He remembered the first time he saw her, clear as day; the black coat pulled tight around her like a shield against the crowd she'd been walking against, a schoolgirl uniform just barely visible underneath.
He could recall every last wisp of dark onyx hair that danced untamed around her porcelain doll's face and the small lock that had caught in the moisture at the corner of her cherry red lips. A pale hand that reached up to flick the troublesome lock away, just before she glanced up and froze him in place with the deepest violet eyes he had ever seen.
He hadn't known then the details, the why, what such a striking slip of a schoolgirl was doing on this side of town. To this day he hadn't known what reason he'd been prowling those particular streets. Maybe he had been looking for something, perhaps the same thing she had been seeking. All these questions were irrelevant to him now.
She had brushed him off, walked around him without so much as a double take, her red heels driving a clicking echo through his head that drowned out every other noise in the street. His arm had darted out in the space between them, one hand circling her tiny wrist completely. It had struck him how small she was; the top of her head about level with his shoulder. She had swung around, her gaze full of reproach and anger, ready to tear him a new one.
"Wait."
That's how everything had started.
xXx
"How old are you?" She'd already deflected the inquiry of her name. Her violet eyes defied the shimmer of the coffee shop's lights, staying just as deep and dark as they had on the sidewalk as they searched his face. Her lithe, pale fingers curled around the cup of hot tea in front of her; she'd said she didn't like coffee.
"Eighteen." Mercifully she answered before taking a sip of her tea, blowing gently over the surface in attempt to cool it. Her voice was not as he had imagined it: soft, quiet and demure. The tone was level, calm, and perhaps even confident. He could not believe it himself, how fascinated he was by every small thing about her.
"What are you doing out here? So late?" He was fumbling now, embarrassed, maybe nervous. She replaced her tea on the table and glance up at him once more, her mouth puckering into the smallest hint of a frown.
"I could ask you the same thing, couldn't I? It's really none of your business." It may have been taken as angry, the tone of her voice, but she appeared defensive more than anything. She was hiding something; that much was obvious. "I shouldn't have come here with you. You could be a pervert, or a psychopath."
"Would a pervert bring you to a coffee shop?" He was poking fun at her. She glared in response, and he got the impression she didn't like to be teased. "Why did you come then?"
Her face softened as she contemplated, and it struck him then that she was truly beautiful; a woman child with captivating eyes and dark hair against her ivory skin. She took her time in answering, drawing another sip of tea and adjusting the collar on her uniform.
Finally she said, "It was your eyes. Not quite brown. There was something in them when you told me to wait." Her lips curved demurely into a smirk as she added, "Not to mention that orange hair."
He didn't know how to respond. They fell into silence for a while, consumed by the chatter of the people surrounding them that seemed light years away.
"Look, you must know what I was doing here. A girl in her school uniform on this side of town this late at night? It isn't hard to figure out." He swallowed, avoiding her eyes. He'd been trying to avoid that detail in his mind. Her hand slipped across the table, suddenly, covering his and shocking him into meeting her gaze. "Do you want to get out of here?"
xXx
Kyou sighed into his cup of coffee and glanced once more at the clock over the counter. It was one in the morning. He didn't know what he was doing. She had made it clear after all, that it was a onetime thing. She'd refused to give him her name. He didn't know the first thing about who she was.
That didn't change the fact that she had taken over every thought in his mind. He couldn't concentrate. For the first time in his life he had felt something real. He had to see her again. So here he was, in this dingy little coffee shop in the middle of a bad neighborhood, and for what? Some distant hope that she had felt it too, that fleeting flame of fervor that had evaporated at the sight of an empty bed the next morning?
He was kidding himself. Yet there was nothing for him to do but sit here, wallowing in self pity and too strong coffee.
He glanced up halfheartedly when he heard the bell on the door signal someone's entrance. And there she was, her violet eyes meeting his across the room. He met her halfway, and she led him out the door.
xXx
"I didn't think you'd be there." She was lying there, wrapped in only a sheet, her hair a tangled nest on the pillow; vulnerable, messy, but somehow more beautiful than before.
"I came back every night." Kyou admitted. Some emotion he couldn't read flickered over her face. It vanished as quickly as it came, and she moved to get off the bed.
"I should go." She gathered her clothes and put them on while Kyou rose from the bed as well. While she slipped on her shoes he met her by the door, pressing a slip of paper in her hand. "What's this?"
"My number. Call me, if you need anything. If you just want to talk." For a moment she stared at the paper in her hands, at the jumble of digits as if it were a terribly complex math problem she was trying to solve. Then she smiled up at him.
"You're sweet, you know that?" He could feel himself blushing, and knew it all the more when she tried to stifle a laugh at his expense. "Rei Hino. That's my name."
She slipped out of the room before he could respond.
xXx
It had become a familiar scenario to him by now. Lying there in the quiet moments just before dawn knowing that the sunlight would soon steal her away to whatever life she led without him. It had been four months, yet he only knew bits and pieces of her real life. Whenever he brought it up she became distant, cold, and he couldn't bear it. He couldn't live without her, but he didn't know how long he could live just being her escape.
She stirred against him and Kyou pulled her closer, burying his face in her mane of raven hair. He knew she would be up and gone within the hour.
"Good morning," she murmured. He wanted to tell her to go back to sleep, just for a little while. But it was useless. She was already beginning to pull away from him.
"Rei, wait." She stopped, turning back to him, searching his face with her dark violet eyes. Guarded, she always was in the morning. "Stay with me."
"Kyou, I can't. You know I can't." Something took over her face; sorrow, guilt, shame, he wasn't sure. She tried to pull away but he held onto her, his grip firm.
"No, I don't know Rei. You don't tell me anything. At first it was okay, I was happy just to spend what time I could with you, but now," he paused, unsure how to continue. She sat there, listening, her whole body rigid like stone in his arms. "Rei, I love you."
With one quick motion she had jerked away. She stood by the bed, facing him, her expression a mixture of shock and heartache that made his heart want to break in two. For an eternity she stood there, frozen, unable to speak.
Then she said it, "Kyou, I belong to someone else."
xXx
Kyou had lost track of how many times his finger had pressed into the send key on his cell phone, each time more fervent than the last. He imagined if he continued at this rate, the phone would simply break in two in his palm soon. The rain fell in torrents around him; it had started out of nowhere maybe ten minutes ago and pounded him relentlessly since, yet he barely felt it.
Your call has been forwarded to an automated voicemail system. His eyes travelled over the empty, quickly soaking temple stairs, vision slightly impaired by the orange bangs that had plastered down over his forehead.
Sighing, he turned to go. That's when he spotted it, the small red Honda parked just down the sidewalk with the dented in bumper.
Sometimes I just want to be alone. Sometimes I hide in my car. It's the one place where I know no one will find me. Kyou walked forward, as fast as he could without running. He didn't want to slip on the slick pavement, but nothing ever seemed so far away than that tiny red sedan. As he approached he saw her, slumped over the steering wheel, her thin form shaking with remorse.
He went for the door; it was unlocked. Her face popped up, violet eyes wide with shock, fresh trails of tears still sliding new paths down her flushed cheeks. He reached in, pulling her to her feet as gently as he could, and wrapped her in his arms.
"It's not what you think," her voice was pleading, begging him to understand. It was a tone he'd never heard from her before: desperate and heartbroken. He hated it.
"It doesn't matter, Rei. I love you no matter who you belong to." He could hear her sobs over the roar of wind and rain in his ears; feel her still trembling against him. "I'll take whatever piece of you I can get."
xXx
That had been one year ago. Kyou stood by himself, hands in his pockets, reveling in the memories. Inevitably she had ended it. He knew the day would come, but he was a fool to think that any sort of mental preparation on his part could have softened the blow. Over time he had come to know so many faces of the woman known as Rei Hino, but the one he would always remember was the tiny form in a black coat pressing against the oncoming crowd.
He could see her now, across the park, waiting for someone that was not him. It was true he shouldn't have come, but he couldn't help it. He had to know.
"Oh!" His thoughts were interrupted too suddenly as someone bumped into him. He glanced over, and then down at the tiny form of a blonde woman who was flushed with embarrassment, her arms full of bags and binders. "Excuse me, sir! I'm so sorry, I'm just terribly clumsy and I wasn't paying attention."
"It's okay." His red eyes gave the blonde a once over again. Smaller in form than even Rei, with big blue eyes that sparkled like the sun reflecting off of a distant ocean. She smiled wide up at him, all excitement and joy.
"Please, let me make it up to you! My name is Usagi. I'm just meeting my friend Rei for lunch. She's helping me pick out the stuff for my wedding, that's why I'm carrying all this junk. She really gives the best advice though I'd never tell her; it would go straight to her head! Anyway, you should join us, let me buy you lunch." He could barely keep up with her mile-a-minute chatter. Kyou felt himself smile.
"I don't think I would fit in with the affairs of women. I was just standing here, remembering." Usagi's face faded into something a bit more somber, and she looked at him with concern despite the fact he was still smiling. "It was nice meeting you, Miss Usagi. You shouldn't keep your friend waiting."
"Ack! I'm late!" Panic lit up the small blonde's face before she dashed off, still carrying her heavy load of things. Kyou watched her hasten to the other side of the park. He could see the expression of fondness even from this distance as the clumsy Usagi tripped at the last second and sent her books and bags flying all around her.
Finally, he turned away. "Goodbye, Rei Hino."
xXx
Hello! This is part of a series of one shots I've been planning, all centered on songs. The song for this piece is Maroon 5's "She Will Be Loved." I'm hoping this will reset my writing bug since I've been stuck in a block for a while now. Anyway, I don't know how often I will update this, so no promises.
If you want to suggest some pairings, that could be helpful, or even some songs. I can't guarantee I'll use anything but it never hurts to ask! In the mean time, please review. :)
SachiNyoko