Shuu's POV
It has been a whole five minutes since the chimes have sound, yet I haven't heard or smelt Hikari at all. I know it takes her about three and a half minutes to get to this side of the school from her history class. I know this because I used to walk from that boring excuse of a class to this magnificent room almost every day two years ago.
Maybe it's her short legs or she is talking to a friend or someone, but her absence worries me. What if those punks are messing with her again? The last thing I want to do is have to get in trouble with the board because I had to knock up some assholes. But I will do anything from kicking someone's ass to murder for the people care about.
The thought that she may decide not to come won't leave my mind, like a horrible, lingering aftertaste. No matter how many excuses I try to use to drown it out, the possibility still whispers in my head. Maybe after yesterday's outburst, she's embarrassed and doesn't want to come. She wasn't acting strangely during dinner or breakfast if anything she seemed happier than usual.
I glance at the clock that is placed over the blackboard on the other side of the room. I sigh, but its goes unheard because of the chimes ringing out through the once quiet room. The room that should be anything but silent.
I spent my whole weekend listening to the still monotonous sounds people call art. Even though I used to listen to the songs until music player died, I find myself stopping most songs short. The only melodies that give me any sort of happiness are the one's played by Hikari. I know that I'm not going to hear her playing properly for a while, though. This week I'm supposed to be teaching her that piece she has been pestering me about.
I rise from the sofa I've been resting on and walk over to the shelf that store of music sheets. I find Chopin's Nocturne in Eb and make my way over to the piano. I sit on the bench, place the paper in their display, and, surprisingly, start to press each key from left to right. I guess her habit is rubbing off on me.
The second I lift my finger from the last key, I sense her. I hear her footsteps speed walking down the hall, her breath coming out a bit harder than usual. The faint smell of her vanilla lotion and natural aroma soon follow the sound of her footsteps.
I sigh a small breath of relief, so she is coming today. I recline onto the bench, knowing that she will be annoyed by this like last week. I think back to Friday and how she was repeating my name in various, silly ways. It took more effort than usual to keep a smile from forming across my face. A month ago the task was as simple as blinking or breathing, but the moment I saw her again, I knew it would become much harder. But I know it's worth being able to see her like this, as if she's an entirely different person. I know now that she is happy and has a certain shine in her eyes. The shine I told myself months ago I would bring her when I first saw her nearly lifeless eyes.
Even though I promised myself I will be the one to change her, it seems like she is doing just that to me. Not only has she realised the feelings and emotions I have locked away, but also some memories I would want to stay in the past. Even if she isn't aware of it, she seems to be finding ways to uncover my hidden emotions. Like the way she called be Shuu-sama completely destroyed my neutral facade I force myself to put up.
I hear Hikari's feet stop in front of the door as she takes in a breath. Why does she do that all the time know? She has done that every day she has been here since leaving detention. Is she frightened to be alone with my after I bit her? A heavy fog of regret begins to lower down on me. Never had I interned to hurt her. I knew I was going to lose control and harm her, and I tried to hold back. It is as if my wishes are not ignored, but rather responded to with the opposite of my desire.
I sigh a breath of annoyance before the door is opened. I don't need to look her way to know that Hikari is staring at me with her beautiful, pink eyes. I have her annoyed yet amused expression carved into my memory after seeing it so often.
I hear her walk over to me with her light footsteps and her breath coming out at a normal rate once again. She stops in front of me and I can feel the heat from her body even though we aren't touching.
"Shuu," she says sternly. "The piano bench is not a resting bench. It is where you sit when you are playing the instrument known as the piano, ehci is in front of you. Since you are neither playing the piano nor seating properly, I'm going to ask you to please relocate yourself."
I almost have to bite my cheek to keep from smiling at her. The way she spoke was so sternly and seriously it's ridiculous, like a mother explaining something to a simple minded child. I don't make any action to move and the brunette groans.
"Stop acting like you're part of the seat," she says, clearly frustrated, yet there is a hint of a laugh in her voice.
"Maybe I am," I say quietly, teasing the girl.
"Is that so?" she question and I can hear the mischievous edge in her voice. I feel the warm of her increase and I don't have a second to react before I feel the weight of her on me. She sits on top of me so she is on my navel and slightly on top of my crotch.
I move my arm from my face and final look at the human. She smirks down at me in what seems to be a challenge. I raise a brow up at her and she smile widens in return. She twists her body so she faces the piano. She covers the instrument's keys and places her bag on the flat surface. She opens it and takes out a bag of grapes.
"This seat has gotten very uncomfortable from the last time I was on it," she complains as she pops a grape into her mouth. I roll my eyes at her. She is now off guard, perfect time.
I easily rotate my abdomen so she is launched off of me. She yelps slightly and as is is thrown onto her feet. Unprepared, she stumbles and hooks her left foot onto her right ankle. Having no balance she falls face first onto the floor with her ass in the air. As a bonus, her skirt lands on top of her back, revealing her panties; black with white polka dots and a red lace trimming.
"I approve you panties, does your bra match?" I asked before I could think of my words. The human gasp and quickly stands up to fixes herself. I see her face turn a faint shade of pink and gives me a twisted expression.
"Seriously, Shuu?" she says in a voice that is frustrated trying her best to hide her embarrassment. "You're commenting on my underwear now. Ugh, I get enough of that shit from Ayato and Laito."
"Unlike my brothers, I didn't do it on purpose," I counter, trying to make my voice emotionless although all I want to do is crack a smile or maybe even laugh. "A like I said repeatedly, I'm not like those two, so stop comparing me to them."
"No like Laito and Ayato my ass," she snaps.
"Well, your ass is quite large." I smirk as I see her clench her jaw drop and face grow even redder, something I don't see too often with her. I mentally smack myself for revealing such amusement. I'm able to erase the smile from my mouth, trying to recompose my calm and neutral expression.
She finds a lone grape on the floor and throws it at me. I could have easily move, but I stay still and let it hit me in between my eye, allowing her a bit of redemption.
"I'm leaving," she declares. The claim makes me freeze for a moment. I sudden have a small internal panic. Is she going to leave for real? Is she going to come bacK? How pissed off is she at me? Was it really that bad? God, Shuu, what's wrong with you? I try to think of something as she walks over and gets her bag from the piano.
"If you leave now then I won't be able to teach you Chopin's Nocturne in Eb," I say slyly, sounded far calmer than I feel. This makes her stop in her tracks and I feel as if I've won the battle. Her hesitation is clearly visible as she slowly turn around. She looks me in my eyes before walking over to me.
"Are you at least going to move?" she ask in defeat.
It seems as if her eyes can always do something to me and I'm soon unable to look into the pink orbs. I look around the room, eying the mess of grapes on the floor. "I will once you clean that mess."
She follows my eyes to the discarded fruit and she proceeds in picking up the half dozen or so grapes that fell out of her bag. She places them in the trash and pick up the bag with the remaining grapes.
Hikari begins to walk towards me with a raised eyebrow. I sigh and sit up and move to the left side of the seat. She plants herself by my side and continue consuming her grapes. Like she did with the pocky, she thrusts the bag over to me, wordlessly demanding that I take one. Even though I have no desire to eat, I take the small fruit and pop it into my mouth.
It is much too sweet for my liking and Hikari thankful pulls the bag back. "You don't like sweets," she says my thoughts out loud, which takes me by surprise. Not many people can tell what I really think, and I try my best to put up the fasade of an unamused teenager.
I sigh and place my left arm on the little area left on the bench and lean my weight on the limb. "You say that why?"
"You didn't eat much of the absolutely delicious cake I made,"- modesty in a human form- "you didn't each much of the pocky, and your face scrunched a little when you ate the grape." She lifts her chin up slightly, showing she is confident with her hypothesis. "I made sure to get the sweetest grapes, too."
"So you were thinking about me when you were getting your food?"
She opens her mouth and closes it, as if thinking of her words and I see her face flush slightly. "You also spend your lunch here, so I doubted you eat anything until we get to the manor."
Her concern makes me smile internally, and I have to let out a breath so it won't show. The human's thought about my well being makes me want to show some kind of emotion so she knows that I appreciate it. But I know I can't, I'm not allowed to open my heart ever again, I have hurt too many people, including myself. I already crossed that line Friday, and I know I have to stop before something truly horrible happens again.
"That isn't necessary," I say. "I don't even need to eat regularly, none of us do. 'Us' referring to my brothers of course."
She seemed shocked by the statement and then gives me a confused look. "Then, why do you guys have both breakfast and dinner every day?"
I roll my eyes at the question. With a sigh I say, "Reiji wanted to have an eye on you two things. Even though he acts like a bastard of an intelligent person, that was the only idea he could come up with."
"You're giving me the impression that you don't like going to eat two meals a day," she says. She narrows her eyes at me in supersession. That isn't necessarily true, though. I enjoy being assured I will see Hikari twice a day outside of school. Even if we only make eye contact, I cherish being in her presence.
"If you don't like it, why don't you just end it? You are the eldest, you overrule Reiji. Your word overpowers his. If he makes a decision you don't like, you can always change it. Like when you took me ou-" she catches herself before she says something she wanted to leave unsaid.
I give her a questioning look, asking her to continue. She obviously doesn't want to finish and she pops a the last grape in her mouth, assuring her silence.
"I thought it was a good idea for a while," I say responding to her question. "I thought I would do it for about a month or so until you got fully settled in. I'm actually going to stop the whole thing soon, since you'r-"
"No!' she exclaims, taking me by surprise. I look over and lean off of my arm and fully sitting up, look her in her eyes. She realizes what she did and looks down at the covered keys. "No more talking and questions, let's just play." She is clearly flustered, so I no longer speak. She is too easy to read and it's plain to see that she is trying to cover up her unexpected outburst, which she failed at.
I shrug it off, acting as if I didn't notice her slip up. I reach over to get the music sheet. I see her flinch slightly as I outstretch my arm. Her action brings an aching feeling to my heart for a millisecond. Why would she move away from me? The thought of her being frightened by me tries to creep back into my head, but I quickly let it out.
Pretending to ignore her movement, I grab the paper from the stand. Studying the simple piece is a fake I put up so make Hikari think I'm busying myself. Out of my peripheral vision, I see her staring at me, but she doesn't do anything but that. No visible presentation of fright or worry.
"I told you Friday," I say handing her the sheet. "I'm not a very good teacher." She takes the page and nods her head, placing it back on the stand.
"It's been a while since I learned a new song," she says almost shyly. "I almost fully knew Spring Sanoto so it was easier for me to get it last time."
The gears of my brain move a bit slower than usual as I try to remember what she is talking about. As if the gears clicked into place, the memory comes back to me. Last Thursday I helped her with that piece. The sound of our first duet plays in my head and I silently hope we have more to come.
"Is it hard?" she asks nervously. I look over to her and notice she is tugging at her hair. The brown strands of silk are twirled around her finger, something she seems to be constantly doing.
"You can't ask me, I learned this years ago. For me, it was midocer when it comes to diffulectly."
She nods and, like always, proceeds in pressing the keys from right to left. She makes it about two-thirds of the away before she can no longer tap the next key without reaching over me. Not giving it a second thought, I finish the remaining keys for her. She looks on and cocks her head to the side.
"You're left-handed." She says it as a fact, not actually asking. I give her a lazy nod and she shrugs it off. "Well, hopefully, this won't be too hard. Thanks to you, I was about to listen to it for the past three days." She looks away from the keys and up to me. "Thanks for the CD and the earphones."
Her smile is sincere and her eyes have a sparkle that can outshine any star. I shrug at her, although I want to say and do so much more. I get off the bench, allowing her to sit properly. I walk over to the shelf and get the stool that stands beside it. I move it over the piano and seat myself on it.
I turn my attention on Hikari, pink eyes still glued to me, and say, "Show me what you got."
"Wrong, again," I sigh. I shake my head once again, and I'm surprised it hasn't rolled off my shoulder because of the constant movement. I look over to Hikari who lowers her fingers from the key with an angered expression.
She bangs her fist on the keys, causing a few random notes play out. "Can you at least tell tell me what I'm doing wrong instead of just saying 'wrong'," she says through clenched teeth. "Wrong, wrong, wrong, that's all you say! Can you please do something instead of criticizing me, like, I don't know, help me." She breathes heavily with anger, but the boils soon goes down to a simmer. She takes a deep breath and holds it in for a bit, closing her eyes. She lets it out after a couple of seconds and leans back slightly. "Sorry about that. Just… sorry" She has apologized to me about two dozen time since we began this session a half hour ago.
"You should play from the knowledge you have," I point to the music sheets, "and the memory you have." I point to my head. "Once I figure out what parts you're doing wrong, we will work on those."
She takes a breath and nods her head. "Is that how you learned?" I nod my head in response. "Well it must have been pretty hard," she says. "My teacher would stop me every time I played the wrong note and made sure I had that section of the piece mastered before moving on."
"New teacher, new method," I counter.
She shrugs and stretches her arms. I see her eyes trail over to the clock on the wall. "The period is going to end soon, I'll stop here." She covers the keys with a sigh. She starts to turn her body in my direction, this causes her legs to knock her school bag off the bench besides her. Two books fall out of the bag and slide in my direction.
I look at the two, one of which takes my interest. I pick up the book with a questioning look. I adjust my gaze at Hikari, who stares at me with a mixture of embarrassment and frustration. I turn the book so the title is facing her. "Are you really reading this crap?"
"Well… ur, um," she murmurs. He faces seems to brighten slightly. A second letter, it seems like she regains her confidence. "I know it if mostly filled with crap and stupid stuff. There were a few fact that I knew for sure are true and dozens that are pure rubbish. I just wanted to see what the author thought about vampires. The other creatures are interesting also."
I roll my eyes and toss her Vampires, Werewolves, and other Supernaturals. She catches it and shoves it in her bag. I pick up the other and gaze at it. The book seems vaguely familiar and it takes almost all my focus to remember where I've seen it. The memory comes into my mind and I quickly dismiss it.
I walk over and give the brunette the novel. She takes it and mumbles out a 'thank you'. She shoves the book in her bag along with the other. "I have a question for you," she says softly.
I look down at her with a raised brow. "Which is?"
"You were the one that, uh, changed me when I first arrived at the mansion, right?"
I roll my eyes at her. "We already established that I was," I say with a groan. Is she still acting like this because of the panty thing?
"Did… did you see a bottle in my bag?"
"Bottle?"
"Yeah, a p-pill bottle." I shake my head at her, not remembering seeing anything like that when I opened her bag. I saw clothing and other random necessities, I wasn't really looking through it, I was just finding clothes for her to wear.
"Oh, okay then, thanks anyways," she says, looking a little disappointed. Her expression makes me wish that I knew the location of this bottle so I can aid her in any way I could.
"What kind of pills are they?" The question leaves my mouth without a second thought.
She is taken back the question. "Nothing, nothing important." She waves her hands frantically trying to dismiss the question. "If I really need anything, I will ask Reiji."
"You shouldn't trust him, and don't take anything he gives you." My voice comes out colder than I meant it to. She notices and it seems as if she hitched a breath. After moment, she eases up and lets out a sigh and nods in understanding.
The chimes ring out, notifying the students that they should start proceeding to their next class. "Time to go," she says with a faint smile. "I will be back tomorrow, bye." With the wave of her hand, she is out of the room and I listen to her fading footsteps.
I walk over to the piano bench and sit down. I sigh, letting the sound echo off the walls of the room. The room that was filled with the almost unworldly sound of the piano, even though it was almost completely butchered. I uncover the board, revealing the black and white keys once more. The desire to begin a song courses through my veins thicker than my own blood, but I don't dare press a key. Not when he's around.
"Are you going to stand out there forever?" I call out, my voice harsh and annoyed. "Do you have no other way to spend your time then standing out there all period?"
It takes a few seconds for the door to open. In the doorway stand Reiji, his arms crossed loosely across his chest. "For your information, I would much rather clean the stall than listen to that horrid excuse of a piano piece."
My brother is as rotten as ever, and I wish I can throw him out like all the other garbage in my life. "Then why do you find it necessary to stand out there all period? I know it wasn't only today, but Thursday and Friday also."
He walks into the room and slides the door closed behind him. He stays next to the wall and stares at me coldly. "You really think I can just leave you alone with her after Monday? It would be a foolish thing after you almost killed her that day."
My heart stings with guilt, and anger run through my body. I hate the way he can make me feel this anger and we both know I can't do anything about it. Not here, not now, not when the rage is in its rawest stage.
"She was far from dead, we both know that," I spit out, trying to cover my guilt and sadness with a blanket of spite.
"That doesn't justify your reckless behavior."
"Do you really think I was trying to bite her? You and I both know that that was never my intention."
"Which is the real problem. You have yet to inform me of why you were acting so brainless about taking her or Yui's blood. Furthermore, it has been a total of three weeks and you haven't told me why she's here in the first place. We both know that her being a replacement bride if things go poorly is complete bullshit. It will only take minimum brainpower for the others to also figure this out and see straight through this completely obvious lie."
I know the lack of knowledge infatuated him to no end, and that is partly the reason why I don't always reveal the source of my actions. That, and a handful of times I'm not quite sure why I do something I do.
"This is no place to be discussing thing like this," I say, the announce in my voice is for too obvious to ignore. He sends a deadly glare in my direction and turns to leave the room.
"You can stop your little routine of spying on us now," I say to him.
"I have no desire to continue," he counters before slamming the door. He doesn't need to walk away for me to know that he has left. Almost as if it was declaring our argument over, the chimes ring out.
I let out a sigh and get off the bench and walk over to the shelf. I find the piece that I tucked away, hiding it from both the world and Hikari, like if it's discovered it might as well be destroyed.
I place the sheets on the music stand and look at the notes that have been engraved into my mind. I rest my fingers on the key, readying them to play.
But they won't move.
I can play any piece of any genre, but it seems impossible for me to even start this one. I haven't heard it or played it in almost a full year, yet I feel this time could have been different. A completely foolish thought. My fingers stay frozen, like the memory of the girl who used to play the piece to me.
I cover the board, no longer want to even look at the keys that play not only beautiful melodies, but with my heart and memories. I walk over to the couch and lay down. I should sleep before a feeling far stronger than sleepiness tries to take over, one that I long told myself I will shut away.
I raise my hand from the keys, trying to steady my breath. Throughout the piece I felt my anger leave every nerve in my body and was transformed into movement. That movement helped the piano understand my feels of rage and sound out throughout my room. I lean back slightly and close my eyes.
"That's not your usual type, Shuu-sama," a soft voice says from the doorway. I feel the corner of my mouth turn up slightly as her voice travels down to me. It's soft like silk and it its can calm my raging mood in a second.
"I wasn't feeling like my usual self," I reply. I hear her light footsteps make their way towards me. She set on the piano bench next to me, back towards the keys.
I open my eyes and look over to her. Her brown hair that reaches to her lower back is in a braid. The jeweled cherry blossom hairpiece keeps her bangs out of her eyes. Her eyes are the same blue as a clear, blue sky, and she's always as calm as one. She looks up at me, eyes filled with the kindness that I know I don't deserve.
"Why is that?" she ask.
I don't want to tell her that I'm upset with my brothers for taking advantage of her kindness. I don't want to tell he that I saw Laito messing with her in ways she only just recently me touch her in. I don't to tell her that her time here may be ending any day now. I don't want to tell her that I'm truly frighten that I may not be able to protect her if, when, the times comes.
So I don't tell her.
"Nothing really, Reiji just pissed me off earlier," I lie with a shrug. She nods, accepting the lie. The brunette twirls around so we are facing the same direction. She leans over and rests her head on my shoulder. The small contact is enough to send a swarm of warmth and bliss through my body, filling the void space the anger left.
"I'm always here for you, Shuu-sama," she says closing her eyes with a sigh. I know that the statement is nothing more than an unrealistic promise made by someone who doesn't know the full truth of their situation.
Even with this knowledge, I repeat the phrase I also say once she says hers. "And I'm always here for you." A lie that I know could never be accomplished. I will never tell her this, though. I rather she has a happy illusion than a heartbreaking reality.
It is almost if our whole relationship is false, so I tell her the one thing that I know is true. "I love you." The three words I haven't uttered to anyone or anything in years. I place my hand on her head.
"I know," she says, moving her head from my shoulder. She looks up at me with her eyes that I swear are not of this world. I move my hand down to the smooth skin of her cheek. She leans her head into it as if it's a pillow. "I love you, too." She leans over and places her lips on mine.
And for those few seconds, all in the world is right, and there's not a thing I would change.
Okay, that was a lot. I hope you people were able to catch everything I was mentioning and hinting at. If you didn't, well, you better reread, because if you don't, you will really be missing out. I really hope you enjoyed this chapter, because I really liked writing it. I think I was able to capture Shuu's thoughts and emtions well enough while also making him a bit OC'ish (does that make sense?)
I don't think I will be doing Subaru's POV next chapter, but near future people, near future.
Like always, review your thoughts and share