-- Summers Under the Apple Tree --
Prologue: Welcome to the Forest
Saturday, June 18, 2005

Author's notes: Welcome to another story! I haven't written in a long time, so it might seem a little rusty to you. No matter, it'll still be enjoyable. Thank you for taking the time to read.

Disclaimer: This story is based off a short, one-shot manga I read called Hotaru no Mori (Hotaru's Forest). Of course, I tweaked it a little to include more of Natsuki Takaya's Fruits Basket characters.

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The directions to follow had been simple enough. To get to Hiro's summer cottage, all she had to do was walk through the forest, following the path until she reached the village. And she had been confident - or at least confident enough to follow those simple, simple directions.

But then again, Kisa was lost. And she was on her way to being scared.

Follow the path, Kisa. That's all that Hiro had told her - no landmarks, no identifiable trees or directions east, west or south. Just follow the path. So what happened when it disappeared? What happened when the dirt path turned into just dirt and even the trees were just randomly scattered in this thing you called a forest?

Kisa scanned the ground for footprints, hoof prints, paw prints, anything that she could follow. But the forest floor was only a mixture of dead leaves and equally dead sticks.

And yes, she was now frightened.

The twitters of friendly forest birds were now the calls of crows and ravens (and perhaps an odd vulture), and while the sky started to darken over her head, Kisa thought that she heard footsteps other than her own crunching against the leaves on the ground. She abruptly stopped her search and let escape a timid, "Hello?"

There was no answer, so she kept her eyes concentrated on the ground. Even in her panicked state of mind, she knew that if she kept heading one direction, then she'd have to reach the edge of the forest sometime. Hopefully sometime sooner than later.

The silence of the woods was broken by the constant crunching of her footsteps, and it terrified Kisa that the birds had ceased their song. A long, slow shiver crawled down her spine; she was certain someone (or something) was following her.

And, as if on cue, there was the sound of more footsteps. Kisa quickened her pace this time, becoming more and more frightened of whatever was bound to attack her. Her thoughts began to race; how long until night would ambush her and she would be forced to sleep, frightened, on the coarse leaves of the cold, hard floor? How long would it take for those mysterious footsteps to find her?

She quickened her pace again.

The footsteps sped up to match her own, and - what was that she saw? - a flash of dark things stalking her from the corner of her eye? The smell of the forest was stifling her now, and she could see in the trees things were moving from branch to branch. Were they squirrels and birds? Were they spiders? Or maybe they were something much more terrifying; some things that would leap from the canopy to latch themselves upon her back and…

She couldn't see anymore, she couldn't see! After a moment of absolute panic, Kisa realized she had her eyes squeezed tightly shut. But her voluntary blindness was something she didn't wish to give up. She didn't want to open her eyes, even if it meant tripping blindly over the dead sticks (or were they hands? Terrible, claw-like, gray hands trying to reach for her ankles?), she refused to let them see. Her shoulder scraped painfully against a branch, and she pulled her eyelids open again.

She was running.

The forest was moving past her at an incredible pace now, and the thought of ever finding the forest path again escaped her. Kisa clutched a hand on her mouth and bit back the urge to cry. While the world was skidding its way back and forth across her vision, every tree looked like one she had just passed. The sound of her stumbling footsteps were matched by the constant roll of the mysterious others, as if there weren't just two or four legs, but eight or maybe twenty. Twenty monstrous tentacles that would crush her in their greasy clutches and never let go.

The skittering footsteps were coming closer now, though she couldn't tell from which direction, and as they became nearer and nearer, she became closer and closer to crying as her heart beat faster and faster until…

"Hello."

Kisa fell backwards at the sight of a woman standing in front of her.

Her fall was accentuated by a small yelp, which turned into a cacophony of coughs after she choked on her own scream. Kisa struggled to regain composure, but the relief of finding another person only forced tears from her eyes. She wiped them away shakily, before timidly looking up at the woman.

At that moment, the darkness disappeared from her vision, to be replaced by the familiar green and yellow colours of the forest. The birds were back, and no longer were hands emerging from the fallen leaves to pull her down to Hell. Kisa looked in awe at the lady standing before her; the woman returned her look with a pleasant smile. She was dressed in a regular summer dress with her brown hair swishing by her waist, tied back in playful yellow ribbons. Before even asking for Kisa's name, she offered her hand and asked, "Are you lost?"

Kisa was too dumbstruck to do anything but nod her head. She took the woman's hand and was helped to her feet.

The lady started forward and Kisa silently followed her. Something told her than this woman would be alright to trust.

"I suppose you're heading for the village?" the woman offered. "Many people get lost, so don't be embarrassed. I'll help you get there."

She continued her steady stride, as if she were gliding confidently across the forest floor instead of actually walking. She was almost floating, but the steady crunch, crunch of the leaves under her feet told Kisa otherwise. The pleasant noise anchored Kisa to a reality where there were no monsters, no beasts, no twenty-legged creatures after her blood.

Kisa followed the lady's footsteps in silence; what kind of conversation would she offer anyway? She was relieved, but still shaken from her earlier terror. Inside, she was still a twisted and confused mass of nerves, ready to shatter at any moment.

"You must still be scared," the woman said, as if reading her mind. She turned around and began to glide backwards… no walk backwards, because the crisp sound of crackling leaves was still present. "The forest isn't anything to be afraid of really. A few harmless creatures here and there, but usually nothing big to eat you or anything." She offered an apologetic smile.

She continued walking backwards, deftly avoiding any of the trees which approached her from behind. She wasn't joking when she said she knew the forest. "It's the shadows," the woman piped up again. "I can see the shadows of the trees, so I know when there's one behind me." At that moment, she backed into a tree branch, bumping her head against its bark. "It's the branches I have trouble with," she said, rubbing her head and turning to face the front again.

Kisa wondered if the woman could read her mind, or was just extremely good with interpreting her expression. Still, she didn't ask any questions or even think of speaking. She did like her though; there was something pleasant about the lady.

The woman looked over her shoulder, and Kisa shrank back a bit at the action. "You don't have to be afraid of me," she said.

"I'm not," Kisa replied. She offered only short answers - her mouth couldn't handle too much talking. Although they were now approaching a sunnier, more open part of the forest, the thought of a slithering, winged creature attacked her mind again. Without a doubt, it would haunt her dreams.

"There are legends about monsters in this forest," the woman said, surprising Kisa with her 'mind-reading' again. "They're from the villagers and tourists mostly. They say they see things. Maybe they're right, maybe they're wrong. Was there anything you saw that was strange?"

Kisa saw this attempt at conversation and wanted to spill the nightmarish images that were still crawling across her vision. She shook her head, 'no' though, and they continued to walk in silence.

"There was another young girl once, she also got lost," the woman started. "She was taking a walk through this forest when she got wandered off accidentally; she couldn't find her way back."

For a moment Kisa was confused before she realized that the woman was telling a story. Her mind settled at the thought of this; it would save her the trouble of conversation with this stranger (albeit a very nice stranger) and take up time. She had no qualms and began to listen to the woman recount her tale.

"She was just like you, I suppose, maybe a little younger - only eight-years-old. And she wandered round and round, becoming more and more scared of what was to become of her if night fell before she could get back to her grandfather's village. She was running very fast, you see, and the faster she ran the more afraid she became.

Her name was Tohru."

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Author's notes: Yay, prologue!

Saturday, June 18, 2005

Additional note: As you may notice, I began writing this story nearly a year ago. As such, I can’t guarantee its completion because it really depends on the time I have available and my interest. I also haven’t been keeping myself up to date with the personalities of the characters (I’ve only watched the anime… know some things regarding the manga), so this might be a bit outdated… Monday, May 15, 2005