Author's Notes:
Well then, I gave you a question and no one got the answer, and well, only one person who responded, and therefore she will get the answer sent to her in a PM, and well, I guess the rest of you can start reading, wait does anyone ever read these?
An Important Dinner
Ryou's P.O.V
Ugh, another fancy dinner, I mean sure, it's Amane's thirteenth birthday, but I just really dislike fancy dinners. I guess, luckily for me, the entire family is going to be there, and since Bakura and I broke up, hopefully my father won't tell them anything that they don't really need to know, I really don't want them to be disappointed of me.
I walk out of the bathroom with the soft white towel wrapped snugly around my waist. I make my way to the closet, and I see the outfit picked out for me, the same one that I wanted to wear the night Bakura came over. The same one I wore when things got a bit dirty for my liking, yet, I have to admit, I kind of enjoyed it. I know it is kind of contradicting, but I like what I like, even if it is wrong for an angel. I mean, sure things got rough, but he can't help it, and well, it felt kind of nice, no one's ever got me that hyped before. I kind of want it to continue.
Ra no, my mind is flying again. I can't do this tonight. Tonight I'm going to be happy and celebrate alongside my little sister, because let's face it, today is her special day. She is no longer a child.
I quickly put on my clothes, and spray the cologne left on the small side table all over me. I really don't like the scent, but my father picked it out, and I must obey his wishes...
Once I finish getting dressed I make my way to the dining room. I take note how today; everything seems to be lavender, exactly matching Amane's wings. It's actually very nice, hopefully Amane will like it.
I take a moment to take in all the lavender, enjoying how the lavender curtains drape the large windows of the room, giving just a peak to the gloom of the world outside. The floors are a beautiful speckled marble, the main color being white with hints of black and lavender, but not too much as to overwhelm the white. All around cloth was draped against the walls in hues of lavender and a sky blue, I smile knowing that it is indeed my favorite color. The table is lined with a lavender cloth, a white center piece running the width of the table. Various flowers lay upon the white middle stretch, adding more colors to the room. The tables were set with many utensils used to serve all parts of the five part meal.
Bakura's P.O.V
God, why the hell did we decide to have this celebration today, or at all. I mean sure, my entire family gets to be there, but now, some random slut that my parents chose will be the person I am forced to live with for the rest of my life.
My parents claim that it is for my best, well if that's true, then why the hell do they fight all the time? Yeah, they were betrothed, look where it got them, fighting over every damn thing, and aging five times faster than what I think is healthy.
As I stand in my room I start to get dressed in a black dress button up shirt, grey jeans, and black high tops. I look at the crown sitting innocently on the pedestal, I want to punch it. It signifies who I am, and who my parents want me to be. I just want to be rid of this stupid thing. However, I take the crown, and place it atop my head. It looks nice, I guess. Hopefully the woman won't be too horrible.
I make my way out of the room, and stroll towards the dining hall, and I take a seat next to my father, who like normal, is at the head of the table. I wait with a new found patience as the rest of the people finally file into the gothic room, of course, now is when I take in the decor.
The room is dark, almost that of a human gothic movie. The walls are black with red cloth hanging at the corners of the room, it's actually quite elegant, and I feel myself leaning back and closing my eyes, enjoying the silence within the room.
Of course, my relaxation is short-lived because my dad suddenly pushes my chair onto all fours, and I come crashing down with it. I turn to glare at my father, but all he does is wag his stupid finger at me. I would love to bite that damn appendage off.
The rest of the family smirks at me, and I can't help but smirk back. You see, my parents are the only people with sticks up their asses; the rest of my family is amazing. They are all like me, and they all like me for who I am, and not for the color of my wings. Just like Ryou...
Argh, I grab my head and pull at my hair, trying to get the thought of the angel out of my head. I can see my family looking at me as if I am crazy, but I completely ignore them. I just want to forget about him, forget about everything we've had. But of course, life is an ass and won't allow me to do so.
Ryou's P.O.V
I stand up as my family walks in, and I go and give each and every one of them hugs. They all hug me, and pat me on the head, in a way that makes me feel like am a dog, or a little child. It doesn't bother me though. At times I actually like it.
Finally, everyone arrives and we take our seats. We then sit in wait for the birthday girl herself. Oh, I am so proud of Amane! She is finally becoming a teenager, leaving childhood! Soon, mother and father will be annoying her about having lovers. Luckily for her, I am pretty sure she likes guys, and even if she didn't, she still is daddy's little angel. So he would have no issues with her going after the same gender.
Finally, there is a bellow of trumpets and the door opens. My mouth drops. I have never seen Amane looking so mature, actually, I kind of feel like the younger one right now. Crazy, right, well not really…
Amane is wearing a soft purple full-length dress that trails behind her for a couple feet. The top is fitted to her...slightly mature body shape, and the band hugs her waist. The bottom of her dress flares a bit at first, but then trails on behind her for a couple of feet, making her look older, but at the same time it is puffy, and filled with ruffles that curve up towards the band in the center. She looks nice tonight.
Everyone automatically applauds, some even with tears in their eyes. I feel the edges of my eyes prick, and I know that I too am crying. I mean, honestly, where have all the years gone.
Amane smiles and waves at everyone, giving them hugs as she passes. Of course, when she comes by me I can't help but pull her towards me and burry my head in her hair, trying to block out all the tears threatening to overwhelm me at the moment.
In the background I can hear the chorus of "aws" from my family, but for the most part, they are ignored. I continue to hug my sister until she releases me from her grasp. When she does, I bend down a bit and kiss her on the forehead, she smiles at me before moving on as I take my seat.
My sister moves on to my mother, who holds her just the way I did, and then my father, who picks her up and spins her around, carefully not tripping on her dress. Once he puts her down he kisses her forehead too, and I smile, glad that at least Amane has dad backing her up.
Amane then makes her way to the head of the table, and I can't help but smile like a fool. She looks like an adult, but of course, she's not an adult until she's sixteen, and I'm not one until eighteen, oh well, guess I have about two years of freedom left.
My father finally gets up, and starts his opening speech. "Good evening friends -he nods his head to the Wheeler family...Amane was allowed to invite her beat friend- and family -he nods his head to the rest of us.- We are here's today, to celebrate a very special day within the kingdom. Today, is our lovely princesses thirteenth birthday. Today, she leaves the clutches of childhood and now stands on the bridge, slowly making her way to womanhood. Tonight we celebrate the gift of our lovely daughter, Amane, and we prepare her for her life as the chief advisor, or, if something bad should happen -a father can hope- the Queen. So, a toast to the beautiful princess," Dad announces, and we all take our tiny little fancy glasses of wine and cheer.
My father then flashes my sister a smile and kisses her on the cheek. He probably wants that special first dance with her. It's her choice whether father or I get it. I really want her to choose me, but whatever she wants, I'll be happy with.
Father finally takes a seat, and the servants come and start taking our orders. I smile as I see my old friend Duke coming towards me. He's another half-and-half, I think it's really cool, but he hates himself for it.
Duke has deep green eyes that always seem to have a bright shine in them. He has wings that match his eyes, and tiny fangs. His hair is jet black, and always kept in a ponytail, and his bangs cover his right eye, unless he is wearing a headband, like right now, and actually, most of the time.
"Hi Duke." I say when he approaches me, but he doesn't smile, then again, I haven't seen him smile in a while.
"Prince." He says bowing his head, and I roll my eyes, I hate honorifics.
"Duke, we're friends. I gave you permission to call me by my name, without a title years ago." I, in a sense whine. Duke looks me up and down and sighs.
"What will you be dining on tonight, Prince?" Duke asks, and I swear I can hear some venom in his voice. I'm not going to get him to say my name tonight am I?
"Lamb pork chops, well done, with baked potato and a pad of butter, and steamed vegetables." I say in as formal a voice as I can muster. Duke nods and fills up my drink a little more before swiftly turning and walking to Serenity and Joey. He must be serving the...teenagers. I sigh as I take a sip of the wine that we have to drink.
Bakura's P.O.V
Finally, everyone settles in, and my dad stands to make his opening speech, a cocky and confident smile placed on his face. This of course, is also when I realize that the seat next to me is unoccupied, and so is the seat across from me. Wait, both seats by me are unoccupied. They better not expect me to do a three-way with anyone, because I still can't even f*ck one person.
"Now, before I go on and on about my great visions for this nation, I would like to introduce the two options my son has to pick as a spouse." There was a pregnant silence as all eyes turned to me, and I swear I could feel myself trying to resist the urge to gag.
"First off, you have Fortunato Amelda." My father announces, and a man with pinkish purple hair and gray eyes exits the room. He is pretty strong, but I think I have a few inches on him. He wears a shirt that matches his hair, and surprisingly, his wings, gray pants, and that same creepy pinkish purple on his sneakers. Behind him a man, woman, and a little boy walk out, taking up the three seats that were left open on the other side of the table.
My father glares at me and I sigh. I get up out of my seat and shake Amelda's hand. The man's shake is weak and flimsy, and he's a bit too effeminate for my tastes, but I don't voice my opinion. I then pull out the seat to my left, and he sits down graciously.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see my uncle laughing at me. He's my favorite, but right now I want to hit him. Lucky bastard was born when my dad was like sixteen, so he's only twenty, and has absolutely no f*cking responsibilities. However, my dad shoots him a glare for me, all he does is cover his mouth and continue laughing. I really do hate him.
"And the next one is Dartz Iona." Dad says happily, and a woman with long reddish brown hair walks in. Her eyes are a depressing shade of blue. Her wings are a rustic red, which once again, matches her hair. The horns on her head are somewhat obvious, but at the same time hidden. Her dress is red and gold, and just way to elegant for me.
Once again I get up, and shake her hand. She stands, completely unimpressed by my movements, and I sigh, bringing her hand to my lips and kissing it. I then pull out a chair for her and she takes a seat, a smug smile on her face.
"Unfortunately, her parents were unable to come tonight." My father drawls, and I just roll my eyes before taking another step back. My father moves and stands behind me, one arm proudly on my shoulder.
"Now, for the reason that we are all here. As you all know, my son is nearing the age of eighteen, and because of his wing color, when he does reach that age, he will take the throne. So, in order to prepare him, we are helping him with his marriage, since he has never had a steady relationship, we plan to help him. I know my son will be an excellent king, and I am ready to pass the torch." My dad exclaims, and I have to resist the urge to roll my eyes. My uncle, Akefia, smirks at me, and I can't help but follow.
My father pushes me forward a bit and I take my seat at the table. My father finally takes his seat and I wait a moment before the servants finally make their way over.
I look at my servant who cowers under my gaze. Wimp.
"Steak, as rare as you got it. There better be blood still dripping from it. Uh, I guess fried rice along with it, and to drink... AB blood." I say, knowing that that's the type of blood I have, and so does my lovely angel.
The man merely nods at me before making his way back to the kitchen. I let out a heavy sigh, before leaning back and looking off into space. I hear Iona and Amelda asking me questions, but I have no intentions to answer them. Do they not understand that I am in love with someone else, that they will never be worth it to me, that it will never work?
"Bakura," I whip my head in the direction of my uncle, and I am shocked when I come face to face with serious blue eyes. He then jerks his head to my left, signaling for me to get up and walk over to him as he leaves the dining hall. I follow.
Ryou's P.O.V
I sigh, there is no one around for me to talk to, and I am forbidden to get up and go talk to Joey. Luckily for Amane, it's her day, so she has no rules, and she's going around the table talking to everyone.
I would talk to the rest of my family, but they are all too focused on Amane to notice me sitting on the corner by my lonesome. I decide to just play with my end of the tablecloth.
The moment I start doing so, my father shoots me a glare, and I stop. My mother then follows up with a pitying look, which actually only serves to annoy me more. I mean, where is this pity getting me, oh yeah, to feel worse and worse about what I've done. I don't really need that though, do I? That was rude wasn't it?
The servants slowly reappear, each of them carrying a couple of plates. Everyone who wasn't in their seat quickly returns and we sit and wait for my father to bless the food and do protect it from the curses. My dad makes his way to the head of the table, his staff in hand, and then starts waving it around.
"By the power of the gods, I bless this food for thou to eat. We thank thee who give us food and protection, and everything thou need. And we prepare for another year for our lovely princess. By the power of Ra, so it is said, so it'll be done." My dad chants, and I can easily tell that he just wrote this, or made this up on the spot. It's pathetic really, and now I don't even trust the food before me.
My father sits down, and everyone starts eating, well, everyone besides me that is. I really don't feel safe knowing that the food was not properly blessed. I mean, do these people know what happens if the food was not properly blessed, that means all poisons go undetected, and we can easily be killed off. I don't know about them, but I value my life.
My dad looks over at me and arks an eyebrow towards my food. I look at the plate in front of me and sigh. I mean, do I honestly want to risk my life to make everyone accept me as normal? Hmm, even with the temptation of knowing just how good the kitchen staff is at their job. No, no I don't.
Instead, I start poking at the food with my fork, slowly moving it around. Out of the corner of my mind I can hear someone yell, "What the hell are you doing with the food, eat it!" But I choose to ignore them, knowing that it has to be a half-and-half because Angels can't really curse.
A soft sizzling sound distracts me from my thoughts, and I look at my food to see that my fork is starting to erode, because of...acid.
"Fire." The next word is screamed aloud, and I look around and notice that the fire is slowly surrounding my entire family, devouring them into their hungry flames…
Bakura's P.O.V
"What's bothering you?" Akefia asks, his bright blue eyes boring holes into my soul...wait, do I have one? I believe so. Odd, right. Oh remember when I got into a fight with my soul, good times boy, good times.
"Are you going to answer me?" My uncle asks, raising one eyebrow, his muscular arms folded against his chest. I remain completely silent though, and I wait patiently until he realizes he's not going to get an answer.
Akefia sighs, "Bakura, it's not hard to tell that something is bothering you. Why don't you just tell me what it is? I swear I won't tease you!" He says, and I look at him, trying to find any hint that he might just be pulling my leg. There is none, and knowing the rarity of this situation, I decide to take full advantage of having someone being there for me.
"I'm in lo-lo -I try clearing my throat- I'm in lo-looo -I sigh- I just got-I got into a fight with someone I really care about." I say defeated, and my uncle just raises an eyebrow at me. He doesn't tease me however, and that makes me feel all the better.
"You were in a serious relationship?" Akefia asks, as if trying to fit everything I just told him to who I am. I sigh, thinking about my perfect little angel, the one whose heart I ripped out and burned as he ripped out and froze mine. Didn't he see that we were both losing this game? Why did he continue to play? Why did I?
"Yes." I finally say, looking my uncle dead in the eyes. His face remains completely stoic, but I am aware of a thousand emotions running through me at one time. I hate this feeling. I feel so defenseless, so weak, so timid. How do angels deal with all these bloody emotions? Maybe they should learn to ignore them; it would definitely make their life easier.
"With who?" My uncle asks, and immediately my face heats up in embarrassment. I'm actually quite surprised my uncle didn't laugh at me. Why is he being so damn sincere? It's so f*cking aggravating.
"What is this, twenty f*cking questions?" I snap at the man, but he remains completely unfazed. Instead, he starts looking at what he ordered as a meal. Looks like he ordered almost the exact same thing I did.
A small smirk makes it way to his face as my stomach growls. "The faster you answer my questions the sooner you eat." My uncle says, and I roll my eyes, starting to make my way back to the table, only to receive a death grip on my arm dragging me back to where I was before.
"Fine, his name was Ryou." I mutter, but of course, my uncle hears me, and this time his eyes go wide.
"Ryou Bakura, the Angel Prince?" My uncle questions and I nod slowly. He sighs and looks me once up and down. He continues to stare at me for a moment longer before heavily sighing.
"I don't know anything about you, do I?" He asks, moving towards the door that leads to the dining room.
I shake my head, but smirk, "You know even less about the Angel Prince and his cronies." I say with a smirk, knowing that he would find it extremely hard to believe that some of them were actually angels.
I am about to enter the dining hall when my uncle puts his hand on my shoulder and pulls me back behind him, his body in front of me in a protective stance. That's when I see it from over his shoulder, the sprinklers are on, but that's not the problem, it's the water. It's hurting and killing my family...
"Holy water," My uncle says his voice uncharacteristically quiet, his eyes wide in disbelief.
Author's Notes:
Well, there we go, the onslaught of the plot. Yep, we are finally there, and you are so lucky that I learned Duke's birthday is next month, or else you might have been waiting for the next chapter.
Anyways, your reviews are always welcome; in fact I yearn to read them. I also implore you to take the poll on my page.