HAVEN || SATORU GOJO

VIII

THE MOON WAS LIKE AN OYSTER IN THE SKY in a sea of black infinity. The dream like charcoal clouds and gleaming night lights of the nocturnal city .. the city that never slept .. it beamed with so many lights.

The two girls, instead of sleeping in the bedroom, they slept by the full sized glass screen window, laying in sleeping bags huddled together, talking and gossiping about the world's wonders.

It was an ungodly hour at night where slumber met with humans and animals alike .. where the tired soothed their quaint souls.

"What came first .. the sun or the moon?"

The two pondered it without thinking about it scientifically. "What do you think, Rie?"

Their eyes met one another. Her oceanic blue eyes and her chestnut brown ones that seemed medallion gold in that light where her head was tilted back, absorbing the luminescent of the night and city skyline outside just hardly in reach.

Rieka seemed to think of someone when she replied, recalling every single bit of him. His soul, his appearance, even the other attributes that made him who he was. "For me .. the moon came first." The breathlessness of inhaling the beams of light from the pearls in the sky. The shadows that casted over her face as she turned her head.

"I'd never seen the sun before .. I'd never seen any light before until I had met the moon in its darkness." She whispered. The moon almost seemed like it was in her grasp.

Riko stared at Rieka's longing. The way she reached her hand out to the sky. Because it was her .. because it was Rieka, the young girl was sure she would touch it.

There was only one person she knew with locks of hair as silver as the luminescence of the night sky and eyes that held endless iridescent stars with a hue of periwinkle cerulean blue ..

"Do you like the moon?" Riko cheekily questioned, intertwining her hands with the woman.

She smiled. "I do." There was no shame in admitting it. It might've been closer to declaration if anything, as though she were standing on the top of a hill, spilling her heart out.

"Do you love the moon?"

This time, the answer was instant. ".. I love him more than anything."

There was a part of the young teenage girl that chipped away at hearing those words .. hearing the loving that bled from her heart, it was almost bittersweet.

The love that she would never have as a teenager. "I want to be loved the same way you love him .." Riko admitted, matching her breathing with the woman beside her. A deep inhale, a shallow exhale.

"Many people love you, Riko. You're like the sun. You're bright .. you shine a light in everyone's day." It was almost like the woman could read her thoughts, gently patting her head to reassure her. It was true .. so many people cared about her well-being, she was glad to feel loved before having to go.

"But even the sun dies out." The ravenette sourly whispered back.

"Not you .. you're not going to die out .. you have a long time before then." Rieka placed a kiss to her forehead.

It was gentle, warm and assured her of all the wrongs in the world.

Rieka loved her so much .. and she could tell.

She was thankful to be loved by someone .. even if it wasn't romantic love .. familial love was so comforting. It eased her being so deeply. To know that at the end of her life, she would've been able to experience something so soothing, the love of Rieka Urashima, the one who poured her whole heart and soul into it.