Chapter Text
Natsumi is warm.
Axesuke can’t exactly complain. It’s cold out, and Natsumi likes traveling light. She’s warm enough.
He runs a finger through her hair before pausing, confused. It’s been so long since he’s been able to feel such gentle touch.
Probably since Minori was killed.
(The girl that killed her was also Axesuke’s first kill, after all, and one he never regretted, but that’s a separate can of worms. To deal with when humans have time for therapy again.)
“It’s been so long,” Natsumi says. “Since I’ve had someone with me. You’re so… hug shaped.”
Axesuke scoffs.
“Hug shaped?” He asks. Natsumi nods, burrowing her face into his chest.
“You’ve had food,” she says. “But you’re strong. So now you’re just… hug shaped.”
“Is that why you let me have more?”
“I do that because I’m used to less,” Natsumi says. “I like… this, more.”
She really is so pretty. Axesuke isn’t sure if he should cross that line, but he notices, and she is his , either way.
Her eyes look up at him slowly. She needs him. It makes him almost want to be a good person, something he hasn’t been able to imagine in years.
“I happen to like this, too,” he admits. “I like being together. And lucky for you, I can protect us, too.”
Natsumi hmms.
“Let’s protect each other, okay?” She asks. “I’m so sick of loss.”
Axesuke cups her face.
“So am I,” he admits. “Be mine, won’t you? I won’t let another thing of mine be hurt.”
Natsumi’s eyes furrow.
“You don’t know that,” she says. “And it’s not just us.”
Ugh. Right.
(But this is why he cannot stop thinking about her. She is good. She is wonderful, has the potential to be a hero. And she’s his .)
“…I guess not.”