NOTES: AU. Passerby 3rd person POV. Yukimura x Yanagi. Fairytale-like elements. Kind of creepy?
Monotone
Winter.
The first time he saw him was on the snowy night he settled in his new house.
A thin light aura surrounded the youth as he stood in his backyard, the snowflakes descending slowly like petals around him.
He thought the youth's pure white kimono made him blend in with his snowy environment so well that if it had not been the red paper umbrella in his grasp, he would have easily dismissed his presence.
The youth peered at him quietly.
Wait. That was not so much of an accurate description.
The youth hid his eyes behind closed lids. He wondered if the youth was even looking at him at all.
Regardless, he still gawked at the other with his mouth hanging opening. He wanted to say something, to ask for the youth's identity, to question his intentions for barging into someone else's backyard, to inquire him on where he came from.
Yet, he could only stare. He was mesmerized by the other's flawless appearance. He was awed by the other's magnificence. He felt himself return to his childhood, to the day he first witness snowfall in his hometown when he was still under the protective care of his parents.
Then, childhood passed and adulthood arrived. There was nothing special about the snow he witnessed frequently each winter. And he was no longer under his parents' protection. He has learned independence.
As he thought of his conditions now, he gazed once again at the snow that he was quickly losing interest in. The snow and the flawless youth succeeded only in the temporarily revival of that innocence in the past.
When he looked outside again, the youth was gone. Just like that temporarily revived feelings of childhood curiosity and awe.
...
The months of winter came and passed.
He caught sight of the youth a few more times after their initial encounter.
The youth appeared whenever it snowed. But he was unsure whether it was the youth who brought the snow, or the snow that brought the youth.
The other always stood in his backyard: kimono fluttering in the chilly wind, red paper umbrella opened to protect him from the precipitation.
He wanted to tell the other to go away, to stop invading his privacy, to never come back.
Yet, whenever he pulled open the door leading to the veranda overlooking his backyard, the youth he saw from the windows in his house would already be gone.
The other left no footprints. It was as if he never set foot on his property.
...
March 21st.
The calendar announced the arrival of a new season.
But the weather told of an extended cold.
It snowed again.
He sat before his study table. The sliding door of his room stood ajar as he propted himself on an elbow on the wooden surface, He looked out, waiting.
The snow continued falling, today, heavier than ever.
Naturally, the brunet appeared in the haze of flurries, garbed in his usual white kimono, holding his usual red paper umbrella.
They faced each other now.
He felt himself almost dozing off from the inactivity, from the silence made quieter by the snowfall outside.
Until, he observed the smile on the youth's face.
It served as a great contrast to the expressionless facade he wore all this time like sunlight breaking through storm clouds.
Alarmed, he saw the white flakes melt away to streaks of clear rain.
Would the youth disappear as the result of this change?
He wanted to know. Curious, he stood, taking small, steady steps up to the door.
As spontaneously as the youth had appeared, another figure joined the youth to serve as the relief of his solitude.
It was another youth, with hair and kimono that matched the depths of the ocean. He had his eyes set only upon the youth in white.
They confronted each other. They smiled gently at one another. They approached each other. Then, the finale of their careful and deliberate, almost ceremonial, actions became their union under the red paper umbrella. They embraced.
Then... That was the end, really. They disappeared together.
When he came to, he realized he was already standing at the edge of his veranda. He had, perhaps, ventured too close to them and, as a result, threatened their territory.
More precipitation descended from the sky.
When he reached out hesitantly, a droplet of wintry mix landed upon his opened palm.
It was a droplet of rain mixed with a flake of snow.
As if the rain was embracing the snow.
Explanation:
I wrote this while sitting in the dark with only a nightlight in the distance.
Maybe that was why I thought this to be kind of creepy.
Yeah, Renji standing in the snow reminded me of yuki-onna, and that lead to a flashback to Fatal Frame. (shivers)