FOREVER AND ALWAYS

The cries around him was what kept him awake even for a little while. His teary eyes looked at the darkening sky as he took a shaky breath only to wince in pain.

The boy lying next to him and long stopped moaning in pain. He was gone. His dirt coated fingers had stopped twitching a few minutes ago.

His time was also coming. His wound had been bleeding and pain clawed his stomach and lungs. His stomach was empty after throwing up, in his pain.

The ground around him smelled horrible. Painful wails and moans rang in his ears again and again.

However, Ryu kept quiet. He let the pain slowly eat him but he refused to cry out loud. Or maybe he had quietly cried too much that the water in his body had run out.

The war had taken innocent lives. Their village was not the first and it will not be the last.

In the distance Ryu would hear marching and loud sirens but he hardly cared.

It was too late now.

Ryu closed his eyes not wanting to spent the last moment of his life in pain. Behind his eyelids he was taken to a place, he had always seen in his dream.

The sky was clear and the afternoon sun shone brightly. Ryu basked in the slight burning warmth of the sun and smiled. The sound of the river waves rolling, filled his ears as he dipped his legs and let it sway lightly with the current of the river.

The day was extremely hot. He was sure it was going to rain after a while.

"Ryu kun?"

Ryu opened his eyes and smiled brightly at the approaching figure of the boy, who was hugging a brown worn out book against his chest.

Mori Hana walked towards Ryu and sat down next to him. None said a word and Ryu took out his legs from the river.

"It's going to rain after a while," he commented.

Hana nodded and he to got up as Ryu dried his legs and put his shoes on. They walked under a tree and sat down. As they talked about their day, Hana opened the book he had been carrying.

"I wrote a haiku for you, Ryu kun," he said.

Ryu's heart immediately started thumping against his chest as he ruffled Hana's hair. This feelings he had was unnatural. Hana was his master's son but both of them treated each other as friends.

And Ryu wanted to be so much more than friends with Hana.

"I am uneducated," Ryu said with a grin, "Will you read it to me?"

Hana immediately blushed and frantically nodded his head as he shuffled through the pages. His heart was thumping nervously against his rib cage, everytime Ryu was around.

Hana peeked at Ryu and his breathing hitched. No matter how many times he looked at him, Ryu seemed to look even more attractive.

All the field work had tanned his skin in a golden shade and the hard working conditions had gifted him, muscles Hana can only sigh over.

Hana gulped nervously, when Ryu raised his arms to rest his head against the tree trunk and the biceps bulged against his shirt.

With red ears and a flushed face, Hana finally found the page where he had written his latest haiku for Ryu.

"I see you

And my silent

Heart beats

So loudly."

Hana pursed his lips as he stared at Haiku he had wrote. He never read his haiku out loud to Ryu because all of them held his love for Ryu. And he was afarid that Ryu would not accept him.

However, with the war approaching, Ryu will soon be forced to join the army and Hana wanted to tell about his feeling to Ryu immediately.

Or else his chest might burst by keeping so many strong feelings for him.

Hana cleared his throat and read the haiku he had wrote. After he finished reading, he didn't looked up from his page. He just stared at his own writing, waiting for Ryu's response.

However, only silence remained between them.

Hana felt his chest clench and his eyes blurred with tears. He had prepared his heart for a rejection, after all how can two men be together? But it still hurt. Ryu's silence hurt.

Hana closed the book and was about to walk away. When it suddenly started raining. He looked up at the sky and back at Ryu. To his surprise Ryu was looking at him with an unreadable look in his eyes. Hana quickly averted his eyes away from Ryu.

Ryu was lost.

The moment Hana had finished reading the haiku, Ryu had wanted to pull Hana in an embrace and tell him how his heart also beats just as loud in his presence.

However, he was nothing but a slave.

How can he give Hana the kind of life he was born in? Hana had been living his life in luxury ever since he was born and Ryu? He had nothing. Even his own life was in his master's hands.

The rain finally snapped him out of his thoughts and Ryu silently helped Hana up.

"Let's wait for the rain to die out then we can go back to the mansion," he said.

Hana kept his eyes glued to the ground and hugged his book tightly, as he nodded silently.

"But," Ryu trailed off.

Hana looked up at Ryu waiting for him to complete his words, but Ryu was grinning widely, flashing him his canines.

"We both love the rain, don't we?"

Hana let out a surprised gasp, when Ryu lifted him in his arms. The book Hana was holding fell on the ground as Hana wrapped his hands around Ryu's neck for support.

"Wha—"

Hana let out another gasp as the cold rain drops started hitting his neck and head.

"Ryu! Put me down!"

Ryu only laughed as he spun around with Hana. The rain drops trickled down his golden skin washing away the worries in his mind. He looked at Hana who was still in his arms, screaming at him to out him down.

Ryu's eyes trailed down Hana's soft skin. The rain drops on his pale skin had Ryu gulping. Hana's brown eyes were wide as he looked down at the ground below him wanting to get connected to it at once.

Ryu slowly placed Hana down. Hana's legs were still shaky so he held onto Ryu's board shoulders and looked up at him to glare.

The words died in his mouth when he saw Ryu's gaze. Ryu's small almond like eyes were looking at him intently. Hana couldn't look away and silently kept his gaze with Ryu.

"I am not educated," Ryu began, his voice was low and husky but even in the loud rain Hana would hear him just fine and shivered at the Ryu's warm breath fanning his wet cheeks, "but I know the feeling, you described in the haiku."

Hana looked up at Ryu with baited breath. His hold on Ryu's shoulder became tighter and the rain drops soothed his heated skin, leaving him warm.

Ryu looked at Hana and observed the rain drops lingering over his thick lashes which protected his beautiful brown eyes.

Ryu wordlessly cupped Hana's face in his warm hands and nearly melted when Hana nuzzled into it's warmth. Ryu leaned down and Hana tip toed to meet Ryu's tall height.

Their first kiss was memorable.

Magical even.

It tasted like the rain and reminded them of their innocent love. Their lips were soft and hesitating, unsure of what to do because both of them were inexperienced. But soon they adjusted, and the kiss became their love language. It conveyed messages of sweet nothings to each other and they both got the message.

Their heart beat in the same nervous and excited rythm because they gave their love and received it back equally.

When they pulled away, the rain had turned into a soft drizzle. Their hair were dripping and their clothes sticked to their clothes. Their body heat was the only warmth in the cold and wet surrounding but it was enough.

Hana broke into a grin and Ryu who was already so much in love with him, just fell more.

"Want to hear another haiku?" Hana asked.

Ryu smiled and pushed away his wet hair and did the same with Hana's hair. He smiled softly at him and nodded his head.

"I will love you. Forever and always."

A tear slipped past his eyes and Ryu took in a shuddering breath. The battle field smelt of blood and waste. The thick black smoke had lessen and if he was not mistaken, it was raining.

The light rain drops felt like soft kisses on his wounded body and Ryu welcomed it.

His mind was only thinking about one person.

Hana.

His touch, his eyes, his voice, his lips, his words and his haikus.

Hana. Hana. Hana.

Ryu opened his eyes to look at the cloudy sky one last time.

"I will love you too, forever and always."

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