Title: A Time For Us

Author: DnKS - giRLs

Rating: erm…PG maybe

Pairing: still our beloved Tezu-Fuji

Disclaimers: not ours, no profit, etc

Warning: nope! Really n-o-p-e!

(Fuji's point of view)

Chapter 2-Promise Kept

Warm breeze greeted me when I walked through the still-dew-covered-grass. The tiny blades of leaves tickled the lower part of my feet underneath my jeans. It was still the very beginning of morning, yet the weather felt so warm. Maybe it was because summer time had approached at that time. Or it was merely because my feelings that grew rather fine at the time being.

So peaceful, so serene, those were my first impression about that day. If he were there, he would have cherished the time as I did. Yet, he wasn't here with me.

I hurried my steps, knowing exactly what the thing that awaited for me at the end of my way. I could not wait any time longer to get there, just to find a standing still grey tombstone with a very familiar name carved there.

I bent forward and put a bunch of lilies that I had brought earlier in front of the stone. I knew that he was not really a kind of person who fond of flower, but I really thought that lily did resemble him very much. It had dignity, power and beauty combined in perfect harmony. It was so much just like him.

Still facing the stone, I brought myself to kneel in front of it. My fingers traced the letters that were carved there. Along the line, it made up two words, Tezuka Kunimitsu.

"Good morning, Tezuka," I said almost like a whisper. "It has been almost a year now. I'm kind of missing you."

Nothing returned my words else than the caring breeze. As they said, death did not talk. Nonetheless, I felt as if I really talked to him, it almost felt like he could really hear my voice and speak to me anytime he wanted to.

I tried to regain my composure and clearing my throat in attempt to hide the unspoken cry. Strange, I knew there was no way he could see me, but still I did not want to be seen broken. At least not to him.

"Saa…as I've said before, it has been a year," I started the conversation. "You sure have missed a lot of events. I have too many things to say…I don't know where to start…"

Darn, I could feel my eyes hurting. My tears must not fall. They were not supposed to fall!

I leaned closer so my forehead nearly touched the stone. I grabbed the edge of that solid stone as my support, for I felt I were about to collapse if I release my grip. For that time, it was my only reminder of him.

"I miss you…" I whispered. Stop trying to halt myself; I let my tears to flow. "I miss you a lot, I want you, I need you…"

It took maybe longer than minutes for me to satisfy myself with crying softly. Unspoken words flew out from my lips. Death did not speak, but did they also not hear?

Then, after I emptied myself from sorrow and pain, I smiled.

"Don't worry, ne, Tezuka, I won't commit suicide or something like that," I said. "I will continue living, as I've promised to you before. Beside, I still have plenty reasons to do so."

I settled myself more comfortably –as comfortable as the bare ground could provide. I started to doubt my early decision in wearing my black sweatshirt, for the weather seemed getting warmer than I thought it might be. But Tezuka really loved the sweatshirt. I could recall several times I found him smiling when I had that said piece of cloth on my body. Though at the end, he would surely strip it off from me.

So I ended up sitting with my knees held up high to my chin. My arms crossed, holding my feet while I put my face in between my knees.

"Sorry about the lilies, I don't know if you like them or not but I think it is not a proper way to visit somebody's grave without any flower. Especially if it is the grave of the person that I love the most." I said.

"You brought me irises on my last birthday. Before that you have also brought me violets, lavenders, anemones, columbines, delphiniums, hydrangeas and I just realize, all of them were blue in colour. You are far too sweet, ne, Tezuka…"

Yes, I could remember it, very clearly in my mind. It seemed as if just yesterday I slept in Tezuka's arms, just a couple of week since we got together and maybe just a year or so since the first time I knew him. Time did flow so fast. But the rush of it was very harsh, the wind of time. Not a slight breeze that caressed me but a powerful twine that torn me.

I had so much to remember. The sight of Tezuka's smile when he greeted me in the morning was still vivid in my head. Even when the shadow of death slowly took over him, he never failed to show his smile to me, as if to strengthen me. He smiled to me, and only me. It made me feel somewhat special to him.

I remembered his voice every time he spoke to me, every time he whispered my name. I remembered every single fight that we ever had, and every single way we did to get over it. I remembered his silent gestures of intimacies that he ever showed to me. The way his hand grabbing mine when we walked side by side. The way his eyes looking past through me in our time together.

I remembered every kiss, every hug, every love that we had made.

I remembered my last glimpse of him before the God of Death claimed his soul. His peaceful eyes and weak smile that encouraged me. I felt no regret because he didn't feel it either. I didn't even cry because that time I felt so relieved. For years I had been watching him fighting on the verge of his live, and that time I saw he was being released.

"A year indeed is a long time, Tezuka," I said. "Do you miss me there?"

A little breeze came. It caressed my cheeks and I smiled.

"Was that you?" I asked to the sky. "Really, Tezuka, I'm expecting something better than this from you. If you want me to know your presence, at least you can do much more than a light breeze like that."

As if to answer me, suddenly I felt a stronger wind hurled around me. It passed through the grass and made my hair to dance in front of my eyes. Though barely, I could smell a faint scent of evergreen there. A scent that reminded me of a certain person.

"Tezuka…" I whispered.

With a smile, I shouted to the sky, "See, I've told you that you can do better than just a little breeze!"

The wind blew even more than before. I laughed within the swirling twist of air and my heart felt light in an instant. Tezuka had never left me. He always there with me. He had never left me, not then, not now, and not ever.

- the end-

(A/N : err… reviews and such…?)