Very poetically written. I love all the complex metaphors, and how they blended so well into the story. I also loved how you had the lines "The hem of Kazuki's shirt floats freely in the rush of wind, jagged lines of it ripped free and spare strings taking their first breaths of separation from the cloth. They gather on the ground, like dead serpents, and Juubei slides one across the floor with the toe of his foot." at both the beginning and end. It helped complete the circle of Juubei and Kazuki first meeting and then the second one, and how it was a sort of 'rebirth' of their friendship. The little second POV sections really made the story intimately Juubei's, and added to the emotional feel of everything. Great job with this.

only one word can describe how in awe i was: BRILLIANT!

:-)