A/N: Hi, everyone! I know it's been a while since my last post, but life has thrown it's hurdles at me. This is no excuse, I know, but I truly appreciate all the comments I've received throughout this hiatus. Despite all this, I'm incredibly happy to return with a new story that I hope will suffice for my lack of updates with my other story, Waltz in the Rain. I thought I'd venture into a new style and format with this piece, and hopefully it turned out decent!
He's four when he first meets her.
Nothing but a mere toddler forcefully thrust into the adult world, he is fashionably groomed for the business empire, already an heir in training. Standing amidst the garish decorations and the crowd of colleagues, all who, according to his father, carry ulterior motives, Usui feels terribly suffocated and impeccably fake. When finally allowed a moment's worth of peace, he steals stealthily into the gardens and dreams of amusement parks, ferris wheels, laughter, and friends- all of which eludes him. Pleasures in life he resigns to never experiencing. 'Hopeless,' he laughs bitterly, the remnants of freedom hanging perilously on his fleeting thoughts.
A quick shadow streaks by the bushes, and instead of fleeing back to the "safety" of his imprisonment, Usui decides to seek out this curious occurrence.
'Are you there?'
He inches slowly towards the shrubbery, hands parting way for sight of this fascinating new being. What he happens upon, however, steals his breath away. For there, crouching timidly in the mass of green stands a small figure of his size. With hair a deep amethyst and outlines of tears streaking down glistening, warm honey orbs, Usui becomes utterly enraptured with the girl before him. 'Beautiful,' he gasps in awe.
He's four when he first falls in love.
He's ten when they meet again.
For Usui, the only promising thing about perfecting menial lessons of mathematics and economics is the chance of browsing the commoner's market. Academic excellence on his part is reward in the form of sweets, and the rare opportunity to glimpse into life devoid of stuffy butlers and gourmet cuisines. He observes the raw determination on ordinary people's faces, the fine wrinkles adorning their strained expressions, each a testament to the numerous obstacles they've encountered outside of the privileged world he is accustomed to. They are ambitious workers, citizens who embrace sweat and tears for a semblance of a good life. It is something he admires and wishes the society of the wealthy would appreciate.
Standing meekly behind her father, Usui catches a glimpse of a lanky girl, hints of cuts and bruises fresh upon her poorly covered legs and arms. His eyes travel up to her face and stalls upon the same eyes from years past. Shocked, he quickly regains his composure but finds it difficult to refrain from staring. She peers back, expression hardened by her faced hardships, but eyes exposing a temporary vulnerably that Usui manages to witness. They shine of unmentionable sorrow, an undulating pain that overwhelms all his senses and renders his reason to falter. He captures her in a warm embrace, hoping and praying that all his love would transfer to her through some sort of osmosis and rejuvenate her fragile body.
'You're going to be okay. I promise.'
His words carry an assurance of trust, security, and everything he wishes to fulfill for this trembling girl before him. Her mouth is agape in shock, body limp from the sudden attack by this beautiful boy but for the first time in a long time, there is warmth. Her heart flurries with unexpected tremors of apprehension and uncertainty, but the promising gaze affixed upon her by these emerald eyes nullify her concerns. For once, she feels loved.
But the tenderness is fleeting, an ephemeral moment stolen by his caretaker.
'Young Master! What on earth is wrong with you? We do not associate with these people, nor do we make contact with them!'
The horror in his caretaker's voice drags Usui back to his grim reality. He argues with his caretaker, indignantly defending his actions because they're people as well, and he sees no fault in being with them.
'They are not of the same caliber as us. We are leaving now.'
At that, he is forced rather unwillingly back into the black limo, returning to his programmed lifestyle. He vehemently wonders why there even is a status quo and becomes rather revolted with the pompousness of his rich culture. The girl remains stoic in the supermarket, and as Usui peers longingly through the tinted windows, he sees a similar yearning and hopeless abandon. Usui discovers that he has left half of his heart with this unnamed angel.
He's ten when he first tastes disappointment.
He's sixteen when he confesses.
At the prime of his youth and the peak of his rebellious streak, Usui decides to forgo all rules for one day and sneak off to the amusement park. Overwhelmed and lost in the crowd of colorful balloons and shrieking kids, he nearly gives up on his bold venture when a pair of familiar eyes meet his.
'It's you. Again.'
She breathes out slowly, heart clutching because her other half has finally been found.
'It's me…' He whispers back tenderly. 'Why are you here? Why…'
Words are left dangling when he spots a purplish green amalgamation forming near her cheekbone. Straying towards her arms, he notices a slew of bruises and healed scars scattered in copious amounts. His eyes flash concern and fury over her injury, but as if aware of his imposing eyes, she conceals it with her hair and tugs her sleeves lower.
'I work here, at one of the booths. Are you lost? You don't…seem to be the type to come here.'
'Change of view? I wanted to have fun. Just for one day.'
Boldly inching closer to her, he believes he's never seen someone as brittle yet beautiful as the girl before him- cheeks flushed, hair tangled and draped over her shoulders, eyes swimming with a sea of emotions and lips of pink coral.
'Come join me, please.'
He's never sounded so pathetically desperate in his life, but for once this is what he wants, and curses all rules of engagement and logic to hell. It's fate, he decides, and finally lets his heart lead him and not his head. They share the tea-cup ride, spinning until vertigo is reached; take in the vast scenery when reaching the climax of the roller coaster; venture through the arcade and winning every possible prize along the way; ride the ferris wheel as fireworks flash above the night sky. With cotton candy in each hand, Usui declares today as his first endeavor into actually living.
'I know this is sudden, but I love you. I have since the moment I met you. There's this urge inside me to protect you, to comfort you and heal you.'
She blushes and her eyes shimmer golden specks
'Thank you for that day in the supermarket. You gave me strength and showed me that people were capable of kindness, of affection.'
She holds his hand, murmuring gently against his mouth,
'I love you too.'
And as he shares his first kiss with love of his life, wisps of cotton candy still remaining on his lips, he believes that life couldn't possibly get any sweeter than it is now.
He's sixteen when he experiences fairytale love.
He's twenty when his world is turned upside down.
'Business Mogul dead with stroke.' 'Young son stands to inherit father's empire.' 'Fate of company left in hands of sole son.'
Media and newspapers bombard him, hoping to be the first to interview and perhaps break the flawlessly impassive Usui. He, however, remains apathetic to the news of his father's passing, years of accumulated tension and disapproval for the methods of his father's business left unresolved, and now buried six feet under. If he's imparted anything to him within his life, it's the ability to remain perfectly unruffled in times of crises. Barely a step into adulthood, Usui is left the entire stake of the company, and pushed into the world of the wolves to fend for himself. He could hardly care, but the hopes of finally saving the girl of his childhood with his current power and status propels him on, invigorates him to outlast and outsmart his competitors.
'I suppose Father was right after all. Everyone does have ulterior motives.'
Armed with a newfound purpose, Usui engages in a war he wholeheartedly believes he will conquer so long as the angel he's loved since day one stands by his side.
But he learns that fairytales are impossible in this world when he stands in front of her bloodied body, deathly cold and exposed. The eyes that once shimmered honey-gold were dim and lips of carnation pink retreated to a muted purple. He gently brushes her cheeks, every fiber in his body reigning in the dam of emotions threatening to break.
'Victim of domestic abuse.' 'Father an alcoholic.'
Reports of her battered history echoes in Usui's head, and he curses himself for failing to protect the one person who matters-no, mattered- the most to him. As he reads the plaque next to her, he realizes that he never knew her name because it didn't matter who she was or where she came from- only that she was the one.
'Ayuzawa, Misaki' he whispers, name rolling off his tongue as if were the most natural thing in the world.
And like that, Usui cries.
Pure grief is stricken on his face as gasps escape his body.
Never had he shed a tear for his family, or fort he countless times he was berated and demeaned. He kept his composure because that's what he was taught. But at age 20, his steely resolve finally shatters. Sobs rack through his body and he doesn't care anymore because damn it, how could he not lament his loss when he had already entrusted his heart to her. His other half is in the morgue, dead, and the bitterness that courses through Usui's body remove any traces of cotton-candy love.
He's twenty when his heartbreaks.