Title: A Diamond in the Rough
Characters: Shuurei/Ryuuki
Rating: G
Word Count: 256
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And the tears stung. They rolled down his cheeks, unbidden and foreign now but equally welcome and unhindered. These tears? They eased the pain, flooded desperation with hope, and made fervent, flowery sweet promises, chanted musical words like tomorrow and the day after and the very idea that true love was indeed possible.
The deepest urges of his soul could be denied no longer, for the virtual tempest of emotion swirling and skittering through his mind—and his heart—overwhelmed him in a flooring wash of fear and yearning. His steps were hounded by the fear of loss, fear of the past, fear of rejection, fear of loneliness, the demon in the shadows haunting, taunting, whispering conspiratorially in his ear that his love would never be reciprocated, was never meant to be.
But Ryuuki shut out the voices, shut out the whispers, valiantly clamped his hands over his ears and surrendered himself to a more fantastic desire—his yearning for peace, yearning for fulfillment, yearning to breach the treacherous barriers, yearning for the one he loved most dearly and truly and utterly completely, yearning for—dare he even think it?—happiness. He'd love her always, always and forever, and his thoughts were wholly occupied by this one true desire to remain by her side. She'd supported him in his weakest moments, dirtied her hands and toiled ceaselessly to uncover this diamond in the rough where no one else had even bothered to look—and she had polished him till he shone brighter than their midnight stars.