The Tale of a Century \\ SoraMafu

>> Thirty Five <<

Soraru sighed and ran down the stairs after Mafu. He had to go after him. When he got to the front door he noticed that all the coats were still on the coat rack, which means that Mafu wasn't wearing anything to protect him from the cold. "That crazy boy," Soraru whispered under his breath as he dashed out the door. "He's going to freeze to death outside!"

A blast of cold air hit him immediately, and he shivered. Mafu couldn't have gone far... Soraru thought, looking around. Of course, it didn't help that Mafu's hair was white, so he would blend in with the snow pretty well. "Mafu!" Soraru called as he power walked to the front of the driveway, careful not to slip on any ice. "Mafu!" he repeated louder.

Soraru rubbed his hands together and looked down both sides of the sidewalk. The most reasonable location he would have gone would be Amatsuki's house. If it came down to it, he would check there, though, it was unlikely Mafu would have made it that far. He scanned what was around him, and caught a small lump on the ground a little ways away. Heart pounding out of his chest, he ran over to check.

It was Mafu. He had passed out and was curled up into a ball, shoulders shaking from the cold.

"Shit!"

|*|*|

It hurt. Everything hurt for some reason. He was sore all over. Slowly cracking his eyes open, Mafu could only see a blinding white light for a few seconds. He blinked and squeezed his eyes shut a few times to adjust. The sound of someone calling his name was muffled.

As his vision focused, he could see Amatsuki hovering over him with wide eyes.

"Mafu-kun!"

"E-eh, Ama-chan?" His voice came out more hoarse than he thought, and he coughed once before continuing. "Why are you here? What happened?"

"What do you mean what happened?! I should be asking you that!" Amatsuki was talking quickly. "Soraru called me in a full blown panic. He was going into hysterics! You had a fever and passed out. Remember?"

"A-Ah..." That was when the memories came flooding back. The fight they had, and when he ran away. "Where's Soraru-san?"

"Oh... he's downstairs. He told me to stay with you. Somehow, he came to the conclusion that maybe you didn't want to see him when you woke up. Hey, did something happen?"

"Can I see him?"

Amatsuki stared for a while before he got up and walked towards the door. "Whatever happened, I just want to let you know that Soraru really cares for you. He was really beating himself up, and almost called the hospital."

Mafu didn't respond as Amatsuki left the room. After a while, longer than Mafu had expected, Soraru entered the room and sat in the chair Amatsuki was sitting in a few minutes earlier. They didn't say anything. Soraru tried to avoid looking at Mafu.

"Tell me," Mafu's voice was soft.

Soraru bit his lip and furrowed his eyebrows. He looked down. "I'm sorry.... I can't."

"Then... I have nothing more to say to you," Mafu rolled over, facing away from Soraru. "Leave."

Without a word of complaint, Mafu heard Soraru get up from the chair and close the door behind him. Amatsuki opened it back up a crack. "What is going on with you guys?"

"Sorry, Ama-chan, but can you leave me alone for a while?"

Amatsuki hesitated before muttering an "okay" and shut the door again.

Mafu spotted the picture of Soraru on top of the desk, and went to take it. He flipped open his journal he had placed on the other side of the desk until he reached a page with another picture tucked in. It was a picture of Mafu himself this time with a jagged edge.

Mafu lined the edges of both halves together. It matched up perfectly. One side was of Soraru. And the other of Mafu. He brought it to his chest and kneeled onto the floor, shoulders shaking from the sobs racking his body.