Disclaimer: I don't own Kyo Kara Maoh.
Wonderful Wonder World
~ Chapter Five: Arrival ~
Fleur stepped towards her desk, eyes landing on her dragonfly Coach glasses. Ever so gently, she picked them up with both hands. She then allowed them to jingle from her right hand as she cupped her left hand under her chin in consideration. "Hmmm…" She turned around and looked in Conrart's direction. "So…how do you suppose we return to your world?" Either way, I'll need at least my glasses, a glasses case and my medication. I don't have to bring along my contacts if it'll be that much more difficult to transport them.
Even though it wasn't all Fleur's fault and most of the blame was to be put on her father for being so merciless when dealing with a young woman, Conrart felt like such a kidnapper. The young woman he had encountered sometime ago and had not even spent a month with her let alone a year or more...Oh boy, what had he just done?! He placed a gentle, but firm hand upon her father's shoulder. "Please, allow me to-" I really need to try and calm everyone.
The man shrugged him off with what would usually be a withering glare to Gunter or Yuuri or anyone with less of the ability to stand firm under such pressure. "Don't you think you've done enough already?!" This guy has some nerve!
Conrart looked pained. Has he forgotten me? It bothered him somewhat that the man couldn't even so much as remember him as someone he had at least met before. Well, it wasn't as if they had been best buddies. It should've been expected, but still…
The young woman glared at her father. "Oh? You're still here?" Jeez, what's with him?! She may as well have been standing outside within the deep south of the United States of America at noon with boots, pants, long sleeves, a heavy jacket, a hat and a pair of gloves meant for cold weather. If she didn't go somewhere and be on her own, the bomb inside her would explode and all of her insides would be all over the bedroom.
Her father looked hurt. "Well, you know what this means, don't you?" He was referring to the fact that she wouldn't have medical insurance or car insurance. He didn't have to provide it all for her. In fact, he could've just tossed her out onto the streets. Basically, it was as if his older daughter had wanted just that.
She approached the plastic drawer set, glasses still in hand. "Yes, daddy dearest and I'm fully prepared!" She dropped down onto her knees, reached for the top clear drawer, grabbed the small lip at the top center and pulled towards her. Now where is my glasses case? She dug around inside the drawer until she discovered a plain, red, light metal case.
Conrart grinned nervously. "Are you sure about this?" He watched her close the drawer, open the case, take out a pair of sunglasses, put them on top of the set of drawers, put her glasses inside the case and then shut it.
With a sigh, she stood and looked at her father, case in her right hand. "Look, don't get me wrong. I totally love my parents and I totally adore my younger sister, but what I really need right now is to be let go. I know I'm taking loads of risks and it seems like a choice that's made abruptly in one of those irrational, temperamental situations, but…" She stopped, closed her eyes and took a deep breath, sighing and shaking her head. "It's just too difficult to explain, but you know the lyrics to this one song, right? It's talking about how this woman can't see herself getting old and broken down from the strain of a life full of hard manual labor in the fields on a farm. This woman can't see herself constantly praying for the rain. If her dreams ran on gasoline and if her desires ran on tires, she'd be somewhere else. There is also a song that says that a woman got married and has kids. It talks about how she really doesn't want to leave, but she wonders if there is life out there somewhere."
Her father didn't want her to go, but he also didn't want her to hate him. "Okay, okay, I get it! Stop blabbing!" Inside his mind, he pictured his wife crying and glaring at him, accusing him of letting her go. Oh, Fleur, your mother's not going to like this. He then pictured inside his mind a very happy younger daughter. She had complained for quite sometime that her bedroom was way too small and that there was never enough space inside her bedroom closet.
Fleur was so happy that her heart could burst with all of her emotions. She threw herself at her father, wrapping her arms loosely around his neck and kissing him on the cheek. "Phew! Thank you so, so much!"
He sighed in surrender and hugged her tightly against him as if protecting her from something horrible. "Promise me one thing." I helped to raise this crazy girl. She can't be all that bad. A memory of her early years in elementary school flashed inside his mind and he realized that time had flowed and she had grown up really quickly on him. She was no longer that same, goofy, long blonde haired, pigtailed little girl.
She felt herself enter her father's shoes even more than ever before. Of course, her father loved her dearly and he wanted nothing bad to happen to her. He only wanted her to be happy and successful. "Anything!"
"This is still your home even though you, your mother, your sister and I don't always get along. Please, don't forget that." No matter how much he wanted to sometimes and no matter how many times he wanted to, he still couldn't manage to cruelly toss her out onto the streets to fend for herself.
"I promise I won't!"
Her father stopped hugging her and gently patted the top of her head. "Good then. You're such a good child, yet so much trouble."
She approached the white Aeropostle bag with its black horizontal stripes that had been on the floor in front of her drawer set by the door for a few days. She knelt down and rummaged through the bag, pulling out a black folder with music sheets inside it and setting the entire thing on the wood floor to the left side of the bag. She then placed the glasses case with the glasses inside into the bag, grabbed the bag by its straps and stood.
She stepped in front of the open bedroom door and took one step out into the hallway. Turning to her right, she made her way along the hallway, pass the foyer and into the kitchen area. As soon as she entered the kitchen area, she turned left and took a few steps and then turned left again. She stood in front of her medication filled container, grabbed the entire thing and shoved it into her bag. Next, she stood on the tips of her toes as she reached for the plastic, black box on top of the fridge to her left. She grabbed the box, spilled its contents into her bag and placed the box onto the counter.
Wolfram stood in the middle of the kitchen, staring at her in confusion. "Um, what are you doing?" She's preparing to leave? He had his own set of suspicions. After all, he barely even knew the woman. It kind of gave him the creeps to witness someone so giddy.
Fleur smiled at him and couldn't help but to giggle like a little school girl who had been invited to a huge party. "Hey there, Wolfram. I'm going to be joining you guys for a while." She practically bounced with excitement. I can't wait!
Yuuri stood behind the blonde headed boy. "Wolfram, what are you doing?" He was nervous about Wolfram bothering the young woman. Somehow Wolfram had always managed to bring out the horrible in others. Whether he meant to or not, he still had that tendency.
Fleur walked toward the door to the garage. When she realized that no one followed her, she called as loud as she possibly could, "Come on, I'm ready to leave!" She wasn't the most patient of women.
Conrart rushed out of the bedroom, down the hall, pass the foyer and into the kitchen area. He had just made a promise to Fleur's father that he would protect her no matter what. He had both Fleur and Yuuri to protect.
He rushed pass Wolfram and Yuuri just as Fleur reached the door and opened it, stepping out into the garage. "Whoa, hold on there!" Sheesh, what a troublesome, impatient person!
Wolfram and Yuuri looked at each other, shrugged and followed Conrart and Fleur. It was as if they were the ones along for the ride. Without complaint, they just followed along. It was the best way to deal with the current situation and both of them knew that despite most of their past behavior.
Conrart followed right behind the speedy, impatient Fleur. "Are you sure about this?" He didn't want to force her into something she thought she knew what she wanted and it turned out that she had no idea. He knew full well that people often resented each other for that very reason. She probably doesn't know what she's really getting herself into.
Fleur stomped forward towards the end of the driveway. "Grrr…Stop asking me that! What is this, like, the second time?!" I've made up my mind! Deal with it! It was always something she'd disliked. People seemed to constantly treat her as if she were a child seduced by something beautiful that turned out to be something evil.
Conrart walked closely behind her. "All I'm saying is that maybe you shouldn't go off on tempered adventures." He figured even though her father had given her the okay to go through with it, she could still turn around. I honestly don't think she understands what's really out there in the world she's about to enter.
" 'Tempered adventures', " she muttered, clenching her fists and tightening her jaw and then she raised her voice. "Oh? Is that what you would call this?! Am I of that little significance to you?!" Why on earth did I ever kiss him?! Another voice deep inside her answered, "You're quite taken to him." Inside her mind, she scolded her other self.
She came upon the edge of a ravine, staring down into the depths of it, watching as the water slipped over, under and between rocks in the creek below. Her feet glued themselves there and she gulped. "I'm just taking a wild guess, but we have to jump, right?" Her back remained towards the other members of the group.
Conrart bent his knees as he placed his left arm under her upper back and his right arm under her legs at the hind end of the knees and swept her up off of her feet. He held her tightly against his chest as he leapt up off the very edge of the ravine and dove straight towards the waters below.
"ARE YOU INSANE," she screamed at him, closing her eyes, the rush of the thrill exciting her all the more. It felt good to fear for an instant and then feel bliss. The water felt refreshingly cold and it surprised her that neither one of them banged their bodies up against the rocks.
Yuuri and Wolfram jumped in right after them. By then, Yuuri was already used to it and Wolfram was somewhat already used to it. They found themselves drifting amongst watery air just before a sky emerged overhead.
Conrart dragged a limp Fleur out of the pond that was located amongst the walls of the Tomb of the Great One, looking very worried. "Oh no! Hey, Fleur!" I don't get it. What happened? He knew she could swim because he'd witnessed her happily swim at a nearby lake while she was on vacation.
Someone's calling my name. Fleur felt trapped within her body. She could barely hear Conrart and it was difficult to breathe with all the water clogging every single possible opening.
Yuuri heard Conrart's worried voice and sat up, looking around. When he saw a very worried Conrart and a limp Fleur, he stood, defying the blood rush, and ran towards them about maybe ten or eleven inches away. Water splashed up his legs in his wake.
Wolfram floated on his back and stared up at the sky above him.
He stopped beside the limp Fleur and dropped to his knees. "Here. Let's sit her up." He gently slipped his left arm under her back and then secured the front of her body with his right arm as he pushed her into a sitting position.
She gasped and coughed. "Ow…" Forgetting she had contacts in her eyes, she ground the water from her eyelids, dislodging them. "Oops." She smiled and blindly groped around on the ground surrounding her for her bag. "I guess I'll just have to wear my glasses."
Wolfram handed the bag to her. "Here." He had noticed the bag knock him in the head seconds before and he had sat up, grabbed it, emerged from the watery bliss and approached the others.
She sat there and stared at the blurs of colors in front of her. She laughed and blushed with embarrassment. "Oh my, I may very well need your help." So pathetic! She really didn't like depending on others. It always made her feet so pathetic.
Yuuri dug around inside the bag on the ground next to Fleur. As soon as he saw the glasses case, he pulled it out, opened it, took the glasses out, reached over towards her with the glasses balanced delicately in his hands and placed them upon her nose.
Wolfram took that moment as an invitation to mess with her and he grinned mischievously as he stealthily got behind her about ready to bombard her with pokes to the back from his sheathed sword.
She spoke to him with her back facing him. "By the way, just because I can't see all that well without my glasses or contacts doesn't mean you can get away with cruelty without me noticing!" Sheesh, what an idiot! She hadn't been around him a full twenty-four hours and he already grated on her nerves.
A little shaken, he still didn't back off. Instead, he poked her over and over again. For some reason, he thought it would be funny, but it only made her mad at him.
"BACK OFF, WOLFRAM!" She whirled around and glared at him from a crouched position, ready to charge in his direction at full force.
Wolfram quickly backed away, whimpering in fear. "Oh wow, so scary!"
Conrart chuckled. "It's rare that my darling younger brother gets scared away by a pretty young lady."
"Augh, shut up!" That man is no brother of mine! Yeah, sure, you really look up to him deep down.