Kira Izuru knelt at the headstone, bowing his head. He pressed his hands together, his lips forming silent prayers for the deceased, blonde hair falling in a sheet in front of his face, shadowing his closed blue eyes. It had been many years since they had died, and Kira's prayers were beginning to lose any urgency they once had, turning now into a mere hello. The fragrant smoke of the lit incense wafted into his face as he rose his head to study the names of his parents engraved into the cool gray granite headstone with a wistful gaze. See you soon, he thought, rising. Mother. Father. He turned on his heel, slinking away, staring at the ground. Another uneventful visit to his parents' grave. Kicking at a pebble, he glared to his right at the rustling trees. Abruptly, his cheek came into contact with a shoulder and a neck, and his foot caught on an ankle, causing him to tumble forward.

"Maa, someone ain't watching where they're walking!" A mocking voice said from above. Izuru pushed himself up from the ground to kneel and rub his cheek, irked. A spidery hand was offered to him, and he grudgingly took it, long white fingers curling around his palm. He shivered, and allowed himself to be pulled to his feet. Another ivory hand joined the other, efficiently brushing off the shoulders of Izuru's dark jacket. "There ya go," The voice said. Looking up, Izuru took a step back from the face smiling back at him. Silver hair framed a pale face, and a snide smile that forced his eyes into half-closed slits. The skinny hands retreated into pants pockets. "Ya look familiar. Do ya come here lots?" The young man asked.

Izuru stuffed his hands in his jeans pockets and ducked his head. "Yeah. I visit my parents' grave. Quite often, actually." He said to the ground.

"Ah," The young man's silver head bobbed up and down, his unnatural smile never falling from his lips. "The Kira grave. I'm Gin, by the way. Ichimaru Gin. Good to meet you." He held out a thin hand. Izuru shook it, immediately returning his hand to pocket. Gin's fingers were cold. "My old man's the grounds keeper here."

"Nice to meet you." Izuru kept his eyes trained on the gravel of the path. What was this guy doing, visiting such a secluded grave like the Kira's, even as the ground keeper's son? "I'm... Izuru."
Gin's smile grew somehow larger. "I'll just leave you on your way then, Izuru-san." He gave a small wave as Izuru ghosted past him.

Izuru looked up at the sky, shrugging off what just happened. All it was was a strange boy, the son of the grounds keeper, who was merely making rounds and happened to meet Izuru.

It wasn't a week until Izuru returned to his parents' grave. He was so busy with school, what with the end of the term and all. Summer recess began, week after next. So again he knelt at the cold granite headstone proffering prayers to the dead, head hanging, hands clasped, incense burning. He looked up as a rain drop landed on his parents' headstone and rolled down it, leaving a trail of wet behind itself. Another landed on the back of his neck, and another on his hand. He stood up after several minutes as the rain began to fall more heavily in a summer shower, soaking his jacket and extinguishing the incense. Turning to head back to his car, he was met by a smiling face.

Ichimaru Gin stood in the rain, holding a black umbrella in one slim hand, his taunting yet steely and familiar smile plastered to his pale face. It was grim, like a scene from a murder film. Izuru surpressed a grimace. "Ya looked lonely," Gin said, shrugging. "An' now ya look wet. Would ya like an umbrella?" Gin held out the depressing-looking umbrella.

"Thanks," Izuru said, trudging up the path to receive the black umbrella from Gin.

"No problem." Gin's cheek twitched in what appeared to be a wink. "Allow me to walk ya to your car. It's the blue Toyota, right?"

Izuru gave Gin an odd stare. "That's creepy." He shuddered as Gin threw up the hood of his gray raincoat, the two of them shuffling down the gravel path.

"What? I have lotsa time ta kill, ya know." Gin put his hands in the pockets of his raincoat, rain dripping off the brim of his hood.

"Don't you have school? The term ends next week." Izuru asked, gripping the handle of the umbrella.

"Can't afford it." Gin stated simply.

"Oh," Izuru said, looking down.

"It's all right," Gin's smile looked sad. "I don't feel like I'm missin' out on anything." Izuru flicked a sideways glance at Gin. "Your eyes are blue," Gin noted, his smile returning to its usual mischievous nature. "So are mine." His cheek twitched in a wink again. "But enough about me. Let's hear about you." Gin nudged Izuru with his elbow.

"Well... If you must know, I'm a student and I drive a blue Toyota."

Gin snickered. "There's gotta be more to you than just that. Whatcha studying?"

"I'm majoring in philosophy and minoring in poetry." They entered the main part of the cemetery, the gravel of the path turning into pavers, headstones lining the narrow aisles. An air of melancholy settled around them, the kind that was unavoidable in a place like this, surrounded by so much death and decay. The rain still poured down, and Izuru was glad for Gin's depressing umbrella.

Gin's dark blue galoshes stepped in a puddle. "Sounds smart. Do you got any hobbies?"

Izuru looked down at his soaked canvas tennis shoes. "Poetry, I guess. I don't have much time to do things outside of work and school, you know? Life just gets crazy when you try to maintain a hobby, too."

"Ah," Gin said, nodding. "That makes sense."

"Mmhmm."

The two fell into silence, the sound of rain pattering around them, a calming sound. Izuru breathed in the fresh, wet smell of precipitation, and thunder clapped somewhere in the distance. Gin giggled an almost sickly disturbing giggle, and ran ahead of Izuru on the path, throwing his arms out for balance. He turned to face Izuru, his smile looking nostalgic and distant. Izuru wondered why, the subtleties of Gin's smile moving something deep within himself. "Don't ya just love the rain?" Gin asked, his voice gaining a soft and sad quality. A strong breeze blew pricking rain into their faces, and a violent shiver shook Izuru's slim body. He hadn't noticed how cold it was, for the middle of summer.

"I guess so," Izuru flinched as lighting lit up the dismally gray sky. Gin let his arms drop.

"Sure is raining hard," Gin breathed, tipping his face to the sky and allowing his hood to fall off his head. Rain soaked his dull silver hair and ran down the back of his neck, his lips closing over his smiling white teeth.

"Yeah." Izuru agreed. He must be remembering something, he thought, studying Gin's distant face.
Gin closed his eyes all the way.

'Dad, dad! Look at the rain!' Gin splayed his tiny hands on the glass of the window, looking out at the rainstorm. 'When do ya think it will stop?' The window fogged around his hands.

Gin's father strolled up to the window, ruffling Gin's bright pewter hair with a large hand, making him laugh. 'It could rain for days,' he rumbled. Gin's father was a strapping man with brawny arms and a graying beard with smile lines that created crow's feet which splayed out from the corners of his happily squinted eyes. He, in a word, was a jolly man. 'But that'd be okay. We can all cuddle up with your mother in front of the fire when she gets home from that business trip. And when the rain does stop, we can jump in all the puddles with those brand-new red galoshes you got.' He added with a twitching wink.

Gin threw his arms up in a victory pose, a beaming smile spreading across his cheeks. 'Awesome!'

Momma never came home, Gin thought, opening his eyes to slits again with a sigh. ...It was raining when she died.

"Gin-san?" Izuru waved a hand in front of Gin's face. "What's up? You blanked out for a little and stopped smiling."

Gin blinked. "Do you want me to smile?" His ear to ear grin returned, accompanied by a snicker.

Izuru stepped back, sputtering. "What? You're just smiling all the time and it's weird when you don't! Hey, don't look at me like that!" Izuru jabbed a finger in Gin's direction.

Gin's smile just grew somehow bigger, rain running down his cheeks in rivulets. His arms hung at his sides, rain dripping off tips of his spindly fingers. He threw his hood up again.
"Don't we have a car to walk you to?" Gin asked sweetly, fluttering his eyelashes.

Izuru narrowed his spiteful eyes. "Right."

They carried on down the path, Izuru kicking crossly at a stray pebble. Gin's aloof personality irked him. And he was stalking him, to boot! How else would he know what color and type of car he had? Izuru chewed his lip, feeling awkward.

Even as they began to near the parking lot, the rain didn't let up as it roared down from the heavens. Izuru began to wonder how Gin could keep his musing smile without his face hurting. He must have years of practice, Izuru thought as his Toyota came into view. I wonder how many.

"Uh oh," Gin said with a laugh in his voice, bringing Izuru back down to earth. "Someone left their windows down."

Izuru's eyes came to rest on his unrolled windows, and soaked car seats. "Oh, come on," He whined, hiding his face in the palm of his hand.