[One-Shot] "Which Butterfly Do You Like?"
Title: “Which Butterfly do You Like?”
Pairing: AkaKame (Kame’s PoV)
Rating: PG-13?
Warning: … not for the naïve not innocent of mind? And really cheesy by the way.
Summary: Kazuya and Jin have always been close friends. It’s natural, living next door to each other. And of course, it’s natural that Kazuya would develop a crush on his attractive and mysteriously enchanting childhood friend. Jin, for his part, treasures two things the most in the world: his young friend Kazuya and collecting butterflies.
‘'So many years ago…'
'I asked him why he collected and pinned butterflies he’d simply replied, “Because they’re pretty.”
I foolishly asked in turn, “If I grow to be pretty too, will you pin me like one of your butterflies?”
At the time he’d merely grinned crookedly and answered in his usual whisper-soft voice, “Maybe I will, or maybe different.”
'In retrospect, he was always cryptic when it came to answering my questions. He was also very fond of ambiguity, which in later years I would catch and laugh at.
'But, being young and unaware of nuances and double-entendres, I’d developed an irrational fear of pins. And yet, I still wandered to the butterflies, wondering at their delicate beauty.
'Every time I visited, Jin would come up behind me and whisper into my ear, “Which butterfly is your favourite?”
'Each time, somehow, he managed to catch me by surprise.
'“Umm...” I’d mutter, my eyes flitting over the cases, picking out the prettiest. “That one,” I said the first time, pointing to a silvered lavender one with icy blue markings.
'“I like that one too,” he’d said with a nod. “But I like this one better,” he’d remarked, pointing to a mahogany coloured specimen with caramel markings.
“Why?” I asked.
“Why?” he echoed. “Well, because it reminds me of you,” he’d replied matter-of-factly as he mussed my auburn-dyed hair.
“Will you pin me to the same frame?” I asked stupidly, my light brown eyes wide with terror.
“Ma-y-be. . .” he’d said slyly, playfully, and tugged gently on a lock of my hair. He cackled, enjoying my youthful ignorance.
'I just shrieked and ran away.
'Having been quite young at the time and prone to such easy spooking, I often shied away from further mention of pins and frames afterwards. I knew he was joking, but a child’s mind has a strange way of fantasizing the worst, doesn’t it? He always teased me, but he was the one who helped me through my school-work and my music lessons. He was the one who first taught me to cook even, though now I’m far better than him. He taught me everything, and most of all he taught me how to see the beauty in the world around me. “People just don’t see it anymore,” he said to me once. “Promise me you’ll never forget to look, Kazu?”
'Already falling in love in that sweet, childish way, I nodded fervently and pinky-swore.
' I really couldn’t help growing to like him as we got older. I suppose it helped that Jin was a few years my elder so I was constantly in awe of his knowledge and looks; he was always a step or two ahead of me, after all.
'Of course, it didn’t take long before my ‘like’ turned into a crush and in turn my crush became love. I’m sure I was obvious, especially at first, but Jin always seemed to look on me, on the entire world in fact, with a sort of detached but kind gaze. I suppose that was always just who he was: an observer, guiding the way of those lucky enough to get close, yet documenting everything as an outsider looking in.’
I mark the page carefully, close the journal and stretch. “Time to go next door,” I say to myself brightly.
“Which butterfly do you like?” Jin asks me, as usual. No need for further greeting; I come and go as I like.
“That one,” I say in reply to his question, pointing to a glossy black that has a navy sheen.
He tilts his head to one side, inspecting it. He’s had it for years; he’s surprised at my choice. “I was sure you’d pick this one,” he says, pointing to a new butterfly, this one a dark gold.
“Nope,” I replied, shaking my head. “I like this one better.”
“Hmm. . . Why?” he asks, sincerely curious. This one is, after all, completely different from my usual pastel coloured selections.
Infuriatingly, I’m sure, as he was really asking a deeper question, neither of us can identify, I say simply, “Because this one has an elegant shape and look; its tails are silver, making it look like it’s trailing stardust.”
He grins crookedly, the same grin he gives me when he jokes about adding me to his collection of butterflies and teases, “Getting a little romantic are we now, Kazu?”
“Of course,” I reply flippantly and teasingly, “I’m sixteen and a hopeless romantic. You and your talk about seeing the beauty of nature in everything did that much to me. But don’t worry; otherwise I’m like every other sixteen-year-old guy.”
“I don’t know about that,” I hear him mutter under his breath.
I try not to let my satisfaction show at the comment and pretend not to have heard him properly, ask about it casually, but he refuses adamantly to elaborate.
Almost a year later, I ask Jin only half-jokingly whether he really plans to pin me into his collection like another butterfly as he is, incidentally, doing to a few new specimens at that particular moment.
Not even glancing up from his work, he replies innocently, “I said I would if you got pretty, didn’t I?” I can hear the smile in his voice, there’s no need to see.
“Well, then?” I ask in a tone to match. “Did I?”
He gives me a mock appraising look and replies, “I think you may have.” He then goes back to his work.
“Pretty enough for you to keep me around forever?” I prod.
He sets down his pen, turns towards me and puts his elbow on his desk and leans his head on his fist. “My, my,” he says teasingly, “wherever did this sudden curiosity come from?” His eyes, coloured azure by contacts, scan my face with his unerringly deep gaze.
I turn back to the butterflies behind me, my fingers lightly brushing against the glass of the case covering my recent favourite, the navy-black Jin-butterfly. “Who knows?” I reply to the real one, my voice carefully light. “But will you answer?”
Jin gets up from his desk and walks over to me with his long, even stride. He comes to a stop before me with the strangest expression on his face- something caught between his usual detached gaze and… what? I can’t hope to name it. But then he seems to make up his mind about something and the mysterious look disappears and he smiles the crooked grin I’ve grown to love. He musses my hair and says, “Maybe I’ll tell you later.”
I pout and he laughs. I keep nagging him but he keeps his mouth stubbornly shut. “Fine,” I say, falsely exasperated. “Which butterfly is your favourite?” I inquire, already knowing the answer.
As expected, he points immediately to the red-brown and caramel. “That one,” he says, grinning still.
I laugh and call him predictable, trying to hide my ever-present wondering. How does he feel about me? Is it so hard to simply say?
I wonder the same thing again today, on my way to Jin’s house. It was just yesterday that I last tried to pry the truth from him, though I wasn’t surprised at my failure. Still, I think with a shrug, it would be nice if I’d finally succeeded. And I wonder if today is ‘later’ enough for him? I’ll get it out of him for sure today: I won’t give up.
Seeing as today is my eighteenth birthday, it’s taken me a little longer than usual to leave my house. As always, however, I walk in as if Jin’s house is my own and call a ‘hello’ to his mother. I jump up the stairs three at a time and sneak into his room.
Today he isn’t sitting at his desk as he usually is, however. Instead, he’s sitting on the bed, shoes and a sweater on as if he’s about to go out. “Hello there,” he says cheerily as I walk in. “Happy eighteenth. By the way, I have something for you but we’ll have to walk a ways to find it.”
“Oh really?” I say, trying to hide my excited interest. “But before that, how about an answer to yesterday’s question?”
He stands and walks towards the door and me. “First things first and I mentioned my plan first,” he says, tapping my nose and gesturing to the hall. “Come with me.”
I sigh and follow him outside and deep into the forest behind his house. After some time we come across a small clearing in which sits a large shed of sorts with a glass roof is all misted with condensation. I can, however, see mottled green and brown through it.
Jin stops at the door, waits for me. We enter a small room with a second door and we hang our jackets in this closet-like space. Typical, I think to myself as I’m crammed too close to Jin in the small space. He’s gotta be deaf if he can’t hear my heart pounding now.
Jin opens the inside door and ushers me through. A rush of humid air blows my hair from my face and I gasp at the sight of the beautiful garden inside.
I walk right into the middle by the small fountain and turn full circle, taking it all in. Jin stands near the door, closing it carefully behind him and watching my amazement with calm satisfaction. I inspect the myriad of different bushes, ferns and flowers.
One of Jin’s favourite butterflies flits past me and I hold out my hand. It lands on my outstretched fingers, looking for some sweet nectar. One of the glossy-blacks flies up and chases it off and they loop in lazy circles about the garden - full, I realize, of the two breeds, and them alone.
“Do you like it?” Jin asks, walking closer.
I look all about, not able to get enough of it all. “Jin, it’s incredible! How did you do it? Never mind, don’t bother answering, I don’t want to know.”
He walks up behind me, wraps his arms around my waist. “I’m glad you like it,” He whispers into my ear. “And as for your question,” he murmurs, turning me in his embrace, “I love you Kazuya. I never want you to leave…will you stay with me? Will you be with me forever?”
“O-of course I will!” is my immediate reply. “Jin, I love you.”
He smiles tenderly and kisses me sweetly. The kiss deepens, intensifies, it takes my breath away and he holds me firmly against him- thank God, because I’m sure I’d fall without it.
Then he slides the dagger in. It slips between my ribs and straight into my heart- a trickle of feeling so cold, so sharp, it burns. His soft black hair brushes my forehead as he leans his against mine. He steadies me as my knees buckle, the strength seeping quickly from my body. My heart splutters, trying to go on, like the last tentative drops of rain after a storm.
I try to speak, try to ask why, but my throat is closed shut and my eyes are tearing, blurring his beloved face. Already I can feel the numbing cold as it settles deep into my core. My stuttering, bleeding heart lurches sickeningly.
Jin murmurs sweet, loving words as he pulls the dagger from my heart and lays me gently, lovingly on the ground. One of the Jin-butterflies, all black and blue elegance, waltzes past, its silver tails flashing slightly, drawing my dying eyes.
“So that’s why they’re silver,” I wonder, not sure if I somehow said it aloud.
“Hmm?” Jin says softly, his tender gaze so soft…
But I can’t reply and the blackness is taking over. My heart beats slow, so slow. The pain creeps through the numbness and the cold before finally my heart gives a final shudder. I slip into sweet oblivion as Jin tenderly kisses my lips again.
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So... um... comments please? And I'm sorry if Kame seemed really girly-- this story was originally written as a Halloween "horror-story" for English class and it was written form the girl's, "Kate"s point of view and the guy's name was Adrien. It was also written in past tense :D
Yeah. Anyways. Feel free to ask questions too, I know it leaves a lot to think about-- that's the point ^_^