Claymore - Angelic days
Disclaimer: I do not own Claymore and the characters in the story.
A/N: The story takes place in a modern time. No awakened beings and yoma are in the story, just your average tale about personal experiences of love, friendship, betrayal and finding oneself.
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Chapter one
A piece of cake.
That was his first assumption anyway when Raki - a freshmen of Rabona High decided to carry out his confession to the girl he seriously had a crush on. But capitalizing on it now seems difficult. For the past week he kept himself busy, writing love letters in the safe confines of his room. Raki, however, always found himself discarding them, after coming to a conclusion they weren't good enough to be presented to the girl he secretly liked.
It took him a week to write the perfect love letter and god knows how many rough drafts he'd thrown away. Sure, for her to accept his feelings in return wasn't all that decent due to the fact of her being extremely popular with the male students at school but he should at least let her know of his feelings right? If it doesn't work out, then it was meant to be.
Priscilla was known to turn down her suitors left and right which Raki didn't mind being the twentieth or the fiftieth person if it were to happen. What mattered he was willing to go out his way and let her know how he felt, other than doing nothing. It took a lot of courage for a person to convey their feelings to that special someone and getting it off your shoulders would be a huge relief.
So here he was, standing on the rooftop of the school building and waiting for Priscilla to arrive. He left her a note in her locker this morning and told her to meet him on the rooftop during lunchtime. Raki heard the door opened and got a visual of her walking out. He noticed Priscilla holding his note in her left hand as he made his way to greet her.
"Thanks for coming, Priscilla. It really means a lot."
Priscilla was startled. "Raki?! You scared me."
"Sorry. I didn't mean to."
"What was it, you wanted to see me for?"
Raki gently grabbed her hand, making her blush. "I want you to accept this love letter that I wrote," he said. "I've been writing it and re-writing it for a whole week, so please if you could, read it okay? This is actually my first time giving a letter to the person I like and--"
"I'm sorry, Raki but I can't accept this." Priscilla hesitated for a moment. "I like someone else and I'm going to let him know about it soon. Once more I am sorry."
He closed his eyes briefly and smiled. "It's okay. I understand and I hope it goes well for you, Priscilla."
"Thank you, Raki. You're really sweet and kind. I'm sure there's someone out there for you."
Just like that, she came and went like the wind. Leaving behind a feeling of emptiness inside a young man's beating heart. So this is how it feels huh? He thought absentmindedly. The feeling of getting rejected... Raki glanced at the letter, wondering what to do with now since it's purpose was no longer needed. The school bell ranged throughout the building, letting the students know lunchtime was over and classes were resuming.
The rest of the day was pretty much uneventful to say the least and it was time for him to go home since he wasn't part of any clubs at school. He was more in the 'go straight home' club and he liked being in that one. There was a time, when he wanted to join a sports club like basketball, baseball, swimming, track and field or even footbball but he never got around to it because his aunt told him getting excellent grades was the correct way to go. Raki's mother didn't really agree and encourage him to pursue whatever interested him. She rarely told him what to do because she had the utmost trust in Raki and didn't want to intrude in her son's life.
"Mom. I'm back from school."
"Welcome home, son. I made some cookies, do you want some?" A voice said from the kitchen.
"No. I think I'll pass on the cookies this time, but maybe later?" He placed his backpack on the sofa and went upstairs to his room.
"That's odd. He never says no to my freshly baked cookies." Raki's mother said, leaning out from the kitchen.
"It's probably because you're finally losing your touch in making cookies Rafaela," Another voice chimed in.
"Don't be absurd, sis. Something must've happened, I'm worried."
"Like what?" Luciela questioned her sister.
"I don't know."
Luciela wanted to know what it was and her eyes suddenly fell upon Raki's backpack. A smile appeared, then took a big bite out of the cookie. "Hmm..."
Raki was sitting in his chair in front of the computer and stared at the ceiling while his hands were interlock behind his head, reflecting on today's confession failure. He reached into his pocket to get the letter out. But to his dismay, it wasn't in there and abruptly got to his feet.
It's not here? No way. Then it must be in my-- he stopped his train of thought and quickly went out the room to retrieve his backpack he left on the sofa in the living room. Raki was mid-way down the flight of stairs, when he saw it securely held by Luciela with a triumphant look on her face.
Raki's heart skipped a beat. "Aunt Lucy."
"Well, hello boy. You seem certainly vigorous at the moment. I must say, I wonder why?"
"Can I have my backpack back please?"
"Oh. You mean this, boy?" She patted the backpack softly. "I'm not going to lie but quite a predicament you're in since I now know the complete truth."
Raki paled and took a step back. "You read it didn't you?"
She threw him a lopsided grin and sighed. "My, I wonder."
"That wasn't very nice of you, Aunt Lucy." Raki's voice was a little shaky. "It was meant to be read by the person addressed to and that person was Priscilla."
"Say what you want boy, but all that I see is the hilarity in it." Luciela laughed lightly.
Raki clenched his fists, trying his best not to snap at her. He loved his Aunt Lucy dearly but she sometimes did things that were way too extreme like meddling in other people's businesses and liked intimidating others. It's probably because she was a member of the board of directors of a successful business firm and was a woman of great power.
"I'm going out." He finally said. Raki felt like yelling; he choked the feeling back. "Tell my mother that I went to my friend Cid's house okay?"
As soon as Raki said what he wanted to say, Luciela realized she had made a mistake by messing with him. His face showed great disappointment and full of hurt. So much that he wanted out of the house and far way from her if possible. This was actually the first time she'd seen such a face. Luciela was used to seeing him smiling and optimistic.
"Raki, wait, I didn't--" The door closed behind him and she wasn't able to finish her whole sentence.
A moment later, Rafaela walked in the living room after taking a long bath. "Was that Raki that went out?"
"Yes, yes it was." Luciela replied, her voice sounded so far off.
"What's the matter, sis? You don't sound like yourself."
Luciela sighed dejectedly and sank into the sofa. "I've upset Raki and because of that, he left the house."
"What happen? Is this something that's got to do with earlier? Rafaela asked, and her sister nodded. "What did you do, exactly?"
"I thought I'd mess around with him a bit alright? This is what he's clearly upset about. You should know what it is." Luciela took out the folded letter and gave it to her.
A love letter? Rafaela's face was covered in astonishment. A moment later, she felt like being hit by full speed freight train. "Don't tell me you actually went and read it. You're absolutely horrible!"
"I didn't. I swear!" She honestly admitted. "I just wanted to see how he would react if I pretended, that's all."
"Well, congratulation, you succeeded in angrying my son, you idiot!" Rafaela glared at her sister "For whatever reason would you do this for? Is it so you could amuse yourself by hurting him like that?"
Luciela jumped up, eyes blazing. "Of course not! I never do such a thing!"
"Then why? Why are you so intent on being hard him and constantly pushing him in academics when he's already at the top of his class and doesn't even have the time to participate in any school activities?"
Luciela was silent for some time. "I may sound quite unfairly to you and Raki saying this but I do it because I have tremendous high hopes for him." She stated calmly. "And as funny as it may also sound, I personally believe he would make an outstanding CEO of some major company in the future."
"What are you talking about?" Rafaela asked dumbfoundedly, her anger suddenly vanishing away. "That's for him to decide on his own."
Rafaela's big sister chuckled, surprising her. "I guess you're right about that. But it's kind of hard to believe this coming from someone who was formerly the most feared leader of a ruthless female gang," Luciela said. "You're still a legend you know, Devil Queen Rafaela."
She smiled at Luciela's comment but sighed deeply as if she were depressed. "The name sure takes me back and fills my head with memories I'd rather forget. I sometimes can't believe it either, seeing how extremely lucky I am settling down like this and having a child like Raki was a wonderful experience for me. I don't want my son to know about my reckless teenage days but he will eventually."
"It's just ashame Raki never got a chance to know his father." Luciela said, frowning at her own words. "His father dying while he was still attending college. Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to bring this up."
"I don't mind it but he does remind me a lot of his father though. Kind-hearted, gentle and caring." Rafaela started to reminisce about her husband. "I remember when I used to get into a lot of gang fights and Raki's father would come to the rescue and save my tail from getting arrested all the time."
Luciela laughed at this. "You sure were a wild one."
"Back then, seeing myself getting married was probably the last thing on my mind and never had I the slightest clue, I would marry someone like Raki's father. A total school boy with such an amazing grades. While I on the other hand; rude, arrogant, and most of all, short-tempered. At the time, I always believed I would be the girlfriend of some muscle head brute who is asscociated with bad shady people."
Rafaela heard her big sister laughing again and went on. "I admit I was pretty despicable and if I were to see my former self now, I would totally kicked her pathetic ass and set her straight."
"You don't have to be so hard on yourself. We all make mistakes and that's what being human is all about."
She nodded unhappily and looked at Luciela. "I still intend to make up for all those foolish mistakes I made in the past by being a good parent to Raki. I promised his father that I would."
Luciela took this in, then laughed warmly. "You're doing wonderfully, little sister. If it were me, it's obvious I would do a terrible job at being a parent."
"I couldn't agree more." They both exchanged looks and laughed.
"Thanks for the talk, sis. It sure has been awhile." Rafaela patted her sister on the shoulder. "When Raki gets back, please tell him that you're sorry, okay? I should punch you for what you did but I won't."
"Yeah, yeah. Consider it done." Luciela answered, not sounding too proud of herself.
"I'm going to go start on dinner." Rafaela exited the living room, and heading into the kitchen.
Luciela watched her younger sister turn and leave. For what it's worth, her doing what she did went surprisingly smooth. There was the sense of good prospect overshadowing the bad when the two siblings concluded their conversation. One was the opportunity to actually have a talk with Rafaela which occasionally happened. The second was, they were able to get a few things off their minds that were bottled up. And the bad... well it all had to happen on Raki's expense and she felt bad for putting him in the situation.
When he returns, she'll apologize to him because of her insensitivity and for being a complete bitch. But Luciela couldn't help acting that way, since it was in her nature. Besides, if you don't possess those kind of qualities in the business world in this day and age, it'll tear you all to shreds. However, if it's Raki, he just might prove her wrong someday.