Disclaimers: Nope. Not mine.

A/N: Ahh…gomenasai minna san… I'm truly sorry… this wanna-be author went into hibernation for a while… out of civilization again… I just got back…I needed a break from everything…it seems that I experienced some sort of Karmic retribution…and thus the need for drastic changes… and I mean DRASTIC… I just hope my writing is still consistent with my story though… I'd like to share some of the lessons I've learned these past few months, these are best summarized in three quotes I've read somewhere (can't recall) but have now memorized by heart…1. "don't take life too seriously, you'll never get out of it alive"; 2. "the key to failure is trying to please everyone"; and 3. "let things take their course, move with them and never force"… and that's that…

Now for some quick notes: THANK YOU very much for the reviews… I can't believe it reached over a hundred… (gapes at screen…) it was a very pleasant surprise for me when I came home and checked…

To Heaven Goddess: Sorry for the cliffie and the long update. Thanks for the review and thanks for the offer too. It was sweet. I honestly didn't know what a Beta is (gasp!) until recently so… how does it work anyway? (sorry... I'm kinda dense sometimes)… umm, if you're still interested well then you're welcome to do so… just send me an e-mail or something… : )

To Karen: thanks... n well hopefully i'll do more Ranken stuff... : )

To moon without a sun: thanks...

To Amakurikara: thank you. sorry didn't get to e-mail... hopefully you'll know what happened when you read this part...if stillconfused... just tell... and i'll e-mail back...

To bbbbb and Kagami: thanx... hopefully there are explanations here...

To LtColS3: thanks... errr...this is the final chapter...so...

To tohda, eBooeBoo: thanks

To evelyn:so sorry for the confusion...and thank you for reviewing

Ti Gillian Sillies: err... here's the answer to your question... thanx.

To Akito-kun: thank you… and nope I don't have a beta reader as of the moment.

And to everyone who took the time to read this thank you...

Oh and theexcerpts from the poem at the end ofboth letters aremine written I don't remember when. It's crappy…sorry... yes… but it's mine. It's what got me started writing this part.

Lastly, after I finished typing this I was tempted to post it on well the season where its supposed to fit… but then I thought that I don't want to have one of those shi-ne mode Rans hanging over my head so…

Hmmm… good things must come to and end… so here's that last chapter that's been stored ¾ finished in my system for ages… it's slightly different… judge for yourself… it's finally done… Please R&R

FROST

Part VIII Autumn Spring

Autumn means winter is coming soon. But strolling down a path somewhere in the park seemed like a nice normal way to spend an afternoon in autumn. Feeling the fallen leaves crunching gently beneath the soles of the shoes, the warm colors of fading blooms and the cool breeze on one's face brings a certain euphoria of being one with the earth… this season of falling leaves hold a strange sense of beauty.

But when one walks down on the same path in the same park on an autumn afternoon in the middle of the rain soaked to the bone… the beauty turns to dreary scenario of a bleak world preparing for death.

And thus, in that mid afternoon of late October, a figure stood beside a nearly leafless maple tree, stoic, motionless, and watching the world pass by like a dream. Waiting for someone that most probably won't come today. But still this figure waits steadfastly… a tiny flicker of hope amidst a sea of doubts…

It had been his routine for the last few months. Summer had ended. Autumn is here. Winter is coming soon. But spring won't seem to come…

He used to wonder why he was left behind. But now he knew. Or thinks he does. The words on the letter linger inside his brain day after day… month after month…

Flashback

A finger silences his lips…

"Hush." A plea. "Don't speak now or I might forget everything else, and that is the last thing both of us need right now. Just stay here and keep me company."

Silence.

He stayed the night on that small room with whitewashed wallsonly to wake up the next morning, alone, with nothing but a letter in the middle of an empty bed beside his chair.

And as he read through the text he seemed to feel the earth caving in beneath his feet…

If he were not who he was… he would have cried.

Aya,

"By the time you read this letter, I'm most likely not there anymore. There are so many things that needed to be resolved and yet it cannot be done there. I don't want to be over dramatic or something so I'll get down to the point...

I feel cold.

I'd like nothing more than to kiss you and believe in you again… but…did you see what I did… what I've become? I've punished myself for somethingI cannot control…like you not loving me or you being a cold bastard most of the time… or me still loving you despite everything… But I do not need your pity…

I am cold.

There had been a time when I would have given anything for a minute of your time. But I draw the line when I had to do what I did to make you see me… to make you care…it was pathetic and underhanded. It wasn't fair to either of us. Maybe you are just confused right now… and feeling a bit guilty for what happened. It's not really your fault, I made the decision to do what I did… and now that I've thought about, it kinda disturbs me to know that I had to resort to…I'm weaker than I think.

The cold makes me numb.

I'm not angry at you. Not anymore. I'm angrier at myself for going too far. I realized that I've been acting like a spoiled child whose been denied his favorite toy. I need to set my perspectives straight…and hence the leaving.

Do you feel cold?

Don't bother looking for me. I'll come back when I'm ready… Or maybe… I don't know…

It's still so cold.

I do love you. For a moment yesterday I hoped that you might actually… but then… I don't want to assume anymore… not when it comes to you…I don't want to hurt both of us more than I already have… so… I need to think

Cold.

Damn. This is getting really depressing so I'll stop.

See ya

Ken

P.S. I want to write down this one last thing… it was something I read long ago…

I loved in winter, but Spring never came

Maybe the sun of Summer will chase the frost away

But as the snow melted down, I closed my eyes

And Spring eluded me

And when wake, I watched the leaves

They're already falling down

So I decided to go down the lane

In the middle of an Autumn noon

I took a walk under the rain

And maybe, spring will come to me

I will not miss it again…

And so here Aya stood drenched and cold but he didn't care. Waiting under the autumn rain. He always does this everytime it rains after he received the letter. Wishing that by some miracle that Ken will walk by so that Aya can take him home.

It's been months since Ken left. The shop was never the same again. There always seemed to be something missing. No more brunette to fluster when the chibi's not around, nobody to scold about tripping over the potted plants, no more soccer balls littering all over the place.

Ken always called to say hi to Youji and Omi. But he sent no word to Aya. He would not tell them where he is. But he would always assure them he'd come back when he's ready. The missions were harder to deal with nowadays. The team manage the best way they can. But Weiss is not Weiss without Ken. It's funny that Manx didn't fret even after Ken had gone. She just said that Kritiker had been agreeable to Ken taking a leave after the incident. They need their agents to be clearheaded.

The loss of the unique warmth that Ken brought to the shop and to the team was felt heavily by everyone. Even the loitering fangirls who often asked questions of whereabouts do nothing butbring the ache of loss closer to the surface. Especially for this quiet red head. Sometimes he would get so frustrated he'd walk out of the shop in the middle of his shift startling his companions at first. Because Aya Fujimiya, a.k.a. workaholic-business-minded bastardonly walks out in the middle of his shift on a personal whim under the most extreme of circumstances like hisan emergencyinvolvingsister or succumbing to peer pressure to go somewhere with Sakura. Other than that, you'd have to forcibly throw him out kicking, slashing and giving deadly killer eyes to eject him out of the shop. But they got used to it eventually. Especially after he began to do it every time it rains. In fact they expected it of him. They did not know what it meant but they let him do it anyway. It's not like they could stop him. One time, whenOmi heardthe fromweather report on TV that it will rain that day, he readied an umbrella for Aya to use. Of course their crimson haired didn't even bother with it. He only brought it with him one timebecause he got sick from all that walking in the downpour. Yet he refused to give up even when he is ill. Stubborn as mule. As always.

And now,standingafew hours under the rain he waited still. And waited. And waited. The rain doesn't seem to give any sign of letting up anytime soon. And still he knew he will wait amidst the cold and the water… until it stops. He is used to the cold. I mean he is after all, supposed to be an ice cold bastard… but the rain soaking him today felt chillier than usual. The cold seemed to permeate down to the very marrow of his very bones… and seep though every fiber of his being. It didn't bother him so much before. But after he woke up and felt the warmth beside him that one night that seemed sodistant now, he knew that he would never feel the same about the frost that had touched him for so long.

The loss of that heat made him realize that he never wanted to go back to the cold, dark winter that he had locked himself in. And so he waits.

He started to move away from the beside the maple tree that he had been leaning on. And started the slow trek back up the path. The rain grew heavier, it isas if the sky wanted to pour down the Pacific Ocean on this city. The few people who were outside people could be seen scurrying here and there trying to get out of the rain and hurrying to some place where they can be dry and warm. Except this one man walking ever so slowly as if savoring the tasteless water that touched his lips without a care in the world. His face tilts upwards, red hair stuck carelessly all over his face, eyes closed and hands loosely on his sides. Surrendering the inevitable. He wanted to scream. He wanted to lash out. He wanted to cry. He could almost taste his tears mingling with the cold Autumn rain. He wanted… He only wanted one thing…

He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't hear the slow footsteps approaching him. He didn't sense the presence that came stand in front him. He almost didn't notice that the rain stopped tingling on his skin. Until he felt a hand touching his cold, wet cheek.

Amethyst eyes opened to see a blue umbrella hanging over his face. His hand flew to the one still on his face. He kept his face up as his hands begin to shake slightly, he felt almost afraid to face the person in front of him, not daring to hope that…

The hand in his tilted his face down. And found himself staring at most captivating ocean blue green orbs he had ever known. There was a smile on that handsome face that he had so missed from long ago. He looked the same, if not slightly thinner. But he looked well and…

"Aya." Ah, how he missed that voice. A voice he'd only heard in his dreams these wearisome months. A voice he thought he would never hear again.

"Ken." It was all he could say.

"Omi said you left early." That voice is smooth and quiet.

"Ken." He can't believe that 'he' isreally there.

"Youji mentioned that you found a new hobby." He could listen to him speak all day.

"Ken." He can't seem to stop saying that name.

"Manx came over as I was leaving." Talk some more.

"Ken." His mind can't seem to focus.

"We have a new mission tomorrow." He doesn't know what is being said and he doesn't care as long as the brunette does not leave.

"Ken." Damn. Function. Brain. Now.

"Yes. Very good Aya. My name is Ken." Oh hell. Ken is laughing. He looks perfect.

"I-" It's a crime to be so dry and gorgeous under a heavy downpour.

"What are you doing here anyway?" Snap out of it.

"Hn. I was waiting from spring to come." A hopeful glance on a stoic face.

"In the middle of an autumn rain?" A smile.

"Yes." A small in response.

"You'll get sick you know." Curiosity. Or something else.

"I don't care. I won't miss it again… it might pass me by and never come back." A plea.

"Are you sure about that now?" A question.

"If I said yes, will you come home with me?" A hopeful question.

"If I come home with you, can I stay?"

"As long as you don't hog the all the sheets."

"I got your card, by the way."

"Is that why you came back?"

"No. Even if I didn't get it I'll still come back."

"Really?"

"If only to annoy you…"

"Ken…"

"Can we go home now? I'm cold, you're drenched, and we're both chilled to the bones."

"But at least I found Spring. Even if it came really late."

"Maybe it just came a little early."

"I'm still a bastard you know."

"Yeah. But you're my bastard now huh?"

"Home. Ken."

"Okay."

xxx

A small card lay open on a side table by an empty unused bed.

"Spring came to me in Winter

But I was in love with the snow

It's been so long since I've seen the sun

I've learned to live with the frost

Spring came to me in winter

But I dare not touch its side

I hear it beckon to me

Still I only watched it go

Then spring embraced me in Winter

And it wouldn't let me go

But I wanted to stay here in forever

And beremain in cold white arms

Til Spring finally gave up on me

And released me to where I was

Then I found myself missing

Her friendly and subtle warmth

And as I lay herestill in Winter

I dream for spring to come"

I will take a walk under the autumn rain. Waiting for spring to come to me. I will not miss it again.

I'll wait.

Aya

End Part 8

End of FROST

A/N: Saa, it's not exactly how I expected this to turn out but… oh well… What do you guys this… are you gonna throw a book at me or something?

Awww be nice… why? Coz I'm sad. I really enjoyed writing this piece. Anyway minna san: Thank you so much for reading and reviewing. It is greatly appreciated. I might make some R/K one shots some time in the future. And just put it under one fic. I'm starting to work on three new fics: one Naruto, one Yugioh, and one HP. All Slash as usual. And update 'Lost'. And fix 'Waking' properly. I always finish what I started… or I die trying…

If you have comments, suggestions, complaints, etc., etc, just click the review button and write it down. Or email me… whatever…

Ja minna San

I'll be seeing you around… at least I hope so… : )