A/N: After a decade of not writing (I exaggerate, but it's pretty damn well close!) I am returning to the world of ffnet! Yay!
Anyway, my first attempt at Monochrome Factor, so I hope it's not too bad. Obviously, the manga and anime don't belong to me. If they did, there would be no Haruka, because his personality just annoys me to death. And there would be more AxS fanservice (and more RxS, duh!) and generally more shiny pictures of Ryuuko and Shirogane being bad-ass in flashback mode.
Counterpoint
Ryuuko is the light, and Shirogane is the shadow.
For as long as he can remember, it has always been that way.
They were two existences that had been brought to life together, and would accordingly die together. And for all that he would grumble and constantly gripe at Ryuuko, and throw fits about his indecisiveness, his failure to understand the meaning of the word 'punctuality', and his excessive gentleness, he had never thought otherwise.
Ryuuko is Shirogane's light, and he is Ryuuko's shadow. Together they form one complete being.
When Homurabi saw fit to kill the King of the Rei, with nary an explanation and a cat-like, satisfied smile, the light in Shirogane's heart was mercilessly extinguished, replaced only by a dark bitterness. The sight of his other half stained in crimson as Ryuuko struggled to utter a final warning bled through his closed eyes, threatening to consume even his will to live. He had lost all hope, or at least he thought he had, until he had set eyes on the boy whose face was identical to Ryuuko's.
Then he had started plotting. He could feel Ryuuko's soul calling to him within that frail human body, and he had vowed he would do whatever it took to bring his light back to life again. The invitation to restore the balance of light and darkness was only a façade; once the factor of light was returned to the boy Nikaidou Akira, Ryuuko would come back.
Surely, he had rationalized, as the memories of the Light King flooded back, so too would his real self materialize to the surface. The boy had proved to be useful as one of his Shin children, and his role was essential in order to reclaim Ryuuko's title of king, but in the end, there was no question who Shirogane wanted to be by his side more.
The silver haired man sits up on the bed, sheets exposing pale skin bathed in the moonlight. His blue eyes land on the sleeping figure next to him, almost accusingly so. Seven years have passed since the human called Akira has taken over the position as the Direct King of the Rei, and if there is a figment of Ryuuko's soul left, he has not seen it make an appearance.
Have you really abandoned me? The question is on the tip of his tongue, but he knows no one will be listening, least of all the person he wants to ask. Absentmindedly, he brushes back a stray strand of hair from Akira's face, eliciting a sleepy groan from the young man. He freezes.
He loves Akira in his own way, truly, he does, even if it pales next to the sheer need that pulls at him whenever he thinks about Ryuuko, which he tries not to do so much anymore, but gestures like these make him hate the dark-haired man in equal parts, if not more.
Gestures that Shirogane recognizes all-too clearly in another life, another time when he had been whole, light and shadow fused together, and shared his everything with a man who shared the same face, the same soul.
He struggles for control, breathing in deeply before he expels the air in an inaudible puff. When he thinks that he has restored a semblance of calm, he reaches out his hand to caress the smooth skin of Akira's cheek.
His fingers tremble slightly, and he sighs, unable to help himself.
"Ryuuko."
…
The air that doesn't quite touch Akira's cheek tingles with nervous energy, and he barely resists the temptation to open his eyes and end the charade.
Shirogane must think he's asleep, for him to let his guard down so much, and so easily. The subject of Akira's resemblance (or lack thereof) to the deceased King of Light is taboo between them, and he's fought to keep it that way. At first, Shirogane had resisted, of course, and no sooner had they made peace than the silver-haired man would inevitably comment that Akira was so uncouth and impatient, and couldn't he be just a little more like Ryuuko, but Akira's made it clear that he hasn't become king to be the deceased man's duplicate, nor will he stand idly by and take the comparisons silently.
For seven long years he's struggled to obtain Shirogane's respect and distinguish himself from his predecessor, and to some extent, he thinks to himself grimly, he has succeeded. The majority of Ryuuko's memories are wholly his now, and he has no problems summoning the powers that the former king wielded so effortlessly.
The dreams at night, however, are something he has kept secret from the silver-haired man. Something he will continue to keep a secret and take to the grave with him, if such a thing exists for a person in this world.
If they were simply erotic dreams, the kind of dreams any other young man his age (although thinking about his past incarnation as Ryuuko, he wasn't really as young as he though he was, was he?) normally had, he would have passed it off as nothing special, maybe even made light of them just to see the horror and shock replacing Shirogane's practiced smile, although inevitably it would have escalated into another argument about how he failed to live up to Ryuuko's reputation yet again.
He ponders the thought. Well, and after the quarrel, ideally some make-up sex wouldn't be bad. Scratch that, he'd be getting down and dirty with the real Shirogane, not the façade the Shadow King had constructed to fool him into compliance, and nothing, he's found out, is sexier than Shirogane when he's worked up into a rage and he's snarling obscenities in Akira's ears. He supposes that makes him a masochist.
Indeed, there is no greater proof of that than Akira's own willingness to stay with a man who is obsessed with someone who shares his face and in all likelihood sees him as just a convenient substitute.
Being seen as Ryuuko's substitute has never scared him before; he and the previous king are alike only in appearance, and the gap in personalities is so fathomless that there is no way Shirogane can have continued to fool himself completely, not when he's moaning Akira's name in breathless little gasps, chanting 'Akira' like a litany that would save him and his hands grip Akira's shoulders so tightly that they leave purple finger-shaped bruises…
It's the voice that has started haunting his dreams that has him worried, and with good reason.
After all, it's the voice of someone who's rightfully supposed to be dead.
Ryuuko's voice.