AU

I wrote this while in a melancholy mood. I hope the emotional atmosphere is expressed appropriately as I envisioned it. I suppose some of May's L'espoir Faux came to me while I wrote it.

--

The sound of rain pattering against the cement fills the silence around them.

She stands there, facing him. The words that have just fallen from his lips slam into her heart and mind. She did not previously dare to voice her realizations of what it would eventually come to; her fear becoming a reality she does not wish to face.

"What are you saying?" she asks, practically demanding it. Her eyes are wide with slight shock, although his confession should not have surprised her the way it did. The way he stands there, so stiff and distant, clearly wanting to avoid a harsh confrontation, only emphasizes the regret he has. He stares intently at her for a long moment of silence.

His voice is low when he speaks, and his calm expression, almost void of any emotion, does not reveal the turmoil that resides within his own heart as he hears his own words. "You heard me. You knew this was coming."

She wants to approach him, but her feet will not obey her. She is surprised to hear her own voice sounding so strained, wavering just slightly out of control. "That doesn't justify your actions."

He says nothing, but from the corner of her eyes she sees his fist clench. He wants to say something, and it is with great difficulty that he speaks again. His voice sounds almost painful to her ears. She does not want to hear his excuses, his lies for breaking her trust and leaving it shattered.

"I didn't know how to do it any other way," he says at last, his tone barely audible and lacking of emotion.

"You could have told me," she states shrilly, her voice starting to crack. She swallows the lump in her throat and holds back the tears that are on the brink of falling. "You could have said something. Anything."

Seeing her eyes sparkling with tears barely held back, he softens his voice and steps forward, perhaps, to put a hand on her shoulder. "I feared it would only hurt you worse."

She jerks backward, away from his reach, her body rigid with anger and self-loathing for what she could have done, should have done to break down the wall. Before things came to this. Before, when she had a chance to prevent her illusionary fear from becoming a reality, a reality of pain and anguish and deceit. Her voice becomes dangerously low, and he senses an anger that has overcome all emotional pain, at least for the time being. He wisely backs off, but the impact of her words only fills him with more regret.

"There is nothing you could ever do to cause me more pain than to deny me the truth by your actions rather than your words."

She steps forward, her expression full of desperation.

"What the hell was I to you? A girl to be pitied for losing her family in one night? A girl to fuck around with, to keep you content while you played behind my back and searched for someone who could give you greater satisfaction?"

Her fists clench when he appears to have no defense, no lousy excuse for what he has implied in the past several months.

"You were always more than that, Sango." At last he calls her by name, but the sound of it causes her to flinch.

"Really?" she retorts, her nails biting into her palms. "Your actions… they tell me otherwise. I was a fool, for not confronting you and admitting what I saw. I was a fool for letting it go on this long." The last words end with a sob that comes from deep inside her throat.

"No. It was my fault – " he begins, but she abruptly cuts him off. She can no longer hold the tears back, and they stream down her cheeks, mixing with the rain.

"You're fucking right it was your fault."

He goes silent and his gaze falls to the ground.

"I'm sorry."

She backs away even further, unwilling to hear whatever apologies he has thought up. "This is all my fault, right?" she says sarcastically, nodding to her own words to emphasize them, as if she truly wants him to agree. He looks back up at her. For the first time since this confrontation began, guilt is clearly written across his features. "I should have known. I should have said something, confronted you." Her tone changes to a bare harshness. "I'm such a fool. I should have expected for you to turn your back on me, to break my trust by not at least confiding in me."

He opens his mouth to contradict her, but no words emerge. She glares at him, daring him to argue, daring him to deny what he has done.

"I'm sorry," he repeats, although he knows she is unwilling to listen to any sort of remorse.

The glare fades away, and she turns. Inwardly he breathes a sigh of relief. She did not slap him, or scream at him, or tell him she never wanted to see him again. Suddenly she stops, and without turning, says:

"I'm sorry, too. I thought you trusted me enough to tell me the truth."

The sound of rain pounding on the concrete fills his ears, and a tear falls down his cheek.

--

Theme: The consequences of realizing just exactly what your actions can do to the other person. Communication is essential. Need I say who the characters were?

One more to go.