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By Ladyglen
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"Oi, Sai, come back in!" Kento swept his arm through the shallow water he lay in, sending the wetness arcing towards the slim man settling himself on a nearby blanket. Letting the water wash over him felt good, though he was running the risk of getting sand in his suit laying there like that.
"Ken, stop! You'll get our blanket wet." Sai breathed a sigh of relief as Kento's latest volley fell just short of where he was busy burrowing his toes into the sun-baked sand at the edge of his blanket.
"You're the one being a wet blanket!" Sai groaned and rolled his eyes in exasperation at the horrible pun, but Kento just serenely stuck his tongue out at the other man, then lay back flat and let the next wave wash completely over his head. As the water receded, Kento rolled with it ending on his stomach, then finally surged to his feet. He slogged through the ankle deep water to the shore, trying to keep the pebbles from lodging in between his toes.
Sai smiled as Kento shook himself like some great dog, noting that it was done a considerable distance from the blanket.
The season didn't officially turn for another two weeks, and it seemed that for once, the weather had decided to pay attention to the calendar. The air was heavy, still feeling of summer, was redolent of salt spray and the tide. Though the sun was just edging towards the deep indigo horizon, the long, lonely stretch of beach Sai and Kento had claimed as their own was as deserted as it had been all day. Being a weekday and with school in session again, it seemed that the general populace had abandoned the shore, had little problem admitting that autumn was creeping up on them. A softer smile graced the slender young man's lips. It was just as well. The lonely solitude of the beach was exactly as Sai liked it.
Sai watched sleek power ripple beneath Kento's skin as his companion lowered himself to his stomach on the blanket. The chunkiness of Kento's adolescence had matured into smooth, powerful muscle. Kento would never have the long, slender lines of Sage or Rowen, yet still managed to move with the same type of grace. A grace so many didn't believe him capable of given his bulk. Sai smiled to himself yet again, for he intimately knew just how graceful Kento could be when he chose.
"Can't believe you actually got out of the water before me," Kento mock grumbled, folding his hands before him and settling his chin on them.
"Believe it or not, even Torrent can turn into a prune." A lazy shrug. "'Sides, I was getting a little cold."
"That's 'cause you're too skinny." Kento poked the slender thigh next to his head emphatically.
Giving himself credit for somehow resisting the urge to say 'am not', Sai leaned back on his hands and tilted his head back. The lingering rays of the late afternoon sun beat down, penetrating and warming him through.
Comfortable silence descended, the kind that could so often embrace two who were as close as two people could get. It went on long enough that Sai wondered if his companion had given in to the siren call of the warmth that surrounded them and fallen asleep like some sort of big cat. A snicker threatened to erupt as the image of White Blaze's body topped with Kento's head popped up behind his closed eyelids.
Sai felt the coiled strength next to him flex, then still. Kento's low murmur blended in with the gentle roar of the surf, making it nearly inaudible. "Do 'ya wish the other guys could've come?"
Given their vastly different fields of study, it was somewhat amazing that none of the friends had classes this particular day of the week. What was even more amazing was that none of their friends had chosen to accompany the two of them that day.
Rowen had been left hunched over his computer researching his latest paper. The headband high piles of texts on and around his desk hid him from view if one gazed at the right angle. Sage had decided to stay home as well, not because he didn't want to join them for a day of sun and surf, but because Rowen had stubbornly insisted on working on a paper that wasn't due for nearly a month. Sage had made it his mission in life to save the blue-haired archer from the horrors of academic burn-out, and had told them that Rowen would be pried away from the PC and out into the sunlight and warmth if it killed him. Sage just didn't know how long it would take him. The sight of the slender blond leaning over Rowen's shoulder and offering what he claimed were 'helpful hints' on how to improve Rowen's writing style had them stifling laughter as they exited the house.
As Sai had been about to step off the front porch he'd found himself jerked back and out of the way by Kento before the white blur that raced past could take his leg off at the knee. Anticipating the inevitable pursuit, Kento somehow managed to juggle Sai, picnic basket and blanket without losing his hold on any. "You stupid cat, I'm gonna skin you for a coat for Mia!" Drenched and with suds dripping off his nose and down his neck, Ryo tore around the corner of the house. Their friend was so sodden it was doubtful he could have flared up even if he wanted to, yet that didn't stop Wildfire from moving as quickly as his namesake. Evidently White Blaze had decided to give his owner a bath instead of the other way around, and nearly choking on their laughter, the two had wisely agreed that now was *not* the time to invite Ryo to the beach.
So the sun, sand and sea had to make do with just the two of them, which was perfectly fine as far as Sai was concerned. The five of them and Mia were so close that sometimes when they were separated, Sai felt as unbalanced as if he were trying to walk with toeless feet. That was most often the case, yet there were other times when it was such a relief to just... get away for a while. Not to be alone, for Sai had long ago admitted to himself that he didn't like to be on his own, but with just Kento for companionship. With a soft exhalation, Sai sat forward and idly began to sprinkle more sand over his feet.
Sai was silent for so long that Kento roused himself from the nearly hypnotizing motion of the waves and rolled to his side. Propping himself on his elbow and shaking his hair from his eyes, Kento took note of his friend's slight frown, then transferred his gaze to Sai's wiggling toes. Slowly, he reached out and let the sand spilling from Sai's fingers flow over his own. "Sai? You OK?"
"Yeah. It's just... am I selfish if I'm *glad* the others stayed home?" Sai opted to scoop the warm sand up over his feet instead of letting it dribble from his fingers, refusing to meet the concern he knew he'd find in Kento's eyes.
A feeling of profound relief. A soft chuckle. Kento shook the sand from his fingers and scooted up until he was sitting cross-legged next to Sai. "Is that what's bothering you all of a sudden?" When Sai simply continued to entomb his feet in sand, just silently nodding, Kento leaned to his right until he could nudge his companion's shoulder with his own. "If you're selfish, then I guess we'll have to be selfish together. I'm glad they stayed home too. I like it here with just the two of us." Given the smile Sai bestowed on him, Kento knew that the simple truth had been exactly what Sai had needed to hear.
To be at rest, nearly surrounded by his element was something Sai simply needed every once in a while. To be isolated with no one around to disturb his communion was as necessary as breathing. "Coming here makes me feel as if I've somehow come home. The ocean is just so big and all encompassing. It's so powerful and so full of life. The pond back home is a comfort, but at times it's just not enough. It's so small that it just can't compete with all that... I don't know, all that dead, dry dirt. Sometimes I feel so landlocked, so threatened, and I just have to get away. I love it here, Kento, and having you with me just makes it feel even better."
"Our elements are all intertwined, Sai. 'Ya can't have just one without the rest." Kento reached out and grasped Sai's nearest hand, absently dusting the grit from between the slender fingers. "Each of us finds comfort within our particular element, that's only natural, but Sai, you *can* find comfort outside of water.
"The earth is hardly dead or dry. Like water, it contains both seeds of life and kernels of death, has the potential to either nurture or destroy. It is the medium for all that is green and growing, the plants which are the basis of so many of our food chains. It is as full of life as your ocean. It is our foundation, supporting all that we are and all that we create and build. It's solid and warm, slow yet irresistible." Kento's voice was hushed. In spite of the deep throbbing of the surf, in spite of the cry of the sea birds, the lack of any other evidence of humanity besides their lone blanket made it seem as if the world was new, pristine, a fragile harmony so easily shattered by the discord of a human voice.
"All the elements interact closely in the creation of life, but it's always seemed to me that earth interacts more closely with water than with any of the others. Kinda like it's water's partner. It even cradles the ocean you love so much, so that even if you're far out to sea, you know the earth is still beneath you, supporting you."
Staring into the reddening surf, Sai felt Kento shift around behind him, then relaxed into his love's arms when they encircled his waist. "Earth and water, perfect partners."
"Yeah." A satisfied whisper. The slim frame beneath his hands shivered, and concerned, Kento murmured, "You cold?"
A simple negative shake of the head. Never cold, not in the shelter Kento provided. Twilight was creeping closer, yet Sai was loath to move, not wanting to break the spell that seemed to have fallen. A whispered question. "You know why I really like coming here with you?" As Sai drew Kento's arms more tightly around himself, he felt his partner's powerful shoulders move in a shrug. "Because this is where the power of the surf meets and caresses the earth, and it reminds me of us."
Kento smiled softly, tightening his arms and leaning into Sai's warmth. Though the breeze blowing off the water sent tendrils of auburn hair skittering and tickling across his cheeks, he was content with his position holding the man he loved so much. The relationship he shared with Sai was forever, was as inevitable as the endless caress of the waves on the shore that Sai spoke of, as inevitable as the brush that stroked the sky to livid colors at each days' end. Through the years they had been drawn ever closer together. First friends, then teammates, partners, then finally lovers; they'd been all that and more to each other and always would.
"I love you." Simple? Perhaps, yet those three simple words spoke what was in Kento's heart with an eloquence unmatched by any others.
Finis
