Written for LJ community contest, under the prompt ' Duet'. Dedicated to adriadne-chan.
I would very much appreciate if you read the story carefully and tell me what you think about it.
Tick...Tick...Tick...
Kahoko looked up at the violin shaped wall-clock that stared back at her to show that it's nine.
9 p.m.
He's not coming, you know it. Why give yourself false hope?But he promised,...he said he's going to keep his promise...Why would he? Who are you to him? Why must he care?I don't know...
Tears started to form a watery shield before the stars of her eyes as she realized how futile her hopes had turned out. As the moon crept up out in the sky that poured a glistening blanket onto her bed, the heartbroken girl laid still and soon her tears accompanied her to the world of hibernation.
Can I ask for a favor,...a very small one?
Clink!
What is it, Hino?
Clink!
I want you to promise me…
The third 'Clink !' flowed into the ears of her slumping figure as she jerked up on her bed. As the vivid image of a certain boy in her dream slowly faded into a tiny bubble at the back of her half-asleep brain, a fourth object found its way onto the outer window pane and startled her with a 'Clink' that pierced through the stillness of night.
She hesitantly crawled down the bed and then stood in front of the window and a hundred thought started spinning in her head.
What the…
Should I open it ?
Maybe not…
'CLINK!' The final projectile brought answer for her as she gathered up all her courage into her hands in their pursuit for opening the window.
A chilly night air came in with a 'Whoosh', uninvited, as she peeped through the small opening she produced, half expecting another 'something' to fly towards her.
Nothing. The night posed dark like tar. Where has the moon gone? And the stars? She bit her lip as she realized her slight disappointment to see no soul out there.
No sooner had a sigh left her little chest, a small object whipped through the wind, zooming just past her and landed on the floor with a mild thud.
As she looked closely,…she recognized the object.
A pebble, covered with a small piece of paper.
Her neck immediately spun towards the direction it came from. As her eyes swept on the grounds, through the bare window, the silver moon freed herself from the underworld of the clouds just in time and thus revealed a very familiar and equally unexpected silhouette come into view from behind a willow tree..
There, on the moon shone grassy ground, oblivious to the ongoing battle of the stormy wind to take conquer over the alluring ocean-colored bangs, with a thin smile locked on his lips, stood the most desired man in the world for her.
"Tsukimori-kun!" Her voice did no mercy to her while showing the excitement and astonishment ignited in her body at the same time.
"Hop down, will you? How long do you plan to keep me waiting? I'm out of pebbles already." It felt unusual as his generally frosty tone spoke out in an utterly warm, almost teasing manner, that made Kahoko's mouth hang wide open.
"You…You threw…those…?"
He scrutinized her expression with amusement for a moment, then let out a chuckle. "Why, were you expecting someone else to visit you tonight?" His eyes danced with mischievous glint.
"N-NO ,..But.."
"Come on, Kahoko, we don't have all night. Now , jump ,please." He offered his hand upward to help her climb down the window, and she took it.
"Ready?"….. "Yup."
And the next moment she found herself embraced in a pair of cold arms and together they collapsed onto the dewy ground.
"Tsukimori-kun! Are you all right?" Her concerned voice rang melody in his brain and his eyes snapped open.
"Umm, I think I'm okay, but I also think I've made a tremendous discovery just now."
"And what could that be, if I may ask?" relieved as she was to him alright, Kahoko found her mouth oddly acting on its own.
A mesmerizing crooked smile again appeared on his face. "You're not as skinny as you look, I just found out that."
Kahoko couldn't decide whether she should laugh or get angry. " And why exactly are you so cold, mister? Has your heating plant gone off that your body's so cool now while your inside's all warmed up suddenly?"
As she pronounced the last word, his eyes seemed lost their glee a little, only for a moment. Then the naughty look returned. "It's chilly out here. Shall I offer you the warmth of my embrace?"
"No, thank you very much, sir, that won' be necessary. Instead, I would appreciate if you explain to me what exactly we are doing here." She couldn't understand why Tsukimori's acting so weird. But she dared not ask about it directly.
"Oh, that.." he sounded relieved, as like he was dreading something else was coming. "Come." He grabbed her wrist and started to usher her to the park nearby. "I've got something for you that you'll like to see."
She was really taken aback as she let herself be dragged by him. As they made their way into the park with the cold night air following them, her sleep-fogged mind slowly started to function properly.
Tsukimori-kun came! HE CAME, FOR ME! Kahoko felt warmth creeping up to her neck, spreading over her face and then her whole body. As if feeling the heat coming from her, Len turned his head around for her. "What, aren't you happy to see me at all?" voice filled with uncertainity.
"N-No, that's not the case, just..." she stammered before saying, "I didn't expect-"
"That I'd come here for real, and keep my promise, right?" His strange smirk returned to bless his beautiful face.
Kahoko decided to side with silence, as she couldn't come up with anything to defend herself.
He drew his attention to the beautiful silver dish hanging above us, nestling among the countless stars on the lap of the vast dark canopy of night overhead. "I keep my promise, Kahoko, always, no matter what cost it may bring." His voice seemed coming from a far, far away. It sounded so different that Kaho looked up only to find herself to be lost in the golden orbs that looked so intently into hers. So close..., yet they seemed so distant, seemed so beyond her feach.
"Tsukimori-kun,..."
"Yes."
"Why did you bring me here?"
"Impatient, aren't you? Well, it has to wait, darling." Kahoko suddenly felt feverish at the word and the sight made Len cheery again.
"How about a ride?"
"What-"
Before she knew it, Kahoko found herself seated comfortably in one of the boxes of the Ferris wheel at the other side of the park. The little wheel started moving with a jerk as Len sat face-to face with her.
The box soared up high into the night sky as the old wheel came alive with its idle motion. As it rose up in the air higher and higher, Kahoko absorbed the moonlit beauty all around her. The stars stared at her like numerous flowers from above, the distant ocean sang its rhythmic lullaby to soothe her ears, the treetops, shimmered with silvery moonlight, danced to an unknown tune, and a pair of amused eyes that was taking every note of her actions.
"What?' She could feel an uneasiness starting to wrap her up.
He said nothing, just chuckled, without averting his eyes. Kahoko turned her head to her side to hide her crimson blush. But when she looked back at his seat, she saw it empty. And to her horror, her eyes found him bending down dangerously at the edge of the car, which by then had reached the peak spot.
And before her shocked eyes where his perfect lean body reflected on, his upper body disappeared from her sight.
"TSUKIMORI-KUN!" She closed her eyes, expecting every moment to hear the dreaded sound of his fall. But as the seconds aged into minutes, and she felt the silence of the night still unharmed, she convinced her body to open her eye-lids...to bare her anxious eyes to face another pair, only a few inches far.
There he stood, again, under the white moon, with a soft smile on his face, as if nothing had happened.
"Tsukimori-kun!" She felt incredibly light suddenly, and felt herself getting warm with the heat that his sight, safe and right, provided her. And at the same time, another emotion hit her.
"What exactly were you doing there? You...YOU SCARED THE HELL OUT OF ME!" Kahoko's voice bellowed.
He ignored her outburst and offered something to her. "Take this." She took it and was surprised instantly as she realized it was a violin. But isn't it…
Her thought was cut off as he raised another one in his hand and announced, "It's time."
And as the moon sat just above their head to declare the arrival of midnight, with their violins settled under their chins, with the stormy chilly night air playing with their hair, with gentle ocean waves accompanying them, on the Ferris wheel motioning slowly, under the floating clouds, with eyes locked on each other, they played, the one and only tune, the first and last piece that they ever played together, to compose the relishing memory of a perfect duet.
The last note of the Ave Maria vanished in the air, for the third time. The sleeping woman was still too lost in her own world of dreams to answer the call.
A few moments later, the door jerked open and another red-haired came in and started tossing her by grabbing her shoulders.
"Kahoko,…wake up,…you got a call, it's an emergency he said.." The slumping girl made no movement at first, but as the words slowly made their way into her brain, she opened her eyes with great difficulty and extended her hand for the chord-less, still savoring the bits of her dream(!) from last night.
"Hello, who's this?" She suppressed a yawn.
"Kahoko, it's me, Ryutaro." The urgency in the deep voice that flowed in through the cable that brought her fully awake.
"Oh, hi,..So what is it that made you call me so early? Did someone die, maybe?" She joked.
The male on the other end heaved a heavy sigh. " You haven't heard it yet, have you, Kahoko?"
She felt something in his voice like something was terribly wrong. "No,I'm afraid I haven't… I mean, what do you mean by 'it'?
Another sigh. "Listen, I just had a call from Hihara. The last night flight from Vienna, ..his flight, you see,..it…," he struggled to pick the words carefully, " it had to made a crash land. The rescue party went there, but found none alive…"
The rest of Ryutaro's voice seemed like an endless buzz as Kahoko's mind went numb. She felt something hard inside her chest,that made her feel dizzy suddenly. But then she remembered….
'Wh-when.."
"Umm,..well..they said it touched the ground at ten at night…"
Ten.
Ten p.m.
The phone fell on the floor as the girl followed its suit just beside it, as the effect of that single word steered an ocean of thoughts in her mind.
And that is when she felt it under her leg.
A pebble, covered with a piece of paper, lying by the side of the window.
As she removed the page from the stone, and looked up to read, a lonely sentence written in elegant penmanship, gloomily welcomed her view.
"A love for a lifetime and a love for a moment, there stands not much difference between them, as long as the love is real and pure."
As she read the sentence over and over again and images from all the events of the previous night started knocking over her eyes, each of them started to appear with a whole different meaning now. A distant promise made by someone murmured a conclusion to her never-ending thoughts.
"Can I ask a favour…a very small one?"
"What is it, Hino?"
"Can you promise me,..I want you to promise me that when you'll come back, you'll have your first duet with me."
"I promise, Hino, to give you a duet of a lifetime."
A river of tears flowed down the valley of her cheeks, as she clutched the paper close to her aching heart.
"Thank you, Tsukimori-kun. For keeping your promise."
"Thank you, for your duet of a lifetime."
"Thank you."