"It is so unfair. You are still so handsome" she managed to whisper.
He looked at her, so beautiful with her skin rippling and folding in itself like soft silk. Her lips were no longer the ripe pink they wore when they met, but they still carried her voice and words - those that had truly captivated him years ago.
She was white and grey, pale and ivory in the places where rose and blush had covered her like cherry blossoms in early spring. He supposed that it made sense, since this was finally the winter she had so terribly feared.
"I am afraid you'd grow bored of an eternity with me" he muttered. Her eyes burned as she glared at him, the intensity of her gaze not lost to time. The silence stretched the seconds they didn't have into what seemed as forever, yet moments with her, he admitted, seemed to never last.
"How many more lives do I need to live before you just let me stay with you?"
He inspected her face, locking it into memory like the centenary of times he had done so before.
"Not yet."
She must have sensed he wouldn't explain himself so she let it go. Her fingers found his to pull him softly towards her bed.
"I'll miss you" she said softly as her face wrinkled beautifully with age and nostalgia.
"You won't remember until I tell you" amusement danced in his voice and lit up his stone eyes.
"Yes, but I remember now, how it seems like I miss you when I don't know you. And I remember how it felt each life before."
The sky slowly painted itself a treacherous lilac. It was almost time. Her eyes steeled with resolution and strength he didn't think she still was capable of at her age, but she was known to always surprise him.
"Promise me" she begged. She didn't need to say it. He knew what she meant. It was cruel how she always said this at the end, she never remembered, but their last conversation was always the same.
"I won't let you go" his voice came out like a spell that always seemed to take her from him. The words she wanted to hear. Her face twisted in a sudden moment of recognition, the deja-vú of their many lasts.
She remembered why it was like this and why it would always be as her eyes slowly lost focus.
Sometimes, he wouldn't find her until she was happy and belonged to someone else. He had made a promise to himself not to meddle those times after the last time.
Sometimes, he found her too early, and those were bad times, as he found it impossible not to get involved. Her soul, trapped in a young mind, clung onto his and promptly placed him in a role she needed for the lifetime. He would take it, just being part of her life was enough for him.
Sometimes he wouldn't find her at all and, in retrospect, these were the worst of all.
It was a warm day when he found her again. The same face he had loved countless times before stared in awe at the painting he had gotten for her, now owned by the museum. The same jade eyes shined with curiosity and… Was that recognition? She looked young, but not much more than himself he guessed, and his fingers trembled in anticipation. Was her skin as soft as he remembered? Her eyes as perceptive? Her voice his favorite song?
He crossed the hall almost in a second, every fiber of his being yearning for her voice, yet it felt like he would never reach her side. As he finally stood behind her, her scent and energy welcomed him like old friends.
Yes, I do realize that the Venn Diagram for ACNH and KakaSaku might not be too big, but the prompt kinda made it impossible not to think of this for me.
I've been looking forward to sharing this one for a while now! About an exact month, to be specific.
