128Naraku's Phoenix: Well, to start off I'd like to welcome you all to my first Ouran High School Host Club fic. I didn't notice ANY – even if there are – AU fics, so I decided to write one. I hope you all find my latest work both compelling and enchanting.
Disclaimer: I don't own Ouran High School Host Club.
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Chapter 1: Something Drastic
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It was a particularly dreary day. The ground was muddy and soft from the early morning's rainfall which had simmered down to a mist in the past few hours. The sun was shrouded by the heavy clouds and the air was cold, and it was only on days like this that the black wizard Nekozawa Umehito bothered to show his face in public.
He would have to visit the nearby village every now and then, of course, to obtain supplies necessary to his existence. He bought nothing towards his practice, mind you, for he got plenty of that from both his inner source at the king's palace, and from the habitat of the enchanted swampland where he kept his dwelling. The villagers were used to his occasional visits, but that didn't mean they tolerated him very well. He was on no speaking terms with any of them, and he figured that the rumors they passed about him would suffice for their knowledge of him.
The trip was routine: he would visit a few farmers and traders to gather his desired items and then sleep over in the abandoned barn (the first time he slept in there, the livestock never bothered to return and resisted) before returning to his home shortly after dawn. The villagers gave him a wide berth as they tried to go about their daily routines as normally as possible. Nekozawa knocked on the first establishment with his empty burlap ready to be filled. He was met at the door by a rather small, and very pregnant, woman.
The woman gasped.
Her husband – he assumed – appeared behind her shortly after. "Hello, Nekozawa," he greeted sternly, "I guess you'll be wanting your chickens then?"
"Two, please."
The man ushered his wife back into their cottage dwelling and told her to get back in bed. Nekozawa stepped back to allow the man to lead him around to where the livestock was kept. By the time they reached around back, the rain started picking up again.
"Haruhi!" the man called.
"Coming, father!" a voice called back. The girl emerged from the stables dusting her hands off on her apron and looked up at her father. She stopped abruptly and took a step back when she saw who was with him.
"Get two chickens and stuff them in a sack, and hurry!" Haruhi quickly did as she was told. Ranka took a silver coin from Nekozawa and was careful not to touch his hand. Following her father's actions, when Haruhi returned she held the chicken sack to Nekozawa at arms length. The hooded man intentionally touched the length of her thumb as he reached for the sac and Haruhi immediately let go and cradled her hand to her chest. Ranka stood behind his daughter and rested a hand on his shoulder, and he watched Nekozawa leave with the most deadly of gazes. Once the wizard had left, he tightened his grip on Haruhi's shoulder.
"I'd punch the bastard in the face if I wasn't afraid of what he'd do."
The day went on, the evening darkened, and the rained poured heavier than it had all week. Nekozawa went to the barn, and Haruhi rushed off to fetch the midwives.
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Another bloodcurdling scream broke out from the Fujioka household. Ranka paced blindly through the cottage, unsure of what to do since the two midwives and his daughter banished him from the bedroom. He hated his wife to be in such pain, but had to convince himself that everything would be alright, just like after Haruhi was born. But, he was too wrapped up in his own thoughts to hear the real conversation behind the door.
"I don't know if she's going to make it!" yelled one of the midwives as to be heard over the screams, "I must have seen through over a hundred births in my lifetime, and not one has been as difficult as this one!"
"But she's just got to make it!" yelled Haruhi, "She just has to!"
"I'm afraid to say otherwise, child, but you've got to face reality, here!" the younger midwife yelled as she dabbed more cool water on the poor woman's face, "It'll take a miracle for her to live through the next hour let alone the night!"
"We haven't much time!" the elder midwife called, "This baby's got to be born! Child, go get your father! He needs to spend the last moments with his wife, even if they are in agony."
"NO! Don't talk like that; I won't let you; I WON'T LET HER!" Haruhi screamed as she burst out the door and past her fidgety father. Without so much as slipping on a hat or a cover, Haruhi continued running blindly out the front door in her frail one-layer dress and apron, not even giving the rain pour a second thought. She stopped in the middle of the village square.
She was about to do something drastic.
She almost turned back, but she was desperate.
She didn't want her mother to die.
She ran towards Nekozawa's barn.