Disclaimer: Don't own any of the characters mentioned below.
Author's Notes: Minna-chan, this is a total one shot deal, and is a more emotional piece than my usual fluff that I'm accused of writing too much of. It's short, but I think it says everything that needs to be said. Special thanks to my muse, Usa-chan, for coming up with the title and for inspiring me to write all day today. And Ivory-chan, who attempted to get me to write a fluff piece for the couple mentioned, gomen it didn't work out that way!
***********************************************************
Reverof
He had never felt this way before in his life. The soft, passionate kisses that she feathered upon his lips, gracing him with their loving touch, warming his soul with everything she had in her. It was humbling at moments, because for one brief second, he could pretend that he was normal, and capable of handling human emotions. But he wasn't that. He couldn't be. For he was the perfect soldier.
"You make me feel all sorts of things I never thought possible."
Funny, he had always thought it was the other way around. He remembered the way she wound her arms around his neck, smiling at him, and he could feel the warmth suffuse his very being. She was capable of that. With everything that she touched and every emotion that she felt, she managed to take the world along with her. Countless of memories flashed through his head of the first time that he had met her, and the first time her tiny, delicate hand had somehow wound up in his own, grasping, feeling, and needing. He remembered the first time he ever held her in his arms. The sensations that spread through him, taking apart his heart, and piecing it back together one at a time. It was awe-inspiring and bone chilling all at the same time, that this mere slip of a girl could somehow wield such power over him. Soft. She was so soft, and fragile, yet the strength of her character was so apparent in the determined set of her jaw.
"I won't let you push me away. I know you feel something. I know you feel this between us."
The words rang repeatedly in his head as he almost allowed himself a smile. Almost. He remembered the feel of her skin beneath his callused hands, how gentle and marvelous it had felt. The sparks that lit his nerves on fire the moment he touched her were summoned upon memory. He had grasped her jaw between his hand and glared at her. She had stared back unflinching, and never had a person threatened every fiber that existed within him.
"Stop it. Stop lying to yourself. Stop hurting yourself."
Hurt. Pain. It was all he had ever known in his life, until she came along. She had made him believe in something once again. It made him long for all the happily ever afters that he vaguely remembered reading as a child, before those innocent days were forever lost. He hadn't wanted to feel this way towards her. Emotions were nuisances, interfering with life. But she had changed him. She had spun her magical web around him, holding him prisoner, and demanding his soul in exchange for her heart.
"It's all yours if you want it. Take my heart and do with it what you will. But please, stop denying what we have."
The words, so softly uttered, combined with the pleading look in her wide blue eyes were almost enough to unnerve him. She was opening herself up for hurt, and he hadn't wanted to be the one to destroy her innocence. He crushed her soft body in his arms, feeling the shudders of relief that spread through her body, the hot tears that burned on his skin. Like she said, he couldn't deny it any longer. He had to have her by his side, or he couldn't make it. But he would tell her some day. Some day.
"I love you, Hiiro. Forever. I promise you that."
A promise, such a simple word, yet he had believed her. He, the perfect soldier, who never believed in anything in his life. Her eyes… they shone with such brightness and happiness. He could only tighten his arms around her in response and brought his lips down to hers, conveying an emotion he could not bring himself to name. For he loved her. How could he not? She was everything to him. She lit up his life, a spot of sunshine in his dreary world. One smile from her had the power of knocking off a scowl on his face. One tear from her had him pulling out his gun, threatening to kill the one to upset her.
"Will you remember me forever?"
Yes, he would. With his dying breath, he would always remember her, and the love that they shared. And it had been that. Love. Perfect love. And he had never been able to tell her the words that haunted his heart for eternity. Each time he saw her, he felt the adrenaline rush through his blood, and not even the most successful of an impossible mission could do that for him. With each caress that she brought on his face, she seemed to be memorizing his every feature. She could just sit there and stare at his eyes endlessly. The deep blues of a Mediterranean seas, she had told him once, only to laugh when he had scowled at her and told her she was being silly. Hurtful words, but with a strength that amazed him, she looked past all of that and saw the love shining from his soul. She was incredible. With each kiss that she gave, her heart was always in it. Never once had her lips touched his without her uttering, "I love you." And he never told her this, but it had always made his world stand still. Even if for one minute.
"Promise me you won't leave me?"
Need she even ask? It would be like losing the only part of his life that was good and pure. He lived and breathed for her. With each mission that he took, his mind was always filled with her, though he always managed to somehow push it aside. She needed to ask because… he never told her. He never noticed how the light in her eyes seemed to dim each time she uttered the words, each moment that she waited so faithfully by his side, for his return. Because she loved him, and she believed in him. She saw the good in him when no one else had, not even himself.
Choking back his tears, Hiiro glanced at the picture frame in his hands of a smiling, beautiful young girl, the photo having weathered in age, though his memory and his love never had.
"You promised me. You promised me you would never leave me."
His thumb grazed over the cool glass of the frame, as if he could somehow feel the warmth of her personality seep into his skin and somehow make his soul complete once more. The helpless tears fell, those weak tears, staining the wooden desk beneath him. He took the picture with him, and clenched it over his heart, where it had belonged, where a girl had once owned his heart.
"I love you, Usagi. You must know that. I'm sorry I never told you…"
He felt the familiar creak of his bones beneath him as he got up. Reaching for his cane, he plodded slowly to his leather armchair, the same one that Usagi had spent countless of hours in his arms.
"I could sit here looking at you forever, Yui Hiiro."
If he had added up the hours, he was pretty sure it would've added up to something close to eternity. As he sat himself down, and rested against the back of the armchair, the pangs of pain that had persisted in his chest became overwhelming. Was that how she had felt like in her last moments of life? When she had been snatched away from him so cruelly? An accident. She had died trying to save a child's life. He remembered that moment so vividly. He had been unable feel a thing, and the icy numbness had spread through his system, and he had believed that was the day his soul ceased to exist. As he waited for death's comforting embrace, his head lolled back slightly, still desperately clinging to the picture of the one that had loved him so passionately.
"Forever, Tsukino Usagi. Forever. Wait for me. I'm coming."