Chapter Text
The city was dark, the only light illuminating from lanky lampposts and windows of neighbouring houses. It wasn’t night yet, but the looming clouds hung over the city like heavy laundry. A light drizzle had turned into a tempest.
As the pair travelled down the pathway, they walked in and out of the shine and shadows.
The rain was only visible in the illuminated space. In the umbra, it was only possible to feel the trickle of droplets on one’s head and shoulder. One would be blind.
It was dark.
It was void.
Like when he closed his eyes, it made no difference. The vacancy left by the isolation he felt in the abyss, the lost time-
He was engulfed in it.
He knew not the date nor the time.He could have stayed there for eons. He was truly alone. There was no one other than himself.
He wanted something. Someone. He yearned for human connection.
To talk to someone.
See someone.
Touch someone.
It was like an itch he couldn’t scratch, and he couldn’t help but ask-
why?
He wasn’t human and yet,
he wanted someone.
In that intense isolation he needed someone.
He craved someone.
All of a sudden, there was a flash of light, exposing the profile of kazuha and the wanderer from the shade.
The wanderer stiffened. He stopped.
Kazuha stopped walking too, noticing that the person who had been walking next to him had come to standstill.
“You okay?”
“It’s nothing”
Then, there was a low rumbling that echoed through the street. The wanderer braced as he felt the vibration move his body, shaking his bones, and his muscles weak.
He was a puppet, and yet he could feel it better than any human.
He looked upwards to see the streak of electro in the sky. It was terrifying.
It was a symbol of power. A reminder of how the shogun ruled over inazuma, and her eternal ruling strength.
Another one.
It was too bright.
It was too loud.
Nothing could prepare the wanderer for the creeping lightning, that could shock him at any time.
It was sudden. It was unknown.
It made him weak.
He covered his ears with his quivering hands. His palm was damp with sweat. His teeth were grit. His eyes wide and fuelled with a certain emotion, looking down to his feet that wouldn’t move.
He couldn’t describe it.
Then, he felt someone touch his back. It was gentle, and careful…
He looked at kazuha.
“It’ll be okay”
He was smiling.
It was comforting.
Why? Why did he feel so safe?
“The tea house is around this corner.”
Kazuha turned to the wanderer, pointing his first finger forward.
Then, the two arrived at a quaint door, and there was a lamp positioned above.
The flame inside the case flickered in the breeze that the rain followed.
Surrounding the lamp were two moths. They both danced around, fluttering their wings to keep close. They basked in the undecided glow, moving about.
Then, they fled into the silhouette cast by the two travellers, then to the other shade.
Kazuha had opened the door to the tea house.
There was a gentle ring from a bell attached to the door.
Now, there was light. There was a path of light seeping downwards. It illuminated the outside of the door, and gave clarity to the surroundings. The faces of the two were much clearer now too, although in a warmer hue.
They stepped inside, finally seeking refuge from the pouring rain outside