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Once upon a time, March 17th was just another day to Kira.
As far as she could remember, nothing of significance had ever happened to her on that date. Sure, when she was still living in New York, there may have been a few times where she was annoyed with the filthy snow that insisted on lingering on the streets, or she may have been stressed about schoolwork. But she'd never known anyone who celebrated a birthday or an anniversary on that day. Nothing important, nothing even remotely close to life-changing, had ever happened on the day.
But all of that had changed five years ago.
The events of that night have not yet started to fade, although Kira is hoping that'll change in a few more years. Sometimes, when she closes her eyes or drifts off in class, she's thrown back to that night without permission and every detail remains crystal clear in her mind.
The mingled sounds of pained groans, harsh breathing and metal screeching against metal. Her boots pivoting and dragging on the slightly wet concrete, body moving automatically. Sweat stinging in her eyes as it trickled down her face. Hope swelling in her chest as Allison's arrowhead destroyed one of the Oni. The absolute silence that descended only moments later, as a blade carved through Allison's stomach like it was no thicker than paper.
Kira still doesn't know how Allison survived. She doesn't think anyone really knows, not even the doctors who treated her.
All she knows is that, even five years later, March 17th is quite possibly one of her least favorite days of the year.
When she comes home from class, Allison is in the living room. She's curled up on the couch, blanket tucked around her shoulders, watching a movie at low volume. It's one they've watched dozens of times and Kira can't help but mumble along with the dialogue as she hangs up her coat and hat to dry; it's been pouring for most of the day, like the universe somehow knows the significance of the day.
She doesn't really believe that but still, there's no denying that the weather suits the occasion.
"I'm home!" she calls out, more out of habit than necessity.
"How was class?" Allison asks, turning and resting her chin on the back on the couch.
"I almost fell asleep," Kira admits. It's not that she doesn't like her Japanese History professor; it's just that between her soft voice and the rain lashing against the windows of their classroom, it'd been nearly impossible to keep her eyes open.
"I'm sure she didn't notice." Allison smiles slightly, but it's a shallow one; her dimples, the ones Kira fell in love with even before she fell in love with Allison, stay hidden away. She turns back to the television and Kira heads to their tiny bedroom to change into clothes that aren't dappled with raindrops.
They've talked about what happened five years ago, mainly in the dark, when the air was still thick with pheromones and sweat. Allison always spoke quietly, like she was afraid the words might drift outside the room. She talked about waking up in the hospital with stitches holding her together, talked about the occasional nightmares, about the occasional spasms of pain that continued long after the wound turned into two thick lines of pink scar tissue, one on her stomach and one on her back.
They've only talked about it a few times. But that's been enough for Kira to know that the pain gets worse around this time every year and bringing it up won't make Allison feel any better.
If she brings it up herself, Kira will listen. But until then she knows that, based on their past experiences, it's best to not mention it.
Once she's changed into clothes that are more suited for a night on the couch, she stops in the kitchen and grabs a tub of mint chocolate chip ice cream and two spoons. She turns the kettle on for tea and pads into the living room to join Allison on the couch. Before Kira can even think about asking, Allison shifts and pulls the blanket out from behind herself, in favor of draping it over their laps. Kira smiles and props her legs up on the coffee table, thigh pressed against Allison's.
"Did you go to class today?" she asks, passing Allison a spoon and pulling the lid off the ice cream.
"Just my morning one," Allison replies. "We were just doing a test review this afternoon."
"I'm sure you'll pass without it," Kira murmurs, turning and pressing her lips to Allison's temple. "I just turned the kettle on. Do you want tea?"
"That'd be great," Allison says, turning and catching Kira's lips before she can pull away. The kiss is short but sweet and when Allison pulls back, there's just the slightest hint of dimples in her cheeks. "Thank you."
"You're welcome," Kira says, waiting until Allison's smile fades away to eat her first spoonful of ice cream.
For the rest of the night, they only move to get more tea and put away the ice cream. The next time Kira checks the time on her phone, it's just after midnight and Allison is dozing against her shoulder, warm fingers curled loosely around Kira's.
Just like that, another March 17th has come and gone. While Kira is glad that it's over, she hopes that she'll be able to spend many more days with Allison at her side, neither of them talking about it, neither of them needing to talk.
She hopes that they'll be able to get through it together for many years to come.