Darkness. That was what our protagonist — Sohma Aristia — all saw. Her eyes were closed, while her body was floating into nothingness. She felt at ease. No thoughts about the real world. No worries about life. She felt relieved and could float for an eternity if she could. But, then she suddenly heard cries and a person's voice. It sounded unfamiliar yet so familiar to her ears.
"Risa *sniff sniff* I'm sorry," a high pitched child voice cried.
'What are you sorry for?' Aristia thought.
"I can't protect you *sniff sniff*"
'For what do you want to protect me?'
"If fate is on our side.... Let's meet again... [ censored ],"
'Who are you....?'
The Next Day
It was currently early in the morning — about 6:52AM. The sun had already set and birds were happily chirping, while sitting on the branches of the big trees. It was peaceful.
No who are you kidding. It's everything but peaceful today. The whole school is still in uproar after the sudden announcement of their ex-president of the Student Council.
Because of the sudden resignation of the red haired girl, Sohma Reiko became really busy and was now loaded with the responsibilities of the matters of the students from Inarizaki High School.
Currently, the Student Council room itself was in chaos. Many members were only part of the Student Council, because they looked up to Sohma Aristia and were fascinated by her way of leadership. But now that she left, only five people, including Sohma Reiko, remained.
The black haired girl was currently busy signing some papers on her desk. Reiko had never expected to be in this situation. The work was really tedious and boring. She became already pretty tired of it. Then suddenly, she heard someone knocking on the door.
"Come in," she answered.
The door shrieked open. Out of it came a familiar red, now almost white, haired girl.
"What do you want, Tia?" the black haired girl asked unbothered, still busy signing the documents.
"I know the truth,"
Hearing this made Reiko stop mid-writing. The girl's eyes widened. Reiko looked up and was met with a furious looking Aristia, who was trying to stay calm.
"About what?" Reiko asked back, not knowing which truth the girl already knew.
"Don't play dumb!" Aristia growled, being sick of all their lies.
"I know you've erased my memories!" she gradually raised her voice and approached the girl. "Tell me..."
"Why did you do that?" Aristia asked with a voice that cracked mid-sentence.
"....." No response.
Having enough of her silence, Aristia grabbed Reiko by the collar of her shirt and slammed her against the wall, making the photo frame that was placed on the desk fall on the floor.
"WHY DID YOU DO THAT!?" Aristia screamed at the end, while tears were streaming from her eyes, making the black haired girl also tear up.
"I-,"
"Just tell her the truth," a familiar masculine voice came suddenly from the doorway.
Aristia turned around and was met with a familiar, tall, handsome-looking, brown haired guy.
"We can't hide it forever for her, Reiko-san," he said.
"What do you mean, Akihiko-san?" Aristia growled. "Why are YOU involving yourself in this?!"
The man suddenly began to smile, which took the fox girl to surprise. It wasn't a happy smile, but rather a pained smile. His eyes couldn't hide that.
"Because it's second nature for me to get involved with you,"
"Why?" The woman now desperately asked.
"That's because....
".... I'm your older brother,"
"If fate is on our side.... Let's meet again....
".... My dear little sister, Chikafuji Risa Aria,"
".... is your real name," Akihiko said.
"What?"
"Chikafuji Risa Aria," He repeated. "That's the name our biological parents have given you, Risa"
Hearing the new information made the girl sit down for a minute. Even if it wasn't really much information, only two sentences, in reality, it was a lot. Aristia did not in the slightest expect to have a different name nor an older brother. Hell, she thought her real family all died. That she was all alone in the world. But now knowing that she actually has one blood-relative left, made her feel relieved.
"So, uhm..... Nii-san?" she awkwardly asked.
"Yes,"
"What has this to do with my erased memories?"
"Because it's crucial for the story I'm going to tell you now," he said, while sitting down.
Seven years ago
It was a normal day. Kids were running through all places and friends were meeting up for fun. The sky was painted a beautiful blue color and some clouds were floating high in the sky. Sometimes, there came a little breeze where leaves were dancing in the air.
A young looking couple was walking through the city of Hyogo. One was a fair skinned woman, who looked in her mid thirties and has long silver white-ish hair. Her eyes were grey colored. The woman had her arm hooked with a man who looked liked to have a similar age. The man has chest brown colored hair and green eyes. He also possessed some pretty handsome features.
The couple were accompanied by their two little children. One was a boy who resembled his father, but has his eyes from his mother. He looked pretty older than his sibling, who was walking next to him, holding his hand. The sibling was a little girl who had blazing red hair and big pink eyes. She looked around 2 years younger than him.
The four of them were done with their shoppings and were now headed to the local park. While the children were still full of energy, the adults were clearly exhausted. When they finally reached the park, the children were playing somewhere nearby, while the woman — Chikafuji-Sohma Asami — flops down on the wooden bench.
"Pfiew, I'm exhausted," she said that made her husband — Chikafuji Kazeya — chuckle.
"Already tired from a little walk, Asami?" he taunted with a playful smirk. "I can still remember you running for the whole week without breaking a sweat at our trainings camp when we were in High School," the man said while taking the seat next to his wife.
"You're talking as if I'm still my younger self from twenty years ago, Kazeya," Asami pouted. "I've become older you know,"
"Yeah? You're still beautiful in my eyes though," the man slyly commented, which made the woman blush.
"K-Kazeya!" the woman yelled, still looking as red as a tomato. "Where did the silent cold boy from the past go?" Asami sighed.
"They're gone..." Kazeya suddenly muttered.
"Yeah, he's indeed gon-," Asami exclaimed, but was interrupted mid-sentence by her husband.
"No, I mean the kids!" Kazeya now yelled with full worry. "They're gone!"
"WHAT!?" a now worried Asami screamed. "Where are they!?"
"Let's split up," The man suggested in which she nodded.
After running and searching through the whole area, Asami finally found her two dear children sitting on a bench, happily eating some fruits together. The sight of it made her smile, but then she remembered that they suddenly disappeared and approached them.
"CHIKAFUJI RISA ARIA! CHIKAFUJI KIOSHI AKIHIKO!" The woman yelled, which made the two children flinch. "Where have you two been!?"
"Uh... We just-,"
"Don't you know how worried me and your dad were when we noticed that you suddenly disappeared!?" The woman yelled, which made the children look down in shame. "We were so afraid that we lost you forever!" the woman said and hugged her two children.
The two had tears in their eyes and apologized for their misbehavior, while hugging their mother.
"It's alright you two, so stop crying," Asami chuckled. "Now, let's go find your fath-,"
"ASAMI! LOOK OUT!" A masculine voice called out for her, which made the woman turn around.
Her eyes widened. A truck was approaching them with great speed. Asami couldn't move. Her reflexes weren't fast enough to comprehend the situation. But before she could think straight, her body almost immediately went in front of her children in a protective manner.
Then out of nowhere, another body appeared out of nowhere, protecting as well as the woman as the children. Seeing this made Asami tear up.
A second later, a commotion erupted at the place. People were screaming, while others called for help and dialed 911. Passerby were trying to stop the bleeding of the now wounded family.
"M-Mom....."
"D-Dad.....?"
"R-Risa.... A-Aki.... P-Please.... forgive us.... for.... not seeing..... you grow.... up," Asami cried.
Then she suddenly felt a warm hand touch hers.
'Kazeya'
"So...., this is.... our punishment for our sins... right?"
"I... don't want to die yet....., Kazeya," Asami cried, which made the man softly chuckle.
".... Me neither....., Asami," he said. "At least.... we've protected..... our children... in the end.....,"
".... Kazeya...., I love you," the woman said through her sobs.
"Me... too, Asami," the man exclaimed while a single tear rolled down his cheek. "I love you too....., always,"
Present time
"After that, you were brought to the Sohma hospital, because of your curse, while I remained at the 'normal' hospital," Akihiko told her.
"From what I've heard, you blamed yourself for the accident and our parents deaths,"
"It became so extreme, that it eventually led to a depression and made you harm yourself," he continued.
"I wasn't allowed to visit you... Not even once,"
"From who?" Aristia asked.
"Your God, the head of the Sohma clan, Sohma Akito,"
"He was also the one who ordered Hatori-san to erase your memories," Akihiko said, which made the girl look at the black haired girl who was silent the whole time.
"Tori-nii? But I thought that Rei erased my memories," Aristia commented.
"Please listen before asking questions," Akihiko said.
"Akito also ordered you to be adopted in the Sohma family and gave you a new name — Aristia,"
"Many families didn't want to accept you, the daughter of a traitor, with the exception of Hatori-san's family," Reiko finally decided to spoke up for the first time.
"I heard from my brother that it was because your mother was good friends with your stepmother,"
"But after we told you what was going to happen, you went on a rampage and you immediately demanded to see your brother,"
"My brother had enough of it and ordered Hatori-san to erase your memories as fast as he could, but at that time Hatori was having the flu and wasn't able to use his power," Reiko explained.
"Then, I was ordered to do it and so..."
"Were you informed about this, Nii-san?" Aristia asked.
"No, I wasn't," he said. "I became furious when they did it without telling me a single thing,"
Akihiko clenched his fist. "They also stripped me off my rights as your blood relative which made me unable to see you,"
"I.... I need some time to process all of this, thank you for telling me this," Aristia said and left the room.
Then she came across Kita and the Miya twins. The twins greeted her, but she only ignored them, making them rise their eyebrows.
"Did something happen?" Kita asked his friend and Reiko, who were gloomy standing in the room.
"It's a long story, Shinsuke,"
1932 words
______________________________________________
AN: Hello my dear readers! Thank you so much for reading this (emotional) chapter. Please let me know what you think of it! I hope I made you all cry (no, jk jk).
Please comment, vote and share!
Stay safe and healthy my dear readers~
Lots of love from your author-san <3