Another Day
Time heals all wounds, but it cannot smooth away all the scars left behind.
Zero was not a peaceful man, already at seventeen he was the old man down the street that had been broken by time. He was bent and broken, ravished by the sands of time that scrubbed away the goodness of his life. Zero was aged far beyond what he should have been, his skin dry and flaky, drooping with exhaustion. Perhaps his aging, the suffering he served at the hands of time was metaphorical but it felt very real to Zero.
Some days when he sat up in bed he felt as though his bones, so aged and dry would collapse in on themselves smothering his twitching black organs. Perhaps it is his organs that will give in first, his skin far too weak his own bones, which spearing up through his body finally end his life. Then Zero stands up, and gathers his things so he can get ready for the day. Zero is always shocked at how strong his legs and bones feel, at the sinewy strength of the muscles covering his frame. It seems impossible with how brittle he feels on the inside.
Zero is not a peaceful man, and will probably never be one. There are times of peace though, times when Zero can feel whole they are few and far between, but all are treasured. Most of them occurred with Yuki, Yuki who was his oasis. She was the water to his water starved system, she was the moisture that helped to cement his delicate bones into place and cleanse his dark innards. Zero wondered when his oasis had tried up, left him and left him so parched and dry that it truly felt like he would die. Maybe it was when she was turned into a vampire, or really it might have started long ago and some interminable point that Zero had completely missed.
Slowly Zero's life support had slipped away, leaving him far more brittle, far more dry.
But Zero was used to things slipping away from him, or really being ripped away from him. Like his parents, which almost every time he thought of them now he thought more of corpses more than anything else. His memories would all warp becoming malformed so Zero had stopped trying to remember for the fear of what accompanied those memories. The twisted crumbling corpses with the tortured expressions, the blood dripping slowly or spattering Zero across the face.
Zero's parents had slipped away from him as easily as sand, seeping through his fingers to be lost amongst the thousands of other grains.
Ichiru, Ichiru would be always too painful to address. Ichiru was never to be spoken of again, thought of but never spoken of. Ichiru brought up such complex emotions and thoughts it would always be hard to deal with. Zero would always resent his brother for what he had done, for the pain he had brought Zero. Zero would always, for eternity love his brother. Zero would always feel guilty for being the one to suck away the last moments of Ichiru's life, Ichiru was the one to break the brittle bones of Zero's mind.
And that was how Zero found himself facing down Yuki, and painfully contemplating her murder.
Then again, this is just another day, another painful time in the never ending pain of Zero's life. This is just another scar to add to the neverending list of the wounds time cannot heal, or attempt to heal but always leaves scars behind.
This, this is just another day.