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Vocaloid Tales: The Summer and Winter Garden Ch 5

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Chapter 5: The Immortal Song


                   

The audience listened with rapt attention as Miku, the glamorous soloist, serenaded the theater with her glorious melody. Her snow-white gown glowed under the soft aura of the stage lights.

As she finished her song, the audience erupted into thundering applause.  Miku gracefully bowed towards her adoring public as red roses showered the stage.

After giving her audience the attention they deserved, she began her exit from the stage.  As she made her way towards the curtains, she stopped her departure as something unusual caught her eye.  Amongst the dozens upon dozens of red roses blanketing the stage lay a single blue rose.

Miku knelt down and picked it up by the stem, examining it against the spotlight.  Only one person could have sent her this.

She clutched the rose tightly to her chest as she crossed the curtain.  Awaiting her was a handsome young man in a fine silk suit, a glimmering crown upon his head.  He approached her, clutching an elegant box in his arms.  “Miku, you are the world’s finest Diva!  I present to you this fine gift if only you’ll accept my marriage proposal and become my Princess!”

As he lifted the lid to show her more jewels than she could count, Miku grew excited and began to speak. But out of the corner of her eye, she spied a familiar silhouette in the doorway to the outside that made her hesitate…

 

Miku awoke from her evening’s slumber with a sense of confusion.  Every other time she had this dream, she unquestioningly agreed to marry the prince.  After all, he completed her lifelong dream of living an easy life as the princess to a glamorous husband and being a world-renowned star.  Yet this time, where she once unquestioningly took the box of jewels and the easy life… this time she found herself having second thoughts.

“It must have been that mysterious stranger,” Miku said to herself, “I wonder who he was? And why he’d make me change my mind like that?”

That “mysterious stranger” would have to wait until another day – she still had a breakfast to cook.

In the weeks since Kaito’s health returned, the two had fallen into a rather stable routine.  In the mornings, Miku prepared the breakfast as Kaito tended to the gardens. She’d asked him more than once if she could help in this gargantuan task, but on this point he remained firm – for the enchantment to remain, he couldn’t pass on his responsibilities to someone outside his family. But he did welcome her company, and on more than a few mornings Miku found herself obliging if only to change up her routine and have someone to talk to.

Enchantments and magic were a subject Miku still didn’t entirely grasp – while everyone in Melodia certainly believed in the “good spirits” that protected their homes, few of them truly believed in magic.  And what had Kaito called them?  “The Fair Folk?”  Growing up, she and the other children used to tell each other stories about the fairies – maybe it was just another word for them.  But her father always insisted that’s all the “fairies” were, just stories.

Like the “Demon Prince.”

Even if the nature of magic and those who used magic meant little to Miku, there still remained evidence of its existence in the perpetually blooming gardens.  And surely Kaito would not have invoked them as he did were they not real.  While Kaito seemed to appreciate a playful joke from Miku, he never told them himself.

Miku’s mind turned over the many stories she and the other children shared about the fairies, wondering if any of them might shed some clues on the magic in Kaito’s castle.  Rin often told a story about a girl who rescued a Prince from being enchanted to literally dance to his death by a group of playful faeries.  Meiko once shared a tale of a peasant girl who, to save her true love from becoming a tithe to Hell by the Queen of the Faeries herself, had to hold him tightly as the Queen transformed him into any number of horrifying creatures.  As Miku reflected on all of these tales, the Fair Folk sounded as though they could be incredibly cruel if even one of those stories were true.  Yet Kaito seemed unafraid of them as a group, even if the Demon Prince stories were true and he himself was a victim of a fairy’s magic…

“Alone on a grey hill, I tread on the dry withered grass as it stiffens, going around in my thoughts is the faraway place that is the sky…”

Miku stopped in place as a very familiar song reached her ears. She’d heard that voice many months ago, on that fateful summer day.  That sad, mournful tone that lured her deep into the Demon Prince’s garden.  The day she met Kaito for the first time.

The breakfast could wait.  Miku had to discover whose song that was.  Maybe it belonged to one of Kaito’s “Fair Folk” or a spirit.  Or maybe… just maybe…

“The petals swaying in the wind are your tender smile, fragments of faint memories are an illusion on the other side of the sepia color…”

Miku had heard of this song, many years ago.  A passing bard through Melodia performed it once as payment for a place to stay.  A song about an immortal, artificial man who sang for a thousand years as a solemn tribute to a person he’d loved and refused to forget.  A song that always made Miku’s heart ache as she thought of the loneliness and isolation the man in the song must have suffered.

The voice drew her back into the garden again.  Miku slowed down, walking on tip-toes so as not to disturb the soloist.  This time, nothing would distract her from uncovering his identity…

“Although this entire body of mine is nothing but artificial, at least let this heart be dedicated to you in song…”

Miku concealed herself behind a tall hedge.  The source of the voice was right on the other side.  As her heart thumped with anticipation, she parted the leaves carefully to finally peak at the identity of her mystery singer…

“Facing the setting evening sun, a faded guitar in one hand, a shadowed figure dances in the resounding echoes…”

Thump. Thump.  Thump.

Miku stared in utter disbelief as she watched her “Demon Prince” hard at work on his gardening, the gorgeous melody passing through his lips as he went about his task.  He seemed utterly unaware that he had an audience as he gently clipped a few leaves from one of the rose bushes, careful to only clear out the dead leaves while preserving the live plants.  Miku turned away in a hurry, staring at the trellis coated in morning glories as her thoughts raced back to that summer day.

“Although we can no longer meet under this moon, facing this sky, I'll continue to sing…”

Thump. Thump. Thump.

Her heart pounded as she realized all this time the man she’d treated so poorly had been the same man whose voice gave her such joy.  She took another peek through the hedge, observing him more closely.  Kaito looked so serene, so peaceful, as if the act of song granted him joy in spite of the melody’s melancholic story.

“Then on the hill of violets where I met with you by chance, In thousands of nights, there will be grey remains…”

Thump. Thump. Thump.

She didn’t know what to say.  Should she say anything?  All those days the two of them practiced at the piano, Kaito remained silent as he gracefully played each melody for Miku on command.  Did he even want her to know he possessed such a wonderful voice?  Was it a secret?  Maybe he didn’t like the idea of others hearing him? But his voice was so beautiful… she hated only having heard it by essentially sneaking up on him…

“Although we can no longer meet under this moon, facing this sky, I'll continue to sing…”

As Kaito finished his song, Miku pushed her head back through the bushes, trying to process what she’d just witnessed.  She suddenly whipped her head up as something strange appeared in the corner of her eye – someone was standing at the top of the steps into the garden.  Miku rubbed her eyes and looked again.  She could have sworn she’d seen a man with long, purple hair, but as she looked to the steps a second time, there appeared to be no other people in the garden but Kaito and she.

‘Why would I imagine a guy with purple hair?’ she thought.

She put him out of her mind – she had chores to do. Quietly, Miku rose to her feet and tip-toed back out of the garden.  She heard Kaito begin to sing again.  She bit her lip.  She needed to go make the breakfast, but at the same time, she yearned to hear more.  A pink butterfly drifted past her head as she tried to make her decision.

 

Gakupo watched the Miku girl crawl behind the morning glory trellis and kneel down out of sight, using the vines to hide her presence from the unaware Kaito.  Clearly she’d decided she was more interested in hearing Kaito’s unwitting vocal performances then getting on with her morning chores.

The first time he’d seen her sneaking around the garden, he’d found it hilarious.  The only reason Kaito hadn’t seen someone as obvious as her was because whenever his Lord tended to get caught up in songs, he’d become so engrossed in the melody that he may as well have been on another world entirely.  The samurai had looked forward to her over the top reaction to discovering the “mystery singer” was her feared “Demon Prince.” He expected it might be the last jolt she needed to start seeing him in a better light.

At first, she didn’t disappoint him – her constant exaggerated movements and double-takes had driven him to laughter.  He gathered from the few shades of pale she’d turned that she even figured out just who she’d insulted the first time she came sneaking into the garden to listen to a pretty voice.  But then… she became a lot less entertaining.

For just a brief few seconds, she had seen him.

He couldn’t explain how it happened.  And technically, he didn’t actually know whether that was true or not. Save for the panicked look she had while casting her gaze in his direction, she hadn’t actually said anything indicating she’d noticed the presence of the normally unseen warrior.

Gakupo had gotten so used to Miku staring straight at him that he normally gave it no heed.  Those odd looks only meant that she’d coincidentally looked in his direction – to Miku, she only saw whatever lay behind him. But this time, he couldn’t avoid the realization that for the first time since the wretched curse stole the humanity of his Master and the life from his own body, someone acknowledged his existence.

His curiosity got the better of him – he needed to confirm the sighting for himself.  The samurai approached the crouching Miku with care, trying not to break a twig or touch anything around him.  He first waved a hand in front of her face, but her gaze towards the garden did not waver.  Finally, he moved to kneel down in front of her, engaging in a staring contest with the girl. “Hey… Miku girl…” he said to her barely above a whisper, “Are you listening to me?”

When Gakupo elicited no further reaction from the twin tailed girl, he accepted she could discern his presence no more.  He let out a frustrated sigh and walked away.  Whatever allowed him a brief moment of respite from non-existence appeared past.  He kept up his observation of Miku from the trellis until his Master had finally ceased singing altogether.

Miku scrambled to conceal herself as Kaito started heading up the steps.  Gakupo decided to do the same – normally he would greet his lord warmly at the end of a hard morning’s work in the gardens, but Miku was right there – and if she couldn’t see him, it wouldn’t do for her to watch her “Demon Prince” suddenly start carrying on half of a conversation. And he didn’t want to alert Kaito to the presence of an audience. Still, as he knelt behind the trellis and close to the anxious tealette to stay out of Kaito’s line of sight, he felt quite ridiculous.  ‘The things I do for my lord…’ he thought to himself.

As Kaito passed out of the garden and back into the castle, both Gakupo and Miku rose to their feet.  Miku tried to brush the twigs and pink rose petals from her dress, then she quickly bolted to take another route back to the castle.  Gakupo leisurely followed her back inside.  He’d find a time to catch up to his lord later – when he could plausibly deny having seen him in the garden.

Kaito didn’t need to know Miku’s every move to woo her.  In fact, Gakupo decided this might be better kept a secret – Kaito’s hidden talents clearly had the girl’s interest.  What would be the point in telling him she already knew?  He could already imagine his Master getting jumpy and nervous as he tried to conceal the knowledge of her presence in the garden, and he already had enough trouble staying calm around Miku.

‘Better he find out when she decides to say something,’ Gakupo thought to himself, ‘Somehow I don’t imagine it’s going to take long.’  The Miku girl, he’d learned, could be very stubborn about satisfying her curiosity.

As he began to climb the steps, he stopped for just a moment as he watched a pink butterfly gliding through the garden, a trail of pink rose petals tumbling through the wind behind it.  His hand reflexively touched Miburi’s hilt.  ‘That had better not be who I think it is.’

 

At that day’s practice, Miku found her attention drawn more to her piano partner than her own singing.  By this point, Miku knew the lyrics to “Rolling Girl” by heart – all she did now was take tips from Kaito on how to improve her techniques and her form.  But after the morning in the garden, she thought little of herself and more about the songs she heard Kaito performing in the garden when he assumed he had no audience.

She watched his hands move deftly along the ivory keys of the piano.  The first day they’d practiced together, she’d certainly noticed he’d made a few mistakes in the song, but she’d thought it obvious that he still understood how to play.  As days of practices turned into weeks of practices, his flaws vanished.  His hands glided across the keys with grace, a perfect form from a well-trained musician. 

Miku had to teach herself how to play a piano, and she could immediately tell the different between someone with real skills and an amateur like herself.  So Kaito clearly possessed properly musical training beyond simply being self-taught. That would mean a long time ago, either someone taught a monster how to play the piano… or Kaito had not always been a monster.

She observed his face as he played – much like when he appeared lost in his songs in the garden, he seemed fully absorbed in his piano playing as well.  She’d never seen a person so peaceful during a performance.  She wondered if she could ever achieve that same level of concentration as he did…

As Miku felt her cheeks flush, she noticed Kaito’s lips moving as he played the song.  She ceased her own singing and sure enough, just barely audible over the piano, she could hear him singing along with the melody.

“The rolling girl is but a mere shadow of who she once was, unable to reach the color on the other side…”

Whoever had penned the song surely hadn’t intended for it to be sung by someone in Kaito’s vocal range, but even given his deeper voice, his vocals flowed with the melody.

Thump.  Thump.  Thump.

 

“One more time, one more time. ‘I'll roll today too.’ The girl says, the girl says, while playing on words-

Kaito finally realized Miku had stopped singing.  He ceased his playing and looked up at her, afraid he’d made a mistake.  Instead, he saw her eyes locked firmly on him, as if he’d done something truly shocking.

“Miku, what’s wrong?” he asked.

“Your voice…” she whispered.

In surprise, Kaito put a hand to his mouth.  Had he been so caught up in the melody that he’d begun to sing along with Miku?  “I…I didn’t mean to interrupt you…” he stammered.

Miku shook her head.  “No, don’t be embarrassed!” she protested, “Your voice is so… so beautiful!  You shouldn’t hide it!”

Why was someone giving him a compliment so upsetting?  He wasn’t afraid of his voice before… but something about Miku calling him out on it made him even more nervous.  Had he just gotten so used to humans calling him ugly that he had completely forgotten to handle one finding any part of himself “beautiful”?

“Kaito… can you sing that song with me?  I… I’ve sung with some of the other children back home, but… but...”

Miku seemed to get some courage up.  “I’ve never sung with a partner like you..”

She suddenly looked embarrassed herself and added quickly, “I mean, someone in your vocal range!”

Fine. Just this one duet together and she’d forget all about it.  But when she got like this, Kaito found himself having trouble letting her down. “I’ll start from the beginning then…”

Kaito steadied his nerves and returned to the familiar melody he’d practiced with Miku.  Once he could focus on the song again, the familiar lyrics flowed from his lips with greater confidence – after all, now he intended for her to hear him.

This time, their voices began to mingle.  Long ago, Kaito had only sung with one other partner.  Miku had a different range than she did though.  Kaito had to slightly adjust his voice so he could complement his current partner properly.  She had a much higher voice than his, so he had to take advantage of his deeper tone to create a better sense of harmony.

Yet as they got through the first few verses, Kaito thought he detected some nervousness to Miku’s singing voice that she’d not displayed before.  After giving her another verse to correct it, he stopped playing for a moment and glanced over to his partner.

 

‘Oh no…he stopped!  I must be terrible,’ she scolded herself, ‘Someone with such a beautifully trained voice shouldn’t have to ruin it by singing with me…’

“Miku,” Kaito said softly, “I’ve never seen you like this before.”

She tried to calm her pounding heart.  “I’m sorry!  I just sound like such an amateur next to you…” she apologized.

Kaito looked thoughtful.  “Don’t think too hard about that,” he assured her, “Instead of thinking about me, just focus on the sound of my voice.  We’re practicing together for the first time, you don’t know what I sound like yet.”

‘But when I think about your voice…’ Miku thought to herself.

Thump.  Thump.  Thump.

‘I want to lose myself in it.’

She swallowed hard.  “Just think about how you can complement it,” he added, “It’s all I’m doing for you. It’s not as hard as you might think, you’re just learning.”

The twin-tailed girl nodded her head quickly.  She heard the familiar melody start over again and tried to suppress her sudden timidness.  She wasn’t performing in front of anyone, she was just practicing!  Why did she suddenly get so nervous for an audience of just Kaito, her dear friend? She tried to let his calm reassurances reach her nerves, finding some success.  It was okay to make mistakes – the point of her practice was to learn to do better, after all.

As her higher voice began to merge with Kaito’s, Miku began to muse on the nature of a duet.  ‘It’s not just singing at the same time as a partner,’ she thought, ‘It’s getting to know their soul.  More intimately than even a lover’s embrace.’

At the thought of “lover’s embrace,” Miku felt some of her nervousness creep back.


This time, Miku actually finished the duet with Kaito, though he’d still noticed she seemed somewhat flustered.  “I hope that duet was everything you’d hoped you’d get out of it…”

Miku’s cheeks had taken on a rosy hue.  For the first time since Kaito had met her, she seemed to be at an utter loss for words.  She swallowed deeply and banished the color from her face.  “Kaito!  Please, teach me everything you know!”

Miku delivered her request with such force Kaito felt like he was about to be knocked over. “Are you serious?  I’ve never been a teacher before though…”

True, but clearly she had noticed that he’d received formal training at some point.  What if she started to pry?  What if she wanted to know the truth about him?  How could he conceal the truth about the curse?

“Oh, you don’t have to tell me all your secrets,” Miku pleaded, “Even if… if… if I could just hear you singing!  That would be enough!  Or perform another duet together!  Or… or… or…”

The red returned to Miku’s cheeks as she spoke of listening to Kaito sing.  He couldn’t understand what had gotten into her.  But if it would make her happy… if he could help her achieve her dream while getting closer to her…

“I’d be glad to help you.”

Miku’s eyes turned to stars again. “Oh, thank you! I can’t wait to hear you…”

She caught herself and flushed even redder. “I can’t wait to learn from you!” she said.

 

“Swaying in the season for farewells is a fleeting flower, seeking the same warmth in the wind, we all walk in search…”

As the somewhat comical scene played out in front of him, Gakupo decided his earlier decision had been the correct one.  Kaito became self-conscious of course – he rarely seemed to understand the effect his voice had on others in the past, why should he now?  But better he get flustered by having Miku point it out to him.

And as for Miku… he considered it good fortune she hadn’t begun to pry into where Kaito got his voice lessons.  They still needed to keep these secrets from her if they expected to break the curse. And telling her there was a curse at all seemed counter-productive. Especially if they told her breaking it required her to fall in love with a Demon Prince.

“Even if our pace is different, as long as the future we paint is the same, then it's okay, because we can begin at the same place again…”

He glanced around the ballroom and noticed the entire room seemed lighter.  Had Miku noticed?  More importantly, had Kaito noticed?  The floor contained far less cracks and the paintings seemed just a bit less faded and flaking.  The mold and moss appeared to be receding.  Gakupo wondered if he should say anything.  With a small laugh, he thought of how much more nervous Kaito would get if he realized the connection between the nicer state of his home and Miku’s own feelings toward him.

As pink rose petals drifted in the wind, Gakupo’s narrowed.  His eyes darted around the ballroom until he saw her.  Silent. Unnoticed.  Unwavering. He only spotted her because unlike the living occupants of the castle, Gakupo had the freedom to notice everything no matter how small. ‘So the butterfly wasn’t a fluke.’

Gakupo’s hand tightened around Miburi again as he made his way out of the ballroom and found the open window their intruder stood in front of. “Luka,” he said, his voice dangerous.

The pink-haired fairy wore an otherworldly black, gold, and purple gown.  Whether the Fair Folk could truly die from cold, he didn’t know. She certainly didn’t appear concerned given her bare shoulders in the snow.  Her ornate pink and black wings remained as motionless as the rest of her.  Her wings recalled the image of a butterfly – but as Gakupo would state on numerous occasions, a butterfly did not have the capacity for evil that she possessed.

Upon being acknowledged, the fairy’s golden eyes left the ballroom and turned to Gakupo’s direction. Her face appeared dark upon seeing him. “What in the world are you doing here?” the samurai demanded, trying to keep his voice down so as not to draw Kaito’s attention outside.

“I merely wished to approach the Prince with an offer out of kindness,” she said.  Like the rest of her kin, she wore a mask of indifference – the fairies loathed letting humans get even a glimpse of their true hearts.  “Yet I see he’s been… distracted by something.”

“Kindness.  You dare speak of kindness after what you did to him?!”

“Blossoming in the short spring, the dreams go through the long winter, the seeds that I collect in my heart, what kind of light do I provide for them?”

Infuriatingly, Luka appeared to ignore Gakupo, turning her gaze back to monitor the Prince and Miku.  “It was my duty as an immortal to judge him for his weakness of character,” she spoke plainly, “I made that quite clear.”

Her eyes twitched as she witnessed him playing the piano for a star-struck Miku.  The pig-tailed girl seemed to have talked him into another solo act.  She had her hands clutched together, nodding along his every word.  Gakupo seriously questioned if she was truly learning anything or just enjoying the show.

“I judged him for the cruelty of his heart.  The punishment was appropriate.”

“You call these decades of isolation ‘appropriate’? Of being rejected by every soul that ever looks at him!? He’s done nothing but suffer because of you and your jealousy!”

Just listening to her justifying her actions to him made the normally calm Gakupo agitated.  “And what of the people who never found out what happened to their family and friends?!  They’ve all passed away by now, and they’ve committed no crime against any immortal!”

Luka’s gaze turned back to him, and he smirked as he saw the rage in her eyes briefly upsetting her “mask”.  At least their feelings for each other remained mutual.

“Every one of you was complicit in creating someone with such a wicked heart,” she chided, “You may cry out that my actions were unfair, but it is only the protestations of the guilty.”

“For whom do the flowers that blossom in the shadows of the road exist? “They're not for anyone," you say, and give them light…”

He looked inside, observing the rare happiness on his Master’s face that the song drew out of him.  Maybe not just the song… the presence of the person who revealed how much she cherished hearing it.

“I’ll only ask you once – are you here to interfere with his personal affairs?”

He looked back to Luka, who’d recovered from her momentary slip.  “It is not my place,” she explained, “If he is sincere in attempting to prove he’s changed his heart, then I cannot interfere.”

“Even if it means he’s going to fall in love with someone else?”  Gakupo sounded doubtful of her intentions, “You’d be giving him up to a mortal.  You expect me to believe after everything you’ve done that you’re suddenly happy to give him up to the heart of a rival?”

Luka clenched her gloved hands, though her face remained expressionless.  “I expect…” she answered, “That no mortal is capable of the love and sacrifice he seeks to break out of the chains of his own wickedness.”

She turned away from the ballroom and began to depart into the snow.

“I only hope the Prince’s heart is prepared for that sad truth.”

“Feelings will turn into words, and words call forth light, light creates shadows, people grow strong in shadow…”

After she walked a few steps away, her body dissolved into a cloud of pink rose petals and glowing pink butterflies.  “I intend to remain an observer.  That is all,” she said as her voice vanished into a gust of wind.

Gakupo clenched his sword hand tight around Miburi.  Luka lurking around the castle meant Miku could be in danger.  She would not attack either himself or Kaito – as despicable as he found her personality, he knew that once she’d set the terms of her curse, she was honor bound to stick by them.  Direct interference could have dire consequences for her even if her honor wasn’t enough to stay her hand.

Not to mention she couldn’t exactly curse the two of them a second time.  Kaito had been firm in explaining that to them – as nasty as being under one fairy curse could be, they didn’t have the power to lay down more than one.

Miku had no such protections, however.  Were Luka to become truly petty, she could find all kinds of ways to harm her.  And as Gakupo learned the hard way those many years ago, she proved adept at finding justifications for her heavy-handed punishments.

Yet again, the need for secrecy reared its head – they were finally making progress in lifting the curse.  Miku had to remain in the dark – because if all went well, the sleeping kingdom would awaken, his master would return to his true form, and Gakupo would finally go back to being truly alive again.  Luka may rage against them, but she could not curse them again – she’d have to stew for the rest of her eternal life over having engineered her own loss.

Still, while he was in the unfortunate position of not being able to warn the Miku girl about Luka, Gakupo did know that he had to alert Kaito.  The two of them needed to decide how to keep Miku safe.

“The pain that we share together will turn into happiness before you know it…”

 

Kaito watched as Miku skipped out of the ballroom to start cooking their dinner, his heart a swarm of emotions.  He got the feeling that somehow, he’d impressed Miku. And he hadn’t needed to go out of his way to do it – he just had to sing, something he’d always loved to do.

‘Your voice is so… so beautiful!’

Kaito touched a hand to his throat.  For a few moments, he felt grateful that the curse which had cruelly stolen his humanity had not taken his voice with it.  Today, without even meaning to, he felt as though he’d finally been able to reach out to Miku.  The intimacy of performing a duet with her… her constantly begging “just one more” song out of him…

Perhaps Luka had spared his voice because she too loved it too much herself…

“My Lord, we have a problem.”

Kaito looked up from the piano to see Gakupo marching toward him.  The samurai bore a serious expression on his face.  All thoughts of singing with Miku vanished from Kaito’s mind.  “What happened?” he asked.

“Luka was here.”

Kaito felt a chill pass through his body at the thought of his former friend’s presence again.  “What did she want?” he asked, trying to control the fear in his voice.  Now he understood why Gakupo seemed so filled with rage.

“She claimed she merely wished to observe,” the samurai explained, “She’s rather convinced you’re going to fail.”

Kaito felt his confidence from earlier fading.  At any moment, Luka could be watching him with Miku, trying to judge whether they met her exacting standards.  At any moment… Luka could be watching Miku…

“Miku!  Did she say anything about Miku?!” Kaito asked.

“Not Miku specifically…” Gakupo said.

Kaito let out a sigh of relief.  So she wasn’t targeting Miku.  At least not yet.  But Kaito knew how the fairies behaved – better than Gakupo, at least.  The samurai’s attitude towards them remained quite cynical.  Kaito, however, had grown up around them.  As long as Miku did not commit some grievous moral sin, Luka could not harm her.  At least… Kaito hoped she wouldn’t.

Yet, the more he thought of Miku’s safety, the more he found himself feeling doubts.  He’d learned the hard way that he didn’t know the fairies as well as he thought.  He didn’t know Luka as well as he’d thought.

He hadn’t seen Luka since the day his own folly cost himself, his loved ones, and his entire kingdom everything.  Since she’d left him frozen in time.  She’d seemed content to let him suffer the consequences alone.  What changed?  Why reveal herself now?

Miku?

“My Lord,” Gakupo interjected, “Just ensure nothing happens to Miku, I intend to keep vigil over her at night.”

An innocent request until Kaito imagined what “keeping vigil” could mean.  “You’re going to monitor everything she does at night?!” he protested, “Invade her privacy?”

The samurai let out a sigh.  “Surely my Lord knows by now I have no untoward intentions to the Miku girl,” he stated, “But you can’t very well do it yourself – she won’t react well to you just sitting there and staring at her.  But she can’t see me.  I have no need for sleep, so I may as well spend those hours ensuring her protection.”

As much as Kaito hated the idea of his companion having such a long watch over Miku’s most private moments, he relented.  Better that than the chance of Luka harming her, no matter how small it may be.

“You’ll call for me if anything happens, right?” Kaito asked.

“Of course,” Gakupo assured him.

Kaito wished he could tell her the truth so that she might contribute to her own protection, but as precarious as the curse was… he didn’t want to risk anything.

 

As Miku lay in her lush bed that night, she found herself unable to sleep.  Her thoughts kept drifting back to the “Demon Prince”.  She had hundreds of questions about him now.  Who had taught him music?  Why was he so scared of his own voice?  She’d had to try so hard to coax a song out of him.

But when he’d finally overcome his stage fright…

For the first time since she’d met him, she’d felt inferior to him.  Was it the technique?  The form?  Was she really just being incredibly shallow and admiring just the fact he had a pretty voice?

Miku thought back to how Kaito carried himself when he lost himself in his music.  It seemed to her that he could surrender himself to the needs of the song, turning himself into an extension of it instead of trying to bend the song to his will.  Finally, she grasped why she felt so small in the face of his ability.

‘No,’ she realized, ‘It’s not just how beautiful his voice is… it’s because he knows how to let the song become a part of everyone around him.’

That quality that drew her from the scary forest path into a demon’s garden.

When Miku sang, she realized she did so because she wanted admiration of others – she never thought too deeply about the words or the needs of the song, only how it could serve her.  She’d never learned to block out the world around her, to become one with a melody and feel it change her.

Except… when she sang with him, she felt as though she had an inkling of how he did it. If she practiced with him regularly, she could probably improve to the point where she could approach his level of talent.

If she sang with him again…

Thump. Thump. Thump.

Miku squeezed her pillow close to her chest.  Her feelings towards Kaito were becoming far too confusing to her.  She’d started off scared of him, then guilty that she’d almost killed him.  They’d spent the past several weeks becoming friends.

But now…

Now she began to seriously think about what kind of a life he’d led before she showed up.  Did he see other humans often?  Did they all react the way she had, scared of his appearance?  She’d merely begged for her life and run away.  What if…

Miku clutched her pillow even tighter.  Her heart burned with anger at the idea of humans trying to hurt Kaito.  ‘How dare they treat him like some kind of dumb monster?!’ she fumed, ‘Kaito is a kind man, he’d never hurt any of them!’

As her anger peeked, Miku started punching her pillow.

“Nobody… but NOBODY… has the right to treat Kaito like that!  Oooo, and they’re gonna be sorry if I see it happening!”

 

Luka watched the snow fall around the castle.  She’d not meant to attract any attention yet.  But of course that disrespectful samurai had nothing better to do with his time…

Would that she could have cursed him more directly for his lack of manners towards his betters.  Just depriving him of a body had only made him even more disrespectful and rude.  But she could take some satisfaction from knowing he at least suffered punishment from his support of the Prince.

The Prince…

She’d yet to tell him of her generous offer.  She would wait.  Though she’d grown nervous as she’d noticed the healthy glow that castle seemed to be taking.  Perhaps he’d finally started making progress on the curse after all.

“That impudent mortal…” she spat.

How dare she sing with him.  She knew nothing of true beauty, nothing of how to absorb and manipulate music.  Not the way he did.

Not the way they did.

‘Patience,’ she thought to herself.

Luka was one of the great and immortal Fair Folk.  She’d already waited a hundred years for him to realize his folly and give up.  She could wait until the winter snow melted.  By then, he’d see the light and forgo his pride.

After that?  Eternity.

“Until one loves you as truly as I…” she murmured.

She clutched her hands close to her heart.

Chapter 1: The Winter Garden
Chapter 2: The Frozen Lake
Chapter 3: The Demon's Nurse
Chapter 4: The Winter Garden
Chapter 6: The Dancing Samurai

Miku’s heart won’t stop pounding as she’s discovered Kaito is keeping an incredible secret from her! But as Miku starts to realize her feelings towards the Demon Prince are more complex than she’s willing to admit, a dark figure from Kaito’s past makes her presence known.  As signs of the curse’s weakening power appear throughout the castle, can Kaito and Gakupo ensure her safety until the end of the winter?

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AUTHOR'S NOTES:

Happy Wednesday, and if you’re an American, hope you have a Happy Thanksgiving too!  We’re already at the halfway mark on this little tale.  Time flies so fast…

The fairy stories Miku’s friends told her are based on actual Scottish folk lore. Rin told Kate Crackernuts, and Meiko told the Ballad of Tam Lin.  Despite all the Japanese names, I wanted to root this story more in European folklore given the origins of Beauty and the Beast are largely across that continent. 

So when I originally started writing this story, I was still a lot newer to the fandom and the GakupoxLuka fandom (aka “Lukapo”) was well off my radar.  In the time since I finished it, I fell in love with that ship.  Unfortunately, the plot as I wrote it is pretty much impossible to suddenly drag that ship out of nowhere.  “Hey, Luka, I know you turned my Master into a monster and me into a ghost and ditched us for a hundred years but you wanna maybe make out?”  So I’m just going to quash those Lukapo hopes now before someone expects a last minute hook up.  Maybe you’ll get some Lukapo next fanfic Love 

Before anyone asks, Luka’s eyes are intentionally a different color.

Song Credits: Kaito sings “A Thousand Year Solo” in the garden.  Later Miku coaxed Kaito to sing “Footsteps of Time”. He sure likes singing some real bummers, huh?  And oh my, Rolling Girl showed up again.  It’s almost like I really wanted to include a fast-paced song with a heavy piano in it that also had a prominent duet cover with Miku and Kaito.  And wouldn't you know it, Sega announced the Miku version of this as upcoming DLC for Project Diva F 2nd.  That was awfully nice of them to read my fanfic and make DLC just for me I am a dummy! 

© 2014 - 2024 Rebochan
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EliseArainai's avatar
Uh-oh, she's baaack!  Oh I really hope Luka doesn't try to hurt Miku!

But anyway, Miku and Kaito are so cute together!  I wonder when Miku will fully realize her feelings for him? :)