Chapter Fourteen-Voice

The boys were heading back to the room when they heard a beautiful voice singing. As they got closer to the room the group had rented, they found themselves surprised to hear the sound coming from the room. Len looked at Kaito, before pushing open the door and running in, only to find himself shocked. Kaito followed quickly, tugging the listless Gakupo behind him; both boys stopped at the sight that met their eyes.

It was Luka.

Her hair flared out as she moved to the music, her blue eyes dangerous and alluring at the same time as she sang her heart out to the words on the screen. The words didn't seem so important as the melody weaved in and out, growing louder when needed and falling back to softer as the song faded out to an end. Despite her dress and sweet curls, Luka's look was so intense that she had everyone mesmerized watching her as her hand dropped loosely to her sides, the microphone falling gently until her fingers caught the cord and allowed it to dangle there.

Suddenly realizing that everyone was staring, Luka turned bright red and whirled around to see that the boys were back in the room and Gakupo was staring at her with his mouth wide open in amazement. Even Kaito seemed to have forgotten about his words before as he broke the silence with an awed, "That was incredible...Where'd you get a voice like that?"

His words breaking the trance on everyone, Rin piped up, "Luka, you never told us you could sing like that! Why aren't you in the school choir? Sure your voice and style is more stylistic but I know that the choir director would love to have a good soloist since all the people in choir right now are too shy…"

Backing away from everyone, the pink-haired girl laughed off their compliments awkwardly as each of them gathered around and tried to convince her to sing again. It wasn't until she looked pleadingly at Gakupo that the other understood she didn't want to sing again for awhile. Unused to the attention, Luka sat down next to Gakupo as Miku and Kaito got up to sing. While the two argued over what to sing, Gakupo finally managed to get out a compliment, saying, "You must like singing; I mean you're so good at it."

At his words Luka smiled modestly and fiddled with her skirt again before saying slowly, "My mom really liked to sing with me before..." Remembering that none of her friends from Kaisei knew that her mother was dead reminded Luka of the pictures waiting at home to be deciphered.

"Before what?" Gakupo prodded her gently, and Luka realized that she'd been staring off blankly into the distance. With a small laugh, she bit her lip before deciding to tell him later on; there WAS a small possibility he could help. And now that they were something…well it would be alright to tell him some things now. Giving him the 'I'll tell you later' look, Luka settled back against the seat cushion and found his hand before turning to where Miku and Kaito were singing together, looking as if they were enjoying themselves far more than they'd ever admit.

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It was dead silent in the car until Luka cleared her throat and caught Gakupo's attention once more. Looking over at his girlfriend (blushing at the thought of being official), the president watched as Luka fiddled with her skirt again nervously and blurted out, "You asked me a question earlier…"

"Yeah?"

"Well…Don't tell anyone alright? It's shameful enough that I'm poor; I don't need anymore whispers about me going around the school."

The purple-haired teen gave Luka a gentle look, before reaching out and softly touching her cheek. As he let his fingers linger there, he enjoyed the way a light pink began to show before he murmured, "I won't tell anyone, I promise."

Her blue eyes searched his, and finally Luka gave a sigh and nodded. Trusting that he wouldn't react too much, the pinkette coughed and said slowly, "You asked me 'before what?' when we were at the karaoke room. Well…my mother and I used to sing together when we did chores. She died just a few months ago, but I still sing for Oliver sometimes because he really likes my voice."

Stunned, Gakupo's hand dropped from Luka's face and grabbed the hand she had placed on her lap. Squeezing it, he said, "I'm sorry about your mom. Is she the one who taught you how to sing? If she did, she's done a good job."

"My mom taught me how to sing but told me that she used to be awful at it; it wasn't until high school when a teacher finally stepped up to help her with her tone that she got good at singing. In fact, I think she did something with it in high school, although she never told me. She might have been the singer for a band; I don't know. Either way, I learned from her."

As the talk turned away from her mother's death and towards Luka's singing, the pink-haired girl wondered when she could fully tell Gakupo why she was attending Kaisei. Ignoring the fact that she was keeping secrets from someone whom she cared for deeply, Luka squeezed his hand reassuringly before turning her thoughts completely on their conversation.

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"What's it say, Oliver?" Meiko asked as the little boy transcribed the last of the letters down. Clearing his throat, Oliver readied himself before finally reading aloud what he'd written.

"Beyond the stars, beyond the moon,

So does my love transcend for you.

Lettered here for all to see,

I confess a love that cannot be.

Rags nor riches matter here,

But I cannot touch you when you are near.

Don't grow up too fast my dear,

I will still love you for a thousand years."

When the little boy met Meiko's gaze, he found that she had a grim look on her face. Flopping down on the seat next to the desk, the maid said ruefully, "Looks like we've just swapped one mystery out for another."

Scanning the poem over again, Meiko muttered the words to herself, wondering what it meant. Somehow, the poem seemed familiar, though she could place a finger on it. As the two bent their heads together over it, they heard the study door open and they looked up to see Luka walked towards them, worry written all over her face as she scolded, "Oliver, it's way too late for you to be up! Meiko, what happened, why didn't you put him to bed? Normally you're so strict…"

Luka's words trailed off as her blue eyes fell on the papers and pictures cluttering the desk. For a second, Meiko and Oliver braced themselves for her to be angry at having solved it without her, before a hesitant smile broke out on her face.

"Did you…did you get it then?" she asked, forgetting about Gakupo and his goodnight kiss almost immediately. When Meiko nodded, Luka clapped her hands together and said, "Great! What's it say?"

The happy look faded from the pretty girl's face as Oliver read the poem aloud once more. It was obvious she was just as confused as they were; slumping down into a nearby chair, Luka shook her head. As the three sat in silence, Meiko asked, "Luka, where have we heard that poem before?"

"Hmm?"

"It sounds so familiar…"

Racking her brain, Luka thought back until she snapped her fingers in recognition. Standing up again, she said with an amazed voice, "That's the exact same poem my mom left in the letter!" Running out to her room, she left the two behind in the study. When she came back she was back in her normal clothes and had a piece of paper and an envelope in her hand. Luka sat down and cleared her throat before looking at the two of them and reading, "My dearest Luka, by the time you read this I will be gone. I know I've been battling cancer for so long, but I feel as if I can't hold on for any more time. I leave you my last request; take the money I've been saving for years and attend the elite Kaisei Academy. There is someone who once was there that is very important although I have sworn to never reveal the details of the story myself. It was a promise I made long ago and I intend to stay true to my honor, even now on my deathbed. Find this person, Luka. Learn their story. And in return, you will come to understand so many things and why I sent you to Kaisei in the first place. Love, your mother."

Looking up and seeing the two staring at her, Luka explained, "She wrote the poem at the bottom. It's the exact same poem as the one carved onto the roof of the school! My mom HAD to have been the person who attended Kaisei before me, this confirms my suspicions!"

Meiko frowned a bit before asking, "I assumed that much too. But Luka, there's no way your mom carved that up there. And if she did, she would have had to be with someone who had access to the roof."

"The student president and staff members are the only ones with keys to that door…" Luka mused, getting up and pacing back and forth in front of the desk.

It was Oliver who piped up, "Well, why don't you just as that guy to show you all the student presidents of the past or something? I'm sure they've documented it somewhere in that giant school." As Luka and Meiko began to talk to each other excitedly about the possibilities, Oliver turned away and muttered to the wall, "At least he's good for something."

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Gakupo sat on his bed, settling down into the sheets before worrying about what he was going to do. He couldn't keep fighting with Len and Kaito; they only had what was best in mind for him. And he couldn't abandon Luka or stop liking her so much. Torn between the two, the president turned over restlessly on his mattress and wondered what he was going to do. How could he keep balance between two sides of himself?

Rolling over again, he muttered and mumbled into his sheets, trying to make sense of what he had to do. All the bet had really entailed was that he sleep with Luka; it had been Kaito's idea really that Gakupo break up with her afterwards. And while Gakupo didn't want to break up with Luka, the idea of sleeping with her wasn't horrendous...

Embarrassed as he was to admit it, the purple-haired teen thought far more about Luka than he'd ever actually tell Kaito and Len.

Caught between the two options, Gakupo forced himself to think about how he could proceed to keep both Luka and succeed in the bet, thus successfully erasing the title of 'virgin president' from his name forever. Slowly, the student president sat up, his long purple hair falling around him as he did so.

It was so simple; all he had to do was play Len and Kaito the way he was supposed to be playing Luka.

If he let them think that he was listening to them and following their directions but then did whatever he wanted when he was Luka, no one would ever know. By the time the end of the year rolled around, rather than having to discard his new girlfriend Gakupo would probably be able to convince her to keep their relationship a secret for awhile by relating it to his family's business matters; just long enough for him to make it seem like he'd dumped her. Once he had waited a certain amount of time, if he told Kaito and Len he chose to go after her once more then they wouldn't be able to complain-the bet being the main reason that the two didn't want Gakupo to end up with Luka.

Deciding to implement this new plan immediately, Gakupo sat back and rolled over to sleep, attempting to ignore the nagging feeling in his stomach that was slowly starting to grow.

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"Past student presidents?" Gakupo asked, wondering why his new girlfriend was asking. In front of him, Luka shifted nervously and played with her hands behind her back, hoping that he wouldn't ask too many questions and would just help her. The two had met in the hallway after lunch to finally talk to each other for the first time that day, as Gakupo had been called to do morning announcements in Rin's place. Staring at the pink-haired girl in confusion, the president opened his mouth to question her further when he caught the look in her eyes.

Nodding his head slowly in understanding that she would explain later, Gakupo hesitantly said, "I can show you if you want…" Before he could finish his sentence though, he caught Len's eye as the blonde boy walked out into the hallway and glanced in their direction. In a voice loud enough that Len could hear, Gakupo said smoothly, "If you'll do something for me."

"What do you want?" Luka asked curiously, tilting her head. Her heart began to pound furiously as Gakupo leaned in closer again and one side of his mouth jerked up into an alluring, daring sort of smirk. In a low voice that made Luka shiver, Gakupo asked, "Why don't you meet me today after school and find out?"

Well it's been a bit but thanks all for waiting!

To the reviews we go then :)

XxKingArthurIIIxX: Hahaha thanks :) I really do like this couple but I AM pretty bias considering I'm writing it and that they were the first couple I ever really heard XD If you like this story you might (I do say MIGHT here) like the little three part one shot I did for them. Do check it out if you're interested and let me know what you think! Gakupo is doing something incredibly dumb here; wanting to please everyone isn't as easy as he thinks it is. But then again, if he made all the right decisions the story wouldn't really be going still XD Kaito's far too rebellious to ever follow...for now at least :P

Homunculus in the Flask: Kaito's just a bitter whore. (No, seriously.) He's dwelling on it because he was upset that Miku knew about the whole thing and not only criticized him for what he was doing (when he was trying to stop it for her) but went all hypocritical and tried to date/flirt with all his friends. He's not very trusting and genuinely believes he's looking out for Gakupo even if it comes off as him just being a giant butthead and pouty little boy about the whole thing XD No apologies though! I love to hear reader's opinions and thoughts, they make writing even more fun than it is :) So long as I'm not burning in flames of hate, I love to get reviews, no matter what thoughts you have! :)

Gerren: Thanks :) I'm glad to hear my story isn't too generic, since that is what I was DEFINITELY not shooting for, although I feel like it's getting passed over quite a bit XD It's fine because I'm not writing just to get views, but I AM happy to hear that some people are enjoying my writing as much as I enjoy writing it! :D

I suppose that's it for the reviews this time then :) DageRee, I'll PM you then like you said (once I post this at least, I'll try to). Thanks for reading, and look out for the next update! :)