Chapter Text
the road to the cliffs beneath the kamisato estate was long and exhausting, but kazuha's feet moved without knowing how. he knew he had blisters littering his feet because from time to time, the steps he took hurt more than before. he also knew at some point the rain stopped by the way his hair stopped sticking to his forehead. but he somehow completely ignored the moment when it even started.
it's been raining for so long it might as well be forever.
among the rocky walls, the path was filled with luminescent blue flowers. the same kind grew in chinju forest, and their delicate glow turned the shadows misty.
kazuha walked with his hand supporting his steps against the wall. but even though he expected to fall onto his knees, the moment he saw tomo's grave, he only felt his chest hollow out.
he felt nothing.
it was just there; a mould of humid soil pierced down with a broken sword. blue flowers glowed against the blade where a white cat playfully smacked the petals.
kazuha knelt down.
he supposed this was the moment when he should allow himself to feel. all this burden, all this grief, now doubled in strength... it should've been spasming out of him. he should've been screaming. he should've been crying.
but he felt so empty it didn't even feel like he was real anymore.
he was unaware of how long it passed since he knelt on the ground. the white cat's head rubbed against the side of his thigh, playfully catching at his robe. the shadows deepened as the sun took a cruise across the sky. still, kazuha felt nothing.
his hand trembled when he reached down into his pocket to fish out a grey gem. just a moment ago, it had glowed again. this beautiful, lively shade he knew so well. it was almost laughable that he crossed the sea and lands looking for someone to light it up again, only for it to happen by the one it has always belonged to... in the very place where he died once.
twice.
kazuha supposed he should've let himself cry, but there was so little point to his tears that he didn't even think about it.
he placed the empty gem gently on the soil, leaning it against the blade. then, he leaned back.
he should've cried, but he also should've done many things he failed to do in two lifetimes.
two chances lost. all because he was stupid.
he should've cried. but just as it finally began feeling that he might start, he felt a strane sense of not being alone. he was skilled in detecting an intruder due to years of relying solely on his senses. but this time, he turned around to an empty space.
furrowing his eyebrows, he turned back to the grave, almost pissed that someone dared interrupt his mourning session when...
kazuha screamed and fell backwards, his head hitting on the stone wall and the cat screeching in terror as she ran away, but not before scratching him on the nose. he yelped as his eyes finally filled with tears, except it was his skull being shattered instead of a heart. holding his pulsing head in his hands, he rolled on the ground until someone gently attempted to help him up. but kazuha was actually so startled he kicked the person right were it hurt.
"oh fuck," the person huffed breathless as they bent in half, "why in the crystals—"
kazuha was up to his feet despite seeing nothing through the tears and pounding in his head. he stumbled a few times, desperately looking for his sword. he didn't find it, but he did find a good replacement. so with no hesitation whatsoever, he pulled out the broken sword through the soil and pointed it ahead, hoping it was the right direction anyway.
"...umm, kazuha?" that voice. it actually daread speak back. "you're pointing at the opposite wall."
kazuha then snapped, his heel digging into the ground as he spun around and trembled at the sight before him. blinking the tears away, the silhouette of the man finally came in full view.
just as tall as before, just the same hayrack of hair, a little scrunched in crystals' pain, red haori torn on the arms, and those eyes that constantly ridiculed him ever so gently, now looking at him and...
kazuha dropped the sword, and finally crumbled.
he clearly didn't care when he jumped and tackled the other. he clearly didn't even realise what he was doing, but his body met someone solid and warm just to flip them both down on the ground. and the man yelped as his head was plunged into the ground, then yelped louder when a punch was laid right into his shoulder. it was still hard to focus on the pain with the way kazuha finally screamed on top of him.
"YOU! YOU PIECE OF SHIT! WHO THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?! YOU THINK YOU CAN PLAY ME LIKE THAT?! DO YOU?! CAUSE I'M GONNA SPEAK ONCE AND FOR ALL SO BETTER LISTEN CLOSELY CAUSE I WON'T FUCKING REPEAT MYSELF—"
tomo smiled, gently putting some stray hair behind kazuha's ear. kazuha froze.
tomo's face blushed rosy both due to exhaustion, and perhaps due to something else, "how do i put it? you're extremely adorable when you go batshit crazy, though i would love it if you stopped hitting me. because everything fucking hurts."
kazuha froze further, "what hurts?"
"my balls, for starters."
"..."
"also everything else, but imma be good as new soon. unless you keep hitting me."
kazuha gripped him tighter on the collar and his eyes glowed furiously, "you.. "
"me."
"you?"
"me."
"you."
"i already told— MPH!"
he was shut up so fast only his eyes could pop out of his skull when kazuha kissed him, and it took the breath away from them both. kazuha tasted salty like the tears he was spewing, but sweet like lavender melons and warm like the sun setting over the forest of maple trees. he was overwhelming just because it was him, and tomo took a few seconds just to let the realisation sink.
once it did, he kissed him back until they were huffing tiredly against each other's lips, and until kazha leaned to the side, nuzzling into tomo's neck.
he could whisper sweet words to him, but nothing was sweeter than...
"i will fucking kill you."
"...three time's a charm?"
"you wanna bet?"
tomo laughed quietly, patting kazuha on the back, "kill me softly, then. my body really hurts, and once i see thoma he will hit me as well... you're all so brutal in your affection, you know that? i'm vulner— MPH!"
kazuha kissed him again.
—
"and that's the story," tomo finished, popping another spoonful of soup in his mouth.
they were all siting in komore teahouse as before. the kamisato siblings were calmly listening, while thoma finished sobbing his brains out in the third tissue pack, the traveler shyly patting him on the back, and kazuha sitting with the white cat clutched into his grip and eyes open wide.
tomo was starved, as if half a year away from his regular body came with the rumbling of his stomach. but he was denied any actual food other than soup, because ayaka freaked out, "what if your body rejects it? you were dead... kind of?"
ayato furrowed his eyebrows, "it's quite a story, really. i was thinking about it ever since you appeared first in the estate... i suppose we're meant to never understand gods but..."
"yeah," thoma sniffled. "but if you're here and your body is here then what is buried in that grave?"
tomo shrugged, "i don't know, but i kinda wanna dig it out and—"
"no," kazuha said sternly.
"but—"
"no."
tomo pouted, putting his spoon away, "no fun at all."
"you've had enough fun for the past while, grow the fuck up," thoma growled. "also, why the fuck are you even here? the time ran out, didn't it?"
tomo shook his head, "well... no. or it did, but i was sort of put back where ei was. in that eternity bubble, you know. and basically she said that i made it by a moment so short she had troubles deciding what was first - time running out or kazuha realising it was me. she had a headache to decide, so in the end we just threw dice—"
"YOU WHAT?"
"—and i got to come back. but i'm banned from ever talking to raiden shogun again. not that i want to, anyway. this woman... she's kinda hot tho."
kazuha face-palmed himself, "are you serious?"
"what? you jealous? i didn't complain when you called lady ningguang sexy."
"this is beside the point."
"this is n—"
"okay, but wait," aether stopped them before tomo attacked kazuha with a fork. "you said you had to make kazuha realise but also couldn't actually do anything because of the shackle... then how did you even do it in the end?"
tomo shrugged, "ask him. i would also like to know."
at that, kazuha smirked. everyone's head turned to him curiously.
"it wasn't really difficult. this idiot is one of a kind, but it was just... hard to believe. to be honest i started suspecting you a long time ago."
"when?"
"at first, during the duels for the vision in guyun stone forest. you didn't want the prize, and when we asked why you said you only came here to sightsee. you told me the same thing when i caught you stealing lavender melon from my own yard."
tomo's mouth hanged open, "technically, it was no longer yours—"
"then," kazuha continued, "when we traveled, it often felt familiar... especially when you'd act like a maniac and yell at frogs. but the breaking point for my suspicion was when you said that all the roads lead back home."
"...why? that was clearly the most innocent of things to say."
"it would be, if it wasn't exactly what you said once when you were drunk and missing your old home in inazuma. i was trying to comfort you saying we could go anywhere, but you insisted that all the roads would bring you home anyway."
tomo furrowed his eyebrows, "it's still an innocent thing to say."
"yeah. but i particularly liked it. after you said it all drunk and sad, i might have started having feelings for you."
everyone gathered suddenly looked away. ayaka got up and evacuated herself, leaving the door open for ayato to squirm away. thoma looked helplessly at the traveler, and they nodded to each other. clearly, tomo and kazuha didn't even pay them any mind, for they messed up their hair on their way out but they didn't even blink.
tomo was gawking at him, "you're kidding me."
"no."
"but that's so stupid, there had to be other moments when—"
"there were, but we're talking about the breaking point. later on it only felt harder when you would act... like you. but i didn't know. maybe if we fought sword on sword—"
"yeah, most likely. but the damned shackle... pain in the neck, literally."
kazuha smiled, "so you were really sitting with me incognito for three months and witnessing my worst."
tomo shrugged, "personally, i think there used to be worse times. when YOU would get drunk, for example."
kazuha rolled his eyes, "you're missing the entire point."
"no, i'm not."
"yes, yes you are."
"then what is that point you're talking about?"
"the point is i always loved you," kazuha said casually and tomo choked. "and i'm sorry you had to die twice to hear it."
for a good minute tomo's mouth was simply moving without making a sound, his face simply stupid. then, he finally blushed and covered his face in hands, leaning back in the chair and curling up.
kazuha was stunned, "what is wrong with you?"
tomo wheezed.
kazuha narrowed his eyes, "seriously, what's wrong with you?"
tomo wheezed harder, then glared at him briefly, "shut up, i'm going through it. my crush likes me back, let it sink in, would ya?" and came back to wheezing.
kazuha's jaw hanged open. it took him also a good minute to move and smack tomo's shoulder, "come on, you idiot. we already kissed, why are you like this?"
"leave me alone."
"like hell i will! you're bound to me until you die again but not earlier than seventy years."
tomo peeked from between his fingers, "you sure you don't want lady ningguang instead?"
kazuha smacked him harder, and tomo wailed pitifully.
"I TOLD YOU EVERYTHING HURTS STOP BEING MEAN TO ME."
"no, you're asking for it."
"i swear i will go back to ei and— MPH!! FOR THE FUC— MPH! KAZUHA! STOP KISSING M— MPH!!!"
the end.