Title: Yume
Rating: K+
Warnings: Unbeta-ed, some OOC-ness
Genre: General, angst
Main Character(s): Saya, Haji
Ship(s): SayaxHaji, if you tilt your head and squint
Summary: Saya dreams of the courtyard with the roses. One shot.
Disclaimer: Blood+ and characters are copyright to Production IG. I don't own them.
Author's Notes:Not following the series storyline but the timeline is the same. Takes place around Episode 7 on the ship. I have this feeling that when Saya opened the door in her flashback, something terrible happened. I'm not sure if it's forbidden to talk about the door or if it's forbidden to her but for this story, I'm putting it as. In Saya's flashback for Episode 1, Haji was in it and he looked normal without the Chiropteran arm he has now. I'm guessing he probably got it after she opened the door or sometime after that. The history between them is sketchy at best but I believe that there's more to their relationship than we see in the series than we know.
This must be a dream, she thought, looking around.
She had memories of this dream before, a few times. The first time had been when she had first heard that melancholy song he had been playing. The second time, when he had kissed her. The third time, after the death of her father, when she had been hovering between sleep and wakefulness. So, she remembered this place well, although she had never ventured anywhere further outside of the corridor with its crawling roses; she was always running through it, an old-fashioned key you see in period books and movies clutched in her hands and fingers fumbling to unlock the padlock.
She remembered that she had only just closed her eyes, only to open them to suddenly see brilliant blue skies above her, white clouds drifting lazily by and sunshine on her face. There was no sight of the Chiropteran before her. She lifted up her hands in wonder; they were clean, free of blood. There was a slight weight behind her head, and when she reached up and around, she blinked in astonishment at the glossy locks in her hand. Her hair... she never had such long hair, had she? She let go, looking around at where she was at.
It was the same courtyard from her dream... only it looked like it had been looked after instead of fallen into slight disrepair. Blood-red roses entwined themselves around the stone pillars around the courtyard, some crawling along the walls as well. Such vivid, mesmerizing colours. She blinked. They were all red. She knew there were purple and blue colour ones. She remembered. She turned around, only to trip on her own feet and went down in a rustle of skirts and an 'Oof!' as she sat down on the ground.
The skirt of her dress was white with pink trimmings around the hemline. It didn't look like anything she would wear, as she examined it more closely. It looked like a period dress. A low chuckle broke her out of her musings, and she looked up only to have her eyes go comically wide and her mouth opened but no sound came out.
It was the Haji from the very recess of her memory. He was dressed in those period clothes as well, his hair was loose. He had an amused smile on his face as he leaned down, offering his hand to her. His hand... It wasn't the Chiropteran hand she had seen and touched before. It was normal, human-looking. Her mind was full of questions of which she wanted to ask but none are coming out of her mouth.
"Close your mouth," said Haji, "it's unbecoming of a young lady to gawk like that." He sounded amused.
She snapped her mouth closed, still trying to get around the fact that she had this dream before but it had never came to the point where he had spoken to her or everything was just so vividly real. Dumbly, she took his hand, allowing him to pull her to her feet.
"Haji," she finally said, somehow managing to get past that lump in her throat. He looked at her inquiringly. It was such a far cry from the usual stoic expression he bestowed on her that she felt an ache in her heart. What was she going to say? To ask him what had happened to him when what it was hadn't happen yet? Why was this dream so real now?
"I must have slipped," she said instead, unable to voice out what she felt.
"Have you been daydreaming again?" he asked her, still holding her hand. She felt the beginnings of a faint blush coming to her face. "Although I know how it feels to have your thoughts run away from you once you're here."
"Where are the blue roses?" she asked, unexpectedly.
For a moment, he stilled, hand tightening around hers painfully before he reached down, taking her other hand in his. When she looked at him, his face was grave, there was something in his eyes. As if he dreaded whatever it was.
"Saya, you mustn't ask about those. They will not be very happy if they know you're asking," he said, giving her hands a squeeze, whether in a warning or a plea for her not to speak of it again, she wouldn't know.
They? Who were they? And why was speaking of that forbidden? Instead of quelling her, it simply fuelled her curiosity more than before. She shivered as Haji released her hands, instead, wrap his arms around her, holding her close, stroking her hair.
"Don't bring it up," he said, before the world around them suddenly tilted and she was thrown into pitch blackness.
The scream that rose from her chest to her mouth was cut off abruptly into anxious pants as she found herself running down the familiar corridor with its purple and blue roses along the walls, wound around the archways. She clutched at the key in her hand, her heart beating rapidly under her dress as she made her way towards the door. The sense of forebode made itself known in her; there was something behind the door, she wasn't supposed to see. She couldn't stop her own hands from moving, even as they reached for the padlock, fumbling a little as she inserted the key and turned to the click she wanted to hear. The feeling of dread grew even stronger, a voice, almost like a shriek rising in her head, demanding that she leave now but her feet refused to obey.
She stepped forward just as she heard a distant cry of her name. Haji, she thought absently, moving forward into the gloomy darkness before her. A coldness, like freezing ice water, swept over her, causing her to feel breathless and to struggle. She opened her mouth to cry out only to have the floor suddenly gave way to nothing and she was falling once more.
When she opened her eyes this time, she was met with the moonlight filtering through the curtains across the room.
"Saya." The familiar voice made her heart skip a beat. She turned her head, blinking up at the sight of him, a rather stoic expression on his face. He was no longer dressed in that ruffled shirt and black jacket but in a simple white shirt and a long, black tunic over it. The hair was tied back. When had he tie his hair? It made him look much severe than usual. She took his offered hand to sit up; it was wrapped securely in bandages, and she wondered what happened to it.
"Haji," she said.
"Is something wrong?" he asked.
"I was... dreaming," she said slowly. "I had this dream before but maybe I'm not dreaming because I remember it. I was... in the courtyard with all the roses again and you... You look much nicer with your hair loose," she murmured, reaching up unconsciously to his hair. He stilled. Her fingers found the ribbon he used to bound his hair, giving it a gentle tug and watching in a sort of detached manner as the glossy, black locks tumbled down his shoulders.
"Saya." This time, his voice had a hitch in it and she didn't have time to wonder about it as she reached up, as if made to kiss him. This close, she could smell his familiar scent. Oddly, he smelled of blood as well.
He moved away first, placing the wrapped hand on her shoulder, holding her back. "Saya," he said again, this time, his tone was strained. She sighed, reaching up to touch his hair instead.
"You always did have lovely hair," she said. "What happened to your hand? Did you hurt yourself?" When she looked at him, she was surprised to see a pained expression on his face. "Haji, what–?"
"You're still dreaming," he said, placing a hand on her face, the gesture almost tender and very gentle. She wrapped her fingers around his wrist. "Go back to sleep now."
"You'll stay with me?" she asked, laying back down, still holding his wrist. "I'm afraid I might fall again. It's been a while since I had this feeling." She rubbed his arm before letting go, smiling at him drowsily. "Oyasumi..."
"Oyasumi," he said, watching as she fell back to sleep. This time, a dreamless one. She still held the ribbon in her hand, and he let her.
When the morning came, she woke up to bright sunlight in her face and a ribbon in her hand. She looked at it for a moment before placing it carefully on the night stand by the bed with her other things.
Owari.