Comments: I've only seen Juuni Kokki/Twelve Kingdoms up to ep 20. I've read some of the translated novels. That's it. Don't expect too much from meh. :( A very Taiki-centric drabbling, takes place in "this" world.

Ache
by RubyD
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His room is filled with paintings. It is small, but Takasato Kaname makes the most of his simple four-walled bedroom. Here, on this piece is what looks to be a griffon, and on this a field of giant crystals, and of ghostly arms reaching out of air. It is the museum of his mind, covered with the fragmented, hazy dream imagery of fantastical creatures and lands he had never seen before. There nearly isn't room left, and the only thing keeping him from putting pictures on his ceiling is the hesitant look on his lovely but nervous mother's face towards her strange son. It is a fearful expression.

His stance shifts, as if something presses against him.

Takasato imagines there must be some order to the chaos of paint and color. Although he never enjoyed the sight of blood, the color red dominates one section of his wall, the one with the window. One painting in particular draws his attention: it is an eye, red and intense. He wonders why looking at it causes a tightening of his stomach; he thinks it is out of fear. But at the same time, there is a hollow loneliness and a sense of wrongness in his chest, and a vague feeling of being far, far away.

He places his fingertips around the lid of the picture, and closes his own eyes. He is sure that it has to do with his missing year - the last seven years of odd occurrences, strange deaths, and forgotten dreams that leave him smiling in the morning. But outside of his bedroom he does not smile, and he wishes he could stay inside and asleep forever, if only to keep whatever curse of his from hurting the people around him.

With his eyes shut, he balls his hands into fists, tight and white.

Again. There.

He thinks there is something with him, something that brushes against his leg, large and powerful. Is it the curse? Is it a ghost haunting him? Go away he tries to say, yet he can't, because he doesn't think he really wants it to. Because it leaves him feeling warm, calmer, and closer than ever to whatever secret his soul has locked away.

He sighs, suddenly weary, and turns away from the paintings to lay himself down on the bed. Now he stares at the ceiling, blank and empty, with its single light. And yet that, too, brings some sort of unexplainable peace and longing. The bright shining circle is familiar, yet somehow small… much too small…

The thoughts are confusing and make him feel uneasy. It is only early evening, but Takasato covers his eyes with the back of an arm, and hopes for numbing, forgetful sleep to arrive. And once more that presence - no, those presences - lay beside him, surround him like a protective cloak, and it is no surprise when sweet darkness quickly claims him.

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End? :0 It sounds more like a first chapter to something.