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He only placed a small portion of food on his plate again.’
Gorou noticed from the corner of his eyes as he sat in the mess hall. The one beside him didn’t seem to notice his gaze as he continued sharing a poem he had recently come up with to the other soldiers of the Watatsumi Resistance sitting around them.
After dinner, they were allowed to rest that night, each in a sleeping bag on each side of the tent. He heard it, the stomach growling along with Kazuha’s light snores. Something Gorou heard every night. He hated growls. From beasts, from his own mouth, but especially when they came from the stomach of someone he fights alongside with.
~~
Kazuha stood in the middle of a patch of grass. His eyes were closed as he focused on his surroundings. Suddenly, an arrow was flying his way- but avoided it by simply taking a step back. More arrows were quickly slung his way, from a variety of angles.
The samurai managed to avoid the arrows from grazing him. All except one. It was shooting towards his leg, but Kazuha took a misstep on his footing and had to use the wind to sway the direction of the arrow before it pierced him.
“Kazuha!”
Gorou jumped down from the tree he was in and helped Kazuha back up to his feet. He heard the growl again.
“Heh, my bad, Gorou. It seems you best me yet again,” the samurai ignored the sound coming from his own body as he dusted off his clothes.
Gorou watched Kazuha, his gaze on his comrade’s bandaged and calloused hands.
“...You’re shaking.”
Scarlet-hued eyes blinked in surprise, Kazuha chuckled, “Observant as ever, General Gorou.”
The shiba-inu hybrid wasn’t chuckling, not at all. If anything, he frowned, “...You don’t have to be afraid to eat more if you need to, Kazuha.”
“I eat enough, Gorou. But thank you.”
“Kazuha, I know tha-”
Gorou was interrupted by Kazuha’s slightly raised voice, “Then you’ll know…that I do not wish to speak about that.”
The General’s ear dropped as he gazed down at the grass.
The samurai began to walk away, stopping to turn back to Gorou, “Her Excellency wanted to meet us when the sun was at its peak, we shouldn't be late.”
~~
Gorou awoke to the sound of Kazuha twisting and turning in bed.
It hadn't been that long since they bid each other goodnight, but Gorou assumed Kazuha had not fallen asleep at all.
The General didn't move, he only listened as Kazuha stirred some more getting up and walking out of the tent.
Gorou sighed.
He knew where Kazuha was going. He had not eaten enough at dinner again, and when the hunger overwhelms him, the samurai will take it upon himself to go out to the farthest fruit trees and scavenge for whatever he can eat.
After a few minutes, Gorou also walked out of the tent to follow behind Kazuha at a distance so that the samurai wouldn't realize he was being trailed.
Though he's starving, Watatsumi already suffers enough with its poor environment for growing food. And lavender melons may grow on trees but it's not like they regrow in a day. Gorou knows that Kazuha goes out of his way to find a tree far from others that need them and even at his most hungry state, he'll only take one lavender melon and slowly eat it to fool his body into thinking it's enough.
And there he was, crouching underneath the old tree, tenderly holding the fruit up to his mouth. Kazuha, though he eats it slowly, is in a hurry to race the moon as it moved in the sky and does not cook the fruit and even eats the skin, which stains his mouth.
The samurai stops eating when he knows Gorou is watching him and approaching, his body still shakes.
Both men remain quiet, the only sound being that of crickets and waves crashing onto the nearby shore.
"... I'm sorry."
Kazuha’s quiet, shaky tone reaches Gorou’s ears just fine.
"...You don’t have to apologize."
Gorou takes a bold step forward as he notices Kazuha begin to shake more furiously, not just because of his hungry, tired state.
He extends his hand out to Kazuha. The white-haired man doesn't look up at him, but he moved his hand towards his…
… And placed the half-eaten lavender melon on Gorou’s palm.
Kazuha continues to look down in shame, but Gorou can't help but chuckle, breaking the tension that was felt, he softly said, "Come on, Kazuha."
~~
A small fire burned before the two comrades as they sat on the beach.
Kazuha chowed down on a few lavender melons Gorou had taken down from the tree, peeled, put on a stick, and cooked before presenting them to Kazuha.
Gorou was looking away, out to the far land of Sumeru seen on the other side of the ocean. He respected the fact that Kazuha did not like to be seen when he was eating, especially in the vigorous manner the samurai was eating in at the moment.
The two don't know every single thing about each other, of course. Kazuha had only been among the Resistance’s troops for a couple of months. Even so, the mere fact Kazuha was from the mainland of Narukami was enough for Gorou to understand why he would be different to everyone in Watatsumi. Then again, everyone is different, each has their own pallet. But the people of Watatsumi are used to it, an outsider would struggle with the limited food the island can provide, especially in their current circumstances.
And someone as good-natured as Kazuha would understand this difference right away and refrain from taking more food than the others, even if it meant not filling his own needs.
~~
Kazuha let out a deep sigh once he finished his late-night meal. He had probably eaten five or six cooked lavender melons, he didn't even try counting after the first bite.
He passed his haori sleeve over his mouth. Gorou had peeled the fruits, but Kazuha’s teeth and lips were still stained purple from the first half he had eaten.
Gorou couldn't help but smile as he put out the fire and dusted sand off of his clothes as he stood up. He extended his hand out towards Kazuha again, which he carefully took hold of to lift himself up.
The two walked back to the camp in silence. Nary a stomach growl was heard that night.
~~
The same amount of food rested on Kazuha’s plate as always. He slowly ate along with his comrades, speaking of what they would do that morning and spreading news from across the islands.
Kazuha soon finished and continued listening to one of the soldiers across the table tell a story from a recent battle.
Gorou lightly elbowed him as they listened. When Kazuha turned to him, Gorou’s gaze was focused on the one speaking, but Kazuha looked down and realized the General was holding half of his piece of bread out towards the samurai.
He slowly took the bread being handed to him and Kazuha carefully held it in his hands and looked down at his lap.
Kazuha thought the bread would be cold by now, but it was surprisingly still warm when it was in his grasp.