Tsubasa
OH FYE. ;_;
Man, at this rate, by the time the series is over, every character will be missing 75% of their body parts.
Okay. I had this KuroFye piece on the back burner for a while, but recent developments - didn't actually Joss it, per se, but they've made me totally reevaluate my characterization of Fye to the point where I couldn't write it anymore. But the actual segements I had written were pretty good (IMHO). So I re-edited them to the point where the piece is a fairly long ficbit, and now I will present them to the viewing public... who probably do not care, but whatevs. At least they're out there.
In Shura Country Fye's eyes are black. It doesn't make much difference. It's almost better that way: black is by nature a colour that conceals. At least now there is no illusion of clarity, no blue that seems perfectly transparent and yet perfectly empty.
Fye's native language is confusing. There are times when it sounds rough and gutteral, others when it's almost musical. Either way Fye doesn't talk much here, since nobody can understand him. Kurogane has basically got the language now, it's similar to his own. He has no idea how much or little Fye understands. Of course he acts like he doesn't understand any at all, and enjoys it when the other soldiers try to talk to him through a kind of earnest pantomime. With Kurogane he will occasionally make some little remark and then laugh to himself. Occasionally he thinks he hears his name, but it sounds different in Fye's language: the syllables are pronounced more fiercely.
If someone had told him before this that he would be fighting nightly battles for an indefinite period of time he might have been pleased, but actually their lives here are boring. Kurogane becomes almost lazy on the battlefield: they'll be there the next night, and the next, and all the nights for the foreseeable future, and the numbers will always be the same, so what's the point?
He does watch Fye, though: the graceful sweep of his arm as he draws his bow, and the way he shoots, precisely, in the way of someone accustomed to war. At night he rubs ointment into his hands to keep the skin from cracking open. Each of his slim hands strokes the other slowly, thoroughly. Kurogane pretends to himself that he doesn't watch this.
xxx
One night Kurogane is wounded in battle. It is no more than a shallow gash on his arm, but it hurts like a bitch just the same. He has become too careless.
Back in their room Fye mixes a blue salt-like powder into warm water and washes the wound. Then he bandages his arm tightly in clean white linen. Finally he gives Kurogane a cup of some strange drink, and Kurogane falls asleep minutes after drinking it.
When he wakes up a few hours later the room is still dark. The crescent moon - it has waxed and waned at least twice since they got here - shines in through the window. The particular cool scent of night fills the air.
Fye is leaning over him, speaking in an urgent, choked voice. Evidently he is saying something which causes him great pain. The darkness and the moonlight stain his hair blue-grey.
Without thinking Kurogane raises his hand to Fye's cheek, holds it there. Fye is startled and stops talking. He doesn't bolt, though. Instead, his hand settles on Kurogane's bandaged arm, and they stay like that for a long time, watching each other.
But in the morning nothing has changed, and Kurogane thinks that if he wasn't dreaming, maybe Fye was.
xxx
"Hey..."
At first, Kurogane doesn't realize that he can understand what Fye is saying. It's only when he opens his mouth to reply that he gets it. But before he can, Fye gives him a kiss so light it's almost only a breath of air.
"They've come for us," he says. Then he smiles, softly, and leaves the room.
Kureogane finds that he is rooted to the spot. His hand goes to his lips - they now feel cooler than the rest of his body, somehow - but then falls back to his side.
Fye will probably never touch him again.
Man, at this rate, by the time the series is over, every character will be missing 75% of their body parts.
Okay. I had this KuroFye piece on the back burner for a while, but recent developments - didn't actually Joss it, per se, but they've made me totally reevaluate my characterization of Fye to the point where I couldn't write it anymore. But the actual segements I had written were pretty good (IMHO). So I re-edited them to the point where the piece is a fairly long ficbit, and now I will present them to the viewing public... who probably do not care, but whatevs. At least they're out there.
In Shura Country Fye's eyes are black. It doesn't make much difference. It's almost better that way: black is by nature a colour that conceals. At least now there is no illusion of clarity, no blue that seems perfectly transparent and yet perfectly empty.
Fye's native language is confusing. There are times when it sounds rough and gutteral, others when it's almost musical. Either way Fye doesn't talk much here, since nobody can understand him. Kurogane has basically got the language now, it's similar to his own. He has no idea how much or little Fye understands. Of course he acts like he doesn't understand any at all, and enjoys it when the other soldiers try to talk to him through a kind of earnest pantomime. With Kurogane he will occasionally make some little remark and then laugh to himself. Occasionally he thinks he hears his name, but it sounds different in Fye's language: the syllables are pronounced more fiercely.
If someone had told him before this that he would be fighting nightly battles for an indefinite period of time he might have been pleased, but actually their lives here are boring. Kurogane becomes almost lazy on the battlefield: they'll be there the next night, and the next, and all the nights for the foreseeable future, and the numbers will always be the same, so what's the point?
He does watch Fye, though: the graceful sweep of his arm as he draws his bow, and the way he shoots, precisely, in the way of someone accustomed to war. At night he rubs ointment into his hands to keep the skin from cracking open. Each of his slim hands strokes the other slowly, thoroughly. Kurogane pretends to himself that he doesn't watch this.
xxx
One night Kurogane is wounded in battle. It is no more than a shallow gash on his arm, but it hurts like a bitch just the same. He has become too careless.
Back in their room Fye mixes a blue salt-like powder into warm water and washes the wound. Then he bandages his arm tightly in clean white linen. Finally he gives Kurogane a cup of some strange drink, and Kurogane falls asleep minutes after drinking it.
When he wakes up a few hours later the room is still dark. The crescent moon - it has waxed and waned at least twice since they got here - shines in through the window. The particular cool scent of night fills the air.
Fye is leaning over him, speaking in an urgent, choked voice. Evidently he is saying something which causes him great pain. The darkness and the moonlight stain his hair blue-grey.
Without thinking Kurogane raises his hand to Fye's cheek, holds it there. Fye is startled and stops talking. He doesn't bolt, though. Instead, his hand settles on Kurogane's bandaged arm, and they stay like that for a long time, watching each other.
But in the morning nothing has changed, and Kurogane thinks that if he wasn't dreaming, maybe Fye was.
xxx
"Hey..."
At first, Kurogane doesn't realize that he can understand what Fye is saying. It's only when he opens his mouth to reply that he gets it. But before he can, Fye gives him a kiss so light it's almost only a breath of air.
"They've come for us," he says. Then he smiles, softly, and leaves the room.
Kureogane finds that he is rooted to the spot. His hand goes to his lips - they now feel cooler than the rest of his body, somehow - but then falls back to his side.
Fye will probably never touch him again.