Title: Crossroads
Rating: PG-13
Pairing/Character/s: SanoxKazu
Word Count: 897
Warning/s: No real spoilers. JUST OOC. LOTS OF OOC. AND STUPID.
Summary: Kazu at the speed of sound.
Dedication: kshi- I BROKE HIM.
A/N: I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry… the image has been stuck in my head all day. ALL DAY.

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He's stronger now—faster, surer, more confident in himself. Maybe it's because of that, but the sky feels wider suddenly, closer even. Like it's right on the tip of his tongue as he flies through it. Now he can soar at the speed of sound and leave the world behind a millisecond at a time, find a moment where he's floating and there's nothing in the universe but him, the clouds, the sun.

It's his road—he can flash through it as he wishes, the only person that exists at all there because he's raced so far ahead, waiting as the rest of the world eventually catches up on its axis of rotation, way behind him.

Ultimate freedom, ultimate solitude. Peace. Quiet.

He's stronger now than he was before. He can run so fast he leaves the universe behind.

And while Kazu loves it, he can't help but think it's something to be enjoyed for just a second, just once every now and again. He's learned that time matters.

It would be far too lonely to be like that always, after all. Alone on your road with the world running after you, forever trying to catch up.

It's okay for just a moment-- a minute or two-- but not for forever.

He's fast enough to run, run, run until he dies, but he's beginning to learn that leaving the path behind him open, letting himself slow down-- so that he can be grabbed, be touched, be drawn back towards the ground-- isn't such a bad thing after all.

He knows how high he can go now, how fast and how far.

So when he's caught it's only because he wants to be.

Because time matters.

He falls out of his run with a whoop and a pant—comes back into the world a millisecond at a time and looks around as he does, though he knows he doesn't have to, that he's right there next to him without having to look, just a breath behind, fire licking the ground and reaching up to try and find the sky Kazu's floating out of.

It's like slow motion suddenly, and they're moving to meet halfway-- the fire not so much fire as arms reaching out to catch him.

"Tired already?"

"Maybe," Kazu breathes, and his cheeks are flushed from the wind, eyes bright. "Can't keep up?"

"Hmm," Sano replies, and adjusts his glasses, slows them to a stop while he holds his little canary up. "Had enough?"

"For today," Kazu allows, and stretches his arms above his head languidly, looking up at the sky with a broad smile.

Sano grunts and cups the smaller boy's chin between his fingers, yanks that upward looking face back down towards him hard, one arm still holding the thinner boy's weight aloft. Kazu shivers and smiles and lets himself be pulled back towards the earth. "Jealous?" he asks, and his cheeks are still flushed, his eyes still bright.

The taller boy glares through his glasses. "Impatient," he responds, and tightens the grip of his other arm.

Kazu chuckles out loud at that, "An impatient time wizard!" he crows, and somehow the laughter makes his skin glow just a little bit more.

Sano sets him on his feet then, lets them touch the ground for perhaps, the first time all day. "Maybe," he agrees languidly, and leans forward. Kazu inhales when their eyes meet, and it's the familiar sensation of the world slowing down around him all over again.

Sano kisses him right there in the middle of the street, but it doesn't matter because this is their road now, and the only things that exist in it are the two of them, speeding ahead while they wait for the rest of the universe to notice it's been left behind. Waiting for the world to catch up.

Kazu's stronger now than he used to be—faster, surer, more confident in himself. He can leave the world behind at a drop of a hat, can create a new one for just for himself to be in while everything else desperately tries to scramble after him. He could run ahead like that until he died if he wanted to.

But it might be lonely he thinks, to have that solitary road be the only thing one ever saw, for miles and miles or eternity and eternity. It's okay for just a second or two, just a moment every now and again.

In the end, time still matters.

Truth be told he likes it better when the roads converge like this anyway—when they melt into each other and he's got a universe he can share with someone else for a while, the two of them waiting for the world together. He could stay like that for a very long time and never be discontent, he thinks.

Kazu's stronger now than he was before. He can run so fast he leaves the whole universe behind-- soaring on his own road one millisecond at a time.

He still gets pulled back sometimes though, still lets his feet touch the ground, lets himself be drawn back into the world he leaves behind for moments at a time. Diverted to a crossroad and pulled off that solitary path, down to a place where his road meets someone else's.

Yeah, he still gets caught sometimes.

But only when he wants to.

END