Ok, so it's 50 words (randomly generated), 50 themes, centred around Shinku x Jun. After my last crazy, kinda explicit fic I decided I had to redeem myself so I wrote this more serious one to make up for all the mental damage I've incurred ^^'...I'm not really that twisted, really...hehe...
Anyways, hope this is good for you! :D
Disclaimer: I do not own Rozen Maiden or any of it's characters.
Moments; Miracles
The one possibility in a sea of infinity
Wrought by the hands of fate
Into that which we call life -
Its moments; miracles.
1. Butterfly
He's surprised to find Shinku sitting outside in the garden for once, taking her tea and watching the flashes of colour flutter and dance restlessly from one flower to another, before he realises his stomach feels the same way every time he sets his eyes upon her – full of butterflies.
2. Cookie
He doesn't even want to know what exactly she put in those 'Kunkun' cookies that makes them taste suspiciously like soap but he eats every single one of them down to last crumb simply because they were handmade by her for him.
3. Worry
Of course, she tells herself, it's not as if she's actually worried about him or anything when she can't stop thinking about that troublesome tea servant of hers all day, every day, no matter how indifferent she pretends to be.
4. Purpose
The first time he asks her why she fights, she replies, "For Father." The second time is, "To live". And this time she looks him in the eye and says in a way that makes his heart tremble, "For you."
5. Grudge
Jun doesn't hold anything against the great doll maker, but he vows that if Shinku should ever become Alice and leave him for Rozen, he'll personally hunt down that bastard to the ends of the earth and snatch her back himself.
6. Honesty
He feels the sweat trickle down the back of his neck as Suiseiseki, confronting him with her hands on her hips, repeats the question. Unable to lie, and incapable of meeting her eye, he mutters something under his breath, and then glares and blushes as that infuriating Gardener says with some offended triumph, "Hah! So you do prefer blondes!"
7. Junk
She feels more secure around him than anyone else; she knows somehow that no matter what happens to either of them, he will never leave her, never give up on her, even if she is turned into junk, because in his eyes, that is something she will never be.
8. Number
When Tomoe asks him one day what his favourite number is, he replies without thinking, "Five." It isn't until later that Jun realises with some embarrassment that the only reason he likes it is because Shinku is the fifth doll of the Rozen Maiden.
9. Compatibility
He can't believe he's actually done that stupid love calculator* thing and sent his name to the number flashing across the television screen. But what mortifies him even more is the fact for some reason, he unconsciously sent Shinku's name as his partner and the percentage comes back as Compatibility: 100%.
10. Jest
After a hearty slapping, Jun concludes that no, this is not like in the fairytales, and that it is not the most intelligent thing in the world to kiss Shinku whilst she is innocently taking her afternoon nap just because a certain Gardener tells you with well-staged panic that her sister is in fact trapped in a deep sleep and the only way to wake her is the 'Sleeping Beauty' method. And as Shinku lectures him on the indecency of assaulting a lady whilst she is asleep, he realises it is no joke that despite everything, he enjoyed every moment of it.
11. Competitor
She wonders what this tight feeling in her chest is every time she sees Jun laughing and talking with Tomoe, and then she realises with guilt and shame it is the same way she used to feel before when she thought about one of her sisters becoming Alice – rivals fighting for the same prize; fearing that the most important thing to her is about to be stolen away.
12. Soul
When he and Suiseiseki return to his dream world one day, he vehemently denies that the bright red roses that have suddenly sprung out of the ground and now grow profusely at the base of his tree have anything at all to do with the fact that Shinku used bright red rose petals. And yet he finds it very hard to argue with that evil watering-can-wielding doll when she smirks and says that it must be because Shinku is good for his soul.
13. Dreams
It doesn't take long for him to realise that she is the first thought that crosses his mind when he wakes up in the morning and the last one he thinks of before he falls asleep at night, and that she is everywhere in his life, even in his dreams.
14. Life
It wasn't until she'd met him that she realises for the first time how she's spent hundreds of years fighting and living without ever even feeling truly alive. From the moment he wound her key, he'd bestowed upon her this new life, taught her to live it, and given her a reason to love it.
15. Colour
Shinku. Reiner Rubin. Deep Crimson. True Ruby. The same colour as the dress she wears and the rose petals she wields. She might be called the personification of the colour red. And it is ironically fitting how roses are the symbol of love and red is the colour of passion and Jun thinks it must be Fate's idea of a joke, but in this way, Shinku already embodies everything he feels for her.
16. Heartlessness
Upon later reflection, he regrets all those times he called her 'heartless' out of spite, because it means that it would be impossible for her to return these overwhelming feelings of his.
17. Stubborn
"I swear on the rose ring, if you ever end our contract whilst I'm still alive, I'll stalk you endlessly until either you take me back or I die trying." It's a promise she makes, because she knows from that steely glint in his eye that this time, he's being dead serious, and she doesn't know whether to she wants to slap him or kiss him for being so damn stubborn.
18. Pretence
It hurts him, seeing her lifeless and motionless when she'd been walking and talking and demanding tea in that haughty tone of hers only the day before. But what causes him the most pain is the fact that he can't even pretend she's just sleeping as most people do when someone's died, because that's exactly what she is doing – Shinku isn't dead; she's sleeping, without any hope of waking up.
19. Gold
She can't help but blush as he runs the brush delicately through her silky locks and makes some offhand comment on how the very gold in her hair is infinitely dearer to him than any amount of the metal that shares the same colour.
20. Tactless
He learns his lesson the hard way after being slapped hard not only by Shinku, but also Suiseiseki, Souseiseki, Kanaria and even Hinaichigo, that commenting on the fact that Shinku has a flat chest even though she is supposed to be 'a living doll that can become the perfect girl' is not a good idea.
21. Desire
As Nori asks him what he wants for his upcoming birthday, he absentmindedly glances over at the blonde sitting on his bed loudly lecturing the younger doll, and says that he already has the one thing he desires most in the world.
22. Star
They stand at his open window looking up at the night sky and she points out each constellation, asking him which are his favourite stars, and he says all of them are pretty, but what he doesn't say aloud is that he thinks the ones in her eyes are the most beautiful of all.
23. Treasure
He rolls his eyes good-humouredly when Nori's little 'treasure hunt' for Hinaichigo ends with a huge box of unyuu sitting on the dinner table, but finds himself blushing when he looks at Shinku sitting beside him and suddenly realises that it's inadvertently led him to this precious treasure of his own.
24. Companion
"The past is painful. The future is uncertain. If it hurts too much to look back, if it frightens you too much to look forward, just look beside you, and I'll be here." And suddenly his world seems much brighter, and his heart is much lighter, when she takes his hand in her own smaller ones, and tells him that they'll be in this together from now on until who knows when.
25. Sardine
Shinku glares with all her might at Jun, telling herself that it is his fault a stray cat** has taken over her case, and therefore his fault that they are currently both lying in his bed, close enough for his body heat to warm her as they lie under the covers squeezed tightly and snugly together like sardines in a can.
26. Rose
Prickly and difficult to handle – if he isn't careful, he'll cut and hurt himself trying to hold it in his hands, but if he can bear that little pain, and if he learns to grasp it just the right way in his fingers, he is rewarded with its full sweet fragrance and timeless beauty, elegance, charm and grace. Either way, Jun finds he is more than willing to put up with a few thorns if it means he can touch the deep red rose that the crimson fifth Rozen Maiden doll is.
27. Smile
As Shinku and Jun begin to bicker again over useless things, the others wonder how long it will take for either one of them to realise that the one thing they truly desire is as simple and beautiful as smile from the other.
28. Heart
And she wonders when this reclusive, antisocial boy had managed to touch her heart in way that no other medium, out of the hundreds preceding him, had been able to before.
29. Moth
When he sighs, rolled up newspaper in hand as he turns to look down at the doll clinging fearfully to his back, and says "It's fine – I got rid of it," the only thing she can do is blush with injured dignity and gratefully mutter her thanks; refusing, much to his chagrin, to relinquish her hold on the back of his shirt. And despite that, he finds himself wishing, hoping that she won't let go. Ever.
30. Sunset
He can't help but think that when the light of the afternoon sunset catches her hair like that, it seems as if those cascades of golden blonde are a waterfall of pure light, pooling like liquid sunshine in his lap.
31. Secret
She brushes the hair gently aside from his sleeping face, pulls his sheets up from where he has kicked them off in his sleep and lays the lightest, most tender kiss on his cheek. And he'll be confused when he wakes up in the morning and there is a little moist teardrop on his face when he hasn't been crying, and across the room she sighs when she looks at him and tells herself that this is her secret and he will never, ever know.
32. Gender
Shinku spends the rest of the day wondering why Jun looked so relieved when she explained earlier that day to him that it is impossible for her to fall for another doll because Rozen never made a set of male dolls and no, she hasn't fallen for a human before because all of her previous mediums have been girls, and her indignant slap is answer enough to his rather unnecessary question of whether or not she has same-sex tendencies.
33. Pride
She tosses away that aristocrat lady dignity of hers for once and asks him to hold her; he obliges, enclosing her in his arms, and as she sits on his lap in front of the computer, embraced by the warmth of his body, it dawns upon her that it is better to lose pride with Jun than it is to lose him with her useless pride.
34. Blind
She is a flawed doll that seeks the perfection she was created to fulfil, and as Rozen watches from somewhere afar, this strange boy fall in love with his fifth creation, the great doll maker wonders whether it is because Sakurada Jun is blind to her imperfections or rather, if it is others who are blind to what he can see in her.
35. Spasm
When Shinku arches her eyebrow at his hand on top of hers and he can't think of a better excuse just to be able to touch her fingers like this, he gives her a sheepish look and offers lamely, "Sorry, my hand spasmed."
36. Age
"I don't plan on growing old without you." He expects a long rant about the Alice Game and how he belongs in the human world, and for a moment, she does indeed look as if she is about to launch into stern lecture, but instead she sighs and goes back to her book, making some comment about how he should spend his time wisely then, because unlike wine, tea does not necessarily get better with age, and whilst he might not be planning on growing old with her, she isn't planning to spend the next few decades drinking the horrible stuff excuse of tea that he makes. And the very next day, much to her amusement, an application form for a professional tea-brewing course turns up in the mail.
37. Waltz
Shinku tries to teach him how to dance one day, and they move rather awkwardly around the room, hindered by the differences in their height and size, but Jun thinks they must already be waltzing to the rhythm of their heartbeats and a tune that no one else but they can hear.
38. Family
He chokes and coughs abruptly when she suddenly asks him one day, purely out of curiosity, mind you, what he would want to name his first child if he ever decides to have one, and avoids the question when she asks him why he is blushing like that, what on earth is thinking...?
39. Stupidity
Suiseiseki comments that he must be the stupidest chibi human she's ever seen, to pledge everything he has to a doll that slaps him at every opportunity and shoots him with barrages of vicious verbal abuse, but Jun just shrugs and counters that he must be the happiest moron in the world then, and that if stupidity means staying with Shinku, he'd much rather be a happy idiot than a miserable smartass.
40. Qualm
He admits that deep down he regrets having qualms about kissing her when he'd had the chance, but he promises himself, next time they play 'Snow White', he won't hold back, won't hesitate.
41. Science
He's surprised that Shinku knows so much as she helps him with his science work, to which she replies that she spent her several hundred years well, and then Suiseiseki breaks the mood as she cackles and says "No, it must be because the chemistry is so good between you two," before skilfully dodging the textbook Jun lobs at her.
42. First
She wonders what this warm, pleasant feeling in her chest is when he says one day that no matter how many Rozen Maiden he contracts, she'll always be the first – his first doll.
43. Thief
Jun has never been a thief; he has never taken anything that was not his before, but he thinks he can be forgiven just this once for wanting to steal a kiss from the beautiful blonde as she sleeps like a slumbering fairytale princess in her case.
44. Believe
She can't help but let slip a sad, sweet, small smile when she realises that he actually believed her for a moment when she let those three words tumble carelessly, casually past her lips. It is sweet because it was a joke, and it amuses her. It is sad because it was a joke and she had been telling the truth. And it is small because she does not want him to see it – the truth that was treated as a joke. So she clings to that smile, and turns it into a hope because, for a single, precious moment at least, he believed.
45. Hair
He doesn't even have time to wonder why he feels so panicked at the thought of those cascades of golden locks falling prey to a metallic snip as he snatches the scissors from Nori's hands quicker than the eye can see and growls in a low, furious voice he rarely uses, at Shinku, "Don't you dare cut it!" And when she asks him why, he flushes and can't meet her eye as he mutters, "Because it's beautiful and I love it the way it is."
46. Onion
His heart plummets and he rushes over, grabbing both her shoulders with frenzied worry when he walks in and sees her standing on a stool at the kitchen bench, tears streaming down her cheeks. Later on, Suiseiseki teases him to no end about overreacting so dramatically to Shinku's mere act of cutting up an onion.
47. Time
She holds the time she spends with Jun even closer to her heart because she knows that inevitably, all things come to an end. Until then, she finds herself clinging to every heartbeat because she can't go back to those little moment they shared together, and she realises that after everything else, the best times are the ones spent with him and he is the most important of all.
48. Birthday
His face burns like a furnace and doesn't return to its normal colour (i.e. not a brilliant beetroot red) and temperature for the rest of the day after Shinku nonchalantly tells him that whilst today might be regarded as his special day, he is special to her every single day of the year.
49. Doll
He often forgets that she is not a real human girl, but then it doesn't really matter because in the end she is not 'just' a doll after all; she is Shinku. Shinku, who drinks tea and reads German and adores Kunkun, who slaps him with her hair, scolds and abuses him at every turn, taught him to live and fight…and the beauty of it all lies in the only one real truth he knows, is that this is the Shinku he loves, regardless of whatever she may be.
50. Miracle
It was a one-in-a-billion chance that he came across Holie, that he chose to 'Wind', to kiss the rose ring, to pledge his word, and when he thinks of all the other paths he might have taken, the alternate lives he might have ended up living, he finally sees the blessing born out that sea of infinity that brought the fifth doll of the Rozen Maiden into his life, because she has turned every ordinary moment of his life into a dazzling and precious miracle.
No, more than that, Shinku is his miracle.
Sidenotes
* For those of you who don't know, the love calculator is this mobile phone thing where you text your name and your partner's name to this number and they calculate the 'love percentage' and send it back to you. The higher the percentage, the more compatible you and your partner are as a couple.
** see Chapters 9 - 11 of my other fic, "Unspoken: Words of Love". Yes, it's the same kitteh!
Reviews, pretty please~! They are very much wanted and even more appreciated. :D
~cherryblossomroses~
Love is patient, love is kind.
It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails.