Dance With Me
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Unrepentant fluff, pure and simple. Because I live for fluff and am in great need of it at this point in my life. Based off the line of a poem I read by Judith Bond about 25th anniversaries (it was on a gift in the store). The original line was "Silver traces in your hair / which all can see save one."
As always, comments and criticisms are welcome.
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The flowers whisper through her hair, tinting the traces of silver he never sees. She's always loved this, watching the cherry blossoms fall, and he's always loved watching her. And as the flowers that bear her name fall around them, making her hair glow pink to match her cheeks, he can't imagine loving anything else.
And it took a long time—oh, how it took time—but they're finally here now.
She must notice something because she turns to look at him, and he ignores the few extra lines on her face, the way her eyes are a little squinted but just as bright, and focuses instead on her smile.
"Syaoran?"
He shakes his head at her, a smile playing at the corner of his own lips, and reaches out to pluck the blossoms from her hair. She blinks, a tiny "Hoe?" echoing in the stillness around them. It's cute, because she doesn't realize she still makes the sound, and his smile brightens just a little bit.
"Careful, or you'll be buried."
She smiles brightly and giggles, and suddenly they're twelve again and she's jumping off a broken staircase and into his arms.
"Don't worry," she says brightly, pulling him back to the present. But she's just a little older now than in his vision, just as old as the day they were married.
He nods and turns away, takes in the trees that surround them and cover their yard in blossoms, the small orange plush-like creature rifling through the picnic basket beside them. The absolute peace he's found in the smile of one girl.
Eventually his mind is pulled back by the sounds of ravenous eating, and he turns to find Kero free of the basket and trying to eat every sweet in sight. His eyes narrow and he snatches the treat away before the tiny Guardian can eat it, feeling a swell of pride as the orange ball of fluff snaps his teeth together painfully.
"Oi! That was mine!"
As response, Syaoran eats it himself.
After Sakura calms her Guardian Beast down, long after the creature flies away to take a nap, his wife leans her head against his shoulder and closes her eyes. Petals still fall into her hair like a crown, but he doesn't brush them away because they suit her better than anything else. He watches her as the sun sets, as the pink of the flowers turns to a dull grey and all around them is silence. The thought that they should clean up and go inside flits through his mind for only a second before he discards it.
"Syaoran…?"
"Yes, Sakura?"
She shifts away from him and blinks the sleep from her eyes. "We should go inside now, it's late."
"Nnn."
He helps her stand, but in reality they help each other. His legs hurt more and more lately, and she can't quite stand up straight, but they have always known just how to support one another. And as she leans down to pick up the basket, and he folds up the cloth, he wonders why it took him so long to notice.
"Hey, Syaoran…"
"Yes?"
She's there beside him, basket tucked safely by the base of the tree, and he sets the cloth down as she holds her hands out to him.
"Dance with me?"
The sun has set, but as they move out from under the cover of the trees and into the moonlight, bodies bent and old but spirits still so young, the petals in her hair shine brightly once again, covering the silver traces that all can see save one.