Author's Notes: See chapter one for disclaimer and explanation.
IMPORTANT NOTE: It seems I have at least one gutter-minded reader (gee, big surprise -_-). Recently, someone (I won't give their name…they know who they are) reviewed saying that they were confused why I'd name a story after certain parts of the male and female anatomy, then rate it PG13. The thing is, that's a mistake. Okay, no big deal, I can see where the misunderstanding would be, so I emailed back and politely explained that that is not what "Chestnuts and Cherries" means, and that the title is the English meanings of the names of this fic's two main characters ("le marron" and "la cerise" are French for "chestnut" and "cherry", respectively—I named the girl after a food like many of the SH characters, and I thought "Cerise" would be pretty). Now, I wouldn't be pissed-off like I am if the person hadn't had the stones to email me back saying that the title still meant sexual organs, whether I meant it to or not, as if the author's intentions mean nothing. Excuse me, but I thought the meaning of a title, as well as the rest of a story, were all what the author intended, not the interpretation of some oversexed nitwit who can't get their head out of the toilet. Come on, people, let's inject some intelligence into our thought processes, ne? If I just offended the person in question, I'm glad. I was certainly very offended by their bullheaded assertion that they knew best, and what I intended is moot.
On a happier note: I'm sorry if my explanation of Western Magic wasn't up to par in the last chapter! ^_^;; Call it a "what if?" story if you'd like, because my explanation was purely to fit the idea behind this fic. I really don't think it fits with what Omishi-sama and Akahori-sama created at all. ^_^;; Gomen nasai! *bow*
Chestnuts and Cherries By Annie-chan Chapter Three: A Proper IntroductionIt had been about a week since the second (very brief) meeting with the Western Magic girl. Marron had been going about his daily business normally, but he sometimes found his thoughts lingering on her. Who was she? What kind of person was she? What was she like? Did she have any family? Did she have any pets? Was she dedicated to her craft, or one of the more laid-back ones? Was she—
Marron shook his head. He was doing it again. All questions, and not one shred of an answer. It didn't disrupt his activities, but it gnawed on the edge of his awareness like the buzz of fruit flies. Sooner or later, he imagined, he'd have to either satisfy his curiosity, or find some way to erase it altogether.
He was currently wandering the town of Umbar, people-watching. They had finished a mission just this morning, and were going to head back to Eden tomorrow. Marron found himself in an open market, and decided to window shop for a while. He didn't have any intention to buy anything, but something may catch his fancy. He had nothing else to do at the moment, anyway.
He was just passing through an area of the market were fruit sellers apparently congregated, when he turned the corner in the road and promptly ran into someone running the other direction. Marron reeled back a step, and the other person fell down to the ground.
"Oh, I'm sorry!" they both said at once. Marron extended his hand to help the person up, and felt his whole body go numb for a split second when he got a good look at them. "You…"
The person, a girl, looked up at his voice, and froze for a second. It was that same girl, only this time, she was in Parsoner clothes. Her hair was held back in barrettes, and she hadn't the morbid, gloomy look she had had when he first saw her over a month ago. She looked more…normal.
"Uh…" Marron floundered, kneeling down in front of her and extending his hand again.
The girl jumped up, as if afraid to have him touch her. To Marron's dismay, she ran, much like she did a week ago. He set his jaw and mentally growled. I'm not letting you get away from me this time! He surged to his feet, running after her at full speed. He was a fast runner, due to his height and the shape his body was in, and he saw he was closing the space between them slowly but surely.
Then ran out of the small town toward the tree line. He was close enough to touch her, and he reached out and grabbed her wrist, attempting to stop her without using force. She squealed and tried to shake him off, but lost her footing and stumbled down to the ground, bringing him down on top of her. She immediately tried to throw him off, but he got a hold of her other wrist and pinned her down.
"Wait!" he said as she tried to squirm away. "Please, I just want to ask you a few questions!" She stilled and looked at him, giving him the odd impression she was somehow evaluating him. "Just promise me you won't run again, and I'll let you up," he said, gentler this time.
She closed her eyes and sighed, as if thinking it through. Finally, after a short hesitation, she nodded, and he loosened his grip and sat up, letting her up as well. She pushed herself into a sitting position, dusted herself off and waited for him to speak again. He could tell she was very nervous, and he again wondered why he seemed to have that affect on her.
"First, tell me your name," Marron said. "If it makes you feel better, I'll give you mine first. I'm Marron Glace."
After another short hesitation, she gave hers. "My name is Cerise Gateau."
"Cerise…" he repeated, smiling. "That's a pretty name." He wanted her to feel comfortable, as she most certainly was not at the moment, so he tried to be as friendly as possible. He was relieved to see a small smile flit across her face. Perhaps she wasn't as intimidated by him as he feared. He suddenly realized what she said. "Gateau? I have a friend with that name! It's his first name, though. He and I go back several years."
"Are you close?" she asked quietly.
"I guess," he shrugged. "We work together, so we're in close proximity a lot. He's a very friendly person, but he can get a little overbearing at times." He figured he shouldn't mention just in what way he got overbearing. This girl may not tolerate people with Gateau's romantic preferences, and there was no need to mention them unless the two were going to meet. It didn't really matter who Gateau was attracted to at this point, anyway.
"I see," Cerise said, absentmindedly fiddling with a gold band fitted snugly over her forearm, hidden from his view the first few times he had seen her by her cloak and long sleeves. He noticed the intricate carving on it, and recognized it as the engagement band many Sorcerers in this region were in the habit of giving to their fiancées upon the decision to marry. Some Sorcerers and Sorceresses didn't like them, as they resembled slave armlets, but the Sorcerers who made or bought them to give to their future wives argued that no slave armlet would ever be so elaborately decorated. After all, they said, another way of indicating a slave was a collar, and that didn't stop ladies from wearing choker necklaces, now did it?
"I see you're engaged," Marron said, trying to sound amicable. "Is the wedding soon?" He was a little surprised to find an engagement band on the arm of a Parsoner girl, as marriage between Sorcerers and Parsoners was a bit of a rarity. Then again, this girl was no ordinary Parsoner…
"Oh," she said, looking down at it, tracing one of the carved lines. "I don't know. We haven't set a date yet. I think my fiancé would like to get the plans in motion, though. Do you know of him? He's Viande Mariné, the only son of a powerful Sorcerer in this area. He's going to be quite talented himself, once he fleshes out his powers a little more." As she spoke, she looked up at him and smiled, but he saw a glimmer of sadness deep in her eyes. He opted not to mention it. He didn't want to upset her.
"Yes, I know of the Mariné family," he nodded. "I hear they generally don't like Parsoners at all, but they aren't nearly as cruel as some other Sorcerer families." He didn't sound bitter or resentful, only thoughtful.
Silence fell, and they both seemed to be looking for something to say next when she spoke up. "I suppose you want to know why I keep running from you," she said softly. She had averted her eyes from him again.
Marron rubbed the back of his neck a little self-consciously. "Well…yes, I do. I frighten you, don't I? And, I have no idea why. I was hoping you could tell me."
Cerise sighed deeply, as if depressed. He felt his eyebrows draw together in worry as she began.
"I don't want to be engaged to Viande," she started, speaking softly but clearly. "We were engaged since before I was born. Viande's father was told by a fortuneteller that the child that would be born to my parents would have an ability for strong magic, despite the fact that I would be a Parsoner, and that if they married me to their then-three-year-old son, our children would have the potential to be some of the most powerful in the world, even if I remained untrained. So, Lord Mariné approached my parents and basically ordered them to promise my hand in marriage to his son. He is the master of the region, so they couldn't say no without endangering their lives or risking me being kidnapped. Lord Mariné had the good graces to make sure we weren't strangers, and Viande and I became good friends from playing together often, and he has since fallen in love with me, but I still only see him as a friend. He is a very nice man, much nicer than his father and many others in his family that I've met. But, I have never come to love him, though I am thankful I at least like him if he's to be my husband. I'd much rather go free and marry whomever I choose instead of being bound from before birth by a greedy lord's ambitions for his son to "marry well", but I've resigned myself to my fate, and I'm determined to make the best of it and be as happy as I can…" She trailed off, and began fingering the band around her arm again, tracing and retracing the delicate design etched into the gold.
"Well," Marron began, "I'm glad you've come to accept this, but that doesn't tell me anything about why you seem so scared of me."
"I'm not afraid of you," Cerise answered, even quieter than before. "I'm afraid to be with you."
"What…?" Marron asked, confused. His eyebrows furrowed again. "What do you mean?"
"Well…" she said, still not looking at him. "You know I'm a practitioner of Western Magic, right…?"
Marron nodded.
"Well, you know more than Viande," Cerise explained. "His father didn't want a Parsoner in his land to be skilled in magic, so he forbade me to develop my potential any. But, my parents managed to get me accepted as a pupil by the Western Magic users when I was five, and I've been learning in secret. Neither Viande nor his father know about it. I can't tell you how I've hid it, for our vow of silence about our society includes our methods of secrecy. But, all that is beside the point. The point is, I have completed the fifteen years it takes to master the basics—which are much more extensive than "basic" implies—and it is time for me to choose an area to specialize in. Since about a year ago, I have been visiting masters of different fields to see what most interests me. About seven months ago, I went to a master seer, and as part of my little job-shadow, she did a reading on me. The reading dismayed her and scared me. She said I would never come to love Viande, but if I never met the man I was destined to love, I could at least be happy with him. If I did meet that man, though…I would never rid myself of my longing to escape my fate to marry Viande and be with the one I truly loved. I would be miserable for the rest of my life as the wife of a man I didn't love." She bit her lower lip and squeezed her eyes shut. "When I asked her who I was destined to love, the man she showed me an image of was…" she took a deep breath, "…you, Marron Glace."
Marron felt his eyes widen and his eyebrows arch downward. He had never been clear on whether he believed in predestined love or not, but Cerise obviously did. And, if they really were destined to love each other, Cerise was certainly up a creek. So, that's why she had wanted to avoid him at all costs, and he had chased her down and forced her to face him.
"I'm sorry…" he murmured, ashamed. "You tried to avoid me altogether, and all I did was force you into meeting me properly. It's my fault—"
"No," she interrupted. "My happiness wasn't determined over whether you and I met properly, but whether we met at all. It was too late the moment we laid eyes on each other in the woods a few weeks ago. I heard clearly the sound of you confronting that Sorcerer, but something drew me toward you, the thought to avoid possible danger not entering my mind at all. It wasn't until I saw you that I knew what. I felt joy at seeing you, my destined love, but I also felt sadness and something akin to panic. I knew that I would be unhappy in marrying Viande, because I had met you. The second time we met, it was as if outside forces were pulling us together, further driving the nail home, and I fled in a panic. Same with a little while ago. I saw you, and could only think of running."
"I see," Marron said softly. The concept of them being fated to love each other was still hard to believe, but with every word she said, it got more and more real-seeming. He was becoming more and more convinced that something terrible would come of this. Not only would Cerise be miserable married to Viande instead of free to love Marron, but if Viande found out, he would most likely be very jealous. Marron didn't like stereotypes, but he knew that Sorcerers seemed to be much more possessive of their mates, Sorcerer or Parsoner, than the Parsoners. It didn't matter how nice this Viande was; his jealousy could be deadly.
A hand on his shoulder startled him out of his thoughts. He looked up to see Cerise looking at him, her eyes intense.
"Please," she said, "please, help me out of this. I was determined to be happy with Viande, but it's far too late, now that I've met you. I want to be free of this engagement. I want to be free to love the man I choose, free to love you." Her eyes started to glisten, as if she was holding back tears. "I'll do anything to be with you! Anything at all! Just tell me what to do, and I'll do it!" Her words had become shaky, and the way she clutched the fabric over his shoulder was desperate.
Marron stared back at her, a little startled by her sudden plea to him. It was painfully obvious that she loved him, despite being with him for a total less than even an hour, but he himself felt only confusion. He opened his mouth to say he knew not what, and felt a surprised jolt shiver through him when she suddenly leaned forward and touched her lips to his.
The kiss was gentle, soft, but determined. He sat there a moment, stunned at her action, his eyes wide, an unfamiliar but not wholly unwelcome emotion beginning to make itself known within him. He found himself kissing back, only a little more forceful than her tender caress, and when it hit him, he almost pulled back in complete shock. That master seer was right. They were destined to love one another, and oh, what a sweet feeling it was.
Their lips lingered together for a few moments, then separated, both of them panting lightly. It was then that he knew. There was no way…no way in Hell he would let another man have her. He would fight to the death to keep her from marrying a man she didn't love, and he was willing to pull out all the stops, even cheat, to keep her. It was funny…mere minutes ago, he had not been sure if he believed in love at first sight, and now, it had grabbed hold of him and had him in a grip so strong he knew it would never let him go.
"All right," he whispered, almost purring. He reached up and gently petted her cheek. "I will help you."
To be continued…Author's Notes: Well, this is a little late, but I'm done with chapter three. I hope you all realize this is most definitely not a Mary Sue. I love Marron, but I absolutely loathe self-inclusions (unless it's a parody with the author having fun at the poor characters' expense), and I wouldn't be caught dead writing one. Cerise is nothing like me, save that we're both girls, and we both can have rather sullen episodes. However, that hardly indicates me, as I'm sure there are tons of doom-and-gloom girls out there like me. ^_^;; Anyway, now that you know that, I hope you like this new chapter! Let me know what you think in a review or at mangareader@hotmail.com, onegai shimasu! And, if you want to flame me for bashing that person in the author's notes before the chapter (I admit I was rather mean there), you needn't bother. In fact, if you want to, you should go right ahead. I certainly don't appreciate flames, but if I intentionally do something that might get me some, I've got enough spine to face up to the consequences. Just keep in mind that all flames will be dutifully ignored.
