Chapter Two
-Uraboku-
Tooko and Shuusei sat beside one another on the couch in the common room of the Zweilt house. They didn't look at each other or touch as they sat. Tooko's hands lay clasped together on her lap. She kept her eyes on the floor.
"Tooko-Chan?" Shuusei whispered scooting slightly closer to her.
"Hm?" She didn't look up, but tilted her head to the side.
"Are you alright?" He sat his hand on her leg.
She shied away and let her hair hang over her eyes, "I am."
"You don't seem it."
She froze like a deer in the headlights, "Sh-Shuusei…" She turned to face him. Dark circles hung beneath her ember eyes, which were reddened at the edges from crying. A pair of butterfly closures were fixed just to the side of her brow.
"…Tell me what happened."
She looked away in an attempt to hide what he'd already seen, "N-Nothing."
"Tooko-"
"I just fell and hit my head," She bit her quivering lip, "That's all."
He was quiet for a moment before he spoke again, "Please don't lie to me."
She looked up into his eyes. She was shaking as she sat her hand atop his, "I really did fall…" She bit her lip, "Tsukumo didn't mean to. I know he didn't."
Shuusei tensed, "What did he do?"
"He just pushed me away. He didn't even push hard," she looked to the side, "And I fell and hit my head against the headboard. He bandaged me and apologized the entire time."
"God…" His fingers grazed just to the side of the cut.
"He didn't mean to," She blushed, "It's not as bad as it looks."
Shuusei slowly nodded, "You're sure that you're okay?"
She nodded and her bangs fell back down to cover the cut.
"Well don't you two look nice," Takashiro smiled as he walked into the room, "Thank you for coming this morning."
"Of course, Takashiro-Sama," They spoke in unison and gave a slight bow of their heads.
"So over dinner last night I hadn't realized we hadn't set a date for the wedding. Do either of you have a preference?"
They were silent as they glanced at each other. A question passed between them, "How long do we have to wait?"
"Pardon?" Takashiro looked up from his notebook.
"How long are we allowed to have for planning and such?" Tooko looked at him. They both knew that they'd be planning as little as they had too. It was almost like planning a funeral to them. How much time would they have left with their partners?
"I suppose around a year or so," He looked at the calendar on the wall, "So the appropriate time would be mid-December at the latest."
Shuusei and Tooko looked at each other for a moment. It was nearly February now; would they have enough time between now and December?
Shuusei looked back to Takashiro, "December sounds good."
"What day?"
"The twenty-first," Tooko chimed in, "That's the day of the solstice."
Takashiro scribbled something down in his notebook, "That sounds do-able."
"Great," Shuusei started to stand, "Is that all?"
"For today, yes," Takashiro flipped his notebook closed, "Happy planning."
-Uraboku-
"I just don't understand what Takashiro-Sama is trying to do," Tsukumo stared blankly into his coffee cup, "Since when to things like marriages concern him?"
Hotsuma rested his head on his hand, "I don't know…"
"…Hotsuma?"
"What?"
Tsukumo swirled the spoon in his coffee, "Have you even talked to Shuusei about this yet?"
"Sort of…" He looked down and traced the band of his ring, "Have you talked to Tooko yet?"
Tsukumo stopped stirring his coffee and bit his lip, "Sort of."
Hotsuma smirked, "She does that too, you know."
"What?" Tsukumo looked up at the blonde, intrigued by his previous statement.
"Tooko bites her lip like that too," Hotsuma ran his fingers through his hair, "Usually before she starts crying."
"How many times have you seen my sister cry exactly?"
"Only a few," The blonde looked to the side, his gaze moving to the garden outside. A violet butterfly flew through the rain and perched on a leaf.
"What should we do, Hotsuma?" The silverette strummed his fingers against his coffee cup.
Hotsuma shook his head, "I'm not sure."
"There must be something."
"Yeah, but I don't know what," The blonde turned away from the butterfly, closing his eyes and folding his arms over his chest.
"Should we talk to Takashiro-Sama about it?" Tsukumo looked from his coffee cup to the man across from him.
"Takashiro planned it. I doubt that there's a chance we could reason with him," Hotsuma leaned forward on his elbows, "It would have to be someone else."
"Takashiro is in charge of the whole Giou Clan and the Zweilt. Who else could we possibly talk to?"
"Even if we talk to someone, it isn't very likely that anything would change anyway."
Tsukumo's eyes dropped, "Hotsuma…"
"What?"
"Are you worried?"
Hotsuma's gaze went back to the window, "A bit, yeah."
"What do you think is going to happen?"
The blonde shrugged, "I'm not sure…"
The two were silent for along moment. Hotsuma's gaze proceeded to follow the butterfly outside.
"What about Tachibana?"
Hotsuma scoffed, "What about him?"
"What if we talked to him about it?"
Hotsuma let out a dry laugh, "What good would talking to that goofball do?"
Tsukumo suddenly shied, "I don't know…maybe he could convince Takashiro-Sama to-"
"He's the damn curator, not Takashiro's advisor," Hotsuma leaned back in his chair, "I don't think talking to anyone will do us any good at this point."
With those words, the blonde stormed off to take a walk in the rain.
-Uraboku-
Yuki walked around Twilight manor in silence. Rain fell in soft spattered droplets against the window panes. It was eerily quiet in the manor as he walked. Even where the drapes open, the halls were unusually dark.
"Yuki?"
The younger boy turned to see Luka standing a few paces behind him. The look on the Opast's face lingered somewhere between concern and nostalgia, "Is everything alright?"
Yuki's gaze went back to the window, "I'm okay."
"That didn't answer my question," Luka moved closer, "You've been wandering around for almost an hour." Yuki didn't speak as the Opast stepped closer, "What are you looking at?"
Yuki's fingers came to rest on the cool window as he pointed, "Butterfly."
Luka's gaze followed the younger males out the window. A small violet butterfly was perched on the edge of a leaf looming from a bush at the far end of the manor.
"It's raining," Yuki mused, still watching the fluttering insect, "Yet it's still flying about as if it isn't."
"I'm afraid I do not understand the point," Luka spoke as he looked back to Yuki.
"Well," Yuki's gold eye's met Luka's silver ones, "If a butterfly still flies in the rain, why can't people keep moving when they're sad?"
A silence passed between them before Luka spoke, running his fingers through the ends of Yuki's hair, "Perhaps that sadness is too much for one person to bear alone."
Yuki looked down, his copper hair falling from Luka's grip, "Why don't they just ask for help bearing it?"
"Are you speaking of someone in particular, Yuki?" More concern began to show on Luka's face as he spoke.
"I'm worried about Shuusei…" Yuki's gaze dropped to the floor, "Last night I went to get him for supper and he was just sitting on the floor with all the lights off. When I asked him if he was alright, he just insisted he was tired and went to bed."
"Not to come across as derogatory," Luka tipped his head to the side, "But isn't that normal for Shuusei?" The Opast tipped the copper-headed boy's chin up, "I'm sure you have nothing to fret over."
A faint blush crossed Yuki's cheeks, even as Luka's cool hand moved away, "Shuusei only acts like that when something's wrong."
"Then perhaps he's gone and depressed himself again."
"But why? Why would he do that when there are people here that care for him?" Yuki's frustrated words echoed in the hall. He immediately regretted his sudden outburst, "Sorry…I-
I…"
"It's alright," Luka ran his fingers through the younger male's hair once more, "You're just frustrated…"
"I'm just worried about him…" Yuki looked back out the window just as the butterfly was hit by the rain and fluttered suddenly to the ground.
-Uraboku-
Author's Notes: So a bit of perspective exploration to give the story a more rounded feel. Please Review.
Love,
Tsukiko-Chama