Disclaimer: I don't own neither X or The Phantom Of The Opera. But I own this combination of them :)

Chapter 4: Stranger Than You Dreamt It

Kamui was pissed off. He was only a few days in Paris- less than a week! - and he was already pissed off. Nothing was going as he expected it to. First, there was this unfortunate accident with Arashi, and with her being hospitalized. But he could have taken it easy, for there was the adorable understudy, his beloved Kotori. All things seemed to have gone well, but after the first performance, Kotori disappeared, without leaving any trace.

And now he found himself the patron of an actors-less opera house, with no way to put up plays, while the press keeps on mocking on his behalf.

'And like that wasn't enough!' he thought to himself angrily, making his way towards Subaru's estate.

Like fate shows us many times- when troubles fall on us, they tend to do it in amounts. Kamui's case, alas, was no different that any other's man, and the small letter in his rights pocked proved it to him once again.

The estate of Graf Subaru was quite big, but considering the fact that he was living with his sister, Hokuto, their father, grandfather, aunt and two cats- it was rather understandable.

The viscount left his white horse at the stable and proceeded to the entrance hall, where a servant took his coat and announced his arrival to his masters.

"Good morning to you!" greeted him Subaru, looking as good as usual.

"Well, it is morning. About how good it is, I'm not really sure" replied Kamui.

"Opera problems?"

"Yes and no. Look at this!" Kamui took out the little letter- that looked more like a note- and showed it to Subaru.

"Hmm…" was all that the Graf said as his eyes quickly followed the written words.

"Good morning, brother. You too, Kamui" they heard a pleasant female voice behind them. As they turned around, they saw Subaru's sister, Hokuto, dressed in a beautiful brown dress.

Subaru smiled widely toward his sister. "Are you heading out?" he asked as he kissed her on the cheek.

"Yes… I'm meeting Kakyo at the center. We agreed to spent the day together"

Subaru examined his sister. "How serious is your relationship?"

"Not that serious for you to worry about," she answered nobly, and as her smile grew larger, she add- "Yet"- and left the room.

Kamui lifted an eyebrow in question.

"Just s guy she's dating…" Subaru answered, "Anyways, the ender of this note can't be serious. This must be some sort of a joke"

"I truly hope so, but it doesn't look like one. This looks more like a threat to me. As for me, I want to find the one who sent this, and to set a score with him, once and for all" Kamui's hand closed on his sword, until it became pale from the lack of blood.

"Relax, my friend," tried Subaru to chill his friend's temper "We will go to the opera house at once, and solve this mystery once and for all. Who knows- maybe it's your managers who sent this to you"

"Maybe…" repeated Kamui, hardly believing to it.

This seemed like a morning full of visits and encounters. On the other side of Paris, there was a white big house. It wasn't as big as the Graf's estate, but it was big enough for a young and progressing Diva, who lived alone, with a bunch of servants.

Arashi was proud of her house. It was big enough to contain all she ever needed, yet it wasn't to flashy. Her favorite room in it was actually an almost empty hall, filled with mirrors that covered every single piece of wall in it. It was her sword practicing room.

Although it was very strange for a woman to use a weapon, she insisted to study and practice it since she was a little girl, and her mother made her a little wooden sword. It was a strange hobby, but her amazing voice and her success on the stage made men "forget" about that hobby.

At this time of morning, lady Arashi was standing in her bedroom, her hands leaning on a wooden chair, as a maid tied extremely tightly her corset. Needless to mention- Arashi heated corsets.

"I wonder who invented these stupid things…" she mumbled under her nose "Must have been a man!"

She was so busy with cursing the history of the corset, that she didn't hear the steps outside her room. A small knock on the door announced that the Diva had a visitor. Alas, the only time that was given to Arashi to answer that she's no dressed, consisted only of a couple of seconds. The knocking man didn't wait for her reply, and opened the door, entering the room, finding Arashi dressed in a small skirt and a half-tied corset, her mouth opened in surprise.

"Shit, shit, shit, shit!" Sorata cursed, blushing to the roots of his brown hair. "I was told that you are in your room…." He tried to explain, watching Arashi's expression turn into pure rage. He closed the door, and took a few steps back, trying to understand what just happened.

"That pervert!" declared Arashi, and signed to the maid to finish dressing her quickly.

Once she was fully dressed, she opened the door, facing the tenor singer with furious look. "How dare you…!" she even didn't have words to describe what she thought. She cursed a few more times, just for the impression, and then looked at him with one of her piercing looks.

"What are you doing here, anyway?" she asked.

"What?" he replied in a friendly smile "Can't I come and visit my wounded friend anymore?"

"I didn't asked you to come" mentioned Arashi.

"But I wanted to" replied Sorata simply.

A small silence spread between the two singers, as they tried to find a different subject to talk about.

Fortunately for them, an old servant behind them was the one to break the silence. He cleaned his throat politely, and after being noticed his approached his mistress with a small white letter. "You have a letter, mademoiselle" he said.

"Thank you, Walter" Arashi thanked the man, taking carefully the small letter- which looked more like a note to her- and reading it quickly.

The line of swears started again.

"What is it?" asked Sorata in a worried tone.

"You read it!"

Sorata joined her curses as he finished reading the letter. "Who could send you something like this?"

"I bet it is the doing of that new patron. We all heard the story about him and that Kotori…" she answered, her black eyes narrowing down in suspicion.

"Well, maybe it's a joke"

"No, I disagree. This can only mean one thing"

"Huh?"

"War!" the soprano Diva replied and reentered her room. She returned after a few moment, carrying a thin, long, black and cylinder-like object. Sorata, who knew her quite well, recognized the object as the cover of her sword.

"Let's go" said Arashi, heading down the stairs.

"To where?"

"To the opera house!"

"You… you don't seriously think to use that, do you?"

"Why not? Right now I really want to hurt something. Or someone"

Sorata stopped her as they were near the door.

"What is it?" she asked.

"You know, you are very beautiful when you're angry" he mentioned in a small smile.

Arashi sounded a small growl, bursting outside, to the full Paris streets.

Kotori woke up in a big wooden bed with maroon sheets. It took her a few seconds to understand where she was, and once she did, her eyed widened. She knew she spent a few days down in the phantom's lair, and that the more she learned about him, the more frightened she got.

She got out of the bed, standing up slowly, thinking about the man. Yes, she was positive now that he was a man, a human being, and nothing more.

She left the small room in which she was, and headed toward the main hall of the lair. There Kotori found her angel of music playing the organ, his back turned to her.

As she listened to the slow melody, a few lines of s sing came to her mind, so she sang them simply, trying to combine her voice with the organ's sounds.

"I remember there was mist-
Swirling mist upon a vast, glassy lake…
There were candles all around,
and on the lake there was a boat
and in the boat, there was a man…"

The phantom heard her song, so he turned around and his eyes met hers. His lips shaped in a small smile, as his long fingers kept on floating over the keys, adjusting the melody to Kotori's voice. He returned his face to the organ, as Kotori went down the stairs towards him.

"You know," she mentioned in a soft voice "for all the time that I've been here, for all the time that we know each other, you never told me your name"

As a reply, the phantom just kept on playing, ignoring her question. Kotori understood that this matter demands a gentle touch of pressure, so she kept on singing, trying to sweeten her voice as much as she could:

"Who was that shape in the shadows?
Whose is that face in the mask?"

The phantom stopped playing for a brief moment. "My name is Fuma" his said simply, and returned to his work.

"Fuma…" returned Kotori after his name, a bit enchanted by it. She remembered that she red somewhere that 'Fuma' means 'immortality'. Well, she found this name quite suitable for this man.

Some strange feeling flashed the young ballet dancer. As she came closer and closer to him, all she wanted to do was to look at the true Fuma. She desperately wanted- no, she desperately needed- to take his shining white mask off, to see the man behind it. Eventually, Kotori was so driven by her feelings, that she simply leaned toward the phantom, who was still sitting with his back to her, and gently- but quickly- grasped the mask and took it off.

Fuma's reaction was sudden and indescribable. He raised himself rapidly from the chair- his right hand covers his right side of face- surprising Kotori and making her loose her balance and fall on the cold floor.

"Damn you!
You little prying Pandora!
You little demon! This is what you wanted to see?" he yelled at her, standing above her and looking absolutely frightening.

"Curse you! You little lying Delilah!
You little viper!
Now you cannot ever be free!" he kept on screaming, turning away from her and throwing objects all around the lair, in pure rage. He stopped after a few moments, and looked at her.

"Damn you! Curse you!" his voice now was heartbreaking, and the scared Kotori understood what she had done- what pain she must have caused him. Tears filed her eyes, and she wanted to apologize, but no sound came from her mouth. All she could do was to remain on the floor and listen to his voice, that was full of hatred and poison, and yet it was the most inspiring voice she had ever heard.

"Stranger than you dreamt it
Can you even dare to look?
Or bear to think of me?
This loathsome gargoyle,
Who burns in hell, but secretly-
Yearns for heaven!
Secretly, secretly…
Kotori…

Fear can turn to love,
You'll learn to see,
To find the man behind the monster,
This repulsive carcass,
Who seems a beast, but secretly-
Dreams of beauty…
Secretly, secretly…
Oh, Kotori…"

The shamed Kotori lifted her self from the floor and approached Fuma, lifting her hand- with his white mask in it- in a shameful and compassionate gesture.

The phantom took his mask back, putting it back on his face. He then took a deep breath and allowed himself to look back into Kotori's eyes.

"Come we must return," he said in his deep dark voice, "those two fools who run my theater will be missing you"

ME: The end of chapter 4. I was planning to make it longer by adding another part, but I thought that it'd be better to put it in the next chapter. Anyway, as usual I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter.

I think it was more a "lay-back" chapter, in which I tried to prepare the scene for the next chapter (that I promise to make funny and full with characters), so please don't hate me for this one.

And I want to say a special thank you for DarkFusion, who helped me to find a role for Kakyo. Now all 14 characters have their roles :)

So please review, and I'll see you in the next chapter!

Chenya: I'm glad I made you fall in love with Sorata again. He's defiantly worth it! I hope you liked the angry Fuma! And thanks for the compliments- I love you very very very much! Thank you!

neferseba: Yes, the songs are simply beautiful! I was actually thinking if to put them together or apart, so it's good to hear that my choice was the right one. You know something, after reading your review, I also got the urge to hear the songs again (and again, and again….).

Unicorn'sWhisper: Whoooho! Another POTO and X fan! And another reader too! Thank you for the lovely review, it means the world to me :) Actually, I first wanted to write a crossover of POTO with Witch Hunter Robin (I don't know if you're familiar with the series, but never mind) but I couldn't decide who will be Raul, so I started thinking about different series (with a strong obsession for Hellsing). And then it hit me- X! So I thought about for a few days, and started writing…Anyway, I hope you liked this chapter! I'm eager to see your reviews.

DarkFusion: Thanks again for the help with Kakyo's role. You said that you want him to be with Hokuto, so I thought- why no to make her a boyfriend? So I hope you liked it. Please let me know what you thought about this update.

X rocks!: Thank you! You're so sweet :D And you're correct- I do try not to rush with Arashi's development… I hope that I didn't ruin her in this chapter. Well, I think she responded quite calmly to her note, don't you think? She has quite a temper, so I'd say she handled the situation… how to say? Peacefully… I promise to write about Satsuki and Yuto at the next chapter!

Sakurazuka-chan: I glad you're not disappointed, and you'll have to forgive me if you detect English mistakes, because it isn't my language, and I'm really not used to write stories in English. How's your hade? Better, I hope! As I told you in my e-mails, I wanted to not make them siblings, but I can't. it sickens me, so instead they'll be more like… friends. Look, Kotori is Fuma's only friend, so of course he'll be possessive and he'll try to make Kamui leave her. Please let me know what you thought of this chapter!