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The path was all too familiar to him. Too familiar for him to be comfortably okay with it, but he’s walked this way for far too long that it almost felt wrong if he didn’t.
Rantaro clutches the small flower in his hand. It was frail, something he just now picked off a random patch of grass. The petals looked ever so soft, yet he knew somewhere in the back of his head that even they will harden and crumble to nothing.
That’s how life worked, after all. Rantaro doesn’t think about where he walks, not until he no longer felt the sun beating down on him. Green eyes look up at the tree before him. The dark wood was still as dark as ever, with a single scratch mark diagonally carved into it. He knew why there was one there.
He knew who had carved it into the tree’s trunk. Rantaro’s eyes flitter downwards, and his fingers roll the stem of the fragile flower. He takes a deep breath, several in fact. It smelled of nature, and of the air that held a sort of humid taste.
“ Hey.” He starts, and he kneels down besides the rock that lay at the base of the tree. “ Having a nice nap?”
The rock, being a rock, does not respond. But Rantaro pretends he could hear it respond, soft and with a slight hint of confusion to it. He pretends the rock responds, which…. if he had to explain it, he’d just sound a little crazy.
But Rantaro wasn’t really thinking about the rock itself. Rantaro smiles, and he doesn’t know if the smile reaches his eyes. It probably doesn’t, and his eyes are a little itchy.
“ I brought you a flower. It’s…. uh… a daisy, I think.” Rantaro stares at the flower in his fingers, then sets it on top of the rock. “ But uh, might not be. It’s white, yellow insides, so I’ve been thinking it was a daisy.”
Rantaro stares at the rock for a few moments, and his fingers trace over the letters that were carved in it, perfectly so and intentional. He continues to trace over the S that made the beginning of the surname as he continues.
“ I’m glad you’ve been watching over our favourite tree while I’ve been out. Sorry I haven’t been around much.” He looks up at the tree, how it shaded the both of them quite well, save for a few bits that speckled through the branches and leaves. “ Today is rather beautiful. Like you.” He couldn’t help but let out a soft chuckle. His attention turns back to the rock. “ I’m glad you’re not bored of me yet. Unless…. you are. You’re not, right?”
The rock felt warm under his fingers, and he lifts his hand off, instead grasping at the grass that dutifully gave it a blanket, the dirt its bed. Instead, Rantaro settles his hand on the tree behind them.
“ I know I tell you this every single time but… I wish you were here with me. Really here.” Rantaro faintly feels the rough texture of the wood dig into his fingers, but he doesn’t let go. His vision blurs, and Rantaro raises his other arm to rub at them.
“ Hah, my eyes itch….” Rantaro mutters, but his voice was far too watery to consider it just being itchy. He takes a deep breath, holding it and letting go, trying to let it all go.
“ I shouldn’t be crying. It’s been…. what.” Rantaro lowers his arms and sucks in a breaths, eyes tracing over the carved letters in the rock. More tears well up in his eyes anyways when he sees the date.
“ Ah, it’s…. only been a year? Time flies by so fast.” Rantaro leans against the tree, ignoring the short flash of pain when he lands a bit too roughly. It wasn’t any pain he couldn’t handle. It couldn’t be as bad as this.
“ I miss you….” Rantaro mutters, hoping that he would hear him. “ Goodness, why…. why are people so mean? You…. You didn’t deserve this.” Rantaro rubs his eyes again, and sadly smiles. “ But that’s how it goes, huh?”
Rantaro sits there in silence, just staring, letting himself rest in his presence. He couldn’t help but think again to that time, when they were happy together. When Rantaro didn’t walk the all too familiar path to see him, bleeding out underneath the tree, a diagonal scar in their favourite tree.
The same tree where the two had met, all those years ago. The circle of life, he figured. Rantaro closes his eyes, and he could almost see the dark hair and beautiful eyes that was like a precious metal, could almost feel his hand against his own, gently squeezing in such a way that always made Rantaro smile with such adoration for him.
But that was a year ago, and all he got in return was to sit here, on such a beautiful day, next to the rock that told anyone who walked by the tree of what lay far below. Rantaro appreciated the fact that they let him sleep here, underneath the tree that shaded the two of them for many seasons.
“ Hey, next time I come by, I have a surprise for you. It’s…. well, I’m sure you’ll appreciate it.” Rantaro mumbles as his eyes watch the sunset, and he sits up, laying his hand on the rock as his sights drift to it. “ I got it for you, you know. Maybe I’ll send it down personally, dig a little spot and place it there for you to collect.”
He slowly stands up, ignoring the groans of his legs from doing nothing but sit there for so long. He takes one last look at the rock at his feet, and he gives him one more smile, even if it hurt him to stare at the reminder that the rock wasn’t him.
“ Goodnight. I’ll see you soon, okay?”
Rantaro walks away, down that same far too familiar path, hand clenched into a fist besides him.