A Midsummer's Eve

By: Neko-chan

A/N: Originally written for an assignment in AP Comp.  Told in first person POV; it's a description of a certain type of setting.  Obviously, the emphasis would be upon the setting and not the character or character development.  Still… when I wrote it, I had a specific character in mind.  If you guess who's POV this is from, you'll get a cookie.  =^^=

DISCLAIMER: If Neko-chan owned Yuugiou, would this be considered 'fanfiction'?

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The sliding glass door closes, whispering softly in the night. It's dark outside, obsidian shadows distorting and concealing, while a pregnant moon overhead edges everything in silver. Across the wall, on the other side of the street, the headlights from the cars throw a buttery, golden glow into the night, cutting through and showing no mercy to the shadows, and wraiths, and hobgoblins that lurk in the darkness. There are people moving on the sidewalks, shadowed figures that are wreathed in darkness, distant figures moving back and forth, back and forth. Never ending, they move, never stopping—like a pendulum, swinging away to the endless cycle of time.

It's cool now, the summer heat dying away long ago as the sun slowly sank down into the horizon. There's a breeze, soft and gentle, kissing my cheek and sifting through strands of hair as it slowly makes its way onward. As it moves on, it leaves the scent of roses.

The smell is thick and cloying, so sweet I could taste the flower on the tip of my tongue. The taste is tangible, strong and heady and sensual, wrapping around me like a garden-scented blanket. The roses had just bloomed the week before, raising their pink, white, red, peach, and yellow petal-framed faces up to the summer sun, greeting the new season joyously.

Off in the distance, I can see each rose bush, marching along the fence's line, much like a company of soldiers off to do battle with the enemy. The white roses gleam in the moon and starlight, transforming into a lighthouse's beacon, calling a traveler home during the darkest hour of night.

I move forward silently, concrete cold against my bare feet. To my left, I hear a 'plop!' and then a small splash as a koi fish once again returned to its watery domain. The reeds and cattails edging the koi pond sway slowly in the small breeze, hiding the pond in the darkness that the night brings. There's a croak from the pond's edge and the plants that circle the pond rustle quietly.

The grass brushes against my ankles, prickling slightly as I step further onto the lawn. It glides against the bottom of my feet, velvet cool against my skin. I pause and my toes curl under, digging into the dirt beneath me. It's loamy and soft, shifting and falling away as I burrow deeper into the soil. It's cold—cooler than the air surrounding me—but it doesn't matter. I can feel the Earth's heartbeat.

The breeze becomes a little bit stronger and I can smell the last of this season's orange blossoms, drifting to and fro on the wind. The orange trees are in the back part of the yard and it's too dark to see them. But their smell is comforting and washes my mouth clean of the scent of roses.

I kneel down and the blades of grass poke through my silk pajama bottoms and try to scratch my legs with the bladed sides. It's uncomfortable, but I ignore it. My fingertips trail lightly over the blades' tips, the tiny hairs that cover their green skin caressing and clinging to my fingers, and raising goosebumps upon my arms.

I pause, hands still resting in the grass, and tilt my head upwards, watching with sleep-clouded eyes as the moon and stars dance their way across the night sky.

And I wait for the coming of dawn.

~Owari~

::End::