Where oh where can my baaaaby beee??
THE LORD TOOK HER AWAY FROM ME. ;_;
Here are some fics about last kisses, which were, incidentally, impossible to write without breaking out into the chorus of Pearl Jam's "Last Kiss" every five minutes, hence the above two lines. I got the idea from the fic meme over here, and wrote kisses involving: Thief King Bakura, Mai/Joey, Allen/Rinali, Gokudera/Tsuna, and Davy Jones/Calypso. Did you know it's almost impossible to write just "Davy"? It sounds so wrong.
D.Gray-Man - Allen/Rinali
Fan-romanisations are used for the characters' names, because I dislike some of the official ones.
Rinali was afraid as she headed to the centre of the battlefield, but she ran so fast that the wind made tears stream from her watering eyes. There was no way she could lag: her Innocence made an undeniable demand for speed, and anyway, she was running to Allen.
He stood with a heaving mountain of light at his back that was streaked with spirals of gold from pure power. It turned Allen's old-man hair butter-blond and made him looked twice as sweet as he normally did. The heels of his boots were lifted strangely, and the tips burrowed into the soil; it looked as if he was keeping himself on the ground through force of will.
"Quickly, Rinali," he said. "You have to - before he breaks out - you have to-"
"I know." Rinali hated the way her voice came out, a strained chirp that threatened to crack into tears. She still wanted to laugh with Allen, now more than ever.
Allen's left eye contracted, narrow and malevolent, and his grin broadened impossibly - Rinali heard a crack like breaking bone and saw his jaw bulge. Allen cried out and bent back against the light billowing behind him; red streaks pulsed through the gold light like streaks left by clawed hands. Allen was breathing hard when he turned back to Rinali.
"He's coming through. You have to-" Allen said, and stopped short when he saw her.
Rinali stood with her palm out towards him, and the Innocence poured upwards from her legs to pool in her hand. Her mouth shaped the words, "I know," but her throat couldn't let the sound through.
"Don't touch me yet! It will end this." Allen's eyes flickered away guiltily. "And I have to, I want to say - Rinali ... I never meant..."
"I'll tell the others," she said, with a sharp nod. "It's okay. I fought for you ... for everyone, but especially for you, too. And this is perfectly you. You have to do it." She beamed at him, because Allen didn't even look scared, just determined.
"I'm sorry."
Rinali smiled - "Remember us, okay?" - and pressed the Innocence to his chest as she kissed him.
* * *
The doctors of the Black Order hospitalised Rinali for nothing more serious than exhaustion, and she was well enough that they allowed her to deliver a quick report before she was made to sleep. When she woke, her brother sat in a chair beside her bed. She said good morning and pulled herself up on the pillows, and told Komui everything Allen had meant to say. He'd want her to speak to Komui especially; later she'd have to find Ravi, Crowley, Kanda...
Komui ran his fingers through her hair when she'd finished. "You do know he won't come back," he said, voice thick with grief.
Rinali was still smiling. "Well, I'll still see him again."
"Not too soon," Komui said.
"No, not soon." She took Komui's hand and held it tightly, and at last tears spilled down her cheeks. "But someday."
Katekyo Hitman Reborn! - Gokudera/Tsuna
The list of protocol for the meeting was long. Gokudera thought about writing up a list that Tsuna could study later; his first sit-down with high-up bosses required thorough preparation. At last Gokudera ran out of points of ceremony, quirks of the other bosses attending the meeting, and relevant mafia history to tell Tsuna about - and then one more thing occurred to him.
"They'll kiss you," Gokudera warned.
Tsuna made a noise like a squawk and scrambled backwards as he kneeled, plopping onto his backside. "WHAT? But I - I don't - can't - Kyoko-chan-"
Gokudera put up his hands, grinning that something so simple could get the boss flustered. "No, don't misunderstand! It's a common form of greeting. They'll be trying to show that you're on their territory. It's better if you take it without reacting."
"So ... nothing like that Lissuria from the Varia?"
Gokudera pulled a face. "Shouldn't be. Look, I'll demonstrate for you. It'll be like this." He placed his hands on Tsuna's shoulders and pecked him on both cheeks.
"That's it?"
"They might try and throw you off by going for big smacks, but you are the Vongola boss. They won't want to take too many chances."
"Wow, just like in mafia movies," Tsuna said, absently touching his cheek. "...Aagh!! I'm going to meet a bunch of mob bosses!"
"You'll be the best out of all of 'em. The Vongola won't be intimidated!"
Tsuna still seemed worried. That was only natural for such an important occasion, and at least he wasn't sputtering anymore. It seemed like maybe the kisses had made him a bit calmer, Gokudera thought. For some reason the image was clear in his mind: Tsuna's hand on his cheek, fingertips light on the place of the kiss as if he still felt something of it.
Gokudera's stomach filled with strange, half-pleasant heat. He glanced warily over his shoulder, wondering if his sister was nearby, but it didn't look like it. He brushed the distraction aside. There was business to attend to.
"Tell you what, Tenth! I'll make notes for you to study, and I can test you this afternoon..."
Yu-Gi-Oh! - Thief King Bakura
She was incidental, and Bakura did not quite remember her when he died (three weeks from that sunset).
After the kiss - her standard goodbye, in hopes that it would make customers remember her - he squinted at her peculiarly, looking startled as his tongue ran over his lips.
She cocked an eyebrow at him, faintly puzzled. "What, do I taste funny? You look like you never had a kiss before."
He snorted to himself and then barked out a proper laugh. "And I'm sure I'll never have one as good again." He bowed as he backed out of the room - and while he was a cocky bastard and probably dangerous, she could almost overlook it for that handsome grin.
Never mind the man's looks, though, look at the gold he gave. Obviously he was a madman or a thief, and she'd better be careful for a while. There had been a commotion outside all afternoon, and if she didn't miss her guess, it would be better to remove the jewels and smelt the gold. It was good payment, anyway, and she hid the bracelets, rings, and earrings as conscientiously as she'd hidden the scarred man from the traipsing soldiers outside.
That was all.
(Three weeks later, as night fell on a day that was already, Bakura lay staring into a maelstrom of storm clouds, the Millennium Ring a burning circle on his chest. He ran his tongue over his cracked lips for relief from the heat and suddenly grinned, brilliantly aware of what it was to be alive. He laughed as he thrust his life and all the sensations of it into his death and the god that waited for it.)
Yu-Gi-Oh! - Mai/Joey
"Mai! My wife, she-" Joey stumbled back a step, looking around the ballroom, his expression so guilty that Mai expected his wife pop up next to them purely by instinct. His hand went up, almost as if to wipe the kiss away, but instead it hung there uncertainly. He looked teenaged again, clumsy from emotions he didn't know what to do with.
She stepped forwards and smoothly pulled him back into a dance, so that they didn't stand out so obviously in the middle of the dance floor. "Relax, Wheeler. Think of it as one for the road. Old times' sake. Whatever."
"I can't!" He wrenched his hand out of hers, and now Mai stepped back, arms crossed and one eyebrow raised in a way that could make people physically flinch. Joey did. Oh, the memories.
"I'm not planning to kidnap you. One more swing around the room and I'm outta here. This party's over, anyway." She put one hand out. He gave it a cautious look, which almost made her smile, but then he turned that look to her. Mai had her work cut out not to flinch herself.
The dance was no more stiff than before, since Joey really had to think about his moves to make sure he didn't step on his partner's feet, so Mai could make herself not mind the moment of awkwardness too much.
When they got close to the doors, they stepped away from each other casually enough. Then as she headed for the doors, Joey stepped up and walked with her - though not before glancing around for his wife again. He really didn't know how to act casual; it was just as well he wasn't the cheating kind, or he'd be found out the first day of his affair.
"Thanks," Mai said, as usual, meaning it more than she could really say. Why was it always the same for them?
"Don't mention it. But, Mai, I gotta make this clear..." He had his determined look on, and Mai couldn't help a smile breaking out.
She held up a hand and quickly spoke over him. "I didn't mean anything more by that kiss than goodbye," she said. "Really. I didn't think for a minute that you'd be anything but the good guy about it. Mrs Wheeler? Lucky woman."
Joey smiled, and she thought he might have blushed too, but it was best not to look too closely and make sure. She wasn't supposed to play the vamp any more - but things were always the same for her and Joey, always slipping into the same stupid patterns.
"Hey, whaddaya mean 'goodbye'?" he said. "We're still friends, ain't we? And there are still a couple of duelling tournaments left in both of us, I bet." The declaration wasn't as boisterous as it once would have been, so it was easier to see its sincerity. His eyes looked soft when he smiled that way. "I'll see you around, Mai. Count on it."
"I bet," she echoed, and turned to hail the valet for her car. No more mistakes next time you meet, she swore to herself. She always did make that promise around Joey, but that was a good pattern to keep.
Pirates of the Caribbean - Davy Jones/Calypso
She is the sea, and she fares as it does; waves and fills and ebbs, and there was once a story that she made it salt with her own tears, long ago. Davy Jones asked her of the truth of that myth in the long-ago beginning of their courtship, and she had never said yea or nay. He believes it now, though.
Now Calypso is blind, shrunken, and crying even more; she has cried for so long that it's worn his will to nothing. She mourns in her throat like an animal taken sick, and he can only sit and listen in this island cave. The skin of a sea-creature peeled off him months ago as Calypso's weakness ate her, and he listens to her as naked and young as the day he first fell into the deep sea. Her voice pins him in place now as it did then, hideous and powerful.
She had never let the pirates tame her again, but neither he nor she had understood the insidious power of progress. In this age, the sea is not what it once was - damned near every corner of it is charted and known, and almost as much of it has been poisoned. Calypso had not been able to fight what the new and unrecognisable threats in time.
He kisses Calypso's hands, her fingers curling around his as limply as seaweed around rocks left above the tide line, and he kisses up into the crook of her elbow, up to her smooth shoulders; her lips kept for last as if such a kiss were some rare treat.
Her lips stretch beneath his, and for a moment Davy Jones thinks it all a trick: she is not dying, she's laughing! But still the tears track steadily down her face, and Calypso says, "I leave, my love," as everything breaks.
Davy Jones stares at his pink, thin hands that hold only air. The flat ledge of rock where she has lain for so long - empty. And the cave is dim now, lit only with the sunset light from its mouth. The sound of the waves crashing on to the rocks outside continues unabated. Gulls squeal as has always been their custom; but perhaps they can not contrive to sound more mournful than they already do.
Rage wells up in him and out of his throat, a raw scream. Should it not all have disappeared? Shouldn't the beach become a desert, the ocean gone with its goddess so that humankind knows what it has done? Then rage becomes hope, with clarity that makes his lips tremble and his eyes wet. He blinks tears out of his eyes, and they run salty into his mouth; they are inspiration.
The sea remains. It has been changed, divvied up and ruled by a thousand regulations - but it has not been destroyed. Perhaps its magic remains too, weak but impossible to destroy. If the world were not as it is - if the smoke-belching factories were gone, and the metal ships were only so much rust... He looks at his hands again. Calypso took every touch of her magic from him, and it has left him young, young enough to do what he needed...
His boot soles crunch on the shells and bones on the cave floor as he marches out. In his mind he sees the triple-gun the Flying Dutchman once held, and a brief smirk passes across his face. That weapon like that wouldn't work anymore, but that was certainly the kind of thing he was in need of.
Once out of the cave, he allows himself to run to the water's edge and bury his hands in the damp sand, letting the waves wash around his elbows and knees. He almost weeps, but this he won't allow; there will be no mourning. He will bring her back.
Here are some fics about last kisses, which were, incidentally, impossible to write without breaking out into the chorus of Pearl Jam's "Last Kiss" every five minutes, hence the above two lines. I got the idea from the fic meme over here, and wrote kisses involving: Thief King Bakura, Mai/Joey, Allen/Rinali, Gokudera/Tsuna, and Davy Jones/Calypso. Did you know it's almost impossible to write just "Davy"? It sounds so wrong.
D.Gray-Man - Allen/Rinali
Fan-romanisations are used for the characters' names, because I dislike some of the official ones.
Rinali was afraid as she headed to the centre of the battlefield, but she ran so fast that the wind made tears stream from her watering eyes. There was no way she could lag: her Innocence made an undeniable demand for speed, and anyway, she was running to Allen.
He stood with a heaving mountain of light at his back that was streaked with spirals of gold from pure power. It turned Allen's old-man hair butter-blond and made him looked twice as sweet as he normally did. The heels of his boots were lifted strangely, and the tips burrowed into the soil; it looked as if he was keeping himself on the ground through force of will.
"Quickly, Rinali," he said. "You have to - before he breaks out - you have to-"
"I know." Rinali hated the way her voice came out, a strained chirp that threatened to crack into tears. She still wanted to laugh with Allen, now more than ever.
Allen's left eye contracted, narrow and malevolent, and his grin broadened impossibly - Rinali heard a crack like breaking bone and saw his jaw bulge. Allen cried out and bent back against the light billowing behind him; red streaks pulsed through the gold light like streaks left by clawed hands. Allen was breathing hard when he turned back to Rinali.
"He's coming through. You have to-" Allen said, and stopped short when he saw her.
Rinali stood with her palm out towards him, and the Innocence poured upwards from her legs to pool in her hand. Her mouth shaped the words, "I know," but her throat couldn't let the sound through.
"Don't touch me yet! It will end this." Allen's eyes flickered away guiltily. "And I have to, I want to say - Rinali ... I never meant..."
"I'll tell the others," she said, with a sharp nod. "It's okay. I fought for you ... for everyone, but especially for you, too. And this is perfectly you. You have to do it." She beamed at him, because Allen didn't even look scared, just determined.
"I'm sorry."
Rinali smiled - "Remember us, okay?" - and pressed the Innocence to his chest as she kissed him.
* * *
The doctors of the Black Order hospitalised Rinali for nothing more serious than exhaustion, and she was well enough that they allowed her to deliver a quick report before she was made to sleep. When she woke, her brother sat in a chair beside her bed. She said good morning and pulled herself up on the pillows, and told Komui everything Allen had meant to say. He'd want her to speak to Komui especially; later she'd have to find Ravi, Crowley, Kanda...
Komui ran his fingers through her hair when she'd finished. "You do know he won't come back," he said, voice thick with grief.
Rinali was still smiling. "Well, I'll still see him again."
"Not too soon," Komui said.
"No, not soon." She took Komui's hand and held it tightly, and at last tears spilled down her cheeks. "But someday."
Katekyo Hitman Reborn! - Gokudera/Tsuna
The list of protocol for the meeting was long. Gokudera thought about writing up a list that Tsuna could study later; his first sit-down with high-up bosses required thorough preparation. At last Gokudera ran out of points of ceremony, quirks of the other bosses attending the meeting, and relevant mafia history to tell Tsuna about - and then one more thing occurred to him.
"They'll kiss you," Gokudera warned.
Tsuna made a noise like a squawk and scrambled backwards as he kneeled, plopping onto his backside. "WHAT? But I - I don't - can't - Kyoko-chan-"
Gokudera put up his hands, grinning that something so simple could get the boss flustered. "No, don't misunderstand! It's a common form of greeting. They'll be trying to show that you're on their territory. It's better if you take it without reacting."
"So ... nothing like that Lissuria from the Varia?"
Gokudera pulled a face. "Shouldn't be. Look, I'll demonstrate for you. It'll be like this." He placed his hands on Tsuna's shoulders and pecked him on both cheeks.
"That's it?"
"They might try and throw you off by going for big smacks, but you are the Vongola boss. They won't want to take too many chances."
"Wow, just like in mafia movies," Tsuna said, absently touching his cheek. "...Aagh!! I'm going to meet a bunch of mob bosses!"
"You'll be the best out of all of 'em. The Vongola won't be intimidated!"
Tsuna still seemed worried. That was only natural for such an important occasion, and at least he wasn't sputtering anymore. It seemed like maybe the kisses had made him a bit calmer, Gokudera thought. For some reason the image was clear in his mind: Tsuna's hand on his cheek, fingertips light on the place of the kiss as if he still felt something of it.
Gokudera's stomach filled with strange, half-pleasant heat. He glanced warily over his shoulder, wondering if his sister was nearby, but it didn't look like it. He brushed the distraction aside. There was business to attend to.
"Tell you what, Tenth! I'll make notes for you to study, and I can test you this afternoon..."
Yu-Gi-Oh! - Thief King Bakura
She was incidental, and Bakura did not quite remember her when he died (three weeks from that sunset).
After the kiss - her standard goodbye, in hopes that it would make customers remember her - he squinted at her peculiarly, looking startled as his tongue ran over his lips.
She cocked an eyebrow at him, faintly puzzled. "What, do I taste funny? You look like you never had a kiss before."
He snorted to himself and then barked out a proper laugh. "And I'm sure I'll never have one as good again." He bowed as he backed out of the room - and while he was a cocky bastard and probably dangerous, she could almost overlook it for that handsome grin.
Never mind the man's looks, though, look at the gold he gave. Obviously he was a madman or a thief, and she'd better be careful for a while. There had been a commotion outside all afternoon, and if she didn't miss her guess, it would be better to remove the jewels and smelt the gold. It was good payment, anyway, and she hid the bracelets, rings, and earrings as conscientiously as she'd hidden the scarred man from the traipsing soldiers outside.
That was all.
(Three weeks later, as night fell on a day that was already, Bakura lay staring into a maelstrom of storm clouds, the Millennium Ring a burning circle on his chest. He ran his tongue over his cracked lips for relief from the heat and suddenly grinned, brilliantly aware of what it was to be alive. He laughed as he thrust his life and all the sensations of it into his death and the god that waited for it.)
Yu-Gi-Oh! - Mai/Joey
"Mai! My wife, she-" Joey stumbled back a step, looking around the ballroom, his expression so guilty that Mai expected his wife pop up next to them purely by instinct. His hand went up, almost as if to wipe the kiss away, but instead it hung there uncertainly. He looked teenaged again, clumsy from emotions he didn't know what to do with.
She stepped forwards and smoothly pulled him back into a dance, so that they didn't stand out so obviously in the middle of the dance floor. "Relax, Wheeler. Think of it as one for the road. Old times' sake. Whatever."
"I can't!" He wrenched his hand out of hers, and now Mai stepped back, arms crossed and one eyebrow raised in a way that could make people physically flinch. Joey did. Oh, the memories.
"I'm not planning to kidnap you. One more swing around the room and I'm outta here. This party's over, anyway." She put one hand out. He gave it a cautious look, which almost made her smile, but then he turned that look to her. Mai had her work cut out not to flinch herself.
The dance was no more stiff than before, since Joey really had to think about his moves to make sure he didn't step on his partner's feet, so Mai could make herself not mind the moment of awkwardness too much.
When they got close to the doors, they stepped away from each other casually enough. Then as she headed for the doors, Joey stepped up and walked with her - though not before glancing around for his wife again. He really didn't know how to act casual; it was just as well he wasn't the cheating kind, or he'd be found out the first day of his affair.
"Thanks," Mai said, as usual, meaning it more than she could really say. Why was it always the same for them?
"Don't mention it. But, Mai, I gotta make this clear..." He had his determined look on, and Mai couldn't help a smile breaking out.
She held up a hand and quickly spoke over him. "I didn't mean anything more by that kiss than goodbye," she said. "Really. I didn't think for a minute that you'd be anything but the good guy about it. Mrs Wheeler? Lucky woman."
Joey smiled, and she thought he might have blushed too, but it was best not to look too closely and make sure. She wasn't supposed to play the vamp any more - but things were always the same for her and Joey, always slipping into the same stupid patterns.
"Hey, whaddaya mean 'goodbye'?" he said. "We're still friends, ain't we? And there are still a couple of duelling tournaments left in both of us, I bet." The declaration wasn't as boisterous as it once would have been, so it was easier to see its sincerity. His eyes looked soft when he smiled that way. "I'll see you around, Mai. Count on it."
"I bet," she echoed, and turned to hail the valet for her car. No more mistakes next time you meet, she swore to herself. She always did make that promise around Joey, but that was a good pattern to keep.
Pirates of the Caribbean - Davy Jones/Calypso
She is the sea, and she fares as it does; waves and fills and ebbs, and there was once a story that she made it salt with her own tears, long ago. Davy Jones asked her of the truth of that myth in the long-ago beginning of their courtship, and she had never said yea or nay. He believes it now, though.
Now Calypso is blind, shrunken, and crying even more; she has cried for so long that it's worn his will to nothing. She mourns in her throat like an animal taken sick, and he can only sit and listen in this island cave. The skin of a sea-creature peeled off him months ago as Calypso's weakness ate her, and he listens to her as naked and young as the day he first fell into the deep sea. Her voice pins him in place now as it did then, hideous and powerful.
She had never let the pirates tame her again, but neither he nor she had understood the insidious power of progress. In this age, the sea is not what it once was - damned near every corner of it is charted and known, and almost as much of it has been poisoned. Calypso had not been able to fight what the new and unrecognisable threats in time.
He kisses Calypso's hands, her fingers curling around his as limply as seaweed around rocks left above the tide line, and he kisses up into the crook of her elbow, up to her smooth shoulders; her lips kept for last as if such a kiss were some rare treat.
Her lips stretch beneath his, and for a moment Davy Jones thinks it all a trick: she is not dying, she's laughing! But still the tears track steadily down her face, and Calypso says, "I leave, my love," as everything breaks.
Davy Jones stares at his pink, thin hands that hold only air. The flat ledge of rock where she has lain for so long - empty. And the cave is dim now, lit only with the sunset light from its mouth. The sound of the waves crashing on to the rocks outside continues unabated. Gulls squeal as has always been their custom; but perhaps they can not contrive to sound more mournful than they already do.
Rage wells up in him and out of his throat, a raw scream. Should it not all have disappeared? Shouldn't the beach become a desert, the ocean gone with its goddess so that humankind knows what it has done? Then rage becomes hope, with clarity that makes his lips tremble and his eyes wet. He blinks tears out of his eyes, and they run salty into his mouth; they are inspiration.
The sea remains. It has been changed, divvied up and ruled by a thousand regulations - but it has not been destroyed. Perhaps its magic remains too, weak but impossible to destroy. If the world were not as it is - if the smoke-belching factories were gone, and the metal ships were only so much rust... He looks at his hands again. Calypso took every touch of her magic from him, and it has left him young, young enough to do what he needed...
His boot soles crunch on the shells and bones on the cave floor as he marches out. In his mind he sees the triple-gun the Flying Dutchman once held, and a brief smirk passes across his face. That weapon like that wouldn't work anymore, but that was certainly the kind of thing he was in need of.
Once out of the cave, he allows himself to run to the water's edge and bury his hands in the damp sand, letting the waves wash around his elbows and knees. He almost weeps, but this he won't allow; there will be no mourning. He will bring her back.