fall like raindrops
disclaimer: trc is not mine
The sand buries them like suffocation; sun shining and shimmering like their smiles once did; bright blue across the burnt sienna of the land.
The not-Fai and not-Sakura stand, gazing at cloudless skies and sweating in the heat, missing the acidity of the rain and its bitter taste on their tongues.
He visits her from time to time, preferring to stay and tell her tales of the adventures they had, and leaves her with the ever familiar kiss on the hand when Kurogane, not-Syaoran-kun, and Mokona arrive once more in the Kingdom of Clow, before departing once more.
This time he stays, promising to remain a little longer than before.
Something shifts between them, slowing suffusing her cheeks with pink as Yuui smiles at her, eyes kind and flickering something so tangible that it's almost pressed onto her mouth instead of her hand. A butterfly kiss, she thinks, it's seen and not felt; ghosting from one plane to another.
Amidst the intervals of goodbye and hello again, the time becomes too short and the time becomes too long. And Tsubasa is all too aware that her heart is beating too quickly right now but calming in the presence of another.
Sand slides through her fingers, slipping away and stolen by the wind, and there's no hourglass to undo what has happened.
If she wanted, she could touch him. Brush away a curl so she could glimpse his face more openly, a simple excuse to feel his skin against her. Neither would say anything about the increase of breath or the pink flush that spreads like dusk and makes his golden hair glow and her auburn hair a deeper red. She could reach out and hold onto the creases of his clothes, silently asking him to stay a while longer.
But she doesn't, because he knows anyway; and both of them love to play games that seem so innocent on the surface. They never mean to hurt each other, but they seem to fall so easily in patterns that break like ice.
"… she loves you, Yuui-san." It's the truth, and Tsubasa can hardly breathe. One masquerade after another, and just like the sand, it conceals more than she'd like to admit. "She just loves Syaoran-kun more."
"I know." Quietly Yuui speaks, and he is always 'Yuui-san' to her, just as he is always 'Fai-san' to Sakura and it's the same in reverse. "I know."
The corners of his lips almost twitch upwards, but somehow, he doesn't manage to make a smile. His blue eyes are darker than ever, still retaining that kind gentleness which draws her in and Tsubasa cannot look away.
"Tsubasa-chan."
His hand finds hers, encasing the sand that sticks to her palms, squeezing almost feather-soft; and she cannot find a reason to pull away, entwining their hands together, desperate for the butterfly kiss to land on her lips, heart fluttering in relief.
Wishes she could say something, but there's nothing to be said.
The not-Fai and the not-Sakura lean against each other, missing the acidity of the atmosphere and the bitter taste on their mouths, too warm and too hot and their hearts beating too fast as butterflies become real in shades of ruby red against opal white.
The sand surrounds them like suffocation; sun sinking and submerging like the curve of their smiles; dark blue across the rumble of thunder.
And there is the promise of rain.