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A howl broke the night air. It carried the weight of a soul; it carried in it the raw terror and fury that flashed through the gang around them like a lightning bolt. It shocked through each one of them, the last lingering notes freezing them in place.
The lone figure picked the master thief up into his arms. A single eye glared out from beneath his beloved hat and above his beloved charge.
He moved with purpose. Every step; a promise of violence. The first fool to move was shut down in the blink of an eye. His echoed scream in the stunned silence was punctured only by the sharp crack of shattered bone.
Kinder than they had given His, but Jigen liked the taste of finesse and freedom over blind murder.
Lupin groaned in his arms and a single clawed hand touched the fur of his face as their tails tangled.
“You’re here”
The unspoken trust. The unspoken promise. The unspoken loyalty. The unspoken love.
A single paw lifted upon the steps, claws clicking in the deathly silence that had descended. Not a single voice dared to break it. Hackles rippling, crooked tail still bound to his own, a single sliver of moonlight broke forth to shimmer across the mouthful of fangs, the readied claws, the gun seconds away from a merciful debilitation or a brutal and precise demise.
There was a line and it was already crossed. They all felt it and backed up, dropping into the shadows and crouching away from the vengeful wraith that stalked out of their pathetic little holdout.
He moved with stoic purpose, though the fluttering of his ears told them that they would not escape his notice. The raw static in his body told them he would snap on them faster than they would be able to stop. His focus forward was so intense they simply took the route of the forgiveness they were being shown, so long as he left with his charge. Some scattered; weapons left behind. Some simply fell to their knees in the face of his wrath.
They finally understood what they used to laugh at from the Shake Handz conglomerate. However literal or not, PeopleLog had certainly pinned these two. It didn’t matter if it was romantic or not. There was a hydra before them. Two heads. Two hearts. Never One Without the Other.
It didn’t matter what was teased; it didn’t matter what they thought. They were being drowned in the promise of forever and they knew that they were outmatched in a million ways. There was no dedication like theirs and there was no finesse and power that could match either let alone both of them.
Jigen snapped his teeth together with a violent click and a warning blast of breath hissed through his fangs. The door guards fell to their knees and bowed. This wasn’t worth their lives. Not this half assed crew. If they got seen off, it would be better than defending their pathetic absentee master over the nightmarish demon before them. They had families to feed, wives to return to, children to care for. They had no wish to end whatever this insanely powerful bond was.
No one else stood in alarm. All had fled or silently bowed as the duo approached. Each of them felt His Eye on them and they shuddered in deathly silence. To challenge was to die. None of them had the loyalty or the reason to do so and simply fell to the side.
Outside Jigen found Goemon ready for them and half snapped out of habit, before he froze and turned his momentum into gently depositing Lupin into the seat of Goemon’s rickshaw. It was thankfully a bit more modern and a single bike pedalling by such a powerful samurai sent them long away from the danger and; quieter than horses, allowed them to silently glide up an old rocky pass to their hidden hideout.
Slightly soothed by the drive, Jigen found his eyes drooping despite him coiled over Lupin’s body in the back seat. He couldn’t help it. After nearly two and a half days searching for him, he was exhausted. His nightmares raised a howl into his throat that he caught at the last moment to simply nuzzle into the little bit of fuzz at the side of Lupin’s head. A thrum purred up in the dumb thief’s throat and Jigen shoved his nose into it like a lifeline.
He was alive and well; this stupid asshole.
—
They arrived at the tiny little hideout, half built into the ground and hidden generously by so many bushes and trees. Goemon politely kept his paws to himself as the half-asleep Jigen scooped up Lupin into his arms. Tails still locked, they ducked beneath the bowers and slid into the tiny little cabin.
Fujiko and even Zenigata waited (both of them sadly half bowed under the size of the lair, yet neither complained at this moment). Fujiko’s fluffy tail whipped out in a genuinely kind gesture of soothing and even Zenigata took off his hat and bowed low without comment.
“He needs time to rest.” Goemon explained succinctly, forestalling the obvious flood of questions, but also reassuring them Lupin was fine and they simply needed to leave him alone.
Even Fujiko was kind enough to help with dinner, showing her obvious nerves as she and Goemon made a simple soup and sandwiches while Zenigata watched the front door as though he expected it to betray them all at any instance.
In the protective silence, Jigen took Lupin to the bath and washed the blood, dirt, and gunpowder from his fur. He then took him to the master bedroom, settled him in and wrapped him in a nest of blankets and pillows.
“C-c’mere” Lupin finally managed from his palace of pillows. Jigen eyed him from under his hat; one cigarette caught between his teeth and snaking smoke into the room.
“Tch.” Jigen snorted as though he didn't have a care in the world. But he snuffed out the cigarette and slithered in under the comforter. He felt Lupin’s tail coil around his own, even as his paws pulled him closer. He surrendered instantly, despite a chuff under his breath. A single paw, full of claws and his own magnum close enough to the table at that far side, he knew he was ready to defend what he held the most dear in his life.
A single pawstep. Two hearts,
…always and forever…