Challenge "Dream" / Fic: A Question With No Answer
This is my first time actually entering the contest instead of just enjoying everyone else's stories, but I figured I needed a challenge, so here I am. The first draft of my entry was well over double the 500 word limit, so after finding myself unable to just edit it down, I had to start all over again. Hopefully it worked out okay (and it came just below the 500 word mark!...not counting disclaimers et al.)
Title: A Question With No Answer
Rating: T
Genre: Drama-Action, maybe?
Characters: Kasanoda, Tetsuya
Warnings: Violence, angst
Summary: In the silence of night it's not always clear what's real or not.
The car stopped before a building that had clearly seen it's better days in the sixties, if not earlier. The property was overgrown with brush, nearly hiding the path leading to the steps. The windows were empty eyes, giving nothing away of the mansion's interior, staring out with blind malice at any who approached for a closer look. Ritsu regretted that he and his men were about to do just that.
Tetsuya exited first, darting out protectively before his master could react, and stood gracefully on the broken sidewalk stretching his arms high above him. It had been a long ride, and Ritsu saw the other boy inhale deeply, clearing his lungs from the cloying thickness from the cigarettes the older men had been smoking. He looked back inside, his ponytail swishing gently with each movement. "Not the most welcoming of places, Young Master," he observed dryly, and although his voice sounded steady enough, Ritsu could read the tension in his posture, the tightness of his shoulders, the set of his hips. He smiled then, a brilliant flash of white that lit up his face with a warmth Ritsu had long become familiar with. "You'll do just--" His head jerked sharply to the side, cutting him off even as he tried reassuring his master.
Tetsuya stood frozen, and although it was only for a split second, it felt as though a thousand heartbeats had pounded away furiously in Ritsu's chest, sending panic screaming through the fog now filling his brain. The boy began to fall with slow grace to the side, the thick weight of his ponytail fanning behind him like the tail of a kite, and it shone in the midday sun like molten gold. The world slowed to a crawl, for one eternal second their eyes connected, and all Ritsu wished was that he had an answer for the question now locked forever in those blank blue eyes. Nothing moved except the falling boy, and the only sound was the sharp crack of his head as it hit the pavement, and the distant sound of birds singing being carried on the wind.
Ritsu was hurled back into the smoky confines of the car, and men hauled in the motionless body hurriedly. Tetsuya lay limply along the floor, his ponytail trapped beneath him, and Ritsu watched as it turned a shade of reddish copper that made his stomach heave.
Tires squealled as they peeled out, the driver unconcerned with the safety of anyone but his passengers. Ritsu didn't know where they were going or how long it took, only that he stayed with him the entire way, Tetsuya's hand still warm in his own.
*****
He woke up alone and cold, sweat soaking though his bedclothes, and in the dark silence of his room Ritsu begged for the millionth time, "Please, just let it be a dream."
Title: A Question With No Answer
Rating: T
Genre: Drama-Action, maybe?
Characters: Kasanoda, Tetsuya
Warnings: Violence, angst
Summary: In the silence of night it's not always clear what's real or not.
The car stopped before a building that had clearly seen it's better days in the sixties, if not earlier. The property was overgrown with brush, nearly hiding the path leading to the steps. The windows were empty eyes, giving nothing away of the mansion's interior, staring out with blind malice at any who approached for a closer look. Ritsu regretted that he and his men were about to do just that.
Tetsuya exited first, darting out protectively before his master could react, and stood gracefully on the broken sidewalk stretching his arms high above him. It had been a long ride, and Ritsu saw the other boy inhale deeply, clearing his lungs from the cloying thickness from the cigarettes the older men had been smoking. He looked back inside, his ponytail swishing gently with each movement. "Not the most welcoming of places, Young Master," he observed dryly, and although his voice sounded steady enough, Ritsu could read the tension in his posture, the tightness of his shoulders, the set of his hips. He smiled then, a brilliant flash of white that lit up his face with a warmth Ritsu had long become familiar with. "You'll do just--" His head jerked sharply to the side, cutting him off even as he tried reassuring his master.
Tetsuya stood frozen, and although it was only for a split second, it felt as though a thousand heartbeats had pounded away furiously in Ritsu's chest, sending panic screaming through the fog now filling his brain. The boy began to fall with slow grace to the side, the thick weight of his ponytail fanning behind him like the tail of a kite, and it shone in the midday sun like molten gold. The world slowed to a crawl, for one eternal second their eyes connected, and all Ritsu wished was that he had an answer for the question now locked forever in those blank blue eyes. Nothing moved except the falling boy, and the only sound was the sharp crack of his head as it hit the pavement, and the distant sound of birds singing being carried on the wind.
Ritsu was hurled back into the smoky confines of the car, and men hauled in the motionless body hurriedly. Tetsuya lay limply along the floor, his ponytail trapped beneath him, and Ritsu watched as it turned a shade of reddish copper that made his stomach heave.
Tires squealled as they peeled out, the driver unconcerned with the safety of anyone but his passengers. Ritsu didn't know where they were going or how long it took, only that he stayed with him the entire way, Tetsuya's hand still warm in his own.
*****
He woke up alone and cold, sweat soaking though his bedclothes, and in the dark silence of his room Ritsu begged for the millionth time, "Please, just let it be a dream."