Chapter 30 - Ruined happiness

Ruined happiness



The whole weekend Kaede could hardly contain her excitement. She ran home as soon as she could and told her grandparents, who immediately congratulated her and pulled out the phone book, ringing up everybody they could think of. She had to wrench the phone away from them when they threatened to ring her friends.

`I'll tell them all on Monday,' Kaede insisted, and pulled the cable out of the phone.

Her grandfather drove her into school and she ran to her classroom, pushing younger students out of the way as she past. She flung herself into their classroom, breathing hard and looking around.

Luckily everyone (except Ana and Honda) was present and she grinned.

`Guess what guys?' she grinned at them all, holding her hand behind her back, hiding her ring.

`What?' they all stared at her, looking slightly worried.

She grinned even more and held out her hand. For a moment there was silence, and then Sakura, Yuula and Tea all exploded with excitement. They ran over and grabbed Kaede's hand and dragged her over to where the others sat.

`Oh my God, how did he do it?'

`What was it like?'

`Tell me everything?'

`Did he get down on his knees and ask?'

`Did he take you out for dinner first?'

`What is this ring made of?'

`Don't ask that! How much did the bloody thing cost?'

Kaede thought her head was going to explode with all these questions. She looked around at the boys for help, but all of them were just looking, quietly interested, but obviously not going to help her; let's face it, what guy in their right mind would want to rescue someone from Sakura, Yuula AND Tea?

`Um, okay, well, we had dinner first,' Kaede began, trying to remember all their questions. `And then we went for a walk in the park. It was twilight and we were standing by the pond in the middle of the park and he asked me. Yeah, he got down onto his knees to ask me, and the ring is platinum, set with a 2 carot diamond.'

Tea beamed so much Kaede thought she was going to burst. Then she gasped suddenly.

`OH MY GOD! YOU HAVE TO HAVE A PARTY TO CELEBRATE!' Tea screamed with excitement.

Kaede just grinned; Seto was already organising one, and the wedding.

`So, when are you getting married?' Yuula asked, pushing past Tea to ask.

`Some time in the summer, probably around my birthday,' Kaede grinned.

The bell rang and reluctantly they all went to their first lessons. Kaede, Joey and Sakura all went to English, and sat at the back, talking excitedly about the wedding. Well, Kaede and Sakura were, Joey sat next to them with a face like thunder.

Kaede noticed and turned to him, trying to keep the grin off her face. `What's the matter?' she asked as kindly as she could without losing her temper.

Joey looked thoroughly pissed off when he looked at Kaede. He looked terrible, as though he hadn't been sleeping, or as though he was sick.

`Oh God, are you okay?' Kaede put her hand on his shoulder, turning around in her chair to face him properly, all traces of a smile gone.

`You know the car crash that Yuula was in?' Joey croaked as though her voice wasn't working properly.

Kaede nodded slowly. Did he think she had forgotten? How could she forget something like that?

`Well, that day I had been told by Sakura that you were seeing Seto,' Joey took a deep breath. He looked so guilty, Kaede looked at him weirdly. What was he hiding?

`Well, Mai and I had just split up, and I was-'

`WHAT?! YOU AND MAI SPLIT UP?!' Sakura shrieked, causing the people in front of them too look around angrily.

`Yeah, ages ago,' Joey said impatiently. `And I was really depressed. I had a little to drink, probably a bit to much, and I called up your grandparents, asking where you were. They told me you were at the Chinese restaurant place that you were always going on about when we were together, and I walked there. I don't know what made me do it,' he said at Kaede's horrified face. `But I needed to talk to you, I really missed you, and missed being with you.'

Joey looked down at his feet. `I did it because I still love you.'

Kaede stared at him, he hand shaking. `Did what Joey?'

Joey returned her gaze, and took another deep breath. `I caused the car crash.'

Kaede's heart stopped for a second. She felt as though she was chocking; she coughed roughly, and felt tears of pain and hurt come to her eyes. Pain because of what he had done.

When her coughing stopped, she looked back at him angrily, her eyes shining with the tears. `Why did you do it Joey?' she said, biting her lip.

Joey looked away, guilt all over his face. She saw rather than heard him mutter `Because I love you,' and jumped up. She ran out of the room just as their teacher came into the room. She pushed past her teacher and ran out of the school, out into the grounds, collapsing underneath the cheery blossom tree.

As she sat, her tears over came her. She looked at her hands, the white scars where the glass had cut into her still vivid against her normally evenly tanned skin. She felt the pain as she remembered poor little Tenshi, doubting Mokuba would ever wake up. She thought of Mokuba's body, looking like an empty shell, no life visible. And then the image of Yuula swam into her head, tubes in her arms, and then the crumpled bleeding body of Sanura, lying in a pool of her own blood, Herya and Isis standing over her, knowing she was dead, and Priest Seto holding Hebeny in his arms, cradling her, trying to banish the waking nightmares she was experiencing as she replayed her friend's death over and over in her head.

Kaede curled up in a ball under the cherry blossom tree, letting the tears flow down her cheeks. A whole lifetime's grief poured out of her, and she felt as though the cheery blossom tree was crying with her, a storm of pink petals littering the ground around her. Her hands shook, but suddenly stilled, and her red eyes closed slowly. Her breathing slowed and she slept.

Hebeny knelt by the tomb, marked only by the beautiful flowers scattered around it. The dust around her whirled in the wind, covering her light blue robes, turning them a bluey grey.

A single tear rolled down her cheek and splashed onto the ground. She wiped it away with the back of her hand, and bit her trembling lip.

Placing one hand against the tomb, she muttered a prayer for Sanura's soul, and stood up, trying to leave her grief behind her.

She walked out of the gloomy darkness of the small group of tombs, all holding past Priests. Seto and Isis had agreed that Sanura should be there with them. Hebeny wished they hadn't; the tomb was cold and dark, nothing like Sanura would have wanted. She knew Sanura would have wanted to be outside in the warm sunshine, but Seto had said tradition was best.

The sudden bright sunlight blinded Hebeny, and she raised her arm over her eyes to shield them.

Seto stood next to the entrance to the tombs, and took Hebeny's hand as she left them. He pulled her to him and held her there, his arms around her waist, hugging her tightly. She struggled for a second, but he held her too tight. She gave up and relaxed as best as she could, although she kept trying to look around to see if anyone was there.

Seto looked at her, and smiled half heartedly. `I love you, Hebeny.'

Hebeny was shocked, and said as spitefully as she could, `Do you really think that you should say something like that now?'

Seto nodded. `Of course, Sanura wouldn't have wanted all this tiptoeing around. You know she wouldn't.'

Hebeny wanted to shut him saying her name, stop him talking about her. But he wouldn't, even if she tried to stop him.

`Hebeny, I love you,' he said again.

`Don't.'

`Why not? It's the truth,' he said, holding her away from him and looking her up and down, and really strange look in his eyes.

Hebeny tried to walk away from him, but she couldn't; he held her to hard.

`Please Seto, let's go back to the temple,' she started to plead with him, but a strange smile spread across his face.

`Why, what is wrong with here?' he said, pulling her to him again. He was terrifying her, and she shook as him touched her.

`Seto, please can we go back?' she begged, trying to pull away again.

Seto said nothing, and let her go. She began to walk back to the temple, but he wasn't following her. She turned around but he stayed where he was, and she run back to the temple without him.

She arrived and flung open the doors, running to the statue of the goddess Isis and collapsed in front of it, muttering a prayer quickly. She cleansed herself with the sweet incense that filled the halls, suddenly feeling terrible.

She shook, remembering the feeling she had just felt when she stood with Seto. It wasn't love just then, not the love he usually felt for her. It was different, and she had felt it before, too many times before.

The first time she had felt it was at her first owner's house, when she was helping in the fields and one of his field hand's tried to take advantage of her. And since that day, the feeling had returned too many times, every single time she was sold again her owner would try to rape her. Sometimes she was lucky, but sometimes, when she could smell the wine on their breath and they were clumsy and more aggressive, she couldn't escape.

She was midway through prayer when she heard footsteps behind her and saw Seto jogging towards her. She was slightly afraid, in case he tried to hurt her, and almost shielded herself, but she saw his face, guilty and sorry.

He pulled her to her feet and hugged her, this time holding her gently in his arms.

`I'm so sorry,' he whispered to her. `I am so sorry.'

Hebeny shook her head slowly, trying to block out her memories.

`It's just, I don't know what made me do it, but, Sanura dying like that, was just so…' Seto's voice faded, and Hebeny smiled weakly. She forgave him with a quick kiss on the cheek.

`Hebeny,' Seto sat down on the floor of the temple and Hebeny sat beside him. `What are we going to do?'

Hebeny stared at him, confused.

`Are you just going to keep pretending, or are we going to let the whole world know that we love each other?'

Hebeny said nothing, he know what she thought, so why was he asking her?

He took her hand in his, and pulled her closer to him, until she was sitting right next to him.

They sat together for a while with his arms wrapped around her. But after a while he leaned towards her and whispered in her ear.

`Hebeny, come away with me,' he whispered. `Marry me, Hebeny.'

Suddenly, she felt as though the ground had collapsed underneath her and she plunged into darkness.

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