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The Rose Line	By : Rhonda Category: Gravitation > General Views: 2888 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Gravitation, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 8
- 9
Chapter 9: The After, the Beginning and the After the Beginning

“How touching.” Tohma stood behind Eiri watching the whole exchange.

“Don’t worry, pet. He’ll turn up again, sooner or later.” Tohma sighed. “He always does.”

He held out his hand. “Come along, Eiri.”

Eiri didn’t move. He sat with Shuichi on the ground, in the rain.

Tohma raised a brow in disbelief. “Even now with the brat gone, you still defy me?” He did a quick check.

“Who do you love?”

Instant smile. “I love you.”

Tohma smiled in relief. The Red Lion had won. “How much do you love me?”

Eiri looked up at him. “With all my heart.” Eiri stood and took Tohma’s hand.

Together they turned to go into the house and almost ran smack into Sakano who was standing quietly behind them.

His glasses were streaked with rain and his hair was askew and matted over his head. He held his gold pocket watch open in one hand. And on his face was the largest, widest grin Tohma had ever seen on the man. It was an alarming sight to say the least.

“Mr. Sakano! When did you get here?”

“A few minutes ago.” He looked past Tohma. “Is that Mr. Shindou?”

Tohma didn’t even look back. “Yes. I didn’t see you come through gate.”

Sakano grinned even wider. “I didn’t come through gate.” He laughed out loud and walked over to Shuichi.

Tohma and Eiri turned to see him standing over Shu’s body, grinning from ear to ear.

“Is he dead?” he asked happily.

“Yes.” Tohma grew puzzled. “You DID go on your little errand, didn’t you?” The last thing he needed was another surprise that evening. He hoped K and Mika were somewhere with Junishi at that point. He certainly didn’t feel like having them sneak up on him right now with the way his day had gone.

“Yes, I went.” Sakano nudged Shu with his foot. “Wow, he really is dead.”

Tohma steadily grew more confused. “And? Did you carry out your mission?”

“Hmm? Oh, no, they weren’t there.” He was still looking down at Shuichi. “That’s an awful big knife that boy has stuck in him.” He glanced over at Tohma. “And you put it there, didn’t you?”

Tohma frowned. “I don’t have the time or the strength for games this evening, Mr. Sakano and frankly neither do you. I need you to dispose of Mr. Shindou. Do it however you please. Then keep yourself handy. By the night’s end, there will be two more bodies to dispose of.”

“Come Eiri, let’s get out of the…Mr. Sakano! What on earth are you doing?”

Sakano had stooped to a kneel beside Shuichi and was roughly rifling through his pockets.

“Looking for money,” he answered absently. He came up empty. “Don’t tell me you didn’t pay him either?”

“Have you taken to robbing the dead?” Tohma was back to being puzzled. He didn’t understand what was going on with Sakano, but it was making him nervous. “Don’t I pay you enough?”

Sakano laughed out loud. “It’s not money I want you fool!”

Tohma jerked back as if he’d been slapped. He’d never been addressed with anything less than total fealty and the utmost respect from Sakano. His elation at having the whole ordeal over and done with was slowly dissolving and threads of his dream from the night before began weaving their way through his consciousness.

“Do you remember who you’re talking to? Explain yourself at once!”

“I should be asking you that question, Tohma Seguchi. Do you remember who YOU’RE talking to?” Sakano stood and faced Tohma. He was back to smiling.

Tohma looked at him blankly, his long dark lashes coated with the fat drops of rain that were falling heavily from the storm which roiled overhead.

Lightning flashed and thunder sounded.

“No?” Sakano clucked softly. “Let me give you a hint.” He waved his hand. Abruptly the dagger that was still buried in Shuichi’s chest, jumped up, withdrawing itself with unseen force and then, with just a glance, Sakano flicked his eyes to Tohma. The dagger followed the unspoken command with gusto and flew through the night air, piercing the wet veil of rain as it went. It slammed into Tohma’s chest with such force it picked him up off his feet and flung him to the ground.

Tohma gasped and blinked. He felt no pain…wait… a slow burn was creeping its way through his body.

“What’s going on?”

Suddenly the storm and Eiri and Shuichi’s body vanished and he was instantly back to the infamous night so very long ago.

It was a midsummer night and the sky was ladened with dazzling stars and a full bright moon that washed everything in its glow. He stood in a rose garden, surrounded by the heavy blossoms and thick fragrance of jewel tone white, Bordeaux and shiny gold coin colored flowers.

Tohma looked down. In his hands he held a thick black book of dark magic, passed down to him from his grandmother, a witch seer from one of the northern nomadic tribes that had come down from the mountains long ago.

He was angry. He was watching. He was waiting. There!

A young man stepped onto the garden path. He wore a dark colored hitatare with billowing skirt like pant legs and flowing sleeves of a matching top about which was slung a sheathed sword. Eschewing the favorable topknot, his raven-colored hair was swept up into a high ponytail and he had long bangs that framed his stunningly handsome face. The ponytail flicked about as he looked around. Even from this distance, Tohma could see his piercing hazel eyes cutting through the moonlight.

Tohma’s heart quickened. Ayari! Ayari had come for him!

He moved to join him when someone else stepped onto the path. A small, slight figure dressed in a dark violet kimono. Long rose-colored hair fell softly about the figure’s slender shoulders. It moved with lithe grace toward Ayari.

“Junishi, you came!” Ayari moved to sweep Junishi into a hug. Junishi turned away.

“I almost did not. Why did you call me this night?” His soft voice was sad and full of hurt.

“What do you mean? I sent for you so we could be together this beautiful eve.” He paused. “Did you not want to come?”

“Not if it means I am your second choice.” Junishi’s head bent with sorrow. “I know that you are in love with Tohma. Tell me with your own lips and I will leave.”

Ayari cocked his head to the side. “Tohma? Seguchi? Whatever madness has possessed that head you wear?! What love is it that I have for Tohma Seguchi?”

Junishi looked up. “But Tohma himself has said…”

Ayari sighed and gathered Junishi up into his arms. Junishi didn’t resist.

“Tohma Seguchi has filled your pretty head with lies. It is he that lusts after me. What could a serving boy from a wretched northern witch clan possibly offer me, when I have you?” Ayari kissed Junishi’s hand. “Most noble, most regal…most lovely.”

“Then you do not love Tohma?” Junishi’s voice was full of hope.

“No, I do not.”

“Then what is it you want from me? My lands, my wealth, my family’s power?”

Ayari shook his head. “If you had nothing, I would still want you. If you were not Orishii, I would still think you as lovely as a rose. If you had no coin to your name I would still want you to sing for me, my little songbird.”

Ayari leaned down.

“Then, you do want me?” Junishi’s large violet eyes quivered with emotion, reflecting Ayari and the full moon behind him.

Ayari smiled and tapped Junishi on the head. “Want you? You slow child! When did I ever say that I did not? Junishi…Junishi…I love you, Junishi.” He reached for his lover, his hands beckoning Junishi in the darkness. Junishi went and Ayari pulled him close and tilted his head upward for a kiss…

Behind them, Tohma seethed with rage. Ayari was his! He had offered himself body and soul to Ayari and now, to hear him mock such a gift--such callousness! What could a serving boy from a wretched northern witch clan offer him? What indeed! Tohma slept on a pallet in the kitchen while Junishi Orishii slept in a magnificent canopied bed overlooking the gardens. He ate meager, plain meals from an old wooden bowl while Junishi Orishii ate the rich, elegant meals his, Tohma’s own mother, prepared for him every day, from plates and bowls of fine china ringed in gold.

The Seguchis were descended from the most magnificent witch clan the north world had ever known. Awesome and terrible had been their power before being driven out by the armies that brandished the new ways, the new religion. Before then, the skies had obeyed their every command, the very ground trembled at their passing. Even the gods themselves knew the name Seguchi. And now what? Poor and penniless, without even a brass coin to their name, let alone silver or gold, the Seguchis had been reduced to serving the dogs of the new age!

Why should I continue to lap at the feet of my new masters as if it has been pre-ordained for me to do so? Why can I not sup at the Table of Life like the Orishii and the other families of power that control the land and rule fate? Why must I sit like an eager cur, desperate for scraps they carelessly toss behind? I shall take back what was ours and make the name Seguchi known again. I will take what I want and shape this world into what I make it.

And I will start with the thing I want most! That thing for which I burn. That thing that haunts my nights and shadows my days, yet will not come to me. I shall show you, Ayari. Wait but a moment and see true what it is a Seguchi can do.

What could a northern witch clan boy offer him indeed…

With trembling hands, he opened his grandmother’s book to the page he’d marked.

He closed his eyes.

He gathered his will.

He spoke the forbidden words.

Instantly there was a great wind that gusted through the garden, scattering rose petals violently through the air, causing them to shower down like fragrant rain.

Beside him, Tohma felt immense heat and smelled the sickening stench of death.

There was a scream.

“WHO DARES CALL THE DEMON KING KAANOS?”

Tohma blinked. Rain poured into his eyes and water streamed across his face from his soaked hair as he lay in the mud on the ground, with a dagger buried in his heaving chest.

Sakano was looking down at him, grinning.

“Sakano?”

Sakano raised a finger and traced glowing letters of flame in the air.

S A K A N O

They re-arranged themselves like marching ants.

K A A N O S

Tohma went white with fear.

Sakano touched the finger to Tohma’s forehead. Tohma screamed. It felt like a red hot poker burning a hole through his brain.

“Gone is your prescient sight.”

Sakano held out his hand. The red box that held Eiri’s heart sparkled into existence on his palm. The box clicked open and out flew a tiny red ball of light.

“NOOO!” Tohma screamed around the pain in his head. “ I BEG OF YOU, NOOO!”

The light flew to Eiri and drove itself into his chest. Eiri heaved and gasped for air at the contact. Panting heavily he found that he could feel the rain on his skin. He could feel the cold, wetness of it hitting him and sliding off his face. He could feel the wind on his face. He could see colors brighter and more vividly than he had in many months.

“Gone is your love,” Sakano said.

He pointed his finger at Tohma’s body. “Your immortality…that I let you keep...for now. Consider it a wedding present for my new bride.” And when Sakano grinned, he revealed a double row of pointed, needle sharp teeth that sprang out crookedly from his gums. His eyes glowed red with pleasure.

“Bride?” Tohma shook all over.

“Yes,” Sakano’s voice was now heavy and rumbling. He spoke slowly and haltingly, forcing his words around the teeth that were never meant for a human mouth.

“But how?” Tohma heaved, finding it difficult to breathe around the knife in his chest. “I didn’t cross the west rose line!”

Sakano/Kaanos laughed evilly. “But you did, My Love. You crossed the west rose line most treacherously.” He pointed a talon clawed finger at Shuichi’s body.

“You broke your faith with it. You did not honor the contract you willfully and knowingly entered into with a descendant of the Rose Family that because of the House of Seguchi had settled in the west, away from the lands that were rightfully his and his descendants before him. You told him you would let him go before the weekend if he wanted to and you did not. You told him you would pay him and you did not. You, in fact, killed him. If that isn’t a cross, I don’t know what is.”

He cradled Tohma in his arms. Tohma tried to get away, but the Demon King held him fast. “Run not, My Love, we have eternity.”

“But you’re mistaken!! The west rose line was the tree and the rope. The poem didn’t say anything about the Rose Family or their family tree—descendants of the Orishii! You LIE!!”

Sakano/Kaanos shook Tohma like a rag doll. “It is YOU who are mistaken! You took the stanza literally. Did I tell you to do that? Did I ever say that all the lines were in reference to the roses? You yourself saw the THREE lines of roses I caused to spring forth from the ground. You yourself never asked where the FOURTH line was. You ASSUMED it was the tree. I even went to the trouble of writing the last stanza differently, in both verse and appearance to ensure that you knew to look at it carefully. The fact of the matter is, it never referred to anything here on the estate at all. You’ve lived your life of gilded cage luxury here for nothing. You could have easily walked out of that gate and past that tree and seen the world and all the places you longed for without a single, solitary consequence.”

Sakano/Kaanos grinned at Eiri. “What do you know, I AM an insult to injury sort of fellow!”

Tohma tried again, desperate. “I have been cheated!!” He screamed as loudly as the dagger would allow. “My prescient sight told me nothing of this! I was blinded to the danger!”

Sakano/Kaanos shook his head. “Your dreams told you everything you needed to know—especially the last one you had. The Red Lion with the broken clock heart, pierced by the dagger. The gold pocket watch sitting in the audience. The laughter. You even knew the name of the Demon King as Kaanos and your manservant as Sakano, yet you did not grasp their relation. You should have killed Shuichi after the first dream, but you chose not to. Rather you chose to play with your prey. Not that it would have made a difference, fate had this in store, no matter what you did. So do not contribute your arrogance to the fault of your gift.”

“Why me? Why your bride? Why not just take my soul?”

Sakano/Kaanos smiled almost gently at Tohma. “Those many centuries ago when you beckoned me, I was surprised to hear my name being called across space and time. Your voice dripped with longing and despair and my realm echoed with the need of it as you spoke the forbidden words and called my name. I wondered who would have such audacity to call the King of Demons. What mortal fool could have such need that he would go to that length? I looked and saw you. Fair and foul in the moonlight--beautiful face, smooth porcelain skin, and lovely locks of pale hair like spun sunlight. Even the King of Demons gets lonely and your beauty and your delicious desperation touched even my black heart. They drew me forth like a dark aphrodisiac. I realized that I loved you. So I came to you to do your bidding, because of my love for you.”

“Even then I laid my trap for you. I could not bring you to me forcefully, as is decreed in the Rules of Everything. I can only have you come to me willingly. So I gave you what you wanted, knowing that one day, you would make a mistake and that all I had to do was wait for that day and then I could collect you accordingly and you would be mine. What is a century or five or six to a being that is eternal?”

Sakano stroked Tohma’s hair with a blackened claw. “I kept guard on time for you,” he said softly, pulling out his pocket watch. “I guarded each second, each moment, each day, each year jealously, waiting for the day you would be mine.” He closed the watch. “That day is here, My Love. And it’s about time.”

“But, but…”

Sakano/Kaanos silenced Tohma with a look. “I grow weary. Fear not, we have forever to talk. For now, all our deals must come undone. Be silent and watch.”

Tohma screamed out loud. “I will find a way, Eiri! This is not the end! I will find a way to bind you to me again! Even if I have to climb through the depths of hell, I will find a way to keep you near me, now, or centuries from now!”

“And I too will be there,” said Sakano/Kaanos. “Who knows what fate has in store for you that even I cannot disobey. But for now, you are mine. Sleep, sleep.”

Tohma immediately went limp.

Sakano/Kaanos waved his hand again and the rain and the wind and the storm halted in its tracks. The sudden cessation of weather left an abrupt silence heavily in the air.

Eiri looked around him. Sparkling drops of water hung suspended in the air all around him like dark crystals. He reached out and touched one to watch it shatter and fall across his finger.

Slowly the storm began to move backwards.

The water rained upwards.

The wind inhaled backwards to the sky.

And the east to west rolling clouds reversed their march and went from west to east.

Eiri looked over. Shuichi’s body shivered and rolled over face first. It then did a backwards tumble to stand on its feet. His eyes opened.

“Oh my God!” said Eiri. He ran to Shuichi and looked down at him, unsure he was seeing what he was seeing.

Shuichi looked up at him, confused. “What happened? Did I fall over, Eiri?”

Eiri laughed out loud in disbelief, then he leaned down and kissed Shuichi. Kissed him long. Kissed him deeply. Kissed him in front of Tohma.

Shuichi gasped. “Eiri! You laughed! You kissed me! What’s…”

Suddenly he remembered. His eyes flew down to his chest. The dagger was no longer there. There wasn’t even a tear in the fabric of his shirt to mark the occasion! He felt himself frantically looking for a scar or a wound or something that told him it hadn’t all been his imagination.

“I was DEAD!” Shuichi looked over at Tohma. He was lying on the ground with the dagger shuddering in his chest, protruding from the area where his heart should have been. Hovering over him was…Mr. Sakano?

Sakano had grown taller and from behind his glasses two glowing red coal-like eyes looked back at him. He held Tohma in long arms that ended in black talon like claws.

Shu took a step backwards and grabbed Eiri’s hand.

“We have to get the others and get out…of…here…” His voice trailed off as he noticed the backwards elements. The storm that he had remembered raging over him as he died, was now storming in reverse. Raindrops left the ground and jet back up to the sky and the thunder pealed and crackled before the lightning jagged across the heavens. And it was speeding up. Soon the storm stopped altogether and the day as it had happened progressed around Eiri and himself…in reverse.

He saw himself with Sakano and Tohma standing beside the west rose line, looking at the tree. Their transparent forms moved jerkily with astonishing speed as if he were watching a life sized puppet show. They rapidly got back on their horses—backward and rode off backward--back toward the southern rose line and out of sight.

All around him leaves jumped back to their branches and the silent, transparent figures of people and animals and insects went about their daily lives in reverse at incredible speeds. Overhead, the sun flew across the sky, turning dawn into night and back again, driving the moon, stars and clouds before it. And the pace continued to quicken.

“There are no others, anymore,” came Sakano’s deep, booming voice. He, Tohma, Eiri and Shuichi were the only solid consistencies in the world of blurred light and fleeing ghosts around them.

Shu grabbed Eiri’s hand. Eiri grabbed back. His flesh was warm. “What do you mean? Where are Ryu and Hiro and Tatsuha? What have you done to them?”

“They have gone back to the ether of non-existence to await the outcome of this halting of time. This is the end of the chapter for this continuum.”

Shuichi didn’t know what a continuum was, but he clearly got the point that his friends were no longer with them.

“Bring them back!” he cried. “Bring back Ryu and Tatsuha and Hiro so they can all go home! What’s happening here?”

Sakano tightened his grip on Tohma. “You were the true west rose line, Shuichi Shindou—a direct descendant from the Orishii, the Rose Family that settled in the west after being driven out of the east by the Seguchi. What you see happening around you is the result of all the history, all that was wrought by the hand of Seguchi coming undone. This thread of time is unraveling as the pact is made null and void. The instant your last breath left your body, the instant Tohma breached or rather, crossed, the contract he wrought with you, this space and everything you see came to a close.”

Sakano continued. “Seguchi changed the course of history when he made the pact. All that came about as a result of that, whether they be small or large like the meeting of someone’s parents which resulted in a child named Hiroshi Nakano, or even the choosing of an emperor, must now reverse and go the course they were meant to go without the interference or influence of the pact Tohma Seguchi made.”

Shuichi thought about that. “You mean, there will never be a Hiroshi Nakano, or a Ryuichi Sakuma?” He looked up at Eiri. “Or an Eiri Uesugi?”

All about them the seasons changed in rapid succession with a high pitched humming wail. It was if they were caught in the midst of a whirlwind of color as autumn’s reds and golds turned to summer’s blues and then on to spring’s greens and then on to winter’s whites and back through again.

“There will always be an Eiri Uesugi or a Shuichi Shindou or even a Tohma Seguchi, though they may not look the same, or have the same name. Faces, bodies, names and even genders come and go and come back again, however the soul remains constant and true. Whatever the outcome, you will exist in whatever form was meant for you at that time. And as you go through the cycle of rebirth, whatever circumstances you face, lessons you learn or hardships that scar you, will be carried forth, ultimately shaping the essence of each individual. Even what has happened here will have an effect on you, though you will not remember it.”

“That is what Tohma failed to realize from the beginning. I may stay the hand of time for a short while, but it is never eternal. It is not for even a Demon King such as I, to wield power like that. Souls, like myself, are immortal and they are what they are. Whatever is to be will be, with or without outside influence, even if it is delayed by a pact or two along the way.”

Sakano’s eyes blazed forth in the strobing light of night and day and day and night.

“Fate, life, love, they will not be denied. They will find a way. Even if they move in increments so slow, over so many centuries, no eye can see it, until it is too late and events have been set in place to rectify that which should have been and yet did not pass. Eiri was never meant for Tohma. Tohma knew that, he just did not want to see it. The minute he sought to change fate, fate began setting motions in place to change things back.”

The fleeing of time around them continued.

“What of us?” cried Shuichi. “I just found Eiri. I don’t want to lose him now. Will I find him again? Will I ever be ME again?”

It wasn’t right. To have come so far and to have gone through so much only to lose again! Shuichi was near tears. He didn’t want to think he’d never see his friends again—see Ryu’s sweet smile, hear Hiro’s laughter, see Tatsuha hug his love.

“It’s not fair!” he cried.

Sakano laughed. “What IS fair? What will be will be. The events of individual spans of life may not be set, but the great adventure of your destiny cannot be denied. If your love is meant to be, then it will. If you are meant to be surrounded by the people you call friends, then you will find a way to be with them, no matter the time, no matter the place.”

Sakano looked up. Finally the heavens began to slow. The world began to drag on its axis. Time became almost tangible again.

“We return to the point of diversion. Your time is near an end on this plane. Speak your last as you stand now.”

Shuichi didn’t understand all of what was going on. He didn’t want it to end this way. He didn’t want to let go of Eiri.

Eiri saw the panic and despair in Shuichi’s eyes and pulled him close. He didn’t understand all of what had been said either, but one thing he did know was that this was not the end.

“Don’t cry, Shuichi,” he said softly. He folded himself around Shu and comforted him.

“We defeated time and consequence over and over again in the past. Every time Tohma sought to keep us apart, we found a way to be together, whether we remember it or not. It wasn’t conscious effort on our part, but the gravitation of our souls. We are joined, you and I and will find each other throughout whatever time this world gives us.”

He tilted Shuichi’s head up. Big violet eyes glassed over and teared.

“I will find you.”

“Find me, Eiri.”

The spinning sky slowed and stopped.

“Don’t forget me, Eiri.”

“I won’t.”

The rolling earth came to stand still.

“Don’t let go of me, Shuichi.”

“Never.”

The ticking of time slowed and evened.

“Remember me, Eiri.”

“I’ll remember you, Shuichi.”

Shuichi looked down. His hands were growing transparent.

“Oh! I love you Eiri!” His voice was echoing.

Eiri reached to wipe a tear and found that his own hand looked like glass. He could see Shuichi through it. His hand passed right through Shuichi’s face and in the next instant, the place where Shuichi had been standing.

Eiri looked at the empty space and closed his eyes, picturing Shu in his mind.

“Shuichi…Shuichi…I…”

And he was gone.

*** ***

“…love you Junishi” He reached for his lover, his hands beckoning Junishi in the darkness. Junishi went. Ayari pulled him close and tilted his head upward for a kiss…

The instant their lips met, the night went dark like a snuffed out candle and like a train switching tracks, the world lurched sharply, joining itself where it would have been in the first place had the divergence of the pact never occurred.

When the world lit up once more, Ayari Tsuasagi and Junishi Orishii stood beneath the full moon, under the canopy of a starry night sky, in the midst of a garden of roses kissing deeply.

Behind them, a tall winged creature of smoke and ash held the limp body of Tohma Seguchi in its arms. It held in one of its clawed hands a small, dark red rectangular box with gold markings on its top and around its sides. The top clicked open and from the body it held, a spark of red ejected itself from the space where a dagger protruded in its chest. The dagger shimmered and turned to ash as the tiny, glowing ball of light fluttered through the air and settled itself inside the box. The lid snicked firmly shut and instantly the body which had lain comatose, opened its eyes. They were large and dark and full of hazy cloudiness.

“Who do you love?” asked the Demon King Kaanos of his beloved new bride.

Tohma smiled. “I love you.”

“How much do you love me?”

“With all my heart,” came the honest reply.

“Shall we go home, my pet?”

“Yes.”

The Demon King Kaanos smiled. “As you wish.”

He opened his massive, smoking wings and he and Tohma erupted into a whirlwind of flame and ash, causing a great wind to sweep through the garden. So strong it was that it tore hundreds of petals loose from the roses that grew there and hurled them through the air, leaving them to flutter down like white, red and gold fragrant rain on the two soul mates that stood kissing beside a tree with no rope and not a single pink rose in sight.

“It’s about time.”

*** ***

Epilogue:

It was a concert hall--a large, ornately decorated affair with murals of angels and heavenly hosts painted upon the ceiling. Gilded chandeliers and candelabras lit the interior with hundreds of white candles, casting soft, glowing light throughout, illuminating the well-dressed audience that was seated and awaiting the performance.

The opening strains of music began to play and the audience quieted down as the heavy blue stage curtains were drawn open for the encore.

Three beautiful young men and a lovely young lady were on stage. Within the circle of a bright spotlight, the tall red head played an acoustic guitar, a small dark haired young lady sat at a grand piano playing and center stage stood the last two men, one brown haired, one pink. They lifted their heads and sang in sweet, voices a happy song of love and longing; their emotional vocals punctuated by the gentle swaying of their bodies and their hands which clasped and curled.

Behind them, the stage scenery was that of a bustling city at night, filled with opulent carriages and well-heeled couples strolling down lantern lit streets arm in arm.

Seated in the front row of the audience, in direct line of sight of the singers, was a tall blonde man with hazel colored eyes and in the seat to his right, a younger raven-haired man with dark eyes who looked so similar to the blonde, that he could pass for nothing less than his brother. To the dark haired man’s right sat a woman with a bright happy smile and long brunette hair that peeked in long strands from the fashionable hat she wore.

The quartet finished their song and the audience sprang to its feet, clapping and whistling and cheering, their shining faces reflecting their overwhelming enjoyment of the show.

The blue curtain closed and the group walked off stage.

“You were a hit!” The group’s tall blonde manager strode forth excitedly, his intense blue eyes shining with pride.

“You really think so,” asked the pink haired singer.

“Are you kidding?” answered the manager, “after three encores they’re still clamoring for more.” He looked around quickly, whipping his long ponytail to and fro. “We’d better get you guys to your coach. There’s no telling how many rabid admirers will be laying in wait this evening.”

He stroked his chin thoughtfully. “I think I’d better write a security clause into your contract. The fans are getting out of hand these days.”

The group made their way to the front of the theater.

“Wait here, I’ll have the coach brought around,” their manager told them.

As the rest of the group stood waiting, a voice came from behind them.

“Mr. Ryuichi Sakama?” They turned. Behind them stood the tall dark haired young man, smiling widely at them. “These are for you.” He held forth a bunch of long stemmed red roses.

Ryu smiled brightly and took them. “Thank you! I love them, Mr.?” he groped for a name.

“Tatsuho. Tatsuho Uesasgi. I’m a huge fan and I’ve dreamed of meeting you for ages!” He gently pulled Ryu to him. Ryu smiled up at him and gazed into his lovely dark eyes.

“I like you. I can tell we’re going to be good friends. Can I call you Tats-chan or Ta-kun or Ho for short?”

Tatsuho frowned. “I don’t know about that last one. For reasons I don’t understand, Ho sounds a bit tawdry to me.” He pulled Ryu close.

“Never mind, call me whatever you want, as long as I can call you my own.”

“Ok, Ta-kun.” He leaned in for a kiss and stopped. “It feels like I know you. Have we met before?”

“Maybe we met in our dreams,” said Tatsuho. “And if this is a dream right now, let’s never wake up.”

The pink haired singer smiled at them longingly and went back to studying the sheet of music he had in his hand. If only something like that would happen to him.

Suddenly a strong gust of wind whipped down the street and ripped the sheet from his hand.

“Oh no!” He chased after it. Abruptly he screeched to a halt and stopped short. There, just a few feet away was a man, a tall blonde man, holding the sheet in his hand. He was reading it.

“This yours?” he asked with a pull on the hand rolled cigarette he was smoking.

“Yes, thank you for saving it for me, Mr.?” He too groped for a name.

“Eiri, Eiri Uesagi.” Eiri looked at him and frowned, shining two piercing hazel eyes full of disgust on him.

“You wrote this?”

“Uhh, yes. My name is Shuichi Shindo and I’m a singer.” He reached for the sheet. Eiri snatched it back.

“You might be a singer, but you’re no songwriter. This is awful. ‘Take me for the rose I am, cover me in petals of red?’” Eiri let the paper go and the wind instantly reclaimed it, blowing it down the street.

“HEY! That was mine! Go get that back!” Shu yelled.

“I’m doing you a favor, you’ve got absolutely no talent in this respect. Thank me and go home.”

The two began a loud, raucous argument, right there in the street.

K, their manager returned to the group in front of the theater and watched the ugly spectacle with distaste.

“What the hell happened here?”

“Looks like my brother just fell in love,” Tatsuho said, still holding Ryu.

“Not again!” Mikami Uesagi said walking over to join them. She pulled her fashionable hat down over her eyes and hid them in embarrassment. “Our brother is going to be the shame of us all!”

“Here, hold this, Hiro.” K shucked off his overcoat and handed it to the red head, then drew a huge sword from his side and advanced on the warring couple.

“Hey, what’d I miss?” Sugura asked joining them.

“The usual. Shuichi fell in love and drove somebody crazy all in the space of five minutes,” Hiro replied.

Sugura shook her head and sighed. “Oh, God!” She threw her hands in the air.

“Well, that’s it. I might as well quit.” She gathered her sheet music and began to walk away. “He’ll never come to practice now…”

A sword suddenly swiped the air in front of her. K appeared out of nowhere dragging a still yelling Shuichi behind him. Eiri followed them, scowling all the way.

“I know you’re not trying to leave us, Sugura?” he asked ominously.

Sugura looked at the pointed blade, her elfin face and dark eyes wide with fear. “Haven’t you ever heard of respecting the will of the artist?”

K laughed out loud with evil glee. “Hell no!”

“Go get my lyrics!” yelled Shuichi.

“No, you damn brat!”

“Don’t just stand there, Hiro, help me!”

Hiro sighed. “Why do I get the feeling things are just going to get worse from here?”

End Chapter 9: The After, the Beginning and the After the Beginning.

End: The Rose Line

End Credits: “A Love Before Time” by CoCo Lee

From the “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” soundtrack

If the sky opened up for me…

And the mountains disappeared…

Photo: Still shot showing Ayari Tsuasagi and Junishi Orishii in the rose garden kissing under the full moon. They are surrounded by a shower of rose petals falling softly from the sky…

If the seas run dry, turned to dust…

And the sun refused to rise…

Photo: Shuichi Shindo and Ryuichi Sakama sitting side by side on a bench looking up into their dressing room mirror to see Eiri and Tatsuho Uesagi standing behind them, each holding a bouquet of roses…

I would still find my way…

By the light I see in your eyes…

Photo: Sword Master K instructing apprentice Hiro in the art of swordplay at dawn in an ornate courtyard by a fountain. Each man holds a sword--Hiro’s up high as if he’s about to strike and K’s down low as if he’s about to swing up to block. Hiro’s loose day shirt has been sliced open and both men have smiles on their faces…

The world I know fades away…

But you stay…

Photo: The dark, gothic realm of the Demon King’s underworld. Tohma stands by the Demon King’s side on a high turret of his black castle looking down at a river of fire below them. Above them a blood red moon bathes Tohma’s pale hair and his dark, cloudy eyes in deep red light…

As the earth reclaims it due…

And the cycle starts anew…

We'll stay, always…

Photo: Still shot of the three-way waltz between Hiro, Shuichi and Tatsuha. Tatsuha has his hands wrapped around Shu’s waist from the back and Hiro leads the three of them in a sweeping arc. Shu has his eyes closed and his head is back against Tatsuha’s chest. Eiri is watching them from a couch nearby…

In the love that we have shared…

Before time…

Photo: Dark haired ronin Airi and dusty pink haired Suuichi clinging to him on the back of a horse with his long, beautiful white robes and tassled belt fluttering out behind them. They are racing hell bent for leather through a misty bamboo forest at night. There are several samurai in close pursuit, all of them with drawn swords that gleam wickedly in the pale light of the full moon and starry night sky above them…

If the years take away…

Every memory that I have…

Photo: The Emperor’s court during the Heian period. A large open space before the high gilded throne is dominated by a beautiful, small, pink haired man who is entertaining the court with a graceful dance. The man is wearing an elaborate many layered kimono of pure sky blue silk that has pink roses hand painted down the long flowing train of his robes. He has large dark eyes that leap out of the porcelain white makeup that covers his face and accents his ruby red lips. To the side, a tall red head and a small dark haired young man accompany the dancing courtesan with a koto and a shamisen. To the right of the Emperor the tall blonde, ponytailed Commander of the Guard watches the red head with great interest and in the shadows at the back of the room a chestnut haired nobleman with piercing gold eyes watches the courtesan, hypnotized by what he sees…

I would still know the way…

That would lead me back to your side…

Photo: Highway bandits Tatshua and his sister Mika robbing an ornate coach on a starry night. Mika is holding the coachman at sword point demanding money and other precious cargo. She is dressed like a man and has her long, light brown hair swept up into a high ponytail. There is nothing about her stance that suggests she’s anything but serious. Tatsuha, at the side of the coach has pulled back the window’s curtain with the tip of his sword. The dark scarf covering his lower face does nothing to hide the shock, surprise and obvious arousal at seeing lovely Ryu staring back at him from the inside of the coach with frightened but beautiful, crystal clear blue eyes.

The North Star may die…

Photo: Two tall military men wearing Japanese WWII uniforms sit on tatami mats in a large tea house room surrounded by shoji screens that have been painted with scenes of cranes, heron and other graceful birds wading in a pool near a mountain. Two beautiful geisha, one with crystal clear blue eyes and one with seductive eyes of dark violet, sit before the men in front of an open screen that reveals a rose garden courtyard bathed in the glow of early evening. The geisha are offering their clients two smalls bowls of tea for their tea ceremony, which the men, one with dark hair and one with light brown, accept smiling…

But the light that I see in your eyes…

Will burn there always…

Photo: Shuichi Shindou, running through the park at night, is startled and flustered as he finds his wind blown lyrics captured in the hands of a mysterious and shadowy blonde man who is smoking a cigarette. Behind them the Tokyo cityscape lights up the night sky…

Lit by the love we have shared…

Before time…

Photo: Touma Seguchi, president of NG Records, sits behind a massive and elaborate desk in his corner office. He is on the phone and obviously in the midst of a wheeling, dealing conversation. Behind him the windowed wall reveals an impressive view of the Tokyo city line below him. And to his right, stands Mr. Sakano. Impeccably dressed, he smiles directly at the camera as he rests one arm across the back of Touma’s high back leather chair. The other he holds up for the camera, showing off the large, gleaming gold watch strapped to his wrist…

When the forest turns to jade…

And the stories that we've made…

Dissolve away…

Photo: Suguru Fujisaki, Japanese teen sensation and teen magazine “Super Cutie Honey Boy” ‘Hottie of the Year,’ is giving a command performance before the royal family at the palace. He’s playing an exquisite grand piano as he sits alone on a darkened stage, lit only by a bright spotlight. The stage backdrop is that of a scene of Mount Fuji, snow capped and majestic against a dark blue winter sky. Around his feet are several dozen Bordeaux red, gilded coin gold and astonishingly white roses that have been thrown there by his numerous, well-dressed admirers that sit in the front row, in his direct line of sight. The flowers were specially flown in for his performance from a small estate in the east that is famed far and wide for their mastery of breeding roses of unusual color…

One shining light will still remain…

Photo: Group Photo: The gang years later at a dinner party as they pose for a roving photographer.

Eiri Uesugi, older, wiser and just a bit more relaxed, is actually smiling. He’s still handsome, but in a quiet, more mature way. His short-cropped blonde hair is showing strands of gray here and there. His sexy mouth, which actually has laugh lines etched around it, is curled up in a genuine smile as he looks down at Shuichi Shindou who’s gone from boyish beauty to manly grace. Calm and collected, he smiles up at Eiri and snuggles close, his short pink locks emphasizing his large dark eyes.

Beside them, Tatsuha Uesugi and Ryuichi Sakuma sit curled around each other. Tatsuha looks like an exact photo negative copy of Eiri when he was that age except Tatsuha, handsome and beguiling with a mischievous crooked smile, has none of the weight that Eiri carried around for so long. His face is full of love as he pulls Ryu in close for a kiss. Ryu is older but still has a youthful charm about him. His eyes are sparkling and he is laughing loudly and shoving Kumagoro who’s now missing an eye and an ear in between them, pretending to struggle against Tatusha’s advances.

Suguru Fujisaki sits next to them. He’s grown into a handsome man and still retains his elfin features. His hair has grown longer, which he’s wearing in a ponytail. He’s also grown taller as evidenced by the fact that he’s smiling down at his date, a beautiful model type, with perfect skin. He sits relaxed and enjoying himself, his arm wrapped around his date, a single diamond stud twinkling from his right ear.

Finally, beside them, sit Hiroshi Nakano and K. K, still with the very long locks, has his hair free from its ponytail. It flows down silkily over his shoulders, perfectly accenting his older, more mature face. An older elegance graces him as he leans in with his arm around Hiro. He is pushing Hiro’s long bangs out of his eyes. The rest of Hiro’s hair is shorter and styled in a very GQ, ear length cut. Hiro is still easy on the eyes and very much in love which is obvious from the way he is leaning his head on K’s shoulder and smiling directly at the camera.

The camera flashes and preserves them happy and together for eternity in that perfect instance of time…

When we shed our earthly skin…

And when our real life begins…

Photo: A busy metropolis street about midday. The skyscrapers that line the street are as tall as the eye can see and are primarily made of chrome and smoke colored tinted glass. The sky can hardly be seen because there are so many of them piled so closely together. All around, holographic images of advertisements and up to the minute news and stock market tickers noisily play with video and sound. On the street, sleek hover cars and buses glide along the wide avenue. The crowded sidewalk is filled and bustling with people going about their daily activities. They wear soft pastel colored clothing that consists of clean simple lines and look vaguely like traditional Japanese garments with long flowing sleeves and high mandarin collars. In the midst of the chaos, a stunning tall honey blonde young man with piercing amber colored eyes and a pretty, shorter pink haired young man with large violet eyes, walk hand in hand, down the street. They wear plain gold wedding bands and are dressed in the same manner as everyone else. The one thing that makes them stand out among all the people that surround them, including the boringly normal, commonplace sight of other openly (and legally sanctioned!) same sex couples, is the fact that they are arguing…loudly…

There'll be no shame…

Author's Note: Thank you so much for reading my story! This was my attempt at something a little different—a Gravitation gothic romance of all things! I realized going in that this story wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea, but I love it and really hope you had a good time reading it.

The three songs used in this story are:

“Yeneh Ababa (Rose)” by Kenna. It can be found on his “New Sacred Cow” album.

“Love Song” as done by 311, originally by The Cure. It can be found on 311’s “Greatest Hits 93-03” album and the original version can be found on The Cure’s “Disintegration” album.

“A Love Before Time” by CoCo Lee from the “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” soundtrack.

I don’t own any of them in any way shape or form.

Just a love that we have made…

Before time…

Fade to black.
- 8
- 9
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The Rose Line