Spring Showers
By Kitara Lira
"Take my hand."
"You're crazy!"
"Come on just take my hand."
Everyday it's the same boring routine.
Get up;
Get ready;
Go to work.
It's as if all the excitement died the moment we grew up; joined the real world.
If someone had told me joining the real world meant shackling myself to a ball and chain I would have said no thanks and turned right back around.
It isn't that I enjoy being treated like a child. Hell, there aren't many people who enjoy being so powerless. The adults always get the final say. That is of course unless you decide to walk out; plunging yourself into the frigid waters of reality.
Let's just say I never really liked the cold. I love being buried under a mountain of blankets whenever the temperature dare fall below zero (1). I enjoyed swimming through the crystal blue lakes, gliding through the azure liquid as if I were one of Her own. But perhaps even more I loved to run. Wind coursing through my hair, fluttering back and out of sight… You see it is always easier to run from reality. The faster you ran, the longer it took to catch up.
-
"Natsuki come get your baby, she's chewing on my shoes again."
-
Of course there is always a point where running is no longer feasible.
-
"Aww, is my baby getting picked on again? Shizuru she's your baby too! And she's just having fun."
"And what would happen if she just had fun with your favourite sneakers?"
"Touche."
-
I suppose you stole my breath. After that, running became impossible.
-
"Ne, Shizuru?"
"Yes Natsuki?"
"Do you want to go to the park with me? Mayo needs to go out soon anyways so…"
"Why you insisted we name our dog after that hideous white stuff I'll never understand."
"Oi! It's not hideous! And I figured since you banned it from our house that it was only fair I named her after it. Besides, I think she likes her name, don't you Mayo?"
"Natsuki, that's only because your eyes go all dreamy when you say her name and you spoil her rotten. Look she's getting a tummy, just like you."
"I am not getting a tummy!"
"Ara…"
"Anyways are you coming or not?"
-
Sometimes reality isn't all that bad. It is how I met you wasn't it?
You were lost in the middle of the city. No money because you had lost your wallet. No phone because you had lost that too. I was surprised you hadn't lost your shoes. Personally I would have lost those first, but that wasn't the point. The point was, out of a city of six million you bumped into me. In a city of six million…
It wasn't then; you didn't steal my breath then. Okay I lied, you did, but not in the same manner. An elbow to anyone's solar plexus is enough to take them down and out for the count. No, it was several weeks later when we just sort of had this habit of bumping into each other. Not literally, thank goodness.
-
"Okay."
-
You showed me that reality didn't always have to be cold, nor did it always have to bite.
Funny, you made my boring everyday routine… a lot less boring. Of course you also made it a lot more stressful. Whoever said having a relationship was easy lied. It wasn't all about the sex, but it could sure be interesting. And it wasn't all about the looks, though if I must say we look pretty damn dashing together.
-
"Eep! Natsuki quick there's a shelter over here."
"Forecaster didn't predict any rain."
"Well he lied, it's raining cats and dogs. I hope it finishes soon."
"…"
-
You were always so proper, elegant, even poetic! It was just who you were. Business; it ran in the family veins.
So whenever you were with me – and reality allowed – I drew you to experience being a child again. Even though you tried not to, that proper edge no doubt fine pressed into your bones at birth – I knew by the way your ruby eyes sparkled… that you loved it just as much as I.
-
"Natsuki, what are you doing?! You'll catch a cold, come back here!"
"Mou, Shizuru, I'm dancing in the rain… haven't you ever just wanted to try it before?"
"And be bed ridden with a cold for a week, no, not really. Now please come back under the shelter Natsuki…"
"Take my hand."
"You're crazy Natsuki! You're soaking wet and you're shivering I can see it. Come back under here!"
"Come on Shizuru, just take my hand."
-
I wanted to make you live. I didn't want our lives to just be dull and boring like everyone else's. We didn't need a routine; no strict schedules to follow.
Just us.
Together.
Relishing in the small natural joys life has to offer.
Together.
Forever.
-
"See Shizuru the rain isn't so bad. Not when we're together."
"Baka."
"Heh heh, of course, but only yours. Now would you accept a dance with me?"
-
And there we were – two dancing fools. We didn't need any music. We didn't need any fancy clothes. Just the two of us, under this blanket of rain.
And after the rain stopped, sunlight breaking through the clouds, we didn't stop. Just you and me, together, our bodies one in this dance.
-
"Heh, now we can say we've danced together in the rain."
"…baka… thank you Natsuki… I'm happy."
"Me too Shizuru… me too."
(-1-) The temperature is noted in degrees celsius, not in fahrenheit.