𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊 ᵍᵉⁿˢʰⁱⁿ ˣ ʳᵉᵃᵈᵉʳ ᵒⁿᵉˢʰᵒᵗˢ//ⁱᵐᵃᵍⁱⁿᵉˢ

˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥ red string // xiao x f.reader

Why was he thinking of her now? It had been so long since...since then, so why did she still plague his mind?

The amber hue of the sunrise peaked shyly at him as he kept his head bowed, staring down at the bridge connecting Wangshu Inn to Liyue, and he grimaced. The sunrises weren't the same now without her, they weren't as full of energy.

"You knew this was going to happen, idiot" He growled to himself as he fell to his knees- glaring out at the scenery.

━━━━ ◦ ❖ ◦━━━━

"He likes you!" (Y/N) beamed as she watched the Yaksha poke slightly at the grey cat, his yellow eyes full of confusion as it purred at him. It had been several weeks since they had met under such unusual circumstances- and he was stupid enough to help her look after the cat she was talking about.

"Why is it making that noise? Is it possessed?" Xiao murmured as he watched the creature roll over and display it's stomach to him- causing her to burst into a peel of laughter. She clutched at his arm as he cocked his head once more.

"You're so cute, Xiao! It's a cat- it makes that noise when it's happy!" She grinned as she intertwined her hand with his own, moving it to stroke the cat. The mix of her jasmine scent and the warmth of her hand was enough to make him dizzy- and he had to focus all his attention onto the creature before him.

"Tch, whatever" He mumbled as he stroked the cat, and she clapped her hands in delight.

━━━━ ◦ ❖ ◦━━━━

Tears glassed over his yellow hues, threatening to spill and stain his cheeks. God, he'd spent so much time around her that he had picked up on her ways of expressing emotions. He had never cried this much before- dammit.

Harshly, he wiped at them with his gloved hands...but it was no use. They kept spilling, and spilling, and spilling.

━━━━ ◦ ❖ ◦━━━━

"I thought I'd see you out here!" (Y/N) grinned as she poked her head round the balcony entrance, spotting the Yaksha stood there. He turned his green haired head slightly to catch her gaze, and she quickly bound over to him.

"I brought you some almond tofu! The boss was telling me how much you like it!" She smiled, holding out the small bowl to him. Almond tofu...his biggest weakness. (Y/N) pulled him towards the small table set up near the railing of the balcony and pushed him onto the chair- pointing towards the dish for him to eat.

"Did you make it yourself?" He asked, looking up at her as she stood proudly with her hands behind her back, and she nodded her head enthusiastically. With a sigh he reached towards the fork he had been provided, and he took a bite.

Almost instantly, the flavours he adored so much washed over his tongue and made his heart throb- and his yellow hues widened.

"You like it!!" (Y/N) exclaimed as she clapped her hands, and without thinking he pushed his chair away and walked up to her- wrapping her in a tight hug. Almond tofu always made him happy, and now that she had made him some...he was even happier.

━━━━ ◦ ❖ ◦━━━━

"Xiao, can I ask you something?" The h/c haired girl whispered as she rested her head on his shoulder, staring out at the sunset. They were perched on the balcony at Wangshu Inn, all alone together in their little bubble. He hummed in response as he wrapped an arm around her shoulder- pulling her closer.

It was a year after their first encounter, and he had began to warm to the idea of having a soulmate. She cared about him deeply, he knew she wasn't going to leave him unprompted. But he was still scared.

Humans were too weak.

"Are you...happy that we're soulmates?" She whispered, leaning her head up to take a good look at him, soaking in his peaceful features. It was rare to see his face so relaxed, but it had become a habit around her. His eyebrows knitted as he pulled away from her slightly.

"Do you think i'm not happy?" He prodded, and she quickly shook her head.

"No, no! Just...I really like you. And I don't want you to feel forced to feel the same way just because...you know...we're soulmates" (Y/N) mumbled the last part, and he quickly cupped a hand to the back of her head and pulled her to his chest.

"I'd kill for you, don't ever think otherwise" He said firmly, and he could feel her laugh into his chest and she very quickly melted into the embrace.

━━━━ ◦ ❖ ◦━━━━

But, he'd been around long enough to know that all good things in his life swiftly come to an end.

He'd seen so much death to know what was going to happen.

He knew...he was going to lose the only good thing in his life.

━━━━ ◦ ❖ ◦━━━━

"(Y/N)!? Hey, answer me already!" The Yaksha yelled as he ran towards the clearing, the mask attached to his face glowing green and lighting up his path. No...no no no. Where the hell was she?!

He told her not to go out, not to follow him because it was dangerous. But by the time he had returned to her home- she was gone. The rain beat down on his body harshly as he pushed shrubs out of his way, raising his spear to cut through some of them.

The string around his finger was tight- he knew she was nearby. But why wasn't she responding to his calls?! In his panic he slipped, almost plummeting off the face of the cliff he was approaching- but he quickly steadied himself.

Up ahead, he could see 4 figures all huddled over something, the cloud around their bodies inky black. They were demons- and they had to be eliminated. With no hesitation he sprinted towards them, jumping in the air as he cut through them like paper- and they fell to the ground with a thud.

As he landed he felt the string pull tight, and his heartbeat rose. She was here. Slowly, his eyes fell to the floor where a figure was collapsed- and his heart almost cracked.

"(Y/N)?..." He whispered as he dropped to his knees, quickly scooping her up in his arms as he brushed her h/c hair off her forehead. Her skin was cold, her lips chapped and stained a crimson colour he was all too familiar with.

"Hey! Answer me!" Xiao cried as he shook her body, but she remained silent- still. His jaw clenched as he balled her towards his chest, and without trying to stop it- a loud scream of pain left his lips. Acidic tears poured from his eyes as he clung to her, the harsh rain making the blood seeping from her body pool around him.

This is why he hated the idea of soulmates.