The sakura were blooming again; their petals drifted lazily on the late spring breeze. The already grounded petals swirled around the feet of a young man -- now sixteen and so much older -- as he walked into the small park by the hospital. His shoulders rose and fell heavily but his pace didn't slow as he crossed the dirt playfield to a lone figure sitting on a bench. Kamui stopped a meter or two in front of him; glancing down at the face he remembered so clearly, the face that had come to symbolize so many things in such a short time.
Family. Love. Grief. Abject Misery.
Survival and sacrifice.
The power of his own Wish and the redemption of those least deserving it.
Fuuma didn't turn to look at him. There would be no point in doing so. The older boy's dark-haired head tilted to the side. "I was wondering when you'd come."
Kamui's voice fought its way out from a painfully tight throat. "I only just learned what happened." He stepped forward, halving the distance between them. "How are you doing?"
"I'm fine."
Kamui moved to one side, sitting beside him. Fuuma continued to stare straight ahead.
"I... I'm glad to hear that."
"How are you?"
The tension in Kamui's back lessened a bit; it was easier, somehow, to talk about himself. "I'm all right. I got out of hospital last month and Nokoru-san's letting me stay with him for a while."
Fuuma nodded and the silence between the pair lengthened. If it bothered the older boy, he didn't show it. However, Kamui could only handle the tension for so long. He hadn't expected anything when he'd come here. But now that they were together, after so much had passed between them, his hopes began to run their own course.
"Can I ask you something?" A nod. "Why?"
"Why?"
"Yes."
Again, the silence descended, pushing them further apart without them ever having to move.
"Because I hated you," Fuuma said finally, his tone flat.
Kamui's heart clenched. "You--"
"And I loved you." Slowly, Fuuma turned to face him. His eyes were still the same color, but there was nothing in them. Fate never gave without taking something for herself. "Would you have fought as hard if nothing had changed?"
Stunned, Kamui sat back. He bit back his immediate answer, knowing his knee-jerk reaction wouldn't be the truth. Minutes later, he managed a soft reply. "No." He reached out and placed a tentative hand on Fuuma's cheek, startling the older boy. But Fuuma didn't pull away. "I never saw you as an enemy, even then."
Dark brows furrowed, caution writing its way into Fuuma's expression. "What do you see now?"
"I don't know."
A soft sound on the air made Kamui realized Fuuma was laughing. And he realized he'd never heard it before. Slowly turning his face upward, away from Kamui's hand, Fuuma closed his useless eyes as a petal drifted over his cheek.
"That makes two of us."