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Kanae hadn’t been running, or anything like that, but her heart was thumping painfully in her ribcage like a jackrabbit trapped in its box.
She recognised that tall figure stepping elegantly into the convenience store a few paces away from her, even when he was not in his stupid Spanish matador warrior attire and instead was clad in a thick white coat in lieu of the frosty weather. She’d know those idiotic horns anywhere, sticking out of his head like two poles - were they real horns, Kanae wondered?
She cursed under her breath. It must just be the cold getting to her, she mused. The winter weather did things to a girl, especially since she had foolishly decided to continue wearing a crop top in the freezing cold, and the leather jacket she had on wasn’t helping much.
“Seriously? I need to get warmed up and find that pub instead of standing out here in the snow. And that freaking ox of a man just went in the only convenience store available for miles. Now what am I supposed to do, huh?”
Kanae had her reasons for avoiding the warrior, else known as Ushii, the Natural-Born Slayer, to many of the population. She had no idea who had won the Juuni Taisen in the end and wished them alive, but she wasn’t naive enough to hope that the others hadn’t been resurrected as well. But him, in particular, she had directed a few well-chosen sentiments at him right before her death, and it was going to be hell if he confronted her about it.
Well, I was thinking I’d be dead anyway, so why not just confess to him. I didn’t think to be subtle at all. It wasn’t like I’d get teased and embarrassed by him if I wasn’t here to witness it. But now…
“Ugh! I can’t believe I’m in this situation!” She let a few more expletives slip out of her mouth, earning her scandalized looks from an elderly passerby who stared at her crop top with a raised eyebrow and scuttled away.
Kanae sighed, shrugging on her jacket forcefully and kicking at the curb. She decided to just hover around the entrance of the convenience store casually until Ushii walked out, and run inside as quickly as she could. After all, that was her best strategy-
“Uh, excuse me? Tora-san? Is that you...”
“Crap! No, my name isn’t Tora!”
She couldn’t stop herself from yelling, and made the huge mistake of whipping around, almost colliding with Ushii’s broad chest as he surveyed her with equal amounts of surprise and amusement on his face. A fierce blush spread over Kanae’s cheeks as she ducked her head, unable to look him in the eye. She knew she hadn’t any choice but to face up to it now, more so since she’d been discovered.
“We meet again, Warrior of the Tiger.”
Ushii’s eyes had a warm tone to them, something hidden flickering in their depths, and Kanae was able to relax marginally as she stopped fidgeting with the edges of her jacket.
“Yes, I wasn’t really expecting us to be reunited in this way,” She admitted honestly, stuffing her hands awkwardly into the pockets of her leather jacket. “I-I wasn’t lying though, you do know my name isn’t Tora right-”
Ushii laughed, and Kanae’s heart stopped. She had tried to avoid meeting him in any situation outside the Juuni Taisen, precisely because of this reason. His laugh, and how different a person he was when he wasn’t a warrior on the battlefield. She had feared that he’d take up even more space in her mind, and she hadn’t been wrong.
“Of course. Those were our warrior names. I doubt any one of us would reveal our real names in such a bloodthirsty battle as the Juuni Taisen. On that note, it seems like we’ve all been brought back to life for some reason.”
Kanae shrugged, unwilling to let her suppressed smile slip on her face as she watched Ushii’s hair sway in the wind.
“I’d rather not talk about the Taisen, to be honest. My name’s Kanae Aira, if you’re curious. Not that I want to tell you or anything.”
“Just as headstrong as ever, hmm? I’m Eiji Kashii. And if you don’t want to mention the Taisen, that’s fine by me. It’s a thing of the past, anyway. But what brings you here?”
Eiji Kashii.
Kanae rolled the name around in her head. It was perfect. So flawless, so beautiful, the syllables so infinitely his. The next moment, she snapped back to reality, a wry smile crossing her face as she stopped her train of thought.
I’m definitely in this deep, aren’t I?
She wasn’t about to tell him that she got lost when she was trying to find the local pub. Although she had given up most of her alcoholism after the Taisen, this was a rare day when she had been in the mood for a small beer. It’s not like he would accompany her, or anything. Kanae sighed as the realisation burned in her chest, painfully. She was nothing but a former comrade to him.
And so she blurted out the first lie she thought of, on impulse.
“I live here. This is my home province. I was going to warm up in that convenience store when you went in, and I was about to leave when I saw you, and you ruined everything!”
She stiffened as she saw the expression on Eiji’s face change. This time, she hadn’t imagined that momentary flash of sadness and pain in his eyes. Startled, Kanae shuffled her boots in the snow, unable to meet his gaze.
“So… you were going to avoid me? I thought as much,” He laughed, with no humor in his tone. “I was wondering if I would be able to share a drink with you, especially on this winter day, but I think I’ve intruded for too long. I apologize.”
Then he was turning to leave, his coat swishing in the snow as his boots ground into the floor and Kanae almost screamed out in frustration. She wasn’t going to let him just leave like that, even though she was trying to prevent herself from falling in love with him, trying to avoid embarrassing herself.
Whatever. I’m already there. To tell the truth, it started when I joined the Taisen for him. I can’t let him go like this.
“H-Hey!” In a moment of weakness, Kanae latched both of her slender hands onto Eiji’s departing form, clutching his wrist in slight desperation. He turned in astonishment, strands of his hair brushing her fingers.
“C-Could you stay with me a little longer? I was actually searching for the local pub, and it’d be the greatest honor for me to drink with you! Together.”
“I...what...”
Eiji stammered, shock seeping into his words, his eyes widening. He glanced back and forth between his arm, Kanae’s hands, and her face. The instant their eyes met, Kanae choked on thin air as she realised exactly what was going through Eiji’s mind.
A small tent. Snow falling outside the flap, a gentle glow coming from the inside. Kanae sat unsteadily on the side of the makeshift bed and gazed up at the valiant warrior who had saved her. And he, in contrast, had straightened up from Kanae and was turning to leave.
“Well, take care of yourself.”
Kanae couldn’t bear the fact that these were going to be their parting words. That she would never be able to meet the warrior who inspired her, who gave her motivation, ever again. And so in a desperate move not befitting her personality, she grabbed his wrist in one fluid motion as he took his first step away from her.
“H-Hey…”
He glanced back, slight confusion on his face as his eyebrows drew together. Kanae struggled to formulate a sentence.
“C-Could you stay with me a little longer? I’m still not feeling well.”
A half-smile spread across his face. Whether it was out of pity or amusement, she didn’t know.
“I’m afraid I can’t do that. I have many more children like you to save. That’s my job.”
Then in a swift movement he had brushed off Kanae’s hands, and departed for the tent flap, leaving her staring shellshocked at his back.
“Then, in the future, be sure to stay away from battlefields. I will pray that you never have to witness killing like mine… slaughter like mine, ever again.”
An emptiness dawned on Kanae’s heart as she stepped out of her tent and gazed up at the night sky. From that moment on, her mind was set, her path clear. It would be an honor to share the battlefield with this particular warrior once again, to have him acknowledge her as an equal, and Kanae had a goal once more.
Contrary to the past, Eiji hadn’t brushed off Kanae’s hands this time. His mouth was slightly agape as he tried to form a coherent sentence, and it was the first time Kanae had seen him this way before.
“Kanae… you… I remember…”
A light smile found its way across her face, and there was an unknown emotion expanding in her chest as Eiji stopped in his tracks and turned to face her, and they stood just like that in the cold air, snowflakes falling on their shoulders, their intertwined hands the only source of heat in the breeze.
Kanae decided that those two words, I remember, would suffice for the frantic beating of her heart and the way that Eiji’s eyes were sparkling with a newfound reassurance that their paths had crossed once more in the hands of fate.
“You do the right thing, but how do you do it?” She whispered, all aware that she could feel the thrumming of his pulse beneath her fingers, the closeness of his contact the warmest fire one could ever strike in the most bitter winter.
“First, I try to do the right thing.”
Eiji’s eyes darkened, and Kanae’s breathing hitched at the way he had now pulled her into a slight embrace, his hand resting lightly on her waist and the other hand cupping her cheek with a tender gentleness.
“Then, I do the right thing.”
A slight rush of movement was the only warning Kanae got before she felt Eiji’s lips gracing hers. She leaned back into him, heady in the dizzying sensation of skin-on-skin contact, his movements betraying a supple sweetness and his scent pervading her senses. She realised this was the moment both of them had been craving for so long, the final coda of closure to their past and the ignition of a flame that meant a new beginning. The feeling of her fingers threading through his hair, the sensation of his steady palm on her waist.
Everything culminated in a single motion, the kiss they shared impossibly chaste yet in a way scorching through the two warriors’ hearts like a blazing inferno.
Unwillingly, Kanae was the first to pull away, a blush gracing her cheeks as she tried to steady her breathing. It seemed to have a similar effect on Eiji, for the Natural-Born Slayer had a self-conscious expression on his face as the two avoided direct eye contact.
“So. Um. I wanted to say…” Kanae started.
“Yes. I… thank you.”
“Same to you.”
The emotion coursing through them couldn’t be summed up in a few words, and they knew that all too well. After a while, Kanae broke the silence between them.
“I almost forgot! If you’re gonna drink with me, I swear I searched up this amazing local bar but I seriously have no idea how to get there. They sell the best mulled beer in the country, apparently.”
Laughing, she shrugged as she directed Eiji an expectant gaze.
“Fine, fine. I know the way. Let’s go.”
“Yes!” She exclaimed, and started running forward, only to be halted.
Shaking his head in exasperation and amusement, Eiji sighed as he pointed behind him, “It’s this way. Really, I would never have known that a strong warrior like you could be so bad with directions.”
“I can’t decide if that’s a compliment or an insult!”
Kanae felt Eiji’s hand slip into hers as they walked to the bar, with her yammering on about beer and him interjecting a few times with a grin on his face.
The air now had something magical to it, the snow ever so pristine, and her heart was once again thumping like a jackrabbit trapped in its box - only this time, it wasn’t accompanied by pain, but rather by sweet strands of affection.
It was truly one of the warmest winters Kanae had ever experienced.