THE QUEEN OF HEARTS

Cain just wanted to be alone for a moment when he noticed a beauty dancing down in the court yard below him. A beauty who danced with amazing grace…Cain's POV

Cain/Sunako

Wallflower/Godchild

All I was hoping for was to step outside and get away from the stuffiness of it all for a moment.

But when I stepped outside onto the balcony, I spotted a girl down in the court yard. She wore a white bustle ball gown. Her sleeves were surprisingly short even for a gown, baring beautiful white arms.

I don't know if she was dancing for a crowd, but she was dancing alone.

She looked up once and I noticed that she was just dancing for herself. Her eyes were closed, dancing to an unknown song.

I never could understand what Claude Frollo was going through when I read Hunchback of Notre Dame a few days ago. I ended up putting the book back up, but not until I had read how he spied Esmeralda dancing in the square.

Her feet moved nimbly on the grass, arms high above her head. Her ebony hair coming a bit undone from her pearl net, and her dress flowing about her like satin…

I made my decision. I headed back inside and strode out of the ballroom down the stairs into the court yard.

Relieved to find I was the only one who spied her, I watched more, waiting for the opportune moment to steal her into my arms and dance with her.

When her back turned to me, I jumped at the chance and took her wrists.

She started and looked behind her.

She was gorgeous! Full pink lips begging to be kissed…a small delicate nose…wide eyes…wide obsidian eyes that pulled me in…

"I…" She began, "I…"

"Dance with me," I demanded.

She shook her head.

"Dance with me," I persisted.

She shook her head more violently. "Let me go."

Now it was my turn to shake my head. I didn't want to let her go. How could I let her go? Why should I let her go?

"Dance with me. Just one dance," I begged her. She shook her head. "All I'm asking is for one."

"To…to…"

"To?"

"Bright!" she screamed, escaping my hold. She picked up the skirt to her dress and ran.

I wasn't going to give up so easily, so I pursued her. I caught her again, this time around the waist, I grabbed her wrist with my free hand. "I'm not letting you go until I get one dance."

"Let me go!"

"I said I wasn't going to! I want to dance with you!"

"No!"

"If you want me to let you go, you need to dance with me," I bargained. "And give me your name."

She shook her head. I wondered if she was making herself dizzy doing so.

"Shall I give you a name for me to call you if you don't give me a name?" She shook her head, but I gave her one anyway. "Queen…why not Queen?"

"My name is Sunako," she snapped. "Don't give people names to call them by just because they don't give you their name right away."

"You're quite stubborn."

"You have my name, now let me go."

"That was only a part of the bargain."

"Which I did not agree to! Now let me go, you damn Creature of the Light!"

"You're doing the same thing I did," I whispered in her ear. "My name is Cain."

"You're name could be Jack the Ripper for all I care," Sunako growled. "Let me go!"

She was more beautiful when angry. One dance…not even ten dances…a whole night of dancing with her would not be enough for me.

I had not felt like this since Suzette. It was strange. So very strange. I released her wrist and cupped her chin, turning her face to look at mine. She closed her eyes tightly, scrunched up. It was very silly and brought a smile to my face.

"Relax, I'm not anyone suspicious."

"Go away," she growled through her teeth.

"No," I said taking her hand again and setting her free hand on my shoulder. I wrapped my arm around her waist. My hand shook slightly, but steadied against her back. I pushed her closer to me. Her eyes were still shut tightly.

With ease, I led the dance, wondering what had happened to her a moment ago. She danced with such skill and now she seemed almost clumsy. Was it because I was here?

"I know you can dance," I whispered in her ear, "why are you pretending to fake being clumsy?"

She didn't answer me, but bit her lip.

"Enough of that, I said releasing her hand and cupping her chin. "You're beautiful…Sunako."

She shook her head again. "Let me go."

"No. I'm scared to let you go." She shivered. I don't know why. Her face muscles relaxed a little, but her eyes remained closed. "You're so very beautiful."

"Stop."

"No," I said, "What man wants to be cast away from their queen? You're my queen…Sunako."

How I wanted to kiss those rose colored lips.

Her fist collided into my cheek and I released her, shocked.

When I looked up, she had vanished. I looked down, feeling like I had lost something terribly precious. On the ground was a ring with a skull in the center of a heart. I picked up the strange, iron colored ring and slid it on my finger. I kissed the ring, certain it belonged to her.

Though it was a little bit of a comfort, it didn't ebb the feeling that seemed like a hole in my chest.

Sunako…I needed to find her…

I didn't think that I'd never see my queen of hearts ever again…

Sunako stepped through the bushes and tripped. She cursed herself for being seen. She slammed her fist into the concrete and winced, she looked at her hand.

Oh no! My ring! She thought. She stood and turned around toward the hedge she came out from. She stopped. What if that guy's still there? Who was he, anyway?

"Sunako-chan! Where have you been?" Obachan snapped.

"Sorry, Obachan," Sunako said. "I just needed to get away for a while."

"Oh, it's alright, Sunako-chan," Obachan said, embracing her. "Come on inside. You know, sometimes, they say that you might find your one true love when you dance alone under the starry sky during a full moon. It's an old pagan practice that virgins did when they were your age."

"That's silly, Obachan," Sunako said. "You don't meet your true love when you dance alone. Just perverts."

Obachan laughed. "That may be true now a day," She agreed. "Actually, I heard that sometimes, girls used to vanish when they did."

"Because perverts got them."

"Sunako-chan!"

"Why? What did the legend say?"

"That they're one true love did not exist in the time they were born in and found them dancing under the moon."

Sunako kept silent and looked behind her back at the hedge. If a virgin dances under a full moon and starlit sky, she finds her true love, huh? Was that why that Creature of the Light wouldn't leave me alone when I told him to? He was dressed in some sort of old fashioned tuxedo too…what was his name again? Cain?

Sunako looked away. Well, even if what Obachan said is true, the chances that he's from a different time period is rather slim.

And yet when Sunako entered the ball room again, he was nowhere to be found.

She went back before it was time to go. Instead of finding her ring, she found a letter and a rose waiting for her.

She was to afraid to open the letter.