Reunion (Tanabata Contest)

She touched the other side of the bed; it was cold.

She sighed, got up and walked slowly to the window. The night sky was filled with stars, shining preciously against the dark cloak.

She felt the wind pick up, her long hair flying everywhere through the open window. Her face was set on the moon until, with a last look over her street and over the sleeping town, she stepped back and closed the curtains.

Another night…

Another night alone…

Another night without him…

She knew where he was, she knew he had to be there, she knew he had those responsibilities to deal with, but it didn't make the distance, his absence, her cold bed… more bearable…

It was like part of her heart, no, part of her soul went missing when he walked through that portal.

She smiled and waved, like she knew it was expected of her, but she couldn't make her heart stop crying with each step he took.

She knew she was being irrational, it wasn't the first time he went way to take part of a training, it wasn't the first time she had to say goodbye to him, God!, in those moments, long ago, when she bided her farewell, hidden by the nighty shadows, the feeling was much worse, because she thought she could never grab his face and tell him how much he meant to her, kiss his lips with reverie, love him with all her heart… Yes, those moments were much worse, then why did her heart hurt so much?

She could answer that question in a blink of an eye: she loved him… she loved how his presence made her feel, how his smile made her insides wriggle in a good way, how his wise eyes made her feel like a goddess when she woke up, in the middle of the night, catching him staring at her, reverently…

But she also knew she had her part; she was his wife, his friend, his companion, his bubble of insanity, with all her weird talks and weirder dreams. Some people could call her insane, she didn't care, she could be called insane a thousand times, for all she cared, if her love smiled at least once with one of her antics; they could call her a crybaby, she didn't care, she knew her tears made him fight harder, fight harder to come back to her and wipe those drops of salty water from her face with his big, calloused and warm hands that felt so right against her face; they could call her a burden, she laughed at them: she knew she was a burden, a burden that would always weight him down when the fight almost made him fly away from her reach; she knew all of that and she didn't care, because all she cared was that man of brown eyes and orange hair that could swap her from her feet in a blink of an eye, that could make hell and heaven kneel in front of him, that could make her the happiest woman on Earth.

"Hey…" said a voice, behind her. She turned around, feeling the wind touch her back and the voice warm her heart. She was so wrapped in her own musings that she didn't feel him coming, that or his training of concealing his reiatsu was finally paying off.
The shadow that was draw against her open window started to close the distance between them.

"I thought you would be asleep…" he said, when he was near enough that she could see his eyes, even in the darkness.

"I couldn't sleep without you…" she whispered, feeling that if she raised her voice that spell of peace that was over them would break.

He sighed and touched her hair falling in front of her face. He traced the lines of her expression with his thumb: her eyelids, her nose, her cheeks, feeling her lips open under his warm touch.

"Oh God, I missed that so much…" he confessed, crushing her against his frame. "Please, don't ever let me go…"

Her arms surrounded his back, fisting his black clothes like they were a lifesaver. Like they were keeping her from drowning.
"I will never let you go!" she replied, stepping back from his embrace.

She grabbed his face and kissed him with reverence, feeling that chocolate-scent against her tongue.

"I will never let you go again! If you have to, I will run right beside you, helping you on the way! I will push my way through anyone who tries to stop me! I will!" she said, with tears running down her cheeks. She tried to clean them, but he was quicker; with his thumb he took them away, erasing any proof of their existence.

"My princess…" he whispered, against her hair. "How could Hikoboshi live without his Orihime for a year, for all the eternity, when it feels like my soul is being ripped out from my body?"

"He lived, because he knew that that day was worth five lifetimes… When they were together their love surpassed every minute apart…" she replied, softly.

"Thank God, I'm not Hikoboshi, I would slay anyone who tried to keep us apart!" he promised, with a fierce voice.

"Thank God I'm not that Orihime, because I wouldn't be able of living another year without you, every day by my side, making our own passage through Amanogawa…"

He smiled at her words. Yes, he wouldn't be able of walking without her hand inside his own, without her light shining over his steps, without her presence that always made him feel more alive than he thought possible.

Yes, she was Orihime, the princess that could bind his soul and heart together, because, truly said, she was his heart and soul, and he wouldn't have it any other way.

The End...