5 timed drabbles with Taski! And other Angel's Blade characters. Mostly Kaoru. These are all random scenes at random points in the timeline. Hopefully they will be somewhat enjoyable even without knowledge of the story, because I'm taking ruddy forever writing this.

Anyways-

Open Winamp... Select all songs in library... Go!

( five short drabbles with Taski- the boy in my icon, for those who are not regularly subjected to him. )

Since the Kurikara I just did was so awesomely fun, I'm doing another. Maybe I'll drabble for and hour or two before bed.

Rakuen no Tobira (Door to Heaven)

***********

The moon may be white or silver most of the time, but Taski noticed it made everything kind of blue. He stared at his hand in front of himself, turning it over and back and over again, but he still looked dead and cold.

He tore himself away from his morbid thoughts -Is it really just the light? Or am I really that dead? Will I still bleed if I cut myself? Or will it ooze black?- and looked over at his bedmate.

He'd noticed something about him too. Kaoru was tight with money. He thought that was odd, since he hadn't lacked for anything, monetary wise, growing up. But the redhead said repeatedly that if they didn't conserve their funds, they'd run out. And then where would they be? Working menial jobs, getting older and sorer while their lives slipped away from them. They were travelling for fun.

Taski pointed out that they travelled because he didn't have a home of his own, and if Kaoru was that upset by it, he was sure his parents wouldn't mind taking him back in for a bit. Kaoru frowned a little, and told him not to be stupid in that soft, sure tone that meant the discussion was over.

So to save money, Taski's solution was to get only one room when they stayed at an inn. Neither seemed to mind sharing a room. It was the bed that often caused problems.

When they'd met, Kaoru flinched away whenever he'd touched him. Taski was a tactile person. If you needed comforting, he held you. If you needed straightening, he brushed your hair from your face. (And if you needed beating, he punched you in the gut, but that was beside the point.) Although Kaoru's habit of shrinking away from all but the lightest touches confused Taski, he accepted it as part of the musician's being.

Slowly, Kaoru stopped pulling away. He no longer brushed Taski's hand off if he laid it on his shoulder. He stopped sidestepping when he stood close. Taski found he liked this immensely. It was far more normal to him, to accept the nearness of another person.

That night, they'd been wrestling and threatening to break each others bones, as young men are wont to do to each other sometimes. Taski was always careful, because Kaoru was very thin and easily bruised, but also rather strong for his skinny frame. It made Taski a more defensive sparring partner, but made him learn caution. Which was good because he hasn't quite mastered that in sword-training.

The two had collapsed in a heap, exhausted and calling each other half-hearted insults, laughing the whole time. Since it was late, Taski asked, "So who takes the floor tonight?"

Kaoru looked down at the floor, and nestled into the bed more. "Not me. I'm comfortable."

"I'm comfortable, too."

Taski tensed. This was normally where it turned into a half-arguement, with someone invariably on the floor wrapped in blankets.

"Do what you want," Kaoru said, and burrowed into the blankets.

So it was that Taski found himself in and out of sleep, the unfamiliar but not unwelcome warmth of another's body in bed beside him for the first time in... well, he didn't want to think of that. There were too many places that thought could go, and few of them good.

"Stop moving around," Kaoru mumbled.

"Sorry," he said automatically.

"And stop staring at your hand. It's creepy." His voice was fuzzy and slurred.

"Yessir."

Kaoru rolled over then, his arm catching Taski in the middle and dragging him down. Taski stared up at the cieling in shock for a moment, then turned slightly. Kaoru still didn't pull away, so he looked at him.

His eyes were closed, his lips tight in the way that people who were trying very hard to go back to sleep were tight. The hair that shone so red in the day was tinted purple, lying softly in Kaoru's face. Taski reached with his free arm (the other being beneath the other young man), and brushed it from his eyes.

Kaoru still didn't pull away.

His hair was very soft, and he didn't look quite as cold as Taski thought his hands did. He snuggled closer. Maybe if he got close enough to Kaoru, he would warm up, and not feel so dead. Kaoru wasn't radiating much heat, but his warmth called out to him anyways.

It was the kind of warmth that could make a man fall in love.

*********

I took the bits about the moon in the beginning of the song, and the line "Aisubeki Kitto" (I really should love you), and ran with it. Ran a lot.

This one took a lot longer than the last one. Kaoru was being a bit stubborn.