Wolf's Rain Fan Fiction ❯ Another Sort of Paradise ❯ Meeting ( Chapter 1 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

He was running; it was all he knew just now. His legs were
working, his lungs pumping in a way which had always seemed
natural to him, one which had always felt right. But now something
was different, something he had waited his entire existence in this
world for; it lived in him, calling. She was finally here.

The world moved past him, as he sped toward her, feeling the pull
within him, stronger than ever before. Once or twice, he had
sensed it, however impossible it was to describe--a feeling of
warmth, a phantom, internal embrace, an unseen connection with
another soul; it was almost painful in the way that intense,
inexpressible happiness could make someone cry. But never before
had it been so close, so tempting; his running sped up. And he just
had to get to it before she disappeared.

It had been like this all his life, from his first moments of
consciousness, this sense of her; the breeze of his passage slipped
unnoticed around him. It lived within him, this knowledge that he
would find her, that she was real; it was the true key to
understanding him, one his friends only half-grasped. He had been
born to meet her, to be one with her. Now, that beautiful moment
was finally coming true.

He could feel the tears stinging the corner of his eyes but had no
idea whether they were caused by the wind or the growing
sensation of his beloved. He could call her that, knew it to be real;
there was no need to meet her, no need to exchange the thousand
petty details of life to understand it. Before the world was made,
they had been together. And, at last, the time had come for them to
meet once more.

He could see a distant figure now, a thin, supple one, holding a
purse in front of her, looking toward him, waiting for his arrival,
while her friend tried to convince her to enter a waiting cab--but
she was still much too far away. Had he known her name, he
would have called for her, would have begged her to wait for him,
but such small concerns were yet to be learned. All he knew was
that she waited for him, always had. All that was left to make him
real was to meet her at last.

It was almost unbearable, this feeling inside him, growing so much
stronger as he approached. It was as though his heart would cave
in on itself without her, as though she were the entire cause of his
survival. And she was. He barely looked where he was going, as
he ran across the street. All that had ever mattered was her.

***************

His passage along the street caused quite a few heads to turn, not
the least of them an old friend's--one he was supposed to be
meeting for lunch. The man had just gotten off his motorcycle, his
helmet still in his hands, but his eyes narrowed as he watched the
darker man running like a fool across six lanes of traffic--his
muttered evaluation more for himself than the world around him.
"What the hell's gotten into him?" He winced, as a car slammed on
its brakes, narrowly avoiding him--something inside him cringing,
bracing for the worst of outcomes. It was something he was used
to--but he was damned if he wanted to see it happen to his friend.

It was in moments like this that time seemed to slow down, the
terror of it flashing so much in front of you. For Tsume, it was a
replaying of all the years he had known the darker man, the
experiences they had shared. The man had even given him his
name--the one he would answer to, anyway--his original one far too
boring. It had all started as a joke for the two of them--the four of
them, he supposed, if you included them all now--but the names
had stuck. Now, he was known by everyone by the Japanese word
for "claw." It fit him more than he liked to admit, at times; his
heart beat in slow terror, as he watched the man run. But he sure
as hell didn't want to see anything happen to the one who had given
it to him.

He could remember it all now, found himself thinking of little else.
They had discovered the names in a dictionary someone had left to
the library of their orphanage, Kiba christening Tsume first. Still,
the slightly older man had liked the name he had found for his
friend--"fang" making sense for him then; he would have smiled,
had he not been almost afraid. They had both been quick to fight in
those days, although Kiba had changed considerably. The dreamer
had awoken in him, his fights limited to protecting those who
needed him--while Tsume was always more than ready for a good
barroom brawl. But some bond had been forged early on between
them, one that had yet to be broken. However different they might
be, both of them would do whatever it took to look after the other
one now.

It was because of just this fact that the world seemed to have
stopped for the older man--feeling a relief he didn't know he was
capable of, once Kiba finally made it to the other side unscathed.
But the day didn't get any less strange then, his friend caught in a
long, adoring look with some woman he'd just met; Tsume's eyes
narrowed yet again. Whatever was happening now, this sure didn't
look like it was going to be an average day.

******************

For the couple the man was watching, this truth certainly held.
Neither had felt any sense of danger in Kiba's run; neither had seen
the traffic, had heard the irate screams of drivers who had suddenly
had the brake test of their lives. No. All that existed--all that ever
had--was before them. The only thing that mattered was that they
had finally met.

It was the woman who made the first move--her beatific smile, her
enraptured gaze, having held for many minutes. Her purse dropped
to the ground, as her arms opened; her ignored companion picked
the discarded object up in a daze, unnoticed. Then, with a single
step, the couple met, her arms embracing him, and it was with every
ounce of pleasure in his soul that he heard her first words. "We
meet . . . at last."

It was only a moment later that the man's arms raised to hold his
partner, the couple caught there, unmoving, unaware of any event
in the world around them. Had the entire universe shattered and
disappeared while that embrace lasted, neither would have known,
the truth unquestioned. This was the moment for which the world
had been made.

*****************

None of their watchers knew just how long this moment lasted, all
of them rather in shock. While Tsume might well have been the
most confounded of Kiba's friends, having known him the longest,
the two others who were there to meet him were no less confused.
The one who had been dubbed Higae--rather against his will--stuck
the last of his hotdog in his mouth and scratched at the mop of
disarrayed follicles which might politely be referred to as his hair.
His first words were indecipherable through his chewing but the
rest turned out to be, "What the hell's he doing, anyway?" He
looked back to the man in biker's leathers. "Have you ever seen
her before?"

Tsume would have loved to answer but had none. His head just
shook, his eyes still on the surreal scene before him. Higae's voice
went on, annoying him in his confusion. "I've only seen him with a
woman once, but she sure didn't look like that."

The statement was an obvious one, which aggravated every instinct
in the prematurely white-haired man. He wasn't nosy, could care
less what anyone did in their private lives--could, generally
speaking, care less about anyone at all--but he hated not knowing
what was going on now. There were some things he just expected
to be told. And his friend having found a girlfriend who was
important enough to risk life and limb for in a suicide dash across a
street was definitely one of those things.

His confusion did him no good at all, even if he found it impossible
to look away from the scene, unable to evaluate clearly. The
mystery woman alone was weird enough. She was some tiny little,
waif-like thing with dark hair which had been bleached to a reddish
shade by the sun. She was probably in her late teens or early
twenties, even if she could easily be mistaken for a schoolgirl;
something in him shuddered. At least, he *hoped* she was that
old. If she really were still in school, Kiba was likely to have a lot
more problems on his hands than this sudden inclination for risking
his life in traffic.

This last thought did nothing for the man's increasingly foul mood,
the day not going his way at all. He just didn't get it. Kiba--as
Higae still seemed to be pointing out at length, he had sorta tuned
him out--wasn't the type to date a lot. While he had certainly never
shown any signs of being gay, he had only dated once--some
woman he had found, and then only for a few weeks. Even then he
seemed to have been in sort of a daze, his cryptic comment when
the relationship ended seemingly only dangled to confuse his
friends: "She wasn't the one." He had never even begun to
understand the man's approach to women after that.

It was at times like these that Tsume felt like a bit of a stranger
from his best friend--and it was a sensation which irked him on a lot
of levels. First, just to admit the fact that he *had* friends was
irritating; he *liked* being a lone wolf, only working with others if
he was there to lead them. But there was a part of Kiba's
personality which had always goaded the man--that dreamy part
which came out when they teased him about women. Certainly,
enough had come onto him, but he had always turned them down
politely. There was only one thing he would say when pressed, too:
"She's not the one." Something in Tsume rankled. It was like the
man was waiting for one, perfect woman; the feeling only grew
more intense, as he took in the scene before him. Given the fact
that Kiba had yet to let go of this particular woman, it was just
possible that he might have found her at last.

This, of course, was a development which the rat-tailed man had
expected to be updated on. Even if he wouldn't really want the
details, certainly didn't want to hear long declarations of devotion,
he did think that Kiba should have told him that he was meeting
someone today, that he was bringing her to lunch with them. Still,
his eyes narrowed, as a new thought arrived; it came out under his
breath, drowned out by whatever it was that Higae was going on
about. "Has he just met her?"

This thought gained no answer, his annoyance only goaded further
by a far-too-innocent voice behind him. "Who's that with Uncle
Kiba?"

It was Higae who answered--probably fortunately--his shrug
eloquent. "Dunno. I guess he's got a mystery woman." His look
seemed to go more distant. "Helluva way to greet her, though."

The newcomer wasn't fooled by this response, knowing Uncle
Higae well enough to know that he was probably jealous; he had
been trying to convince Blue to go out with him for months. He
just smiled at the couple, kind of wishing that he had someone who
would hold him like that. "He looks happy, anyway." There
wasn't a whole lot more he could say without being introduced.

Somehow, this whole conversation only irked Tsume more. He
was just about to turn to bark out some sort of answer to the kid,
when he spotted the kitten the boy had only half-managed to tuck
away inside his shirt; annoyance mingled with something a little
more tender--something he never admitted in words--leaving him in
a sigh. "Toboe--another one?" The boy looked shy, before smiling
up at the older man hopefully, making Tsume shake his head at the
fate he had been dealt. They already had two dogs, three hamsters,
and a turtle, along with a couple of pigeons who showed up
consistently on their roof because they got fed too well. Still, it
was hard to compete with those damn, pleading eyes; the kid could
win any Fetching Orphan of the Year Award hands down. And it
wasn't like he didn't take care of his pets. Unlike most children,
who pleaded for animals and then ignored everything which was
part of their care, Toboe would probably make a good veterinarian
someday. That was, if he could stand to see animals in pain--which
he never could. Tsume shook his head. Probably should make that
a zookeeper.

There wasn't much argument over the kitten after that; there never
was, with any of the child's acquisitions, and anyone who knew him
knew why. Tsume could be fierce as hell with most people--
thought of most of them as annoying buffoons who were put on this
earth to irritate him--but he had a soft spot for the kid he had ended
up adopting. It was impossible not to have one, what with those
big, pleading eyes, and that "Why can't we all just get along?"
attitude toward life. No matter how irritable the older man could
sometimes be around him, Toboe--and all of Tsume's friends--knew
the truth. The kid had gotten lucky. There were very few
biological fathers who could have loved a child more.

This particular confrontation ended before it had begun, then,
Tsume looking back to the mystery before him. Only one more
word was said on the subject. "You'll need to buy a litter box on
the way home." His sigh went deep. And he would have to learn
to live with the smell.

*******************

Through all of this, the newly-united couple still embraced. Their
eyes were closed, each of them lost in a world which consisted of
one another alone. If other people existed on this planet, they had
yet to recognize it.

It was this latter fact which seemed to most confuse those around
them, as well. If the men who watched their friend, Kiba, were
puzzled by this embrace, however, their surprise was nothing to the
woman who stood beside the pair. She was currently holding two
purses, as she stared--rather shell-shocked--at this man who was
holding her daughter as though he had just found the key to his
soul; she only just managed to blink. It wasn't turning into the sort
of day she had imagined at all.

It wasn't the fact that the mystery man had proven himself to be
half-crazy as he had run through traffic, or the fact that the couple
were--for all its simplicity--engaged, on a public street, in an
intimacy far truer than any which might be found in even the most
explicit of peep shows, or even the fact that she had never seen this
man before which most confused the woman's mother, though.
No. It was the fact that, for the first time in her life, her daughter
had looked at anyone with something like romantic interest; her
mind reeled. This was a hell of a way to suddenly find a first date.

She couldn't stop staring at the two of them, was as frozen as the
couple themselves. The cab she had been about to enter was taken
by someone else, driving off, all without her notice. It was only
when her husband's voice sounded that she came a little out of her
daze. "Cher, why didn't you take the . . .?" The words trailed off,
as the man looked up at the pair beside them. "What the . . .!"

The blonde woman had to hold her husband back, the protective
father about to physically rip the couple--and probably the man in
it--apart. She said nothing except, "Hubb," but their eyes met,
Cher's look asking him for patience; he gave in, only half-willingly,
understanding her point. For so long, they had wondered whether
their adopted daughter would ever find love, whether she would
ever do much of anything but work with her plants and dream; their
gaze moved back to the pairing. But now they seemed about to
find their answer--and it wasn't one they would have imagined, had
they been given a thousand years.

It was as they were watching that the pair finally pulled apart but
only so that they could stare in each other's eyes. The look lasted a
lifetime, once again. But none of those who were watching had any
idea of turning away.

The spell finally broke a few moments later, the couple exchanging
only their second set of words. The man smiled, speaking quietly.
"Kiba." It made the woman smile all the more.

She didn't leave him questioning, however, her own voice musically
soft. "Cheza." It--and the name--rang out through Kiba's soul,
made him want to start the embrace all over again. There was
nothing else in the world but her.

They weren't allowed to take this path, however, the woman's
father exploding at last. "You've just met?!" It was only his shock
which kept him from physically breaking them apart.

But his distraction gave his daughter's new partner an opening; his
arm was around Cheza, as he turned, coming toward the staring
pair. He didn't answer the question. "You're Cheza's parents?"
They nodded, still dumbfounded. He held out his hand, repeating
his earlier information. "I'm Kiba." When neither of them accepted
it, he let it fall again, no apparent insult taken. It took either of
them a minute to answer.

Fortunately for the couple, it was the woman who did, her stunned
brain finally making a connection. "Kiba--the artist?" The man in
front of her just nodded, the information allowing her to size him up
at last. His success, his bohemian career, gave a slightly better
twist to his decidedly casual look. When she had thought about her
daughter's future husband, she had generally thought of someone in
a suit--someone who looked like Hubb, actually--either that or
someone who was as lost in the world of plants as her daughter.
What she had never imagined was some long-haired kid in a leather
jacket and jeans--one who was stupid enough to run across several
lanes of traffic without looking, yet. Still, she *had* heard of him .
. .

The pair were staring at each other again, barely noticing the couple
before them. Before Cheza's parents could speak again, their
daughter said, "This one must go now. This one has found him at
last." The pair started to walk away.

It was Cher's confusion which stopped her from acting--her
bemusement taking her over in several ways. For one thing, she
had long ago had to break Cheza from her "this one" habit; she
didn't know where the girl had gotten such an approach to the first
person, but it made her sound like she needed institutionalizing.
Still, far more confounding than the fact that her daughter's verbal
habits had reverted was the fact that a girl who had never even
gone out on a date, who would never allow any man to take her
anywhere except her father, was now calmly--happily, even--
walking away with a stranger. A relatively well-known stranger,
admittedly, but a stranger nonetheless. Her blink was
dumbfounded. It really wasn't the day she had expected.

Hubb, fortunately, wasn't as stunned as she was, so he managed to
stop them, before they had gotten too far. Still, the violence he was
likely to show Cheza's new man was only seen with good-natured
acceptance by him; Kiba looked back, stopping the man's rant,
toward a group of young men who were running toward them.
"That's Tsume, my business manager. He can tell you everything
you need to know about me. This is my card. You can contact me
here, if you need anything else." He stuck the square of paper in
the man's hand and then, when Hubb was busy being dumbfounded
by the whole situation, he pulled calmly away, walking off with the
policeman's daughter.

His wife watched all of this but wasn't certain what to do, looking
in several directions at once. It was only then that she realized she
was still holding her daughter's purse; she had to sigh. The girl
never had been very concerned with such things. She supposed she
would just have to hold onto it, until all of this resolved itself at
last.

This thought was only momentary, her attention caught by Kiba's
approaching friends; they were a motley bunch. The group seemed
to consist of a Judas Priest reject--Tsume, she assumed--as well as
a college boy with mustard on his sweatshirt and a young boy
holding a kitten. She wasn't exactly sure that they inspired
confidence--especially when the leather clad one came up to them,
introducing himself by immediately demanding, "What the hell just
happened?"

None of them knew the answer to this, of course, but Kiba did turn
back, before disappearing into the crowd with Cheza. "Tell her
about me, will you, Tsume? I'll call you in a couple of days."

"Days!" Hubb looked between the two of them for a second,
before he nearly took off running after the darker kid, but Cher held
him back. Whatever was happening, having her husband arrest the
man wasn't going to make it any better.

It was the woman who took control of the situation, smiling back at
the three boys. The kitten was mewing frantically now, not having
enjoyed being jostled about on the run, and none of its companions
looked any more certain about events than it did; the woman sighed
slightly, pulling her husband aside. "Would you boys excuse us?"
A quiet talk with her husband was the only way they were going to
avoid violence--and probably a bloody nose for Hubb.

She left, before they could answer. Tsume's muttered, "Who're
you calling 'boy'?" was allowed to pass without comment. They
would wait. All of them were far too confused to wander off now.

This wasn't her current problem, then; rather, it was the fact that
her husband was giving the truth to the remark, "mad as a wet
hen." She sighed, breaking him off before he started. "Okay, first,
I don't know what just happened. Second, no, I've never seen him
before, and, third, no, Cheza didn't mention anything about him to
me." His mouth closed now that his first three, unvoiced, questions
were answered, and she got down to business, instead. "What
we're left with is the fact that I think our daughter just fell in love
with someone she's never seen before."

"And left with him," he huffed. He seemed to think it a helpful
addition. She just nodded, though, her look forcing him to calm
down. Even when he wished it weren't true, she knew him far too
well to argue with her. He ran his hand through his hair with a
sigh, giving in--cutting to the chase. "So, could you at least tell me
why I shouldn't go arrest him?"

He was surprised by her answer; she nearly was as well. The fact
that he was well-known enough to track down was the least of it.
"Oh, Hubb." There was a sigh, her gaze so tender. "Did you see
the way she looked at him? The way he looked at her?" He could
nearly see the memories floating through her eyes; it took a second
before she blinked, bringing them both back. "I had almost lost
hope that she . . ."

He just nodded, letting her trail off. Both of them had. For as
much as they loved their adoptive daughter, she had always been a
strange girl. She communicated with plants, not people--even
talked to them sometimes. She could make anything grow, but she
had never had real friends, only the type with chlorophyll in their
veins. While there had been many men who had tried to date her--
at best, some weren't that gentlemanly--the thought of her marrying
or falling in love had seemed so unrealistic. Whenever she was
asked about it, all she would say was, "He'll come." Cher's look
wandered away, following where the pair had disappeared together.
It was odd but, well . . . today, maybe he had.

Hubb was left to sigh, knowing his wife's thoughts too well. While
part of him wanted to run after the kid and give him the third
degree, another part of him understood that, just maybe, he
shouldn't. After all, there had been no sense of danger in the
couple; he hadn't imagined that Cheza would be harmed, had only
been shocked to see such an embrace. His worried look trailed off
after them. Still, it wasn't healthy for anyone--especially a cop--to
just let random men wander off with his daughter; there were far
uglier things out there than Cheza was capable of imagining. And
yet . . .

He looked back into his wife, his memories flowing again. "Did I
look like that the first time I saw you?"

She just laughed. "Almost. You were drooling a little, as well."

The man's eyebrows rose. "I'd just come out of sedation, thank
you very much." Cher was laughing quietly, making him smile. It
was damn hard sometimes, being in love with a doctor. "Besides,
men tend to have that reaction to you."

She only smiled at him, putting her arm through his--turning them
back toward the group of boys. "C'mon. Let's see what we can
learn about our future son-in-law."

The sound of Hubb's voice was enough to echo down the street,
but the couple who had caused it, fortunately, wasn't there to
notice. "*Son-in-law*!"