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Their fighting is more like a dance, and they are perfect partners.
Kamui strikes down an assassin barreling towards her, and when his body thuds to the floor it clears an opening for Kaze’s shuriken to collide with the foreheads of the two more.
They fight with no words, only shared glances and nods of understanding permeating their huffed breathing. He knows by now the various strokes of his liege’s sword, the way she lines up her movements, the dance she performs on her tip toes to strike one enemy down whilst preparing to slash another.
They are outnumbered and alone on the top floor, their allies still on the floors below and enemies pouring onto the floor from the West staircase. But they slice down enemy after enemy in their dance.
Kamui slashes upwards at a mage, leaving her torso exposed—and Kaze appears in front of her, bracing himself against the puff of magic meant for Kamui which harmlessly washes over the resistant ninja.
Together they strike down more soldiers that lunge at the duo. Two drop dead from Kaze’s kunai. Another falls with a gaping wound left by the Yato.
The mage continues to target Kaze with a sleeping spell. Again and again, the spells from the mage wash harmlessly over Kaze, no more threatening than rain.
Kaze would never allow any of them to lay a single finger on Lady Kamui.
That’s his mantra. And that’s what makes it all the worse when everything goes wrong.
Kaze is engaged by another foot soldier when the mage changes tactics. He sees the attack in his peripheral vision and braces himself again for another attempt at a sleeping spell. But then the mage shifts the direction of her staff.
“Kamui!” He tries to warn her, but it’s too late.
He stabs the soldier before him and kicks him down, spinning around just in time to see the magic settle unto Kamui. The princess instantly drops to her knees. Her body becomes stiff, her eyes steeled ahead of her in a dead stare.
Kaze grits his teeth and with a flick of his wrist, the mage is downed by the hidden kunai he keeps up his sleeve.
The clumsy steps of a foot soldier warn him of the next attack. Kaze turns again and grapples the soldier before his axe can even be raised. Kaze breaks his neck with one clean motion and turns to the edge of the room. He needs to knock down the ladder before any more enemies can reach this floor.
Two more of his shuriken slice through the air and reach their target; the soldier climbing the ladder falls back to the previous floor with a bloody gurgle.
Kaze scans the room, still by Kamui’s side.
He’s aware of the assassin’s presence instantly.
The assassin appears before Kamui, knives ready to pierce the princess’s throat.
Kaze is in front of him in a breath.
Stupid. He should have seen the trap coming.
The assassin drops the knives and Kaze’s eyes widen as he realizes that Kamui was never the target. After all, she’s indisposed. The first rule of combat assassination is to remove the most challenging opponent first.
Kaze thrusts his own kunai forward. The assassin’s knives clang to the floor as he produces a hidden serrated blade in his hand and jabs it into Kaze’s stomach.
Kaze stifles a groan of pain through gritted teeth as the assassin twists the blade—but now he’s immobile, right where Kaze wants him. While the opponent's blade is still being twisted into his stomach, Kaze slashes his own kunai across the man’s throat. There’s a clean line of blood through the assassin’s esophagus as he falls.
Kaze drops to his knees, his face contorted in pain. He needs to leave the knife in so he won’t lose any more blood, but his stomach is aflame and he hears dripping on the stone floor beneath him.
He blinks away the blurriness encroaching his vision and scans the room. The assassin was the last hostile on the floor, but he still needs to get rid of the ladder before more arrive.
Kamui is still frozen on her knees, her eyes still as wide, horror dilating her pupils.
“I’ll be fine,” he nods to her, his voice hoarse through the pain. He knows the worst part about sleeping spells is that you never actually fall asleep—you’re conscious the entire time, but powerless to do anything.
Kaze stands and moves toward the ladder. He can still move. He’s trained for injuries like these. He keeps his left hand close to his side, applying pressure on his wound the best that he can as he makes his way to the ledge.
It’s the hand axe that catches him off guard.
Whoever is climbing the ladder must’ve been able to survey the room and duck back down, because the hand axes hurdles towards him from over the ledge. Kaze kicks it away from himself and, more importantly, away from Kamui.
But the kick leaves him wide open.
The next assassin appears instantaneously. The axe-- another distraction. Foolish-- you should have known as much.
The assassin grapples Kaze’s leg, mid-kick, and then elbows down on his knee. The bones splinter and crack as his leg caves in backwards.
Kaze wails in pain, but grits his teeth to force himself to steady. Kamui is still behind him, helpless.
He won’t allow anything to happen to her.
With one quick motion he uses the blade of his gauntlet to stab the assassin in the eye. The pain is enough to make the man buckle. Kaze uses the opening to finish him with a shuriken to the throat.
The body crumples to the floor. He tries to move quickly to the ladder—but the second he moves his leg, his body protests. He winces, and his arm automatically moves to clutch the wound in his side. He feels the heat of his own blood spread from his stomach down past his belt.
He grinds his jaw through his blurry vision and forces himself to focus on Kamui, on keeping her safe.
Move. He must force himself to move.
He hisses in pain as he takes a step, dragging his limp leg through the crumpled dirt and blood below. As he gruels through each movement, his eyes are scanning the perimeter, checking for any sign of hostility. But he and her have completely routed the area. All that remains are lifeless corpses littering the ground.
He steps over the body of a fallen soldier and grimaces as his wound burns through his side. There’s blood dripping from his nose by the time he kicks the ladder off the edge of the top floor.
Kaze collapses to his hands and knees. His chest contracts and he shudders a rasping cough that sends blood spattering to the floor.
He grunts and pulls his leg forward, forcing himself to breathe through the pain. He has time now that access to the room is cut off for their enemies, but is still ashamed that he can only crawl back to his liege. Through the throbbing in his head he hears his brother scolding him: You are pathetic. You’re trained to be better than this!
Kamui is still under the sleep spell. There are tears streaking down her frozen face.
He’s breathing heavily on his knees next to her, now. He produces a sutra from his pack and places it on her forehead gently with two fingers. Through the blood on his tongue, he recites the chant to release the spell.
The change is instant.
“ Kaze!” Her voice strains through sobs. “ Gods no, Kaze!” She’s frantic, her hands shaking as she grabs him.
He smiles weakly at his princess, beautiful even now. He tries to tell her that he’s fine. But as he draws a breath to try and speak his chest hitches and he doubles over.
“KAZE!” Kamui is berserk. She frantically scans the room. “HELP! Someone, we need a medic up here!”
The floor in front of Kaze blurs. His breaths are more and more labored.
“Kaze, Kaze,” she says. She’s cupping his face, forcing him to look into her eyes. “Please, stay with me Kaze. Please.”
He smiles at her again. Wants to tell her that he’ll be fine. That not even this pain would compare to the pain of something happening to her. But blood pools in his mouth, clogging his words.
She makes some kind of sound between a moan and a sob. Vaguely he’s aware of the sound of shouting from their allies approaching from the floor below.
“Okay, okay.” She takes a deep breath to steady herself through panic, her voice raw and hoarse. “I have some medicine that can stop the bleeding. But I have to take the knife out, okay?”
He nods. Even she is blurry now.
“Ready?” Her hands are quivering around the knife, still embedded in his stomach.
He nods again.
She grimaces and yanks the knife out. Kaze gags, clenching his arms around the wound as he coughs up more blood.
She works quickly with quaking and stained hands. “You shouldn’t have done that,” she whimpers as she applies the vulnerary to the wound. “You could have let me take the hit so you didn’t get hurt.”
He can’t help but scoff at the notion. Blood drips from the edge of the smile on his face. “Never,” he manages to whisper.
She looks up to him from her work, her eyes pained.
“I would do anything for you.”
“Stop,” she quickly says, moving one hand to wipe the blood from his lips. “You shouldn’t be speaking. I’m sorry.” Emotion cracks through her face. “Just focus on staying awake. Please stay with me.”
She pulls off her cape and wraps it around his stomach to squeeze the wound. Tears spot the fabric as they fall from her face. “I can’t lose you, Kaze,” she pleads.
It takes all of his strength to bring his hand to her cheek. He smiles at his princess, whose beautiful eyes flutter up to him. Black vignettes enclose the edges of his vision.
Reinforcements will be here soon. She’s safe. That’s all that matters.
He collapses and all is dark.
~
The first thing he’s aware of is the smell of blood.
His eyes dart open.
There’s so much blood.
His surroundings materialize into objects. A lantern to his left. A mat lined with medical supplies to his right.
The smell of blood—is permeating from him.
He notes his torso and leg have been carefully wrapped in bandages, and he’s laid out across another mat.
He shutters as he inhales. He must’ve been taken into camp for healing, but the pain of the wound still radiates up and down his body.
The tent flap at the front of the room flutters.
“Oh! You’re awake!” Elise squeals as she materializes through the opening.
Kaze nods and offers her a gentle smile. She bubbles up before he can attempt to speak.
“Kamui’s going to be so happy!” The little princess exclaims, beaming. She sets down a bowl of fresh herbs on the mat to his right, kneeling beside him and bursting with joy. “We’ve all been so worried about you! Oh! She told me to tell her as soon as you wake up. Do you think you can talk to her right now though? You lost a lot of blood.”
His throat works as he tests its functionality. His mouth is parched and his tongue is made of sandpaper, but he can speak.
“Yes,” he says, his voice scratchy.
Elise beams again. “ Yaaayy! ” She squeals. “Your healing isn’t done yet, but she’s going to be so glad you’re awake!! I’ll have her bring you some water. She’ll be so happy to see you!”
Before he can say another word, she zooms out of the tent, her arms held out to her sides as if she needed them to fly through camp.
Kaze relaxes in the silence, his mind catching up. The minty scent of healing salve permeates through the stench of blood.
They are safe. Kamui is safe.
He hears her footsteps, first, racing towards him. Not a moment sooner does the tent door burst open.
It’s his liege, his lady, his princess.
Kamui’s eyes meet his and her expression splinters.
“Kaze?” she breathes. She’s still, clutching a cup of water, but the quivering of her lip and the gloss over her eyes tells him that she is about to break into pieces.
He smiles. “I am so pleased to see you safe, Lady Kamui,” he croaks.
That does it. She grimaces and the tears spill. “ Kaze,” she hiccups.
She throws herself to him. The cup clatters, the water spills over his feet, and suddenly she’s right on top of him, knees on either side of his hips, wrapping her arms around his shoulders.
Kamui, sweet innocent Kamui, is sobbing his name into his neck. Awkwardly he shuffles his arms around her back, which only prompts her to squeeze him closer.
It hurts. She’s agitating his wounds and her body weight feels heavy on him, even though he’s lifted her before without much thought. But he doesn’t give a damn.
He’s holding her. His princess.
They stay like that, holding each other, until Kamui can catch her breath between sobs.
“I thought I lost you,” she finally manages to say. She lifts up just enough to see his face and moves one hand to hold his cheek. “I’m so happy you’re okay.”
“I am sorry to have caused you so much undue worry, milady.” His arms are still around her. Inappropriate for a ninja to his liege, he knows. Heavens forbid that someone should enter and see them tangled up together like this. But he can’t bring himself to let go. And, somewhere, deep down, he knows too that she doesn’t look at any of her other retainers the way she’s looking at him now.
She shakes her head, tears flying out the corner of her eyes. “No,” she insists. “You’re worth all the trouble in the world. I’m just glad you’re okay.”
He feels a soft smile tug at the edge of his lips, then. In this moment, holding his princess, safe with her in his arms-- he’s content.
Kamui sniffs and wipes her nose, turning to look at his feet. “I’m sorry,” she hiccups, nodding to the spilt water. “I, um. I should probably go get more of that for you.”
She moves to stand but he doesn’t unlock his arms from her. “Please,” he finds himself saying. “I would prefer your company. Would you stay with me, my princess?”
She blinks at the request, then beams. “Yes. Yes, of course!” Then, her smile softening, she cups his face with both of her soft hands. “Always, my Kaze.”