Living with a Sohma

Chapter 1 - Yumena

Yumena's POV

My mother always preferred me over Tohru. My mother loved me. I had shoulder length silky white hair and milky white skin along with clear blue eyes. Neither my parents had this trait so my mother would call me special and would always treat me like a princess. Tohru on the other hand had straight brown hair and clear white skin with brown eyes. She was very pretty. However, after me being born, my mother only focused on me leading Tohru and mother to be distant. My mother would always compare Tohru to me and tell her to become a better child. However, Tohru still loved mother greatly. Currently, I am cooking dinner for everyone. My father was at home as well.
"Dinner's ready!" I called out and Tohru immediately arrived to help me carry the food. Everyone smiled.
"Awww, Yumena, Thank you so much! You're the best!" Mother always complimented me.
"Thank you!" I smiled. We all sat in front of our seats and started to eat...
This was the most recent memory with father. After he got the flu, my mother, being over protective, kept me from seeing father. By the time I noticed that she was keeping me away, father had passed away. I couldn't say my last words to him. That is one of the greatest regrets I have in my life so far.
"Yumena!"
"Yes, mother?"
"What are you doing?"
"Oh! I was about to go take my bath!"
"I see."
With that she left me alone. I suddenly heard screaming and crying. It was mother's screaming and Tohru's crying. I started to panic. I then quickly opened the door to see my mom hovering over Tohru.
"Oh, Yumena-dear...what happened?"
"I-I n-needed some w-water..."
"Get some then!" My mother and Tohru regained their posture. Then, out of the blue, I asked.
"Tohru?"
"Hm?"
"Did you go to bath?"
"Not yet..."
"Can we go together?"
"Sure!" I went to bath with Tohru to keep her away from mother.
"Yumena? Why all of a sudden?"
"Well, I haven't gone to bath with her for so long now..."
"Awww...you could go with mama you know?" She cooed.
"I'll go with you next time!"
"Sure!" With that, I went towards the bath.
"Y-Yumena?"
"Tohru?"
"Thank you..." I went inside.
"Why?"
"You...never mind..."
"You know...you can always tell me..."
"No, no! I should act more like a big sister!"
"It's ok!!!"
"I'm the older one between us. I should act better..." I didn't know what to say. Sure, Tohru was nice but she is also very stubborn. I went deeper into the warm water. After we finished washing and drying ourselves, we went to bed.

(Time skip to the next day)

I woke up at 5:30 am to cook breakfast for the three of us. I made miso-soup, fried eggs and some pickled plum on top of rice. I then woke everyone up and we ate. After eating, I changed to might school uniform and got out of house with Tohru. We reached Kaibara High School. I forgot to mention but I skipped a grade since I'm pretty smart. We then entered the classroom. A cluster of girls came up to me like they do every day.
"Yumena-channnnn~" They cooed."
"Hmm? Good morning." I smiled at them and walked towards my seat. I sat next to Arisa Uotani. She ruffled my hair.
"Mornin' Yumena!"
"Good Morning Arisa-chan!" Suddenly, I heard several gasps. I look towards the entrance to see Yuki Sohma. Let me just say...literally all girls found him attractive. I did too. It's just that I'm not crazy over him. His seat was right behind mine.
"Good Morning Honda-san."
"Good Morning Sohma-kun." We both gave each other a dazzling smile before laughing a little and sitting at our seats. Before I know it, around 10 girls are crowding around Sohma-kun's desk and I'm being pushed. One girl purposefully elbowed me around my shoulder and it hurt a lot. She probably doesn't like me. All the girls either like me or hate me. Why? Because I'm actually, not that I want to say it myself but, pretty. And I'm also smart for my age. So the girls either hate me or try to befriend me. Whichever way, they do it for their own good. The first lesson was science. We had to make a team of four with the people sitting around us. I teamed up with Arisa-chan, Sohma-kun and and the boy sitting behind Arisa-chan (let's just call him Hayashi-kun?).
We had to work on a project where we research about this specific topic. I aced it. I knew these things already since I was 12! With the cooperation of the four of us, our team finished working on the 'project' during the lesson. Just like this, I aced all the subjects...except for one. I literally sucked at Japanese. We are currently learning about Kanbun -entire sentences written only using kanji- and it was really difficult. I had no clue what the teacher was talking about.
The day soon ended and I went back home with Tohru. We quickly finished our homework and started to do our hobbies.
"Yumena!!!"
"What Tohru?"
"We have a math test tomorrow!"
"What!?" With that, we studied math really hard and made sure that we understood everything by heart.
"Wait..."
"Hm?" I paled. "Y-Yumena? What happened?"
"W-we also have a Japanese year along with science and social studies..."
"Oh my god..." that night, we crammed ourselves with words and texts and everything we could think about.

(Time skip to the next day...again)

I woke up at 6:30 in the morning. I overslept! My mother left for work already. I quickly woke Tohru up and we quickly changed and went to school. We finished our first two subjects. Then during our third lesson, which was the science test, the door flew open. It was my homeroom teacher. She whispered a few things to the science teacher.
"Tohru, Yumena. You're called." I gave him a confused look and then stood up. Before I left, Arisa-chan and Saki l-chan were called as well. When I got out of the room, the teacher looked at me and said:
"Your mother got caught in a car accident."
My breathing stopped for a while. The second I regained my feelings, I found Tohru running towards the school gate. I quickly went back into class got Tohru' sand my bags all the while with visible tears in my eye and quickly dashed out of the classroom. The teacher ushered me into a car with Arisa-chan and Saki-chan. I couldn't keep in my sobs any longer. I cried into my handkerchief. It was quiet on the car. Once we reached the hospital, a nurse took me towards my mother's room. I dropped my bag. Tohru was hunched over crying over my lifeless mother.
"..." Nothing came out of my mouth. I just stood there shocked. Not being able to process anything. I then felt a hand on my shoulder and was dragged back to reality. I won't ever hear her voice again. She'll never hug me again. I won't ever see her smile again. All the weight pushed me down and I dropped to the floor crying all the while holding my handkerchief in my hands.
It took me hours to stop crying. Tohru continued to wail. She bawled her eyes out. Seeing this, it made me feel the need to protect her. I had to stay strong for my sister as well. Tohru and I were taken to school where the teachers looked after us for the night at the health office.
"Yumena-chan?" The teacher called. "You don't want to sleep."
"I...can't..."
"I understand..." there was a long pause. "You don't have to take lessons tomorrow if you don't feel like it..."
"I'm alright. I'll still take the classes."
"You're strong. Yumena-chan. You really are." With that, the teacher left the room. I smiled to Tohru. A sad smile. I had to be cheerful the next day. I have to get over this! With that in mind I went to sleep.

(Time skip again to the next morning)

I woke up early like usual. Then the thought that I would never see my mother again came up. A feeling that I couldn't quite point out welled up inside me. A sob almost escaped my mouth when Tohru woke up. She seemed ill.
"Y-Yumena...was it a dream?"
"I wish it were..." I sadly said with a devastated smile. I made sure to make her as comfortable as possible. Tohru's face was unbelievably pale.
"A-are you g-going to take c-classes today?"
"No." I lied.
"I see..."
"You should take a day off too Tohru...I'm going to get counseling." I smiled. I lied to her again.
"Yes...I should do that too..." I smiled again.
"I'll be going then..."
"Where?"
"Counseling." With that, I left the room and went to my class holding onto my bag. I opened the door to see Saki-chan and Arisa-chan talking together. They looked up. They were shocked to see me. I gave them a sad smile. I then went to my seat.
"Y-Yumena...you came..."
"I did." I smiled again.
"How? H-how can you be s-so..."
"I'm sad too...but I know mother will be watching me from above. I know that she won't want me to dwell in this forever! I want to make mother happy..."
"You're such a good child!!!" Arisa-chan said. "T-thank y-you." I felt a tap on my shoulder.
"Yumena-chan!?" It was one of the girls that tried to use me.
"Hello."
"I'm so sorry!!!" She fake cried in front of me to get the prince's attention. Yuki,sitting behind me, looked at the girl then looked somewhere else.
"It's not your fault..." I said kindly. I smiled to her and her mood did a 180 swing. She then skipped back to her seat. I really don't like being used... The bell suddenly rang and I stopped thinking about random things.
My homeroom teacher walked in. She saw me and gave me a kind smile. I smiled and nodded back. She then turned to the class and announced the necessities. After that, the teacher called me. I talked to her about who was going to take me in. It turned out to be my grandfather that lives on his pension.
I have to make sure that I don't cause any trouble!!!