Kiss of Irony
Running her fingers along the iron cast black frame of the bench, Shizuko smiled slightly to herself. Soon, her troubles would be over. Very soon. As soon as the woman would come, everything would be resolved.
She hated him so much. Hated, hated, hated, hated. Hated him for what he did to her. Her whole life was a living hell because of him. He had turned her into the sad, angry wraith she now was. She lived off of depression and despair. Ever since that day she had met him...
* * Flashback * *
That day he had held her in his arms... it was the first day of ninth grade for her, and he was already starting his rounds of girl gathering. Even when she was in sixth grade, Shizuko had heard stories of the then-eight grader and now-eleventh grader Touga Kiryuu attracting so many admirers that he himself couldn't keep track. So, he started being the womanizer he now was. Although she knew that his attentions were most likely false, Shizuko still completely fell head over heels in love with him.
He had brushed aside her large, cropped blue bangs and placed his hand on her chin. Whispering as he held her waist with the opposite hand, he said, "Oh, Shizuko. Those blue eyes, that long blue hair; you are so beautiful." Bending closer, he kissed her forehead. He was about to kiss the helpless Shizuko on the lips when...
"TOUGA-SAMA! TOUGA-SAMA!!!!!" One of his twenty fan clubs had discovered him. "We'll get you for this, blue-hair! Touga-sama! Touga-sama! Look at us! Look at us!"
Immediately Touga cursed, dropped Shizuko, shoved her into a bush, and confronted the leader of the gang. "Why, hello, Yuki."
Shizuko was just sighing with relief that he didn't get a chance to kiss her (although he was dashing, she just couldn't stand people whose affections were false) when she felt a pain jolt through her body. Damn it. She had been shoved into a rose bush. And a particularly thorny one at that, too. Leaping into the air, she shrieked "SHIT!!! That HURTS!!!" and ran all the way back to her dorm.
* * Present * *
That day that he held her in her arms, she had hopelessly fallen in love with him, although she hadn't wanted to. She remembered all the rumors people said about him. The day after Touga first pulled a move on her, her best friend Momiji had warned, "Stay AWAY from him. You're so pretty, he's sure to do SOMETHING to you." Ah well. Too late.
Shizuko anxiously glanced at her watch. That exotic woman should be here any minute. Seeing as that woman would not be coming for a while, she lapsed into dark thought yet again.
* * Flashback * *
When he kissed her, Shizuko must have lost all of her brain cells. At the touch of his lips, she had melted completely and unknowingly wrapped her arms around his neck. The following day, Shizuko thought of that kiss and nothing else. Much to her misfortune, on that exact day was an algebra exam. Oops.
Momiji yet again warned her, but Shizuko was beyond listening. That day was just sheer torture. When Momiji told Shizuko of how much of a playboy and faithless cheater Touga was, Shizuko blew up on her friend so badly that Momiji never spoke to her again. However, Touga was so on Shizuko's mind that she wasn't even troubled about that.
The next week, though, she was. By the end of the month, Shizuko realized that she had lost her best friend.
* * Present * *
"Damn you, Kiryuu. Damn you." Shizuko muttered as she looked up at the sky, which was turning slightly gray. Was a storm brewing up? That woman had better hurry it up!
"You made me lose all of my friends. I hate you." The first tear in a long time, cold, angry, and full of bitter hatred in rolled down Shizuko's once-beautiful, now gaunt face. Was it really possible that only half a year passed since Shizuko was a gorgeous girl?
With a shudder, Shizuko's thoughts of the past took over again like a living nightmare.
* * Flashback * *
"Oh, darling," Touga wrapped his arms around Yuki's waist and kissed her with full force.
"I love you," Yuki mumbled while kissing Touga with true infatuation.
Shizuko watched them in the glass greenhouse of roses, mortified. How could Touga do this? Then, she remembered what Momiji had said a long time ago about Touga breaking a girl's heart every day. A tear came to her eye as she thought of Momiji, but she brushed it away furiously. Touga was her main thought at the moment. However much she had wanted to go up into that greenhouse and give Touga a verbal lashing, she couldn't do it. She wasn't able to bring herself to do it.
Thus, she ran, sparkling tears flowing down her cheeks.
This incident made Shizuko angry, but what set her off even more was that he pretended as if nothing had happened the next day. Still touching her freely, he showered all affection.
And, Shizuko wasn't angry with him for what he did to her. She also started to despise him for what he did to the others.
One of Touga's favorite pastimes was to have a phone call with one girl while lying in the same bed with another. Shizuko had heard about this from an acquaintance, Sachiko. However, Shizuko's mood, which was sinking every day, started to keep Sachiko and other potential friends away from her. Grumpily Shizuko had wondered why the girls still clung to him like magnets, if he did such things. But not every girl had been treated like Shizuko had.
This was the start of her hate.
* * Present * *
Where was that woman?!
* * Flashback * *
Touga started to avoid Shizuko after he noticed the transformation in her. Once a happy, cheerfully, energetic girl, she was now a dejected, depressed, and despairing person. Not at all likable. Shizuko herself noticed the change wrought in her, but what could she do? It wasn't her fault.
But her conscience always told her that it was.
"It was you who feel in love, wasn't it? It was you..." It told her every night as she tossed and turned in bed. "It's not his fault; it's your fault, you fool..."
"You fool..."
"You..."
"...Fool."
Shizuko's weak side wanted to cry, but her angry side willed her head and heart not to. Crying was only an outpouring of emotions, wasn't it? It was weakness, and Shizuko couldn't possibly show any more.
* * Present * *
"Oh, dear me, a storm is coming," a light voice came from behind Shizuko. "I'm sorry to have kept you waiting, Shizuko dear." Shizuko whirled around to see a dark-skinned woman with wavy purple hair striding towards her.
"Do you have it, Anshi-san?" She asked anxiously. She wanted her troubles over with, and fast.
"Yes. It's called 'Eternal Shade' because it puts all of your dark sadness to sleep. You did want an anti-depressant drug, didn't you?" Anshi held out a small, foreign-looking black bottle in front of Shizuko's face. "The effects take place twenty-four hours after you take it, so for another day you'll still be yourself. Do be patient."
"Oh well. But still, thank you. How much did I have to pay you again?" Shizuko took the bottle from Anshi's hand anxiously.
"Nothing. You don't have to pay anything. Don't worry about it, Shizuko dear. I dislike seeing such a sad girl like yourself." Anshi started to walk away.
"Thank you..." Shizuko looked at Anshi's retreating form, not even noticing the raindrops that were starting to come down lightly. Deftly she uncorked the bottle and dumped all of the contents in her mouth. She didn't even care if she had taken too much; death wouldn't hurt. All she wanted was to be free of the sadness that was her life. Hoping that the anti-depressant would work, she dropped the bottle on the ground and walked towards her dorm.
The following day, Shizuko started to feel slightly light-headed. Suddenly, she was lifted of most of her burden. Her eyes lost their faraway, empty look. Her hair got back its original lusciousness. Even her skin retrieved its color. For the first time in a year, she smiled a true smile. The entire class stared at her.
During algebra class, Momiji leaned forward from her desk behind Shizuko, and whispered, "Welcome back to the real world, Shizuko," and then she hugged her.
Smiling happily, Shizuko hugged her back. It was good to be back in her old skin. But there was still something wrong... she couldn't place her finger on it, though.
During lunch, Shizuko's head started to throb abominably. Dropping down in a heap, Shizuko fainted.
By the time Shizuko was taken out of the hospital, school hours were already over. Dusk was arriving. Quickly she figured that she should get home as soon as possible; if she happened to collapse again in the dark... who knew what would happen.
As she was making her way back to her dorm, she saw him, all alone. Oddly, though, he seemed to be watching her. Shizuko scowled and walked away. No way did she want HIM near her again.
"Shizuko...!" He started to jog lightly towards her. With a jolt, Shizuko looked up at him. How did he get in front of her so quickly?
"Do you remember this place? It was where we first met." Touga mused, as if they were old lovers. Shizuko scowled yet again, for they weren't ever lovers. What a liar.
"Don't shower your affections. They're all lies, and I know it."
"Now, must you speak this way?" He moved closer, and curled one of his arms around her waist.
All of a sudden, Shizuko lost her one remaining doubt. She now had been lifted of a burden, the burden that was her weakness. Why hadn't she found it sooner? It was indeed her own fault for falling for him, yes, but now she knew that he himself played the fool. By killing her heart and destroying her virtue, he had made her stronger. Before he had done what he did to her, Shizuko was a sensitive soul who cried often. After him, however, every part of her had strengthened.
Sadly, Shizuko didn't have time to rejoice in this newfound strength, for she collapsed right after her mind had been cleared. Anshi-san, you were right, she thought as she slipped into darkness, it did indeed take twenty-four hours.
With the last of her strength, lying down, she blew a kiss to the astonished Touga.
Shizuko was slightly chuckling as she blew it, for it was a kiss of irony.
Touga watched with shocked eyes as a girl he never even gave much though to had her life snuffed out in a minute. But what nearly drove him mad was that kiss. That kiss of irony.
Anshi was sitting in a muggy little room, watering plants. She smiled as she saw the image of the dying Shizuko in a puddle of water she had spilled on the floor. Laughing a slight chortle, she thought of that kiss. Touga had just gotten back a taste of his own medicine. The blue-haired girl's imitation of his kiss was perfect.
Anshi laughed again as she mixed up another drug for the next angry girl. She hoped that this dying girl would behave just like Shizuko had. Anshi just loved revenge. Too bad Shizuko had overdosed herself. Still, even if she had only taken a drop, the same effect would have taken place, only slower. "Eternal Shade" was meant to kill. The only true way to find bliss is death, Anshi thought as she started to pour a dark chemical into a small black bottle.
She expressed her amusement yet again.
Author's note: So, what did you think? Yes, if you are a Touga-lover, I don't blame you for hating this piece. And yes, this is my first try at writing angst. I hope it didn't turn out too bad... ^_~ I took some time writing this, so I really hope that you (those of you who AREN'T Touga-lovers) enjoyed it. I think mostly everything is explained, but I hope that I have included some subtle stuff. Anyway, don't forget to review! Until the next piece... ^_^
Running her fingers along the iron cast black frame of the bench, Shizuko smiled slightly to herself. Soon, her troubles would be over. Very soon. As soon as the woman would come, everything would be resolved.
She hated him so much. Hated, hated, hated, hated. Hated him for what he did to her. Her whole life was a living hell because of him. He had turned her into the sad, angry wraith she now was. She lived off of depression and despair. Ever since that day she had met him...
* * Flashback * *
That day he had held her in his arms... it was the first day of ninth grade for her, and he was already starting his rounds of girl gathering. Even when she was in sixth grade, Shizuko had heard stories of the then-eight grader and now-eleventh grader Touga Kiryuu attracting so many admirers that he himself couldn't keep track. So, he started being the womanizer he now was. Although she knew that his attentions were most likely false, Shizuko still completely fell head over heels in love with him.
He had brushed aside her large, cropped blue bangs and placed his hand on her chin. Whispering as he held her waist with the opposite hand, he said, "Oh, Shizuko. Those blue eyes, that long blue hair; you are so beautiful." Bending closer, he kissed her forehead. He was about to kiss the helpless Shizuko on the lips when...
"TOUGA-SAMA! TOUGA-SAMA!!!!!" One of his twenty fan clubs had discovered him. "We'll get you for this, blue-hair! Touga-sama! Touga-sama! Look at us! Look at us!"
Immediately Touga cursed, dropped Shizuko, shoved her into a bush, and confronted the leader of the gang. "Why, hello, Yuki."
Shizuko was just sighing with relief that he didn't get a chance to kiss her (although he was dashing, she just couldn't stand people whose affections were false) when she felt a pain jolt through her body. Damn it. She had been shoved into a rose bush. And a particularly thorny one at that, too. Leaping into the air, she shrieked "SHIT!!! That HURTS!!!" and ran all the way back to her dorm.
* * Present * *
That day that he held her in her arms, she had hopelessly fallen in love with him, although she hadn't wanted to. She remembered all the rumors people said about him. The day after Touga first pulled a move on her, her best friend Momiji had warned, "Stay AWAY from him. You're so pretty, he's sure to do SOMETHING to you." Ah well. Too late.
Shizuko anxiously glanced at her watch. That exotic woman should be here any minute. Seeing as that woman would not be coming for a while, she lapsed into dark thought yet again.
* * Flashback * *
When he kissed her, Shizuko must have lost all of her brain cells. At the touch of his lips, she had melted completely and unknowingly wrapped her arms around his neck. The following day, Shizuko thought of that kiss and nothing else. Much to her misfortune, on that exact day was an algebra exam. Oops.
Momiji yet again warned her, but Shizuko was beyond listening. That day was just sheer torture. When Momiji told Shizuko of how much of a playboy and faithless cheater Touga was, Shizuko blew up on her friend so badly that Momiji never spoke to her again. However, Touga was so on Shizuko's mind that she wasn't even troubled about that.
The next week, though, she was. By the end of the month, Shizuko realized that she had lost her best friend.
* * Present * *
"Damn you, Kiryuu. Damn you." Shizuko muttered as she looked up at the sky, which was turning slightly gray. Was a storm brewing up? That woman had better hurry it up!
"You made me lose all of my friends. I hate you." The first tear in a long time, cold, angry, and full of bitter hatred in rolled down Shizuko's once-beautiful, now gaunt face. Was it really possible that only half a year passed since Shizuko was a gorgeous girl?
With a shudder, Shizuko's thoughts of the past took over again like a living nightmare.
* * Flashback * *
"Oh, darling," Touga wrapped his arms around Yuki's waist and kissed her with full force.
"I love you," Yuki mumbled while kissing Touga with true infatuation.
Shizuko watched them in the glass greenhouse of roses, mortified. How could Touga do this? Then, she remembered what Momiji had said a long time ago about Touga breaking a girl's heart every day. A tear came to her eye as she thought of Momiji, but she brushed it away furiously. Touga was her main thought at the moment. However much she had wanted to go up into that greenhouse and give Touga a verbal lashing, she couldn't do it. She wasn't able to bring herself to do it.
Thus, she ran, sparkling tears flowing down her cheeks.
This incident made Shizuko angry, but what set her off even more was that he pretended as if nothing had happened the next day. Still touching her freely, he showered all affection.
And, Shizuko wasn't angry with him for what he did to her. She also started to despise him for what he did to the others.
One of Touga's favorite pastimes was to have a phone call with one girl while lying in the same bed with another. Shizuko had heard about this from an acquaintance, Sachiko. However, Shizuko's mood, which was sinking every day, started to keep Sachiko and other potential friends away from her. Grumpily Shizuko had wondered why the girls still clung to him like magnets, if he did such things. But not every girl had been treated like Shizuko had.
This was the start of her hate.
* * Present * *
Where was that woman?!
* * Flashback * *
Touga started to avoid Shizuko after he noticed the transformation in her. Once a happy, cheerfully, energetic girl, she was now a dejected, depressed, and despairing person. Not at all likable. Shizuko herself noticed the change wrought in her, but what could she do? It wasn't her fault.
But her conscience always told her that it was.
"It was you who feel in love, wasn't it? It was you..." It told her every night as she tossed and turned in bed. "It's not his fault; it's your fault, you fool..."
"You fool..."
"You..."
"...Fool."
Shizuko's weak side wanted to cry, but her angry side willed her head and heart not to. Crying was only an outpouring of emotions, wasn't it? It was weakness, and Shizuko couldn't possibly show any more.
* * Present * *
"Oh, dear me, a storm is coming," a light voice came from behind Shizuko. "I'm sorry to have kept you waiting, Shizuko dear." Shizuko whirled around to see a dark-skinned woman with wavy purple hair striding towards her.
"Do you have it, Anshi-san?" She asked anxiously. She wanted her troubles over with, and fast.
"Yes. It's called 'Eternal Shade' because it puts all of your dark sadness to sleep. You did want an anti-depressant drug, didn't you?" Anshi held out a small, foreign-looking black bottle in front of Shizuko's face. "The effects take place twenty-four hours after you take it, so for another day you'll still be yourself. Do be patient."
"Oh well. But still, thank you. How much did I have to pay you again?" Shizuko took the bottle from Anshi's hand anxiously.
"Nothing. You don't have to pay anything. Don't worry about it, Shizuko dear. I dislike seeing such a sad girl like yourself." Anshi started to walk away.
"Thank you..." Shizuko looked at Anshi's retreating form, not even noticing the raindrops that were starting to come down lightly. Deftly she uncorked the bottle and dumped all of the contents in her mouth. She didn't even care if she had taken too much; death wouldn't hurt. All she wanted was to be free of the sadness that was her life. Hoping that the anti-depressant would work, she dropped the bottle on the ground and walked towards her dorm.
The following day, Shizuko started to feel slightly light-headed. Suddenly, she was lifted of most of her burden. Her eyes lost their faraway, empty look. Her hair got back its original lusciousness. Even her skin retrieved its color. For the first time in a year, she smiled a true smile. The entire class stared at her.
During algebra class, Momiji leaned forward from her desk behind Shizuko, and whispered, "Welcome back to the real world, Shizuko," and then she hugged her.
Smiling happily, Shizuko hugged her back. It was good to be back in her old skin. But there was still something wrong... she couldn't place her finger on it, though.
During lunch, Shizuko's head started to throb abominably. Dropping down in a heap, Shizuko fainted.
By the time Shizuko was taken out of the hospital, school hours were already over. Dusk was arriving. Quickly she figured that she should get home as soon as possible; if she happened to collapse again in the dark... who knew what would happen.
As she was making her way back to her dorm, she saw him, all alone. Oddly, though, he seemed to be watching her. Shizuko scowled and walked away. No way did she want HIM near her again.
"Shizuko...!" He started to jog lightly towards her. With a jolt, Shizuko looked up at him. How did he get in front of her so quickly?
"Do you remember this place? It was where we first met." Touga mused, as if they were old lovers. Shizuko scowled yet again, for they weren't ever lovers. What a liar.
"Don't shower your affections. They're all lies, and I know it."
"Now, must you speak this way?" He moved closer, and curled one of his arms around her waist.
All of a sudden, Shizuko lost her one remaining doubt. She now had been lifted of a burden, the burden that was her weakness. Why hadn't she found it sooner? It was indeed her own fault for falling for him, yes, but now she knew that he himself played the fool. By killing her heart and destroying her virtue, he had made her stronger. Before he had done what he did to her, Shizuko was a sensitive soul who cried often. After him, however, every part of her had strengthened.
Sadly, Shizuko didn't have time to rejoice in this newfound strength, for she collapsed right after her mind had been cleared. Anshi-san, you were right, she thought as she slipped into darkness, it did indeed take twenty-four hours.
With the last of her strength, lying down, she blew a kiss to the astonished Touga.
Shizuko was slightly chuckling as she blew it, for it was a kiss of irony.
Touga watched with shocked eyes as a girl he never even gave much though to had her life snuffed out in a minute. But what nearly drove him mad was that kiss. That kiss of irony.
Anshi was sitting in a muggy little room, watering plants. She smiled as she saw the image of the dying Shizuko in a puddle of water she had spilled on the floor. Laughing a slight chortle, she thought of that kiss. Touga had just gotten back a taste of his own medicine. The blue-haired girl's imitation of his kiss was perfect.
Anshi laughed again as she mixed up another drug for the next angry girl. She hoped that this dying girl would behave just like Shizuko had. Anshi just loved revenge. Too bad Shizuko had overdosed herself. Still, even if she had only taken a drop, the same effect would have taken place, only slower. "Eternal Shade" was meant to kill. The only true way to find bliss is death, Anshi thought as she started to pour a dark chemical into a small black bottle.
She expressed her amusement yet again.
Author's note: So, what did you think? Yes, if you are a Touga-lover, I don't blame you for hating this piece. And yes, this is my first try at writing angst. I hope it didn't turn out too bad... ^_~ I took some time writing this, so I really hope that you (those of you who AREN'T Touga-lovers) enjoyed it. I think mostly everything is explained, but I hope that I have included some subtle stuff. Anyway, don't forget to review! Until the next piece... ^_^
