Phase 03

The rose petals swirled up as I pushed the door open. Hanazawa Rui was standing there, all dressed up in a tuxedo, and he was playing out a beautiful story on the strings. His hands shifted smoothly along the fingerboard. He stopped. I stopped. And we stood there. Both smiling. Both wordless. And then he laughed. A nice, clear kind of laughter. Not a chuckle. Not a giggle. But one of those ridiculous and true laughter where nothing even needed to be funny. I joined him. The situation was hilarious...and ironic. On the, possibly, worst day of my life, I was standing here, with a great guy, laughing my heart out for no particular reason and having a great time when nothing even started yet. Can anyone be less idiotic? I had stumbled into a whole new world. A world where the moonlight was romantic, the wind was crisp, and the air was invigorating. A world where everything seemed to be perfect. It was like magic.

"You look nice tonight," Hanazawa Rui said softly.

"You're not too shabby yourself!" I laughed.

"How are you?"

I couldn't bring myself to reply. The truth was I didn't know. How was I? Fine? No. Doing bad? No. Sad? No. Happy? No. I wasn't anything. I didn't have to answer. He simply knew. He picked up his violin again and proceeded to bow out a sad and heart wrenching melody. I found myself unconsciously drawn into the notes...and I slowly closed my eyes. When I opened them again, the song had already ended, and he was standing there, with a faint smile on his face.

"You're crying."

I touched my wet cheeks and took out the handkerchief to wipe off the tears.

"I knew you were going to cry today," he teased lightly.

"You hush up! I'm crying because you're dressed up in a formal tux and playing such a sad song on the violin, and that does NOT make me happy. Now if you made the atmosphere lighter by dressing up in something a bit more casual and stroke a few romantic chords on the guitar, I wouldn't be crying now would I?"

And I had managed to make him laugh again. I loved it when he laughed.

I looked around at my surroundings, a sea of red rose petals dancing about to the breeze, a small table with a candle-lit dinner, and two seats facing each other. My stomach growled loudly.

Hanazawa Rui laughed, "Getting hungry eh?"

"Well, of course I'm hungry! You made me run around the entire city of Tokyo!"

"That's called good exercise."

He smiled charmingly and held out his hand. I took it, and he led me to our table. We had spaghetti and drank lemonade in pink cups with crazy straws . Yes, that's right, lemonade in pink cups with crazy straws. After we finished dinner, we had partook in some light conversation. And out of nowhere he said,

"Let's dance."

"But there's no music!" I exclaimed.

"Listen. Can you hear it?"

"No..."

"Listen carefully...it's the beating of our hearts, that alone is music," he whispered into my ear.

I smiled at his unusual remarks. He was always like this. I started humming lightly to nothing. It was my own song.

Hanazawa Rui twirled me, around and around. I giggled like a schoolgirl.

"Wooohoooo!" I sang. I could hear his laughter. He picked me up and spun me around.

Our laughter echoed throughout the skies. The world was a witness to the this one happy night. Then, slowly, he stopped and lay me down. I looked into his eyes, and I realized, they weren't like cold marbles at all. Strangely, they were very...very...warm, a gray sort of blue. He positioned himself beside me, and he bent over. That moment froze in time. His lips only brushed against mine for a moment, but it felt like eternity. So gentle and sweet. Then I heard, a soft murmur,

"Hey Makino...Happy Valentine's Day..."

~

"Are you asleep yet?" I asked Hanazawa Rui as we gazed at the stars together, laying there on the delicate petals.

"No."

The nighttime skyline has always been a mesmerizing aspect of nature, drenched in darkness, streaked with ripples of cobalt blue, and smattered with shimmers of silver. How I loved it. I sighed as a crisp breeze blew against my face. And I felt someone's eyes on me. I turned around and faced a deep pair of eyes. They were exquisite, those eyes, or maybe it was the person who held them?

"Yes?"

"Have I told you lately, that you're not that ugly?"

I thwaped him with the purse.

He rubbed his head and held a pained expression on his face.

"Humph. Serves you right you pompous ass."

"...Pompous?"

"That's what I said, POMPOUS!"

He laughed; I don't even think he knew what he was saying, but he spurted out an unexpected,

"I love you!"

I stopped all movement, I didn't breathe. This isn't real. He can't love me...he's just a friend...? I remembered the feel of his soft lips, just slightly sweeping across mine. I shakily said,

"L-let's go to sleep..."

He didn't say anything, acted like nothing happened. His hand clasped mine, and we both fell asleep like that, with our hands laced together. And strangely, that night, instead of Doumyouji...my dreams were full of him. Hanazawa Rui.

~

Author's Notes: This is...not really as deep or as romantic as I imagined it would be. And so you'll have to bear with me here. When Rui said, "I love you!" It's not actually the way people in love say it. If any of you watch "Friends," once when Monica was dancing for Chandler with a turkey for a head and sunglasses, she made him laugh really hard and he just blurted out, "I love you!" without really meaning to. It's that kind. =) Feedback is always wanted. E-mails are great to, it might just quicken my writing speed. And before I forget, I know that "thwap" is not a real word. If only it were. E-mail: yingerz@hotmail.com