rayneydaywriting

"Coming!" He grinned and ran over to fall into step beside her.

They'd been sitting there for a long time, in this golden field. A very long time. Rika knew that someone (maybe more than just one someone) important was waiting for her, for all that long time. But somehow she couldn't fathom the thought of moving any more than she already was, simply reaching out and plucking the countless flowers there within reach, forming a fragrant wreath for her own enjoyment. It would feel wrong to. This thinking caused Rika to still, her hands falling into her lap. Minako's slim fingers, wound around strands and braids of Rika's long blue hair, stilled with her. "Rika-chan? Is something wrong?" "I was just thinking." She turned and smiled up at her friend. Minako's hair glowed like embers against the field of gold behind her, and her smile was serene. Seeing Minako made Rika feel content and warm. Protected. Like nothing could ever harm them if only the two of them stayed together, just like this. "What about?" Assured that nothing was upsetting Rika or the balance of their little world, Minako continued braiding her hair. "About the people waiting for me. And you, probably. Maybe for the both of us." "Do you miss them?" "Uh-huh. Do you?" "Yes. Very much." "But it wouldn't be good if we left this place to look for them, would it." Minako paused, slowly unraveling the many tiny braids she had already painstakingly made a hundred times before already. She didn't answer immediately. Not for a long time. And Rika waited a long time until she did, her small hands brushing over her flower wreath and following the motions of Minako's hands, undoing the small knots in the flower stems little by little. "No, it wouldn't. I don't think we'd be ourselves anymore if we left." "Then...I guess we stay here?" "Mmhm. Let's stay here and just wait a while longer." They waited a long time.

"Naminé." She turns, cranes her head around to try and pinpoint where his voice is coming from after blinking away the sunlight in her eyes. The balcony? No, the third story window. His ponytail is catching the sea breeze as he casually leans out, and he has that soft almost-not-there smile on his face again. She smiles back. "Hi. Almost done?" They're converting the storage room he's in into his office space so he can get his work done in peace and quiet. Their extended family can be more than a bit loud, after all. But after she sneezed for the sixth time in the first fifteen minutes of working, he declared her exempt from her duties. So now she's outside and down here, reading on the swing-seat, while he's inside and up there, cleaning. "Actually done. I'm moving in the furniture now. No, it's okay, stay there," he adds, when she rises out of her seat. "I've got it." She agreeably relents and turns back to her book. It had been getting to the good part, so she won't argue. But then something catches the corner of her eye and she has to pull back from the surprise of seeing it. It's a paper airplane, folded with precision, the graceful glide and landing right over the paragraph she'd been reading speaking for its elegant design. Naminé touches its wings before looking up to where Riku had been not moments before. But of course he isn't at the window anymore. Instead there is a deliberate and loud grunt of effort as he moves a table or a filing cabinet. So she turns her attention back to the gift. It's blank but for a doodle of a star with a leaf on it.