Pure as the Snow

Chapter I

Each night it was the same dream. It had been for months. Usually it went so fast that all he saw was a giant blur. But tonight was not the case. Tonight his dream would not allow him to awake to the gentle golden sun beating down on him. Something in the universe had shifted.

Tonight the dream started as it usually did. It was the same blur, but slower. And still it slowed. Finally the scenery became clear.

He stood upon a mound of snow. It was pure, fresh, white, untouched snow. Not even where he stood was there footprints in the snow. From the heavens the snow fell, fresh snowflakes covering the ground. Snow upon snow. He didn't even sink where he stood.

Then the picture sped up. The snow gradually turned black. He looked around, puzzled. No other being was around nor was there anything other than he and the snow. He looked up at the snow pouring from the sky. It too was black, as black as the night sky. He looked back down and horror met his eyes.

The snow, once pure white and devoid of any sort of human touch, was slowly but surely turning red. Blood red. He gasped as the red spread over the snow like a plague in what seemed like seconds, until he stood among a sea of red. Hesitant, but still wanting to know what it was like, he bent down and took some snow into his cupped hands. He felt the urge to vomit as the smell of fresh blood devoured his senses. The snow that was held in his hands was retuning to it's normal, pure white state, but the rest of the snow was still covered in the foul colour of blood. And now, the blood from the snow stained his hands too.

And, like before, he saw a familiar blur of colours as the gentle morning sun greeted him into the living world once more. And, on his innocent hands, was the faint mark of blood.

That morning was the same as the mornings in their house had been for several months now. Both novelist and vocalist would be sitting in silence eating breakfast. It seemed like all the life in the house had disappeared. And there was one more thing the great novelist noted.

The silence had begun on the same night he'd first heard Shuichi sobbing to himself in his sleep.

Despite not being his usual bouncy, hyperactive self, the vocalist didn't seem to have the faintest idea he had been crying in his sleep for months now. But last night in particular had torn Yuki's heart out, which was very rare indeed. He'd come into the bedroom after finishing up working on his next masterpiece just moments ago, to find Shuichi fast asleep, but looking as if in a nightmare, tears trickling down his cheeks like tiny rivers and curled up in a ball, as if freezing to death. Yuki couldn't even comprehend what had gotten to his little lover so badly. All he could do was lie next to him, and stare as the poor vocalist sobbed harder and harder. Each sob was deafening to Yuki. He'd never seen Shuichi like this. Not once.

The fire from the house had gone out.

"I'm finished," mumbled the usually energetic vocalist. He got up from his seat and placed the empty plate on the counter. For some odd reason, he didn't even ask to wash up today or at least help wash up. Instead, he began washing up without consulting Yuki (not that he minded anyway, but this was a change to what he normally expected to happen). Just as he was filling the sink, Yuki switched the tap off. Shuichi looked up at the older man, who placed his hands firmly on Shuichi's shoulder.

"Out with it brat. What's wrong?" Yuki asked, though his tone made the question seem more like a command. Shuichi simply blinked.

"Huh?" he asked. Their eyes met for a brief moment. It felt almost as if Yuki was staring into his soul. His gaze was so powerful. He tried to break eye contact, but Yuki put his hand to his face and moved his face back up so he had no choice but to face him. This way, Yuki could easily tell if he was lying.

"You've been too quiet recently. I know something's up you damn brat. So come on. Out with it. You can't keep secrets from me,". Shuichi blinked some more and took a deep breath. Should he tell Yuki about his weird dream, the same one which had haunted him and plagued his thoughts for months? Or should he pretend everything was fine and genki? He didn't want to worry Yuki, however he wasn't too impressed with the idea of bugging Yuki with his problems either. No, it was much better to have a partially worried Yuki that an angry Yuki any day.

"I'm just feeling a bit under the weather. It's nothing really. I'm fine," he lied. Yuki looked at him questionably, almost as if he didn't believe him. But after a long hard stare into the vocalist's innocent eyes, he found himself with only one answer. There was a tense pause.

"Okay. I trust you," he replied simply. Trust. The word struck Shuichi's heart like a thorn. He didn't want to keep secrets from Yuki. He wanted to tell him everything…

… instead he sent his older lover a small smile of gratitude for his trust and belief in him and continued with the washing up.

A/N: Well? How'd you like it? Is it good? Are you enjoying it? I'm not certain in which direction I'm going with this, so please bare with me. I wonder if any of you have understood the deeper and hidden meaning of Shu-chan's dream. If not, I guess you'll have to read on to find out. I'm not very good at updating fast, so please bare with me! I promise to update as fast as I can. I hope I portrayed Yuki and Shuichi's characters right – I'm usually very bad at that and make them too different from how their supposed to be. Well, please review and tell me what you think. I accept flames right now, but I'd rather you gave me constructive criticism personally -sweatdrops- Oh well. Please review!