Tora was just leisurely strolling around in the limo. Out of the corner of his eye, his lime eye caught onto something plum colored. Or rather… hair.
"Stop," Tora suddenly demanded the driver. The limo came to an abrupt halt.
"You do know we have to find a suitable fiancé for you since you didn't want Chiyo as your betrothed," Maki urgently said.
"Oh hush. I am doing just that," Tora smirked evilly. He then focused his sharp vision on the Seika High president, Misaki Ayuzawa. What didn't make him happy was she was hand in hand with Takumi Usui.
"That girl?" Maki asked in surprise, "Why she could insult my mother if she knew about her!"
"Shut up and be quiet," Tora growled, his yellow predator eyes turning into slits.
Misaki felt someone's burning gaze on the nape of her neck. She then angled her head to the side when she knew her boyfriend was not looking. She came in eye contact with Igarashi Tora. Her throat tightened and she immediately donned a deep glare as if saying, 'stay away'.
"What is wrong?" Takumi smiled at Misaki. Misaki broke her glare and uneasily smiled at Takumi.
"Nothing, Usui. Let's get to Maid Latte as quickly as possible," Misaki said too quickly.
"Yeah, Satsuki is sick, right?" Takumi laughed and nodded his head.
"Y-Yeah," Misaki tried to laugh, hoping her boyfriend wouldn't notice her distress. Luckily he didn't and they went to Maid Latte where Misaki had her part time job.
-x-
Misaki smiled after coming out of her part time job. Something ate at her heart and she knew something bad would happen. Caring a lot about her boyfriend, she told him to go on without her. She would come home on her home. She didn't want Takumi officially involved with any of her problems.
Misaki sighed as she went around the alley way. Suddenly, a hand clamped around her mouth. Misaki's worst fears came to her. She was going to die possibly!
Misaki tried to use her skills of aikido on the attacker but she was in an uncomfortable and inconvenient position to do so. Then a cloth was pressed against her mouth.
The plum haired woman blinked and then felt black spots dot and dance across her vision. The strength sapped out and Misaki could only think of Takumi's smirking face as she fainted limp in the stranger's arms. The last thought ran in Misaki's mind.
I guess I am not going to have the future I want.
Then her whole world became pitch black.
-x-
Misaki grumbled. She felt her hands tied up.
"How long has she been out?" a snarky voice Misaki knew all too well.
"Fourteen hours, young master," an unknown servant said in a tiny voice.
"It looks like she is waking up. You may leave," Tora's arrogant voice snapped at the servant.
"Y-Yes young master," the servant stuttered.
Misaki pried her eyelids open and she glared at the lime haired boy sitting on a luxurious chair in such a manner that he looked like he was sitting on a throne.
"So you decided to wake up now," Tora smirked sadistically. Misaki tried to open her mouth to retort when she couldn't. Looking down, she saw duct tape. Damn him knowing she had a sharp tongue.
"What's that? Cat got your tongue?" Tora cracked up at his own humorous joke. Misaki didn't and she was not happy.
Misaki struggled against the confinements to give him a message that this was far from funny. It was scary! What next? Her virginity stolen? Not like she would want to give this nasty guy any ideas.
"You are so over him! Usui this and Usui that! You even wore his stupid necklace after that stupid celebration," Tora growled as his fingers found their way to her neck where the simple heart necklace daintily wrapped itself around her neck.
Tora didn't bother to be a gentleman like his façade was. Instead of clipping the necklace off, he yanked it off, cutting at Misaki's tender skin as the necklace snapped.
Tears sprung to Misaki's eyes. Her skin hurt and bled and she watched with agony as the necklace in front of her was thrown in a trash can.
"Why do you keep so much sentimental value to this garbage anyways?" Tora went on and on, "It isn't even silver."
Tora turned around and crept up closer to Misaki and gently outlined her face to the point she thought he was a nice person.
"But don't you worry, love. I will lace you in silk and adorn you in gold. You will look like a doll!" Tora laughed.
Tears stung at Misaki's gold eyes. She didn't like this nightmare. She wanted to be home and with her family or her friends at school or with Usui.
Suddenly the only think Misaki could register was the agonizing pain of the duct tape peeling away from her skin.
"You can't do this to me," Misaki's voice cracked. Tora sadistically grinned.
"Oh, love, I think I can," Tora laughed.
-x-
Bright light. That was all Misaki could see right now when she opened her eyes. They stung at her eyes and clawed at the back of her skull.
Misaki tried to move but found her hands tied behind her back.
"I see you are awake," a cold and clipped voice of someone unfamiliar came to her left.
Before Misaki could register anything her hands were untied. The servant glared at her from behind the clothed veil. The thin hands ripped the silken bed sheets from Misaki and the plum haired female was shivering in a practically revealing maid costume.
"Come," the girl's clipped voice commanded her and Misaki was too afraid to scold the girl for her impudence at the moment.
Misaki limped towards the girl and a hand rudely latched onto one of Misaki's shoulders and yanked her in front of a full body dressing mirror.
The girl gave Misaki a stern look and went to the nearby closet. She pulled out a dress the color of an unpleasant electric blue. It didn't match her personality, all cold and indifferent. But Misaki was in no position to argue with it.
The dress was pulled over her head and tightened up perfectly. The girl pulled Misaki's hair into a complicated and intricate weaved bun. The makeup seemed to clot her skin and the jewelry seemed to weigh her down.
"You're all done," the girl's clipped voice came, and the figure glared at her before leaving.
Misaki just went to the side and sat on the luxurious bed. True, she wanted to be wealthy and prosperous in her life as a fruit of her hard work, but she would rather be poor and be with Usui than be rich and with someone else.
But then again, she didn't have a choice anymore. Fate wrote her destiny. And she was picked to be with Tora, not Takumi.
A gentle rap came to the other side of the elaborate door. Misaki opened her mouth and robotically spoke in a smooth voice, "Come in."
The door opened to show a butler in his late 50's. He bowed down with one hand over his heart and said, "Ayuzawa-sama, you are instructed to come down to the party now."
Misaki drew in a shaky breath as she got up on her sky blue pumps. Her engagement party. Not that she had any choice. Somehow she felt annoyed. Where was her knight in shining armor? But now this happened to her, she doesn't think they will really exist.
Misaki followed the lead and the butler left her. He pointed down before disappearing. Misaki looked down, lifted her dress, and gently walked the velvet steps.
"May I present to you, my fiancé, Ayuzawa Misaki," Tora said to the public. Misak lowered her eyes as she stood beside her fiancé.
In public, Tora got down on one knee and proposed to Misaki. Misaki being kidnapped and bound and tortured couldn't say anything. She could only robotically nod. The beautiful ring got placed on her wedding ring finger. Suddenly, from the crowd, was elicited a gasp.
A gasp that Misaki knew too much. She looked up in the crowd. She saw her boyfriend in there. She didn't wonder how he was wealthy or whatnot. She wanted to run to him but an iron steel grip prevented her from going through the crowd.
Misaki was almost reduced to tears. She sadly looked at her heartbroken lover and mouthed, "It's too late."
She was going to get married and it was not a happy white veiled occasion that she dreamed of beside her mother.
All Misaki could hear after that was cheers and roars. Some of the people were whispering that she made the perfect bride for Tora. But at the back of her mind, she silently disagreed.
After the celebration, Misaki was told to wait in her room. She was told another servant would come and get her ready for bed.
While waiting, Misaki twirled at the large ring. It was large, expressive and too bulky. She didn't want something too big and expensive. Sure she knew wedding and engagement rings were a big investment, but she didn't want something so extravagant.
"We're going to get married one day," Takumi smirked at his new girlfriend.
Misaki's back arched immediately.
Misaki rolled her eyes and curled her fingers with Takumi's. She rested her head on his shoulder and murmured, "Quit thinking so far ahead."
Tears dripped down her face.
"But it's true, right?" Takumi smiled, "We're going to get married, your wedding ring will have emeralds on it…"
"Wait, why emeralds?"
"For loyalty, of course."
Misaki clutched at some velvet pillows and threw her face in it. Her body began to shake with sobs.
"I knew you hated extravagance. So your wedding ring will be simple and beautiful and loyal, just like you."
Misaki softly smiled and wound her fingers with Takumi's. Shifting her head so she could look at him, she murmured, "I would like that, Takumi."
Takumi's dark green eyes softened as he smiled in love. He then brought out a hand and softly stroked Misaki's head until she soundly fell asleep.
"Then it will happen," Takumi whispered gently in Misaki's ear, "It's a promise."
"Stupid… perverted outer space… alien," Misaki softly whispered in her sleep, "Predicting the future."
Takumi softly laughed as he gathered Misaki in his arms and wrapped his arms around Misaki's thin waist from behind and sang soft lullabies in her ear to drift her into a sweeter slumber.
Misaki's nails scraped at the velvet to the point that anyone would be surprised that the pillow fabric didn't tear.
"What happened to your promise, Takumi?!" Misaki sobbed inconsolably, "What happened to it?!"
The room was filled with silent sobs. And one word was repeated over and over and over again.
…promise…
-x-
Misaki woke up with a start. Her nightgown was on and she assumed someone in her sleep had changed her clothes. Although she most sincerely hoped from the bottom of her heart that it was a lady, she couldn't care at the moment.
Misaki's amber eyes set on… a trash can?
She remembered the day she was tied was the same room. She was just thrown on the bed before her engagement party.
She stumbled to the trashcan which was illuminated by the moonlight. Misaki glanced at a grandfather clock in the corner of her room. It was in the middle of the night.
Misaki refocused her glittering amber eyes on the trash can. She crawled over to the small bin and roughly dumped whatever content it had in there. Misaki's heart broke.
The small silver chain was nowhere to be seen. Tora had the servants wipe out the trash when he threw the necklace away!
The only thing that she had close to her heart… is gone.
"Do you need something?" the girl's clipped words ripped Misaki out of her personal thoughts.
"N-No," Misaki softly whispered as she cleaned up after herself.
"Then why were you prowling through your trash can?" The cold girl asked. She stepped out of the shadows with a menacing look on her young features.
She wouldn't understand, Misaki decided. The girl represented Igarashi Tora. Clipped words, cold exterior and such an arrogant air. Sometimes Misaki wondered if the girl had a heart, or if the girl even bothered learning about what emotions were.
"It was nothing," Misaki whispered.
"Then go back to bed," The girl whined sharply in self-pity, "I have to guard you throughout the night."
"Have you been taken away from someone you loved with all of your heart?" Misaki suddenly had a surge of confidence.
"No."
"Then shut up about self-pity and all of your garbage. I lost something that was from someone I truly love. It is none of your business," Misaki sharply glared at the girl and ignored the girl's request to tuck her in the night. She didn't need more pity on top of this.
The girl huffed at being ignored and just stomped away. Misaki's tears flowed. The door slammed harshly and the girl started to rant.
"Honestly that commoner!"
"What happened, Shizuka?" An unfamiliar elderly voice asked gently.
"That… that… brat is so weird! Prowling through the trash for something her lover gave her! Always acting like a beaten kitten and now she is the Joan of Arc? How egoistic can she become?" The girl's clipped words were rushed with a power push of anger.
"I tried time and time again to get you someone suitable. But you stupid girl are so arrogant to love. Let me handle her. Seeing as you have no heart and a pea-sized brain, I know you will go nowhere far with Igarashi-sama's fiancé," the elderly woman snapped to the point even Misaki could flinch in fear.
"AARGH! This whole world is messed up!" Shizuka yelled when the elderly lady didn't sympathize with her. She ran down the hallway.
"What a selfish brat," the woman muttered before Misaki heard the doors open. She tried to snap her eyes shut and feign sleep.
"Dearie, you can get up. I know Shizuka has been a huge pain in the butt," the elderly woman gently called out. Misaki sat up.
"I-I'm sorry. I j-just wanted t-to look for-"
"I know. Something valuable. Something that had sentimental value, right?" The old lady said knowingly.
"Yes…?" Misaki said, unsure of where the old lady was going with.
"I have it," The old lady smiled kindly and from the sleeve of her kimono she pulled out the heart necklace, repaired perfectly. As if Tora had never broken it in the first place. Misaki gasped.
"My necklace!" Misaki gasped.
The lady held a finger to her lips in a 'shh' motion and Misaki calmed down after the necklace was in her hand. She clutched it and cried. The tears for the one person she will not be married to now.
"You love him, don't you? That boy with green eyes," The old lady smiled knowingly.
Misaki stuttered. She didn't know what to say.
"I know too. Don't have to tell an old hag like me anything. I can understand your pain," she smiled and sat on the edge of Misaki's bed as if she were the mother.
"Really?" Misaki whispered.
"Yes. I, too, was forcefully married against my will. I loved someone else and seeing him start a family with another woman really hurt my heart," the lady spoke.
Misaki nodded and slipped the necklace in her bra to hide it from Tora.
"I can understand that in life you do not get married to the person you want to. But Tora, he is just so unreasonable in his demands," the lady sighed.
"How?" Misaki asked.
"When he set eyes on you he would talk only about how you are so interesting and I felt he was treating you like a chess piece. But my lady, you must be a magician because you made him drawn to you in ways words couldn't describe it," the lady smiled, "You made him smitten."
Misaki remorsefully looked at her folded hands and said, "Well if he loved me then why didn't he just confess? Like a normal person?"
"Tora is a fool. He looks like an arrogant person, but in reality he is just a child in personality. A selfish one at that. He chooses wisely what he deeply wants and when he desires something, he will stop at nothing to get it. People just think he is lecherous and double-sided when in reality he is just passionate. But he has such interesting ways on showing his passion to the point of scaring people," the old lady sighed and shook her head.
Misaki's throat clenched as she whispered softly, "Have you heard anything from Usui?"
The lady's eyes wavered. She took Misaki's hands in her own and said, "I have."
"What of it?" Misaki asked. The slight waver in the old lady's composition worried her.
"He committed suicide," the lady's voice was so faint, it almost blended with the soft wind. Misaki's eyes widened, and her heart shattered into small pieces.
"W-What…"
"He loved you too much, he told me. He did it in front of me, and when he died, he told me to give you this note," the lady whispered as she handed a folded rectangle paper piece to Misaki.
Misaki's trembling hands took the paper. It weighed slightly.
Out tumbled a medium-thick white gold wedding band decorated with emeralds. Misaki's heart shattered.
Her hands trembled upon opening the letter and her heart lost it when she read the content:
My Dear Misaki,
I love you with words beyond compare. I love you so much that even though you were forcefully engaged to Tora Igarashi, I can't stand being with another women.
Because being with another woman will just reflect your beautiful face back. Bright beaming amber orbs and beautiful plum hair. And the beautiful face would be pulled back in a deep frown.
I know this is not your fault. Had it been your choice, you would have chosen me. But it was my fault. I promised us a happy family. I feel pathetic to tell you I couldn't keep my promise, no wait, OUR promise.
So I ended my pain. I hope at the end of your life, I can be reunited with you again.
I am waiting for you, my love, in heaven with a pair of angel wings and a halo.
Usui Takumi
P.S. Attached is the ring that I would have proposed to you with.
Misaki cried herself to sleep clutching at the ring and the necklace and the letter. The old lady hugged her until Misaki fell asleep.
-x-
Misaki breathed in deeply. She stared at the vial of poison. She waited for the annoying and obnoxious bridesmaids to leave her for a moment.
"What are you doing?" the old lady asked.
"I am going to do what I have to do," Misaki whispered.
"Will you regret it?" The lady asked.
"No," Misaki whispered, tears running down, "Because I do not love Tora. I love Takumi."
"Tora has overstepped his boundaries of being a fool," the old lady gnashed her teeth.
"It's all right, just tell him, he can't own me," Misaki whispered. She took off the engagement ring and threw it on the floor. From her bra, she took the emerald ring and slipped it on her ring finger.
"Now I am your fiancé, Takumi," Misaki whispered.
"I hope you do not regret this, my dear. I love you very much," The old lady whispered sadly.
"I won't," Misaki whispered. Then she downed the vial of poison. And instantly her vision blacked out and she fell.
The old lady caught her and Tora came barging in. His eyes narrowed at his dead bride.
"She told me to tell you that you cannot own her," the old lady glared, "Go ahead, I do not care if you kill me."
"What did she do?" Tora growled.
"She went to where she belonged. Her fiancé."
"I AM her fiancé," Tora drawled.
"Not anymore. Look at her hand."
Tora did and when he did he wanted to wish Takumi never existed.
-x-
Misaki slowly opened her eyes. She had wings and a halo.
"Takumi?" Misaki blindly called out. She squealed when she was suddenly being held in the air.
"Yes, my love?" Usui smirked, his cat like emerald eyes softening in love.
"I came for you," Misaki cried softly.
"I can see that," Takumi kissed Misaki's ring finger and slipped another ring on.
"Now we are husband and wife," Misaki whispered, as Takumi's lips covered her own.
-FINALMENTE-