SALVATION - akaza

017 - ᴡᴀʀᴍᴛʜ

For reasons I couldn't explain, my body began to shake, especially as his soft breath grazed my cheek. Though I didn't dare move, or even turn to look at him in fear of how close he was.

No—not fear.

It was something else.

"Too bad you can't act on such a claim," I said, trying to stay calm.

"Indeed," was his only response.

Then, he was gone in a single swift movement, the lack of him making the side he'd been at feeling cold and empty, especially compared to the heat he'd given off beforehand—despite the fire in front of me.

Only then did I allow myself to turn to him, finding Akaza in the kitchen once more. Grabbing a bowl, he walked back over to me, no expression evident upon his face whatsoever.

Bastard.

I knew he did those things to try and rile me up, but I wasn't about to let him become aware that in some cases, it actually worked. And supposedly, not in the way that he probably figured.

Maybe I was spending way too much time with him, and only him, but... what scared me most now was the fact that I was growing more and more comfortable with him. In a way that I knew meant I was beginning to rely on him for things.

And as he wordlessly passed me the bowl, our gazes lingered on one another, and in that moment I considered the fact that he knew how I was feeling—and what I was thinking. It was truly as though he could read into my own mind sometimes...

I broke our stare, taking the bowl and beginning to fill the single serving dish of stew I'd made, trying to focus on that.

Why... why had I become so dependent on him?

Was it because I'd been all on my own before? Maybe, since I hadn't had anyone to put that depending nature onto, the second someone came into my life in which I could deliver it to... I was giving it my all.

My face heated at the thought.

How pathetic.

Relying on someone for anything at all only reveal vulnerability—one thing I'd been taught since... well as long as I could remember, actually.

Damn it all to hell.

I knew that, and yet here I was unable to prevent myself from doing so. With Akaza, he was giving me more than anyone ever had, more than I'd ever even believed I could receive. Countless times, he'd saved my life. Countless times, he'd prevented me from making some of the stupidest decisions I could've ever made.

Once I came to terms with all that he'd truly done for me from the very beginning, I supposed it was actually quite difficult. It was hard to not rely on him. To want to make him proud, and to genuinely happy when he truly was proud of me. What else was there for me to grasp? What other option?

Even if he was a demon. Again, that was always something I seemed to forget about the majestic being I'd been spending so much time with.

"I'm going out before sunrise," Akaza then said, snapping me out of my useless thoughts. My face flushed in response, as if he'd just figured out one of my darkest secrets.