The fluttering colors spiraled closer to us. Ryou held out his hand, hoping one might land on him and grace him with its touch. Both circled his fingers in an irregular dance, but neither settled on his pale skin. He watched them drift off and let his eyes droop shut again.

I thought he had gone to sleep, but then he spoke, though without opening his eyes. "See, Yami? The gentle things in life can be beautiful too. I know that you enjoy the deep crimson of blood or the delicate glint of a knife blade, but the quiet things have many virtues of their own."

I said nothing. I didn't want to admit that I saw his side of things.

The next day his father finally noticed his younger son's condition. Much against his will, Ryou found himself seeing a doctor. As he had predicted, the professional failed to find the problem. I couldn't figure out how he had known. If no doctor could diagnose the problem, there was no way my Hikari could have figured it out first.

Or was there?

He still had a tendency to fall asleep or pass out at random times, so the doctor thought it best if he stayed home with someone to watch him. Ryou said he could take care of himself, which meant that I would be stuck babysitting. One might think that staying home all day would be boring, but Ryou didn't seem to think so. He dragged me out of my soul room early one morning to watch the sunrise and made me help him count the colors we saw. And though I don't think he really meant to, he made me admit it was pretty. I had never bothered to watch those things before; something like that involved sitting still and getting up early.

He taught me to look at flowers, and even made me get a potted mini rose for his room when he grew too weak to leave the house. Of course, I ended up watering it most of the time, but he made sure I didn't drown it or dry it out. And he knew exactly which plant food was best for it. It was almost funny how excited he became when its first bud opened to reveal a dark pink blossom. I personally still preferred looking at grass, but the rose was nice too. Fortunately, the pharaoh didn't come around much, or I never would have heard the end of it. I learned to keep house, vacuum, and the like, but mostly Ryou showed me how to look at things differently. Slowly, I saw the bright side of things more and more, and I realized there was more to it than being disgustingly cheerful.

Of course, I never was as bad as my Hikari. He had the ability to find wonder in the shellac-like gleam of a cockroach's exoskeleton and their thread-like antennae. In my book, those things are only good for crunching underfoot…or throwing at the pharaoh's aibou, who shrieks if they come within a five-mile radius of him. But something about all of this bothered me. Something about the way Ryou viewed these little lessons as an absolute priority.

I finally asked him one day. "I wanted to teach you about life, about living," he said simply.

"But why?"

"So you know how it's done. I wanted to leave you with something worthwhile, and there's nothing better than a new view on life."

I shivered. "Leave me? You're talking like your dying, Ryou."

He gave me a smile full of peace and a little sadness. "I am, Yami."

I shook my head. "What? As your other half, I should be dying too if that's true."

"It's a different kind of death." He sighed at the confusion on my face. "I don't know how I know this, but it's true. Maybe it comes with bearing a Sennen item. At any rate, possessing such magic shortens one's life, mostly because you share so much of it with another presence. The Hikari will eventually fade and die. You live longer if you have a good relationship with your other, but if they hurt you, you don't last as long."

There was no accusation in his tone, but his words sent a pang through me anyway.

"Malik lost his Yami to the Shadow Realm, so he should last to about sixty. Yuugi probably won't start fading until he's forty-five. I…" He swallowed.

I stared at him. He seemed suddenly younger than his sixteen years, a child with no choice but to wait for death to claim him.

"I expect to die at sixteen," he whispered. And there was no way I could take anything back.

He wanted to go back to the park again a few days later. He could barely sit up on his own, but we managed to make it. I helped him to the grass where he lay contentedly on his back, watching the clouds and birds. My breath caught suddenly in my throat. "Look, Ryou!"

A cloud of brilliant butterflies came towards us, bobbing and swirling in the air.

"Maybe it's a good sign," I said hopefully.

"Maybe," he replied with a soft smile, watching them come.

In an instant, they were all around us, a blur of vivid color. In the middle, though, I saw a pure white butterfly, gliding gracefully downwards towards Ryou. He saw it approaching and closed his eyes with a satisfied smile as if he understood something I did not. I watched as it landed gently on his lower lip. I saw him exhale, his warm breath fluttering its wings just a little.

It took flight again, joining the others. Remembering what I had seen Ryou do once, I stretched out my hand. The white butterfly dipped and spiraled, and then landed momentarily on my index finger. It opened and closed its wings once, as if trying to say something, and then led the others off and away. I watched them go, not sure why tears streamed from my eyes.

I didn't have to look at Ryou's still body to know his spirit had already flown. And, suddenly, I realized I saw no beauty in death.

Owari

Review? Onegai? *puppy-dog eyes*