( Alright—I am SO sorry for my brief hiatus. Just...summertime laziness. However, the family is stealing me away for two weeks to go on a roadtrip on the 8th to the 23rd, so I figured I'd stop being lazy now. Anyway, I officially figured out what the big plot twist for this story will be, and how it will end! ^_^ Now the trick'll just be getting there. No need to fret, my lovelies! You're gonna love it, I swear. I should really start planning these things out more before I write them...some room for spontaneity and movement is alright, but I'm not so sure that an entire story should be run that way. Anyway, comment and critique and compliment, please! There are a whole lot more people reading this than there are people reviewing it, and I am upset. =c=b )
"Why did you leave yesterday, Kaede?" Momiji asked, cornering her in the hallway. He'd just gotten out of his musical theory course, and by some dumb stroke of luck, she had been leaving a class of her own at the same time. He immediately swept in upon her. He felt like he should be angry with her, but...anger had never been Momiji's way. Not when his mother couldn't love him, not when Momo didn't know him, not when Akito struck him, not when Kyo took Tohru away. All he could do was sit, and nod, and smile, ignoring the hollowness within him.
She stood there in her royal blue sweater and green jeans, looking both afraid and defensive. The two emotions were conflicting in a highly entertaining war on her face, but eventually defensiveness won over and she scowled. It was a very impressive looking scowl, really. "I don't need to explain myself to you, Momiji!" the lass hissed, trying to maneuver her way around him.
He barred the way with both arms, eyebrows furrowing, expression more serious than he could ever recall it being. "Yes, you do! Kaede, you sent me out of the room on a mission, and then left me there alone! Why did you lie to me? Why did you write those things?" His voice was hushed and beseeching, not angry, like it should have been. Hearing his words, and his tone, the fight seeped out of the young lady. She winced a little, his words causing her some sort of pain.
Suddenly, Momiji realized how close in proximity they were to each other, how close his barring-her-way technique had brought them. His face was level with her own. He could see each imperfection on her face; a scar slicing through the end of her right eyebrow, pale markings from where her teenaged acne had once been, the slightly darker skin tone of her face in comparison to the rest of her body due to her hastily putting on her make-up this morning...it was all beautiful, in a way. Strange how much one could tell just from one close up. Her breath smelled like peppermint, and her lips puckered ever-so-slightly, as if they wanted him to dive in closer. But he didn't. Instead, he gave her an encouraging smile, and straightened up, dropping his arms. Her wide eyes stared at him for a moment, quizzical; but then she released the breath she'd been holding, the tension melting away from her.
"I had to leave," she finally admitted, looking away.
Momiji watched her. "Your story-"
"Did you like it?"
"N-neh?" he blinked, bewildered, mind not having caught up with her yet. It was still on the track of the sentence she had so rudely cut off. "O-oh! Yes, y-yes I did, Kaede! It was wonderful!" She smiled, a bit pleased. "I have to admit, it made me cry." Unlike most men would be, he wasn't ashamed by that fact whatsoever; probably because of his childhood, which involved him cross-dressing and acting feminine quite a lot.
Kaede laughed once, a surprised laugh, one she obviously hadn't intended to let out. "It didn't," she gasped, looking both stunned and delighted. Then, however, both of those emotions fled from her face, seeing his expression. "..What?" queried the albino, puzzled with the change in him.
"You laughed!"
"...Um, yes. I did laugh."
"I've never heard you laugh before!"
"You've known me for two whole days."
"You have a beautiful laugh!"
She slugged him in the arm playfully. He yelped, then rubbed his arm, which he was confident would bruise afterward. For a girl, she had a strong arm. Kaede shook his head at him, smiling, amused at something he didn't quite understand. Momiji watched her in a worshipful manner, wondering how many people had ever seen her smile so easily, or laugh as she had before. What if he was the only one? That would be...spectacular. "Y'know, most guys don't admit when they cry, let alone tell girls about it."
"Do they usually tell guys about it?" Momiji asked, brown eyes bright. He seemed genuinely curious. Did he really not know?
"Um...er, no."
"Then why does it matter if I tell a girl about it?"
"I...it just...it just does!" Kaede told him, flushing. "Either way, it's weird, it's really weird, Momiji!"
He smiled. "It was about me, wasn't it?"
She stared at him, at a loss. "I...what?" This time she was the one a step behind.
"The story you wrote," he elaborated, those big, warm eyes boring holes into her. She couldn't look away. "Yesterday, at the Round Table. It was about me."
Kaede goggled at him. Then she grinned, almost nervously. "Ha ha." Fake laugh. He must have really surprised her. "The Round Table?"
Momiji couldn't resist a grin. "Yes, the Round Table. Now stop trying to sidetrack me."
At least she had the state of mind to seem abashed by her attempts. Kaede fidgeted, looking like she was about to try and worm her way around replying to him. He saw the look in her eye, and the way she lifted a hand to rub the corner of her mouth subconsciously, almost like she was trying to force the words back. But finally she just sighed, giving into his questioning. "I...yes. Yes it was." Her eyes flickered to the side, then down to her feet (she had stellar shoelaces), and then, after a moment of uncharacteristic shyness, she looked up at him again inquisitively.
The male was looking at her, expression soft, and Kaede waited a beat before meeting his gaze. What she saw there surely stunned her, because she blinked, looking confused. Momiji lowered his face closer to her own until they were nearly nose to nose. "You were right."
"I-I was?"
"Yes. About everything. I don't know how you knew, but you did." Was Kaede just the type who was good at observing people, or was it female intuition? Perhaps both? Or was she just an extremely good guesser? He hoped it was the former. As much as it was both a relief and a fright to be wide open and vulnerable like that, it would be a huge letdown if it was all by fluke.
They just looked at each other for a moment longer. Kaede opened her mouth to speak, and the connection was broken. "Ah...most people people don't like my work," she began slowly, watching him grin when he found out he was unique among the other humans of the world. "They don't usually even take the time. My parents didn't even want me to become an author, believe it or not. They were thinkin' 'lawyer', or 'police officer'...something that would've sucked all the creativity out of me, y'know?" He nodded, still smiling down at her. She gulped, then brazenly lifted her chin, not caring how much closer that brought her to him, and just finished her idea before she got embarrassed or something weak like that. "Since you're the only person who thinks I can make anything of this, would'ya mind coming over before classes tomorrow to read some of my other shit? Serena has earlier classes, but my earliest starts at one. So if you could pop over at some point-"
"I'll be there!" Momiji piped up, absolutely aglow. With a start, Kaede jumped at his loud outburst, then proceeded to look amused. He really was a child. "I'll give you some sort've secret knock when I get there, ok, Schatz(1)?"
The greenette cocked her head. "Sch...atz..?" she echoed, baffled. Then, suddenly, it hit her. "Oh! You speak German?"
Momiji grinned. "I'm German and Japanese, Kaede! Perfectly half and half."
Kaede reached up and pulled a strand of his sunflower yellow hair, grinning right back. "That explains the blonde, then, goldie." They just grinned wildly at each other for a moment before she added, "So, my place, tomorrow?"
"Wouldn't miss it," Momiji replied with a cheerful bow. Then they turned and headed down the hallway in a companionable silence, each perfectly at ease.
"I looked at the sheet music of this after the service was done and I read some of the lyrics. Most of them were not profound enough for me to remember except this one line:
"Tune my heart to sing thy grace"
I think that's beautiful. When you tune an instrument, you alter it, you shape it and mold it to be something better. Something that can produce wonderful things. And isn't that what we all wish to happen to us in the end? To have our souls and characters altered for the better? And sometimes the only thing that can really inspire change in yourself is someone else. Sometimes they are inept and clumsy and they make you even worse than you were before. But sometimes it's the right someone, and they tune your heart just right. So it sings the right notes. The notes that make you happy. And perhaps that is what's happening to me at this very moment—the parts of me that are off-key and discordant are being smoothed in the crescendo of a new beginning.
You are tuning my heart. Perhaps some day I can sing your grace as well as you sing mine."
Momiji glanced over at Kaede, who was avoiding all eye contact as she laid on her bed. Only her and Serena shared this dorm, so they could afford to each get their own room. Right now they were sitting in Kaede's, which was covered in famous and non-famous artworks, little infamous quotes and inspirational excerpts from classic books and movies and historical moments, and stacked everywhere with CDs and novels from everywhere in the world. It was like living inside a very colorful, well-rounded library. However, he'd discovered that Kaede was a slob, for her clothes and whatnot were everywhere in the dorm, including the floor of her room (and a bra hanging from her lava lamp, which she dashed to hide the moment they came in here).
She had held still while he scrutinized everything, and seemed relieved once he had moved on, asking for some of her random writings to start off. He'd even paged through a few semi-finished short stories she'd been working on. His praises were always high, but that could either be because she just wanted to make her happy, or because he didn't know what a high standard for writing was in the first place.
Now he was holding up the piece he'd just read out loud. "Who was this one for?" he asked curiously.
"Eh?" Pink eyes appraised him, uncertain. Then, seeing the familiar paper in his hands, she smirked a bit and rolled onto her side, propping up her head with a dainty hand. "Oh. Some chick I dated for awhile. She was a pain, but wanted me to write 'er something, so I did."
Momiji smiled. Another new fact about Kaede Kusaki. She was bisexual. For some reason, he found that amazing; it just brought so much more depth to her. She had an open-mindedness few could compare to. "Did you love her?" He asked, for no particular reason; it was simply a Momiji sort of thing to ask.
But it seemed to startle Kaede nonetheless. She then gave him a very serious look. "Do you believe in love, Momiji?"
He thought of Tohru, and smiled. It was a beautiful smile. "I do." Kaede was silent, and he figured she was waiting for more. So, with the delicacy and articulate manner Momiji was so well known for, he elaborated. "I believe true love is a real thing, Kaede. Perhaps some never realize it, or let it pass them by. Maybe they are even blessed with more than one love in their lifetime," he began, mind wandering to Hatori, who fell into the latter of the categories. "There are different kinds of it; you wouldn't love your friend the same way you'd love the plants in your garden, or the animals in a wildlife shelter, or the person you've chosen to be with your entire life. But sometimes you don't even need to find it in living things. I believe you can find love in anything."
People didn't speak like this. They didn't talk like this. This was a Sohma trait...but Kaede didn't know that. So she just stared at him, breathless. "..Like?" the woman whispered, looking over at him.
"Like..." He hesitated, searching for something. All he could hear was-"-the sound of a laugh from someone who hasn't laughed in a long, long time." Momiji told her, the sound of her laugh ricocheting in his mind, sounding like an ocean, like a sea breeze. It...something. It sounded like something. "Or the child that smiles at you, just because it is that innocent." Hinata, Hiro's little sister, she was like that. She is beautiful. So, so beautiful. "The friend you haven't called in ten years, who still remembers you by the sound of your voice." Maybe it wasn't ten years, but it was definitely a few. He tried to run away, to forget. But she didn't. And in that single phone call, he broke; he couldn't escape. "Or...or..." She was giving him a strange look, so he stood up and put her excerpt down, needing to do something, to move around, anything to not have to look her in the eye when he spoke. He was coming on too strong, becoming too emotionally attached to this. He needed to back off. "The last piece of chocolate in a box you thought you'd already emptied." The atmosphere loosened; she was smiling, he could feel it. He wandered to her room, reading the quips and quotes and sayings she had plastered up all over the walls, tucked in between posters and paintings to brighten her day whenever she needed it. "The silence of companionship that you have with a best friend. You know, when you can just...not talk for awhile, and feel like it's the best discussion you've ever had."
Kaede chimed, "I love that."
Momiji relaxed. She hadn't said anything for awhile. This was a good sign, her talking. "Er...so, yeah." He finished, a little embarrassed now. He could talk like that to his family, to Tohru, to good friends. But he'd known Kaede for three days. It was different, somehow.
"Eloquent as always."
He laughed, rubbing the back of his neck. "Heh," he chuckled, eyes arching. "Yeah, no kidding." Without realizing it, he'd drifted to the far corner of her room, and was staring up at painting, a famous one. Van Gogh, he suspected, admiring the technique. In order to stand here, his back had to face her. Maybe, unconsciously, that's what he'd wanted. But he'd have to face her soon. Steeling himself, he turned to look at her.
...to find that she was already looking at him. They just continued to do that for awhile. Momiji felt a burning in his blood, and he didn't understand it; it scared him. Then, she spoke, and his breath caught. For some reason, it ruined the moment [whatever that moment was]. "Momiji Sohma." He started at his name, and she didn't smile. "You really are something else."
"..." What does one say to that? Momiji cocked his head, utterly lost at this point. "...Thank you," he told her solemnly, and she grinned, sucking in her lips so she would not laugh.
"You're welcome," she snickered. It wasn't a full on laugh, but Momiji figured he'd count it anyway.
"You took that well," he told her.
"Took what well?"
Momiji grinned. "My very forward spiel about love existing in the world."
"Ah." She nodded. "Yes, that was rather forward."
"I thought so, too."
"I think I agree with you, though."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah."
"Did you believe before?"
"Dunno. Never thought about it."
"Ok."
"Ok."
"Che."
"What?"
"Oh, nothing."
"No, really, what?"
"You."
Kaede made a face. "Me?" He nodded. "What about me?"
"Just..." He paused, sorted out his thoughts, and then completed his sentence. "..the fact that you did take that so well, that you do agree with me, and that you aren't acting like I'm weird, though I definitely am."
"Well, it's more fun being weird, anyway," she responded, smiling. He smiled back. They sat there, just smiling at each other for awhile. Then, slowly, Kaede murmured, "I'm going to write you something." He was quiet, smile faltered. "And I'm not going to leave, and neither are you, and I will stay here when you read it." Momiji beamed, and she stared at him, and then she wandered over to her desk. She selected a pencil, tore out a piece of notebook paper, and began to write.
It was short. It only took a minute or so to word it perfectly. Then she turned and offered it to him. Momiji took it, brown eyes wandering over it. It was only three sentences long.
"How perfect things can be before it all falls apart. He is looking at me, and then he smiles as if he thought himself the luckiest boy in the world. He looked so happy, and for some reason, it was the saddest thing I had ever seen."
(1) German: [Noun] – treasure, fund, natural resources, wealth, store, hoard, sweetheart, darling, love, passionflower, baby, poppet, lass
