Me: this is a remake of my last chapter. i wasn't happy with how it came out last time, so i remade it. surprisingly, it's longer than the first time.
Xao: that's why she hasn't updated.
Fuu: she was lazy with the 1st upload; hopefully this one's better.
All: We don't own SC! or any of its characters. Plz don't sue us.
Me: hope you like it! (seriously!!!) ^^
--------------------------
Aristocratic Hate, Democratic Love
Chapter 11
"Amu!"
Amu and Ikuto looked over their shoulders. Tadase rushed towards them while trying to not look rushed. "Father wishes to speak with you," he told them.
"Really? What for?" she asked, trying to fight the urge to glance at Ikuto. Did their father find out about us trying to get rid of him?! she thought worriedly.
"He didn't say."
This time Amu couldn't stop from looking over her husband. Their eyes met; the worry Amu clearly felt was reflected in his face. She sighed deeply and turned back to Tadase. She smiled and told him, "Father wishes to speak; daughter wishes to hear."
Tadase nodded and turned back the way he came with Amu following after. They went through a wing of the mansion Amu had never been in and finally stopped before an intricately carved, yet surprisingly simple-looking wooden door. Amu's brother-in-law turned around and motioned for her to enter. She felt her body lock up and her feet freeze to the floor. She breathed deep and gulped. Her eyes closed and she told herself, I'm strong. I can handle this…!
"Amu?"
She opened her eyes to see Tadase giving her a strange look. She took another deep breath and willed her feet to move towards the door. She knocked.
"Come in."
Amu opened the door. "Excuse me," she said, trying to sound like she was not afraid. She somehow managed. She stepped inside the door and shut it.
Darkness swallowed her and Amu had to blink several times before she was able to at least make out the shape of the room. It was a large, oval room with no lighting. For a moment, Amu thought she had actually left the Tsukiyomi mansion and had fallen to Hades' domain. Is this Persephone felt when Hades lured her there?
Amu jumped slightly when a candle was lit, illuminating a small portion of the room. "Ms. Hinamori, please come forward." Amu flinched at the sound of the voice as it boomed and echoed off the walls. Ikuto's father's face was illuminated in the tiny flame's light. Amu took hesitant steps towards him. He looks like a demon…
Then she stopped as his words had just sunk in. "Ms. 'Hinamori'?" she asked, "What are you talking about, Father? I'm your daughter-in-law; that would make me a Tsukiyomi, right?" He didn't answer. He turned and sat on a chair that had seemed to materialize out of nowhere. Amu stepped closer to the fire light becoming very distressed in the overwhelming dark, but far away enough so her face was masked by the shadows. "What is it you wished to talk to me about?" she asked politely.
"…What do you think of my son?"
Amu didn't answer right away. She looked at her father-in-law's face and gauged his expression. He kept a careful mask on, covering his emotions. I wonder if he was an actor when he was younger…? He's very good; very convincing. "If I told you I can't live in this fortress…?"
Ikuto's father heaved a sigh that didn't sound quite regretting enough. "That's a real pity. Of course," he continued, "I asked about Ikuto, not my home, my dear."
Some home… "You did. I can't live in this home, but I find myself becoming quite attached Ikuto. I don't want to see him taken away from me."
Ikuto's father smiled. "Ah. You see? There's the rub. I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to learn how to live without him."
"What?" she asked, grateful to the shadows for hiding her shock. "Why?!"
"You're getting too close. If you come any closer to him, you'll only be hurt by the family's secrets," he explained. "In any case, coming closer might not be in your father's best interests."
"…Are you warning me or threatening me?"
"Warning."
Amu stood silently and continued to watch her father-in-law's face. He was smiling. Smiling like he had just won the world's greatest competition. But his eyes… His eyes were filled with mal intent.
Suddenly, Amu felt a strange pain envelope her chest. But she wanted to make sure. "What about Ikuto? Do you really think he'll say yes to divorcing me?"
"Oh, Ikuto has always been quite obedient to my will. A little black cat with no power is nothing against one such as me."
Amu flinched. 'One such as me…?!' He's threatening both of us! "Is that so…?" she asked, trying to keep her voice steady, "Well, if that's all you wanted to talk to me about…?"
Ikuto's father nodded. Amu nodded, turned on her heel, and walked out. She blinked as soon as she was out of the 'cave.' As soon as her eyesight returned, she ran down the corridor. Just as she was about to round the corner, the huge wooden doors groaned open. Amu rushed around the corner and stopped to listen.
"Captain!" her father-in-law called, "My daughter-in-law has decided to be very obstinate."
"I understand sir. It's the house on the large hill outside the city right?"
"Yes."
Amu choked back a gasp. They're going to…! Papa! She ran through the servants' quarters so as not to be seen. She ran through the garden, too scared for her father's life to saddle Ran. She jumped through the hole in the city wall that lead to the garden and through the city's streets. She pushed her legs to run faster. But after a time of running she heard someone else's footsteps. They were right behind her, and the strides were longer. Whoever it was was catching up to her.
"Amu!"
She rounded and Ikuto nearly fell on top of her. He grabbed her hand. "Amu! What's wrong?!"
"Let go! Ikuto, let go!" she shouted. Tears threatened to fall and thought os her father dead on the floor of their house caused her to tremble.
"Amu?! Tell me what's wrong!" Ikuto demanded.
"They're going to kill him! You have to let go! They're going to kill my father!" she managed to break from his grip and began to run at top speed once more. She barely registered that Ikuto was following her nor that her legs were becoming numb. Papa's going to die! And it's all my fault! Papa…!She froze as she saw two shapes move away from her father's small house on the hill. "No…" she whispered to herself. She ran the rest of the way up the hill.
The door was broken in. Amu tread carefully over the thresh hold. "Papa!" Silence answered her call. She went into the tiny kitchen and saw a stew that was beginning to burn on the fire. She grabbed a piece of thick cloth and took it off the flame. She took a taste and grimaced. "Papa's such an awful cook," she mumbled. "Wouldn't know a lemon from a lamb."
"Amu…?" She looked up to Ikuto's worried face. She tried to smile. The best she give was a small lift of her tense lips. She moved away from the table and went into her father's workshop. There was marble dust and chippings everywhere. In the middle of the room was a large, half-finished statue. Amu walked up to it and placed her hands on the cold stone. She closed her eyes and reached out her senses to find her father's inspiration, the marble's inner image. 'One thing people don't understand, Amu,' her father used to tell her, 'is that a statue is already made. The only thing a sculptor is good for is finding it and uncovering that stunning frame in time.'
"What is that meant to be?" Ikuto asked from behind.
"…Us. You, me, and Papa. See?" she asked, beginning to move her hands around the statue, "This is Papa's hand trying to get us to hold hands. We're fighting. Again. Come and feel it."
Ikuto came towards her. He placed his hands on the marble, looking unsure of what he was doing. "Close you eyes," Amu told him, "and try to see Papa's picture." Ikuto closed his eyes and concentrated. Amu placed her hand over his and guided his palm. "Do you see it?"
"…I…think so…but I don't think we're fighting…I mean," he continued, opening his eyes, "we're getting married."
"One normally wouldn't think we would be, but my face doesn't look happy." Amu explained, pointing to the image of her. "You see, stone has lived forever. It knows when you were born, and it saw you grow up. My papa told me that one cannot hide itself from the earth or sky. There's an image of truth found in the rock of the mountains. It remembers when and why the gods left the ground to live on Olympus, when man first began to walk on his legs, everything. He also told me that only a true artist could find the picture found within the earth. His dream was to be that kind of artist. That's why his marble is like this," she said, patting the marble. "Both my papa and the earth know me and his intimacy with Gaia let him understand how you would be. Underneath your cover of stone, you probably don't look very thrilled to be married, just as I don't."
Ikuto looked from the marble block to Amu and back. He said nothing, but turned and left the room. Amu took one last look at the unfinished statue and followed after her husband. He turned back into the kitchen while she went up to her old loft.
She stopped.
There were signs of a struggle. Small, red streaks of blood marked the wood walls of the small loft. Amu's heart beat painfully in her chest and the calm she had only just felt disappeared. She began to search through the loft, but didn't find anything.
Worry encompassed her whole being as she descended the ladder back into the tiny kitchen. Ikuto looked back up at her as she entered. "Find anything?" She shook her head. He sighed and stood up. "Neither can I…Should we go back?"
"…I don't know…I'd like to check the grounds and the barn before leaving," she responded.
He nodded. "I'll wait in the garden," he told her and left. She followed him out the broken door frame and watched him walk back down the hill. Amu took a deep breath and walked around to the barn. The thought of it being weird without Ikuto with her was drowned out by worry for her father's welfare.
She stopped short as she noticed imprints in the grass near the back window. She inhaled sharply and ran to the hidden alcove. She looked around the small meadow before calling out, "Papa! Are you here?" She walked further out into the meadow. She heard a groan behind an outcropping of rock.
Amu rushed to the other side. Her father was leaning heavily against the boulder.
"Papa!"
Her father started and looked at her. "Amu?" She grinned in relief and hurried to his side.
"Are you alright?" she asked as she kneeled down next to him.
"Sore and stiff. But then again, when am I not? It's hard being old." he joked.
"You are not old Papa! And you know that's not what I meant," she replied annoyed.
"That's nice of you to say, even though it's really not true. And no I don't. what are you talking about?"
"Those men that broke into the house and attacked you! What else would I be talking about?!" Her voice was becoming annoyed. After being so worried, he's sitting here joking?! Angry tears began to form in her eyes from the swirling and mixing emotions. Relief mixed with worry and annoyance; tears sprang into her eyes, making them sting. She held them back and instead continued in a thick voice, "I saw blood up in the loft when I got to the house. Are you alright?"
He watched thoughtfully. "…How did you know someone ransacked the house, Amu?"
Amu didn't answer immediately. She assessed her father's expression for a moment. He was confused and surprised and Amu wondered if she saw suspicion in her father's eyes.
"I, um," she stuttered, "I heard some men…in the street…say--"
"Amu," her father interrupted, "I haven't lived with you for 16 years to not be able to know when you're lying to me."
Amu opened her mouth, but closed it again as no words could be used in defense. She looked down at her knees; her hands clenched into fists. Her heart warred against her mind. On the one hand, she wanted to tell her father of the horrible deeds Ikuto's father was doing. However, if she told her father he might tell her to break off the marriage without her fulfilling her mission. Her frustration was beginning to build up to where she wanted to scream. The bitter, persistent frustration welled and overflowed in rivers. The remaining frustration towards Ikuto and the fresh, raw frustration towards his father became waterfalls of tears.
Her father sighed. "Can you not tell me, Amu?"
Amu blinked up at him through a watery haze of liquid amber. Her father's ever present kind smile was once again plastered onto his face like the giant masks the actors wear at the Festival for Dionysus. The happiness that was his mask protected his true feelings. He always knew more than he let on. Always…
And even though Amu had lived with him for all her sixteen years, when her father put on his mask, she could never tell what exactly he was thinking. Like Ikuto…Just like…Ikuto. Feelings hidden behind a cold pretense, but a truly selfless person.
Amu faulted. Is that what my attraction to him is…? It would make sense, she told herself. Maybe the only reason we ever fought and argued over the past four (or was it five?) months was just because we were forced to marry…?She thought of Ikuto. His mysterious yet lonely aura, his night-ocean eyes, his soft, blue-black hair. Her pulse quickened slightly, but she didn't blush. She then thought of Tadase. Gold-blonde blonde hair that shown in the sun and an aura that glowed in innocence with a smile that reflected it.
Amu's heart swelled, but it wasn't in adoration. She couldn't see Tadase as anything but a little brother or a very dear friend.
So then how do I see Ikuto…?"Amu?"
She jumped as her mind was brought back to the present and her father.
Amu gulped and took a shuddery breath. "Never mind," she told her father. "Never mind…"
-------------------
Me: And from there, I must cliff. i had more ideas for this chap, but i decided a continuation was in order, so that's all for today.
Xao: If you could, in your reviews, tell us whether you like this version better or the first version better.
Fuu: if you liked the first version better than we're very sorry, but we have no more copies of the first version. they were all deleted.
Me: (nervous laughter) don't kill us, plz.
All: REVIEWS ARE APPRECIATED AND NECESSARY FOR YOU TO RECIEVE THE NEXT CHAPTER! IF YOU WANT TO SEE WHERE THIS GOES, THEN YOU MUST REVIEW!!!!
Me: see ya next time! ^^
