http://clampfix.fanworks.net/x-fix/hiero1.txt </head><body><pre>Okay, I've written a dark-fic before (and it sucked ^.^), but, while my internet was disconnected, I wrote alot of fics, and this one just started with one idea, but it lead to another, and it will porbably be a three part. I'm not going to give much of a description, you can figure it out for yourself as you go along. Surely you only clicked on it because of the title ^.^ (And don't be fooled by the Prologue...) Usual disclaimers go here. Prologue "Rain," Seiichirou sighed, smiling a bit. "That's all it ever seems to do anymore. Don't you agree, Karen-san?" Karen smiled faintly and moved closer to Seiichirou as the rainfall increased. The two were walking around in an area park, when it had suddenly started raining. Of course, Seiichirou always seems to have an umbrella, this of which, the two were sharing. Then, the two neared a bench, which was drenched with rain, like everything else around them. "Well," Aoki sighed as he handed the umbrella to Karen, "Hold this, please." He smiled gently as he left the security of the umbrella for a brief moment. "Seiichirou-san!" Karen was giggling at his next movement. He had taken his coat off and placed it on the bench. Patting the seat as he sat down, Karen joined him. "So you'll have a dry place to sit," he explained. "I would hate to see you get your beautiful dress soaked to the gills." Karen blushed a bit. "Thank you," Aoki smiled with pure genki-ness. "Sure! No problem!" After an uncomfortable silence between the two, Seiichirou's eyes started glowing in rememberance of something. "Oh!" He exclaimed as he began searching for something. "I forgot to give you this!" Karen was practically lost for words when Seiichirou handed her the object. "Paul..." she gasped, and looked up at Seiichirou. "Wh-where did you find him?" "I noticed how upset you were after the latest battle destroyed that apartment complex. I knew you loved that bear much, I hated seeing you sad like that. So I went and searched for him." Seiichirou explained, smiling brightly. "Through all that rubble?" Karen asked, devastated. Seiichirou nodded as if it was nothing. "It wasn't very hard." Karen reached to his forehead and noted the bandage that was upon it. "So, that's how you were injured, you fell?" "Yes," he began, chuckling a bit. "I fell and hit my head on a rock." Karen slowly brought back her hand, looking Seiichirou deep into his hazel eyes. He returned the gaze, and suddenly, Seiichirou started to feel hazy, as if something was pulling his soul underwater, and drowning him with it. The feeling became too much for him, and he gazed at the soaken ground below them. "I'm sorry," she started, worried. "Did I do something?" Seiichirou shook his head violently. "No, no, it wasn't you, just not feeling well, that's all." "Maybe you should get home and get some rest then." Karen suggested, still worried about his sudden shift of emotion. Seiichirou nodded. "Yes, Shimako-san will be waiting, I must get home to her. Haven't seen her in a while, you know?" Karen nodded also. "Well, you'll need an umbrell--" "No, that's okay, you keep it...Like I said, wouldn't want that beautiful dress to get all soaked." Karen smiled appreciatively. "But your coat?" Seiichirou shrugged. "You keep it, I can get it later." "But you may get even more ill--" "No, no," Aoki chuckled at her persistence. "You keep it, I'll be fine..." And with that, Seiichirou began walking down the park trail, in the freezing rain, without a coat or an umbrella. So she could be happy. "Shimako-san, Seiichirou..." Karen murmured to herself, watching Aoki leave. "How long will you live on a leash?" The Hierophant by Anna Vincent He searched his pockets clumsily, looking for the keys to his home. His cold hands found what he was looking for, and, almost faintedly, he swifted the key into the dead-bolt lock, twisted, and stumbled inside. There was no Shimako here. He had lied to Karen. 'Lately,' Aoki thought as his eyes wearily glanced around the room he was in. 'Lately, I feel...weak...' 'Why?' Glancing around for an area that he knew would welcome him, he began to walk into the bathroom. Each turn and every step, his eyes grew more weary to the world. But, he had retained enough strength to at least undress himself and start a shower. Cleansing his body and letting the hot steam open his nostrils was a blessing like no other. He began to acquire a bit more energy each minute. After he had finished cleansing himself of the cold rain, he stood in the shower, motionless, staring down at the tile below him. The heat from the shower wasn't enough for him. Slightly, he placed his hand upon the faucet, the faucet that controlled the cold. And in a drawn out, awaiting shift, he turned the level of cold water down, allowing more hot water to fall onto him, intensifying the temperature. Still, he wasn't satisfied. What was this? This need for heat? So he twisted the faucet more, allowing yet another shift in the temperature. The water was now turning his fair skin to a sunburn red, but it seemed to have no effect on his feelings whatsoever. He still was not comfortable. It was as if all of the rage he had ever contained within him was suddenly released, released with this intoxicating heat. He would eventually run out of room to turn the faucet, but that was still quite a ways. He forced himself to turn the nozzle, closing his eyes tightly and gripping the mechanism fiercely, he shifted it once more. The heat was now almost unbearable, he could feel his skin become so raw that it started to itch. There was an entire fog throughout the bathroom, and he could feel the sweat falling down the sides of his face, even through the shower water. But he still wanted more. Again, he turned the nozzle, moaning, and still keeping his eyes closed just as tight as the previous second. His grip was fierce and enraging, and his moaning was escalating into a haunting scream. And so he did, he screamed at the top of his vapored lungs, and even the wind could be heard outside above his haunting shout, responding to his pain, but in some ways, it was a pleasure, a release. And the hot water supply to his house had run out, and so had his energy. He leaned against the wall of the shower, and slowly slid down it's porcelain skin, to the floor, where he had seen red water flow into the drain. That was the last thing he remembered seeing. Now he had awaken from such a queer experience. He could barely feel his body, but it was causing him no stress, it felt quite good, quite relaxing. It was as if his body and soul was drifting away to an endless, easy waved ocean. But he was unfamiliar to the location, at least from where he had recalled being. Now, he lay upon a bed, his vision slowly surging itself back into his eyes. "Would you like your glasses?" a gentle voice questioned. That of a young man's. "You've been asleep for sometime, and your hands were all cut up and burned. Aoki-san, what did you do?" "Aoki-san?" Seiichirou looked around him, he still could not see, nor did he have the ability to tell his muscles to move his mouth so he could talk. Everything slowly but surely came into focus as he could almost see the person hovering over him. And finally, his sight was at it's normal range, and green eyes greeted him from above. Green eyes that hid behind soft black hair. "Aoki-san?" Seiichirou squinted, and finally, he was able to move his lips. "Su--" "Shh," Subaru stopped him. "It must pain you to talk, you should just stay rested until you are able to function normally." "Wh--" "Aoki-san, please, do what's best for you, rest." Subaru smiled weakly, barely noticeable. But Aoki noticed it. Subaru turned from Seiichirou's bed and took a seat only a few feet away, so he could watch him carefully. After a few minutes, Subaru had figured Seiichirou had fell back asleep, so he pulled out a book and began reading, between glances for the first few pages, he would check on Seiichirou. Eventually, he stopped glancing over to him, sure he was asleep, and read his book quietly. "Karen..." Subaru looked up at Seiichirou, eyes wide and mouth open. "Seiichirou-san, please rest, Karen is fine, you needn't worry." "I..can't move...any part of my body..." Seiichirou moaned, it was depressing. "Except my head, Subaru-san, please, come here..." And even more depressing for Subaru, who had to go through the anguish of seeing this man in this state. This man, who is almost always smiling, and doing what's right in the best interests of everybody. This man, who Subaru would never think would burn himself to the point of intolerability. He had questioned taking him to the hospital, but there was too great of a risk factor, with the Angels attacking as much as they had, Subaru knew better. But, despite the sight of the man, Subaru stood, and walked to Seiichirou, resting a hand on his forehead. "Help me..." he wheezed to Subaru with devout despair. He was yearning for something, and Subaru knew it. "With what, Aoki-san?" "F...." Subaru's eyes became glassy, and a lump had started to form in his throat as he watched Seiichirou try his best to speak. "Feelings..." "What of them, Aoki-san?" "I....don't know them..." Subaru's eyes became sorrowful and baffled all at once as the tears began to fall down his cheeks. Subaru ran his fingers lightly about the side of Seiichirou's head, trying to ease him through his pain. Even so, Aoki tried to continue to explain. "I don't know...what I feel anymore...Or what to feel...How to feel...I'm becoming secluded emotionally...And I'm scared, Subaru..." "I'm so scared..." Subaru began to weep right there, he tried to hold back his crying, but it was too much. Seiichirou was becoming him. And Subaru fell slowly to his knees, and he rested his head against Seiichirou's, weeping with such heart clenching sorrow. "Please don't cry for me, Subaru..." Aoki pleaded weakly. Subaru didn't know how to respond to Seiichirou's last statement. Why not cry for him? "I can't stand...to see anyone cry now...the word itself, 'cry'" "Daisuke made me promise not to cry for him, and Karen promised she would never do anything to make me cry..." "But she did," Aoki closed his eyes tightly. "In the shower, I had this...need, for heat, I can't explain it, even now." Subaru tried to hold back his crying to listen to Aoki, and he did, watching the man tell his story as if he were dying. "I could not stop thinking of her, Subaru..." "Sometimes I get the idea I think of her more than I do my wife." "And that pain," Seiichirou said, his voice leaving the monotone stage, he was now able to sound a bit more lifelike. "That pain, that sensation of heat, was so intense..." "It made me cry...And I broke her promise," Seiichirou's eyes became weak again. "I'm not worthy of you crying for me..." "You're more than worthy, Seiichirou-san," Subaru whispered, bowing his head, still close to Seiichirou. "You always will be." Seiichirou sighed and closed his eyes, wishing he had the ability to raise his arm and console Subaru, but he just couldn't. "Seiichirou-san..." "Just trust your feelings, don't leave them." Seiichirou then opened his eyes, shifting them to Subaru's direction. Subaru continued. "If you leave them, one by one, you start to lose function. You start to lose the ability to control them, hence, losing the ability to feel them. To feel at all..." Subaru sighed as more tears fell from his eyes. "Like me," "But you can feel them, Subaru." Aoki assured him whole heartedly. "You're crying, aren't you?" Subaru froze. He hadn't quite realized he was crying. Sympathy? Subaru had felt it before. "I suppose...I am, Seiichirou-san..." Subaru closed his eyes tightly and thought to himself. <You help everybody, Seiichirou-san...> Coming Soon: Part 2 Now, I can do this one of two ways... 1.) Do the really boring version and save my existence. OR... 2.) The really fun, twisted, psychotic thing (though it may result in a stoning from the CFFML ^.^) I think I'll do the fun, twisted, psychotic thing....just for a change >=)>~~</pre><p><a href="./">Back</a></p><p><a href=http://www.dreamhost.com/donate.cgi?id=216><img border=0 alt="Donate towards our web hosting bill!" src=https://secure.newdream.net/donate1.gif></a></p></body></html>