Disclaimer: I do not own KWMS and P&P... I'm just a fan of Hiro Fujiwara and Jane Austen...
Oh, and before I forget, I'm sorry that this will be quite confusing... just ask me if you have something to clarify... : )
Chapter 3:
The room has fallen into deep silence as the two gentlemen walked across the room to meet the host. The eyes are following them, especially to the man that they have seen for the first time. As the gentlemen greeted the host, music was played again and the dance continued.
Due to her shyness and struggle for composure, Sakura turned away to hide her blushing face; Misaki took the hint and tried to help her calm down, and asked, "Sakura, would you continue of what you are trying to tell me?"
Sakura was broken out of her reverie and said, "Oh, uhh... yes, Kuuga's friend. I believe his name is Mr. Takumi Usui, one of his closest friends. He's a relative of the Walker family, one of the most influential families in the country; to be more specified, the cousin of the heir, Gerard Walker. He lives on his estate in Kensington, and has an annual income of 12,000 pounds. Although I was surprised that he was introduced to society not more than three years ago."
"Well now, he's richer than any of us combined," said Misaki.
"Apparently, that's true," Sakura answered.
Sakura turned to look at her beloved, who was in conversation with his companion, though he seemed preoccupied with something else, as if looking for someone. Misaki, on the other hand, was observing what took place. Kuuga was in a good mood, and was unbelievably cheerful, unlike before she met him. Usui was an exact opposite of his friend; discontented and completely uninterested. When they were introduced to Sir Edward's daughters, Kuuga happily invited one to dance, while Usui only bothered to bow and never said a word to them. With this, Misaki declared to herself that he is the proudest of his kind, and worst.
"Unfortunately, his manners doesn't seem to match for a man of his standing" Misaki said.
"Misaki, that was a bit too harsh on the poor fellow" Sakura replied.
"I'm not the only one who has that opinion," Misaki remarked as she saw some ladies seemingly talking about the lone gentleman, "but then again, they might have overlooked it due to his looks and wealth."
"Thank goodness I found you at last."
They have been talking with themselves privately that they had not noticed that the dance was over, and were surprised hearing another, yet familiar voice. It was from Kuuga himself and with him his companion, Usui.
"Mr. Sakurai! Mr. Usui... it's an honor to meet you..." Sakura said, then turning towards Kuuga unconsciously, "...again."
Then, conversation took place with the two; their friends completely in silence. Misaki was observing the progress of the two, and seemed very glad, and, unknown to her, Usui was eying on her.
The conversation was cut by Sakura's brother who asked her to dance, which she happily agreed. And with his friend distracted, Kuuga took this chance to talk to Misaki.
"It's been a while since October. I hope you're not angry with me."
"Yes, it's been a while, and don't worry, I'm not that type of holding grudges, depending on the situation. But let me say this to you first that it seems that your friend has the gift of silence."
"Pardon him that he doesn't seem to be interested. I think that he wants to find something that will spark his interest, and for that reason I brought him here to help him find it."
After a brief pause, he continued.
"I hope you'll keep our little secret. By the by, I may be so bold to ask this, is Miss Sakura, well, betrothed?"
Misaki giggled at his questioned and said, "No, not at all, although you cannot erase the fact that she has plenty of suitors, but was never interested to any one of them, I believe. But you should ask her, not me."
"You might be surprised how altered my behavior is. It took me a rejection before I realized my own absurdity in some way. I fully remembered you told me how ridiculous I was for asking your hand for such a short while and that you must decline my offer of marriage, but because of that I met Miss Sakura."
"Then, perhaps it's better for men to be rejected by me so they can find their true love" teased Misaki.
"No, I wouldn't recommend that," said Kuuga "besides, all of us deserve to be happy."
Misaki excused herself to get some food, which was nearby. Kuuga, then, disturbed his friend's peace and said, "Spectacular, isn't it? I mean, I never encountered so many pleasant people in my entire life."
"You had the opportunity to chat with the most pleasant of them all," Usui said while looking at Sakura, who was still dancing," and too friendly in my opinion."
"I daresay she is the most beautiful woman I have ever met!" Kuuga said. He noticed that the dance was nearly over, he added, "Come Takumi, you must dance. This room is filled with lovely ladies... there's Miss Sakura's friend, Miss Ayuzawa. I'm sure you'll find her amiable. You must ask her to dance."
Usui glanced at Misaki, who was about to pick up some grapes, and replied, "Well, she's bearable, but not interesting enough to dance with. I may advice you to go to Miss Sakura and enjoy her company, for you are clearly wasting your time with me." With his friend's remarks, he went immediately to Sakura and asked her.
Unfortunately, for Misaki, she was near enough to hear them; at first she was very happy at Kuuga's praise to her friend, that his sincerity of his affections for her are true, but her happiness was turned to anger when she was being talked about.
She picked up a grape from her plate and said to herself, "Mr. Takumi Usui, let me show you how amiable I am" and crushed the fruit between her two fingers.
-0-
By the time the dance ended, Kuuga was complimented 'by asking the jewel of the village to dance'. He and his friend were called by Sir Edward, who was with Sakura and Misaki.
He complimented Kuuga again in which Kuuga replied, "It is my honor for having her company." Sakura smiled shyly and blushed.
Sir Edward added, "Well, not every man was in luck to have her, most of them competing for her. I remember one time there was this young man who frequently visits her every night and would compose and sing songs declaring his love for her. He was quite good, yet after some time, he left the village and never came back."
"And thus ended his affection" Misaki said, "After that, one may say that because his act bore no fruit, it dissolved all his love, instead of strengthening it."
"But I'm thoroughly convinced that actions such as those strengthens love, for it has been done throughout the ages" Usui contradicted.
"If the love is strong, it may. But if I were to give my opinion, I believe the much better way of winning the other's affection is to 'get to know' each other."
"And in what ways would you suggest to make that happen?"
Misaki thought for a while. She looked at Usui, smiled, and said, "I would recommend dancing... even if your partner is 'not interesting enough' for you."
Kuuga and Sakura laughed, not because there's anything funny, but to the thought that their friend has final found a match.
Another dance was called in and Kuuga invited Sakura again; Aoi, who happened to pass by, invited Misaki, leaving Usui in the company of Sir Edward.
As the ball ended pleasantly, and the guests went home ever so contented. Unknown to others, a tempest was about to begin.
_END_
Well, here's another chapter... I am very sorry for giving you another crappy one and confusing...
Maybe to some, it is quite familiar, the idea of the story, and I'll explain a few things.
Some of the scenes here are "borrowed" from the book and movie I love. And it is *drumroll* Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (yup, Luka Song, you're right! Though not entirely). When I was watching it, in my mind the characters were different, and that I planned this since early 2011 (around February, I think) but due to laziness this happened, I only started drafting May (lots of time in "planning"). There's also another reason why I wrote this; it's because while I was browsing in some bookshop, I found Pride and Prejudice and Zombies... and I was like "what? I wanna write too with P&P!" or something like that... and that's all... maybe...
Thanks for people who reviewed and added this story to your favorites...
Well, again I'm sorry for the crappy chapter; I actually cut some parts and put it as a new chapter...
And I planned to post it last Monday, as my mark of first day in school, but I didn't... and I'll try updating this week...
That's it for now! Happy Reading and review!