Teaching a Butterfly to Fly

The Butterfly

Note~ These names are all in Japanese other than one character named Rachel. The only person whose name's meaning holds significance is Chou, whose name means "butterfly", hence the name of the story and what happens in the prologue... Anywho.. Enjoy~ ^^

Prologue

>>Kairi<<

Chiiiirp... Chiiiirp...

I'll never forget that day. It was the second day of summer vacation. The sun was blazing, heat beating down on our small town like it'd been doing ever since summer began. It was as if everything in Kumagaya was set on fire, but it's not like anyone could really do anything about it. Even through the heat, cicadas were chirping up a storm, kids were playing outside finding any means of fun they could, and people tried their best to keep on with their daily lives.

As for me? At that time, I was playing in the woodsy area of the park a small ways away from home catching any kind of bugs I could find. I was around 9 at the time, and if I recall correctly, I was a pretty strange kid so I didn't really have many friends. But by then I had gotten used to playing alone; it was just an everyday thing that I'd learned to settle with.

"Gotcha!" I said snatching up a wandering beetle as it made its way up a tree.

I quickly put it into my insect catching box and closed the lid before any of the other bugs could escape. I held the box close to my face, looking at my small collection of insects that I'd gathered inside, all scrambling to find a way out. I gave a toothy grin at my progress (I only say toothy because of all the gaps in between my teeth from the 4 that'd fallen out) and pulled the strap back around my shoulder.

The cicadas were ringing loud in my ears, chirping their unorganized symphony under the shade of the trees. Cicadas were the only things I wouldn't catch because their chirping was the soundtrack of my "hunting". Catching any was like a disgrace upon myself.

However, now all I saw were cicadas. It was like all the other bugs had already caught scheme of me wanting to catch them and now they were in hiding in order to stay safe. The injustice!

After checking near, like, the 10th tree around me, I pouted in disappointment.

"Where the heck are all the bugs?" I muttered under my breath, starting to walk further into the bushes still searching. Suddenly, as my eyes wandered the grass under my sneakers, something flew by in front of me, making my head shoot up.

I looked around, hoping to catch eye of what it'd been. That's when I saw it; flying around in front of me was a black butterfly. I'd never seen one of that color before, nor had I seen one more beautiful. The wings were embroidered with dark purple and metallic gray designs that complemented the black perfectly. It flew gracefully, barely having to flap its wings, as if it were gliding through the air. There was an air of elegance that beckoned me.

My eyes became wide and my mouth gaped with childish fascination. I started to walk toward it slowly. I thought to capture it and put it with all my other bugs in my box, but somehow I knew that if I did that I'd miss out on something wonderful. So I followed it as it flew through the thicket of the trees, never losing sight of it for more than a few seconds. As I kept moving after it, my clothes, arms and legs filled with dirt and scratches from the branches of trees and bushes that I'd had to walk through, I started to hear something; someone singing. I paused for a moment to listen, but, seeing that the butterfly was still flying further ahead of me, I kept moving. The voice grew louder and clearer as I walked. I tried my best to listen over the sound of the grass shuffling with my every step and the roaring cicadas, but I could never seem to hear it clear enough. After a while of straining my ears, I realized that I couldn't see the butterfly anymore.

I frowned and looked around for it, finally catching a glimpse of it a small distance away from me, its wings shining against a ray of sunlight peeking through the trees. I jogged toward it and pushed my way through the leaves and branches, finding myself in a clearing, completely covered in sunlight, unlike the rest of the woods. I could finally hear the song clearly now:

Under the big chestnut tree

You and me

Are playing happily

Under the big chestnut tree

My eyes were wide with bewilderment for the girl standing there with her back to me. The cicadas seemed to go silent just to listen to her sing, and I could understand why; her voice was beautiful. She was small, at least a year or more younger than me, with short raven-colored hair that seemed to shine a dark purple in the sunlight. Just as she finished singing those 4 simple lines again, the butterfly planted itself on the crown of her head, making her look up, trying to see it.

"Wow..."

She suddenly jumped and quickly turned towards me, looking at me with big blue eyes that matched her blue dress and sandals.

"Your singing voice is amazing," I said with a big grin on my face.

"You... You heard that?" She said a bit softly, seeming slightly flustered.

I nodded eagerly. "Even though it was only those 4 lines, it was really awesome! You can sing really well."

"T-Thank you..." she said looking down at the ground, shuffling her feet.

I tilted my head a little, thinking I may have disturbed her. A weirdo boy bursting out of the trees covered head to toe with scratches and dirt was probably not something people wanted to see. "Heh...Well honestly," I began, scratching the back of my head in nervousness, "my singing voice is terrible so maybe it's just that your voice didn't sound like a dying cat, and that's what I found so amazing."

She started to giggle, making me blush lightly. "My mom tells me that anyone can sing. They just have to learn to find their inner voice. I'm sure you'll be able to sing too."

I stared at her for a moment, becoming entranced simply by her presence. Before I got caught up and got her uncomfortable again, I stuck out my hand. "I'm Kairi."

She looked at me and smiled, gripping my hand. "Chou."

At that moment, when she took my hand, I knew that I was in love.