Chapter Sixty-Eight: Candyland
Yuki's POV
"Where are you going?" Tamaki asked as I walked to the door with a suitcase and my computer bag, "Why do you have a suitcase?"
"I'm going to be gone for a few weeks." I told him slowly, "I'm going to go on vacation with a few friends. I'll see you in a month."
I left and got in the limo. I told the driver the directions to Sumi's house and we left. Sumi thought it would be easier if it were the two of us driving to Karuizawa with Hana. It was a nine and a half hour drive. I'd rather not be stuck in a limo alone for that long, I'd go out of my mind.
Kimi's POV
"You girls ready to go?" Mr. Fujioka asked us.
"Yeah, dad." Haruhi sighed. He'd been asking us that all morning and Haruhi was starting to get tired of it. I thought it was kind of sweet, but I really never had parents who cared that much about me.
"We're all set to go." I smiled.
The doorbell rang.
"That's Reiko, I'll get it." I volunteered. I went to get the door and let Reiko in. She was driving us down to Karuizawa, she and Hunny thought it'd be a good idea for her to leave town so she could have a chance to plan the wedding the way she wanted to. We invited her to join us and she volunteered to drive. "Hey Reiko."
"Hey Kimi." She smiled, "Hey Haruhi. Hi Mr. Fujioka."
"Hey Reiko-Senpai." Haruhi greeted her.
"Hi Reiko, how's the wedding planning going?" Mr. Fujioka asked her.
"It's not, I've got a little under two months to plan a huge upscale wedding and I've got the venue, the invitations, the flowers, thank you for helping me choose those by the way, the alstroemerias, gladiolas, peonies, and the sweet peas were the way to go, I wanted something sweeter than the ones that were being picked out, they're absolute perfect and exactly what I wanted."
"I'm glad, you looked like you were having trouble, if you need anymore help, just call and we can talk about ideas." Mr. Fujioka offered.
"Okay." Reiko nodded, "Thank you."
We all said goodbye to Mr. Fujioka and left for Karuizawa.
Sumi's POV
We got there about a little after five; we got dinner and then reported to Mr. Sonoda, who was a friend of Haruhi's dad. Yuki and I were going to work for part of the summer with Kimi, Haruhi, and Reiko. Hana was along for the ride. The next day we started to work, well Haruhi, Reiko, and Kimi were volunteering, Yuki was babysitting, and I was working for money. Ouran had a thing about having a job on break, it was against some weird policy the school had, so they couldn't work.
"Worst babysitter ever." I said to Yuki when I saw that Hana had been eating more sugar than she had had in her life after I got off work. She was so hyped up on sugar and candy that it would be impossible to put her to bed.
"I fed her more than sugar and candy." She replied, "I fed her chocolates and brownies too."
"Fantastic." I replied shortly, "What did you guys do? Watch TV and eat sugar all day?"
"No, I taught her to cheat at poker, hustle people at pool, we played violent video games, and then capped it all off with an R rated horror film." She said dryly.
"That's not funny."
"Oh my god, Sumi, we played Candyland for hours, we played Life, and Monopoly, and Mancala, and every one of those games led back to Candyland. If I never have to play Candyland again, it'll be too soon, but I know I'll be playing all summer and again when I eventually have kids. I did teach her how to play Five Card Draw, but we played for candy and stuck to the basics. We watched Thumbelina, Swan Princess, Cats Don't Dance, Beauty & the Beast, Little Mermaid, Oliver & Company, A Goofy Movie, Jungle 2 Jungle, and Flubber."
"Do you have a way to put her to bed cause with her this wound up, I've got nothing. I'm still relatively new at this."
"And you think I've got experience?" She asked.
"You got her wound up, figure out a way to wind her down, so I can put her to bed."
"In Mary Poppins, she used reverse psychology, why don't I tell her a story and you sing her Stay Awake."
"Alright." I nodded.
"Hey Hana, wanna hear a narrative poem?" Yuki asked her.
"What's that?" Hana asked.
"A story that's a poem." I told her simply.
"Okay." She smiled and sat down.
"Awesome, cut me a little slack, I'm kinda new at this." She told her, "This is called The Pirate Princess." She said before starting the poem. I sat down next to Hana, who was sitting in her bed, curiously. "The life of a princess
Has never been
All that exciting,
At least mine isn't.
I don't know about others.
Stuck in a tower,
Since before I can remember.
No way in,
No safe way down,
At least not one
I've so far been able
To figure out.
Out my window
Again I looked down,
It was the only way
I could leave
And live a life.
I don't care
What kind of life,
I just want one that's mine.
I turned away
From the window
And looked around
For anything I could use
Something that would
Get me down
Without killing myself.
I spot a butter knife
On the table
By the oven
And a dagger
On the shelf
Above my bed.
"Those'll do."
I smiled
And gathered items.
Sitting on the window ceil,
I take a deep breath,
'No turning back now.'
Clutching the dagger and knife
Tighter,
I take another breath
And scale down the tower.
"And to think,
I thought that
Tower was empty."
A voice said
Pulling me out of my thoughts,
Away from my concentration,
Causing me to let go
Of the knife and dagger,
Sending me plummeting
To the ground
Screaming.
I had stopped screaming,
When I realized
That I somehow
Missed the ground.
The man who had caused me
To almost fall to my death
Caught me
And was now holding me
In his arms.
Looking up at my savior
All of my anger
Was washed away.
Looking back at me,
Beautiful ocean blue eyes.
Took me a couple of seconds
To realize they belonged
To a pirate.
Looking into his captivating eyes,
Knowing he was a pirate,
And knowing he chose
To save me,
When he could have
Let me fall
To my death,
Sparked questions,
Many of them.
The most prominent:
'Pirates were supposed to be
Awful human beings,
Barely even human.
If he was so bad,
Why did he save me?'
He put me down
And I thanked him.
I introduced myself,
"I'm Isla."
And so did he,
"Kaleb."
"Why are you here?"
I asked confused.
He had happened
Across the tower
On a scouting mission
While the crew
Restocked the ship.
"Take me with you."
With a lot of convincing,
He let me come with him,
But like everything in life,
His agreement
Came with strings.
Pirates were superstitious
About women on their ships.
To be a pirate,
First I had to pretend
To be a man.
I loved being a pirate.
Loved the ports,
Loved the sea,
Loved the freedom,
But Kaleb…
Sometimes I wanted
To ring
That blasted man's neck.
My pirate name,
My male name,
The name I was stuck with,
That Kaleb happily
Bestowed upon me was laughable.
What kind of idiot
Would name a pirate Bernard?
That Irish git named me Bernard!
I'm English, not French.
Bernard was insulting,
But he was a pirate,
And if he is who I have to be
To be who I want to be,
I'll be him till I can be
At least my own gender again.
The crew was interesting
And all of them were very different,
Ranging from Leopold,
A lively, funny, charismatic dwarf,
To Tiny,
A gentle giant.
I stay in the galley most days,
Trying to cook something edible
For the crew to eat
Really only hoping
That no one gets poisoned.
I spend my nights with Kaleb,
We would talk
Till the sun would rise.
The more time I spent with him,
The less I wanted to kill him.
The more time I spent around him,
The more I liked him.
I could talk to him
As Isla
And not Bernard.
October 31, 1713,
That was the night
Everything changed between us.
The English were holding a masque ball
And we so kindly
Took it upon ourselves
To crash their party.
Following captain's orders,
Kaleb and I
Slipped into town
To find disguises
So we could walk
Right into the castle
Without any problems.
I found a dress
And a mask
In west London.
The mask was pretty,
Ivory with a lacey floral design.
The dress was beautiful,
A Quarter sleeve ivory ball gown
With exquisite detailing
In the skirt and bodice.
It would have given
Cinderella's ball gown
And glass slippers
A run for their money.
I looked in the mirror
A touch of make-up
And having my hair
For the first time
In a long time
In a women's hair style,
Wearing the dress
And the mask,
There was a difference
From the way I normally looked.
The woman looking back at me,
She was beautiful,
Stunning,
I could hardly believe
That she was my reflection.
When I found Kaleb,
He was in all black.
He was easy to find;
No one had eyes like his,
Eyes that reflected the sea.
Kaleb and I danced,
And as we danced,
I felt more for him
In that moment
Than in all of the moments
We had spent together.
This was not good,
Especially if he didn't know
I was one
He was dancing with.
To many feelings,
Too many thoughts,
Running through my mind.
I ran from him
And left the ball,
Before I completely lost myself.
"Isla!"
I heard an Irish brogue
Calling my name
When I reached
The outskirts if the castle.
I froze,
Took a deep breath,
And turned around.
I took in Kaleb's appearance
As he walked over to me,
Mask was off
And he was out of breath.
"Why are you panting?"
"Because I was running."
"Why?"
"I need to say something,
It will only take a second."
He stated.
I looked at him confused.
"When I first agreed
To let you come
I thought you were
The most hardheaded
Woman in the world."
"That's nice."
I scoffed,
Offended.
"Not finished."
He replied vexed,
"More time we spent together,
Things changed.
I didn't realize this
Until I was standing
In the middle of the ball
By myself.
So, marry me, Isla.
Because I would like you to stay
With me as you,
Not Bernard,
You
On the ship."
"It would be easier
If we didn't-"
I started.
He cut me off,
Knowing where
I was headed, "It would be."
"I'm scared."
I confided.
Kaleb was the only one
I had ever gotten close to.
"Me too."
Kaleb closed the gap between us,
Kissing me firmly,
Full of emotion,
And desire.
When I realized
I wasn't dreaming,
I kissed him back.
I pulled away lightly,
"I thought people got down
On one knee
When they proposed."
"I'll take that as a yes."
He kissed me again.
As we headed back to the ship
I told him
I was unaware
Pirates got married.
"Pirates do as they wish,
It is a benefit
Of being a pirate. "
He smiled,
"I also didn't think
You would be with someone
Without marrying them."
"I would have stayed
If you hadn't proposed."
He laughed lightly,
"Is breá liom tú"
He shook his head
And smiled brightly,
"That isn't what I meant, darlin'."
"Oh."
I realized his meaning.
"'Is breá liom tú'?
What does that mean?"
He shook his head,
Looking down at me,
"It's something
I should have said
A long time ago."
'Is breá liom tú'
I learned later
It was irish
For 'I love you'."
When she finished the poem, she left.
"Okay Hana, it's time to go to bed." I told her.
"I don't want to go to sleep." She replied, "I'm too excited."
"Very well, suit yourself." I shrugged, "You wanna hear a song?"
"Yeah!"
I sang Stay Awake from Mary Poppins, by the time I was done, she was fast asleep. I walked out of the room and turned out the light. "I think I have a new trick up my sleeve." I went to my room, which was next door to hers, and read while the rest of the girls went out to explore the town.
