Title: Birdbaths
Rating: Rated T.
Pairings: Mazume (Mamura x Suzume).
Genre: Romance.
Summary: She occasionally wondered if being the best she could be is truly good enough for anyone but herself.
Regarding Q&A: Any questions regarding the story can be asked via PM or review.
Beta: N/A - Help wanted.
Warnings: None.
Category: Hirunaka no Ryūsei.
Uploaded: December 17th, 2013
(Section Break)
She compares herself to a bird sometimes. Intelligent, majestic, beautiful, graceful; average, unimpressive, normal, clumsy. It is not a pleasant comparison, she ponders. Why is she named after such a wonder of the earth?
The words breathed out from behind her, escaping the lips of the blond she sits next to, do not match what she feels. The peculiar elation she feels as he motions for her to hurry so she could be escorted home by him, a red blossoming that she cannot see from the angle she has on his face, does not reflect what she sees in herself.
Eagles are proud, crows are crafty. So what is a sparrow? Tiny, cute, cuddly. Not meant for roughhousing. Plain and uninspiring.
The thoughts of things such as those do not leave even as she nods at the invitation, a rose garden blooming prettily for an early spring within her, basking in the warmth of her personal sun. The interior of a classroom after school hours bids her farewell as she stares into space while daydreaming, and the soft and subtle presence of a boy she found herself chasing after slowly becomes less prominent.
He murmurs something, but even as the words are leaving him she does not hear them. Silently his mouth moves, sounds coming out that are inaudible to her. She does not register as he waits for her response, nor does she seem to notice the darkening of the sunlight as the giant star in the sky is covered by rainclouds. He waves his hand in front of her face in a gesture much unlike himself, and even as it catches her drifting attention she cannot hear anything but the slow rustling of the trees in the wind outside. The soft smile she gains makes her a fake doll of porcelain, and halfway through the sliding doors she hadn't realised she is being lead through does she notice that she can hear the slowed-down echo of his shoes on the cold floor. They clunk.
The rustles of the outside turn into pitters, then patters, and she gazes out the window blankly as the world becomes a stormy cage. The pair walk down staircases, his body close enough for her to feel the temperature even through the thick humidity that clamored both her and the air. Her ankles become turned at inattentive angles, and she finds herself looking directly upwards at the ceiling without meaning to, a throbbing pain echoing within her head. More words come out, mouthing something or other, and blinking slowly her ears stop ringing from the fall.
"Suzume?"
Thousands of pages of sheet music spin themselves to his lips, molding his vocal cords into a harmony. She wonders why such a beautiful sound has been silent to her ears for so long. She makes eye contact with him, hearing as the audiobook is played hundreds of times in her head until she memorises even the dictionary word for word, definition for definition. He offers her a rough hand, and with a hoist she is up once more, vision tumbling as fairies sprinkle black glitter in her eyes. The rest of the steps are not unlike a rickety bridge, and only with a claw and a hoof intermingled does she make it to the bottom safely.
Mourning clouds dot the atmosphere outside, glimpses of overhead shields wielded by civilians visible to all. She does not have one. Sparrows are not meant to go to battle. However, it seems horses are, and the canopy above her as she steps outside creates a nice contrast from the bars up in the sky. The white of the fabric is too cheery, and glancing sorrowfully up, she pities the condensed vapour. They take a step out, then another, and soon the two are in silence as they walk. Puddles cling to indents in the ground, and absently she muses if the earth is crying back.
They reach her street, and she is quiet as she pads along. The ripples in the water grow as the storm does, and decidedly she thinks the day had been uninspiring like herself.
She sees something, something she had never noticed before. She pauses, and a second later so does he, looking back at her. His hair is as blond as a white stallion's; hers is as coffee-coloured as the tail of the bird for which she is named.
The eagle inside her rushes forth, spurred by the sight, and she belatedly feels her legs running underneath her. They impact repeatedly with the ground, and finally she stops breathlessly at a park. The soaked uniform she bears clings to her skin, and a part of her realises that she will probably catch a cold because of her actions. Repeated clunks come from the direction from whence she came, and soon another heavily-breathing student is beside her, the umbrella that adorns simple and plain vibrancy above her head once more. The trees from the scenery block out the cage high in the clouds, and she looks at the person that so willingly chased after her much like she had him.
"Mamura?"
The name of her classmate leaves her vocal cords softly, the loud rhythm of the falling tears of far-gone angels nearly overwhelming her question. The boy looks at her, eyes a muddy mess of confusion and perhaps relief, and she continues to speak.
"What...do you find special about me?"
The last pained gasps for oxygen in the humidity pass through his throat, and standing straight once again afterwards, he leads them over to a brick wall to lean upon. His body language is heavy with tension and a lack of understanding, and the answers he racks his brain for do not come in the most presentable of forms right away. He mulls over the inquiry further, and as the rain hits the top of the blank shelter he holds in his hand he replies.
"You can't do things normal people can."
He says no more, so she speculates. The answer is a half-empty half-full type of reply, and glancing at him from the corner of her eye, she sees him watching the rustling trees as she thinks. The negative connotation latched onto the words he spoke pierces her heart, turning the blade in circles over and over, and she sighs as an ache appears in her chest.
"Meaning?" she mumbles.
The wind blows a bit harsher, ruffling their clothing.
"...You're irreplaceable," he finally says. "That's what it means."
Tinges the colour of sakura petals in the spring work their way to the surface of her skin as he answers, and only the reason to keep the canopy overhead forces him to retain the straining position his arm is in as the feeling hurriedly turns mutual. The desire to cover the muted prickle in his cheeks grows large enough that he brings up his other hand to cover his now-pastel face, and the embarrassing action that warms the little sparrow's fragile heart is wondrous. A tiny smile faint enough to fool most into believing it was a neutral expression overcomes her, and moving her hand she latches on to the tan sleeve of his winter coat, grasp loose. The wet grass swishes at her feet, and as she turns to face him, the one she worked so hard to reach for, she slowly wraps her arms around his middle.
The warmth of his body radiates to hers through the cold liquid hailing from above, and leaning her head in to the cloth surrounding him she feels him stiffen considerably. She doesn't look up, only tightening her hold and listening as the rain begins to clear and unlock the bindings keeping her in place underneath the vast sky. He hasn't moved, and luckily for him she is not choosing to view the deep red of blood that seems to have left every other part of him to go to his head.
"Mamura?" she whispers.
He does not trust himself to reply to such a delicate voice.
She looks up at him, smiling at the sheer colour of his face as she balances herself to stand on the front of her feet, leaning upwards. His head is frozen in place as she does so, and only the disappearance of the water falling from the heavens marks the event of her lips gently gracing across his before applying a small bit more pressure and then backing off to mumble, "You're irreplaceable, too."
(Section Break)
This was hard to write but absolutely lovely in the end. I hope you enjoyed it, too~
Well, if you review, virtual cookies. If not, that's fine too. As long as you like the story, everything's all good!
Shameless advertising: I have another Mazume Hirunaka no Ryūsei fanfiction called Opacity, by the way. And if you're interested, I also have various other one-shots for One Piece and Naruto, most of them parody.