Pre-chapter Ramblings/Notes:
Boy! I took a long time to update! Not justPhantom,but I also took a while to update Lily. Anyway,I hope everyone's still reading this and hasn't got too bored from waiting for me to update! I hope this chapter is satisfactory! Nothing much to say now…
Please Read and enjoy!
Scene 4
Ichigo awoke to the sweet music that the Phantom was playing at the piano, her slender fingers the creator of that beautiful yet hauntingly sadtune. He watched her for a while, before he pushed the covers off him, got up and approached her. He rested one of his hands on her slim shoulder as the other stroked her hair and then slowly ran his fingers down her neck. All the while, the Phantom continued to play her enchanting music without appearing to pay any attention to him.
"Mist… Songs… Painting…" Ichigo recalled the things of the night before as he traced her collar bone with his middle finger and gently rested his head around the graceful curve of her shoulders. Then he twisted his head up and observed the mask, how it sat so firmly on her face, how the contours of the mask lined the bridge of her nose, the delicate arc of her upper lip and the defined shape of her jaw. His fingers had subconsciously moved to her mask, touching it lightly and carefully. He wondered if it was permitted, if he would be forgiven, if he was prepared to see. "The shadow… the face behind the…"
With a swift movement, he pulled off the mask and the Phantom immediately stood up, her eyes wide with shock and anger as she covered the right side of her face with her hand. Her hand shot out, sweeping off the stacks of music sheets that were on the table, sending them flying across the floor. Ichigo took a few steps back in shock as his eyes fixated on this infuriated, this enraged side that he never knew existed in his beautiful angel.
"Damn you! You little devil, is this what you wanted to see! Your prying fingers that took off the mask that hid my anger! Is this what you wanted! To see the anguish that I live in! Curse you!" The Phantom backed into a wall and stopped. She looked away and just as abruptly as her wrath had come, it died.
"Can you even bear to look at me? The monstrosity of an angel that burns in hell and yet yearns to go back to heaven… secretly yearning to go back to heaven…" She shook her head slowly and fell to her knees, her body cowered in shame, her hand hugging her small, shaking body. "But my angel… fear can turn to love. If you can learn to see the person behind this hideousness… who yearns for beauty… secretly…"
Ichigo frowned in contemplation as his grip around the mask tightened. He proceeded to speak, but hesitated. Then without a word, he walked over to her and stretched out his hand to return the mask to her. Refusing to look at him, she took the mask and wore it back. Ichigo was confused, uncertain but apologetic for what he did. So his hand once again stretched out, this time offering to pull her up. Her eyes were gleaming with unshed tears but the anger was no longer there and the softness of those dark eyes had returned. She reached up and took his hand, instantly forgiving him for what he did.
"Come my angel. It's time to return you."
And later that day, there was great commotion as many gathered at the main hall of the opera house, with letters in their hands that had arrived to them mysteriously, probably deep in the night the day before. No one could be positive who the author of the letters was, but their guesses were all the same.
"Where is Kurosaki!" Keigo asked, his hand shaking the envelope agitatedly. "Who sent these letters? Has he disappeared as these letters seem to imply?"
Inoue's hands pressed her own letter against her chest as she lowered her head dismally. "He is not here? The Angel of Music has taken him if the letter is true!"
"And who should this Angel be?" Ishida folded his arms, his eyes narrowed in a livid glare. "This Angel you speak of threatens me that great misfortune will befall me should I attempt to take Kurosaki's place!"
"Kurosaki-san is fine."
Everyone turned towards the voice and saw Tatsuki and Chad enter the hall. Tatsuki continued, "He has returned this morning."
"Can I go see him?" Inoue asked anxiously as she ran towards them.
Tatsuki shook her head with sympathetic eyes. "He wishes to see no one."
Then she turned to speak to Keigo. "We have a letter."
Chad went forward and passed the letter to Keigo. Keigo quickly opened up the letter and read it.
"I have sent you several notes of the most amiable nature. I wish my instructions will be followed or there will be no second chances. Kurosaki Ichigo has been returned and I am eager for the progress in his career. Therefore in the new production "Il Muto", he would be cast as the lead role of the Count and Ishida will be cast as the silent role of the pageboy.
I shall watch the performance from my normal seat in Box Five. Disaster beyond your imagination will befall should my instructions be ignored.
Signed, O.G."
Ishida pushed up his glasses, his eyes locked onto Inoue accusingly as he spoke evenly, "I would expect this to be a ploy played out by his lover to help him."
"I will never do such a thing!" She defended herself, astonished that such a thought should even cross his mind.
"This is nonsense! The Opera Ghost! What nonsense!" Keigo turned to face Ishida who was doing nothing to disguise his displeasure about the whole situation. "Nothing will change. Ishida will still be starred as the Count and Kurosaki the Pageboy!"
"Oh really? What about the "disaster" that will befall?" Ishida asked coolly but his face smug.
"The only disaster that will befall is when Ishida-sama does not play the lead!" Keigo exclaimed as he ushered Ishida away to the practice area. "The world needs you! You are our star! No one can play the Count besides you!"
"But!" Tatsuki tried to cut in but Keigo raised a halting hand, dismissing her as he continued addressing Ishida.
"Ishida-sama will be cast as the Count and no one else!"
Tatsuki kept going after Keigo, attempting to change his mind. "If the Phantom hears of this…"
"Who would listen to the words of the insane?" Keigo shot back harshly, silencing Tatsuki and stopping her right in her tracks. Then he turned back to appease Ishida. "The world is at your feet! You will enchant your audience once more with your brilliant performance!" He glowered at Tatsuki with a reprimanding look. "And I shall hear no more of such foolish words from you, or from anyone else!"
Tatsuki shook her head with a quiet sigh, resigned to the fact that there was little in her power to change what Keigo had already decided. "I fear what would happen…"
Inoue, Chad and Tatsuki all stood motionless in the now silent hall, with unsettling feelings within them.
"I was so cool!" Keigo bounced around and then did a 360 degrees spin with his arms outstretched andstars sparkling in his eyes. "I dismissed Tatsuki with a wave of my hand!" He then demonstrated the way he did it during the rehearsal.
Tatsuki gave a menacing smile as she cracked her knuckles threateningly. "You want to try that in real life?"
Keigo's eyes widened. Panicking, he quickly retreated backwards, as far away from Tatsuki as possible, who looked really keen on the idea of pounding him till he begged for mercy (which she had no intention of giving).
"The submissive role. She must really hate that," Ichigo mumbled through his mouthful of bread as he arched an eyebrow in suppressed amusement.
"ORIHIME!" Her name was called out like a siren and the owner of the siren was, regretfully, flying at full speed in their direction.
Tatsuki immediately discarded her mission to pummel Keigo to death and instead appeared before Inoue and sent a kick right into Chizuru's face, propelling her across the air before smacking into a wall.
"Why are you here as well!" Tatsuki demanded, standing protectively in front of Inoue who was peeping out from behind her, wondering what was going on.
"Orihime, you were so wonderful just now!" Chizuru cooed in her usual repulsively lesbian manner, unaware of her nosebleed she got from smashing into a wall just now. She danced around Inoue, trying to get to her but to no avail as Tatsuki continued to act as the barrier.
Ichigo leaned against the bars of the railings, just watching the craziness that was common among the girls when it came to Chizuru's sapphic affections, Inoue's blissful oblivion and Tatsuki's compulsive protectiveness.
"It's so peaceful around here."
"You call this peaceful?" Ichigo scoffed as he continued to chomp on his food. He glanced over at Rukia, who was smiling and was clumsily trying to open her fruit juice.
Ichigo placed his bread down as he reached over snatched the fruit juice and straw out of her hand. "I guess it is."
He then easily opened the pack for her and returned the drink to her with an annoyed look on his face. "And how long exactly do you take to learn to open these stupid things?"
Rukia just accepted the drink without a complaint. She never had enough practices with these juice packs anyway.
Because he always did it for her.
She took a sip, a slight smirk on her face.
She decided that maybe she should just never learn to open them.
- YL -
Post Chapter Notes:
Ooh! No singing in this chapter! Not much Phantom x Christine (aka Ichigo) either.
I took a relatively short time for this chapter for some unknown reason… I think there isn't much to write when they are just yakking and yakking and yakking away… I really wished I could think of a way to make this chapter better... OOC OOC and more OOC! It's a play! Yah… I keep thinking the OOCness is crazy but ah…