Chapter 15
Disclaimer: You all know the drill by now. I ripped off Disney, didn't have permission, acknowledgements and apologies, etc…
Belle led the protesting Beast down the corridors, glad that she had had Dai show her the shortest route the day before. Otherwise they might have wandered for quite some time before arriving in the main receiving hall. As promised, Sasaki-san had sent the requested servant to meet them there. When asked, the fussy and proper onii had admitted that this particular servant had long ago learned the Western violin and would be agreeable to play for a dance lesson. Though Belle would have preferred a spinet, or at least a flute in addition to the violin, she was very grateful to have any appropriate music at all.
As the squeals of a tuning violin echoed throughout the hall, Belle began instructing the Beast in a slow waltz. Her mother had insisted she learn all sorts of fashionable dances, though Belle had complained bitterly as a child about their uselessness for a merchant's daughter. The underlying reason for this, of course, was not that she hated dancing, rather that she was always forced to dance with one of the rambunctious boys from next door. But now Belle was grateful for the practice in steering a reluctant partner without making it seem as if she were doing so. The Beast, still awkward balancing on his stunted hind legs, leaned heavily on her for the first few minutes as she led him slowly around the reception hall. Belle felt sweat trickling down her back and mentally scolded herself for such a poor idea. But then he suddenly seemed to find his rhythm and took over the lead step from her seemingly without effort.
Belle relinquished control reluctantly, and ruefully had to admit to herself that she was used to leading when she danced with a partner. But slowly she began to relax and allow the steps to flow naturally. The violinist picked up the pace, and Belle and the Beast came with it, lost in the magic and unconscious ease that comes when dancing with someone deeply trusted. Around and around they whirled…1, 2, 3 and 1, 2, 3 and…eyes locked…1, 2, 3 and…the room a blur…1, 2, 3 and…her palm resting gently in his clawed paw… Belle could not tear her gaze from his brilliant, flame-colored eyes. Then, abruptly, the eyes changed. The thin black slits of the pupils rounded out, and the fiery eyes staring at her from that reptilian face were human, filled with such sadness and longing that it made her heart sore. Caught by the spell of those eyes and stirred by the sudden depth of her own feelings, she leaned forward and rested her head gently on his white, snakelike chest.
They remained that way for several minutes as the music slowed. Then, very suddenly to Belle, they were brought back to earth by the musician's voice.
"My apologies!" it said, gasping, "But I simply cannot play anymore!"
Belle slowly stepped away from the Beast, sneaking a look at his eyes as he lowered himself to all fours once more. Slit-pupiled. Had she simply imagined the way they had changed, or not? Either way, she was not sure she liked the turn her thoughts were taking. She liked the Beast, certainly, though she would have thought herself mad to admit such a thing seven months before. But she trembled to think of the way her mind was arrowing forward, towards something she was not yet ready to see.
She shook her head a few times to distract herself, a gesture the Beast noticed immediately. "Genki desu ka? Are you well, Kirei-san?"
"Yes, of course." Belle was relieved to find that her voice still worked properly.
"Dizzy? Tired? Shall I escort you to your room?"
"No, no, I'm all right." She smiled at the disbelief in his eyes. "Truly. I was…dizzy for a moment. From the spinning. But I feel much better now."
"Perhaps a walk in the gardens?" he suggested, "It may be chilly still at this time of the year, but you will enjoy the sight of the cherry blossoms against the moon and sky."
"That sounds wonderful." And so they went out to the sakura tea pavilion again and stood admiring the blooming trees, silvered pale by the rising full moon. Belle shivered slightly at the wind's cold touch and stepped closer to the Beast; even here he was as warm as a banked kitchen fire. Though she would have liked to admire the beauty of the night and the trees, Belle found her thoughts turning to her father. She wondered, as she had not dared for some time, how he was faring without her. A single hot tear found its way down her cheek.
A gentle claw flicked it away. "Kirei-san? What is it? Tell me, please."
"I…" Belle faltered. She had never spoken of her worries about her father to the Beast, at first thinking he would not care and later remaining silent out avoidance of her own feelings. She took a deep breath. "I, I miss my father," she said in a rush.
"Are you so unhappy here with me, then?" There was no mistaking the hurt in his voice.
"No!" Belle surprised herself with the strength of her words. "I am happy here. Happier than I've been for…well, since before my mother died. But I worry so about my father. I wish I could see him once again, just to be certain he is safe and well."
"I understand," he said, so quietly that she almost missed it. She wondered how he could possibly understand, but then a stray memory of his brief, unconscious query when Belle had been tending his wounds chased its way across her thoughts. What of his own parents? Did he even have any family to remember, and miss?
"I'm sorry. I should never have mentioned it. It was selfish of me," she said, turning away to look out at the trees against the sky again.
"Never say that, Kirei-san. You are the least selfish of anyone I've ever known." He paused, and when she did not say anything, added in a low voice, "And as to your father…I believe I may have a way for you to see him."
Belle spun, making her rustling embroidered skirts flare around her. "Truly? You don't know what that would mean to me."
"Come, then." He led her back towards the oshiro, which was lit shimmering grey-white by the moon behind them. Belle remained silent with anticipation as they walked through the halls, but was startled when she set her foot down on a board and was met with an all-too-familiar squeal.
She stopped, staring at the Beast. "But…but this is…"
"Come. There is nothing to fear," was all he said without looking back. Nervously, Belle followed him, doing her best not to wince at every fresh cry from the nightingale floor.
Inside the soot-darkened room, Belle's eyes immediately sought out the sword she had seen before. This time, it was sheathed and displayed horizontally on a set of polished wooden stands placed on the table where the bowl of soup had been. As she drew closer, she saw that the sword's sheath was decorated with designs of dragons similar to those throughout the oshiro. The Beast, after unshuttering the glassed windows to let in the moonlight, took it off the stands with gentle care.
"This is Nightingale," he said conversationally, as if he were introducing her to a person.
"It's…lovely," was all the response Belle could think of.
Fortunately, the Beast either did not notice her awkwardness or chose to ignore it. He unsheathed the sword and laid the sheath on the table. Bare, Nightingale glinted deadly silver in the moonlight filtering in from the room's windows, the dark vines twisting on the side facing Belle. She noticed that the wilting red rose was nearly invisible near the haft, while the rest of the sword was just as she remembered it. Before she could ask any questions the Beast turned it over to reveal that the other side was undecorated and polished to mirror hue.
"I don't understand," Belle said after a moment, looking from him to the sword.
"Simply breathe on the flat of the blade so that you can no longer see your reflection, and then tell it what you wish to see," he instructed. Belle moved to take the sword from him and he pulled back. "I will hold it. Just do as I told you." Belle thought she detected a hint of a growl in his voice, so she did what he asked. Feeling a little foolish, she blew a mist of steam over the blade, and then said quickly, "Nightingale, I wish to see my father."
Immediately, the mist pulled back from the blade, and instead of her own reflection she saw a room filled with rows of solemn, seated, Nipponese men. About to ask the Beast what she had done wrong, she stopped when a heavyset figure was shoved before them. Belle cried out in dismay when she realized it was her father.
A voice came echoing from somewhere near the blade hilt. The words were in Nipponese, but Belle understood them all too well: "We find this man guilty of the crime of attempting to leave the official land allotted to the gaijin Dutchmen without permission." As Belle watched in horror, Koru was led to stand beside her father. The Nipponese judge, who was seated foremost in the rows of men, said, "We further find this man guilty of aiding the foreigner in his plans. The sentence: banishment from Nippon for the gaijin and death for his companion… "
"No! No!" Belle shrieked, backing away with her hands over her eyes. "It can't be true, it can't be!" Her knees buckled, and she fell hard on the wooden floor amid her billowing skirts, sobbing in despair.
"Kirei-san," a gentle, rumbling voice said, calling her back to the present. She lifted her blurry eyes to meet the Beast's own troubled ones. "Kirei-san, listen to me. It is likely that your father was attempting to come here to rescue you and was caught this time. I feel responsible for this unfolding tragedy. And there is nothing either of us can do to change his fate or that of his companion while you remain here."
"I can't just sit here and watch."
"No. And I cannot ask you to do so." There was a long, heavy pause. At last, the Beast glanced down at Nightingale, which Belle noticed was turned so that the side facing him was the side traced with vines. He looked away for a moment, closing his eyes, and then said in a low voice, "But you may share your father's fate, if you wish."
Belle stared. "Are you saying—"
"I release you from your promise to stay here always. We both know that it was wrong of me to do so, just as it would be wrong to cage you when your heart calls you elsewhere. If you so choose, you may return to the Dutch quarter, and leave Nippon forever with your father when the time comes."
Belle's heart leapt strangely. "I…well…thank you…"
"You must understand, though, Kirei-san. If you leave the oshiro grounds, you can never change your mind and return. An enchantment is on this place, and it cannot be found by any who are looking for it, only by those who arrive here by accident. If you were to leave, and then decide otherwise, it would be too late. No matter how you wandered in the forest, the oshiro would not appear."
"I understand." Belle was silent for a moment, trying to ignore the niggling feeling that she was doing the wrong thing.
Her expression was easily read. The Beast sighed, and said, "Go, then, if that is your decision. You must leave at once if you are to reach the Dutch quarter in time."
"I don't know how to thank you..." Belle trailed away, unable to think of anything better to say in parting.
He looked away, baring his teeth, as though her words pained him. Since it seemed that he wasn't going to say anything more, Belle started to turn. But his rough voice, strangely choked, said, "Wait." She paused, looking at him. He held out a dagger, much more finely made than the one she used for practice. The hilt and sheath matched the designs on Nightingale perfectly, though the silver-blue blade, when she drew it to look, was undecorated. "Take this with you. Use it well, as long as you live…and remember me."
"I could never forget you, Beast," Belle said with feeling. Then, unable to bear the look in his eyes anymore, she turned and fled down the nightingale corridor towards her own room.
Author's note: Sniff! Sniff! The heartbreak begins...
In case anyone is wondering, a spinet is a forerunner of the piano. And "Genki desu ka" literally means "Are you healthy?", but is more colloquially translated as "How are you?" or "Are you well?"
SamoaPhoenix9
