The Majique Ball, Pt. II

Kinrea nearly fell down the stairs rushing out of the ball room like that. Maybe she deserved to, she thought, running out simply because a man asked if she was alright. Her face was hot with embarrassment, but was soothed by the cool air outside.

The lawn of the Majique Palace was just as enticing as the architecture itself. The grass was flawlessly green patterned with perfectly tall and well-trimmed trees, the lawn bordered, to its left, with a satisfyingly large and cliché pond that shimmered and danced with the moon.

Kinrea stopped at a nearby tree to collect herself when she caught sight of a white figure floating on the lake. She paced over to the pond to find a large swan dancing and swaying so peacefully, almost in sync with the concerto playing inside the ball room.

She sat at the edge of the lake for a long while. The sky had darkened and the moon had risen, high and bright. The whole romance of the scene would have typically been cheesy and displeasing to her at first, but it didn't seem to bother her tonight. She took off her heels and placed them beside her as she lifted her dress and slipped her pale feet into the water. It was night and no one was with her, so she untied her hair, which fell delicately beside and in front of a portion of her face. After moments of running her legs through the water, she began humming one of her favorite ballads. The swan had stopped it's dancing abruptly, and turned its head to Kinrea. She stopped her humming, and stared back at the swan. Its eyes looked at her, without threat - curiously, beckoning, pleading. "Sing for me."

Kinrea did so.

"Agony melts away," she sang softly, "With the sound of the rain. Silence scatters numerously..." And the swan began dancing again.

"In between the trembling worlds... it's so painful.

I'm outside the cage with my broken wings, looking up at the pale sky.

In the overflowing guilt;
Hope, drowning in the lies pours down,
The thorny rain."

"That's a beautiful song," a man's voice said behind Kinrea. She turned and gasped, startled out of her trance. It was the same man inside the ball room. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you."

"It's alright," she said quietly. She turned back to the swan, whom ceased her dancing with the interruption.

"Hm," he said thoughtfully, "Your swan doesn't look so happy." Kinrea thought he was making fun of her, and when she was going to argue back to him, he spoke:

"It sinks into the night;
Becoming aware that I'm all alone;
Just being scared, sad, and lonely...

The feeling of sadness rises..."

The swan continued her dancing, and Kinrea joined him in his singing.

"...And it feels more than yesterday.
Deep inside, it burdens me still.

Now, the crushed philosophy;
Blood and rain merge, gets twisted;
We now knot the truth, along with the fiction."

"You know the song," Kinrea says happily. "No one else I've met has heard of it."

He smiled. "That's because you didn't know me." He sat by her and looked right into her face. "I'm Ryuuko, but for a lovely lady such as yourself... you can simply call me Ryu."

She returned his smile with her own. "And I am Kinrea."

"Well, Miss Kinrea," Ri said sweetly, "It's my pleasure to have met you on such a lovely night."

She gazed at his beautiful face, illuminated by the moon, and smiled gently at him. "Mine as well."

They both turned to the swan, still dancing despite the halting of the chorus, and they sang.

"It pours down, the thorny rain."