It was all for nothing. Reino had won and she would become his wife, a trophy to crown his victory. Just would could Tsuruga Ren possibly say that could help the situation? A fantasy regency-ish romance. AU.

The door banged against the frame, bouncing back open from the force of which Kyoko slammed it. She didn't bother returning to close it. She kept moving, a whirlwind brought to life as she tore through her satchel.

Oils and brushes tumbled across the floor. Paints bust open, coloring her bare feet and bleeding across the planks. They squelched underfoot as she shuffled through her stack of canvases. She found the one she was looking for, a long eight-by-ten sheet of linen. She slammed it onto the easel leaving yellow fingerprints on its untainted surface. It did not matter. Her emotions would not be limited in the constricting fashion of realism anyway.

Holding a brush between her teeth, Kyoko pulled back her hair and sleeves. Then she went to work.

What came from her brush held no sense of control or dignity. It was untamed. As wild and raw as her feelings. Her hand sang what her mouth could not through gritty browns and painful reds. They melded together in a powerful dance. Her usual style of timid rule-following was gone. She didn't need it here. Not anymore at least. It was only a matter of time before even this was taken from her. So why should she restrict herself when this may be the last painting she made?

Her hand shook, hovering at a corner of the canvas. Against her will, it returned to her color palate and dug into the cadmium lemon. Cobalt blue soon joined it, as did other shades of yellow and blue. She scraped and prodded the area until it was just right, taking more care with this section of her heart.

"It's beautiful," said a voice behind her.

Kyoko turned.

Through the open door, he had snuck in without her notice. The very last person she wanted to see this painting. Tsuruga Ren.

His dark eyes held hers, black, the perfect color of deception. She hated those spelled eyes. She liked his real ones better. Irises that blended perfectly from viridian to kelly green. They held more life than the ones that stared at her now. Not that she had any room for judgement. Her eyes held the same spell, the cover everyone wore to keep their emotions from being read.

Even Ren's attire held no color. Black frockcoat and dark breeches. If it wasn't for proper fashion trends he might have traded his white neckerchief for a black one, but no. To the man, it was important to keep up appearances. To fool others that he held more control than he actually did. It wasn't until now that Kyoko could truly see the appearance for what it was. A deception to protect his true brilliance.

Kyoko returned her gaze to the picture, looking at it for the first time.

Even she wasn't sure what she was seeing at first glance. She was lost in the scuffs and scrapes that flowed through each other. It pulled her eye around, creating a dizzying dance with no true focal point. She took a step back. Then another until she stood at the opposite end of the room beside the man.

"It's a grove, isn't it?" said Ren. "Though it's not one I've ever seen before, nor have I ever seen a painting style like this. It's memorizing."

Kyoko pocketed her brush in the apron around her waist, raising her hands. She hesitated, then let her fingers dance in their own language.

"I don't know. I wasn't thinking when I painted it."

"Indeed?" said Ren, who had watched her hands. His gaze now returned to the canvas. "I should find that hard to believe, but I don't. You've always had a strange knack of portraying your feelings in surprising ways." He nodded to the canvas. "May I take a closer look?"

She nodded. She wouldn't deny the man that had freed her mind with painting and sign language. Whatever he asked her, she would give it if it was within her power to do so.

He examined her painting, hand covering his mouth as he squinted, bent and circled the painting. She'd seen him do this to art countless times, her own included. This time was different. The usual apprehension she felt was gone. This time she didn't care what he said about it. This painting wasn't for him, nor was it for her family, the public, or anyone else. It was hers, and hers alone.

Ren finally stopped.

"What happened Mogami-san?" His voice was low, horse, and held more emotion than she had ever heard from him. Ren never sounded so lost. He was always sure, powerful and in control. Had her painting really moved him that much? Or was it something else?

He looked over his shoulder, and there! She saw it for a moment. A glimmer of Viridian below that obsidian darkness. His spell was wavering. He wanted her to see him beneath the glamour.

Too bad it all came too late.

She raised her hands, slowly signing.

"We just got a report back from the docks. Father's ship was lost at sea. Without those assets, we're bankrupt. To save our family, Father decided to accept the marriage offer from Reino. His money will stop us from being thrown into the poor house."

Her hands started moving faster, trembling as she strove to keep signing.

"After everything I did to prevent this, it was all for naught. It showed me just how foolish my hopes were. How fragile life really is. Reino has won. The mines will be his and he'll have a complete monopoly. No one will be able to stop him. Everyone will suffer because of it, and I'll be his prize. A trophy to crown his victo-"

Rough hands closed around hers. She looked up, alarmed at seeing Ren so close. She hadn't noticed him approach and… his face! What fire she could see in its lines and edges. Flames held no heat against the passion he held in his gaze. She found herself transfixed under his unwavering gaze.

"That will not happen," he said. "I will not let him marry you."

Kyoko stared at him, then ripped her hands from his grip. The bitterness she was unable to voice from her mouth came from her trembling fingers.

"What can you do to stop it? Our family is done, and unless you have some hidden cellar of wealth this is the only solution. Whether we sell the mines to stay afloat or I marry Reino, the result is the same. He gets the mines and the disparity between the people will get worse. I fear for our city's workers."

"Do you plan to give up so easily?" said Ren. "Do you not care that he will become your husband?"

Bile rose in Kyoko's throat at the thought. She imagined Reino's greedy hands holding hers, standing beside him, birthing his child and becoming a wife to the loathsome man. Her insides writhed, her soul crumpling at the thought of him having her. She'd do anything to prevent that ghastly future.

"I don't know what else to do," she signed. "At least in the marriage, I can save my family from ruin."

"That will not happen," he said. "I will do whatever it takes to save you Mogami-san."

Pain stabbed at her. What an unfair thing for him to say. For so long she had been longing to hear some evidence that he cared. That he saw her at least something more than his student. Now, here it was, one day too late to mean anything.

Tears pricked at her eyes. Those emotions she'd strew across the canvas were leaking through. Why, oh why was he even here? He wasn't supposed to come back until next week when she'd already be gone.

"Why should you care?" her trembling fingers signed. "I'm just another student to you. It doesn't change anything if I'm no longer here."

"It does matter." Ren stepped forward "You matter to me."

His forehead pressed against hers, one hand at the base of her neck. The dark covering his eyes vanished as he let her see him. See the unfiltered noble greens that shone from his eyes. Kyoko's breath caught. Without that mask, she could read the emotions within. See without a doubt the love and admiration he held for her.

True tears now slid down her cheek.

Why have you hidden this from me? she wished to ask, but that would require pulling away. Breaking whatever spell had overcome them in this moment. Her throat begged to ask the mountain of questions within her, but most of all, to ask if what she saw was wrong. To make sure she was not mistaken.

The hand behind her neck tightened but did not constrict her.

Then he suddenly let go.

Ren pulled away, the green in his eyes vanishing beneath the obscuring black. Though the color of his heart was gone, she couldn't forget what she had seen.

"Sorry," said Ren. He was obviously upset, trying to find control. "That was inappropriate. I shouldn't have…"

His hand skirted across his hair, his mannerisms wild compared to his usual composure. It took five heart beats for him to collect himself. Five heart beats where hope pounded in Kyoko's chest. He took a breath, closed his eyes, then opened them again.

His soul was back. Unfiltered green shone forth.

"Forgive me, Mogami-san," he said. "You have more than enough stresses without this to the mix, I am sure, but I will not have you misunderstand me. I do care very much about you. I have always cared."

Trembling, Kyoko's hands rose. Then she clasped them to her chest, pain erupting there.

What did he mean by caring? Was it brotherly? Romantic? Fatherly? Did it even matter? All she wished to do was drop the spell covering her own eyes. To let him see every bit of love that she held for him. Her resolution was fractured and broken, nothing but a flimsy sting holding back her flood of emotions.

And the longer she stared at his kelly green eyes, the flimsier that string became.

She felt the spell in her irises flicker. Yellow uncertainty bleed into Ren's green, and she knew he had seen it. Knew that her spell was failing.

He stepped forward. "Mogami-san."

Kyoko squeezed her eyes shut, feeling the spell drop. She bent her head, hands stretched out with fingers splayed.

She felt him come closer.

"Please, don't hide them from me," he said.

He didn't touch her. Didn't command or raise his voice. He just asked, softly, something achingly tender in his request.

Lips trembling, Kyoko lifted her eyes to him.

Their eyes met in a dance of colors. She watched as drops of daffodil, cherry and midnight bleed into his green. They swirled and shifted, each a reaction to her own colored emotions. Then they melded back into that familiar color, shaded in love and distress.

"Please tell me I am not imagining what I see in your eyes," he plead.

The desperation in his voice broke her last thread of control. Her hands lifted, heavy and light as she spoke in the way he had taught her.

"On the canvas," she signed. "Where blue light permeates the gloom. That is what you are to me."

"Which means?" he pressed. "I need to see you say it."

Kyoko paused, hands ready to sign the gesture of love. But it didn't seem enough. Love wasn't a strong enough word. Her heart trembled at signing such an intimate part of her soul, yet she swallowed her fear and let excitement be her wings as she brought her hands together. They curled and rested on her chest to form the sign of her heart. Her soul. Her source of life.

Relief flooded his expression. He let out a long breath, staring at her as if he couldn't believe what he saw. His eyes immediately deepened to a pine green as specks of sunlight dotted his iris's. Then he smiled.

The pure joy in his expression took Kyoko's breath away and she wished for a brush to forever capture the exquisite light he emitted. Time slowed as she tried to savor the sweet happiness rising within her. She felt so full she may bust from anticipation.

Ren reached forward, gently taking one of her hands. He intertwined it with his own, imitating her gesture with their two hands against his own chest.

"Me too, Mogami-san," he said. "You are the same for me."

The dam cracked within her as her tears renewed their fall. Ren gently pulled her closer, letting her eyes dampen his shoulder. He spoke in her ear, whispering tender words that conveyed the extent of his feelings. With each declaration, her heart would swell to another size.

Was it possible to be so happy? Was it possible to be so bitter? The joy each word of love brought to her heart was tainted by the growing knowledge that it could never be. Her voiceless throat managed to sob and shake from her extreme feelings as Ren gently stroked the back of her neck, his fingers soft against her skin. Then he took a step back.

Kyoko dipped her head to clean her face from its mess. A gentle press of two fingers below her chin guided her eyes back upward as she again met those viridian eyes. No. Pine green. A dark green. A color only meant for her.

"I will not let you be taken by him," said Ren, and the power with which he spoke made Kyoko believe him. It seemed her teacher could accomplish anything with determination alone.

The question shone in her eyes and he answered as if she had spoken.

"I can't tell you how I will," he said, hesitating. "But I promise you, Mogami-san, I will protect you."

What could he do that hadn't already been done? He'd helped her so much already, provided her with so much strength. She dreaded the answer, yet resolutely rose her hands to ask.

"What are you going to do?"

"I can not say," he said.

"Which means I won't like it,"

Cobalt grief flickered in his eyes. His smile faltered as he spoke. "No, you will not. But I no longer have a choice."

The bitterness was back. Her joy seeped away leaving her with a fraction of what she had felt before. But a fraction it was, and she cradled it tenderly, for with his declaration he had given her something irreplaceable.

"Whatever it is you must do," she signed. "Please, promise me at least that it will not cause you any harm."

She saw the lie before he spoke it. It declared itself in the crimson that streaked across his eyes. Her alarm was immediate, wishing for the thousandth time for a voice to speak her thoughts. She stepped forward, placing her palms on his chest as her eyes danced with concern.

"I'm sorry," he said, and his eyes lowered, making them impossible to read. "But I can't let you suffer any longer."

She pulled her hands back, frantically signing her protests at whatever it was he was about to do. Her words were silenced as he suddenly pulled her close, his face coming near to hers. Her body reacted instinctively, and she closed her eyes.

His lips met hers, their touch soft and tender. It lasted but a moment, parting only inches away as she recuperated from the sensation. How incredible that had felt! She wanted to dance from the energy surging through her.

Before she could act on her feelings, he kissed her again, this time more urgently. Her body felt light as feelings swelled within her. The touch sent waves of passion all the way down her spine to swirl in her stomach before it seemed to push outward and past her own existence. She had thought her feelings for Ren the limit of where love extended and found in this kiss how horribly wrong she was. She saw how much further her adoration could stretch together with his touch.

This time when they broke, she swayed, afraid she may fall. She wasn't in control of herself. Her mind had entered a state of bliss she never thought possible. Her anchor caught her, pulling her to his chest with a deep, satisfied hum. She smiled as she snuggled in closer, relishing the moment.

It didn't last long.

Ren suddenly pulled back, placing a final kiss on her temple. Then he turned and left, her hand trailing his path.

Shocked at the sudden departure, Kyoko stood dumbly. Her heart throbbed, panic making her body tremble. Had he just— where was he-?

She ran, her mouth opening wordlessly to cry after him. Nothing but a soft gasp escaped her lips as she stumbled into the hall and ran headlong into a maid carrying the laundry.

The maid let out a cry of surprise, the sheets spilling around them. Kyoko scrambled to disentangle herself, paint staining the pristine linen. She made it to the front door just in time to see Ren galloping away on his stallion. A trail of dust disappeared around the bend, and he was gone.

This can't be happening.

Kyoko felt numb, sinking down on the front steps. She couldn't hear the inquiry of the maid as blood rushed in her ears. She just stared at where Ren had left.

He was coming back, right? She hadn't imagined everything that had transpired? It seemed too impossible that Ren could love her, or that he could save them from her fate. Her body felt empty compared to the elation that had filled it only moments before.

She stumbled to her feet, whipping around to the maid and signing for her to fetch her horse. At the confused stare of the maid, Kyoko clapped sharply to snap the girl into action. Kyoko was not letting Ren get away like this. She wanted answers, but mostly, she wanted to make sure everything that had happened was real. That Ren would return to her side. Her heart still ached from the feelings he had given her.

The maid ran off, leaving Kyoko alone. She hugged her palm to her chest, willing it to stop hurting. Her mind tortured her with his sweet words and the colors she had witnessed in his eyes. It just made the ache worse, and she was left staring at the empty trail where Ren had left her.

Thank you all for reading!

All sign language gestures and words are made up by yours truly. Because obviously this is a made up universe if magic is present. Man, I love magic. Freaking yeah!

Also… I have no idea where this came from or where it's going. Or if it goes anywhere. This is what happens when I combine pantsing and the replay button on certain songs.

Thanks for reading!

-Blushweaver