Just another SouseisekiXJun fiction.
Rozen MAIDEN is not mine, or any of the other characters mentioned in this story
Cinderella Change
"Hey, hey! Look!"
Hina brandishes her dress in the living room – the dress he worked hard on for the last few weeks. Matching with it are three others, but she's the most ecstatic one.
Suiseiseki raises an eyebrow. "Big deal. We wear dresses all the time."
The talented young tailor walks behind her and squeezes her cheeks. "Yeah, you're welcome." He says.
"Well Hina think it's the most beautiful dress she's has ever worn." The little blonde says with a pout. "And Suiseiseki has worn hers since last night."
It's true. Jun couldn't take offense on Suiseiseki's belittlement on his hard work owing from the fact that she has spent all night standing and twirling in front of the mirror. And now the same dress is still on her.
Suiseiseki sticks her tongue out at Jun and runs off. On the sofa Shinku calmly regards them. "I do wonder, though, what prompted you to make us these."
Jun shrugs. "I don't know. Congratulations for winning the Alice game?"
She smiles and returns to her book. Jun takes a sit beside her, and Hina jumps on his lap.
"But I'm surprised nothing's changed. I mean, shouldn't something happen now that it's over?" he find himself asking.
"Something did change." Shinku says.
"Things seem the same to me."
"Maybe."
He curiously eyes the Victorian maiden and then looks far across the kitchen where Suiseiseki is venting out on her twin. He could make out her words of stifled tsundere-ness and it makes him grin. Add the sight of her with the bouncing blonde on his lap, and a subtle one beside him and he realized he wouldn't want anything to change at all.
"Did you make Souseiseki a dress too, Jun?" Hina asks.
"Yeah."
Shinku looks up at him, "With trousers?"
Jun nods, and Shinku doesn't seem pleased about that affirmation.
"What?"
He gets a sigh of disappointment from her. In the kitchen, some good vibe sends the long haired brunette twirling around and showcasing her dress. Souseiseki, interrupted from making tea, humours her with an attention of a loving sister, but in her eyes and underneath that smile Jun could decipher something different.
"The Alice game is indeed over, Jun." Shinku says, "What do you think has changed, so far?"
That night, Jun fights off sleep. Shinku has tipped him off regarding a secret habit of one of the sisters.
Around 11:30, one of the boxes slowly opens, and a short-haired, bi-colored doll quietly steps out and walks towards the closet. Under the covers where Jun is feigning sleep, he watches her swiftly skim through a bunch of dresses.
Finally favouring a dress among the others, Souseiseki pulls the hanger and skips in front of the mirror. Her smile is beautiful, Jun thinks to himself, especially under the bluish moonlight. It seems to accent the sparkly colours of her eyes.
Souseiseki holds the dress over herself and moves as if she's in a dance, sprawling out the hem and spreading the sleeve as if her arm is contained within. A subtle sound of a giggle rings from her. A giggle. Jun never considers her to be capable of such.
He smiles and continues to watch her, wondering as well how long she's been doing this, and why she's doing it in secret as if it's some sort of crime to enjoy playing dress-up like any other girl would. Then again, she had always been the stern one amongst all of them – always collected, always putting others ahead of her.
Never had he imagined she's been holding back all this time.
After her solo waltz, she stops and gazes steadily at the mirror. She pulls the dress from her and looks at it with a hint of longing. Slowly her smile fades.
"That dress doesn't go well with a pout." Jun says softly. His voice travels across the silent room like a sure breeze.
The startled doll turns, and the dress sways like a wave with her sudden motion.
"Jun, you're awake." She whispers. The panic in her voice makes her sound girlier than usual.
Jun walks out of the bed and into the moonlight with her. Like a cornered cat Souseiseki looks down and holds back the dress shamefully.
"It'll go well with your short hair though."
"No it won't. I'll look silly in it."
"Well, put it on and let's find out."
For a moment the look on her face showed the excitement Hina normally carries in her eyes, but then it vanishes as if some cold, disarming reality got splashed over her.
"No thanks."
"Come on. I want to see it." Jun coaxes.
"So you can laugh at me?"
Jun scowls at her. "No. Because I think you'll look great in it."
She shifts her legs and organizes her thoughts while looking at the floor. He could tell she wants too. Perhaps, in those nights when she'd sneak past her sister's back just to fantasize herself in a dress, she never really found it in herself to actually wear it.
"I think," she begins to say, bearing a sad tone, "it'll be a mistake to put a dress on a male lead character." She walks towards the mirror and considers herself head to toe, and then sighs. "I am the male lead character. I am Hansel, and Suiseiseki's Gretel. I am the Huntsman, and Hina's little red riding hood. I am the knight who rescues the damsel in distress."
It takes Jun a few minutes to process what she's talking about, but he finally understands. All this time, Souseiseki is taking on a character that Rozen made for her. To be the hero at every moment. The male protagonist, because each fairy tale is not without a selfless hero.
Souseiseki places the dress on her body. "This. This isn't me. I am Souseiseki, and I don't have a dress."
Her voice speaks her heart, and it is defeated. She's been like this for God knows how long, and she has obviously resigned herself to it. This whole game has pushed her to be who she is, and has deprived her of who she can be.
The look on her face is making Jun's heart leap with so many emotions, and he suddenly feels like digging Rozen up from the grave so he can beat the crap out of him. But more than that, his heart melts for Souseiseki, and for what she's been through.
"I recall Cinderella saying the same thing when her fairy-god mother told her to go to the ball." Jun says gently, walking behind her and taking a knee. "So she gave Cinderella a dress, so she can spend the night as a beautiful princess, and enjoy her youth like everybody else."
The sadness shifts away, and her face lights up a bit, but she's not entirely smitten by his argument. "But then at the stroke of midnight the spell breaks, the dress vanishes, and she's back to who she really is. And she's not a real princess. She's just a nobody." She tells him.
As if on cue, Jun's wristwatch makes a soft beeping sound indicating 12am. Souseiki closes her eyes and then turn around to give Jun an appreciative smile. She hands him the dress.
But the boy has not given up.
"The way I see it," Jun says, looking at the dress and then pressing it back against Souseiseki, "Fairy-god mother placed an expiry date on the spell for a reason."
"And what reason is that?" Souseiseki asks, now smiling. She seems to enjoy the conversation, or perhaps the very moment she's spending with Jun, and the fact that he's doing his best to cheer her up.
"Fairy-god mother didn't want Cinderella to keep on pretending. Especially since who she is beneath the dress is more than who she pretends to be. Besides, I don't think the dress was the right size."
"How can you tell?"
"If it was, she wouldn't trip by the stairs, break her nose and cause her to lose a glass shoe."
She lets out a giggle. He walks towards the closet, puts the dress back in and pulls out a new one.
"To tell you the truth, I didn't know if I should make you a male counterpart to pair with Suiseiseki's, or another female dress to match hers. So I just made both. This is the gown version of what I already gave you."
The white gown adorned with a simple white flower by the shoulder and is elegantly ruffled slightly by the hems lays on Jun's arms like fluid. Souseiseki looks at it with awe. Her expression of amazement makes Jun grin. Indeed, all those weeks working on those dresses were all worth it.
"That's – that's for me?" she asks, still disbelieving.
Jun nods and hands it to her. She holds it out and braces it as it's the most fragile thing in the world.
"The Alice game is over. The spell is over." He says, "It's past midnight. It's time to be who you really are."
Finally grasping the idea, Souseiseki pulls the dress onto her and embraces it.
"My very own dress." She whispers, eyes closed and lips smiling. "Thank you, Jun. Thank you."
She then opens her eyes and looks at him, hesitation and restraint conflicting with the joy inside of her. "But – but even in the end she was still a nobody. She still can't go to balls, and wear dresses in public, and people won't respect her for who she is. She's not a princess."
Jun shakes his head, still unwavering, and confident that he's already won her over.
"If I remember correctly," he says, taking the dress from her, "she wasn't a princess until the prince finally found her, and despite seeing her in rags, soiled and rugged, still recognized her, slides the shoe on her feet, and says, wow. What a perfect fit."
He himself almost gasps when he holds the dress on her. She's not even wearing it yet, but the way her face is shaped and the two-colors of her eyes make a fine accent to the noble garment.
"A perfect fit." He finds himself whispering.
"It is?"
"Um, yeah," he breaks his stares, one he realizes he's been making, lost in the sea of red and green. "So, um, it's your size. And I want you to try it on."
She beams at him and runs off the door quietly. A minute later she runs back in and shoves her old clothes at Jun.
"That was quick." Jun says.
"Fold this for me. Thank you."
He let her twirl and giggle and sway in front of the mirror while he folds her boyish clothing – which is surprisingly warm and smells real nice.
After a while he looks at Souseiki and admires the scene of her, basking under the moonlight, just standing there elegantly, a simple yet fulfilled smile across her face. The dress is in fact, too perfect, but he could not imagine anyone who would look as good in it as she does.
He sets the clothes neatly in the closet, determined to later tell her never to put clothes like it again. He then holds out his hand and gracefully offers, "Excuse, miss. Would you like to dance with me?"
She giggles again. Jun decides he likes the sound of her soft laughter. She takes his hand and answers, "I sure would."
It is a rather clumsy exchange of sways, rough twirls and occasional trips, but the next hour they spent under the moonlight is fun for them both, especially with their attempt to stay 'in character' while withholding their laughter. She's still doll-size, and he's a teenage boy, so the bodily duet looks so silly.
"I have to ask, good sir. Who was the bloke who taught you how to dance?" she asks, teasing.
"Nobody. I guess I forgot how ignorant I am with these things when I saw you. I got so entranced with your beauty."
Souseiseki bites her lips to restrict a full smile forcing its way up her face, and looks down sheepishly. It's another endearing trait of her. First he has ever seen, because perhaps this is the first time anyone has truly called her beautiful.
At some point, when they take a dramatic motion and go for a twirl, Souseiseki turns at full and comes crashing towards Jun who fortunately was expecting it. They both fall on the floor laughing.
One of the boxes creak open and the wisest of the Rozen Maiden dolls, shaken by the sudden thump on the floor, lazily looks out. Across the room sitting by the window is her contracted human, and her boyish sister under the most beautiful garment she has ever seen.
Shinku smiles, and appreciates the scene for a while, before yawning and quietly moving back in her box.
The doll on his lap suddenly chuckles, ending the comfortable silence they had been sharing while looking outside the backyard.
"What is it?" he asks.
"I was just imagining you as the fairy-god mother. You know, with wings, and a tutu, and a magic wand."
She laughs wholeheartedly when she looks up and sees the horror on Jun's face. To console him she leans back and lays her head by the crook of his neck.
A brief silence coats them both again, until Jun feels his heart race with an idea. An idea which he softly whispers in her ear.
"Or I could be the prince." Souseiseki looks up at him with a question and with wonder.
He continues with a blush and a tinge of hesitance, "And if we follow the plot, the story normally ends with a loving kiss from the princess's lips.
Souseiseki registers the thought, and she herself blushes as she shuffles to face him. After a few seconds her lips curl with a slight smile, and she places both hands on his chest while closing her eyes and leaning up.
Shinku was right, Jun thinks while closing his own eyes. Something did change.
the end
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