Fandom: Slam Dunk

Summary: He never told her. She had never learned to nail the subtlest signs. And now its all too late for a compromise.

Title: Too Perfect For Heaven

Author: Hana Rui

Genre: Drama / Death-fic

Pairing: Kaede Rukawa x Ayako [RuAya]

Dirty white was for negligence. It was that of his jersey filthy and soiled from having missed out on weeks of laundry. The whole house seemed to have fallen prey to the same brand of sloppiness that had brought this much grime on the young jock's life.

Ayako couldn't help grimacing at the stench that wafted to her nose as she picked the heavily tainted fabric from the cluttered floor.

Icy white was for frigidity. It was that of him as he ran around the court, ball in hand and another astounding stunt on his trail. He was the most remarkable rookie anyone had ever seen—even surpassing the records set by his predecessors by a hundred miles. His desire to conquer the court seemed to have completely overshadowed his ability to feel. He had always looked tough like that. Expertly belying all the tumultuous emotions he had been bottling up inside.

She walked gingerly pass the assortment of tangible mess adorning the floor, wishing it were just as easy to stroll through the intangible ones currently harboring his heart.

Wintry white was for bitterness. It was that of his voice as he talked to her this morning on an embittered phone call that surprised her almost out of her senses. Out of her wits. She honestly didn't know he felt that way. Nobody really knew he actually felt anything anyway. And it didn't help much that his face had always been as flat as though it was a porcelain mask stuck on his face; a deadpan facade too rigid to breakthrough.

She pushed open the door to his room, careful not to make a noise loud enough to disturb his sleep. But one look at the wretched figure of a man lying on the bed was enough to betray her attempt at stealth. She fell to her knees, breath coming out in sobbing gasps as she tried to get a grip on the scene that met her eyes.

Bloody white was for torment. It was that of his blanket, dappled with fresh drops of a life blessed and cursed at the same time. For no matter how great, how perfect he had become to the eyes of those who had made him God, Kaede Rukawa was really just human after all. An earthbound soul whose prominence had incited all of heaven into jealousy enough to earn him a piece of hell.

And Ayako wasn't at all glad to have taken part on this celestial conspiracy...

Ghastly white was for death. It was that of him as he lay on his bed, soaked in his own crimson blood and bitter tears. On the floor beside his bed was a copy of yesterday's newspaper where she saw herself as the delighted bride she had been standing beside the proudest looking businessman in all of Japan.

It had only been yesterday. They had been too happy to even notice one man's nonattendance, and that said man's impending doom.

Rukawa had never really taken well to defeat. And while he made wonders out of this weakness on court, real life proved to be a much tougher feat.

"Aya-chan... It wasn't your fault..."

She felt loving arms coiling tightly around her, comforting her, reassuring her. Soothing her to no avail.

For the tears just kept flowing, a searing guilt in her heart to match. She knew they would pour on forever as she thought of how she could've changed things for him—for themselves, if she had only known.

If he had only told her earlier…

If she had only cared enough to nail the subtlest signs.

But it was all too late for a compromise now. For there was the man she could've loved with all her life, his face the kindest, and the calmest she had ever seen.

A lifeless angel too perfect for heaven's mercy.

-end-

Note: written for 52_flavours livejournal: Theme #01 Five shades of white.

Thanks for reading! :)