An AU story. No magic, no talking cats, no mystical evil forces. I hope you enjoy it still
Rei liked to watch the town crawl past as she was driven to dance class, as long as she forgot she was on her way to dance class. It was an odd thing to be driven when the driver was behind an opaque partition. She thought she might have liked it if it hadn't been one more thing inflicted on her by her father's obscene wealth. After all, she went to plenty of effort to be left alone at school, it should have been a relief to be excluded in a limousine.
She wasn't avoided at school, not actively at least. No one tried to sit next to her, but it wasn't that she was isolated; rather she would find herself a silent wall between her peers, who turned to their friends and chattered rather than turning towards her. Rei didn't blame them.
She knew she seemed cold at best, but to most she was simply boring. A girl with dark amethyst eyes who didn't open her mouth if she could help it, and when she did had nothing particularly riveting to say. They thought she was a sulk, and she couldn't fault them for that either. But it wasn't that she was moody, she just liked to think. And she'd never had much in common with the people around her, even before she'd moved to live with her father.
She frowned, turning from the window. In truth she'd never wanted to live with him. Maybe anyone else would have, and maybe she was being ungrateful, she wasn't sure. But she didn't want a big house and a fancy car from her father, she didn't think she needed a team of maids to clean up after her, and she certainly didn't need him to decide who she should be. But that was the hand she'd been dealt.
A hand where the only noises in her house belonged to strangers. She hated it.
She slipped from the car with a dancer's grace, despite the fact that she wished to be anything but. Her father was insistent on this hobby, and she knew exactly why; she saw it in his face when he asked her (like clockwork, daily,) if she'd made a friend yet.
No.
She didn't claim to be an expert on her father, certainly she didn't wish to become one. But it wasn't difficult to see he was frustrated by her. He'd given her the world and she returned it to him at every possible opportunity.
All he could do was try to buy her friends, and attempt to mold her into what he imagined his daughter should be. Hence the dance classes.
Rei entered the building behind a group of girls, chattering in excited, hushed tones, the way girls do when gossip abounds- and in dance class it was abundant.
"Have you heard," one girl said, loud enough for Rei to catch, "that there's a new girl this week? Apparently, she's super pretty."
"I don't think she's that pretty," someone immediately interjected, furiously, "I mean she's pretty, but she's not that pretty, y'know?"
The conversation continued, a tug-of-war over the looks of some stranger. Rei rolled her eyes and tossed her bag into the nearest locker. She didn't have the patience to listen to anything like that, and she'd seen new girls arrive at the dance studio before; hell, she'd been one. You were sized up on your looks, and following that, your skill (if you possessed any,) and then you were either in with the main clique, or you found yourself one or two girls to chat with during breaks.
Or in Rei's case, she nearly chuckled, you kept to yourself and disappointed your father more thoroughly than usual.
If the new girl's looks were already a bone of contention for the others she'd no doubt be swallowed into the main clique within her first few minutes of the class. Rei didn't envy her.
She could tell why they were discussing her with such mixed interested and venom the second she walked into the studio. The new girl stood stretching calmly in a pool of sunlight, as though it were a spotlight on stage. She was everything that most girls wished to be, Rei thought, watching as the girl scooped her long hair into an elegant bun, and turned to face her classmates with a flash of bright blue eyes and a charming smile.
She wore make up, Rei saw, glossy lips and rosy cheeks, eyes framed by lashes too long for any one person. She caught Rei's eye for just a moment as she walked through the door, and Rei could have sworn that her smile widened, almost imperceptibly. And then she was enveloped by the other girls, curious about their pretty new specimen, and Rei heard her high, laughing voice echo about the room as she was interrogated.
The new girl or, as her name turned out to be, Minako, was everything that Rei wasn't. At least within the walls of the dance studio. She was as light as a breeze in everything she did, from her bright laugh to the ease with which she inserted herself into each step. She wanted to be a star, and when she said it... it was different, Rei thought.
Every girl there (except for herself) wanted to be a star, she knew that. They all talked about the day their big break would come with wistful sighs and the language of daydreams. For some it was more likely than others, they were prettier, or better dancers, or their charisma would carry them. For others it sounded almost laughable when they spoke of being noticed, but for all it was a dream. When Minako spoke about being a star even Rei had to admit that it didn't sound crazy. It simply seemed inevitable.
She seemed to move without effort, each painstakingly choreographed step as natural as breathing it seemed. Rei saw her twirl, perfectly, almost lazily, from the corner of her eye as she herself sweat over the same movement.
To her annoyance in the rare moments she took her eyes from herself in the long mirror at the front of the class, she seemed to constantly find Minako watching her in turn. It was no accidental eye contact followed by Minako looking away to prove she hadn't been staring. Rather, Rei fund herself caught in a pair of laughing eyes that made no apology for their interest and deliberate gaze.
It infuriated her.
She wasn't interested in dance class, not in the way these girls were. She was proficient at it, but by no means was she the best or worst of her class. She was there as an obedience to her father, and by politely ignoring the other girls she had hoped they'd extend her the same courtesy. Clearly, Minako didn't get the message.
Determined, Rei focused only on her own slim form in the mirror. All that mattered was getting to the end of the day where she could finally feel that she was herself, tucked away in her room, with her own interests to keep her sane in her father's sprawling home. She didn't need to annoy herself with wondering what went on in other people's heads during dance classes. She held her own head high.
Let her look.
And so they continued for weeks on end. Rei stolidly ignoring Minako 's constant gaze, though she could hardly ignore the fact that it occurred. She threw herself into the dances more thoroughly than she ever had before, no time left for watching her classmates lest she find herself locking eyes once more with the staring girl.
Occasionally she would find herself bumping into Minako outside the changing rooms, as though Minako had simply been lingering in the hallway. Minako would smile, a long, slow smile unlike her bright and flitting smiles for everyone else. Sometimes she would greet her, and Rei would stiffly nod and turn to walk mechanically towards her waiting car. On some days Minako would follow, offering tidbits of small talk that made Rei want to turn and tell her where she could shove her aimless chatter.
It happened on one of those days.
With a sigh of annoyance, Rei realized that her car was nowhere in sight.
It wasn't often that her father's staff were untimely for anything, but they were all human. It happened.
And of course if her father were to come by himself to pick her up, like everyone else's parents... well. Rei wouldn't be surprised if he'd forget about it entirely.
"Waiting for a ride?" came the annoying inquiry from behind her.
Minako slipped out the door and leaned herself gently against the bare bricks of the wall. She tilted her head slightly and fixed Rei with her bright gaze.
"Yes," Rei said in a clipped tone.
Gosh, how did you guess?
"I'm really enjoying the new piece we're working on," Minako rummaged in the handbag by her side, "the music is so gorgeous, and I just love that bit at the end when we're all in sync. How about you?"
"It's nice."
Don't you have anything better to talk about than dancing?
"You're really good at the pirouette, I've noticed. You have such great timing, it looks like you get it all easily," Minako withdrew a tube of peachy lip gloss and swept it deftly across her lips before extending it to Rei, "want some?"
"No thank you."
Seriously?
"That's a shame, this would look really nice on you. Oh well, maybe ruby lipstick is more your speed? Now that would look drop-dead gorgeous on you!"
Rei said nothing, longing for her car to arrive and rescue her from the vapid conversation. She wasn't sure if she'd ever been a part of such a silly conversation with so little point.
Minako was back in her bag, and finally withdrew a cigarette and lighter with a grin. Rei huffed silently. Terrible habit. Of course Minako smoked.
"Want one?" Minako was trying to pass the freshly lit cigarette to her, smile genuine, "I've got plenty."
"I don't smoke," Rei said shortly, hoping that it ended the conversation.
"Oh?" Minako observed her with open curiosity, "why not?"
Rei turned to her with almost clear exasperation and managed to grate out a full sentence.
"It's bad for you."
Minako just tutted and took a long drag of her cigarette, blowing smoke away on the faint breeze before she responded, eyes locking with Rei's.
"Keeps you skinny, you know," Minako winked, "everyone does it."
Rei turned away, her patience for the admittedly pretty girl exhausted. She didn't have the energy to waste on anything or anyone so vapid.
"You've never even tried one? You should," Minako was laughing again, "that way you can tell me next time that you know you don't like it."
Next time?
"Besides, one time won't hurt. You'll just learn whether you like it or not, and you'll know one more thing about the world."
Rei turned back to her, slowly. Almost suspiciously.
"That's what I thought," Minako knew she'd won, and had placed the cigarette elegantly between her fingers before Rei could so much as react, "just put your lips there, and drink it in."
Rei let her lips close over the end of the cigarette, and with a final thought that she'd finally gone crazy, allowed herself to breathe it all in.
She had expected a sensation of gravel and ash in her throat. All she received was a rush of something primal, as smoke flooded through her throat, and the tip of the cigarette glowed approval and wildfire.
Did I just become addicted to cigarettes? Is that ridiculous? Can that happen?
She looked anxiously to Minako, though she made no move to return the cigarette.
With a flip of her blonde hair Minako was smiling cheekily, crossing her arms and fixing Rei with her stare, which was somehow less irritating.
"You," Minako said deliberately, "look like you belong in flames."
Rei nearly spat the cigarette out at that, turning to stare at Minako, whose gaze had only gained intensity.
"What does that mean?" she stammered, choking on smoke and incredulity.
"I have no idea really," Minako laughed, back to her normal self, "no clue why I said it... but I don't take it back."
"You... you are strange," Rei took another cautious breath of the cigarette, not taking her eyes from the pretty girl now.
"Then I hope I'm in good company, Miss Act-Like-Everybody-Else-In-My-Classroom-Isn't-There."
Rei felt a small smile creep across her face involuntarily. She took the cigarette slowly from her lips, and was about to retort when she heard the familiar purr of one of her sleek limousine pulling up next to her, and with a start she threw the cigarette to the ground and ground it out with her heel.
Please tell me he didn't see that.
Her father's staff could be counted on to recount every detail of her day to her father. Just one more reason she couldn't stand to have them fussing all over her.
She was vaguely aware of Minako 's mouth falling open.
"You're rich?" the girl practically gasped, her eyes flicking between Rei and the limo.
Rei said nothing, climbing into the limo with a single backward glance at Minako.
In the moment it had taken for her to clamber in Minako had lit her own cigarette, and was leaning back against the building as calmly as ever. She was smiling at her.
Unable to help herself, Rei found herself returning the smile, however faintly, before finally closing the door and steeling herself to return home.