Little birds twittering, calling to themselves as the wind, a cool breeze, picked up, swirling fallen, decayed leaves into a tumble, the noise dulled. Out here in the loneliness of space, where people rarely trodden over, the young woman stood waiting as if trying to hear something.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"By the way, I am Injuuno Henshou"
"Ginbano Eizou."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Violet eyes filled with tears as she shut them tightly. Her fingers gripped her necklace, the cold biting into her.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"I can't tell you about anything of the date. Before we could discuss it, Dad came barging in," She rolled over to her side. "Besides, he was probably lying," She finished sadly.
Her mother gently brushed her bangs before patting her shoulder. "Don't be so sure of that fact. He could come over."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
She rubbed her face, beginning to walk around, if in circles.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"So, Henshou, what kind of family do you have"
"Me? I'm an only child. My mother died when I was young and my father, well, we had our arguments and we couldn't see eye to eye. So I got up and left. I moved here because it's really nice. It's soothing even"
"But it's always busy"
"Keeps my mind off of things"
"Like what"
"Huh? Oh, well, my father...he wanted me to be like him, follow in his footsteps. I couldn't do that. That's why I left"
"What did he want you to be"
"Something that no one should be.."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Henshou.. if only I had listened to you..." She looked up, the sun fading from view to creep underneath the high trees. "I'm so sorry..."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"I trust him!" Eizou protested.
"You like him, care for him, but you have yet to trust him!" Apple retorted. "You can't because you're denying your emotions!"
"EMOTIONS! I'm denying my emotions! I'm going out with him, aren't I!"
"YOU LOVE HIM!"
Eizou was stunned. "I don't even..."
"Know him, yes but time means nothing to the heart! If you love him, look at him and see him for what he is!"
"I DO SEE HIM!"
"But see what I see," Apple sighed tiredly. "Makoto even noticed it! You have too!"
"NO NO NO!" Eizou screamed. "He's JUST LIKE ME! Not anything else! JUST LIKE ME!" She turned and saw Kakushi staring at her. "WHAT?"
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Confusion of the heart had been her downfall and her opening. The first traces of a love too pure had taken it's root only to grow in the shadows of doubt and initial fear.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"You know who I am," She said accusingly.
"Listen to me," Henshou began.
"NO! Stay away from me!" She tried to walk but her legs gave out. "From the beginning! RIGHT?! You never liked me!"
"Eizou!" His voice was full of hurt but so was she as she sobbed.
"STAY AWAY FROM ME! I HATE YOU!" She cupped her face in sobs. Henshou moved toward her weakly but Apple lunged suddenly, landing in front of Eizou.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Of course, with doubt came anger and sometimes, words were said that she had wished she said in a far more better way.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"You never.. cared for me.." Anger flared in Eizou. "BUT I LOVED YOU!"
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So much could be felt about three simple words. The power it held was impossible to be fathomed and she wished she could had held onto it, if to memorize every single details. His warmth, his smile, the soft voice and glittering eyes.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
He smiled as he held her gently. The same warmth filled her and she buried her face into his shoulder.
"You can't be a bad person," She whispered thickly. "You're warm!"
"I never wanted to be a bad person," Henshou stroked her hair lovingly. "I just.. want to be with you, that's all."
She looked up. "You know... who the enemy is, don't you?"
"Yes..." He looked away. "But..."
"Don't have to tell me right away if it's too much. Just..." She brushed his shirt carefully. "Just talk with me?"
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
She could've asked then. It hadn't felt right though but now, too many possibilities gone, the chances lost to the time and she was alone, wandering. She reached out to pick up a single green leave out of the fallen dead ones, the lifeline it once held to a branch cast away from it. It would drain of its life, leaving a withering piece of something that wasn't meant to be alive. But it would return, wouldn't it?
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"I love him..." Eizou covered her face. "I didn't get to tell him! I couldn't.. we knew each other in so little time.. he's gone! I can feel it! He's gone!" She cried even harder.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
How was it that one can be so in tune with another? How many others felt that way? It must not have been a lot, Eizou noted sarcastically. Why would divorce rates be so high? Love was far too fickle and often unbalanced. Eizou knew how she felt about him and how he felt about her but in the end, it wasn't strong enough, was it?
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Why did he fight me... He loved me..." Eizou looked up. "Why couldn't you heal him? You're a mage! Why did nothing work!?" She lay hunched over, her shoulders quaking. "I've lost him..."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
She had to eventually come to the realization that Henshou was fated to a life that he never wanted and had fought to much against. She only wished she could've saved him, done something.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"You will return everything to Nothingness..." It wasn't Henshou that had spoken, nor would he ever return. Void's eyes were soft. "The pain of one's body and spirit will disperse and no one will suffer.. It is the way of Void.. of the entire Nothingness.." He touched her head lightly, the darkness dripping to land around her but not quite on her.
"I'm sorry..." Her eyes welled up as she looked up. "Henshou, I love you..."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Words are useless in the Darkness. Where emotions are only pain, suffering, anger, and hatred, love could barely get through, let alone be consumed. She had lost in that single moment something that had been too fragile to begin with. Even then, knowing what had been lost, how does one accept it, that the love one harbored would never be whole?
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"HENSHOU! HENSHOU! Come out? Please?! Come on... HENSHOU!" She crumbled, sobbing. "Don't make me do this! Please! Don't.. wanna hurt..."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jaro had given her advice, his own way to help ease her, if just a speck of warmth in a slowly freezing heart.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"That will be your greatest power for him. To be saved from the nothingness, there must be a link to break the shell. Love is a powerful weapon and a girl always knows what to do with it. That is why I cannot save him, only you."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
And she had known. That fateful moment, looking into those eyes.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"What do you want, Henshou?"
"Please... sacrifice me..."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Even riddled in Void, the darkness dripped, his body malformed, even then he had tried to say those three words. "Henshou..."
She let go her necklace, feeling it hit her chest with a dull thud. She began to sing softly.
"Sleep well tonight, my little one."
"I will still be here when the light of the sun arises."
"My love in my heart beats within your own."
"Hold fast to the light, and embrace the shadows."
"Someday, we will all be one and the same."
"Someday we will all love each other."
"And someday, we will not be apart because of the night."
She continued to sing this to herself, leaving the hidden sanctuary, her thoughts full of Henshou.
"I loved you and still will.. I only hope that wherever you are, you'll be safe and whole.." She smiled, wiping at her face. "It never mattered to me that you were doomed. I would've given you my life.."
"But at least, I'll remember your warmth, your smile, those beautiful eyes. Oh Henshou, I'll forever remember you..."
She stopped next to a pond, a pair of swans landing with a easy swoop. The couple grouped together.
"Whatever fate I have in store," she once more felt her necklace. "I'll just have to accept it. This is who I am. But I won't forget, not ever.."
She looked up, the stars beginning to dot the skies. She saw the pale, round orb that was the moon looking bleakly down at her. She felt a breeze catch at her hair, pulling forward as her gaze followed the wind.
White hair, golden eyes, and a look of peace was on Jaro's face as he watched her across the pond. He smiled and nodded before they began to walk parallel to each other. She stopped at the turning of the pond, he doing so. She wondered if it were a game but perhaps, it was to reach a meeting point?
The wind picked up again, this time harder, colder. She began to shiver and before she could wrap her arms around her, a heavy overcoat was placed around her, the warmth of the foreign body still radiating from it.
"Penny for your thoughts?" Jaro asked softly.
"I was thinking.." Eizou couldn't meet up with his eyes. "Why did you stay, Jaro?"
"You asked me before," his soft whisper caused her face to turn a shade of pink.
"It may be forever, you know?" She began to walk, watching him out of the side of her eyes.
He kept up with her quick paces, a smile tugging on his lips. "I've waited a long time, Eizou. If I have to wait more, I don't mind. I'm a very patient man."
"Selfish too."
He laughed. "Yes but I can't help it! All I ever wanted to do was protect and protect I will. I'm just not sure.." He turned toward her with a fading smile. "I'm just not sure I can share."
Their eyes locked and her eyes filled with tears.
"You still think of him. I expected as such. Love is a dangerous thing that can ruin as all but it has such healing powers, it must be worth it. Do you think someday, Eizou, you would love again?" He asked, the two beginning to walk again.
Eizou peeked at him, studying his features. He was staring forward and she felt her heart begin to race.
"Someday.." She found herself saying honestly. "Someday I want to have love, a love forever... but I need time..."
"Time heals all suffering," Jaro smiled, his hand reaching down, fingers at first brushing before he boldly grasped her swinging hand. "I promise to protect you, Eizou. That includes your heart. You have all the time in the world to heal. I'll wait forever if you want me to..."
They unconsciously moved closer together, Eizou's mind slowly emptying. All she wanted to do, at least in this single moment, was to remember it. This warmth, this feeling, so similar but different, it was a start.
A start for something new to grow. Something that could be stronger. She would never forget what was. But it was what was and not what is and what is was that simple, single moment with fingers tightened around another, a body close by and words of a promise she knew that would be true.
'Someday, Jaro.. someday...' she promised him wordlessly, smiling at him as they walked home. 'I will protect you too..'