Prompt 20:
I Gave my Kid a Terrible Present
The coffee had warmed them both enough and filled them with enough caffeine to encourage a late walk among the well lit trees in the park. It was a pleasant evening; chilling but there was no breeze strong enough to scare them inside. Ami found that Yuuto was a particularly interesting conversationalist. When she got too serious about a particular subject, he would easily insert a joke to lighten the mood. It kept her spirits up the whole night. Yuuto was enthralled that she was an avid listener and did not grow weary of his often lengthy stories. In fact, she was so attentive to his every word, she would ask questions about minute details that most missed. He reveled in the attention.
Yuuto was in the middle of one of his best stories of his youth when her concentration was broken for the first time that night. He watched her eyes melt with worry as she gazed a short distance down the path. Before he could follow her line of sight, a single word fell from her lips: “Rei?”
Sure enough, on a bench not too far from them, was the raven-haired friend. The girl clutched something tightly in her gloved hands, but she stared at it intensely. Ami spared him an apologetic look before she trotted over to the girl. Yuuto followed behind, sharing her worry.
“Rei, what’s wrong?” Ami quickly took a seat beside her friend, placing a comforting arm around her shoulders. Yuuto arrived to find his suspicions true; Rei had tears stains on her cheeks.
Opening her hands to reveal the jadeite stone, her eyes closed, as if she couldn’t bear the sight of it. Her voice was angry and sorrowful simultaneously. “He’s gone, Ami. Because of me, he’s left. For good.”
Suddenly, Yuuto felt like he couldn’t breathe. It was as if the words didn’t make sense to him as the world seemed to pull back from him. The consoling cries of Ami faded into the distance against the sound of his heartbeat rising in his ears. The sight of the jadeite stone in her hands proved her words to be true, but a part of his heart wouldn’t believe it. “He’s gone?”
“I’m sure it wasn’t because of you, Rei,” Ami cooed gently.
“I am,” Rei fired back hotly. “He told me so, and gave me this. He said none of the others would take it. Turns out, it’s a gift that no one wants. Not even me.”
Yuuto had to turn away. He couldn’t listen to it, and his face scrunched up in disgust.
“Well, maybe it’s for the best then.” Ami’s voice was full of understanding, and he hated her for this.
“It should be for the best. It really should. This is what I wanted since the day he showed up at the shrine, but I guess I never wanted him to go, either. This stone is what bothers me the most. It just makes me feel miserable each time I look at it.”
“Because it should!” Yuuto exclaimed, turning on his heel. His fists clenched at his sides as his lip quivered with unshed tears of his own. Both girls stared at him in shock.
“Yuuto?” Ami’s voice gasped.
The blonde youth ignored his name. “It should make you miserable. It should remind you what you have done. He wasn’t back for you! He was back for his Prince! For us! Now, because of you, my brother is gone!”
Rei stared up in consternation, an rare expression for the priestess. Yuuto could feel nothing but anger towards her. It was the look on Ami’s face, a mix of shock and pity, that actually hurt him. He saw the understanding swirl in the deep of her blue eyes, a reflection of his own feelings, and it hurt him to look at her. He tried to keep his anger at the front by keeping his eyes on Rei, though Ami never fully left his vision.
“That’s rich, from someone who doesn’t remember,” Rei spoke tensely.
“Don’t start with me. I may not remember my past, but I know how I feel with that man beside me. In the few days I was with him, he was more my brother than my own blood. And now you’ve sent him away.”
“Fine,” she stood up in a swift movement, ripping herself from Ami’s arms. Her violet eyes burned into Yuuto’s green ones as her chin rose in a challenge. She thrust her hand out towards his chest, her palm now a flat platform for the piece of jadeite. “You want him back so bad, you go and get him.”
Yuuto’s green eyes looked away from the stone, as if the sight of it physically hurt him. To the girls’ surprise, his lips curled up into a coy smile. “Oh no, little girl,” he took his hand a closed her fingers forcefully over the stone. “This was a gift for you. It is not my burden. I’m sure you’d love if I fixed the mess you’ve made, but it is not going to happen. Perhaps one of my brothers will, maybe even my Prince, but not me.”
Rei drew her arm back to her side sharply, her eyes flickering with hatred. Yuuto’s smile prevailed, however, as she shoved the stone back into her pocket and stomped away down the path.
Ami rose and went to go after her, but somehow thought better of it. Makoto or Minako could speak to Rei when she was angry, but Ami was always too meek to get past the priestess’ temper. Her crystalline blue eyes wavered as they watched Rei walk away. From over her shoulder, she heard Yuuto call out to her friend again.
“Enjoy your gift, Rei. It’s what you always wanted.”
