(Tips hat and gives the crowd a blank face) Enjoy. (Flash of fire blazes up and whists me away)

"Ah! Misaki-kun!" Shinobu called out behind me. I turned around to see the blonde haired boy running to catch up with me. Shinobu and I had started out just as classmates in a cooking seminar, but when he asked me to help him out, I couldn't refuse his nostalgic request. We practiced at my apartment, for a very long time, then started hanging out for more than cooking-needs. We became great friends after our encounter. I really hadn't had that many friends when I started college anyways, other than sempai.

"Yo," I said as he ran up to me. He was breathless, only shoving a flyer in my face. I took it from him gently, thanking him, and studied it.

CIRQUE DES COUERS
(Circus of the Hearts)

Admission: Free for those who are worthy

For those of you who think absurdity
is merely madness, you will be able
to reconsider... with pleasure.

For those of you who take love for
granted, you will be aroused by our
many talented acts... by or by not force.

I stared at it blankly. Had Shinobu finally lost it? This was definitely one of those illegal shows. I could just tell that there was something bad about this... especially with where it was. Friday night at the Abandoned Playhouse. I shivered. The Abandoned Playhouse was self explanatory. It was an old theatre that used to thrive with performances until it went bankrupt and was now used for all sorts of illegal things. Things that included drug dealing, underage drinking/smoking, and black market trades. Shinobu stared up at me with glowering eyes, begging me and threatening me to go.

"Why?" I finally choked up.

"Why?" he mimed. Shinobu backed up against the wooden wall and slid down uneasily. "Misaki-kun... you know about my father and how well-mannered I need to be and all..." Yeah... I know..., "Well... sometimes I just want to do something worth talking about. Cooking classes? If I even mentioned it to the guys back in Kyoujou (imaginary gangster hall) they'd probably beat me up... but this." He took the red, black and gold colored flyer and stared at it. "This is definitely something worth honorable mention."

I sighed and sat beside him.

"But... Shinobu-chan-."

"Please Misaki!" Shinobu yelled in a question. I flinched at his sudden intensity of anger. He stared at me with those eyes, the ones that reminded me of a fire that burned only to be seen and not to hold a purpose... maybe this circus will teach him something. Hmm, maybe they'll think we're little snitches or something and tell us that we can't come inside. I smiled. Yeah, that's what they'll probably do.

"Okay," I sighed. Shinobu made I sigh of contentment and latched himself to my arm for a moment, almost as if it were a hug. Very unShinobu-like...

Friday

I wore jeans and a regular tee shirt alongside Shinobu. We looked like regular teenagers going to see an innocent show, but I knew just as well as he did that this was no innocent show. I could see it now, the flames, the psychotic clowns, the people swinging off ropes and falling onto the ground, screams, yells, sirens... I snapped out of it and sighed. It was obvious these people were not going to rip us off of our money and leave us to watch a "never to be seen" show. They would've charged prices then.

It was also obvious that these people had to be some kind of professional because the flyers looked very proficient. The name also caught my attention. Circus of the Hearts... I was no master in French, but I was sure that they didn't just slap those words together from a magazine. They had to take some time on it. I don't know why the show was bothering me so much anyways, we weren't going to watch it. We were going to be denied like any sane person would do. I clutched my hand to my shirt, because even though I said this, a tiny part of my heart wished that they would allow us to see what would be going on.

I sighed deeply as we rounded our way behind the bushes in the dark and saw the beaten down and falling apart house. It was large, very large, the stage was very showy. I remembered once seeing it when it was opened. Lights would shine everywhere and sound and scene FX would be deployed, to make for a spectacular performance. I now looked forward to see the ghost-like wooden playhouse with the masks with cracked faces. The frowning one had an eye completely missing, and the smiling one's mouth had chipped off slightly. I took a steady sigh and walked with Shinobu up to the door.

Two guys about our age raced before us, smirking and spitting their tongues out at us. Shinobu got angry, but I held him back. At the front door, there was a man wearing a black hat and a black suit with a cane in his hand and a cigarette dangling from his mouth. He was pretty tall, taller than the two of us at least. He had dark eyes and black hair that seemd almost completely hidden. His eyes were difficult to tell too, seeing as though the shadow that cast over his face from the mask had devoured almost all his face.

The two boys almost ran straight through, only to be stopped by the man's cane hitting the other side of the door and stopping them. They each made wary smile up at him. I couldn't hear what he was saying, but he had a sly smile casting on the part of his face that was enlightened by the pale moonlight. The boys said something back, the man chuckled and said one more thing before kicking them. Shinobu and I froze. The two guys looked up at the guy angrily, but scared, and ran away yelling, "Who needs this shit anyways!" The man simply chuckled again and leaned back against the door, his arms folded across his chest and his cane swinging in the air.

"You go," Shinobu whispered before pushing me harshly towards the door. Before I could stop myself, his cane was wedged between him and the door, causing me to fly back and fall flat on my ass. I groaned a bit in pain and looked up to see the man's dark, luminescent eyes on me. I felt a surge of electricity wind down my spine. He clacked his cane against the floor boards of the entrance hallway. Nothing happened. Nothing was said. It was almost as if he was trying to read me like a book. I stood up, slightly jostled and still quaking from my fear. He raised an eyebrow at me.

"Young meat," he mumbled, "I don't think that brats like you are allowed." I froze.

"He's not a brat, asshole!" I turned around to see Shinobu's face vexed and full of loathing towards the man. Shinobu walked up to me. "We're here to see you're goddamned show, whether you like it or not!" The man stared at Shinobu, not in anger or annoyance or even delight that he had put up a fight... he was just surprised and interested. Something else creeped into his irises, a soft kind of pale blue that seemed to caress through his eyes like the chill on this mid-summer night.

"I see," was all he said before caving the shadows on his face once again. We each looked over to him, eyes widened with anticipation. "You are not welcome to proceed." We each waited for the foot in our stomachs, but he just stood there. After a moment or two, Shinobu made a 'Hmph' of anger.

"Fine then!" he roared, turning around and grabbing my hand, walking to the end of the playhouse. My face was relaxed, but a tad disappointed.

"Alright, Shinobu-chan, let's go home," I breathed. Shinobu looked back at me with a smirk.

"We're here to see that asshole's show," Shinobu declared rounding to the back of the caged entrance leading to the backdoor... "I think of his statement as more of an invitation." A jingle chimed from the steel gates as he gripped a hold of it. He smirked down at me once more and held a hand out to me. "Are you in or not?"

I didn't understand how I got to sneaking around behind the scenes of the stage, but I was scared. More than scared, I was anxious for them to find us. It was only a matter of time before one of us turned around and saw that bone-chilling man rest his white gloved hand on our shoulders, ripping our throats out to our death.

We heard footsteps and hid in the depths of the shadows. My heart was drumming wildly as I smelt the heavy scent of cigarette smoke. Shinobu looked completely confident, his chest puffed up like he was able to take whatever came his way. I stared at him in a silent awe. He was much stronger than me in more ways than one. Even though he was younger than me, he was obviously much more determing to do what he wanted than I ever would have imagined. Once the scent, and footsteps, faded away, we each ran down the hall to a side corridor that read "Crowd Circle". We decided that that was where we would take our seats.

We looked down to see the wooden floor boards become a stained red carpet with dim candles lighting the way. The walls had a new décor. Usually they were simple and gold, but this time there were pictures of clowns and ring masters and people that didn't even seem like people. We turned left and saw a full house of people filling in the seats of the auditorium. Sinobu and I walked out into the the floor area and looked for seats. It was so packed that we could barely find two seats together that had a good view. We looked around a bit until we saw some seats in the back, hidden in shadows. We decided it was good enough, seeing as though we weren't supposed to be here anyways.

We waited there for a while, the murmur of the crowd buzzing all around. Everything in the room seemed to have some sort of a circus theme. I wasn't unnerved by it, it just wasn't normal to see in such a classical theatre. I had to admit, though, these guys really knew how to set the mood. After almost fifteen minutes, music blared from the speakers.

I didn't understand how. Those speakers were cut off from all electircal power and shouldn't have been working. They might've had a power source that they would crank or carry around. Lights, of all different colors, streamed around the audience, temproraly blinding me. The only color I could truly depict out of them was red. The green I mistook for aqua and blue sometimes for purple, but of course it could very well be aqua and purple. I knew that red was red though, not even remotely close to pink. Then, smoke jetted from the sides of the stage and filled the space with an essence of eeriness. The curtains, in one hasty pull, had disappeared from the audience's sight and had revealed a dark and ghastly figure. The figure was also tall and wore a Ring Master's outfit. I didn't realize until my eyes were so dry that I had to blink, but I was staring.

"Hello," the voice began cheerfully, but darkly, "I'll be your guide for the night..." his eyes flashed up to the audience. They were glistening a lilc color, it was like they were strobe lights themselves. "Only a Ring Master can tell what heart is being devoured by the dark," I froze. His eyes had landed on me. Straight at me. It was like all of a sudden he and I were the only ones there. "And what heart is worthy of accepting the darkness." He cocked his neck to the side, showing off his pale skin and white hair. He sent shivers down my spine, slowly easing me into the show.

"My name is Akihiko Usami," he announced. "But for tonight, I am simply Maître D'anneau..." I think that was where I had fallen in love.

lolz, okay, the reason I deleted and reposted this story was because my other account was bitchy. so, here is the story, no comment limit thingy. Just good ol' fashion story. :) lolz