Chapter Text
It was another relatively peaceful day for Komugi, another day where she was blessed with being able to feel 'happy'. She had just finished another Gungi match with the King, and although he had not told her his name, she still felt rather content. She decided that perhaps, she wasn't worthy of knowing his name anyways. After all, she was but a clumsy nuisance whose only talent was Gungi. She hums contently as she sits down on the floor next to her Gungi board, and begins to run her fingers against the edges of the board. As she ponders today's events, her mind wanders to the mysterious new supreme leader. He was quite different from the last one, but better, she had decided. He was rather nice to her, and that was something she surely was not used to from anyone, not even her own family; because of this, he held a special place in her heart. Her feelings for him were indescribable to even herself, for she had never once experienced a relationship or forged a bond such like this one. She began to contemplate what exactly it was that she felt for him, as her fingers subconsciously began to delicately trace over the pieces she had previously placed on the board. Being blind her whole life, she was always detached from her surroundings. She often wandered into her own mind to seek solace, as the outside world felt so foreign to her, like something she never quite belonged to.
A thud from behind her snaps her out of her thoughts. She turns her head to the source of the noise, albeit realizing that she will not be able to see the cause. Perhaps one of the people that were always with the supreme leader had come to get her to play Gungi again. So soon? She wondered, for she knew she couldn't have been daydreaming that long, and it was surely the middle of the night. She wasn't hasty to dismiss it though, as the supreme leader often had the tendency to call her at seemingly random times to play Gungi. It was as if the whim just hit him sometimes, and she was being pulled back into a match, the one world she was familiar with. Komugi felt a sense of comfort when she was summoned to play Gungi with the supreme leader, it felt as if she was finally needed for something, by someone. This feeling helped make her feel a little bit more whole, as if she was finally experiencing something she had missed out on her entire life.
"Supreme leader?" She tilts her head up and asks meekly. Komugi knew there was a slim chance it was actually him that had decided to wander into her room, but embarrassingly, she was unable to remember any of the names of those who did come to get her. She knows she's heard them before, but she can never recall their names when she needs to. She is met with momentary silence before the rustle of noise continues, getting louder, and closer. Puzzled by the lack of response, Komugi decides to call out again, but before she can get the words to come out, she feels something sharp pierce her arm. She draws back quickly, confused and overwhelmed by the situation she's now found herself in. Sometimes being unable to see what's going on around you is a real detriment, now happens to be one of those times.
As she continues to feel an assault of sharp, what she presumes to be nails of some sort, claw against her hands and forearms, she slowly begins to assess and piece it together. Whoosh sound, probably flapping, means wings. Long sharp piercing feeling, probably claws. Her assumptions are quickly confirmed when the creature assaulting her lets out a startling caw. She sniffles, and raises her arm to block her face, but not before the creature, which she knows now to be a bird, is able to get a few good scratches in on her cheeks. At least it missed the important parts, like my eyes. She lets out a small chuckle under her breath. It sure would suck if it scratched my eyes out and I went blind. Yes, she would keep herself preoccupied with jokes and banter that only she could hear. This is all she could do after all, she wasn't strong enough to fight it off, hell, she couldn't even see it to fight it off. And it was so late, people were sleeping and there's no way she could even think to yell for help and wake someone up. Surely the bird would get bored of attacking a helpless, blind girl eventually. Once it realizes it has nothing to gain and is no longer entertained, it'll be on its merry way. Komugi was sure she could hold out until then, she's endured much worse pain. It's not the first time she's been attacked by something, or someone, and sadly she knows it won't be the last. She sits like this for several minutes, trying to shield her face with her arms because the skin on her face is more sensitive. She would rather her arms be the ones injured instead, as it heals faster and causes less pain. The bird is relentless, and just as Komugi is giving up hope on it ever leaving her alone, she is startled by a new, sudden noise of what she recognizes to be her bedroom doors slamming open.
Mere moments later, and a couple whooshing noises as well, which Komugi is unable to recognize or parse, she realizes that she is no longer being assaulted. She lowers her arms and looks upwards, presumably where her rescuer is, as they have just busted in through the door. Oh no, I wonder if the bird cawing woke someone up. I hope they aren't upset with me. She shudders at the thought of having to deal with one of the supreme leader's bodyguards when they are upset. They don't even seem to enjoy the fact that she's around to begin with, she can't imagine what hell they would unleash upon her if she had managed to upset one of them.
"Thank you..very much." She stumbles out. It comes out too quickly, her voice is shaky and you can tell she's been holding back tears.
"Why did you not call for help?" The voice she recognizes as belonging to the supreme leader echoes throughout the room almost immediately after she finishes speaking. She hears his footsteps get closer as he crouches down to her. She can feel his breath on her face, and her anxiety level rises. She's upset him, and in her mind, that is the absolute worst mistake she could possibly make. But before she can stumble out an apology, he speaks up once again.
"Here..." He declares, and Komugi can hear an edge in his voice that she's never heard before. Beneath all the frustration his voice masks another feeling, fear. Before Komugi has the time to wonder why he would be feeling either of those things in regards to the situation at hand, or to her, her hand is being gently cradled in his.
"And here... you're covered in blood!" He shouts, a bit too loudly, and Komugi inwardly cringes a bit. She fidgets, all too distracted by the way he is now holding her hand. It's weird, it's foreign, she's never had someone touch her with such gentleness. He holds her like you would a glass vase, with the utmost tenderness and care as to not shatter it. She is merely human after all, an incredibly fragile creature. She realizes after a moment of awkward silence, that she should respond to the question he had asked her previously, it would be very bad if she upset him any further.
"Because, it's still early.." She begins, her voice is calm and smooth, as she does her best to conceal the bundle of anxiety and nerves tearing at her. She hears a soft gasp, and the grip around her hand tightens ever so lightly. "..and I didn't want to bother anyone." She finishes, exhaling a breath she didn't know she had been holding. A brief moment of tense silence passes before the King opens his mouth again.
"You aren't bothering anyone." He says so firmly, so confidently, that Komugi's heart rate increases. "You are an important guest." The assertion in his tone, it makes her want to believe every word. But surely, there's no way someone like her could be important, there's no way she would ever be anything but a bother. But the way he said it, he was so sure of the words coming out of his mouth, as if he believed them with his whole heart. Her heart began to flutter, and her face began to sting. She could feel the telltale signs of crying start to creep up on her slowly, first her nose started burning, then her eyes began to sting. Her throat felt like it was closing, and her nose began to leak a bit more. It wasn't long before the tears began to pour out of her sightless eyes, and her mouth opened to produce rather unflattering whimpers that she was unable to hold back. The soft whimpers began to grow, until she was outright bawling. She could feel her cheeks start to heat up, partly from crying, partly from the embarrassment of what she a fool she was making out of herself in front of such an important person. Clearly startled by her sudden outburst, the King releases her hand and stands up immediately.
"Why do you cry?" He doesn't understand her, he doesn't understand most humans, but her, he especially doesn't understand. He doesn't understand how she can be so ordinary, yet so special. He doesn't understand how she can provoke such a wide array of feelings and emotions from him when the others merely bore or frustrate him. He doesn't understand why he cares for someone so small, fragile, and insignificant when he is the King. He was born to rule, born to be the ultimate life form. He doesn't understand exactly what she makes him feel.
"I'm sorry!" Komugi suddenly blurts out, interrupting his train of confusing thoughts. "But..but.." She stumbles on her words, trying her hardest to convey what she's trying to say through her tears.
"No one's ever been this nice to me." Suddenly any of the tears she might have been holding back all come flooding out at once, and she's even more of a loud, crying mess. Well, so much for keeping quiet and not waking anyone up. But she barely minds, because the one person she was worried most about bothering is standing in front of her, worried for her wellbeing, chastising her for not getting someone to help her. It's all too much for her to handle, and she's emotionally overwhelmed. She's embarrassed and she wants to stop crying and thank him properly, but she can't find it in her. It took all of the mental willpower she had to keep herself calm during the bird attack, and now she was left completely vulnerable. Her protective walls had been shattered and she was entirely exposed. This was dangerous, and that she knew all too well. She was ready to be berated once more, ready to be yelled at for being loud and obnoxious, and for being too foolish to call for help. But the harsh words and reprimands never came, instead the King stood silently, patiently waiting for her to finish crying.
Many minutes passed by, so many that Komugi had lost count, until she began to calm down. Her shrieks and sobs died down to soft whimpers once again as her frail body shook, the last of her outburst beginning to leave her. The gentle night air blew against her face from the open window to help dry her remaining tears, leaving her face feeling cool. Komugi's brain began to function once again, and as she wiped her nose against her sleeve, she began to reassess the situation in her mind. But no matter how many times she thought it over, she couldn't understand it. How had the supreme leader heard what was going on? She had been sure to be as quiet as possible. Was it the bird's obnoxious cawing? It couldn't have been that loud, after all it is a very large castle, and although she is not sure exactly how large it is as she is unable to see it, she knows how far she has to walk to get from her room to the room where they play Gungi. Most importantly, why did he help her? It made no sense, and she couldn't understand his motivations. She wasn't stupid, she had heard people talk about what happens to those who came to play games with the supreme leader. Once he tired of their presence, they never came back out of the castle. Surely her time of boring him was coming soon, wasn't it? Or maybe he wanted to wait until he beat her before he finally rid of her. Komugi had always figured he would get frustrated with her much before then.
This was all too much for her to process or make sense of; people were always much too complicated, unlike Gungi. Gungi was the only thing she understood, she was never very good at understanding feelings or emotions, and she was definitely not very good at understanding other people. But the supreme leader was different from other people, wasn't he? She could tell, the way he walked sounded different, the way he carried himself was different, the way he talked to her and treated her was different. At first she assumed it was his position of power, but she's heard many things about the people who rule over others, and he was nothing like them. He was different, he was kinder. He felt more real to her than anyone else she had met in her life.
"Are you okay?" The King spoke, drawing Komugi out of her thoughts. She jumps a bit, startled by the sudden sound, forgetting he had still not left the room.
"I-I'm okay." She stutters out, and chides herself inwardly almost immediately for it. She had already made a fool of herself enough tonight, she should try to make it up to him properly.
"Thank you, for helping me." This time it comes out without a stutter, but he can still hear the shakiness in her voice. "I'm sorry for the trou-"
"You're still bleeding." He cuts her off before she can finish her apology. Komugi frowns, she doesn't understand why he wouldn't want to hear her apologize. She made such a mess, she woke him up, and then made a complete fool out of herself.
"I'll be okay." She tries her best to give him a smile, but even she can tell the pain is visible on her face. She knows this when she hears him let out a soft sigh, before she hears his odd footsteps begin to walk away from her. He's leaving, finally something she understands. This action makes sense to Komugi, after all of the confusing feelings and emotions that have wreaked havoc on her tonight, she finally understands this one. People leave her frequently, she's used to nobody staying, especially when she's done something wrong or upset someone. But what she doesn't expect is for the footsteps to return a few moments later. Komugi looks up from the floor, still attempting to sniff away the last of her crying spell, with no real success as her nose has always been prone to dripping regardless of whether or not she is crying. Once again she can feel his breath near her face, and she registers this as him crouching in front of her again. Her heart is racing again, why is this? She doesn't understand.
"You need to stay still." He commands her, but it doesn't sound loud or harsh. The way he speaks is firm, but gentle, and that gentleness drives Komugi's heartbeat up several notches. Nevertheless, she manages to remain as still as she possibly can despite the fact she is still very shaky. The King seems to notice this, and moves towards her very slowly, as if he is trying not to frighten off a deer. He gently places his hand underneath her arm, and raises it up so that he has a better view. It's at this moment that Komugi notices that he seems to lack a finger. She wonders what happened to it, but knows it would be incredibly insensitive to ask, so she keeps her mouth shut. She jumps a bit when she feels a stinging sensation on her arm, and it takes her a few moments before her brain registers that he's cleaning her wounds. The grip on her arm tightens slightly again, but it's so gentle that Komugi feels as if she's going to melt under his touch.
Komugi's sudden movement startles the King, and he reflexively squeezes her arm a bit tighter in response, reminding himself that he needs to be incredibly gentle with her. Humans are such incredibly fragile creatures. He notices her brows furrow together as her teeth sink into her lower lip, this must be her natural response to pain. Regardless of how it is affecting her, she's still doing a very good job of staying still. The King frowns, and almost immediately wonders why that was his natural response to her being in pain. Deep down, he knows he cares about her, but it is something he is unwilling to admit to himself. It is foolish indeed, considering he went to great lengths to care for her wounds when he had no such obligation to do so. He questions his own actions, why did he not just summon Pitou to handle it? He reasons that they are so minor, it would be a waste. They have better things to do anyways, like use their En to monitor the area around the castle. Pitou had been insistent that this was a job they must be diligent in fulfilling; and although the King found it to be pointless as he was more than capable of killing anything that threatened to step within arm's reach, he had decided it harmed nothing to simply leave them to their vice. The answer to his first question only brings upon a second; so then why did he not simply leave her? After all, she did say she was fine, and her injuries were clearly nowhere near fatal. She would still be able to fulfill her purpose of playing Gungi just fine, and that's all he really needed her for right? He found his mind befuddled, he couldn't give himself an answer that would satisfy him. There was also this incredibly new and irritating feeling that had been tugging at the back of his heart and mind ever since he stepped foot in the door to witness her being attacked. This feeling was new to him, but he knew what it was supposed to mean, guilt. After all, he had originally come into her room with the purpose of killing her, and now here he sits, gently dabbing her wounds with an alcohol filled cotton ball, listening to her hiss ever so slightly in response; and every time she does, he decidedly dabs even gentler next time. It perplexes him to the point of immense frustration, he is the King, how is it that he does not understand something so simple as his own emotions? He doesn't know how to process this, so he decides to push it to the back of his mind and focus on the task at hand.
Pulling a pack of cloth wraps out of the first aid kit that he had grabbed from the infirmary of the castle, which he did not know existed until moments ago, he begins to wrap the cloth gently over her arm. Once this is done, he tends to the second arm with just as much care as the first. Feeling somewhat proud of himself, although he'd never admit it, of being able to complete such a task without any problems, he finally decides to tackle the biggest obstacle. The King stares into Komugi's blank eyes, and begins to inwardly wonder for how long she has had them open. Although he knows she cannot see anything through them, he still feels a chill run down his spine as he makes eye contact with her. Not liking the way his heart began to beat slightly faster, or the way his face began to heat up, he decides to immediately move his eyes to the cuts across her cheeks.
"I don't think I'm supposed to wrap this around your face." He blurts out suddenly, not realizing how long it had gone before either of them had spoken any words. Komugi jumps a bit at his sudden declaration, her face beginning to heat up at the idea of him touching it.
"No.." She starts, but it comes out way too soft, so she clears her throat before speaking again. "Do you have any Band-Aids? The sticky kind?"
"Band-Aids.." He repeats with slight confusion and wonder. Sensing that he is unsure of what she is talking about, she begins to describe them as best as she can.
"Well, you see they're kind of like, these round little stickers, but they're a long kind of round. They stick to your skin but there's a middle part that isn't sticky. That's where the cut is supposed to go." She explains. The King is even more confused by her rather vague explanation, but decides to look in the first aid kit anyways to see if there is anything that may match her description. He stumbles across a box clearly labeled "Band-Aids" and is thankful for the fact he didn't have to play twenty questions with Komugi in order to find them.
"I found them." He declares, figuring it would be better to keep her updated on the situation. Her lips twitch into a small smile, and she nods softly. His heart flutters. Why? He doesn't understand, and he doesn't like things he doesn't understand. It frustrates him. He grabs another cotton ball out of the small baggy, and pours a generous amount of alcohol onto it. He raises his hand up so that it is level with her face, but finds he is confused on how to proceed from here. He can't really get the right angle like this, and he's afraid that if he just goes in and dabs it that she might startle, and he could jab it too hard. He knows what he has to do to accomplish this task, and his mouth suddenly feels very dry. He licks his lips. He can do this, he is the King. This is a simple objective, and he feels foolish for letting it play so intensely on his emotions, emotions that he does not understand.
"Komugi." He speaks to get her attention. The girl's gaze shifts slightly more towards him, as if she is trying to look at the source of the sound even though she cannot look at anything.
"I'm going to hold your face." The way he said that was wrong, he can tell as soon as he says it, but he doesn't know how else he was supposed to say it. He can tell it's wrong by the way Komugi stills, the way her eyes start to blink rapidly, and the way her cheeks begin to redden. This reaction makes his heart flutter once again. Why does it do that? He doesn't understand. Instead of giving a verbal reaction, she nods her head much too fast. He almost wonders how she doesn't dizzy herself. Figuring that it'd be best to get this over with sooner than later, he reaches out and gently grabs her chin. Her breath hitches, he can hear it. The way it suddenly stops, and the room gets so much quieter; so quiet that he can hear how heavy and fast her heart is suddenly beating. Why does she react like that? He's only touching her face in order to treat her injuries. He doesn't know, and that frustrates him, because he doesn't like not knowing things. He takes care to dab the injuries on her face as gently as possible, knowing that the skin on a human's face tends to be much more sensitive. Once he has finished, and there is no longer blood covering her cheeks, he picks up a Band-Aid and attempts to put it over the first scratch. It just falls off, and he looks at it with confusion and disdain as the small piece of latex and paper flutters to the floor.
"I thought it was supposed to be sticky." He spits out, irritation laced in his voice. He shouldn't be upset at this simple object, in fact it doesn't actually bother him in the slightest. But there are other things on his mind that are currently bothering him, and because he does not understand how to make it stop, he finds himself irritated at every little thing that isn't right.
"D-Did you peel the back off?" Komugi asks timidly, shying away from him. She can sense he is upset, and that instills a fear in her that comes from years of trauma and abuse. It is a natural reaction at this point, a reflex.
"The back?" He questions, this time more softly, as he is not so dense as to miss the way she seems to recoil whenever he is even the slightest bit harsh. He doesn't know why he cares so much.
"The back has a paper on it that makes sure the sticky stuff doesn't stick to anything it's not supposed to. You have to take it off first." Her eyes are cast downward, her whole face tilted towards the floor as if she feels afraid he is going to yell at her. He doesn't like that, why would he yell at her? She has done nothing wrong. It's not her fault the Band-Aid won't stick, it's not her fault the bird decided to attack her, and it's not her fault he can't place these foreign and odd feelings he seems to get whenever he is around her. But it is her fault isn't it? It's only when he is around her specifically. He feels this way with no one else. He ponders asking Pitou later if humans are capable of using a nen that manipulates how one can feel into an indescribable mass of emotions, perhaps he is being hexed by her somehow. He then scolds himself inwardly for being so foolish, he knows she cannot use nen for such a purpose. She isn't even aware it exists at all, and the only time she has even shown to use it was during a Gungi match. Even then, she didn't know she was using it, and her powers seem to lie only in her abilities to play Gungi. Therefore it is logical to assume that she is not manipulating how he feels with nen or any other force. So then, what is she doing to him? What is it that he is feeling, and why? He doesn't understand it in the slightest, and he hates that. He sighs, at nobody but himself and his own internal struggle, and picks the Band-Aid back up off of the ground. He flips it over to the white side, and pulls the flap of white paper back until it is completely off, and tosses it to the side. It looks like it did indeed have a back on it. He looks back up into Komugi's downcast eyes and frowns. There are only three scratches on her face, two on her left cheek, and one on her right. This will be quick, and then he can leave and be alone and away from her and all of these weird things he makes her feel. But the thought of leaving her sends a twinge of upset throughout him. He bites down on his lip until it draws blood. Why does he feel like this? He gently cups her chin again and tilts her head upwards so her face is within view. She has a blank look in her eyes, but he doesn't know what else he would expect from them. He places the Band-Aid on the singular cut on her right cheek, and begins to dig out another one from the box. It happens to be then when Komugi finally decides to speak up.
"C-Can I ask you something...maybe?" She fumbles out. Her voice cracks twice, and her cheeks redden even further out of embarrassment. The King makes short noise of acknowledgement while he carefully peels off the back of the second Band-Aid, which she takes as an invitation to continue.
"Why is it that...you're doing this?" Her eyes are fluttering in several directions, trying to look in so many places even though she cannot see anything anywhere. He believes this to be a sign of nervousness, but he does not understand why she is nervous. He gently places the Band-Aid on one of the cuts on her left cheek, and pauses momentarily to think. But the answer never comes to him; and because he does not know how to respond to her, he finishes placing the third Band-Aid gently onto her face, gathers the first aid kit, and leaves.