This was written for the 30kisses LJ community. This takes place after the OVAs. I also use Green Day's wonderful song "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" and ignore translation issues (I also shortened the lyrics slightly, so it wouldn't look so repetitive.)
"Memories and Legends"
Kouji looked over at Tasuki as the redhead started humming.
"What's that song you're always singing?" Kouji asked as they cleaned weapons. "Where did you learn it?"
"Huh?" the Suzaku Seishi muttered. He was hardly aware he'd been doing anything. "Oh, that song. I learned it from Miaka. It's from her world."
Kouji raised an eyebrow as he sheathed the sword he'd been working on. "Really? She sang it to you?"
"Sort of," Tasuki said as he cleaned dried blood off a long sword. "She had this . . . thing from her world. It played music."
"What's that?" Nuriko asked curiously as Miaka removed a small shiny object from her backpack.
"It's a tape player," Miaka answered as she continued rummaging in her sack for snacks.
Tasuki picked up the metallic object. "Is it a weapon?"
Miaka looked up and giggled. "No, silly. It plays music."
Tasuki nearly dropped the device. "How!" He poked turned it over in his hands, trying to figure out the device.
"Is it like a music box?" Nuriko asked.
"Well, sort of." Suzaku no Miko took the tape player and pressed a button on it. It began to play loud rock music.
Tasuki and Nuriko both jumped back.
"It's possessed!" Nuriko cried, pointing a shaking finger at the strange device.
Miaka stopped the tape. "Oh no! That's not my tape! It's my brother's! He must have used it and left his tape in it."
Tasuki stepped back towards her. "Do it again."
Miaka turned down the volume and pressed play again.
"It played about ten songs; I really liked it. The one I can't stop humming is my favorite," Tasuki explained as he sheathed the last sword.
"Well, you can sing it to me over some sake after a hard day's work," Kouji said with a grin, latching his arm playfully around Tasuki's neck.
The redhead ducked out of his hold as they headed back to his room. "No way. You'll laugh."
"No, I won't," Kouji told him as he followed Tasuki into the seishi's room. "You've been singing it so much that now it's stuck in my head. I may as well know the words. So, sing it."
"No," Tasuki said firmly as he set down two bottles of sake and cracked one open.
"Yes," Kouji retorted as he sat down across from him and opened the other bottle. "Or do ya have to be drunk first?"
Tasuki took a large gulp of sake and then reluctantly began to sing. "I walk a lonely road, the only one that I have ever know. Don't know where it goes, but it's home to me, and I walk alone. I walk this empty street on the boulevard of broken dreams, where the city sleeps. And I'm the only one, and I walk alone. My shadow's the only one that walks beside me. My shallow heart's the only thing that's beating. Sometimes I wish someone out there will find me. Till then I walk alone." By the time he'd finished, his face was almost as red as his hair. He cleared his throat nervously and took another drink of sake.
The song sent shivers down Kouji's spine. He'd heard Tasuki sing before, but that was usually when they were drunk and rowdy. Kouji had never heard Tasuki's voice sound so mellow and mournful.
Kouji collected himself. "Damn, Genrou, if you sang like that to the ladies, they'd be all over you! How come ya don't serenade them?"
Tasuki didn't respond to the joke; he merely shrugged. "It's not that good."
Kouji dropped the forced cheerfulness. "Genrou, you're . . ." He trailed off, cleared his throat, and tried again. "Why was that song your favorite?"
Tasuki shrugged again. "I just liked it." He rubbed his eyes tiredly. "I kept singing it to myself so I wouldn't forget it." He took another long drink of sake.
Kouji waited for him to continue.
"The other night when I was humming it, I started thinking about the other Seishi. We used to be a team, almost like . . . family. But Nuriko, Chiriko, Mitsukake, and Hotohori-sama . . . they're all gone. Chichiri's off wandering somewhere. And Miaka and Tamahome are living happily ever after. And I thought about the song and how . . . I really was – really am – alone."
Kouji was quiet for a minute. He reached across the wooden table and dried the tears on Tasuki's face with his fingertips.
"I'm so sorry, Gen-chan," he murmured uselessly. The amber eyes of his friend didn't focus on him. "Genrou, you're not alone here. We're all glad you're back."
Tasuki closed his eyes, squeezing more tears down his face. He raised the sake bottle to his mouth.
Kouji gently took the bottle from him and pulled the redhead into a fierce embrace. Tasuki hadn't talked much since they'd returned from the capitol. Kouji had only seen his friend a short few times since before Hakurou had fallen ill. He had no idea what had happened between the Seishi.
"I'm sorry," Tasuki said, his voice breaking. "I'm glad to be back. I missed you and the guys. I just miss them . . ."
"Shh," Kouji hushed him. "I know. I understand."
Tasuki tried to control his sobs. He pushed Kouji away and reached again for the sake.
Kouji got to the bottles first and set them on the floor. "Don't drink them away, Gen-chan. Tell me about them. Tell me about the Suzaku Seishi. I want to know everything." Kouji laid his hand on top of Tasuki's to soothe away his friend's uncertainty. "I want to hear more about Tasuki, the great Suzaku warrior."
Tasuki managed a small smile and rested his head on Kouji's shoulder, still crying. "Why would you want to hear about that idiot?"
Kouji looked down and kissed the flaming hair on his shoulder. "Because I'm lucky enough to be his best friend. And I missed him . . . a lot."