-Oxford - Wednesday: Part 1-
It had been a very restless night for Ren after Kyoko had left. There were so many questions that were running through his head. They ranged from wondering why she had that blue stone, why it was called Corn, could she be the child Kyoko he met as a child? The man who had tried to force himself on her that afternoon to Heth who indeed had. Why had she been able to fight the one and not the other? Then he would start recalling the photoshoot how she looked, how badly he wanted no one else to see her but him. Just thinking about that had a calming power over his mind but it always went to her kissing him outside of his hotel room door. The fact that she had willingly kissed him without the act of pretending to be with him, the fact that there hadn't been any desire for more. His hand kept trailing towards his cheek, he had thought the first one had been warm but he had been wrong. That one had been a gentle breeze compared to the last one, which seemed to burn its way into his very being.
That had been the real reason he had dragged himself out of bed far earlier than he had planned. He was going crazy and if he laid there anymore he might really become mad or do something stupid like seek her out. Making his way down to the indoor gardens he would be early and perhaps the gardens themselves could keep his mind away from her at least until he saw her this morning or so he had thought. It seemed he was not the only one who had thought that. Still, he was sure that Kyoko played the flute and this was different, this was a string instrument. The music was more alluring that Kyoko playing the flute and while he figured he had time before she came it wouldn't hurt to see who was playing.
He had been surprised to see her kneeling in a mint green peter pan dress, around her neck was the necklace that had been made last night with the blue stone. His eyes trailed towards her face for a moment but she was focused on the instrument she knelt before. Slowly his eyes trailed down to koto that she was playing. The strings yellow color told him it was likely made with silk and he noted the ivory bridges. It spoke of a traditional koto vs a more modern koto. Somehow it made the sound seem richer to his ears.
He watched in awe as her fingers dance across the 13 strings. Ruto appeared behind him. Ruto's eyes were on Kyoko, "Butterfly lovers..." he spoke the words so low that Ren almost didn't hear him speak. Ren reached into his pocket to pull out his phone but Ruto placed a hand on his shoulder, "It's a story about two lovers who could not be together until they became butterflies."
Ren's eyes turned towards back towards Kyoko as she played. 'Why would she play such a thing?'
"She learned it for Lory it is a rather romantic song if not tragic in its own way."
Ren felt there might have been more to the reason that just Lory but he could not be sure about the matter. He realized how little he knew about this girl who had so easily entrapped him.
"I must warn you, Kuu will be here tonight." his eyes turned towards Ren for a moment who closed his eyes "Lory will be here as well as three others." his eyes looked towards him for a moment. "You do not know them." With that Ruto moved towards Kyoko, taking a seat under the tree as she played. All of a sudden Ren felt he didn't belong there but her song had ended and she looked up at him and any chance of wanting to escape disappeared.
Kyoko nodded her head and watched as Ren walked towards her. His movement said he wasn't sure if he should be there but it had been his idea anyway. "I didn't expect you to be here so early" she looked away but could feel his eyes on her as she played.
"I had a hard time sleeping." her eyes turned towards him for a moment before looking back down at the cords she was playing.
"I'm sorry, I'm sure last night had been hard for you. I must have put you through a lot of stress with all that happened… but I did not expect to come across someone who had who hurt me." No, she had not expected to see Shoutaro let alone Heth. They both had their own problems and the truth of the matter she was scared of both men. Yet both for different reasons. Shoutaro because she now understood he still had control over her and she worried she might never be able to truly remove that control. They had grown up together so it was only logical that he would hold such a strong hold over her very being. Heth, frighten her to death. Nevermind that he could kill her, but that he could depend on his mood make the process extremely painful and long-lived.
"That's not what kept me from sleeping last night." His voice was soft and she nodded her head.
She was truly happy that last night had bothered him, she would had felt awful if she had caused him more trouble than she already had. "I'm glad to hear that." they fell into silence as she played she lifted her head as he shifted some.
"Is it okay to talk while you play?" The question caught her off guard as she looked back down she allowed the question to hang in the air for a moment as she played before nodding her head some. "I thought we could play 20 questions."
'Why would you want to play that?' she mentally shook her head as he went on to explain the rules.
"You have to be honest when it comes to the questions. If you are caught in a lie you have to pay up. The payment can be anything as long as it doesn't go against your moral code or break any laws." He leaned forward some. "It will only last until all the questions have been asked so if I don't catch it prior to the end then I can't force a punishment on you." He leaned back as she played, she could only guess that it was to give her time to think about this little game.
She saw no real harm in though other than the more questions he could ask the harder it might be to tell part truths that protected who she was now. She really was once again happy that Lory had created enough of a past that included her present otherwise that would have been problematic."I will give you ten questions." When he didn't answer right away she wondered if he was giving up on his little game him and she felt him sigh as he leaned back she looked up with her eyes only seeing that he was watching her but not really looking at her at the moment.
"Deal. That stone why is it important to you?" his first question caught her off guard for a moment and she stopped playing, her hands resting on the strings.
Taking a deep breath she once began to play, "It is my most prized treasure." she could feel his annoyance at the answer. Yet it wasn't a lie either. Yet she could tell this was not the answer he had wanted by the look on his face.
"So you lived Kyoto?" it hadn't been much of a questioned as more of a statement but she was going to take it as such.
Well yes in her past life but not now. Still, she thought she knew a way out of this little question without really lying or answering."Great Grandfather lived there. I spent much time with him as a child." this too was not a lie and she closed her eyes for a moment, it also wasn't exactly the truth, he hadn't at the time being anything but a kind old man who had helped patch up her cuts and scrapes when the other girls got rough. "He lived near the man I was betrothed to. He was very kind but he didn't take very good care of his health. Worried all the time about his daughter and his grandson, my father." she felt a slight pain in her heart. She had realized who the elder man was when she had seen the photos from Grandma Leiko of her father. She had wanted her to have a good idea of who the people were the case it was ever brought up. She, however, had never spoken of it because it was never brought up at the time. Fate had a funny way of making things happen. It was always meant to be her to find Lory, that was what she believed now. It was just a little to slow, if only it had happened sooner. 'No… I must not think that way.' she sighed softly as she played
"He died so very suddenly. I can still remember his smile though, he always praised me for my cooking but he always lectured me about cleaning his home, it was very traditional style and fit the area but even with the staff there that helped keep the place in order. I'd often find something that needed to be done. Besides I could tell he was lonely, he missed his daughter and Father was busy. He understood but it still made his heart sad." This wasn't a lie either, she really did believe that and the stories he told her always seemed so big to be true. His daughter a real-life Princess who became a Queen, his grandson a King in his own right. Those had been her favorite stories, the fairytales that were true. If only she really understood at the time just how true they had been. She hated the memory of the last time she went to see him… and had found out he had died. Her heart had broken, because she really liked him to her she dreamt that he was her grandfather, if only she had been allowed one. With him gone she found herself in love with Shoutaro because he had been so kind and gentle to her when he had died. He had comforted her though she had not cried in front of him and it touched a part of her soul. Before he had never shown such warmth and affection from him before and she clung to it.
Her eyes turned towards Ruto for a moment before seeing the surprised look in his eyes before smiling at him. "Great Grandfather house is still owned by Father isn't it?" Ruto nodded his head "We must go there sometime. I would like to see the place once more."
"I'm sure your Father would enjoy that." her eyes turned towards back to Ren who seemed to be thinking before turning back to her music. She knew now what he really wanted. He wanted the story behind Corn and he likely was trying to figure out a way to bring the topic back to this.
"So you got it from your Great Grandfather?"
"No." she could feel his annoyance at how simple this answer was and how she did not say anything more. She understood what he wanted to know how and if she could keep its focus on this and nothing more then the ten questions would be over with and he would not be allowed to ask her anything else. Unless he caught on to the fact that she didn't exactly answer his question only stated she had indeed been to Kyoto.
"So you got this from a souvenir shop?"
"No." This time she lifted her head to look at his face. She couldn't help but smile at how everything around him seemed to start to swirl as he thought. Still, a small part of her was starting to feel a little bad for giving him simple answers now.
"You didn't or they didn't?" Her hands still as she watched him. The way he ran his hand through his hair in frustration was new. She didn't recall seeing him do such a thing before but then she didn't really pay much attention to him prior.
"That's two questions…" there had been anger but final acceptance likely because she was in a way correct he could not argue. "But no I did not and I do not know where they got it from." She tilted her head as she waited for his next question.
"Who gave it to you?" There was a tone in his voice she wasn't sure about but he seemed very focused on who gave it to her and not so much the story around it. It was strange but she pushed it aside. She could only guess that if she had shown Corn more often people would also have asked such questions in the past and so she went along with this sort of logic.
"It was given to me by a childhood friend," she said turning back to play the koto. She could feel his aura as her children swooned around him, there was depression mixed in with it as if he was trying to understand something and she was not making it easy on him. 'This is the game you wanted to play.'
"Why did they give it to you?" His voice had a hint of what she could only guess was sadness.
Though she did not understand why he would be sad or maybe it was just making him think of something from his own past. Did that not often happen to her? "It was a parting gift because of the sadness in my heart at the time. They told me that they hoped that the stone would reduce my tears."
"They must have gotten it from a local." she lifted her head to look at him not understanding why he would say such a thing."Doesn't it bother you that they likely lied to you?"
"It does not matter if they did." That to her was the truth. The where it came from, or how Corn had gotten it mattered not at all.
"Why not?" He looked at her as it was clear he was curious about this little bit of information.
She debated on what sort of answer she should give him while she played before choosing to just be honest about it and not give him a short answer, for some reason it sounded like he needed it for himself. 'It likely deals with a memory of some sort that was causing him pain now.' So maybe her words would bring him some peace. "I believe with all my heart that stone was very dear to them. It could not have been easy to give it away... something that brought them comfort to someone they hardly knew. Still, they did so" she tilted her head slightly, "and even if they didn't truly treasure it. It's magic worked. So their desire for my happiness was pure enough to allow it to work." she smiled softly as she looked at him, "I would think if it had just been words, the magic would have failed long ago." She rose to her feet and stretched the kinks out of her body.
"What was his name?" Her eyes trailed over to his. There was something she was missing but she supposed he was just curious about it, Lory had been and so had Ruto when she had first come to them. Not only that but he been trying to get a name out of her pretty much the whole time.
"I'm afraid you already asked 10 questions… and besides, I never said it was a boy" she closed her eyes shaking her head, "You shouldn't just assume it was." Opening her eyes she turned towards Ruto who had risen from his seat and moved towards her holding the white cloth to wrap her koto up in his hands. Taking the cloth from him she thanked him before turning to take care of her koto.
"Just guessed with a name like Corn it was a boy." She felt like he was teasing her but she would not hold it against him this time.
"Have you met many men with the name Corn?" she refused to look at him, mainly because she didn't want to damage her koto but because she already knew the answer to her own question.
"Not exactly."
"Then it can easily be a name a little girl gave to a stone so that it would feel more real to her once she was left behind. To ease the pain that caused in her heart." As she finished wrapping the koto up she heard footsteps coming towards them. Her eyes narrowed as a uniform office appeared. The one from yesterday.
A/N: The Butterfly Lovers - It's a lot like Romeo and Juliet. Liang Shan-bo and Zhu Ying-tai couldn't be together when they were alive. They end up choosing death because of the circumstances that kept them from being together. At their death, they turned into butterflies and escaped from the rules that kept them apart allowing them to be together.