misanagi

For arbaasanruth

Haiku on a Paper Fan

Fandom: RK
Pairing: Slight Sano & Megumi
Rating: PG
Word count: 662

"Temple bells die out.
The fragrant blossoms remain.
A perfect evening!" [1]

Sanosuke read the words three times before deciding that they were nothing but rubbish, and slipping the paper back in his pocket. The small girl who was selling them had said that it was the way to a girl's heart and that those simple words were enough to make any woman fall for him. Yeah, right, and he was never gambling again and living a quiet life of austerity.

It was not like he had any woman in mind when he bought the paper, not at all. He had simply done it because the girl looked hungry and probably needed the money more than he did. After all, he was just going to go and get a drink. It wasn't as though he liked sake anyway.

His stomach took him right to the door of the Kamiya Dojo. He was hungry and since he had traded his last coins for some nonsense on a paper, he would have to settle for some of Kaoru's cooking.

"What is wrong with me looking like a lady?" Kaoru's voice was loud and was coming from inside the Dojo. Sanosuke smirked. Yahiko was probably teasing her and, like always, he was in for a beating. The boy never learned.

However, the voice that answered Kaoru didn't belong to the boy. "Of course there is nothing wrong. It's just that we are used to see you wearing those boy's outfits and running around with your little wooden sword. This new look comes as quite a shock." Megumi's voice was as condescending as ever, and Sanosuke could just picture her throwing her hair back and smirking.

"I wear kimonos all the time," replied Kaoru. "And it's not a boy's outfit and a wooden sword. Those are my training clothes, Megumi!"

Sanosuke walked cautiously to the Dojo door, looked inside, and gasped.

Kaoru was standing in the middle of the room, wearing a light blue weird dress, a matching hat, and holding a blue fan in her hand.

"See?" said Megumi gesturing to the door. "Not even Sano gets this weird western outfit."

Kaoru glared at Sanosuke before concentrating on Megumi again. "I still like it and Tea said it would look perfect on me."

Megumi covered her mouth with one hand and giggled quietly. "I'll be going now. We can continue this latter." She moved to the door and grabbed Sanosuke's shirt. "Come, Rooster Head, I need to take a look at your hand."

Sanosuke just followed her to the street and then they walked together to the clinic. He noticed that Megumi was pensive and quiet; she wasn't even insulting him.

"What's wrong, Fox Lady?"

She looked at him and for a moment all the defensiveness was gone from her eyes. "It's just a silly thing. When I was little I used to admire my mother's fans and since I was too young to have something like that, my dad gave me a paper fan." She smiled bitterly. "It was just a piece of western paper that he folded for me, but I really liked it. It was lost in the fire."

Sanosuke didn't know what to say, so he nodded and put his hands in his pockets. His fingers brushed against a crumpled piece of paper and he smiled. He knelt in the middle of the road and quickly folded the paper. It was wrinkled and the words couldn't be read, but it was the best he could do.

Megumi was waiting for him and staring at him with a curious expression. Sanosuke just smirked and handed her the small paper fan he had just made.

She gave him an annoyed look and opened her mouth to say something, but changed her mind and took the gift. Sanosuke could see a small smile gracing her face, and he thought that maybe buying the haiku hadn't been a total waste.

________

[1] Written by Basho Matsuo (1644-1694) and found in "Haiku for People" (http://www.toyomasu.com/haiku/)



For darthanne

Sometime in April

Fandom: GW
Pairing: 1x4
Rating: PG
Word Count: 527

Heero watched a small yellow leaf fall slowly from one of the trees. It drifted for a while in the soft wind before finally landing on the road. Quatre hadn't noticed it. He was too absorbed in looking at the scenery in front of him to notice a lonely leaf.

Quatre always noticed all the little things, but somehow he had managed to miss the leaf. Maybe the magnificent mountain in the horizon and the orange sun hiding behind it were more powerful that the vision of a small leaf. It was the way humans were; they were attracted to the bright and shiny things and sometimes forgot that what was hidden in the shadows could be just as beautiful.

Quatre had stopped walking and Heero turned his back on the sunset to see what was keeping him. The blond was just standing in the middle of the road, his eyes down, and below him, just beside his right foot, was the yellow leaf.

Slowly, Quatre bent down and picked up the leaf with his index finger and thumb. He stared at it for a while and then looked up at the tall green trees bordering the road. After a moment, he let the leaf fall again, and walked over to Heero.

"What?" Quatre asked, when he saw that Heero wasn't moving.

"You noticed," Heero replied simply and continued walking down the road.

Quatre walked with him and after a while, he stopped again. "This looks like a good place," he said, gesturing to a small clearing beside the road.

Heero nodded and they sat in the shadow of a tree, looking at the setting sun.

"What did you want to talk to me about?" Quatre asked, moments later.

Heero put his arms around the blond, forcing Quatre to lean against him. "I love you." The words were delivered slowly and in a simple way, but Heero was sure that it was enough for Quatre.

The blond turned around and pressed a small kiss on Heero's lips. "I know."

Heero blinked. He had been with Quatre for months and, even though the blond had said the words to him every day, Heero hadn't been able to say them in return. After all this time, he had thought that Quatre would say something else, that he would be surprised.

"You didn't need to say it for me to know it." Quatre was smiling at Heero and he was running his hand slowly through Heero's hair. "It was sometime in April when I knew for sure, and it was as though you had shouted it to the heavens. You stopped hiding from me. I was able to see the real you, and you weren't afraid to show yourself to me."

"But I thought it was bigger than that," whispered Heero, puzzled. "That I had to actually say the words for it to be true."

Quatre just kissed him in reply.

As Heero closed his eyes, ignoring the beautiful sunset, he remembered the small yellow leaf, and understood that Quatre didn't just notice the small things, but that for him, they shone as brightly as the sun.

______

Thanks, Anne, for beta reading them. *hugs*

Hex, I know I said I would write yours first but I'm writing them in order. The good news is that yours is up next.