Title: Dead Tree
Fandom: Loveless
Characters: Ritsuka, Soubi
Notes: I could so make this longer, but I'm lazy. About 450 words.
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Ritsuka looked at the tree from where he stood on the road with Soubi, silent as the snow fell around them. The tree had captured his attention and he had demanded they stop minutes ago. Even now, shivering with cold, able to see his breath, and feeling melting snow soak his hair, Ritsuka couldn't look away.
"It's dead," Ritsuka finally said, aloud, disrupting the peace of the early evening. Soubi simply smiled at him; he'd been expecting Ritsuka to say something, eventually.
"It's just waiting for the end of winter," Soubi told Ritsuka, reaching over to place his hand on Ritsuka's head, playing with the boy's ears.
"When winter ends, the tree will still be dead. Look at the branches." Ritsuka ducked his head and took a step sideways, so Soubi's arm fell lose and limp to his side. "It's a dead tree. Why has no one cut it down."
"Just because winter has claimed the branches as home does not mean it's dead, Ritsuka. It simply waits for spring, when the weather will draw out the green once again."
"So you're saying that the tree will live when the weather is better." Ritsuka raised his head, looking up to the much taller Soubi. Soubi had to bite back a smile at how Ritsuka's bangs hang in his face, parting enough to reveal his eyes, filled with questions. "When things aren't so tough, it'll be back."
"It just needs the sun and gentle rains and warmth, not the coldness of snow and the winter sun."
Ritsuka says nothing, but takes Soubi's hand again and they resume walking. Soubi doesn't comment on it, but Ritsuka is distracted as they return to Ritsuka's house.
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Soubi was working on a painting when he received a text message later that night, knowing right away that it's from Ritsuka.
"Is it just plants that lie dormant until the spring, or all things?"
Soubi doesn't type out a reply. Instead, he leaves his paints and painting and makes the trip to Ritsuka's house, sneaking into his window. Ritsuka is awake, curled up on the bed, with his eyes on the window, as if he'd known that Soubi would show up.
"Winter is considered the time of rebirth, renewal, Ritsuka," Soubi told him. "All things need a period in which they regenerate." Soubi sheds his shoes and jacket and crawls into bed with Ritsuka, expecting Ritsuka to push him away and demand he leave at once. Soubi's worried, then, when Ritsuka only curls into him, his ears dropping forward and tail curling around Soubi's leg.
"What if the other Ritsuka is only waiting until spring to return?" Ritsuka whispered, pressing his face against Soubi's chest. "He'll not know any of this winter."
