Inspired by Vocaloid song of same name. Angst. Character Death.

Shinya x Akane

It began by chance; an inevitable scene. How many times had their pages been flipped, their story read, only for their tragic ending to always come back like a curse? Our meeting always signals the end.

She was a girl out walking in the forest to give her grandmother food.

He was a wolf out walking on the same path as the girl, making sure the other creatures of the forest didn't harm her.

Akane hummed to herself as she went down the path she had taken. It was a detour, she knew, but for some reason something inside her told her to take the path labeled, "Wrong Way" instead of "Right Way". The day was nice, the sun shining, a few wisps and fat puffy clouds whisking across the sky. Her basket swung next to her, and she held an apple in her right hand. It was an odd apple - it sort of looked like a heart.

But it's impossible. You're frail, and I'm sly

Shinya wasn't a roundabout perso- wolf. He was direct. To the point. He really wanted to talk to the girl he had seen many times (in other lives?) but it was impossible. She would probably bolt the moment she saw him.

But he was lonely. So the best thing he could do was sit on the other side of the tree that she sat at, to take a break and munch her apple.

And so he sat there, until she was safely at her grandmother's house, and then back at her own.

Surely, once again, you'll walk this road today
And again today I can't do anything but keep watch over you

As per routine, when the girl in the bright red cloak started down the "Wrong Way", the Wolf followed after her, mindful to keep his distance and stay out of sight.

Like always, you're hiding on the other side of that tree today
So I pass through, pretending I don't notice you

She wanted to meet Mr. Wolf someday, and maybe talk to him. Maybe he would eat lunch with her? He was nice, surely! He kept her safe, and the one time she got lost, he had dropped twigs to mark her way home.

You don't catch my gaze
And my voice doesn't reach you
Only our sighs
Fruitlessly overlap

Kogami Shinya sighed, picking at the grass in front of him between his legs. He hoped she didn't hear him; she had just sat down too.

Tsunemori Akane bit back a sigh. He was a Wolf, she was Little Red Riding Hood. So the very least she could do was roll an apple his way. It was the apple shaped like a heart.

I can't meet you and
I can't touch you, and
I can't talk to you, but it's alright

Seeing the innocent red apple roll directly towards him, Shinya prepared to leap away if the girl came after her apple - but she didn't. So he ate it, that bright red heart-shaped apple.

Hearing the crunch of an apple being bit into, Akane smiled. Even if they couldn't meet, maybe it would be alright?

But the book had already been written, there was no changing it.

You're help less, and I'm awkward,
but it's fine as long as we're both here-

Shinya held the apple she had rolled to him again. Two weeks ago, she had begun rolling apples. All of them were perfectly heart-shaped. He wished he could give something back.

Leaning backwards, he nearly started when a smaller hand closed over his rough, callused one. It had to be her.

As she held his hand with trepidation, Akane smiled as he relaxed under her. She was glad he liked the apples - it was the least she could do, after all.

If you won't call this love,
there's no need for words.
Ah, thinking about it, how much I ever think about it-

They, on two different sides of the Law, were slipping. They were slipping, slipping onto a hole called "Love", but they didn't care enough to try to stop this.

-the ending will never change.

Wolves were not supposed to fall in love with Red Riding Hood, and vice versa.

The Hunter saved Akane as the Wolf lunged for her, arms that had merely been reaching for a hug chopped off by the Hunter's brutal axe. "Are you okay?" the Hunter asked mechanically.

"Shinya... his name was Shinya-"

Red Riding Hood thanked the Hunter for "saving" her, but when the Hunter left, she flew to the dead Wolf who would never be able to say what he wanted to say.

Stroking at the soft furry ears that would never perk up on hearing her footsteps again, Akane leaned over him, murmuring brokenly to herself.

"Why did we have to be born Red Riding Hood and Wolf?"

The author is now crying incoherently due to feels.

Review?