BISHLOV NOTES:
[1] So SORRY for the delay, minna-san. I got sick (among other things). I'll try to make it up, I promise.
[2] Please take note that Ferio's pseudonym is now ALMA PERDIDA and not PERDIDO ALMA. The former is the correct translation for Lost Soul.
[3] This chapter is dedicated to all of the reviewers with special mention of JAMIE, LSR-7 (and her sister), ANDREA MEIOUH, MARLENE, and FIREFLY OF HELL. You guys know why.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own MKR or any of its characters. CLAMP does. This plot is a product of my imagination. Any similarities to other fan fictions are unintentional.
FUU'S STORY
By bishounen lovah
Chapter 4
Ferio walked at a leisurely pace, greeting and waving at new acquaintances. In a matter of one month he'd reached the celebrity status on campus. Money and good looks tend to do that to a person, not that he flaunted both. People had radars for these kinds of shallow things and it irritated the heck out of him sometimes. He had learned to be wary of such people. People who saw the outer shell rather than the real person.
It was no wonder he had no close friends. Though all of his friends were cool and good-hearted enough, there was not a single one of them he could fully trust. There was no one he could confide to…none he trusted enough to keep his secrets. Esmeralda-neechan used to be his keeper but then he shuddered at the thought of Saito ever finding out about them. She was no snitch but she was not allowed to hide anything from her husband. Marital responsibilities or something.
Not that he'd told her damning secrets. No, that kind he kept to himself. Like his loneliness. And the recurring dreams he'd been having lately. Saito must not know about those. No one should. Or else people might think he was losing it.
Of late he'd been having this odd dream. It started when the profiling for his psychology class began. The moment he read his partner's pseudonym he was inexplicably drawn to her, so much in fact that he started dreaming about her. And to top it all up, Iyashi no Kaze had taken form of that brown-haired woman he saw so many nights ago.
Talk about a nutcase! He'd been dreaming about two strangers. One he'd never met and the other he barely knew. And then there was that dream itself…weird. It felt more like a déjà vu rather than a product of his overactive brain waves.
"Ferio-san!"
He already had one foot on the steps leading to the Humanities building but turned back to see who called him. He smiled when he saw that it was the redhead Hikaru then grinned like the Cheshire cat when he noticed that she was closely followed by a scowling Tooya. All men who dared to admire the young woman's beauty were suddenly finding themselves bearing the brunt of her boyfriend's dark glare. Poor blokes.
Ferio stamped down any desire to goad his brother-in-law by standing close to his precious Hikaru. Instead he stayed put and waited for them with an enquiring smile.
"Tooya! Hikaru! What a surprise!"
"Ferio-san, konnichiwa," Hikaru greeted in her bubbly way. "I believe this is the first time I saw you on campus. How do you like school so far?"
"It's pretty cool. A bit harder but I'm getting used to it."
"That's nice to hear."
"So what are you guys up to? And I must say, Tooya, blue becomes you. It's nice to see that you are finally having some fashion sense," Ferio couldn't stop himself from teasing the guy anymore. Ever since he and Hikaru got together, he'd been acquiring more articles of clothing that had colors other than black. Ferio didn't know if Tooya was trying to impress his girlfriend or…trying to impress his girlfriend. It was a welcome change though. About time the guy got some color in his life, both literally and figuratively.
As expected, the tall, dark guy scowled at him as he placed a possessive arm around Hikaru's waist. "I came here to fetch her."
"We're going to go to that new café a few blocks away to grab a snack. Want to come?" Hikaru offered.
"And cramp Tooya's style? No thanks. I value my life too much." The couple was so easy to tease. Hikaru blushed while Tooya scowled some more. Honestly, they're not much of a challenge. So easy to predict. Ferio glanced at his watch and decided to lay off them. "Anyway, I've got a class in a few minutes. I guess Tooya's lucky stars are working overtime today. I'll see you guys around okay?"
With a brief wave, he turned back and climbed the steps in a faster pace. He always got this feeling to run away whenever those two were around. They were a bitter reminder that he had no one to feel possessive about, no one to protect, and no one to love. Though he was pleasant to them on the outside, inside he was squirming with envy.
He wanted what they have…completion and fulfillment. To have someone who would fill in that hole in his heart. Surely that wasn't too much to ask?
As soon as he entered the classroom, he was greeted by two of his female classmates. They were flirting shamelessly and usually he would have flirted back. But for some reason he had lost interest in flirting and dating and went through those motions half-heartedly. Today was no exception. He just gave them a smile he hoped would satisfy them then sat on his chair and opened his book, sending out a silent message that he was in no mood for socializing.
He stared blindly at the open page, his mind drifted back to that one dream that had been plaguing him night after night for the past three weeks.
~Flashback~
He was sitting atop a tree branch, one leg hanging in the air while the other rested on the rough wood. He looked different, the clothes he had on reminded him of those in medieval times not to mention the heavy sword he was polishing. Those and the woods he was in were foreign and yet familiar at the same time. The forest was quiet, not a single sound could be heard.
And then suddenly a twig snapped.
Ferio automatically looked down and saw her beneath his tree, looking up at him. Her hair as golden as dark honey and her eyes as green as emeralds. For a long moment they stared at each other, reacquainting their eyes of every inch of their bodies.
Dios, what a sight to behold! Even with those glasses on she's a beauty.
Eh? Glasses? A part of his mind told him that she didn't have it when he met her but another part recognized that it belonged in the picture very much. He didn't mind her having those glasses. In fact, it complimented her face greatly, adding a sense of mystery to those lovely eyes.
He jumped off the tree, landing on both feet several yards away from her. He decided he was going to talk to her and finally find out her name. She smiled softly, encouraging him to take a step closer…and closer…and closer. He saw that her eyes were sparkling, not with laughter but with tears of sorrow. He didn't want that so he started to reach for her, wanted to comfort her.
The moment he raised his hand a sudden wind started blowing. It ruffled his hair and clothes but it wasn't irritating. It was quite the opposite actually. The wind soothed him as it circled around him, gently touching his face and whispering sweet nothings in his ears. His eyes closed involuntarily and savored the comforting feeling.
Almost miraculously, the emptiness inside of him started to fill up. Warmth started to spread from his heart flowing outwards to his limbs, leaving a tingling feeling on the tips of his digits.
Healing wind.
He knew in an instant that this woman was special. He had felt it before but now he knew it to a certainty that she could be the one.
And then the wind was gone just as suddenly as it appeared. Golden eyes opened to find that his fears were correct.
The woman disappeared.
And his heart ached in greater magnitude than even before. His soul had tasted completion. The wind brought him that. That same wind ripped it out of his hands too…leaving behind a larger hole in his heart.
~End of Flashback~
It was the same dream…over and over again. There wasn't much of a variation. Sometimes the place would differ. In the woods, atop a mountain, in a castle but the underlying message was the same. That there was a minute chance the woman could complete him.
Most of his spare time was spent hanging around that apartment building but he never caught glimpse of her again. He wanted to ask around but hesitated. Nowadays, a guy hanging around and asking about some woman, whose name he didn't even know, did not leave a good impression. People might think he was either a weirdo or a psycho, probably even both.
So he waited in vain.
His classmates started pouring in the room but he paid no attention to them. He glanced up only once when he heard a voice through the closing door.
"Fuu-san!"
He didn't know why he did it but he thanked God that he did. Through the small glass window of the door, he saw the woman whom he had been searching for the past weeks. He bit back a gasp of surprise and felt his face flush with excitement.
She and the other girl who had called her were looking inside as though searching for someone. He knew that they couldn't see him because he was sitting so close to the door. He watched her turn around again and saw a blue-haired woman walk up to the pair. They talked for a while, cast a brief look inside the room then parted ways. Ferio didn't think twice. He shoved his book back inside his knapsack and rushed to follow the brown-haired woman, ignoring his professor when he passed him in the hall.
He saw her going down the front steps with the blue-haired woman. He followed them, careful to stay discreet. During his rare moment of stalking, he openly admired the woman even if it was just a back view (not that he was complaining or anything). His vision of her in his dream was so accurate that it made him wonder if he hadn't actually seen her before that almost accident. Her hair was so thick and curly he had this insane urge to bury his face against it and her body was so well sculpted that his hands twitched in reaction. But the glasses! He couldn't quite believe that she was actually wearing glasses…just like in his dream.
She was a quiet one, he observed. Her companion was doing most of the talking. Whatever few words she would utter in reply, Ferio drank in like a man dying from thirst. Her voice, he found out, could calm him like the healing wind in his dream.
They went a few blocks from campus and saw them enter that new café. Through the window he saw them take a table at the left side of the room. The place was crowded; there were no more available tables. At the far right corner of the room were Tooya and Hikaru, looking oblivious to everything and everyone but themselves.
Coming to a quick decision, Ferio pushed the door open and went in before all of his courage left.
TBC…