( How lost could one man be? )
Title: The Important Parts
Theme 1: Senshi/Shitennou: Day 5, "I'm lost…" by julie-rc (image), sm_monthly , January 2009
Theme 2: Who? (#33) – taken from 101_kisses
Genre: Angst-y
Rating: PG
It couldn't be.
Even Minako recognized the terrible cliché when she heard it in her head, but really. It couldn't be.
Surely, someone would have given her warning. Mamoru. Usagi. Hell, even, Pluto.
Because they knew she knew. She remembered. Even he would have had the decency to send her some kind of sign, simply because it would be cruel not to.
So, when she saw whitened hair swishing through the fog, she forgot to breath.
It couldn't be.
The hair swung to the side, a curtain to reveal his silhouette as he looked down one street questioningly.
Was he actually lost? Minako wanted to laugh; it was a much better alternative to crying.
Hanging hard onto the small feeling of amusement amid the tumble of everything else whirling inside her, trying to break the surface of the one thing that kept her from screaming, she ran towards him.
Weaving through the people, she reached out and grabbed his arm, stilling him in his walk.
He paused, looking confusedly at the slim fingers hanging onto his arm and then over his shoulder at the blonde panting and smiling and … was she crying?
"Yes?" he said cautiously.
Minako was finding it hard to breathe. It wasn't the run; it was him. "You're here," she choked out, priding herself on the fact that she sounded out of breath and not like she was about to lose it.
"Yeeees?" He was clearly waiting for more.
Minako's euphoria waned. She released him, stepping back.
"Are you okay?" he asked, with the concern that strangers showed, in the few times they showed it.
Strangers.
It was him. But he was younger and smoother. Innocent. 'More innocent than me,' Minako realized. 'And lost.'
Kunzite would never have gotten lost – he had had an innate sense of direction. Leaders always did.
His green eyes looked unsure. Not only was he lost, he had a strange girl hanging onto him.
There was no smooth recovery, no witty comment about her staring, no questioning, penetrating gaze to unravel what had happened.
There was nothing.
He was here…
Minako smiled and shook her head apologetically.
… but he wasn't him.
For some reason, it was easier not to cry now.
He stared at her questioningly, not willing to push things, but not wanting to let her go upset.
He would never have let go her upset; that's why he would've pushed the issue.
He wasn't completely lost to her.
He began shuffling his feet in the opposite direction, glancing at her now and again.
She'd only lost the important part.
Kiyoshi took one last glance at the blonde. The fog and the crowd blurred her into a blonde haze until he couldn't really distinguish her any more.
He returned to his map, later forgetting the beautiful girl completely, letting her slip away into a crowd of faces. She faded into the fog of his memory like last night's dream that glimmered away in the sun's first rays. Something so pristine and important, interrupted with a meaningless reality.
He was so intent on finding his way, he had gotten lost all over again.
end
x-posted to "Monthly Bits: Senshi, Shitennou"