by
Anaphalis
Summary: "As memory may be a paradise from which we cannot be driven, it may also be a hell from which we cannot escape." -John Lancaster Spalding. Drama/Horror/Psychological. One Shot. 30 Kisses Theme #11 - Gardenia. Chihiro/Haku.
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Distribution: My site and 30 Kisses. All others please ask before taking.
Feedback: Much appreciated at [email protected]
Disclaimer: Not mine. Brushes on this page courtesy of Pure Anodyne.
A/N: I'm using the European symbolism of gardenia as 'secret love'. Thanks to appalling_fool for inspiration :)
I take you away with me... softly, just like this, embrace me so we might never part
as the dawn arises
-Malice Mizer, "Gardenia"
Brushing her teeth doesn't take away the flavour, but gardenia and mint don't go well together and she makes faces all the way through breakfast.
And then she is out the door- hurrying because...
Well, hurrying anyways.
Flash of white. "Hurry! This way!"
She shakes her head quickly and exits.
In those thoughts... there be dragons.
It is only when she is in the heart of the city that the smell of exhaust and oil overwhelms the faint hint of flowers in her mouth.
She doesn't complain- it�s partly why she moved here after all. After ten years, even the sight of white flowers makes her nauseous.
She moves through the vendors quickly, the smell of cooking meat giving her another headache.
"Eat this."
She turns from the stalls blindly, trying not to feel chased by her own mind. As always, just beyond the stalls, she absently rubs the ancient hairband that is her good luck charm, her protection against daydreams so vivid that she is unable to see outside her mind.
Today though she is defeated. Her eyes continuously flick towards flashes of white in the crowd.
"What is that? Is that..."
She closes her eyes tight, shaking her head in an attempt to clear it. Slowly opening her eyes, she starts moving again, not quite a run.
"Run!"
She is not running away. Merely... regrouping.
Which of course is why she doesn't even notice the flower stand until she is right in front of it.
Small, white flowers almost choke her with half-formed images.
"Promise?"
"Promise."
She gets her shopping done in a half-daze, hands shaking as she pays. There is an admission of defeat, if only to herself.
Ten years. And no closer to understanding than when they started. But she will go home now, like a good girl, and wait for sleep to take away the ache.
She wakes just before dawn, staring into eyes so familiar, so achingly dear.
And she remembers, as she's always wanted to remember.
"Haku."
He doesn't speak- just lightly brushes her lips �tasting of flowers and hope and everything that she's forgotten- his eyes unreadable.
She reaches out to him, holding him even as the sun rises and he fades from her arms, her mind.
She tastes gardenia in the morning.
-End-
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