tampered | Log : Completed : Homecoming & Leavetakings

When; Nov 15th, Sunset (Backdated)
Rating; PG
Characters; Nanami

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Summary; The inevitable fallout from a month's worth of horrible curses and a sister's temporary death. If he couldn't escape the City, at least she would... whether she wanted to or not.
Log;

He dreamed of butterflies in an ever blooming garden and knew what it meant. Xanadu. It was probably his favorite part of the City and she... ran off here all the time, didn't she? Perhaps there were invisible patterns after all. Riou wandered arm in arm with his sister beneath trees tinted with the colors of autumn, enjoying the final moments of the day, and thought.

About the City and its curses. About how his wish to have a few more happy memories with his sister had caused her to see him in that state, resigned and cold-hearted, threatening to kill her. About the deity who had told him that a gateway back home for Nanami would be found in sleep. About what waited for him back home. There was no guarantee that he and Nanami were from the same timeline anymore. God knows he'd done everything in his power to disrupt it when Nanami had been in the City before her death at Rockaxe. This might be the last he'd ever see of her.

But there was no choice. He couldn't protect her here. She had died here once already! He hadn't been able to protect her over there either, but perhaps Jowy and that Riou-- whoever he was, himself or some other-- could do what he could not. She was happier there, at least. And it was still better, far better, than their last goodbye, when she had been dying in his arms.

And so he walked beside her in seeming idleness, with hidden purpose, and looked for a sign.

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Nanami was blissfully unaware of any ulterior motives Riou might have for their outing in Xanadu, even though she suspected that Riou had been going out of his way to make her happy that entire day. She had decided that her brother was attempting to make it up to her for how he had treated her during the curse the day before.

Had she known his true intentions, she would have tried to stop him. Bartering with the deities for her sake was one of the last things she wanted him doing for her, although she would have just as readily, perhaps more so, done the same for him.

Oblivious, she practically skipped next to him, arm looped in his and happily hummed a song to herself.

Riou smiled as he glanced over towards his sister. She was happy again, for the moment. And all it had taken was a bucket of ice water to the head while he feigned sleep early that morning. One time offer, Nanami! Attending her morning class at the dojo, which for once he was able to stay awake through. A trip to the hot springs ending with dinner at the nearby tea house. And now just a casual stroll through, coincidentally, her favorite part of the gardens.

"It's starting to get chilly," he nonchalantly said. "I wonder what happens to this place in the winter? Normally the gardens would frost over, but you never know here..." he said and surrepticiously peered around a tree. Not that she was going to be around to find out.

Nothing yet. What would the gateway look like anyway? Like the doorways in the air that he had once seen in the northern forest? Or something else entirely? It'd be rather suspicious looking if he suddenly brought it up, wouldn't it? After all, Nanami had managed to make her way home once already.

"I wonder if they'd stay in full bloom even if covered in snow? I didn't go to Xanadu the past few times it's snowed here," she mused and then turned and beamed up at him. "Good thing we got plenty of supplies to make it through whatever kind of winter the City throws at us, huh?"

Not waiting for an answer, she released Riou's arm and wandered a little ahead of him, to catch sight of the last butterflies of the evening.

"Yeah, that would be a sight to see. " he replied. "I wonder if it even snows here naturally? So far it's all been curse related."

He sighed and looked up at the sky. It was late enough for the moon to begin to rise. Should he continue searching in the night? Not all of the gardens were well-lit and with the setting of the sun, the temperatures were also dropping. They'd brought no heavy jackets with them, at least that Nanami knew. She might start wondering why he'd secreted one of her coats in his knapsack, if he suddenly whipped it out.

And then, something gleamed and caught his eye to the far right of the garden path. Quietly he stepped off the dirt and stone and began to make his way through the greenery, towards the darkened outline of a copse of trees.

"Riou?" Nanami called after him as he strayed from the path. To follow or not?

If he was really trying to humor her that day, he'd likely be back right away, she decided. She'd give him a few minutes, and, if he didn't come back, she'd follow after him. She resumed humming softly to herself and occasionally glanced over in the direction he had wandered.

It was wedged in tightly in between the trees, almost entirely blocked from view of the path by the foliage and flowers. A shimmer in the air, a slice cut out of this place, a gate to somewhere else, wide enough for one. He did not recognize the rolling green countryside on the other side. Not Tenzan Pass. Not North Window Castle. Not meant for him. His gaze dropped and fell upon by a small thatch of flowers growing near his feet.

He leaned casually in between the trees, completely obstructing the small doorway out of sight, and called out to his sister.

"Have you ever seen a blue rose?"

Edited 2007-11-16 10:26 (UTC)

"A blue what?" Nanami responded curiously.

Her attention and curiosity successfully captured, she made her way to the source of her brother's voice and stopped just in front of him. Not quite sure what he had in mind this time, she smiled softly at him and tilted her head.

"What is it you want me to see?"

"A rose," Riou repeated, and carefully as to not reveal what was behind him, he gestured and bent towards the tiny patch of prickles and flowers growing in the shadow of a nearby sapling "I didn't think they existed in this color."

Gingerly he plucked one of the nearly luminescent blooms off of the black brambles that surrounded it. It was quite beautiful, but, as he brought it closer to his face, he realized it had no scent. A price for everything. He offered the flower to Nanami with a slight flourish.

"Ah, watch the thorns," he said and on cue one bit into his hand, causing a thin line of blood to well up alongside his ring finger.

Nanami resisted the urge to roll her eyes at Riou's display, but it was all in good fun. She took the rose, and ran it through her fingers for a moment. A blue rose, something she'd never seen before and would probably never see again once she left the City.

The fascination, however, was short-lived, as she dropped it and focused her attention on Riou's finger immediately after. She took his hand in both of hers and examined the wound.

"You don't have any bandages in that bag of yours, do you?"

"I always do. Can you hold this for a moment?" Riou replied, swung the everpresent knapsack off his shoulders, and handed it over to her. "While I look?"

And normally the knapsack would have bandages. And his tonfa-- now sealed due to the deal with the deity--, and extra runes, photos and schematics, bits of this and that, whatever it was that he wanted always with him, to bring with him outside of the City.

But this time it was filled with clothes magicked into armour through the technology of the city, the best of the odd healing herbs and medicines found here, 1/4 of all his potch, and other things that Nanami and Jowy and that Riou would find useful on their journey around the world. He'd have to get a new knapsack.

"Oh...All right," She agreed and released his hands to grab the knapsack instead.

She had never really known what he kept in there, and had never thought to ask, so if anything was off with it, she was none the wiser. That he wanted her to hold it, when he could just as easily place it on the ground instead, was completely lost on her.

"You know," Riou said and took a step forward. He picked up the fallen rose and carefully tucked it into her hairband. "I'm really glad that we became family too."

He threw his arms around her, getting a good grip. And then a whisper, right in her ear. "Please be careful."

His hold tightened for a moment, before she can respond.

"Goodbye, Big Sister," he said quietly.

And then with one quick fluid movement he twisted sideways, out of the way, and calmly shoved Nanami through the unblocked gateway.

Nanami's mind froze. Goodbye? Big Sister?

But when her thoughts finally caught up with her, it was too late. She was suddenly aware that she was falling...towards Harmonia? She was going home? She tried to twist around, but could only catch a glimpse of her brother's face.

"Riou!!" She managed to cry out before she vanished completely.

The gateway seemed to twist, somehow slithered into itself, and disappeared entirely. Riou rubbed at his eyes and continued to stare out in between the trees for one long moment.

The last golden-red rays of the sun ebbed away as silvery pinpricks of light appeared in the sky overhead. Not stars of destiny... just normal stars, once again. He turned and headed back to an empty apartment, a phantom clock keeping time in his head.

Log : Completed : Homecoming & Leavetakings

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