Afterward - BananaFish (ONGOING)

Part Five - Green Eyes

Sorry for such a late update, I've been having major writers block. Here's a lovely dose of angst to make it up to you guys :). Sorry I'm really tired as I write this.
-
-

The ceremony wasn't grand, but it wasn't shabby either. Content. Just how Ash would've liked it. Of course the jade eyed boy would joke about how his funeral is gonna be huge, everyone crying and drinking while he was lowered into the ground inside a grand coffin.

But no.

This was how he'd have liked it. His gang... his family, paying respects, for the boy who they deemed a hero.

It could almost have made the Japanse boy smile. Almost. But the open casket was approaching closer and closer with each step he took, Ibe Sans hand resting in the dip of his back, almost like he knew Eiji was ready to make a bolt for it.

Out of the corner of his eye he spied a familiar man, wearing a finely tailored suit and hair in a low ponytail, scraped back neatly. He leant against the wall, broad arms folded over his chest as he looked blankly into the distance. Blanca. Eiji didn't think he'd see him here.

At this point he was looking at anyone, or anything to distract him from having to look ahead. Look ahead at... him. Him lying there, in that casket that had been polished until you could find your own reflection on the surface.

His mouth went dry, lips parting as he attempted to stop in his tracks.

"You can do it, EiChan." A small voice encouraged, and it was only then that Eiji realised the older man was holding back silent tears himself. "You'll be okay."

And with another hesitant step, the blonde beauty came into view. A peaceful smile resting at his lips, as though they still bore life: but they didn't. They didn't. And it wasn't fair.

Expecting himself to have another attack, Eiji clutched at his chest, trying to find his own heart that threatened to yell down his ears, each beat louder and louder till the noise was consuming him.

'Don't cry. Don't cry. You have come this far without shedding a tear, you can't cry now.'

But it was too late. He was too beautiful, lying there, blonde locks caressing his face, blonde lashes vibrant compared to the paleness of his skin. Slender, cold, limp, fingers, carefully placed over one another, resting on his stomach.

It was at this moment Eiji really began to appreciate the green that had once sparkled in his beloved eyes. The spirited green holding a long history of pain, but a strong future of love; the green that would never be seen again.

His lip had curled over absentmindedly, trembling through his clenched jaw. Eiji didn't even notice the lump finally breaking loose from his throat, a wretched sob exiting his chapped lips. Echoing around the religious building, letting each and every person know of Eijis bottled up pain.

And once it started, he found it impossible make it stop.

Eiji wasn't sure why it took until now for him to cry, maybe he didn't want to believe it, but seeing him lying there... infront him.... dead. It made him shake, sobs and tears spilling out, hands clutching at the thin material sheets which lay underneath the casket as he fell onto his knees, not caring if he got the new suit dirty.

He could hear himself sobbing the word stop. Stop. Stop.

But stop what? Stop being dead? Stop this feeling? Stop I don't want to be here?

"Please just make it stop!"

There were hands on his shoulders, much firmer than Ibe Sans soft ones, they were pulling him back, gentle but demanding, not giving Eiji any other choice but to be pulled away as he reached out towards the coffin that had been blurred out by his tears.

"No! I need to"- he gasped, "stay, I need to stay by his side!"

He was being guided out of the building, through the back door where no one could see him.

"I made him a promise!"