Ack, ok, this is only the first part of a bit of an interlude. I didn't want Ran and Ken's relationship to be too overly-complicated and full of angst (at least, as far as initially getting them together) because it happens so often. Not having anyone else except each other, I feel they'd be more susceptible to exploring other facets of their relationship. This of course happens largely during Ken's recovery, which has been omitted due to length.

It will be posted separately (as soon as I write it) As will the smut coming in later chapters.

Unfortunatley, this came out rather halting and jerky. To be honest, my mind has been very preoccupied with other things, and this story has quite a block I'm trying to work around. Forgive me if this part of the story comes out rather limply. Any constructive criticism or praise is welcomed. Alright, here you have it…

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"As they begin to rise again

Chrysanthemums faintly smell,

After the flooding rain."

Matsuo Basho

Edo

Interlude Ran

Ran stared moodily out at the icy late afternoon light of December. It had been raining only a few minutes earlier, but the only indication of such dour weather was the dewy droplets now clinging and sparkling from the shop roofs and porch fronts. Out in the street the dark, churned mud was already freezing into elaborate sculptures of ice. It glistened like mirror shards in the dying sunlight, interrupted briefly now and again at the passing of some merchant or housewife. As he watched, a flock of giggling young children ran by, hardly dressed for the cold, and jumped through puddles and mud-holes, shattering ice and sending frigid water droplets flying as they passed. A shop keeper looked up angrily and herded them away, shaking his head and muttering as he prepared to close-down for the night.

With a weary sigh, Ran shifted his gaze to the heavens, watching the first dim stars burn through the pale turquoise of the atmosphere. The moon seemed to stare at him; a three quarter cat's eye hovering above the distant mountains, feral and deep and demanding. It was veiled in a hint of red, reflecting the dying light of the sun.

It was like looking his very own desire in the eye. Which is what he had come out here to avoid, and so he looked away quickly.

They had made it, within a week, to Omi's original place of intent. The inn was huge and old, and rather well-to do. Ran had never stayed in such a place, but found himself enjoying the excellent food, good service, and abundant amenities. Of course, the slightly different surroundings of Chiba were a welcomed change of pace. They had stayed here for at least three weeks now, and Ran had not tired of the area. It felt so good to be away from Edo.

Apparently too, the time away and resting had done Ken a world of good. He'd been up and bouncing around for half a week now, and despite threats and warnings of bodily harm delivered by both himself and Omi, Ken had been determinedly working himself back into shape. Intensely.

At first, Ran had been alarmed that it was some sort of new self-destructive kick the ninja was on. He and Omi both had found the brunette passed-out from exhaustion and subsequently unable to even get himself back into bed on more than one occasion. It took several arguments and threats of pain or worse until they all came to the grudging understanding that although Ken needed to heal, he also needed exercise and a means to ease his mind. Once he was no longer in dire need of rest and critical healing, Ken's brain had taken a liking to wandering off down darker paths of thought when the youth was forced to remain in bed. He had suffered nightmares with an increasing and almost frightening intensity, and in the end Ran could not grudge him the need to be mobile.

Although it initially seemed to be slowing his progress down, after coming up with a solid regimen for practice and rest thanks to Omi, Ken's recovery seemed to double in speed. Eventually, Ran began to spar with him, both to keep himself in shape, and to asses Ken's abilities. Of course, sparing with Ken brought on a whole new front of feelings Ran was not ready to have.

What had been a tenderness and caring for a soul in need was fast changing into something Ran had been hoping it wouldn't. At first, he had been able to handle the change in himself to a more over-protective, nurturing tendency rather well. After all, he had no one, and neither did Ken.

Ken, who despite his pain and illness, was vibrant as a summer afternoon to Ran. All he had to do was talk to Ken and suddenly the monochrome shell he'd been living in since the moment Aya-chan had died in his arms cracked delicately, allowing in a breath of fresh air and the hint of sunshine.

It wasn't even that Ken was bouncy and happy all the time; or that he was constantly naïve. He wasn't any of those things. Omi seemed to be more of that type. Ken was just different. Ran couldn't explain it, he didn't know why, but that was all. Ken was just different; different than everyone else Ran had ever met, and that made all the difference. Being with Ken was like a balm to his heart. It gave him the chance to worry about problems other than his own.

Even if those things were now fast becoming problems of his own. What was a breath of fresh air was starting to turn into a warm gale, and Ran wasn't sure he could stand up beneath the force of it much longer. Feelings of contentment were turning into something deeper; a desperate need to keep Ken by his side. He'd only been with the man for a month and already the idea of losing that breath of air was almost unbearable. Fighting the emotions only made them come harder. It didn't help that Ken seemed to need him just as much, if only in different ways. Although it had been hard to miss those often hungrier, more brooding looks the man sent his way when he thought Ran wasn't looking. Those looks sent shivers down his spine; in a good way. Which didn't help things at all.

And riding the tide of all this was lust. Ran's own deep desire to explore Ken's soul in a different way. To know the planes and curves of that body the way he knew his own; to study every scar and marking as if it were a riddle that needed his most intense concentration.

But his lust took him deeper this time than it had with any others. He wanted to unify himself with the man. He wanted to possess that body, to feel it inside and out as if they were one and the same and could never be separated.

The two of them were lost and alone in a world that had shown only cruelty, and caused them both great suffering. Ran wanted to feel Ken's scars in his own body, and share his own with the brunette. In his deeper thoughts, Ran knew that if he did that with Ken, that if they both shared themselves so willingly, theirs would be a bond that could never be broken.

A young woman walked by then, winding red string around her fingers, and she paused in front of the stoop of the inn where Ran sat. Batting her eyes at him seductively before lowering them to the ground in his presence, she parted glistening lips the color of a late-harvest pomegranate into a curved smile and made a small bow. Her kimono scooped low in the back to entice; an affair the color of royal plum in heavy winter satin. The hem and the sleeves danced gaily with blood-red chrysanthemums that matched the modest obi. Her sleeves were long, indicating her lack of marriage, and it was not difficult for Ran to deduce why. Coyly, she straightened and opened her hand, holding it out to him, the bedroom smile never quite leaving her mouth, but rather hovering there like a butterfly; delicate and cautious. Mesmerized, Ran looked down, wondering what she was offering him.

In her pale, flawless palm, was a small ball of red string. Ran stared at it, unsure as to what she was offering, and even less sure that he liked the meaning. As if reading his thoughts, she laughed easily; a sound that reminded him of water skittering over brook stones in the early-morning sunlight.

"Relax, I'm not asking you to marry me. Just take it. You look like a man who could use it more than I." the tone was teasing and the voice the lilting tone of a singer or seductress.

Instead of refusing, or finding himself insulted, Ran simply reached out to take it without even looking, feeling it's frail, soft weight in his palm like the feathers of a caught bird; a moving, living secret that would fly away if he let it go.

She turned then, without another word, and headed off in the direction she had been going, humming the Edo lullaby softly to herself. Her body swayed softly like a dancer's as she slowly faded into the pastel of twilight and flicker of shop lanterns. It only took several long seconds before she seemed to Ran to fade out completely, like a firefly extinguishing its spark. Then there was nothing in the street except shadows and the mirrors growing over the mud, reflecting the moon rising in a cornflower sky.

Ran looked down dazedly into his hand, cautiously opening his fingers to admit the sight of the object within to his gaze. The red string seemed to dance in the shadows of the flickering lantern light like a living, gleeful, thing, and Ran closed his hand quickly and looked up at the moon again. It was no longer red, but pale and silent. Ran felt the feather-weight in his palm again, and thought of Ken as he turned inside. He smiled softly, to himself.

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Okay, so there you have it. The woman is no one significant, and there to be an obvious metaphor. If you aren't aware, yes, the red string was supposed to be significant. In asian tradition, fate is often symbolized as a red string that binds the fated together. In anime, it shows up as fated love of course. But that isn't its only use. In Saiyuki, for example, it is used to illustrate Kougaji's Karmic binding to his step mother, and thereby show that fate and circumstances beyond his control have made him her 'puppet' so to speak.

The woman here is more a thing of desire than anything else.

Ok, hope you enjoyed at least maybe a little….

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