Even Darkness ... Has Its Beauty

Why Is He Here?

"Joker?!"

"U-Uhm... Nothing i-is wrong, Joker... What do you m-mean?" Reika stuttered up, feeling the heat rush up to her cheeks.

Joker chuckled, moving his head away from her neck, "I can always sense if there's negative energy coming from somewhere."

He sighed, "And this time it's coming from you, Beauty..." he looked at her, staring into her deep blue eyes. "So tell me... What's wrong?"

Reika sighed, trying to gather up courage to tell him her feelings.
How should she do this?

She decided to start off slow. Slow and soft. By her choice, she took a deep breath, then looked at him. Patting a spot next to her, she said, "Sit down first.
Th-This may take a lot of time..."

Joker chuckled and sat down next to her on the bench.
Her heart already beating quickly by his touch.

"Joker.." She started, "I-I've been thinking... thinking about all this time we've had together."

Reika took another breath, "The times when we always fought each other. At first, I was always scared that I might loose because you were just so strong! But, when we were told that we were the legendary warriors to defeat King Pierrot, that courage just.. bloomed inside of me." She took a breath, piecing up what she was trying to say to Joker, "Before we overthrew Pierrot's power, me and my friends had one last fight with you. When me and you faced off, I already had the gut saying that we were going to win.. no matter what." Her hands curling into strong fists, not wanting to cry in front of him, "It was my fault that you died, Joker," warm tears starting to rise to the brim of her eyes and trailing down her burning cheeks, "It was was my fault...I-I was unsure if there was another way, but it had resulted to... that..."

Joker listened to her carefully: her story was still building up inside of his mind. His head shook as it got to him.
Killed me?
Joker thought in his head, confused by the statement.
Reika thinks she killed me?
The other thought ran through his head as he released a gentle sigh.

In attempt to comfort her, he held her hand tightly as his other hand held the topside of her hand. "Beauty, whatever are you talking about?" asked Joker, shuffling closer to her.

Reika sniffed softly, rubbing her burning eyes, "On the night we fought Pierrot... It was my fault that you died." Her face buried in the palm of her other hand.

"You had nothing to do with it, Beauty. Seriously! I gave myself up to our master. He needed my power in order to stop you... But, it seemed like it wasn't enough since you managed to defeat him." Joker explained, his arm now around her.

Again, she wiped her eyes - now leaning against his chest. Her breath was starting to gain its' regular pattern, remaining heavy and slow. Looking at their intertwined hands, Reika looked at him.

Within her thoughts, she gave a quiet laugh and a small smile. "So, how did y-you gain form, ag-again?" Reika's shaky voice asked him, starting to sit up from him and regaining vision of him.
The mask covering the top half of his face made him seem like a really menacing man but inside, he was such a gentle and loving person to be around.

Joker laughed a little, "Basically, when our King died, it was kind of like a reincarnation. Very weird at first, but it was alright, really." And smiled at her.

His hand moved towards her cheek, gently brushing away a small tear. "It's nice to see your smile again, dear."

Reika's smile grew, as well as her deep blush. "I've missed you for so long, y'know." She simply stated, wanting to just slap herself for throwing that straight at him.