Forbidden Flower
(http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m6twshJQdC1rt53klo1_r5_500.gif)
Prologue | Camellia
Brightly lit lanterns threaded together filled the night sky and illuminated a radiant glow of apricot over the crowd of pedestrians. Amongst the hoard of bonodori entertainers, the sakura tree lined pathways were brimmed with enticing food stands and variations of game stalls. The echo of laughter and obscure conversations filled the warm evening as people of all ages came together joyously to celebrate another summer festival.
Matsui Rena smiled at the happy children skipping around gleefully with their tiny plastic bags of goldfish. She was cladded in the elegance of a baby blue yukata designed with the delicacy of flowers and held by a lively pink obi. As the warm summer breeze blew by Rena lifted up a hand to fix her fringes, her dark silky hair was pulled back smoothly into a bun and held in place by two artistically refined kanzashi hairpins.
“Rena-Rena, let’s check out that flower place over there~” Her best friend Furukawa Airi suggested as she pointed excitedly.
Interlocking her arm with Rena’s she pulled the girl into the direction of a long table seemingly overflowing and surrounded by a wide collection of exotic plants. Upon arrival an elderly couple with matching outfits greeted them in a friendly fashion.
“It’s nice to see such young women still interested in flowers these days.” The older lady commented flashing them her happy expression.
“Of course, flowers make life that much more beautiful don’t they?” Airi replied returning the kind gesture.
“Might you two be interested in floriagraphy?” The older man asked.
“Floriagraphy?” Rena timidly returned.
“Yes, meaning the language of flowers. Each and every one of them tells a different story while holding their own symbolic meanings.” He defined the word with an aura of someone who was absolutely fascinated by the idea.
Rena just nodded fathoming the fact and smiled at him while Airi’s eyes sparkled, “Eh, is that so?” her friend thought the whole concept was simply amazing.
“Would you guys like to have one?” The older lady offered.
“Can we really?!” Airi beamed cheerfully.
“Go ahead and choose, simply pluck one from out of its batch.” The man answered the girl in his generous voice.
“Yay, let’s pick one Rena~” Airi clapped her hands together, let go of her friend and proceeded to walk away in search for one perfect to her liking.
Rena quietly scanned over the beautiful cluster of flowers in front of her. Each display had their own differences in color and sizes, and oddly enough no two flowers were ever alike. Nurtured on their own pace by their own compatibility with the environment, plants were more complicated than one would have originally thought.
The pure white petals in contrast to the yellow center of a delicate flower caught Rena’s attention and slowly her soft hands reached for the plant. As her slim fingers came close in mere inches, the gentle touch of someone else’s hand brushed up against her skin.
Rena halted in place and turned to meet the gaze of a fine stranger standing next to her. She blinked up at the person whose face was hidden behind a thin porcelain kitsune mask and dressed most sophisticatedly in a beautiful men’s white yukata with an obi the royal shade of burgundy.
A pink blush crept up to Rena’s cheeks. She and the stranger remained still in place midway in reach for the same flower, until the voice of the same elderly man caught their attention. The two immediately recomposed themselves and gave the man their flustered attention.
“Ahh, it’s the white camellia.” He said before continuing, “Such a simple beauty it whispers the phrase, ‘There’s no doubt to me you’re very lovely.’” The man gave the duo a cheesy look and exaggerates on his voice to some extent before further explaining, “The camellia is a symbol of admiration as well as adoration, but the story behind this flower is sometimes told much tragically.” He nodded with his eyes closed sympathetically.
“Rena, I picked out my flower isn’t it pretty?” Airi interrupted.
Rena observed her friend’s bright yellow flower, “It suits you well.” She smiled.
“You think so?” Airi giggled in an agreement and then asked, “You haven’t found anything?”
Rena bit onto her bottom lip lightly and shook her head no. She then peered over nervously to look at the masked stranger behind her friend's back, but it seemed as though the person was not paying attention. Airi raised a brow in confusion, but shrugged it off a moment later. The duo then both gave a bow to show their gratitude towards the floral couple and decided to move on to the next attraction.
The intriguing sound of taiko drummers and authentic shakuhachi flute players as well as other traditional instruments brought to life their age old customs. The night was going by perfectly.
Rena spotted a man in front of an interesting machine plastered with the bolded letters that read, ‘Men ame’ and fastened her footsteps towards it. With her mouth slightly agape, she knew what it was and it was exactly what she needed the most at the moment. Airi followed the girl shaking her head and laughed at her friend’s silliness.
“One please!” She happily chirped. Rena’s hands were placed together in front of her like a child anxiously awaiting their treat and observed as the smiling man complied with her request. “Ahh, it looks so fluffy~” She said, her eyes following the sweet as it twirled delicately onto a cone.
The man laughed at her expression, “You remind me of my daughter, she’s an elementary kid. Are you a high school student?” He asked.
At his question Airi darted her amused gaze towards Rena and watched as her merry features faltered, “…No, I’m older than that.” Feeling embarrassed she hurriedly paid the man with money from her tiny pouch and excused herself.
Shaking off the awkwardness, Rena shifted her attention back to the fluffy delight in front of her and closed in on the treat. As her lips met the cotton candy, she bit into the confection and let the sugar melt inside of her mouth. An adorable smile graced her lips and she giggled at the satisfaction of enjoying her little snack.
“Can I have some?” Airi asked already ready to take a pinch of the airy treat.
Rena nodded and licked at her lips. An unexpected flood of emotions came over her and suddenly feeling the eyes of someone on her, Rena turned back to look over her shoulder. Her eyes scanned over the crowd of people, until they came to a halt as she locked gazes to a familiar person. The fox masked stranger stared back at her and she felt her ears become warm.
Self-conscious, yet slightly apprehensive she looked away and took another bite of her cotton candy. Rena then pulled on the sleeve of her best friend and dragged the girl to a different location. With each step that she took she glanced to the side and the stranger also followed them from the other side of the wide dirt laden pathway.
The person didn’t even take into measure that hiding was an option and just made it blatantly obvious to the girl. Rena didn’t know what the stranger wanted from her, but she had sensed that it was probably harmless. Airi though had taken notice to her friend’s quirky behavior.
“What’s wrong?” She asked her tone with a hint of concern.
Rena didn’t answer the girl and just sped up the speed at which she was walking and shifted her position to the middle of the road in order to lose the stranger. Unbeknownst to the girls walking, just up ahead near a ramen stand a fight had just broken out.
As two different groups of punks violently retaliated against each other, chaos had begun. Chairs were thrown and stands were trashed as the groups of thugs picked up random objects to use as weapons. Alarmed, the crowed of people fretfully moved out of the way and cleared the pathway. When the losing team began to flee, the merciless group began to chase after them.
“Rena!” Airi called out to her heedless friend and moved away in a haste to the dodging crowd of people packed together on the sidelines.
When Rena had snapped out of her paranoid daze, her eyes widened at the fact that she was the only person standing alone in the middle of the walkway and a group of dangerously looking savages were running right in her direction.
She dropped her treat. Her body immediately stiffened up in fear, but her legs refused to move. She did the only thing her body naturally allowed her to do and in a panic she tightly shut her eyes, awaiting the brutal impact.
In a swift movement, the arms of a person wrapped themselves securely around Rena’s body. With an arm over her shoulder and the other slightly covering her head protectively the stranger pressed their heads down against each other. The action was as if the person was also afraid, but willing to sacrifice for Rena.
Time stood still for the two locked in a tight embrace and miraculously the group of trouble makers charged right pass them. Rena jumped slightly with her shoulders raised when the thunderous sound of fireworks ruptured into the night sky and she gripped onto the clothes of the stranger.
As the sound of fireworks continued to alarm, and no damaging impact was ever made she slowly fluttered her eyes open and gazed up to look at the person. Rena’s breathing hitched in her throat and her heart began to race in her chest as she found herself staring into the passionate gaze of the kitsune masked stranger from before.
The ever changing lights of the fireworks illuminated an indescribable glow over their figures and in that instant an unfamiliar tingle ran down her spine and her breathing quickened. Trying to calm her excited heart, Rena blinked a couple of times and immediately removed herself from the person.
With her cheeks flushed and a million thoughts running through her mind, yet no words to say she looked down abashed and decided to dash away. The second she turned to leave though, a hand grabbed at her wrist and she nervously turned back to gaze into the eyes of the masked stranger.
“…W-what is it?” She stuttered.
The stranger didn’t say anything nor did the person mutter a single word. After an intense moment of silence the taller person merely turned around Rena’s hand and placed something into the soft flesh of her palm.
Rena hesitated before looking at the object. Her eyes widened with a gleam of indescribable emotions when she was met with the sight of a pretty camellia flower and instantly gazed back to look at the stranger who had just let go of her hand.
After her release the stranger took a couple of steps back into the crowd of people who were now resuming onto the pathway to enjoy the view of their celebration and soon disappeared from sight. Rena gripped onto the stem of the flower and brought it up to her chest as she stared into the direction of the person who’s finally hidden.
“Are you okay?!” Airi’s distressed voice interrupted Rena’s stunned figure and she turned to look at her friend with a seemingly unsure nod.
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The summer had already long ended. Dressed in her most professional attire Rena smiled brightly and shook hands with a balding man. Suited up in his usual snappy suit, the principle of Sunshine Sakae Gakuen greeted the young woman most cordially.
“We’re most excited to have such a young and ambitious woman join us for this year’s intern program.” The man said in an attentive fashion.
“Thank you so much for accepting me here.” Rena replied politely.
A gorgeous teacher walked into the office and also shook hands with Rena. She looked up with a questioning gaze towards the professionally assembled man and he explained, “This is Ohori Megumi, she will be supervising your teaching performances for this year while you take over her class.” He smiled at the two.
“Please take good care of me.” Rena bowed respectively to the teacher, but the older woman frankly patted her on the back instead.
“Class will surely commence soon.” The principle looked at his watch. “Ohori-san, why don’t you guide Matsui-san here to the class she will be working with?” He asked and she undoubtedly complied.
Making her way to the class room Rena took a deep breath before stepping inside. Taking notice, Megumi laughed and set a hand on the younger woman’s shoulder, “Don’t be nervous, you’ll be fine.” She assured.
The first year students whispered amongst themselves curiously as Megumi explained to them the new changes with the school’s intern program allowing university students to gain real classroom teaching experience. She then looked to Rena and she without hesitation introduced herself competently.
After the initial information was given out, the student teacher began her official duties. Reading off a list she took roll call. Calling each student one by one who raised their hand and answered her obediently, she stopped for a second when her eyes read the name of a student with her exact surname.
“Matsui Jurina?” She asked looking up from the list to scan over the students.
When no answer was given nor was a hand shown in the air Rena tilted her head and repeated again. “…Matsui Jurina?”
The moment of silence was interrupted rudely as the loud clash of the room’s sliding door snapped open. Stepping inside of the room with her captivating aura and charming smile the teenager answered.
“Matsui Jurina, present.”
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A/N:Hmmmm, what do you guys think? Lol, I’ve been upset…Still trying to get over my lovely Acchan’s graduation. I wasn’t really into this pairing at first, but now that Atsumina makes me undoubtedly depressed…I’ve come to love Wmatsui very much haha. Well first of all there is the real age gap between the two in this fic, therefore if you can’t handle jailbait in such a relationship I’m really sorry haha ^__^” I like it like this, it’s quite nice actually and pfft this is japan age is just a number lol. Well this prologue is short, but when the first chapter is up it’ll be twice as long. I’d like to read everyone’s opinions good and bad accepted. It really motivates me to update, thanks so much for reading! (Please excuse my grammar errors) :heart: Ahhh, and credits to tebasaki-army who created the gif that inspired this fic for me! :bow: :bow: :bow: