As days passed by Fuyuki was slowly recovering; yet one day the doctor called Yoshiasu for a close talk. He was worried about Fuyuki’s state of mind.
-Mr. Tanaka-he said. We face a very serious problem; despite his very mild and kind personality, for the first time in his life Fuyuki hates somebody. Unfortunately he hates himself. If you hate somebody else it is easy to demonize him and to prove yourself that the person deserves your negative feelings. You can more easily dismiss him.
But once you hate yourself, the problem becomes more complicated. If you end up feeling guilty, worthless and despicable it’s hard to find the necessary strength to forgive yourself and heal.
If you will not succeed in proving Fuyuki that he is wrong about himself, he’ll try to end up his life until he’ll succeed.
The doctor left, letting Yoshiasu to think it over; he knew Fuyuki was on the edge. Despite the best efforts he was fading away slowly but steadily. Just like the young martian of Ray Bradbury’s story, he was about to die trying to make happy the humans who fought over him. Fuyuki was torn apart by the fact that he wanted to help his crazed friend get over his obsession and he sacrificed his peace of mind. He couldn’t believe that his companion would accept that without resentment and he hated himself for betraying the one and only person he was in love with. And Yoshiasu knew that all arguments were futile; he had to act quickly, before it was too late.
So at the end of the week he came for Fuyuki. He thanked to the doctor and took his love away. There was a cab waiting for them at the rear door; Yoshiasu did his best to avoid the eager eye of the press. They’ve already learned about the young artist’s gesture and were ready to make it front page news. So Yoshiasu luckily skipped them and got his love into the car. The young man looked a little bit surprised but he couldn’t find the necessary strength to react. He was just tired, hopelessly tired. He closed his eyes and leaned against his companion. The cab stopped at the airport and they quickly embarked on a plane.
They ended up in a quiet resort with small, pleasant houses, a nice forest surrounding the place and clean, crispy air. Yoshiasu quickly unpacked then took Fuyuki by the hand and left the house. They took a narrow pathway and after a while they ended up in a small, sunny clearing. They sat in a half-shaded spot, Fuyuki leaning against Yoshiasu, eyes closed. He still looked fragile and pale but there was a shade of pink in his cheeks after the walk.
Yoshiasu un-tied the short ponytail and let the silky, black strands fall freely and frame the delicate oval of the face. A small smile crossed Fuyuki’s lips at Yoshiasu’s touch over his hair and his neck. He sighed and cuddled in his arms.
“Fuyuki”…whispered Yoshiasu and the young man opened his eyes, looking at him. The sun sparkled through the foliage above them and lighted the deep, pure amethyst irises. They were beautiful and spotless. Yoshiasu bent closer to him and felt Fuyuki’s breath speeding up. He kissed him gently and Fuyuki’s stiffness was slowly melting. He moved carefully, not to scare him away. He unbuttoned Fuyuki’s shirt and kissed the soft curve of the neck; Fuyuki moaned and closed his eyes, leaning against Yoshiasu. He caressed and kissed his fragile love until all the bad memories were washed away.
During that week of rest and recovery, they talked less but held each other closer and closer, bonding again, entwining intimately as they always were. Their deepest ties, not severed by all the external pressures and misshappennings, got even stronger. Lovingly and patiently, Yoshiasu rebuilt Fuyuki’s broken inner world and trust. Step by step, with each gentle touch and kiss, with each passionate night of love he re-conquered his lost butterfly and mended his shredded wings.
As they returned to the city, Yoshiasu reconsidered his priorities; he never again allowed his work to take him away from Fuyuki.
The cycle ended without any more unpredicted trouble; at least that’s what the creatures of light thought so. But they were completely wrong; the moment the Child had to part from his human companion and leave him in the stasis he suffered a real heartbreak. In a split second all his memories were completely restored and he had to face so many hurtful and contradicting facts that he almost collapsed.
He found himself in the middle of a crowd of curious light creatures who were, in a way his closest relatives. At the same time he has been separated from the humans who were equally his…relatives and, unlike the other Children, he was the only one that still looked and…felt like a human. He felt alienated and lost; he soon also realized that all his sufferance came from these curious creatures who had already gathered a lot of data about humans but were unable to really understand not only the mind but the heart of the humans.
His life throughout the cycle turned out well but there was a part of him that was connected secretly and intimately to another human. By a twist of fortune their souls connected for a moment only to be separated again by fate. It had hurt both of them and they longed for another chance. The spirit of that human was stubborn and passionate, unwilling to give up on that short connection. Just like the creatures of light who were driven by an insatiable curiosity to get a deeper knowledge of other intelligent life-forms, the human was driven by the strong curiosity about the Child, that particular Child.
The Child was unhappy and lonely; he was trapped between worlds and there was nothing he could do to end that. He sat on a corner, leaned against the wall and shut his eyes. The tears were slowly seeping through and running down his cheeks; at first he cried silently but he ended up curled in fetal position, crying desperately like a human child lost among the stars… The other light creatures were deeply disturbed; they called his…parents and showed them what was happening. The taller one picked up the Child and carried him to their rooms. The thinner one followed, shaking his head in disbelief.
“This is what humans call “a narrow escape”. What are we going to do now?-asked the first shape of light.
He gave a short look at the Child that was sitting in a corner of the room, looking out silently to the stars. They have tried to talk to him but he was constantly ignoring them.
“His whole memory is back and he’s unhappy. We have to put them together somehow. Maybe if they spend a cycle together, he’ll get over his pain.
“And what if he won’t?
“Then we’ll reconsider things as they’d be at the time. The Child has become unpredictable too…-said the second creature of light.
“We’re walking on thin ice…Well, maybe you’re right; let’s see what happens this time. After all we have collected a huge amount of priceless data due to our Child. He deserves a little happiness of his own…
“And what about the first, Yoshiasu?
“He’s almost ready but he’s in standby. We can’t let them mix again. He might join us into the light; amazing how the Child has changed his whole life-cycle…”
“I know he is the most talented Child ever…But his second choice gives me the creeps; he’s too powerful.
“Listen to yourself…you are talking like the humans: the creeps, you say?
His companion…chuckled.
-This proved to be our most challenging assignment until now; I’ll ask for a vacation at home…This Child wore me out!
-Don’t complain-said the other. He’s our Child and that makes him…special!
-Now, you are talking like humans!
-I’ve told you, he’s talented; he’s affected even the two of us…
They walked away to start the preparations for the Child’s returning to Earth; the thinner one gave a look to the Child. He was sleeping quietly in his corner…the creature sighed and closed the door.
katemantis 