Juri.

She had found her.

Juri was there.

The leopard had been faster.

Or had she been here all the time?

Dark skinned fingers curled around the dull metal of the mesh-wire fence that surrounded the basketball court.

All those months she had been searching. Or was it years?

And finally, the trace had led her here, in the end, only to...

She had been watching her playing all by herself. Dribbling the ball over the asphalt, scoring from every spot of the playing field. Just like she remembered. Just like back then... A wave of pink hair following her when she ran from one side to the other, the long legs stretching even longer with every jump. The sweaty tank top, the tight... and then, suddenly, a whistle from the other side of the field, and there she was: Juri. Even in tattered jeans and the pale pink, washed-out button down shirt she looked stunningly beautiful, enigmatic and graceful like a leopard.

The ball was resting now. Comfortly. In those strong arms, where she once... And the leopard was clearing the distance between herself and her prey, and she watched as they... she wanted to look away, the pain would be too much to bear, after all those months. Years. Time. Every single hour had hurt. But she watched, and the leopard kissed her. Her breath hitched and it felt as if her heart was choking on the rush of blood. She kissed her cheek, put her arm around the sweaty body and led her away. Away. Away from her sight, and the loss to her eyes was almost physical pain.

She stared at the empty court for a while, her fingers still clutching the wire. There was a strength in her grip that had almost cut off the blood from her fingertips. She could feel the tingle of approaching numbness, but no observer would have noticed the blood loss in those delicate limbs - the darkness of her skin hid all too well what was beneath it...