Author's Note: So normally I only write X fanfiction but this idea was bugging me... I may continue it eventually, I did actually have a more involved story beyond this in mind but who knows when I will next have time/be inspired to work on it. XD
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The thing she remembered most about that night was the way his smile looked just like the slender crescent moon behind him; sharp, cold and distant.
The thing he remembered most about that night was the way the faint smell of incense strained through the breeze every time it caught her long tendrils of hair. It was a smell he had always associated with beautiful, dark things.
The cool air of the evening crept beneath layers of her kimono, kissing her skin with a damp chill that promised to linger in both her body and heart.
The usual sounds of animal life were strangely absent and he wondered if they had all gone into hibernation early. Only the sound of the wind whistling through the grass and leaves and clothes remained, an empty sound that merely filled in the gap, waiting for one of them to speak.
He broke first. The thin layer of frost that had formed over the ground crackled, falling in fragile chips of ice under his feet as he took a few steps closer.
"You have a wish?"
She was clearly wealthy and well-taken care of. No peasant had time to comb their hair out to such silky fine strands or money to afford such soft, intricately designed clothing. Nor could they even dream of wearing silk adorned with gold and silver trimmings. Combined with her delicate features and gracefully reserved mannerisms, he guessed that she was nobility of some sort. She was pale, perhaps from not enough rest and too many nights beneath the stars, and maybe a little thinner than necessary, but neither was for lack of food or medical attention. She had her basic needs well-covered.
Not that any of that mattered, he knew. If travelling and granting wishes had taught him anything over the years it was that what people needed and what they wished for were completely different things. Those who had everything were often the ones who wished for more. And so many people wished for things they couldn't have. He knew that part best of all; observation pales in comparison with first-hand experience after all.
He wondered where Kamui was now.
"A wish?"
It's a revealing thing, knowing people's deepest wishes. Being able to see them let him see who people really are, or at least he thought so. It's a private matter though. One's own desires should belong to only themselves he thought. Sometimes it felt like intruding on a personal conversation. After all, one's relationship with themself is more intimate than even any romance could ever be.
"Yes. A wish." He gave her an icy smile. He waited for it, for her to speak the wish she held most dear. The one he could see resting in the deepest part of her heart, gently enclosed in a golden cage, not to hold it where it was, but to protect it from what lay beyond.
"You grant them." It wasn't a question. She had foreseen his arrival in her dreams and knew well what he was.
He nodded anyway.
She lowered her eyes, standing still as a statue as she considered the frostbitten ground between them and the world waiting silently, as though holding its breath.
He imagined her fingering a golden key, considering every tiny turn of its jagged edge before slipping it into the door of the cage and-
"I wish for aid for a group of travelers."
The key clattered to the floor, the cage unopened.
"That is your wish?" He asked softly, feeling unfamiliar uncertainty.
"It is."
He understood the wish, knew precisely what she meant. Despite the vague request she had spoken aloud, her heart had made it quite clear. The wish itself was perfectly comprehensible, at least to him. What wasn't, was her choice to voice this particular wish. Then she raised her eyes again, studying him with veiled curiosity and he caught a glimpse of sage undercurrents.
He bowed, out of respect not for her position as dreamseer or princess, but for her ability to put aside her own true desire for this wish. Then he disappeared again into the night, just as quietly as he had arrived, dissolving into the watery tendrils that captured the moonlight in blinding silver streaks that sank into the earth without leaving a trace.
Like a dream he was gone, and Tomoyo was left once more with her thoughts.
Her true wish… He had wondered why she hadn't spoken it aloud, why she had not sought his aid in fulfilling it.
She swept across the grass back to the palace, letting frost cling to and sparkle across the hem of her robes.
He would not have been able to fulfill that wish for her. That much, she had known as well as he had.
Her steps fell silent on the polished marble floor.
After all, no one, not even one as gifted as Fuuma could make someone fall in love.
Tomoyo knelt by a bathing pool, staring at the glistening reflection that lay in its still waters. She was right, her eyes did hold the same patient but sorrowful acceptance that his had.
She wondered who it was that he knew would never return his own affection.