Disclaimer: Yoko Matsushita owns all of the characters in this story unless otherwise stated. For example, Rina Ito is mine. Allllllll~ mine!
Warnings: This is an AU, meaning, that I can do almost whatever I want with these guys and its okay! Also, the rating may go up later, but I'll make sure to change the rating when that happens. Also, there's going to be shounen AND shoujo-ai. Consider this
a fair warning.
Parings: A little TsuxSoka and a Maria/Rina. More to come.
POV will always be first person in when it's Tsuzuki, and only him.
Note: Thoughts= '....' Memories= //...//
................................................................................................................................................
My World of Strawberries and Cream
Wondering if I am Lost Now
// "What are you doing out here Rina?" Maria ran to her friend who stood in a stupor, eyes raised to the dark clouds above her. Her school uniform hung heavily about her small toned body. The rain made her usual dark hair, become void of any other color. Maria, reaching her friend who was absorbed into her own world, moved her umbrella over so it covered Rina too.
"Really, Rina," Maria knew she sounded like a scolding parent, but continued anyways, "you can't just stand out here in the rain like that, you'll get sick!" The aforementioned friend's head lulled to its side, her eyes had that odd distant look that Maria had come to recognize. Rina had lovely eyes, or that's what Maria always thought.
Maria was Chinese born, but when she was only a little girl; her mother had sent her to Japan to live with her aunt, who had moved to Nagasaki some years ago. There was a prestigious all girls' music school in Nagasaki, and Maria, as her mother had often remarked, showed promise ever since she was little with the art of song. Many in her home town said that she could make the goddesses jealous with her beautiful voice that rang like pure bells in the ears of all who heard her. Once in the Japanese school, however, Maria received nothing but the worst bulling. Often she would return home from her classes with claw marks on her face, bruises on her knees, and tears in her eyes. The other students were jealous, she knew, she had out shined everyone there. Scholarships where offered for secondary education, and many people had high hopes that, with her voice, and natural beauty, she would become the next big international idol, a star. It took all she had to go to that school, that hell, everyday, and, as such, her nights were filled with sobs and tears into a pillow as her heart broke from inside her shell of a body.
One day, at the beginning of class, Maria looked up from her view out of the window, pulled from her daydream of cherry blossoms, as she heard the teacher announce a new student; Ito, Rina. She was pretty, but just a notch above common. Her eyes said she wasn't paying much attention, as her gaze lazily rolled over the class, over Maria, and then, out the window, as her eyes seemed to be pulled longingly at the pink, full blossomed trees that lay just outside of the glassy view.
That girl, Rina, was assigned the empty seat next to Maria, as there were many empty seats next to the girl who was being hazed by her classmates. Rina was given warm smiles by most in the class, and Maria, who saw no reason to be nice to her soon to be enemy, just turned her gaze back out her window. She had been so lost in her own world, in the effort to escape the here and now; she didn't feel the gentle prodding of a pencil. It wasn't until she saw something fly an inch in front of her nose, gently tapping the glass, that she noticed the new girl's irritated side stares and the tiny folded piece of white paper that had flicked back from the window to lie in the center of her notebook.
'That didn't take long,' were her cold, agitated thoughts as she glared back at the girl next to her. 'She just got here, and already she's deciding to try and pick on me like everyone else? What? Is there a –bully me please! - sign on me and I don't know it??' Slowly, Maria picked up the white note, and she silently locked gazes with the dark eyed girl next to her. Then, Maria gingerly ripped the note into small pieces, an unspoken challenge in her eyes as she glared at the new girl, who just glared right back.
After school that day, Maria went down to get her bike from where it was chained to the bike rail under the school overhang. There waiting for her, were the three girls that came off as the ring leaders in her hazing. She kept her face high; her eye's indifferent, just as she always had. Even when they pushed her down, even when they clawed at her face, and kicked her abdomen, even then, she kept her cries buried deep in her throat; her tears staved clear of her eyes. There was only one thing different now, then there ever had been before; someone was watching. It was her new enemy; Rina Ito.
'Of course, it would figure. Look, take a good long look! I want you to see; see what I've shown them all a million times now. I want you to see my eyes, see my face. I will not shed tears, not in front of any of you. You can do whatever you want, but I will not break for any of you!' Resentment bit at her brow as she glared unyielding at the new student, who only looked mildly shocked at what she saw before her. Then, as if nothing was happing in front of her, she turned around and went to undo her own bike. Maria couldn't keep the chuckle from her throat. Yes, she would show them all just how tough she was, because, in the end, she was destined for more then they could ever dream. That was what she told herself over and over again. That she was more then these pathetic girls, she was born to be great, she was not born to be cursed to live in pain! Maria's eyes pressed tightly closed, trying to seal the deepest part of herself away from the world she lived in, from her hell, from her life.
Suddenly, there was a crushing sound as steel met bone. Maria looked up, shocked to find out it wasn't her bones that had received the harsh assault. Yoko, one of the girls who had been attacking her, held her face tightly as blood poured out from her nose, dripping crimson through her clasped fingers. The other two girls backed away, sweat and alarm on their faces. Maria followed their gaze to find Rina, her face, a facade of annoyance, and a bloodied bicycle chain that was wrapped tightly around her fist.
"You BITCH!" Yoko somehow managed between coughs of blood that had dripped down to her throat.
"You low classed rat! That's a dirty trick!!" The other two lackeys stepped up, though they were very wary of Rina, who held a weapon in her hand. Rina's mask never shifted, her gaze still locked onto Yoko, ignoring the other two bullies as if they never even existed. Yoko stepped back as Rina took a slow, firm step forward.
"What do you think you're doing?! Are you crazy?" Yoko's words cracked as her voice rose desperately. "Are you looking for a fight?!" Rina tipped her head slightly to the side, letting the chain drop to hang freely; a menacing stare, one that looked as though no sane person could wear it, claimed her face.
"Do you want to?" The words held a simple question, a longing one, one with no false pretense of threat that played behind them. It wasn't needed, it was a guarantee. The three bullies shifted around Rina, keeping their distance safely out of reach of the metal that hung freely from the dark eyed girl's hand. Once they were switched around, the three girls snatched the first chance they saw and dashed away to safety, leaving the crazed new student and Maria, who was battered and bruised. Threats of parents in high places, and promises of expulsion came from the trio of fleeing girls.
Maria turned her gaze up from them, after they disappeared around the corner of the building, and her eyes found Rina's own, staring down at her. No words were offered, as Rina turned away, and headed back to her bike, the reason she had come back to this spot in the first place.
"H-HOLD IT!" Maria used all of her will as she shifted her weight to her feet, and slowly stood up, a hand clutching her tattered arm. "I didn't ask for help." Maria kept her tone full of false pride, her face, though as damaged as it was, shone through with her fake arrogance. Rina turned with her bike, and looked insipidly at Maria.
"I never asked if you did." Was the clipped reply from the dark haired girl.
"I WILL NOT be in your debt! I never asked for help, so I owe you nothing." It was the first time Maria had seen that distant look that she later grew to identify as a sign of Rina's uncanny ability to know more then she should ever been able to. It didn't scare her, though; it defiantly made her hairs stand on end whenever she saw it.
"You," her hands released her bike; it collapsed down onto the earth. "If you're so concerned that you'll owe me," Dark distant eyes stared hard into cold hazel ones. "Then don't you think you should buy me a juice?"
"J- Juice?" Maria's mind blanked as it suddenly found a simple request so hard to grasp.
"I want juice." Rina had brought her face an inch away from Maria's own, her expression showed nothing but adamant seriousness at the small demand she had issued. "If you buy me a juice, then there's no way you owe me anything, right?"
"What?" Rina ran back to her bike, and lifted it off the ground, dusting the seat off lightly. She then hopped up onto it, and rode it over to Maria, standing up on the pedals, and offering the seat to the other girl.
"We'll forget ever meeting today, if you buy me a juice, okay?" The words were warmed by the dark haired girl's kind, radiating smile, one that made Maria feel something other then the bitter and cold emptiness she had felt for the past few years. It was odd, like her heart began to beat, slowly, as though it had stopped some time ago, and she hadn't noticed until this moment.
"I…"
"If you don't, then I'm going to have to remember meeting you today. Though, I wonder, would that be such a bad thing?" There was a time tested patients that the girl exuded, as if she was used to things going her way, given enough time
Maria's head bent down as she felt a small smile touch her lips. She was trying to be her friend, wasn't she? She had saved her from the cruelties of her peers, and now, here she stood, a hand reached out to her, a placid smile, a calm aura that swelled around the entirety of her being. Maria couldn't help but to be swept up in its soothing power, feeling the walls in her heart, which had withstood under the most sever beatings, shake and crumble under that warm smile, and a that kind voice, one which only promised more comfort if accepted. Maria's frame shook, and trembled as she pressed her hands feverishly to her eyes. She crumpled down, her legs becoming useless under her weight. Sobs wracked her body and tears that had been kept inside, streamed down her scratched face. She couldn't tell if she was happy or sad, only that she finally realized just how lonely she was, only now that there was someone who was offering to take away the pain she didn't even realize she had.
Maria gave a start when she felt someone's warm embrace around her, a soothing hand rubbing gently over her bruised back. No soft words came from Rina though, and her eyes remained closed. Words would only be false comfort; eyes would remember the broken look of Maria's face. Nothing false was offered, but a sincere warmth was conveyed in the lightest of touches. Somehow, more tears welled up behind her long lashes, and Maria pressed deeply into the kind embrace, desiring nothing more then to melt into the warmth that was given freely there. It wasn't for a long time, that she was able to stop shaking, able to pull herself away from the hug of her new friend. She hesitantly looked up at Rina, only to see what she saw before, a smile that was free of pity or judgment. Rina gave out her hand again and Maria took it, letting it support her as she rose slowly to her feet. Her eyes, that were always so beautiful, were red rimmed and puffy. Her face was cut and dirty, her body battered. Rina helped her onto the back of her bike, making sure that Maria's body wouldn't give out again. After the other girl was secure, Rina stood up on the pedals, pumping them up and down with her legs, pushing the bicycle out of the school grounds. Wrapping her hands onto the other girl's hips for balance, Maria let her eyes take in the sun as it slowly started to set in the distance over the city. The cool wind blew on her face, making her smile as it soothingly kissed her red, burning eyes.
Somehow, despite how painful it had been, this was the happiest day of her life. The sound of Rina's bike tires as they pressed to meet the pavement, and Rina's strong, silent smile as she used her strength to take them away from the school, away from the hell that bloomed with sakura trees, it all only promised that there would be more days to come, more days that would top this one. This was a moment that she wanted to remember, and as long as she had this girl's kind smile, she felt she could remember it too.
"Hey, wait a minute," Maria whispered as a thought pressed into her mind. "You used a chain on that other girl. They'll kick you out of school for that!" Rina only turned her head slightly, a pink tongue pushing past her lips.
"Hehe, it's not like I care! This school was just a convenient way for my parents to send me away." The tone was mocking, and if there was any pain in the words, Maria couldn't hear it.
"Oh, I'm sorry…" Family always tended to be a touchy subject with most people, especially with someone who was having problems with their own.
"Don't be, I'm not. However, I wasn't kidding before…" Her tone became stoic, her face slack.
"What?" Maria craned around so she could try and decipher Rina's facade. Rina brought the bike to a stop, giving her full attention to the nervous girl. She stared long and hard at Maria, her eyes portraying a variety of emotions. Maria gulped slightly, fidgeting under the stare.
Rina finally exclaimed, in a commanding voice, "I want juice." After blinking several times, her hand flew to her mouth. It was all Maria could do to keep her poor hurt body from bursting at the seams in a fit of laughter then.
It had been almost two years since that fateful day, the day they first met. Since then, a strong bond of friendship and love had tied the two girls together. In the time that had followed their meeting, Maria had become recognized as a gifted singer, even though she was still one year to graduate from high school. Many things had happened since that time so long ago, and much had changed. Maria's mind was brought out of thoughts of the past by an arm that snaked through her own. She followed it up to the soaked girl who owned it. Her smile was just as warm, if not warmer then when they had first met, because now, kindness was replaced with fondness, and the calm aura that had enveloped her, and made way to also include room for a pure love, it made her glow. Maria knew that her looks made her attractive in the eyes of many people, yet, the girl she was walking next to, in her eyes, was the most beautiful person in the world, and no one but Maria could see that. Before she knew what she was doing, Maria had lent down and kissed Rina softly on the cheek.
"Maria!" The small, red faced girl looked up into hazel eyes, shock coving her expression. "What if someone sees??" Rina hissed embarrassed under her breath as her eyes took in the street around them. What few people there were who were out in the rain where huddled under umbrellas, and they had their heads turned to the ground, careful of the water that puddle and pooled there. Maria's warm eyes smiled at the flushed girl before her.
"They just can't see what's in front of them is all." Her voice was calm as she wrapped her free arm around the girl who she had come to love more then anyone she'd ever known.
"Maria…" The dark haired girl had her eyes turned down to the ground; her voice wavered with what almost seemed like a light fear.
"Maria, don't become a singer."
"What?" Maria turned to face the dark eyed girl, who looked as though she was staring death in the face. "Rina, why…? You, you always supported me in singing, right?" Black wet matted down hair whipped back and forth as Rina furiously shock her head. Maria reached out a hand to touch the erratic girl's shoulder, but Rina jumped back, away from the touch, and out from under the umbrella they had shared. Tiny hands pressed into her head, as again she whipped her head side to side, as she dropped to sit on the balls of her heels. Rocking back and forth, she kept shaking her head, as though a demon had found its way into her mind, and was driving her crazy.
"Rina?!"
"Don't go Maria, don't go, please!!" Distant eyes stared down at the earth, fear clouding them. Maria could only stare in morbid fascination at her love's odd behavior. She knew Rina to have dazed spells, but never had they made her do this before! Suddenly the jerked movements stopped, as the raven haired girl tipped, falling down to the muddied ground.
"RINA!!" The umbrella fell to the ground, as arms infolded, lifting up the collapsed body. "Rina…?" Soft hands pushed matted hair away from the closed eyes of the one she tenderly held in her arms. Rocking the collapsed girl, Maria hummed a comforting tune to her dear friend.
'Rina… What do you mean?' Maria's hazel eyes scanned the face before her, hoping to gain any sort of clue as to what made the poor girl faint. However, despite how good Rina was at such things, Maria could not discern what it was that had seemed to take over the other girl.
"You must know I'd never leave you… Right?"//
The black eyed demon placed up a hand to block its face as a powerful red energy burst from the boy's body. Its face was saved, but the arm that received the majority of the onslaught of the assault, had already begun to blister from the ferocity of the mental attack. If he had been able to keep up the attack, he could have done some serious damage to the tall, black eyed monster. However, the demon was quick, as the poison it had administered to the boy when it sliced his neck had made the blond collapse a few seconds after the wound was created.
Picking up the young boy by the neck, the demon bent in close, smelling the open gash it had inflicted. A long red tongue pushed out of the fiend's lips. Licking at the blood that slowly pumped from the youth's neck, a slow, deep, satisfying smiled crept onto the lips of the creature. This time it would work. His blood was perfect for the spell. It would work, and the contract would be complete. Now, all that was needed was to find a safe place to break the boy's soul from his body. Long wiry limbs firmly held it's pray in a vice like grip. Black eyes shifted to the bed across the room, taking in the still sleeping figure of the girl who lay there. Once it was completed, there would be no more need, to bend to that 'others' will. The demon strode over to the bed, ripping the tubes and wires with long, razor claws. The heart monitor flat lined, as the sleeping girl was picked up under the opposite arm of the one that held the boys figure. Both hung limply there, as though dead.
The sounds of shouting nurses and hard soled shoes grew louder as the night duty staff rushed to the room. The demon, whose body seemed to embrace the very shadows themselves, turned its dark gaze to the doorway.
'Maybe there will be more fun to be had after all?'
There was no singing of birds that hailed the sun's return to our sky, but the lullaby that had lulled Rina in her restless dreams had ceased. She was instead; greeted by a stiff body that refused to respond to the pulling of her muscles, a sore, dry throat, and eyes that defied her will to open. Hacking, she curled her body in on its self. How was it that the blood that ran through her body burned, yet she herself felt like she was so cold? Using what will she had, again she bade her eye's to open. Her will, though, had weakened over the years; her eye's still remained closed. With nothing but the darkness, the cold, she began to feel like she had died. However, if she had died, then why was her body still in so much pain? It still hurt; it hurt as bad as it did that day. That day, when the darkness claimed her, when she felt the cold seeping into her very bones, the water mixed with her blood.
It was on that day she had died.
"Agggghhhhh!!" It was that scream again. Pain, pain, pain. Why was everything filled with pain? A hospital, where she had spent so much time, a bed, where she could only lay and stare out a window. Light sobs began to fill the air, and Rina felt them pulling her soul out of the shadows. Eyes that disobeyed her before, answered her in force, as she pressed them tightly closed. Will it all away, that's all she could do, just will it all away, right? Another sharp cry snapped her back into the real world, a world that she had only wanted to fade away from.
"Maria!" A horse cry, filled with more emotions then the angry tone implied. Hisoka could feel them as they strongly pushed against his blurred mind. The pain the long, curved nail caused as it ran over his arms and chest, suddenly stopped. The young empath had had his eye's closed, wish, willing, praying for the monster to stop, yet when it did, he was shaken more then relieved. Since when had god taken to answering his
prayers?
The rain had not ceased, he realized suddenly. He could not hear the world outside of the room he was in, the whole time he lying on the ice cold floor. He didn't know where he was, yet he knew where it wasn't. It was not anyplace he had ever been before. It looked like the hospital still, yet it was warn, paint chipping away, dirt and dust doting everything in the room. He didn't recognize the place, but that wasn't where his mind had been for the past hour. He hadn't seen, or heard anything since he woke up under a searing, pain. He had not heard anything, save for the incessant pounding of blood that pressed into his ears. His mind, which was so far removed from his body at the moment, had never even registered that he was the one screaming. A chilled breeze blew lightly over his writhing body. The cold felt good to him, because the cuts the nail had caused as it had twisted and curved as it made it's way over his body, felt as though it burned it's way through his skin.
"Maria." Hisoka let his eyes slid down past his tormentor, to the source of the new sound that played on his ears. It was a sickly looking, pale girl. She had dark eyes and raven hair. Her skin was more then just fair though, as it was near see-through and blue veins showed clearly in her hands. She lay in a sitting position, the dirty wall propping her up. If it weren't for the emotions that rolled strongly off the girl, he would have thought her no more then a corpse. Her eyes, which were open now, shone with more emotion then her voice lead on to believe. Hisoka tried to feel into the emotions, to grasp onto one that would help him clear his muddled mind; one that would distract him from the pain the enveloped him, one that would bring him out of this hellish reenactment of his past.
Emerald eyes bulged, a hand desperately grabbing at his heart. It felt like it was breaking in two! No, it was more then that, like is very soul was breaking. Injustice, fear, pain, and so much anguish that there were no words yet invented to describe. His body curled in on its self of its own volition, until he appeared as child wrapping paled and bloody arms over his viciously mutilated form. Deep green, pained eyes hid behind dark lashes, his brow noting, in an effort to separate him self from the new pain he had unwittingly welcomed into himself. Using all his will he tried to push away the emotions he had taken on, pushing away the entire pain and heart break that had wrapped tightly around his heart, like invisible hands, crushing down upon his chest. One by one he unwrapped, and detangled himself from the unwanted feelings, until only one was left to him. Hisoka whipped his head up as quickly as his injured state would allow him. There was no way, no way this is also what the sickly girl felt, hidden in the deepest dark shadows of her heart! It was very small, but it was unyielding in his attempts to divide it up, like it was a vain attempt, just as much as it would be to split hairs with a dull blade.
"Don't worry, my 'lovely one'." Hisoka's thoughts where cut into by a voice that should have been more then angelic, yet hearing it now, it made the hairs on his body stand on end. It came from the black eyed girl, one who had unnaturally long arms and deep red claws that came from the ends of the tips of her fingers, her skin shinning like it was a twin to the surface of the pure white of a full moon. One deadly hand slowly curled and brushed the brow of the sickly looking girl. The evil creature's expression softened as it gazed into the girl's dark languid eyes, "My one, who will only be beautiful for me and me alone." The dark eyed girl seemed to be desperately pressing herself against the wall, her eyes wide with worry. "Shh," The demon soothed softly into her ear, "It's alright. I'll finally be able to make you whole again."
"Maria, don't…" It wasn't a scared request from a horrified child, because her voice, while pleading and pained, had no fear melding into it. The plea seemed to touch the demon, as her eyes lost some of the shade that quelled up in them, allowing the faintest hazel irises to peek through. New emotions came from the demon now, ones that were identical to what the other girl had been projecting. Hisoka knew there was something very wrong with the black eyed girl, yet now he felt a new apprehension cloud his mind. She portrayed two different sets of emotions. One was that of something that was in no way human, it was cruel and cold; a true monster. Yet the other was soft, longing, and it reminded him deeply of someone he knew. A small movement drew Hisoka from his quandary as a sickly pale hand strained to use what strength it had to rise and softly caress the demon's cheek.
"Please, let me go…" It was an urgent heartfelt plea that spoke of longing, of wishing for finality, one that was desperately desired.
"My Rina, you must understand," The woman with hazel eyes was gone, as they now were replaced by a tempest of black. A clawed hand gingerly reached up to the caressing one, and held it firmly, yet, not so hard as to cause the frail young woman pain. "Some things are always going to change," slowly Rina's hand was returned to her lap, as the menacing figure turned its attention onto Hisoka who still clutched his bleeding carcass, "and some things, will never change." Advancing onto the blond boy, a quick gesture, and Hisoka felt his body pulled taunt by invisible hands that pressed him roughly into the ground, a soft whimper escaping his lips as wounds, which had only faintly begun to stop bleeding, quickly reopened under the strain. Hisoka tried to use all his strength to pull himself free of the unseen forces, to no avail. Frantically, pulling what shattered parts of his mind he could together, Hisoka tried to use his empathy to discharge another mental energy attack at the advancing woman, yet it only weakly fell off of the demons shield. When the demon, 'Maria', was right over him, she began again with her cutting, carving ruins into his flesh, this time though, it felt like they hurt twice as much as before. Bitter tears bit at the corners of his eyes as he screamed out in anguish. Hisoka saw the demon's lips form words, but, again, he could not hear any sound, save for the one his screams made as they echoed in his own ears.
'Please, someone help me….!'
………….TBC
Poor Hisoka, why is he always the whipping boy in this fic?!? I've been trying to write him as tough, yet all the sheyt keeps happening to him! He'll get his chance to shine soon enough!! ^_^; *really I'm trying here*
Wizzu, challenge accepted! ^_^ actually, I'd rather that I don't have to convert, that's not what I'm out to do, yet this is who the character's wrote themselves out to be. It'd be sad if people choose not to like them just because of that reason alone though.
To Rinoa, thanks for the critic, it's encouraged me to take more time on the chapters…. To also not stay up till 7am writing and then post said chapter -_-;
Gommen, I won't do it again!
And to everyone who took time out of their day to read/ critic, thank you ^_^!
The title for this chapter is a line from the Haibane Renmei OST that I was listening to when writing this chapter. I chose it because I felt that this song depicted Maria and Rina's relationship well, as their past was highlighted in this chapter. It's called 'Wondering', and if you get the chance, check it out. It's a perfect song for these two, but it COULD be a slight spoiler for if you read into it too much. However I don't think anyone is going to get it till after they read the next chapter and re-listen carefully to the song, like, twice or something.
Next chapter? Stuff generously hits the fan, and the Rina/Maria case will come to a close… Just as to WHAT that means, for that you'll have to wait and see ^_^!
C&C love, love, loved!
Warnings: This is an AU, meaning, that I can do almost whatever I want with these guys and its okay! Also, the rating may go up later, but I'll make sure to change the rating when that happens. Also, there's going to be shounen AND shoujo-ai. Consider this
a fair warning.
Parings: A little TsuxSoka and a Maria/Rina. More to come.
POV will always be first person in when it's Tsuzuki, and only him.
Note: Thoughts= '....' Memories= //...//
................................................................................................................................................
My World of Strawberries and Cream
Wondering if I am Lost Now
// "What are you doing out here Rina?" Maria ran to her friend who stood in a stupor, eyes raised to the dark clouds above her. Her school uniform hung heavily about her small toned body. The rain made her usual dark hair, become void of any other color. Maria, reaching her friend who was absorbed into her own world, moved her umbrella over so it covered Rina too.
"Really, Rina," Maria knew she sounded like a scolding parent, but continued anyways, "you can't just stand out here in the rain like that, you'll get sick!" The aforementioned friend's head lulled to its side, her eyes had that odd distant look that Maria had come to recognize. Rina had lovely eyes, or that's what Maria always thought.
Maria was Chinese born, but when she was only a little girl; her mother had sent her to Japan to live with her aunt, who had moved to Nagasaki some years ago. There was a prestigious all girls' music school in Nagasaki, and Maria, as her mother had often remarked, showed promise ever since she was little with the art of song. Many in her home town said that she could make the goddesses jealous with her beautiful voice that rang like pure bells in the ears of all who heard her. Once in the Japanese school, however, Maria received nothing but the worst bulling. Often she would return home from her classes with claw marks on her face, bruises on her knees, and tears in her eyes. The other students were jealous, she knew, she had out shined everyone there. Scholarships where offered for secondary education, and many people had high hopes that, with her voice, and natural beauty, she would become the next big international idol, a star. It took all she had to go to that school, that hell, everyday, and, as such, her nights were filled with sobs and tears into a pillow as her heart broke from inside her shell of a body.
One day, at the beginning of class, Maria looked up from her view out of the window, pulled from her daydream of cherry blossoms, as she heard the teacher announce a new student; Ito, Rina. She was pretty, but just a notch above common. Her eyes said she wasn't paying much attention, as her gaze lazily rolled over the class, over Maria, and then, out the window, as her eyes seemed to be pulled longingly at the pink, full blossomed trees that lay just outside of the glassy view.
That girl, Rina, was assigned the empty seat next to Maria, as there were many empty seats next to the girl who was being hazed by her classmates. Rina was given warm smiles by most in the class, and Maria, who saw no reason to be nice to her soon to be enemy, just turned her gaze back out her window. She had been so lost in her own world, in the effort to escape the here and now; she didn't feel the gentle prodding of a pencil. It wasn't until she saw something fly an inch in front of her nose, gently tapping the glass, that she noticed the new girl's irritated side stares and the tiny folded piece of white paper that had flicked back from the window to lie in the center of her notebook.
'That didn't take long,' were her cold, agitated thoughts as she glared back at the girl next to her. 'She just got here, and already she's deciding to try and pick on me like everyone else? What? Is there a –bully me please! - sign on me and I don't know it??' Slowly, Maria picked up the white note, and she silently locked gazes with the dark eyed girl next to her. Then, Maria gingerly ripped the note into small pieces, an unspoken challenge in her eyes as she glared at the new girl, who just glared right back.
After school that day, Maria went down to get her bike from where it was chained to the bike rail under the school overhang. There waiting for her, were the three girls that came off as the ring leaders in her hazing. She kept her face high; her eye's indifferent, just as she always had. Even when they pushed her down, even when they clawed at her face, and kicked her abdomen, even then, she kept her cries buried deep in her throat; her tears staved clear of her eyes. There was only one thing different now, then there ever had been before; someone was watching. It was her new enemy; Rina Ito.
'Of course, it would figure. Look, take a good long look! I want you to see; see what I've shown them all a million times now. I want you to see my eyes, see my face. I will not shed tears, not in front of any of you. You can do whatever you want, but I will not break for any of you!' Resentment bit at her brow as she glared unyielding at the new student, who only looked mildly shocked at what she saw before her. Then, as if nothing was happing in front of her, she turned around and went to undo her own bike. Maria couldn't keep the chuckle from her throat. Yes, she would show them all just how tough she was, because, in the end, she was destined for more then they could ever dream. That was what she told herself over and over again. That she was more then these pathetic girls, she was born to be great, she was not born to be cursed to live in pain! Maria's eyes pressed tightly closed, trying to seal the deepest part of herself away from the world she lived in, from her hell, from her life.
Suddenly, there was a crushing sound as steel met bone. Maria looked up, shocked to find out it wasn't her bones that had received the harsh assault. Yoko, one of the girls who had been attacking her, held her face tightly as blood poured out from her nose, dripping crimson through her clasped fingers. The other two girls backed away, sweat and alarm on their faces. Maria followed their gaze to find Rina, her face, a facade of annoyance, and a bloodied bicycle chain that was wrapped tightly around her fist.
"You BITCH!" Yoko somehow managed between coughs of blood that had dripped down to her throat.
"You low classed rat! That's a dirty trick!!" The other two lackeys stepped up, though they were very wary of Rina, who held a weapon in her hand. Rina's mask never shifted, her gaze still locked onto Yoko, ignoring the other two bullies as if they never even existed. Yoko stepped back as Rina took a slow, firm step forward.
"What do you think you're doing?! Are you crazy?" Yoko's words cracked as her voice rose desperately. "Are you looking for a fight?!" Rina tipped her head slightly to the side, letting the chain drop to hang freely; a menacing stare, one that looked as though no sane person could wear it, claimed her face.
"Do you want to?" The words held a simple question, a longing one, one with no false pretense of threat that played behind them. It wasn't needed, it was a guarantee. The three bullies shifted around Rina, keeping their distance safely out of reach of the metal that hung freely from the dark eyed girl's hand. Once they were switched around, the three girls snatched the first chance they saw and dashed away to safety, leaving the crazed new student and Maria, who was battered and bruised. Threats of parents in high places, and promises of expulsion came from the trio of fleeing girls.
Maria turned her gaze up from them, after they disappeared around the corner of the building, and her eyes found Rina's own, staring down at her. No words were offered, as Rina turned away, and headed back to her bike, the reason she had come back to this spot in the first place.
"H-HOLD IT!" Maria used all of her will as she shifted her weight to her feet, and slowly stood up, a hand clutching her tattered arm. "I didn't ask for help." Maria kept her tone full of false pride, her face, though as damaged as it was, shone through with her fake arrogance. Rina turned with her bike, and looked insipidly at Maria.
"I never asked if you did." Was the clipped reply from the dark haired girl.
"I WILL NOT be in your debt! I never asked for help, so I owe you nothing." It was the first time Maria had seen that distant look that she later grew to identify as a sign of Rina's uncanny ability to know more then she should ever been able to. It didn't scare her, though; it defiantly made her hairs stand on end whenever she saw it.
"You," her hands released her bike; it collapsed down onto the earth. "If you're so concerned that you'll owe me," Dark distant eyes stared hard into cold hazel ones. "Then don't you think you should buy me a juice?"
"J- Juice?" Maria's mind blanked as it suddenly found a simple request so hard to grasp.
"I want juice." Rina had brought her face an inch away from Maria's own, her expression showed nothing but adamant seriousness at the small demand she had issued. "If you buy me a juice, then there's no way you owe me anything, right?"
"What?" Rina ran back to her bike, and lifted it off the ground, dusting the seat off lightly. She then hopped up onto it, and rode it over to Maria, standing up on the pedals, and offering the seat to the other girl.
"We'll forget ever meeting today, if you buy me a juice, okay?" The words were warmed by the dark haired girl's kind, radiating smile, one that made Maria feel something other then the bitter and cold emptiness she had felt for the past few years. It was odd, like her heart began to beat, slowly, as though it had stopped some time ago, and she hadn't noticed until this moment.
"I…"
"If you don't, then I'm going to have to remember meeting you today. Though, I wonder, would that be such a bad thing?" There was a time tested patients that the girl exuded, as if she was used to things going her way, given enough time
Maria's head bent down as she felt a small smile touch her lips. She was trying to be her friend, wasn't she? She had saved her from the cruelties of her peers, and now, here she stood, a hand reached out to her, a placid smile, a calm aura that swelled around the entirety of her being. Maria couldn't help but to be swept up in its soothing power, feeling the walls in her heart, which had withstood under the most sever beatings, shake and crumble under that warm smile, and a that kind voice, one which only promised more comfort if accepted. Maria's frame shook, and trembled as she pressed her hands feverishly to her eyes. She crumpled down, her legs becoming useless under her weight. Sobs wracked her body and tears that had been kept inside, streamed down her scratched face. She couldn't tell if she was happy or sad, only that she finally realized just how lonely she was, only now that there was someone who was offering to take away the pain she didn't even realize she had.
Maria gave a start when she felt someone's warm embrace around her, a soothing hand rubbing gently over her bruised back. No soft words came from Rina though, and her eyes remained closed. Words would only be false comfort; eyes would remember the broken look of Maria's face. Nothing false was offered, but a sincere warmth was conveyed in the lightest of touches. Somehow, more tears welled up behind her long lashes, and Maria pressed deeply into the kind embrace, desiring nothing more then to melt into the warmth that was given freely there. It wasn't for a long time, that she was able to stop shaking, able to pull herself away from the hug of her new friend. She hesitantly looked up at Rina, only to see what she saw before, a smile that was free of pity or judgment. Rina gave out her hand again and Maria took it, letting it support her as she rose slowly to her feet. Her eyes, that were always so beautiful, were red rimmed and puffy. Her face was cut and dirty, her body battered. Rina helped her onto the back of her bike, making sure that Maria's body wouldn't give out again. After the other girl was secure, Rina stood up on the pedals, pumping them up and down with her legs, pushing the bicycle out of the school grounds. Wrapping her hands onto the other girl's hips for balance, Maria let her eyes take in the sun as it slowly started to set in the distance over the city. The cool wind blew on her face, making her smile as it soothingly kissed her red, burning eyes.
Somehow, despite how painful it had been, this was the happiest day of her life. The sound of Rina's bike tires as they pressed to meet the pavement, and Rina's strong, silent smile as she used her strength to take them away from the school, away from the hell that bloomed with sakura trees, it all only promised that there would be more days to come, more days that would top this one. This was a moment that she wanted to remember, and as long as she had this girl's kind smile, she felt she could remember it too.
"Hey, wait a minute," Maria whispered as a thought pressed into her mind. "You used a chain on that other girl. They'll kick you out of school for that!" Rina only turned her head slightly, a pink tongue pushing past her lips.
"Hehe, it's not like I care! This school was just a convenient way for my parents to send me away." The tone was mocking, and if there was any pain in the words, Maria couldn't hear it.
"Oh, I'm sorry…" Family always tended to be a touchy subject with most people, especially with someone who was having problems with their own.
"Don't be, I'm not. However, I wasn't kidding before…" Her tone became stoic, her face slack.
"What?" Maria craned around so she could try and decipher Rina's facade. Rina brought the bike to a stop, giving her full attention to the nervous girl. She stared long and hard at Maria, her eyes portraying a variety of emotions. Maria gulped slightly, fidgeting under the stare.
Rina finally exclaimed, in a commanding voice, "I want juice." After blinking several times, her hand flew to her mouth. It was all Maria could do to keep her poor hurt body from bursting at the seams in a fit of laughter then.
It had been almost two years since that fateful day, the day they first met. Since then, a strong bond of friendship and love had tied the two girls together. In the time that had followed their meeting, Maria had become recognized as a gifted singer, even though she was still one year to graduate from high school. Many things had happened since that time so long ago, and much had changed. Maria's mind was brought out of thoughts of the past by an arm that snaked through her own. She followed it up to the soaked girl who owned it. Her smile was just as warm, if not warmer then when they had first met, because now, kindness was replaced with fondness, and the calm aura that had enveloped her, and made way to also include room for a pure love, it made her glow. Maria knew that her looks made her attractive in the eyes of many people, yet, the girl she was walking next to, in her eyes, was the most beautiful person in the world, and no one but Maria could see that. Before she knew what she was doing, Maria had lent down and kissed Rina softly on the cheek.
"Maria!" The small, red faced girl looked up into hazel eyes, shock coving her expression. "What if someone sees??" Rina hissed embarrassed under her breath as her eyes took in the street around them. What few people there were who were out in the rain where huddled under umbrellas, and they had their heads turned to the ground, careful of the water that puddle and pooled there. Maria's warm eyes smiled at the flushed girl before her.
"They just can't see what's in front of them is all." Her voice was calm as she wrapped her free arm around the girl who she had come to love more then anyone she'd ever known.
"Maria…" The dark haired girl had her eyes turned down to the ground; her voice wavered with what almost seemed like a light fear.
"Maria, don't become a singer."
"What?" Maria turned to face the dark eyed girl, who looked as though she was staring death in the face. "Rina, why…? You, you always supported me in singing, right?" Black wet matted down hair whipped back and forth as Rina furiously shock her head. Maria reached out a hand to touch the erratic girl's shoulder, but Rina jumped back, away from the touch, and out from under the umbrella they had shared. Tiny hands pressed into her head, as again she whipped her head side to side, as she dropped to sit on the balls of her heels. Rocking back and forth, she kept shaking her head, as though a demon had found its way into her mind, and was driving her crazy.
"Rina?!"
"Don't go Maria, don't go, please!!" Distant eyes stared down at the earth, fear clouding them. Maria could only stare in morbid fascination at her love's odd behavior. She knew Rina to have dazed spells, but never had they made her do this before! Suddenly the jerked movements stopped, as the raven haired girl tipped, falling down to the muddied ground.
"RINA!!" The umbrella fell to the ground, as arms infolded, lifting up the collapsed body. "Rina…?" Soft hands pushed matted hair away from the closed eyes of the one she tenderly held in her arms. Rocking the collapsed girl, Maria hummed a comforting tune to her dear friend.
'Rina… What do you mean?' Maria's hazel eyes scanned the face before her, hoping to gain any sort of clue as to what made the poor girl faint. However, despite how good Rina was at such things, Maria could not discern what it was that had seemed to take over the other girl.
"You must know I'd never leave you… Right?"//
The black eyed demon placed up a hand to block its face as a powerful red energy burst from the boy's body. Its face was saved, but the arm that received the majority of the onslaught of the assault, had already begun to blister from the ferocity of the mental attack. If he had been able to keep up the attack, he could have done some serious damage to the tall, black eyed monster. However, the demon was quick, as the poison it had administered to the boy when it sliced his neck had made the blond collapse a few seconds after the wound was created.
Picking up the young boy by the neck, the demon bent in close, smelling the open gash it had inflicted. A long red tongue pushed out of the fiend's lips. Licking at the blood that slowly pumped from the youth's neck, a slow, deep, satisfying smiled crept onto the lips of the creature. This time it would work. His blood was perfect for the spell. It would work, and the contract would be complete. Now, all that was needed was to find a safe place to break the boy's soul from his body. Long wiry limbs firmly held it's pray in a vice like grip. Black eyes shifted to the bed across the room, taking in the still sleeping figure of the girl who lay there. Once it was completed, there would be no more need, to bend to that 'others' will. The demon strode over to the bed, ripping the tubes and wires with long, razor claws. The heart monitor flat lined, as the sleeping girl was picked up under the opposite arm of the one that held the boys figure. Both hung limply there, as though dead.
The sounds of shouting nurses and hard soled shoes grew louder as the night duty staff rushed to the room. The demon, whose body seemed to embrace the very shadows themselves, turned its dark gaze to the doorway.
'Maybe there will be more fun to be had after all?'
There was no singing of birds that hailed the sun's return to our sky, but the lullaby that had lulled Rina in her restless dreams had ceased. She was instead; greeted by a stiff body that refused to respond to the pulling of her muscles, a sore, dry throat, and eyes that defied her will to open. Hacking, she curled her body in on its self. How was it that the blood that ran through her body burned, yet she herself felt like she was so cold? Using what will she had, again she bade her eye's to open. Her will, though, had weakened over the years; her eye's still remained closed. With nothing but the darkness, the cold, she began to feel like she had died. However, if she had died, then why was her body still in so much pain? It still hurt; it hurt as bad as it did that day. That day, when the darkness claimed her, when she felt the cold seeping into her very bones, the water mixed with her blood.
It was on that day she had died.
"Agggghhhhh!!" It was that scream again. Pain, pain, pain. Why was everything filled with pain? A hospital, where she had spent so much time, a bed, where she could only lay and stare out a window. Light sobs began to fill the air, and Rina felt them pulling her soul out of the shadows. Eyes that disobeyed her before, answered her in force, as she pressed them tightly closed. Will it all away, that's all she could do, just will it all away, right? Another sharp cry snapped her back into the real world, a world that she had only wanted to fade away from.
"Maria!" A horse cry, filled with more emotions then the angry tone implied. Hisoka could feel them as they strongly pushed against his blurred mind. The pain the long, curved nail caused as it ran over his arms and chest, suddenly stopped. The young empath had had his eye's closed, wish, willing, praying for the monster to stop, yet when it did, he was shaken more then relieved. Since when had god taken to answering his
prayers?
The rain had not ceased, he realized suddenly. He could not hear the world outside of the room he was in, the whole time he lying on the ice cold floor. He didn't know where he was, yet he knew where it wasn't. It was not anyplace he had ever been before. It looked like the hospital still, yet it was warn, paint chipping away, dirt and dust doting everything in the room. He didn't recognize the place, but that wasn't where his mind had been for the past hour. He hadn't seen, or heard anything since he woke up under a searing, pain. He had not heard anything, save for the incessant pounding of blood that pressed into his ears. His mind, which was so far removed from his body at the moment, had never even registered that he was the one screaming. A chilled breeze blew lightly over his writhing body. The cold felt good to him, because the cuts the nail had caused as it had twisted and curved as it made it's way over his body, felt as though it burned it's way through his skin.
"Maria." Hisoka let his eyes slid down past his tormentor, to the source of the new sound that played on his ears. It was a sickly looking, pale girl. She had dark eyes and raven hair. Her skin was more then just fair though, as it was near see-through and blue veins showed clearly in her hands. She lay in a sitting position, the dirty wall propping her up. If it weren't for the emotions that rolled strongly off the girl, he would have thought her no more then a corpse. Her eyes, which were open now, shone with more emotion then her voice lead on to believe. Hisoka tried to feel into the emotions, to grasp onto one that would help him clear his muddled mind; one that would distract him from the pain the enveloped him, one that would bring him out of this hellish reenactment of his past.
Emerald eyes bulged, a hand desperately grabbing at his heart. It felt like it was breaking in two! No, it was more then that, like is very soul was breaking. Injustice, fear, pain, and so much anguish that there were no words yet invented to describe. His body curled in on its self of its own volition, until he appeared as child wrapping paled and bloody arms over his viciously mutilated form. Deep green, pained eyes hid behind dark lashes, his brow noting, in an effort to separate him self from the new pain he had unwittingly welcomed into himself. Using all his will he tried to push away the emotions he had taken on, pushing away the entire pain and heart break that had wrapped tightly around his heart, like invisible hands, crushing down upon his chest. One by one he unwrapped, and detangled himself from the unwanted feelings, until only one was left to him. Hisoka whipped his head up as quickly as his injured state would allow him. There was no way, no way this is also what the sickly girl felt, hidden in the deepest dark shadows of her heart! It was very small, but it was unyielding in his attempts to divide it up, like it was a vain attempt, just as much as it would be to split hairs with a dull blade.
"Don't worry, my 'lovely one'." Hisoka's thoughts where cut into by a voice that should have been more then angelic, yet hearing it now, it made the hairs on his body stand on end. It came from the black eyed girl, one who had unnaturally long arms and deep red claws that came from the ends of the tips of her fingers, her skin shinning like it was a twin to the surface of the pure white of a full moon. One deadly hand slowly curled and brushed the brow of the sickly looking girl. The evil creature's expression softened as it gazed into the girl's dark languid eyes, "My one, who will only be beautiful for me and me alone." The dark eyed girl seemed to be desperately pressing herself against the wall, her eyes wide with worry. "Shh," The demon soothed softly into her ear, "It's alright. I'll finally be able to make you whole again."
"Maria, don't…" It wasn't a scared request from a horrified child, because her voice, while pleading and pained, had no fear melding into it. The plea seemed to touch the demon, as her eyes lost some of the shade that quelled up in them, allowing the faintest hazel irises to peek through. New emotions came from the demon now, ones that were identical to what the other girl had been projecting. Hisoka knew there was something very wrong with the black eyed girl, yet now he felt a new apprehension cloud his mind. She portrayed two different sets of emotions. One was that of something that was in no way human, it was cruel and cold; a true monster. Yet the other was soft, longing, and it reminded him deeply of someone he knew. A small movement drew Hisoka from his quandary as a sickly pale hand strained to use what strength it had to rise and softly caress the demon's cheek.
"Please, let me go…" It was an urgent heartfelt plea that spoke of longing, of wishing for finality, one that was desperately desired.
"My Rina, you must understand," The woman with hazel eyes was gone, as they now were replaced by a tempest of black. A clawed hand gingerly reached up to the caressing one, and held it firmly, yet, not so hard as to cause the frail young woman pain. "Some things are always going to change," slowly Rina's hand was returned to her lap, as the menacing figure turned its attention onto Hisoka who still clutched his bleeding carcass, "and some things, will never change." Advancing onto the blond boy, a quick gesture, and Hisoka felt his body pulled taunt by invisible hands that pressed him roughly into the ground, a soft whimper escaping his lips as wounds, which had only faintly begun to stop bleeding, quickly reopened under the strain. Hisoka tried to use all his strength to pull himself free of the unseen forces, to no avail. Frantically, pulling what shattered parts of his mind he could together, Hisoka tried to use his empathy to discharge another mental energy attack at the advancing woman, yet it only weakly fell off of the demons shield. When the demon, 'Maria', was right over him, she began again with her cutting, carving ruins into his flesh, this time though, it felt like they hurt twice as much as before. Bitter tears bit at the corners of his eyes as he screamed out in anguish. Hisoka saw the demon's lips form words, but, again, he could not hear any sound, save for the one his screams made as they echoed in his own ears.
'Please, someone help me….!'
………….TBC
Poor Hisoka, why is he always the whipping boy in this fic?!? I've been trying to write him as tough, yet all the sheyt keeps happening to him! He'll get his chance to shine soon enough!! ^_^; *really I'm trying here*
Wizzu, challenge accepted! ^_^ actually, I'd rather that I don't have to convert, that's not what I'm out to do, yet this is who the character's wrote themselves out to be. It'd be sad if people choose not to like them just because of that reason alone though.
To Rinoa, thanks for the critic, it's encouraged me to take more time on the chapters…. To also not stay up till 7am writing and then post said chapter -_-;
Gommen, I won't do it again!
And to everyone who took time out of their day to read/ critic, thank you ^_^!
The title for this chapter is a line from the Haibane Renmei OST that I was listening to when writing this chapter. I chose it because I felt that this song depicted Maria and Rina's relationship well, as their past was highlighted in this chapter. It's called 'Wondering', and if you get the chance, check it out. It's a perfect song for these two, but it COULD be a slight spoiler for if you read into it too much. However I don't think anyone is going to get it till after they read the next chapter and re-listen carefully to the song, like, twice or something.
Next chapter? Stuff generously hits the fan, and the Rina/Maria case will come to a close… Just as to WHAT that means, for that you'll have to wait and see ^_^!
C&C love, love, loved!