11-Jun-2002
Warnings: ooc, language, mild violence, sap. This might get a tad bit confusion, but hold on...
Pain lanced across his back as he rolled over onto his side and stared up at the bright blue sky. Where there should have been great lofty evergreen trees there was the delicate winding branches of a fragrant cherry tree instead.
"Wufei-chan, are you all right?"
The sound of the melodic giggle made his head spin and his stomach coil into a tight knot. He knew that sound from so very long ago. He could barely get his voice to sound any stronger than a sigh as he blinked his blurry eyes and focused on the face looming in front of his prone form. "M-Meiran?"
"Of course it is. That was the most absurd thing I have ever known you to do Wufei. I said that the cherries were lovely, not for you to take that as an insistence to climb the tree and pick them! It is too old to carry your weight." She laughed again and held a hand out to him.
He blinked again and stared at the outstretched hand before slipping his fingers into hers. They were soft and slender and felt the same as he had remembered them to be.
Her smile faded into a small frown as she helped him stand. "Are you sure you're all right?"
Her voice was laced with concern and even a bit of irritation at his dumbstruck stare as he rose slowly to his feet, willing his legs not to buckle beneath him again.
"N-No, I mean-yes, I am... fine." He still held her hand in his own, desperate to etch the softness of her pale skin and her fathomless onyx eyes into his mind forever. Her ebony hair blew slightly in the soft breeze and her yellow dress, stitched with intricate red flowers and blue silk lace at the hem and cuffs, nagged at his brain to remember it.
Wufei watched her skirts brush over the ground and listened to the soft sound they made as she moved. The poise and grace she had as she practically floated along the path as she walked next to him was an image he would keep with him forever. She was a courageous woman, full of passion and intelligence, and more beautiful than any bride he had ever seen or known of. She was simply radiant with the way her hair shone like ebony in the sun...
His eyes flew wide as the memories came crashing back to him with frightening clarity sending him to his knees on the gravel path with the blinding pain they brought.
She had worn that dress the day the devils came to their colony to force them to their will.
She had worn it the day she stood alone before them daring them to follow through on their threats.
She had worn it the day he failed her.
She had worn it the day she died.
He shut his eyes tightly. This wasn't real. He wasn't here, standing in his father's garden a few scant days after marrying his childhood friend. This was not the day that she died, because he had already lived through that pain once before. He could not go through it a second time. The gods would not be so cruel.
Visions of her pale, dying body lying in a pool of her own crimson blood came unwanted to his mind. Her yellow skirts spread out around her and her arms flung wide. Her raven hair covering her face as she lay with their family crying out for justice around her. And he too dumbstruck by the site was unable to gather her into his arms as she breathed out her last sigh of life.
He fisted his hands into his hair as he saw image after image of all that he had known and loved destroyed before him. He heard the sound of steps on the gravel path coming to stop in front of him, but was unable to look at anything other than the vision of how his home had looked from space just moments before it burst into a million blazing stars.
Tears came unbidden as he saw Heero Yuy press the trigger that would make his Gundam erupt into a ball of flame and send him falling... falling...
He heard soft sobs, stifled in the chilly air and saw a pair of indigo eyes; red-rimmed with unshed tears as he swung in a cradle of netting far above the ground. He shuddered; willing the images of torn skin and searing pain to flee his mind. When he opened his eyes again expecting to see the face that held a piece of his tormented heart, he found himself looking into Mieran's distraught ebony eyes.
"W-Wufei?" Her voice quivered slightly with repressed concern and her face had a strange open vulnerability to it he never remembered seeing on her before. She was so brazenly bold and fearless, so to see any look of apprehension on her gave him pause.
The breeze that swept through the garden was sweet and hung heavy with perfume. The sky was bright and blue above them in the generated sky. The buildings with their red roofs glinted in the artificial rays of sunlight and danced in his vision. The grass beneath his feet was lush and green. Even the tiny fountain in his father's garden was vibrant with life and light as it trickled across the rocks and spilled into the small pond at the edge of his parent's home. He shook his head slightly. The gods were not cruel, but kind and had allowed him a chance in this place of peace and serenity.
He brought her hand gently to his lips and kissed her knuckles softly, but was unable to raise his eyes to hers. Eyes he could feel the weight of; bearing down on him as if she was looking directly into the depths of his very soul. He drew her closer to him, ignoring her startled gasp as he gathered her into his lap and pressed himself closer to her, savoring the feel of her body against his. He finally brought his eyes to meet her confused ones, and smiled as she opened her mouth to speak. But before she could utter any word to him, he captured her mouth in a desperate kiss; full of longing, and sorrow, and regret. She resisted for only a moment before melting into the kiss herself and panted softly when he broke it soon after. She was uncertain of him and... afraid? "I have done something that offends you?" He breathed against her face as he watched her eyes sparkle in the summer sun.
"No. It's just... that you have not shown your... affection for me in any way, other than our wedding night." He watched the blush creep across her face as her eyes darted to anyplace but in his direction.
His brows knitted together as he thought about that. He didn't know much about courting, other than the proper family traditions and the strict moral guidance of his mentors. Being "affectionate" was not something they covered during his lessons. He felt his own cheeks burn with the remembrance of their marriage night together. It had been cursory. It had been his duty as a husband to seal their oath. And they had slept in separate beds the very next night after and every night since then. But he had always thought that there would be time to allow their bond to grow beyond their discussions of politics and philosophy. There would be time to nurture the mild affection and respect they had for one another into something more passionate.
If the war had taught him anything, it was that time was fleeting. A single instant in time could change one's path forever. He had thought all that he had needed was time to sort out his thoughts on war and his colony's part in preventing it. Meiran's part in preventing it. It shouldn't have been her concern. It should have been his. Not his books, or his studies, or his debates on life and death.
He had been concerned about the meeting the elders were to have with the devils from the Alliance, knowing that none of the members of his community, or their colony, would bend to the will of madmen. But that concern alone would not keep Meiran from barging in that night and protesting their choice of pacifism. It wouldn't have kept her from being killed. Of being made an example to them all of their power.
As for showing his affection to his bride of three days, he couldn't explain to her the need he had to touch her to feel her breathing next to him or feel the warmth of her lips pressed demurely to his. He dropped his gaze to the grass covered ground below him. "I am sorry I have made you uncomfortable, or worse yet, angry. A new bride shouldn't be upset so soon after her wedding day."
He tried to swallow the lump in his throat that was trying to choke out his air. A bride shouldn't have been sacrificed so soon after her wedding day.
She laughed and put her hands on his shoulders and looked at him plainly. "You... husband... have known me my whole life, since I was a young girl. Do not think now that kisses will sooth my anger over this matter about the politics surrounding our colony. I have just as much of a right to voice my opinion about it; despite what tradition dictates and I will be heard. As for your unwitting show of affection for me in public... "
"Meiran... " He whispered to her, feeling tears begin to prickle his eyes again. Time was fleeting, and Fate was impatient.
She cut him off by raising her hand in a gesture for silence and then chuckled softly at his irritated look. "I was pleased that you did so. What bride would not be pleased with you for a husband? But there will be time for such things. I think we should hurry or we will be late for the council meeting." Her blush deepened as she gathered her dress and climbed out of Wufei's lap. She frowned slightly as he wiped at his eyes as she rose to stand. "I know you are not happy by my going, but they must understand we will not yield to their desires. Please, understand."
He took her hand in his again and kissed it as tenderly as he had before. "I understand my love. And ask only that you forgive me."
She gave him a bewildered look and stood in front of him in silence as the slight breeze blew through her raven hair. "There is nothing to forgive, Wufei." She kissed him softly before turning down the pebbled path to his father's home.
He watched her as she hurried along the path to the home of his parents, past the cherry trees and far from the tranquil murmur of the pond's fountain. "I only had wished that there had been time for us, my love. Forgive me." He closed his eyes again not able, to watch her go and prayed for Fate to be kind and for time to learn patience.
End Part 5
(:./ebony/bough5)
