Autumn, a loveless fanfic

Summary: Ritsuka loves the changing colours of autumn. They remind him of so many things.

Disclaimer: I own nothing! All of Loveless belongs to Yun Kouga.

Rating: Nothing bad here.

A/N: A quick hours work on a bored Saturday evening. Some ideas taken from 'Superman and Paula Browns New Snow Suit' by Sylvia Plath. Please R&R!

Autumn

Ritsuka's favourite season was autumn. The changing kaleidoscope of colour as the days passed, as things turned gold from green and the first bite of cold settled across Tokyo. He loved the morning frost, when spider webs sparkled in the hazy sunlight and his breath fogged in a visible cloud around him. He loved the dark nights, when it was cold outside and he could curl up safe by the fire, with a book and a huge mug of warming cocoa.

It was October, and he walked slowly home from school, savouring the crunch underfoot of fallen red and gold leaves. Tall, skeletal trees towered over him, bordering the quiet road, their branches dark and bare. The yellow sun shone weakly overhead, piercing through a layer of thin grey cloud. He zipped his thick coat up to the top and pulled his scarf tighter around his neck, a bobble hat on his head with holes cut in for his ears to poke through.

Children chased each other across the road, kicking up a spray of crisp leaves as they went, their shouting voices echoing through the cold air. Yuiko was off sick with a fever so Ritsuka walked alone, relishing the icy burn of the air as he breathed, the gust of wind that sent leaves skittering across the dry path.

He could remember Seimei, before he died, taking him out to play in the autumn. They would go to the park and Ritsuka would marvel at the changing shades of the plants, the brittle, dark branches edged with crimson and gold. It made him sad to think how everything was prettiest just before it died. Seimei was like autumn, Ritsuka had worshipped him and loved him the most just before he had faded, and winter had settled over Ritsuka's life.

He passed a dark slick of glittering oil left by a car on the tarmac road and watched the rainbow of colour chase across it as he walked. He rounded the corner and the low shingled home came into view, bright squares of light shining from the windows. Ritsuka's heartbeat quickened when he spotted a tall figure leaning back against the red brick garden wall, wrapped in a long dark coat and smoking a cigarette.

"Soubi! What are you doing here?"

Smiling, Soubi reached out a black glove-clad hand to Ritsuka, who took it with his own. "My mother will go crazy if she sees you standing out here."

"Don't worry about her," Soubi said softly. Thin curls of smoke drifted upwards from his cigarette, and Ritsuka followed them with amethyst eyes until they became lost in the hazy grey and white of the sky. Soubi was dressed in a long dark coat, his blonde hair tied back with a band. Weak sunlight glinted off his wire-rimmed glasses.

"What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to see you. Shall we go to the park?"

It was beautiful, he thought. A large expanse of nature in the heart of Tokyo, alight with the shining fire of autumn colours. A dark path twisted through the grass, all of the ground littered with foliage, a jigsaw of green and scarlet and gold. The park was long and narrow, and the trees towered over them, their brittle fingers stretching outwards, meeting in the centre to form a canopy above. Occasionally as they walked they would see a single leaf break from its hold and drift slowly downwards to join those already fallen on the ground. There was a large pond to their left, the water shining in the pale light as a few overfed ducks bobbed across the rippling surface, their distant quacking echoing through the cold air.

They reached a bench and took seats opposite each other, not bothering to brush the leaves from the wood. Soubi lit another cigarette and then reached out to take Ritsuka's hand.

"Are you cold?"

"No."

"It's nice here, isn't it?"

He nodded. A squirrel, not yet retired into hibernation, darted nervously across the path. Ritsuka watched as it hurried through clumps of fallen leaves, grey paws searching for food. Winter is hard, he thought.

"You're quiet today."

Ritsuka glanced up into warm grey eyes and smiled. "Sorry. I was just thinking."

"What about?" asked Soubi. A gust of wind sent whirls of coloured foliage skittering across the ground, and Soubi pulled his scarf a little tighter around his neck. The squirrel fled for cover.

"Autumn is my favourite season," said Ritsuka. He ran his fingers along the top of the bench table, across deep grooves in the old wood. Different people had scratched their names into the surface, some recent and sharp, some old and faded into barely readable lines.

"Mine too."

"But it doesn't seem to last as long as the other three do. It seems like it's over in just a few weeks."

Soubi smiled. "The things we love the most never seem to be with us for long enough," he said softly. "Do you want to come back to my house for dinner?"

Grey eyes met deep purple, and Ritsuka understood. "Yes, please." Soubi's flat was warm and cosy and he felt safe there. He could be himself there, and nobody would hurt him. Nobody could touch him. Soubi would take care of him.

They rose from the bench and continued their way through the park. Ritsuka's eyes took in every detail, preserving it into his memory, the images fresh now but soon they would fade and distort. He wished he had his camera.

"Can we come back here soon?" he asked.

Soubi smiled down at him as they rounded a bend and the towering, gleaming buildings of Tokyo came into sight, stark and bold against the foreground of dark branches and scarlet foliage, and the background of white autumn sky. "Of course," Soubi said. "Whatever you want."

Ritsuka nodded. He knew it would not be long before the gold vanished and the red faded, before the leaves were dead and brown in the icy streets, before a blanket of white settled over his world. He sighed. Seimei had been his autumn, fading into a dead winter, and now Soubi was the same. He loved Soubi more than ever now, surrounded by the colours of a fading year as they took steady footsteps through crisp, frosty grass and crossed the slippery iced path. Ritsuka knew it would not be long before Soubi faded too, and he was left to walk through the cold dark of winter, all alone once more. He smiled resignedly and slipped cold fingers into Soubi's warming, glove-clad hand.

A/N: Please review!