Apple of my Eye, part 5
Title: Apple of my Eye (5/6)
Author: stupeur
Editor: cranperryjuice
Rating: R
Pairing: Tatsurou (MUCC) x Shiina Ringo
Summary: Despite his fame as a visual artist in 1960s Tokyo, Tatsurou has a strong dislike of circles and events, but caves in to his friend Miya and follows him to a private party in a jazz lounge. There he meets the beautiful and elusive Ringo, a woman unlike any other.
Notes: Sorryyyy for hyper late update. Moving, no time, blah blah. 8D; Enjoy!
Previous chapters: One Two Three Four
"Why were you crying?"
The question escaped Tatsurou's lips without warning. His eyes met Ringo's in the mirror, and he had the time to see a shadow darken her gaze before she looked back to her reflection. A long silence followed as she studied thoughtfully the pearls she held against her neck - so long, in fact, that Tatsurou began to wonder whether he had actually spoken or if he only imagined that he had.
But Ringo finally answered, her voice a perfectly calculated combination of honey and implacable authority:
"I don't believe I owe you any explanations."
She deigned no look in his direction as she put the pearls down and took out another necklace from her jewelry box. Tatsurou would not usually have tried to push the issue further, but now that he had opened Pandora's box, he could not allow himself to back down. For days he had been wanting to ask Ringo the cause of her sorrow, but a strange feeling in his throat had always caused him to censor himself at the last moment. Ultimately, he had been unable to - but now, the answer was only a few words away and he felt an ineluctable desire to know it.
While she scrutinized the diamond and ruby pendant sparkling against the pale skin of her décolletage, Tatsurou braced himself and made her face him, finally looking into her eyes directly instead of through the mirror. "You're right, you don't owe me any explanation," he granted, and his hand moved upwards to cup her cheek, ebony strands sliding between his fingers like silk. "But if you'd tell me, then maybe I could help."
Ringo waited for him to finish with a strange look of patience on her face, like she had been indulging an odd caprice of his. She then turned away from his hand to face the mirror again. "I appreciate the sentiment, but there's nothing you can do."
"How can you know that if you don't tell me anything?" Tatsurou insisted, somewhat more brusquely than he intended.
"Why do you care so much?"
"Listen, I... I hated to see you like that," he confessed, his words faltering a bit when the image of her tear-streaked face came back to his mind. "And I'd rather never see you like that again."
"You won't, don't you worry," Ringo replied, and Tatsurou caught the brief reflection of an ironic smirk on her lips.
"You know that's not what I meant."
She let out a long sigh. "I know. And I know what you really hated. It wasn't so much seeing me cry as it was realizing that you have no idea what's going through my mind." She unfastened the necklace and wrapped it around her neck, tinkering blindly with the closure behind her head while she stared straight ahead at her own reflection, as if trying to block him out of her view.
"What are you talking about?" Tatsurou asked, and as he took both ends of the necklace from her fingers, added dismissively, "Give me that."
"It's always the same," Ringo began, holding her hair up with one hand and baring her long, thin nape, "whenever I'm with someone. They can't accept that I'm not unconditionally in love with them, that I won't tell them everything, that they have no control over me. When they realize it, it drives them nuts."
"Stop thinking so highly of yourself," Tatsurou hissed between his teeth as he finally managed to close the necklace.
Ringo laughed at her reflection - a sweet, innocent laugh that somehow did more to make him feel humiliated than any name she could have called him. "Why not? Just look at yourself, getting all worked up because I'm not answering your one question - and on what basis exactly? Or should I just take it as a compliment?"
She gasped loudly when Tatsurou clutched the necklace, pulling her against his chest by the string of gemstones. "Fucking look at me," he ordered, forcing her head to the side so they could make eye contact. "Or are you just gonna keep on pretending I don't exist?"
Despite how vulnerable the tightened necklace should have made her, Ringo looked back at him, chin high, eyes void of the slightest trace of fear, hard like stones and burning like coal. There she was again, the doll Tatsurou had seen the first time he had met Ringo, with her face of cold porcelain, smooth and white, without any flaw or emotion. Suddenly overtaken by the desire to make her react in any way, to wipe the haughty air off her face, Tatsurou leaned in to kiss her aggressively - but much to his surprise, Ringo returned the kiss. Perhaps was it by instinct that she did - but he felt her mouth fierce and passionate, eager to find the perfect way to match his.
However, the kiss was short-lived. The next moment, their lips had parted, and Ringo murmured, "I don't want to see you ever again."
She then moved away from him without a word, sat down before the mirror of her dresser and put on the ruby earrings that matched her necklace. Tatsurou had let go of it when she had pronounced that sentence- or as he felt, pronounced his sentence- and his arm now hanged limp by his side. He watched her back as she retouched the powder on her face, ignoring him so perfectly it was like they had never met. When his eyes suddenly encountered his own unsightly reflection in the mirror, Tatsurou felt nauseated - Ringo was alone in the room, and he would rather have been invisible than know he had been condemned to exile, away from her world.
Author: stupeur
Editor: cranperryjuice
Rating: R
Pairing: Tatsurou (MUCC) x Shiina Ringo
Summary: Despite his fame as a visual artist in 1960s Tokyo, Tatsurou has a strong dislike of circles and events, but caves in to his friend Miya and follows him to a private party in a jazz lounge. There he meets the beautiful and elusive Ringo, a woman unlike any other.
Notes: Sorryyyy for hyper late update. Moving, no time, blah blah. 8D; Enjoy!
Previous chapters: One Two Three Four
"Why were you crying?"
The question escaped Tatsurou's lips without warning. His eyes met Ringo's in the mirror, and he had the time to see a shadow darken her gaze before she looked back to her reflection. A long silence followed as she studied thoughtfully the pearls she held against her neck - so long, in fact, that Tatsurou began to wonder whether he had actually spoken or if he only imagined that he had.
But Ringo finally answered, her voice a perfectly calculated combination of honey and implacable authority:
"I don't believe I owe you any explanations."
She deigned no look in his direction as she put the pearls down and took out another necklace from her jewelry box. Tatsurou would not usually have tried to push the issue further, but now that he had opened Pandora's box, he could not allow himself to back down. For days he had been wanting to ask Ringo the cause of her sorrow, but a strange feeling in his throat had always caused him to censor himself at the last moment. Ultimately, he had been unable to - but now, the answer was only a few words away and he felt an ineluctable desire to know it.
While she scrutinized the diamond and ruby pendant sparkling against the pale skin of her décolletage, Tatsurou braced himself and made her face him, finally looking into her eyes directly instead of through the mirror. "You're right, you don't owe me any explanation," he granted, and his hand moved upwards to cup her cheek, ebony strands sliding between his fingers like silk. "But if you'd tell me, then maybe I could help."
Ringo waited for him to finish with a strange look of patience on her face, like she had been indulging an odd caprice of his. She then turned away from his hand to face the mirror again. "I appreciate the sentiment, but there's nothing you can do."
"How can you know that if you don't tell me anything?" Tatsurou insisted, somewhat more brusquely than he intended.
"Why do you care so much?"
"Listen, I... I hated to see you like that," he confessed, his words faltering a bit when the image of her tear-streaked face came back to his mind. "And I'd rather never see you like that again."
"You won't, don't you worry," Ringo replied, and Tatsurou caught the brief reflection of an ironic smirk on her lips.
"You know that's not what I meant."
She let out a long sigh. "I know. And I know what you really hated. It wasn't so much seeing me cry as it was realizing that you have no idea what's going through my mind." She unfastened the necklace and wrapped it around her neck, tinkering blindly with the closure behind her head while she stared straight ahead at her own reflection, as if trying to block him out of her view.
"What are you talking about?" Tatsurou asked, and as he took both ends of the necklace from her fingers, added dismissively, "Give me that."
"It's always the same," Ringo began, holding her hair up with one hand and baring her long, thin nape, "whenever I'm with someone. They can't accept that I'm not unconditionally in love with them, that I won't tell them everything, that they have no control over me. When they realize it, it drives them nuts."
"Stop thinking so highly of yourself," Tatsurou hissed between his teeth as he finally managed to close the necklace.
Ringo laughed at her reflection - a sweet, innocent laugh that somehow did more to make him feel humiliated than any name she could have called him. "Why not? Just look at yourself, getting all worked up because I'm not answering your one question - and on what basis exactly? Or should I just take it as a compliment?"
She gasped loudly when Tatsurou clutched the necklace, pulling her against his chest by the string of gemstones. "Fucking look at me," he ordered, forcing her head to the side so they could make eye contact. "Or are you just gonna keep on pretending I don't exist?"
Despite how vulnerable the tightened necklace should have made her, Ringo looked back at him, chin high, eyes void of the slightest trace of fear, hard like stones and burning like coal. There she was again, the doll Tatsurou had seen the first time he had met Ringo, with her face of cold porcelain, smooth and white, without any flaw or emotion. Suddenly overtaken by the desire to make her react in any way, to wipe the haughty air off her face, Tatsurou leaned in to kiss her aggressively - but much to his surprise, Ringo returned the kiss. Perhaps was it by instinct that she did - but he felt her mouth fierce and passionate, eager to find the perfect way to match his.
However, the kiss was short-lived. The next moment, their lips had parted, and Ringo murmured, "I don't want to see you ever again."
She then moved away from him without a word, sat down before the mirror of her dresser and put on the ruby earrings that matched her necklace. Tatsurou had let go of it when she had pronounced that sentence- or as he felt, pronounced his sentence- and his arm now hanged limp by his side. He watched her back as she retouched the powder on her face, ignoring him so perfectly it was like they had never met. When his eyes suddenly encountered his own unsightly reflection in the mirror, Tatsurou felt nauseated - Ringo was alone in the room, and he would rather have been invisible than know he had been condemned to exile, away from her world.