********* (I Love You) Aki XLII: Hanagoori-A FFXI Love StoryFollow

AUTHOR’S NOTE: …Another chapter, another day. Enjoy everyone.

Previous chapters, aki, and Interludes

Part I - Connection (Enishi)

Kasho II - Kodoku (Solitude)

Part III - Reunion (Saikai)

Kasho IV- Suriyoru (Closer)

Part V- Secrets (Hiou)
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(Chapter XXXVII)
http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/forum.html?forum=35&mid=1124889122641444604&num=1

(Aki XXXVIII)
http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/forum.html?forum=35&mid=112531765691425700&num=6

(Chapter XXXIX)
http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/forum.html?forum=35&mid=1125492417125977233&num=1

(Aki XL)
http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/forum.html?forum=35&mid=1125587395136231979&num=1

(Chapter XLI)
http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/forum.html?forum=35&mid=112601910239257410&num=0
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Bonus Story: Rainfall Memories

Dedicated to Dominique.
*****
Aki XLII: Hanagoori
***
It’s easy to say "I don’t love you anymore."

But its impossible to say "I’ve forgotten about you."
***
As I tried to leave the goldsmithing guild, I found a moogle flapping its wings patiently outside the door, waiting for me.

"Dimitri Kupo!" it said, in that high-pitched tone of voice that I immediately recognized.

"Caramel...what are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be doing whatever moogles do to prepare for their master’s funeral today?" I said, my mind still locked on thoughts of having forgotten about Elayne.

The moogle only swiveled its head around in a partial circle. "Momiji told me to take you to get your stuff at Elayne’s house. She said you had to take it all out, kupo!" I only nodded blankly in response, and patiently followed the moogle down the short pathway to where Elayne’s house stood.

…The first thought in my mind when I saw the house was…

It reeks of death.

There was a certain sadness and despair that seemed to have clung to the place over the proceeding while, and it saturated the very air around it with those feelings. I felt like cold, clammy hands were wrapping themselves around my neck, trying to throttle the very life force out of me.

The moogle, no big surprise, seemed oblivious to this and just headed immediately into the building after unlocking the front door and pushing it wide open. As I entered, I could see that the inside of the house matched the feeling that I got from the outside. All of the religious artifacts and scriptures of the Bastokian branch of the Church were now scattered with dust and cobwebs, and it was becoming increasingly obvious that Caramel had not bothered to clean it any since Elayne’s passing.

...depressing...

Caramel only pointed to my old room as he floated by it and towards where Elayne’s old room used to be.

"You’re stuff is still there. Just be sure to get it all out, ok kupo?" I didn’t acknowledge the moogle any, but instead just stepped numbingly into where I had used to stay, and to where Elayne had tried to seduce me one night so long ago.

Much like the rest of the house, everything in there was still untouched, it a little bit dusty and dirty from not having been cleaned. Quickly, I did a mental inventory of everything, and I noticed that it was all still there and that looters hadn’t managed to make off with any of it. Casually, without really meaning to, my eyes floated over to the bedside table…

And my breath caught in my lungs.

They had dried out and wilted at this point, majority of the many numerous petals that used to be attached to the now brittle stems had fallen off dripping everywhere about it. The most remarkable thing was that while they had not been touched by anyone or anything in the past while…the stems of them both had interwined themselves together, in such an erratic pattern that it seemed next to impossible to even think about pulling one away from the other without shattering them both. Carefully, I picked the set up, and held it tenderly in my hands, cradling it.

Hitomi’s flowers...

Why is it that it’s so easy to say you stopped caring for someone, yet its even harder to truly follow through on that?

Why can’t I close my heart, and just let her memory fade away from me?

Tears slipped unbiddingly down my face, drowning the flower.

Why can’t I let go?...

-fin Aki XLII: Hanagoori