[TWWM] Those Connected by Fate

Location: India (Summer)

Birds swooped at eachother, chasing playfully, their song echoing across the streets and alleys as Kaito made his way down the path towards class. He had a spring in his step, and was excited to see Cosette once again. Since she had accepted his love, they had spent the last weeks planning their future together. She was to move to Japan with him, and her father as well, the Emperial palace had many skilled doctors and herbalists who could help ease his pain, if not cure him entirely of whatever ailed him. As he made the last corner, he noticed a group of students gathered in the street. Approaching them, they turned, and the expression on their face caused a pit to form in his stomach. He had no idea, but today was the day that fate had turned, and would lead him down a path that he never could of imagined. Pulling him into their midst, the students carefully explained to him that his dear Cosette was missing. She had recieved a troubling telegraph in the evening the night before, and no one had seen her since.

"She didn't go to see you?" one boy asked him, worry creasing his face.
Kaito felt at a loss for words, "I...no...no one came to my door at all last night. I had no idea anything was amis..."
"Do you know where she'd go?"
"No...I mean, the vineyard perhaps, have you checked there? Her room?"
"Her room is empty, no one slept there last night."
"We've been calling for her throughout the courtyard and vineyard, but we need to search further..."
"We're afraid maybe... someone has kidnapped her?"
Kaito shook his head, trying not to imagine that.
"If she was upset by a telegraph, perhaps shes just sitting somewhere on her own, thinking. We'll find her."
He put a hand on the shoulder of the boy next to him, "We can split up and search for her, right?"
"Oh yes, the class teachers are at the police station making a report, there will be no class today they said."
"Good, more time to find her." Kaito said, determination in his voice.

--

That day was the longest day he had ever endured. Every passing moment, he felt that someone would call out to him, saying they'd found her. She was just reading in the book hall and had fallen asleep, or perhaps she went on a early morning shopping trip to get fresh baked bread before sunrise. But as every moment fell away from him, so too did the hope that she'd be found. He refused to give up though.

--

Three days had past, and officials had no leads...nothing to go on...no trace of her. It was as if she vanished from the earth entirely. They came to the dorm that evening, and solemnly told Class staff that they were reluctantly ending the search. They apologized, and said they'd done all they could. Kaito stood alone, across the pathway, in the entrance to the boy's dorm. He had been staying there the past few nights instead of returning to their summer palace. This felt closer to her, and he wanted to be there if she returned. As the officials turned and made their way back to the station, Kaito remained there in the doorway. As the sun set, and moonlight turned the world silver, he gazed out over the courtyard. 'Where are you my love?'

--

He remained in town for a week, but not to study. Other students went back to their classes, and life seemed to fall back to normality for most, but studying was all but forgotten to Kaito. He wouldn't rest until he'd found his love, she was out there, somewhere. Lost and possibly hurt. She never would of left without telling him why. More and more he worried that something terrible had happened, and more and more relentlessly he searched. When he finally did return to his summer home, in a panic almost, having thought that perhaps she had gone there after all. She had not though, and he was left sitting in the garden, finally allowing himself the tears he'd held back all week. He did not allow himself to fall into despair however, he was still determined to find her. He pulled himself together, and got comfortable on the little bench in his garden. The sand around the pond was uncombed, but smooth, and the waterfall fountain gurgled soothingly as he found peace there. He decided to write his father about this new development, and procuring the tools necessary, he sat in the garden and wrote. He told how she had vanished, and that they were doing all that they could to find her. He made no mention of his classes, and as his father would notice, his handwriting seemed more chaotic and rushed than usual. Something was definitely amiss, something that sadly would not change for a long while.

--

Location: India (Early Fall)

It had been 2 months since Cosette had gone missing, and the Vintner's summer class had come to an end. Kaito hadn't even noticed, and even missed the class end ceremonies. Most had moved on, forgetting Cosette and Kaito, and focusing on the classes, and on preparing for the journey home. A few of them remembered though, and visited Kaito at his home. He seemed frail, and chaotic. His hair was a mess, but he still held a smile in his eyes. Hope was not lost on him, but had it consumed him? He thanked them for visiting, and wished them safe journeys. As they walked down the hill towards town, they shook their heads sadly. 

--

Kaito sat in his garden, clutching a letter, it was from his father. He was disappointed that he had not finished the class. A class that Kaito had wanted so dearly, had promised to excel in. "Forget this fantasy of bringing this mystery girl to Japan. Come home and rest. We will find a suitable bride for you, as we discussed before you left. Stop dreaming and come home." it had said.
Kaito shook his head and laughed softly, leaning his head back to gaze up at the stars. "Has it really been almost three months? Where are you Cosette?" he uncrumpled the letter and smoothed it on his knee before standing and walking inside. He placed the letter in his desk and shut the drawer with a click. Speaking out loud, he argued with his father who wasn't there. "I cannot just...forget this girl. I am in love with her. I pledged my love to her. What of my honor if I cannot even protect the one I love?" he knew his father would scoff at love. "You may not know love, but I do. I thought i would never marry, thought only of books and learning, but this girl...she captured my heart. I must find her." he paced back and forth in the room, imagining all the words his father would say. Imagining his anger and determination to keep their dynasty afloat. He muttered his name, angry that a name could try to force his destiny this way. "Katashi Kaito... Katashi..." he pressed his hand to his forehead. "She was to be Katashi... She was to be my wife, to join your precious dynasty. Do you have no love for the woman who may save the name you hold so highly?" he angrily pushed a chair, it clattered across the floor, crumpling a tatami mat in the corner. "I will FIND her." he said, storming out into the night, to search and seek through the shadows, a desperate man, wracked by grief and hope in one.

--

Another letter came, and another. Filled with dread and worry, Kaito had sent the only guards that had traveled with him away, ordering them to stay in the town and to leave him alone. He spent every waking moment traveling and exploring through the surrounding countryside, and every bit of sleep he managed was in his little garden. Twice he had lifted the rake, to smooth the sand and try to find peace, but both times he set it back down. Something kept him from it. "I cannot find peace until I find my love."
Tonight, four months since he'd arrived in India, and three months since Cosettet had gone missing, he sat, cross-legged in the sand of his little zen garden, near enough to the water that he could touch it. Once again, he clutched a letter in his hand. This one, there was no arguing with. It informed him that his father was coming. Bringing several guards and travelers, all to retrieve him and bring him home. "Enough of this folly. You will give up this fruitless search at once. We will arrive on the 8th, and you will return home with us, thus, an imperial decree."
He crumpled the paper in his fist, clutching it tightly as he felt his heart in his throat. "I cannot leave. I cannot just abandon her. I must find Cosette."

Tears streamed down his face as he knew there was no hope. His father would arrive the next day, and there was nothing he could do. He would be forced to return home, forced to act as if nothing had happened, forced into an arranged marriage and forced to take on the tasks that would one day make him a ruler he did not want to be. None of it felt right, none of it felt real. He turned his tear stained face towards the moon once more, pleading with his dark brown eyes. "Cosette please... where are you?"