CHAPTER 17: THAT'S HOW THE STORY COMES

Maria was out the door after shooting Kuon a look that she hoped he interpreted as 'don't go anywhere.' She made it just in time to see the faint glow of Kyoko's aura about to disappear from sight as she made haste down the stairs at the far end of the hallway. There was no time for second thoughts or considerations for the people in the other rooms along that hall, so she made sure to project her voice when she called out.

"Kyoko Mogami if you don't want me to curse you where you stand, you will stop right where you are!"

That was at least enough to get her to pause and look behind her. Maria turned the ring on her index finger around so that the gem faced her palm and rubbed her thumb along it. She absolutely hated transportation magic. She hated the sensation of motion sickness she got every time she tried it. It was magic that could not be sustained over long distances—yet, at least; some scientists were working towards making it viable. Some claimed that it got easier the more often it was done, but it took a great deal of focus and energy just to get it to work in the first place. It wasn't her specialty and she only dabbled in it for self-preservation reasons.

Well, desperate times and desperate measures and all that.

She appeared in front of Kyoko, two steps down from where the younger woman stood and braced one hand on the railing before she keeled over from the sudden bout of dizziness. This move worked in her favor as Kyoko immediately reached out both hands to grip her shoulders instead of her initial fear that she'd just continue down the stairs and bowl her over.

"What are you doing?" She looked up at Kyoko in disbelief. "This is your chance to set everything right!"

Kyoko was breathing hard from her mad dash, but she kept her lips pressed together in a thin line and looked around them for potential eavesdroppers.

"What happens if I don't do it?" She kept her voice low and quiet.

"What? Why are you—"

"No! Don't you see?" Kyoko's hands dropped from her shoulders to clutch one at her own chest while the other pointed back towards the room they just left. "I have no right to impose myself anywhere in his life. It doesn't matter who he is, he's still learning how to accept himself after what happened. He's still in pain. This isn't about me anymore! I refuse to interfere any further than I already have. You're the expert here, so tell me what happens if I don't do it!"

Maria just sighed. "I don't know."

"What?"

"I don't know!" She tried her best to both yell and whisper at the same time. "This hasn't exactly happened before. Love magic is imprecise, despite my great-great grandfather's attempts to give it some sort of rhyme and reason. But, I'm guessing that, if you accept the punishment, then things will probably stay just as they are now."

"Good."

"Really?!"

"Yes! Honestly, this is for the best isn't it? I was trying to avoid love in the first place," Kyoko's voice was heavy with the tears that began to fill her eyes. "Now that—Now that I know where it is, it'll just be that much easier to stay away from it."

Maria watched as the silent tears spilled onto her cheeks. No sobs followed them, only the slight shaking of her shoulders. The bright, cheery yellows of her normal aura had taken on a sickly pallor. Climbing up a few steps until they were both closer in height, she wrapped one arm around her.

"Kyoko, sweetheart, why are you doing this to yourself?"

"I'm not crying for myself, if that's what you're worried about."

Maria leaned away to look at her carefully. "Then… for him? Why?"

"Because he deserves to be happy," she lamented, "not have his life ruined by some girl who was bitter over the ending of an unfortunate relationship."

Maria frowned.

"Dear, you are not responsible for anyone else's happiness but your own," she soothed. "I think I get why you feel the way you do, but you don't need to make yourself miserable for the sake of someone else. Ren wouldn't want that and I don't think Kuon would either."

Wiping at her eyes with the back of one hand, Kyoko sniffled. She let the hand drop limply to her hip and leaned against Maria with a weary sigh.

"Do you know what happened the night Ren and I tried to reverse the spell?" she asked, her eyes unfocused as she looked at nothing in particular. "I kissed him. I kissed him and he cried because he knew he was going to lose me. Because I couldn't stop questioning whether or not the spell was responsible for his feelings. The only thing I'm good at is making him miserable. I'd rather be the miserable one and not have to share it."

"Alright," Maria rubbed her hand up and down Kyoko's arm in an attempt to comfort her. "It's alright. You don't have to do this if you don't want to."

Her aura shrunk inward and Kyoko hung her head. She was at her limit and Maria knew it was time to stop forcing her. It would benefit no one except herself and she couldn't be that selfish. Not at Kyoko's expense. Granted, she couldn't get the sight of meeting them after her lecture out of her head. She'd met couples married for decades that didn't have the kind of aural synchronicity she saw between them. It was what drew her attention from across the room, causing her to go over and greet them. She thought it was funny how, as much as she tried to distance herself from the legacy of her great-great grandfather, there was no escaping the genetic predisposition to matchmaking.

"No," Kyoko shook her head, finally voicing her disagreement. "No, you were right before. I need to do this. I've taken the easy way out multiple times because I was afraid. I shouldn't—I can't do it again."

"Well, if you're sure…" Maria hesitated for a moment at the young woman's sudden surge of conviction.

"I'm sure." Kyoko nodded. "I don't know if I'll tell him everything, but he at least deserves to know most of the story. I do have one small request, however."

"What?"

Her smile was wobbly. "Please don't record this."

The recording wasn't actually necessary anyway. Not for her research, at least. She'd invalidated the data she collected on them days ago because of her meddling. The main reason she did any of this was for their sakes (and, perhaps, a little for her own satisfaction). So, she would take what she could get. Maria pulled her closer so she could wrap both arms around her in a tight hug.

"Absolutely."

Kuon was standing near the door when they both returned. The look of surprise on his face told Maria that he didn't believe she would be successful in getting Kyoko to return. She wanted to scoff and shake her head, but it wasn't the time for that.

Explaining that she was only staying for moral support, she left the two of them by the entrance and went to sit in their usual spot at the coffee table. It was, she hoped, a more comfortable setup for Kyoko. She'd given her the freedom to escape again if she wanted to. Besides, nothing would be said if she stayed hovering awkwardly nearby.

Of course, that didn't mean she was not going to eavesdrop.

If she could create sound barriers to keep away prying ears, it stood to reason that she also knew how to be one of those prying ears herself. It worked in a very similar fashion to holding up one's cellphone to find an adequate signal in a deadzone. One had to angle oneself just right and focus on the desired source of sound. Otherwise, the spell would just amplify every sound in the room, thus assaulting the eardrums with a cacophony of noise. The added challenge was that she also wanted to be able to sneak peeks at them.

By the time she'd situated herself just right, she missed out on the first part of their conversation.

"...and he showed up at the shop where I work the day after I did the spell," she heard Kyoko add a humorless laugh. "We didn't get along at first. He was angry about having feelings towards me that he couldn't control and I was mad at myself for making a mistake that caused the exact opposite of what I wanted."

Kuon said nothing and waited for her to continue. Maria watched his aura swirl around him, cycling through every visible shade of blue. Kyoko's own pale yellow stayed tight and protective around her body.

"He gave me a week to figure out how to undo the spell."

"A week? That's it?"

She nodded once. "He was the Head of a coven and he said that his unwarranted obsession with me was too distracting for him to properly do his job."

"Asshole move," Kuon grumbled. "But, please, continue."

Kyoko's voice sounded pained. Maria couldn't imagine how hard it was on her to talk about Ren to… well… himself.

"I thought so too," she continued. "I demanded that he help me and he actually did without question or complaint. But about halfway through the week he... changed his mind."

"He stopped helping you?" Kuon sounded almost insulted on her behalf.

"No, we'd already discovered how to reverse the spell," Kyoko was shaking her head. "We spent so much time around each other that, I guess, he began to think that his feelings weren't superficial or an inconvenience anymore. So, he didn't want to go through with it."

"And you didn't feel the same way," he concluded.

"How could I?" She asked. "We barely knew each other for more than a few days."

Kuon seemed to consider her question for a moment. "So, what happened after that?"

"He asked to wait until the week was over before undoing the spell, if we still wanted to. He swore he'd go along with whatever I decided, but he wanted us both to have a chance to learn why the spell chose us for each other in the first place."

"That… actually makes some sense," he mused aloud. "But I'm guessing you did it anyway."

Kyoko could only nod, her aura had shrunk to the point that it was barely more than a thin outline around her. Even Kuon's began to diminish in size while he mulled over her words in silence.

"I'm afraid to ask if that decision is the reason you've been referring to him in the past tense."

She only nodded again, refusing to look at him while she did so. Maria couldn't help but stare at the two of them, captivated. Kyoko's face had crumpled in on itself, indicating the hard battle she was fighting against shedding any further tears. Kuon was leaning forward with his arms bent towards her, ever so slightly, as if he were preparing to catch her in the event that she keeled over. And he froze like that when Kyoko's restraint finally broke.

He stood there, seeming to weigh the pros and cons in his head before he gave up and pulled Kyoko's shaking form towards him, gently cradling her between his arms. He looked up towards the ceiling and sighed and Maria wondered if he was cursing himself for even encouraging her to tell her story.

She wanted so badly to reassure them both, but knew there was no way she could possibly intervene. So, she watched from a distance as their auras ebbed and flowed around each other. It was something she'd seen before during their previous sessions but, for just a moment, she saw a hint of something she hadn't seen since Kuon was still Ren. The flash was so quick, she almost thought she'd imagined it. Despite their physical closeness, the two colors that surrounded them never really touched. But, for the tiniest instant, they had and—

Yes! It happened again!

Pretty much anyone who has experience with paints, markers, crayons and the like would be able to tell you that mixing blue and yellow together made green. And, conversely, when combining colored light, the end result would be white. In terms of aural coloring, the same additive principal was also applicable for the most part. Except in this case.

When their auras merged, the most stunning shade of violet was produced. It was as if whatever they were together was not greater than the sum of its parts, but something different entirely. She wished she could ask Lory about it; if this was what total compatibility looked like. What she knew of it only existed in the meandering writings she'd read in the journals of her great-great grandfather that were kept in her family's archives.

She remembered turning her nose up at it in her youth. The idea had seemed so completely farfetched. Well, it certainly seemed less so at that moment. The color was so mesmerizing that she couldn't look away, for fear that she'd miss some revelational detail. She summoned a notepad and pen so she could take notes on the intensity of each merging event. Her furious writing was interrupted by the sound of a sharp intake of breath splitting through the quiet in the room.

Kyoko had torn herself away from Kuon and the two of them stood more than an arm's length apart. Both auras had receded significantly, particularly where they stood any likelihood of touching. She'd wrapped her arms tightly around herself while he'd jammed his hands into the pockets of his jeans. Neither of them dared to look at the other.

"I know there's no point in offering any platitudes about your loss," Kuon murmured. "It's not like it'll bring them back."

Maria didn't have to wonder for long whether or not Kyoko would correct his assumption.

"Oh, no." She looked at him then, her eyes wide and palms raised in refutation. "He's still alive. He's just… not the same."

She explained to him an abbreviated version of what Maria told her when they met again on campus. Of course, she conveniently left out the part about having to confess her true feelings to set things right. Maria was curious as to whether would pick up on it or if Kyoko's frazzled state was enough of a distraction.

"So, is there no way to find him and fix that?"

Well, well, someone needed to give that boy a medal for deductive logic. Kyoko made a quiet, affirming sound.

"I know who he is and," her gasping breaths came again and Maria wished she could do more besides silently encouraging her from where she sat. "I've met him. His life now is pretty good. Maybe even better than it was, I'd argue. I don't—I don't want to interfere again. If I'm the only one who has to carry the memory of that time, that's... fine."

"Kyoko you—" He looked as if he changed his mind about what he wanted to say. "You actually had feelings for him too, didn't you? That's why you won't do it."

Maria had to stop herself from standing up and applauding. Kyoko, on the other hand, had been moving closer to the door bit by bit after she pulled herself away from him. By the time Kuon hit her with that question, she was standing in front of the doorknob. Despite their distance, Maria could see his waves of blues reaching out towards her while her yellows retreated as far as they could without disappearing entirely.

"I'm sorry," Kyoko shook her head. "I can't tell you that."

And she was gone.

Maria got up from her seat and approached Kuon, resting a gentle hand on his arm. He looked down at her and frowned. His eyes had none of their usual glitter and looked dull and hollow.

"Why did you force her to tell me that?"

"I didn't," she answered, shaking her head. "She insisted that she see it through to the end."

After patting his arm twice, she made her way over to the door to leave as well. She had every intention of saying nothing further, respecting Kyoko's wish to omit part of her story. However, he'd proven himself, time and again, to be far more perceptive than he let on. So, she couldn't help passing along the smallest clue.

"It was important to her that you knew what happened."

Her accompanying smile was more for herself than it was for him. She wished him a safe journey back home and left him an open invitation to call upon her anytime in the future. He thanked her, but it sounded more reflexive than genuine. Kuon appeared to be deep in thought and the frown on his face had only deepened, creating distinct furrows in his brow. Maria didn't have to see the imaginary gears turning in his head, the pulsing of his aura around him told her everything she needed to know.

By the time she'd descended the stairs and was on her way out of the building, she'd muttered several apologies to both Kyoko and her great-great grandfather.


It took only a day to disassemble her research equipment so that it could be packed up and sent back to her home coven. In that time, she saw neither Kyoko nor Kuon as the former was busy avoiding the coven like the plague and keeping herself busy between work and school. The latter was less busy, as he had no further responsibilities at the coven, so he avoided it as well. She tried to check in on him at his apartment the morning before he was due to leave, but was informed that he had already gone.

Maria couldn't deny that it saddened her a bit, but she had to be content with knowing that she did all she could—though that didn't necessarily mean that she was content at all. Regardless, she wasn't going to mention it to Kyoko. Her purpose for going to the small shop that afternoon was to thank the young woman. She also wanted to offer her endorsement to publish a paper about what she and Ren found about her great-great grandfather's spells. Only if she wanted to, of course. It would be a considerable jump-start to her career upon graduation and it seemed like the least she could do after coercing her into being a lab rat for a month.

She entered the shop to find the person in question counting out candles at the register before placing them in a box she had on the counter beside her. Kyoko looked up, no doubt a generic greeting at the tip of her tongue before she realized who had walked in. Her eyes narrowed and her lips pinched themselves together and Maria couldn't help the nervous laugh that escaped her.

Before she could open her mouth to say anything—she hadn't yet decided if it was going to be an apology or a poor attempt at a joke—someone else came in behind her. Instinctively, she stepped to one side to let them pass.

A candle rolled off the counter and clattered onto the floor, causing her eyes to shift from where they were about to look at the newcomer and focus back on Kyoko. One hand hovered in the air, her fingers still curled in on themselves indicating that the candle on the floor was the one she'd just been holding. The other pressed itself against her mouth and nose while her widened eyes stared over the top. A plethora of golden yellows swirled about her in confusion and shock.

Maria followed her gaze to the land on the person who had entered their midst. He looked tired, with tawny hair askew and dark circles beneath glassy green eyes as if he hadn't slept in at least a day if not more. But the azure that surrounded him was strong and steady .

She heard Kyoko trying to turn the monosyllabic sounds coming out of her into actual words when he beat her to it.

"I came to get my scarf back."


NO ONE:

ABSOLUTELY NO ONE:

ME: HEY, YOU WANNA KNOW WHAT MARIA SEES WHEN SHE LOOKS AT KYOKO AND REN'S AURAS? TOO BAD, YOU'RE GONNA FIND OUT ANYWAY.

Anomalous chapter still in the works and about halfway done! Oh, and Happy Vain Day!

AUTHOR OUT!