Before this chapter begins, here are some responses to your reviews:
Guest pretty pretty: AHH, I am such a terrible writer! I was hoping that the first chapter showed how regretful Shun felt when Alice left him, not vengeance! I'm so sorry about that! (つ﹏⊂)
Cup of Violet Tea: Oh no, don't worry about it! I only wrote 2 chapters and nothing significant really happened in those chapters! Just a quick recap of the original though; Alice is hiding from Klaus since they're playing a game of hide-and-seek and a quick backstory that she had to marry Klaus in order to save her family from being close to poverty. She meets Shun who is a ninja and gives her his choker and leaves because he had robbed the von Hertzon manor. Chapter 2 was just about Shun and Alice hanging out in a forest where he showed her his tree carvings...wow...that was a pretty bad explanation. Well, Shun will definitely be a part of the von Hertzon life all right but it will be revealed in this chapter~! (・ωｰ)～'
Innocent-Diamond: Oh, LOL, I've actually never had to study or compare the two different periods before actually! I just watch way too many period dramas and this along with Of Angels and Ninjas was was the result of it. It's been awhile since I've read Twelfth Night-the one and only time I read it was during middle school and that was YEARS ago! But no, the Shakespearean work has nothing to do with the story and yep, Shun's full of surprises huh? (〃ω〃)
SoapyDopey: Thank you for reviewing!（≧ｙ≦＊）
P.S. I changed a tiny bit of the first chapter, so Shun and Alice had their encounter with each other on a Sunday afternoon, not in the morning. Just wanted to throw that in here so nobody gets confused with the time difference/change. Also, I changed a small portion regarding Alice's marriage to Klaus as well as the timeline for Alice and Shun. While it is still a marriage that Alice didn't want, Klaus finds out about Alice through the town praising her for her natural beauty. His family then brings her up to his manor to inspect her before asking for her hand in marriage the next day via letter. Also, Shun and Alice saw each other three years ago instead of six.
Chapter 2
"And whatever is the matter now, Mrs. von Hertzon?" Alice looked up with expressionless eyes to find the vicious sea green eyes of the von Hertzon's housekeeper, Mylene Farrow, boring into her own. Stumbling to get up, the young redhead woman dusted off the back of the rosy pink silk of her ballgown as she turned to address the rather cruel bluenette. She never really did like Mylene, for the housekeeper seemed so evil and sadistic to the other servants but what could she do? Mylene had been working for Klaus for quite some time and he had seemed to take a liking to the bluenette. 'Strict and straight to the point' he had commented offhandedly on several occasions.
"I do apologize, Miss Farrow. I was lost in thought was all." Alice replied politely. It seemed that it wasn't enough for the housekeeper as she gave the younger female a critical glance once more before turning her head in what seemed to be frustration.
"Well then, milady, if you are to be lost in thought once more, kindly refrain from slumping against the glass doors. It isn't becoming of a noble lady, especially one that is married into the great von Hertzon name, and the doors were just cleaned yesterday afternoon." Before Alice could reply back, Mylene had already stalked off, the navy blue cape of her dress following her elegantly as her high heeled shoes clicked and clacked against the dark hardwood floors of the mansion. In her uniform, Alice thought absentmindedly, she looked more like a dictator than just a mere housekeeper. Although she had lived in the von Hertzon Manor for more than a year now, she still wasn't used to the fact that there was a housekeeper controlling nearly every asset of the house. Because the Gehabich household was rather small, the family didn't need a housekeeper or any servants at all, but she supposed, as she sighed, that that was another thing that she should try to adapt to.
"Oh, Mrs. von Hertzon! I have been looking all over for you!" Alice turned around to find Soon, a housemaid, hurrying down the giant spiraling staircase.
"Oh, Soon. What is it?" The redhead forced a polite smile as the housemaid finally reached her.
"Mr. von Hertzon just sent a telegram saying that he is unable to have dinner with you tonight, ma'am. The Vestal customers are being such a hassle to deal with, as expected of them. He says that he should arrive no later at home by eleven thirty tonight, but I am sure that you should expect to find him tomorrow morning at breakfast-time."
An unexpected sigh left the young Mrs. von Hertzon's lips. "Of course he wouldn't be here on Sunday. Or any day for that matter." Her chocolate eyes widened in horror at the words that escaped her lips.
A sympathetic smile graced the brunette's lips. "I know how difficult that must be, milady. But milord is working hard to provide for any comfort that you may want as well as to uphold his family name."
"I would give up the unnecessary luxuries and a mansion this large if that meant that I could spend more time with him." The redhead female glanced around the manor with expressionless eyes. An unspoken "And finally get to know him" was left hanging in the air but neither woman ventured on that topic.
Soon smiled gently at her once more. "I understand your concerns, milady, but it is what it is." She glanced up at the grandfather clock, an antique that had been, according to Klaus, passed down for nearly five generations. "Oh, dear me! It is nearing five o'clock! Do go to the dining table, milady, for supper is approaching. Cook will be very displeased if you are not yet at the dining table!" The housemaid ushered her in the direction towards the dining table. The redhead female was in no emotional state to eat but obeyed the brunette.
"Is Cook that distressed?" Alice asked, following Soon in the direction towards the dining area.
"Oh, well, not exactly. Supper is simply some boiled lamb chops with asparagus and radishes. You understand how Cook is, milady; always wanting to keep busy."
Supper was wonderful, as per usual, and although the young Mrs. von Hertzon did not have much of an appetite, she somewhat forced herself to finish her plate of food. She could sense Cook's displeasure of her refusing her second plate of food-the middle-aged woman had mentioned to her one too many times about how thin she was looking-but accepted the slice of peach pie that was offered. That, of course, was delicious, for Alice was never able to afford such luxuries. Before she was married to Klaus, her family was not very well-off and could not afford the foods that she could currently eat now. Her diet back then consisted mostly of an abundance of vegetables, fish, and white meat. Fruit was almost always out of the question. If her family was lucky, they were able to find or buy fruits such as apples and berries, which were always cherished. She didn't know that such fruits and meats existed until she lived in the von Hertzon Manor!
With dinner ending at around 6 o'clock, Alice spent the rest of the evening in the library, immersed in the different worlds that each book resided in. It was only until a maid, who had entered the library to tidy up the room, noticed the redhead intensely reading and gently reminded her that 9 o'clock was fast approaching. Thanking the maid, the young noble rose from her seat and gracefully walked towards her bedroom, intent on preparing for bed.
...
Alice sighed tiredly as she finished combing her hair. She was mentally and emotionally exhausted and couldn't wait until she could succumb to the comfort of sleep. She sighed once more at the thought of tomorrow being a continuation of the mundane routine of her life but quickly reminded herself that her situation could have been worse. Just as she was about to blow out the candle, what sounded like a melodic wind caught her attention and her eyes widened in realization. The sound was a familiar stranger to her and she swallowed thickly as she steadied the candle in her hand. Heart in her lungs, she fastened her pace as she rushed to close the doors that led to the entry of her balcony to block off the whistling melody of an all-too familiar leaf song. Blowing out the candle, Alice crawled into bed, where the silk sheets and plush pillow did little to calm down her racing heart. It took her hours before she could finally sleep, not without thoughts of a certain raven-haired ninja lingering as she drifted off to sleep.
...
"Good morning, Alice. I apologize for my absence yesterday. The customers were troublesome as ever." The sight of her silver-haired husband seated on one end of the long table whilst reading the newspaper and eating breakfast welcomed the redhead female as she took her seat across from him.
"Good morning, Klaus. I hope they weren't too much trouble for you." She answered politely as a maid set her breakfast in front of her. Thanking the maid, the young wife delicately picked up her fork and began eating her scrambled eggs with a bit of bread and butter.
"Ah well, the Vestals were the most troublesome of them all, but nothing is too much trouble for me." He bragged slightly. "How was your day?"
"Quite...calming. I simply enjoyed a book in the garden in the morning and right after dinner." Was her simple reply.
"My dear wife," Klaus began and Alice wanted to shudder in disgust, "you know how I disapprove of you reading so much. You really must go out more. I've heard that the noble ladies enjoy watching plays and the such. You could go if you would like. I've heard the most spectacular reviews from William Shakespeare's plays."
"Thank you, but I enjoy reading more than I do watching the play itself." She replied courteously as she raised her porcelain tea cup.
He sighed. "I suppose I cannot change that then, but I suppose the ladies at the ball this Friday shall convince you otherwise."
"A ball on Friday?" Alice nearly choked on her chamomile tea and was grateful that a coughing fit had yet to be ensued. She didn't know how her husband or Mylene would take that.
"Yes, there is a ball on Friday. Mr. Barodius, my boss, is hosting a ball to catch the attention of future customers. We must attend." Klaus said the last sentence with such firm determination.
"Oh my...I did forget." How she could forget something that had the possibility of making her mundane routine more 'exciting' was beyond her. "I apologize...I suppose I could wear the pastel yellow ballgown..." She mused as she took a bite of her bread and butter.
"You would look very graceful in it. All of the gentlemen there would take a liking to you." He smiled and she tried to swallow down her sigh with a forced smile. Of course he would want her there just to reel in potential customers with her appearance. "I must take my leave now, but do tell Chris or Soon to iron the dress soon. Friday will come before you know it."
...
True to his word, Friday did indeed came rather quickly and before she knew it, Alice was in her silk, pastel yellow ballgown with her arms interlocked with Klaus's. And once again, Klaus was correct for saying that the gentlemen attending the ball would take a liking to her...albeit rather quickly. She was introduced and shook hands with more people than she could remember and repeated the same mundane pleasantries that she did for everyone there. For somebody with thoughts of running away from the bothersome ball every minute or so, Alice found that she was doing quite well. She managed to smile and laugh at the right times and continue on with a conversation. The people there were insufferable, she won't lie, but she supposed that it was much better than staying at home.
A glass of champagne was extended towards her, and she took it with a polite smile as Klaus locked an arm with one of her arms. "You are doing quite wonderful. The gentlemen and their wives had nothing but praise for you. Come, there is someone you must meet." He led her towards a group of men holding wine glasses somewhat crowded around in a corner of the ballroom. She supposed that she would have done the same if she were at an event this boring.
"Gentlemen, I suppose that most of you have met my lovely wife, all except for you, sir." And as if on cue, a raven-haired male with shoulder-length hair that had his back to her slowly turned around and Alice could feel her breath caught in her lungs. Oh God no, please not him-
"Alice, may I introduce you to Mr. Shun Kazami?"
The world seemed to fade away as all she could see was Shun's hazel brown eyes locked with her own chocolate brown eyes. She could only stare in shock as his hand reached out towards her own hand.
"Mrs. von Hertzon, Alice," A subtle smirk graced his lips and with that, he gently brought up her hand and pressed a soft kiss on her hand. She swallowed thickly and was unable to retrieve her hand back from the other male and it seemed like he had no intention to do give her back her hand as well.
"Mr. Kazami had just recently arrived back here in Wardington from New Vestroia as well as...oh dear, it seems as if I have forgotten. Would you mind telling my wife of your travels?" Alice's short reverie was broken as Klaus spoke, all the while an arm was holding Alice by her small waist. The redhead female noticed the raven-haired male's eyes staring intensely at her husband's arm around her waist but he fixed his composure and forced a polite smile, slowly letting go of her hand.
"I do not mind at all, Mr. von Hertzon. It is true that I did arrive back from New Vestroia, but I also came back from Neathia and stayed briefly in Bayview." He reminded the von Hertzon male.
"Yes yes, of course. What makes you come back here to Wardington? Surely your time in New Vestroia and Neathia were quite memorable." Klaus sipped on his wine.
"I do admit that my time in New Vestroia and Neathia were memorable, yes, but I was born here in Wardington and it was time for me to come back home. There is the matter of some unfinished business that I must take care of." Shun looked directly at Alice and she nearly dropped her glass of champagne.
"Business? What kind of-"
"Oh, my dear Mrs. von Hertzon! Is that you?" Klaus' inquiry was interrupted as an elderly lady approached the group. "Why, I almost didn't recognize you! What are you doing here, listening to these men talk about business and the such?! You ought to be ashamed of yourself, Mr. von Hertzon! A young lady must be bored to death listening to such unnecessary details!"
"I do apologize, Mrs. Fairfax. I simply wanted to introduce Alice to my new client, that is all." Klaus replied respectfully to the older woman. The younger female silently thanked Klaus for saying the name of older woman, for she had completely forgotten her name.
"Well, business and family are two completely different things, Mr. von Hertzon. Do you mind if I steal Mrs. von Hertzon for a bit, Mr. von Hertzon? There is a new play that William Shakespeare is set to perform soon and the other ladies and I would love to have Mrs. von Hertzon attend with us." Mrs. Fairfax prompted.
"I do not mind, Mrs. Fairfax." The silver-haired male replied courteously as he removed his arm from around his wife's waist. The younger female was grateful for the elderly lady for whisking her away from both her husband and Shun.
"It was a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. von Hertzon." Alice turned back to find Shun bowing slightly at her, his eyes still never leaving her.
She gave him a small curtsy in response. "Yes, thank you, Mr. Kazami. It was nice to meet your acquaintance as well." With that, she composed herself as she trailed behind Mrs. Fairfax.
While the older lady did somewhat save her from her husband and a ghost of her past, she failed to save her from boredom. The group of ladies that Mrs. Fairfax had introduced Alice to where all older ladies, none of which are remotely near Alice's age. They were nice enough, she supposed, as they gossiped about the other women at the party and expressed their excitement for Shakespeare's next play; Much Ado About Nothing. The younger female hadn't yet read or seen the Shakespearean play but half-heartedly promised that she would join them at the theater when the play would be performed. After approximately twenty minutes into the messy conversation, Alice excused herself, saying that she needed to freshen up. The ladies nodded absentmindedly and told her to hurry back.
Walking outside of the manor, Alice had abandoned looking for a bathroom and instead decided to explore the garden of Mr. Barodius' manor. The garden was nicely kept, she noticed, but it seemed as if the man was quite vain. She had already encountered two statues of the man in the span of a short walk and the trees and bushes were shaped to what seemed like Mr. Barodius. She shook her head; she had seen worse from other nobles, so she supposed she could reason why Mr. Barodius would decorate his garden like that.
"So this is where you were hiding."
Alice gasped in surprise as she spun around to find Shun leaning against a statue of Mr. Barodius with his arms crossed. She took a deep breath, attempting to compose herself, as she responded back.
"I...I just needed some fresh air." Was her curt reply. A breeze blew by and she shivered, bringing her hands up to her arms and rubbing them slightly to produce a slight amount of heat.
"Here." The redhead looked up to find Shun taking off his green suit jacket and draping it over her shoulder.
"Thank you." She answered softly as she reached to pull the jacket closer to her. At that same moment, his hands were slowly falling back down towards his side and their fingers gently brushed past one another's. She looked up to find him staring back at her and in that moment, she swore that they were still sixteen with promises of love and adventure.
"Alice." His voice tore her from her daydream as she snapped back to reality. "Do you love him?"
"Shun, I...there was no choice. Grandfather was sick and my family was slowly succumbing to poverty-"
"That is not what I asked. Do you love him?" He repeated once more as he gently, yet firmly took her hands in his.
She sighed deeply. "I-"
"Alice, darling, is that you?" Klaus' voice startled Alice as she tore her hands from Shun's grip. The redhead thought that she heard an angry growl coming from the raven-haired male but she had little time to worry about it as he moved back half a foot away from her as Klaus neared the two of them.
"What are you doing out here, Ali-Oh, Mr. Kazami, I didn't notice you." The silver-haired male looked quite surprised as he noticed the two childhood lovers.
"I needed some fresh air and I had ran into Mrs. von Hertzon on the way here. It was getting quite breezy and well, I offered her my suit jacket." Shun answered for the both of them.
"That is very kind of you, Mr. Kazami, thank you. Here is my jacket, Alice. You may have your jacket back, Mr. Kazami." Her husband took off his jacket but not before taking Shun's jacket from off of her shoulders and placing it on her shoulders. "It is getting quite late, Mr. Kazami and we must be heading home. I suppose we will see you sometime soon, yes?"
The raven-haired male nodded. "Yes, of course. I bid you a goodnight, Mr. von Hertzon, Mrs. von Hertzon." He stared right at her as the words left his lips.
...
"Mr. Kazami is such a mysterious man, don't you think so, Alice?" Klaus asked as he crossed his legs. The couple were in a horse-drawn-carriage back to the von Hertzon Manor, each sitting across from the other.
"How so?" She answered his question with her own instead.
"He told me that he spent much of his years in New Vestroia and in the palace of Neathia as one of Crown Princess Fabia's advisers. I am quite unsure about his occupation. He has a great amount of money that he is able to put in for investments, but I don't quite understand what he does to attain that money." The silver-haired male mused as he loosened his tie.
"That is quite mysterious." Alice nodded, keeping quiet on what she could only assume that Shun had been doing all those years.
"Well, that matters not. After all, we will be getting to see more of him two weeks from now." Klaus responded nonchalantly.
"W-What?" The redhead asked in shock.
"I invited him over for dinner at the manor two weeks from now. I hope you don't mind. I will be sure to inform Cook and Mylene about it tomorrow morning." He reassured her.
"N-No, of course not." She could barely make out. She barely got away with Shun today at the ball where there were hundreds of people. She didn't even want to think about how she would manage dinner with just him and Klaus two weeks from today. But, she mused slightly as she looked out the carriage window to gaze up at the illuminating full moon, it would be quite an adventure.
End of Chapter 2.
Note: *blows a party horn* (ᗒᗨᗕ) Chapter 2 is finally up after a near year-long hiatus, LOL! Because of the long wait for this story, I made this chapter *slightly* longer than what I usually update! I would like to apologize for the first chapter, since a lot of you seemed really confused about it, which I completely understand why. I had intended to make Shun's sudden appearance seem regretful and despairing that Alice left him to marry Klaus, not vengeful! Also! I wrote a small one-shot that is a sort of prequel to this story (LOL, shameless self promo) so if you'd like to check that out, it's called You'll Be In My Heart! Anyways, please let me know what your thoughts on this second chapter and since summer is here, there will be a LOT more updates on most, if not all of all my stories! Until next time~!
P.S. If any of you listen to J-Pop (Japanese pop music), what are some of your favorite songs and or artists? I have an idea for a Kusaki (Dan x Runo) modern AU! story and I was wondering if there were any J-Pop songs or any songs in general that you'd think would suit Dan's and or Runo's personalities. I mostly listen to K-Pop (Korean pop music) or Western artists, so I'd also like to broaden my music horizon as well~! v(｡･･｡)
P.P.S: I remember that there was an episode in Season 1 of Bakugan where Shun was playing/blowing on a leaf...if any of you happen to know what episode it is, please let me know~! I felt silly writing 'leaf song' since I had no idea what the proper term was!