Nekozawa- The Dark and the Light
'Beelzenef, how long has it been since I last desired something? Something other than the darkness and quiet.'
The cat puppet made no reply to his master's question.
Umehito Nekozawa continued talking.
'It must be just over seven years now, when I was ten years old.'
He went over to the deep red couch sitting in the corner of the dark, depressing room and lay down. Closing his eyes he remembered back to that time, the time when she loved him back...
'Heads up cloak boy!'
Ouch! Junior Umehito Nekozawa scowled as two flying stones struck him in the back of the head. The boys who had thrown the stones were Hikaru and Kaoru Hitachiin, they were both looking at him now with identical twin grins of mischief. For a moment he thought seriously about throwing a stone back at them but then thought the better of it. Although they kept to themselves mostly, Hikaru and Kaoru were extremely popular and he didn't want the whole junior school against him. He pulled his cloak around him and sat down in a corner of the classroom. He slipped his cat puppet Beelzenef out of his pocket. Big mistake.
'Hey Nekozawa what's with the doll?'
'None of your business Tamaki Suoh, and it's not a doll.'
'To be sure to be sure, but do you think you can put your doll away for a while? Your childish familiarity with that thing is disturbing my princesses.'
Tamaki pointed towards a group of giggling girls in their bright, sickly uniforms. Nekozawa hesitated a moment before returning Beelzenef to his original resting place. Satisfied Tamaki turned on his heel in a way that made all the watching females swoon and headed back towards the giggling group. Nekozawa got up and started walking in the opposite direction towards the library. If he couldn't council with Beelzenef, at least he could consult some black magic books. He had always had quite a fascination with black magic and Ouran Academy provided a whole shelf full of books on exactly that. He stopped when he got to a huge pair of symmetrical brass doors intricately carved with water lilies. He spread his fingers and gave a firm push. It swung open and showed the huge room that was the school library. He seemed to remember that the black magic books were on the far left aisle... Or was it the far right aisle? He cursed under his breath and started to search all the aisles from left to right. Fifteen minutes went by and he still hadn't found any sort of magic book but Umehito Nekozawa was not one to give up. This book searching had become war, and he was going to win it. Along the seventh aisle he found the black magic books. He smiled to himself in silent triumph. He was just about to select his favourite book when it was pinched by a senior boy. He was a big brute of a lad and looked like he could squash a car without much effort.
'Oh, sorry! Was little junior boy going to read this book?' The brute said mockingly.
It took all his effort but Nekozawa somehow restrained his burning rage and backed away from the brute. It looked as if the brute could squash him without much effort and he didn't want to take that risk. Not wanting to lose the chance to windup a pathetic junior, the brute started to walk away, all the time glancing back at Nekozawa and waving the book around. Nekozawa was wishing he had a trained cat with him to claw the brute's eyes out when suddenly- SMACK! As if his prayers had been answered a book went flying across the room and hit the brute over the side of the face. The brute let out a shout of pain and what was clearly shock.
'Who was that?'
A girl stepped out of the sixth aisle, her pretty face scarred with rage.
'Dorky side characters should not steal books from the male protagonist!' She screeched.
'Stay out of this little girl, don't make me hurt you.'
'Threatening the ladies as well. Listen pal I know you're grieving because you didn't make the cut for the star role of this fanfic but there is no need to take it out on everyone else!'
The brute looked completely baffled. Nekozawa felt a little sorry for him. Just a little.
'Yeah- well- your really not cool!' The brute said, lost for ways to insult this strange girl.
Then he dropped the book on the ground and marched out of the library. The girl bent down to pick up the book, walked up to Nekozawa and held the book out.
'Th-thank you.'
'No problem! It was clear you needed my help Senpai.'
'Umehito- Umehito Nekozawa. What's your name?'
'It's Renge' the girl smiled. 'Renge Hoshakuji.'
The romance hadn't lasted long, Renge had gone back to her home in Paris after only two weeks. It had broken Nekozawa's heart. Renge was perhaps the only person who could accept a boy who couldn't go out in sunlight. He had thought about her every day for two years before realising that she was never coming back. He had forgotten about her in time but something had died inside him the day that she had left, and he wasn't the same afterwards. And- and now he had seen her with them. Those arrogant host-club guys. What was she doing with them, back here, in Ouran Academy? Tamaki probably wants to add her to his collection. Well he can have her, she left didn't she? And yet some part of me longs for her, he thought. Like a fire in my skin, desire than burns and scolds my heart making any other wish seem irrational and foolish. He buried the thought as soon as it came up. That's ancient history. He wrapped his cloak around him and went to walk down one of the long hallways of the academy. Pacing up and down seemed to calm him down a little. He was halfway through his usual walk when he heard a crunching under his foot. He had stepped on- a lotus blossom? He picked up the half-crushed flower and let it fall to the floor again. Must be some stupid scheme of the Ouran Host Club to lure ladies into their music room. Yep, sure enough when you walked on for a bit there was a whole trail of lotus blossoms, leading straight to the host club. Pathetic, charming girls with flowers. But from the famous reputation the host club had earned you could be sure that this technique worked. Suddenly, laughter could be heard echoing through the hall. Nekozawa tensed up at the silvery notes, he knew that laugh. He dived under a mahogany table as Renge came round a corner. His eyes widened. Renge had always been cute, but she had grown up to be beautiful. She was wearing the familiar yellow uniform of the Ouran Academy girls and had lotus blossoms braided through her long, orangey-brown hair. She had a sweet smile on her face. If only that smile had been for him, he thought greedily. But to his dismay it was Hani-senpai who she was smiling at. He was trying to cram an immense pink cake into his mouth, spilling crumbs on the white marble floor in his struggle. He crawled forward to steal a closer glance at Renge. Screech! Nekozawa had accidently knocked one of the table legs and it had grated along the floor in a way that wasn't as silent as he would have liked. He stopped his breathing for a moment, praying that she hadn't heard him. She seemed to hesitate for a second, then turned to follow Hani downstairs. He took a gasp of air just as she stopped on the second step. Not looking behind her she spoke to the air.
'Seven years ago there was a young boy I loved. If he still loves me, he will meet me in the garden. Four o'clock, sharp.'
And with that she proceeded down the stairs after Hani again.
'It had to be someone else; she was talking about someone else!'
Nekozawa told himself franticly. He felt anxious and confused and right now basic denial seemed to be the only rational plan that came to his mind. I ought to go to the garden and meet her. But do I really want to meet her? His mind was a dark battlefield. 'If he still loves me'... But do you still love her? He whispered aloud. He knew the answer, the answer he had tried to hide for seven years. He looked at a pocket watch he kept with him. Four o'clock, that gave him... Five minutes! He had wasted so much time worrying! He ran like a madman down the many flights of stairs and through pristine classrooms, his black cloak rustling behind him made him appear almost batlike. When he had only one more floor to go till he reached the garden, he looked out of a window. He could see her! Waiting by a pond covered in lotus blossoms. He shyly tip-toed outside and etched his way towards her in the shadows.
As he approached his footsteps made her turn around. It was then he noticed she was holding a pink umbrella. Despite the situation he asked:
'Renge, what's the umbrella for?'
Nekozawa looked in confusion at her. Indeed she must be mad to have an umbrella on a perfectly sunny day like this. Suddenly she had grabbed him by the waist into the day light, quickly shielding them both with the umbrella.
'Ren'- As soon as he tried to say her name his words were stolen from his lips as Renge closed the distance between them.
'Does that answer your question?' She whispered in his ear.
Nekozawa got over his shock for a moment before rapping her up in his cloak, pulling her close as he smiled down on her.
'Strange isn't it, that someone who has lived in the dark their whole lives as I have, would fall in love with someone so radiant.'
THE END.