(no subject)
Title: Oversight
Fandom: Harry Potter
Rating: PG
Summary Lucius has made a little mistake ...
“Lucius,” Narcissa said.
Her voice sounded far too calm and controlled and Lucius instantly put his book down and looked at her. She was standing at the window, her hand on the curtain, not looking at him.
“Yes dear?” he said, slightly nervously.
“You were writing to Dumbledore recently,” she said. “About the copy of Tales of Beedle the Bard in the library?”
“Yes,” Lucius said with a slight scowl, remembering the frustrating and boring correspondence.
“Did you happen to end it with some sort of insult?”
Lucius paused. There had been several insults in the course of his letters but he had ended the whole thing on a particularly scathing remark about Dumbledore’s mother, it was true. He wasn’t sure that he wanted to repeat it to his wife (he liked to pretend that she was much more innocent than she was.)
“Ye-es,” he said after the pause couldn’t really continue.
“Did it involve his mother?”
Lucius blinked.
“How did you know that?”
“I think you should come over here.”
Lucius sighed and stood up. He walked over to his wife and turned to look out of the window.
“I rather think,” Narcissa said in measured tones. “That Dumbledore told his brother.”
Lucius had coped with many things in his life. But never before had he been faced with a beautiful starry evening being marred by the sight of twenty sky-blue goats trampling his lawns and eating the topiary.
He’d forgotten that Albus Dumbledore’s mother was Aberforth Dumbledore’s mother as well.
Title: Mystery
Fandom: Animorphs
Rating: G
Summary: On the way back from a mission, Cassie thinks about the stars.
“Do you remember the days when the stars used to be cool?” Marco asked no one in particular as we traipsed through the woods, twigs cutting our bare feet. “Star Wars. Star Trek. Stargate.”
“Star Fox,” Jake put in, probably hoping to shut Marco up.
Marco gave him a look, clearly feeling interrupted in the midst of a rant. “The point is, stars were awesome. They were cool. Now you just look at them and you wonder what else they’re going to hurl at you. What other aliens are lurking up there to come down and stuff everything up?”
“Marco,” Rachel said tiredly. “If you don’t shut up, I’m going to have to hurt you.”
“Seriously!” Marco protested.
“I don’t,” I said. “I still look at the stars and think they’re cool.”
“Oh, excuse me,” Marco said sardonically. “Polly-Cassie still loves the sky at night. Who’s surprised? Not me!”
“Marco,” Jake said, now sounding extremely irritated. “Shut up.”
Marco didn’t shut up of course. He continued to mumble darkly to himself, apparently feeling quite comforted by the sound of his own voice. Making sure I wasn’t going to do anything embarrassing like walk into a tree, I glanced up at the stars that peered through the tree branches. I’d never really been one for looking at the stars when I was little. I was too busy with the Clinic, too busy with animals to think about the skies. Since Elfangor, since then … I’d thought about them a lot more. I’d borrowed some astronomy books from the library and read about how space worked, about what it was like up there. It was fascinating. If I wasn’t going to work with animals (or die before I reached eighteen) , perhaps I would have been interested in learning more about space.
Marco could complain all he liked about the undeniable menace that the stars could bring. But they were still beautiful despite all that. Still a fascinating mystery. And I prayed every night that I might live long enough to find out more about that mystery someday.
Title: Next Year
Fandom: Midsomer Murders
Rating: PG
Summary: Barnaby knows he'll have to tell Cully the truth sooner or later ... maybe later.
“Dad,” Cully said slowly. “What are you doing?”
“Nothing!” Tom Barnaby said, sounding far too innocent and hiding his hands behind his back. “Absolutely nothing!”
“Why are you out in the garden at this time of the evening?” Cully asked, glancing up at the frosty stars and then back at her father, who appeared to be shiftily edging over to the flowerbed.
“Just … breathing,” her father said defensively. “Breathings very good for you, you know. Everyone should breathe.”
“Yes … ” Cully said doubtfully, not quite sure what to make of this particular remark. “But …”
“No buts!” Barnaby said briskly. “Now, off you pop back inside and I’ll be there in just a minute! Go on! Help your mother with the dinner.”
Cully slowly obeyed, wondering (as she did on a fairly regular basis) if her father had completely lost his marbles. Tom Barnaby shiftily threw the dead bird that he’d just finishing draining into the neighbours garden (they had cats, they’d never notice) and quickly wiped his mouth. At some point, he’d have to let Cully know that potentially, she might become a vampire. But this evening probably wasn’t the right time.
Maybe next year.
Title: Thinking
Fandom: Death Note
Rating: PG
Pairing: Hints of Yamamoto/Raito.
Summary Yamamoto sometimes finds Raito Yagami a disturbing best friend to have.
“What do you think of when you look at the stars?” Yamamoto asked.
He wasn’t sure why he was asking. Maybe it was because he was slightly drunk and he couldn’t think of anything else to say. Maybe it was because he sometimes hated it when Raito was so quiet that it got creepy. Maybe there was no reason at all. At any rate, he asked it and Raito looked at him expressionlessly.
“Is this one of those stupid do-you-think-positively things?” he asked. “Because if so, shut up.”
“No,” Yamamoto said defensively. “It’s a question, that’s all.”
“You really are so weird,” Raito said. He always said it in an affectionate way but currently, with alcohol still clouding his voice, Yamamoto got the impression that it wasn’t as friendly as Raito liked to pretend.
“Whatever,” he said. “Should I just assume you don’t have thoughts?”
Raito laughed.
“I always have thoughts,” he said. “I just want to know why I should share them with you.”
Yamamoto rolled his eyes. Raito was his best friend and Yamamoto kind of adored him but he couldn’t deny that Raito was extremely irritating quite a lot of the time. Being drunk didn’t stop him being annoying either, it appeared.
“I’m just curious,” he said. “It doesn’t matter!”
Raito paused for a moment and stretched his arms lazily above his head, looking up at the sky. Yamamoto looked up too. Tokyo’s lights mostly blotted out what stars there were but you could still some of them and Yamamoto enjoyed trying to find the constellations that he knew in what was there.
“They’re boring,” Raito said abruptly.
“Huh?” Yamamoto said, having half-forgotten the question.
“Stars,” Raito said. “They’re boring. They’re pointless. What’s it got to do with down here? People are too busy looking at the stars to remember what needs doing down here. And so much does need doing down here, don’t you think? Mind you, I suppose if idiots are so busy staring at the stars, it’s useful. You can identify the idiots then.”
Yamamoto didn’t answer. He didn’t know what to say. Raito often said things that made him speechless but normally, it was because he had no idea what Raito was on about, not because Raito had said something that was so … negative. Raito looked at him and smiled one of his wonderfully warm smiles that Yamamoto found impossible to resist.
“Oh, don’t look like that,” he said, clapping a hand on Yamamoto’s shoulder. “What were you expecting? Something romantic? I save that for the girls, Yamamoto!”
And Yamamoto laughed and let himself forget Raito’s slightly odd words and they continued to gently meander on their way, under the stars that Yamamoto found so interesting and Raito preferred to ignore.
Title: Star-Gazing
Fandom: Getbackers
Rating: PG
Summary Kazuki worries about the Raitei sometimes.
“Ginji-san?”
For a moment, Kazuki thought that his leader wouldn’t answer him and he’d have to leave it and go away but just as he was turning, a voice softly called to him and he followed the noise. The Raitei was sitting on a ledge, head tilted up, ignoring Kazuki completely.
“Ginji-san?” Kazuki said again. “We were looking for you. Is something wrong?”
Another pause. Kazuki felt a small chill go down his spine. Ginji-san had been doing this more and more often recently, finding places to be alone and sinking deeper and deeper inside himself. He appeared subdued, less and less himself and Kazuki didn’t like it.
“Look at the stars,” the Raitei said suddenly.
Kazuki looked. It was often quite hard to see the stars from Lower Town. The lights from the Beltline and Babylon City often got in the way, even if it wasn’t cloudy, which it usually was. But tonight, a sprinkling of stars were visible and the Raitei was staring up at them, his eyes reflecting the sky.
“They’re lovely,” Kazuki said softly. “When I lived out there, Juubei and I used to look at the stars all the time. We often should have been in bed but … we’d sometimes sneak out and watch them together. I liked to try and spot shooting stars, you see.”
“Did you ever see any?” the Raitei asked.
“Sometimes.”
“I’ve never seen a shooting star,” the Raitei said slowly. “Are they pretty?”
“They are,” Kazuki said slowly. “But they move very fast. You only see them for a very short time.”
“Sounds like something you’d see here,” the Raitei said. “Everything moves too fast. Life moves too fast.”
Kazuki paused for a moment, then lifted himself up to the ledge that the Raitei was sitting on and gently laid his hand on his leader’s shoulder. For a moment, the Raitei didn’t look at him, just continued to stare at the starry sky which was already slowly vanishing under a cover of mist. Then the Raitei blinked and turned his gaze onto Kazuki and smiled.
“Sorry Kazu-chan,” he said. “You said you were looking for me?”
Kazuki tried not to be disturbed by the sudden change in demeanour and simply encouraged the Raitei to come back inside with him to get out of the chill. He knew that they were going to have a problem with the Raitei sooner or later. He just wasn’t sure what to do about it.
“Don’t worry about it, Kazuki-san,” Juubei said. “The Raitei will be fine, with you by his side. And I am by your side. You don’t need to be afraid.”
But Kazuki was worried all the same.
Title: Lost Stars
Fandom: Getbackers
Rating: PG
Summary Juubei can't shake off all memories. Sequel of sorts to Star-Gazing.
“Juubei,” MakubeX said, his voice soft. “Why do you go outside so often in the early evening?”
Juubei paused before answering. He wasn’t completely certain that he wanted to answer that question. But MakubeX was his leader and Juubei had sworn allegiance. He could have no secrets.
“I like to look at the stars,” he said, stiffly. Sakura twitched slightly and he glanced at her. She didn’t look at him and simply smoothed her hand over her skirt, as though that was what she’d meant to do all along. She knew.
“Do you.” MakubeX’s words were soft, it was not a question but a statement and Juubei swallowed, suddenly uncomfortable. Nearby, Fudou stirred in the shadows and laughed and muttering something sneering about fools that had time to look at the sky didn’t notice the blade going into their back. Juubei ignored him. Fudou was unimportant. Only MakubeX mattered.
“Do you often see any stars, these days?” MakubeX asked, his fingers playing over a keyboard.
Juubei closed his eyes for a moment, a memory so vivid in his head that he might have been there. Kazuki’s slender hand around his, Kazuki pointing upwards, mouth open: look Juubei, there’s one! Make a wish Juubei, you have to wish on a shooting star -
“No,” Juubei said. “The clouds are too thick to see any stars now.”
Title: More to Life
Fandom: High School Musical
Rating: G
Summary Ryan sometimes thinks his sister has a one-track mind.
“Sharpay! Sharpay! I just saw a shooting star! Sharpay!”
Sharpay gave the excited Ryan such a crushing look that he quailed before her and stared at the floor, pretending that he was very interested in the tiles beneath his feet. He’d read that there would be a meteor shower that night and he’d been on their mother’s sunbathing deck for hours waiting to see one. He’d thought that Sharpay would be interested but it looked like she wasn’t.
“Why would I care about a shooting star?!” Sharpay demanded, her eyes narrowed. “Is that where you’ve been, looking at shooting stars?! We’re supposed to be the stars, Ryan! We’re supposed to be the best! How can we be the best if you go off to watch stupid stars?”
“I’m sorry,” Ryan said miserably. “I just thought we were done … ”
“We’re not done! Now hurry up and get into costume! It has to be perfect! Shooting stars! God!”
Ryan followed her, trying not to drag his feet. He adored his sister, he would do anything for her. But sometimes, just sometimes, he wished he had time to sit still and enjoy whatever was around him.
There was more to life than music, wasn’t there?
Title: Earth and Wind
Fandom: Ayatsuri Sakon
Rating: PG
Summary Sakon and Ukon look at the stars and discuss life and death.
When Sakon was travelling, he regularly slept under the stars. It was something that he enjoyed, as long as the nights were warm. He would curl up and lean on Ukon’s box and cover himself with a rolled blanket and he always slept well (unless it began to rain suddenly. That was much less pleasant)
Sometimes, he took Ukon out of the box and sat with him, watching the stars. Ukon always grumped about how he was a three hundred year old puppet and had seen all the stars thousands and thousands of times before but he always patted Sakon’s cheek and looked up and sometimes played games where they tried to make their own constellations.
“When we die,” Sakon said one starry evening as they sprawled on the grass, Ukon’s lovely hair pressed against his cheek. “Do you think we go up among the stars or down into the earth?”
“What kind of stupid question is that?” Ukon harrumphed. “How should I know? I’m a puppet! Puppets don’t die!”
“No,” Sakon said slowly, fixing his eyes on a cloud that was obscuring the stars and watching it drift lazily by. “No.”
“Oh, what’s that about?” Ukon demanded, stirring and folded his arms. “You’ve got that noise in your voice!”
“If … if you don’t die then … where do you go?”
“Nowhere,” Ukon said, sounding very nettled now. “I’m just … a puppet. We don’t go anywhere, Sakon. Someone keeps us well maintained or we rot and moulder. That’s all.”
Sakon didn’t say anything. He suddenly felt extremely sick, as though his stomach was dissolving inside him. The idea of a world without Ukon in it made him shudder. Although nothing had changed, the night suddenly seemed starless and black and he was icy cold. He needed Ukon. He always had.
“Sakon,” Ukon said, his voice suddenly more gentle. “Look. When you die, your body turns into earth and wind. S’what humans do. But your heart … maybe that goes somewhere else. And if your heart goes somewhere else then one day, it’ll find me again, right? Because we’re always gonna be partners.”
Sakon closed his eyes, blotting out the stars. The cold was gone, replaced by a warmth that wasn’t entirely due to the ambient temperature. He pulled Ukon closed to him and Ukon sighed and patted his cheek.
“You’re an idiot, you know,” he said.
“That’s what you always tell me,” Sakon said peacefully.
“Well. It’s true. Hey, open your eyes, come on! I want to keep looking at the stars!”
Sakon obeyed his partner’s demand. There was no point wasting any time after all. He and Ukon had many starry nights left to come and Sakon wanted to enjoy all of them.
Fandom: Harry Potter
Rating: PG
Summary Lucius has made a little mistake ...
“Lucius,” Narcissa said.
Her voice sounded far too calm and controlled and Lucius instantly put his book down and looked at her. She was standing at the window, her hand on the curtain, not looking at him.
“Yes dear?” he said, slightly nervously.
“You were writing to Dumbledore recently,” she said. “About the copy of Tales of Beedle the Bard in the library?”
“Yes,” Lucius said with a slight scowl, remembering the frustrating and boring correspondence.
“Did you happen to end it with some sort of insult?”
Lucius paused. There had been several insults in the course of his letters but he had ended the whole thing on a particularly scathing remark about Dumbledore’s mother, it was true. He wasn’t sure that he wanted to repeat it to his wife (he liked to pretend that she was much more innocent than she was.)
“Ye-es,” he said after the pause couldn’t really continue.
“Did it involve his mother?”
Lucius blinked.
“How did you know that?”
“I think you should come over here.”
Lucius sighed and stood up. He walked over to his wife and turned to look out of the window.
“I rather think,” Narcissa said in measured tones. “That Dumbledore told his brother.”
Lucius had coped with many things in his life. But never before had he been faced with a beautiful starry evening being marred by the sight of twenty sky-blue goats trampling his lawns and eating the topiary.
He’d forgotten that Albus Dumbledore’s mother was Aberforth Dumbledore’s mother as well.
Title: Mystery
Fandom: Animorphs
Rating: G
Summary: On the way back from a mission, Cassie thinks about the stars.
“Do you remember the days when the stars used to be cool?” Marco asked no one in particular as we traipsed through the woods, twigs cutting our bare feet. “Star Wars. Star Trek. Stargate.”
“Star Fox,” Jake put in, probably hoping to shut Marco up.
Marco gave him a look, clearly feeling interrupted in the midst of a rant. “The point is, stars were awesome. They were cool. Now you just look at them and you wonder what else they’re going to hurl at you. What other aliens are lurking up there to come down and stuff everything up?”
“Marco,” Rachel said tiredly. “If you don’t shut up, I’m going to have to hurt you.”
“Seriously!” Marco protested.
“I don’t,” I said. “I still look at the stars and think they’re cool.”
“Oh, excuse me,” Marco said sardonically. “Polly-Cassie still loves the sky at night. Who’s surprised? Not me!”
“Marco,” Jake said, now sounding extremely irritated. “Shut up.”
Marco didn’t shut up of course. He continued to mumble darkly to himself, apparently feeling quite comforted by the sound of his own voice. Making sure I wasn’t going to do anything embarrassing like walk into a tree, I glanced up at the stars that peered through the tree branches. I’d never really been one for looking at the stars when I was little. I was too busy with the Clinic, too busy with animals to think about the skies. Since Elfangor, since then … I’d thought about them a lot more. I’d borrowed some astronomy books from the library and read about how space worked, about what it was like up there. It was fascinating. If I wasn’t going to work with animals (or die before I reached eighteen) , perhaps I would have been interested in learning more about space.
Marco could complain all he liked about the undeniable menace that the stars could bring. But they were still beautiful despite all that. Still a fascinating mystery. And I prayed every night that I might live long enough to find out more about that mystery someday.
Title: Next Year
Fandom: Midsomer Murders
Rating: PG
Summary: Barnaby knows he'll have to tell Cully the truth sooner or later ... maybe later.
“Dad,” Cully said slowly. “What are you doing?”
“Nothing!” Tom Barnaby said, sounding far too innocent and hiding his hands behind his back. “Absolutely nothing!”
“Why are you out in the garden at this time of the evening?” Cully asked, glancing up at the frosty stars and then back at her father, who appeared to be shiftily edging over to the flowerbed.
“Just … breathing,” her father said defensively. “Breathings very good for you, you know. Everyone should breathe.”
“Yes … ” Cully said doubtfully, not quite sure what to make of this particular remark. “But …”
“No buts!” Barnaby said briskly. “Now, off you pop back inside and I’ll be there in just a minute! Go on! Help your mother with the dinner.”
Cully slowly obeyed, wondering (as she did on a fairly regular basis) if her father had completely lost his marbles. Tom Barnaby shiftily threw the dead bird that he’d just finishing draining into the neighbours garden (they had cats, they’d never notice) and quickly wiped his mouth. At some point, he’d have to let Cully know that potentially, she might become a vampire. But this evening probably wasn’t the right time.
Maybe next year.
Title: Thinking
Fandom: Death Note
Rating: PG
Pairing: Hints of Yamamoto/Raito.
Summary Yamamoto sometimes finds Raito Yagami a disturbing best friend to have.
“What do you think of when you look at the stars?” Yamamoto asked.
He wasn’t sure why he was asking. Maybe it was because he was slightly drunk and he couldn’t think of anything else to say. Maybe it was because he sometimes hated it when Raito was so quiet that it got creepy. Maybe there was no reason at all. At any rate, he asked it and Raito looked at him expressionlessly.
“Is this one of those stupid do-you-think-positively things?” he asked. “Because if so, shut up.”
“No,” Yamamoto said defensively. “It’s a question, that’s all.”
“You really are so weird,” Raito said. He always said it in an affectionate way but currently, with alcohol still clouding his voice, Yamamoto got the impression that it wasn’t as friendly as Raito liked to pretend.
“Whatever,” he said. “Should I just assume you don’t have thoughts?”
Raito laughed.
“I always have thoughts,” he said. “I just want to know why I should share them with you.”
Yamamoto rolled his eyes. Raito was his best friend and Yamamoto kind of adored him but he couldn’t deny that Raito was extremely irritating quite a lot of the time. Being drunk didn’t stop him being annoying either, it appeared.
“I’m just curious,” he said. “It doesn’t matter!”
Raito paused for a moment and stretched his arms lazily above his head, looking up at the sky. Yamamoto looked up too. Tokyo’s lights mostly blotted out what stars there were but you could still some of them and Yamamoto enjoyed trying to find the constellations that he knew in what was there.
“They’re boring,” Raito said abruptly.
“Huh?” Yamamoto said, having half-forgotten the question.
“Stars,” Raito said. “They’re boring. They’re pointless. What’s it got to do with down here? People are too busy looking at the stars to remember what needs doing down here. And so much does need doing down here, don’t you think? Mind you, I suppose if idiots are so busy staring at the stars, it’s useful. You can identify the idiots then.”
Yamamoto didn’t answer. He didn’t know what to say. Raito often said things that made him speechless but normally, it was because he had no idea what Raito was on about, not because Raito had said something that was so … negative. Raito looked at him and smiled one of his wonderfully warm smiles that Yamamoto found impossible to resist.
“Oh, don’t look like that,” he said, clapping a hand on Yamamoto’s shoulder. “What were you expecting? Something romantic? I save that for the girls, Yamamoto!”
And Yamamoto laughed and let himself forget Raito’s slightly odd words and they continued to gently meander on their way, under the stars that Yamamoto found so interesting and Raito preferred to ignore.
Title: Star-Gazing
Fandom: Getbackers
Rating: PG
Summary Kazuki worries about the Raitei sometimes.
“Ginji-san?”
For a moment, Kazuki thought that his leader wouldn’t answer him and he’d have to leave it and go away but just as he was turning, a voice softly called to him and he followed the noise. The Raitei was sitting on a ledge, head tilted up, ignoring Kazuki completely.
“Ginji-san?” Kazuki said again. “We were looking for you. Is something wrong?”
Another pause. Kazuki felt a small chill go down his spine. Ginji-san had been doing this more and more often recently, finding places to be alone and sinking deeper and deeper inside himself. He appeared subdued, less and less himself and Kazuki didn’t like it.
“Look at the stars,” the Raitei said suddenly.
Kazuki looked. It was often quite hard to see the stars from Lower Town. The lights from the Beltline and Babylon City often got in the way, even if it wasn’t cloudy, which it usually was. But tonight, a sprinkling of stars were visible and the Raitei was staring up at them, his eyes reflecting the sky.
“They’re lovely,” Kazuki said softly. “When I lived out there, Juubei and I used to look at the stars all the time. We often should have been in bed but … we’d sometimes sneak out and watch them together. I liked to try and spot shooting stars, you see.”
“Did you ever see any?” the Raitei asked.
“Sometimes.”
“I’ve never seen a shooting star,” the Raitei said slowly. “Are they pretty?”
“They are,” Kazuki said slowly. “But they move very fast. You only see them for a very short time.”
“Sounds like something you’d see here,” the Raitei said. “Everything moves too fast. Life moves too fast.”
Kazuki paused for a moment, then lifted himself up to the ledge that the Raitei was sitting on and gently laid his hand on his leader’s shoulder. For a moment, the Raitei didn’t look at him, just continued to stare at the starry sky which was already slowly vanishing under a cover of mist. Then the Raitei blinked and turned his gaze onto Kazuki and smiled.
“Sorry Kazu-chan,” he said. “You said you were looking for me?”
Kazuki tried not to be disturbed by the sudden change in demeanour and simply encouraged the Raitei to come back inside with him to get out of the chill. He knew that they were going to have a problem with the Raitei sooner or later. He just wasn’t sure what to do about it.
“Don’t worry about it, Kazuki-san,” Juubei said. “The Raitei will be fine, with you by his side. And I am by your side. You don’t need to be afraid.”
But Kazuki was worried all the same.
Title: Lost Stars
Fandom: Getbackers
Rating: PG
Summary Juubei can't shake off all memories. Sequel of sorts to Star-Gazing.
“Juubei,” MakubeX said, his voice soft. “Why do you go outside so often in the early evening?”
Juubei paused before answering. He wasn’t completely certain that he wanted to answer that question. But MakubeX was his leader and Juubei had sworn allegiance. He could have no secrets.
“I like to look at the stars,” he said, stiffly. Sakura twitched slightly and he glanced at her. She didn’t look at him and simply smoothed her hand over her skirt, as though that was what she’d meant to do all along. She knew.
“Do you.” MakubeX’s words were soft, it was not a question but a statement and Juubei swallowed, suddenly uncomfortable. Nearby, Fudou stirred in the shadows and laughed and muttering something sneering about fools that had time to look at the sky didn’t notice the blade going into their back. Juubei ignored him. Fudou was unimportant. Only MakubeX mattered.
“Do you often see any stars, these days?” MakubeX asked, his fingers playing over a keyboard.
Juubei closed his eyes for a moment, a memory so vivid in his head that he might have been there. Kazuki’s slender hand around his, Kazuki pointing upwards, mouth open: look Juubei, there’s one! Make a wish Juubei, you have to wish on a shooting star -
“No,” Juubei said. “The clouds are too thick to see any stars now.”
Title: More to Life
Fandom: High School Musical
Rating: G
Summary Ryan sometimes thinks his sister has a one-track mind.
“Sharpay! Sharpay! I just saw a shooting star! Sharpay!”
Sharpay gave the excited Ryan such a crushing look that he quailed before her and stared at the floor, pretending that he was very interested in the tiles beneath his feet. He’d read that there would be a meteor shower that night and he’d been on their mother’s sunbathing deck for hours waiting to see one. He’d thought that Sharpay would be interested but it looked like she wasn’t.
“Why would I care about a shooting star?!” Sharpay demanded, her eyes narrowed. “Is that where you’ve been, looking at shooting stars?! We’re supposed to be the stars, Ryan! We’re supposed to be the best! How can we be the best if you go off to watch stupid stars?”
“I’m sorry,” Ryan said miserably. “I just thought we were done … ”
“We’re not done! Now hurry up and get into costume! It has to be perfect! Shooting stars! God!”
Ryan followed her, trying not to drag his feet. He adored his sister, he would do anything for her. But sometimes, just sometimes, he wished he had time to sit still and enjoy whatever was around him.
There was more to life than music, wasn’t there?
Title: Earth and Wind
Fandom: Ayatsuri Sakon
Rating: PG
Summary Sakon and Ukon look at the stars and discuss life and death.
When Sakon was travelling, he regularly slept under the stars. It was something that he enjoyed, as long as the nights were warm. He would curl up and lean on Ukon’s box and cover himself with a rolled blanket and he always slept well (unless it began to rain suddenly. That was much less pleasant)
Sometimes, he took Ukon out of the box and sat with him, watching the stars. Ukon always grumped about how he was a three hundred year old puppet and had seen all the stars thousands and thousands of times before but he always patted Sakon’s cheek and looked up and sometimes played games where they tried to make their own constellations.
“When we die,” Sakon said one starry evening as they sprawled on the grass, Ukon’s lovely hair pressed against his cheek. “Do you think we go up among the stars or down into the earth?”
“What kind of stupid question is that?” Ukon harrumphed. “How should I know? I’m a puppet! Puppets don’t die!”
“No,” Sakon said slowly, fixing his eyes on a cloud that was obscuring the stars and watching it drift lazily by. “No.”
“Oh, what’s that about?” Ukon demanded, stirring and folded his arms. “You’ve got that noise in your voice!”
“If … if you don’t die then … where do you go?”
“Nowhere,” Ukon said, sounding very nettled now. “I’m just … a puppet. We don’t go anywhere, Sakon. Someone keeps us well maintained or we rot and moulder. That’s all.”
Sakon didn’t say anything. He suddenly felt extremely sick, as though his stomach was dissolving inside him. The idea of a world without Ukon in it made him shudder. Although nothing had changed, the night suddenly seemed starless and black and he was icy cold. He needed Ukon. He always had.
“Sakon,” Ukon said, his voice suddenly more gentle. “Look. When you die, your body turns into earth and wind. S’what humans do. But your heart … maybe that goes somewhere else. And if your heart goes somewhere else then one day, it’ll find me again, right? Because we’re always gonna be partners.”
Sakon closed his eyes, blotting out the stars. The cold was gone, replaced by a warmth that wasn’t entirely due to the ambient temperature. He pulled Ukon closed to him and Ukon sighed and patted his cheek.
“You’re an idiot, you know,” he said.
“That’s what you always tell me,” Sakon said peacefully.
“Well. It’s true. Hey, open your eyes, come on! I want to keep looking at the stars!”
Sakon obeyed his partner’s demand. There was no point wasting any time after all. He and Ukon had many starry nights left to come and Sakon wanted to enjoy all of them.