Kazuha x Heizou One Shot Collection

Traitor

Heizou tries to live his life without regrets. He doesn’t always succeed. There is one thing he regrets deeply, and that is never saying ‘I love you’ to the person who means the most to him in the moment that mattered. 

Kazuha and him hadn’t been dating for all that long and Heizou had thought about it but somehow it was never the right time or the courage had left him before he could get out the words.
He had hesitated until it was too late and Kazuha had clung to him at the small shrine close by the city with his friend’s empty vision in a badly burned hand trying to explain what had happened but too distraught for Heizou to grasp the details. But he caught the important part which was that Kazuha was a wanted man now and had to go on the run. Heizou had offered to go with him without thinking it through but Kazuha had refused and when Heizou had asked he hadn’t told him where he would be going. 

For your safety, he had said. The less you know the better in case they question you. There had been a teary goodbye, a frantic and too hard to be enjoyable kiss. Heizou can still recall its salty taste, even though months have passed since then. 

And Heizou had been left with nothing but a gust of wind as a memory of their relationship that ended before it had barely even begun. Not because either of them wanted it or was at fault but simply because they hadn’t heard of or seen each other since that day.
He should have said it back then but he hadn’t and that one regret will likely linger as long as he lives. 

Kazuha had been right, they had questioned him. He remembers sitting in the interrogation room on the side of the table where he’s never sat himself, losing it and yelling at General Kujou that if he knew where his boyfriend was he would be there with him and not in that room being accused of aiding him escape. 

It had convinced her that he wasn’t a traitor and she hadn’t questioned his loyalty ever since. However, he'd been forbidden to investigate in Kazuha's case and had been excluded from any information tied to it. A conflict of interest, they called it.

And he’d never given the general a reason to doubt him. Kazuha hadn't tried to reach out to him and Heizou didn’t even know where to start if he wanted to contact Kazuha somehow. 

Almost no reason. 

He has never agreed with the vision hunt decree. He didn’t see how stripping smart and capable people not only of their visions and taking away some of those capabilities but also their hopes and aspirations, leaving them like shadows of their former selves. 

He’s confiscated visions before. It’s part of his job as a doushin. Even if he does mainly detective work it doesn’t mean that he’s free of these duties.
Watching the light leave someone’s eyes even though they're still standing in front of him perfectly healthy, is one of the most heartbreaking things he’s ever experienced. 

Maybe he forgets orders sometimes and maybe he accidentally slips up in a crowded street whose visions are going to be taken next. Those are accidents. Unfortunate but accidents. Truly, they are.

Heizou knows Kujou Sara knows what he’s doing and that she’s been tolerating it so far. Because he’s useful. But he’s living on borrowed time. 

Because when will being a nuisance outweigh being useful?

Heizou’s routine of evading and avoiding comes to an abrupt end when the news reaches him. His investigations had led him out of town for a few days and as soon as he’d returned he noticed the whispers. 

Did you hear? They caught him. After all this time. I saw when they brought him in. So young. A shame what happened to that family. I thought the Kaedehara clan couldn’t fall any deeper. Who knew the heir would turn out a criminal.