Warning: Sex, Violence, at the same time, if you are under 18 and do not have a parent beside you that condones reading this story. If you read on, and are squicked out, I'm not responsible.
Urgent footsteps sounded through the narrow, empty roads, up convoluted steps, around once green hills, and down convoluted steps until they halted on the verge of falling into an incredibly blue sky and ocean and the single silhouette shaped by cool winds.It was some moments before he realized that this time, Soushi was waiting for him. So he walked carefully, footsteps sounding leaden and confidence shaken as he took in the image of the lithe sentient before him, crying. Kazuki looked on in shock. Wind filled his lungs, and he asked gently, "What happened, Soushi?"
The figure gave no reply, no sign that the question was heard instead of lost in the immovable air. Kazuki's eyes hardened as teardrops formed at the corners, his vision shifted, and his voice sounded cutting.
"Soushi- what did he do to you?"
A single hand raised and fell, commanding silence. Soushi finally spoke, but the conflicted echo in his voice tore through Kazuki. "Last time we were here, you asked me a question. Do you remember, Kazuki?"
"Fafner or us, which one is more important to you?"
"Fafner."
"I remember," he replied.
Soushi laughed, a clear, wonderous sound. "I used to think Fafner, but now...I wasn't worth anything before. I sold my soul to the island, and my body to Michio."
"Soushi..." He sounded like a scratched up record, a useless repetition of one word because he could not think of anything else. He wanted answers but now he felt like choking Soushi, like cutting off those words that broke through the last remnants of a bubble shielding him from the truth. Numbly, his lips formed a thought, a question. "Soushi, that time, what did you give Michio in return for me?"
Soushi gave no reply once again. Suddenly everything made sense in the most horrific way. How Soushi refused to rescue Kariya, Michio's smug tone and lustful gaze, Toomi-san's emotional outburst; they all pieced together, and the truth was painful. He had been so wrong about Soushi. His friend had sacrificed so much, and he had only harsh words and thoughts for him. Moisture drench his cheeks.
"Soushi... you don't have to do... to do that anymore. I-I could...I mean... like I... could find another way. I'll get better, stronger, we don't need him!" Kazuki clutched at straws in the form of words, pleas, or anything.
"It's too late," Soushi whispered, barely a sigh over the crashing waves.
"No it's not!"
Soushi looked at him for the first time in an eternity and smiled; a condoling smile, but still a genuine smile. One hand touched Kazuki's bare arm, sending waves of shock like riplets in a frozen pond. "It's too late because he loves me. I may not love him or even like him, but he loves me, and someday... if I live that long, if any of us live that long, I could learn to tolerate Michio's touch."
"But there must be something I can do!" Kazuki heard the futility of his words before he even saw the shake of Soushi's long hair.
"You don't love me, Kazuki. Not the way I want you to love me, and you know that." Soushi turned away, but Kazuki lunged forward and caught Soushi's frail wrist, trapping him if but for a second.
"Are you happy, Soushi?" Pale fingers pried his hand away.
"Happiness? I do not know the meaning of the word." In the distance a shadow shifted into a man, watching Soushi as Soushi watched back. "But I think I'm beginning to learn." Lips touched Kazuki's cheek, and a body warmed his own briefly. A word or two or many found their way into his ear. Waves climbed the clouds in a moment of deja vu, and a tsunami in the shape of a pilot materialized out of nowhere and swept Soushi away.
Kazuki stood staring at the ocean. The outside sun set, but the people isolated behind the island's shields only saw a clear blue sky. He tried to see both, failed, and tried again. His thoughts in turmoil, Kazuki brushed the world and mission aside, and suddenly felt the desire to eat dinner at the Toomis' place again.
"Kazuki, I have realized many things now.
I used to think that you were too idealistic, too naive. You wanted to save both the good and the evil. You let emotions guide your actions while fighting and living. You did not listen to orders when they contradicted your morals.
The world is grey, not black and white, but now... now I realize that I was the one who was shielded in shades, and you saw the vibrant potential for change. Don't worry about me, about the things I did. I am content. Keep searching for a way to save the world, Kazuki, because if anyone could, that person is you.
Just remember that our island may be a small portion of the world, but it is still a part of it."
The End
Author's Note: erm... that's all hope no one hated it... please review and let me know what you think??