It didn't turn out as well as expected, but hey. Enjoy.
The redheaded boy looked up from his work to see the taskmaster leading in another child, one just about his age.
Ael noticed: This one was Japanese. The kid wore a sakura-colored yukata that stopped at their shins. The kid had thin eyes and sakura colored hair, watching as the others worked, harvesting crops from the fields.
The new kid was led roughly towards Ael, and the taskmaster said, "You teach this kid, Ael. You'd better keep the rest of the filthy Japanese in line too."
Ael sighed as the burly man left, while the kid was sitting on the ground, expressionless, if not traumatized.
"Hey." Ael said, kneeling down beside the new kid.
"Hey, listen, if you don't want to be rough-handled, you'd better do your job here, kid. There aren't too many girls around, so the others aren't exactly respectful." He continued, standing up.
"I'm no girl." The kid said with only the slightest of accents. "Well, with a face like that, things won't be easy for you." Ael said, sounding dry though being serious.
"Here, let me teach you what you need to know." Ael continued when the boy didn't respond.
"I didn't catch your name. I'm Ael." He said, holding out a hand.
"Lamiaru." He replied. To Ael, it almost sounded like Lumair, but he knew better. For five years of his thirteen-year old life, he'd been around some Japanese, and had learnt a bit of the language.
"Well, then, come on. I'll help you out, Lamiaru." Ael said, in Japanese. The boy looked startled, but finally took his hand.
"Hey, Miaru, are you done with that side?" Ael called. The other boy nodded silently, swinging a sharpened bolo one last time and taking down the last of the crops on his side.
The two handed bundles of harvest to the others and stole away from the rest of the children and teenagers still working on their chore.
They ran into the forest, the taller boy pulling the older one along, unseen by anyone.
"Here. It's here!" Ael exclaimed, picking up into a sprint while Miaru followed, a questioning look on his face.
They stopped at some tall trees, and a formation of rocks.
"Doushitano? What is it?" Lamiaru asked, looking at the large rock formation questioningly.
At that, Ael grinned and disappeared behind the rocks. When Lamiaru went over, Ael had disappeared.
"Where are you Ael?" Lamiaru called out, standing on top of some rocks.
He gave a frightened yelp when he was pulled into what seemed like a space in a rock ledge.
"Shimatta! Ael, you startled me! I could've fallen down ten feet!" Lamiaru yelled angrily at the laughing redhead.
"Miaru, you worry too much. I wouldn't let you fall. Well, don't you think this is an amazing place?" Ael said eagerly.
Lamiaru looked around, noting the light streaming from the space he entered from, and the coolness of the cave.
"Hai. But still…" He started.
"Miaru, you worry too much." Ael repeated, lying on a large pile of dried leaves and inedible dry crop.
"How long have you been staying here?" Miaru asked.
"I only found it a few weeks after your arrival four months ago. I fixed it up a bit before I decided to show you." Ael replied, motioning to Miaru.
The latter boy sat down beside Ael and the redhead got pulled into a tight hug.
"Is this your ajito?" (A/N: Secret place/hideout… I think ;) Lamiaru asked meekly. "It's ours." Said Ael with a nervous smile as Lamiaru kept his arms around Ael's thin body.
"Arigato, Ael." Miaru said quietly, resting his head on Ael's chest.
"Ael, what would you say if…" Miaru started.
"If what?" Ael asked, wiping sweat off his face.
The two were seventeen now, and the closest of friends. It was unusual, since the Americans and Japanese weren't exactly on the best of terms. Not that it mattered there; American or Japanese, or whatever else, all the kids and teens were laborers in the harvest season.
"If… Oh, nothing." Miaru sighed.
"Wha-at?" Ael asked.
Miaru shook his head and struck a stalk with his bolo.
His sakura hair had grown longer, and Lamiaru looked more like a female each day.
"Miaru, you're pretty." Ael said one day while they sat in unusual silence in their ajito.
"Wha- Naniwoiutennen?" Miaru asked in a confused voice.
Ael laughed loudly, making Miaru pout, only to make the redhead laugh harder.
"I mean, you really look like a girl, that's all." Ael said after his bout of laughter. "And act like one, come to think of it." He added.
"Fine then. Whatever you say." Miaru said in a monotone. All traces of Ael's laugh were gone.
"Hey, don't be so glum. I didn't mean it." The redhead said.
"No, I think you did." Miaru said seriously.
"Why are you taking it so seriously? I just meant-" But Ael's words caught in his throat when Miaru leaned in and kissed him.
It lingered, and their lips didn't even move, nor did they deepen it. It was as if time had stopped for the two, and in truth, they had stayed in that position for the next full minute.
Their eyes were closed and they were only opened when Miaru finally pulled away, a soft blush on his cheeks.
"Miaru… Do you love me?" Ael asked softly, their faces only millimeters away, Ael's lips brushing against Miaru's as he spoke.
"Yes Ael." Miaru replied breathily. Ael pulled him close, letting Miaru's head rest on his chest. They were awkwardly positioned, though neither of them minded, since both could feel the warmth of each other.
"Is that why you were angry at me joking about it?" Ael continued.
Miaru gave a noncommittal mumble, nuzzling his face into Ael's chest.
"Miaru… aishiteru. My sakurabana." Ael said gently. (A/N: Cherry blossom) The two were sweet and awkward as Miaru slid into a better position, resting his head on Ael's shoulder.
After all, they were still young lovers, and with the lives they'd led, they had no experience in loving, especially not like this.
But for true love, you don't really need experience.
The twenty-five year old man looked at the long-dead crops that littered the fields. It had been seven years since then, and he had failed in finding him. His sakurabana.
Ael had been freed from the labor seven years ago, but when he was being taken away from the place, there had been confusion.
Children and teenagers who were desperate to get out first, and people who were letting them out.
That day, Miaru was finished before Ael, and had gone. Gone to wait in their ajito. But that was when those soldiers and men who were supposedly law enforcers had come to arrest their 'boss' for the past years.
Ael had tried to go back for Miaru, but they hadn't let him. Along with the others, they'd shipped him off, separately from the Japanese and other foreign children even.
He was American, so he was going home, they said.
He had tried so hard to go back, but they didn't let him. He was sent off on a ship back to America, to a town far from the place, and given proper jobs and a good living.
He was a reporter now, but there was only one story he'd had his mind on all those years: A story about that place.
The years were cruel but when Miaru had come, all that faded away. He took an opportunity, after seven years, to go back to the place.
It was in Japan, of course, so he'd saved up so much for the trip there. But why did he think that after all those years, he'd even have the slightest chance to see him again?
Lamiaru. Ael let his legs lead him to the forest, back to the ajito where they'd met again and again, as friends and as lovers.
Their stolen moments were never forgotten, let alone those secret kisses and intimacies they'd shared for such a long, yet too short a time.
All that time, Ael never cared whether Lamiaru was a man or a woman. He knew the answer to that, but it didn't matter. Miaru was his love; his sakurabana.
And now he was gone.
Ael slid through the hole in the ajito and looked around. It was almost the same as it was seven years ago. Except…
It was empty now. Ael didn't see the face of his lover, smiling at him with that feminine facade.
It was enough to make him shed unfamiliar tears, something he'd kept in for almost twelve years.
It was twilight when he decided to go out of the ajito, just like old times, when it was time for them to go back for a head count before they were given some supper and put to bed.
He heard some noises.
Looking around, he saw some kids playing in low trees nearby.
One look at him and they scrambled down the bark and ran.
"Wait." Ael called, but the kids had gone. He shook his head.
He approached the car as he walked through the fields, when he saw something. Maybe it was just his imagination, but he saw a figure walking down the slope of the road towards him, his face obscured by light of twilight behind him.
And such long hair.
Ael stopped in his tracks and watched as the figure walked towards him. No, it wasn't towards him.
A child went up to the figure. A woman, Ael realized. So he was all worked up for nothing.
He got his story, but a great help that did him. How stupid could he be? He'd never see him again, as long as he lived, and he knew it. He just couldn't accept that.
"Ael, you are acting strange. I've never seen you this down." His colleague, Arnele muttered.
"Sorry, but thanks for caring. Forget about it." The redhead replied.
"Sure, whatever you say. Anyway, I forgot, someone's outside to see you." Arnele said, blowing smoke into Ael's face.
Ael got up wearily and went downstairs.
"What is it?" He demanded.
A young blonde girl looked up at him and said, "Is your name Ael?"
"Yes." He muttered. The girl's face lit up.
I have something for you." She said, holding out a paper.
As soon as he took it, she left.
He sighed and unfolded the paper. On it was an address.
"You've got to be kidding." Ael muttered. But the next day, he'd found the address anyway.
He looked up into the dirty red apartment building. What is this about? He wondered.
He went to room eleven and knocked. The little girl from the day before answered the door.
"Onii chan!" She called into the room.
She's Japanese? Ael thought, astounded.
"Hai, imouto." Said a voice. Ael stood silently.
There he was, standing before him. "Lamiaru…" He let the name slide off his lips after seven years. And he was here. In this city, right in front of him.
"Miaru…" He said it again, as though he couldn't believe what he was seeing. And really, he couldn't.
"Ael. You're here."
Ael nodded slowly, the shocked expression stuck on his face.
Miaru was just how he remembered him, though older, his features more well defined, and if anything, more female than ever.
He was stunned, as Miaru wrapped his arms around Ael's thin, tall body, resting his sakura haired head on Ael's chest.
"Aren't you going to say something? Anything?" Miaru murmured, grip tight around his love's form.
Ael was in a daze, but in turn wrapped his own arms around Miaru, so tightly that he felt like he'd never let go.
"I found you." He finally said.
"I found you." Said Axel, entering one of the rooms in the castle.
"What is it, VIII?" Marluxia looked at the redhead questioningly.
"Sorry… Nothing." Axel muttered, turning around to leave.
By now, they'd forgotten.
Maybe, where their hearts once were, the ache of loss still stayed.
Because after that last encounter in the city, there wasn't anything more.
He'd gone. Why? He didn't know. All Ael knew was that when he came back to see him the next day, the building was empty. Evacuated, they said.
It hurt more than anything he'd ever known. He thought that maybe, he would have more time to spend with Miaru, but after all that, it felt like a dream. A dream better left forgotten.
But it was no dream, he knew. In his hands, he held a sakura colored kimono, tattered with age, but still beautiful. Ael could never forget the first and last time he saw his sakurabana.
"I hate forgetting things." Axel complained one afternoon.
"It's worse to remember what you've forgotten and regret it later." Marluxia said quietly.
"Uh... Whatever you say, Marluxia." Larxene muttered boredly.
Kinda dramatic XD I felt like I was reading what was supposed to be a drama movie. Anyway, Review please, otherwise, my dead sheep will haunt your dreams.
Marluxia: What kind of name is Lamiaru?
Billie: Shut it, Marloopy.
Marluxia: ...
Axel: Whatever. Review, got it memorized?