Prelude
"Shuu wait up." a little girl yelled as she chased her friend through the forest. For the little girl these were the best times of her life. During the day she was just another child in a village full of farmers and the poor, but after the lights went out, she got to run free with the only friends she had ever had.
She had meet Shuu and Edgar two weeks after her family had moved into the small village. She had been wandering in the woods for a good while under the moon and stars when she startled upon the two. At first the boys seemed to long to get away from her but after she took interest in the things they were doing they warmed up to her,
The girl had always prided herself on not being like other girls her age. Most of them were interested in tea parties and dresses but she got up everyday and put on a pair of overalls and chased Edgar through the dirt paths. At night she was the same. After she seen Shuu and Edgar fighting eachother with sticks she quickly wanted to learn to do what they were. It took a long time before Shuu actually let her learn how to fence but when he did she shot to the experienced level he was at an alarming rate. Even Edgar, who would never admit it out loud, knew she was better than him at fencing and when he couldn't he could always count on her to kick Shuu's butt for him.
Do to her boyish nature, they oftentimes forgot she was a girl and became to hard and rough on her. Her parents would always wonder where she was getting all of the bruises and scrapes she woke up with, but never said anything afraid that they would only push her away more. She had never had a good relationship with her parents, her mother wanted her to become a classy lady and marry a rich man, and her father was never around. Until she found her friends the only thing the kept her company was music. While she never showed anyone, she knew she had a good singing voice and would often try to make up her own songs. These songs of course only had lyrics, but she always pictured herself singing in front of a large crowd of adoring people.
She never wanted the boys to find out about her little hobby in fear they would start treating her like the porcelain doll they had treated her like before, but one day she slipped up. She had had a tune stuck in her head all day and found herself singing it on they way to meet Shuu and Edgar. What she hadn't realised was how close she was to the boys and how loud her voice was. When she arrived in the clearing they had claimed as their spot, they both looked at her like she had more than one head on her neck.
"What?" she had asked, worried by their confused and shocked looks.
"You can sing!" exclaimed Edgar
"Yeah I guess." the girl answered sheepishly, after spending so long wishing they never found out she makes on simple mistake, one, and her whole mission blows to pieces.
"Your voice is beautiful." came a soft tone. Shuu who had been quiet up until this point was now looking away from the two, hiding his ever deepening blush. When he had heard the voice he had almost thought he was imagining it, but now that he knew who it was it made him ever more bashful.
"What it is called? Do I know it? I don't think I have ever heard it before. Where did you learn it? Why didn't you tell us you could sing? Why-"
"Edgar. Leave her to answer only one question at a time, don't throw so much at her at once." Shuu cut in silencing Edgar's rambling.
"I'm sorry I never told you guys. I just never thought that is was very important. And no Edgar you don't know it, I made it up myself." the girl answered
"You make up your own music?" Shuu asked
"Yeah but just the words, I don't really understand sheet music. But I do love the sound the violin and piano make, people play them for church." The girl answered .
"The violin. I play the violin! An-and I know how to write the music for it to! I could bring some stuff and we could make up a song together! How does that sound Honoka?" Shuu said in a happy and excited tone.
It wasn't often that the girl and Edgar got to see Shuu truly smile, his mysterious home life seemed to prevent that, but this was one of those rare times where Shuu smiled wide and bright, and in the girls head , she couldn't help but note how it ,made him even more handsome.
Over the next few nights Shuu and Honoka sat up later than normal writing their song. Shuu had managed to get his violin out of the manor with him and he showed her and Edgar the ways that notes could string together to form a beautiful melody. Honoka hung onto each and every note he played. To be honest, she thought, I don't recall when my crush on Shuu started but it makes being so close to him hard. All the time now she had to try to suck in her blushing face or hide it all together. She knew that Shuu would never like her back that way , they were to close as friends, and even if he did, she was just a poor girl from a farm village, and he was a rich aristocrat, they could never be together.
Even then though, she couldn't help but compare her story to the one of Cinderella. She had always loved the story read to her when she went to sleep, and her life and Cinderella's were so similar. Both girls coming from a place where they were always working, nether father ever being there, both mother's forcing them to be something they weren't. Both dashing off at midnight to meet their prince charming, and both having to return before dawn. Oh how the girl wished her life to turn out how her favorite story characters did, but she knew it never would. After all it was just a made up fairytale.
It took over ten nights to write the music for their song, and it was then up to the girl to put in the lyrics. She pondered over it day after day each one having to tell Shuu they weren't done. And after the sixth day of having it in her possession she started writing.
I've been hearing symphonies
Before all I heard was silence
A rhapsody for you and me
And every melody is timeless
Life was stringing me along
Then you came and you cut me loose
Was solo singing on my own
Now I can't find a key without you
And now your song is on repeat
And i'm dancing on to your heartbeat
And when your gone I feel incomplete so if you want the truth
I just want to be part of your symphony
Will you hold me tight and not let go
Symphony
Like a love song on the radio
Will you hold me tight and not let go?
I'm sorry if it's all too much
Every day you're here I'm healing
And I was running out of luck
I never thought i'd find this feeling
'Cause I've been hearing symphonies
Before all I hear was silence
A rhapsody for you and me
And every melody is timeless
And now your song is on repeat
And I'm dancing on to your heartbeat
And when your gone I feel incomplete
So if you want the truth
I just want to be part of your symphony
Will you hold me tight and not let go
Symphony like a love song on the radio
Will you hold me tight and not let go
Ah,ah,ah,ah,ah,ah
Ah,ah,ah
Ah,ah,ah,ah,ah,ah
Ah,ah,ah
And now your song is on repeat
And i'm dancin on to your heartbeat
And when your gone I feel incomplete
So if you want the truth
I just want to be part of your symphony
Will you hold me tight and not let go
Symphony
Like a love song on the radio
Will you hold me tight and not let go?
Every lyric, a voice on paper of what she wanted to say to Shuu, but could never find the courage to do so. To some it might be cowardly to keep all of these things to herself, or even smart to others, getting all of these feelings under control. She knew she could never tell Shuu and Edgar that she finished the song, she would have to keep telling them that she had writers block like she had been for the last few weeks.
Each day you could see Shu getting more and more impatient about the song. He wanted to see what she had come up with, and Honoka new this. She had finally made up her mind to show him the song, and anticipated it all day long. She skipped her daily chores in order to make sure the song was tweaked to perfection. Of course, she got a good whipping from her mother about this, but the idea of finally getting to tell her prince how she felt blocked the pain. When she went to bed that night she planned to stay awake to get an early start to the clearing, but had fallen asleep by accident, due to the stress she had had caused herself that day.
She woke to the heat, at first she has no idea what was going on, but the bright orange glow coming from the room outside knocked her head into focus. Her house was on fire, and if the terrifying glow outside her window said anything, the rest of the village was too. In a desperate motion to get out of the house. Honoka's blankets wrapped around her ankles causing her to trip on and fall into the bookcase next to her bed. When she hit the floor she realized she was stuck under the heavy wooden shelf, and the flames had creeped through her open door and were coming closer by the second.
Honoka was terrified. She could feel the scorching pain of the fire come closer and closer to the exposed left side of her body. When it finally touched her delicate skin, Honoka's agonising screams filled the air, engulfing the room like the black smoke rising from the town. With the adrenaline coursing through her veins, she managed to push the shelving unit of of her small body and run for dear life. The fire burned the sof soles of her feet and the left side of her body felt numb. Tears ran down her face as she saw what was left of the only other home she knew. As she raced down the main street, tears and smoke making it hard to see, and the screams of small children and family trapped in their homes making it hard to hear, she managed to make it to the forest line. She collapsed in exhaustion and pain, whimpering as the rough grass stroked the burned and damaged skin of her body.
Had her greif not clouded her mind, she might have hear the footsteps approaching her. However a voice snapped her out of her daze.
"Pitiful creature," and childish male voice snapped " You have to know you brought this on yourself. Had you just reminded your own business and ignored Shui, your life might not have ended today."
Honoka looked up from the shining black shoes infront of her face, to the crimson eyes of Shu's younger brother Reiji. Honoka didn't know him very well, having only met Shu's family a week prior at a ball Shu had invited her and Edgar to. She has worn her best dress and shoes and had her mother braid her hair into an intricate bun. Her mother found it to be a perfect time for her daughter to be noticed by powerful and rich boys her age and gladly let her go along.
She was introduced to Shu's mother and father, both of which she had greeted warmly despite the cold looks they gave her. She was also introduced to Shu's little brothers. Ayato, Laito, and Kanato had immediately taken to the girl excitedly asking her to play before being scolded by the mother. She has also met Subaru, Shu's youngest sibling, who has been to shy to say anything to her. No matter how nice the rest of the sibling had been to her, Reiji had been the most hostile. Although he had politely asked her to dance, he had spent the whole song berating her on her dress, dancing skills, and background. Lucky, She had been there to save her, because his mother wanted a picture of he and his friends. Of course, the other brothers wanted to join in too, so at the end of the night Beatrix handed her a picture of her with the boys, but added a warning to it.
Beatrix has coldly stated that because of her, her son had neglected his duties as the eldest son, and become defiant. Honoka had countered with the argument that Shu often stated that he came to meet his friends for a break between lessons, and had never said that he was meeting them to escape his duties. Scoffing at the pretence that her son was a liar, Beatrix simply sent her on her way back home with the order to never come back.
Honoka had hoped that that would be the last time she would ever see the Sakamaki family, but was very very wrong.
"Why? Why would you do this Reiji?" Honoka asked between coughs, still huddled in fetal position on the ground clutching the gold locket Shu had given her at the ball, hoping it would give her strength.
"Because of you, mother has had to pay even more attention to my elder brother, to stop him from coming here. She has started acting as if i'm not even there at all. As if I am invisible. So I decided to take matters into my own hands. If She has nowhere to disappear to, the mother has no reason to keep a close watch on him. In order for that to happen, this place has to burn." Reiji spat, nailing a hard kick to Honoka's ribs. Without waiting for a response, Reiji spun around and started off presumably back home.
" I will never forgive you Reiji Sakamaki. If I survive, I promise that I will come back, and for you, there will be hell to pay." Honoka whispered, as her whole world went black.