Your heart was racing as you tugged onto Kazuha's clothes tightly, looking forward while still hearing the sharp noise of sword and claymore clashing against each other in wide distance, not wanting Itto to get injured because of the two of you. Sara seemed to be convinced of her duties much more than someone usually would and probably had no problem with going over corpses to reach her goal if necessary. You heard the heavy breath of Kazuha who was still running while carrying you before the leafs that blocked your sight before, now vanished at the very second that you left the forest.
Your eyes widened at what you saw just then and didn't took your eyes off of the view down from the cliff that you had reached, just maybe a few hundred meters away now. "Is that..." "Inazuma city, yes" the male hastily said before reaching the end of the cliff and looked down for a second.
"You need to hold on me tightly now, otherwise you will fall down" Kazuha stated as you looked down as well before gulping and slinging your arms around the male's neck while his grip around you got stronger as well. "We're almost there" he said before he took a run-up and jumped off of the cliff.
You closed your eyes and tried to overcome this uncomfortable tickling feelings in your stomach from the fall but before you could, Kazuha had already used his anemo skills just a few meters above the ground and stopped the fall with that, landing on his feet like on a velvet pillow.
"It's alright now, ( Y/N ). We're on the ground" Kazuha said, turning his head towards you who still did not dared to open your eyes and clung onto the mal, not seeming to loosen up any second from now.
That just proceeded in your grip tightening for a slight moment even more, your eyes just mere centimeters open now as you couldn't see the small smile that lingered into Kazuha's lips for a brief second before he started running again.
"What if there is no ship at the dock recently?" The male asked, not stopping in his tracks as you didn't needed long to answer the question. "There is. There definitely is a boat" you said, but Kazuha could hear that you tried to state non existing facts because you didn't knew if there indeed, was a ship at this moment, but had to hope so.
"...Yes, there surely is" Kazuha nodded, just hoping for fate to be on your side.
Kazuha ran and ran but to you, the gate of the city seemed to get further away with every step due to the fear of being caught got the better of you. The feeling of being chased let the adrenaline rush through your body like crazy and you felt like there was a hand behind you that could catch you every second now, a feeling that you only had a few times in your life before and every time, you hoped it was the last.
You were now only about 100 meters away from the city gates, but then you heard the noise of thunder striking behind you – your once racing heart skipped a beat and the sight in front of you seemed to freeze as the next thing you felt was the hard ground beneath your still slightly numb limbs — again.
"No no no no no" you hastily looked behind and saw Kazuha about to stand up but he didn't looked well. His breath was even more heavy than before and sweat was dripping down his pale face. You knew that all this was way too much to ask for, that the male had to carry you all the way here and barely had any rest. You looked to your side and your breath hitched as Sara walked towards the two of you rather quickly before she drew her sword, and her pyrite yellow eyes appeared to glow while she had an piercing gaze on you and Kazuha.
"What is with Itto?!" You asked, shoving yourself further away with the bit strength you had. "Not dead. At least not yet" the female said, her monotone voice ringing through your ears as you could tell that she was at the end of her nerves with this game of prey and hunter.
If you thought about it more, it was kinda ironic. Weren't you supposed to be the hunter? The one who would catch the criminals at all costs. It was your duty from the moment of your birth to do so, you got trained and were never told something else but to bring justice towards Inazuma by hunting those who threaten it. But now all these years of efforts seemed like a heap of ashes that would get carried away with the wind in mere seconds.
Now there you was on the ground — running from the justice that you tried to preserve while trying to escape with one who disobeyed the will of the Raiden Shogun, a criminal, just like you were now.
"Your gonna pay for your sins right here and now" Sara said as Kazuha looked over towards you, who sat maybe two meters away, your face pale and eyes filled with fear. The male gritted his teeth and shut his eyes, not knowing what to do as his limbs felt as heavy as concrete before Sara's steps came closer and closer even faster than before. The white haired male then mustered up the straight to stand up and quickly went over towards you, laying your arm around his neck while holding it here, his other hand around your waist to stabilize you before he got you up as well.
You tripped at every step that Kazuha tried to get you forward and away from Sara and you desperately tried to walk forward with your own strength but you weren't able to. "Come on ( Y/N ), we're almost there...!" Kazuha said, gritting his teeth as for some reason, you teared up. "No, let me here! I'm just a bother in this situation...!" you slightly shouted, wanting him to let go of you and get away on his own. "I'm not letting you here, damn it
( Y/N )!!" The male exclaimed before he suddenly felt someone pushing him aside as he almost fell to the ground again but balanced himself before he could.
You on the other hand immediately fell to the ground after you yourself had pushed the male, only to avoid the two of you getting pierced by Sara's sword who had tried to attack you from behind. The female now towered over you, just a few drops of blood dripping down the blade in her hand after just being able to cut your arm the slightest. Before you could even say a single word, you felt a sharp pain at your back, seeing that the indigo haired female had smashed her foot at your back before you screamed out in pain. You could swear you heard your rips breaking from the impact as you shut your eyes and tried to overcome the pain.
ᶰᵒ 'ˢᵗᵉᵖ ᵒᶰ ᵐᵉ' ʲᵒᵏᵉˢ ᶤᶰ ʰᵉʳᵉ ಠ_ಠ
"Kazuha run!!" You shouted, seeing the male's eyes widened slightly as he looked at you with an expression you never saw on him before. He seemed so helpless.
Seeing you there on the ground and in obvious pain caused a feeling inside of Kazuha to boil over and yet, he wasn't able to express this feeling into actions. It was anger what he felt. And he wanted help you, wanted to defeat the female and let her pay for what she did to you, even if this was not the way Kazuha would usually go.
But in this moment, his hand were shaking and he felt so weak as never before, he was in desperate need of someone to guid him in this situation but was all alone.
"Kazuha—!" You still tried to convince him to leave you behind so at least he would be able to escape, but you got interrupted as Sara moved her foot from your back to the back of your head and crashed it to the ground. "Shut it, filthy brat"
The female said as you glared up at her, the right side of your face still harshly being pressed against the ground. Sara then moved her sword towards your back as the sharp end of the blade barely touched your skin through your clothes before she adverted her eyes towards the male in front of her.
"You had your chance to escape, but gave all hopes up for this girl. I'm not going to give you a second one, be aware of that" she said to Kazuha before lifting her sword, about to strike down again while you shut your eyes, awaiting the cold blade to crash your spine but before Sara was able to eliminate you, Kazuha rushed forward and drew his sword that clashed against the females one a mere second after.
The white haired male used all the strength left in him and Sara's eyes widened for a second before she was the one who got sent flying back, harshly crashing against the ground while Kazuha once again grabbed you and tried to drag you along.
"W-what are you doing?! We're not going to do it, this way, it's over for me! I already know that..."
"I'M NOT GOING TO LET YOU DIE ON ME HERE!!" You never experienced the male raise his voice that much against you or in general, and all you could do was look up at him, who was clearly struggling to drag you along but yet, leaving you seemed to be not one of the options that ever crossed his mind.
You didn't knew why. You just didn't knew why he was risking so much all this time now for someone he barely knew. He could easily abandon you multiple times but he didn't, not even once, even though you sometimes would be a bother. You knew why you helped him but not why it was that way on the opposite.
For you, he was someone special. Kazuha was the proof for you that not every 'criminal' is a bad person, and that some didn't even deserved this title. He was the one you escaped your village with and all the new things you experienced was just because you met him. You simply felt different around the male than you did around everyone else.
You looked forward again, not saying a word as you did your best to walk alongside him while using your own strength, even if this was just barely possible. And then — you finally set foot through the gates of inazuma city and even though you still weren't at your goal, this was a milestone for you and you couldn't tell how glad you were that you finally arrived there.
Kazuha looked behind and saw how Sara stood up again, relocating her dislocated shoulder and even though she was too far away for Kazuha to see her facial expression, he could still feel the glare at his back while shivers went down his spine.
"Goddamnit, you brats are not going to—" but the silent sentence of the female got interrupted as she suddenly jumped back to avoid an attack as she then saw an all too familiar figure in front.
Itto stood there with his claymore drawn, blood still dripping down his face and arms but the smile on his lips never vanished. "Phew, I have to say, your stronger than you look" the male said, laughing slightly what just gained an irritated face of Sara in exchange. "Your should be dead by now"
"Well here I am in all my glory HAHAHA" "shut it, Oni, Do I really have to tell you twice that this is not your business?!" The female snapped to what itto just laughed, again. "Tsk, ok then" there suddenly appeared yet another two people beside the female in black coats and pest masks, one right and one left.
They looked at each other for a second before their gaze averted forward again and the indigo haired female just mentioned them towards the city before they vanished mere seconds after again.
"Oh? Sending your slaves to get them is not really fair, y'know" Itto said, looking behind before Sara now firstly pulled out her bow again. "I have a job that needs to be done" she said before aiming at the male who grinned once again and readied himself.
"Time for a revanche"
Far away and half through the city, people stared at you with either weird or concerned gazes that you didn't pay any attention to. You saw the horizon from where you were and knew that the docks couldn't be too far away now, so you just went forward along with Kazuha.
But then you saw a figure a bit far away from you, their clothes all dark and as you took a closer look, you recognized this appearance immediately.
"Kazuha" you whispered, just looked forward at the person that still had a great distance from you. The male looked down at you and followed your gaze, seeing this all too familiar Pest mask and the dark coat that swayed in the wind.
The male looked behind quickly and just as he thought, behind them stood another one with the same distance from the both of you. "What do we do now...?" You asked while Kazuha looked forward again before he spoke up. "That's the only way, we need to continue on" he said after noticing that there weren't even side alleys at this spot.
So you did exactly what the male said and the two of you walked forward rather slowly and it didn't took long till you were only like three meters away from the figure. There weren't any citizen on this street at that moment and as you were walking past the person in black, you side eyed them and saw that they turned around synchronized to your movements while you were walking, the gaze always on you. You wondered that if whatever was under this mask, was even a human or not.
At the moment you had passed the figure, you felt relieved for just a slight second and thought that maybe they wouldn't do anything to you, but reality
hit you hard as you were surrounded by multiple of the 'pest doctors' within a second.
"Aw c'mon men..." you muttered in disappointed as Kazuh the took in a breath and before the people around you could move an inch, the male used his anemo skill and jumped high up, holding you bridal style once again as soon as you were in the air and the 'pest doctors' all stumbled forward due to the force of the wind.
Kazuha landed just a few meters behind one of the figures and started running. You wondered how he could even maintain that but then saw that he looked even more drained than before. But there was determination in his eyes and as you followed his gaze forward, your eyes widened. The docks finally in your sight and there indeed, was a ship that seemed to be heading off to who knows where in any moment.
"We can still get it!!" You exclaimed as Kazuha nodded and ran even faster, not even looking at the black figure suddenly appearing at his side as they were about to attack you but you only scoffed, drew your sword and stroke them as soon as they were close enough for you to do so. "Stupid crows" you muttered.
The dock got closer and closer and at some point, you finally heard the slight cracking noise of the wooden bridge beneath Kazuha's feet and the slightly big ship was right at the end of the dock.
But the all too familiar purple light from behind you made you scoff as you saw the pyrite yellow eyes of Sara intensely glaring at you as she suddenly appeared good three meters behind, chasing you and Kazuha at the last meters. Her pale skin was now covered in scratches and bloodstains as well as her eyes were wide, lips slightly parted before she reached out her hand to get a hold of you in the last second.
It felt like time was playing in slow motion as you were at the end of the dock and the ship was already heading off, a small distance still between the end of the wooden bridge and the quarterdeck of the boat as Kazuha then suddenly jumped up at the end of the path, the slender fingers of Sara about to grab his ankle while her fingertips brushes against the clothes that covered the male's skin, but then slid off, causing the female to stumble forward and fall onto the wooden dock, watching how you and Kazuha both harshly landed on the boat.
Her eyes were still wide and and it took her a second to progress what just happened before her facial expression went from a shocked, into an angry one before she slammed her fist at the wooden ground multiple times.
"Aw what a shame, Takayuki-sama surely is not going to be that impressed about your outcome here"
Sara then heard an familiar voice behind her as she seemingly got even more angry after just noticing the presence of the certain male. "Shut the fuck up, Ryusei. you could have put more effort into this yourself"
ʲᵘˢᵗ ᵃ ˢᵐᵃˡˡ ʳᵉᵐᵉᵐᵇᵉʳ ᶠᵒʳ ᵗʰᵒˢᵉ ʷʰᵒ ᶠᵒʳᵍᵒᵗ, ᵏᵘʲᵒᵘ ʳʸᵘˢᵉᶤ ʷᵃˢ ᵗʰᵉ ᵒᶰᵉ ᵃᵗ ᵗʰᵉ ᵇᵉᵍᶤᶰᶰᶤᶰᵍ ʷʰᵒ ᶜˡᵃᶤᵐᵉᵈ (ʸ / ᶰ) ᵗᵒ ᵇᵉ ᵃ ᶜʳᶤᵐᶤᶰᵃˡ
And what just added to Sara's irritation, was the appearance of a second male who had his claymore still in his hands, seemingly in a fighting stance.
"Oi, Kojou!! How dare you just running away like that twice?! Your not getting your filthy hands on that samurai and ( Y—" Itto exclaimed as she then noticed the facial expression of the female and the ship that was long heading off into the distance as he then relaxed in his postures and placed the dull side of his claymore on his shoulder.
"HAHA Well, seems like I'm not needed here anymore, Ciao!" He said, saluting one more time just out of a mocking manner before he suddenly disappeared again. "I hate that stupid oni" Sara snapped through gritted teeth before slamming her fist against the poor ground one more time and then hastily stood up to leave the scene.
————❖————
You harshly landed on the wooden deck of the ship while Kazuha was holding you tightly to avoid you getting hurt from the impact. Your small performance caused everyone on the ship to stare at the both of you with curiosity — especially as the male didn't let go of you and needed to progress what just happened himself, same as you.
"We... we did it..." Kazuha mumbled as you just slowly nodded before a bright smile appeared on your face. "WE DID IT KAZUHA, WE DID IT" You happily exclaimed, standing up quickly as there was enough adrenaline rushing through you to allow you that, along with Kazuha as he laughed along with you before you tightly hugged the male out of reflex. The white haired male slightly blushed and honestly didn't knew what to do but just mere seconds after, you let go again and jumped around like a bouncy ball. "WE DID IT" you repeated multiple times out of happiness as your jumping session was then accompanied by a brown haired female who had a wide grin on her face and the two of you jumped in a circle out of excitement.
But then you suddenly had no feeling in your legs again and fell to the ground after the adrenaline kick of your escape was gone and you felt the pain in multiple limbs of yours again. You suddenly got towered by the female as only then you realized that you had no idea who the brunette actually was. "Oh, by the way, what did you do?" She asked, her grin disappeared as she looked at you and Kazuha now curiously. You analyzed her for a brief second and saw that she had a red eyepatch that covered her left eye, long brown hair as a part of it was decorated with an golden accessory at the back of her head. Her clothes were colored in red and brown while they had some golden patterns here and there, and an electro vision was obviously dangling from her belt.
Kazuha was now already sitting beside you and helped you to sit up at least before he was the one speaking up. "We're really sorry for showing up here all of a sudden... I'm Kazuha and this is ( Y/N ). Would it be possible for us to travel with you just for a bit?" The male asked as you just nodded along his sentences and for a brief moment you thought that the brunette would decline your request and throw you off board or something, but got then greeted by another grin of her.
"Of course of course! My name is Beidou by the way, and I'm the captain of the Crux fleet, the beautiful exemplar your standing, or rather sitting on right now!" She proudly said before helping you up and multiple other crew mates came over to see what exactly caused this small disturbance a minute ago.
You and Kazuha got new clothes from the crew since your old ones were pretty dirty and worn out and you discovered that they all seemed to be very nice and helpful. But even though some of them offered their help in patching up your wounds, Kazuha preferred to do it himself as he cleaned the wound on your arm and wrapped some bandages around the injury, sitting right in front of you as the night had now broken in and the many lanterns on the ship were the only sources of light. You sat a bit further away from the rest of the crew that seemed to enjoy the evening while singing and dancing along some music that was played by two or three people on there that had some instruments with them and Beidou was giving out some alcohol to everyone.
You still heard the noise rather loudly but it was still silent enough for you to understand Kazuha perfectly if he would talk. It kinda felt comfortable.
The male was then concentrating on another wound at your hand that you didn't even really noticed before and he sew the wound after disinfecting it.
You looked at his jasper red eyes while the yellowish light of the lantern nearby was reflecting in them.
You couldn't help but admire the male as then a sudden thought came up your mind once again, causing you to speak up in a silent manner.
"Say, Kazuha... why were you so determined to drag me along back there in inazuma city even though I told you not to?" You asked, not adverting your gate as the male then looked up, his hand movements stopping as he did so and he paused in stitching up that wound on your hand.
"I mean, you should at least have thought about it because it was a high risk to try and drag me along! You would probably have not reached the dock if Itto wouldn't show up just because I was lagging behind! I get that it's not the best though to let a companion behind like this, but it would be definitely safer for you if you if you went on your own!" You continued on as your once so silent voice got to its usual tone and you looked all around the place while speaking, thinking of the events just a few hours before, as you then noticed that Kazuha wasn't saying a single word, nor moving an inch.
You stopped as well, not saying anything anymore as you blinked a few times and saw that the male still didn't moved till you completely relaxed again and he was sure that you wouldn't say anything for now.
"Why I... didn't let you behind, you ask?" His voice was silent and as smooth as ever as the time around you seemed to slow down just the slightest once again.
Kazuha then raised his one hand, while the other stabilized the needle at your hand, and gently placed it against your cheek as your eyes widened before he then slowly leaned in — his soft and warm lips touching yours while this action caught you completely off guard, but you didn't pulled back or anything, and instead leaned in before you closed your eyes.
The kiss lasted for a while but it still just felt like a mere second to you before the two of you pulled back, the male gently resting his forehead against yours as you did the same. The warm breath of him slightly tickling your nose before Kazuha spoke up in a whisper. "Maybe it was because I love you"
ʰᵃᵖᵖʸ ˢᵒᵇᵇᶤᶰᵍ ᵇᵉᶤᵈᵒᵘ ᶰᵒᶤˢᵉˢ ᶠʳᵒᵐ ᵃᶠᵃʳ ᵃᶠᵗᵉʳ ʷᶤᵗᶰᵉˢˢᶤᶰᵍ ᵗʰᵉ ʷʰᵒˡᵉ ˢᶜᵉᶰᵉ
——————————————————————————
A/N
_(┐「ε:)_
Hello hello, I uh, I guess this book is finished now? Wow ok I kinda feel like the end wasn't all too good but I still hope you enjoyed HDNDSJX and yes, I'm sorry, I'm kinda the fan of abrupt endings 🏃♀️💨
Howeverrrr I really really hope you enjoyed this story even though I think that some parts were a bit lame and I have to thank you so much for reading this far 🙇♀️
I hope to see one or two of you at some other stories of mine and hope you enjoyed your day / night <33
See you later alligator 🙋♀️
~ Author