Summary: The tale of the wandering star and the one who is left behind to grasp the stardust.
Warning, this contains SPOILERS for the END of the novels, so if you do not want to be spoilified, then please turn back (but I'd love it if you'd read... ;D).
This style is a little different, kinda in fragments, so sorry if it's a little confusing in some spots. That's how it's supposed to be. :)
I'm back again! Just wanted to do a little something for the most precious boy in the world: Shion/Sion!
Happy birthday Shion!
I present you a gift, *shoves Nezumi and Shion into a kis–*
*coughs* Yeah, sorry, fangirling got out of hand. ;3
The quote that started it all...
"The wandering star and the fixed one. Someday our paths will cross again. When that happens, I'm not going to sit quietly and let you go." ~ translation of vol.9 last scene by Canis M on LJ
Disclaimer: No.6... does not belong to me. ;_;
The Wandering Star ~ ✩
/September 7th/
Vacant crimson eyes stared apathetically at the date circled on the calendar.
Shion wondered if Inukashi and her little tyke Sion came by and circled the date without his awareness. It was possible, with the reorganizing and recreating and rebuilding of the new city that was once known as No.6. It filled his head with racing thoughts and no moments of rest.
Just the way he wanted it to.
A year later, still no word, he's finally 18, and he's still waiting.
Year
Time moved like an eternity, yet it always seemed to slap him in the face each year.
The boy who was not yet a man stared blankly down at the wooden floor of his home while pushing off his working boots. He slowly walked to the room, which was half his workroom, half his bedroom (he always ended up falling asleep on top of his books and papers), and shut his eyes reflexively at the blazing sunset rays that filtered from the large open window.
The window he left open each year since his depart.
He stepped into the room, embracing the casual evening breeze, still with his eyes closed. Because he wanted a miracle to happen, he wished will all his soul, that the boy that left three years ago, would suddenly appear from the opened window, like that stormy night long ago.
But he felt no presence of that dazzling being with soulful eyes. Even so, he prolonged the inevitable. As he strode steadily to the window and placed slightly trembling hands on the windowsill.
Crimson eyes, alit with the orange-red sunset, snapped open when his fingers brushed against an incredible softness and heard the unmistakable crinkle of paper underneath his fingertips.
A folded piece of paper, with the flower of his namesake resting on top.
Shion almost let out a gasp of elation.
A shaky smile bloomed on his flushed face instead.
After year
A note came, with a little flower resting on top.
The flower was an aster, a shion, he didn't have to think of why.
Today was september 7th.
After year
He walked into his empty house, leisurely taking off his white coat with closed eyes and a small frown. His eyebrows knitted as he heard a faint chirp from his working room, as he opened his crimson orbs to a shadowed hallway. The bright sunlight of the sinking sun shown contrast with the rest of the hallway, as if a paradise world was just beyond and in that room. The light was warm as he saw dust particles float lazily in the air.
The chirp came again, and a scattering of little rat paws.
His gaze suddenly lit with a flare of life which hadn't been seen in years, as the boy who was now a man scrambled into the room, hands clasping the white doorway frame with a desperate grip.
Hopeful eyes stared into an empty room.
Empty, quiet, and a little lonesome; except for that open window (which he left wide this morning), and a small white paper, which ruffled in the breeze.
Purple petals waved at him gently.
"Did you see him," He mumbled between the pillow, lifting a gentle index finger to Tsukiyo's little chin. "When he left that gift..?"
The little creature chirped softly, beady eyes as dark as night, revealing nothing but a little spark of fondness, as it shivered in pleasure at his languid petting, eyelids squeezed with glee.
Shion felt a pang of uncontrollable jealousy, as he forced his eyes shut. While he drifted off, mumbling the word, "Lucky..." For the mouse really was.
He was the luckiest soul in the world.
He wondered, if in his dreams, the mouse hummed in agreement.
Year
Shion dreamt of soft silky blue grey hair, and mysterious siver eyes that glinted oddly.
It unsettled him, how those eyes in his dream, and even trickling into this memory, were —off.
They couldn't capture that spark of vitality, of overflowing life that dwelled in those glowing eyes, like it did long ago.
And it terrified him.
How his memory of the time spent together when he was 16, was slowly starting to dim...
It was human nature of the mind. To live, and forget.
But Nezumi was the one person that he couldn't ever forget. Not for anything in the world. Not even human nature.
He may had cried, unconsciously. The tears did nothing but numb his heart.
And he lived on, a somewhat lonesome existence. He watched the little Sion grow, Inukashi blossom into a fine mother, Rikiga get on track with his life as a reporter once again, and his mother bake that fine cherry pie every once in a while.
He laughed, read stories, helped rebuild the city. But he never dreamed.
And the only moments when his dead heart moved, was with the mention of him.
Of Nezumi.
And it both soared and broke each time.
"NEZUMI!"
The name tears out of him, desperately, as he clambers into the room, frantic gaze on the open window, as he swears he sees a flutter of dark tresses and his heart nearly stops.
But then it is gone, whatever it was, and the young man is left in a stunned silence, his crimson eyes never straying from the window.
He sees a flutter of pale purple petals, and that familiar white letter in his peripheral.
The white haired blinks, shaking his head, mind swimming with the overload of what just happened. He stumbles to the windowsill, eyes trained on the letter and flower. For if he were to look out the window, he knew he would jump out and run and run until he could find that frustrating rat.
He opens the letter with shaking hands, and slaps a hand to his lips to prevent the sound that would have come out if he didn't do so.
I'm alive, and glad I met you.
"Stupid." Shion chokes out, shaking his head roughly while letting the hand on his mouth fall. Bringing the other arm to wipe away the tears that were cascading down his cheeks, unstoppable.
He could taste the saltiness, and wondered when was the last time he cried like this, like the child he felt he was.
His face morphed between a bitter frown and a painful smile, "You knew I wouldn't let you go, if I saw you."
He thought of leaving, going off on his own to find the rat that vanished without a trace.
The man that still held his heart.
But then the promises come back, those binding words, and he started to realize that waiting for someone was more difficult (painful) than chasing after that person.
So he decided to wait.
So that Nezumi would be proud of the man he became. He would give Shion one of his rare smiles (the one that held no sarcasm, no sneer) and perhaps a fond ruffling of his hair. With that warm hand of his that had saved him again and again.
Y e a r
His ears buzzed with the gloriously familiar laugh, it was deeper, but somehow warmer than before.
But then it was gone, as quick as it came.
Reality slammed into his frame as a harsh breeze rattled the open window and yanked roughly at the aster's fragile petals.
Shion let out a lost breath, as he stumbled toward the shaking window frames and shut them closed securely. He heard a crinkle of paper hitting the floor and looked down, too numb and enveloped in a deep sense of loss and longing to comprehend the meaning of the flower.
His fingers shuffled and opened the letter with muscle memory, as clouded crimson orbs gazed down upon the few words written.
"—!"
No voice came out, only the mouthing of words he so desperately wanted to tell the boy all those years ago. When he was cut off with those lips that were hot, tender and fierce, it left his soul breathless.
Those words echoed endlessly in his head, filled with all the emotion he felt for this silly boy who, indeed, was now a grown man.
He repeated those pure words that held a future and possibly a destiny far too great to describe, and they tumbled out in a chocked wail that came out no louder than a horse whisper.
His shoulders trembled, like they carried the heavy weight of the fate that ensnared the two boys' souls, their fate.
" ' I love you ' "
The sole words scrawled on the letter.
and
There Nezumi stood; tall, dark, and handsome, like a dream.
He closed his eyes, and breathed. The shion dancing in the breeze.
Nezumi, I'll be waiting.
No matter how many years pass, no matter how old I get, I'l be waiting here for you.
The wandering star and the fixed one. Someday our paths will cross again. When that happens, I'm not going to sit quietly and let you go.
Nezumi, I'll be waiting for you.
"C'est la vie, your majesty."
The man, who was a rat, or perhaps a mouse, bowed deeply, then turned away.
"I'm —"
Among the stardust, I met you. If we can meet again with our feelings unchanged, that'd be great. I can't return to the past, but even my tears will change into light that will surely shine on tomorrow.
When I can't sleep, I'd be happy if we quietly held hands. When daybreak comes, I'll whisper. It's alright even if it's a lie.
The wish that will never come true. Tonight, the constellation that will be removed has disappeared, and already can't return.
On this endless night, I have one wish. That light would shine on this sky with no stars. Even the star that is too far and transient will surely light up and illuminate the night sky.
The miracle that I came across in the stardust, is inside the crowd and out of sight again. The night that I cried for the past that I can't return I'll say good bye to it, and will surely shine on tomorrow.
Though it was only a small constellation, It has been notice that it was once here.
Thank you…
~ Rokutousei no Yoru by Aimer
You're choice to what happened at the end, I'm leaving it ambiguous. ;D
I absolutely love that line (mentioned above), when I read the ending... I kept getting drawn to it. ^^
Canis M on LJ translated the scenes from volume 9. I thank her deeply.
And the ending, the song, it just fit. I hope you didn't mind, I can always take it out if I get enough comment on it, like it effects the flow of the story, but I personally love it. ^^
Oh, and a happy anniversary for Nezushi! (or Shizumi, whatev~)
Ha ha, oh do I love those boys. ^^
Thank you for reading, please review!
They make me fill with warm fuzzies~ ^ ^