Under the Stars 2/2 - AoiXRuki, RukiXAoi
Title: Under the Stars
Chapter: 2/2
Author: sweetXsweet (
akichuu)
Fandom: the GazettE
Pairing: Aoi X Ruki, Ruki X Aoi
Genre: romance...
Rating: PG... 13? 15? Gahh~ Whatever.
Warning: Notta. Nothing.
Summary: Six years ago... And somehow everything was blown by the wind after that night... The paper I hung on the bamboo branch. My wish. You. Where did you go?
Comment: 2nd part. Last part. I told you it's a two-parter.
Jaa~ <333
Aoi's POV
I returned to this place afterall... Although I knew miracle couldn't happen twice. I knew I could never see you again. I knew last night was the last of luck, I had ran out of it now. I could never see you again...
The thought throbbed in my head along with the alcohol I gulped at the wedding party, which just ended an hour ago. I didn't know why, but my slightly drunk legs brought me here. I was here, sitting, lost in the small crowd of people, of suzumes, of burning leaves that should vanish to dust... I was here in the midst of the chill... Oddly summer wasn't coming yet. It should already be here by now.
I sat quietly at this bench. A suzume or two stopped by, but fluttered and flew away just as soon as they came. Was it my aura that scared them?
Was it my desperateness?
Was I surrounding myself with a sad air that none would approach me?
I thought weddings were supposed to bring happiness. I didn't feel happy at the moment. I felt lost.
It hurt... In my head... I could never see you again. My brain was torturing myself.
But I knew last night was the last... When you turned away, I couldn't stop you, and now I was sorry. So sorry. Like back then, six years ago, back then I couldn't stop you from leaving me neither... Back then... Now... Why would time repeat itself just to bring me nothing but the fact that I was losing you? Over and over again...
I still remembered that paper I hung back then. It was six years ago but I remembered it so well. Such a bright, warm afternoon. Back then summer came right on time. We stood side by side, you wrote your wish on your paper, I wrote mine on my paper. You asked what I wrote... If I told you, would they come true? I could almost remember how you pouted... You said they were only folk tales, seeming not believing too much in what we were doing, but you did what I did afterall. You wrote your wish there on your piece of paper, and when you're done, you tried hanging it on the bamboo branch, as high as you could. You were standing on your toes... I only laughed. You looked so adorable... You always looked so adorable...
When we were done hanging our hopes... You seemed to become a little nervous.
You wanted to tell me something... What was it? I never found out... My heart was beating like crazy and I couldn't hold myself back when I saw your face, glowing under the night's moon, under the Tanabata stars... I guessed goddess met her god that night, and they saw us from up above... I held your hand in mine. Oh God... How warm it was... The sense was fading in my mind, so sad to say. But my heart couldn't completely forget what it was like, how it felt, holding your young, innocent hand in mine...
When you stuttered, your lips seemed to quiver a bit. Your eyes glowed like diamonds. You looked so beautiful... I wanted to kiss you...
"You want to...Kiss me?" you looked at me as if I was joking. I wasn't. I wanted so badly to kiss you.
And I kissed you. A little afraid, a little doubtful that you'd turn away, but you didn't. Oh God... You didn't. You let me place my lips against yours and let me feel what heaven was like... Your lips were so soft, so pure, so amazing.
Did you mind? I hoped not. I hoped you gave your lips to me willingly. I hoped you felt as wonderful as I did. You replied when I moved... So I guessed... You didn't mind?
"Yuu, that is my first kiss..." you confessed while staring up at me. I stole your first kiss? God... I had never experienced a greater honor...
I couldn't help melting when I saw your nervous face. Under the stars blinking above us, I kissed you again...
Six years ago... And somehow everything was blown by the wind after that night... The paper I hung on the bamboo branch. My wish. You. Where did you go? You never said a word, and you just left me... I waited for months and months, no letters, no phone calls whatsoever. Why...? I kept thinking I might've done something wrong to you that you avoided me, but what was it? What had I done?
I had lived the same question for a year, and then I moved away myself... I could not stand being here anymore... Not without you...
College. Job. Everything was pulling me away, slowly away, from those days we spent together... From that Tanabata night.
Until this wedding brought me back here... To this place... To the memories of you...
And I guessed... God was being cruel to me all over again. When I saw you last night, I knew it was you... It was definitely you... I couldn't have been wrong. You were trying to reach for that branch by standing on your toes... It seemed like I was brought back to six years ago, the same night.
Your eyes when you turned your face at me... They were still as amazing, they were still those diamonds I longed for. And even if the night was dark, cloudy and cold... You gleamed in front of me. I couldn't have been wrong at all. I still recognized you so well. And you recognized me... Thank God, you recognized me... You said my name with your lips that I missed so much... "Yuu... Yuu-kun?" you sounded as if you weren't sure that it was me. It was me, Taka. I was here. I came back.
God... I really wanted to hug you... Just pull you into my arms and hold you. I wanted to know if you still had that comforting warmth I felt inside my embrace. I almost forgot how it felt. I wanted you to hold closely again.
"I moved to Tokyo, Yuu..." that's what you said. So that's where you had been. Why didn't you tell me? Why didn't you call, or write me? Tokyo... I could take the train there and see you, if you just told me. And then I told you that I moved to Niigata. I couldn't believe I was meeting you here again, after all these years, and I told you that.
It could've been just another of those dreams that I kept having, ever since you went away, it could've been unreal... But there you were... There you were in front of me... And I just wanted to hold you so much...
And then Shiori had to come to the scenery. I could hate her if I was even allowed, but I knew I wasn't. She whined, wanting to go away, when all I really wanted was to stay here, where you were, with you all over again. I introduced her to you. I was just being polite...
I wanted to get rid of her, but I would be a bastard if I did that. She asked you to come along for dinner, though, that was very sweet of her. I hoped you would comply, that you would come with us, that you would care to reminisce the past again with me... But you said you couldn't. "I came here... With a friend. And he's waiting..." you said so. Your friend? Who? Who, Taka?
You insisted that you couldn't come along. That you had to return to Tokyo that very night. What's the hurry for, Taka? We met, finally, after some long six years, and you hurried yourself away from me... Again... Why? "I have to go." was carved in my heart like a wound so deep... Before you turned your back on me... I found myself completely numb. I should've said something... To stop you from walking away from me... Again.
The suzumes danced chaotically on the ground. Some kids were feeding them with bread-crumbs. Some flew over my head... To the skies. It was weirdly bright, after such a cloudy day the other day. But towards that bright skies... Had my heart flown away... Once again...
The young miko finished burning the leaves and walked towards the temple. Her red hakama swung back and forth as she moved.
People walking home with laughter, cheerful chats... I might be the only one here in this silence.
I wanted you to be here, Taka. So much... For six years... I kept wondering where you were. Your face in my dreams... Your hair in my palm... Blonde and bright... Like my sunlight.
Maybe that blonde, like that person over there, standing in front of our bamboo bushes, Taka. Was that the color blonde you had? I couldn't see clearly last night, but I knew your hair was still pale like that... Exactly like that, wasn't it, your hair? That blonde... Like that was really really you...
That was you... That was you!!!
I jumped to my feet, all hangover flushed away by my blood-rush, I sped myself towards that blonde... I wanted another shot of my luck. I wanted you. Please God... Let that person be you... Just a few more feet away...
"Taka?!" I grabbed your shoulder.
Oh God. It's you... It's really you... I could never be wrong about you...
I thought I had lost you last night, but you came back here today. Dear God... "Taka, you're here...?" I wasn't sure. This might still be a dream...
"Yu--Yuu?" you startled. Your eyes wide opened. You weren't expecting me to be here, were you? Thank God my drunk legs brought me here. "What... What are you doing here?" Your eyes roamed down to my suit. Oh yes... I was still wearing this silly tux. I ran right off from the wedding, drunk, I might have attracted a lot of attentions coming here. "What are you doing with this... suit?" you asked again.
I didn't want to answer. No. Taka. The only thing I wanted was to hold you. So I held you. I pulled your body until you fell onto me and I caught you inside my embrace. Oh God... This was the only thing... Six years... Six years of wanting you this close again... Please God this couldn't be another dream... If it was, could I be here forever, not waking up from this dream?
"Taka... Oh God, Taka-chan..." I whispered to your ears. I wanted you to know, my heart was screaming your name like that so often, for the whole six years. "Taka, I missed you..."
You froze in my arms. Please say something, Taka. Please... Please tell me that you missed me too... "But... Yuu..."
"Why did you go away last night? Why did you go away again?" I kept whispering. "I waited but you didn't come back. Why...?"
"Yuu... I..."
I could feel your hand moved on my back. Please hold me closer... "There're so many things still unsaid. Why did you leave before I could say a word?"
"I'm sorry... Yuu..."
Please don't tell me you're sorry. Please... Just hold me and let me know that this was not a dream. Not again. And you did. You were silent. But you held me. Your hands on my back, gripping me. Don't let go...
"I'm sorry for not saying anything to you... Back then..." you snuggled into my neck, and oh how I loved your scent... "I couldn't... I knew I couldn't say goodbye. Not to you... I wouldn't have the strength to do that. Yuu... Oh God... Yuu..." I could feel you trembled against my chest. I wanted to tell you I was here now. I was holding you. That it was okay. I wanted to believe that it was okay... "Yuu... You have no idea... how... how..."
"Taka-chan..." I pulled back, just slightly, but still keeping you in my arms, only wanting to see your face. Your diamond eyes glimmering with tears. Oh Taka... For the first time in my life that I was seeing the brightest of all diamonds...
"Yuu... Yuu... I came back, every year, to this place," you continued. "I came back, at the same day, wishing so badly to see you again... But six years passed without a single sign of your presence. Yuu..." You bit your lower lip. Oh no Taka don't... I slithered my finger on your lip to stop you from doing that. Never harm those beautiful lips I treasured so much, Taka, please... "And last night, when I finally saw you, I thought it was a dream. My hopes... Year after year... Finally came true. You came here. You're here..."
"I'm here, Taka..." I slumped my forehead onto your forehead. I could feel your shivering breath against my lips. "I'm here now..."
"But you're not here for me..." you sobbed. What? Yes I was here for you. I wanted nothing else but to be with you. "You're here for the wedding..." Yes, the wedding. But for you too, Taka... "Your wedding..."
"My wedding??" I pulled back again, surprised at the words. "What... Taka, this isn't..."
"I saw that ring on Shiori-san's finger... And she's just so beautiful... She looked so happy... I know she'd be happy with you..."
I could almost laugh out loud. But I didn't. I actually wanted to cry. Cry happily. I hugged you again, very tightly now that you protested. "Taka-chan... Oh God, Taka-chan..." I giggled. Relievedly. "And was that why you turned away last night when we asked you to come along for dinner?"
"Yes... I... I couldn't disturb you..."
Oh God. You're always so adorable, Taka-chan. You always were. You never failed to make me smile. And I loved you for that. Six years. None of those passing years ever mattered. I still loved you as much as I did back then, when I kissed you here, right here in front of the bamboo bushes. "Taka-chan... I was here for the wedding, yes, Shiori's wedding. But not mine."
You rebelled away from my hold, your eyes glared confusedly at me. Oh yes... So adorable... "Not yours?"
"Taka, Shiori is my cousin, for God's sakes..." I giggled. Such a sight to see, as your face turned very slowly to a pinkish shade, I held you close again just because I wanted to, just because I could. "I was there as her family, not her husband. How could you guess I was getting married? Oh Taka..." I kissed you on your cheek just to know you're still as warm as ever. You were. "Taka-chan, I only love you. I always do."
You said nothing after the gasp you let out. Wasn't expecting me to say that out loud? Well, I wasn't expecting myself to say that out loud. But now after I said it, I felt really relieved, the burden of six long years finally poured out. "I always love you, I wish you knew... I could never forget you..."
"Yuu..." Your voice was somewhere between a sigh and a sob. It's okay now, I was here... I ran my hand through your pale golden hair and kissed you on your head. "Yuu..." It's okay... It's a dream that we wouldn't be waking up from. You kept whispering my name, as if making up for the six years I had never heard you saying it. And please do say it over and over again... Here in my arms... In my embrace...
"Yuu," after a long while of being inside my arms, you pulled back. Your smile... That smile I missed so much and I thought I'd never see again... That smile adorned your lips. How your face glowed so much... The sun had set but you glowed. In my eyes you would be the only light... "Yuu, that one thing I wanted to tell you, back then..."
I remembered. You never said it to me. What was it?
Instead of speaking any further, you looked down, your hand slipped away from my back and you dipped it in to your jacket pocket. You pulled out something from there and handed it to me. I accepted with fuzzy mind. "What is this?" I asked. A paper rumpled into a small ball.
"Read it," you said. Smiling still.
I opened it. I tried to read the scribbling under this minimum lighting. It was hard, but I could read it. And I cried. I cried as the words seeped into my conscience.
"Yuu... I kept coming back here to make the same wish, the very wish I made six years ago."
If you'd just come to me sooner, Taka... Six years... Oh God... But I couldn't complain. I couldn't say a word, while warm and happy tears ran down my cheeks. You stroked me there on my cheek with your thumb, wiping my tears away, but the tears had only fallen more rapidly. And I knew how you and I both realized how we've endured a long wait...
I leaned closer to you, never felt like I could fly before, but I knew I could, this time... I was taking you to fly with me. My lips came home to your lips, enchanted by how you still felt so pure, so amazing... You were always so pure... So amazing. "I had never even kissed anyone else... after you..." such a sweet confession came from your mouth as I pulled back. I just had to cry even worse. "I only want to kiss you... I only want you, Yuu," and you leaned forward to me, we kissed again... And again... And again...
This was where I was supposed to be, the whole time... With you. Kissing you. Holding you. We had the same wish, Taka...
The stars were bright, that was if we even cared to look above. But none of us cared at all.
Maybe... Just maybe... The goddess had found her way to her god... And she might be in his arms tonight. And I sincerely hoped... All the nights afterwards.
Like you and me. From this point on. Forever.
----
- end -
Extra notes:
Tanabata meaning "Seven Evenings") is a Japanese star festival, derived from Obon traditions and the Chinese star festival, Qi Xi. The festival is usually held on July 7, and celebrates the meeting of Orihime (Vega) and Hikoboshi (Altair). The Milky Way, a river made from stars that crosses the sky, separates these lovers, and they are allowed to meet only once a year. This special day is the seventh day of the seventh lunar month of the lunisolar calendar. (taken from www.wikipedia.com)
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