Dementia

FOREWORD: This is an ongoing fanfic. To start reading from the beginning, click here.
Series: Final Fantasy VIII (8)

Pairing: Zell Dincht & Squall Leonhart
Status: part 12 and ongoing

Rating: PG
Warnings: shounen-ai, light Rinoa bashing

Search keyword: ff8_floating
Notes: Sorry about taking so long to put up this chapter! So this chapter continues on from when Zell and Squall had a brief odd moment, but the plot picks up and moves on. How are the boys dealing with that? (Yes, I'm forcing them to move now because if I didn't, they'd remain in their little situation forever, and that would be a very boring read, wouldn't it?)

---

The awkward moment they shared ended abruptly with Zell fleeing. Before he could formulate actual thoughts, Squall found himself alone in his room. First off, why was Zell smelling his hair? Secondly, he really shouldn't react negatively, even though he always found himself acting that way instinctively. From the look on Zell's face before he took off, Squall figured he must've looked unapproachable to elicit that kind of response from his friend. In addition, he wasn't sure if Zell was completely healed either. He didn't get to take a good look at Zell, apparently, when his body tensed and his hands stopped working. With that much in mind, Squall slowly got off the bed and made his way outside to look for Zell.


"Hi, Squall."


With a hand poised to knock, Rinoa was standing outside Squall's room when he opened the door. She had finally changed into her casual blue dress and black shirt underneath, and her hair was neatly combed. The weak smile on her face told Squall she hadn't slept much since the night before.


"Rinoa," he replied flatly after a few seconds. "You look tired."


"I haven't slept yet, but I wanted to talk to you first," the weary girl bit her lip and looked up with eager eyes.


Squall nodded and closed his room door behind him after letting her in. Unintentionally, he had forgotten about Zell with Rinoa's appearance, not that his friend meant any less to him, but there were some things he wanted to clear up.


-----


The blonde ran as fast as his legs could take him, dashing down the dormitory hall and, as if his body had a mind of its own, he ended up in the corner of the cafeteria. More paranoid than out of breath, Zell glanced anxiously behind him as he plopped down into an empty seat, not noticing that Quistis was sitting at the table.


"Are you all right, Zell?" Quistis voiced, startling the chocobo-haired boy.


"Oh hey Quistis, didn't see you there," he apologized quickly and flashed a grin before glancing towards the cafeteria entrance again. Relieved that Squall wasn't on his tail, his nerves settled considerably before he realized Quistis was watching him.


"Did something happen?" the woman narrowed her gaze at Zell and arched a delicate brow. "And have you taken care of your wounds from training yet?"


Oh yeah, wounds, Zell had practically forgotten about that the moment Squall started healing him anyway. "Sort of," he answered, glancing at his previously injured arm and flexing a little. A sharp pain shot up his arm, causing him to flinch, but it was relatively healed in comparison to earlier anyway. "Yeah I think I'm good," he added confidently and smiling. "How was sparring with the madam?"


Quistis shook her head slightly and smiled back. Zell was a tough one, and perhaps the toughest one of them all physically. She had a habit of being protective over her friends, but Quistis knew if one could survive physical damage, it would be Zell. Emotionally, however, the boy was perhaps the most fragile of the lot.


"By the way, Zell, I think there's something you should know."


Zell glanced up at Quistis and stared at the woman inquisitively. What pretty bangs she has, maybe he should try combing his bangs down like that.


"Please try to keep this to yourself," she started, then paused to inhale and exhale. "Rinoa is leaving."


A prolonged pause, then Zell did a double take.


"Wh.. what? Why?" he sputtered instantly upon recovery.


"Not so loud," she scolded calmly.


"Sorry," he humbled himself and leaned closer to the table.


"After training today, Ms. Glynn notified me that both Rinoa and Seifer are going to be transferred out of Balamb tomorrow. She thinks Seifer will be safer in Timber and his recovery might speed up. Once Seifer can assume duty again, they'll remain there as hired stationary SeeDs, so to speak."


"And whose idea was this?"


Zell looked angry, and Quistis frowned at him. The cafeteria's occupants noisily carried on their activities, not paying any mind to the two figures in the corner.


"Zell," she began, staring at Zell and speaking in authoritative tone, "You're in no position to be asking questions. What's decided has been decided, and truthfully speaking, I'm not sure what happened myself. In fact, I believe you have a better idea of this whole situation than me. I know Cid's wary of letting Seifer out of his sight because of what happened not so long ago, but if Seifer can transfer out, I think it was under someone else's order that this was arranged." Quistis exhaled and lowered her gaze. "But I am suspicious that it was Rinoa who wants this and perhaps her father helped in this."


His mind was cluttered and confused. Did what he say to Rinoa that morning influence her to leave Balamb and take Seifer with her? And leave Squall behind? Zell was sure Squall didn't know any of this yet, and suddenly, he wanted to see Squall again. Nevermind that he might give him the cold treatment for his previous behavior, but this was urgent. First though, he should get more information from Quistis.


-----


"Squall.. I know I wanted to tell you before I left."


Squall's gaze didn't change. His eyes were fixed on Rinoa's shoes, which looked worn. Perhaps those were her travel shoes. The room seemed darker than before, even though he had never turned on the lights from when Zell was there. The sunlight, filtered by the heavy curtains draping over the windows, seemed to have lost intensity.


"I... I want you to understand why I'm leaving."


Leaving? He wasn't sure if he heard her correctly. After all that they've been through, that couldn't have been what she said. There was no way.


"I don't know you anymore. I mean, look at you, are you even listening to what I'm saying?"


Squall looked up for the first time and found himself face to face with Rinoa... his... teary-eyed girlfriend? What were they anyway?


"I'm sorry this is so soon.."


"No."


"What?"


"I mean I knew."


"You knew I fell in love with Seifer?"


A harsh silence passed between them. The girl realized she has said something too sudden.


"No," he finally replied softly, his gaze falling down again. Something warm streaked down his face, something he wasn't familiar with. "I didn't know."


"Oh god I'm so sorry, Squall. I didn't mean to say that. I... I guess it's too late to take that back now."


No matter how hard he tried to speak, he couldn't form coherent words to say, so he just waited.


"Look, Squall, I loved you. I think there's a part of me that always will in some way, but I know now that we just... weren't meant to be together... that way. You were right, and I never listened to you. I'm glad you never gave in, I guess."


Squall thought hard, but no comprehensible sentences formed. Just words, fragmented thoughts, emotions, and strange urges. He idly bit his bottom lip and clenched his fists at his sides. Rinoa sighed heavily and lifted her hands towards his face, only to fall short of actually touching him. She had no choice but to withdraw her hands when Squall didn't budge, and she sighed again. A soft kiss she planted on his cheek, and although her lips grazed a strange wetness on his face, she couldn't feel anything except a tinge of remorse within herself. But sadness? She couldn't feel it anymore. Relief, however, was what she would categorize her last kiss.


"Good bye, Squall. I'm going back to Timber. You can always look me up if you're ever in the area."



A forced smile and a slight rocking on her heels before she turned around and opened the door. The hallway light flooded the now dark room. Clouds must have known Squall's emotions and hid the sun away. Rinoa squinted at the man's face. The man she initially came to love, and yet, now seemed like a lost boy staring at the ground. She smiled, this time for real, and fingered the door for a moment. For once since a long time, she felt a tinge of happiness returning. Leaving was definitely a good thing for her, she realized, and then walked out the door, closing it quietly behind her.

Series: Angel Sanctuary
Pairing: Raphael/Michael
Status: one-shot, completed
Rating: G
Warning: Spoilers for Angel Sanctuary, because this takes place after the manga series.
Notes: This takes place ten years after the end of Angel Sanctuary in Briah (I think Briah, urgh). Characters that appear are Michael, Barbiel, and Raphael. The focus of this drabble is the relationship between Michael and Raphael. If Michael had that much time to think, how would he change? Would he change at all?

---

The day started off pretty good today. In fact, better than good. It has been ten years since the messiah succeeded. And it's been ten years since he waited for that moron to wake up.

Ten years meant nothing but a long wait, but it was nothing compared to the years he already spent in his body of stunted growth. Was the wait over?

Day after day, the boy angel visited the hibernation chamber. At first, days passed indefinitely when he had nobody to spar with on an equal level. All of his subordinates were terrified of him, despite his slight size in comparison. The closest to a friend as close as that perverted doctor was Khamael, and he, well, was just a loyal guard dog if anything. Months passed, yet nothing changed. Same routine everyday, which gave him a lot of time to think, and thinking was just the thing he hated. He wasn't the type to think, because when he tried, he would get a headache. Normally this would've been fine, because Raphael would bring him to his senses one way or another, but after the first year passed, Michael had to stop destroying the facilities in the hospital wing. There were too little resources left to destroy that weren't necessary for recovering all the damages caused by the war between heaven and hell as well as the ongoing fighting that surfaced every now and then.

Those ten years were long, painful years. Too many days of waking to nothing, too many hours of nothing to do, too many minutes of shouting, and too many seconds of anger. Or was that sadness? No, not sadness, for one day he would awake. One day, he hoped. Michael never thought twice about heaven's forces needing medical attention while Raphael was still around, but because he couldn't heal himself in the state he was in, a sense of fear arose. Still, Michael's rounds of destruction were frequent.

The resuscitation room Michael frequented was almost always quiet, except when Barbiel came in to perform the daily required monitoring. She always was a gentle soul, caring and thoughtful of her Raphael-sama, even now. It was also that nobody dared enter the room for fear Michael-sama would beat them senseless and not have someone like Raphael around in case they got hurt too badly.

Since the end of the third war between heaven and hell, Yetzirah, Atziluth, and Briah were taken over by the organization Zaphkiel left behind, Anima Mundi. Michael was the only active elemental angel left in heaven, but he didn't take any part in dealing with politics as usual. However, he still remained an authoritative figure. His association with his brother still tarnished his reputation, but anybody who valued their lives would not speak a word of it. Nobody knew what became of Lucifer or Alexiel, except that they seemed to cease to exist. With God destroyed and Adam Kadmon gone, the entire order and structure of heaven and hell changed. For better or for worse, nobody knew. The inevitable rebel groups sprouted up here and there, and the need for Michael was always present. That never changed.

But no fighting was ever enough to satisfy him. He always found time to visit Raphael everyday even if he was called to send troops to defend or attack whatever. No tears were shed, just frequent bouts of anger and the occasion calm talk to the cold glass case of the hibernation chamber. So ten years have passed now. Was Raphael going to awake?

Standing next to the chamber and gazing in at Raphael's sleeping face made him agitated. When was Barbiel going to come in today? Michael glanced irritably at the control panels at the head and foot of the device and pondered briefly about pushing some buttons himself, but decided not to. Then thought about it again.

"Shit, Raphael, you told me to stay by you for ten years. Well, it's been ten years, wake up already!"

The annoyed boy pounded at the glass and watched it vibrate. Luckily, Raphael had built the device strong enough to withstand any of his abuses, perhaps foresight? That damn doctor, if he had enough foresight, he could've prevented himself from needing to go into stasis in the first place.

"How dare you sleep so soundly when we have unfinished business?"

His voice rose, as it did everytime he had this... conversation... with Raphael.

As if by cue, the doors behind him opened with the noise of compressed air escaping and light heels clicking on the marble floor. The ever smiling Barbiel walked in with a clipboard in hand and her wavy hair curled in a loose bun. Donned in a pristine white lab coat for work, she was the head of the medical department while Raphael was absent from duties.

"Talking to Raphael-sama this morning as usual?" she spoke brightly, coming up to the control panel at the foot of the hibernation chamber and tapped away on the keys.

"Yeah, still out cold," Michael responded and turned to lean his back against the chamber. "You've been keeping tab as well as I have, will he wake up today or not?"

A moment of silence passed between the two while the mechanical clicks as her fingernails struck the keys and a series of electronic beeps in response filled the air. Then Michael saw her face lighten up visibly.

"Hai. The healing process is complete. I believe we can open the chamber..." she paused and seemed to chew her lip, then typed in something. "Now."

Michael's eyes lit up and he whirled to look down at Raphael through the glass, who was as still as ever, then up at Barbiel. She walked around Michael to access the panel at the head of the chamber and seemed to deactivate the lockdown. A loud decompression was heard, and the glass case slid open slowly. The two stared down at Raphael with eyes wide open, and neither spoke a word for an eternity of seconds, until...

"HEY YOU IDIOT!"

Barbiel winced at Michael's loud voice and returned her focus on Raphael. Apparently, Michael was not as patient. His head was halfway inside the chamber and close enough to sniff Raphael's face.

"WAKE UP ALREADY, TEN YEARS HAVE PASSED."

"Oi."

"Heh! Good morning, you lazy bum."

An elated grin broke out on Barbiel's face, and even though Michael-sama's head was blocking her view, she could hear her Raphael-sama's voice, even if it sounded a bit weak.

"Raphael-sama..." she spoke, even though she could not see him directly. "The healing process was successful?"

"Ah... Barbiel, is that you?" a soft but low voice spoke, as steady as she remembered so clearly all those years ago.

Even though Michael-sama didn't budge, she answered, "Yes, Raphael-sama. It's been ten years as per your instruction. I... I wanted to thank you, after all this time."

Still, Michael didn't move. Raphael didn't answer either, and Barbiel was beginning to feel uncomfortable. With a smile on her face, she realized her position and decided to leave despite how much she wanted to see Raphael now that he was back.

"I'll leave Michael-sama with you. Please call me if you need me, I'll be outside," she said in high spirits. Raphael-sama just woke up, she wouldn't want him to see her sad, so she quickly exited the room and closed the doors behind her.

The whole time Barbiel was trying to talk to Raphael, the blond man was gazing at Michael's eyes. Despite the loud clamour of his voice that woke him up, the first thing he saw with in his blurred vision was Michael's eyes, wide as they were, and... moist? Between slow blinks and his eyesight returning, the only thing he could see were Michael's golden eyes. It couldn't be, but, was he crying?

When the doors shut after Barbiel's leave, Michael's face scrunched up and warm drops splattered on Raphael's cool complexion.

"Mika-chan..."

"God, it's been ten fucking years, you bastard."

"Mika..."

"Do you know how LONG that is when you're alone?"

"I know, and thank you."

Slight yet strong arms lifted his shoulders and caught him in a tight embrace. The temperature in the hibernation chamber was rather cold, and the warmth he was suddenly surrounded by was the best feeling ever. With the strength of the arms holding him, Raphael pulled himself to a sitting position in silence. It was then that he heard soft choking noises. Michael's chin was pressed against his shoulder. Reaching up, he stroked the head of red hair that tickled his cheek.

"I'm sorry, Mika-chan."

"You said," a muffled sob interrupted his words, "You said you'll finish our fight when you wake up. For that, for that..."

"You've changed, you know that?" strength returned in the low voice of his.

"I was a fool for always blowing up at you, but I kept waiting for the day I could explode at you again," Michael replied, hastily quitting his tears and pulling away so that he could see Raphael's face.

A lazy but gentle smile emerged on Raphael's lips, and he traced Michael's face carefully with his fingers. "You grew up when I wasn't looking," he answered with a cocked grin.

"Heh, well you're still a perverted doctor."

"Really? Shall I examine my grown up patient now?"

"Feh, you're as bad as ever. Ten years of beauty sleep enough to cultivate that kind of perversion?" The vivacity in Michael returned after his short emotional moment. The redhead released the man's shoulders and helped him out of the hibernation chamber. "I missed you," he mumbled, looking down and away from the taller blonde.

"Hm?" Raphael pretended he didn't hear as he stretched himself out and patted at the ten-years old wrinkles on his suit that, of course, didn't go away.

"You gave me so much trouble making me stay by your side for ten years, not that I minded."

The man sighed loudly and stood still, watching the back of Mika-chan's head. He waited for whether Michael would walk out or turn around, and indeed he did do one of the actions.

As soon as Michael turned around, Raphael made eye contact with the boy. It was obvious that his physical growth seemed to have restarted slowly in his absence, yet he was still the same Mika-chan from before. His eyes still held the same depth, and his soul was ever more pure. How lucky he was, to wake up to his own redeemer.

"I missed you, too," Raphael whispered in between their gaze.

"Welcome back, then," was the reply.

Some thought they were close friends, and others thought they were like brothers. But only the two of them knew, that even after all this time together yet apart, they shared something much more.

Series: Naruto
Pairing: Uchiha Itachi x Uchiha Sasuke
Status: one-shot, completed
Rating: PG
Warning: hinting of yaoi, nothing explicit
Notes: Short blurb. Written in first person from the point of view of Sasuke.

---

He is my strength, my fire, and the object of my hatred. I hate him, more than anything in this world, because he took my family away. He took my brother away from me, and he is Itachi, the very person I once called brother. He is my pain and my suffering, which I will endure because I must. He said so himself, that day which haunts my memories, and now still. I cannot defeat him, but I refuse to give up.

"Struggling is futile, yowai ototou," a calm rumble in my ear accompanied the sharp, precise thrust.

He is the only family I have left, but he is no longer my brother.

He is my tormentor.

He is my lover.

Pretend that I don't exist
If you so please
Close your eyes and you won't see me
Although it's the same with your eyes open
Ahh blessed days come each morning
Another day without me
Isn't it great, knowing you're free?
Yes, I know it is
It must be
A world without me

Bright Rain

I found you, I finally found you

Together we can begin a brand new day
Every moment with you is like sunshine flittering about my skin
Let showers and thunderstorms try to cloud our way
We'll just dance and laugh in the rain

I can't believe you were here right from the start
How I didn't understand until now
You were and are my everything
From now on it's you and me, me and you

How loneliness drained my strength seemed like a mystery
But now it's all past and history
Together forever is what we'll be
No matter the obstacles we'll make it through

The joys you bring sustain my being
The hardships we encounter show us our bond
A power that only eternity will see through
Is our love for each other, so thorough and true

Let us hold hands and march through the streets
And taste all the world has to offer
Until the end of time comes, I'll be by your side
As you've always been by mine

---

Footnote: This was written in honour of two very special seiyuu who bring so much laughter and joy into my world. For these two, I wrote a song. (And also in my delusion that they're adorable as a couple.)