Of Leaves and Lilac

A Tsukihime fanfiction, written by TVTroper User:Dark Pulse.

Synopsis:

A year after the events of Tsukihime, 17 year-old Tohno Akiha is still living life the way she always has - a student by day, and master of Misaki City by night. Even with all of the events that occurred last year, her life has, for the most part, remained steady and consistent. But, can she remain this way forever...? Re-Rated M for Graphic Violence/Sex. WARNING: CONTAINS GRAPHIC DEPICTIONS OF SEX, VIOLENCE, AND PHILOSOPHY. Updated every Sunday.

I'm writing it. Well, I've already written it; it's more like each chapter is getting TLC before I post it but it's all written in terms of where the story is going. I absolutely hate Dead Fics so rest assured... I wouldn't be publishing it if I didn't intend to finish it. Trust me. Be warned that if you're waiting for it to finish before diving in, you're going to have about 300,000 words to read. But if you like that thing, hey, enjoy... you Sick'O.

A long story, planned to be of 75 chapters and an epilogue but only 65 chapters were published. Not one for the faint of heart, and not one for you to read if you haven't beaten Tsukihime in its entirety. Seeing the anime doesn't count for this, as it follows a path that the anime doesn't cover, and mashes them up a little. Plus it doesn't exist anyway...

New chapters go up every Sunday at Midnight Pacific Time. And yes, the formatting sucks ass, but let's blame the site for that - believe me, I don't like it being that neutered, or having to constantly put in ellipses and periods just to extend silence breaks, or having to manually deal with every case of "?!" and "!?" either. It's the nature of the beast. For what it's worth, the PDF versions I put out per-arc are much, much more nicely formatted.

If you're looking to read it, it's all right here. Again, heed the warning preface, as I don't want to spoil the game for others, and this story outright assumes you have complete knowledge of the game's five paths, and all their endings.

Bit of a note, I'd prefer that if you have questions on the story, you register for an account on Fanfiction.net, or on this story's "home away from home", Beast's Lair - you'll find the topic for it in the Type-Moon Fanworks forum. I do check in here from time to time, but not nearly as often as those two sites, and anon reviews that ask questions tend to bug me, and force me to artificially up the wordcount just to answer them, as I can't reply to anonymous reviews, unlike registered ones.

I'll leave it up to my fellow Tropers to decide on tropes and categories that my story fits into, but despite that, I've added a few I feel fit. If you disagree, remove them or something. After all, I'm pretty damn biased, I'm afraid. :)

And yes, I know it hasn't been updated in forever. I blame a nasty case of Job-itis, but I've never, ever intended to leave it hanging this way. I hate it more than you do, probably - after all, I'm the one who wrote it all out. It'll resume real soon... hopefully within no more than a few months. I plan on trying to finish the chapters during an impending vacation, at any rate.

Tropes used in Of Leaves and Lilac include:

Berserk Button: Do not try to make light of Seo Akira's power or she will cram a slice of Humble Pie down your throat, tin and all.
Break the Haughty: Happens to Akiha when Seo gets annoyed after being manipulated, lied to, and pushed around, all because Akiha overreacted to one of Seo's doujins:

"Well, my interest and curiosity got the best of me..." My voice comes out even weaker than before.

"Yeah, some excuse," she says, not accepting it. "You can believe that if you want, but the fact is you didn't trust me, and then even AFTER you read it... you lied. You lied so that I wouldn't know, couldn't explain, and so you could corner me. Do you know how... incredibly rude that is?ǃ?"

A very nasty glare. A look on her face that she wants to kill. Or at the very least, punch me, and it is taking her all of her willpower to restrain from doing so.

Brother-Sister Incest: What one of Shiki's admissions and Akiha seeing his wet dream involving her and Kohaku seem to be leading up to. as of Chapters 42-44, this may have occurred
Cover-Blowing Superpower: The superhuman abilities Akiha can access by tapping into her demonic half, which may not be so secret after the events of Chapter 39, when she has to unleash her Crimson Red Vermilion form to free Seo from being trapped by debris.
Deadpan Snarker: Tsukihime Souka.
The Ditz: Misawa Hanei.
Double Meaning Title: "Of Leaves and Lilac" has several meanings, several of which draw from the Victorian Language of Flowers. The most obvious refers to autumn leaves and a spring blossom (referencing the theme of Akiha's transformation), another to "Akiha" and "Feelings of First Love" (resolving issues with Shiki), and a third perhaps hinting at the much-teased possibility of a relationship between Akiha and a lilac-haired kouhai, since lilacs as a whole signify "youthful innocence" and "first love."
Erotic Dream: Akiha is given the chance to view one of Shiki's erotic dreams, one provided to him by Len following the defeat of Nrvnqsr Chaos involving Akiha and Kohaku.
First Kiss: Akiha gets hers from Souka, with predictable results.

And her lips press against mine.

My mind goes blank. Numb. Just like before.

I am... unused to this situation...

Especially... from a girl...

…...Especially from Tsukihime Souka.

My mind is so confused that I can't even react, really.

…...…...Why her?

I could see a few other people having an interest in me, but... her...? Why...?

...Why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why…...?ǃ

Why her, and why me, and why this sort of relationship... why would she want it, with me of all people...?

Four-Girl Ensemble: The "Asagami Four" of Tohno Akiha, Seo Akira, Tsukihime Souka, and Misawa Hanei.
Les Yay: Akiha seems to be getting these with Seo and Satsuki, with a side of teasing from Souka and Kohaku. Hilariously enough, she doesn't seem to really get how Lesbian relationships work.

...How CAN two women do that, anyway? Part of me wonders that, but most of me reacts with revulsion. A woman simply cannot love another woman in the way a man could. It is simply physically impossible. They lack the necessary organs!

- And now as of Chapter 29, Souka has joined Akiha's harem.
- And Sacchin, as of Chapter 43
Marshmallow Hell: Akiha is subjected to this by the well-endowed Hanepin in Chapter 39
Nightmare Sequence: Chapter 11, as Akiha dreams of Tohno SHIKI, and it's only going to get worse, as the spirit of Roa rears its ugly head.
- Now in Chapter 24, we have Akiha dreaming what it would be like if she had fully inverted.
Nosebleed: Chapter 9. Seo suffers a nosebleed after running face-first into Akiha's chest
Oblivious to Love: Tohno Akiha, towards Tsukihime Souka until the latter is able to confess her crush with the help of Kohaku's drugs.
Ojou: Tohno Akiha.
Sanity Slippage: What the nightmare sequences were leading to, until Len destroys (eats?) Roa's soul, freeing Akiha from her hell.
Sex Changes Everything: Two Words - Fun!Akiha.
That Woman is Dead: Akiha tries pulling this, but fails.
Tsundere: The protagonist, Tohno Akiha, is a classic Type-A Tsundere.
Wham! Episode: Chapter 17. What has been mostly Slice of Life gets a massive Drama Bomb.