Seven In a Thousand

Chapter 1

     Naomi Aura sat on top of a large, round stool, her gray eyes watching herself move in the mirror. The mirror was large, perched on top of the work desk that Naomi had her sharp elbows rested on. She brushed two fingers across the ugly, blue splotch beneath her left eye. It still hurt.

     She had sat atop that stool, looking into this old, rusted mirror for more times than she could remember. She touched the soft skin on her cheek again, wincing at the almost numbing sensation it had. Naomi recalled with bitterness the girl who had done this to her- a tall woman whose reek of alcohol was almost more noticeable than the amount of makeup on her face.

      The woman's words had been just as hurtful as the blow- and Naomi knew exactly why it had happened.

      Her fingers traced around her large, gray eyes, trailing across her pale purple skin. Why couldn't she have the pale, creamy color of the humans? Why must she be a purple-skinned, blue-haired freak? It wasn't fair, that they could have such tame, normal features while others were cursed to look forever different.

     Naomi curled her finger through a strand of her thick, blue-green hair. She remembered loving the color when she had been eight, loving that it was the color of a clear lake beneath a blue sky. She had adored the color as a connection to earth. Now it only seemed to alienate her.

      Her fingers drifted from the thick, wavy strands down to the uneven ends that spiraled only a little ways past her shoulders. Litorians were known by their long, beautiful hair. Even the boys had longer hair. Back then, she had been proud to have hair past her hips, long and beautiful and always swirling around her like a flowing cape. Then she had cut it short only a few months ago, chopping it off just below her pointed ears because it easily identified her as one of them.

      The lamp beside her cast shadows over half of her face, the other half washed in darkness. She could barely tell her skin was light purple in the shadow, or that her hair was any other color than dark. She pulled the strands of hair over her pointed ear, and just like that, she was almost human. Halfway.

       A sharp knock at her door startled her from her thoughts, and the creaky wooden door was pushed open before she could say 'come in'. Instantly, Naomi spun away from the mirror, scooping up a book from the floor and flipped it open to the first page.

      Her older brother, who was twenty one, stepped over a pile of schoolbooks and a forgotten hoodie before sitting down on the low, creaky bed in the corner. "Hey. How's that book?"

       Naomi had always admired her brother's pale complexion. It had a faint blue tint, but it wasn't nearly as noticeable as her own colors. His blue hair had been cut at the bangs and the strands curling around his face, but the back was longer, curling down past his broad shoulders. His eyes were the cunning yellow and orange color he had been named for- Kitsune, the Japanese word for fox. She had always admired his nonchalance in a crowd. Though little effort could disguise him as human, he always wore a blue hoodie and jeans that brought out the color in his skin, and his long hair was never hidden away in the hood of his jacket. He was unapologetically himself, even when it would get him sneered at.

       For as long as she could remember, he had always lived with her as not only her brother, but her father. And mother. And friend. Everything she had ever needed, he had been for her. And she loved him more than she could've thought humanely possible for it. She found it impossible to despise her brother for more than a few minutes.

        Kitsune smiled at her, and she realized the book in her hands was upside down. She ducked her head at the knowing look he gave her, recognizing that he knew she had been looking into the mirror again.