[Dear Mine] Amare
Dear Mine by Takao Shigeru is the first shoujo manga where I don't mind the age difference issue at all. We're not talking two or three years here; the heroine is seven years older than the male protagonist, and even if some will argue shota (he's ten), they love each other just as other couples do, if not more. I was in a blissful state of mind after reading this manga. It's so gentle, both art and storytelling. What matters in this work is the human relationships between parent-child, lovers, and friends.
I'll give it a better summary next time. Right now, since I'm so moved by a subplot, I've written a fic --> is weak against unrequited love and whatnot, and will gladly devour anything that deals with it...
*wants angst*
*wants angst*
... argh, shit. I'm gonna write a BL angst, complete with teary-eyed uke and whip-wielding seme. Watch and ph34r~!!
Oh, and here's the fic. XD
Title: Amare
Series: Dear Mine
Summary: [One-shot] Hagane is an amateur in love.
- - - - - -
Hagane didn’t know that a girl loves as fiercely as a woman does. It doesn’t matter whether she was ten or twenty or thirty, she loves. Hagane didn’t know that the love of a child can grow in waiting for a decade or two. It can.
He was not well-versed in the matter of man and woman romance. All of his life was spent taking care and nurturing children not of his own, whom he thought were more than his, anyway, if it was possible. His eyes were occupied with their growth and smiles, until he had no more room for his own desires.
It had been a passing memory, a child’s antics. First puppy love, a bright-eyed and nervous confession. She was trembling, her little arms holding the front of her dress tightly. She was beautiful, like a doll, and she told him her secret. He had been gentle, like he was always, but what she needed wasn’t his gentleness.
She wanted his heart.
He told her, like he would any other child in his care, a faraway promise with hints of glimmering hope only adults have the power to give. He tried to be honest, to be respectful, to be harmless.
I’ll let you be the first to know, Kazumi-chan.
She nodded, the beautiful doll. When the first tear he had anticipated didn’t roll down her porcelain cheeks, he knew he’d made a big mistake.
Too late did he realize that he was dealing with an adult in mind. She bowed and smiled hesitantly, her white arms stiff. Then she left, leaving him alone with the guilt and taking all the hurt.
She was ten.
Hagane was twenty-six years old.
The week after, while he didn’t know what kind of face he was supposed to show, she smiled at him and erased all of his worries. Just like that and what had had happened never happened.
Hagane was a fool. Hagane didn’t know the buckets of tears she poured on his twin brother’s chest. Hagane was spared the endless nights where she sat on her bed, eyes wide open and dreamless. He didn’t know the little fingers that gripped his brother’s hand in search of comfort. He didn’t know that it killed her when she called his name out of despair to Kurogane’s face. At ten, she knew how despicable being a substitute was.
Second best. Never the one.
Somehow it was worse than being the contrary.
Kurogane didn’t mind. He was perpetually was. And she cried for him.
While her heart broke and Kurogane willed himself content, Hagane was a happy, happy oblivious fool for several more years to come.
Until six years later, when she became the lady of the house. She asked him once more, out of the blue, and it triggered many memories from the old days. She was still beautiful, still white and still soft. She still smiled the same way she had done back then. Gone was the trembling, but the bright eyes were present. They were still asking the same question.
Everything fell perfectly into place.
He acted as the script had demanded him six years ago. It was a repeat performance, and tried as he might to be gentle, respectful, and harmless, he ended up making a bigger mistake.
Hagane gave her another hope.
She took it with a smile.
Hagane was thirty-two.
She was sixteen.
She was young. She has youth on her side. She could wait. She would wait. Hagane believed that was what her smile promised.
And Hagane became the happy fool he was once again.
- - - - - -
Four years later, Hagane watched as she took love by the hand and promised eternity.
She threw him a white rose bouquet and he cried.
It was her wedding.
I'll give it a better summary next time. Right now, since I'm so moved by a subplot, I've written a fic --> is weak against unrequited love and whatnot, and will gladly devour anything that deals with it...
*wants angst*
*wants angst*
... argh, shit. I'm gonna write a BL angst, complete with teary-eyed uke and whip-wielding seme. Watch and ph34r~!!
Oh, and here's the fic. XD
Title: Amare
Series: Dear Mine
Summary: [One-shot] Hagane is an amateur in love.
- - - - - -
Hagane didn’t know that a girl loves as fiercely as a woman does. It doesn’t matter whether she was ten or twenty or thirty, she loves. Hagane didn’t know that the love of a child can grow in waiting for a decade or two. It can.
He was not well-versed in the matter of man and woman romance. All of his life was spent taking care and nurturing children not of his own, whom he thought were more than his, anyway, if it was possible. His eyes were occupied with their growth and smiles, until he had no more room for his own desires.
It had been a passing memory, a child’s antics. First puppy love, a bright-eyed and nervous confession. She was trembling, her little arms holding the front of her dress tightly. She was beautiful, like a doll, and she told him her secret. He had been gentle, like he was always, but what she needed wasn’t his gentleness.
She wanted his heart.
He told her, like he would any other child in his care, a faraway promise with hints of glimmering hope only adults have the power to give. He tried to be honest, to be respectful, to be harmless.
I’ll let you be the first to know, Kazumi-chan.
She nodded, the beautiful doll. When the first tear he had anticipated didn’t roll down her porcelain cheeks, he knew he’d made a big mistake.
Too late did he realize that he was dealing with an adult in mind. She bowed and smiled hesitantly, her white arms stiff. Then she left, leaving him alone with the guilt and taking all the hurt.
She was ten.
Hagane was twenty-six years old.
The week after, while he didn’t know what kind of face he was supposed to show, she smiled at him and erased all of his worries. Just like that and what had had happened never happened.
Hagane was a fool. Hagane didn’t know the buckets of tears she poured on his twin brother’s chest. Hagane was spared the endless nights where she sat on her bed, eyes wide open and dreamless. He didn’t know the little fingers that gripped his brother’s hand in search of comfort. He didn’t know that it killed her when she called his name out of despair to Kurogane’s face. At ten, she knew how despicable being a substitute was.
Second best. Never the one.
Somehow it was worse than being the contrary.
Kurogane didn’t mind. He was perpetually was. And she cried for him.
While her heart broke and Kurogane willed himself content, Hagane was a happy, happy oblivious fool for several more years to come.
Until six years later, when she became the lady of the house. She asked him once more, out of the blue, and it triggered many memories from the old days. She was still beautiful, still white and still soft. She still smiled the same way she had done back then. Gone was the trembling, but the bright eyes were present. They were still asking the same question.
Everything fell perfectly into place.
He acted as the script had demanded him six years ago. It was a repeat performance, and tried as he might to be gentle, respectful, and harmless, he ended up making a bigger mistake.
Hagane gave her another hope.
She took it with a smile.
Hagane was thirty-two.
She was sixteen.
She was young. She has youth on her side. She could wait. She would wait. Hagane believed that was what her smile promised.
And Hagane became the happy fool he was once again.
- - - - - -
Four years later, Hagane watched as she took love by the hand and promised eternity.
She threw him a white rose bouquet and he cried.
It was her wedding.