ETA: Because I messed up the spacing, there may have been parts that might have not made sense. THEY ARE FIXED NOW. DDD Thank you!
Ambiguity for Sale
There are several things this story is not. It is not a love story. It is not a redemption story. There is no lesson. There is no moral. There is no ending.
Please try to understand.
Anyeong, anyeong.
It will begin with the ocean. Or more importantly, above it at over 3,000 feet, soaring across the Japan-Korean strait at 300 km per hour.
It will begin with a boy, nearly a man; with a large, overbearing inheritance, a badly mended heart, and a small note in his pocket that is crumpled and scrunched, the ink smudged and sides frayed from reading it too many times. At this time, he will not know who has written it. It doesn't matter anyway.
It will begin at a time just past 2 o' clock, when the rays of the sun glimmer and the clouds gather for a menacing looking thunderstorm. The boy will readjust his cuff links and smooth his hands over his jacket, tracing the lines of a 100,000,000 yen bundle lying in his coat pocket.
It will not reassure him in a way that he wants it to.
Everything is merely a change of scenery. In our lives, we slide from one story to the next, with small pauses and interludes in between. In two hours he will arrive, and once again he will find himself at the beginning.
Destination: Jeju, Korea
Tsuna was hopelessly lost; the cab driver was equally hopelessly unhelpful. They had spent the last few hours circling the north side of the island, as the driver pointed to yet another hotel and Tsuna shook his head no. If it wasn't for the fact that the driver had noticed that a vespa scooter had tailed them for a good hour and a half, Tsuna would probably have given up and called to reserve a ticket back to Tokyo the next day. Instead, he dropped a fat wad of bills in his seat, bundled up what little he had bought in his haste, slammed the door and turned around-
Dino Cavallone.
The cab sped off before he had second thoughts about leaving so much money behind on the seat beside him. Dino crosses his arms and offers him a welcoming smile and a polite "Anyeonghaeso" as if they were meeting for the first time.
In a way, they were.
He knows he won't get a reply so he kicks the brake up and starts the engine. "Hold on." he says.
And Tsuna complies; wrapping his arms along Dino's waist and holds him close.
But not too close.
And thirty minutes later, the vespa breaks down.
"I know how to fix it." He assures Tsuna, who is appropriately skeptical. Dino circles the vehicle, offering the spluttering bike a bemused smile before giving it a firm kick, knocking it over on its side. He stands it upright and repeats. And again. And again. And again, each kick more aggressive than the last.
Tsuna makes himself useful and flags down a passing truck.
They had been in love once, but not at the same time; and certainly not with each other.
It simply doesn't work that way.
Dino had been seeing a lovely girl he had met on the subway at midnight. She smiled at all the right times and had a dreamy soft voice that Tsuna couldn't stand. It sounded like she was in a perpetual state of sleep, but Dino doesn't mind and neither did anyone else. So he smiles back (slightly uncomfortable, slightly embarrassed) and waits.
It turns out that the vespa had simply ran low on gas, but it didn't stop the mechanic from charging them for waking him up at the middle of the night. Dino laughs again and fishes in his jacket pocket for some bills.
What Tsuna didn't expect that all the man had left was 200 won.
He stays abnormally quiet as Dino moves around their hotel room and flops onto their bed, complaining of a headache, which he promptly decides to remedy with some alchohol. Tsuna shakes his head and enlightens the man on Reasons on Why That Would Not Work.
Dino pretended to take it all into consideration, nodding all the while, before slamming the call button and drawling in broken Korean for several alcoholic drinks and fast.
Tsunayoshi Sawada used to be in love; a very, very long time ago.
And at that time, he knew he was in love and already had a vague preconception of what people do when they're in love; so he allowed Hibari in to consume his flesh and do small things for him like walk him home and create slits along his cheekbones with a pocket knife, taping bandages around his head.
It felt rather nice to be under so much scrutiny, so he didn't mind. And if Hibari digs in a little too deep with the knife or detours to the shady sides of town he tells himself that it's love and it's perfectly alright.
And one day, Hibari grabs his hands and faces him.
"I'd give it all up for you."
There was just something about it that was so unnecessarily stupid and cheesy that Tsuna stopped thinking and laughed. And laughed and laughed until he felt pinpricks of tears blurring his vision and as he wiped them away, alternating in laughing and crying at the same time.
For the first time, they smiled together.
Three days later, Hibari Kyouya was dead. Around his neck was a ring of whiplash.
He doesn't know how it happens, but in a few short hours, Tsuna had the luck to have Dino sprawled on top of him, pleasantly drunk. He tries to edge away as he felt it- the smooth fingers making their way from his shoulder up to his jawline. He clutches the sides his own jeans and looks away, in fear of doing something utterly strange and taboo like reciprocating the gesture.
And he softly mumbles, "Security cameras, security cameras," but he knows it's to no avail as he looks back and is silenced by a long cool stare.
He tries again. "We..." I won't take no for an answer. "can't." Tsuna ended lamely.
"I know. I know." A whisper enters his ear, and he closes his eyes and waits.
"You killed him," his voice is ragged, his heart is destroyed, he's blind, deaf, and he doesn't understand why he's here in a cafe talking so civilly to a murderer.
Dino sets his teacup down. "That's what you keep telling me." But he understands and leaves.
In twenty four hours, the Cavallone familigia will have disbanded and it's former boss will have seemed to disappear off of the face of the earth.
"A mermaid lives here." Dino explains as they climb off the vespa and amble towards the sea. Tsuna has learned the fine art of trading his socks and shoes for sandles without having to bend down as he hurries to catch up, the sea beckoning. Dino waits patiently for him, and they walk together, one behind the other.
Many years ago, Dino starts, there was a girl who was in love with a fisherman and spent hours on the shore waiting for him to return home everyday until he finally died at sea in a boat mishap. But she still waited for him by the sea, oftentimes wading into the water and swimming far out into the ocean, hoping to find his boat. She spent so much time in the water that slowly, her fingers turned webbed and legs melded into a shimmery fish tail. They say she's still out there, up and down the coast lines of the island, still looking for her lover's boat and bringing in fishermen boats onto the shore safely, hoping that one of them has her lover on board.
Tsuna doesn't believe it. Dino can barely remember how to count in Korean much less understand such a complicated story like that- but Dino shoves his hands into the pockets of his jacket and squats down, drawing circles in the wet sand as he faces the water.
"Anyone can understand a love story."
It's been two weeks.
It's been two weeks, five automobile accidents, three fights, an entire day of not speaking, eighteen entirely separate kisses, and countless bottles of alcohol.
Maybe it was time to go home.
"Here." He hands Dino the ten thousand grand he promised and doesn't like the idea that he might as well be paying for Dino's alcoholic addiction. He doesn't like the idea that has been running through his mind the last couple of days, of Dino stuck in between land and sea, with no familigia, no friends to accompany him. He doesn't like the idea of the possibility that maybe he was wrong all this time.
But he tries not to think of any of this, it wasn't his business anyways.
Dino gives him a warm, understanding smile and graciously takes the offering, all too familiar with this type of transaction. He breathes an "Anyeonghaeso" and tells Tsuna it's okay to take the scooter to the airport; he'll come by later to pick it up.
Tsuna nods dumbly and climbs on the vespa, driving away without a look back.
And two hours later, he returns to the same beach. Tsuna turns off the ignition and stumbles, running across the sand- footprints uneven.
And there he was- in a field of paper. Like a dream, the man flings them up in the air and they come tumbling down, landing into the soft sand and swept away by the sea. His movements are slow as he closes his eyes and rotates in a circle, barefooted and dirty, stumbling every once in a while. Tsuna stays a safe distance away, unable to interfere.
At last, when all of the bills are gone and the water is filled with green confetti, Dino turns towards the ocean and bows, knees and forehead brushing against the grit of the black sand, waves rushing past him. He stands up and slowly walks into the water until he stops when the water level reaches his neck and he waits, unwavering, eyes still closed.
In a few minutes, his head goes under as well.
Tsuna waits a few minutes; and realizing that nothing has surfaced, smiles weakly and whispers, "Anyeong, anyeong."
He toes off his shoes and socks, exchanges them for sandals, and steps into the water.
He waits.
Anyeong, anyeong.
Extending a hand past the teacup and cake platter- he announces, "I loved you once."
The other lowers his eyes and whispers, "I know. I know."
FINI
AUTHOR'S NOTE(S): o1. Anyeong is informal Korean for both 'hello' and 'goodbye' ; stick a 'haseo' at the back and it turns formal.
o2. Sry2say, but the myth was something I made up (sorry if it sounds like something you heard of before, I didn't mean to copy). XDDD
o3. This was all very, very experimental so I must congratulate you for reading through this sludge. Congratulations! w )b!