Kiyomi has one year. She never thought her life could be cut so short when she spent so long wasting time. She wanted to go to her death with no regrets, but how could she possibly die with peace when her family is being torn apart and her father wo...
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"The princess shall indeed grow in grace and beauty, beloved by all who know her. But, before the sun sets on her sixteenth birthday, she shall prick her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel and die." - Maleficent
KIYOMI KNEW THE DECISION WOULD BE MADE WHEN she first shattered the hourglass. As she watched the sands slide over the hard wood floor, she felt absolutely numb. People were talking to her, but then again, people were always talking to her. She had many friends when she joined the academy at five years old. She was six when people first started calling her a genius.
This isn't real, Kiyomi had thought to herself when she was first told she wouldn't make it past eighteen.
After that, her family got second opinions. They got third opinions. Fourth opinions. They got so many opinions, that eventually they had to accept these were facts.
Kiyomi was going to die.
It wasn't something she ever thought about before. Thinking of death, she means. It was a passing whimsy that she didn't really have time to dwell on in the past. She always thought she'd die heroically, in protection of someone else. She thought she'd die in the sands, next to fallen comrades. She even thought she'd make to when she was old, her fingers clasped tight around a loved one as she made some speech about a life well lived.
She never pictured her actual death. She never thought she'd lose access to her limbs. She'd lose the ability to walk. She'd lose the ability to speak. She'd lose to ability to see. Eventually, she'd lose the ability to breathe. No, that was not a fate even she could not picture.
Still, as she stared up into the the sky, to those passing by, it was almost as if she already lost all of that. Still, she didn't move as she watched the hot sun begin to lower into the sands. She didn't cry. She didn't pout. She just sat there, on the bench, as if she were already waiting to die.
━━━━༻❁༺━━━━
"Kiyo-chan," whispered the soft voice from across the park. Kiyomi was dazed, but eventually she looked over to spot her little brother padding across the sand. She let out a small smile, holding out her hand as the little boy grinned and gripped onto his sister's waist.
"Done playing then?" Kiyomi asked, her eyes leering down at her brother as she squeezed him tightly into her chest.
"I wanted to play with you," Kota reminded her with a frown. She chuckled, glancing over to his friends that had settled over in the distance. Her brother was only a year younger than her, but her parents always told her that she had the mind of an elderly woman since she never liked playing. Even after turning six years old, she still chose the act of reading a good book over playing in the sand.
