I DO NOT OWN BAKUGAN.
The event went smoothly. There was actually a small competition on the flower arrangement and I got second place.
I slowly walked to where Ryuu would be with his dancing troupe doing a performance. There was a man dancing, and despite the elaborate mask and costume, I knew who it was, it was Ryuu. It was a stage on the garden, the Masashi compound was enormous. His family name could be traced to hundreds of years of culture—he has a rich culture. His family quite prominent, their reach not limited to just dancing. They were very rich, probably on peer with the Marukura family—Uncle Marucho's family. I actually don't know much about Ryuu, he never talks about their other family business, I wonder if it was due to the fear of pressuring me, or maybe he just loved dancing that much in contrast to what he claims, or entirely something else.
I leaned on the archway, I stay here, the furthest from the stage. Just watching silently and blankly, I lean my head a bit on the archway.
"You don't seem happy" I glance to my side and see Quinn standing right beside me. I tilt my head in a manner that I was still leaning on the archway but looking at Quinn. I gave him a soft but weak smile, and I move my eyes back to the stage.
"You look really beautiful" He quietly says and I smile removing my eyes from Ryuu's dance.
"Do you even understand this dance?" I ask with a hint of teasing in my tone
"No, I don't really understand your culture, I did research…but this is beyond me, I do not see what their movements imply" And I laugh softly removing my head from the archway, and I turn my head to look at him completely.
"The dance depicts of a lonely young maiden. She feels as though there was something that was supposed to happen to her. And that stemmed into her longing for the unknown." He looks back at me with interest as if there was no dance in front of us, as though there was no audience in between the stage with the performers and us. "And one day she met an injured man. This same man coincidentally felt the same thing she did, a longing that could not be sated. He travelled the world to find what he was longing for. And their sudden meeting resulted to them getting to know each other, in a very personal level. And they finally figured out that what they were looking for was each other. The longing they both shared was finally…" I sighed "finally sated."
"But everything was not what it seemed. You see, the male lead was actually a god. A god falling in love with a mortal? Rare however there were rumors of it before, so it was not like it was unheard of. But that was what they were, rumors. Now this god actually fell in love and wanted to marry a mortal woman, and make her his bride! Unheard of! So the heavens were angry. Mountains parted, the seas turned into flames, and the sky held no clouds and no sun or moon."
And instead of only my head turning to look at Quinn, I moved my body to face him entirely. And his body completely facing me, showing how invested we are and interested about the topic at hand.
"But as a god he cannot let the mortals suffer. You see he had seen what would happen if the mountains parted, if the seas became flames and if the sky held no clouds and no sun or moon. As a god he cannot let them suffer. Not for the woman he loves, not for him, not because he wanted her so badly. So he made a pact before anything like that could happen. Because, despite his loneliness and longing was those same mortals that kept him from tipping over, and thus finding what he had been looking for. He cannot meet her. Ever. That was the pact. But he tried seeing her just once to explain what he had done-but they found out. Chaining him up before he could meet his lover."
And our attention was brought to the woman wailing on stage, on the floor. The drums so loud. And a man bound.
"The story ends with a cliffhanger. Would the woman die with a broken heart? Feeling betrayed and lied to and cheated from a lover who fled? And the man drowning in sorrow for not being able to tell her what had really happened. After all the good he had done as a god, this was his fate?"
There was silence. And then a sudden applause, we applauded too. When all the applause grew silent, I said.
"Or will this incident turn their bitter hearts pitch black?"
"Seems pretty dark… Is there at least a sequel?" Quinn ask rather grimly and I laughed wholeheartedly in response.
"If you think this is dark, then the sequel is something that even light cannot pierce through" I could hear Quinn gulped which made me chuckle.
"Avery!" I heard Akio's voice call out I turn to see my brother with Dan Junior and Kiyomi. Dan Junior looking slightly unnerved.
"We were looking for you after your flower arrangement competition, you looked so out of it." Akio says, I was startled
"Was I?" I wondered aloud
"The flower arrangement you made was so beautiful" I glance on the ground and gave a faint smile
"It looks lonely and sad though" Kiyomi adds which snaps be back to reality and our gazes met. Yes that is right. I was out of it because I was confused. I was sad. Everything is changing.
"Avery" I heard a voice softly call. I turn to where the voice came from, and I felt my breath taken away and surprise coursing through my veins. Ryuu. Ryuu looked so gentle, like he always had been to me. But as he approached, I could see the turmoil in his eyes. The storm that was brewing. And the thing is he hid it so perfectly, if I hadn't known him for so long I would have been tricked. I looked at everyone else. And they were completely fooled. And I wanted to scream. This wasn't the Ryuu I know! I glanced down for a moment and when I looked up, I met Dan's gaze. The look on his face made me take in a sharp breath.
"Avery" Ryuu called out softly a meter away, weaving through one last person to get to me. He calls my name again as he place his right hand on my right elbow.
And in my mind flashed so many scenarios in which I respond to him, but all I did was pause, gave a grim smile and hug him gently and carefully so that I would not place my makeup on his face hug him.
"You did great" I say as I pull away from him, and as a blink I recall the expression on his face as he approached me.
"May I borrow Avery for a moment" And when I gaze upon Ryuu, I saw the same expression when he approached me. Again, it was there again, and I stared at everyone and they were staring at me. And for some weird reason, I remembered Dan's expression the other day, the look on his face was like a plague, it wouldn't leave me. And for an instant I saw Qunn's expression. And then suddenly I felt this was of relief. Ah, this feels like a premonition. I glance at Ryuu, who was smiling at me and softly pushed my elbow to indicate we should move to that direction.
"Why don't you all go to the open pavilion, I will catch up" I wave our guests away with a smile to try and encourage them, they still seem reluctant. "I swear when you just take a whiff of the food you will fall in love. And when you actually taste them, you'd be obsess!" I chuckle "The food is on a league of its own, you have to go and taste them!" and their attitudes changed a bit and they nodded and slowly moved to the pavilion, after Ryuu gave simple directions.
Ryuu held my hand firmly. It wasn't painfully strong, he wasn't using so much strength that he would hurt me. But it was the firmest thing in my life at the moment, and I would be lying if I did not say it was comforting. Because it was the most firm thing in my life, it was comforting.
That firmness he had as he held my hand—my hand. My hand whose strength was weak, almost like I was not gripping his hand at all. When I realized that, my strength grew even weaker, my hand was just there not even clutching his hand anymore.
The scenery had already changed. We were brisk walking towards the main house—to his room. No one was here because they were in the pavilion. He suddenly stops and I bump into him, I took a step back to collect my thoughts. But he held my hand firmly close to him so I couldn't take a big step back. He gazes at our holding hands with sadness. Our body's two palms away with our hands in the middle. And I looked at him confused and suddenly he pinned me to the wall.
"I don't like it" He growled. And my heart dropped. He never spoke like that. I look at him and I could already tell that perhaps somewhere in this conversation I would be left in tears. There was a hint of madness in his eyes, and it almost choked me. I unconsciously parted my lips, and I saw a glint in his eyes and he dove to my face. I thought: His going to kiss me. I shut my eyes so tight, because this was not the Ryuu I know, he would never force himself on me. Right?
I felt his breathe so close to my lips and I opened my eyes, and as I gaze into his eyes, there was this strange calmness.
"I don't like the way they look at you" He whispered, and I was almost convinced that this was the Ryuu I had known for years. I was already reaching out for his wrist, when I saw it again. That calmness was replace by that madness I had seen prior. My fingertips could have already grazed his left wrist if I was just quicker or if he had not moved suddenly. He had turned, run his hand on his hair, and there was this strange laughter. And I felt my lips form an empty smirk and I could feel the blankness engulfing me.
"Hahaha, You must have seen!" He turned viciously towards me, pinned me again, the force he used shocked me for a moment. The loud bang deafening to me. "The way they look at you!" And the madness in his eyes and tone was so rampant, that I did not know what to do anymore-.
"Don't pretend you didn't see!" He yelled, and I just match his reaction with my blank expression. He hung his head down and then the laughing continued. The laughing lasted for what felt like an eternity for me. And finally e had stopped and looked at me, as our gazes met, the madness in his eyes seemed to subside. But it also looked like he had an internal conflict with himself. I smiled so faintly, and reached out for his face. He was startled but the conflict within his eyes and madness vanished as if it was never there. I opened my lips and then suddenly he used the arms on either side of me to push himself off of me as he turned. I did not see what his expression was, it was all too sudden. My fingertips that could have grazed his jawline hung in the air—and I felt empty.
I stared at his back and he stood there the seconds that ticked felt like minutes, then hours. And we just stood there.
"I do not like it" He whispered so softly that normal people would not have heard it, and it felt so broken. And there was a pause, and I felt like I should have said something but I couldn't. I did not know what to say. And as the silence came to pass, he had walked away, leaving me all alone in the hall. I emptily gaze at my raised hand and I stared at it. And I closed my eyes took a deep breath and finally placed it to my side, and walked away from Ryuu to the direction we had come from.
I was frozen. Why you ask?
I have finally figured it out, I could have laugh right this instant, but it was more pitiful if I did, wouldn't that be so?
Ah, that is why I kept recalling Dan Junior's expression that day in the café, when I had invited my brother—Akio, Quinn, Kiyomi and Dan Junior to the event at Masashi's place- Ryuu's place.
This is why it hurt seeing that expression on Dan's face. This is why it kept replaying in my mind.
I look at my reflection in the mirror. And there it was. The same expression Dan had. Betrayal and Pain. I first saw this expression on my face…the day I found out what—who Ryuu had become—who he is- who he was…were two separate people now.
After glancing at the mask on the floor, I was finally able to find the strength to lift my hands and hug him back. But everything felt so numbingly empty. And as I move my gaze away from the mask, my gaze had fallen on the mirror in his room.
The same mirror I was gazing at—that time and now, I had worn the same expression on my face,
That was the first day I had seen myself look like that.
There was a sound that came from the entryway, I turn to see what or who it was. And when I turn—ah why does it have to be you?
There was no recognition in his eyes or body movement. I smile faintly. I have already decided—that day you pinned me on the wall Ryuu—I am sorry.
"Who are you?" He asked me, I smile and bowed.
"I am so sorry young master, I had entered because I had heard something, and the door was already opened so I had to investigate, we could not allow anything bad to happen to you" I say respectfully
"You may leave, I am alright" He replies as he walks and open the other sliding door that will lead him to his bed room. His house after all was styled in a historical way—and the setup of his room is that when you enter from the hall way you get to the receiving room and from the entrance there is a sliding door to his room quite a few meters away.
"Yes young master. I apologize for any misconduct I have done" I say as I get up from my bow, which was just bending my upper torso. I hear his door slide close as I walk away to the entrance.
That door to his room normally was always open. Now it has always remained shut.
I close the door behind me.
I am sorry.
Farewell.
Okay that is it for part II! PART 2!
Yes, so what do you think?
I wanted you guys to guess what the italics were all about. But I guess you can figure that out by now. Haha.
The Italics were happening on a different timeline
And the bold I had in between the italics that happens in chapter 6 in the end.
So yeah that bold was a flashback.
The Italics a flashforward. And the normal was just well a flashback I suppose.
Did you guys like it? I am thinking of just posting the entire plot lol and so you will know what is going on. Or just time skip so much and wrap this up within 5 chapters hahaha.
R&R