It was the first day of the grandest adventure of my life, and yet I had hardly known it. It was no different than any other time I travelled. It was my first vacation that I myself had fully paid for, and I really did deserve it. I had just finished collage, and had just finished my fourth year in University, and while I'm not going to brag, I was rather proud of myself. It was a great achievement, and something I finally had been able to do completely by myself. My whole life things had been handed to me on a silver platter, being brought up in a high class family. My family, the Takashima's, were one of the richest families in the world. And while I had grown up in Europe, being brought up knowing all the high social standards and regulations, I always felt as if I was missing something. My family had traveled from Japan over a hundred years ago, and they refuse to talk about it. All I know about it is that they had run to escape a vicious dictator, and had done so illegally. My parents, grandparents and so on were all too superstitious to talk about it, even though it had been years since the dictator had been overturned. I, however, had always been curious. And yet, I stayed silent. I had been brought up to never question to the point of annoyance. It wasn't polite, and polite was a must in upper class society. This is how it has been for seventeen years, since my birth. Stay silent, be aware of what's going on around you, and only speak if you know what you are talking about. Never argue, oh no. That wasn't acceptable. Never smile with your teeth, or laugh more than a slight, timid chuckle. Never boast about one's self. Always let other's do it for you. If there is something you really want to say, you do not wait for the conversation to open up, or for the table or group to go quiet. You must ignore whatever it is, and wait for someone to bring it up for you. Needless to say, the conversations of upper class society were never very insightful. Nothing more than simple talk of dinner parties or weddings or wedding dinners. It was an endless charade of mindless flattery, and secret hatred. It was exhausting. As a seventeen year old, there was little I could do in social gatherings. It was always to the parents, the 'elders' to society if you will, to speak and engage in conversations. It was up to the elder men, in their late twenties and over, to create the topics, to start the conversations, and to decide when it was time to leave. I was still considered a child, although I was forced to grow up considerably from being raised in such a family as I was.
Despite following these rules down to a tee, there was one thing that I could never deny. However, I suppose that there is never a way to deny your sexuality, though I found it quite easy when questioned violently by my father. How could I tell my parents when they were the epitome of social standards? Nothing was good enough unless it strictly followed the rules. I followed them as best as I could. Although I refused to cut my hair, I made sure to always keep it nice, styling it perfectly. I wore only the nicest clothes, nothing too provocative of course, though I have been tempted a few times when my parents get on my nerves too much. I have found that in my situation, it is best to just go along with it. It was the life that was chosen for me, and there was little I could do to change that. And while I had accepted it, there were still times when he felt trapped. That had been happening more frequently as it grew nearer to the time when my parents picked someone for me to wed. Of course, since they had no idea of his sexuality, they were trying to fix him up with a girl. He, of course, had no say in it, and he was not about to just come out and say he wasn't interested in marrying a woman, no matter how beautiful she may be. And so, since it had become obvious even to my parents that I was not interested in any of the woman they brought for me to meet, they decided to take me to America to search for a wife. They really do have no clue.
So here we are, all dressed up with our many bags and maids, moving to the country we had heard would be the answer to all our problems. But as I looked at the large ship, I could only think that this would just be another cage my parents had bought to keep me in their grasps. The pressure to continue being the perfect Aristocratic child was becoming unbearable, and I didn't know what to do about it. Going into the room I would have to myself, I started going through my things trying to make the room a little bit more comfortable. He put out a few pictures of his friends, not real friends, I assure you. They were just as stuck up and proper as everybody else in my life. However, it still felt nice to have memories to look back to when everything else seemed so dim. Yet, I continue to put the polite smile on my face, and play along with the charade. Sitting on the bed, I sighed. It has been so long that I have been trained to act proper that not even when I'm on my own can I relax. Still sitting proper on the bed, I looked out at the promenade, watching as people from the docks waved goodbye as the ship took off.
~!~
The air was deathly still as Yuu watched the cards in his hand, as the turns went around the table once again reaching him. It was the last hand, and he had a full house. Looking around, he saw his friend Akira, who looked scared. They had bet what money that had left in their pockets and it was riding on a lot. The two men across from them had at the last minute thrown in two pieces of paper; documents that would change his and Akira's lives forever if they were to win. Looking around, he knew. It was time to show. Who would win the chance of a life time, moving to a new country with only the things they had on them? It was the adventure of a life time, of that he was sure. Going around the table once more, it was Akira's turn to show his hand. Nothing. Frowning, Yuu knew that that meant only one thing. He would have to win with this hand in order for them to even survive. The next person, a Swedish man heading to America to meet up with his family, put his cards down. Nothing again. Well, that was a small relief. The third man, the Swedish man's brother, looked at his cards before putting them down. Two pair. Yuu breathed out slowly. Wow. That was all he needed. Grinning, he put his cards down and grinned.
"Full house," he said, laughing as he won. The men looked shocked, and honestly, so did Akira. Was it that hard to believe that he could win a game of poker? It was exciting, until Akira mentioned the time on the clock. There was only five minutes until the ship left. Well, shit. Quickly grabbing their winnings and stuffing them into a bag, they ran from the pub. Running through the crowds of people, Yuu grinned and laughed as Akira ran to keep up with him. "Come on, Aki! We need to hurry, this is the change of a lifetime, you don't want to miss this!"
"I would be able to catch up, if you just slowed your ass down a bit!" Yuu laughed.
"Yeah, maybe, but we've got five minutes and I've got the tickets!" Yuu grinned back at him as they ran onto the ramp. They were the last people onto the ship, lucky to have even made it at all. Yuu grinned as he and Akira moved through the ship to find their room. Looking at each door as they walked down the hallway, he looked at the ticket once more. 365. 365….365… Yuu grinned as he saw the gold number on the white door, and smiled. "Here we go, Aki," he said, opening the door, smiling politely at the other two men they shared the third class room with. "Hey, I'm Yuu." He introduced himself, as did Akira. Sitting on the bed, he grinned up at the other. It was definitely worth the running to have made it onto such a luxurious ship.