Author's Notes: Warnings for unbeta-edness, erratic plot line, and no action as of the moment

Author's Notes: Warnings for unbeta-edness, erratic plot line, and no action as of the moment. Shounen ai and all that snazz. Foul mouthing in the later chapters. Cross-over-edness as well. Too many to come sooner or later. Warning for time walks, and OOC/AU.

Pairings: RikuxSora, LeonxCloud, TaiTo/YamaChi (Digimon).

Plot: Walkers are everywhere. Men cursed to walk until the ends of the world. Riku is just one of them hoping to break his curse by immersing himself in a cycle of life and death with his loved one over and over again.

Know that there is a fine line between what is real and what is not. There exists one fine thread that separates the boundaries of man and mystic; of truth and that which bends it; of fantasy from life.

You may call religion a folly, until you have been personally touched by its hand. A lot of you that deny it know not of its power and its influence.

Of its power and its rules.

I have broken one that is so severe, and for that I am paying for it.

This is my story, this is my curse.

Let people know that he who walks the earth until the end of it, now speaks before you.

Chapter 1

1897

"Hark! I prithee, don't lay thine eyes on me!"

I cried. I wept for him, and yet he refused to accept them as his. For he was headstrong, and refused to cave in to sorrow; even at the hour of his death. I cry for him, because he would not cry for himself and for me.

"Pray thee, let me care for you…if not for thine sake, then let it be for my own."

His caramel eyes looked at me with a mixture of affection and ridicule, as if I had told him something to jest with him. His cracked lips curled into that which expressed his disgust at those words I had spoken.

"I tell you, I do not accept charity from anyone. Even thee, to whom I cherish the most."

He was selfish. I don't hate him for that. He was the one dying, but he was still so selfish.

"Then leave this façade of indifference and open yourself to me! "

"Sky, dearest to my heart! Your wounds shout to me of your blood! Your mouth screams of pained breathing! Let me in your heart! I ask, please live for me!!"

I screamed at his face, his face of that which was once a youth's but now belonged to that of a handsome fellow.

I remember when he was but of twelve summer's age. Oh, how his brown hair glistened in the morning sun. His blue eyes spoke no form of deceit but pure innocence.

I held his hand side by side as we strolled through copses of apple trees.

And when six more summers had passed, his innocence bloomed to that of experience and confidence. Words back then had no name for his character, but I would say that he hinted of what I assumed was 'cockiness'. It was a refreshing change, like leaving nectar for drinking honey. He spoke volumes of knowledge; knowledge gained from the streets and knowledge gained from books and scrolls.

Sky had grown in more ways than one.

I held his hand side by side as we sat in our favorite lake, watching the moon and stars.

His parents had died in a raging blaze that consumed the entirety of their house. He wept, he mourned; he buried the whole place in a mound of dirt that rivaled that of a small hill. He refused to let me help, to which I felt insulted. But I understood the pains and sorrow of losses.

So I let him be. And he slept, and fell from exhaustion.

I held his hand side by side as he slept under a tree, and I made sure that nothing disrupted his slumber.

His heart was calloused with the knowledge that it was not an accident, that his parents were killed for the land, which they had lived upon. Oh, innocence! How it mocked him, tortured him day by day. He had gained knowledge of his parent's murderers, and he sought them out.

He was no match for a powerful family. His knife against the swords and guns of his enemies.

Now, I hold his hand as he lay dying in my lap; in an unused barn faraway where no mortal eyes would see until the break of dawn. His many wounds drenched my clothes, and his tears broke my heart. The air reeked of animal shit, and fungus and mildew grew on the damp hay.

This was no place for my loved one to die.

To die.

Again.

Again.

Again.

...again.

This is what I have been doing for the few thousand years of my life. To seek him again and again. To make him fall in love with me and for me to fall in love with him.

And now another chapter of our story is about to close. And he whispered those words that made my heart whole, and broke it again to a million pieces.

My heart was too broken to feel hurt anymore. I cried, yes, but I cried the tears of the dead.

Sky, my love for this century, was no more.

Another one hundred years to wait before the pattern of rebirth would move his soul again. Another one hundred years to bear living like a machina.

Eternal life would have been a blessing for most people if they knew the conditions that restricted them. You live, yes. But your blood stops. Your essence stops in time. You can never feel loving another person, never feel the warmth of the sun. You can never feel the thought behind another person's smile, nor can you feel the heavy weight of betrayal from a close friend.

Indifference becomes your name, until the soul to whom you are bound with is born once again to this earth. Only then will you feel those emotions once more. Only then will time move for you once more.

God, indeed, has mercy.

I slept with his soon-to-be corpse, the heat from him slowly dying away. It didn't matter to me though. Sooner or later, I would feel the same as him. I slowly felt my emotions draining away, with the last bit of life that drained from his eyes.

And yet, even then, his last words to me were always the same.

"You never grow old…"

And so, I give him the same answer as before.

"Hush, sweetness…I will tell you my story when you wake again…"

And so, I give him the same lie as before.

And he accepts it, whether he knows it as the truth or lie; he merely nods.

And he closes his eyes, and he does not regret living.

How could you regret living your life if you end it within the arms of the person you cherish the most?

Tell me…

How?

Because…I have been deprived of that pleasure. I can never die in the arms of the one whom I love. I can only continue to live and bear witness to his death countless times.

Please…tell me how…

1990

He had woken up in the middle of the night out of distress. The silk beneath him shifted slightly to adjust to his fidgeting body. The empty room of the mansion echoed his grunts.

Something was weird. For the first time in his 90 years of emptiness and indifference, his toe was the first to feel something that spoke he was alive.

His toes were cold, very cold. Riku was unsure if it was cold that he felt, for he had forgotten the sensation a long time ago since his dear Sky had died.

Almost 100 years back.

But the sensation was prickling, numbing even. Riku experimentally rubbed his hands and held his toes in it. He marveled as he felt warmth erupting from his hands, and the sensation slowly traveled from his feet upwards his body.

And, to further dilute his doubts, his lips were finally able to curl up into a smile. The first one in over ninety years.

Riku jumped out of bed and reveled in his happiness. Happiness he was deprived as well for the last ninety years. And he wept for joy because he felt happiness once more. And he felt longing, and he felt relief.

It was a sign. He knew that somewhere in this world, his love was reborn once more into another human body.

He had spent the last 90 years earning and making as much money as possible. The last death of his beloved reminded him that the world was not as how it was. Money was starting to make the world go round. Commerce was the lifeblood of living. And unless he was able to scrounge up enough funds for his travels, he would have to bear walking for years and swimming across oceans.

He shivered, remembering the time that he was in the Americas and his beloved was born in China. And being in the West Coast at that time, he had decided to cross the Pacifics.

The first thing he did upon reaching the islands of the once unknown Micronesia, was to scrape off barnacle that had started to grow in his chest.

Brushing off the distasteful memory, he quickly called for his protégé.

"Taichi! Come quick! I need a word with you!

A few minutes passed before a youthful teen with chaotic brown hair and a lanky build ambled to his room. He switched the light on and was completely shocked upon seeing his employer smile.

"GAAH!! Mr. Evans!! You-you-you're smiling?! "

Riku rolled his eyes and tried to calm the young man down. Taichi was even more panicked when his employer attempted to do so.

"Who-who are you and what have you done to Mr. Evans?! I warn you! I'm good with 28 forms of different karate!!"

"Nincompoop." Riku chided, and bade him towards him. He sat down on his bed, and waited with eyes intent for his protégé'. Taichi moved closer with the same level of security.

"Do you remember the time I told you when I would leave the management of my business to you for a very important mission in my life?"

Taichi blinked, tilting his head in askance.

"That time has arrived. I will be off to leave as soon as possible. I will have to leave the fate of my entire corporation to your capable hands, Taichi Evans."

Taichi sputtered. "B-but, Mr. Evans, sir! I don't think I'm ready yet – "

"Shush." He countered immediately. "Over the last ten years since you entered here, you've grown more adept to this business than I have."

"You earned my trust and thus, should I not earn your confidence?"

Taichi weakly shook his head, unable to believe this was happening.

"All I ask is that you support me from the dark, my young protégé. I have lived my life for the sole purpose of being a vagabond. I cannot be bound by anything except for something I hold personal. I assume you understand what I mean when I would refer it to as 'the matters of the heart'."

Taichi raised his head, surprise evident. "A-are you in love, Mr. Evans?"

Riku merely laughed a gentle laugh. "I have always been in love, dear boy. I was merely waiting for that person to appear in my life."

Taichi was unperturbed by the laugh. "I never thought you were even capable of falling in love, Mr. Evans. It's just that you rarely smile, and you have never even thought of taking in someone within the years I was close by your side. And then, this night, I see it."

Taichi whispered.

"And all I can say is that…you have the most beautiful smile I've ever seen, Papa."

Riku shook his head gently, his hair following the motion. "I am sorry for that, Taichi. I have deprived my son one of the pleasures I'm sure you have wanted for me."

"I'm just happy." Tears fell from Taichi's eyes. "When you picked me up from the orphanage, when you cared for me, when I graduated from the top of my class, when I started running your businesses; you never smiled. I had always thought what I did was never enough to make you smile..."

"I am sorry." Riku felt sadness, and he basked in its sorrow. "It is the fault of no one; and I am sorry you got hurt because of it. But let me tell you right now, my son, there had never been a moment in my life that I had felt disappointment in you."

Taichi finally was unable to hold himself back and ran to his foster father. He wept and he shook as he held his foster father close. Riku also wept and his tears fell on Taichi. And Taichi grinned at those tears, tears that were deprived to him just the same as with his father's smiles.

"You're so beautiful, papa." Taichi whispered. "I remember your face ten years ago when you adopted me, and it is the same face that is looking at me now. You don't age…or my eyes must be merely fooling me."

Riku made a gentle knock against the side of his child's head. "Childish flattery will get you nowhere, Taichi."

Taichi made no comment at first and merely buried his head in his father's bare chest. "It's true papa, you're still as young ever. It's like you're still eighteen years old."

"See this white hair? That's what you gave me for each trouble I had to fix for you."

Taichi stuck his tongue out. "Your hair had always been white."

Riku grinned back and hugged him tightly. "I guess your right. Your old man is really getting old."

"You and I both know you're naturally blond papa." Taichi made a small 'hee hee' sound, enjoying his first ever hug from his father figure. The previous nature of his father made no advances for parent and son interaction.

"I love you, Taichi."

"I love you too, papa."

"And someday, I might bring someone I also love to this home. Will you be able to accept him or her?"

Taichi was a bit surprised, and looked at Riku eye-to-eye.

"Her? Or HIM? Papa, are you okay?"

"Mhmm." Riku hummed a reply. "Will you accept the one I love into our little family?"

"But papa…you think you love a guy?"

Riku frowned. "I have and I might again." He closed his eyes before opening them once more. "Would I expect a problem from you if that happens?"

"Papa…you know it's wrong, right? That's what our teacher at Sunday School once told us."

Riku sighed. "Taichi, tell me something, is loving another person a sin?"

"No…"

"Then good." Riku replied. "Are there other problems?"

"But it's a crime." Taichi meekly replied.

"Oh?" Riku raised an eyebrow. "I've never heard of the government concerning themselves of the relationships people make…unless of course if it affects them."

Taichi merely looked away.

"Listen, Taichi." Riku placed his hands on his son's bushy hair. "No sin is greater than living your whole life in a lie. To love is natural. There is nothing wrong with loving, Taichi. There would only be if you lie to yourself."

"But Papa…it's wrong to love a guy."

"I do not think so." Riku looked wistful. "If it was a mistake, it was one in a few hundred I have never placed my regret upon."

Taichi looked sad. Riku felt sorry.

"Look at me, Taichi." Riku smiled a bit. "Tell me what you see."

"I see Papa happy." Taichi commented.

Riku nodded. "That is because I have lived my life with only a few regrets. I've lived long, is all I can say Taichi. And the best way to live your life is to live one without deception."

Taichi still muttered.

"A lot of people will start to dislike you papa. They don't like guys who like like other guys…"

Riku brought Taichi's chin up with one hand.

"Do you hate me for telling you this, Taichi?"

Taichi shook his head, tears fell away.

"No, Papa! I don't! I'm sorry for asking!" He protested, burying his head into Riku's bare chest once more. Afraid that his foster father will now start disliking him.

"Hush, my son." Riku whispered. "All that mattered to me was how you would look at me. I could care less for them. It was only you that I cared for, even until now. And sooner or later, another person will come into your life and mine."

"My only wish…is that you would not hate him nor hate me."

Taichi shook his head, denying that anger will take possession of his heart. "Papa, I will never hate you! I can never hate you!"

Riku was happy indeed.

Ever since his love was reborn, he was free once more to feel.

Taichi had always referred to him as Mr. Evans outside the house and even inside. He could care less for him before, for he felt no mutuality with the orphan. He felt nothing at all.

He would hope this would not change.

Breakfast that morning had been the most animated ever since they moved into that mansion. Riku was still baffled by the dynamics of his once-thought-to-be-quiet foster son. He bore witness to their morning rituals everyday since he recognized Taichi as his legitimate son.

Not that it was interesting. There morning rituals once consisted of sit-down-eat-and-read-the-newspaper type.

Now he was just enjoying himself as he listened to Taichi ramble about everything he observed around him.

"So, Mr. Evans –"

"No Taichi. Call me Papa…whether here or in business. You've earned it." Riku gently smiled.

Taichi looked unsure, though a silly grin graced his face.

"Uhm…P-papa?" He grinned. "The funding you did for those scientists in the research of gene therapy seemed to have successfully pulled it off." Taichi cut in through his steak. "I think it's wise to invest part of the company in genetic technology. I have a feeling that it'll grow big within the next few years."

Riku nodded. "Do what you think is best Taichi. I have faith in you."

Taichi blushed a deep red, but mouthed his shyness with mashed potatoes.

The phone rang all of sudden and their manservant answered it with utmost formality.

Taichi looked at the cordless weirdly and pointedly looked at the butler.

"It is a person who called himself 'Matt', sir. I would just like to warn you that he is very uncouth with the way he spoke –"

Taichi scrambled, and almost knocked his food off the table. With unrelated clumsiness, he fumbled with the phone and discreetly said a mild 'hello' at the speaker.

Riku glanced at Taichi's composure once in a while, pretending to read the newspaper set before him.

"Yes. No. Uhm, yeah. Sure…sure. Ah…yeah. Oh I see…so that's it. Okay, we'll – hello? HELLO?" Taichi glared at the cordless as if it gravely offended him.

Riku sent an inquiring glance at his now pouting foster son.

"It's Matt." Taichi looked annoyed. "The jerk from the orphanage where I came from. He was soooo mean to me when I was still there, but now he's inviting me to his band practice!"

Riku looked thoughtful. "How did he get this number?"

"Phone directory perhaps." Taichi crossed his arms. "All he knows is that I'm enrolled in an elite school, so he thinks I have a lot of free time! Oh, I bet he'll stop pestering me if I told him I'm running a mega conglomerate!"

His foster father frowned. "That's not very nice, Taichi. Both in your attempt of trying to 'ditch' him, and telling him you're actually a business executive."

"Papa!" Taichi whined. "Do I look like a girl to you?! Only girls get to be invited to guy's band practices! And it was a joke! I'm not going to tell him something as highly classified as that!"

"A joke?"

". . .you thought I was serious?"

"…"

Taichi groaned and smashed his head onto the antique Victorian dinner table.

Riku looked pensive once more, observing Taichi's irritation and reddening of cheeks.

An idea clicked.

"My dear little Taichi. So young and innocent. Smart in the business world but poor in the matters of the heart." Riku made small 'tsk tsk' sounds.

Taichi raised an eyebrow before the full insinuation hit him.

"…no. NO! Papa, you are not thinking I like like that jerk! I hate his guts! I don't like him! Not in a few million years! And he's a guy! A MAN! Forgive me Papa, but just because you like men doesn't mean everybody around you shares the same sentiment. I like girls! GIRLS!! With their jiggly boobies and womany-ness!"

Riku sighed, although still smiling. "Just remember what I told you Taichi. I don't have a hold with your personal life. But I just want you to do one thing for me, and that is to live your life honestly and truthfully. You can lie to anyone if you like, because it's in our nature. But never, ever, EVER lie to yourself. I will love you for whoever you are and will be, my son."

Taichi looked sorry and longing at that.

"I'm sorry I burst like that." He stuck his tongue out after. "But I tell you there is no way your kid likes men. End of story."

Riku merely chuckled and downed the last of his coffee before snapping his fingers. Their butler nodded and proceeded to send for the chauffeur.

The blond man neared the brunet and patted him in the head.

"One more thing, Taichi. Hate or like are just the same side of the same coin. The opposite of like isn't hate. The opposite of like is indifference. Because you feel nothing for that someone. And if you feel nothing for someone, you don't care. And not caring means not liking.

Hating is just the same as liking. There's just one difference, my boy. Your feelings don't reach that person. Whether someone you love, or someone you hate; you will and always will form a sort of relationship."

Riku snatched a bagel from Taichi's plate.

"You say he's a jerk, because he's insensitive to your needs. Does it mean that your thoughts aren't reaching him? I just wonder what those thoughts are…"

Riku chuckled, dodging a piece of flying omelet that would have almost greased his immaculate hair.

The platinum blond sighed, just finishing his hastily-set up executive's meeting. A lot from the Board people were bewildered and even shocked that he was leaving Digital Gate Corporation so abruptly. A few more were even more shocked that he was leaving it to his 19 year old adopted kid, Taichi Evans.

Taichi looked robotic, almost ruthless beside his foster father. Riku backed his son up with the same intense glare he remembered giving anyone in his 'emotionless' years.

"He is innovative, efficient and has had personal training from me." Riku slammed both hands onto the desk, sending a few people into near heart attacks. Taichi remained focused, unmoving. "He is my direct representative to the company, as I still hold a lot of the company's shares. His decisions are my decisions, and that is final."

Taichi stood forward and slightly bowed. "An honor to work with each and everyone."

As he rose from his slight bow, his lips were curved in a demonic smirk. A few shuddered, and one fainted on the spot. His eyes glinted with deathly omen, and his shadow seemed to have almost morphed to that of a cackling devil.

Out of the frying pan and into the fire, was the thought that crossed everyone's mind.

Riku forced the memory off, laughing at the comical response his son had gotten for him. He was fully confident his son would be able to fill in his shoes, thus he would be free to search the world once more for his love.