Blame the rabbid plot bunnies. I swear.

Vampire Knight © Matsuri Hino!

These Wooden Ashes.
Hanabusa Aidou / OC
Chapter One

Ffft-Fffft

It wasn't that she was a failure.
Because she wasn't.

Ffffft- Fffft

She just didn't have the resources.
She only had her hands.
It wasn't her fault that she didn't have the money.
She had merely been graced with these hands, and she would use them to their full potential.

FFFF-
CRACK!

"Awh, gosh darnit!"

Waving a pathetic fist in the air, Chesa Rebun scowled down at her latest creation, peeved that she had been so careless as to crack the shining exterior. And it had been almost finished, too…
It was because she had let her mind wander yet again. It wasn't that she was bitter- Chesa didn't want to be bitter.
The girl simply longed for a formal education.

Lips thinning to a small line, the dark haired youth swore under her breath without the least bit remorse, narrowing her large clouded eyes as her fist slammed down onto wood.

"Tou-san's going to have my head!"
"And why is this, daughter of mine?"
"Hiiiiieeee!"

Chesa Rebun was a mere seventeen years old. She lived in a small cottage on the outskirts town, not too far off from the one and only Cross Academy, with her middle-aged Father.
The girl was a short thing with round greying eyes and unruly onyx hair that fell far past her shoulder blades. It was always in tangles, yet somehow her Father had said it was perfect.
Chesa was always quick to disagree.

"N-Nothing, Tou-san!"
"So why is there a crack in this freshly carved-"
"I'll take care of it right away!"

She was a worker. In earlier ages, she would have been called a peasant. The world wasn't that cruel anymore, though. Now it was simply called the 'working class' or 'lower middle-class.'
She didn't mind. Chesa liked work.
But she didn't like her Father working.

"Tou-san, you should get back to bed. I can handle this."

"I'm fine, Chesa. Just a bit tired."

For the raven haired youth's Father had been stricken with disease in his early twenties, and from there on did his health slowly start to decline.
His eyesight was about shot.
It wasn't long before his limbs would start to numb.

"Tou-san…"

Chesa knew her Father could no longer feel the tips of his fingers.

"I am fine, daughter."

As for Chesa's health, she couldn't help but notice her eyes.
Her Father, too, would silently watch with the years as his only daughter's eyes would rapidly lose their once beautiful shade in color.
They had once been a striking shade of indigo.

Now they were merely a steely grey.

"How is business today, Tou-san?"
"We get to eat tonight."

Clouded eyes crinkled as a small laugh bounced off the wooden shop's modest walls.

Chesa liked to laugh.
Her Father liked to hear her laugh.

"Whatever you say, Tou-san."

Chesa had never been to school. Her Father simply could not afford it. And when she had come of age- a mere five years old- he had no choice but to put his only daughter to work.

She had been carving and molding since she was seven.
She had been analyzing and scrutinizing since eleven years of age.

"Chesa…"
"Yes, Tou-san?"
"You can take the rest of the day to yourself."
"B-But Tou-san-!"
"Chesa."
"Y-Yes, Tou-san. As you wish."

After all, Chesa's Father had no choice.
He wanted her to lead a nice life.

"I will close up shop."
"Okay."
"You close up downstairs."
"Alright."

The basement.
Chesa knew her life was not normal. Most teenagers around her age went to some sort of school and were taught a formal education.
Chesa had no choice but to learn to read and write from her late Mother, and learn everything else from her aging Father.

Most kids Chesa's age…

Did not have a morgue in their basement.

And did not build coffins for a living.

Then again…
Most kids Chesa's age were not as sharp as she was.
Especially without having received formal teachings.

Chesa was clever.

Later on would she question if that was a blessing or more so a curse.

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-Mel