You guys have made Rani turn into one happy cookie. xD
So here's part two! n.n
Disclaimer: No, the series nor the characters belong to me... Of course, that doesn't mean I can't borrow them, poke them for a little while, and give them some peppermint patties before they go nite nite... and man.. does that feel GOOD! n-n
Title: A Hard Blow of Greek Mythology. (2nd Segment)
Summary: Star-crossed lovers.
Surrounded by bibulous cackles and off tone singing, and still sitting at the exact location where she'd been left, was a very pretty and very entranced Mouri Ran. And all of her nearby and hopeful amirers, too shy to even approach her yet all striving for her love, were beginning to feel quite dismayed. Because ever since that gentleman had left her, the young girl's eyes had remained gazing off into the distance, and her cheeks inflamed from time to time.
Not good signs for those "hopeful" bachelors.
Ran's reveries were interrupted though, as a cloaked girl with turquoise and interested eyes appeared beside her and slipped a papyrus-like paper in her hands. It proved to be a small letter, simple and not even sealed with wax, yet as she raised her head to question the mysterious woman, she found that she'd departed as suddenly as she'd arrived.
Her attention nonetheless returned to the object in her hands, and with much intrigue, she opened the letter to soon lift a palm-sized vanilla parchment, encrusted with strange hues of lava red, crisp gold, and warm tan. The words "meet me at the royal trail of blossoms" had been scribbled abruptly at the center of the strangely soft paper; a paper which Ran soon recognized to be one of the finest and rarest in the world, once created from the godly remains of dead sirens, and only utilized by blue-blooded families.
Ran's young mind had begun to ponder over this royal object and its unusual message, when quite suddenly, a smooth and divinely melodious voice sprang from the letter and snaked its way into the girl's ear. The voice spoke the most soothing and beautiful of songs to her, and lulled the adolescent's mind to a warm and placid reverie, as it incited her feet to move on their own accord. They stepped their way from her stool and bar, and dodged their path through the drunkenly merry crowds. Fair arms mechanically rose to swing the entrance doors open, and soon after, the young maiden very solitarily sauntered through a vast dirt road in the darkness of the night, with the seductive music being her sole and only guide.
When the lulling in Ran's ear slowly subsided and seemed to extinguish, her little feet had already carried her to the entrance of the Royal Trail of Blossoms—a colossal and ancient forest composed of majestic red maple trees. Yet as she tentatively stepped her way into the crimson-veiled forest, Ran swiftly became conscious of herself and her surroundings. She stammered an uneasy "hello?" as dead leaves sharply crushed under her feet, and her chest merely tightened in fear, as her orbs searched around for any signs of the mysterious author of her letter, yet found no shadow of life.
But it was then when a hand firmly gripped Ran's shoulder, and she spun around with her heart leaping to her throat, and her lungs ready to scream their life out, yet a hand had already covered her mouth and completely muffled her horrified screech. She was pressed against a maple's trunk, and ready to jerk her knee up and forward in defense, when her eyes immediately recognized the sapphire blue that gazed at her from within the shadows of a cloak and hood. She nodded with flushed cheeks as he whispered for her to be very quiet, and took his hand away from her lips while glancing at their surroundings.
"Are you disappointed to see me?" Asked Shinichi with an inviting smile, and poor Ran could do nothing but blush even further, and softly shake her head. "No… not at all…" she muttered with a gulp.
The elven nobleman smiled elatedly as he took her hand in his, and lowly murmured "follow me then!" to guide her through an unmarked path only he seemed to remember, and lead her deeper into the massive forest. The crimson maples seemed to decrease in number, and were merely replaced by green and robust trees, as the young woman and elf ventured further in. Broad branches of imposing trees had begun to intercept the moon's light, and visibility gradually diminished.
It was then when Shinichi decided to speak. "Did you know that this area isn't the actual trail?"
"Of blossoms?" Whispered she. "It isn't?"
"No. The trail begins right there…"
And there lay the deepest and most overwhelming darkness Ran had ever witnessed. A forest so abundant in trees, with so much life and vegetation, that not even the very moonlight could penetrate through it. This woodland, otherwise so magnificently rich in flora, at night appeared as a thick and profound blackness, entirely incapable of producing or fostering any light.
Yet a lonesome and beautiful rose escaped from within that black veil, sparkling with dew drops and emanating a fresh sent, as it provided the twosome with a pretty yet small prelude of the natural beauty that lay within that darkness.
"It's an enchanted forest, I'm sure you know." Began the disguised nobleman with a soft voice, approaching the pale rose as he continued to hold the girl's hand. "No season but spring, all year long, with wisteria and musk roses dangling from the trees' branches. Sakura petals swirl and blanket the ground every month. The very air you breathe is sweet with perfume."
A glow formed on the young woman's face from merely imagining his words, and she couldn't help from asking with almost childish excitement, "Are we going there?"
"Yes" said the young Kudou with a grin, and enhanced his grip on Ran's hand, as together they both valiantly stepped into a veil of pure darkness. The air was indeed rich with roses once they entered, yet they could discern nothing farther than each other's faces.
"Why is it so dark?" Whispered the beauteous girl, increasing her hold on her companion's arm.
"Nature abounds here so greatly, the very flowers and trees of the forest intercept the moonlight." Responded Shinichi with a calm voice, which thankfully did not reveal the thrilled rosiness of his cheeks. "You must delve deeper into the darkness, and blindly search for the secret terrace at the center of this labyrinth. You have access to the sky there. Yet we cannot meander through the forest without a light, and should we use one, we'd most certainly be found."
"By whom?" She questioned yet again, and was barely able to distinguish Shinichi's profile as he grinned.
"Fairies. Deaf creatures of the woods with extraordinary sight," he clarified, "their eyes are only defeated by this forest's darkness. So really, as long as a light isn't shone, we should be fine… unless…" his gaze met hers, and with a bit of an amused air he asked, "You're afraid of the dark?"
Ran gulped. "N-no…" Her fingers were buried in his arm, and soon they both noticed she'd entrapped his poor limb in the twine of her arms. Shinichi smiled even further and cocked his eyebrow, inspiring the girl to mumble, "Okay, maybe I am."
"Don't be." He said with aplomb, and paused before whispering, "Wait right here…"
And quite unexpectedly, Shinichi escaped Ran's grasp and left her alone. "No! Shinichi-san, don't go!" Exclaimed the adolescent into the darkness, hearing nothing but her echoing voice, and soon growing so fearful that she reached the borderline of tears. The beautiful girl seemed to suddenly regress, and while trying her very hardest not to cry, she instinctively curled up against an oak tree and waited.
A painfully long eternity of darkness passed, and Ran was startled as a soft object tenderly caressed her cheek, emanating an essence powerfully sweet, like tea. Warm fingers touched her own, placed a solid yet flexible stick in her hands, and did so moments before a low voice vibrated just beside her ear.
"It's a hybrid musk…" Murmured Shinichi very quietly, setting his penetrating gaze on Ran's barely visible orbs, as his hand continued to embrace both the rose and the girl's soft hand. His eyes remained addictively glued to her face. "Can you smell it? Ran..."
He'd heard and felt a sigh, Ran's overwhelmed eyes looked up to his, and she held his gaze for intensely long moments before quietly whispering a "Yes…"
Their breath had mingled for too long. A little audaciously, Shinichi terminated the distance between them as his young lips bonded with hers, and was very pleasantly startled when she firmly pressed back. There was a growing fervency, and mutual dependence in that dark arbor, as with long and well-spent minutes, their hands found more wonders under each other's layers of clothing.
They held no wish to control their shocking yet perfervid emotions. Shinichi's honey-tongued whispers against Ran's lips were enough to destroy any doubts she could've faced. And as they approached the ground even more, pressed like the Earth would suddenly shatter to its core, both lovers resolutely rejected tradition and threw all rules to the floor.
'To hell with conventions…' they both thought, refusing to put their growing union to a stop, as the two star-crossed lovers surrendered to that unfamiliar and powerful love that drew them so close, and in so little time.
What they experienced that evening, both emotionally and physically, was a secret only darkness, the earth, and the wind could tell…
Hours swiftly passed, along with the sighs and obsessive words of love, and Ran's eyelids began to feel heavy as Shinichi in her ear softly sighed, "I shall meet you here tomorrow… Just remember Ran, don't ever use any lights." And very soon, both lovers still tightly pressed, together drifted off to dreamland.
Shinichi was the first to awake. Dawn hadn't even risen from the horizon once he rose from the girl's soft skin and the warmed earth, so he had to blindly search for his clothes, which were all about the ground. Upon successfully dressing himself, he bent down to place a soft kiss on the lovely girl's cheek, and stood on his feet to commence a swift journey back to the palace. The elven youth wandered through the night, trying to correctly follow the path that would lead him out of the forest, but after fifty meters of walking aimlessly decided it was finally safe to shine a little light.
His hand reached within his cloak, quickly pulling a silver necklace with a fine crystal pendant, and against this glass Shinichi whispered soft words, which drew a deathly pale and ice blue light from the precious gem. With his path now illumined, he glanced back at the direction from which he'd traveled, reassuring himself that the light could not reach Ran's figure, for you see, it is important to note that the kingdom of Beika lay constantly monitored. Countless numbers of royal eyes, buried beneath the ground, disguised within the trees, invisible in the very wind continuously supervised every corner of the towns. Being in the nobility as well, Shinichi was knowledgeable that the only way to blind these sentinels was by enfolding oneself in darkness, and when in the company of his mother's archenemy, this is precisely what he intended to do. Being monitored while on his own was something completely harmless, but if the spying eyes ever found him in the forest, mysteriously accompanied by Mouri Ran, then his mother would be immediately notified, and what would follow later was not worth even fantasizing.
The sylvan fairies commenced their grumbling upon recognizing the handsome youth, and fluttered their little wings home with complaints of his excessively bright lantern. Deciding not to indulge in further delay, the elf quickly strode down his path, and managed to exit the thick forest surprisingly fast. Finding his horse beside the maple trees, he rose on the animal's sculpted back and lightly tapped its shoulder, obtaining a nearly immediate response as the faithful horse galloped at full speed to the Kudou estate.
Dawn was approaching and the world was nothing but cerulean blue, once Shinichi arrived at his home and stealthily hopped off his horse. He passed through the entrance doors, though was considerably dismayed upon seeing his mother waiting for him in the room, with a very scary look on her face that seemed to scream obscenities.
"Shinichi! Where in the world have you been?! I've been waiting for you for the whole night, damaging my brow with furrows of worry, because I have the guards come home with no sign of my only son around! And you were gone for the whole night! Are you trying to give me a heart attack? And why are you so late anyway!" She exclaimed nervously, inhaling and exhaling deeply in attempts to regain her composure, as her son scratched his head while trying to suppress a grin.
"Okay… Never mind that. Sorry. I seem to have lost my cool." Said Yukiko serenely, though her movements were still awkwardly twitchy. "So tell me, what happened? Did you manage to make that obnoxious girl drool over some idiot?"
The phrase sparked a stinging bit of annoyance in Shinichi, though he ignored the feeling, and decided to slip a little white lie. "You have no reason to fret over this girl anymore, 'kaasan. I've been fully successful, and I can assure you, she'll no longer be able to interfere with your prominent reputation."
Yet all hell broke loose.
His powerfully-beautiful mother started ranting through the room, waking the poor elven assistants from their warm and cozy beds, as she proclaimed to anyone and everyone that goodness gracious! she'd never feared some commoner, plebeian, ungracious girl from taking her position as the personification of beauty, and perfect loveliness, and yadda yadda yadda. Yukiko couldn't stop from indignantly screeching her rodomontade. Shinichi witnessed the scene with a horrified look, and with an even more horrified twist of his lips, furtively slid his way out to the hallway, gratefully accepting the help of his ever pitying and opportune assistants.
Throughout the weeks that followed this somewhat unusual event, tranquility was considerably existent in the palace, and a very well disciplined routine had been self-established in Shinichi's life. He would wake up at a minute before noon, – the usual – have a light lunch with his father as they discussed the quirky little mysteries marauding through Beika, then read another three books, occasionally meet up with that elven barou Hattori, ignore the she-elves that swooned over him at exactly 7:32 PM, dine some more, to then pilfer some of the day's dessert to carry to the forest later. When his parents wished him a good night, he'd wait five minutes before packing the sweet and stolen goodness, quietly jump from his bedroom's balcony, reunite with his wonderful horse, excitedly gallop to the Trail, and meet once again with the human beauty whose love he still possessed, as the most joyful of smiles reappeared on his face.
Never had Shinichi been as happy as then, and neither had Ran felt such overwhelming feelings as when she was with him. Though she had barely managed to see his face, – for he always wore his cloak's ultramarine hood, and when he doffed his clothes a profound darkness reigned – the sweetly devotional words that he whispered in her ear, and the tender touches that his body dedicated to her own, were so deeply overwhelming that it was no wonder she'd madly fallen in love with him. And onto this obsessive affection they both clung, and merely a few weeks after having initially met, the two proclaimed that together they'd always remain. Two rings were produced by Shinichi, symbolizing their perpetual union, and in the darkness they both wedded, with no witnesses nor parents, but holding deeper feelings than the world could ever romance.
Yet regardless they were no longer lovers, but decidedly husband and wife, their stars remained sharply crossed, and with such misfortune come obstacles too large.
There came a bright and warm spring day, when Ran was cheerfully chatting with two acquaintances of hers. The girls were enjoying the beauty of the afternoon, lying on the fresh grass lazily, when suddenly one of them remarked that she'd seen Ran leaving her house late at night, and curiously questioned her about it.
Deciding that she didn't want to lie to her friends, the young woman admitted she'd been meeting with Shinichi for several weeks already, and after providing specific and innumerable descriptions of the youth, came to confess that they'd secretly married. The two friends were left with mouths hanging in astonishment, and yet eventually, when Ran carelessly and amusedly mentioned that Shinichi insisted on never using lights, the two girls were unpleasantly thunderstruck.
"Wait… why does he tell you not to use a light?" Asked one of them, a queer expression already plastered on her face.
"He once explained that if we use any lights, then we would be seen." Responded Ran lightheartedly, as her two friends raised their eyebrows and shared a mutual look.
"He doesn't want to be seen?"
Ran looked innocently at them. "Why, yes. Because of the fairies that are in the forest."
A second mutual look.
"That's odd… why doesn't he want to be seen by fairies?" Murmured one of them, her eyes large and brow furrowed, clearly worried about this strange man. "Oh my god, what if he…" Added the other girl, and the twosome gazed at each other with melodramatic worry. "What if he's not… you know…" And with a gulp she whispered, "A normal man?"
"What?" Blurted out Ran, and her two friends observed her once again. "Oh yes, Ran-chan, just think about it. He tells you not to turn on a light, he's with you in the darkest place on Earth… What if he's taking you to that place because he's afraid of being seen? What if he's trying to hide away from public view!"
"He obviously is!" Added the other.
"Ran-chan," a hand supportively found the beautiful teenager's shoulder, and her friend's face darkened with a dramatic expression. "This is no normal man…" She seriously declared, and sharing an affirmative look with her friend, fixed her eyes on Ran's and said, "Get away from him. He's got to be a monster!"
"WHAT?"
"Yes Ran, it makes perfect sense… He's with you only in the darkness, he doesn't allow you to have a light, he doesn't want to be seen! Other than having a most horrible body, why would he want to keep hidden?"
Ran's bewildered gaze darted left and right between the two girls, though her face brightened once more as she recalled a positive truth. "No, wait! I've seen his face outside the Trail! That is how I met him..!
"…Though I haven't yet seen him clearly, or in broad daylight for that matter, I know his face looks in no way like a monster's." Professed Ran with determination, still clearly adamant in supporting her husband. The two girls remained thoughtfully silent, strongly considering what Ran had stated, until one of them spoke again.
"But you know, there are stories of creatures who look like real beings…" She informed with a low voice, "They disguise as regular people under the sunlight, or even at dusk, but when the darkness of night fully creeps in, they cannot hide their appearance anymore, and their grotesque real figures return. And they wolf down human beings..!"
"You're right! I had forgotten about those!" Exclaimed Ran's other friend, who gained a worried and compassionate expression on her face. "Oh, Ran-chan!"
The two adolescent mortals tried their very hardest to convince Ran of the grave danger she was in, and attempted to persuade her in running away from the frightful monster while she still could. Meanwhile, Ran's expressionless gaze swiftly swayed from girl to girl, and she remained deathly silent as she pondered over her friends' words. Yet with every tedious minute that sluggishly passed by, Ran's brow furrowed in worry as it all made sense in her mind.
Fear suddenly struck her heart, and she mumbled with her throat already parched and dry. "Maybe you're right… But…
"W-what must I do?"
After careful thought, the girls told Ran to kill the monster that very night, and that feeding him with a poison while he slept was really the best choice she had.
Nighttime arrived.
The beautiful Ran was already standing beneath the maple leaves, nervous, with a feeling of dread deeply sinking her chest. A small bottle containing a poisonous elixir was already hidden in her clothes, though she was growing ill at the thought of using it.
Shinichi reappeared at the entrance of the forest, as sweet tooth as ever for he carried a bag full of goodies, and smiling as beautifully as he always did. He took Ran's hand at once, animatedly guiding her through their nightly visited path, under the rustling trees and wan moon, until they stepped into the Trail of Blossoms and darkness ever again tightly enveloped them.
Ran's heart was palpitating with a very swift harshness, and the situation combined with the lack of visibility instigated so much fear in her chest, that she was sure she'd poison the man.
And yet it was then when Shinichi's hand gently touched her neck, his face neared her own, doting and adoring words left his lips, he kissed her cheek, even kissed her lips. Everything was caring, when he used harsher force it was in embracing her, or when he sounded displeased it was through low whines of passion. His movements were gradual and affectionate, Shinichi himself lay in open vulnerability before her, as he hugged her and relaxed against her form, obliviously demonstrating his wild and blind trust. Ran's heart warmed all over again; affection overwhelmed her heart.
She could not bear to kill him… The girl remembered why she loved her husband so deeply.
Poor beauteous Ran nearly felt like crying once he kissed her again, and cursed herself for ever having forgotten her love for this man.
Yet her laments soon burned and fumed away, at the moment Shinichi tenderly lowered her to the warming earth for a marvelous umpteenth time that month.
A thick darkness.
The sweet scent of flowers…
Hybrid musk.
Soft, rhythmic breathing…
Ran's eyes remained open, her senses concentrating upon her surroundings, while her mind grew wide awake. The hours of overwhelming happiness had passed, perhaps for the best or the worst, as Ran's consciousness and reasoning settled themselves back in her mind. She could hear Shinichi beside her, tranquilly slumbering away, and suddenly a strange sensation of coldness expanded through her spine.
The young woman remembered what she'd prepared herself to do earlier; an immoral, foolish, entirely wrongful act, she told herself. Yet her friends' earnest warnings crept back from her subconscious, and it wasn't long before Ran became worried all over again. As minutes ticked by, anxiety and fear contributed to her growing distress, and awfully soon enough, the lovely mortal girl was sitting on her knees and searching for the poison she'd hidden, oblivious to the grave mistake she was about to commit.
The venom was in her hands, and while sitting before a dreaming Shinichi, both merely clothed by the profound darkness of the forest, she almost immediately grew unsure of her ill plans. With sudden decision, she turned to her bundle of clothes yet again, rescuing another small bottle which contained four tiny and luminous fairies.
Ran's sole desire was to look upon him; take a short and quick peek at the monster, before ultimately deciding his horrible fate.
And that is exactly what she did…
Shaking the bottle with sudden force, the incarcerated fairies instantaneously lit in protest, and a bright and powerful light broke through the glass and invaded the Trail. Ran looked upon her husband, expecting a murderous-looking beast with gruesomely horrible features, yet beheld the most awe-inspiring and enrapturing of figures.
Coffee locks, a marble body, and the calm, divinely flawless countenance of one whom Ran immediately recognized as an elven nobleman; a notoriously and yet magnificently attractive youth, the only child of His Grace, Duke Yuusaku and Duchess Yukiko. Ran pressed her racing heart, moving closer to Shinichi with the radiating container in her hands, still gazing in awe at her husband, when – surely awoken by the light – Shinichi's blue eyes fluttered open.
Instantly struck with a bolt of realization, the elf sprang from the ground to sit upright, his eyes wide with horror as fairies surrounding them began to shriek and yelp in astonishment. Shinichi looked back at Ran, with an expression both furious and mournful. "I told you not to flash a light!"
"I-I'm sorry…"
"No! You don't understand! We must never see each other again!" He whispered emphatically, snatching his clothes with urgency. "My mother has already seen you because of the light; I told you once, there are eyes everywhere through this kingdom! Now there isn't much time. You must go and hide someplace safe–"
"Wait, Shinichi..!"
"Don't search for me."
"No!" But he had already escaped the girl's grasp, and very quickly raced away into the darkness. "Shinichi!" Ran watched his fading figure, which never once looked back, but merely ran faster, and faster…
With a sorrowful caterwaul, she repeated his name into the wind, collapsing in suffocating sobs once the feeling of despondency took complete control of her. She couldn't yet relieve her heart of its grief though; Shinichi had told her to run away. So Ran tried to quickly dress, crying all the while, and soon ran through the darkness of the forest, searching for the exit and the safe path to her home.
Meanwhile, Shinichi had galloped his horse at full speed, and once arriving at the steps of the palace, sprinted through the dew-moistened fields to reach his bedroom's balcony. Upon crossing the cherry garden, the elf lissomely climbed his way up a tree's dark and robust arms, standing four meters above the green ground before making a long jump to his balcony. He strode to his bedroom, wishing with all his might to reach his bed before his mother found him missing, and sneakily slipped through the curtains that shielded his dormitory.
To find his grimaced mother, with a stoic and expressionless gaze that ironically screamed he was in deep, sticky, and soiled trouble.
"You were in the forest, Shinichi…" Stated the elven duchess with a terrifyingly unusual seriousness, as the youth took the second to desperately summon his creativity.
"Uh, yes… I-uh, like to get fresh air." He declared with an unusual cough, and his mother frowned.
"With that insolent human girl by your side, perhaps?"
"Human girl..? Who told you such ridiculousness?"
"The family mirror."
"I told you to replace that old thing."
"I saw you in the mirror with my own eyes, in the company of that conceited girl! And should you insult the accurateness of my sight, our winged and greatest allies of the forest just told me what my very orbs witnessed."
'Damn those stupid fairies!' Growled Shinichi mentally.
"Good god! What great grief this brings me! To find that the aphros has caressed your skin, that you've fallen in love, that you've prematurely wedded… that impertinent girl…" Murmured the duchess with considerable vexation, pacing to the bedroom's door, to then sigh with a concerned gaze. "Take some rest, Shinichi… You must be overwhelmed with exhaustion."
And with a thud, she left her only son in the lonesome silence of his room.