Title: Time's Lullaby

Author: iyris/ai

Rating: PG13

Genre: Romance, fantasy, supernatural, mystery

Summary: Ryoma was living a dull normal human life, not until when several 'aristocrats' who called themselves 'Nobles' and 'Nights' appeared at his school as exchange students. One thing common about them, all their eyes had a certain color. Having golden eyes, was he one of them too? Or was he just a mere human dragged into another world because of his eyes?

Disclaimer: POT is not mine.

NOTE!: "dialogs"

Time's Lullaby

Blue and Gold,

The Red rips;

Song uncalled,

The Time sleeps.

Chapter One : Ryoma

Golden, says the song;

Hide it, says the night.

The name, it is wrong;

The name, it is right.

Meino Ryoma. Both felt familiar but at the same time, the back of my head was thinking that there was something amiss. Hearing my name felt…not right. Was it the Ryoma? Or the Meino?

-Ryoma

When I came to it, I was already sitting in a dark alleyway. My little arms braced my legs as I pulled them closer to my body. My golden eyes were unusually dull as they stared blankly at the ground. I felt tired. Really tired. To the point of just wanting to sleep for the longest time.

What was I doing?

Where was I?

How did I end up here?

Questions I wanted to answer but never had the chance to do so because when I looked around, all I saw was the dark night with no one around. I couldn't answer them myself, and I couldn't find anyone who could answer them either.

So I returned to my previous position with my head bowed down, having no choice but to keep everything to myself.

"Why is it blank?" I mumbled. I wasn't sad because I didn't know what sadness was. I wasn't angry because I didn't know what anger was. I was just curious why there was nothing and because I knew nothing. Was curiosity enough to make me ask this? Because for some reason, I felt that I was missing something…as if there was a gap inside me.

Then there was a drop.

My eyes widened when I realized what it was. I knew I wasn't feeling anything so, why? My head ached as I kept bombarding myself with questions. Maybe it was better to sleep. That way, I could forget the emptiness…yeah, I better do that.

"Chibisuke, why are you crying?" I was surprised when I heard his voice but I didn't have enough strength to show any reaction. I was sure I heard nothing, there were no footsteps, and I didn't sense his presence at all. How did he manage to approach me so quietly? I just looked up at him. His upper body was bent a little bit forward toward me and both his hands were in his pockets. He was tall but looked young. He was smiling at me and his eyes…they were similar to mine, but his gold was not dull, rather, they shone with pain.

I didn't answer him. I took my time observing him, just staring blankly at him and forgot that he asked me a question.

Then he pulled me up. "Aren't you cold?" he asked as he put the scarf that was previously in his neck to mine. "It's snowing."

Snowing? I looked up at the dark sky, where millions of white snowflakes continuously fell. "Is it supposed to be cold?" I asked, because I was not feeling cold at all. Did the emptiness inside me affect the feel of my physical body?

He shrugged and held my hand. "Let's go. Before you catch a cold."

"Hn." I squeezed his hand instinctively. "Are you in pain?" It slipped out of my mouth. I wasn't intending to ask but maybe because the pain he was feeling was too strong and I felt affected by it that it made me say it out loud. I regretted it the moment he looked at me.

He laughed lightly. "Oh! Do I look like that? You see, I'm having a little problem with my stomach right now so we better get home."

Lie.

"Home?" I repeated instead. I wouldn't ask further. He must have his reasons.

"Yes! To our home, Ryoma."

"Ryoma?"

"Ah, it's your name. It's Meino Ryoma. And I'm Ryoga."

Meino Ryoma. Both felt familiar but at the same time, the back of my head was thinking that there was something amiss. Hearing my name felt…not right. Was it the Ryoma? Or the Meino?

It was when the night was really dark, when the streets were being covered by the white snow, when the surrounding was really quiet, when I was five, that I, the human kid Ryoma, met Ryoga, the person who raised me for the past seven years.

Seishun Gakuen

Present time

"Have you heard?" Horio asked as some rice splattered around.

"Manners, Horio-kun!" Kachirou's eyebrows were knitted again.

Horio swallowed his lunch and cleared his throat. "Like I said, have you heard about the exchange students?"

"Exchange students?" Katsuo repeated. "Ah, yes. Everyone was talking about it, especially the girls. They said that they are some aristocrats from some western country."

"Must be a lie! There's no way aristocrats will attend our school, right, Meino?"

"Hn," I absent-mindedly answered. I just answered because I heard my name. I wasn't really paying attention to their conversation or what exactly it was that they were talking about. I was only interested at my own lunch.

"But I saw three of them visiting the school earlier. They are really good-looking! And they truly look aristocrats, not just some children of a simple rich family," said Kachirou. "What do you think, Ryoma-kun?"

"Thanks for the food," I mumbled and closed my lunch box.

"Ryoma-kun?" Kachirou called once again.

"Huh?"

"Were you not listening again?! We're talking about the exchange students here!" Horio exclaimed. "Kachirou is asking what you think about them."

About them? Ah, I thought I heard about some exchange student earlier. Whatever. "Ah. Not really interested." I yawned. "I'll be back before class." I stood up and searched for a place to sleep. The rooftop would be nice.

"Geez. He's really hopeless," Horio complained quietly but I still heard it, clearly.

"But don't you think Ryoma-kun looks more tired nowadays? Even though he has been more a lot lately." Katsuo wondered.

"I's been sleeping ever since I met him." Horio nonchalantly brushed the topic off.

I thought about Katsuo's last statement as I walked farther away from them. Had I really been sleeping a lot lately? I didn't really care that much so I didn't notice such things. But I felt really tired lately for some reason, my sleep hours were still more than necessary though. Even still, all I could think of was to sleep.

When I reached our not-so-big apartment unit, there was a note and a little box on the dining table. My eyes widened at the realization.

Ryoga must have been here.

"Ryoga?!" I called out. "Ryoga?! Are you here?" This time, my voice was louder as I frantically searched around the place but he was not there. I ran out of the unit, my eyes searched everywhere, hoping that he would still be somewhere close but failed.

Irritated and anguished, I returned to the unit and read the note.

"Use this (referring to the box). Burn the paper after reading it. Don't ask and just follow me."

"P.S. I ate all the ramen in the cupboard. Sorry 'bout that! Take care, Chibisuke! :D"

-Ryoga

I clenched the paper in my hand. "That Ryoga just went home to do this? After disappearing for more than half a year now?!"

I wasn't really mad that he was missing. Disappearing suddenly was also one of his characteristics so it wasn't something really surprising. But what made me mad was that he didn't show himself to me again after disappearing eight months ago. I knew he was still going home occasionally but he was completely avoiding me. He always made sure that I wouldn't be home everytime he visited our unit. He would just leave a large sum of money and disappear again. It never happened before. I deserved an explanation for why he was doing these. And now he was even asking me to burn the paper he used. I hoped that he was not doing anything shady.

"Just what is he thinking again?" I asked upon opening the box.

to be continued...

Special A/N: For those who have read this story previously, as you have noticed, I deleted the Prologue. I'm sorry about that. It was because I decided that the story will be from Ryoma's POV from now on and also because the Prologue seemed unnecessary though its content will be presented in a different way. Sorry for inconvenience. This won't be repeated again. Thank you for understanding. :)