Autumn: Chasing Shadows
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The mountains reminded her of multi-flavored popcorn. It was early October, and the trees were turning in their greens and olives, revealing reds, yellows and oranges for their leaves. The country side was a colorful blur framed by a certain shade of blue that reminded her of a robin's egg as she sped down the expressway doing a hundred and fifty without her noticing it. Dark, wide rimmed sunglasses were perched on her pointed nose, but nonetheless, she found herself squinting, what with the afternoon sun directly in her eyes.
Cagalli has always hated driving to Sapporo. It was just too damn long, and her legs always grew too damn tired of the six hour drive. Not to mention that the drivers in Sapporo were totally reckless and she had barely gotten out of the city without having her Subaru scratched, or more so mauled over. She wondered why her brother didn't just let her drive him to Memambetsu airport. No, it had to be in this airport… and then she had to drive all the way back. Alone. She hated driving alone.
The expressway was deserted and for that, she was grateful. Especially when she finally realized she was tearing down the road like a madwoman. Slowing down a bit she took the time to look over to the mountains to her left, then to her right and she scowled at what she saw.
Everything looked so damn perfect as if it were mocking her. Low, wispy clouds hung over the colorful mountains, casting ghostly shadows over the landscape. Cagalli sniffed and clenched the steering wheel tightly. Her temper was getting the best of her. She should stop.
Blowing at her blond bangs in frustration, she returned her eyes to the road.
And screamed.
There, smack in the middle of the expressway, was someone – who she believed should not be there at all – on a bicycle, looking up at the clouds as if he were dreaming.
Cagalli found her foot slamming on the breaks at the same time her hand slamming on the car horn, her sunglasses toppling off her nose. Her car barreled down the road, barely slowing down at all, and her heart nearly jumped out of her chest when the idiot still did not look like he heard his impending doom.
"Get out of the road, dammit!" she roared as she banged on the car horn and heard the wheels of her vehicle screech as finally, her breaks bit into rubber. But it was too late.
Her eyes widened as she saw the person – a man – looked over to her, a dazed look in his green eyes, before her bumper crashed against metal, and something – oh, Jesus – tumbled under her vehicle with a violent sound. She did not remember closing her eyes, but the moment she felt her seatbelt biting onto her body, her arms unconsciously flew over her head and she waited for her car to come to a full stop.
There was only one thing in her mind when she finally dared to open her eyes and lowered her arms from her face.
I killed someone… I killed someone…
She felt her whole body trembling when her eyes darted left, then right, and found the silence nerve wracking. The road was still deserted, and she felt her blood run cold in her veins when she didn't see where the man she had run over was. This was horrible! Scenes of her getting locked into jail for reckless driving and getting a ticket for over speeding flashed in her already panicking brain.
She collected herself and unbuckled her seatbelt with a sweaty hand. Her legs were numb but got herself to tumble out of the driver's seat with whatever remaining energy she had. She had killed someone. Oh, Jesus…
She had to balance herself on the hood of her car as she realized that the man was nowhere in sight. Was she just hallucinating?
She whirled around to search for her victim and the next thing that happened completely wiped her worry away and replaced with relief, then with wild, searing anger.
Right there, kneeling on the right hind wheel of her Subaru, was the dark haired boy in scruffy blue jeans and a dirty brown coat with an overflowing backpack on his shoulder.
Her heart skipped a beat at seeing she did not run someone over. She was not going to jail!
The boy looked at her with those startling green eyes, and the realization that he was not at all harmed or even shaken at what happened made her temper rise once more.
"You idiot!" she yelled as she gestured wildly at him. "You are one damn lucky fool I didn't run you over! What the heck were you doing in the middle of the road! Cloud watching?"
With this, the man stood up slowly. Cagalli swallowed hard. It was quite unnerving to see that he was at least a head taller than her, and him having the most penetrating eyes was not helping.
"Shadow watching," was what he said, his voice steady and clear even with the wind picking up in the deserted road.
For a moment, Cagalli thought the guy was whacked. "What?"
"I wasn't cloud watching. I was shadow watching." He gestured at the car and shrugged. "And you ran over my bike… "
Cagalli placed a hand on her temple, not hearing what he was saying. Her head was spinning. This idiot was making her brain hurt. "I have no idea what shadow watching is. Personally I don't care what it is. You were in the middle of the expressway – "
"Can you move your car off my bike, please?"
Cagalli eyed him in disbelief. "Your bike – "
"Yes, it's under your car."
Cagalli stared at him.
He stared at her.
Cagalli felt a vein pop out on her forehead. "WHAT THE HECK IS WRONG WITH YOU? I NEARLY RAN YOU DOWN AND YOU – "
The guy completely ignored her and kneeled down on the ground, peering under her car. "Forget it, it won't be of much use to me since you've pretty much crushed it completely."
Cagalli held her breath. It was what her doctor told her to do when she was losing her temper. Take a deep breath and hold it in for ten seconds.
One… two…
The guy shook his head and turned to stand. His placidity about everything annoyed her.
Three… four…
He looked at her once again. He did not resemble someone who had almost been run over by a car.
Five… six…
"You look quite mad… " the guy started.
Sev – Oh crap!
She nearly exploded. "Don't you even have the slightest sense of danger! You almost died! I almost killed you!"
And that was when she finally got a reaction out of him. He blinked, looked at her some more, then spoke, "I'm sorry. I'm not from around here."
Now he tells her!
He continued to speak as he began to dig into his backpack. "I came here to look for something. I came from Rausu."
At the mention of the name, Cagalli almost fell to the floor. Rausu was the small fishing village in the north-eastern part of Hokkaido. That was several cities and mountains away! And at this cold weather. "You came all this way on a bike?"
With this, the guy laughed. He had a nice laugh, Even though it was a tired one. "No, no. That would be insane. I took a train."
She eyed him suspiciously, then turned to look at her car, where she could see a bent wheel poking under it. "They let you in the expressway on a bike?"
Amusement flickered in the boy's eyes. "You're not on the expressway, Miss. The road just opened up to the highway." He gestured at the ground, making Cagalli slightly nauseous. There, on the grey pavement, were familiar white stripes that she hadn't noticed until now.
A pedestrian lane…
Oh… dear Lord… I almost ran down a pedestrian…
But she was still in denial. "But… there aren't any vehicles… How can this be the highway?"
The guy gestured down the road at something Cagalli couldn't see. "Some men are working on the left side of the road and getting all the cars to detour to the circling path."
Feeling like a complete idiot, she looked down at the car and bit her lip. "Err… I'll move to get your bike… err… out of there… " She clumsily hopped into the driver's seat and rolled off the bicycle, wincing every time she would hear a loud 'clunk-clunk' of metal against rubber. The guy watched her from outside, stepping a bit away as she backed off the bike, which she saw the moment she stepped out of the car, was a crumpled heap of wheels and rusty metal and chains.
The guy looked at her like she ate his first born child. "It's completely wrecked…" he said.
It annoyed her, the fact at knowing that the guy was not the one who was wrong, and that it was her fault. She grimaced when her eyes fell onto the bike. It did not resemble that of a bike anymore. "Yeah… well…" She shrugged. "At least I didn't hit you or anything… erhm… "
Green eyes shifted uncomfortably, and it took Cagalli but a few seconds to realize what was making him nervous. They were in the middle of a deserted highway. No vehicles, no convenience stores.
She scratched her arm uncertainly and shivered as a cold gust of wind blew from the north. Clouds danced over the colorful mountains surrounding them, and she had to keep her hair from flying to her eyes. She looked around and was surprised to see the afternoon sun breaking through patches of clouds, casting heavy shadows over the landscape, creating a wonderful tapestry of colors, light and darkness that made even Cagalli stare.
"Look at them. Aren't they wonderful?" asked the guy, who Cagalli immediately looked away the moment she found herself staring at him. The wind played at his dark blue hair and he did not give a care. He stood there, hands gripping onto his dirty back pack, completely distracted from the demise of his beloved bike. And she watched him watch shadows while she stood there wondering why the man had to travel this long a journey just to watch shadows play in mountains when he could watch them back home.
"So, uhm… " she started, gesturing at the broken bike on the ground. "Do you need a ride?"
It took the guy a full minute before he finally looked away from the scenery and down at Cagalli. "Is it okay? Even up to the next town will be a wonderful help."
She shrugged. "Sure." It was her fault why he was stuck here to begin with. It was the last thing she could do. "Shall we… uhm… gather your bike… or what's left of it… "
It turns out the guy wanted his junk of a bike with him, so they loaded it up on the trunk of her Subaru in silence. The trip was even quieter. The fact that the guy's shoes were dirty and scuffed irritated her to death, especially when she had just cleaned her interior not two days ago. But what can she expect from a guy who traveled all the way from the other side of the island?
Turning down the highway, she saw the bunch of men the guy had pointed out earlier, and a stream of vehicles making a detour away from the road they had been to. Cagalli frowned. Great. Not only was she stuck with this complete stranger, but now she had to be stuck with this complete stranger in traffic.
She turned to the passenger seat and watched as the guy still hadn't torn his eyes away from the scenery. She turned her eyes back to the road, then back to him. "So…"
"Yes?"
"What's your name."
The guy finally turned to her, his green eyes searching her face, making her face heat up. "Athrun."
"Okay."
And they were silent. It pissed her off that he didn't bother to ask for her name. She drove down slowly – she hated driving slow – along with the other vehicles in the crowded road, before she finally asked the question that had been bothering her ever since she stopped for him back there.
"What were you looking at in the middle of the road that you didn't even hear me coming?"
His answer did not satisfy her curiosity. "The shadows."
"Shadows?"
"Yes."
And they were silent again.
Cagalli Frowned. "Why?"
"They are pretty."
Now that completely threw her off the loop. "You traveled all the way here to see shadows? You could have watched shadows where you live."
Athrun, with this comment, looked away. "Not there. All we had there was water and fish. Never shadows. No one can draw shadows there." He hugged his backpack to himself.
And Cagalli decided to leave it at that. She was starting to think the man was seriously disturbed. They drove in more silence to the next town where Cagalli decided to take this Athrun person to the train station in order for him to get back to whatever town he came from with little difficulty.
The sun was directly behind her when she finally pulled in front of the station and unbuckled her seatbelt. "Here we go."
Athrun was out of the car in a second and had gathered the remains of his broken bike from the trunk the next. His backpack was still slung over one shoulder.
Cagalli stepped out of her car and watched as Athrun struggled with the broken bike, and wondered what it was in his bag. She shrugged. "Will you be okay?"
Athrun finally managed to keep the bike into a neat pile of scrap by his feet and he looked over to her with a smile. "I will. Thank you for the ride. I suppose I have to go back home. I've been gone for too long." But before he ever did move to leave, he quickly opened his backpack and pulled out a flat letter sized cardboard, a bit rumpled around the edges, then handed it to her. "Here."
Cagalli eyed the thing before uncertainly reaching out to take it. When she turned it over, she was surprised to see it was a small charcoal canvas of the scenery she had passed in the expressway right before she bumped into Athrun. The likeness was so surprising that she stared at it for a full minute before realizing Athrun had started to walk away.
"Hey!" she called out to him.
He stopped in his tracks and looked over his shoulder. "Yeah?"
"Are you some sort of artist or something?"
That made him laugh. "Nothing of that sort. I merely chase shadows." And with that, he turned and continued walking, the dilapidated bike under his arm, and the backpack over his shoulder, the sun at his back.
Cagalli frowned. What a weirdo…
She hopped into her car, looked down at the paper for a brief second, and threw it on the passenger seat.
She snorted. Chasing shadows…
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Yuugiri: Two days ago, I've been through a long trip and back and the scenery was wonderful. This just kept on playing in my head, and I really mean it as a One shot that can possibly open up into something longer, but there aren't any promises. I just felt like relaxing with it.
First time I wrote a story that is very, very AU.