The Lies That Bind Us
By Anone
Dedicated to Mori-chan
It was turning winter slowly; though the weather was creeping into that crisp white coldness of November and December, its backend still lingered in the warm days of autumn. Like a washed-out cloth the bright city was fading…people that strolled down the streets in the summer now stalked, preoccupied, as gusts of cold wind stirred the orange and brown leaves at their feet. In the mornings frost dusted the grass and rimed the rooftops, and the whole city gleamed in coldness. It was a shiny, chilly, city.
Ikou wouldn't let that get him down. In fact, (what was he saying?) he rather liked it. He had never been able to explain why, but all of his short life he had only been able to see the beauty of things. "Look at the trash heap, disgusting isn't it? What is this world coming to?" someone would spit distastefully. And Ikou would tilt his head slightly, his green beautiful eyes—like jewels-- squinted, a small crooked smile on his lips. "Look at how nature breaks down everything perfectly…." He would murmur, gaining attention. "Look at how the bugs are thriving…that beetle there! Look at its colors! Look how shiny and healthy it's shell seems! I guess the trash is good for him?" And by then the disgust once owned by the trash heap would have shifted over to his eccentric outlook, and the ones whom he'd been conversing with him would have left, leaving him crouching over the trash heap and murmuring in amazement.
Everyday Ikou walked off to work, waved off by his young, lovely wife, while the older woman of the neighborhood looked on wistfully, wishing that they had married an Ikou of their own.
He dressed smartly, in a pressed blue button down and dark slacks, his gleaming leather suitcase swinging at his side as he made his was to the office building where he sat in a cubicle all day and did dull things that as a child he had vowed never to do….or he figured that he would have promised that to himself…if he could remember being a child… Then he came home and had dinner with his new wife and they smiled at each other across the candlelit tables and were truly young and in love. Sometimes they would stay up and watch movies together, cuddled up on the couch and sharing the popcorn, but a lot of times it became too late and they went to sleep, and woke up and started all over.
One day he and his wife came down the steps of their apartment, his smart shoes clicking on the cold cement, and from the fat gray clouds huddled in the sky their came a few small snowflakes, and Ikou caught one in his hand only to find that it was water. Instead he gazed steadily as the delicate flakes of ice danced down from the sky slowly, and he took his wife's hand. "They are so perfect. Did you know each snowflake has exactly six sides, yet every one is different? And I mean, all the flakes are different, not all the sides." His wife laughed warmly, and shook her head. "I do now." Ikou reached up and brushed the icy white flakes from his wife's raven-colored hair, and he kissed her on the forehead. "I love you…I'll see you later."
And he walked smartly away, nodded to the ladies outside taking their trash out and taking laundry down from the lines before it froze, and he grinned as the snow flurried around him, the flakes having become as fat and big as feathers.
Beautiful.
The streets were nearly empty. Ikou wondered why anyone would want to stay inside on a day like this. But as he turned a corner, onto a street lined with skeletal brown trees and awnings dusted with snow thrusting out over sidewalk cafes, he did see one person. "Hello!" He called. The person did not answer. "Sending out some mail, then?" A small breeze picked up and moaned down the street, but other than that, no answer. The person, like Ikou, was also dressed smartly, in a cream-beige trench coat that looked as though it had cost quite a bit of money. He was kneeling down in front of a blue mailbox, his back to Ikou. "Praying, then?" Ikou sat his briefcase down next to the mailbox and knelt next to the man, smiling. The man looked at him then, stiffly, his eyes watering and seeming to be looking through him into a different dimension.
"…Yohji….?"
Ikou's forehead crinkled, and he tried to encourage the stranger by widening his smile. "I'm sorry, I didn't understand you…."
"….Yohji…are you ready to go…?" The stranger breathed, his voice deep and gravelly, like the sound of two damp stones grinding against one another. His pale, shivering lips tilted in a smile.
Without a word Ikou hoisted the man up in his arms, ignoring his cries of protest. It was then that he saw that an intricately carved hilt was thrusting out of the stranger's stomach. Ikou sighed as he began the trek back home. "Well, you're lucky my wife's off today, that's all I can say. She's a nurse, and a good one. She'll fix you right up!" He winked at the stranger, who lay dazed in his arms, a small smile remaining, though his consciousness seemed to have gone.
As Ikou carried this person back to his apartment he could only wonder what he was going to do about missing work. Would his boss believe "I found a dying man in the street and decided to take him home with me?" Well, he would have to, and if he didn't believe the story, than that meant his trust in Ikou was lower than what he deserved. And in that case he would be better off with a different job anyway. He decided this and nodded his head in resolve, the doubt leaving his heart. If things didn't end up okay in the end…then it wasn't the end.
At last he turned the corner where he had waved to the ladies doing their chores only a while ago, and it was now vacant. Past the corner was the Laundromat, and past that was a parking lot, and beyond that he climbed up the stairs and tapped on the apartment door with his foot. His wife answered with a surprised cry, and working together the two of them did what they could for the dying man, whom Ikou had saved from the street.
~~~~~~~~
Well, how do you like? It's just something I kinda did while I was bored. If I do end up continuing, it'll probably come slow, unless I get a really good response. So, Review, if you please. :.:bows:.: Sankyuu ^-^