Reminiscing

A five-year-old boy sat on the curb of the playground, tracing pictures in the bark-covered ground beneath him with his feet. He looked up occasionally to see the other kids playing in groups around him. He didn’t care though, he was fine by himself. He smiled slightly as he drew the space station Peace in the ground. His father was going to go on it in order to help contact aliens. The boy didn’t completely understand it, but he was immensely proud to have a father doing such important and exciting work.

“Hey!” A girl’s voice was heard above him, and he raised his head to see a girl who had been talking with a group of other children a few moments ago. She was wearing a blue jumper over a long-sleeved light pink shirt with matching leggings, and her blond hair in two large curls. He stared blankly up at her, and she grinned brightly down at him. Past her he could see two boys who looked very disoriented.

“My name’s Shirogane Luna. What’s yours?”

Subaru blinked. “…Hoshikawa Subaru…”

“Well, Subaru-kun, would you like to play with me?” She asked politely. “I thought you might be lonely here by yourself… let’s play on the swings, okay?” She grinned, and grabbed his hand, pulling him up.

“Huh…?” Subaru was slightly confused by this sudden attention, but followed her willingly.

Luna pumped her legs back and forth, moving herself slightly but not enough that it could be called true swinging. She was somewhat frustrated. She and her new friend Subaru had swung for a while, then stopped to just sit there and chat for a while… or at least for Luna to chat. All her attempts at getting him to speak had failed, for all the topics she could come up with he only answered with one-word answers, or even just a nod.

“Subaru-kun,” she tried again, “What’s your parent’s job?”

“Well, Mama takes care of me… but Papa is an astronaut!” He grinned and started talking animatedly about his father’s job.

Luna smiled slightly as she looked at him and listened to him speak. He finally seemed happy… so she had succeeded. And that made Luna happy herself.

“Bye, Mama!” The boy waved as he opened the door to head for school.

“Oh, good, you’re finally up!” He heard a cheery voice exclaim. Subaru blinked as he saw a blond-haired girl standing next to him.

“…You’re that girl from yesterday!” He exclaimed in recognition. Luna giggled.

“That’s right!”

“But… why are you here…?”

“I thought it would be nice to walk to school together! We go to the same school, and I live nearby,” She pointed to the complex a house away from Subaru’s, “so let’s go!” She started walking to the school purposely. Subaru blinked for a second then ran to catch up with her.

Luna sighed slightly as she stood in front of Subaru’s door, waiting for him to exit and follow her to school. He always seemed so lonely, and never had many friends, or any Luna had seen, and so she wanted to reach out to him. But how could she do that if he always seemed to try his best to ignore her? He never seemed to smile to her, except that first day they met on the playground. She didn’t want to fail and make him unhappy.

She displayed a winning smile as he opened the door, and… smiled at her. She felt slightly surprised, then quickly shook it off.

“Hello, Shirogane-san!” He said politely, then scurried up to her side as they started walking. After a short while Luna turned her head to face the boy, who grinned brightly once more at her. Luna smiled happily back at him.

He looks kinda cute when he’s smiling…

“Come on, Luna-chan!” The six-year-old boy pulled at his friend’s arm impatiently in a hurry to get home. Today they were going to talk about the space station his dad was on the television, and he wanted to show his best friend.

“I’m coming!” She giggled as she ran slightly to catch up with him.

Subaru threw open the door to his house.

“Hi Mama, I’m home!” He called as he rushed to the couch in front of the TV and plopped down. “This is Luna-chan!” He called over his shoulder at his mother.

“Pleased to meet you, Hoshikawa-san!” The blonde bowed to her friend’s mother, then hurried after Subaru. Akane smiled as she sat on the couch next to the one the two children were on. Subaru was watching the screen, legs swinging impatiently and his eyes sparkling with anticipation. Luna, however, was watching Subaru somewhat unconsciously, a smile growing on her face. The sound of the television announcer’s voice broke her out of her reverie, and blushed as she realized what she had been doing, and turned her head to face the television.

The seven-year-old boy rested the side of his cheek against the surface of the kitchen table, running a hand through his spiky brown hair. He just couldn’t figure out what he should do! He gave up and let his forehead fall and crash to the table top. He immediately raised it up against and rubbed his hand to the damaged skin.

“Ow…”

Akane heard the noise and entered from the other room. “Subaru? I heard something… are you okay?”

“I’m fine, it’s nothing important…” Subaru voice dwindled off into silence. Akane smiled slightly and sat down on the chair next to him.

“Even if it’s nothing big, I want to help you if I can.”

“It’s just… Mama, Luna-chan’s birthday is coming up soon, and I want to get something special for her, but I have no idea what to get her.”

Akane, put a finger to her lips. “Luna-chan… is she that girl you have a crush on?”

Subaru’s face flushed a bright red. “Um… n-no! We’re just friends!”

Akane smiled in a way that showed Subaru she didn’t quite believe his protest. “Fine, Subaru. Well, if you want my advice, I think there’s something she might like…”

Luna was sitting on the swings, pumping her legs hard and propelling herself high into the air. She giggled as the wind blew into her face and tossed her curls wildly around her. She was turning seven today, and she couldn’t be happier! Well, she probably could, actually. She slowed down slightly and her ecstatic grin turned into a small frown. Her parents would be there, and would give her a lot of presents, but none of these actions made her think they cared about her. If they did, they'd be home more, or at least care about her thoughts and opinions instead of brushing her off. She stared at the sky wistfully. It'd be so nice to have someone who truly cared for her...

“Luna-chan!” She heard a voice from below her call, and she turned her head to face the sound. After shaking her hair out of her face she saw Subaru standing there with his hands behind his back. Luna slowed down and jumped off when she was almost touching the ground.

“Did you want something, Subaru-kun?”

He smiled shyly, and held out a small silver box.

“Happy birthday, Luna-chan!”

Luna blinked as she regarded the package in front of her. Then suddenly she realized what it meant.

“Ah, thank you, Subaru-kun!” She smiled as she took the present from him and opened it. There, nestled among some blue tissue paper, was a small silver crescent moon necklace.

“I got it for you, since… well, your name is Luna, and that means “Moon”, so I thought you’d like it…” Subaru stumbled over his words, afraid she might not like his present.

Luna raised her head to look at him, a bright smile lighting up her face.

“I love it! Thank you so much, Subaru-kun!” She hugged the boy tightly.

“Y-you’re welcome…”

“Subaru-kun? What’s the matter?”

Subaru raised his head from where it had laid buried in his arms. Luna was standing there with a concerned look on her face. Of course, it wasn’t exactly normal to find him lying on the floor sobbing like this…

“I… it’s my dad.” Subaru said softly, turning his gaze back to the tiled floor.

“What about him?” Luna whispered, kneeling down next to the boy. He was silent for a while, and Luna placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

“H-he…” The boy sniffled, then continued talking. “The Space Station he was on disappeared. It’s just… gone.”

“G-Gone?” Luna’s eyes widened.

“Y-yeah, and h-he might never… be found again.”

“People are looking for him, right?”

“Yeah… There’s a search party out, but…”

“Hey, don’t be so down-hearted!”

“H-huh?” Subaru raised his head, and he caught Luna’s reassuring smile.

“Don’t worry! He’ll be fine, right? And one day they’ll find him. He’ll come back to you, Subaru-kun, I’m sure of it.” Luna smiled. “He loves you too much to just leave you like that! He’ll come back some day. I promise.”

A small smile grew on the boy’s face, despite the tears still spilling down his cheeks. “Thank you, Luna-chan…”

Luna walked over to the table where she would have a good view of the television, careful to set down her full bowl of cereal before hopping up into her chair. Usually she didn’t watch television while eating, but this was one of the rare occasions her father was home, and she wanted to be close to him, even if he wasn’t paying attention to her.

She was far more absorbed in her food than the news station, but at the words “Space station Peace” her head shot up. Wasn’t that the space station Subaru’s father was on? Could they have found him?

“A piece of the station was found today, and the search for the station has now been called off…”

Luna stiffened. Did… that mean…?

She jumped off her seat, grabbing her dishes and setting them on the counter. She heard her father call her name, but she didn’t stop, opening the door and rushing down the street. She had to talk to Subaru!

The girl knocked on the door rapidly. She shifted nervously, and there was a small commotion inside, but soon it fell silent again.

Luna knocked on the door once more, not going to leave until she got to speak to Subaru. He must be feeling horrible…

Finally, the door was pulled open slowly, and Luna came face-to-face with the hollow and swollen eyes of Hoshikawa Subaru.

“Subaru-kun! I just heard! I’m so sorry for you! Is there anything…?” Luna trailed off as Subaru stared at her emotionlessly. She waited for him to break the silence, sympathy glowing in her eyes.

Suddenly, Subaru’s eyes narrowed.

“Leave me alone, Shirogane-san."

“Ah—”

The door slammed in Luna’s face, and she could hear the slowly retreating footsteps.

“Subaru-kun…”

Luna sighed despondently as she started across the street at the Hoshikawa’s house. It seemed almost to be taunting her… tempting her to go and knock even though it wouldn’t do any good.

It had been a week since the search party had been called off. She kept trying to talk to him, to try and comfort him, but he wouldn’t have it. He wouldn’t talk to her, and he even refused to go to school. Every school day she kept going to his door, but after the first two days he wouldn’t even answer it.

Despite this, her feet automatically moved towards it until she brought herself up short. It was useless. Maybe it would be good to let it rest for a while… he obviously wouldn’t allow himself to be comforted right now.

Luna glanced down at the silver necklace hanging from her neck, taking the pendant in her hand. A sad smile formed as she slipped the jewelry over her head and into a side pocket of her bag before turning and heading off to school without disturbing Subaru.

One day things would be back to normal. It might be years, Subaru might even forget her, but Luna would never forget.

Until that day, she’d keep this necklace as a sweet reminder.

-Four years later-

Luna sat in front of her vanity, carefully styling her long blonde hair. After carefully positioning the last of it, she carefully opened the drawer to take out her brooch. A reflecting glint of sunlight caught her eye, and she pick up the small silver object. Her smile grew as she slipped the necklace on, humming slightly as she stood up to leave.

You still don’t remember, Subaru… but that doesn’t matter. As long as everything’s back to the way it should be…

Authors Notes: I just had to write another Luna/Subaru, and this one I had been working on for a while. I decided to finish and post it. Hope you enjoyed!

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