Disclaimer: Magi belongs to Shinobu Ohtaka and only the OC and plot belongs to me (Fairyglitter07).
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War hurts. It hurts no matter which sides the bombs are falling on.-Eddie Vedder.
Perhaps, wars dictate our lives more than what we imagine it. We change the course of our actions and the way we do things because we anticipate that war will happen. And then we change even more when it actually happened. Eventually, none of our past self would be left when war already happened. If you look at it that way, maybe war is actually the most influential thing that ever happened. It can make or break a person. It can raise a hero and bring down the villain or vice versa. Those who are able to raise their flag victoriously will see a bright future, those who failed to do so will forever be plunged into a miserable path. And so no one would like the latter.
For others, to lose in the war would be the worst thing to happen. But she begs to differ.
If only one would look at the whole picture in an even farther point of view, they'll see that the outcome of war is not only divided into two factions, winner or loser. There are also those who are just purely victims, they neither lost nor won but they suffer the most. Though their flag sways freely high up in the air, it only feels like the piece of cloth was mocking them. There is no pride in victory when it required them to lose everything they have and feel so isolated from the country they fought for. You could say that they are the greys on this black and white world, a colour not intense enough to attract attention and whose hue is not worth of being looked at.
Sometime after, people would eventually set out into a new path. Some would seek revenge, some would seek for restitution. And then, there were also those who can do neither, forever stuck on the point where the road divides only into two, light or darkness.
Nevertheless, the world would go on. With or without them.
"You know these wars and everything," one of her neighbors, a thirty-year-old prostitute once said, "it's like sex, one will feel pleasure while the other just had to endure. But no matter how hurt you are, the other person wouldn't feel it..." she paused for a while before adding up another statement.
"And the worst thing of it all is that, there will be people who will benefit from it without even lifting a finger."
She swore to never listen to her again but it doesn't mean that she would forget what she said. After all, the ones who knew this world best are the outcast. While those fat-bellied geezers look down at them, the outcasts can see who was higher than them and who was manipulating who. At the end of the day, the one to be laughed at the most was not them...
"Oi Miwa, don't slack off there, arrange these pots outside!" from the second floor of the rather well furnished floral shop, a girly and yet masculine voice called out. A few moments later, her friend at the same time employer who is a girl at heart, Kyou, descended from the stairs. The way his clothes were made and the make-up he perfectly put on can surely deceive anyone into thinking that this gay is a woman. Well, so long as he doesn't open his mouth. The deepness of his voice is seriously hilarious while he looks like that. She truly believed that this sight would never fail to bring tears of joy to her eyes.
"Yes, yes, I'm not slacking off okay?"
"Good! And-AND WHAT'S WITH THAT CLOTHING! THIS IS A FLOWER SHOP NOT A FUNERAL HOUSE!" Kyou exclaimed when she finally caught sight of her clothing. She-slash-he stomped loudly towards her, got a hold of her shoulder and quickly turned her around so violently her head was almost left out.
"Oh my dear pheasant of a friend, I didn't know you were this poor! Quickly look for a better clothing on my wardrobe, you'll scare away our customers!" he huffed while pushing her to climb up the stairs.
"But the flowers-" she started.
"I'll take care of it, if you come out looking like that, our customers will think I'm enslaving you or something! You might just send me to jail!" He intervened and then gave his final push.
What wrong with her dress anyway? She enters Kyou's room and stood in front of the full-body sized mirror. Brown hair tied into a ponytail, an even darker hue of brown eyes, plain grey dress and a used-to-be-black-that-is-now-white-due-to-dirt coloured shoes. Ah, yeah, yeah, she's surrendering. She looks like a beggar.
She went into one of Kyou's cabinets where she knew her friend keeps his old cloths that he grew out of. She settled on a cute pink one, it has flowers embroidered at hem. Well, it matches with their business so Kyou would probably not complain. Minutes later, she looked like your normal merchant girl than a pheasant.
A faint sound of bell resonated in the air signalling that they have their first customer. This is not surprising as their shop is rather popular. They do not just have beautiful flowers for design but also medical plants that are either hard to grow or only found on dangerous places. She jogged towards the door to help Kyou, however the said man suddenly entered the room just before she could hold the doorknob.
"Hey, you startled me!" she scolded him. But the other man did not bulge, it was also then that she realized that Kyou had a serious expression on his face.
"I'm sorry I just had to do this, this is for your sake too." He said solemnly that made her confused for a moment. Because of that she wasn't able to protect herself when Kyou hit the back of her neck, knocking her unconscious.
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"Ah sorry for the inconvenience, how may I help you Sir?" Kyou pleasantly greeted his first customer, a man with dark blue hair and blue eyes. His most notable feature is that scar on his face. There is no mistaking it, this is Ren Hakuryuu.
When he caught sight of him marching down towards their shop he had to forget about graceful movements and pleasing personality as he had to run up to the second floor and knock the wind out of his employee/friend. She can't see him just yet; or rather they must not meet yet. This is also for their safety, his, Miwa's and Hakuryuu's.
"Ah, do you have a plant called..." Kyou listened well, for two different reasons. One is to serve his customer efficiently and keep their good reputation and second, to drive this man out before Miwa wakes up.
When Hakuryuu walked out of the door, safe and sound, Kyou was finally able to let go of the breath he had been holding the entire time. He glanced back again towards the stairs leading to the second floor, geez, he just have to manage until the girl wakes up, this is for the better anyway. He sighed and massaged the back of his neck in a hasty manner, though he is doing this unconsciously.
"I've brought you away from Kou, but it seems like there's no place in this world I can bring you to, to keep you away from your demons." He said, a frustrating feeling crawls its way to his heart.
"This world is so screwed up, I only wish it wouldn't be on my lifetime when this world meets its end." He exclaimed and then proceeded on taking care of their business.
He came across a peach-coloured flower in the middle of his work. It was an edible flower; they call it 'daf'. A flower that only blooms near a tiger's territory, it was soft and nutritious and good for the skin. He suddenly remembered how he met Miwa...
It was one of the many usual days when he had to work all day long to gain money. Every piece of flower that blooms in his shop was valuable from the smallest ones up to the giant ones. They were all equally hard to obtain. But that day was actually a very different one, aside from accommodating the numerous customers he is also nursing an injured leg courtesy of the tiger he had to escape from when he was retrieving some 'daf' flowers. Speaking of which, he had to check on those flowers.
He made a beeline towards the door of his shop. He usually places them outside since those flowers needs constant sunlight when transferred on a different location. However, the sight that met his is not that of a beautiful flower but a frail looking girl in bloodied clothes. She is feeding on the flower briskly, some petals stuck on her oily face.
When she looked up and saw him she quickly scrambled away to a narrow alleyway only to fall down after a few steps, she clutched into her stomach and she coughed blood. Though injured himself, he manages to get the weak girl to calm down and treated her inside his house which is the second floor of the shop. He had to close early since he had no servants to aid him and this little fellow seems to require immediate help.
"Father... ..di..d..you..k..ill..mother?..." she mumbled on her sleep. Kyou was horrified to what he has heard and started to wonder what happened to this girl. Her clothing does not give much of information since it was one of those gowns worn on many hospitals. Her wounds too looked like they were previously treated but was reopened due to too much movement.
He decided to stay by her side. The girl seems to have had a traumatizing experience and he knew well that the thing they need the most is companionship.
The next day, the girl woke up. Her eyes were blank and no words came out from her mouth. If he had been blind he wouldn't be able to sense her at all. Her aura feels lifeless and the look on her face were implying as if she doesn't care even if she's on a murderer's camp.
"I'll kill him...ah, no...I have to protect him...but, I want to kill him..." she said. She had that crazy look on her face. For a moment Kyou hesitated. But maybe he could blame his adventurous side and his past dangerous experiences when gathering plants because instead of turning away he stepped closer to her and laid down the soup he prepared on the side table.
"You'll have to eat first before that..." the girl looked at him as if realizing his presence just now.
"Who are you? Where am I?" suddenly a panicked expression flashed on the unknown girl's face.
"Call me Kyou, and you're in my flower shop."
"My, aren't you the one slacking off?" Kyou was pulled out of his reverie by Miwa's soft voice.
"Ah, I see, you're awake already." He brushed off her statement.
"You know, you don't have to do that..." Miwa said after a while.
"Do what?" he asked feigning ignorance, though he knew exactly well what Miwa was referring to.
"You don't have to knock me out next time; I'm no longer as impulsive as I am back then. I'm not going to jump on him and stab him in the back." Kyou looked at her and it was very difficult to read his mind with the guarded expression he's showing.
"Yeah."
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Miwa woke up some time later not sure how long she had been out. For the mean time she did not make any move to get out of the bed. She already figured out the reason why Kyou did what he did. He must have been the customer, after all this shop has some interesting plants, and his power specializes on that, it's not very unlikely to find him in places like this.
She started to stretch and then lifted her upper body into sitting position. She does not know whether she should regret telling Kyou about that or not.
It did them some good from time to time and hasn't brought them harm yet. As her mind start to reminiscence the past an old feeling started to resurface, she became glad that Kyou knocked her out.
She breathed deeply trying to calm her raging emotions. She went down eventually to talk with Kyou.
"My, aren't you the one slacking off?" She called out from the stairs.
"Ah, I see, you're awake already." Kyou brushed off her statement.
"You know, you don't have to do that..." Miwa decided to say. Not willing to explicitly open the topic.
"Do what?" he asked feigning ignorance, but Miwa knew that Kyou knows what she was talking about.
"You don't have to knock me out next time; I'm no longer as impulsive as I am back then. I'm not going to jump on him and stab him in the back." Kyou looked at her and it was very difficult to read his mind with the guarded expression he's showing. Ah, he's serious.
"Yeah." Kyou replied, the tone of his voice was more than enough to tell her that he does not believe her.
"I promise, I won't. I swear that to you, and to her as well." She said turning her back on him.
Of course, she won't. No matter how much she hated him...no matter how much she wanted to...
Because she promised that person...
But Miwa is just a normal human, deep in her heart she knew what she felt and it was sending shivers down to her own spine...
She wanted to chase him down and do just what she said she wouldn't...
She really wanted to...
To kill him...that man...
Hakuryuu.
Note: This is only the prologue of the story, the chapters will be uploaded once the Chapter 12 of "Magi: World of Magic" is posted. And yes this story happens alongside the timeline of that story. And yes again, you have to read the other story to better understand this one as this is a side story of MWoM.