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The soft pitter-patter of rain on Clementia’s windows would be nearly enough to lull you to sleep, had you not been running through a torrential downpour seconds ago. You watch as Benkei pulls aside a moth-eaten curtain, shifting his head from side to side as he surveys the great outdoors. You stand next to one of the pews closest to the entrance, barely containing your bubbly giggles. This wasn’t how the evening was supposed to go, far from it—you two were supposed to be going to a study group.
You find it matters less where you were going when the rain clouds part way for the sun, and you see Benkei haloed by its light like an angel.
Or perhaps he always was one all along.
“It’s pretty bad out there,” he calls out to you, tilting his head in your direction but not moving his eyes away, “The sun is out but it’s still pouring. Weird weather for this time of year.”
“I’m not complaining. That was kinda fun,” you reply.
Benkei had held his jacket over your head, so he was much worse off than you, water droplets forming something of a puddle around him on the rickety chapel floor. Moving away from the wall up and dusting off your damp pants to the best of your ability, you make your way over to him to look outside. He’s right, of course he is, but he also left out one very important detail.
“A rainbow!” you gasp, clutching his shoulders, “Look, Benkei! Look!”
You rattle his body back and forth with your excitement, eyes wide and brimming with enthusiasm as he tries to get the words out.
“Ieee sEEeeee TH-AHT!” he forces out amidst your shaking, hands darting up to clutch your wrists, “Alright, alright! I’m looking at it! Don’t take my head off!”
“You didn’t tell me!” you accuse, but it's playful.
“You’d run back outside,” he says softly, turning to you with a caring smile, “I can’t have you catching a cold because you spent too long in the rain, now can I?”
You weigh his words carefully, pressing your lips together. On one hand, he’s absolutely right. You do want to run outside and see the rainbow. On the other hand, he’d follow you out there, faithful as always, right by your side in case you slipped on a puddle or got your pants too wet or needed someone to carry you inside after your socks and shoes got soaked and you couldn’t bear to walk in them any longer.
“I see you looking at that door,” Benkei laughs, a wry smile on his face, “You gonna make a run for it?”
“I don’t have to,” you say confidently, “You’d follow me either way!”
It’s a half joke to you. But, to him...
“Of course I would,” he sighs, running a hand through his soaking wet hair.
The flick of water droplets across the Clementia floor is not missed by you. With hopeful eyes, you look between the door and him, the kind boy with the rain-induced hair spikes that you would take with you to the ends of the Earth.
“Lead the way,” he relents, sweeping his arm towards the door.
You inhale quickly, a smile spreading across your face, before you’re off like a shot out the door. Benkei follows you just as quickly, his footsteps pounding and splashing on the wet pavement, hand catching yours in a soft, weak grip. You reach back and grab his hand more firmly, eyes trained on the skies and the rainbow above.
“Look at it!” you yell, far too loud given his proximity, “Look at that!”
“I’m looking at it,” Benkei laughs, gasping for breath as he cranes his head to look up with you.
The two of you slow to a stop, your shoes shimmering with fresh dew and the reflections of the light above. Benkei is warm next to you, radiating heat that the rain droplets can’t dispel. Squeezing his hand once, you let go and rush to the nearest puddle, diving in feet first. The water soars through the air around you, shimmering like a million gemstones, and when you laugh you see Benkei already looking, his hands stuffed in his pockets and his smile a sheepish one.
He must think you’re silly.
“Isn’t it beautiful?” you cheer, running back over to him, “Come on, jump with me!”
“It sure is,” he laughs, brow furrowed affectionately as he looks at you.
You drag him into the puddle you just jumped in and yank him into it with you. He stumbles, a soft “woah!” leaving his lips as you giggle. He laughs with you, easy and free and happy, his hand squeezing yours with the same firmness that you grabbed him with earlier.
Under the rainbow and the continuous rain, the puddles are endless. When you’ve exhausted yourself with the jumping and running, he takes you into his arms and begins to sway, guiding your feet across the every shimmering rainbow reflected in the ground. He waltzes with ease, humming a soft tune under his breath, eyes focused on your feet, always careful to avoid the uneven parts of the path.
It all comes to an end, though, when his foot steps a little too close to yours, and yanks your shoelace undone.
“I’m so sorry!” Benkei gasps, and the moment is shattered.
“It’s okay, I can take care of it—!”
“No no, allow me—!”
He drops to one knee, soaking his pant leg as he hunches over your shoe.
“No really, it’s okay!” you insist, but by the time the words are out of your mouth he’s finished tying them.
“Your socks are soaked,” he muses, pressing his fingers against your ankle, “We should get you inside.”
You whine a series of complaints but he doesn’t listen. Instead, he takes you up into his arms and waits until you laugh, sharing your sound of joy with him, just as you have these past two years. Gently, he carries you through the threshold of Clementia, shutting the door behind him with his foot.
The rainbow sparkles on above you, as if blessing you both.