A/N:
Thank you, everyone for reading this story.
Special thanks to: ranipaki, codegal, nypsy, MiszIceQueen10, zodious, RukiaGallega, and Pisces00 for reviewing the first chapter.
Disclamer: Characters in this story belong to Kubo, the plot belongs to Shakespeare.
However, the content of this chapter is my original work. This is where I twist the plot a little bit in order to explain what will happen in the forest in later chapters. This is the only chapter that belong to me without any Shakespeare's lines or reference.
Thank you, Airrieal for beating this story.
(3/18/12)
Lady Orihime Inoue opened her window in great delight, happily humming her favorite songs while feeding the birds with her left over bread and letting them rest on the back of her hand. Today was indeed a very cheerful day. It was only four more days until the wedding of the Duke and Lady Momo Hinamori. How great it was to be with your beloved and live happily ever after. Orihime opened the door and danced around in her plain white peplo covered partly by her light pink cloak, with the birds crowding around her, singing the first song of the day; her hair cascaded down to her waist and was illuminated by the sun like a silky band of golden threats. She suddenly stopped as someone was running to her place at full speed. She turned around to face the mighty Renji, her best friend's secret lover, or maybe not secret anymore since she heard that the words about the couple somehow had found it way into Rukia's brother's ears and he had made a fuss over it. She wondered how Rukia was doing now.
Renji panted, his body was dampened in sweat, but he still managed to hand her a winkled piece of paper, "Orihime, I mean, Lady Inoue, please help me decipher these codes."
Orihime smiled and signaled him to go into the house with her. As he sat down, she brought tea to the table and gently asked him if he wanted some.
"Thanks, Ori... I mean, I'm grateful for your honor, I mean, I'm honor to have some Lady Ori..." He shook his head frustratedly at his inability to say the right words.
Orihime chuckled and sat at the opposite side of the small wooden rectangular table, covered by a white cloth with blue flower laces, "I guess you are still finding it difficult to adapt with the elite class, aren't you? No need for formality with me. Just call me Orihime like you used to when we first met."
He merrily pounded his fist on the table, "Really? It's a great help, Orihime. I mean the whole noble speeches are so stupid. Honor this and honor that, Lady this and Lady that. My tongue twisted so hard that I think it might break. I don't know how could you put up with this shit everyday."
Orihime stood up and lowered her legs gracefully, "It's my honor to have such exquisite praise from your golden mouth, Sir Abarai. It's only a matter of practice. With your abundant wit, I'm sure you'll master it in no time, Sir."
Then, they all burst out in uncontrollable laughter. Renji wiped his tears away, "Thanks, Orihime, you made me feel much better now. I just had a terrible meeting with the Lords, and I couldn't understand half of what they said. What's up with the 'Full of vexation, I now accuse this villain by the named of Renji Abarai for using witchcraft to seduce my little sister Rukia Kuchiki and making her act against my will, refusing to marry the mighty gentleman Ichigo Kurosaki whom I, with my whole heart, choose as her one and only future husband.' How the hell could he say this ridiculously long sentence without biting his own tongue? Or why the Duke had to say "fair Rukia this" and "fair Rukia that" or when he was tired of it, he changed it to fair maiden, fair lady, fair maid. God, educated people are so troublesome. Why do they have to make everything complicated? Just to show off their wits?"
After another long laughter was a brief silence. Orihime looked down and said in her soft voice, "It must be very tough for you."
Renji turned his head away to graze at the window, "If it's for my Rukia, it's nothing." He sighed, "but then they said that if she does not agree to marry Ichigo, she has to go to the nunnery."
Orihime clutched her lap and asked him in her trembling voice, "What will you do then Renji?"
Still not turning his head toward her, he said, almost whispering, "For her future, I might just give her up. It's better than letting her be prisoned in a nunnery for the rest of her life."
Orihime sighed, "there must be another way." She looked at the piece of paper and cheerfully asked Renji, "You want me to decipher this, right Renji?". This should be a good distraction. It pained her heart to see him like this.
Renji just nodded his head silently as Orihime looked at the paper in high concentration. She spread the paper out on the table for both of them to see and pointed to him the first picture.
"Look, Renji. The chappy with red pineapple hair at the top left corner is you, and with the mini hearts around it means 'Dear the love of my life, Renji'. Pleased at the way Renji's face brightened at the way his lover wrote to him, Orihime continued, "The chappy with black cloak must be her brother and the white haired chappy with a crown on its head must be his Highness, the Duke. Well..."
She looked at the picture, reluctant of what to say. "Hum, she drew a lot of spirals around their heads and made their faces a little weird, and his Highness's head is bigger than her brother's head, then there are waving hands right after this,so I guess it means 'My brother is an idiot, and the duke is even a bigger idiot, just ignore them'. Oh, and there is a big hammer above their head, so it means 'I wish I could break their heads open to see what is in those big empty vessels.'"
Renji laughed, "Oh, my Rukia is so smart. She could not be more right."
Orihime looked at him and smiled, "Then when she drew a raven haired chappy with big puppy eyes like this it means, 'Don't worry, my love. I just got a very very great idea that could help us get out of this mess.'"
Renji jumped out of his seat excitedly, "Oh, I cannot wait to see what my love has for us. Whatever she has, it must be the most genius idea ever."
Then Orihime laughed softly, "ok, then there is a scene of the two chappies, raven haired and red haired, holding hands, running away from a group of chappies with black hair, white haired and orange hair respectively, between the two groups are money and swords and clothing. So after I read their facial expression, it means that 'Let's elope, Renji, and leave everything behind to begin a new life, and let those stupid jerks chasing after us for the rest of their pathetic lives."
Renji jumped around in complete happiness and punched his head lightly with his fist, "Elope. Why didn't I think of it before? My Rukia is really a genius." He turned his head around, heading to the door. "Thanks, Orihime. I have to get pack now. I can't wait to see her again."
Orihime hesitantly raised her hand toward him, "But Renji, are you willing to give up everything for her? You have worked so hard to be at where you are right now. If you agree to leave with her, you will become a criminal and have to live the rest of your life in the shadow, running away and hiding forever."
Renji tightened his grip on the door handle, he looked at her, eyes burning with fire, and he generated this aura that made her shiver. It was like an aura of a lion ready to face its toughest battle. The air suddenly became sharp and intense. "I love Rukia. She is all that matters to me. Since I met her three years ago, I have worked hard just so that I can one day gain an equal social status and propose to her, but none of what I did seemed to be good enough. They would never accept me into their social class no matter what I contributed for Athen. She is out of my reach since the moments we were born, but I loved her and promised to make her happy. I will not go back on my words. I will bring her to a city where the law of Athen cannot reach us and marry her there. I will protect her at all costs and will not make her have to suffer any more."
Orihime's heart wreaked. She envied, yet admired, and worried about them. "Renji. There is still more in the letter. You want to know the time and place to meet her, don't you?" As Renji stopped, Orihime continued, "Right next to the elope scene is a picture of two chappies, raven short hair and auburn long hair, reading books, leaning their backs against a tree, in front of them is the red haired chappy" Orihime looked up to Renji and smiled, "Does it remind you of something, Renji?"
Renji clapped his fist into his palm, "The wood when I first met you two, and we're going to meet at that spot."
Orihime folded the paper and gave it to Renji, "Above the picture is a full moon and since tonight is a full moon, the whole message means "We'll meet tonight in the wood where we first met."
Renji kissed the letter and put it into his chest. "Thank you, Orihime. Fare you well, fair Lady." Then they both laughed and he left.
XxXxXxXxX
Orihime leaned her chin against her palm and and opened her mouth into an "o". "Oh, I'm so envious of them. So envious." She rested her chest upon the table and buried her head into her arms. She sighed, "I wonder if there is one day Kurosaki-kun will come to me and ask me to run away with him."
Imaginary scene,
A handsome Ichigo in his white chiton and black robe brought her a bouquet of flowers and lowered his head before asking her, "Lady Inoue, let's run away together. I'll protect you at all cost." Then he took her hand and planted hot kisses over it.
Orihime spun her upper body around the table in excitement, her face burning in embarrassment mixed with guilty and resentment for her indecent thought.
Or even better,
Another imaginary scene,
A heroic Ichigo in his armor raised his sword upward, "Orihime, let's elope and make those bastards run after us hopelessly for the rest of their lives." He then carried her bridal style to...Uhm, where should a gentleman carry a Lady bridal style to?
Orihime bit her finger nail in high concentration, then smoke erupted from her head. Well, she was not very sure what it was, but she had the feeling that it was a forbidden fruit that a Lady like her should never let it cross her mind. She sighed, but then Kurosaki-kun would never do anything like she had imagined.
The Kurosaki-kun that she knew always scowled.
The Kurosaki-kun that she knew never smiled.
The Kurosaki-kun that she knew never showed emotion on his face.
The Kurosaki-kun that she knew would never break the rule.
The Kurosaki-kun that she knew would never do anything that brought shame upon his family.
The Kurosaki-kun that she knew would never confess to her, much less elope with her.
:
:
Because the Kurosaki-kun that she knew did not love her.
:
:
However, once upon a time, she thought she saw a side of Kurosaki-kun that was not the same as this Kurosaki-kun.
Flash back:
When she as five, her parents died, leaving her to her sixteen year old brother who had to take care of the huge household at such a young age that once day he just couldn't handle it anymore, and then he too left this world.
And since that day, she was alone. Alone in this treacherous world. A ten year old with too much property on her hands that she didn't even know it was a delicious prey for hungry wolves that kept coming, claiming they were her relatives, claiming that they would take care of her only to leave her at the end after they got what they wanted. Her lands, her houses, her cattle left her, one after another. When the last of her property was about to leave her too, soaking her in deep desperation and betrayal, she thought what would it feel like to sink herself into the river and let the flow of water wash away all of her unhappiness. So she went to the river that day.
And she met him for the first time that day.
The sun was so bright that day. Wild flowers were so lively that day, blooming in mass, decorating the green mossy grass with scattering white, like snow was falling in the midst of the summer. He was so small and vulnerable that day, sobbing uncontrollably, burying his head in his knees, his orange hair illuminated under the sun, but his small skinny fragile body was tremble helplessly under the intense cry that he looked like he could be blown by a strong wind at any moment.
She came closer, her head was covered in a white silky scarf. Even if she died, she would not shame her family. She would cover her sin in white, and redeeming it in her next life.
The boy continued to cry, so she could not get any closer to the river. She asked him from afar,
"Why are you crying?"
He raised his head up to meet her. "Why shall you care?"
She put the scarf closer to both sides of her face so that he could not see her face clearly. "Because I need to sink myself in the water to wash away all of my unhappiness, and you crying here stops me from doing so. I don't want another person to see me parting this life and going to a new one."
The boy widened his eyes in pure horror. He stood up and got closer to her, "you shall not do so. This is madness. Who told you so?"
She blushed as this was her first time a boy at her age gave her this much attention, her words crumbled and became incomprehensible as they got out of her trembling lips, "A relative of mine said that if I do so, all misfortune will leave me and I will be free of all miseries that kept throwing themselves upon my shoulder, and then I can meet my father and mother and brother again." Somehow tears found their way to her eyes and kept pushing themselves out of her huge gray orbs, "I'm tired of this life. All they did was lying to me and then leaving me. I want my family back. I miss them. I miss them terribly."
Suddenly a strong pair of arms wrapped around her body and pulled her into a deep hug. She had never had a hug like this before. It was not fake, it was not cold, it was not calculating, it was not empty, like countless hugs she had had before. No. It was genuine, it was warm, it was full of love and concern, and even something else. Like pain. Like there was a long threat that connected his heart and hers. Her chest against his, she felt like she could hear how his heart throb painfully against his chest, with the same rhythm, same loss, same fear, same hurt, the same longing for love and attention as hers. How joy she was to feel another heart beat with the same rhythm as hers, another heart that could understand the pain she beared everyday, and to know that she was not alone in this world. From now on, no matter how far they were, even if she would never see him again, she would never feel alone again. Because she knew, even for just a brief moment, that there was another soul like her, wandering hopelessly around this world and that there was a time when the two hearts touched.
She wrapped her arms around his back and pulled him even closer to her body, "I understand now. You share the same pain as mine. Then you shall cry on my shoulder and vent all of your pain out, then I'll do the same too. After this, all pain and misery will leave us and I do not have to sink myself in the water to wash them away anymore."
Then they cried on each other's shoulders for what seemed like an eternity. Time seemed to be sucked out of space. The world seemed to whirl around and vanish. There were only two persons in this world.
Him and her.
And from that time on, she felt like she was never alone again.
And from that time on, he felt like he was never alone again.
A breeze gently swept through her body and made her shiver slightly in the strangeness of a sudden cold. He hugged her tighter and whispered into her ears, "Then you shall promise me to never do anything this stupid again."
She looked at him, water still flooded her eyes, "Then you shall promise me you will never be sad again."
He scowled and slightly released her, "That, I have no control of. How am I supposed to control my own feelings? It's sad when it's sad and that's it."
His scowl was so gentle and beautiful that it brought light and happiness into her life. She smiled, "Your scowl is so beautiful."
He blushed, "No one has ever told me so. They all said that I should never scowl, but then this too is nothing I can control of. It scowls when it scowls and that's it."
Seeing her giggle in response, the shade of pink on his cheeks got even redder, "What do you find funny about it?" Then he paused and looked down at the ground, "Methinks, your smile is what is really beautiful. It lit my heart and made me happy."
She felt like there were thousand lighting bolts stuck her, and electricity ran over her whole trembling body, her heart beat so fast that she thought it could jump out of her chest at any moment. She stuttered, "T-then y-you shall p-promise me w-whenever you feel sad you shall remember my smile and try to feel happy again."
He nodded shyly and held both of her hands in his, "Then you shall promise me to never do something stupid again."
She nodded, "Pinky promise?"
As they locked their pinky fingers together, the boy said, "We should also promise to become stronger when we meet again."
She nodded again, "When we meet again, I promise I'll become a good Lady. I'll spend every day of my life to help people in need and to bring smiles to everyone' faces."
The boy stared at her with mixed emotion that she could not read then he too said his vow, "I promise when we meet again, I'll become a strong and mighty warrior and bring pride to my family. I'll protect everyone with my power and I will never let my important people have to cry again."
Orihime stared at him in awe, unable to utter a word. This boy, who looked so weak and vulnerable just like herself, when he said those words, looked so strong and determinate, and at that moment, she believed in him. She believed that the fragile boy in front of her would one day become a very strong person and that he would keep his promise no matter what. Bathing in the light, his eyes shone like the moon and his body was as bright as the sun, too bright that it hurt her eyes. She felt like he was the light shinning through her darkness and that as long as she follow the light, no matter how weak it could become, one day she would find where she truly belonged to.
Another breeze swept through her head, threatening to blow her scarf away, she held them tight, afraid of what he would thought of her repulsive hair color. No one liked her hair color ever since she was born. Her brother was the only one who said it was beautiful, but she believed that was because he wanted to comfort her. She feared that the boy in front of her would hate her the moment he saw her hair, so she tightened her grips on the scarf and tried to hide portions of her face as much as possible. She was so afraid, so afraid that if he saw too much of her unsightly face he would never want to talk to her again.
Lucky for her, the scarf was not blown away, only the end of it flew toward the boy and he caught it in his hand then gently kissed on the blue snow flake that she embroidered at the end corner of the scarf. Her body was burned in fire, and fear flooded through her body. She wanted to get away from him as soon as possible before he could discover how ugly she really was, so she did the first thing came to her mind, running away with her hands keeping a tight hold on her scarf, not wanting him to see her hair as she ran.
Stunned at the sudden turn of the events, he tried to chase after her. "Hey, stop. I have something I want to tell you."
But she continued to run with all of her energy. Even so, his voice was still able to pierce through her ears.
"Hey, my name is Ichigo Kurosaki. What's your name?"
No, her name was really plain and ill to hear, she could not bring herself to say it, so she kept running and running.
"Hey, you. Wait. I love thee."
That scared her even more. She was sure if he knew her more, he would not love her. He would hate her. She continued to run with all of her might until he was far, far away from her and only fragment of his words came to her ears.
"I will make thee my wife one day."
X-x-X-x-X-x-X
Still leaning her breasts and her head against her arms on the table, Orihime sighed. Now that she thought about it, it was like a dream, and she was not sure if it was real. But ever since that day, she always regretted, regretted that she could not tell him at that time that she loved him too. She shook her head ferociously, "I so regret, so so regret." Then she knocked her head hard on the table, and it hurt so much that it brought tears into her eyes. "I'm so silly". She laughed to herself.
It might be a dream though. The only remembrance of that day was the white silky scarf, but she already gave it to Rukia as a token of their friendship. Without much property left, Orihime was just a poor noble. A noble by name only. No one wanted to be friends with her, but Rukia was different. She didn't mind at all. Rukia took good care of her and defended her against other nobles who came to insult and cause trouble to her. The only valuable thing that Orihime had left was the scarf, and that was why she gave it to Rukia, her best best friend.
Since that day, she hadn't had an opportunity to face him properly again. The old her was so scared and shy that she never had the courage to come in front of him again. That, and she had to fight furiously against her fake relatives to save the last of her property, the last of her pride so that she could become stronger and raise her head in front of him if they were to meet again. However, for the past nine years she always watched him in the shadow, always, always. Her heart pounded proudly against her chest every time he won a battle and gained the fame he deserved. He indeed had kept his promise.
The first time she met him again was almost three years ago through Rukia. That was when she realized, with a knife stabbed through her heart, that he took a serious interest in her best friend.
"He probably forgot about that day if it indeed existed." She laughed to herself again and began to sweep the floor, humming a weird song to herself. She opened her mouth wide, forming an "o" and put a finger on her cheek, "Hey, I wonder if he really meant that when he said "I love thee" to me." Then she closed her mouth and shook her head fiercely, "No, of course not. He was just a child back then, and you cannot fall in love with person the first time you met her, can you?"
Then her heart sank. But she did. She fell in love with him the first time they met. She could not forget him since then, and she was sure that her heart was captured and locked tight by him. "That is not fair." She pouted to herself and pretended to be angry, "When you keep another heart that long, you should pay interest. A lot of interest." Her eyes wide opened in delight as her mind calculated how much interest she could earn for lending him her heart for nine years. She nodded her head in satisfaction, "I'll be very very rich when I get all of my money back. Then I can buy a flying ship and travel through the sky."
But then it was no fun to travel alone. She could lend the ship to Rukia and Renji for their honeymoon and earn more money from it. However, it would be nicer if she could be on the ship with Ichigo...
What the point of being on a flying ship with one who loved you not though? She sighed. Every time she remembered the way Ichigo looked at Rukia with his loving eyes or speaking to her with his sweetest voice, her heart twisted too much that she was afraid that it might be ripped off into a thousand pieces.
Hold on. Taihen. It was so terrible. Now that she remembered it. Ichigo loved Rukia, but Rukia loved Renji and would elope with him tonight, then what would become of Ichigo? She covered her head in panic. Ichigo would be very upset. He would run like crazy, trying to find her in vain. And when he could not find her, he would get sick and die in resentment. Or even worse, he might run into the river and decide to wash all of his happiness away the same way she did nine years ago. No. She could not let him die. She ran around in a circle, struggling of what to do next. Betraying her friend was a very disgraceful act, but she did not have the heart to see Ichigo in pain and die. But then, Rukia would not be happy, and she would be caged for the rest of her life. But then, no one would die. But living unhappily would be worse than dying. No, letting a person die was the worst especially when she was in love with him, and the person who would live unhappy and the person who would die were two different persons, so the logic did not work very well here. And...she suddenly clapped her hands in happiness.
She should tell Ichigo, it was a right decision. What Rukia and Renji were doing was very dangerous, they might be eaten by monsters in the forest. Monsters that had eight legs or ten mouths or seven hands, or plants that hung people in the air then ate them later when they were exhausted. She also heard that there were fairies, gods, and goddesses lived in the wood, and disturbing their sleeps would lead to certain deaths. She had to save them, but she could not save them alone. Therefore, she needed Ichigo! Ichigo was a very kind and gentle man, he would not hurt them, he would help them to get out of the wood safely and found a way to bring happiness to everyone. If it was Ichigo, he could certainly do it. She had to trust him, trust in the boy that she felt in love nine years ago. She needed to tell him about it. It was a right decision, right?
A/N:
To be honest, this is my favorite chapter in my history of writing. I love this chapter the most. I've never been this content and happy, writing a chapter like this before.
Comments and constructive criticisms are highly appreciated. Please tell me what you think about this chapter. Thank you very much for reading.