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Kaedehara Kazuha was a fine young man who lived as an aristocrat along with his parents. He was known best for his talent and abilities in handling the ways of a sword. He was skilled at fighting and wielding such fine weapon.
Both of his parents were proud of him and would be willing to buy him anything he wants. Name it be a jewelery, vehicle, hotel, expensive night gala or even people to serve for him. But young Kazuha didn't need those sorts of things.
What he did yearn for was for him to have someone to listen, someone to accompany him, someone who's willingly carefree enough. His parents were there for him as always but not physically. He's the loner type you see. He often wanders around the mansion or outside the city streets but it was more of a routine rather than something worthy to enjoy.
Kazuha's favorite season is the autumn, where the bright red leaves drifts along the waves of the wind towards his open window from the tree to his desk. He loved all sorts of seasons but autumn would top up his scale.
When Kazuha's fifteenth birthday occured, none of his parents were there to celebrate with him. Instead, they provided him extravagant gifts from different nations. Then came along his sixteenth birthday but to his disappointment, not even his mother came home to celebrate with him. It's understandable that both of his parents are busy and Kazuha respects that. He tends to consider what it would be like to be in their perspectives.
Birthdays passed and Kazuha wasn't hoping for either of his parents to celebrate with him anymore. It's not because he felt hopeless that they'll never care to at least visit but he just let's that sink in. He's still grateful for the gifts they gave him though. There was a time where Kazuha decided to fly to Fontaine just to meet his parents and not because he wants to celebrate with them but because he just misses them.
Letters were enough for him but sometimes he longed for something more. Even just a quick warm embrace would be enough as a gift and Kazuha would ask for nothing else.
Kazuha's nineteenth birthday felt like a curse to him. Out of everything he could have lost at that day, his sense of hearing was nowhere to be with him. Kazuha's ability to hear was different from others, yeah it's normal to hear since everyone is capable of having that but Kazuha was different. He has heightened senses, especially his keen hearing. The wind would whisper him that a rain was soon to come. The wind would whisper him all sorts of things and Kazuha enjoyed it.
Kazuha cried so hard that day to the point where his throat was about to strain until nothing was left. Kazuha never heard his screams and wails. He never did. No matter how hard and how much it pained him to cry louder, he didn't hear not a single faint of the wind. He didn't bother to look at the extravagant gifts his parents would bring him. He rarely even receives a letter from them back when he was fifteen.
Poetry was a new distraction. Kazuha buried his sorrows and loss to writing literature instead. But as time goes by, he finds it fascinating enough to become his daily hobby. When his twentieth birthday came, it wasn't as bad as before but he still loathes himself into celebrating the day he lost one of his senses. Kazuha wonders if he should write a letter to his parents regarding his problems but he ignores it knowing that they'll probably just buy him something expensive to soothe his depression.
Before Kazuha's twenty-first birthday, he met a boy. A boy who is in possession of such confidence yet it shifts into razor-sharp focus in terms of investigations. A boy who has beautiful burgundy hair that flows through the blows of the wind like the ocean. A boy who has flawless facial features: he bears bright glowing olive eyes carrying the whole forest with those gaze, those twin moles just right underneath each eye, and his soft pink lips.
So, Kazuha grabbed all his courage to approach the lad but he stopped midway before he could attempt to fully grab the other's attention. How was he suppose to ask for his name when he's deaf? And what's worse is that he's not bringing a pen and paper with him. This is bad. Before Kazuha could sink deep beneath the abyssal thoughts, the boy approached him holding out his hand.
Kazuha didn't even notice he was crying. The boy looked at him with worried eyes. If he keeps looking at him like that then Kazuha fears he might be into him. When Kazuha locked eyes with the boy, suddenly his tears stopped falling. But he did shiver as he noticed the boys lips moving yet once again reminding him that he's no longer capable of hearing.
Before Kazuha could run away, the boy reached out to him, wiping away the remaining tears on his cheeks. It was a caring gesture, too soft that his heart ached. He still sees the boy opening up his mouth saying certain words that Kazuha can't interpret. The world suddenly stopped spinning as the boy brightly smiled at him and gave him a small pat on the head. The boy offered him his handkerchief and before Kazuha protests to give it back, the boy gave him a card.
𝑻𝒆𝒏𝒓𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝑪𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝑨𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒚
𝑵𝒂𝒓𝒖𝒌𝒂𝒎𝒊 𝑹𝒆𝒈𝒊𝒐𝒏, 𝑰𝒏𝒂𝒛𝒖𝒎𝒂 𝑪𝒊𝒕𝒚
𝑫𝒆𝒕𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝑺𝒉𝒊𝒌𝒂𝒏𝒐𝒊𝒏 𝑯𝒆𝒊𝒛𝒐𝒖
𝑪𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒖𝒔 𝑴𝒊𝒏𝒐𝒓
𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒓𝒅 𝒇𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒓 𝒐𝒇𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒆, 𝒓𝒐𝒐𝒎 𝑨303
So, the boy finally gained his name to Kazuha's overjoy. Heizou, such a charming name, Kazuha chuckles heartily. When Kazuha came home that day, he could stop his racing heart going wild within his chest. He decided to stop by for tomorrow and return Heizou's handkerchief. Gods, Kazuha must be out of his mind because just by Heizou's name appearing in his thoughts makes him all fuzzy.
It was Kazuha's twenty-first birthday and be couldn't care less about it anymore. Being bathed by Heizou's presence was enough for him as a gift. Kazuha barely even slept last night due to the letter he carefully wrote to be given to Heizou. Kazuha decided to go the agency by himself since he's used to bringing his butler with him often that acts as his ears.
Kazuha was mere inches away from reaching the doorknob, still he couldn't avoid the way his hands trembled. Grabbing all the remaining courage he has, he knocked on the door and slowly opened it revealing the detective who's seemingly busy working on the documents that's piled up on his desk. He doesn't seem to notice which individual entered his office so Kazuha decided to approach him and sat down. When he noticed Heizou was busy focusing himself on signing paperworks, Kazuha placed the letter with grace on the table and that surely did caught Heizou's attention.
Heizou looked at him with those bright olive eyes with shock and surprise. Heizou then offered him a smile and opened his letter.
𝘋𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘋𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘚𝘩𝘪𝘬𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘪𝘯 𝘏𝘦𝘪𝘻𝘰𝘶,
𝘐 𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘺 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘺𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘥𝘢𝘺. 𝘐 𝘥𝘰 𝘢𝘱𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘪𝘻𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘰𝘧 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘧. 𝘐 𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘮 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘐 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘰𝘤𝘶𝘴 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘺. 𝘠𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦 𝘸𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘣𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴. 𝘚𝘰, 𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘐 𝘢𝘱𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘪𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘣𝘶𝘵, 𝘥𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵 𝘮𝘺 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘺 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥?
𝘞𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵,
𝘒𝘢𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘢 𝘒𝘢𝘻𝘶𝘩𝘢
Kazuha almost ran out of the office that day and almost tripped his way home. Heizou accepted his letter. Heizou wrote down his response. '𝘖𝘧 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦. 𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘢𝘯 𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘒𝘢𝘻𝘶𝘩𝘢. 𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘵 𝘮𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦.'
There starts the flourishing friendship of Kaehehara Kazuha and Shikanoin Heizou. Their similarities and differences weren't entirely faraway from each other's. When Heizou learnt that it was Kazuha's birthday, he didn't know what to give him but just by examining Kazuha's appearance, he figures that Kazuha isn't too fond of extravagant things. So, Heizou invited Kazuha to go to some mini carnival that night. Heizou played mini-games with Kazuha and both of them couldn't name any game they weren't good at. Darts, ring toss, balloon pop, or any game that involves a proper firing range, Heizou scored high at those while Kazuha gained a great scored on high striker and whac-a-mole.
Both of them learnt a lot of interesting facts from each other. Kazuha have known that Heizou's favorite type of food are mostly fried. Heizou found out that not only is Kazuha a good-looking aristocrat but he's also skilled and strong enough to strike the highest point on high striker. The shocked expression Heizou gave away that day resulted into Kazuha's priceless laugh. By the end of their leisurely fun activities, the prizes that Heizou won were all given to Kazuha as a gift and Kazuha humbly accepts them though he did write something stating '𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘰 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘏𝘦𝘪𝘻𝘰𝘶. 𝘉𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘪𝘴 𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘨𝘪𝘧𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘦.' Heizou's face couldn't get any warmer when he read that.
Since Heizou is mostly busy and sometimes out of his office, Kazuha would often visit Heizou twice a week to the point where Kazuha would bring him lunch. Heizou wrote him something one day stating that how grateful he is of Kazuha's company. Kazuha assumed it was just their friendship nurturing.
When it was Heizou's birthday, Kazuha simply wrote him a haiku. Though it wasn't just a single haiku but there were a lot of haikus he wrote that mostly contains Heizou as the main inspiration. There were so many that Kazuha had to put them in a small exquisite box. Heizou cherished the gift and read every single one of them with care.
Then came Kazuha's twenty-second birthday, the day where he decided to confess his undying feelings for Heizou. The day where he also slowly lost his eyesight. It wasn't the same as how he lost his hearing where it was lightning quick. The process of how he slowly lost hold of his eyesight was painfully slow. Nonetheless, he didn't let that stop despite his blurring sights, despite the fact that he almost got hit by a carriage. Kazuha stumbled multiple times towards Heizou's office but Heizou wasn't there. Kazuha fully lost his eyesight, he took a feast of his defeat.
Crying, grieving, and embracing the harsh hold of exhaustion wasn't Kazuha's favorite. He felt like his life was a curse now. Kazuha stayed within Heizou's office, waiting and waiting until Heizou's presence entered the room but Kazuha didn't know. Kazuha's alluring red gaze just like the bright glow of autumn turned into nothing but dullness. There was no color left within those sight. Heizou hated himself that day but he did all what he could to comfort Kazuha. Even the doctors couldn't provide any assistance further.
Heizou never received Kazuha's confession until the day he figured it out for himself. Heizou knew Kazuha will probably retreat from his attempts but Heizou kissed him. He kissed Kazuha and he didn't retreat. He simply returned the gesture to Heizou. It was too soft that his heart ached. From that day on, everything change for both of them though it didn't affect Heizou's work except that he's used to ditching work often now just to see Kazuha.
Days, weeks, months and finally a year passes by. Kazuha still has no idea that it was the day of his twenty-third birthday but all he knows is Heizou is there with him to celebrate. Kazuha despised the day of his birth. He still sees it as nothing but a curse planted on him that keeps on growing. But Heizou is there to prove him wrong. They've spent the whole day together and nothing bad happened. Kazuha cried and cried when the day ended. Tears filled with mixed sorrows and worthwhile happiness.
Heizou knows how much Kazuha loved nature so if he decided to bring him to his favorite place during the season of autumn. Heizou and Kazuha rested underneath a tree that certain day. Heizou showered Kazuha kisses: his neck, chin, cheek, eyes, ears, nose and his forehead. Though Heizou kissed him in all places. Kazuha never felt so contented. If only he was able to hear and see Heizou. He could've been more happy even if he were to die the day after.
Twenty-fourth birthday, Kazuha tends to forget about it. The only thing, the only person that occupies his mind is none other than his boyfriend, Shikanoin Heizou. When Kazuha felt the soft grasp and hold, he knows that it's Heizou. Kazuha doesn't know where Heizou is taking him but it felt too uncomfortable to stay put. Heizou loosened his hold and tried his best to let Kazuha stay.
Kazuha waited and waited until he felt like an hour have passed until than hour turned into a day. Heizou never returned. That's what Kazuha feared the most. He could lose all his limbs, just not Heizou. Dark and ferocious thoughts consumed him. He cried but it was pin drop silence. All he sees is enveloping darkness. Kazuha felt like he could just rot there. Of course, Heizou abandoned him. Who would be willing to take of care of someone who's deaf and blind? Kaehehara Kazuha is useless. Perhaps, he's useless even when he still has his senses. Maybe that's why Kazuha's parents refused to visit him. Maybe that's why they also did abandon him.
Then all of a sudden, a hand softly patted his head. He looked up but nothing was there, just darkness, it only helped the flow of his tears to continue. The hand held his but it was a tight hold, not close to Heizou's soft genuine hold. Kazuha must've worried Heizou. He stood up and let Heizou guide him somewhere. They rode a carriage assuming from Kazuha's sense of touch and ability to feel the happenings near him.
Kazuha and Heizou arrived at the Tenryou Commission quarters but Kazuha doesn't know that. So, the hand guided him to sit. He sat there like the helpless being that he is.
"Kaehehara Kazuha." The General of Tenryou Commission Agency spoke, she holds a very strict and serious demeanor.
"You found him? Where?" A man with blue hair that resembles the sky above asked.
"At first I thought he was completely captured by the Raiden's dogs but I heard him sobbing hidden inside the closet."
"General Kujou, is it okay to talk about this Infront of him?" Asks the man laced with worry in his tone.
"Kaehehara is deaf," General Kujou took a deep and heavy sigh before she continues, "He's also blind."
"Shikanoin and I ran a background check on him. It seems that he lost his parents when he turned fifteen but he doesn't know that. So, he lives up to that lie. The money used for those extravagant gifts his parents bought him were borrowed from the Raiden's. His parents spent much more than just that. Not only did they plan to continuously bring him gifts after their deaths but they also planned on sending him a letter about their passing when he turns twenty-five. To their demise and worry, the Raiden's made a move because of their debt piling up just to satisfy Kazuha." General Kujou stated with so much dread.
"Truly, that's worrisome. Have you handled the Raiden's dogs?" The man carefully asked.
". . . Detective Shikanoin handled that." General Kujou hesitated for moment before she could finish her sentence.
"I must give him my utmost gratitude. Where is he?"
"Commissioner Kamisato. . . I'm afraid that detective Shikanoin is no longer with us."