Last Whispers
By Nix Winter
Disclaimer: I don't own WK.
Warnings: Death fic
White hair.
Crooked fingers.
Silent.
"Mr. Fujimiya," the nurse said, "You have a guest."
He did not look up.
Ninety-three and if he sat still and stared out the window he could remember so clearly. The sound of Youji's laughter, the sound of Youji's moans and the soft skin of his lover's inner thighs. Youji hadn't been soft everywhere, just his lips, right behind his ear, his inner thighs. Though his hair had been nice, so full of curls and silky.
Youji would be home soon! And they would go dancing, or perhaps they'd just stay home. Someday he was going to have a fireplace and he was going to make love to Youji right in front of the fire. He smiled, ignored the empty sensation from not having put in his dentures.
"Mr. Fujimiya," the nurse said, sterner. "Please. I understand last night wasn't a good night, but there's a Mr. Hidaka here, from a legal firm."
"Ken?" he looked up, violet eyes narrow and still sharp as katanas. "Kenji Hidaka?"
"No, sir," a young lawyer said. "My name is Youji Hidaka. I'm Kenji Hidaka's grandson."
"Grandson," Ran said softly, his mind catching up with the present. "It's very nice to meet you. How is your grandfather?"
"He has no worries," Youji Hidaka said gently. His grandfather had passed away five months prior, both grandfather and grandmother, and Ran had attended the funeral. The deaths had been unexpected, but natural, both slipping away together. "We received some items that were salvaged from a downed plane."
"Youji's coming home on a plane."
"Yes, that's the plane," Ken's grandson said gently, placing a yellowed envelop onto Ran's lap.
"Youji's coming home! I knew he would. I feel like I've been waiting forever!"
His hands thought were stiff, the right hand locked almost as if he were holding something long and firm, oval and important.
"I think Youji sent you a letter. Would you like me to read it, Grandfather?"
"Yes, please, please read me Youji's letter." Ran's eyes were full of light, "No, wait. I don't need the letter. Youji will be here soon."
"Grandfather? Youji died fifty years ago."
"Youji's here. Youji, where have you been? Aya chan is getting married to that idiot next week and I need you to be here with me! I told you that mission was a bad idea. Look at you? Why are you all dressed up like that?"
"It's best to just let him alone for a little while, when he gets like this," the nurse said. "It's been years though and he would never tell me who Youji was. Was that his wife?"
"Youji was his husband. I'm named for him." Youji Hidaka said, pulling a photo from his jacket pocket. In the photo was a blond man, sunglasses down his nose, sitting on the back of a park bench, a young woman who looked like a younger Ran, and a younger Ran himself standing behind both of them, a hand on the blond's knee. All of them were smiling brightly as if time would never move forward. "My grandfather took that picture."
To Ran though, there was only he and Youji in the room. Youji wore white, his hair a little longer than it had been, his sunglasses silver, and the wings, so wide and bright like they could fill the room with sunlight. "Are you ready now? The kid is going to be fine. I told you so."
"OH! You've always got to have the last word! But you're right. Did you write me anything good in that letter? Why didn't you tell me there was a letter? You didn't suffer when you died? Why won't you tell me these things?"
"I have to have the last word? Listen to yourself, maybe? The living don't need to know so much about the dying, but come on, Ran, I've missed you so much. Come with me now?"
"Do I get wings like that too?"
"No, you get black pointy ones, you demon," Youji said playfully, his face young and eyes such a brilliant green. "Seriously. You can have what you want. It's not like death is that pre-ordered. Maybe you'll sort that out for us, Ran, uh?"
"I love you!" Ran said, smiling and suddenly he had all his teeth again and was standing up when Youji gave a tug on his hand. Somewhere distant, he could hear the nurse yelling and the boy calling him 'Grandfather'. Well, he was, in a way and he had been worried about the boy, but now as his time to move on, and the boy's time to stand on his own.
"I love you too, Ran." Youji paused, turned, and pulled Ran to him, one hand moving over a now youthful face again. "You're so wonderful to see. No more secrets. We'll see everything, enjoy everything. We'll always be together."
The kiss might have lasted years, tender, intimate, souls reunited. It might be that nurses took special attention to the next resident of that room because it was just so nice to walk back to that corner of the building, so much happy energy there.