He thought he heard humming.

Startled, he sat up and cocked his head, straining to catch the melody that floated past his ears. It was a familiar tune; he'd heard it before somewhere...he couldn't remember. It didn't matter. There were many things he couldn't remember.

Still, the tune felt so important that he went along with it, finding it at the recessives of his mind and beginning to hum along.

It was such a lovely tune.

He shifted on his place on the tree, replacing the position of his arms and legs, all the while trying not to create any noise. The tune was too beautiful to be left alone.

He continued to hum.

In his mind, he began to see pictures, scenes he never saw before, never remembered having. A life he may have forgotten or a life he may have buried with his past.

The tune let him remember. He realized exactly what and he stopped, shuddering, holding his breath until it all went away.

~ * ~

He was a lithe figure, always at the background, always cool and on guard. Sometimes, he would smile and frown, and he wouldn't know why he did that. He observed him, always from a distance. It wasn't likely he'd be able to go near him ever again.

Too bad, the insistent thought pulled at his mind. He shrugged.

So Fuuko Kirisawa and Recca Hanabishi were arguing...again. Yanagi Sakoshita was trying to stop them. Domon Ishijima was eating their packed food. Kageru was nowhere in sight, this was a picnic only for the six of them.

And that figure, Tokiya Mikagami, was watching, smiling then and now, but mostly just dropping comments and insults on Recca. He had learned his lesson when Fuuko slammed a fist on his head.

Quietly, he popped one of the small dumplings in his mouth. It had already cooled off. He chewed slowly. It was a little pasty. No wonder, Fuuko must have cooked it.

"You're pretty quiet, little guy," Domon suddenly told him.

Kaoru Kogenai shrugged, grinning. "I like to keep quiet when the others are already being noisy." He gestured towards the now screaming Fuuko and yelling Recca.

Domon patted his belly and sighed. "Aa, I can eat all this stuff forever," he said truthfully, leaning on the grass. "Tell me, Kaoru, is this your idea of fun?"

"Not exactly," he admitted. "I don't really like social gatherings."

"Except when they include free food?"

"Un."

Domon grinned.

Finally, Yanagi managed to pull Recca away. The boy muttered an apology to Fuuko, and Fuuko was already laughing. Obviously, Fuuko had won the fight. But Kaoru couldn't remember what on earth they were arguing about. It seemed like a long time ago.

"We're gonna take a walk, burn all these calories," Yanagi announced. She winked. "Have to keep my figure, you know."

"You already are slim," Fuuko pointed out.

"But I'll get fatter if I just sit here after this lunch." She pulled Recca's arm and the other stumbled after her. "'Bye!"

"Eh, they're just looking for an excuse to get away," Domon muttered. He crawled towards Fuuko. "Speaking of which..."

"Don't even think about it. I think I'll go for a quick walk!" Fuuko scrambled to her feet and began to make her way through the forest. Domon stood up and followed her, yelling out, "Fuuko, wait for me!"

And they were left alone.

Kaoru glanced at Tokiya. It was funny that he didn't follow Recca and Yanagi. He would have been ready to slit Recca's throat by now. "Ne, 'Niisan," he said, knowing fully well that Tokiya detested being called that, "aren't you going after the two lovebirds?"

Tokiya shot him a glance. "I was just leaving." He stood and went to the direction that Recca and Yanagi took.

Kaoru sighed. He was alone at last at the clearing. Nobody was there. He took another dumpling and let it slide through his mouth. This one was tasty. He dabbed more soy sauce. It was delicious. He smiled.

Suddenly, the birds stopped singing and the wind stopped blowing. Everything was completely still. Silence ruled the clearing as if God has somehow appeared and calmed everything.

There was nothing.

And then, he heard it again. That tune. That wonderful tune. He couldn't understand it. It was a different tune from the last time, but the underlying tone was the same. He sat stock-still and listened, closing his eyes to hear the beautiful hum of the melodic voice.

It wasn't Fuuko's, neither was it Yanagi's.

It was beautiful...the memories...

~ * ~

Once, Kurei told him that if he ever needed someone to confide on, he was there. Kaoru was glad he didn't. Now, they were enemies, and memories would have destroyed that if Kaoru had given him all things he held dear.

He remembered only a few things. He didn't have any memories. His family had taken them all away. All that he had. He didn't regret it. He didn't have anything to regret on. Perhaps, he felt a tiny remorse, of course. He had been ripped away from his family. Still, it was a bizarre thing he didn't regret it.

Kurei had been more like a sibling to him. But sometimes, he would tell him things he couldn't understand, wouldn't understand until he wrenched himself away from his grasp. Still, Kurei's hold on him was strong, sometimes.

He would dream about him.

He would dream of Kurei, standing in the middle of the darkness, wielding his purple flames. The flames would then engulf him, and he would see himself as if he had floated out of his body. He would only shudder in the flames, but more of comfort than of grief.

Once, Kurei had hummed that tune. They had been watching the stars and Kurei had whispered to him of a legend of another country. It was about a mermaid who fell in love with a human prince who married another woman. She could not kill him, he whispered. Because, at the end, love won over jealousy and fear...and she thrust knife into her breast as she threw her pale body to the sea. Never would the prince find her. Never would he see her tears. He would only see the frothy waves that curled into the boat's sides and clung as if tears on a lover's face.

And he had whispered back, in awe, Did she become the waves, 'Niichan?

No. She became the wind's soul that drifted back and forth, helping those who need strength and love. She would wrap her gentle arms around their bodies and comfort them as they cried in solace...

Kurei had begun to hum quietly, wrapping his arms gently around Kaoru's shoulders. Kaoru leaned against his chest, shifting on his lap as he watched the stars. Kurei's song had been familiar, but he had not mentioned that. And the sudden wetness on his shoulder indicated that his friend was crying.

You must be the mermaid's soul brought back to life, Kurei had whispered, letting the tears fall unashamedly on his cheeks.

Kaoru smiled and kissed his wet cheek. His lips touched the cold tears on the face. He enveloped his arms around Kurei's shoulder. Kurei hummed and rocked and cried and he had fallen asleep, his arms still around the flame-wielder's neck.

~ * ~

He stumbled through the bushes, trying to find somebody--anybody! He couldn't bear hearing the tune alone...he needed someone to listen with him. No! To make it stop!

Kurei had been the last memory. Kurei had sung the song with him and now he was gone and no one else knew how to stop the flooding memories and tears that overwhelmed his mind. And Kurei's memory would not burn itself. Instead, it was burning him.

He needed to forget as he used to. But it was too fresh and Kurei would not let him.

~ * ~

Tokiya was back. His face was scowling; only the scowl did not curl his face into an ugly frown but rather to a lovely pout. It was impossible not to wonder how he got that pretty face. And why his hair was still long despite the schools' rules to keep hair length above the ears. He plopped down across Kaoru, crossing his arms.

Kaoru ignored him for a while, waiting. He popped another dumpling in his mouth and, without looking up, said, "I know a story. It's an ancient one."

Tokiya glared at him.

"I don't want any of your fairy tales."

"Just shut up and listen." Kaoru grabbed a loaf of bread and smeared it with strawberry jam. He liked strawberry. The pink jelly spread across the white bread. He took a bite and started.

*

Once upon a time, there was a fisherman who was young and strong. He lived alone; his brothers and sisters were already grown and living on their own or with their husbands and wives. He was a very skilled fisherman and the abundance of fishes kept him alive.

One day, he was fishing in the deep recesses of water. The setting sun was a weird color of orange-gold, shimmering on the sea surface, creating the illusion of women dancing below the peaceful waves.

He cast his net and before long, he had a catch. But when he pulled it towards the surface, lo! he found a girl inside, struggling to be free of the net. Please! she cried. I shall grant anything you would like if you only let me go!

The fisherman's heart melted, for her face was as clear as the river waters itself; her hair as smooth as the silk only royalty wore; her eyes as bright as the stars on a clear night; and her voice was melodic as the strings of the lute. It was then that the fisherman fell in love.

He agreed but only if the girl promised to marry him. Flattered and equally entranced by the fisherman's beauty, she assented and, together, they swam down to the ocean where the merfolks and fishes lived as one. The man and his wife founded their family and lived happily for a very long time.

However, as the years passed by, the fisherman grew longing for his hometown. He wondered how his family and friends fared and was curious of their well-being. He told his wife that he would return to his dry land, just to see how everything was doing. The water nymph did not approve, yet after he insisted, relented because of her love for him.

When the time came for him to go, he bid his children goodbye and pulled his wife into his embrace. I will return, he whispered to her ear as she kissed his cheek.

Then, from the folds of her kimono, she pulled out a wooden box and pushed it into his hands. Here, she said quietly. Take this to the surface. Keep it safe and take it wherever you go. But always remember not to open it, my husband.

What is it? he asked but she would not answer. Instead she kissed him again and led their children away.

So he returned to the surface, his feet staggering for a few moments for he had become accustomed to floating in the water. Once there, he began to return to his town, trying to find his brothers and sisters. Curiously, the town had changed drastically over the few years he had been gone. There were some gadgets not found before, and he saw many new people. Not one of them resembled his family or friends in any way.

He spent three days searching for them, trying to find a trace. But it was as if they had disappeared with the mist or had been blown by the wind.

Finally, at the afternoon of the third day, just as he was about to give up hope, he asked one of the civil clerk in their town. Sir, he said politely, have you by any chance heard of these people? And he gave off names and addresses that was the last he knew of his family and friends. As he continued with his questioning, the man's eyes grew wider and wider.

Good sir! he exclaimed. Are you by any chance a historian or are you only paying your respects? These people have now passed into the hands of the God of Death's hands. Dead they are...passed on from the living. It has been four hundred years, good sir, since they walked this earth.

Stunned and disbelieving, he thanked the clerk and returned to the shoreline where the land and the sea met. There, he took out his box, staring at it and reminiscing about his old family and his wife and children.

The box was intricately designed. It showed a series of people, man and women, but mostly men. There was one man in particular, and he stood in the middle, glorious and worshipped, as the others around him looked haggard and dead.

But always remember not to open it, my husband...

He wondered why his wife did not want him to. Surely, it will bring no harm if he did? He was curious and grief-stricken. Surely he could open the box...

And so, the sun began to set, creating that misty illusion that he once had, four hundred years ago, of the sun reaching its orange-gold state, of the women dancing beneath the seas, of a voice that whispered and beckoned in his ear...

He pulled the latch and opened the lid of the box.

Immediately, whispers and horrors and a horrible tune warbled in his ear. They were cries of his family, his friends, cursing death. And he heard his own voice, changing from that of a man to...

The fisherman lifted his hands, dropping the box as he realized that his skin was turning knobby, his veins beginning to show against his sagging skin. He realized in horror that his hair was growing and turning white and his bones were becoming more brittle. His voice would not work; he could only utter a cursed sound that stuck in his throat. His eyesight was becoming blurred and he could see nothing except a hazy white in front...

My husband, a voice whispered to his ear. I told you not to open the box. For it contains your age and your Death. Now, you have released it, and age you will and to Death you will go. It was his wife, and she was weeping over his frail body. Goodbye, my husband...

He tried to reach out and touch her face but it was too painful and he was too old, too weak. Instead, he saw the clear waves and the dancing nymphs and his wife crying beside him, all clear in his mind as his eyes began to close.

He was already dead.

*

Kaoru's voice faded quietly. He reached for a thermos and poured orange juice into his plastic cup, drinking all the contents in one gulp.

"It's the tale of Uraurashima and his Box of Eternal Youth," Tokiya said quietly.

Kaoru shrugged and nodded. "Yeah." He sighed and patted his stomach, contented.

"You're a very good storyteller."

He blushed and looked down. "Thank you." He tried to cover his fluster and reached for another piece of bread. But Tokiya stopped it when he reached out and grabbed his wrist. He looked up. Tokiya was serious.

"Why?" he asked.

"Because," Kaoru said, "you needed to hear it again."

Tokiya shook his head. "I don't understand you."

Kaoru pulled his hand away. "Kurei told me the story once," he said quietly. "Once...it was a long time ago. He told me many stories, legends and fables he read and learned from his father. Many were from other countries. Many came from here. Many from neighboring villages, everywhere." He smiled. "He likes to read, too."

Tokiya continued to look confused. "I still don't understand you."

"Maybe you won't." He shrugged and took a large bite of his bread.

~ * ~

The tune.

Try to listen.

It will tell you its deepest secrets.

Uraurashima opened the box to learn the deepest secrets behind its lovely and exquisite design. But the beautiful box only contained horrors and lies and death. Who would want to die?

Who would want to listen?

~ * ~

"I sometimes..."

Kaoru stopped, frowning at himself. He couldn't reveal that. Tokiya would not understand. Besides, why would he listen? "Never mind."

"Tell me." Tokiya's voice was soft and yearning.

He shook his head. "It's nothing you'd want to hear about, 'Niisan."

"Kaoru...you revealed a lot of yourself today. Why not more?"

Because it will only hurt.

The song...

"I sometimes hear a tune. Only few know about this tune, and even I can't sing it unless I hear it. It's funny. I hear it during the weirdest times. When at battle. When I fight. When a tragedy happens. When Kurei tells me a story. When I dream about you..."

"Me?" Tokiya raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, you." It was a quiet confession and he would not raise his gaze to meet Tokiya's eyes. "You."

~ * ~

"Tell me a story!" Ganbo begged.

"There was a bear in the woods and--"

"No, no, no! Start it the way Kurei-niisama would start it." She nodded and smiled smugly. "Tell me more stories."

"Well then, how would Kurei-niisama start his stories?" he teased.

"He'll start it with: 'Once upon a time...'"

"I'm not Kurei."

Then, the door opened and a figure was revealed to be standing there, wearing a simple red robe and no mask covering his face. His black hair was unruly, yet it suited him. Kaoru smiled.

"Tell me a story, Kaoru," Kurei told him softly, smiling and staring at his face. "And start it with 'Once upon a time'." He took his place beside Ganbo and looked up at him. "Please."

Kurei's eyes held more sadness that night, begging to be released. He consented, reaching out and touching Kurei's scarred face with his small fingers. The older man sighed and closed his eyes; Ganbo leaned closer.

"Once upon a time..."

~ * ~

Without heeding his conscience, Kaoru pushed himself forward, ignoring the food and basket and paper cups spread before him. He placed his two hands on Tokiya's knees, balancing himself.

"This is why," he whispered.

Then, he let his soft mouth touch Tokiya's into a small, chaste kiss.

Tokiya did not move.

~ * ~

The hand touched his face, his hands, his forehead.

The woman murmured loving and soothing words, pressing her lips into his forehead. His fevered screams silenced and in a few minutes, he was gurgling happily.

"I'll take care of you," she whispered. "Listen to my song and I will take care of you."

Her song...it was the song he would sometimes hear. Only this time, the tune was clearer, the notes were lighter, the words now complete. She raised him to the air and he laughed and laughed as he touched her long black hair.

"Listen to my song and I will take care of you."

Mother.

~ * ~

Kaoru pulled away to find Tokiya staring at him. He looked away. "No," he whispered. "You would never understand."

He scrambled up only to find Tokiya's fingers enclosed once more around his left wrist. "Stay," he offered.

Kaoru did, wondering why he couldn't refuse. But he kept his eyes on the meal before him, half-wishing Tokiya's hand would let him go, half-wishing it would wound tighter. "I'm sorry."

Tokiya was silent for a moment. "Do you mean...?" he finally asked, letting his voice trail away.

"Is it too impossible for someone like me to love?" Kaoru asked wonderingly. He frowned. "Perhaps. Perhaps it's too farfetched, don't you think?"

But Tokiya would not back down despite the humorous smile on his face. "It's true," he stated flatly.

"Would you like it to be?" Kaoru shrugged. He tried to tug his wrist away from the other's grasp but it only caused for the fingers to tighten insistently. "It all depends on you, you know." He looked up at Tokiya's face, wondering again at the beauty that the sun kissed at each turn.

"You're too young."

"I'm not arguing with you anymore about that. Why don't you go after Recca and Yanagi?"

"I can't. They're kissing. I don't want to break in on what Yanagi initiated herself."

Kaoru raised an eyebrow. "Oh, so that's why you looked ready to kill." He tried to tug his hand away once more but Tokiya refused. "What more do you want from me?"

The older man looked at him with complete somberness. Then, he smiled. "Teach me."

Kaoru smiled back and recited with perfectly good English: "With love's light wings did I o'er-perch these walls. For stony limits cannot hold love out. And what love can do, that dares love attempt. Therefore thy kinsmen are no let to me."

"That's Shakespeare."

"Well...what do you want to hear?"

"Something new." Tokiya's fingers began to trace a senseless pattern on Kaoru's wrist and he looked down at it, as if it was interesting.

Kaoru swallowed hard. "All I know...are from Kurei."

"Then teach me--" Tokiya leaned forward slowly. "--something from yourself."

With his lips pressed against Kaoru's, the younger boy knew that he was smiling.

~ * ~

He awoke that night, listening to the rain pattering against his windowpane. He was glad he made Kaoru stay the night with him; otherwise, he'd be wet from the rain. He watched the other boy, sleeping in his arms, dressed in pajamas that Tokiya had overgrown yet was too large for him.

He shifted, sighing as the boy cuddled closer to him. His ears strained to hear a distant sound, a distant memory buried...perhaps passed on through different generations...

Kaoru awoke to find Tokiya hovering over him, smiling softly. "What?" he mumbled sleepily.

"I learned something from the rain," the older boy told him solemnly.

"What is it?" He sighed as Tokiya lay back down; he put his head on his friend's chest.

"Listen."

Listen.

Tokiya began to hum the haunting tune. Only this time, it was more beautiful, more significant. And it made him smile instead of making him hurt. He listened as Tokiya hummed, reveling in the vibrations that came from his chest. Although it seemed a ridiculous scene, to him, it was comfortable.

Finally, the song was finished and Tokiya looked down at him. "So?"

Kaoru lifted himself and smiled, brushing back some moonlit silver hair from his friend's face. "It was perfect."

It was only then he realized he was crying.

*

Tokiya gathered him in his arms and they slept.