A/N:
This is a fanfic inspired by Corrupted Flower, a vocaloid song sung by Rin and Len. I highly recommend listening to this song before reading this fic!
Here's a link to the song:
watch?v=V_8UZMYqMgc
Anyway on to the story~
"The officer was taken to the red-light district
by his commanding officer to see the popular dancer.
What intoxicated him was either the alcohol or...
With curiosity, he plucked the flower of love from a lark.
Before he knew it, it became a corrupted flower
and bloomed out of season-"
Corrupted Flower
1. The dancing girl like a falling teardrop was a flower fairy roaming through the night.
He shouldn't be here. The thought went through his mind as he took another sip of the golden liquid in his mug and flitted his blue eyes nervously back again to his commanding officer seated next to him. The noise was everywhere, all around him, jostling him from both sides, the crowd thick and loud. It was hard to keep ones senses straight in a place such as this.
The scent of alcohol and bodies and sin permeated the room, and the ambience all around him was red. Red plush carpet along the floors, red draperies covering the stage, red table cloths billowing around the tables. Red lights streaming downward from the ceiling.
Red lights.
Ah yes, why was he here again, this young officer dressed in his distinguished blue uniform, gold buttons glinting in the light, a sword resting heavily against his thigh?
Why had his commanding officer dragged him off to such a place? Indeed there was corruption even among the higher ranks. Places like this and the law should never mix, wasn't that so?
Running his hand through his long blonde hair, he swallowed and opened his mouth, preparing to say just as much to his superior, when a sudden hush fell over the crowd, and the already dim lights dimmed all the more.
He focused his attention on the stage, curiosity igniting in him at the hush and the crowds devoted attention. A deep, reverberating, haunting beat began to echo through the room.
His commanding officer tugged on his cuff, and in a slightly awed voice whispered,
"This is what I wanted you to see."
The curtains parted, and that's when time stopped.
Because there she was.
This ethereal beauty, this lithe figure, this heavenly apparition. She was paused dramatically in the center of the stage, pink dress billowing around her like flower petals, one vine covered arm extended in an elegant pose. Big, sky blue eyes that seemed to be staring directly at him, these beautiful eyes, framed by black, lush eyelashes, these eyes that seared straight into his soul. Her delicate, ghostly pale face, pouty, soft pink mouth.
A low whine of a violin shot through the room, her arm beginning to move in an arc, mesmerizingly slow, eyes still locked on his, a small smile playing across her lips… Then suddenly the music roared to life, picked up pace, and this rare flower picked up pace along with it, twirling across the room, breaking out into a dance that was art in its purest form. The way she moved, the way she spun, landing dramatically splayed across the ground, then gracefully picking herself up again and she was everywhere yet nowhere, above and below and beyond anything and the way his heart was beating in his chest he was sure he would die and-
It ended.
With a rush the music abruptly stopped and she was down again and only the arch of her back and her blonde, curly hair cascading around her shoulders and down her neck and two arms stretched in front of her could be seen as she bowed deeply.
The curtains closed and the crowd surged upward, clapping wildly, as the young officer still sat staring spellbound at the now empty stage, unable to form a coherent thought.
As the crowd settled down and more drinks were passed and the moment faded, (not for him, not for him) his commanding officer was saying something to him (he couldn't hear him, he couldn't think, was it the alcohol?). A flutter of pink glimpsed in the far corner of the room and he was up before he could even process what he was doing.
2. The scent of dripping honey was sweet, invaded by its poison I couldn't stop myself from falling.
What was he doing?
Blindly following after a ghost such as this.
He pushed his way through the crowd, mind spinning, finally made his way to the place he had seen that flash of pink that spoke of so much more. He turned down a dark hallway, and she was there.
Standing quietly in the corner. Eyes cast toward the ground, hands clasped behind her back.
She heard him approach and lifted her eyes, and he stood still for a moment, because he couldn't seem to bring himself to move any closer.
But then she smiled a small smile, and he moved, close to her, so close, she was looking up at him, and wrapping her arms around him with no hesitation, and whispering into his ear.
"I saw you in the crowd. Did you like my dance?"
Her voice was like honey, dripping and sweet, but dangerous, oh so dangerous.
Yet it ignited a fever inside him.
He burrowed his nose in her locks of golden hair and breathed deeply. She smelled like spring, like roses in full bloom. He nodded against her head.
"I want to know you better." The words fell from his lips.
"If you want to know me better than expose me." She responded coyly.
Their lips joined passionately afterward, in a kiss that led to much, much more that moonlit night.
3. The flower thieves whispered untrue love to make up for their sins.
It was passion.
It was lust.
It was carnal desire.
To meet her again and again.
To embrace her and feel her and know her intimately.
It was not love.
The sweet nothings they murmured to each other in their bliss, the hollow endearments, the deep kisses that seemed true but were empty.
Before they knew it they were caught up in their chain of sins, unable to stay away one from the other.
Playful words exchanged in the night, no feelings attached.
3. If only I hadn't met you- If only I hadn't noticed you-
When had it changed? When had these feelings begun to bloom? He looked at the fairy lying next to him and regret pained deep within his heart. She was beautiful. She was perfect. Yet this, what they shared, wasn't real.
The fairy lying next to him clutched a hand to her aching chest, felt the heart beat under the skin and damned the day she had begun to feel. But that was wrong. It had been from the moment their eyes met. The moment their eyes met she-
But these were words she could never speak. Her true feelings would never reach him.
She met eyes with him, and saw the doubt and the regret and a shadow was cast on the both of them. She quickly looked away.
"If yearning for you is fake…" He thought.
"If wanting you is sinful…" She thought.
Then I don't need my heart.
4. My love bloomed out of season.
"Rin."
The day she first told him her real name. It passed through his lips and her heart fluttered just hearing it.
"Yes." She was nervous, what did he think of her name?
"It's beautiful." He smiled and she felt a weight lift off her shoulders.
"Say it again." She begged.
"Rin." And he pulled her close against his warm chest and she listened to his heart beat. Why did it feel so natural and safe to be held like this in his arms?
There were some nights where they would sneak out and just lay there looking up at the stars and he would tell her stories about when he was a child and the travels he had made with his grandfather. And she would tell him about her silly, childish dreams. Once upon a time she had wished to be a magician who performed magic tricks in a one man traveling side show, so she could always make people smile and laugh.
But the world is a cruel place and childish dreams are best left behind and forgotten.
She asked him once if it had been his dream to be an officer, if he had fulfilled a dream.
He glanced at her and sighing had said,
"Dreams are always not what they are made out to be. Sometimes we're dreaming for the wrong thing."
And she had thought,
"Mostly we dream for the things we can never have."
He could not continue in these sins any longer. It was a forbidden act, for someone who was a slave to their country like he. For someone on the side of the law. You cannot mix light and dark in these circumstances. But he had been doing so for far too long.
That is why he denied these feelings deep within his heart.
He knew this foolishness would have to end. It must end.
If there were no feelings involved, then it would be so much easier to let go when the time came. Because the time would come when he must go, there was no doubt about that.
That is why this must be untrue love.
As a lady of the night you are not allowed to develop feelings.
Especially a lady of the night who provides such an asset to the house she works for.
As a lady of the night indeed it would be foolish to develop feelings.
There will be no knight in shining armor to come and take you away.
There may be the highest bidder who someday takes you home with him.
As a lady of the night it is forbidden to fall in love.
5. The flower thieves whispered undying love to make up for their sins.
The moment they both realized their true feelings the gravity of the situation fell upon them.
He looked into her eyes and he knew, and she knew, and they clung to each other desperately because they did not want to let go.
Why must they be separated by station, why must the lives they lead be destined to tear them apart? It was an unfair and cruel world they lived in. Why must she be stained and tainted by deep red? Why must he wash off the red and be forced to be pure white again?
"Len, you're aware of my feelings so please…" She kissed him urgently, but this kiss was different, it was overflowing with feelings, real feelings. It overflowed with love. It overflowed with the truth.
They separated and he touched his forehead to hers, stared deep into her eyes, "If you want me to I'll snatch you away."
Even in this moment of truth they still spoke hopeful lies.
6. Till the day we meet again.
They stood together underneath a familiar tree, a place they had met often. She wore the dress she had worn the day they had met, the soft pink one, with the tight fitting bodice and the skirt like a flowering rose. It blew all around her in the wind, the wind that chilled her straight to the bone. Was it really such a cold day though the sun was shining?
He looked upon her and she took his breath away. The way the sun shone off her hair just so, her dazzling blue eyes locked on him, wide and devoted, he could sink into them and never look away. He grasped both her arms and opened his mouth to say something but no words would leave him.
Oh how he wished she could be his forever.
Look at him. Look at this handsome young man with the distinguished blue officer's uniform, the embroidered golden edges and the shining black boots. Look at his kind face and those blue eyes that made her melt every time. His long blonde hair that she had many times run her hands through, now blowing across his face from the wind. She parted her lips to say what must be said but the words stuck in her throat.
Oh how she wished he would never leave her.
The kiss this time was different too. Because it spoke. It spoke of memories shared to be locked away, and probably best left forgotten, it spoke of passion and lust yes, it spoke of soft glances and kind words and dreams shared, it spoke of hopes and wishes to be unfulfilled, of sorrow and pain and loss, and a desperate need not to say the words that must be said.
But most of all it spoke of love.
They parted and he let go of her, stepping back.
It is time to bury these feelings, these feelings never meant to come to the surface.
"If you really love me," she said, clinging tightly to her dress till her knuckles turned white, so as not to pull him back to her again, "I hope you never look back."
He reached a hand toward her, but stopped before it reached her, it hung in the air between them, just short of her porcelain face. "Oh my fleeting dream," he murmured, "it is time to end this." And then he let his arm fall.
And she clung to her dress.
And he turned.
And she clung to her dress.
And he walked away.
What were these drops sliding down her cheeks? One after another. They wouldn't stop. They wouldn't stop. He wouldn't stop. She could not chase after him.
Goodbye.