Chapter 1 - Chapter 1

I sat on the train, my head leaning against the cool glass. Flashes of scenery rushed past my eyes, although I was not concentrating on it, and in fact paying very little attention at all to the world around me. I knew my brother was definitely going to be mad this time. I had delayed my return for as long as possible, until I had run out of medicine completely. I knew that I shouldn't have just gone away, but I found it so hard to cope with the restraint put upon me by my family, I just needed space. And at least I was returning, I could have simply stayed, but that would have been a suicide for me, I would have killed myself, without my medicine.



I had been in Paris, for nearly 4 months, and I was enjoying myself. I had been staying in an apartment with some fellow artists and musicians, and had been living the high life. Days on end had been spent painting, making music and generally having a good time. The apartment we had lived in had been swathed in a permanent cloud of cigarette smoke, and there had always been some form of coffee on tap. Many a time I had tried writing to anyone in my family, but I didn't know what to say. I could never find the words, which expressed my feelings, and so I never did write. None of them even knew that I was returning, I had told no one.



The train reached my stop, and as I climbed off, pulling my bag behind me, I suddenly felt dizzy. I sat down, in the middle of the platform, regaining my balance. The dizzy spells came more frequently, without my medicine to keep them at bay. I knew that I had been foolish to forget about it, I had never planned to be away for quite so long. The medicine was what kept my `illness' at bay, the illness I had suffered from for a nearly as long as I remembered. It wasn't too bad, it just meant that I had severe dizzy spells, and had to take medicine regularly, and what with my nicotine and caffeine addictions, I didn't really help myself, all that much. The quicker I got home, and to my doctor, the better.



I walked down a long street, lined with houses, and entered into the grounds of a large house. All this land was owned by my family, the Sohma's, and it felt good to be home. I walked past the house of Hatori, my close friend, distant cousin, and doctor. I must see him later. I walked past the front entrance to my house, and slid between my house and Hatori's, and into my house through the back entrance, through my small garden, with fish pond, fountain and ornamental cherry trees, as well a Japanese Maples. Entering the house, I left my suitcase in one of the rooms, and went to one of the doors. This one lead into my brother's home. He lived in the biggest house, as he was head of the Sohma family.



I entered into a dark room, inside his house, and saw him sitting in the corner. I bowed low, out of respect, even though he was younger than me. “Akito,” I began tentatively.



He turned to look at me, his eyes piercing deep into mine.



I faltered, but then began again, “I've come back.”



“I can see that,” his voice cut into me, heavy with sarcasm, and dripping with anger. “You should never have gone away. I thought I forbid you to ever leave me. I thought I told you that you, especially you, must always stay near me, in your house?”



“I am sorry, Akito-san…”



“SORRY?!” he screamed, getting up with alarming speed and racing towards me. He grabbed my long dark hair, and pulled me to my feet. “Sorry isn't good enough! You must be punished.”



I looked up defiantly, I didn't like conflict, and I could only tolerate so much, such was my incredibly short temper. “Must I be punished, cannot you just berate me, and let it lie? Have I really done something so terrible and wrong? I'm 25, for shoot's sake, can't you let me live like any other person?”



“You're not like any other person. You're ill, and, well, you know. And you cannot just disrespect my wishes like that. It is rude, and I will not tolerate it.” He lifted a hand, and struck me across the face, my head throwing itself out to the side.“You will be punished, Kuroumo. It is your own fault. You must not leave here.”



I turned to face him once more, “Why not? Why can't I have my freedom? If only you knew what it was like. If only you kn…” I couldn't finish. Akito struck me once again, with force that wouldn't have seemed possible emanating from his frail body, and I went flying across the room, although I didn't hit the wall. I hit the window, and went flying out, landing on the hard paved ground outside, unconscious.



Hatori came running out of his house, hearing the shattering glass, and the sound of my limp body hitting the floor. He looked at Akito, not yet seeing my body lying on the floor. “What happened? Are you ok?”



“I'm fine,” Akito fairly roared. “Its that stupid dog on the floor,” he indicated me, and Hatori turned to look. “She was rude, and so I punished her. Take her away, I do not wish to see her anymore. I am done with her.” And he turned away, and went back to sitting in the dark, on his own.



Hatori lifted me up into his arms, and took me into his house. Laying me down on one of the couches, he quickly checked to see if I was breathing or not, and looked for a pulse. Checking for wounds, and seeing I had none on my head, just scratches from the glass, he decided it was safe to leave me momentarily, in my unconscious state, and make a phone-call. “Shigure…its Hatori…Yes, I know you were just here…Ku has returned…she is injured…out of the window…yes…I'm bringing her over now…yes… I'll be there in about 20 minutes.”



Hatori lifted me once again, and gently carried me over to his car, laying me inside it, across the back seat. He strode around to the driver's side, and opened the door, smoothing down his jacket as he climbed in. Placing the keys in the ignition he revved the car into action, and slowly, carefully, turned the car onto the road, driving calmly out of the city, and to Shigure-san's house in the forest. Upon arrival there, he climbed out of the car, and lifted me out once again, as I was still unconscious, and by now bleeding, more than before, due to the glass that had scraped against my thin form as I had travelled through the window.



He walked up to the front door, and knocked urgently. A tall boy, about sixteen, with grey hair, and deep purple eyes, answered the door. “Yuki,” Hatori greeted him, walking past him and hurrying in.



Yuki stood at the door, is mouth slightly open, and a dazed look on his face, as he stared after us.



Hatori carried me into the front room, and laid me on the bed that had already been laid out for me. He had sent Yuki out for his doctor's bag, and as Yuki returned, he was checking again for a pulse, making sure that I hadn't accidentally dies in the past twenty minutes.



“How is she?” a tall young man entered the room, “Will she be ok? Can you make her better, this time?”



“She should be fine. I just need to patch up these cuts, and get all the glass out, and she'll recover as soon as you or I know it. She may be ill, but she's still very strong, huge immune system. You know that.”



Hatori continued to care for me, removing glass from a huge slit on my arm, and then gently cleaning it, as the other young man left the room to get some warm water. He walked into the kitchen, and right into a young girl, or rather, she walked into him. “Oh, I'm so sorry Shigure-san, I-I-I didn't mean to, I'm sorry.”



“Don't worry Tohru-kun…you didn't hurt me…I should have looked where I was going,” he smiled kindly, if slightly perversely, scaring the hell out of poor Tohru, “Ignore what's going on in the living room,” and he walked off, forgetting the warm water, and leaving Hatori to it.



Tohru Honda wandered cautiously into the living room, and saw Hatori, the man she had only recently met, leaning over someone's body. Seeing nothing, and with no thought except that which came immediately, that it might be Yuki, or another friend, Kyo, she gasped, and ran over. “Don't worry,” Hatori said, “It isn't Yuki, or Kyo. She is another Sohma. Miss Honda, I would like you to meet Kuroumo Sohma.”



I slowly opened my eyes, at the sound of my dear cousin Hatori's voice. “Hello,” I said weakly, still slightly confused, and not at all awake properly.



“No, Ku, you are home now. You have been injured, remember? But I just cleaned you up, so don't do anything silly to get these stitches out,” he indicated the stitched on my arm, holding together a slit, and then another on my side, “And this is Tohru Honda, a new family friend,” Hatori spoke kindly.



“I am please to meet you, Kuroumo-san.”



“And I you, Miss. Tohru Honda. But please, call me Ku, everyone else does.”



At that moment a tall ginger haired boy entered, muttering under his breath. Kyo Sohma was once again angry at some wrong against him, obviously done by Yuki. “Kyo,” I smiled wanly, guessing that I must be at Shigure's home, for where else might Kyo be, as I highly doubted he would be at the main house.. “I am pleased to see you again.”



Kyo looked taken aback, and then angry, and then very frightened, and then angry once again, “Kuro, is that you? What the hell are you doing here? I though you'd gone?”



“Like you, you mean? You can't get rid of me that easily.” I smiled again.



I frowned slightly, in discomfort, and then had the feeling that my strength was slowly returning. As it did, so did the memories of what had happened. The window. Akito. How I hated my brother. “Where is Shigure?” I asked, “Does he not want to see me? Have I angered him?”



“In what way could you have angered me, ma petite ange? Je pense que tu dois rester ici. Don't you agree?”



“Yes,” I smiled, glad that I had returned to my family, even if it hadn't been such a pleasant reunion.

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