. I think you're about his age actually. He's a really nice boy who loves cats. He's the reason why we have that little tiger down there." Ayano said with a giggle "He found that kitten a month ago, it wasn't anything new, we were used to him bringing back some strays once in a while but this was one he absolutely refused to let go of."
Ayano stopped the stooped down to pick the kitten up and distributed it to Tsubomi's lap where it immediately curled up in its new resting place.
"If you look at the kitten's eyes you can see that it's a really bright yellow right? Shuuya's got yellow eyes too. We at first thought that was the reason why he wanted to keep it so Kaa-san and Tou-san tried to convince him to let them take it to the animal shelter. But then Shuuya broke into tears and this whole story came out about this other cat who he use to take care of having kittens and that this was the only one to survive. its mother died too" Ayano said with a sad tone. "After that the kitten just became part of the family. It's like a spoiled little baby sometimes with the way it begs for milk."
Tsubomi smiled as Ayano laughed then held the kitten to her face and looked into it's bright yellow eyes.
"So you're like me too, huh?" Tsubomi mumbled to the kitten's small face. The kitten just waved it's paw and patted Tsubomi's nose, giving a small meow of wonder.
"There you go, done. How does it look Tsubomi?" Ayano said standing back and looking at her work.
Tsubomi looked at her reflection in the mirror. She saw a pale face with green hair and red eyes.
Red eyes. It was happening again.
The kitten jumped down from her lap while Ayano had turned to put the scissors away. Tsubomi ran out the room without looking back. She didn't want Ayano to see her eyes and she didn't want to disappear, not now, not again.
"Tsubomi…?" she heard as she ran into the kitchen and out the back door. She wasn't sure where she was going but she couldn't let them see her eyes. She didn't want them to find a reason to reconsider knowing her.
It was so nice being with Ayano; like being with Hana again. When she was younger Hana was the one to cut her hair and make sure she was alright, like a big sister should. And look where that ended. She was now alone in this world. She didn't want to drag anyone else into the hateful path destiny had set out for her. She just couldn't, she thought as she fought back endless tears and ran. She felt scratches and cuts over her burns and when she opened her blurry eyes she saw green. She was in a forest. She continued running but eventually halted and stood by a tree as she held it for support while trying to get her breath back.
Tsubomi looked around her and saw nothing but a dense forest with slivers of light passing through the highest leaves. Suddenly she heard light footsteps as they crushed fallen leaves. She hid behind the large tree hoping for someone to find her yet wanting to be alone. The footsteps grew louder and then stopped just on the other side of the tree. The young girl didn't know what to do. She thought it was Ayano or perhaps Ayaka but those thoughts were rejected as a young boy's voice spoke.
"Nee-chan and Kaa-san are looking for you, you know? They're worried. Nee-chan thinks you're mad at her because of your hair cut" the new voice said.
"…n-no it's not that I just want t-to be alone for a bit"
"It's never fun to be alone. Want some company?"
"Ok" Tsubomi's voice muttered, barely audible but loud enough. Then the footsteps started again this time getting closer to her hiding place.
"Wait, please don't come-" her plead stopped when a young boy came into her vision. He had light blonde hair and had a cat-like grin on his face which froze when he met her eyes. Then he reached out towards her. Tsubomi instinctively shut her eyes and braced herself but then only felt a light pat on her head. She opened her eyes and was greeted with eyes as red as her own all while the boy continued to smile.
"So you've got them too, huh?" Tsubomi remained silent shocked at the red gaze the boy gave her. The boy gave her another smile then walked around and leaned back against the thick bark of the tree.
"W-who are y-you? Why d-do you have red eyes l-l-like me?" Tsubomi muttered with a mixture of horror and shock that someone else shared her "red" fate.
"My name's Shuuya, Ayano's little brother. Well…actually I'm not her real brother. The Tateyama's just picked me up like a stray cat and adopted me." The blonde boy said casually as if commenting that the weather was rather hot.
"I use to live with my real mother but then something happened. I lost her and got these red eyes. They never found my mother; I'm not really sure what happened. It's a bit blurry to be honest but I remember that day I wished to be someone who could save anyone, so I guess I got my wish. Nee-chan calls my eyes a super hero's power. Weird, huh?"
Tsubomi stayed quiet and Shuuya knew she must be feeling a bit over whelmed. Who wouldn't? It was like finding out that there were two suns.
"I can come back later if you want?" he said about to make his way towards the house. Then he suddenly felt a tug at his jacket. He turned and saw the green haired girl, her eyes looking straight at him, no longer red.
"Wait" and he did while she turned then wiped her face of any salty streaks. Then she turned and nodded for him to go.
They silently trekked back to the house, in the light of the now setting sun, where they were greeted by a frantic Ayano with her equally worried mother. Then after Tsubomi reassured the pair that she was okay she was practically carried to the bathroom where a warm bath awaited her. Afterwards, her wounds were treated and she was given a clean set of clothes to wear.
Tsubomi was then properly introduced to Shuuya and soon Ayano's father arrived home from work with a surprise for his family then stopped midway through his announcement when he saw Tsubomi sitting on a chair in the kitchen. He then asked Ayano and Ayaka if they could talk in the living room, leaving Shuuya and Tsubomi at the kitchen table where Ayaka had left them some soup for dinner.
While Shuuya inhaled the soup Tsubomi merely picked at hers as she tried to hear what Ayano and her parents were talking about. Shuuya soon finished his meal and noticed that Tsubomi had barely touched hers. He was about to tell her to eat up when his adopted family came in.
Ayaka came in with a victory smile while her husband had the aura of defeat around him. All while their daughter practically floated in, the feeling of happiness flowing from her. Tsubomi looked in awe at this odd family but then stopped her gawking when Ayano's father came to her chair and introduced himself as Kenjirou. Afterwards, he gently explained to Tsubomi that they needed to bring her to the police department so that it can be confirmed that a member of the Kido family did survive. Kenjirou had heard at work of a fire that brought the great mansion of the Kido to the ground and that no living members of the family had been found.
Tsubomi was a bit taken back by how direct this man was while both Ayano and Ayaka had tried to avoid the topic at all costs. Strangely, both mother and daughter didn't seem the least bit uncomfortable with the situation. So, Tsubomi allowed herself to be taken by the Tateyama's to the police station where they were confronted by several police officers. Tsubomi felt her eyes start to sting as a familiar heat entered them but it was soon cleansed when she felt a hand wrap around each of her own. She looked and saw the comforting faces of Ayano and Shuuya.
Soon after all the paper work was sorted a tired Tsubomi found herself walking back into the Tateyama home and then feeling a pillow beneath her sleepy head as she dozed off into an uneventful dreamland.
Hi thank you for reading! :) and thanks to Leio13, Mew Sunset Star, That-One-Nerd-Person and Musical2day for following me oh and again for M2d for leaving me a review. I hope what I'm writing makes sense(sorry for any mistakes). Like I think I said before I'm just writing about the early days of Kido, Kano, Seto and Ayano's relationship so I'm not sure if this will turn into a full story. I will try and update more this month but no promises. Thank you again for reading and if you could please leave me a review:)