Traffic

“She’s not like you, Takeru,” he drawled, sharp eyes gazing out amidst a deceptively casual stance. He was leaning against a brick wall in one of the narrow city alleys, eyes fixed across the void flowing with human and mechanical traffic alike. She was like a beacon amidst the masses. “She’ll fade away eventually, even if you have her for the moment. She can’t last the way you want her to.”

“I know.”

Takeru had always been quiet, but in their time apart Ragan mused that he had all but become a wraith, floating from space to space and blinking in and out where he pleased. His only warning was the unmistakable presence that was near-impossible for the other man to suppress. He paused, considering his friend as the dark-haired professor took over the vigil he had held upon the girl in question. Takeru was more than taken with her; he was in love with her. Love was dangerous for men like them, especially when the gray-eyed man was all but concerned about how much truth she knew.

A year apart, and this is what he came home to. His oldest friend, who so many years ago had been as blazing as the once-silver of his eyes, was now a faded memory of his former self. Somewhere over the years Takeru’s flame had been dampened to a mere flicker, and now he was in love was a girl who would drag him further into anonymity.

“You can’t stay with her.” It was as much a command as a statement, but it caused a flicker within those eyes that had Ragan’s spirit lifting at the hint of a challenge.

“Is that an order, fukushou?” Takeru inquired, deadly-quiet. Those gray eyes glinted with a metallic sheen, observing Ragan all too calmly without ever looking away from his intended target. The girl was perched on top of a city bench, waiting for her bus and reading a book as the traffic swirled and flowed around her, oblivious to the wolf’s eyes upon her.

Ragan weighed his options against that gaze. How slow could a man become after three hundred years? “I never said I stopped training.” Against his will, Ragan felt the casual set of his shoulders turn rigid, feeling as hunted as the girl for a fleeting moment.

A wolf was always a wolf.

“You can’t stay with her,” he said again, softer but still insistent. That gaze eased only a touch, returning to the plain woman with her waves of dark hair and bright eyes.

“I know,” Takeru echoed his earlier response, settling against the wall beside Ragan.

Across the street, the city bus screeched and came to a stop. When it, too, entered the traffic, the girl was gone as well. Both men remained, cradled in the safety of the alley where life’s traffic could not reach them.

~ by eeratka on February 14, 2011.