Title: I will come to you

Author: Hagane ^^\/

Rating: General

Pairing: MitSen

Disclaimer: Sendoh was created as Mitchy's soulmate and I was the Creator.

-o-

When you have no light to guide you And no one to walk beside you

I will come to you

I will come to you

         'Fuck.' Mitsui tilted his head to the sky and let the gentle pellets of rain fuse with the moisture on his face. The sky thundered and the rain beat down harder. Lightning flashed ominously across the midnight sky.

         Cars screeched as they braked abruptly. There was a forming jam somewhere around the bend and he could hear the impatient honking of drivers as they sat rigidly in their leather seats, safe from the rain, safe from the storm, their only concern to get home ASAP.

         The rain pelted down on the windscreens and the furious, rhythmic movements of the windshields danced in tune to the irregular beat, punctuated every so often by a sharp honk from an increasingly irritated driver.

         Thunder clapped and the wind rustled through the trees. Mitsui shivered in his soaked clothes, hair plastered to his head, water flowing in rivulets down his face. He didn't know where what began and what ended. Tears, rain, blood, all were mixed together in the strangest concoction.

         He was crying.

         As if in reprimand, lightning streaked across the sky once again, lighting the entire landscape for one breathtaking moment.

         In the distance, Mitsui recognized the familiar architecture that was his apartment. That was where he had lived. Where he had spent some of the most glorious moments of his life. It was so distant now- the rain seemed to blur out even the memories within him. He could scarcely recall the last eighteen years of his life now. What had he been doing last? Laughing? Jacking around? Or had he been crying?

         He was crying.

         Now, he was crying.

-o-

When the night is dark and stormy

You won't have to reach out for me

I will come to you

I will come to you

         Sendoh cursed inwardly for the fifth time that evening as he collided into a couple around the corner.

         "Sorry!" he managed to call after them. Then he resumed his run at breakneck speed only to collide into a solid wall that was none other than….

         "Sendoh?" asked a gruff voice, surprised.

         "Uozumi-san?" Sendoh shielded his eyes from the pelting rain to scrutinize at his captain.

         "What do you think you're doing running around in the rain?" said his captain reprovingly.

         "I'm sorry Uozumi-san, but I really gotta run," Sendoh smiled apologetically, "I'll explain the next time."

         "You'd better. I don't appreciate my teammates getting sick with pneumonia just when the tournament's approaching," replied the other grimly.

         "I understand. Please excuse me," Sendoh slipped past him and began at a hasty jog.

         "Be careful!" Uozumi yelled, his voice drowned out by the clasp of thunder.

-o-

Sometimes when all your dreams

May have seen better days

And you don't know how or why

But you've lost your way

         'I can't see,' thought Mitsui, languidly stretching his arms, 'I can't see a damn thing!' Everything below him now was a haze. The wind was howling where he was. The structure shuddered as the wind kept beating at it. It wasn't long before he felt he'd have to give up and in.

         Mitsui remembered vaguely what someone had told him before. It was something that had seemed at that time another passing statement, trivial and not worth lamenting on- it hadn't mattered then and it wouldn't matter now, but he supposed that he might as well spend the last few moments trying to remember what it was.

         'What was it again?' Mitsui wiped his face with his damp shirtsleeve. 'Lightning can produce a charge powerful enough to generate a city's electricity for two months?' he let out a dry, raspy laugh. 'Well, I suppose that would mean it would take it less than two seconds to roast human meat.'

         As if in agreement, the sky broke and the rain, if it was possible, poured forth in torrents.

         Mitsui wondered absently whether the city's dams would burst.

-o-

I will feel when your tears are falling

I will hear your spirit calling

         'Where the hell are you?' Sendoh thought, panicking. He could barely see where he was going, and he was exhausted. He'd gone to the park, to the flyovers that Mitsui loved so much, to the alleys where Mitsui sometimes visited, in remembrance of his past. And still, he couldn't find the boy.

         Sendoh racked his brains. He was beside himself with worry. The seconds were ticking by- never had he wanted time to pass so slowly. He needed time, needed so much time.

         A thought struck him on the sudden.

         'The bridge!' His mind screamed, 'he's at the bridge!'

         Sendoh made a mad dash for the bridge, praying hard as hell that he was right and that he wasn't too late.

-o-

         He had waited long enough. He didn't even know why he had bothered to wait. He should have gotten it over and done with, instead of spending time getting himself soaked to the skin. Now he was going to get pneumonia.

Mitsui snorted. How ironic. He was going to die anyway, and here he was, worried that he might get pneumonia.

Gazing steadily ahead, he noted how the jam around the corner was building up. The drivers weren't going to get home any time soon.

And neither was the rain going to let up any time soon.

Mitsui debated silently if he'd rather get electrocuted or fall to his death. A particular strong gust of wind helped make up his mind.

The bridge won.

Closing his eyes, he murmured a silent 'I love you' to his mother before launching himself forward.

-o-

         Two arms grabbed onto him tightly.

         And time stood stock-still.

        

And I swear that I'll be there

Come what may

         "Let go," he finally said.

         "I won't."

         'You will." He insisted.

         "Never."

         "Please." His voice shook.

         Sendoh took in a shuddering breath, but refused to release his grip.

         "Please, Sendoh. Let me go."

         The boy shook his head.

         The other fell silent.

         And the sky continued in its crying.

         "I need to do this."

         "No." Sendoh's voice cracked, "No you don't."

         "You don't understand."

         "No," he agreed, "but neither do you." He hugged the older boy to himself, burying his face in the damp hair.

         "I was almost too late…." He whispered, his voice suddenly hoarse and dry. He was shaking with barely suppressed emotion. "….don't you understand? I was *almost* too late…"

         Mitsui was quiet as the other boy embraced him.

         "If I had been a second too late….." Sendoh choked on his words.

         Mitsui stared ahead of him, pushing away all feeling, forcing himself to remain cold and unmoved.

         "It wouldn't have mattered," he replied coldly.

         A sharp intake of breath and a sudden movement and Mitsui found himself flung hard against the cold steel of the bridge's skeleton. Sendoh's eyes burned into his, startling Mitsui with the depth of his emotions- all clearly reflected in pools of azure.

         "Fuck you," Sendoh hissed in anger. The hand that was holding Mitsui by the neck was shaking, in fact, his whole body was shaking. The frosty air and the fury that engulfed him worked in perfect harmony to shatter his usual cool confidence. He was no more the calm, smiling ace that everyone knew. Here was the epitome of anger, vehemence and ferocity. With whom Mitsui was never acquainted with.

         "You think this is all about you don't you? You think that it's only yourself who's in this?" Sendoh snarled, baring his teeth. Mitsui's eyes widened at this never-before-seen footage of Sendoh. "Well, sorry to rain on your parade," he said the words with contempt, stressing on the unintended pun, "but you're so fuckingly wrong. It's not all about you. It's never all about you."

         The boy was shaking, from anger, from cold, from exhaustion, Mitsui couldn't tell. He himself couldn't feel a thing- his body had turned numb the moment Sendoh had slammed him against the cold, hard metal. The rain ceased to make him shiver, as the violent dance of thunder and lightning ceased to intimidate him. He found he didn't care anymore. He found, to his amusement, that he had never cared anyway. He was but a shell of who he was. He felt empty, hollow inside. He was robbed of all feeling, the numbing of his senses above all, contributing to this apathy of mind, body and soul.

         'A terran shell…..' he mused, 'I am but a reminder of my previous self….' He remembered distinctly a poem his mother had read to him when he was much younger. What it had been about, he didn't understand then. But it all made sense now.

         Heavy, haggard breathing jolted him back to reality. He looked up into Sendoh's face, which was now shielding his from the pouring rain. He felt something moving inside him. The previous emptiness inside him, dispensed.

         "You're all about yourself. You're always all about yourself," the boy was saying, his tone bitter, "You think only of yourself…don't you give a shit to what people think?" his voice rose a pitch or two, "Don't you care how people feel? Don't you give a thought to our feelings at all?"

         Mitsui felt a stir of emotion in the pits of his stomach. Surely, that would mean some feeling was returning to him.

         "You're a fucking heartbreaker Mitsui Hisashi," he cursed, his handsome face contorted with anger.

         Mitsui blinked. He hadn't seen that one coming.

         "I hate you, you know that?" Sendoh spat furiously. His hand on Mitsui's neck tightened its hold. The other one pressing him down on one shoulder reached back to punch him hard in the face.

         Mitsui held his gaze level with the other. He didn't flinch at the punch, even as he felt that his jaw might be unhinged by the brute force of it. His coolness fueled Sendoh's anger.

         "Fuck you Mitsui Hisashi!" he cursed, throwing another punch, then another, and another. It went right on- his assault on the other boy.

         Finally, feeling that Mitsui had had enough, he stopped, panting slightly.

         The other boy, though beaten, stared calmly at him through those eyes. Those goddamn eyes.

         "I hate you…." Sendoh fell against him, trembling with emotion, "I hate you so much…"

         As if on automatic, Mitsui's arms encircled him and pulled him close. He felt the boy's shuddering breaths, felt the pounding of his heart. He felt those tears that were streaming down his face.

         Wait. Tears?

         Mitsui pulled away slightly to look at him. Sendoh was crying. He was crying freely, furiously, and feelingly.

         "I hate you…" he repeated in a whisper, his tears splashing down on Mitsui.

         Mitsui stared back at the boy, hesitant and clueless how to react.

         "I hate me too." He said finally. "I hate myself for doing this to you."

         Sendoh looked at him, incredulity laced on his features. Then Mitsui smiled and he relaxed.

         "You should," he insisted, "You should condemn yourself to the pits of hell."

         "Welll….maybe that's a little overboard…." Teased Mitsui.

         Sendoh sniffled and smiled.

         Mitsui beamed at his regained cheerful countenance. "See, you should never cry. It doesn't become you. Neither does snarling and slamming me into hard metal…." Then he winked cheekily, "though I have to admit that there's sexual appeal in that somewhere….."

         Sendoh laughed. "I don't believe you- how can you think of such things when you should think of anything but that!"

         Mitsui feigned innocence. "Who me?" then laughed when Sendoh gave him a 'no-really' look.

         "Come on…" Sendoh took him by the arm and led him away from the edge. "Let's go home."

         Mitsui followed him compliantly, as meekly as a lamb. Sendoh noticed this and smiled even wider. Perhaps he should be as unscrupulous as Mitsui and use this to his advantage. A compliant, uncomplaining Mitsui would mean no battle for dominance. No battle for dominance would mean…. Sendoh smirked as graphic thoughts ran through his mind. He was cold, hungry and most definitely getting pneumonia but these things didn't matter anymore. What mattered was that he should make full use of this opportunity. After all, wasn't it Mitsui himself who said that opportunity knocks only once?

         Alas, it was not meant to be.

         Mitsui tugged at his arm and brought him to a halt. Certain that his face was devoid of all expression, he asked, quite inchoately,

         "What was that about me being a heartbreaker?"

         And Sendoh slapped himself for thinking he could ever be as unscrupulous as Mitsui Hisashi.

~~end~~

Cos even if we can't be together We'll be friends now and forever

And I swear that I'll be there

Come what may

We all need somebody we can turn to

Someone who'll always understand

So if you feel like your soul is dying

And you need the strength to keep trying

I will reach out and take your hand

I will reach out for your hand