Letters
~Jan. 24~
Dear Tohru,
How have you been? I've missed you so much. We're all settled in Saikan now . . . the house is a castle . . . the people friendly . . . the environment gorgeous . . . and yet, I miss you too much to call this place my new home.
What have you been doing lately? Have that foul guardian of yours been mistreating you? I wish she'll just . . . I won't pen down what I'm thinking . . . it's too horrible for a sweet girl like you to hear about. My relatives, the Sohmas, are . . . how should I put this . . . peculiar. I can tell they're not a close family; there's an air of mystery surrounding each person and to tell you the truth, I'm not keen on finding out why. All of them are so cold . . . However, my little sister seems quite taken with one of them . . . this slender, dark haired fellow . . . seems a bit too fragile for my tastes . . . but then again, I would never understand you women's views. As long as my Tohru prefers well-built men like myself, all's right with the world. Take care, my love. Only 1071 days left until you're eighteen . . . can't wait.
Yours Forever,
Haru
P.S. One of my cousin, Hatori, is going to be my teacher. Just wait and see, darling, I'll return to you as an accomplished doctor.
~Feb. 1~
Dear Tohru,
You're acting like a little good housewife already . . . or at least, a mother. Don't worry, I'll listen to you and eat my veggies like a good little boy. By the way, I love the scarf you knitted . . . the fuchsia red matches me perfectly ^_^ You should keep making me more scarves . . . I'll set aside a wardrobe just for them. Don't go to the tree anymore . . . what if you break your neck? I bet you must have gotten tons of splinters last time. Once we are together again, I'll take you to the tree as many times as you like.
As for my family members . . . we're civil to each other. But something weird is going on . . . I stumbled into town one day on my way home and this strange purple haired boy glared at me suspiciously. Later, I heard from the servants that the town is divided between two ruling families: to the north are the Sohma castles and to the south, are the Amhos castles. In between is the neutral section, a buffer. The villagers live there. Anyways, the families are not really on friendly terms. Sohmas, supposedly, have a strange dark secret following them and the Amhos are really leery around us. That boy must be an Amhos. Well, really, he's really riling me up. How can one make enemies based on prejudicial views?
My cousin, Kyou, came over today. What a fiery hot-tempered boy! We nearly got into a duel when to my amusement, this brown-haired girl popped in looking for him. She reminds me of you, quiet and sweet. Apparently, she's got quite a crush on him but the idiot just blew her off. His face was all red . . . I think he likes her too.
Only 1064 days left. I hope you've been dreaming of me . . . because I've been dreaming about you.
Yours Forever,
Haru
Tohru flipped through the letters absentmindedly. One and a half year later . . .
~Jan. 24~
Dearest Tohru,
How have you been? Soon, my love, soon we'll be together again. But until then, I'll continue to amuse you with my stories of my weird family.
Kyou got married to that Amhos girl who reminded me of you, Kagura. A union of the families, I suppose. That purple haired boy, Yuki, was actually her brother. Not surprisingly, he didn't take the news happily. He stood the whole time by his sister's side, glaring at Kyou. A little too overprotective of his little sister.
Speaking of little sisters, my own one is currently going through depression. The guy she likes is a little isolated . . . refuse to have a thing to do with her . . . or any women, in fact. Come to think of it, the whole family was against Kyou's marriage at first. Even Kyou was beginning to get cold feet. I wonder why? Are all the men in our family misogynists or just scared of females?
Oh well . . . as long as I'm not . . . everything's okay, right, Tohru? Only 516 days left. Continue waiting for me, sweetheart.
Your Devoted,
Haru
Tohru flipped through the letters again. Another half a year later . . .
~May 18~
My dear Tohru,
I don't know what's happening to me . . . ever since I turned eighteen, things have been happening. Every night, I'll suddenly black out and when I come to, I can only remember hazily of what I did . . . like it was a dream. Not only that, it can also sometimes occur during the day sporadically. Yesterday, after one of these episodes, I woke up to remember foggily that I had gotten into a fight with Yuki. I thought it was just another one of my dreams but to my horror, blood ran down my cheek from one of the blows I had exchanged with the boy. How is this possible? How can I do things without my knowledge? And not only that, my hair has also been turning white . . . am I getting signs of premature aging? And yet, the bottom half of my head is still midnight black . . . what is happening to me?
I'm not the only one in my family with strange occurrences. Kyou would suddenly blow up in rage . . . even more so than before . . . his crimson eyes would turn maniacally scarlet and he'll pick fights with everybody as if he didn't remember anyone . . . Kagura was so scared . . . until one day, their roles seemed to reversed. Kagura would suddenly stop being quiet and friendly, throwing fits of tantrum and although Kyou's no longer angry at the whole world . . . he seems extremely depressed, angry at himself instead. Everyday, the couple would fight . . . it's disheartening to see the normally loving pair now at the brink of destroying each other.
Promise me, Tohru, that no matter what happens, our love would never change. 333 days left . . . I want to see you desperately.
Forever yours,
Haru
And then . . . the last letter underneath the pile. Tohru closed her eyes tightly.
~December 15~
Honda Tohru:
It's been months since I've last wrote you. I thank you for your concern. Please don't worry anymore . . . I've been doing fine. However, over the last few months, I've been thinking . . . and I've come to the decision that it was absolutely irrational of us to make such a childish pact when we were merely children. I'm sure you agree. It's impossible to fall in love at such a young age and even more ridiculous to hope to maintain an intimate relationship through letters. Both of us must have changed over the years . . . I've changed. I'm quite certain you're still a wonderful young lady but I realized that the so-called "love" we felt were merely impulsive passions of the youth . . . therefore, I've decided that the only feasible solution is to put an end to our "engagement". I do hope we'll remain friends and I wish you happiness in your future . . . with a man you truly love.
Sincerely,
Sohma Hatsuharu
A tear trickled down Honda Tohru's face and she whispered dejectedly, "But that's just the thing, Haru. I never changed . . . I was always here waiting for you. Something must have happened to you . . . something must have happened . . . something must have happened . . ."
~Jan. 24~
Dear Tohru,
How have you been? I've missed you so much. We're all settled in Saikan now . . . the house is a castle . . . the people friendly . . . the environment gorgeous . . . and yet, I miss you too much to call this place my new home.
What have you been doing lately? Have that foul guardian of yours been mistreating you? I wish she'll just . . . I won't pen down what I'm thinking . . . it's too horrible for a sweet girl like you to hear about. My relatives, the Sohmas, are . . . how should I put this . . . peculiar. I can tell they're not a close family; there's an air of mystery surrounding each person and to tell you the truth, I'm not keen on finding out why. All of them are so cold . . . However, my little sister seems quite taken with one of them . . . this slender, dark haired fellow . . . seems a bit too fragile for my tastes . . . but then again, I would never understand you women's views. As long as my Tohru prefers well-built men like myself, all's right with the world. Take care, my love. Only 1071 days left until you're eighteen . . . can't wait.
Yours Forever,
Haru
P.S. One of my cousin, Hatori, is going to be my teacher. Just wait and see, darling, I'll return to you as an accomplished doctor.
~Feb. 1~
Dear Tohru,
You're acting like a little good housewife already . . . or at least, a mother. Don't worry, I'll listen to you and eat my veggies like a good little boy. By the way, I love the scarf you knitted . . . the fuchsia red matches me perfectly ^_^ You should keep making me more scarves . . . I'll set aside a wardrobe just for them. Don't go to the tree anymore . . . what if you break your neck? I bet you must have gotten tons of splinters last time. Once we are together again, I'll take you to the tree as many times as you like.
As for my family members . . . we're civil to each other. But something weird is going on . . . I stumbled into town one day on my way home and this strange purple haired boy glared at me suspiciously. Later, I heard from the servants that the town is divided between two ruling families: to the north are the Sohma castles and to the south, are the Amhos castles. In between is the neutral section, a buffer. The villagers live there. Anyways, the families are not really on friendly terms. Sohmas, supposedly, have a strange dark secret following them and the Amhos are really leery around us. That boy must be an Amhos. Well, really, he's really riling me up. How can one make enemies based on prejudicial views?
My cousin, Kyou, came over today. What a fiery hot-tempered boy! We nearly got into a duel when to my amusement, this brown-haired girl popped in looking for him. She reminds me of you, quiet and sweet. Apparently, she's got quite a crush on him but the idiot just blew her off. His face was all red . . . I think he likes her too.
Only 1064 days left. I hope you've been dreaming of me . . . because I've been dreaming about you.
Yours Forever,
Haru
Tohru flipped through the letters absentmindedly. One and a half year later . . .
~Jan. 24~
Dearest Tohru,
How have you been? Soon, my love, soon we'll be together again. But until then, I'll continue to amuse you with my stories of my weird family.
Kyou got married to that Amhos girl who reminded me of you, Kagura. A union of the families, I suppose. That purple haired boy, Yuki, was actually her brother. Not surprisingly, he didn't take the news happily. He stood the whole time by his sister's side, glaring at Kyou. A little too overprotective of his little sister.
Speaking of little sisters, my own one is currently going through depression. The guy she likes is a little isolated . . . refuse to have a thing to do with her . . . or any women, in fact. Come to think of it, the whole family was against Kyou's marriage at first. Even Kyou was beginning to get cold feet. I wonder why? Are all the men in our family misogynists or just scared of females?
Oh well . . . as long as I'm not . . . everything's okay, right, Tohru? Only 516 days left. Continue waiting for me, sweetheart.
Your Devoted,
Haru
Tohru flipped through the letters again. Another half a year later . . .
~May 18~
My dear Tohru,
I don't know what's happening to me . . . ever since I turned eighteen, things have been happening. Every night, I'll suddenly black out and when I come to, I can only remember hazily of what I did . . . like it was a dream. Not only that, it can also sometimes occur during the day sporadically. Yesterday, after one of these episodes, I woke up to remember foggily that I had gotten into a fight with Yuki. I thought it was just another one of my dreams but to my horror, blood ran down my cheek from one of the blows I had exchanged with the boy. How is this possible? How can I do things without my knowledge? And not only that, my hair has also been turning white . . . am I getting signs of premature aging? And yet, the bottom half of my head is still midnight black . . . what is happening to me?
I'm not the only one in my family with strange occurrences. Kyou would suddenly blow up in rage . . . even more so than before . . . his crimson eyes would turn maniacally scarlet and he'll pick fights with everybody as if he didn't remember anyone . . . Kagura was so scared . . . until one day, their roles seemed to reversed. Kagura would suddenly stop being quiet and friendly, throwing fits of tantrum and although Kyou's no longer angry at the whole world . . . he seems extremely depressed, angry at himself instead. Everyday, the couple would fight . . . it's disheartening to see the normally loving pair now at the brink of destroying each other.
Promise me, Tohru, that no matter what happens, our love would never change. 333 days left . . . I want to see you desperately.
Forever yours,
Haru
And then . . . the last letter underneath the pile. Tohru closed her eyes tightly.
~December 15~
Honda Tohru:
It's been months since I've last wrote you. I thank you for your concern. Please don't worry anymore . . . I've been doing fine. However, over the last few months, I've been thinking . . . and I've come to the decision that it was absolutely irrational of us to make such a childish pact when we were merely children. I'm sure you agree. It's impossible to fall in love at such a young age and even more ridiculous to hope to maintain an intimate relationship through letters. Both of us must have changed over the years . . . I've changed. I'm quite certain you're still a wonderful young lady but I realized that the so-called "love" we felt were merely impulsive passions of the youth . . . therefore, I've decided that the only feasible solution is to put an end to our "engagement". I do hope we'll remain friends and I wish you happiness in your future . . . with a man you truly love.
Sincerely,
Sohma Hatsuharu
A tear trickled down Honda Tohru's face and she whispered dejectedly, "But that's just the thing, Haru. I never changed . . . I was always here waiting for you. Something must have happened to you . . . something must have happened . . . something must have happened . . ."