Only thing else I've got to say about this is... if shounen-ai/yaoi/malemale relationships make you squick, then stop reading right now and go somewhere else.
Oh, and if you like that sort of thing then please, enjoy!
By Carrie Riff
Chapter 2
It's been a week.
It seems like forever since I've been back here, none the less. A week shouldn't seem that long a time compared to my lifetime, but it was like an eternity.
Stepping onto the island almost makes me feel like I'm.. home. That thought makes me smile, just a little.
Someday it will be my home.
Like an old friend, it welcomes me. Birds in the trees, wind through the leaves. I know he's here. He never leaves without reason.
It makes him easy to find again.
Especially since I've learned most of his routine. If there is one thing I learned, and learned quickly, it was that he almost never varies in his schedule.
He is a creature of habit, my Knuckles. Oh, that thought makes me smile.
My Knuckles. Mine.
But all in good time. I have to do this right. I will not risk losing him to chance or happenstance.
I refuse to make another mistake.
The sun hasn't been up a half hour yet. I know exactly where he'll be, I just need to get there.
This little clearing of trees and near the center of it stands the prettiest little cabin. It's beautiful in it's rustic simplicity. Functional and practical. I loved the look of it from the first day I laid eyes on it. It fit him perfectly.
Someday it will fit me as well. Someday I will call it home.
Someday I will walk through the front door and he will look up and he will smile and those beautiful amethyst eyes will sparkle and he will open his arms to me and I will hold him close as he welcomes me home with a kiss.
What I wouldn't give for that day to be today.
But all in good time. I can be patient.
The movement of scarlet catches my eye and I still. He runs almost like clockwork though his busy days.
Though nothing of clockwork has ever had such fluid grace. And as always, I am enraptured. He is so beautiful.
Long, slender headspines move, sway just a little, with that measured stride. Strong legs pacing perfect marks as he moves out to his usual spot. I love getting up early to come and watch him practice.
I've been given a special treat today, it seems, and as he prepares to begin his exercises, I find myself unable to stop looking at those hands.
Bare.
It's a sight I've never had before. Always, those powerful hands are swathed in white, hidden beneath the fabric of seemingly oversized gloves. And they are amazing.
Large, larger than normal, larger, I know, than mine are. But strangely enough, they are slender, too. A powerful grace in those long fingers, those broad palms. I can see it clearly as he lifts them, pulls them into obviously well practiced positions. Like this, I can see those claws. Wicked scarlet, curving just a little above those long fingers. Dangerous, I know.
As beautiful and deadly as he can be. Watching as those hands curl, move, slice through the air with practised ease, how that body shifts and turns, I can't help but see it.
A living weapon. Just like me.
It's part of what drew me to him in the first place.
The minutes stretch on into hours, and still I do not move. Not so much as a muscle. I love watching the sharp fluid movements of his patterns, lost in the grace that scarlet form posesses. I long to touch him. Want to, so much. But I will not make another mistake.
Three hours have passed and those strong arms move, pull to a relaxed position and I watch that strong chest move with deep, carefully measured breaths. I am beyond pleased. This is the first I've watched his entire exercise routine, the first I've kept myself from wandering close and nearly being detected. Now, I will learn just what he does afterwards.
A few minutes pass and he moves then. Pacing away from me, heading almost determinedly in the opposite direction. A moment later and I'm following, silent as possible, keeping close enough only to be sure I haven't lost him. Following him can be beyond difficult and I don't want to lose him like I've done so many times before. He moves through the foliage as if it isn't even there. But I'm getting better too.
Something. I can hear something now, and we're getting closer to it. It distracts me for a moment, and I lose scarlet between the trees. I have to find him again!
Throwing caution to the wind for a moment, I move faster, searching, searching for scarlet.
I find it. And it's close.
Much closer than I was expecting.
Such is my surprise at suddenly being so very close that part of me almost turns and darts back away. I can't be seen! I'm... not prepared yet. Still, I do not know what I would do or say to him. It's the only reason why I have not simply walked up to him and let him know of my presence. First, I have to learn.
For the moment, I simply keep myself hidden. So, so close. Just over ten feet away, and I'm holding my breath, hoping he will neither hear me, nor turn around and see me. But now, I know what the sound that distracted me is.
Clear and clean, tossing an arch of mist into the air, water tumbles noisily over the edge of a short cliff, not seven feet high, before pooling at the base and tapering off into the curved banks of a pretty little river. And he is sitting at the edge, doing something I cannot see, his back turned to me.
A moment later, it's obvious, as one scarlet hand moves and I find myself gazing at red and green shoes, neatly paired, being set aside.
And my heart sort of stops as he pulls himself back to his feet. Feet that are bare.
It seems I've been given two treats today.
Long headspines sway, gently, with the motion of that slender form and it is utterly hypnotic. I could not tear my gaze from him even if I wanted to.
He strides, easily, along the river edge and climbs onto the rocks along the base of the waterfall. Water cascades across the hand he holds outstretched now, beneath the flow, before the rest of that scarlet form follows.
It's about then that I realize I have seen nothing of his beauty before now.
Head tilted back, eyes closed against it, he stands in the midst of the fall, scarlet fur stained dark as it plasters against that form, wet through in an instant. I watch as those broad hands come up, as he runs fingers through those long headspines. He moves, water carressing every inch of that form, turning again so it can step partly from the falls.
He is ... beautiful.
A shake of scarlet head and those eyes open, blinking water from them. And then he goes very still.
He's looking right at me. I blink. When did I move from the cover of the trees? Dear god, I'm standing in full view.
Those violet eyes blink, and then narrow sharply before he begins to move. But I'm moving, too. This time there is no mistaking that he really has seen me.
"Shadow!"
My name. In that voice. I have never heard him speak my name before. I've stopped before I know it and I turn, only to find that he is coming at me across the riverbank.
And he is angry. I can see it.
I cannot face him like this. It is why I have been watching. To learn some way I could approach him without angering him, without shutting off my chances before I've even found out how to take advantage of them. He does not call after me again and the island is behind me in a matter of moments. Damn me for being spellbound by his beauty. Now he knows it's me.
Strangely enough, that's a good thing. Now he knows I'm still alive.
Perhaps I've just given myself an opportunity after all...
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I'm starting to wonder if I should be having this much fun writing this story. Muahahaha
Let me know what you think Chapter 3 is already in the works.