Separation - Part Five
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Author's Notes: Well, here's part five. Thanks for stopping by ^_^ Again, not too much, but in the next few chapters, I plan on introducing some new twists. ^_^ I like twists! Dun, dun, dun...! ^_~
Disclaimers: And what about you, Mrs. D? Treating Mr. D all right? ^_^ That's good!
Key is the same as last time...:
"..." Dialogue
'...' Thoughts or stressed words
*...* Annoying little voice
^_^ ^_^ ^_^ ^_^ ^_^ ^_^ ^_^ ^_^ ^_^ ^_^ ^_^ ^_^ ^_^ ^_^ ^_^ ^_^ ^_^
Arabella smiled at the two younger people in front of her and bowed shortly. "Nice to meet you."
Jessie smiled curtly back, not bothering with her. She sighed and leaned in on the leg closer to James unconsciously. Arabella, however, noted it with a smirk. Jessie lightly glared at her.
When the four had been better aquatinted, and the two ordered food for themselves, did they begin any real discussion. Apparently, Leonard was a glass modeler. Jessie tried to imagine this large man to be gentle enough to handle glass, but the image wouldn't come. He was well known in his small town and throughout his country, Arabella said, but when asked where his country was located, he just replied, "Far away." Jessie didn't trust him or his wife.
Jessie and James listened to Leonard's ramblings of how a piece of glass could be molded into a statue. It was amazing how someone could speak of how glass could bend for twenty-nine minutes. Finally, breakfast came, and they were blessed with silence.
Jessie, who had lost her appetite, began to play with her food. She pushed at it lightly, making faces here, and a mountain there. James, although silent, noticed her playing and grew worried. *You seem to be doing a lot of that,* his annoying buddy said. 'What do you mean?' he blinked. *Worrying. Since when do you worry about anyone, especially Jessie?* He pondered his question. Exactly 'when' had he started worried about her? Sure, he worried for her safety everyday. After all, were they not the group of the world's most dangerous criminals? However, he had begun to really worry about her since they got here. It was if she was sick, but there were no symptoms of sickness. She wasn't red with a fever or dizzy. The only thing that was the matter with her was... He sighed. He didn't know, nor did he know if she was ever going to tell him. It hurt him, sometimes, that she kept secrets from him. Particularly when it was hurting her.
Remarkably, the breakfast ended and the two groups went in different ways. Leonard offered to take them to where ever they were going, but they replied that it was in walking distance. He nodded and they split.
A wave of relief washed over James when he sat down on a divan that the hotel management kept in the Lobby. Jessie sat next to him, also obviously in relief. After a while, James asked if she wanted to go out and into the town. She was more than willing to agree. Truth be told, she was beginning to feel like the walls were closing in on her. She closed her eyes when the electric doors opened and a fresh breeze flew through, indicating that winter was upon them.
They walked out of town, and near the edge of the forest, so they might get away from the yelling people and honking horns of cars and pollution. Even though they denied it, they much more have preferred the quietness of the forest.
They stopped when they came to the beginning of the trees and sat against a large oak tree. Although they said nothing to each other, they were both acutely acknowledged with the other's presence. It was as if they were both wearing some sort of magnets that were faced in the right direction all the time. They always seemed to find each other in difficult situations, as well as being drawn to each other when they were close. Jessie, despite her fear of being close to other people, liked it. She hated the fact of being alone, and also hated being close to others, for she was afraid of losing them. James had just somehow been there for her.
When she looked over at him, he was fingering a flower. She smiled. He was always the soft type, preferring to be in a greenhouse or garden than at the usual wrestling matches. Although she herself liked wrestling, and would drag poor James to them on numerous occasions, he would act as if he was enjoying himself. In fact, now that she thought about it, she was always dragging him here, or pushing him in there, but he never asked her to do anything he wanted. True, he had 'asked' if she wanted to go to Flower Show or if they could go to the fountain gardens, but she would always say 'no.' He had never complained about it either. She frowned in thought. Wasn't it only fair that they should switch turns on where they would visit now and then?
When she turned to face him, she soon discovered that he was looking at her. "What?" she blinked. He was wearing a lop-sided grin and shook his head.
"Nothing," was his reply. She smiled back at him uncertainly.
"What?" she asked, trying to get out whatever was in him.
He just continued to smile and shook his head. He twirled the flower in his fingers without any thought towards it and another sudden thought came to her.
"You know, James, I've always wondered why you use a 'rose' for your...personal...trademark?"
He stopped twirling it before she even finished her sentence. Her smile was replaced by a frown at his expression on his face. It was blank, as if he wasn't there, but rather his soul had left its body behind, and forgot to tell it that it was no longer living.
"James?"
He was snapped out of his memory with a sudden jerk. His elbow poked Jessie in the ribs and she let out a startled yelp. James, also surprised, yelled out. Her hand was instantly at her side, rubbing it to get rid of the pain.
"Aw, Jess, I'm sorry. Did I hurt you?"
She stopped rubbing and shook her head, "No. I'm fine. So, why do you carry those roses?"
"Why? Do you think they're stupid?" he snapped.
"No, I just..."
He shook his head and she grew silent. "I'm sorry, it's just a touchy subject for me."
"If it bothers you, you don't have to say anything about it."
He seemed to take that into consideration, because it wasn't for some time before he responded. "No, I guess you should know," he looked at her and gave her another lope-sided grin. "Besides, it's been my 'trademark' for a long time now, huh?" Unaware to her, she blushed and nodded. He reclined against the tree as he began. "I don't really remember how long ago it was, or even how old I was, but my parents had invited some of their friends over. It was a summer day, that I do remember, and they had three kids. Two girls, and an older boy. The boy was two years older than me, and was mean. He would constantly tease me, along with one of his sisters. I don't remember what they did, but I had ran out and into one of our gardens. I had forgotten that there were 'two' sisters, but when I saw the other one, she had a certain...liking to her. When she saw me, she smiled. No one had ever smiled at me unless it was out of politeness, and I was surprised. She had waved me over to sit next to her and she told me that she didn't have any gardens in her house. I told her everything I knew about them, which were about three things. They were pretty, they came in a variety of colors, and we had them in all of our gardens." He smiled and shook his head at his he thought of how pathetic he was. "Then it was time for her to go, but before she did, she had went over to a bush and picked a rose and gave it to me. It was the first gift anyone had ever given to me out of kindness." He was silent after that, as was Jessie.
She sat there and thought about the story he had just shared with her. Even if it was ridiculous, she felt a pang of jealousy spring in her. *How touching. Jealous over a two-year-old.* 'I am not jealous! Besides, who said she was two? James doesn't even remember when it happened.' *That's not the point. The point is, you're jealous of some kid that he hasn't seen in over ten years.* 'And what's so interesting about that?' she murmured. *That you love him so much as to be jealous of a kid.* She was silent at that. Did she love him that much? Of course she loved him, but did had she grown to love him so much that she had past the point of no return?
James was silent as well. *So much as telling her,* his own voice scowled. 'And how could I do that?' *Easy, just say that you...* 'Do you know what she would do to me if I told that? She would easily 'kill' me with no hesitation.' *For some reason, I don't think that she would take it as hard as you think.* 'Oh? And why is that?' *Because, deep down, I think she already knows.* James turned to look at her as if she was dealing with some thoughts of her own. He was tempted to ask her what she was thinking, but thought better of it, just taking pleasure at looking at her. He was surprised to discover that she was chewing on her bottom lip; something she hadn't done in a long time.
He grinned and pointed at her mouth. "You're biting your lip." He remembered the first time he had told her that, and how she had jumped all over him. She had said that she never bit her lip, and that only babies did such stupid things. Overtime, however, whenever he would continue with telling her so, she would immediately un-bite herself and continue on as usual. She finally stopped after a while.
As usual, she stopped and blinked at him. "I was not."
He laughed. "Of course you weren't, Jessie." His gaze looked at her after a few seconds, resting on her silent face. His smile erased from his face as he continued to look at her. She really was beautiful, with the high sun brushing away the shadows that would have been covering it, and her eyes wide. Without realizing it, he was leaning towards her, his face inches from hers.
His lips hovered over hers and she could feel his warm breath lightly fanning her own lips. She could feel her heart beat faster and found it harder to breathe. After what had seemed like eternity, she could feel him hesitate and start to move back. Nevertheless, she had longed for his kiss since the other night. So, before she could talk herself out of it, she wrapped her hands around his necks and pressed her lips to his.
He should have been shocked, he supposed, but the wave of passion that had washed over him dangled in suspension. He snaked his own arms around her as he kissed her back. A shiver of delight rippled through him as he felt one of her hands reach up and pulled lightly on the little hairs on the back of his neck. She sighed against his lips, and he responded with a sigh of his own.
Finally, they pulled apart and before he knew what to do, she curled up against him, leaning her head against his chest and closing her eyes. Unconsciously, he wrapped his arms around her and held her closer to him, savoring her warmth against him.
A breeze blew slightly as a flock of Fearows and Spearows flew over head. They squawked in singing as they sang their song of flight. James rested the side of his head on the top of her hair as he closed his eyes as well. He knew that she was asleep, and a strange new feeling soared through him. It was the feeling of some missing piece to a jigsaw puzzle was placed into its right place for the first time. There were still many more missing pieces, but for now, he was contented to just sit there and relax from the frustration of finding that blasted piece that he had so desperately been looking for. It was found, and there was no way he was going to let it go again.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Author's Notes: What did minna-san think?! Please, please review! ^_^ Thanks!!! If you have any questions or anything, feel free to e-mail me! Fushigi_Rocket@yahoo.com or RyuennoMiko@aol.com ^_^
Thanks again!
~ Marie
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Author's Notes: Well, here's part five. Thanks for stopping by ^_^ Again, not too much, but in the next few chapters, I plan on introducing some new twists. ^_^ I like twists! Dun, dun, dun...! ^_~
Disclaimers: And what about you, Mrs. D? Treating Mr. D all right? ^_^ That's good!
Key is the same as last time...:
"..." Dialogue
'...' Thoughts or stressed words
*...* Annoying little voice
^_^ ^_^ ^_^ ^_^ ^_^ ^_^ ^_^ ^_^ ^_^ ^_^ ^_^ ^_^ ^_^ ^_^ ^_^ ^_^ ^_^
Arabella smiled at the two younger people in front of her and bowed shortly. "Nice to meet you."
Jessie smiled curtly back, not bothering with her. She sighed and leaned in on the leg closer to James unconsciously. Arabella, however, noted it with a smirk. Jessie lightly glared at her.
When the four had been better aquatinted, and the two ordered food for themselves, did they begin any real discussion. Apparently, Leonard was a glass modeler. Jessie tried to imagine this large man to be gentle enough to handle glass, but the image wouldn't come. He was well known in his small town and throughout his country, Arabella said, but when asked where his country was located, he just replied, "Far away." Jessie didn't trust him or his wife.
Jessie and James listened to Leonard's ramblings of how a piece of glass could be molded into a statue. It was amazing how someone could speak of how glass could bend for twenty-nine minutes. Finally, breakfast came, and they were blessed with silence.
Jessie, who had lost her appetite, began to play with her food. She pushed at it lightly, making faces here, and a mountain there. James, although silent, noticed her playing and grew worried. *You seem to be doing a lot of that,* his annoying buddy said. 'What do you mean?' he blinked. *Worrying. Since when do you worry about anyone, especially Jessie?* He pondered his question. Exactly 'when' had he started worried about her? Sure, he worried for her safety everyday. After all, were they not the group of the world's most dangerous criminals? However, he had begun to really worry about her since they got here. It was if she was sick, but there were no symptoms of sickness. She wasn't red with a fever or dizzy. The only thing that was the matter with her was... He sighed. He didn't know, nor did he know if she was ever going to tell him. It hurt him, sometimes, that she kept secrets from him. Particularly when it was hurting her.
Remarkably, the breakfast ended and the two groups went in different ways. Leonard offered to take them to where ever they were going, but they replied that it was in walking distance. He nodded and they split.
A wave of relief washed over James when he sat down on a divan that the hotel management kept in the Lobby. Jessie sat next to him, also obviously in relief. After a while, James asked if she wanted to go out and into the town. She was more than willing to agree. Truth be told, she was beginning to feel like the walls were closing in on her. She closed her eyes when the electric doors opened and a fresh breeze flew through, indicating that winter was upon them.
They walked out of town, and near the edge of the forest, so they might get away from the yelling people and honking horns of cars and pollution. Even though they denied it, they much more have preferred the quietness of the forest.
They stopped when they came to the beginning of the trees and sat against a large oak tree. Although they said nothing to each other, they were both acutely acknowledged with the other's presence. It was as if they were both wearing some sort of magnets that were faced in the right direction all the time. They always seemed to find each other in difficult situations, as well as being drawn to each other when they were close. Jessie, despite her fear of being close to other people, liked it. She hated the fact of being alone, and also hated being close to others, for she was afraid of losing them. James had just somehow been there for her.
When she looked over at him, he was fingering a flower. She smiled. He was always the soft type, preferring to be in a greenhouse or garden than at the usual wrestling matches. Although she herself liked wrestling, and would drag poor James to them on numerous occasions, he would act as if he was enjoying himself. In fact, now that she thought about it, she was always dragging him here, or pushing him in there, but he never asked her to do anything he wanted. True, he had 'asked' if she wanted to go to Flower Show or if they could go to the fountain gardens, but she would always say 'no.' He had never complained about it either. She frowned in thought. Wasn't it only fair that they should switch turns on where they would visit now and then?
When she turned to face him, she soon discovered that he was looking at her. "What?" she blinked. He was wearing a lop-sided grin and shook his head.
"Nothing," was his reply. She smiled back at him uncertainly.
"What?" she asked, trying to get out whatever was in him.
He just continued to smile and shook his head. He twirled the flower in his fingers without any thought towards it and another sudden thought came to her.
"You know, James, I've always wondered why you use a 'rose' for your...personal...trademark?"
He stopped twirling it before she even finished her sentence. Her smile was replaced by a frown at his expression on his face. It was blank, as if he wasn't there, but rather his soul had left its body behind, and forgot to tell it that it was no longer living.
"James?"
He was snapped out of his memory with a sudden jerk. His elbow poked Jessie in the ribs and she let out a startled yelp. James, also surprised, yelled out. Her hand was instantly at her side, rubbing it to get rid of the pain.
"Aw, Jess, I'm sorry. Did I hurt you?"
She stopped rubbing and shook her head, "No. I'm fine. So, why do you carry those roses?"
"Why? Do you think they're stupid?" he snapped.
"No, I just..."
He shook his head and she grew silent. "I'm sorry, it's just a touchy subject for me."
"If it bothers you, you don't have to say anything about it."
He seemed to take that into consideration, because it wasn't for some time before he responded. "No, I guess you should know," he looked at her and gave her another lope-sided grin. "Besides, it's been my 'trademark' for a long time now, huh?" Unaware to her, she blushed and nodded. He reclined against the tree as he began. "I don't really remember how long ago it was, or even how old I was, but my parents had invited some of their friends over. It was a summer day, that I do remember, and they had three kids. Two girls, and an older boy. The boy was two years older than me, and was mean. He would constantly tease me, along with one of his sisters. I don't remember what they did, but I had ran out and into one of our gardens. I had forgotten that there were 'two' sisters, but when I saw the other one, she had a certain...liking to her. When she saw me, she smiled. No one had ever smiled at me unless it was out of politeness, and I was surprised. She had waved me over to sit next to her and she told me that she didn't have any gardens in her house. I told her everything I knew about them, which were about three things. They were pretty, they came in a variety of colors, and we had them in all of our gardens." He smiled and shook his head at his he thought of how pathetic he was. "Then it was time for her to go, but before she did, she had went over to a bush and picked a rose and gave it to me. It was the first gift anyone had ever given to me out of kindness." He was silent after that, as was Jessie.
She sat there and thought about the story he had just shared with her. Even if it was ridiculous, she felt a pang of jealousy spring in her. *How touching. Jealous over a two-year-old.* 'I am not jealous! Besides, who said she was two? James doesn't even remember when it happened.' *That's not the point. The point is, you're jealous of some kid that he hasn't seen in over ten years.* 'And what's so interesting about that?' she murmured. *That you love him so much as to be jealous of a kid.* She was silent at that. Did she love him that much? Of course she loved him, but did had she grown to love him so much that she had past the point of no return?
James was silent as well. *So much as telling her,* his own voice scowled. 'And how could I do that?' *Easy, just say that you...* 'Do you know what she would do to me if I told that? She would easily 'kill' me with no hesitation.' *For some reason, I don't think that she would take it as hard as you think.* 'Oh? And why is that?' *Because, deep down, I think she already knows.* James turned to look at her as if she was dealing with some thoughts of her own. He was tempted to ask her what she was thinking, but thought better of it, just taking pleasure at looking at her. He was surprised to discover that she was chewing on her bottom lip; something she hadn't done in a long time.
He grinned and pointed at her mouth. "You're biting your lip." He remembered the first time he had told her that, and how she had jumped all over him. She had said that she never bit her lip, and that only babies did such stupid things. Overtime, however, whenever he would continue with telling her so, she would immediately un-bite herself and continue on as usual. She finally stopped after a while.
As usual, she stopped and blinked at him. "I was not."
He laughed. "Of course you weren't, Jessie." His gaze looked at her after a few seconds, resting on her silent face. His smile erased from his face as he continued to look at her. She really was beautiful, with the high sun brushing away the shadows that would have been covering it, and her eyes wide. Without realizing it, he was leaning towards her, his face inches from hers.
His lips hovered over hers and she could feel his warm breath lightly fanning her own lips. She could feel her heart beat faster and found it harder to breathe. After what had seemed like eternity, she could feel him hesitate and start to move back. Nevertheless, she had longed for his kiss since the other night. So, before she could talk herself out of it, she wrapped her hands around his necks and pressed her lips to his.
He should have been shocked, he supposed, but the wave of passion that had washed over him dangled in suspension. He snaked his own arms around her as he kissed her back. A shiver of delight rippled through him as he felt one of her hands reach up and pulled lightly on the little hairs on the back of his neck. She sighed against his lips, and he responded with a sigh of his own.
Finally, they pulled apart and before he knew what to do, she curled up against him, leaning her head against his chest and closing her eyes. Unconsciously, he wrapped his arms around her and held her closer to him, savoring her warmth against him.
A breeze blew slightly as a flock of Fearows and Spearows flew over head. They squawked in singing as they sang their song of flight. James rested the side of his head on the top of her hair as he closed his eyes as well. He knew that she was asleep, and a strange new feeling soared through him. It was the feeling of some missing piece to a jigsaw puzzle was placed into its right place for the first time. There were still many more missing pieces, but for now, he was contented to just sit there and relax from the frustration of finding that blasted piece that he had so desperately been looking for. It was found, and there was no way he was going to let it go again.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Author's Notes: What did minna-san think?! Please, please review! ^_^ Thanks!!! If you have any questions or anything, feel free to e-mail me! Fushigi_Rocket@yahoo.com or RyuennoMiko@aol.com ^_^
Thanks again!
~ Marie