Only Time Would Tell - Kirukiyo

Final Journey From Hell

So until we find time to grow closer, plan our lives and maybe eventually, get married and raise a family, this is goodbye...

Those words...

They've been stuck in her head for many months now. She can't seem to get her mind off that man for some weird reason, even though she was fully aware that those days would never happen.

You see, there was currently a war waged between two nations, hers and some other kingdom that King Ouma had gotten into heated water with. One might think that a fair maiden like her wouldn't survive a day in this inhumane environment, but she was strong, maybe strong enough to fight alongside the men if it weren't for the fact that she'd rather stay behind and treat their wounded.

It seems as though she had also encountered a few familiar faces working alongside her. Among them were the loud and brash inventor Miu Iruma, who was working as both their mechanic and inventor, her sweet and gentle wife Kaede Akamatsu, who was also working as a nurse and... him. A fallen soldier who had fought long and hard for his land.

———

".....i!"

What?

"K..ru..i!"

Who's there?!

"Kirumi!" A voice called out.

The nursemaid frantically jolted awake at the sudden calling. She remembered that a spare gun laid somewhere within her sheets. She scrambled around, looking for it. When she finally got her hands on it, she loaded it and aimed it at the tent's entrance, where a shadowy figure stood.

"Don't come near me!" She yelled, probably loud enough for the others in her tent to hear. Now, the first and foremost rule in camp is to kill any presumed enemies on sight, no ifs, no buts.

"Kirumi! No need to panic! It's just me, Maki!" A loud, powerful voice replied.

Kirumi felt a sense of relief running through her spine, enough to make her drop her gun. Maki was a good friend of hers, close enough for the soldier to refer to the nurse with her first name. She then reached over to the tabletop lamp and lit it up, illuminating the whole shelter.

"Iruma! Akamatsu! Wake up!" Maki ordered.

The inventor twisted and turned from her and her wife's shared bunk and let out a groan and stretched out her arms, before sluggishly getting up to face the soldier. Her wife, however, continued to sleep peacefully.

"This better be important for you to wake me and my wife this early!" The inventor whined.

"It is." Maki replied. "Our enemies had agreed to ceasefire. Therefore you are currently off-duty. Now scram if you wish. I need a break from your constant blabbering."

Miu let out an excited squeak before jumping out of her hammock. She went over to the nearby clothesline and grabbed her trusty overalls.

"Kaede, my love, wake up! We can go home!" Miu called out as she put them on.

Kaede let out a few groans, gently tossing and turning before finally getting up. Miu rushed over to their shared hammock to help her up, before proceeding to make out with her. Kirumi and Maki covered their eyes and turned away out of respect for their privacy. Once they were finished, the couple left the tent.

"Kirumi, can you come outside for a while? I need to talk to you about something." Maki asked as she exited.

"Of course, Maki." Kirumi replied as she followed her friend out the tent.

The cold, crisp morning air rushed through the camp as the pair made their way across the grounds. Mud and fallen leaves crunched under their feet as some soldiers and helpers began to leave camp.

Maki then guided Kirumi to a small tent, which had not been there before.

"Please come inside, you need to see this." Maki instructed.

Kirumi nodded as she entered the new tent. What awaited her inside scared her, even drove her to tears.

"No, no, no! How could this be?! I thought he died months ago!"

There, in front of her was the body of a someone familiar. Someone she'd held dearly in her heart even though they only ever spoke a few times, when he was wounded and she would nurse him. Someone she was destined to be with until the end of time. The last person she expected to see alive, and the first person she'd ever fallen for.

Kiyo. Korekiyo Shinguji.

"H-how can this be?!" Kirumi gasped, covering her mouth.

"I asked myself the same question." Maki replied, circling the counter the body was placed on. "Gokuhara found it while on patrol last night. He claimed that he saw it near a lake, somehow still intact. He was then brought here. Since you're his supposed soulmate, I thought it'd be important to tell you."

'How did she know I was his soulmate? Did Miu tell her?' Kirumi pondered.

As if Maki could read her mind, she replied:

"Yes. Iruma told me. That noisy wench said you had bought her infamous pocket watch, bumped into him and heard it ring. I won't go into further detail since you should know your experiences better than I do, so I'll just get straight to the point."

"Can you check if your watch is still ticking?"

"Of course. Give me a second." Kirumi answered as she ran back to her sleeping tent. She remembered keeping it on one of the shelves in which some of the other women's belongings were formerly kept.

She didn't think that it'd be of any use after she heard about his supposed death on the battlefield but somehow, she was proven wrong.

Her finger quickly flipped its decorated lid open, revealing what looked like a normal watch, although with only one hand.

A hand that was still moving. Slowly, but surely.

She had decided to save her thoughts for later and stuffed the watch in her pocket, before going back to Maki.

"It's moving, so you know what that means..."

"He's alive?"

"Yes. Since that's apparently the case, I might still be able to save him. I will do everything I can to do so."

Maki raised her eyebrows at Kirumi and shrugged. She decided to not question her friend's willingness to save this man and left.

"Just so you know, the moment that body leaves this tent, they'll probably take it down." Maki warned.

"Noted." Kirumi replied.

And with that, the soldier finally left. The camp was almost empty, save for a few, healthy soldiers who've decided to stay just in case.

The nurse immediately got into work, examining every inch of the body. She noticed some odd marks, which couldn't have been physically inflicted upon as his clothes were still intact, with no holes nor scars whatsoever.

"Kirumi..." a weak voice mumbled.

The maid flinched before turning around in confusion.

"Kirumi... can't... cure..." the same voice called out.

"Kiyo?" She turned to look at her patient's face. His eyes were twitching as his mouth gritted.

"What was that?"

"Kirumi..." Korekiyo weakly muttered. "You can't. It's not... physical... you can't cure it. It's..."

"It's what?"

"Kirumi..."

"It's a curse. You can't just heal it."