Title: Oh, Redeemer…

By: Aina Song

Fandom(s): Wolf's Rain/Gravitation

Genre: Yaoi

Rating: PG

Warning(s): Language. That's it. No, really.

Pairing(s): Read to find out.

Reviews: Yes, please.

Author's Note: Standard Disclaimer. This story was not written for money.

Teaser: Tell a child a story. Tell it to the very end. Leave nothing out. And watch in wonder as that child - any child - will always have a reason to ask, "Then what?"

There is an old legend, handed down from generation to generation until it has become little more than a seldom-remembered lullaby. The tale of a single pack of holy wolves that once heralded the end of the old world to call in the birth of the new. How they journeyed long and far, and surpassed many trials that tested their loyalty to one another.

It is a sad tale, which tells of the tragic deaths of each until only one is left to fulfill the dreams of all. The tale ends with a hopeful note, however, hinting that those holy beasts have and will always return - heavenly spirits that in secret guide and protect the inhabitants of the world they coaxed into being.

It is sometimes said that the youngest of these souls is the one devoted to this selfless calling, and is himself fiercely protected by his immortal companions…

~o~

Shuichi Shindo realized his mistake. He had hoped to enjoy a vigorous hike through the woods in the snow. Thirty minutes into it, his legs had ached. Fifteen minutes after that, his lungs had heaved. Ten minutes after that, his head had throbbed and the world had spun under his feet. Admitting defeat, he had turned around and started back.

And now - three hours after his mightily intelligent decision - Shuichi was very tired and very lost. He was currently sitting in the snow to rest, his back against a tree, arms wrapped tightly about his knees to keep whatever warmth he could. He knew that, if lost while camping or trailing, one should always stay put to better the chances of being found. He also knew that, due to the winter season and what he suspected was the beginnings of a fever, following said rule would give him a dwindling chance of survival.

He knew this, but still he sat. His muscles ached, his head swam, and his vision was becoming blurred. He wasn't going anywhere, just yet.

Something nudged him awake. He could not even remember having fallen asleep. Blinking his soft purple eyes open, Shuichi tilted his cheek atop his knees and stared at what he found. A beautiful dog, like none he had ever seen, was sitting on its haunches just beside him. It was an unusual breed, probably with some coyote mixed in; it had a soft coat of red-brown fur, and calm golden amber eyes. Something clinked as it leaned forth to rub its muzzle under his jaw, and he looked down to discover that four silver bangles hung from its right foreleg. The clarity of his mind had already begun to wither under the strengthening force of his fever, and so to him Shuichi's next action seemed perfectly rational.

"Hey there, boy." He lifted his head, offering the canine a weak smile, "You wouldn't happen to know the way back for me, would you?"

The animal cocked its head to the side, letting out a small whimper.

"Wouldn't you?" Letting the back of his head rest against the trunk of the tree behind him, Shuichi slowly offered his palm for the dog to sniff. "I just need to find my way back to the south edge of the woods. Can you help me?"

The dog took in his scent, then rose up on all fours to press its muzzle into the collar of his winter coat. After another moment it pulled back, snuffing a breath from its snout before lowering its nose to the snow and slowly circling Shuichi's tree. The pink-haired vocalist tried to watch through the blur of his fever; when the canine suddenly barked and tugged at the cuff of his pants with its teeth, Shuichi pushed himself heavily to his feet and began to follow.

His steps were slow, achingly slow. But the animal that led was infinitely patient, only going a few paces ahead at a time and then looking back to wait for him to catch up. Shuichi would stumble up beside it, reaching down to carefully run his hand along the back of its neck before the canine would run off again to start their pattern anew.

He was swiftly losing his grip on the world around him, and at some point he collapsed. He recalled the cold of the snow that froze the side of his face and soaked through his clothes. Vaguely, he could feel the pull of another's gentle hand around his wrist as he was tugged back to his feet. A quiet voice whispered into his ear that he was nearly there, just a bit longer, look, there was the clearing and the cabin up ahead…

~o~

Eiri Yuki was just entering the kitchen for something to drink, when there came a knock upon the front door. Knowing that the next tenants for the cabin were not due for another month, the blond author let curiosity lead him and went to answer the door. And his stark yellow eyes widened at what he found.

"Shuichi…"

"He fell asleep in the woods."

Yuki let his gaze adjust to take in the rest of the picture. His lover's arm was slung across the shoulders of a young teenage boy. This other youth was not dressed as one would expect, considering the freezing cold of winter. Solid red flannel shirt with its sleeves rolled up to just below his elbows, and green military khakis with the ankle-cuffs tucked into swamp-brown army boots.

The boy idly blew coppery red strands from his golden amber eyes before speaking again. "You should take him. He's burning with fever."

Swearing, Yuki took his lover into his arms, noting as he did that the right arm of Shuichi's rescuer was adorned with four silver bangles. He turned away, tossing an answer over his shoulder, "You must be cold, too. If you want, you may come in awhile to get warm."

"Thanks," the boy accepted with a small smile as he followed Yuki inside. "I was hoping I'd at least get to see if he'll be okay before I go."

Yet when Yuki returned after placing Shuichi in their bed, the blond novelist found that the young redhead was still waiting just inside the front door, leaning with his back against the wall. "You can come in and sit down, you know."

Those golden amber eyes darted to him for a brief moment, then the boy went back to slowly assessing his surroundings. "I'd prefer not to," he softly declined. "I won't be staying that long."

Not caring either way, Eiri Yuki crossed to the kitchen to find any Tylenol or NightQuil which might help to break his lover's fever. His unexpected guest was extremely quiet, something Yuki was not used to anymore. It did not make him uncomfortable, but he found himself glancing over toward the front door once or twice to check that the boy was indeed still there. The redhead had barely moved; his arms were now folded over his chest and the heel of his boot was tilted up against the wall. The most noticeable thing was that those golden amber eyes were now fixed in the direction of the hallway, which led to the room Yuki shared with his hyperactive lover.

"He'll be fine," Yuki assured, coming out of the kitchen with a bottle of liquid Tylenol and a teaspoon. "Knowing him, it'll just turn out to be the flu."

"I know," the boy quietly murmured, his eyes never straying. "It's just- The last man I've ever seen with a fever nearly died of it. And then later…" He hesitated, finally dropping his gaze with an uneasy shrug of his shoulders.

"Later?" Yuki prodded, letting his curiosity get the better of him.

After a moment, those eyes lifted again, gently pinning him with their golden clarity. "He died, anyway."

Something in this young boy's calm, almost saddened manner struck a feeling of compassion Eiri Yuki had rarely felt before for a stranger. On a whim, he stepped close to the redhead and handed over the spoon and medicine. "Here. He might appreciate it if his rescuer gave this to him before you leave."

The boy stared, "Are you sure?"

"Just wait until he wakes up for a bit, and get him to take it," Yuki insisted, gently nudging him in the direction of the hallway. "Maybe he'll listen to you without whining for ten minutes before giving in."

~o~

Shuichi's first thought as he came slowly awake was that he could remember feeling a lot colder when he'd fallen asleep. He brought a hand up to rub the ache from his forehead, the fingers of his other hand brushing against something warm and soft. Opening his amethyst eyes, he lifted his head and stared at what he found. "A dog?"

Golden amber eyes blinked open, and the beautiful canine lifted its head from atop its forepaws and watched him steadily. The animal was lying alongside him upon the bed; he under the covers, and the dog on top.

The events in the woods returned to memory, and Shuichi gave a wondering smile as he reached up and carefully scratched behind the dog's ear. "Was it you, boy? Did you bring me all the way back here?"

The calm animal turned his eyes away, toward the bedside table. Shuichi looked, and he found a teaspoon and a bottle of liquid Tylenol sitting atop the table and waiting for him. "Yuki must've left them," he murmured, sitting up and reaching for them. "He must've been so mad when he realized what had happened to me." He read the label on the back of the bottle and took the proper dosage, replacing both bottle and spoon before laying back down upon his pillow. He stroked along the front of the canine's neck, then let it lick his palm before dropping his hand and turning his head away. Within moments, he had fallen asleep again.

~o~

An hour or so later, Eiri Yuki slowly opened the bedroom door to check on his lover. Sitting upon the side of the bed, the quiet redhead looked up at the soft sounds of his entrance. The boy offered a small smile, "He took the medicine."

Yuki looked at the bottle on the bedside table and nodded. "Did he say anything?"

"Only that he thought you might be mad at him." The redhead shrugged, pushing to his feet, "I should leave. I've already stayed longer than I should have."

"Do you have anywhere to go?" Yuki found himself asking. "The nearest town is four miles away."

"I don't live in town," was the boy's patient reply. He rolled his left arm back as though to pop his shoulder, but then he flinched uncomfortably and gripped the upper left quarter of his shirtfront.

Yuki frowned in reluctant concern, "Are you hurt?"

The young teenager stood quite still for some time, but then forced his shoulder the rest of the way back with only the tiniest of whimpers. He looked up again, perspiration beading his brow as he gave another small smile which could not hide the pain in his golden amber eyes. "It's nothing. An old injury I can't seem to forget; that's all."

The blond author was going to ask further about that, but there suddenly came a knock upon the cabin's front door. Yuki stared as the boy's effeminate amber eyes widened, and in the next instant the redhead had raced past him and down the hall. Eiri Yuki followed quick on his heels, but it seemed the boy remembered himself in time to recall that this was not his home, and that answering the door was therefore not his responsibility. The redhead waited some handful of paces away from the door, his hands fisted loosely at his sides.

"Someone you're expecting?"

The boy silently nodded, eyes fixed on the door. Thinking his guest's behavior odd, Yuki nonetheless stepped around him and turned the knob. As soon as he had pushed it just a few inches outward, the door was grabbed from his hand and pulled the rest of the way open. Before Yuki could respond or identify his new guest, the redhead darted past him and collided with this newcomer, causing the both of them to collapse to the snow.

Yuki stared.

The redhead's small frame was straddling that of a man who looked nearly twice his size, his hands grasping below the other's wrists in an attempt to pin him down. The other was a man that appeared to be in his early twenties. He was clad in skintight black leather pants; black boots; a small grey tank top; and a leather jacket that had been torn at the shoulders, which barely fell three inches above the waistline of his pants, its top several buttons left open to reveal an old scar in the shape of a large white 'X'. His white hair was cropped short, with a tiny rattail in the back, and his eyes were even more glaringly yellow than Eiri Yuki's.

Yuki had a few moments to note that these two were very familiar with each other. And as a romance novelist, it was easy enough for him to visualize them as lovers. The one in leather would obviously have been dominate. Which made it very simple to picture the redhead, with his effeminate hair and eyes, as the jailbait submissive.

But then Yuki's musings were shattered as the air filled with the howling cries of what sounded very much like a pack of wolves.

The redhead glanced toward the woods, then returned his attention to the stranger pinned beneath him. "Keep them back, Tsume. I'm okay. Please, tell them I'm okay."

The white-haired man was silent for a brief moment, but then turned his head toward the woods and lifted his voice in a very convincing imitation of yet another baying wolf. The cries from within the woods halted, and it seemed the very earth waited to see what might happen next. The redhead sighed, releasing the other's wrists and sitting up to gaze over his shoulder. "Tell Shuichi that it was you who rescued him earlier. After his fever goes down, it's what he'll have told himself anyway."

Yuki gave him a questioning look, "Won't he remember the truth?"

"Only as a dream," the boy shook his head. He stood, letting the other get to his feet as well. "He won't remember me as you see me now," he added as they both turned and walked away. "His mind was too clouded with fever for me to convince him I was human."

Confused beyond reason by those parting words, Eiri Yuki shook his head to clear it and let himself back into the cabin.

Long minutes later, he handed his lover a cup of ramen noodles and sat upon the other side of their bed with his laptop. Shuichi held the cup in both hands, waiting for the noodles to cool as he watched the blond with curiosity. "What are you doing, Yuki?"

"Research."

The pink-haired vocalist leaned over just a bit to view the laptop's screen. "Fairytales? I thought you didn't like adding fantasy to your novels."

"So I'm trying something new," Yuki answered. "Something about today reminded me of a story I'd read once as a kid. If I can get enough background information, I might be able to recreate it and put a different spin on its plot."

Shuichi smiled, sipping quietly at the broth of his noodles and letting his lover get to work. Maybe one day he could suggest a story based on the dreams his fever had been giving him. A wolf's steady gaze; the clinking of silver bangles; the touch of a hand around his wrist as he was pulled to his feet… Shuichi Shindo shook his head with another smile and stuck his fork into the first of his noodles. Perhaps he should remember more of those dreams, before thinking about suggesting them for one of Yuki's stories.

~o~

"You didn't have to come for me," the redhead spoke as they strode deeper into the woods. "You knew I wasn't in any danger."

"I knew," the other agreed. "But my instincts weren't all that convinced."

"Why not?"

Tsume paused, turning to the young teenager. With an infinite gentleness he only displayed for the redhead, he cupped the other's jaw then lightly let his hand roam down until it slid carefully into the collar of the boy's red flannel. The boy hissed as the gentle touch brushed across an old wound in the left half of his chest. "That's why," Tsume softly answered. "It hurt you again, didn't it."

The boy denied nothing, "Only for a minute."

"Why do you keep it," his companion demanded, as though he had asked those same words many times before. "Toboe… Why can't you let it go?"

And, as before, the redhead glanced guiltily aside before looking up and letting his own hand come up and graze over the 'X' marking the other's chest. "This is a part of you," the boy whispered. "It helped you to become who you are."

"I tried to leave it behind," the older man argued automatically. "I didn't want to come back to you like this…"

"But this is how I know you," Toboe softly reminded. "I would never ask you to change who are, because of me."

"I only became who I am, because of you."

He smiled, "I don't believe that. You're good, and you're strong. If I helped in any way, it was only to help you see it in yourself."

The older youth swore, pulling the redhead in a close embrace. The one called Toboe let himself be held, lifting his own arms to circle around the other's waist. "Tsume…"

"Why?" The other demanded, pulling him closer. "Why did it take losing you to make me see how much you'd gotten under my skin?"

"I don't regret what I did," he whispered, his breath brushing warmly over the mark on the other's chest. "I followed my instincts, and if I had to relive that day I know I'd do it again."

"I know."

"Please don't ask me to let it go, Tsume. I don't ever want to forget."

The other gently cupped the back of Toboe's head, cradling it against the soft echoing of his heartbeat. "Because it's a part of who you are now."

"Yes."

The End