Morning
by Evan
The sun was lemon yellow in wavering patches on the floor and walls. The prism Sai had hung in the kitchen window caught the early sun and sent a brilliant rainbow across the wall. Kento still thought it was just a plastic ornament having never risen in time to see its purpose.
Sai was more than willing to keep its secret to himself. Well, and with Seiji of course.
While the nights were filled with talk and chatter, televisions and video games, and the late bottles of beer out on the porch, the mornings were theirs.
Seiji and Sai existed well in mutual calm and silence while the others dozed the dawn past quietly above them.
The province of them both and theirs only.
Shared but quite separate. They did not seek each other out. It was a respective understanding to leave one another quite alone in this precious time. Sai was sure Seiji thought his routine nonsense, but he sort of thought Seiji's routine of exercise and meditation rigid. But they both had one thing in common.
It was peaceful.
Seiji would wander in with the new day, his hair and clothing damp with the wet that coated the grass and bejeweled the trees. But that would be at least an hour for now. As much as he rose his eyebrows at Sai's like of cream on his toast, he never refused the cup of hot English tea Sai had waiting for him.
The day was still just his for now.
A light rain sprinkled the hills from one cloud after another breaking up the sun.
Despite the sun showers Sai put on his raincoat and slipped outside.
He had important business.
It was a long but pleasant walk through the field, waist high with wild grass and full of field mice and the finches, their feathers fluffed comically with the chill. The woods closed over him, the sun shining through the leaves making a fresh lime light.
He climbed over the old fallen oak tree and fell into an easy well known walk through the saplings and brown and red leaves of the forest floor. Small animals chattered at him as they had to pause their breakfast to watch the usual morning intruder.
"No need to be cross, " He chided them. He took out of his raincoat pocket several slices of stale bread he had found in the pantry."Friends?" He crumbled the bread and placed it carefully about.
The small fellows crept up and sniffed at it cautiously, their appetite a bit more powerful than their distrust of the strange creature in the yellow coat.
He stayed there, kneeling to watch them munch contentedly on the bread, with only an occasional watchful glance at him to see if he didn't quickly change his mind and decide he wanted all the bread for himself.
"I've already had some thank you." He assured them.
They watched him with narrow eyes anyway.
Sai stood up brushing the wet leaves from his knees and stepped over the contented bunch, happy to reward the small sentries which guarded the old fallen tree with such loyalty.
He climbed the broad moss covered trunk, the tree almost his entire height by its width, and walked through the vines that had made homes in its soft rotten branches.
Under a small canopy of ivy ahead was the destination of Sai's morning walks. He discovered it quite by mistake only a week prior and had come every morning since.
A strange sound made Sai stop. It was not the light tread of his small mates, nor was it the curious sound of a larger forest animal out for a bit of breakfast. Sai moved behind a curtain of gently bobbing oak leaves of a young sapling sprung from the fertile wet wood of the old tree.
The nest was still there and Sai felt the slight fear he held pass. The small birds were fluffed with the gray of adolescents, soon to be the proud plumes of adulthood. But for now they had no problem flapping the molting wings and asking, or rather, demanding quite loudly for some nice bugs.
Sai had come to aid the poor things when he found their nest over turned and all of them prone on the dangerous forest floor. Unwilling to bring them home and near the next doors cat, he had taken on the role as parent, seeing on how they were so soon to begin to leave the wonderful nest their poor fated mum had created.
This morning however, someone else had come in his stead, no doubt drawn by their persistent chirps and tweets for their hunger.
Seiji held one wiggling worm over one head after another, patiently waiting for each young mouth to stop chirping and let its sibling have a go.
The small fragile birds quieted and nestled back into their down, not minding the careful finger that stroked their soft heads.
"Good morning." Seiji whispered, a small smile on his face.
Sai quietly backed away made his way back towards home.