|
Winter Opening Piano {Pan down from above on a figure kneeling huddled in snow, a black smudge on a white expanse of blue-white drifts reflecting moonlight. Spread before him on the snow are a series of photographs, all well loved and slightly smudgy, the first the most beaten up of all, a very young Ryou beaming out of it, his arms firmly around an older man's waist, a wall of white tiger protectively sitting next to him} Snow can wait, I forgot my mittens,
{Flashback to the time within the picture, Ryou's father leaving him to go up the mountain. Ryou waves goodbye, assured he will come back, but as the lightly falling snow envelops his father's figure a frown crosses child-Ryou's face. A dark shadow makes him shiver and hold himself a little closer to the tiger, weeping into White Blaze's fur at the premonition he can't understand. One photo blurs into the next.} I run off where the drifts get deeper
{In the indigo shadow of gravestones on snow, Seiji leans over Ryou, bending down to kiss blood from the corner of his lover's mouth, temporarily erasing evidence of their fight. Ryou tangles one black-gloved hand in Seiji's pale hair, pulling the kiss harder against his own mouth, pressing his body in surrender against Seiji's. Soft vows of possession and forever are whispered between gasps of pleasure; Hot tears and melted snowflakes glitter on ivory and dark honey-colored skin. Seiji stands and arranges his clothing in it's usual precise lines. Ryou blinks up at him, a shadow against the moon and stars, and holds up his hand to be helped up out of the snowdrift that bears the imprint of their bodies. Seiji looks for a moment at Ryou's hand, and then for a longer time into Ryou's startling azure eyes. Ryou's just-sated smile melts like the ice in his hair, his hand faltering and then lowering as he stands of his own accord. The two of them regard each other a long moment, and then turn together and walk slowly away, only their shoulders touching.} Boys get discovered as winter melts
{In the frozen meadow Ryou carefully gathers all the pictures, as around him are superimposed images of the same place at another time. The five of them running and falling into a laughing pile, summer sunlight glowing on knowing smiles, but not as warm as the soft touches. They lean back in the grass and stare at the sky, Ryou resting his head on Seiji's chest, Seiji absently petting Ryou's ebony hair as Rowen leans over to give his leader a teasing kiss that promises more. The images fade, leaving Ryou alone staring at a photo of himself, trying to remember who he was that he could have been so content.} 'When you gonna make up your mind?
{Ryou is sitting in his room at Mia's, Sai a vague shadow leaning in the doorway, gesturing in small useless circles as he tries to explain what he can't. Ryou nods slowly, knowing that this was coming, and with the leaving of two soon they all will be gone. He looks up at Sai, trying to recall exactly what songs he sang when he was cooking up a storm, or the careless way Rowen would drape himself on the couch and smile as though he'd like to undress you with his teeth. Ryou can't. The images are gone beyond recall, there will only be this memory of Sai trying to tell him why when he already knows. Sai at last reaches out and holds Ryou against him, the two of them not moving as the room darkens with oncoming night.} Musical Bridge {Ryou now in the meadow suddenly lashes out against the snow he's kneeling in, remembering a time when he could have melted it all with his will, sobbing without realizing it. His hands find cold bare earth and he pummels at it uselessly until his knuckles bleed, at last tucking his injured hands inside his jacket, crumpling and weeping with the uselessness of who he is, mourning the five he has lost, himself one of them.} Hair is gray and the fires are burning
{Ryou is in his room at the house, the walls are bare; he is surrounded by boxes. Seiji is obviously trying to tell him something, Ryou is staring vacantly at nothing, not hearing, already gone beyond all of it. Sage gestures violently at the other rooms, they are all empty. "It's over. It's over, Ryou, it was over long ago. We aren't who we used to be." Seiji waits for a response, finally Ryou turns to him, his eyes vacant and haunted. "Without our armor you care nothing for me, is that it? Without the bond of Yoroi there is nothing between us?" Seiji's eyes flash with anger, His fists clenched uselessly, his cultured voice unusually strained. "If you think that, then there wasn't." The door slams behind him as he leaves, angrily brushing at some foreign trace of moisture on his cheek.} Never change....
{Ryou blinks in numb shock at the hand being held in front of him, following it with his eyes until he faces Seiji's eyes. He grasps Seiji's hand and is hauled out of the snow, Seiji looking at the injuries on Ryou's hand. He arches an eyebrow, but says nothing of it, as though it had been only a day and not two years since they had seen each other. "Rowen's missing. We need to meet the others." Ryou nods, and they turn and walk away, the snow beginning to fall softly again, masking the traces of their presence.} ~owari~ by Tenshi no Korin
|