My Affliction
The silence haunts her.
In the hushed stillness of her chamber, sits Ozaki Kouyou. Long red hair tied into a beautiful braid at the side of her head, a strand falling into her eyes. She stares at the moon from her place by the window.
The sky is a deep blue, yet the moon and stars shine bright enough to lighten her room. The moonlight glistens on her face, reflecting in melancholic, mahogany eyes.
She thinks they remind them of her.
The hand that holds a beautiful silver ring tightens. It stings blissfully as the edge of the gemstone presses into her palm.
A tear falls down her cheek.
Akiko stares at her, tears in her eyes and eyeliner running.
"Don't do this, Kouyou. Do not marry him. I don't care who it is or why you have to marry him. Don't."
Kouyou lets out a sob. "I have no choice, Aki. I have to." Akiko reaches out, gently wiping away Kouyou's tears.
"You always have a choice, Kouyou. I can't bear to see you go through with this.", she takes Kouyou's hands in hers, her voice trembling with emotion and desperation. "We'll find a way, together. I won't letanyone tear us apart."
The girl shakes her head. "There isn't! I've tried everything. I have no choice–!" she gets cut off by a sob. "I wish I did..."
The princess's tears stream down her face as she pulls away from Akiko's touch. "I'm sorry, Aki. I can't defy my duty, my family. It's over between us."
The black-haired princess stands there, suddenly still. She stares at Kouyou in shock. A part of her hoping so desperately this is all just a joke. But it's not. Kouyou would never joke about this.
After all they have been through to be together.
She laughs, her bitter laughter cutting through the tension, pained and resentful. "Duty? family?", she scoffs, her eyes flashing with anger.
"You're choosing them over us? After everything we've been through?", she waits for Kouyou to say something, anything.
She feels sick.
When the other just stands there, still with eyes shut tightly, her tone sharpens. "Fine. Go marry your prince. But don't expect me to be waiting for you when you realize what you've lost."
Her heart breaks a little more when Kouyou doesn't refute her words.
As Kouyou turns to leave, Akiko's voice cuts through the air, laced with pain. "When you wake up next to him in the middle of the night, with your head in your hands, you're nothing more than his wife."
The clouds rumble above them and rain starts to pour.
Kouyou freezes, her back to Akiko, her shoulders trembling with silent sobs. The weight of Akiko's words settles into her heart, every syllable cuts deep like a knife and those words echo hauntingly in her mind, she takes one last glance at the woman she loves before backing away, the ache in her heart growing with each step back away from their past, their struggle, their love.
How cruel is life to them. Truly, how cruel.
"And when you think about me all of those years ago," Akiko's voice wavers, her eyes filled with a mixture of anguish and resignation. "You're standing face to face with 'I told you so'." The bitterness in her tone cuts through the air.
Yosano Akiko stands before the woman who was supposed to be the love of her life. The girl she was supposed to spend the rest of her life with.
"You know I hate to say, 'I told you so.'.."
Kouyou's steps falter for a moment, the weight of Akiko's words bearing down on her. She swallows hard, unable to meet Akiko's gaze, knowing deep down that she may never escape the regret of her decision. With a heavy heart, she continues on her path, the echoes of their fractured love haunting her every step of the way.
The other girl speaks again, voice trembling with a mix of sorrow and resignation yet a desperate attempt at getting something, anything as a response from the princess.
"I love you, Kouyou. I suppose it was my mistake for ever doing so."
Her words hang heavy in the air, carrying the weight of a love that may never find its way back to the surface. With a heavy heart, she puts on a smile. Before Kouyou leaves, Akiko's hand trembles as she reaches into her pocket, retrieving a small velvet box. With tear-filled eyes, she holds it out to Kouyou, her voice barely a whisper. "Take it," she urges, her heart breaking with each passing moment. "It's yours."
Just like her entire heart was too.
Kouyou's breath catches in her throat as she accepts the box, her fingers brushing against Akiko's in a fleeting touch. With a heavy heart, she opens it, revealing the glimmering ring nestled inside. Their eyes meet and Akiko looks away.
As Kouyou opens her mouth to ask about the ring, Akiko's voice stops her in her tracks. "Don't. Don't ask me," she pleads, her voice barely above a whisper. "Just... don't. Please, Kou."
Kouyou freezes, her heart aching at the desperation in Akiko's voice. With a heavy heart, she nods silently, the words catching in her throat.
"Congratulations on your marriage," Akiko forces a bitter smile through tears, her voice trembling as she turns away, unable to bear the pain of witnessing the end of their love. With each step, her heart breaks a little more, her words shatter the other's heart.
Kouyou's hand reaches out involuntarily as if to stop her, but it falls back down, her strength crumbling beneath the weight of their goodbye. Her knees give way, and she collapses to the ground, her body wracked with sobs that echo into the night, the shattered pieces of her heart scattered around her like broken glass. In that moment of devastating loss, the silence of their parting speaks volumes, it feels like testament to the love that will forever remain unspoken, hidden, but never forgotten.
The red-haired girl clutches the ring tightly in her hands, her fingers trembling as tears stream down her cheeks, a silent testament to the regret that weighs heavy on her heart. In the dark of the night, the ring gleams softly, a painful reminder of the love she's leaving behind.
Sobs wrack her body as she sinks to the ground, the weight of her decision crushing her spirit. With each heaving breath, she mourns the future that could have been, the echoes of their shattered dreams haunting her every thought. As she weeps in the darkness, the ring remains clenched in her grasp, a symbol of the love she can never reclaim.
Kouyou sits by the window, the soft glow of moonlight casting shadows across her face. In her hand, she holds the ring, its silver band glinting faintly in the pale light. Memories of happier times flood her mind, mingling with the bitter reality of their shattered love.
As she gazes out into the night, a gentle breeze whispers through the open window, carrying with it the scent of rain and regret. The events of the past days replay in her mind like a cruel jest of fate. Like a movie that seems so unreal and so so cruel.
Her own brother marrying the prince, the revelation of their shared connection with Akiko's family, the bitter irony of it all.
It forces out a laugh of disbelief. Of self-hatred.
Lost in her thoughts, Kouyou can't help but wonder what could have been if fate had been kinder, if their love hadn't been torn apart by her duty and the fucking deception of her own brother and sister-in law.
She traces the delicate design of the ring with her fingers, a silent prayer for forgiveness and a longing for the love she fears may never be hers again.
The initials engraved onto the jewellery dig into her finger as she holds in tight within her grip.
She has to face Akiko tomorrow morning, and Kouyou almost refuses to go because how can she face the woman whose heart she broke for nothing at all.
Yet then she thinks about her brother. Her sweet baby brother who sacrificed his own life, in exchange for hers. Granted, it was not by his own volition. However she knows if he knew about her situation, it would have been anyway.
Kouyou stares at the moon and then back at the ring. She looks at the portrait of her and her siblings on the wall of her chamber and then to the picture of Akiko, hidden within her locket.
Kouyou stares, and she weeps.
Rumours will say that night, it had seemed as if an angel had lost her wings.