A MAIDEN'S PRAYER
Chapter Four
- Day Two -
"Jun... Are you happy that I am human now?" Shinku said to the black haired boy before her.
"Yes, Shinku... I am very happy," Jun said, brushing a hand against Shinku's cheek.. "There's something I've always wanted to tell you, but never found the right time to say it." Jun then gently moved Shinku's chin closer to his own. "Shinku," he said dreamily, "I love y--"
The sound of a door interrupted Shinku's sleep. It creaked open slowly, and stopped for a couple seconds.
"Shinku...? Shinku, it's morning. I made us some tea, if you'd like to come downstairs and have a cup with me. I made your favorite."
Shinku irritably mumbled something, traces of sleepiness still running through her. Nori had interrupted her sleep. She didn't want to get up now, but the tea did sound tempting.
Shinku rolled over in an attempt to get up, and unexpectedly bumped into something tough. She let out a little cry of pain. Pain ached at her elbow and side, and now, she was startled into the state of awareness. She opened her eyes and looked over her aching shoulder to see her little antique case. The one she had slept in before she made the pact with Hollier. It looked so tiny. Shinku could hardly believe that at one time, she used to sleep inside of it.
Scrambling up to her feet, she rubbed at her arm a little more as the pain faded.
Pain, Shinku thought, I've never felt pain before now, have I..?
"Good morning, Shinku! Did you get some good sleep?" Nori beamed at Shinku from the downstairs kitchen table.
Shinku continued to walk down the stairs, and nodded. "I did, thank you..." She said. Then, she remembered her visions while she was sleeping. She paused for a second, and added, "In fact... I think I even had a dream."
Nori's face lightened up with excitement. "A dream? Shinku, you had a dream? You really are human now, aren't you? It's a miracle."
As Shinku reached the bottom step, Nori motioned Shinku to sit in the chair next to her at the table. Shinku was tall enough that she could sit down right away in the chair, now. She used to either have to have Jun lift her up upon it, or climb up it herself. Now, she was the height of a small seven-year-old human child.
"Well, Shinku... I'm curious to know; What did you dream about?" Nori asked as she poured hot tea into Shinku's teacup.
Shinku thought about her dream, about how Jun was about to tell her something, and that she was happy. She dreamed of Jun.
For the first time, Shinku's cheeks felt like they were flaming up. Her eyes widened a little, and her heart might have skipped a beat, for all she knew.
What is this feeling? I can't tell Nori that I dreamed of... I dreamed of...!?
"I can't remember." Shinku lied as she held the teacup to her face and took a drink. The tea was bitter, and seemed to taste much more vivid than it had when she was a doll.
"Oh, that's a shame," Nori thought, "It's a shame that you had your first dream and couldn't remember it."
"Yes... Yes it is." Shinku sighed. Good thing Nori believed her.
A quiet silence filled the air as the two sat in the kitchen, sipping the last of the tea. Shinku finally looked to Nori, and broke the quiet. "Nori, where is Jun?" She asked.
"He's out shopping, I believe." Nori answered between sips of tea.
"Oh," Shinku frowned. "Pity."
Was Jun still mad at her? For being so immature and heartless? Shinku felt something in her heart that told her that he was, but the other half said that he was just out to do some errands. He sometimes did that when there was nothing better to do, but he never would buy anything. Jun was content with window-shopping.
"Well," Shinku continued, "I wish to go upstairs then. Thank you very much for the tea."
Nori smiled kindly. "You're welcome, dear."
Shinku sat in Jun's room, inspecting the mess that it had become since she had left a few days ago. Clothes strewn everywhere, books lying on the floor and on shelves, papers scattered in every direction possible.
Heavens, Shinku marveled to herself, Jun can be so sloppy sometimes...
The blonde haired girl found herself picking up the mess, putting things back in their proper spot. She would usually order Jun to clean his room, stating that it was an 'uninhabitable waste-zone', and it would start to annoy him enough to give in and pick it up. She decided she would be nice and organize it back up for him.
Shinku threw useless papers away in the trash bin, put the dirty clothes in the laundry room's washing machine, and dusted the furniture. Books still lay everywhere, and she began to pick those up, too. School books went inside Jun's backpack, so that when he went to school on Monday, he wouldn't forget them.
While cleaning up the computer area, Shinku found papers that looked like incomplete Math and Japanese homework. Looking over it, she sighed.
"My goodness, how in the world did he get that answer? Is he stupid? The problem clearly needs to be redone. And this word structure is bland and tasteless. It needs a bit more of a rhythm to it..."
Shinku looked around for a nearby pencil that she had put away moments before and started to correct Jun's homework, trying her best to copy his handwriting.
Time passed by quickly, and Jun's homework was done.
"There", Shinku said, placing the pencil and completed homework in Jun's backpack, That looks much better.
She took a quick look around the sparkling-clean room, a reward from all her hard work. Bookshelves neatly organized, papers all in Jun's backpack folder, and clean clothes placed in his closet and dresser. This must have been the most hard work she's done without ordering her medium to do it for her, she had to admit. But, from the corner of her eye, Shinku caught sight of one book that she missed while putting books away.
It was a small book, one that was a little smaller than regular books, and it had a lock on it. However, the lock was open, letting Shinku easily look inside. The blue-eyed girl scanned the first page;
"October 25th:
Shinku came back today, after we made up for our argument.
I thought she would be mad at me, but as it turns out, she seemed fine about it.
. She went straight to bed when she came home,
but she fell asleep on the floor instead of inside her case!
Tomorrow, I think I'll try to wake up early and go shopping, and buy something
to apologize once more..."
So, Jun is out shopping for an apology gift for me... Shinku sweetly thought. It made her happy to think that he would go out of his way for her.
Shinku closed the book, as that entry was the only entry so far in the diary, and got up off of her feet to place it on the bookshelf.
Suddenly, there was a knock on the bedroom door, and it opened.
"Shinku? Are you awa-" Jun stopped. "Uh, Shinku! What are you doing with that book!?"
Shinku's heart fell. Jun looked mad. That book must have been private, and unintended for other people to read.
"I was simply putting it away." Shinku stated blankly.
There. She didn't lie about it, but she didn't have to tell him she read it either.
"Ah... Okay... Sorry, then." Jun mumbled. He then took a look around the room. "Woah! Did you clean this room or something?"
"Yes, and it's much more clean that you could probably clean it." Shinku couldn't hold back a semi-victorious smirk.
"Well... It looks nice. Thank you." Jun simply dodged Shinku's typical response and saw that she had actually done work for once.
Shinku was a little taken that Jun didn't return some smarty remark, and acknowledged his thanks. "You are welcome."
Jun stood at the doorway for a while as Shinku put the book on one of the bookshelves. He then remembered something.
"Oh, yeah, that's right. I went shopping today..." Jun said as he pulled a large bag out from the hallway behind him, "...and I got you something." He handed the bag to Shinku once she walked back to him.
"Oh..." Shinku said as she took the big bag from him. It was a little heavier than she had expected. "Uhff... It's a little heavy..."
"Yeah... But, you'll like it, I'm sure. Take a look."
Shinku was eager to know what was in the bag, so she politely removed the wrapping from the bag and opened it slowly. Inside were a couple of boxes. Shinku took the top of the first box off and placed her hands inside to pull out the contents.
"Are these..." Shinku said as she reached in and pulled out the most beautiful sundress she had ever seen before. It was red with a black ribbon at the waist, meant to be tied around as a belt.
"They're clothes," Jun explained, "Human clothes that fit you, now that you're human..."
Shinku went through the rest of the clothes. Dresses, dress shoes, nylons, and undergarments.
"I'm not really good at fashion or anything, but I guess they seemed like your type. If you don't like them, I can just return them--"
"My goodness... Jun, you have a good eye. These are absolutely stunning. But, they must have cost a fortune..."
"They did... But, you need them."
"Well, uhh...thank you..." Shinku smiled awkwardly, as she rarely ever gave such an informal thanks. She began to take the bag with the empty boxes in them downstairs.
"Uh... Wait, Shinku..." Jun called as he reached out for Shinku, "There's something else..."
Shinku turned around and blinked her eyes at him. "What is it?"
Jun reached into his back pocket and pulled out a little, tiny bag. From inside the bag, he removed a small, silver chained necklace. There was a small red gem at the end of it, shaped in the form of a red rose. It was gorgeous. Shinku dropped the bag and ran up to Jun to obtain it.
"Jun... Thank you...!" Shinku nearly cried.
Jun smiled faintly, nodded, and walked downstairs with the empty bags and boxes.
For the rest of the evening, Shinku sat in Jun's room, wearing a brand new sundress...
Twirling around the ruby necklace in front of her eyes, back and forth...
"Jun..".
TO BE CONTINUED
OSP : Well, I'm starting to get into a Rozen Maiden fanfiction trend... First it was Code Geass (It still is) and now, I guess it's Rozen Maiden. I have the weirdest feeling that Higurashi is next up on my list for fanfictions. Anyways, please do report in a review what you think about this story; Suggestions and concerns welcome.
Desu.