Love in a Library by Sir Darres

Romeo and Juliet

Literature truly is an amazing invention. Though, technically it's not an invention. It's been here for a rather long time, from the beginning of this Earth. So, do I honestly have the right to call it an invention? Or, perhaps should I call it a miracle?

I scoped the shelves of the library, delving into the essence of the pure aura around me. Places like these are so tranquil...so, as I have said, amazing.

I scarcely touched the bindings edge with my fingertips as I approached a rather tall shelf structure. I could not bring myself to disturb the presence about it, a presence that has rested for as long as it had been put on that shelf.

I love it. Being around the one's that control my life, my being. I love being around these small bound leather books, which hold an indescribable amount of information. Honestly, it excites me. Whenever I pick up something new, I'm indulging myself in a new world that I never would have thought of. I am reliving the past, present, and future. I allow myself to be placed in another person's shoes. The book controls my destiny as I flip each page, and I can only read to determine our (the character and my own) fate.

Information sits in these pages that I couldn't even come to imagine. While others are outside, ignorant to the world that sits within these walls, I live in the tongue of old and new. I am myself, free and untamed, as I skip word from word, my eyes darting to each new sentence, willing to read from front to back. I never put down a book, good or bad, for it is my duty to finish what I once started. Never will I put down a book without completing it, no matter how bad it may be.

I smoothed down my black pencil skirt as I sat down in the library's mix-matched beaten purple chairs. The one beside me was a burgundy; not exactly fitting the color scheme of the library's carpeted blue floors, while an oak stand sat between them with a few scattered magazines. I quietly sipped my black coffee from the local Starbucks, placing the Styrofoam cup to my lips to take a small yet plentiful drink. I just sat there for a few moments. I was here on my lunch break, well fed at a small café around the corner, and still had time to spare so I made my way into this...magnificent house of books. But I wasn't about to take a story of the millions that I sat near, no; I was just going to sit among them. I was here for the comfort, here for the nice book smell. For that, in itself, is calming to me.

The heel of my shoe tapped the edge of my green handbag, though I scarcely minded. But I did, however, have to keep my eye on the time. If I was late again, my boss surely would fire me. I applied for a job months ago to be a secretary to a man that I rarely knew, even if I had met him on some occasions with my friends. He was presently dating my best friend Sango, and she was just crazy about him. She never showed it, but her eyes clearly held her adoration for him. Sometimes it makes me sick to my stomach, making me so queasy that I once had to leave the room. I envy her. She has someone she can rely on, someone to hold her. Someone to understand her. While I, however, have no one.

I don't feel anything bitter towards her, she is my best friend after all, so whatever anger towards her comes and goes. As envious as I might be of her, I let her have her peace and help her along the way of her relationship, listening to her fluffy stories about him taking her out to lunch or about something that he might have bought her. But I live with it for that is what any good friend would do.

"Is this seat free?" I didn't look up right away, perhaps I was dwindling too far in my thoughts to understand what the man had said, but I had first ignored him. He didn't move at all, neither did he tap his foot impatiently for me to respond. He just stayed there calmly waiting for my response.

"Of course." I said moments later. I heard the chair next to me deflate a bit, meaning he had sat down. We remained in silence for a moment before I finally took a glimpse at the one who asked permission to sit. It was rare to find someone to ask something so politely these days, even if it was just to sit down in a chair no one was occupying.

What I saw took my breath away. He had long silky locks of silver hair that shined dully in the soft light (this library had a lighting problem, but I found it much more cozy this way). His face was shaped aristocratically, appearing handsome to my eye, though maybe a bit more structured and boring to some. His skin was pale, complementing his royally shaped nose, which a pair of silver framed glasses sat on top of. His eyes were half lidded as he skimmed the pages easily, freely. I assumed he had read the book before. It was one of the most known, Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare. I was rather disappointed in his choice; it was a bit cliché. But he had read it before. I had to give him that.

"Why aren't you reading?" He asked, velvet caressing my ears as I watched him raise an elegant silver eyebrow, not turning his eyes away from his book.

"I'm not here for long." I commented, blushing slightly. Perhaps it was a bit school girlish for me to blush. He didn't say anything to embarrass me, and I was known as one not to blush. I got rid of that useless and annoying habit long ago after a sour relationship with a certain man named Inuyasha. It only left me with bad memories, and I was disappointed and surprised to think of it once he spoke to me.

"I see." He mused as he looked up at me, allowing me the privilege of seeing pretty golden suns condensed into irises. "So you will not indulge yourself in the pleasure of reading a piece of literature that sits around?"

"I have to decline today. I'm due for work soon, and I can't be late or my boss will be angry with me. He only gave me an hour." He glanced my attire over, clearly amused. He didn't show it, but I could see that look in his eyes.

"Shame. Take one with you, if you must leave so soon." His baritone voice sent pleasurable tingles down my spine. It glazed over me quickly, soon evaporating into the air of silence.

"I don't have to leave right away. Besides, I have millions more back home from here that I have to return. I visit weekly." He nodded briefly glancing at his book.

"I know. You come every Thursday night." I blinked at him surprised, trying poorly to hide my shock from my features. His corners of his lips twisted in a small, barely noticeable smile that I caught voluntarily. It made him all the more handsome.

"Yes, I do...but how would you know?" I questioned, another annoying blush rising to color my cheeks. I didn't want this habit coming back again, not after I had been rid of it for so many years, seven to be exact.

"I've seen you around here. The woman at the desk, Kaede, calls me a regular bookworm." I giggled gently as he shrugged. "I'm not sure if should agree, though or that would make me both a bookworm and a book geek. I would rather be aloof of such information and continue my reading."

"Charming." I commented with a smile as he closed his book. "Very charming."

"Ah, I have been called that on more than one occasion." He replied rather arrogantly. "But it does help to hear it from your lips as well." I tilted my head as I leaned my clothed suit elbow on the arm of my chair, looking at him with my chin resting on my palm as I took another sip of my Starbucks.

"The memory is yours."

"And a good memory it is." He concluded as he stood up, stretching. I now noticed his attire as well as he had mine; he wore a nice pair of black slacks and a white dress shirt.

"Off to work?" I asked, the thought of losing his company rather depressing as he fixed the collar of his shirt.

"You might as well say I'm off to a death roll, working for my father." He shrugged simply as he put on his coat, his silver hair tumbling down his back in shiny waves. I had the urge to simply reach out and touch the substance, but I stopped myself from doing so. I wouldn't want to embarrass myself in front of such a handsome man, would I?

"That sucks." I said simply. "Good luck." He smirked.

"I'll need all the luck I can get with that man. Seems this is the only place I can escape to." I smiled.

"We're not alone, my friend." He shook the bangs away from his eyes, allowing me to look into pure molten gold. He watched me for a moment, not drawing his gaze away from my own.

"Books are always here for me." I continued, though I just wanted to melt into his eyes longer than I allowed myself. "I never feel alone when I'm with them. Truth is, I'm always alone." I smiled even more as my fingertips grazed my lips. "I've never told that to anyone."

"Everyone feels alone." He began, buttoning his coat. "But this is what books are for, is it not? It gives you the sense of solitary enjoyment."

"Yes." I agreed, as I remained seated as he finished with his coat. "But they will never serve the company that humans give you." Once you think about it, its true. Books are a most wonderful pastime, but no human contact can destroy you.

"But why listen to such incompetent speech?" He asked me directly, only causing me to shrug.

"Because...that's the price of being sane." He stared at me for a moment, that handsome smile on his lips.

"Very well..." He gently sat the book down on the stand that sat beside me, giving me another one of his handsome smiles that made me melt at the sight of it. I looked at the known novel beside me as his fingers drew away from it.

"Read it if you haven't, though I understand that you have. It's the most random novel I could find..."

"Random?" I questioned. He turned around, not allowing me to see his face.

"I had to pick something up so I wouldn't look like a complete idiot in front of you, could I?" I glanced at the book to my side then looking back up the mysterious man that stood before me. But I saw nothing for he had left, leaving no trace but the book beside me that he had conversed with me.

"Suave." I said aloud, though I knew he was gone. "Unlucky and lucky for you that you picked one of the books at the bottom of my list."

"And I could've sworn women like you would love that kind of literature." I jumped, startled as I saw him behind the corner.

"I'm not like any woman you've ever met, trust me." I muttered bluntly, pulling a piece of hair away from my face. He approached me, holding out his hand.

"Show me out?" He asked hopefully. His voice held no hope in it; I just knew that he wanted me to.

"After trying to swoon me over with Romeo and Juliet? I should decline for something so cliché, but I'll allow you the privilege of walking me out." I joked as I placed my hand in his, picking my bag up, leaving my coffee on the table.

"Tsk." He said glancing over at the table. "You shouldn't litter in a library."

"Then you should offer to hold my purse while I find a waste basket to throw it in." He merely nodded in reply.

"How rude of me. Should I hold your bag while you find a place to throw your coffee away, or will you keep it and still make me hold your bag?" I thought for a moment, slinging the bag over my shoulder with my coffee cup in hand, starting to walk away from him.

"I think I'll take my bag and my coffee both so you won't have the trouble." I stopped as I saw him watch me with a knowing smile on his lips. "What?" I called. "Think I was that helpless? Besides, you wanted me to walk you out, no?"

"You deliberately destroy my attempts at swooning you." He stated as he approached me in a few swift steps. His legs were rather long, and I could see now how truly tall he was, but his pace was set slower so we could walk side by side out of the building. We walked in companionable silence, neither wanting to ruin the moment of our time together.

We stepped out into the nice sunny day, rarely any puffy clouds in the sky.

"Did you drive?" He asked as the roar of traffic rang in our ears, making us part of the busy city of Tokyo.

"No. I walked here. I'm just a block up." He raised that same elegant eyebrow at me as that wonderful smirk played his lips.

"Then you must allow me to walk you there. Or drive you, perhaps, since I have a vehicle parked somewhere around the area." I smiled at him.

"Thanks, but no thanks. I'll just walk from here. I'm still within my limit and I'll make it there in no time." He nodded, placing a hand in his coat pocket.

"I see." He mused as I could see he was thinking for his eyes were tilted slightly to the side both at the sidewalk and me.

"What are you thinking about?" I asked after watching him think.

"I was thinking if it would be respectable if I could kiss you now, or if I should wait until we meet again." I smirked at him, shooting his look right back at him momentarily.

"You don't even know my name, do you? And I don't even know yours. So what gives you the right to kiss me?" He sighed.

"Would you like to know my name then?" He asked as he watched me carefully as I shifted on my other foot.

"It would be a nice thing to know unless you want me to call you book boy." He shrugged.

"It's a nice nickname." He kissed me gently, swiftly, only a peck on my lips that left my flustered. "I'll see you this Thursday, book girl. Don't be late." And before I could protest, his back was to me, fading with the other millions of people on the streets.

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