The Beauty and the Tragedy
By EmptyWord

Disclaimer: Loveless is the property of Yun Kouga, Ichijinsha, Tokyopop, Media Blasters, and others I may have missed.
Warning: If the summary didn't scare you... I would warn you about my writing (Wordy! Stilted!), but then I'm never really satisfied with anything I write until months later. So, no warning on that account. There's not even that much angst, surprise, surprise. However, there is a teensy bit of language. Because it's Kio.

When Agatsuma Soubi stepped off the bus, pale hair flowing around him like mystery itself and thin glasses glinting as if even the sunlight couldn't resist him, eternity held its breath in awe of such peerless beauty.

Or so it seemed to Kio, who had frozen on his way out of a video game shop. He had always had an eye for beauty, and yet, Kio knew he had never before beheld a more beautiful sight.

"Hey, you're blocking the doorway."

The man was like a Roman statue, a marble Venus at her most exquisite, a proud Victory at the height of her triumph, with solemn tragedy billowing around him. Kio wished fervently that time would end in that moment, and the world would crystallize so that he could continue to drink in the painful beauty before him.

"Yo! Move, man. You're in the way!"

The moment of perfection shattered when an impatient hand at his back shoved him outside and the sunlight dazzled his eyes. He took a moment to recover, the sense of deepest loss gaping within him, and he felt sapped of even the energy to be annoyed.

When he regained his eyesight, all he saw was a glimpse of the beautiful man's coattail vanishing into a small accessory store, disappearing forever – No!

Kio forced his muscles into motion and hurried after the man. He refused to lose such a glorious vision, and that was all he could think of as he passed the jewelry displays and trinket-laden counters. If he lost him now, he would never stop regretting it.

If only – if only I had my sketchbook, thought Kio desperately even as he discarded the thought. No, it was hopeless to think his paltry skills were enough to capture even the man's essence, much less the magnificent aura that could never be reproduced. A drawing could perhaps grasp at a certain impression; a photo could perhaps depict a flesh-and-blood likeness; but nothing could replicate an iota of the man's radiance or the elegance that fell off him in tidal volumes.

So Kio settled for following the man. Past the shelves and the tables, ducking behind someone else when the man tilted his head back, lurking behind him when the man paused in front of a counter with a mirror – Shit. The man's eyes, violet behind the glasses, stared out at him from the circular mirror. Slowly, the man turned to face him.

He was caught. So there was really nothing to do but to employ his charm.

"Hi there!" said Kio cheerfully, pouncing forward to grin into the man's face. His mind had already come up with a brilliant solution. "I lost my dog. Will you help me find it?"

The man quirked his eyebrows at the tasteless pick-up line. But he smiled. "Oh?"

Kio nearly swooned at the low, velvety voice, wanting to wrap himself in the sound and stay cocooned for days. "Please?" he tried, wishing he still had his ears to complete the pathetic puppy-dog look.

"All right," agreed the other amiably. "Just give me a moment." He indicated the price tag on the scarf in hand and headed for the nearest cash register.

A scarf?, thought Kio in bemusement, With the sun out like this? Curiously, he noted the man was wearing a thick wound of burgundy cloth around his neck at the moment too. He shook the oddity away and bounded after the beautiful man.

Once outside, Kio swiveled his head in four directions, wondering where they should go first. Gleefully, he thought it was rather like a date. He just had to play his cards right.

The man watched him with amusement. "You lied," he said, but before Kio could protest with quivering eyes, he held out his hand in a courteous gesture. "Agatsuma Soubi."

Kio's eyes, already teary, now bugged out, and he marveled at his good fortune. "Kaido Kio!" he said ecstatically, grasping the man's hand and not letting go.

Soubi smiled again and disentangled his hand. Aside from that odd, indulgent tilt to his lips, his expression was unreadable. When he spoke, however, his tone was polite. "Where to, Kaido-san?"

"Don't." Kio shuddered. "Just Kio is fine." And he promptly led Soubi to a nearby park, where he proceeded to fish for any and all details he could. But Soubi didn't seem to mind.

In fact, there was something decidedly strange about Soubi's apathy.

"Are you in love?" Kio took a wild shot, but if he was hoping to get some reaction aside from a civil nod and brief answer, he was sorely disappointed. Soubi nodded with a casual "Yes" and did not elaborate.

Some wild, unacknowledged hope in his chest plummeted to an unceremonious death, squeezing the breath out of him for a moment, and Kio wondered what was wrong with him. He'd only really cared about the man's beauty; it was hardly anything more devious than that!

Shaking himself, Kio moved on and tried another provocation. "So who's the lucky lover?"

"Seimei. Aoyagi Seimei."

The impassive tone, absolutely devoid of any passion, was so strange Kio nearly stared. Not that he hadn't been staring before, but Kio now realized with a start that the untarnished beauty he had been admiring began and ended with the sheer blankness of Soubi's face, as if his entire visage were frozen in time, unable to escape. If the slightest emotion had blighted those features, Soubi would be no more than another passing stranger on the street. Attractive, undoubtedly, but not god-like.

Unease seeped into his mind, but Kio valiantly shrugged it off. Soubi was an adult, not a charity case, and Kio had responsibilities enough. He didn't need the added burden – though it would be a gorgeous burden, Kio admitted – of humanizing a marble statue. A day spent in the presence of this unearthly beauty would last him a lifetime.

So Kio brought a smirk to his lips and a teasing lilt to his voice. "This Aoyagi Seimei must be something!"

Only then did he notice that Soubi wasn't paying any attention but had become absorbed in a cell phone in his hand. Soubi had been periodically checking that cell since they'd first left the accessory store – about once every fifteen minutes, Kio guessed, though whether it was for the time or for text messages he didn't know. With anyone else, Kio's imagination would have automatically suspected a secret love affair, but Soubi would just as soon indulge in something like that as jump off a bridge. Which actually wasn't all that reassuring, Kio realized.

Much later in the day, after their visit to an art gallery – of course he would be an artist, Kio thought – Soubi received a call, even as he was pulling the phone out. The low, melodious ring tone was accompanied by a glowing red signal, and Soubi immediately put the phone to his ear. "Seimei," he greeted.

Kio stumbled a little. He hadn't forgotten that name! Trying to appear inconspicuous, he listened in.

"Yes, Seimei."

He wondered how long Soubi had known Seimei. Soubi wasn't that old; it couldn't have been more than a few years.

"I'm sorry, Seimei."

Two or three at most, Kio decided. Teenagers were not notorious because of their commitment. Kio knew that for himself.

"Yes, Seimei."

Then again, Soubi was of an entirely different cast and mold. Kio wished he could hear Seimei's side of the conversation. That would probably clear things up in a snatch.

"Of course, Seimei."

Kio rolled his eyes. Was Soubi deliberately being vague because Kio was eavesdropping? No, he was probably like that all the time. Kio wondered how Seimei could stand it.

"I love you, Seimei."

That stunned him, shaking him out of an aimless reverie only to plunge him into a new one. How could Soubi say that with such a toneless voice?

"I must go," Soubi said suddenly to Kio, shutting the phone. Without another word or another look, he turned to do exactly that.

Kio noticed the sun was well on its way downhill, and Soubi had obviously arranged a date with Seimei earlier. Even so, was it too much to ask for a simple goodbye? They weren't ever going to meet again! Desperately, he snatched at the scarf fluttering from the man's neck and grabbed a handful. "Soubi, wait!"

He must have yanked with more force than he intended, however, because the scarf completely unraveled, slipping from Soubi's shoulders to dangle from Kio's hand and trail across the ground like a strike of dark red liquid. Kio started to launch into an apology when Soubi turned around, neck bare for the first time, and all coherent thoughts were swept away in a crash of horror.

Stark against the pale, porcelain skin was a spiral of marks, white and raised like permanent scars, slashing across Soubi's throat like a thorny collar, the intricate design a parody of beauty. It was clear that they were no accidental marks. And right beneath them was carved the endearment "BELOVED," angry, jagged letters mashed together to form a cruelly tender epithet.

Kio felt tears burning at the back of his eyes. It was such a shame, a desecration, to ruin that perfect skin with ugly marks. Gods did not have flaws. Moreover, gods were not shackled like this, not subject to this ghastly possession.

"Soubi..." He reached out a hand, eyes glued to the marred skin like one looking on a terrible, earth-shattering wreckage. "Wh-what happened?"

Soubi took the scarf back and rewrapped his neck, hiding the scars. Calmly, he said, "It's all right, Kio."

But it wasn't all right. It could never be because those marks were permanent, and their presence meant something far too horrible for Kio to want to think about. Before Soubi could turn away again, Kio let out an impulsive yell, almost angrily. "Sou-chan!"

Soubi paused, and for the first time, Kio noted with a rush of satisfaction, he displayed some emotion. Soubi looked unsure, and Kio wondered if no one had ever given him a nickname before. He couldn't say he blamed those nameless people. Soubi wasn't a person one easily got chummy with. Then again, perhaps Soubi was so outwardly emotionless because people expected it of him. It was the proverbial chicken or the egg conflict, and Kio decided it wasn't really important which came first.

What was important was that scrap of hesitancy flitting across Soubi's perfect features, as though there was something even more beautiful beneath the chiseled marble and it was only hidden because no one had ever tried.

Kio ignored the ticklish sense of delight sparking all over his skin and told himself it was only important because it meant perfection was over-rated. The words he was about to speak had nothing to do with himself. "You still haven't found me that dog! I'm holding you to it, Sou-chan, so you'd better find me again!"

Scarf curled safely around his neck once more, Soubi smiled that blank, polite smile, nodded once in response, and then walked away to meet Seimei.

Kio didn't follow him, didn't call after him again, but the image was burned into his memory. The sight of those ugly carvings against Soubi's throat infuriated and terrified him, and he would never forget.

There was something entirely too tragic about Agatsuma Soubi.

A/N: Yes, this can be continued, with all its loose ends and possibilities, but it's really all just clichés and melodrama, nothing really worth continuing. Besides, one-shots are so much easier: no commitment. XD

I'm currently in Paris and very, very tired. I don't think I'll be able to post for a while. Thanks for reading!

June 16, 2007