Amber Memories, Forgotten
-Our Unsettled Life-
Hey Aki, it seemed like a long time already, ain't it?
Time seems to pass by so slowly without you here, or are you?
Are you always by my side even as I drift along?
I find myself searching the crowds for your face.
Impossible, I am aware but unable to help myself.
I have failed to keep the promise I made to you that night;
And forced myself to keep the one you had asked me to make.
The trees lighted up in various shades of flames, ranging from fiery red to burning yellow. The trees were like performers, selected ones since coniferous ones were unable to do so, spending a quarter of the year on costume changes. They whispered to each other, dry ones in the autumn louder than the others. They rustled, they talked, they swore. They made as much noise as school children would, though much more pleasing to the ears.
When their leaves fall, they would quiet down as if the teacher had entered the room, covering the ground in gold as they absorbed the day's lesson in enthusiasm. However, when the wind whirled around again, they would crackle up against you, sneaking on you when you least expected it.
Yet like all performance, they would end sooner or later, leaving their amber trees to smolder a trail behind. Appreciate it or choke on it; that was your choice.
And such was her dance as she donned on her clothes to perform along with the swirling leaves.
Her sleeves fluttered with the leaves while her hair teased the howling wind. Like a bowing flower that slowly rises to the sun, her body would arch and turn around to the surrounding flames. She took little steps forward and backwards, performing it artfully without any seeming mistakes. She seemed to be used to this dance, this ritual even, as her knees bent down at times like winter or her feet pounced up like spring. The flames around her applauded exuberantly, appreciating the dance steps and accompanying her with joy.
They were called maples, and so was she.
Would she realize that he was here by her side, sitting by her mare which it played with his, all this while? Her steps then started to slow down, bit by bit as the wind began to step down too, before finally ending the dance with a simple yet earnest bow. Pleased, he was about to call for her when he noticed that she had stood up and was walking straight to him.
"Lord Mikk, I'm surprise that you would find me here," she said flatly when she crossed the distance to him. Her eyes were cold as she caressed her horse, taking hold of the reins.
Tyki smiled and closed his eyes momentarily. "Please take a seat next to me, Kaeda dear. I believe you have nothing on later."
Kaeda clenched her fists by her side before taking soothing down her dress to sit beside the Noah. Indeed, her plans were free after this and she was well aware that her father had told him that she would be here. She knew he had been watching her all this while but had chosen not to make a fuss over it. It was not that she was afraid of him, really. This was good for her plan and it seemed that things were smooth so far for her to infiltrate soon. It was that the more she hung out with this hypocrite, the more she was reminded of her older brother.
Worse, he had this special ability to make her lose her guard and walk right into his arms.
"You look good in a kimono," praised Tyki as he scanned the girl next to him now that she was at a closer range. "And that dance was good too."
"Ritual," corrected Kaeda before realizing that she should not have revealed that. She was surprised that the latter even knew what she was wearing. He was not as stupid as he looked then, she muttered to herself.
"What did you just say? Sorry, I didn't catch you." Tyki widened his eyes and furrowed his brows when the latter only laughed to herself and shook her head. Amused, the man laughed out loud too, and in that moment, she realized that if he was intimidating when he was scornful, he was threatening when he let down his guard- which was the one she could not handle.
"Whatever it is," continued Tyki as a smile lingered at the corner of his lips. "You mentioned that it was a ritual. What is it about?"
Startled at catching herself laughing at him, Kaeda paused for a while. "My mom's..." she murmured to herself before looking away. "It is her death anniversary today."
"I'm sorry," said the young lord, surprised. He had not expected her to say the truth, really. "I should not have asked about it."
The young lady shook her head and allowed a little silence to sink in before continuing. "I used to come here with my sister, Countess Amber, whom I believe you have met already, but she was unable to make it today. We do this annually, something that our mom enjoyed and taught us. Her ash is scattered at here. She loved this place; it was where she first dated with my father. It is improper, for the Japanese custom, for us to sort of celebrate a death anniversary. However, Mom always said something about liking the dance and that it didn't matter anymore because Dad's a foreigner and such…"
"He's not here today," commented Tyki. As he watched her spoke, he noticed how her eyes which held the certain sort of cool gaze warming a little.
Kaeda stiffened. "He never did. Not when I am here anyway. He finds me too painful every time he looks at me. I was the one who caused the fire, the one who made him lose his only wife and heir. Resembled my mother too much too, my aunt once said. I brought this upon the family, so it was no- it was no surprise that he would hate me…" for killing my younger brother after his so-called revival. Dad almost made him an Akuma, for god's sake. If that darn metallic structure that took on my brother's lovely voice had continued the demon's will, I would have lost all of them forever.
"Ak- Kaeda…" said Tyki gently, catching himself before he called her by the inappropriate name, and tried to get her to look at him. He felt grossly helpless, at such a time, to hear her voice so raw and wounded. Was he mistaken? With a strong hand, he held her jaw and tried to turn her face towards him. As he peered into those pair of brown eyes, it took much of his will not to succumb to his urge to kiss her. Tyki let go of his hand soon after, before whistling to fill up the void between.
The two sat in silence as they observed the trees and their falling leaves. Then he had an idea.
Grabbing her right hand with his left one, he ignored her overwhelming shock and crossed his fingers through those fine ones. It fitted just like before, he smirked, and held the intertwined hands up. "Countess Amber," he began, referring to her mother. "Today as I sit here with your daughter, I would boldly like to ask you for your permission to pass her hands to me…"
"Lord Mikk-"
"If you agree, then please send us a sign or something," continued Tyki, ignoring the young lady.
The two waited in silence once again, waiting as the whole place surrounding them softened down. The leaves had stopped their chattering and the trees stopped their conversation. Having enough, Kaeda was about to stood up and was trying to break off Tyki's hand, when a strong gush of wind came. It howled beside their ears, caressing their cheeks when it did so, as if trying to tell them something.
"Your mother has agreed," whispered Tyki cheekily as he pulled her closer by her hand so that he could speak to her ear. "See?"
Kaeda stared at the young man whose fingers were tightly around hers, caught disbelief at what he had just done. It could have been his Noah's ability to conjure up this wind, but she knew better than that. That unforgettable fragrance that accompanied the wind was unmistakable- it was the scent of sweet autumn her mother would always wear.
"That's just a coincidence. Let's- let's go already," said the Amber lady, her voice hoarse. Whether it was deliberately or not, she was unaware of that herself. Her heart had quickened at an unexplainable rate. Standing up and refusing a helping hand from the man by her side, she took the reins of her horse and climbed over it. As she kicked off, she knew well that he was following her, crushing the maple leaves under them as the horses strode along.
"What is it, dear," teased Tyki Mikk as he tugged a little at the reins to make his horse slow down. Reluctantly, the horse exhaled out grumpily and strode to a slow pace.
Kaeda Amber glared back at the latter dangerously while her hand was busy stroking her mare to calm it. Placing a finger on her lips, she asked for silence just a few seconds ago and was annoyed when the young man had ignored her. Her gaze burnt at Tyki for a while before diverting it back to a particular tree.
Tyki whistled and halted his horse when he finally reached her. They had been walking for a distance and she was most probably tired from it. Finding an excuse to rest without appearing weak eh, he thought. Smirking, he allowed his eyes to wander on Kaeda before finally deciding to follow Kaeda's gaze towards the tree. A maple, he noted, before his pupils enlarged in surprise when he realized what had caught the lady's attention. Bemused, he looked back at Kaeda and was pleased when he noticed how alert and caught up she was.
"I see that a mere fire-crest has caught your attention," said Tyki as he put on an upset tone. "Is that bird more attractive than me?"
Kaeda's eyes ignited with wonder. "That's what it's called, fire-crest?" It resembled the wooden sculpture so much, she thought to herself, marveling at the brown bird as it chirped, completely ignoring the presence of human around. Did he too know what it was called too when he carved it?
Tyki Mikk chuckled, and smirked once again. "Yes," he said slowly, observing the girl as he did so. "And there's a story behind it. Would you'd like to hear it?"
Kaeda furrowed her brows- this man was obviously mocking her. "Yes…"
"Say 'please'?"
"P-please…" Kaeda forced out her words, grinding each letter with suppressed annoyance. "I would very much like to hear the story." It was the truth anyway.
Tyki laughed and tilted his head down at an amused angle, satisfied by her reply. Climbing down his horse, he placed a hand on the tree before walking to Kaeda and helped her get down too. As the two stood among the fallen leaves, he looked at the bird which had suddenly gone all silent from its chirping and began his story. "There was once a miner who adored her wife a lot. He would always look forward to going home so as to meet her at home. The two spent their time lovingly together even though they had no children. Then one day, the miner found a beautiful blue flower and wanted to bring it home for his wife. The flower, as he found out later on, was an aster."
The young man stopped for awhile, hoping to notice some reaction from the latter about the flower. However, Kaeda would only stare at the bird quietly as she listened to him. Tyki, though disappointed, was pleased to have her attention finally.
"Elated, the miner planned how he could enter the house expecting his wife to come into his arms as usual so that he could stick the flower into her hair. He had expected his wife to beam with happiness and thank him. However, that was not what had happened. When the miner finally got home, he was greeted by a motionless body on the floor when the doors opened. The flower fall innocently onto the dirt floor as the man scrambled to get to his wife, sobbing as he held onto the cold body. With a shattered heart, the miner went on to bury her," he said softly, wishing that half of what he said would not happen.
Kaeda let out a soft gasp, as her eyes widened in response.
Tyki continued. "From that day onwards, the poor man found himself aimless as he drifted through the days. He would often dream of seeing his wife's beautiful features among crowds and stars, but those images would only disappear when he got closer. One day as he was attending to his wife's grave, he spotted a small tree growing out of it. Thinking it was connected somehow to his wife; the miner devoted his life to take care of it and realized he was no longer as lost as he used to be.
However as he grew old, the man began to worry how the tree would continue to survive without him. Days passed by and one day the man went missing. His friends; concerned that he had not reported for work for a long period of time, decided to drop by the latter's house, but they could not find him. Just then, they heard a soft chirp outside the house. Following the sound, they wandered out of the house and to the grave of the miner's wife. By now, all they could see was only her tombstone to mark her grave. On top of it was a blooming golden maple tree."
"It's…" muttered Kaeda, her gaze locked on the floor.
"The chirping, when those follow friends looked up, was made by a small fire-crest that refused to leave from the tree. Hence, the fire-crest is always known for sticking with the maple no matter what-"
"And would eventually die with it," whispered Kaeda, her voice hoarse and sore now.
Tyki turned his head in surprise and noticed that the latter looked away just as immediately. She was looking at him as she said it, he finally realized. Recognizing that was the way she prevented people from seeing her tears, Tyki swallowed something painful in his throat and felt his chest tightening. Gently, he lifted her chin so that he could face her, and placed his lips on the falling tears at the edge of her mouth despite the soft protest that escaped from her soft lips. I would take away the pain and stay with you, he thought and was about to linger his kiss towards her mouth when he felt himself being pushed away and crashing into the padded ground of fallen leaves.
"I'm sorry," muttered Kaeda, staring back at the shocked Noah. She was about to bend down to help the latter up when something tightened in her chest and she ran for her horse, pulled on her reins and galloped away.
Stop reminding me of him.