The Price of a Bloom

A/N: this is kinda based on the Disney version of Beauty and the Beast (I hesitate to say loosely but it's probably an accurate term) and a bit off the original fairy tale. I think this is quite a common theme but oh well, it's my take on things. I don't write if people don't like what I'm writing so tell me what you think. I'm not saying don't post negative reviews if that's what you think, that's what you think and I respect that. I do ask that you try to be civil and I'll do the same. I tend to write very colloquially, if I use funny terms or phrases just shout. I try not to or to change things when I proof read but seeing as I am not nobody I'm not perfect.

Disclaimer: I don't own -man or its characters, malheureusement, I am in no way related to it, I don't even have a connection to the janitors that clean the building where it is published. The plot is based on beauty and the beast so I figure I don't own that either. I don't own much.

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One of the best examples of human personality is a child's game. Broken telephone. In the beginning a story is true, free of embellishments and fantasy. As we move on it grows, changes, transforms and finally it seems to take on a life of its own. At first it sounds similar to the original but it deviates bit by bit until it is unrecognizable. We all do it, with any story we make it more interesting and sometimes, sometimes we do it to ourselves. In every story there is a root, a central point, something you would reach if you stripped away all deception. Sometimes we forget that and time as well as people hide it.

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In a quaint little cottage just outside an equally quaint town in a France a young girl prepared to go into town. She was a pretty, Chinese girl who looked to be about 16. She checked her basket, it had the book she'd recently borrowed from the library and a shopping list. Her suitor was absent and she decided to take advantage of this to go into town. The hunting season was her favourite and least favourite season. Favourite because Skinn was mainly away hunting, least favourite because when he got back she had to try and wriggle her way out of going to see what he'd killed. Skinn simply didn't know how to take a hint. Part of her missed her life with her brother when they'd roamed. Such a little town she thought as she crossed the bridge that separated her from the village. Such a quite village, the days are monotonous, each one resembles the last. It is filled with little people and in 5-4-3-2-1 they're going to say…

"Bonjour!"(good day)

Typical she could even predict what would happen, the baker passed her setting out the same selection of bread he'd had for the past 4 years, ever since she came. She felt the villagers' eyes on her, some because she was quite pretty and all because she was exotic. Not only in looks but behaviour too. She had not been raised as the village girls were and part of her suspected that they watched her because they weren't sure how sane her brother Kumoi was. Qui sait? (who knows) maybe insanity was hereditary. Not that Kumoi was crazy, not in his sister's eyes. He was a genius.

xxx

Branches tore at the man, his hair was full of debris, his clothes a mess and his possessions forgotten but he ran like a man possessed, as though hounds were on his heels, like he was terrified of something. His lips moved incessantly panic guided him. Anybody close enough to hear his frantic murmurs would have been slightly confused as to what he meant, but anybody who knew him, and few enough did, may well have shared in his fear.

"Lenalee, Lenalee… be safe … stay in the house… gotta get there first, stop him … can't let him get Lenalee… hide her, hide her I need to get back to the cottage"

xxx

In the same quaint cottage a few miles south of the man sat his young Chinese sister. Warm brown eyes crinkled at the sides, well worn line defined her eyes, the type you got from smiling endlessly. She had a porcelain skin with lightly flushed cheeks and long black hair. She was carrying a tray into a room of men her brother had left behind to keep an eye on her. Even though she was 16 and he was due back that evening he refused to leave her alone. On the way to the room she passed the portraits of parents she had no memory of and the brother who'd raised her. Her European style dress flowed behind her.

"Johnny, Reever, Tapp! Can I offer anybody coffee?"

The men who had been lying as if dead on the paper work that filled the room made it to her in record time, soon her tray was much lighter.

"Ah, you are such a life saver Lenalee, I swear if your brother wasn't such a genius and you didn't make the best coffee in the world I'd never agree to help him on these crazy schemes of his."

"So right Johnny, Lenalee have you ever thought of introducing a filing system to him and the idea of working. I swear it's easier to catch a greased pig than it is to make Kumoi work" Reever joked while Johnny and Tapp polished off their coffee.

"I'll make a point of doing so Reever though it would be the 50 millionth time I'd tried. It's like trying to make him stop making those silly little experiments."

They all winced at the memory of some of the nastier things they'd produced. The science group (that was what the four of the called themselves) had been unable to stop crying for a week after the Onion Bomb. They'd all been willing to kill Kumoi when he found something that made caffeine repulsive and Lenalee had been embarrassed numerous times by the dolls Kumoi made her. Fashioned with his unique hair they sang lullabies. More specifically they droned in a terrifying monotone "Sleep, sleep my beautiful Lenalee". They all laughed and Lenalee peered out the window into the dark, searching for the first signs of her brother's return. She was vaguely annoyed as his dinner was getting cold but other than that she was filled with anticipation.

"Go upstairs Lenalee, get yourself ready for bed you know how he worries when you wait up for him. We'll call you the second he's near. That way everyone is happy. Kumoi would never risk upsetting you, unless it was about a boy but you're not interested in that Skinn boy. Are you?"

"Ergh no, definitely not. 'kay Tapp but don't be late." She warned laughing at the same time. She had a beau in the village. A big man called Skinn Bolic. All muscles and no brains. He didn't even look good either, but his uncle Millennium was very influential. He was, in fact, an earl and a lord. She strongly suspected that he was an earl because he had a rather larger pile of money and a willingness to help the crone fight wars. Kumoi had attacked him and Skinn several times. Actually whenever Skinn came within 10 meters of Lenalee Kunoi was likely to pop up and attempt to destroy the man who was about three times his size. He'd landed in the pig pen once. Lenalee hadn't been able to stop herself laughing for ages after that. She suspected that Kumoi disliked Skinn for the same reasons plus the additional one. Skinn was interested in Lenalee because he thought her to be the prettiest girl in the village. He considered himself the best and as such believed only the best would do for him. He was interested in 3 things: Lenalee, sweets and hunting. She had to be careful when she went to the library. Skinn didn't believe that women should read. Lenalee thought that he couldn't read himself. He'd torn her book in half and dumped it in the mud. The librarian had seen the whole incident and had been very sweet about it. He hadn't expected her to replace the book because he knew she and Kumoi sometimes struggled. The only thing in Skinn's favour was that he didn't laugh at Kumoi and call him crazy. She got the nasty feeling that it was only because he realised that she didn't like people who did. It was on the way up the stairs that she was tackled.

"KUMOI- NI-SAN!"

Her scream brought the science group running. Her bedraggled brother gripped her legs desperately. They helped him up and lead him to a seat. After a few false starts he began to talk comprehensibly. He seemed obsessed with holding on to Lenalee, confirming she was there. He muttered something about not letting him get her. Then he began with his story, in typical Kumoi fashion.

"It began on my trip back, or was it this past winter? That is a debatable, when a story truly begins, but I digress" he said hastily as he caught sight of his sister's face. "Do you remember we lost those plants this winter in that blizzard?"

They weren't rich they lived in a humble cottage but Lenalee had always maintained the garden and it had always been beautiful. She loved her plants. Sentimental since childhood she had always been affected by her garden. Kumoi used to tease her about it. stubborn enough to try and move mountains but sentimental enough to weap at the changing of the seasons. She'd lost her two favourite plants. The white rose bush and the Lotus tree.

"You know that forest beyond the village, the one everybody fears, well I got lost and found myself in there. The mist made things confusing but I soon realised that I was in a palace the walls of a palace. I felt as if someone was watching me but I dismissed the feeling when I saw the garden properly. They had the most beautiful plants and while I knew I couldn't bring you new plants but I thought just the blooms would be sufficient. Then as I picked the lotus that monster appeared from nowhere. He was furious, he accused me of stealing that which he was most attached to, then he said he'd return the favour and take what was most precious to me. it felt like he turned my head inside out. Then he said your name Lenalee. He said, he said…" Kumoi broke off into sobs at that point and pulled Lenalee closer to himself. It took them a few minutes to calm him enough to continue with his story.

" 'A girl huh? Well she seems to be rather decent, she can cook at least. Haven't seen a new face in years. I'll go fetch her. Che. Probably more trouble than it is worth.' Then he through me down and left. I hurried back here as fast as I could"

Lenalee was a mixing pot of emotions, part of her was furious. How dare a strange man threaten her brother like that and decide what he was going to do with her without consulting her first. Part of her was worried; Kumoi looked pretty shaken and quite badly scratched. Part of her was exasperated and a tiny part of her was scared.

"Don't worry chief we'll protect Lenalee. We've pulled all nighters for unimportant things like work we can do one to protect Lenalee-chan" Reever declared.

"Yeah" Johnny agreed "Don't under estimate the power of the Science Team!"

xxx

"Brother Kumoi?"

"Yes my dear Lenalee?"

"You don't think this," she gestured at the chaos around her: "is over doing it?"

Johnny, Kumoi, Reever and Tapp stood round her bed with hard hats and some, er fascinating weapons. Kumoi appeared to be carrying an oversized drill and the rest… well she didn't know about the rest. There was trip wire round the windows and at the door and flat bombs that swelled and exploded when pressure was applied decorated the floor. The slightly more sarcastically practical part of her commented that reaching the bathroom could prove to be difficult. He sat on the edge of her bed and softly rubbed her head. Mussing her hair and he smiled softly.

"Of course it is my dear, nothing is too much if it for your safety now just sleep soundly knowing that we are here."

Yeah, right. Like that was going to happen.

xxx

He stopped outside the house. It was well kept, good, he couldn't stand messy people. It was, it seemed, the girl who was responsible for the up keep of the house. He passed by the locked door with no more trouble than he would have passed by an unlocked one. He ascended the stairs and pushed open the door to the girl's room. An amusing scene assaulted his eyes. 4 men stood guard round a bed. It seemed they had booby trapped the room. They all turned to face him as he came in. He prepared to draw his trusty Mugen as they attacked simultaneously; it proved to be a superfluous move. He made few enough of those. The men incapacitated themselves as they forgot their traps. The one with bushy was thrown across the room as he stood on a paper envelope. His fat friend ran to help him and tripped over a piece of wire that ran round the room. Metal onions fell from the roof and promptly released some form or sort of gas. They all started weeping and trying to clear their eyes. He dealt with the fool who had trespassed into his garden and another with quick blow to the base of their necks. The gas stung slightly as he neared the bed but he healed almost immediately. He scooped up the girl who seemed to be in a deep sleep and slung her over his shoulder. Now to get back.

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