Romeo and Cinderella

Chapter 8
Sympathy

Luka exploded. It was hard to describe the kind of fury seething in her eyes any other way. I knew that she knew that I hadn't just stayed out with my horse for so long.

So here's the part where she screams at me for several minutes up in my room.

"Where the hell were you! Do you know how long I have been stressing over you? A long while, you can be sure about it! I have half a mind to go down to the master and tell him right now what you've been up to. And you better be damn sure relieved that it's only half a mind." She said a lot more, in many different languages, but it was mostly profanity and French along with some other words that I didn't know but I assumed to be more profanity.

I just sat quietly kind of feeling terrible and sorry for myself as Luka spoke loudly toward me. It was starting to sound a lot more like, "ARR AR ARRRAH RAAA ARR ARRR AHRRR!" which just meant "I love you" in sea lion.

I don't really know how long it took for her to stop yelling at me, but when she did I asked her, "Luka? Can I help you with the laundry?"

"YOU HAVE GOT A PRETTY DAMN CONFIDENT MIND TO BE ASKING ME FOR—wait what?" It appeared that I had taken her by surprise. "Um, yeah. I guess I could use some help until your theatre coach comes by." Luka must have been either severely bipolar, or just so taken aback by my statement to know how to react.

So I honestly hadn't washed clothes since I was eight. I loved to "help" around the house as a little girl. What could I say? I dreamed to be a housewife as a small child. And the only task Luka would actually let me do was wash clothes, so I hoped I would remember. I guess around that time Luka was my age as my father's indentured servant. I wondered if she remembered that as well as I do…

We went to the right outside my room and down the hallway to the servant's staircase (Yes, we had very many staircases in this house. There were at least five). The servant's staircase led to a narrow, dusty hallway that led to a washing area outside. The rest of the backyard was closed off to this area, which is why we had to take the special hallway to get there.

When we got outside Luka had me fill a large tub with water as she hung up a line to dry everything after washing. We then sat down and started scrubbing.

"Hey, Luka?" I began a few minutes in.

"Yeah?"

"Do you remember when we would come out here and just wash clothes when I was little?"

Luka smiled. "Oh, yes. You loved to help me out around the house."

I was thoughtful for a moment. "You never talked that much. I always remember you not having any sort of expression on your face. But I guess that was just when I was younger." Luka had always had clouded eyes. She was always thinking about something.

Luka stopped for a moment. She didn't reply.

"Why did you never talk?" I paused "Was it…" I stopped myself. I figured it would be too rude to mention Luka's parents.

"I still hadn' t let go of my parents by then," she mumbled mostly under her breath, then she continued louder, "How old were you at that time?"

I tried to remember. "I guess I was around five."

"So I was fifteen." Luka came here at the age of ten, right before I was born. Her birthday was in June; she came here on her birthday. I was born later in July.

I gasped, having a realization moment. Her parents' deaths had been— "Your—your parents were killed on your birthday!" I yelled without really thinking about any sort of consequence.

Luka looked somewhat like someone had stabbed her in the heart.

"Oh! I am so sorry. I didn't even realize—" She stopped me. Oh, I felt so rude.

"Don't worry about it. I've gotten used to it by now. It's really fine," Luka insisted. It didn't seem fine. Her words seemed forced. Not at all sincere.

"… I'm sorry"

.

We had finished washing all of the clothes that needed washing and hung up everything to dry. I was in my room sitting on my bed, just thinking. I thought about Len. I thought about what we had been doing. I thought about how I was supposed to feel guilty. I thought about how I wasn't.

And then I thought about Luka. I didn't know a lot about her. I wish I did though. I wanted to know where she was from, what her parents were like, what it was like to lose them. I guess I just wanted to know the most difficult things.

That was about the time my theatre and singing coach came by for my Wednesday classes. Four solid hours of singing and acting. Is there anything that you would rather be doing? I could think of a few things… or people

.

Tick, Tock. It's five o'clock. Time to go to dinner. My father had called to have a family dinner tonight. I prayed that he wouldn't make me sing again. He tended to do that on days that my singing coach was here. And those were the days where my voice would be worn down and torn into shreds.

Everyone, servants and all, either sat or stood around the table.

My father, obviously feeling important with that smug expression, called all to attention though the room had already been quiet.

"I am very proud to announce that we will be holding a Winter Ball, a masqurade, at our manor in two weeks in honor of the marriage between my Lady Rin and Sir Kaito. I have not yet announced this to the Fugo family, but they will be informed tomorrow afternoon." I felt my jaw drop and my eyes widen. "Oh, Rin I can see the plain excitement on your face." Tch! Yeah, right. I was not excited. Rather I was greatly disturbed.

Very. Greatly. Disturbed.

"Ahem, yes," he continued. "Luka if you would please do the honors of informing the Fugo family." No.

I casted a nervous glance toward Luka. She returned it then looked back toward my father.

"Master, I do believe I have kitchen duty all day tomorrow. Perhaps Miss Neru could deliver the message? I'm sure the other maids will be able to cover for her absence." Luka sure knew how to avoid her duties. Though, at her message, all the maids in the room sighed. I guessed they knew just why Luka was doing this. It appeared that the only under informed people in the household were my parents.

"Ah, yes. Of course. I can't have the inhabitants of my manor being underfed. So I shall have Neru deliver the message." Was it just me or did my father appear to be sounding stupider than usual.

… Yup. He just sounded stupid.

"Now! I shan't keep you waiting any longer for your meal." By then I had just tuned the noise of my father's rambling into the background. He said some sort of prayer then finally let everyone eat.

I was starving. I had hardly eaten all day except for a small snack in between singing and reading a book about old dead guys that used to act. Yet, I didn't manage to eat all of the food that was served to me. It was strange. Usually I wolfed down the whole plate in a few bites, and that would be when I wasn't hungry. Unless, of course, if "Sir Fugo" were here. I never have an appetite around him.

I excused myself from the table early. I got to my room, and, surprise, surprise. Guess who was there. You got it! Len was sitting on my bed staring at the open door.

"There you are!" Len exclaimed. "I was beginning to think you had been eaten by a wolf."

I blinked and shuddered at the similarity to the dream I had had the night before. Shunning away the bad thoughts I returned to the problem sitting in my room.

"What are you doing here?" I asked accusingly.

"I came to return your cloak and get back the shoes you stole from me two days ago," Len answered. That was kind of hard to argue with.

"Oh," I said for lack of a better comeback.

Len looked over me. "Why do you wear those ridiculous corsets? They make you look flatter than a wall." He obviously speaks before thinking.

Trying to ignore the rude comment, I inquired, "Did you come for anything else?" I was gritting my teeth.

Len smirked. "I came for you."

I read his facial expression then processed the information it was implying. "Wait, what? No we can't— not here! My maids will find us."

"Then come on." Len gestured that I follow him out the window.

"Hold on. I should write a note." Luka was going to be angry. Very, very angry.

Dear Luka,

Out to watch the stars with Miku. I'll be back sometime this morning.

Sincerely,

Rin

I breathed a heavy sigh. She wasn't going to buy it, but that's all I could think of at the moment. I wondered what kind of grief she would give me about it. The thought of it almost made me not want to go. Almost.

"Where to?" I asked, stepping out onto the ledge by my window, with shoes on this time.

"I know of this lovely little abandoned barn house that's just perfect for watching the stars." I glared at Len's discrete mocking of my note.

"Sure. Anywhere is better than here," I agreed. It was a slightly warmer night. I could almost feel comfortable with my cloak on. The sky was very clear, too. It would be a perfect star-watching night.

The walk to the abandoned barnyard wasn't too long. It was just a half a kilometer off from the field where I rode Joseph just the night before (That makes it seem like a long way, doesn't it?). And by now I had gotten quite used to walking from place to place. When we got to the barn I saw that it was on the larger side, especially for this time period. Most of the boards were rotting or broken. I guess to most people it would seem a bit creepy, but I sort of liked it. I smiled.

"I was out riding the other night and I came across this place. A little creepy, but it seemed kind of nice." As Len spoke I realized that we had gone through the entire trip in silence.

"It looks well used," I observed, not intending the dry humor that showed up in the words.

Len laughed. "I agree. It definitely served its purpose."

"Oh, Len," I began.

"Yes?"

I cleared my throat a little. "My father has decided that we will be holding a masquerade in two week and, well, I don't wish to be alone there. And you might get to meet… Kaito." I forced his name out as if it were a curse. Did I mention that I really don't like him?

"I'm guessing this means I'm invited?" Len put on one of those famous, mischievous faces.

"Indeed."

"Lovely. I can't wait."

Pause.

Len began walking for a few steps, then ran over to the entrance of the barn and plopped down right beside it. He gazed up at the stars. I followed him over and took my place next to him.

My eyes gleamed. "There are so many…" I whispered. I could see stars forever. Tiny white dots littering the sky like pearls off of a broken necklace.

"It's so beautiful, isn't it?" Len remarked. I looked over at him. The stars reflected in his pupils.

"Truly beautiful," I agreed, staring into his eyes.

He looked over to me and we exchanged a smile.

Isn't it funny how just one wrong word can make an entire night go bad? The drop of a pin causing turmoil, or a cross remark turning into a divorce? I thought it was a really funny thing. And it doesn't even have to be on purpose. In fact, it's usually an accident. Just a stupid little accident.

"I wonder what Miku is doing right now…" I thought aloud.

"Who is Miku?" Len questioned.

"Oh. I thought I told you. She was the girl I was with when… that man came out," I explained.

"So, she was the one that was raped?" Len clarified. I flinched at the word.

"Yeah," I granted. "I hope she's okay."

"She's probably still in denial," Len inferred.

"I guess. She was yesterday morning."

Len twitched. It seemed to be out of either annoyance or disgust. Perhaps both.

"What is it?"

"I just don't see how someone can be so relaxed about something like that," he explained. What did he mean? "Especially you—a woman."

"What does my being a woman have to do with anything?" I said with some contempt in my voice.

"It just makes you a target for those disgusting people to aim for." Len's voice was hard as he spoke. It sounded like he actually knew a bit of what he was talking about.

"How do you have such a strong connection to this?" That probably came out more accusing than I had hoped for.

Len looked at me with a hard glare. "My mother was raped in front of me. Is that enough of a connection?"

Just when I thought these people couldn't get any worse. "What!" I yelled. Just the thought of it made me feel dizzy. "I am so sorry."

"Rin," Len began, "why is it that you have such disrespect for so much?" Oh, no. I dropped the pin.

"I-I'm sorry." That's all I could say. It was true. I didn't really know anything. He started moving over me.

"You act so polite, yet you have no real connection with anything." Len was still right. I had never really learned to connect with people, being so isolated from the world. I didn't know how to live on the emotional side. I was too afraid to.

He was on top of me.

"I… I…"

"I can change that for you." His face was nearly in mine, his eyes darker than black.

"What are you saying!" I asked frantically. That was it. Len had snapped. The night suddenly turned into the low lit street on the cold stone ground, my leg bleeding and my body exposed wandering eyes. I blinked the image away, then looked back up to Len with fearful curiosity. His face turned thirsty. Lusty. Just as disgusting as the man from the street. This was not good.

Suddenly, he ripped the cloak off of my shoulders and unwove my corset. "Learn some sympathy," he growled.

"What the hell Len!" Regardless my tone I was more scared than anything. My mind was whirling trying to comprehend all that was going on and how to react.

He tore off my skirt so that I was bare, stripped before the eyes of God and everyone.

"No…"

.

I remembered screaming. "No! Len, please stop! You're hurting me, Len! LEN!" I screamed a lot. It didn't matter. He would just do it again.

I remembered crying, too. But I eventually just stayed quiet.

That was when he leaned over me and breathed into my ear, "Do you still love me?" How was I supposed to answer a question like that?

I nodded, not having the energy to say anything more.

Then everything was quiet. I tried to open my eyes, which I had shut tight some time ago, and I saw his face back to its normal, gentle self. He lightly pressed his lips against mine. "I'm sorry," he whispered.

I blinked slowly, and then the world went black. I think I saw that the sun was just coming up.